 Born in Mangalore in the state of Karnataka in India on 1 st November 1973, Aishwarya Rai has enormous faith in God and her friends. She attends prayers offered to Lord Ganesha at her home. Krishnaraj and Vrinda Rai are her parents and they right now live together in Mumbai. | |||||||||||
Aishwarya Rai's aim was to be become an architect. She took up modeling as a part time job and she also appeared in commercials. One of her popular commercial for a soft drink made her to be approached by many directors but she rejected the offers to become an architect. Aishwarya Rai is engaged to Abhishek Bachchan and their wedding is expected to be held on 20 th of April.
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Thursday 28 July 2011
Aishwarya rai
what is java?
Java allows you to play online games, chat with people around the world, calculate your mortgage interest, and view images in 3D, just to name a few. It's also integral to the intranet applications and other e-business solutions that are the foundation of corporate computing.
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Saturday 23 July 2011
“New students in DU take their first step towards graduation”
Bali: The Informal East Asia Summit (EAS) Education Ministers Meeting to improve Education Quality through Regional Cooperation in the region is being held in Bali, Indonesia. The meeting was addressed by Dr. D. Purandeswari, the Minister of state for Human Resource Development. Speaking on the occasion the Minister emphasized on generating stronger domestic demands through creation and strengthening of the social welfare net, and through skill development. She said education is a key sector, which encompasses all these factors and therefore we must focus utmost attention on the growth of educational opportunities.
Dr. Purandeswari expressed the hope that the new thrusts in cooperation between various Asian countries will not only open the doors for industry-academia interface, fresh partnerships between institutions, collaborative research projects, increased student mobility among others but more importantly, responsible interventions by stakeholders in the reform process of our education sector.
Giving details of the funds earmarked for the higher education sector for India in the current five year plan period the Minister said, an outlay of Rs 85,000 crores (US$18.8 billion) has been made for the Plan which is a 9 fold increase over the 10th Five Year Plan period.
Dr. Purandeswari expressed the hope that the new thrusts in cooperation between various Asian countries will not only open the doors for industry-academia interface, fresh partnerships between institutions, collaborative research projects, increased student mobility among others but more importantly, responsible interventions by stakeholders in the reform process of our education sector.
Giving details of the funds earmarked for the higher education sector for India in the current five year plan period the Minister said, an outlay of Rs 85,000 crores (US$18.8 billion) has been made for the Plan which is a 9 fold increase over the 10th Five Year Plan period.
She said we want a Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) target of 30 percent by 2020 and it is estimated that the total enrolment of students will go up from the present 16 million to more than 42 million by 2020. Thus, about 700 to 800 additional universities will be required to be established in India in addition to the 579 existing universities and institutions. In addition, Government is planning to provide vocational education and skills training to about 500 million youth.
s-vbs.com
Grapefruit is good for you
“Grapefruit is called so because it grows in clusters like grapes. In Latin, grapefruits are called citrus paradisi meaning the citrus from paradise. One of the most popular weight loss diets is the Grapefruit diet. This diet involves drinking of at least three glasses of grape fruit juice everyday, as it helps burn calories. Well known actress Sophia Loren was one of the first celebrities to endorse this diet.
The grapefruit looks similar to an orange but is larger in size and belongs to the citrus family of fruits. However, the flesh of the grapefruit is usually red or pink in colour. Grapefruits taste sour and bitter but have a lot of health benefits. Here are some health benefits of grapefruits that you didn't know:
Though grapefruits are sour and acidic in taste, they are known to produce an alkaline reaction after digestion. This helps treat acidity which can affect the digestive system.
Grapefruit is rich in vitamin C which helps maintain the elasticity of the arteries. It also strengthens them. Pectin, a compound, is known to help reduce the accumulation of arterial deposits.
Consuming grapefruit on a regular basis will help you boost your immune system.
Grapefruits are highly beneficial for diabetics as they help in bringing down blood sugar levels in the body.
Eating grapefruit before bedtime gives good sleep thus, reducing symptoms of insomnia.
Pregnant women can reduce water retention in their bodies and swelling in their legs by consuming grapefruit.
Grapefruits contain fat-burning enzymes that can promote weightloss. That's because they prevents sugars and starch getting stored in the body.
Drinking fresh grapefruit juice can help relieve a sore throat.
Grapefruit contains anti-oxidant properties that helps prevent cancer.
s-vbs.com
The grapefruit looks similar to an orange but is larger in size and belongs to the citrus family of fruits. However, the flesh of the grapefruit is usually red or pink in colour. Grapefruits taste sour and bitter but have a lot of health benefits. Here are some health benefits of grapefruits that you didn't know:
Though grapefruits are sour and acidic in taste, they are known to produce an alkaline reaction after digestion. This helps treat acidity which can affect the digestive system.
Grapefruit is rich in vitamin C which helps maintain the elasticity of the arteries. It also strengthens them. Pectin, a compound, is known to help reduce the accumulation of arterial deposits.
Consuming grapefruit on a regular basis will help you boost your immune system.
Grapefruits are highly beneficial for diabetics as they help in bringing down blood sugar levels in the body.
Eating grapefruit before bedtime gives good sleep thus, reducing symptoms of insomnia.
Pregnant women can reduce water retention in their bodies and swelling in their legs by consuming grapefruit.
Grapefruits contain fat-burning enzymes that can promote weightloss. That's because they prevents sugars and starch getting stored in the body.
Drinking fresh grapefruit juice can help relieve a sore throat.
Grapefruit contains anti-oxidant properties that helps prevent cancer.
Toshiba to set up production unit
Toshiba Corporation on Thursday said it planned to set up a manufacturing facility in India by this year-end to cut costs in the highly competitive Indian market, while its Gurgaon-based research and development (R&D) centre would become operational soon that would develop products specifically for the domestic market.
The consumer electronic major of Japan also introduced new innovative products, including the world's first glasses-free 3D laptop and 3D TV besides 19-inch LED TV.
“We will start local manufacturing of our products starting with television by the end of this year. Our aim is to make our products more affordable to help us tap the growing Indian market. We will gradually extend local manufacturing to home appliances depending on the demand of the products…we will also focus on localising its products,” Toshiba Corporation Vice-President (digital products and services) Masayuki Ito told journalists here.
Toshiba now imports all its products, mainly from Indonesia and Japan.
“India is an important market for us and we want to offer our customers here leading-edge products offering more functions. We are focused on extending our reach and finding growth with products specially designed for India. We hope to increase the number of television sold in India by 10-fold to 3-lakh units by the end of this year. We are targeting a 10 per cent LCD TV share in current fiscal and 15 per cent share in 2012-13,” he added. Referring to the new products, Toshiba India Director (digital products, home appliances and services division) Wu Tengguo said: “We are determined to provide a broad array of high-value products that reflect the changing lifestyles in India, and to address market requirements. We are strengthening our product line up by introducing range of products across its all the categories including LCD, laptop and washing machines.”
Toshiba India is also integrating the business operations of consumer products, including television and home appliances, with its personal computer divisions in the domestic market. “Unifying both the businesses will save our logistics cost and help in building the brand image in the country. It will also leverage the distribution channels of both the businesses and enhance its position,” Mr. Tengguo added.''
s-vbs.com
Apple unveils new computers and new operating system
Apple is hoping that its new computers, which feature backlit keyboards, multitouch trackpads, faster chips and a new expansion technology called Thunderbolt I/O will help it attract more buyers away from Windows—powered PCs.
Sales of its Macbooks are already outperforming PC sales, growing 14 per cent in the last quarter, compared to 2 per cent growth for PCs. The introduction of the new models coincided with the axing of the popular white MacBook, an entry level line of Apple computers.
The MacBook Air sells for between 999 dollars and 1,699 dollars, depending on features.
The new operating system is the eighth major release of the Apple software and boasts some 250 new features including support for full screen apps, new program launchers, an autosave feature that automatically saves all documents, and a tool which automatically records the history of every document.
Apple posted record quarterly revenue Tuesday, doubling its profit as the technology trailblazer sold 20.34 million iPhones and 9.25 million iPads.
The Silicon Valley company said it had sales of 28.57 billion dollars in the latest quarter, up 82 per cent from 15.7 billion dollars in sales from the same period a year ago. Profits rose 125 per cent to 7.31 billion dollars, compared to 3.25 billion dollars a year ago.
Sales of iPhones represented a 142—per—cent jump, despite the widely expected release of a newer model later in the year, which can deter current buyers. iPad sales soared 183 per cent, easily fending off a rash of competitors powered by Google, HP and RIM. The company sold 3.95 million Macs during the quarter."
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Videocon_launches_new_range_of_handsets-nid-70077-cid-31.html
Circuits could be shrunk to the size of a sand grain
Their breakthrough is a method for creating and attaching the tiny wires that will connect molecular components.
Yuji Okawa from the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan and colleagues write: “The key to single—molecule electronics is connecting functional molecules to each other using conductive nanowires.”
“This involves two issues: how to create...nanowires at designated positions, and how to ensure chemical bonding between the nanowires and functional molecules,” reports the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
That challenge has stymied many researchers, who have struggled to produce wires small enough to use in molecular circuits, according to a National Institute statement.
Scientists now demonstrate a method that uses the tip of a scanning, tunnelling microscope to jump—start the formation of a molecule chain.
The chain or “wire” spontaneously chemically bonds with other molecular components in the circuit under construction, a process that Okawa and colleagues dub “chemical soldering”.
