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In Diamonds’ Flaws, Finding Clues to Earth’s Carbon Cycle

2011-09-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

Diamonds that once lay more than 435 miles beneath the earth’s surface have provided researchers with an unexpected window into the planet’s history.

The diamonds, during their formation, captured evidence that slabs of the ocean floors descend deep beneath the earth’s surface, recycling carbon between the oceans and the earth’s mantle, the shell of rock, about 1,800 miles thick, that lies directly beneath the earth’s surface.

Understanding the fate of the slabs will help scientists better understand the earth’s carbon cycle and all the processes that depend on it, from the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to the carbon compounds in living organisms and the formation of hydrocarbons in oil and gas.

Objects that resemble ocean slabs can be seen in seismic recordings, but they lie far too deep for any drill to sample. Impurities in the diamonds contain chemical signatures of the extinct ocean floor, evidence that the slabs have been cycled deep into the earth’s mantle, says a research team led by Michael J. Walter of the University of Bristol in England.

These microscopic impurities, derived from rock and from organic material in creatures that once lived on an ancient ocean floor, have undergone an amazing journey. The ocean floor rock, basalt, along with the sediment that built up on top of it, was drawn down at the edge of an ocean as part of the conveyor-belt mechanism that moves the continents.

When the slab of ocean floor had plunged 435 miles beneath the surface, minerals from the basalt were encapsulated inside the diamonds that formed at these depths.

The diamonds continued to descend with the slab of ocean floor until they experienced two elevator rides back to the surface. A rising mass of solid rock known as a mantle plume carried them slowly back toward the upper mantle, and the heat of the plume then propelled to the surface an explosive jet of molten kimberlite, a volcanic rock that preserves diamonds.

Eons later, the diamonds were mined by the Rio Tinto Group from Juina in Brazil. The company allowed members of the research team to sift through stones not deemed to be of gem quality. After examining thousands of diamonds, the researchers found just six that seemed to be of superdeep origin.

Despite their deep origin, the Juina diamonds are comparatively young as diamonds go. They were formed only 100 million years ago. Most gem-quality diamonds are 1 billion to 3.5 billion years old, and originate at shallower depths, in the keels beneath the cratons, the ancient blocks of rock that form the hearts of the earth’s continental masses.

The impurities that make the superdeep diamonds useless to the jeweler are invaluable to the scientist. From the inclusions in the six Juina diamonds, Dr. Walter’s team was able to infer the existence of two minerals that form only in conditions that exist 435 miles or deeper below the earth’s surface. The composition of the two minerals matched the basalt of which the ocean floor is made, showing that slabs of ocean floor had reached this depth,the researchers reported online on Thursday in the journal Science.

In another test, they showed that the carbon in the impurities contained less than usual of the isotope known as carbon 13, a signature of organic carbon at the surface of the earth that has been processed by living organisms.

Researchers are delighted that so much information about major geological processes can be gleaned from the microscopic impurities in the superdeep diamonds. “The superdeeps will probably emerge in the next 10 years as some of the strongest evidence for deep movements and pathways in the earth’s mantle,” said Steven B. Shirey of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, a member of Dr. Walter’s team.

Thomas Stachel, an expert on diamond geochemistry at the University of Alberta in Canada, said, “Here you have a beautiful demonstration that the oceanic plate cycle is not relatively shallow, as many people assume, but that the subducted plate makes it down to the deep mantle and is brought back to the surface by a mantle plume.”

In Dr. Walter’s laboratory, the superdeep diamonds are polished with a jeweler’s polishing wheel until the precious impurities within them are exposed. With a variety of spectroscopic tests, the researchers then measure the composition of the minerals within the impurities.

The discovery that carbon from the ocean floor can be mixed so deep within the mantle raises the larger question of how much of the ocean floor and sediments are carried to the deep mantle. Given the importance of carbon to life, scientists seek to understand the major reservoirs of carbon in the earth and the exchanges between them, both in space and in time.

“The mantle is the biggest reservoir of carbon, and we know very little about it,” Dr. Walter said.

“This won’t affect climate tomorrow, but what our results tell you is that carbon from the surface can go all the way into the lower mantle, which may be a long-term sink for carbon.”

Scientists Discover 12 New Frog Species in India

2011-09-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI -- Years of combing tropical mountain forests, shining flashlights under rocks and listening for croaks in the night have paid off for a team of Indian scientists which has discovered 12 new frog species plus three others thought to have been extinct.

