Blogging University

Increase reliance data card speed from hybrid to HSD

2011-08-16T07:34:00.000+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

First of all i would like to clear a point that it is not an hack that is cracked from software,but can say it is a mere loophole from reliance which is unknown to them and they can fix it as soon as they will find it,but you can enjoy this untill they fix it from their side as i am enjoying since last 20 days.

I remember the day i was figuring around with reliance data card to get high speed without paying for it,but the HSD 3.1 mpbs speed broadband internet tariff plans are too costly and i have to end up with hybrid(cdma 1x -144kbps) because my monthly budget for internet was low,but always dreaming to get high speed broadband for free,and finally got through it.

Pre-Requisite/requirement to get reliance HSD speed are

1) you must have reliance netconnect datacard that supports both hybrid(cdma1x) and HSD(EVDO).

2) though reliance HSD card plans/tariffs are costly and doesnt matchup with student pocket,so you can take any hybrid plans speed of 144 kbps,ensuring that the internet data card supports EVDO too when required.

3) Activate your datacard,check whether it is working fine or not.

4) if working fine go to >> settings then check on button >> use DNS

Put these IPs in DNS and Alternate DNS Field

DNS - 220.226.182.82

Alternate DNS - 220.226.182.83

5) Change mode from Hybrid/CDMA 1x to Broaband plus, Save settings.

6) Now try to Connect , it will get connected which was earlier not connecting because you were having hybrid plan/cdma 1x plan.

7) you might be thinking, that you will be still billed because you are using your phone number to connect to internet,but check your download stats in reliance website for your daily usage,their you will be shown with 0 download and 0 upload stats, an you will be still downloading daily,and do not panic about bill as i received my bill 3 days ago and it was charged nominal as usually done, and i have already crossed 10 gb download.

7) now to understand how this whole thing works.

Reliance Data card has been delivered to their sales executive/marketing executive as specimen copy, they have unlimited download and speed plan can say they get test reliance data cards which they are not billed for,if you check any salesman datacard, they have settings of DNS placed in their card, the same way i tried and actually it has bypassed my number to their test plan server.

Enjoy Browsing !!!!

Reliance data card screen settings for speed enhancement

reliance netconnect settings for speed hack

dookudu ringtone

2011-08-14T08:13:00.000+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM
click here
downloading procedure after clicking the link you wiil be re-directed to mediafire.com and you have to wait for some min the then it wiil be displayed as click here to download then you can donwload and enjoy the song..

EasyEnglishVocabulary.pdf

2011-08-14T08:07:00.000+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

click here to -> DownloaD<-

HTML5 may steal mobile apps thunder

2011-08-14T07:20:00.000+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

Smartphones powered by Apple and Google operate using hundreds of thousands of highly specialized Web programs.

NEW YORK: Smartphones powered by Apple andGoogle operate using hundreds of thousands of highly specialized Web programs.

That's what has allowed the two firms to lock up most of the premium cellphone market. Yet a new Web standard, called HTML5, is gaining traction and buzz, not least because its biggest supporters say it will allow a bit of an end-run around these walled gardens.

In general, Web browsers on phones haven't been ideal for accessing content. Only programs installed directly on gadgets have taken full advantage of handsets' address books or knowledge of a users' location. So these applications, or apps, caught on and set off virtuous cycles, attracting both users and developers to the iPhone and Android operating systems.

But consumers would be better off if they could switch phones easily. And developers don't relish having to make multiple versions of the same programs just so they can run on competing phones. Content providers also don't like how app stores typically take a percentage of any revenue they charge. Finally, websites like Facebook don't want Apple or Google acting as gatekeepers.

This is where HTML5 comes in. The newest version of the core language for presenting content on the Web is still in development, but bits are emerging. It's gradually leveling the playing field, making it so new browsers can do many things only apps currently do well, such as location-based services. And developers like the idea of making one program that runs across many devices. As a result, some 2.1 billion mobile devices are expected to use HTML5 browsers by 2016, reckons ABI Research.

So does that suggest an imminent up-ending to the tech world, as Roger McNamee, partner in venture capital firm Elevation Partners, recently claimed? Not quite. Some functions, like games, will still be done better via apps than Web browsers. Moreover, with Apple and Google members of the consortium promoting the standard, they presumably see a benefit from pushing it.

The reigning smartphone barons may lose some ability to lock users in. But both have a long-term interest in encouraging the most rapid adoption of next-generation mobile devices possible. That should translate into more sales for Apple and advertising for Google. And, anyway, by the time the standard fully catches on -- say in five years -- they will probably have sewn up the whole market anyway.

Tech Mahindra posts profit in Q1

2011-08-13T07:17:00.002+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

IT company Tech Mahindra reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 276.55 crore for the first quarter ended June 31, 2011.

MUMBAI: IT company Tech Mahindra reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 276.55 crore for the first quarter ended June 31, 2011.

"The profit for the quarter ended June 31, 2011 and 2010 are not comparable as the figures in respect of June 2010, do not include share in profits of the associate (Satyam) as the financial results of the associate were not available when Tech Mahindra accounts for June 2010 were prepared," Tech Mahindra said in a filing to the BSE.

The company had a net profit of Rs 144.26 crore in the April-June quarter of 2010-11, it said.

Total income rose to Rs 1,338.57 crore during the first quarter current fiscal, from Rs 1,174.47 crore in the same quarter previous year.

"We continue to build our business portfolio at a measured pace, despite low discretionary spend in the telecom vertical. This has been enabled by our diversification into new geographies and customers," Tech Mahindra Chairman Anand Mahindra said.

Total headcount of the company stood at 42,850. Software professional headcount stood at 27,920, while BPO headcount stood at 13,804 and support staff at 1,126.

The company during the quarter added 4,517 personnel, of which 2,793 were in the BPO. The company has 128 active clients.