The wiring method can be used to connect molecular switches, memory bits, and transistors. The scientists say their technique “will enable us to develop cheaper, higher—performance, and more ecological alternatives to conventional silicon—based devices”.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Reports_of_Google_acquiring_Slide_emerge-nid-70410-cid--sid-.htm
Famous Scientist -Andreas Vesalius
 On graduation he was immediately offered the chair of Surgery and Anatomy (explicator chirurgiae) at Padua. He also guest lectured at Bologna and Pisa. Previously these topics had been taught primarily from reading classic texts, mainly Galen, followed by an animal dissection by a barber-surgeon whose work was directed by the lecturer. No attempt was made to actually check Galen's claims; these were considered unassailable. Vesalius, on the other hand, carried out dissection as the primary teaching tool, handling the actual work himself while his students clustered around the table. Hands-on direct observation was considered the only reliable resource, a huge break with medieval practice. He kept meticulous drawings of his work for his students in the form of six large illustrated anatomical tables. When he found that some of these were being widely copied, he published them all in 1538 under the title Tabulae Anatomicae Sex. He followed this in 1539 with an updated version of Galen's anatomical handbook, Institutiones Anatomicae. When this reached Paris one of his former professors published an attack on this version. In 1538 he also published a letter on venesection, or bloodletting. This was a popular treatment for almost any illness, but there was some debate about where to take the blood from. The classical Greek procedure, advocated by Galen, was to let blood from a site near the location of the illness. However, the Muslim and medieval practice was to draw a smaller amount blood from a distant location. Vesalius' pamphlet supported Galen's view, and supported his arguments through anatomical diagrams. |
| s-vbs.com |
Hands on With The HTC ChaCha
In its segment, the HTC ChaCha has to compete with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Pro and the Nokia E6. These are the touch and type smartphones that could give the handset a serious run for its Rupee. HTC’s offering is actually a very neat and stylish looking handset that’s available in some funky color combos. The ChaCha features a 2.6-inch capacitive touchscreen encased in Gorilla glass and sporting a 480 x 360 pixel resolution that looks quite sharp.
The slight curve in its candy bar design gives it a very ergonomic shape that’s also comfortable to hold and use although the slick rear panel does tend to make it just a tad slippery. The individually segregated keypad seemed comfortable to use and having a set of navigation keys makes a difference. Just below the keypad to the right is the little Facebook button that looks quite like a sticker. With a 3.5mm handsfree port and power/screen lock button on top and a volume rocker and micro USB port on either side, the ChaCha comes off as a very balanced handset.
Features
HTC’s got the ChaCha running Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread, on an 800MHz processor. Sense UI on this small a screen is something we haven’t seen before but it seems to work. Although I didn’t get much time to play around with the device and considering these are simply testers, I nevertheless found the UI to be quite fluid and responsive. It is a little clearer and definitely brighter than the Galaxy Pro’s, largely due to higher resolution display, of course. The layout is quite similar to what you’d see in a totally touchscreen mobile with a few obvious alterations made here and there to suite the smaller screen.
Facebook Connectivity
Aside from a very upbeat design and great looking keypad, one of the major USPs of the ChaCha is the tiny little Facebook key. Let’s forget for a moment that HTC Sense UI is one of the better interfaces that easily and almost automatically offers linking between your phone book/Google Contacts and your social networks as soon as you’re signed in. With the addition of this little key, the ChaCha makes sharing details, media and your location on the world’s favorite social network a real easy task.
Camera
The ChaCha is equipped with a 5 megapixel auto focus camera that also employs the use of touch focus capabilities. It also features face detection and Geotagging, since the device also has a built-in GPS module that’s supported with a-GPS. A single LED contributes to the camera as a flash for low light pictures. I wasn’t able to test the camera at the event as the lighting was extremely poor, but the few images I did take didn’t look too bad on the handset’s display. You’ll be able to use the handset’s front facing VGA camera for video calling while on Wi-Fi or 3G.
My First Impression
The HTC ChaCha left me with a very excited first impression. Although I’m not much of a social networker, I do occasionally share anything I find interesting on that service. Seeing the number of users on social networks in the mobile stream actually overshadow those on PCs, the timing of a handset like this seems just about right. With a price tag of Rs. 15,990, although seemingly steep, could work out quite well if HTC delivers on battery life and media quality. Considering the tight Facebook integration the ChaCha comes with, I have to say, it’s got serious potential to do quite well.
ttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/10062208135
AMD turns to profit from loss
SAN FRANCISCO: Advanced Micro Devices Inc has been punished so hard for unexpectedly ousting its CEO more than 6 months ago that the second-quarter profit it posted Thursday gave investors a measure of confidence about its direction.
AMD shares rose 38 cents, or 5.9 percent, to $6.88 after the No. 2 maker of computer microprocessors reported its results. The stock had fallen by 30 percent since CEO Dirk Meyer was ousted in January.
The numbers were a rare bright spot in an industry in tumult.
They showed early signs of success for a new chip that combines general-purpose and graphics capabilities. AMD sold more than 7 million of the "accelerated processing units" in the second quarter, more than half of the total since they went on sale in November.
The chips feature an innovative design that represents the kind of creative risks that allow AMD to remain a technological trendsetter despite its perpetual underdog status against Intel Corp.
AMD is counting on the chips to help it gain market share against Intel, which controls 80 percent of the world's PC microprocessor market. AMD also needs the marketing buzz to help generate some excitement as the PC market flags.
Recent signs have worried investors.
Microsoft Corp's Windows business is seeing declines. Microsoft reported that revenue in the division that makes the Windows operating system, which powers the bulk of traditional PCs, fell in the latest quarter. The Redmond-based company said revenue would have grown were it not for the launch of Windows 7 a year ago, which made comparisons tougher this year.
Intel has downgraded its view of the PC market. Intel cut its forecast for PC unit growth in 2011 to 8 percent to 10 percent over last year. The Santa Clara-based company earlier predicted low double-digit percentage growth. The cut weighed on Intel shares despite stronger-than-expected second-quarter results.
Last week market research firms IDC and Gartner reported that PC shipments worldwide are growing slower than expected, with the US and European markets even contracting.
AMD has also been hurt by the weakness. But investors saw encouraging signs in the latest results, despite some troubles.
Revenue in its microprocessor division was flat. The division was hurt by lower revenue from server chips, suggesting losses in market share to Intel. Intel's revenue from server chips was up in the latest quarter.
And AMD's revenue in its graphics chip division fell 17 percent from last year.
AMD has long been a distant second to Intel and now is even further behind in the transition to smartphones and tablet computers. AMD's chips are primarily used in traditional desktop and laptop computers.
The lack of a permanent CEO has weighed heavily on AMD's shares. Meyer was forced out over the board's unhappiness with AMD's growth rate and its strategy for mobile. The growth of Apple Inc's iPad has disrupted the traditional PC business, with some analysts predicting tens of millions of people are now buying tablets instead of laptops.
Apple reported blowout results that show the emergence of what CEO Steve Jobs calls the "post-PC era." Apple has now sold 29 million iPads since they went on sale in April 2010, and more than 128 million iPhones since they went on sale in 2007.
AMD earned $61 million, or 8 cents per share, in the three months ended July 2. That compares with a loss of $43 million, or 6 cents per share, a year ago. Adjusted net income was 9 cents per share, a penny better than the average estimate of analysts polled by FactSet. ”
AMD shares rose 38 cents, or 5.9 percent, to $6.88 after the No. 2 maker of computer microprocessors reported its results. The stock had fallen by 30 percent since CEO Dirk Meyer was ousted in January.
The numbers were a rare bright spot in an industry in tumult.
They showed early signs of success for a new chip that combines general-purpose and graphics capabilities. AMD sold more than 7 million of the "accelerated processing units" in the second quarter, more than half of the total since they went on sale in November.
The chips feature an innovative design that represents the kind of creative risks that allow AMD to remain a technological trendsetter despite its perpetual underdog status against Intel Corp.
AMD is counting on the chips to help it gain market share against Intel, which controls 80 percent of the world's PC microprocessor market. AMD also needs the marketing buzz to help generate some excitement as the PC market flags.
Recent signs have worried investors.
Microsoft Corp's Windows business is seeing declines. Microsoft reported that revenue in the division that makes the Windows operating system, which powers the bulk of traditional PCs, fell in the latest quarter. The Redmond-based company said revenue would have grown were it not for the launch of Windows 7 a year ago, which made comparisons tougher this year.
Intel has downgraded its view of the PC market. Intel cut its forecast for PC unit growth in 2011 to 8 percent to 10 percent over last year. The Santa Clara-based company earlier predicted low double-digit percentage growth. The cut weighed on Intel shares despite stronger-than-expected second-quarter results.
Last week market research firms IDC and Gartner reported that PC shipments worldwide are growing slower than expected, with the US and European markets even contracting.
AMD has also been hurt by the weakness. But investors saw encouraging signs in the latest results, despite some troubles.
Revenue in its microprocessor division was flat. The division was hurt by lower revenue from server chips, suggesting losses in market share to Intel. Intel's revenue from server chips was up in the latest quarter.
And AMD's revenue in its graphics chip division fell 17 percent from last year.
AMD has long been a distant second to Intel and now is even further behind in the transition to smartphones and tablet computers. AMD's chips are primarily used in traditional desktop and laptop computers.
The lack of a permanent CEO has weighed heavily on AMD's shares. Meyer was forced out over the board's unhappiness with AMD's growth rate and its strategy for mobile. The growth of Apple Inc's iPad has disrupted the traditional PC business, with some analysts predicting tens of millions of people are now buying tablets instead of laptops.
Apple reported blowout results that show the emergence of what CEO Steve Jobs calls the "post-PC era." Apple has now sold 29 million iPads since they went on sale in April 2010, and more than 128 million iPhones since they went on sale in 2007.
AMD earned $61 million, or 8 cents per share, in the three months ended July 2. That compares with a loss of $43 million, or 6 cents per share, a year ago. Adjusted net income was 9 cents per share, a penny better than the average estimate of analysts polled by FactSet. ”
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Faster_cancer_prognosis_courtesy_IISc_and_Apple-nid-70421-cid--sid-.html
Featured Technology Talk Samsung Launches Ultra-Portable N100 In India
Samsung Mobile & IT, Country Head, Ranjit Yadav said, "The N100's design is based on our tremendously successful N150P Netbook, which has sold over 3 million units to date. The N100 Netbook demonstrates Samsung's continued innovation while delivering superior quality, mobility and satisfaction to our customers. The N100 continues our line of high-quality Netbooks and represents superb value for money".
Encased in an ultra-durable scratch-resistant Duracase casing, the N100 seems to be built to weather the rigours associated with mobility. It features a 10.1" LED display with a matte surface designed to enhance viewing even in broad daylight. Powered by a dual core Intel Atom N435 processor running at 1.33 GHz, with 1 GB DDR3 memory and a 250 GB hard drive running at 5,400 rpm, this netbook runs on the new MeeGo operating system which boots very fast and is light on resources. Users can also opt to go for DOS or Windows 7 operating system if they so desire. It comes with integrated Intel GMA 3150 graphics, which along with the rest of the components, promises to reduce power consumption by up to 50 times. The N100 is powered by a 3 cell (40 W) battery.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100421111353.htm& lt;/span>
Google Plus steadily gaining ground in social networking space
BOSTON: Google's latest offering ' Google Plus' is steadily gaining ground in the social networking space, so far dominated by Facebook , with the internet giant's social network attracting about 20 million visitors in the initial three weeks and nearly half of these visitors hailing from US and India .