It's a discovery the team hopes will bring attention to India's amphibians and their role in gauging the health of the environment.

Worldwide, 32 percent of the world's known amphibian species are threatened with extinction, largely because of habitat loss or pollution, according to the group Global Wildlife Conservation.

"Frogs are extremely important indicators not just of climate change, but also pollutants in the environment," said the project's lead scientist, biologist Sathyabhama Das Biju of the University of Delhi.

Many of the newly found frogs in India are rare and are living in just a single area, so they will need rigorous habitat protection, Biju told The Associated Press on Saturday. "Unfortunately in India, conservation has basically focused on the two most charismatic animals -- the elephant and the tiger. For amphibians there is little interest, little funding, and frog research is not easy."

Night frogs are extremely hard to find, coming out only at dark and during the monsoon season, living either in fast-flowing streams or on moist forest ground.

Biju said he and his student researchers had to sit in dark, damp forests listening for frog sounds and shining flashlights under rocks and across riverbeds. They confirmed the new species by description as well as genetics.

The 12 new species include the meowing night frog, whose croak sounds more like a cat's call, the jog night frog, unique in that both the males and females watch over the eggs, and the Wayanad night frog, which grows to about the size of a baseball or cricket ball. "It's almost like a monster in the forest floor, a huge animal for a frog, leaping from one rock to another," Biju said.

Three other species were rediscovered, including the Coorg night frog described 91 years ago, after scientists "had completely ignored these animals, thinking they were lost."

The discoveries -- published in the latest issue of international taxonomy journal Zootaxa -- bring the known number of frogs in India to 336. Biju estimated this was only around half of what is in the wild, and said none of India's amphibians are yet being studied for biological compounds that could be of further use in science.

"We first have to find the species, know them and protect them, so that we can study them for their clinical importance," he said.

Biju is credited with discovering dozens of new Indian frog species during his 35-year career.

NASA satellite is expected to fall to Earth soon

2011-09-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

Sometime soon -- say around Sept. 23, give or take a day or two -- a 6-ton, 35-foot-long satellite will fall out of the sky, NASA warns.

But don't be alarmed. Donald J. Kessler, a retired senior scientist for orbital debris research at NASA, says you've got nothing to worry about. The chance of getting hit is remote. Very remote.

That's not to say NASA isn't taking the situation seriously.

In a news release on its website, the space agency said it will post updates weekly up until four days before the anticipated reentry, then daily until about 24 hours before reentry, and then at about 12-hours, six hours and two hours before the thing actually plummets to earth.

The updates will come from the Joint Space Operations Center of U.S. Strategic Command at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a group that works around the clock "detecting, identifying and tracking all man-made objects in Earth-orbit, including space junk."

For his part, Kessler thinks all the fuss is a little ridiculous.

In an interview with The Times, he said that about one piece of space debris, or space junk if you prefer, falls out of orbit daily. The public generally doesn't hear about such events because the debris usually burns up in Earth's atmosphere. Kessler said it's almost impossible to predict where a piece of space debris that does not burn up in the atmosphere might fall.

"These things make it around the Earth once every 90 minutes," he said. "It could enter anywhere on that path, so you can't predict where it will be."

The unpredictable satellite in question is NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (you can call it UARS), which was launched into space in September 1991 and was decommissioned in 2005. For the record, no one thinks a 6-ton satellite will come hurling out of the sky in one piece. Scientists expect the spacecraft to break into roughly two-dozen pieces during its reentry.

Not all of those pieces will burn up.

If you're lucky enough to find a piece of the satellite, you cannot legally keep it or sell it. Even out of orbit, that satellite is property of NASA.

Google Chrome gets automatic single sign-on, brings security risks

2011-09-07T05:24:00.000-07:00

Google really wants you to use its web apps, and it really, really wants you to use Chrome. That’s why the company works so hard on making sure its browser and apps play nice together — and more nicely than Firefox,Internet Explorer, and Opera.

That’s no surprise since Chrome is fast becoming the preferred gateway to all things Google in the cloud. Just last week, offline access to Gmail returned (but only for Chrome!) — and now, further streamlining your access to the cloud, Chrome has now added an auto-login option to its experimental about:flags page.