How to block a site

2011-08-11T19:49:00.001+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM
1.start run
2.type
notepad%windir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
3.scroll down to below you will see
#127.0.0.1 localhost
then
#127.0.0.1 add your website address name
example:#127.0.0.1 www.xxxxxxxxx.com

8 tips to speak english like an american

2011-08-11T07:36:00.000+05:30

8 Tips for speaking English fluently!

Here are a few tips and suggestions for you to find input of English around you and improve your English speech:

1. Rent or buy an English movie DVD

Rent or buy an English movie DVD. Put the English subtitles on. Follow the movie.
This has many advantages:
a. You will be able to compare the written words to the correct pronunciations.
b. You will get a feel of how real English sentences are formed when speaking.

c. You will be learning English but it will not be frustrating and boring because you will be watching a movie.

2. Read about any subject that interests you

There are a lot of English magazines available on a lot of different topics. No matter what subject interests you, there must be some magazine that talks about it. There are English magazines about Business, Brides, Guns and Ammo, House Keeping, Stock Market, Sports, Computers, Electronics, Linux, Graphic Designing, Cooking etc.

3. Read Internet forums of subject matter that interests you

Got to Internet forums of the subject matter that interests you. Generally most of the forums are in English language and are a great source of English input.Forums are a great source of information. Also in forums real people talk about real problems. Most of the information typed in forums is written in an informal way. Because of this the forums make a good source for English input. Reading forums exposes you to a lot of phrases of daily use.

4. Read English fiction novels

Read English fiction of your choice. Pick up some thing that interests you. Take it home and read it. Be sure to look up all the new words you come across in the book.

5. Listen to the radio and TV

There are also many different radio stations available now-a-days in the big cities. Some of these radio stations are in English. Listen to them to get a feel of the language.

Besides the radio, you could also listen to the "News In English". It’s available on a wide variety of channels. The news is a good place to get input of the English language because it is spoken in a very clear, easy to understand way.

6. Chat with fluent English speakers

Chat with fluent English speakers real or online. Make friends with interesting English speakers. Become pen-pals with a fluent English speaker.While talking to them look at their lip movement for tips on how to pronounce words correctly.

7. Most effective tip: "Think in English"

One of the most common mistakes that English learners make is, they think in their mother tongue. When they want to say something in English, they think in their mother tongue, translate it to English and then say it in English. The result is a very flawed English sentence. Never do this!

If you want to speak in English fluently you will have to learn to "think" in English. When you are constructing sentences in your mind before saying them, think in English and form them in English in your mind.

8. Get your self some English learning software!

To help you with your English, you could get your self a English learning kit OR English learning software!
copy rights @gowtham

copying this content is restricted

UK call centre staff told to move to Mumbai to save jobs

2011-08-09T07:31:00.000+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

A minister in the David Cameron government has sparked a row by suggesting that Newcastle-based call centre workers who have lost their jobs should relocate to Mumbai.

LONDON:" A minister in the David Camerongovernment has sparked a row by suggesting that Newcastle-based call centre workers who have lost their jobs should relocate to Mumbai.

Rail minister Theresa Villiers appears to tell sacked call-centre workers in Newcastle to relocate to Mumbai in a letter written to Berwick MP Sir Alan Beith.

The opposition Labour party and the unions have described the prospect of staff from north-east England being asked to move 5,000 miles to do the same job in India as "unhinged and unpatriotic".

The row follows the closure of Baron House, a former East Coast passenger call centre, which resulted in the loss of nearly 200 jobs and delivered a major blow to the region's struggling economy, The Independent reported today.

A review of public contracts by the newly-nationalised rail operator meant the existing provider,National Express, missed out to two other companies, one of which, Intelenet ( UK) has operations in Plymouth and Mumbai.

A third of those jobs have now been reportedly exported to India while the rest have been divided between centres in Wolverhampton and Devon.

Villiers sought to reassure Beith that under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE), their future was secure. She said: "These staff will be given the opportunity to transfer to the new service providers under TUPE where those services are to continue.

"Staff who are unable to move to the new location will be offered a voluntary redundancy package or alternatives roles within East Coast, where available."

Maria Eagle, Labour's shadow Secretary of State for Transport, dismissed the suggestion as adding "insult to injury". She said: "The buck must stop with Theresa Villiers and her fellow ministers in this Tory-led Government.

"They should be offering support for those who risk losing their jobs rather than making ridiculous suggestions that they move to India."

A Department for Transport spokesman said: "National Express Services Ltd staff employed at Baron House will be given the opportunity to transfer to the new service provider under TUPE. Exactly how this works will be a matter for the new service provider."

Indian IT cos confident of withstanding downturn PTI

2011-08-09T07:12:00.002+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM
Even though industries across the country have expressed concerns over the debt crisis in the US, aggravated after the downgrading of its sovereign rating by S&P, Indian IT industry remains confident of withstanding another downturn.

While most agree that there are fears of another recession in the US and a debt crisis in Europe, they also feel it is still early days to know what is coming.

Country's second largest software exporter Infosys CEO and MD Kris Gopalakrishnan says, "It is too early to say. There are fears of another recession in the US and a debt crisis in Europe.

"We were able to react very quickly in the past (2008) when the recession happened. These responses are still fresh in our memory and I believe that the industry will be able to withstand another downturn."

The US accounts for almost 60 per cent of the revenues for the $60 billion Indian IT industry.

Leading industry chambers like CII, FICCI, Assocham and FIEO, which represent companies across the country, have expressed concerns over events in the US economy.

The Federation of Indian Exporters Organisations ((FIEO) chief Ramu Deora said, "The downgrading will lead to further appreciation of rupee against the US dollar which is already facing the heat, thereby blunting our competitive edge.

"The US Government will have to increase taxes to bring in more people under the tax net to curtail its deficit which will further shrink their disposable incomes and may have an impact on India's exports to North America."

He added, "Our worst fear that exports and fourth quarter (economic growth) will be affected may come true."

While most IT companies have expressed caution in the past few months on the European debt crisis and high unemployment in the US, they also remain confident of being able to maintain their growth momentum.

Leading players like TCS and HCL Technologies have posted stellar growth numbers in the past few quarters on the back of steady demand for outsourcing services.

"We think the environment is good in spite of the macro economic uncertainty in different parts of the world.

"Some of the countries are failing in Europe and there is the issue of unemployment in the US, but still I think customers are going with their plans as they had originally intended," said N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD of country's largest software exporter TCS.