According to estimates by research firm ComScore, Google Plus had 19.93 million unique visitors between June 29 and July 19 period.
The top two countries in this estimate are the US and India. Of the 19.93 million visitors, 5.31 million were from the US and 2.85 million from India.
Another 0.87 million users came from the UK, 0.71 million from Germany and 0.50 million from France.
"I have never seen anything grow this quickly," vice president of industry analysis at ComScore Andrew Lipsman said.
Google Plus, launched on June 28, is Google's answer to rival Facebook.
It lets users post photos, messages, comments and other content from a selected groups of friends.
The service was started as a field trial and the project is by invitation only, which means people can join only if a current member invites them.
Eventually, Google plans to incorporate features of Google Plus in its other services, such as its YouTube video site.
Google CEO Larry Page had last week said that Google Plus had more than 10 million users.
Page said there are "more opportunities for Google today than ever before".
It will be some time before Google catches up with Facebook's scale of more than 750 million users. The other popular micro-blogging site Twitter has more than 200 million registered accounts.
Through 'Google Plus', the internet giant aims to garner a share in the lucrative social networking space that has so far been dominated by the Mark Zuckerberg led popular site.
According to estimates by research firm ComScore, Google Plus had 19.93 million unique visitors between June 29 and July 19 period.
The top two countries in this estimate are the US and India. Of the 19.93 million visitors, 5.31 million were from the US and 2.85 million from India.
Another 0.87 million users came from the UK, 0.71 million from Germany and 0.50 million from France.
"I have never seen anything grow this quickly," vice president of industry analysis at ComScore Andrew Lipsman said.
Google Plus, launched on June 28, is Google's answer to rival Facebook.
It lets users post photos, messages, comments and other content from a selected groups of friends.
The service was started as a field trial and the project is by invitation only, which means people can join only if a current member invites them.
Eventually, Google plans to incorporate features of Google Plus in its other services, such as its YouTube video site.
Google CEO Larry Page had last week said that Google Plus had more than 10 million users.
Page said there are "more opportunities for Google today than ever before".
It will be some time before Google catches up with Facebook's scale of more than 750 million users. The other popular micro-blogging site Twitter has more than 200 million registered accounts.
Through 'Google Plus', the internet giant aims to garner a share in the lucrative social networking space that has so far been dominated by the Mark Zuckerberg led popular site.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Faster_cancer_prognosis_courtesy_IISc_and_Apple-nid-70421-cid--sid-.htmlfont-size: xx-small;">
Thursday 21 July 2011
Should you buy Nokia N9?
N9, the latest smartphone from Nokia, which was launched in Singapore by its chief executive officer, is largely seen as the first and last smartphone that will run MeeGo.
MeeGo operating system was launched in February 2010 but today it stands almost dumped by the company in favour of Windows Phone 7.
So an obvious dilemma that arises is whether one should go for Nokia N9 or not.
The company was never clear in its support for MeeGo. Recently, it promised support for MeeGo for years.
But the famous burning platform memo from Nokia's chief executive officer Stephen Elop effectively made it clear to users that he did not think very highly of Nokia's own platform.
Obviously, users have a perception that Nokia is more excited about the Windows Phone 7 platform.
The first Windows Phone 7 device from Nokia is likely to be launched later this year, which is not very far. The closeness between the launch of N9, a MeeGo device, and WP7 devices from Nokia makes them compete with each other and might tempt a few potential buyers of N9 to wait some more time for a newer Nokia device.
Merits
Nokia N9 comes armed with a large touchscreen, no buttons, and is available in three colours: magenta, cyan and black.
The N9 offers a new user experience, very different from current Nokia smartphones. It is a pure touch smartphone which has no home button or keypad in front, though there are some physical controls on the right side. For most functions Nokia depends on its users making swipe gestures or tapping the screen, which is normal for other smartphone users but new for Nokia users.
However, the positive experience is very difficult to miss simply because the phone is so easy to use — the main reason why iPhone and iPad succeeded. The basic MeeGo experience for users concentrates on making things simpler, which is a great idea.
Facebook and Twitter clients are embedded in its operating system, and most apps are available on the home screen itself.
De-merits
After using it for some time, it becomes clear the device is targeted at style conscious users, and not at serious geeks. Those who want numerous third party apps, for instance, will not want this device. Sadly, that's the trend currently and Nokia N9 misses out on it.
The other problem is, often Nokia needs to come out with clarifications that it will support MeeGo forever. This should have been clear anyway, and Nokia wouldn't be asked to clarify its position time and again. If only Nokia could make up its mind like Samsung, and decided to support two operating systems, the situation would have been clearer.
Nokia N9 runs on an ARM A8 chip, but MeeGo was being developed by both Nokia and Intel. By that logic, N9 should have been running on an Intel chip. We don't know how deeply Intel has been involved with the platform before it pulled out of the partnership. Intel apparently still hasn't given up on MeeGo though.
For more than a decade Nokia was the undisputed king of the handset market, but its market share has been declining rapidly with the arrival of Apple's iPhone and Android powered handsets.
Nokia has a big opportunity with the arrival of N9, which shows that the company has the potential to come up with something fresh and innovative in the smartphone segment, and that it can build an attractive user interface, which was not its strong point earlier. Now, it's up to Nokia to seize this opportunity.
MeeGo operating system was launched in February 2010 but today it stands almost dumped by the company in favour of Windows Phone 7.
So an obvious dilemma that arises is whether one should go for Nokia N9 or not.
The company was never clear in its support for MeeGo. Recently, it promised support for MeeGo for years.
But the famous burning platform memo from Nokia's chief executive officer Stephen Elop effectively made it clear to users that he did not think very highly of Nokia's own platform.
Obviously, users have a perception that Nokia is more excited about the Windows Phone 7 platform.
The first Windows Phone 7 device from Nokia is likely to be launched later this year, which is not very far. The closeness between the launch of N9, a MeeGo device, and WP7 devices from Nokia makes them compete with each other and might tempt a few potential buyers of N9 to wait some more time for a newer Nokia device.
Merits
Nokia N9 comes armed with a large touchscreen, no buttons, and is available in three colours: magenta, cyan and black.
The N9 offers a new user experience, very different from current Nokia smartphones. It is a pure touch smartphone which has no home button or keypad in front, though there are some physical controls on the right side. For most functions Nokia depends on its users making swipe gestures or tapping the screen, which is normal for other smartphone users but new for Nokia users.
However, the positive experience is very difficult to miss simply because the phone is so easy to use — the main reason why iPhone and iPad succeeded. The basic MeeGo experience for users concentrates on making things simpler, which is a great idea.
Facebook and Twitter clients are embedded in its operating system, and most apps are available on the home screen itself.
De-merits
After using it for some time, it becomes clear the device is targeted at style conscious users, and not at serious geeks. Those who want numerous third party apps, for instance, will not want this device. Sadly, that's the trend currently and Nokia N9 misses out on it.
The other problem is, often Nokia needs to come out with clarifications that it will support MeeGo forever. This should have been clear anyway, and Nokia wouldn't be asked to clarify its position time and again. If only Nokia could make up its mind like Samsung, and decided to support two operating systems, the situation would have been clearer.
Nokia N9 runs on an ARM A8 chip, but MeeGo was being developed by both Nokia and Intel. By that logic, N9 should have been running on an Intel chip. We don't know how deeply Intel has been involved with the platform before it pulled out of the partnership. Intel apparently still hasn't given up on MeeGo though.
For more than a decade Nokia was the undisputed king of the handset market, but its market share has been declining rapidly with the arrival of Apple's iPhone and Android powered handsets.
Nokia has a big opportunity with the arrival of N9, which shows that the company has the potential to come up with something fresh and innovative in the smartphone segment, and that it can build an attractive user interface, which was not its strong point earlier. Now, it's up to Nokia to seize this opportunity.
ttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/10062208135
FBI arrests suspected Anonymous hackers
The operation was spread across nine states and focused on 14 people who were allegedly involved in a cyber attack on PayPal in December, in apparent retaliation for the site’s termination of a donation account for Wikileaks following the release of thousands of confidential US State Department cables.
Two other suspects in other cyber-related crimes were also arrested.
In an indictment unsealed Tuesday in the federal court in San Jose, California, the alleged Anonymous members were charged with various counts of conspiracy and intentional damage to a protected computer.
The sweep took place a day after Anonymous and its ally LulzSec hacked the website of the British newspaper the Sun and promised to release a trove of emails from its owner, media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
The group has been linked with numerous denial-of-service attacks, which incapacitate websites by bombarding them with queries from networks of hijacked computers.
Monsanto, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the City of Orlando, Sony, Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal, as well as government sites in Egypt, Turkey, and Tunisia have all been among their recent victims.
Alleged Anonymous members have also been arrested in Britain and Holland.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Videocon_launches_new_range_of_handsets-nid-70077-cid-31.html
German luxury carmaker Mercedes Benz to unveil compact range in India by 2012
The cars with left-hand-drive option would be introduced globally later this year in Europe and in India by 2012-end, Mercedes Benz India MD and CEO Peter Honegg told reporters here.
"Initially, cars with Left Hand Drive option, manufactured at our facilities in Germany and Hungary, will be introduced in Europe later this year. We plan to bring them to India by 2012-13 as Completely Knocked Down (CKD) units," he said, but declined to state its price.
"Right now we don't have the facility to manufacture the compact class at our Chakan facility near Pune," he said.
Currently, Mercedes Benz India manufactures the C, S and E class at their facility in Chakan near Pune.
On the outlook for this year, he said they would clock over 7,000 units in sales compared to last year's 5,800 units.
"Last year we sold 5,800 cars. This year we expect to cros 7,000 units. During January-June (2011) we sold 3,800 units," he said.
Honeggs said the company has invested Rs 400 crore to ramp up the paint shop at their Chakan plant, which has a capacity of 20,000 units. "Our plant with two shift operations has a capacity of 10,000 units.. By next year,it should reach 20,000 and in coming years capacity will reach 40,000 units."
On sale of its Actros buses he said they have set a target of about 130-140 buses this year compared to 70 last year. He said financing options for Mercedes Benz buses would also be covered later this year under the parent company's financial services division.
Honegg said there are 30 dealers all over India and would seek to strengthen their presence in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.