With “pre- and auto-login” enabled, Chrome stores authentication details for the Google account you’ve set up in your sync options as a cookie. That cookie enables single sign-on at any Google Account-enabled web page (like Gmail, Google Docs, Google Reader, Picasa, etc.). No more re-entering your password on Gmail after you’ve logged in on Google Reader: just load the page and watch it auto-refresh.

There’s also mention of a Chrome infobar (like those that appear to translate or block scripts) being displayed when a compatible page is detected, hinting that Chrome’s auto-login might be available to third-party sites across the web, similar to what Mozilla has been working on with BrowserID.

Right now, auto-login is hidden behind a flag. That’s a good thing, because there’s a security issue that needs to be sorted out before it’s made a default.

While the option to automatically sign in to Google apps is a convenience, the setting would also allow anyone that can double-click the Chrome icon on your desktop to access all your Google data without knowing your password. Since Chrome currently lacks a master password option, the only in-browser solution would be to disconnect your account on chrome://settings/personal. Your operating system already offers a more logical solution, of course: automatically password-locking your workstation when it’s idle.

Chrome OS offers this functionality as part of its security toolkit, and it would make sense for Google to introduce something similar in the Chrome browser for other platforms — or at least to make with a master password option already. Other Chromium-based browsers (like Flock and RockMelt) have managed to implement it already, so why not the genuine article?

Download Google Chrome Canary and take automatic sign-on for a spin

New generation of airships to transport goods around the world

2011-09-05T05:38:00.000-07:00

Airships are set to return to the skies in a Nasa project aimed at revolutionising the way cargo is transported around the world.

The space agency is developing the new generation of airships, which it believes will replace lorries, trains and ships as means of carrying freight.

The first prototype is expected to make its maiden voyage next year and scientists leading the project predict airships capable of carrying hundreds of tonnes of cargo at a time will be airborne by the end of the decade.

It comes more than 70 years after the Hindenburg disaster, which brought an end to the earlier airship era.

However, the development of modern materials and aerodynamics knowledge gained from the space race means that the new generation will be capable of safely carrying loads that could not be managed in the past.

Dr Simon Worden, director of the Nasa Ames Research Center in California, said: "Currently the majority of goods are put on trucks and trains to be transported around the country.

Get real-time view of solar system

2011-09-05T05:36:00.001-07:00

NASA is giving the public a new interactive web-based tool to explore the solar system like never before. The “Eyes on the Solar System” interface combines video game technology and NASA data to create an environment for users to ride along with agency spacecraft and explore the cosmos.

Users may experience missions in real-time, and even travel through time.

“This is the first time the public has been able to see the entire solar system and our missions moving together in real-time,” said Jim Green, director of NASA''s Planetary Science Division at the agency''s Headquarters in Washington.

“It demonstrates NASA''s continued commitment to share our science with everyone,” he added.

The virtual environment http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes uses the Unity game engine to display models of planets, moons, asteroids, comets and spacecraft as they move through our solar system.

With keyboard and mouse controls, users cruise through space to explore anything that catches their interest.

“You are now free to move about the solar system,” said Blaine Baggett, executive manager in the Office of Communication and Education at NASA''s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. “See what NASA''s spacecraft see -- and where they are right now -- all without leaving your computer.”

The playback rate can be sped up or slowed down. Point of view can be switched from faraway to close-up to right “on board” spacecraft. Location, motion and appearance are based on predicted and reconstructed mission data.

Dozens of controls on a series of pop-up menus allow users to fully customize what they see, and video and audio tutorials explain how to use the tool''s many options. Users may choose from 2-D or 3-D modes, with the latter simply requiring a pair of red-cyan glasses to see

The ,Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc S that can take 3D pictures which is comming soon

2011-09-05T05:33:00.001-07:00

LONDON: Sony Ericsson has announced its new line of smartphones, which can take 3D panoramicimages on a standard 2D camera - the first of its kind on the mobile phone market.

Pictures taken on the new, top-of-the-range Xperia Arc S can be viewed on any compatible television set.

The phone, however, will display them only in two dimensions. Nor will it be able to produce 3D video output, reports the Daily Mail.

The camera works by taking several simultaneous images and 'stitching' them together.

The phone, which runs Google's Android operating system, has a 4.2" screen and the camera definition is 8.1 megapixels, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

Any 3D images are viewed by connecting the phone to a 3D TV using the HDMI output.

The company said the Arc S will come in five colours - white, blue, silver, black and pink.