Industry analysts say the companies are watching the situation.

"It is still early to hit the panic button. Companies continue to outsource as they look at multiple factors like operational and cost efficiency. The deal pipeline for most firms seems to be strong and so, companies are confident," they added.

US markets tumble, FICCI says India may benefit from crisis

2011-08-08T20:24:00.002+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

NEW YORK/NEW DELHI: The euro extended losses against the US dollar on Monday, hitting a session low as Wall Street stocks tumbled in the first session following Standard & Poor's downgrade of the US debt rating late Friday.

All major US indices tumbled at the open. The euro fell as low as $1.4148, according to Reuters data. It was last at $1.4178, down 0.7 per cent on the day.

The euro was already under pressure as initial relief over European Central Bank purchases of Spanish and Italian government bonds petered out and risk aversion took hold.

Traders said the ECB bought Spanish and Italian debt early in the European session after it said on Sunday it would "actively implement" its bond-buying program.

US crisis to benefit India

India will be impacted in the short term because of the US sovereign debt crisis, but it will also benefit from the economic turmoil as softening crude prices will bring down inflation, prompting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) not to hike rates, a leading industry lobby said Monday.

"One positive fallout of the rating downgrade, we feel, could be the Indian market perception that a possible decline in crude prices may signal a pause in RBI rate hikes, buoying investor sentiments," the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said in a statement.

"Additionally, the spreads between a US sovereign and Indian sovereign paper of comparable duration may decline, thus acting as an enabler to foreign institutional investors inflows into the country. This may have a sobering impact on the current account deficit, even though this may not be exactly desirable."

Global stock markets continued to fall Monday after top credit rating agency Standard and Poor's downgraded the US sovereign debt rating last Friday and cautioned of a further downgrade if the fiscal position of the country did not improve.

As far as the impact of the crisis on the Indian economy, FICCI said some short-term impact would be seen in terms of market uncertainties.

"An uncertain global environment could, however, depress India's exposure to global markets (exports of goods and services, more than a quarter of India's GDP) and knock off percentage points from India's GDP growth," the industry lobby said while outlining some of the risks.

Tip to improve spoken english

2011-08-05T19:49:00.002+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

Many deserving candidates lose out on job opportunities because of their vernacular accent.

Can I 'neutralise' my accent?

Yes, you can. All you need to do is train yourself to speak English as comfortably and perfectly as you speak your mother tongue.

How do you train yourself? By inculcating certain practices in your daily lifestyle. These will get you closer to sounding like a native English speaker and equip you with a global accent -- and you will speak not American or British English, but correct English.

This is the first step to learn any other accent, be it American or British or Australian.

Lisa Mojsin, head trainer, director and founder of the Accurate English Training Company in Los Angeles, offers these tips to help 'neutralise' your accent or rather do away with the local twang, as you speak.

i. Observe the mouth movements of those who speak English well and try to imitate them.

When you are watching television, observe the mouth movements of the speakers. Repeat what they are saying, while imitating the intonation and rhythm of their speech.

ii. Until you learn the correct intonation and rhythm of English, slow your speech down.

If you speak too quickly, and with the wrong intonation and rhythm, native speakers will have a hard time understanding you.

Don't worry about your listener getting impatient with your slow speech -- it is more important that everything you say be understood.

iii. Listen to the 'music' of English.

Do not use the 'music' of your native language when you speak English. Each language has its own way of 'singing'.

iv. Use the dictionary.

Try and familiarise yourself with the phonetic symbols of your dictionary. Look up the correct pronunciation of words that are hard for you to say.

v. Make a list of frequently used words that you find difficult to pronounce and ask someone who speaks the language well to pronounce them for you.

Record these words, listen to them and practice saying them. Listen and read at the same time.

vi. Buy books on tape.

Record yourself reading some sections of the book. Compare the sound of your English with that of the person reading the book on the tape.

vii. Pronounce the ending of each word.

Pay special attention to 'S' and 'ED' endings. This will help you strengthen the mouth muscles that you use when you speak English.

viii. Read aloud in English for 15-20 minutes every day.

Research has shown it takes about three months of daily practice to develop strong mouth muscles for speaking a new language.

ix. Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation mistakes.

Many people hate to hear the sound of their voice and avoid listening to themselves speak. However, this is a very important exercise because doing it will help you become conscious of the mistakes you are making.

x. Be patient.

You can change the way you speak but it won't happen overnight. People often expect instant results and give up too soon. You can change the way you sound if you are willing to put some effort into it.

Quick tips

Various versions of the English language exist. Begin by identifying the category you fall into and start by improving the clarity of your speech.

~ Focus on removing the mother tongue influence and the 'Indianisms' that creep into your English conversations.

~ Watch the English news on television channels like Star World, CNN, BBC and English movies on Star Movies and HBO.

Street fighter 4 free download

2011-08-03T07:21:00.000+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

Download here-->http://goo.gl/Q1Q8f
report me if any error occured

JOBS:US govt wants hackers

2011-08-03T07:17:00.000+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

WASHINGTON: The National Security Agencyhas a challenge for hackers who think they're hot stuff: prove it by working on the "hardest problems on Earth."

Computer hacker skills are in great demand in the US government to fight the cyber wars that pose a growing national security threat -- and they are in short supply.

For that very reason an alphabet soup of federal agencies -- DOD, DHS, NASA, NSA -- are descending on Las Vegas this week for Defcon, an annual hacker convention where the $150 entrance fee is cash only -- no registration, no credit cards, no names taken. Attendance is expected to top 10,000.

The National Security Agency is among the keen suitors. The spy agency plays both offense and defense in the cyber wars. It conducts electronic eavesdropping on adversaries and protects US computer networks that hold super secret material -- a prize target for America's enemies.

"Today it's cyber warriors that we're looking for, not rocket scientists," said Richard "Dickie" George, technical director of the NSA's Information Assurance Directorate, the agency's cyber-defense side.

"That's the race that we're in today. And we need the best and brightest to be ready to take on this cyber warrior status," he said in an interview.