Daimler Financial Services Managing Director Sidhartha Nair said they expect the financial service business to contribute USD 500 million contract volume in the next five years.
"We expect both cars and truck financing to contribute 50 per cent in this services," he said.
While Mercedes Benz Financial would handle the financing options for cars, Daimler Financial Services would also handle financing of its commercial vehicle Bharat Benz, to be rolled out from the Oragadam factory near Chennai next year.
On leasing of Mercedes Benz cars, Honegg said they would initially target public listed companies and then on private owners."India is very new market. We want to try first in stock market listed companies.After that we will focus on others. About 30 per cent of vehicles are leased today."
Daimler Group had earlier today formally launched its financial services division at an investment of USD 50 million. It aims to generate volume of USD 500 million. Currently, Daimler Financial Services operates in 40 countries with a contract volume of Euro 63.7 billion.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Reports_of_Google_acquiring_Slide_emerge-nid-70410-cid--sid-.html
Asus launches Transformer tablet in India
The docking station features a full Qwerty keyboard, a multi-touch touchpad, two USB ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a built-in SD card reader. A key highlight of the docking station is its own batteries which act as a booster enhancing the stand-by time of the whole unit from just 6 hours to 16 hours.
"We are excited to launch the much-awaited ASUS Transformer in India. This latest creation will bring revolution in the field of technology with its magical features and stylish looks. With this innovative product, the Indian consumers would experience cutting edge technology that the world has been talking of," commented Alex Huang, country head, Asus Technology (India).
"This Android tablet employs ASUS's netbook expertise, including a keyboard dock that not only makes typing easier it also doubles the battery life and boosts connectivity," informed Unaez Quraishi, sales and distribution director, system business, Asus Technology (India).
Weighing about 680 gm and powered by NVIDIA Tegra 2 Dual core processor, Transformer browses the web at blazing speeds, providing a snappier response time and better performance when multi-tasking. It comes installed with Google's Android v3.0 Honeycomb operating system.
The surrounding of this glossy, black iPad-like gadget has a strip of bronzed metal. Merely 13mm thick for ultra-portability, Transformer has a touchpad, 3.5mm audio jack, two USB ports as well as a built-in SD Card reader for easy file sharing and storage expandability makes the Transformer a versatile media hub.
The new offering comes preloaded with Polaris Office 3.0, a professional mobile office solution that helps users to edit various types of office documents. This makes the device a suitable option for professionals.
Yet another unique feature of the Transformer is the ultra-convenient Asus WebStorage with one year of unlimited storage space that provides worry-free cloud computing.
Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 tablet is available in India at a price of Rs 32,999.
s-vbs.com
Apple profits up 124% year-on-year after record iPhone sales
Apple has delighted its shareholders by racking up another record quarter, strengthened by strong sales of its iPhones, iPads and record sales of its Mac computers. It also hinted that the next version of the iPhone would be released in September, alluding to a "future product transition" then.
The firm's revenues were $28.57bn, up 90% year-on-year, and profits $7.31bn, up 124%, as it sold 20.34m iPhones – more than double the number sold last year, ahead of the release of the iPhone 4 – and 9.25m iPads, almost triple the number sold during its debut quarter in 2010. "We're thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever," said Apple's chief executive, Steve Jobs, on Tuesday.
The company's stock surged by $23.22, or 6.2%, to break $400 for the first time, and bringing it closer to being the most valuable company in the world by market capitalisation.
As the figures were released, the Wall Street Journal reported that some members of Apple's board have been talking to executive recruiters about finding a successor to co-founder and chief executive Jobs, who has been on extended medical leave from the company since January, while remaining as CEO.
The WSJ report, written by people familiar with the thinking of the company's topmost executives, says the board had approached the head of another "high-profile" technology company, apparently for informal soundings. Jobs told the WSJ he thought the idea was "hogwash".
He is taking his second extended leave in two years, and while neither Apple nor Jobs has announced the specific reason, it is believed to be due to complications arising from the neuroendocrine cancer diagnosed in 2003.
Aside from the WSJ story, which could cause discord in Apple's ranks, the company received more good news when it emerged that the Canadian government would not review the sales of $4.5bn of patents from the bankrupt communications company Nortel. Apple was in a consortium of successful bidders, along with Microsoft, for patents covering a number of mobile phone technologies against Google, whose Android mobile operating software has taken the largest share of the smartphone market.
Sales of the iPhone, in its best-ever quarter, mean that Apple will almost certainly have passed the formerly dominant Nokia to become the second-largest seller of smartphones in the world, behind Samsung. Nokia is expected to report a loss for the quarter when it reports on Thursday.
"Apple could overtake LG by the next quarter and become the third largest mobile phone vendor worldwide," said Carolina Milanesi, smartphone analyst at the research company Gartner. She estimated Apple could have sold 10m iPads in the quarter but for a fire at the Foxconn factory, which lost roughly 1m units.
Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, said 57% of global Fortune 500 companies were either using or testing iPhones due to customer demands, and that 47% of them were testing the iPad tablet. He said there was a "future product transition that we're not going to talk about today" coming in the September quarter – the inference is that it will be an update to the iPhone line.
Tim Cook, the chief operating officer who has been running the company in Jobs's absence, said that "we sold every iPad we could make".
The company will on Wednesday release the next version of its OSX operating system, called Lion, which it will deliver directly from its online store.
Analyst consensus ahead of the forecasts were that it would post $24.92bn in revenues and earnings of $5.5bn. After a quiet quarter, Apple's shares have ramped up in the past week, closing on Monday at an all-time high of $373.80 despite the absence of Jobs.
The expectation had also been that it would sell between 15m and 20m iPhones, between 7.2m and 9m iPads, and 4m Macs. Sales of the iPod, the music player that propelled Apple's successful comeback following its launch in October 2001, have continued to decline, a trend that began in 2009.
The record sales of its Macintosh computers, while small in the context of the wider PC market, showed 15% year-on-year growth – the 21st quarter in a row they have grown faster than the broad market, which grew by just 2% in the same period. However, the growth in computer sales was the lowest the company had seen in two years.”
The firm's revenues were $28.57bn, up 90% year-on-year, and profits $7.31bn, up 124%, as it sold 20.34m iPhones – more than double the number sold last year, ahead of the release of the iPhone 4 – and 9.25m iPads, almost triple the number sold during its debut quarter in 2010. "We're thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever," said Apple's chief executive, Steve Jobs, on Tuesday.
The company's stock surged by $23.22, or 6.2%, to break $400 for the first time, and bringing it closer to being the most valuable company in the world by market capitalisation.
As the figures were released, the Wall Street Journal reported that some members of Apple's board have been talking to executive recruiters about finding a successor to co-founder and chief executive Jobs, who has been on extended medical leave from the company since January, while remaining as CEO.
The WSJ report, written by people familiar with the thinking of the company's topmost executives, says the board had approached the head of another "high-profile" technology company, apparently for informal soundings. Jobs told the WSJ he thought the idea was "hogwash".
He is taking his second extended leave in two years, and while neither Apple nor Jobs has announced the specific reason, it is believed to be due to complications arising from the neuroendocrine cancer diagnosed in 2003.
Aside from the WSJ story, which could cause discord in Apple's ranks, the company received more good news when it emerged that the Canadian government would not review the sales of $4.5bn of patents from the bankrupt communications company Nortel. Apple was in a consortium of successful bidders, along with Microsoft, for patents covering a number of mobile phone technologies against Google, whose Android mobile operating software has taken the largest share of the smartphone market.
Sales of the iPhone, in its best-ever quarter, mean that Apple will almost certainly have passed the formerly dominant Nokia to become the second-largest seller of smartphones in the world, behind Samsung. Nokia is expected to report a loss for the quarter when it reports on Thursday.
"Apple could overtake LG by the next quarter and become the third largest mobile phone vendor worldwide," said Carolina Milanesi, smartphone analyst at the research company Gartner. She estimated Apple could have sold 10m iPads in the quarter but for a fire at the Foxconn factory, which lost roughly 1m units.
Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, said 57% of global Fortune 500 companies were either using or testing iPhones due to customer demands, and that 47% of them were testing the iPad tablet. He said there was a "future product transition that we're not going to talk about today" coming in the September quarter – the inference is that it will be an update to the iPhone line.
Tim Cook, the chief operating officer who has been running the company in Jobs's absence, said that "we sold every iPad we could make".
The company will on Wednesday release the next version of its OSX operating system, called Lion, which it will deliver directly from its online store.
Analyst consensus ahead of the forecasts were that it would post $24.92bn in revenues and earnings of $5.5bn. After a quiet quarter, Apple's shares have ramped up in the past week, closing on Monday at an all-time high of $373.80 despite the absence of Jobs.
The expectation had also been that it would sell between 15m and 20m iPhones, between 7.2m and 9m iPads, and 4m Macs. Sales of the iPod, the music player that propelled Apple's successful comeback following its launch in October 2001, have continued to decline, a trend that began in 2009.
The record sales of its Macintosh computers, while small in the context of the wider PC market, showed 15% year-on-year growth – the 21st quarter in a row they have grown faster than the broad market, which grew by just 2% in the same period. However, the growth in computer sales was the lowest the company had seen in two years.”
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Faster_cancer_prognosis_courtesy_IISc_and_Apple-nid-70421-cid--sid-.html
Apple profit rockets with hot iPad, iPhone sales
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple revenue and profit rocketed to record highs in the recent quarter as sales of iPhones and iPads more than doubled with help from accelerating demand in Asia.
Apple said Tuesday that its net profit more than doubled to $7.31 billion on unprecedented revenue of $28.57 billion in the quarter ending June 25.
"We're thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82 percent and profits up 125 percent," Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said in a release.
"Right now, we're very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall," he continued.
Apple stock price, which had pumped up in anticipation of stellar earnings results climbed even further, rising more than four percent to $394 a share in after-hours trading.
The Cupertino, California-based company reported that it sold 20.34 million iPhones and 9.25 million iPad tablet computers in sales figures that eclipsed the same quarter last year by 142 percent and 183 percent respectively.
Apple saw the number of Macintosh computers sold climb 14 percent to 3.95 million, while iPod sales slid 20 percent to 7.54 million units.
"We are extremely pleased with our performance," said Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer.
"Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $25 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $5.50."
Apple announced that Wednesday it will release the latest version of its Macintosh computer operating system, dubbed Lion, which boasts more than 250 new features including support for touch-screen controls.
Sales of Macintosh were up 14 percent from the year-ago quarter and dramatically outpaced the overall computer industry.
