With over 500 million users worldwide, Facebook has added the ability for users to login and surf the site using a more secured encrypted connection, known as HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer)

The encryption is the same that is used by various online shopping websites, email service providers and all banking and financial transaction websites to secure their connections and safeguard user login details.

Users can start using this feature and their login session will be fully encrypted having a high grade cipher strength. The users who are using public internet through wi fi, should use this feature, in order to safeguard their personal login data.
How to login on facebook, with having an encrypted session over internet ?

Just type:

https://www.facebook.com
And login, normally. The site may function slightly slowly using HTTPS and some other features, including third party applications, a few of them, don’t support HTTPS.

In addition to the above added encryption, Facebook, may also offer “Social Authentication” a unique form of the traditional”captcha” coding that will ask a user to identify Facebook friends from their photographs..

The two new features, will surely boost the safety and security of vulnerable user, using a standard internet over public network.

PS: Facebook has the right to change or alter the features, depending on their users security needs.

Poverty refers to the condition of lacking means to afford basic human needs, such as clean water, basic food, healthcare, education, shelter, clothing etc. We may call it destitution too. 

Relative poverty differs in different countries,  a condition of having low resources or income than others, within a society or a nation.

Poverty was a norm before industrialisation,  but industrialisation has helped the poor people able to afford basic needs of life and a much better living, hence considerable gains were made by those countries, called as developed countries of today.

But many Asian, largely African and South American nations are still considered to be developing countries or under developed. 

Poor people have remained poor, despite massive development in those countries. So how can we help them?

We can help poor people in our community or elsewhere in the nation or world.

We can help the poor in so many ways. The smallest effort is what matters and counts and that can be achieved with the following steps: Donating, Fundraising, Volunteering etc.

Donation can be done much easily on any budget, because every single rupee (penny or dime!) counts. Donation may also include, donating, clothes, which otherwise, might be lying in your cupboard, but you are not using them for a long time. It is not mandatory to only buy new clothes and donate them, not all people can do that everytime.

People not so rich can actually donate their old clothes but in good shape.

Fundraising by far can be most challenging, but the reward in the end makes all the hard work worth it. Whether you are helping the poor in your community or the poor around the world, you are doing a good deed and helping those less fortunate.

Volunteering is the easiest way to give your time to another person in need. Donating money can be done comfortably on any budget, because every penny counts. Fundraising can be challenging, but the reward in the end makes all the hard work worth it. Whether you are helping the poor in your community or the poor around the world, you are doing a good deed and helping those less fortunate.

Every effort counts, contributing your share by running in a public marathon event, for generous cause, and donating money there, organising an event, a fair, for generating and raising money for the poor.

Contacting a charity organisation, vowing to donate, or take charge of atleast 1 year of education expenses for a poor young child. The ways are endless.

Nothing is better than helping a poor in your life. You will get a sense of True satisfaction, and it will come to your mind always, that “You Helped someone really poor! ” It is actually very inspirational to your life.

Have you heard about REVA ?

Well its an environment friendly small but cute car from Reva India, it runs on battery and has on board charging, which can be easily charged anywhere by plugging into a 15 Amp socket, at work or home.

REVA is designed to be unique and stands out on the road as a genuine city car with a mature expression. The advanced technologies used, make it highly differentiated and superior to other makes. It has all the inherent benefits of an Electric Car and is indeed a revelation in city mobility.

With twice efficiency of that of a petrol engine, it has low operating cost (40 paise or INR 0.4 per km) having a low battery indicator, it can give you an idea about how much range can it cover…

REVA has the best-in-class safety features like dent-proof ABS body panels, side-impact beams, a steel space frame and dual-braking system. This ensures minimum damage to the car and enhances protection to passengers in the event of a collision.

Globally Tested Product

REVA has been extensively tested and certified by the ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India) and received the EEC (European Economic Community) Certificate in December 2003, paving the way for an aggressive foray into European markets. Designed, marketed and used as a low speed urban commuter vehicle the Reva G-Wiz has a safety record second to none, with over 20 million miles / 32 million Km driven by customers globally and over 4,000 years of ownership with no reported serious injuries.

The export model in Europe is classified as a quadricycle (category L7e) under European law; it has received Full EU Type approval, which means it meets all European automotive mechanical and electrical standards governing emissions, safety and other relevant factors. The primary criteria for a quadricycle such as the REVA are weight (up to 400 kg unladen weight without batteries) and power output (maximum net power 15 kw).