The NSA is hiring about 1,500 people in the fiscal year which ends September 30 and another 1,500 next year, most of them cyber experts. With a workforce of just over 30,000, the Fort Meade, Maryland-based NSA dwarfs other intelligence agencies, including the CIA.

It also engages in cyber-spying and other offensive operations, something it rarely, if ever, discusses publicly. But at Defcon, the NSA and other "Feds" will be competing with corporations looking for hacking talent too.

The NSA needs cyber security experts to harden networks, defend them with updates, do "penetration testing" to find security holes and watch for any signs of cyber attacks.

The NSA is expanding its fold of hackers, but George said there is a shortage of those skills. "We are straining to hire the people that we need."

Misfits or fit-ins?
It might seem to be an odd-couple fit -- strait-laced government types with their rules and missions trying to recruit hackers who by definition want to defy authorities.

George said the NSA is actually an environment where the hacker mindset fits right in to work with "a critical mass of people that are just like them."

But what about culture rifts? "When I walk down the hall there are people that I see every day and I never know what color their hair's going to be," George said. "And it's a bonus if they're wearing shoes. We've been in some sense a collection of geeks for a long, long time."

The agency has long been known for its brilliant, but sometimes eccentric, mathematicians and linguists. Jeff Moss, a hacker known as Dark Tangent, knows something about bridging the two worlds. He founded Defcon and the companion Black Hat conference for security professionals and is now a member of the Department of Homeland Security's Advisory Council, which advises the government on cyber security.

"They need people with the hacker skill set, hacker mind-set. It's not like you go to a hacker university and get blessed with a badge that says you're a hacker. It's a self-appointed label -- you think like one or you don't," Moss said.

He drew a distinction between hackers with skills and computer criminals. Of the latter he says with a laugh: "It would not be good to let them in your front door."

Moss worries about young hackers who might cross lines and end up breaking laws that did not exist when he got his first computer in the early 1980s.

"You can absolutely learn the same skills without breaking any law," he said. While US intelligence agencies' computer systems are believed to be relatively secure, a wave of recent cyber attacks has hit the Pentagon, major defense contractors and others such as the International Monetary Fund.

The NSA's tasks include helping the Homeland Security department secure civilian US government networks. One government bureaucratic hindrance that can impede hiring top-flight experts is the security clearance process that can take six months, by which time a candidate may have found other employment. For the NSA, prospective employees must pass a lie-detector test, be drug-free for one year and undergo an extensive background check.

Beware 'ankle biters'
Unlike the threat from nuclear weapons where it is clear which countries have that capability, cyber attacks can come from anywhere. "So we need to worry about everybody," George said.
"In fact we need to worry about significant adversaries hiding among the ankle biters." He explained that it was like finding a single needle in a pile of needles -- much more difficult than in a haystack. Among constant pings from teenagers just fooling around, "the real bad guy can hide in that noise," George said.

"That's a big problem for us, trying to identify the real threat from among all the stuff that's not really threatening." George would not name countries that pose high threats but other intelligence officials have expressed concern about China's growing cyber-warfare capabilities, as well as Russia's.

The NSA can attract hackers to work within its cloistered walls by dazzling them with the latest technology, appealing to their competitive nature, and giving them a sense of working for the greater good, George said.

"We have a wonderful atmosphere, we have great people and we have the hardest problems on Earth. And we need help, the country needs help," he said. But there is one big difference about winning bragging rights at public competitions versus inside the NSA enclosure.

"You're not going to make yourself famous working here, that's the downside. You can be internally famous, but you can't be externally famous," George said.

The NSA's secretive nature also brings a positive side-effect in striking a work-life balance."If you come here you really can't take work home with you," George said. "That's a bonus."

Android leads mobile OS market in US: Report

2011-07-30T07:13:00.000+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

According to a report by research firm Nielsen, Android is the leading mobile operating software in the US with 39% market share. The second position is occupied by iOS that powers iPhone. It has a market share of 28% whileBlackBerry OS is at third position with 20% share.

Nielsen says data collected for June shows that among the smartphone makers using Android,HTC has the leading position with 14% market share, followed by Motorola at 11% and Samsungat 8%. Windows Phone 7 has a market share of 9%.

In terms of handset makers, Apple, which is the only company making iPhone, leads with 28% market share. RIM, the maker of BlackBerry phones, and HTC are in second position with each one holding 20% market share.

Nokia, which is still the market leader in worldwide smartphone market, holds just 2% market share in the US. Hewlett Packard, which is trying to gain foothold in the market with WebOS, too holds 2% share.

Due to competition among smartphone manufacturers, prices of Android handsets have come down sharply, leading to a phenomenal growth in their sales. A few weeks ago, Google had claimed that it was activating 5.5 lakh Android phones every day.

Google aims to speed up the internet

2011-07-30T07:09:00.003+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

NEW DELHI: Google has unveiled Page Speed, a service that will allow it to load web pages faster for end users. According to Ram Ramani, the lead engineer on the Google's Bangalore team that worked on the project, websites using Page Speed will see a speed improvement of 25% to 60%.

"To use the service, you (webmasters) need to sign up and point the site's DNS entry to Google," Ramani wrote in a post on Google's official blog. "Page Speed fetches content from your servers, rewrites your pages by applying web performance best practices, and serves them to end users via Google's servers across the globe. Your users will continue to access your site just as they did before, only with faster load times."

Though Google is offering the service free of charge to a select number of webmasters initially, it will charge a fee once it launches the service. According to Ramani, the Web giant is working to speed up site load times for the last two years and the latest project is another step towards enabling faster browsing. Google claims that the optimization will happen in the real time.

With the importance of the web growing, many companies are aiming to deliver better Web browsing experience. In recent years, all browser makers have put in a lot of efforts to speed up page rendering. Opera Mini, a browser for portable devices, uses its own servers to compress data before serving it on smartphones and tablets. Opera claims this optimization helps it offer a superior and faster Web browsing to experience to mobile users.

Companies like Amazon and Akamai, meanwhile, offer services like content delivery network (CDN) that can speed up data distribution. Many websites rely on these services. According to reports, Page Speed will make of both website optimization as well as a CDN.

Apple is richer than US govt

2011-07-30T07:07:00.000+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

NEW YORK: As of today, Apple boss Steve Jobs is richer than Uncle Sam.