"We do believe that some customers chose to purchase an iPad instead of a new Mac during the quarter, but we think even more customers chose to purchase an iPad over a Windows PC (personal computer)," Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook said during an earnings conference call.
Apple sold every iPad 2 it could make during the quarter and has been hustling to increase supplies of the coveted tablet computers.
Apple said Tuesday that its net profit more than doubled to $7.31 billion on unprecedented revenue of $28.57 billion in the quarter ending June 25.
"We're thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82 percent and profits up 125 percent," Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said in a release.
"Right now, we're very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall," he continued.
Apple stock price, which had pumped up in anticipation of stellar earnings results climbed even further, rising more than four percent to $394 a share in after-hours trading.
The Cupertino, California-based company reported that it sold 20.34 million iPhones and 9.25 million iPad tablet computers in sales figures that eclipsed the same quarter last year by 142 percent and 183 percent respectively.
Apple saw the number of Macintosh computers sold climb 14 percent to 3.95 million, while iPod sales slid 20 percent to 7.54 million units.
"We are extremely pleased with our performance," said Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer.
"Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $25 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $5.50."
Apple announced that Wednesday it will release the latest version of its Macintosh computer operating system, dubbed Lion, which boasts more than 250 new features including support for touch-screen controls.
Sales of Macintosh were up 14 percent from the year-ago quarter and dramatically outpaced the overall computer industry.
"We do believe that some customers chose to purchase an iPad instead of a new Mac during the quarter, but we think even more customers chose to purchase an iPad over a Windows PC (personal computer)," Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook said during an earnings conference call.
Apple sold every iPad 2 it could make during the quarter and has been hustling to increase supplies of the coveted tablet computers.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Faster_cancer_prognosis_courtesy_IISc_and_Apple-nid-70421-cid--sid-.htmlfont-size: xx-small;">
Don't make common eating blunders
“In the quest to eat healthy, you may be unwittingly making some common eating blunders. Experts say even some of the most diet-conscious people make these errors. Here's what you should know...
- Are you among those that prefers to buy fruits and vegetables a week in advance? Keeping them in your fridge robs them of essential nutrients, which are so vital for your body. Instead of stocking up for a week or two, make it a habit to buy fresh vegetables every few days.
- Go easy on processed foods. Processed items generally tend to contain more sodium and saturated fat, and lesser amounts of fibre and essential nutrients. Opt for fresh, wholesome foods. If you absolutely must go for processed foods, choose those that contain whole grains (whole-wheat bread, tortillas and pasta), have no trans fat and are low in saturated fat.
- Enjoy eating out? Keep it to a minimum. The amount of outside food you eat can have a detrimental effect on your health. Home-cooked meals are not only made in a cleaner environment, they also tend to be more nutritious. If you must eat out, stick to a routine - eat only one or two meals outside in a week.
- If you're trying to lose weight , having long gaps in-between meals will make it all the more hard to shed those pounds. Plan your meals, so that you never suffer from hunger pangs.
- Cook at home. Always keep a well stocked refrigerator and a pantry. Buy some multipurpose utensils and browse through recipe books. Start with simple soup, pasta, salad and sandwich recipes and gradually move on to more complex dishes.
- Peeling certain vegetables and fruits robs them of their nutrients . Apples and tomatoes should be eaten the way they are. Also, leave a gap of 15-20 minutes after you chop garlic before adding it to your cooking since this increases its cancer-fighting benefits.
- Avocado, canola or olive oil with your salad is actually healthy for you, but in moderation.
- Don't abstain completely from avocados, nuts and olives. They are high in fat and calories , but they're low in saturated fat. These items contribute smart fats to your diet , and are laden with fibre and phytochemicals.
- Are you among those that prefers to buy fruits and vegetables a week in advance? Keeping them in your fridge robs them of essential nutrients, which are so vital for your body. Instead of stocking up for a week or two, make it a habit to buy fresh vegetables every few days.
- Go easy on processed foods. Processed items generally tend to contain more sodium and saturated fat, and lesser amounts of fibre and essential nutrients. Opt for fresh, wholesome foods. If you absolutely must go for processed foods, choose those that contain whole grains (whole-wheat bread, tortillas and pasta), have no trans fat and are low in saturated fat.
- Enjoy eating out? Keep it to a minimum. The amount of outside food you eat can have a detrimental effect on your health. Home-cooked meals are not only made in a cleaner environment, they also tend to be more nutritious. If you must eat out, stick to a routine - eat only one or two meals outside in a week.
- If you're trying to lose weight , having long gaps in-between meals will make it all the more hard to shed those pounds. Plan your meals, so that you never suffer from hunger pangs.
- Cook at home. Always keep a well stocked refrigerator and a pantry. Buy some multipurpose utensils and browse through recipe books. Start with simple soup, pasta, salad and sandwich recipes and gradually move on to more complex dishes.
- Peeling certain vegetables and fruits robs them of their nutrients . Apples and tomatoes should be eaten the way they are. Also, leave a gap of 15-20 minutes after you chop garlic before adding it to your cooking since this increases its cancer-fighting benefits.
- Avocado, canola or olive oil with your salad is actually healthy for you, but in moderation.
- Don't abstain completely from avocados, nuts and olives. They are high in fat and calories , but they're low in saturated fat. These items contribute smart fats to your diet , and are laden with fibre and phytochemicals.
Wipro Q1 net up 1.23 per cent at Rs. 1,334.9 crore
The country’s third largest software exporter Wipro today reported a growth of 1.23 per cent in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended June 30, 2011, to Rs. 1,334.9 crore.
Last year, the company had posted a net profit of Rs. 1,318.6 crore for the first quarter, as per international accounting standards.
Net income from sales during the reporting quarter stood at Rs. 8,564 crore, as against Rs. 7,236.4 crore in Q1, FY’11, up 18.34 per cent.
“We are seeing early signs of positive momentum after the re-organisation. Clients continue to focus on optimising operations, creating new products and getting access to newer markets. We will continue to make investments that bring superior value to our clients as they try to win in this market,” Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said in a statement.
IT services, which contributed 75 per cent to the company’s revenues in Q1, FY’12, stood at $ 1,408 million, a sequential increase of 0.5 per cent and a year-on-year increase of 16.9 per cent.
The company said it expects its revenues from the IT services business to be in the range of $ 1,436 million to $ 1,464 million for the second quarter ending September 30, 2011.
The IT services division hired 4,105 new people this quarter, taking its total headcount to 1,26,490 employees as of June 30, 2011. It added 49 new customers during the reporting quarter.
“Our investments in client mining are starting to show results, with four customers contributing more than $ 100 million of revenues. We have maintained our operating margins in the current quarter despite one month impact of salary revision,” Wipro Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer Suresh Senapaty said.
On a standalone basis, the company has reported a net profit of Rs 1,219.3 crore for the quarter, a growth of 9.84 per cent from Rs. 1,110 crore in the same period last year.
The company’s cash and cash equivalents stood at Rs. 5,075.2 crore as of June 30, 2011.
Sales of IT products accounted for 12 per cent of total company revenue in Q1, FY’12, at Rs. 1,006 crore, a growth of 21 per cent year-on-year.
Wipro’s consumer care and lighting business recorded revenues of Rs. 755 crore in Q1, FY’12, an increase of 18 per cent year-on-year and accounting for 9 per cent of Wipro’s total revenues during the quarter.
s-vbs.com
Bipartisan Plan for Budget Deal Buoys President '
WASHINGTON — President Obama seized on the re-emergence of an ambitious bipartisan budget plan in the Senate on Tuesday to invigorate his push for a big debt-reduction deal, and he summoned Congressional leaders back to the bargaining table this week to “start talking turkey.”
The bipartisan proposal from the so-called Gang of Six senators to reduce deficits by nearly $4 trillion over the coming decade — and its warm reception from 43 other senators of both parties — renewed hopes for a deal days after talks between Mr. Obama and Congressional leaders had reached an impasse.
Financial markets rallied on the news. And with time running out before the deadline of Aug. 2 to raise the government’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, Mr. Obama’s quick embrace of the plan left House Republicans at greater risk of being politically isolated on the issue if they continue to rule out any compromise that includes higher tax revenues.
Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader who has led opposition to any deal including tax increases, later issued a statement saying the bipartisan Senate plan includes “some constructive ideas to deal with our debt.”
But Mr. Cantor stopped far short of endorsing it. And House Republicans passed legislation on Tuesday evening calling for deep spending cuts and the adoption of a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. Though the legislation has no chance of passing the Senate, the 234-to-190 vote was a symbolic statement by conservatives heading into the end game of a confrontation whose economic and political stakes are hard to overstate.
The Senate group’s plan, modeled on the recommendations last year of a bipartisan fiscal commission established by Mr. Obama, calls for both deep spending cuts and new revenues through an overhaul of the income-tax code.
But while its sponsorship by staunch conservatives as well as liberals suggested enough flexibility within both parties to get a deal eventually, it would be all but impossible to turn it into detailed legislation — at the moment it is a four-page outline — and pass it in less than two weeks. Both parties were considering ways to use the proposal as the basis for a broader budget agreement if they can find a way to get past the immediate pressure to increase the debt limit. s-vbs.com
The bipartisan proposal from the so-called Gang of Six senators to reduce deficits by nearly $4 trillion over the coming decade — and its warm reception from 43 other senators of both parties — renewed hopes for a deal days after talks between Mr. Obama and Congressional leaders had reached an impasse.
Financial markets rallied on the news. And with time running out before the deadline of Aug. 2 to raise the government’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, Mr. Obama’s quick embrace of the plan left House Republicans at greater risk of being politically isolated on the issue if they continue to rule out any compromise that includes higher tax revenues.
Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader who has led opposition to any deal including tax increases, later issued a statement saying the bipartisan Senate plan includes “some constructive ideas to deal with our debt.”
But Mr. Cantor stopped far short of endorsing it. And House Republicans passed legislation on Tuesday evening calling for deep spending cuts and the adoption of a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. Though the legislation has no chance of passing the Senate, the 234-to-190 vote was a symbolic statement by conservatives heading into the end game of a confrontation whose economic and political stakes are hard to overstate.
The Senate group’s plan, modeled on the recommendations last year of a bipartisan fiscal commission established by Mr. Obama, calls for both deep spending cuts and new revenues through an overhaul of the income-tax code.