How many variants does it have ? It has 4 variants – REVAi Standard, REVAi AC, REVAi Classe, and REVAi Sp. Ed.

For more information, you can visit, REVA’s official website – http://www.revaindia.com/

REVA globally….

First Hand Test drive Video (from Autocar)  and Images.

With its official launch for public on 23rd March, 2009, its now clear that, people will get much anticipated car for a price of Indian Rs. 1 Lakh ( Base Model – INR 100000 / US$ 2000, ex-factory ), and that price will remain locked for 1 lakh customers . The booking will start from 9th of April to 25th of April and the delivery will start in July, 2009. With taxes etc. the expected price of base mode shall be around 1.25 Lakhs, 1.50 Lakhs for CX and 1.70 Lakhs for LX (all approximations)

Mind it, its a low budget car. Yet for a price of Rs. 1 Lakh, you are getting a brand new proper car !  The rival car which could be dented by Nano, can be Maruti 800.

 The car shall be in three variants – Base, Mid CX and top end LX.

All about NANO : Cost of base model not to exceed Rs. 1,00,000 (Ex factory).

• Safety as per Indian standards
• Seating capacity of 4 persons
• Engine: All aluminium rear mounted MPFI EMS: 32-bit microprocessor
• Piston displacement: 624 cc, petrol with single balancer shaft
• Drive train: rear wheel drive
• Cylinder count: 2 cylinders
• Valve gear: 4 valves, 2 valves per cylinder
• Max power: 33 bhp@5500 rpm
• Torque: 4.8 kgm@3000 rpm
• Compression ratio: 9.7:1
• Power to weight ratio: 0.58
• Acceleration: 0-60 kmph: 8 secs
• Top speed: 105 kmph EMS electronic engine management system with “blink code Mechanism” for easy repairs Fuel cut-off for safety
• Transmission: Manual
• Gearbox: 4 forward speeds, 1 reverse, all forward gears
• Synchronised Operation: cable operated
• Transmission ratios:

-1st: 3.45, shift upto 10 kmph

-2nd: 1.95, shift between 20-30 kmph

-3rd: 1.26, shift between 30-50 kmph

-4th: 0.838, shift between 50-70 kmph

-Reverse: 3.08

• Suspension: Front: independent mcpherson strut, shock absorber Rear: semi trailing arm, coil spring with gas filled shock Absorber
• Brakes: Front: 180 mm drum Rear: 180 mm drum
• Wheels and tyres:

– Wheels: 12″ Front tyres: 135/70 R 12 tubeless, Rear tyres: 155/65 R 12 tubeless, Spare: 1 tyre, 135/70 R 12 tubeless ,Tubeless radial tyres standard on all variants.

In case the front tyre punctures, you can replace it with the stepney provided. In case of a rear tyre puncture, since there is no stepney of that tyre, Tata recommends: Not to go beyond 40-60 kmph in case of puncture.

Get the tyre repaired

– Recommended tyre pressure: Front: 26 psi, Rear: 28 psi

– Turning radius: 4 meters

– Dimensions and weights:

• Length: 3099 mm
• Width: 1495 mm
• Height: 1620 mm
• Wheel base: 2230 mm
• Ground clearance: 180 mm
• Kerb weight: 600 kg
• Fuel tank capacity: 15 litres, Fuel cut-off @ 5600 rpm in every gear or at 105 kmph
• Fuel consumption: 23.6 kmpl
• Battery: semi sealed under the driver’s seat
• Boot capacity: 80 litres, 500 litres with seats folded

Features:

Nano base: (BS-2 & BS-3)  Seat belts: front ELR, Rear static

-Only Odometer

-Fixed tail gate. Engine opening through rear bumper

-Egg shaped design

-Rear mounted high mounted stop light

-Centrally placed exhaust

-Only Driver’s seat adjust-sliding and reclining

-Fixed co driver seat

-Rear Folding Seat 2 spoke steering wheel

-Grey bumpers and interiors

-Driver side OSRVM

Nano CX: (BS-2 & BS-3)  Adds to Nano base:

-Only Odometer

-HVAC (air conditioner with heater)

-Tinted glasses all round

-Driver and co driver seat sliding and reclining

-2 tone grey interiors and seats

-Metallic paint

Nano LX (available in BS-3 variant only)

-Adds to Nano CX: Front power windows

-Central locking

-Front and rear fog lamps

-3 spoke steering wheel

-Moulded door trim with fabric

-Tripmeter and Odometer

-Floor console with glass holder

-Anti glare inside rear view mirror (prismatic day/ night) sunvisors on both sides

–Warranty 18 months or 24,000 km whichever is earlier. By paying Rs.2999/- one can book finance amount from Rs.95 ooo to 140000, or can pay entire amount. After booking closes, allotment will be done on the basis of random number lottery where the lucky customer’s name will be declared along with the name of the dealer from where he/ she can take delivery of the car along with date and time of delivery will also be specified. Tie up with 14 Banks, for loans, all over India. Booking can be done online too, as well as banks, tata indicom retails, Croma mega outlets.