While the world's most powerful government has just $73.76 billion in its reserves, the world's top technology company has a neat cash pile of $75.87 billion.

The US Treasury Department warned that it has now only this much operating budget as Republicans and Democrats fight over raising the nation's debt ceiling. With only that much reserve at its disposal, the Obama White House has warned the Republicans that the US government won't be able to meet its obligations as of Aug 2.

Facing a government default, Obama can definitely turn to Steve Jobs to give him a very brief breathing space. The failure by the Republicans and Democrats to come to a compromise to raise the current $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by Aug 2 could lead to a hike in interest rates. The already battered dollar may also plunge further.

With its market capitalisation of $363.25 billion, Apple is the second largest company on the planet after American oil giant Exxon Mobil. The Cupertino-based Apple started rising suddenly in 2007 when it entered the smartphone market with the launch of its first version of the iPhone.

Within three years, Apple went on to overhaul BlackBerry company Research In Motion (RIM) which invented the smartphone and dominated the market. But its fortunes skyrocketed last year with the launch of the iPad tablet which has sold in millions. In fact, the iPhone and the iPad have made Apple the czar of mobile computing technology as rivals play up catch-up.

The stock of the company, which doesn't pay dividends, has now touched $400. After Apple, another non-financial company sitting on a huge cash reserve is Microsoft whose own pile is about $40 billion.

Dell's service business: Threat to Indian offshoring cos

2011-07-26T14:47:00.001+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAMIn many ways, Dell - the world's
second biggest computer maker
-- is undergoing a shift very
similar to IBM's transformation
from hardware and products to
the lucrative services and
outsourcing business during the
nineties.
At $8 billion, Dell's services
business is a 'start up' that not
only threatens to snatch share
away from established
multinationals likeIBM and HP,
but also poses tough questions
for India's growingoffshoring
firms, scrambling to flesh out the
next model for outsourcing.
In an exclusive interview with
ET's Pankaj Mishra & Shruti
Sabharwal, Brian T Gladden, Dell's
chief financial officer, discusses
the pros and cons of being a
listed company, how
protectionism can harm
America's competitiveness and
says that the US government
plans to tax overseas profits
could discourage investments in
the country.
Would it be easier to change
your bets, transform to newer
businesses if Dell was not a
listed company? Is too much
quarterly scrutiny by
demanding investors slowing
things down for technology
companies?
It is very important that as a
leader you have to balance short-
term orientation and focus with
long-term investments and
strategy. You can't be solely
focused on making earnings per
share every quarter as the
number one priority and I think
there are times when you need
to make sure you are making
longer-term bets and
investments.
And our company has entered a
phase of development where I
think that it is very important
that we make pretty broad
investments and they don't
necessarily help in the short term
and we have to explain that to
our investors and be very clear
that we are changing the
company. There are investments
that may not benefit the firm this
quarter or the next.
And as a leader that has been a
change. As regards quarterly
scrutiny, I think there are positive
elements of that rhythm in
governance and ultimately
providing some level of
performance that can be
benchmarked against peers. We
can measure our performance
quarter by quarter to see how
we are doing versus anHewlett-
Packard or IBM or other
companies.
But that can also be a double
edged sword?
Oh absolutely. You can get overly
focused on that so that's why we
have to keep taking a step back
and say are we making any
investments that are going to
change the company for the
future.
That's a big part of what I do,
making sure that we are trying
to deliver that balance. How to
deliver on results today and
execute on commitments but
also make long term-changes.
And that's an important balance.
With increasing cash piles,
there is also a pressure to
spend it, or reward investors in
some ways. Does more cash
encourage risk taking, or it
makes companies more
conservative?
Michael Dell keeps a healthy
tension around creative new
ideas getting into the system.
And I think part of my role is to
balance that and make sure that
they make sense and that they
return reasonable economic
profit and that there is some risk
management around these
things.
Michael has recently been
spending time talking about how
we need to take more risk with
our teams internally. One of our
priorities is to elevate new ideas
and to try some different things.
We have got good financial
success, we have some great
cash flows, and we have got $15
billion of cash in the company
end of first quarter. So, we can
take some risk, we can take
some swings and try some
different things. But it has to be
within the context of delivering a
return on our overall investment.
How do you balance this risk
taking which is crucial in the
technology industry, with your
goals of not giving up to a rival?
Well, I think you have to start by
realising that not all risk is bad
risk. The goal is not to avoid risk,
but to manage it.
So, it comes back to balancing --
there is that amount of capital
that we are willing to put aside
and say lets take some risk with
it and then there is that core set
of investments that is less risky
and less different, more adjacent
to what we do and we have
some confidence in that.
For instance, we have built a
storage business with
acquisitions that is very
successful. It is a $2 billion
business right now. We feel it
can go to $4-5 billion in the next
three years.
That is the space where we have
proven we can win and that is a
place where we are willing to
make some investments and
make a more aggressive play
because we have had success.
There may be some other areas
where we have less capability
and one area I would like to
highlight and that we keep
working on is building on our
software capability. So less
success there means more risk
and we have to be more careful.
But we should not be afraid of
that, we have to go deal with
that. In a more metered and
balanced way we will go after
that.
Corporate governance is
another area of scrutiny by
investors and experts when it
comes to technology firms. Dell
had to restate its accounts few
years ago because of some
irregularities. What lessons
have you learnt?
I would say simply that if you are
going to grow very fast, you
need to make sure you are
making investments along the
way to provide stable
infrastructure. In many cases if
the company is growing so fast
that you can't build processes to
support it, that's when you get
into trouble.
I think sometimes growth needs
to be deliberately managed and
investments need to be made
along the way, I think those are
fundamental lessons that the
company needed to learn.
There are other things we need
to work on and improve and we
have done all that. We have made
some pretty significant
investments in IT, in talentand
we feel good about where we
are.
How much should we be
reading into the macro
economic worries, what does it
mean for the outsourcing
business?
I think there is a big economic
cloud right now. If you see the
US economy, it's a bit
challenging.
There are plenty of signs that
there are some challenging
dynamics in the US and until they
get clarity on the deficit issues,
put the debt ceiling behind them,
customers in some cases are
being a bit negative around
making investments. But I would
also say there is still good
demand growth.
Even in the federal government,
productivity becomes a primary
initiative. As long as technology
can bring productivity they are
big priorities for governments.
So, we feel good about that, we
are well positioned with
governments to do that.
How much will stubbornly high
unemployment play a role in
regulations around taxes and
immigration?
There is no question that the
recovery around the real estate
market in the US and other parts
of the world and unemployment
are long-term challenges and the
government in the US needs to
make some pretty fundamental
changes to encourage US
competitiveness and
employment.
Some of these things are
happening. But today they are
caught up in this debt ceiling
debate and not addressing these
issues. The corporate tax rate in
the US is way too high and the
government needs to talk about
that and not something silly like
the debt ceiling.
These are not going to change
overnight and you are not going
to see some dramatic decrease in
unemployment. The data I saw
most recently shows to get back
to 5% unemployment is going to
take another 13 years.
Every time there is political
rhetoric the government starts
talking about deferred tax,
overseas profits. What is your
take on that because it gets
linked back to unemployment
etc?
Well I would go back to US
competitiveness. It's a global
business; we have got a large
population of employees in the
US and more people outside the
US. There needs to be stability in
the political regulatory
environment for us to make
more investments in the US.
Japan is taking down their
corporate tax rate this year and
the US will have the highest
corporate tax rate in the world.
That is a disincentive to invest in
the US. I have been active, our
industry has been active in trying
to communicate to the policy
makers that they need to address
the corporate tax policy. Until
they focus energy around that.
There are US competitiveness
issues around tax and there are
labour issues. There are issues
with healthcare costs, issues
with the right incentives around
innovations and research and
development. Unless US
policymakers focus around these
and make them simple and easy
like it is inIndia or Singapore.
There is a challenge there.