But while its sponsorship by staunch conservatives as well as liberals suggested enough flexibility within both parties to get a deal eventually, it would be all but impossible to turn it into detailed legislation — at the moment it is a four-page outline — and pass it in less than two weeks. Both parties were considering ways to use the proposal as the basis for a broader budget agreement if they can find a way to get past the immediate pressure to increase the debt limit. s-vbs.com
Wednesday 20 July 2011
Political +ve
Murdochs, Brooks face questioning by MPs '
Members of Parliament are to question Rupert Murdoch, his son James and Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of Mr. Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. newspaper arm, on Tuesday about the phone hacking scandal, which has spread from their media empire to the British Prime Minister’s office.
Prime Minister David Cameron also has called for an emergency session of Parliament on the scandal for Wednesday and cut short his visit to Africa to try to contain the widening crisis.
In a further twist, a former News of the World reporter who helped blow the whistle on the scandal was found dead on Monday in his home, but it was not believed to be suspicious.
Mr. Rupert Murdoch shut down the News of the World tabloid after it was accused of hacking into the voice mail of celebrities, politicians, other journalists and even murder victims.
On the eve of the televised Parliament hearing, News Corp. board member Thomas Perkins said Mr. Rupert Murdoch has the full support of the company’s board of directors. Mr. Perkins said the board is not considering elevating Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey to replace Mr. Rupert Murdoch as CEO.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Mr. Perkins denied a report that said that independent directors on Monday considered the company’s succession plan, including naming Mr. Carey as CEO.
The crisis has roiled the upper ranks of Britain’s police, with Monday’s resignation of Assistant Commissioner John Yates — Scotland Yard’s top anti-terrorist officer — following that on Sunday of police chief Paul Stephenson over their links to Neil Wallis, an arrested former executive from Mr. Rupert Murdoch’s shuttered News of the World tabloid whom police had employed as a media consultant.
The government quickly announced an inquiry into police-media relations and possible corruption.
Home Secretary Theresa May said that people were naturally asking “who polices the police,” and announced an inquiry into “instances of undue influence, inappropriate contractual arrangements and other abuses of power in police relationships with the media and other parties.”
The Independent Police Complaints Commission also said it was looking into the claims, including one that Mr. Yates inappropriately helped get a job for Mr. Wallis’ daughter. Mr. Wallis, former executive editor of News of the World, was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications.
Mr. Yates said he had done nothing wrong.
“I have acted with complete integrity,” he said. “My conscience is clear.”
In another development, police confirmed that a second former News of the World employee was employed by Scotland Yard. Alex Marunchak had been employed as a Ukrainian language interpreter with access to highly sensitive police information between 1980 and 2000, the Metropolitan Police said.
Scotland Yard said it recognised “that this may cause concern and that some professions may be incompatible with the role of an interpreter,” adding that the matter will be looked into.
The Prime Minister is under heavy pressure after the resignations of Mr. Stephenson and Mr. Yates, and Sunday’s arrest of Ms. Brooks — a friend and neighbour whom he has met at least six times since entering office 14 months ago — on suspicion of hacking into the cell phones of newsmakers and bribing police for information.
Mr. Cameron’s critics grew louder in London as he visited South Africa on a two-day visit to the continent already cut short by the crisis. He dropped stops in Rwanda and South Sudan as his government faces growing questions about its cosy relationship with Mr. Rupert Murdoch’s media empire during a scandal that has taken down top police and media figures with breathtaking speed.
Parliament had been scheduled to break for the summer on Tuesday after lawmakers grilled Mr. Rupert Murdoch, his son Mr. James Murdoch and Ms. Brooks, in a highly anticipated public airing about the scandal. Mr. Cameron, however, said MPs should reconvene on Wednesday “so I can make a further statement.”
Mr. Cameron insisted his Conservative-led government had “taken very decisive action” by setting up a judge-led inquiry into the wrongdoing at Mr. Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct tabloid News of the World and into the overall relations between British politicians, the media and police.
“We have helped to ensure a large and properly resourced police investigation that can get to the bottom of what happened, and wrongdoing, and we have pretty much demonstrated complete transparency in terms of media contact,” Mr. Cameron said.
Opposition leader Ed Miliband, however, said Mr. Cameron needed to answer “a whole series of questions” about his relationships with Ms. Brooks, Mr. James Murdoch and Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor whom Mr. Cameron later hired as his communications chief. Mr. Coulson resigned that post in January and was arrested earlier this month in the scandal.
s-vbs.com
Prime Minister David Cameron also has called for an emergency session of Parliament on the scandal for Wednesday and cut short his visit to Africa to try to contain the widening crisis.
In a further twist, a former News of the World reporter who helped blow the whistle on the scandal was found dead on Monday in his home, but it was not believed to be suspicious.
Mr. Rupert Murdoch shut down the News of the World tabloid after it was accused of hacking into the voice mail of celebrities, politicians, other journalists and even murder victims.
On the eve of the televised Parliament hearing, News Corp. board member Thomas Perkins said Mr. Rupert Murdoch has the full support of the company’s board of directors. Mr. Perkins said the board is not considering elevating Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey to replace Mr. Rupert Murdoch as CEO.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Mr. Perkins denied a report that said that independent directors on Monday considered the company’s succession plan, including naming Mr. Carey as CEO.
The crisis has roiled the upper ranks of Britain’s police, with Monday’s resignation of Assistant Commissioner John Yates — Scotland Yard’s top anti-terrorist officer — following that on Sunday of police chief Paul Stephenson over their links to Neil Wallis, an arrested former executive from Mr. Rupert Murdoch’s shuttered News of the World tabloid whom police had employed as a media consultant.
The government quickly announced an inquiry into police-media relations and possible corruption.
Home Secretary Theresa May said that people were naturally asking “who polices the police,” and announced an inquiry into “instances of undue influence, inappropriate contractual arrangements and other abuses of power in police relationships with the media and other parties.”
The Independent Police Complaints Commission also said it was looking into the claims, including one that Mr. Yates inappropriately helped get a job for Mr. Wallis’ daughter. Mr. Wallis, former executive editor of News of the World, was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications.
Mr. Yates said he had done nothing wrong.
“I have acted with complete integrity,” he said. “My conscience is clear.”
In another development, police confirmed that a second former News of the World employee was employed by Scotland Yard. Alex Marunchak had been employed as a Ukrainian language interpreter with access to highly sensitive police information between 1980 and 2000, the Metropolitan Police said.
Scotland Yard said it recognised “that this may cause concern and that some professions may be incompatible with the role of an interpreter,” adding that the matter will be looked into.
The Prime Minister is under heavy pressure after the resignations of Mr. Stephenson and Mr. Yates, and Sunday’s arrest of Ms. Brooks — a friend and neighbour whom he has met at least six times since entering office 14 months ago — on suspicion of hacking into the cell phones of newsmakers and bribing police for information.
Mr. Cameron’s critics grew louder in London as he visited South Africa on a two-day visit to the continent already cut short by the crisis. He dropped stops in Rwanda and South Sudan as his government faces growing questions about its cosy relationship with Mr. Rupert Murdoch’s media empire during a scandal that has taken down top police and media figures with breathtaking speed.
Parliament had been scheduled to break for the summer on Tuesday after lawmakers grilled Mr. Rupert Murdoch, his son Mr. James Murdoch and Ms. Brooks, in a highly anticipated public airing about the scandal. Mr. Cameron, however, said MPs should reconvene on Wednesday “so I can make a further statement.”
Mr. Cameron insisted his Conservative-led government had “taken very decisive action” by setting up a judge-led inquiry into the wrongdoing at Mr. Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct tabloid News of the World and into the overall relations between British politicians, the media and police.
“We have helped to ensure a large and properly resourced police investigation that can get to the bottom of what happened, and wrongdoing, and we have pretty much demonstrated complete transparency in terms of media contact,” Mr. Cameron said.
Opposition leader Ed Miliband, however, said Mr. Cameron needed to answer “a whole series of questions” about his relationships with Ms. Brooks, Mr. James Murdoch and Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor whom Mr. Cameron later hired as his communications chief. Mr. Coulson resigned that post in January and was arrested earlier this month in the scandal.
Top 6 innovative keyboards
No matter how expensive your sunglasses may be, it fails to protect you from the sun’s blinding glare.
Which is why Chris Mullin, PhD, a formerly local inventor and entrepreneur, has teamed up with the University at Buffalo to develop sunglasses that detect bright spots of light and darken specific parts of the lens to fight the sun.
“Our products let users see more in glare situations than ever before, because they reduce direct glare 10 to 100 times more than any other sunglasses,” says Mullin, adding, “when there is no glare, it’s just a pair of sunglasses.” Mullin, together with UB electrical—engineering professor Albert Titus, PhD, produced the state—of—the—art sunglasses that combine sensors and miniaturized electronics to identify and block bright glare.
The glasses’ lenses are actually liquid crystal display (LCD) screens, capable of creating dark spots that specifically target glaring light.
A pinhole camera in the bridge of the glasses takes a picture of the frame’s line of vision. The camera itself analyzes the image and scans it for glare that exceeds a certain threshold.
The camera then alerts an adjacent microcontroller, which directs the LCD to send extra pixels of shade to that portion of the lens, displaying a four— to six—millimeter gray square in front of the eye.
The square moves with the wearer to block the source of glare at any angle but still allows the surroundings to remain visible. If the sun moves, then so does the LCD spot.
This whole process takes about 50 milliseconds. Although the sunglasses are not yet ready for the consumer market, they are garnering significant attention: these ‘smart’ shades were named in June 1 of Popular Science’s top 10 inventions of 2011.
2. Wow-Keys by Omnio
One of the unique and amazing things about this keyboard is that this 1.6-pound wireless keyboard gets a charge from sunlight or indoor lighting, so it never needs batteries
. You can download software to monitor the charge level and measure available room lighting. You can also program keys for quick access to e-mail and your desktops search window and calculator. It is available at a price of 3600.
3. Smartfish Reflex
It can be awesome keyboard as it can be a great help for people with repetitive stress injuries. It is designed to reduce wrist strain. After 2,500 clicks, a motor moves the t
wo trays slightly to the right or left so your hands don not stay in the same position all day. We liked the keyboard's flat, Chiclet-style keys. It is available at a price of 6750.