Indian Government / State Governments should gear up for new cars going to hit in July, hence the road infrastructure is of paramount importance. They will have to come out with a strategy to stop plying of old vehicles ! As per my thoughts, some vehicles will get replaced by new cars and some will definitely add on to the already crowded roads.

PS: Please do check specifications/exact details with the banks and tata dealers. *BS Standard- Bharat Stage emission standards is an Indian equivalent of Euro emissions.

PS: All the views expressed here, are my own personal views, which are based on current events, happenings, and the learning I get from the different sources.

Intel’s latest server chips, the Xeon 7400 series, formerly called Dunnington, are now available in six-core and quad-core models designed to be used in systems with four or more processors. It has been developed at Intel India’s Bangalore Design Center. The first chip to be developed outside United States, which will give AMD run for money, already trailing behind Intel’s stronghold of High End Server Segment.

This new chip is far more superior over its predecessor, the Xeon 7200 series. It is a 45 nanometer processor, and runs at clock speeds up to 2.66GHz. The performance improvement comes from adding 16MB level 3 cache. They are first Xeon chips to use level 3 cache, in which the data is stored closer to the processor cores, which helps boost an overall performance and reduces power consumption. This is first quad-core and six-core chips produced on a single piece of silicon.

The Dunnington chip design marks a technical milestone for Intel, as it uses a monolithic die, the term engineers use to describe putting all of the cores on a single piece of silicon.

The Xeon 7400 series is the last member of Intel’s Penryn chip family to be released. Later this year, the company will shift to a new processor architecture called Nehalem.

Google has come out with a browser also known as Google Chrome beta. Its appearance gives a look of a very simple browser (much simpler compared to IE 5 or Firefox Ver 1.0). By default the address bar is also having Google Search feature, or you can type direct web address on it. It also shows full history of the sites you have last visited on your home page..While I was browsing through Google Chrome, I came across some sites having Java, there it mentioned no plugin found. Should I say, it has no Java support?

On privacy issue, Google Chrome cannot give any assurances. I believe, whether you allow or not allow, google chrome will send information to google by default, maybe indirectly.

Some websites might experience orientation issues. Not many features, but it is good for a rookie, who just want to surf internet. Security issues will come up once people start testing on their computers. I felt that there is some problem in accessing Silverlight based webplayers on my website, though the music is audible but the support is highly limited. Some Silverlight based websites may not work at all. It needs to be further checked. I was unable to find out RSS logo, while accessing RSS feed sites. Flash based sites work.

There can be plugins for incorporating Google talk, Gmail and YouTube.

Not my kind of Browser, but as I said…

It is good for people who just want to surf internet or people have memory issues on their computers. This browser will work like kayak, for slow computers..Since it is a browser with minimum features, it gives a large view while accessing a website (inside window view of a webpage). Some new features like independent processes for tabs, compiled javascript, and the incognito mode have been introduced, it will further get checked when people start using it practically.

Being in beta form, Google will slowly take care of all the bugs, and reach to a much refined browser which is not a memory hog like firefox.

I believe the real browser war is between Microsoft IE, Firefox, and Apple Safari.

All the views are my personal views, depending on my observations.

Added – “Statcounter” says Google’s Chrome has taken 1.2% of worldwide browser market share in just one single day !! Incredible. People shifted to Chrome from Internet Explorer and Firefox both, though Google’s strategy was to take on IE, but it is the Firefox which will be a bigger loser.

Mystery Girl is now iPhone Girl !

Mystery girl and now called as iPhone Girl, is doing a lot good for Apple. Its iPhone, already a popular gadget, has got a thrust from the mysterious iPhone Girl’s victory sign with a smile, proves that Apple is an organization with Positive Attitude. The mood is upbeat.

For this sweet mistake, the company should do something good for this girl

I Love the New IE 8 Beta 2

Microsoft has come out with an updated browser, Internet Explorer 8, Beta 2. Lets scan its features, though, it promises to give you a whole new experience in terms of secured Internet browsing, but we should experience those features ourselves.