Taliban: Phones, email, website hacked

2011-07-21T07:27:00.000+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

KABUL: The war in Afghanistan enteredcyberspace when the tech-savvy Taliban said their phones, email and website had been hacked to spread a false report that the movement's spiritual leader, Mullah Omar, was dead.

Although the Islamist group banned television during its time in power between 1996 and 2001, its communication strategy in the decade-long war now includes a website, mobile phone text messages, emails and posts on Twitter andFacebook.

The Taliban -- ousted by US-backed Afghan forces for harbouring al Qaeda militants blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States -- regularly promote their attacks, opinions or exploits online in a publicity war with the West.

Pakistani author and Taliban expert Ahmed Rashid said that, prior to 2001, the Taliban's "media reach to the Afghan people and the world had been virtually zero and totally ineffective".

"They learnt quickly that the war against the Americans had to be fought on many fronts," he said.

The online proficiency of the Taliban could be attributed to an influx of younger recruits during the past decade, said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, but he said the overall strategy was not new.

"Islamists, even the early modernist and non-violent ones like Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani or the Egyptian Muhammad Abdu, have always suggested to use Western advanced technology to overcome the West's domination," he said.

"That's not much different from today's Taliban." The Taliban are paranoid that modern technology will betray hiding places. They have threatened to attack mobile phone operators' towers and offices if networks aren't shut down at night, when they fear foreign troops could track them down.

Hacking inquiry
The cyber attack on Wednesday again sparked Taliban threats of revenge against the telephone network providers. They blamed "American intelligence" and accused a "cunning enemy" of committing "technical larceny".

A spokeswoman for NATO-led troops in Afghanistan said they had no information about the incident.

The Taliban regularly change the addresses of their websites, and website addresses are often corrupt or link to other websites such as dating or online shopping sites.

A "security encyclopaedia" for Islamist militants posted online several years ago -- and translated by the U.S.-based SITE institute -- urged strict precautions when using mobile phones, warning that Mullah Omar had come close to being assassinated after his phone signal gave away his whereabouts.

The Taliban is also concerned about Afghans using mobile phones to pass on information to foreign and government troops.

In the Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province recently, villagers in rural areas where the Taliban are still influential said insurgents had started smashing mobile telephones found on people outside their homes. Villagers said phones found at homes by insurgents were not destroyed.

Now it has to be on alert against cyber attacks. Mullah Omar was the second false high-profile death this week blamed on hacking. On Monday, the website of Britain's The Sun newspaper was hacked and a fake report posted that media mogul Rupert Murdoch had been found dead in his garden.

And just as the British parliament is investigating claims of phone hacking by Murdoch's News of the World newspaper, the Taliban said their Information and Cultural Commission has started an inquiry into how its communications were hacked.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force declined to comment on the Taliban allegation.

Samsung launches new Galaxy Tab

2011-07-21T07:25:00.002+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

SEOUL: Samsung Electronics Co launched a thinner and lighter version of its Galaxy tablet in its lucrative home market, trying to halt the runaway success of Apple Inc's iPad.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is an upgraded version of the 7-inch Tab introduced in October.

Blockbuster iPad sales announced by Apple Tuesday underscore the challenge for the South Korean company.

Apple sold 14 million iPads in the first half of the year, compared with analysts' sales estimates of about 7.5 million units for the Galaxy Tab over 2011.

"As our smartphone business grew very fast within a very short period of time, I believe it's just a matter of time for our tablet business to improve," J.K. Shin, head of Samsung's mobile division, told reporters.

Samsung is Apple's nearest rival in the booming mobile device industry as it leverages its cost competitiveness and access to chips and core tablet components.

It has sharply narrowed the gap with Apple in the smartphone market, but remains a distant second in the tablet market, which research firm Gartner forecasts will surge to 108 million devices next year from an estimated 70 million in 2011.

"Apple's quarterly results showed again it's indeed the strongest rival to beat. Samsung will have a tough second half due to growing competition from Apple as it is set to introduce a new iPhone," said James Song, an analyst at Daewoo Securities.

Blockbuster sales of the iPhone and iPad again helped Apple crush Wall Street's expectations for its third-quarter results. Apple said Tuesday that concern over iPad 2 supply constraints had eased and demand was still outstripping supply in some markets.