4. Mini Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard
Mini Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard has built in rechargeable Li-ion battery, Micro USB port in charging. Colour LED for working status indication. Built in i
ntelligent power manage software for power conservation and it works with iPad/iPhone4.0 OS/PS3/PC/Smart Phone/HTPC. It is up to 10m Charging time about 3-4 hours Compatible mobile OS: Google Android OS Windows Mobile(6.0 & later)OS Nokia Symbian S60(V3.0 & later)OS iPhone 4.0 OS. It is available at 555.75.
5. Luxeed U7 Dynamic Pixel LED Keyboard
Each key on this 1.75-pound keyboard can be programmed to light up in one of seven colors. Assign colors to commonly used keys?for instance, the Tab or Retu
rn buttons to make them stand out, or color-code an entire bank of keys. You can create up to four preset color schemes and toggle among them with the press of a button. During our tests, the color coding was actually helpful. Unfortunately, the keyboard's raised, rubbery keys slowed us down. It cost around 5850.
6. Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750
This 1.6-pound wireless keyboard gets a charge from sunlight or indoor lighting, so it never needs batteries. One can download software to monitor the
charge level and measure available room lighting. You can also program keys for quick access to e-mail and your desktops search window and calculator. It is available at a price of 3600.
Which is why Chris Mullin, PhD, a formerly local inventor and entrepreneur, has teamed up with the University at Buffalo to develop sunglasses that detect bright spots of light and darken specific parts of the lens to fight the sun.
“Our products let users see more in glare situations than ever before, because they reduce direct glare 10 to 100 times more than any other sunglasses,” says Mullin, adding, “when there is no glare, it’s just a pair of sunglasses.” Mullin, together with UB electrical—engineering professor Albert Titus, PhD, produced the state—of—the—art sunglasses that combine sensors and miniaturized electronics to identify and block bright glare.
The glasses’ lenses are actually liquid crystal display (LCD) screens, capable of creating dark spots that specifically target glaring light.
A pinhole camera in the bridge of the glasses takes a picture of the frame’s line of vision. The camera itself analyzes the image and scans it for glare that exceeds a certain threshold.
The camera then alerts an adjacent microcontroller, which directs the LCD to send extra pixels of shade to that portion of the lens, displaying a four— to six—millimeter gray square in front of the eye.
The square moves with the wearer to block the source of glare at any angle but still allows the surroundings to remain visible. If the sun moves, then so does the LCD spot.
This whole process takes about 50 milliseconds. Although the sunglasses are not yet ready for the consumer market, they are garnering significant attention: these ‘smart’ shades were named in June 1 of Popular Science’s top 10 inventions of 2011.
2. Wow-Keys by Omnio
One of the unique and amazing things about this keyboard is that this 1.6-pound wireless keyboard gets a charge from sunlight or indoor lighting, so it never needs batteries
. You can download software to monitor the charge level and measure available room lighting. You can also program keys for quick access to e-mail and your desktops search window and calculator. It is available at a price of 3600.
3. Smartfish Reflex
It can be awesome keyboard as it can be a great help for people with repetitive stress injuries. It is designed to reduce wrist strain. After 2,500 clicks, a motor moves the t
wo trays slightly to the right or left so your hands don not stay in the same position all day. We liked the keyboard's flat, Chiclet-style keys. It is available at a price of 6750.
4. Mini Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard
Mini Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard has built in rechargeable Li-ion battery, Micro USB port in charging. Colour LED for working status indication. Built in i
ntelligent power manage software for power conservation and it works with iPad/iPhone4.0 OS/PS3/PC/Smart Phone/HTPC. It is up to 10m Charging time about 3-4 hours Compatible mobile OS: Google Android OS Windows Mobile(6.0 & later)OS Nokia Symbian S60(V3.0 & later)OS iPhone 4.0 OS. It is available at 555.75.
5. Luxeed U7 Dynamic Pixel LED Keyboard
Each key on this 1.75-pound keyboard can be programmed to light up in one of seven colors. Assign colors to commonly used keys?for instance, the Tab or Retu
rn buttons to make them stand out, or color-code an entire bank of keys. You can create up to four preset color schemes and toggle among them with the press of a button. During our tests, the color coding was actually helpful. Unfortunately, the keyboard's raised, rubbery keys slowed us down. It cost around 5850.
6. Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750
This 1.6-pound wireless keyboard gets a charge from sunlight or indoor lighting, so it never needs batteries. One can download software to monitor the
charge level and measure available room lighting. You can also program keys for quick access to e-mail and your desktops search window and calculator. It is available at a price of 3600.
ttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/10062208135
Tips to make your browser secure
 Browsers may be among the most commonly used applications, but they also offer the greatest number of attack options for dangerous content on the net. To keep viruses, worms and other malware away from your computer when surfing, it's crucial to configure your browser for security. The firewall on a DSL router is a good first step for protecting the computer during surfing, says Marco Rinne from the computer portal chip.de. But that doesn't hold true if your browser is out of date: “Internet Explorer 6 and 7 or Firefox 2 no longer satisfy current security standards,” he says. For optimal protection, he therefore urges users to keep their browsers updated. Thereare numerous security tools already present in Firefox and Internet Explorer. The pop-up blocker, for example, prevents more than just annoying ads. It also throttles other windows that can be used to sneak malicious software onto PCs. Phishing filters protect personal data against theft. Firefox offers additional configuration options under the Settings item in the Security tab of the Options dialog box: this includes the ability to block risky or forged websites. It's also a good idea to prohibit websites from installing add-ons on their own. Similar settings are possible under Internet Explorer in the Security tab of the Internet Options dialog box, accessible from the Tools menu. Computer owners should also activate all options for warning against attacks, advises Markus Linnemann, managing director of the Institute for Internet Security (ifis) at the Polytechnic University of Gelsenkirchen in Germany. This applies in particular to warnings about suspicious content to be displayed using ActiveX, Flash, or JavaScript. Yet the warning mechanism on most browsers alone isn't usually enough, Linnemann says. Those who wish to be especially careful can, for example, use the Firefox add-on 'No Script,' which blocks all active content of a website by default and allows the user to decide which should be permitted. The problem is that most users are unable to determine which content represents a threat to their computer, Rinne msays. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/personal-tech/computing/Tips-to-make-your-browser-secure/articleshow/6118586.cms |
Not stopping the production of PlayBook tablet, says BlackBerry
Launched in April, the first BlackBerry tablet has failed to make its presence felt in the tablet market, leave alone challenge the leader iPad from Apple. The RIM tablet sold just 500,000 units in the first six weeks of its launch, compared to one million iPads sold by Apple within the first month of its launch April 2010.
RIM Monday dismissed reports about stopping the production of the PlayBook, calling them "pure fiction".
In a statement to the Canadian media, the Waterloo-based company said, "Over the past month, the PlayBook has launched in 16 additional markets around the world and further rollouts are planned for Southeast Asia, Western Europe and the Middle East in the coming weeks.''
The BlackBerry tablet has been trashed as it cannot connect to the internet over next-generation cellular network. A user cannot access email and content unless unless he is a BlackBerry subscriber because only then can he tether it to his smart phone via BlackBerry Bridge software.
RIM has promised 4G PlayBooks later this summer. Apple also offers three WiFi-only as well as WiFi-only+3G iPads.
WiFi-only models are good for consumers as cost less but carriers prefer to support cellular-equipped tablets as they earn additional revenue by selling monthly data plans.
Despite RIM's denial about stopping production of the PlayBook, analysts here said RIM could possibly do that as it is now more focussed on its new line-up of BlackBerry smart phones to be unveiled later this year. s-vbs.com
Famous Scientist
Hermann von Helmholtz
ErHermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (August 31, 1821 – September 8, 1894) was a German physician and physicist who made significant contributions to several widely varied areas of modern science. In physiology and psychology, he is known for his mathematics of the eye, theories of vision, ideas on the visual perception of space, color vision research, and on the sensation of tone, perception of sound, and empiricism. In physics, he is known for his theories on the conservation of energy, work in electrodynamics, chemical thermodynamics, and on a mechanical foundation of thermodynamics. As a philosopher, he is known for his philosophy of science, ideas on the relation between the laws of perception and the laws of nature, the science of aesthetics, and ideas on the civilizing power of science. The largest German association of research institutions, the Helmholtz Association, is named after him.
University posts
Helmholtz's first academic position was associate professor of physiology at the Prussian University of Königsberg, where he was appointed in 1849. In 1855 he accepted a full professorship of anatomy and physiology at the University of Bonn, also in Prussia. He was not particularly happy in Bonn, however, and three years later he transferred to the University of Heidelberg, in Baden, where he served as professor of physiology. In 1871 he accepted his final university position, as professor of physics at the University of Berlin
Mechanics
His first important scientific achievement, an 1847 physics treatise on the conservation of energy was written in the context of his medical studies and philosophical background. He discovered the principle of conservation of energy while studying muscle metabolism. He tried to demonstrate that no energy is lost in muscle movement, motivated by the implication that there were no vital forces necessary to move a muscle. This was a rejection of the speculative tradition of Naturphilosophie which was at that time a dominant philosophical paradigm in German physiology.
Sensory physiology
The sensory physiology of Helmholtz was the basis of the work of Wilhelm Wundt, a student of Helmholtz, who is considered one of the founders of experimental psychology. He, more explicitly than Helmholtz, described his research as a form of empirical philosophy and as a study of the mind as something separate. Helmholtz had, in his early repudiation of Naturphilosophie, stressed the importance of materialism, and was focusing more on the unity of "mind" and body. s-vbs.com
ErHermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (August 31, 1821 – September 8, 1894) was a German physician and physicist who made significant contributions to several widely varied areas of modern science. In physiology and psychology, he is known for his mathematics of the eye, theories of vision, ideas on the visual perception of space, color vision research, and on the sensation of tone, perception of sound, and empiricism. In physics, he is known for his theories on the conservation of energy, work in electrodynamics, chemical thermodynamics, and on a mechanical foundation of thermodynamics. As a philosopher, he is known for his philosophy of science, ideas on the relation between the laws of perception and the laws of nature, the science of aesthetics, and ideas on the civilizing power of science. The largest German association of research institutions, the Helmholtz Association, is named after him.
University posts
Helmholtz's first academic position was associate professor of physiology at the Prussian University of Königsberg, where he was appointed in 1849. In 1855 he accepted a full professorship of anatomy and physiology at the University of Bonn, also in Prussia. He was not particularly happy in Bonn, however, and three years later he transferred to the University of Heidelberg, in Baden, where he served as professor of physiology. In 1871 he accepted his final university position, as professor of physics at the University of Berlin
Mechanics
His first important scientific achievement, an 1847 physics treatise on the conservation of energy was written in the context of his medical studies and philosophical background. He discovered the principle of conservation of energy while studying muscle metabolism. He tried to demonstrate that no energy is lost in muscle movement, motivated by the implication that there were no vital forces necessary to move a muscle. This was a rejection of the speculative tradition of Naturphilosophie which was at that time a dominant philosophical paradigm in German physiology.