The new updated beta version is more compatible with web standards.It looks similar to IE 7 but Microsoft has introduced a gamut of new features. You must have also come across new features in Firefox 3, Internet Explorer loyal users will be pleased with the new features, Microsoft has come out with.

Tabbed Browsing

Tabbed browsing is quite common in browsers these days, it indeed is very helpful, but this feature is much more smarter. If you accidentally close a browser window in IE 8, or gets closed itself, due to some application fault, you can opt to restore it, when you reopen the program (similar to what you can do in Firefox). IE 8 will group related tabs together using a color coding.

For e.g. if you open a link from xyz.com in a new tab, it will open adjacent to the original tab, and the tabs themselves will have a matching color.

We have often seen that if we are surfing a website having coding errors, it some times causes the entire program to crash, now with this feature, only the tab displaying the problematic website will crash, allowing you to continue browsing.

Improvised safe browsing

If you enable IE 8’s InPrivate feature, the browser will not save any passwords, cookies, log-in info, history and temporary internet files, etc. It would be as if a browsing session has never happened. This feature reminds me of Apple’s Safari browser for Windows, which mentions of Private Browsing as one of its key features. An icon in IE’s address bar makes InPrivate’s active status more obvious.

The browser’s phishing filter-called SmartScreen – is an improved version, with such features like thorough checking of the website addresses (and their hidden urls). The Phishing feature depends on the existing database of phishing websites, so any new website, may pass through it, until it is reported as a phishing site by users.

It also displays websites’ domains in a darker text (www.gsworldonline.com) highlighting feature is a welcoming feature. So it identifies whether you are actually visiting a genuine website or in reality a page on some other site which you may have never heard of.

Innovative features

Features such as Webslices and Accelerators have been carried forward from IE 8 Beta 1, but is something through which one can popularize feed syndication.

What is a Web Slice?

The Web Slice is based on the hAtom Microformat , with a few additional properties. The Web Slice itself uses simple, semantic HTML markup to represent a portion of Web page that can be subscribed to. Annotations can be applied directly to content within the HTML page; additional files are not required.

What is an accelerator?

An Accelerator is a kind of mini-mashup that delivers information from another website to your current browser page, or that interacts with another website or service. For example, if you’re on a page with a street address, you can highlight the address and choose an Accelerator such as Live Maps or Google Maps. The Accelerator will then display the map in a pop-up or open another tab, depending on how the Accelerator has been written for that site.

Web Compatibility

Creating a website that looks identical in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari can be a challenge. IE 8 Beta 2 offers better support for W3 Web standards

–a set of guidelines developed to ensure that a Web page appears the same in all browsers. The downside is that IE 8 will break some pages designed for earlier Internet Explorer versions.

This happened when I was accessing my blog, it was showing out of place menu, some text and few images. So, switching to compatibility mode will help you view those pages better as they were designed to work for older browsers.

I think, Microsoft is closely studying its rival Firefox and now Apple’s Safari, and is introducing the best of both in IE  and I am lovin’ it !

Tata Nano

“Our Factory cannot function in Singur, under police protection” these were the words of Tata Group chairman Mr. Ratan Tata, while addressing to Media. If TATA pulls out, it will be one of the saddest things to happen in India. The image of West Bengal as a manufacturing destination will get a severe blow not just in India but globally, and all the future investments in related with manufacturing sector (a key for job creation for poor) will be at stake. Other states may enter into competition to invite TATA, while keeping in mind that adequate compensation is given to the people, whose land is taken for setting up of a plant.

Ratan Tata also said “I’ve made a major investment here … to move will be at a great cost to Tata Motors and to shareholders,”. “But there is a concern about our people, a definite concern about not being wanted.”

Incidentally the political parties which are adding fuel to the agitation, one of them is ruling center !

My personal viewpoint, everyone should sit down, the CM of West Bengal, the opposition and Mr. Ratan Tata, come out with a win-win situation.

Don’t let this opportunity go, here the leadership skills of CM has to be seen. Everyone including opposition parties should think of only win-win situation for all and work for the development of state, rather than looking for own selfish political interests. Don’t make our own people, unwanted in your state !

Added later..

On 3rd of October, 2008, Tata has decided to pull out of Singur…..Mamta Banerjee, leader of opposition party Trinamool Congress is now busy in messing other issues of West Bengal. It is a lesson for Communist Party, they have converted West Bengal into a state where unionism is above everything and now they will bear the brunt in form of corporates pulling out of the state.