The sale of the Tab in Korea is Samsung's fifth launch after its U.S. debut a month ago and its sales kickoff in Indonesia, where the company says it commands a 65 percent market share. It has also launched the device in Italy and Sweden.

Pricing for the new product, slightly thinner and lighter than the iPad 2, starts from $500 in the U.S. market, the same price as the iPad 2.

Samsung faces the challenge of moving beyond being a hardware company, clever at copying ideas, to becoming more creative and better adept at software at a time when consumer gadgets are getting smarter.

Second-quarter profit at Samsung, the world's largest maker of memory chips and televisions, fell by a quarter as weak earnings at its flat screen unit dragged, overshadowing robust sales from its mobile division.

Samsung reiterated Wednesday it aimed to boost tablet sales by more than five fold this year. It didn't provide specific numbers but analysts expect the company to have sold about 1.5 million units last year.

Cognizant faces H-1B visa abuse charges by US

2011-07-21T07:24:00.000+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

BANGALORE: Multinational software firm Cognizant, which competes with India's Infosys,TCS and Wipro for a share of the US market, is facing allegations of H-1B visa abuse by an American staff the company fired recently.

Around 18 employees of Molina Healthcare, aCognizant customer, have filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles court alleging that they were replaced by lowly paid workers from Cognizant.

When contacted by ET a Cognizant spokesman said the lawsuit had no merit.

"Cognizant takes legal and regulatory compliance very seriously. It is Cognizant's view that this lawsuit is without merit, and we will vigorously contest it and pursue all legal remedies that may be available to us. Cognizant is a leading US-based provider of business, technology, and consulting services. The healthcare industry is one of the largest industry segments that Cognizant serves," he said.

The US-based magazine Computerworld reported earlier this month that the IT managers along with Cognizant at Molina Healthcare "increasingly catered to the Indian workers while leaving US workers, mostly security analysts and programmers who earned at least $75,000 a year, feeling excluded prior getting laid off last year," the report said.

Among other charges, the lawsuit also accuses the Cognizant customer of discrimination based on nationality.

As US struggles with stubbornly high unemployment rate of over 9%, immigration has become a hot topic among local citizens and opinion makers.

In February this year, Jack Palmer, a project manager with Infosys accused the company of misusing short term and easier to obtain B-1 visas by bringing low cost Indian workers to the US. A federal grand jury in Texas has already sought information from Infosys and an investigation is underway.
While Infosys has denied the allegations, experts tracking the sector say Indian firms need to focus harder on creating local jobs and become more sensitive to job losses as they become more global.

While political rhetoric is nothing new when it comes to outsourcing and job losses, the recent regulations like the one that doubled visa fee for funding Mexico border security and increasing rejection rates for Indian workers seeking short term posting in the US, hint at a brewing trade storm between the countries.

Last year, the Congress added another $2,000 to the H-1B Visa fee. In June this year, Zoe Lofgren of California proposed a bill that would increase wages paid to H-1B workers to ensure American candidates don't lose out.

Experts such as Philadelphia-based immigration lawyer Morley J Nair said in an earlier interview that at a time when US unemployment rates are high, anything even remotely connected with job discrimination will evoke a backlash.

"These cases should be of concern to all types of employers who put restrictive conditions in their ads that can lead to discrimination of any kind, not only to Indian companies operating in the US. Moreover, in this era of high unemployment, any employment ads that even remotely seem to contain restrictive or tailored requirements will invite more attention than needed," he said.

As more US companies, apart from foreign firms like Infosys, face challenges of immigration, even the political rhetoric against immigration is beginning to turn soft. On Monday for instance, Senator Schumer, famous for calling Infosys a 'chop shop', said immigration actually creates jobs - a significant departure from his earlier stand accusing outsourcing companies of stealing American jobs. In an interview with Politico, Schumer said an overhaul of the current immigration system is needed.

How to Create Your Own Customized Run Commands

2011-07-19T07:35:00.002+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

The Run command on Microsoft Windows operating system allows you to directly open an application or document with just a single command instead of navigating to it’s location and double-clicking the executable icon. However, it only works for some of the inbuilt Windows programs such as Command prompt (cmd), Calculator (calc) etc. So, have you ever wondered how to create your own customized Run commands for accessing your favorite programs, files and folders? Well, read on to find out the answer.

Creating the Customized Run Command

Let me take up an example of how to create a customized run command for opening the Internet explorer. Once you create this command, you should be able to open the Internet explorer just by typing “ie” (without quotes) in the Run dialog box. Here is how you can do that.

1. Right click on your Desktop and select New -> Shortcut.

2. You will see a “Create Shortcut” Dialog box as shown below

3. Click on “Browse”, navigate to: Program Files -> Internet Explorer from your Root drive (usually C:\) and select “iexplore” as shown in the above figure and click on “OK”.

4. Now click on “Next” and type any name for your shortcut. You can choose any name as per your choice; this will be your customized “Run command”. In this case I name my shortcut as “ie”. Click on “Finish”.

5. You will see a shortcut named “ie” on your desktop. All you need to do is just copy this shortcut and paste it in your Windows folder (usually “C:/Windows”). Once you have copied the shortcut onto your Windows folder, you can delete the one on your Desktop.

6. That’s it! From now on, just open the Run dialog box, type ie and hit Enter to open the Internet Explorer.

In this way you can create customized Run commands for any program of your choice. Say “ff” for Firefox, “ym” for Yahoo messenger, “wmp” for Windows media player and so on.

To do this, when you click on “Browse” in the Step-3, just select the target program’s main executable (.exe) file which will usually be located in the C:\Program Files folder. Give a simple and short name for this shortcut as per your choice and copy the shortcut file onto the Windows folder as usual. Now just type this short name in the Run dialog box to open the program.

I hope you like this post! Pass your comments.

10 tips to internet security

2011-07-19T07:34:00.001+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

With the sudden rise in the Internet usage across the globe over the past few years, there has also been a rise in the amount of online scams and frauds. Today most of the Internet users are unaware of the most prevailing online threats which pose a real challenge for their safe Internet usage. As a result, Online Security has become a questionable factor for the most Internet users. However it is still possible to effectively combat online insecurity provided that the users are well aware of the common scams and frauds and know how to protect themselves. A study shows that over 91% of the Internet users are unaware of the online scams and are worried about their security. Well if you are one among those 91% then here is a list of 10 tips to ensure your total online security.