The device was unveiled at the IFA technology fair in Berlin.

modicare shining up with the new network plan

2011-09-01T06:05:00.000-07:00

The network marketing company i.e, modicare has came up with a new network marketing plan
earlier the marketing plan was called as sunflower system but now the new marketing plan name is called as

mximizer plan

it has good income when compared to the old one's

for more details on new plan please visit www.modicare.com

About modicare

Part of the KK Modi Group and one of the pioneer network marketing companies in India. Claims to have started operation in 1996 with 400 consultants in Delhi .Present in over 39 cities with over10 lac consultants across the country. Pat of the executive committee of IDSA.

In Business Since: 1996 (as per Company Website)

Financial Strength: Worth 180crores in 2002.

Management:

Part of the KK Modi Group and one of the pioneer network marketing companies in India had a pretty solid management team. Present. Not to be seen anymore. The fact that the main company site has been reported an attack site by Google, AL the same the company management is ignorant.

Online Training & Support:
Not Al yet there online. Heavily focused on business promotion through traditional means. As part of the marketing strategy, the company has designed a mini supermarket, with branding in the form of a neon signage and display panels that facilitate easy and quick access. Training events are a held in hotel and halls.

Motivational Support:

Excellent corporate sponsored conventions and distributor lead regional events. These events are held by top Modicare consultants, who are among the highest income earners in the industry, with huge organizations.

Products/Services:

Product Range Includes

Agricultural

Auto care

Cosmetic and skin care

Home care

Nutrition health and wealth

Personal care

Triactiv products

highest kinds are available now

Advantages:

Daily consumable products

Affordable price

Old and stable company

generates high good income

good marketing plan

Microsoft to share some more of Windows 8

2011-08-31T04:25:00.000-07:00

Microsoft’s popular software, Windows is undergoing a change, and they let out some more glimpses of the latest one, Windows 8. In a blog post, authored by Alex Simons, a part of the project management team, several additions are being made on the platform before it is introduced to its lot of anxious users. Among those changes are ones being made to a Windows Explorer, thereby helping it improve the way it interacts with the yet-to-be-released Windows 8 OS. Users could expect to view a tab on their Windows Explorer, nicknamed the ‘ribbon’, which would be found useful by those who essentially weren't 'power users'. The ribbon would add a new face to the layout, with more 'streamlined' placement of icons on the browser.

A new window opened?

Among other additions that users can expect Windows 8 to pack, include support for ISO and VHD files. Microsoft believes that by providing access to these file formats in the upcoming Windows 8 would make the process of accessing huge amounts of stored data in ISO and VHD formats with ease. When first mentioned in June, Microsoft had added that Windows 8 was built such that it could be used across platforms with varied operations, which included devices from the humble desktop, to a new-age tablet. At the D9 conference, attendees caught some more glimpses of the features of the Windows 8, including better interface of Windows' mobile platform, Windows Phone 7. In the post, Simons underlined Microsoft's three main goals in mind, while taking Windows 8 into perspective. He added that the 'most used' commands on Windows would be placed in the most prominent positions of the UI, thereby reducing, if not eliminating the search period. They would also look at bringing back some of MS's hits in the times to come.

More glimpses are being promised at Microsoft's Developer's Conference in Anaheim, California, beginning from September 13. Alternatively, the video below should quench some anxiousness.

LG to Launch Its 3D Smartphone in India

2011-08-27T04:13:00.000-07:00

It has been reported that by next month, LG Optimus 3D would be making its entry to India. The Optimus 3D is a unique gadget which enables the users to record and view 3D content via its camera. Basically, the smartphone is run over Android but it can be upgraded to Gingerbread.

The concept of 3D is although quite new for Indians, they are enthusiastically waiting to experience it. It has been unveiled that the gadget would be sold in the Indian market for a price of 37,000 INR. Just like any other smartphones, the memory of LG Optimus 3D can be expanded. However, it has an internal memory of 8GB but can be expanded to 32 GB.

Its glassless 3D screen makes it stand out among other 3D gadgets present in the world. The images on the gadget can be captured by using its 5 MP cameras along with 2D 720p HD video recording, which can be viewed immediately on its 3D screen.

Before LG, Spice had launched M-67 3D in India, which was sold for just 4,299 INR. However, as compared to LG’s 3D gadget, the Spice version didn’t provide its users with the facility of capturing and recording 3D images. Meanwhile, it has also come to light that HTC EVO will soon be launching its 3D phones in India.