Sensory physiology
The sensory physiology of Helmholtz was the basis of the work of Wilhelm Wundt, a student of Helmholtz, who is considered one of the founders of experimental psychology. He, more explicitly than Helmholtz, described his research as a form of empirical philosophy and as a study of the mind as something separate. Helmholtz had, in his early repudiation of Naturphilosophie, stressed the importance of materialism, and was focusing more on the unity of "mind" and body. s-vbs.com
Details leak out about iPhone 5
According to the Wall Street Journal, the fifth iteration of the best—selling smartphone will be thinner than its predecessor and have an eight-pixel, not five, camera. The paper quoted Apple’s suppliers, since the company does not manufacture the iPhone itself.
Two weeks ago, the Bloomberg news agency had reported about the improved camera, as well as about a faster processor. Apple has remained, as usual, mum about its new product, refusing to comment.
But the Wall Street Journal says the new phone will be released in this quarter. Bloomberg, citing informed sources, reported September.
Speculation has been ongoing for months about when the successor to the hugely successful iPhone 4 might hit stores. Until now, new models have been released around midyear, meaning the iPhone 5 is behind schedule.
But Bloomberg reported that Apple wanted to wait until its new iOS5 operating system was ready to go. That’s been promised for the autumn.
However, the Wall Street Journal reports that the iPhone 5 is especially complicated to build, because it’s so thin. That could also lead to delays.
The iPhone 4 was already thinner than the 3GS. The new iPhone will also reportedly include a new wireless chip from Qualcomm. Until now, those chips have been produced by Infineon. Officially, Apple has made no comments about its supplier. Infineon has sold its wireless chip business to Intel, which is getting into smartphones. If the company has indeed lost its contract, that would be a big blow.
There were 18.7 million iPhones sold in the first quarter of 2011 and sales expectations are very high for the new phone, reported the Wall Street Journal, citing an informed source. Projections are for sales of 25 million units by the end of 2011. s-viewbystat
Samsung’s Chromebook: the netbook for the internet cloud
Google took two years to work out the concept for its Chrome operating system. Now the first Chromebook — from Samsung — is out. It’s fast and secure, but it doesn’t offer all the functions of today’s laptops — and it can do next to nothing without internet access.
But there are bright spots too. For instance: boot—up time. A Windows laptop can take two or three minutes until it’s ready to run.
It’s a whole different story with the Samsung Chromebook: it takes nine seconds from pressing the start button until the login window pops up. Only two more seconds elapse after the password is entered.
It takes about the same amount of time for the netbook to make a wi—fi internet connection, pulling up the web—based user interface.
Things go even faster — a total of three seconds — when it’s time for the Chromebook to wake up from standby and re—establish its wi—fi connection. That’s a feat so far only mastered by laptops like the MacBook Air, which has an SSD hard drive. But those SSD—enabled laptops usually cost twice the 400 euros (561 dollars) asked for the Samsung device.
The operating system is key to the speed. Most laptops using either a Windows or Mac OS system open multiple layers of the system, as well as components and programmes during start up, creating the impression that the process takes an eternity.
Meanwhile, the Chromebook, at its core, is just a Linux operating system and the Chrome browser. Programmes like email clients, word processors, spreadsheets, games or photo processing programmes are not stored on the computer, but accessed via the browser as web services.
For working while online, Google has made available its reliable suite of web applications, including Gmail, Calendar and a series of apps like Google Docs. But users are not limited to Google programmes. There’s also access to competitors like Yahoo and Microsoft.
And, if the laptop is operated in guest mode, a Google login isn’t even necessary, meaning the user leaves no data trail on the Chromebook.
A Web Store makes about 5,000 applications available. But a lot of applications that laptop users have come to expect on their machines — video editing software or Skype for internet calls — aren’t there, even if Google does offer its own voice—over—internet—protocol service.
But the biggest drawback isn’t selection of programmes — which is always growing — but the need to rely on a stable internet connection. The Chromebook is capable of almost nothing when offline.
Thus, the Chromebook, for now, is only of interest to people who can spend their entire day in a networked environment, like students on a campus or people with reliable internet connections in their home or office.
Of course, one can ensure a full time connection with a 450—euro UMTS version that accesses the internet via mobile services. But that still means you’re offline if you wander into an area without service or get onto an airplane.
Chrome developer Sundar Pichai told the German Press Agency dpa that, in the near future, key applications like Gmail and Google Docs would work when offline.
“Those already work on my personal Chromebook. We’ll free up this function for everyone soon, after we’ve cleared up a few small problems.” But he didn’t give a date.
Another advantage of the Chromebook is that updates are automatically uploaded in the background. “Whereas as a standard laptop will generally get slower in the course of time, Chromebooks will always get better,” promises Pichai.
One area where Google could expand its offerings is in the selection of multimedia formats for recording and playback. Right now that’s limited to MP3 and AAC files or pictures in the JPEG and PNG format. Quicktime films and data in the popular MKV format cannot be viewed.
Users, however, don’t have to worry about regular updates of antivirus software. That’s because the Google system’s architecture cannot be attacked by Trojans and other malware. Also, the Chromebook checks the integrity of the system at every startup. If the check finds damaged or dangerous code the computer starts a second version of the system software from a protected backup.
In theory, one can work all day long with the Chromebook. Of course, if you spend all your time watching high—definition videos on YouTube, you’ll drain your battery in six hours, since the Dual Core Atom N570 Intel processor requires a lot of energy.
The display offers a comfortably high resolution (1,280 X 800 pixels) and is matte, meaning there are no problems with reflections, as is the case with the screens of most of today’s laptops. But the image quality does drop off significantly if the screen is viewed from a sideways angle.
But these pros and cons are secondary issues when it comes to the Chromebook. Whether you want to be online or offline is the key question.
“Because of the small hard drive, everything has to go into the cloud,” says Christian Woelbert, an editor with the German computer magazine c’t. For most private users, the Google machine will probably only be a backup device.
Matthias Kremp of Spiegel magazine’s website is critical of the complete reliance on web access. “Only when Google and the manufacturers of Chrome web apps can fix this problem, can netbooks become a true alternative to today’s laptops that can be taken seriously.”
But there are bright spots too. For instance: boot—up time. A Windows laptop can take two or three minutes until it’s ready to run.
It’s a whole different story with the Samsung Chromebook: it takes nine seconds from pressing the start button until the login window pops up. Only two more seconds elapse after the password is entered.
It takes about the same amount of time for the netbook to make a wi—fi internet connection, pulling up the web—based user interface.
Things go even faster — a total of three seconds — when it’s time for the Chromebook to wake up from standby and re—establish its wi—fi connection. That’s a feat so far only mastered by laptops like the MacBook Air, which has an SSD hard drive. But those SSD—enabled laptops usually cost twice the 400 euros (561 dollars) asked for the Samsung device.
The operating system is key to the speed. Most laptops using either a Windows or Mac OS system open multiple layers of the system, as well as components and programmes during start up, creating the impression that the process takes an eternity.
Meanwhile, the Chromebook, at its core, is just a Linux operating system and the Chrome browser. Programmes like email clients, word processors, spreadsheets, games or photo processing programmes are not stored on the computer, but accessed via the browser as web services.
For working while online, Google has made available its reliable suite of web applications, including Gmail, Calendar and a series of apps like Google Docs. But users are not limited to Google programmes. There’s also access to competitors like Yahoo and Microsoft.
And, if the laptop is operated in guest mode, a Google login isn’t even necessary, meaning the user leaves no data trail on the Chromebook.
A Web Store makes about 5,000 applications available. But a lot of applications that laptop users have come to expect on their machines — video editing software or Skype for internet calls — aren’t there, even if Google does offer its own voice—over—internet—protocol service.
But the biggest drawback isn’t selection of programmes — which is always growing — but the need to rely on a stable internet connection. The Chromebook is capable of almost nothing when offline.
Thus, the Chromebook, for now, is only of interest to people who can spend their entire day in a networked environment, like students on a campus or people with reliable internet connections in their home or office.
Of course, one can ensure a full time connection with a 450—euro UMTS version that accesses the internet via mobile services. But that still means you’re offline if you wander into an area without service or get onto an airplane.
Chrome developer Sundar Pichai told the German Press Agency dpa that, in the near future, key applications like Gmail and Google Docs would work when offline.
“Those already work on my personal Chromebook. We’ll free up this function for everyone soon, after we’ve cleared up a few small problems.” But he didn’t give a date.
Another advantage of the Chromebook is that updates are automatically uploaded in the background. “Whereas as a standard laptop will generally get slower in the course of time, Chromebooks will always get better,” promises Pichai.
One area where Google could expand its offerings is in the selection of multimedia formats for recording and playback. Right now that’s limited to MP3 and AAC files or pictures in the JPEG and PNG format. Quicktime films and data in the popular MKV format cannot be viewed.
Users, however, don’t have to worry about regular updates of antivirus software. That’s because the Google system’s architecture cannot be attacked by Trojans and other malware. Also, the Chromebook checks the integrity of the system at every startup. If the check finds damaged or dangerous code the computer starts a second version of the system software from a protected backup.
In theory, one can work all day long with the Chromebook. Of course, if you spend all your time watching high—definition videos on YouTube, you’ll drain your battery in six hours, since the Dual Core Atom N570 Intel processor requires a lot of energy.
The display offers a comfortably high resolution (1,280 X 800 pixels) and is matte, meaning there are no problems with reflections, as is the case with the screens of most of today’s laptops. But the image quality does drop off significantly if the screen is viewed from a sideways angle.
But these pros and cons are secondary issues when it comes to the Chromebook. Whether you want to be online or offline is the key question.
“Because of the small hard drive, everything has to go into the cloud,” says Christian Woelbert, an editor with the German computer magazine c’t. For most private users, the Google machine will probably only be a backup device.
Matthias Kremp of Spiegel magazine’s website is critical of the complete reliance on web access. “Only when Google and the manufacturers of Chrome web apps can fix this problem, can netbooks become a true alternative to today’s laptops that can be taken seriously.”
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