1. Always install a good antivirus software and keep it up-to-date. Also install a good anti-spyware to keep your PC away from spywares. Click Here for a list of recommended anti-spyware softwares.

2. Always visit known and trusted websites. If you are about to visit an unknown website, ensure that you do not click on suspectable links and banners.

3. Perform a virus scan on the files/email attachments that you download before executing them.

4. Regularly Update your operating system and browser software. For a better security it is recommended that you surf the Internet through the latest version of your browser program.

5. Never share your password (email, bank logins etc.) with any one for any reason. Choose a strong password (A blend of alphanumeric+special symbols) and change it regularly, eg. every 3 months. Avoid using easy-to-guess passwords. (ex. pet’s name or kid’s name)

6. Always type the URL of the website in your browser’s address bar to enter the login pages. For ex. To login to your Gmail account type http://mail.google.com

7. Before you enter your password on any login page, ensure that you see https instead of http. ex. https://mail.google.com instead of http://mail.google.com. HTTPS protocol implements SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and provide better security than a normal HTTP. For more information on HTTPS and SSL see Know More About Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

8. Beware of phishing emails! Do not respond to any email that request you to update your login details by clicking on a link in the body of the email. Such links can lead to Fake Login Pages (Spoofed Pages). For more information on phishing refer What is Phishing?. Also refer How to Protect an Email Account from being Hacked.

9. Always hit the logout button to close your login session rather than abruptly terminating the browser window. Also clear your web browser caches after every session to remove the temporary files stored in the memory and hard disk of your PC.

10. Avoid (Stop) using any public computers or computers in the Internet cafes to access any sensitive/confidential information. Also avoid such computers to login to your email/bank accounts. You cannot be sure if any spyware, keystroke-logger, password-sniffer and other malicious programs have not been installed on such a PC.

By following the above 10 tips your online security can be guaranteed upto 90%. I hope this will help my readers for keeping themselves safe from any of the online insecurities. Cheers! Pass your comments.

Internet use affects memory: Study

2011-07-16T07:20:00.000+05:30

The widespread use of search engines and online databases has affected the way people remember information, researchers are reporting.

The scientists, led by Betsy Sparrow, an assistant professor of psychology at Columbia, wondered whether people were more likely to remember information that could be easily retrieved from a computer, just as students are more likely to recall facts they believe will be on a test.

Dr Sparrow and her collaborators, Daniel M. Wegner of Harvard and Jenny Liu of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, staged four different memory experiments. In one, participants typed 40 bits of trivia — for example, "an ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain" — into a computer. Half of the subjects believed the information would be saved in the computer; the other half believed the items they typed would be erased.

The subjects were significantly more likely to remember information if they thought they would not be able to find it later. "Participants did not make the effort to remember when they thought they could later look up the trivia statement they had read," the authors write.

A second experiment was aimed at determining whether computer accessibility affects precisely what we remember. "If asked the question whether there are any countries with only one color in their flag, for example," the researchers wrote, "do we think about flags — or immediately think to go online to find out?"

In this case, participants were asked to remember both the trivia statement itself and which of five computer folders it was saved in. The researchers were surprised to find that people seemed better able to recall the folder.

"That kind of blew my mind," Dr. Sparrow said in an interview.

The experiment explores an aspect of what is known as transactive memory — the notion that we rely on our family, friends and co-workers as well as reference material to store information for us.

"I love watching baseball," Dr. Sparrow said. "But I know my husband knows baseball facts, so when I want to know something I ask him, and I don't bother to remember it."

The Internet's effects on memory are still largely unexplored, Dr. Sparrow said, adding that her experiments had led her to conclude that the Internet has become our primary external storage system.

"Human memory," she said, "is adapting to new communications technology."

article byTOI

Top up coming phones in the market ev

2011-07-16T07:07:00.002+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

-Nokia N9
-HTC evo 3d
-Lg optimus 3d
-Apple i5
-sony xperia
-Motorola Milestones XT 883

How to recover hacked e mail

2011-07-15T07:32:00.000+05:30

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

It can be a real nightmare if someone hacks and takes control of your email account as it may contain confidential information like bank logins, credit card details and other sensitive data. If you are one such Internet user whose email account has been compromised, then this post will surely help you out. In this post you will find the possible ways and procedures to get back your hacked email account.

For Gmail:

It can be a big disaster if your Gmail account has been compromised as it may be associated with several services like Blogger, Analytics, Adwords, Adsense, Orkut etc. Losing access to your Gmail account means losing access to all the services associated it with too. Here is a list of possible recovery actions that you can try.

Step -1: Try resetting your password since it is the easiest way to get your account back in action. In this process Google may ask you to answer the secret question or may send the password reset details to the secondary email address associated with your compromised account. You can reset you password from the following link

Gmail Password Reset Link

If you cannot find success from the Step-1 then proceed to Step-2.

Step-2: Many times the hacker will change the secret question and secondary email address right after the account is compromised. This is the reason for the Password Reset process to fail. If this is the case then you need to contact the Gmail support team by filling out the account recovery form. This form will ask you to fill out several questions like

1. Email addresses of up to five frequently emailed contacts
2. Names of any 4 Labels that you may have created in your account
3. List of other services associated with your compromised account
4. Your last successful login date
5. Account created date
6. Last password that you remember and many more…

You need to fill out this form as much accurately as possible. It is obvious to forget the dates of last login, account creation and similar terms. However you need to figure out the closest possible date/answers and fill out this form. This is your last chance! The more accurate the information filled out in the recovery form, the more the chances of getting your account back. You may reach the account recovery page form the following link

Account Recovery Form

For Yahoo and Hotmail:

Unfortunately for Yahoo/Hotmail there is no second option like filling out the form or contacting the support team. All you need to do is either answer the secret questions that you have setup or reset the password using the secondary email option.

To initiate the password reset process just click on the Forgot password link in your login page and proceed as per the screen instructions.