Facebook aims to replace texting

2011-08-10T07:05:00.001-07:00

Facebook has launched an instant messaging service for mobile phones, similar to BlackBerry Messenger.

The dedicated app, for iPhones and Android devices, allows users to contact individual friends or groups of people.

Its release comes a month before Apple is due to unveil a similar product.

Attention has been focused on mobile messaging recently because some of the London rioters were known to have used it to co-ordinate their movements.

So far Facebook's mobile messenger is only available in the United States, but it is expected to eventually roll out in other countries.

The social network's 750 million users already have the ability to send messages through the website, and on Facebook's original smartphone app.

Its new application adds the option to send directly to a mobile phone via SMS, and also to include location information.

Google registers huge Q2 profits

2011-07-15T08:04:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK: Google Inc has reported a 36 per cent growth in net income to $2.51 billion for the April-June period of 2011 driven by robust performance of core search business coupled with growing strength in other areas such as social network.

In the year-ago period, the company had a net income of $1.84 billion, the Internet search firm said in a statement.

The company posted revenues of $9.03 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011, an increase of 32 per cent compared to the same period of 2010.

"We had a great quarter, with revenue up 32 per cent year on year for a record breaking over $9 billion of revenue," Google CEO Larry Page said.

Google, which recently launched a social network site called Google plus is believed to have more than 10 million people plugged into it. The company is "super excited about the amazing response to Google+ which lets you (user)share just like in real life".

The robust quarterly numbers indicate that company is not only growing in its core search business but also powering ahead in other areas such as new businesses like Google+ and Android.

In addition, the company is also expanding in areas such as mobile and display advertising.

Google-owned sites generated revenues of $6.23 billion in the second quarter of 2011, or 69 per cent of total revenues. This represents a 39 per cent jump over the year-ago quarter 2010 revenues of $4.50 billion.

Besides, the company's partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programmes, of $2.48 billion, in the second quarter of 2011, up 20 per cent from the year-ago period'.

Internet search giant said its paid clicks, a measure of how frequently consumers click on its ads, grew 18 per cent in the second quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. The average price that marketers paid Google per click rose 12 per cent from a year earlier.

During the quarter, the company has hired over 2,400 new personnel to touch 28,768 employees as of June 30, 2011.

News Technology Facebook Facebook to team up with Skype for video chat, say reports

2011-07-05T04:14:00.001-07:00

Facebook is reportedly planning this week to team up with Skype to launch a video chat function for its millions of users.

It would mean that Facebook members, already accustomed to posting status updates and photographs, sharing news stories and sending messages via their profiles, would also be able to video chat live with other members.

The news was reported by a respected technology blog, Tech Crunch, in a story written by its editor, Michael Arrington, a well-known figure in social media circles across the world. "Next week, says a source with knowledge of the partnership, Facebook will launch a new video chat product, powered by Skype," Arrington wrote.

Rumours about a tie-up between Facebook and Skype have swirled for several years without a finished product emerging. But this latest round of speculation is given credence by the fact that Facebook's young founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has announced a major news conference for a new product this Wednesday.

Zuckerberg told reporters that the firm would "launch something awesome" that had been developed by the firm's Seattle research engineering office. Predictions that this would involve video chat were also boosted by the fact that press invitations to the event were decorated with a small chat icon with a silhouette of a person in one of them. "Suddenly those chat icons in the invitation have a lot more meaning," Arrington commented.

Another influential tech blog, Mashable, confirmed the story. "While Facebook and Skype aren't saying anything officially, our sources confirm that Skype-powered video chat on Facebook will indeed be launching next week," the website reported.

If true, the move is likely to cement Facebook even further into the lives of its growing number of global users. The company, founded in 2004, is already one of the biggest and most influential in the world, with an estimated 500 million-plus active users.

Through the exploding industry of social media, Facebook's influence is spreading through the media, entertainment and advertising industries. Having a video chat function using Skype would extend its reach even further, potentially encroaching on the mobile telephone sector.

Facebook's success has turned 27-year-old Zuckerberg into one of the richest self-made men in the world, worth billions of dollars. Last year he was the subject of the Hollywood film The Social Network, which was nominated for eight Oscars.

Mark Zuckerberg Is Filthy Stinking Rich Now

2011-06-30T05:01:00.000-07:00

Now I finally understand why Mark Zuckerberg bought a $7 million home – because he's richer than God, that's why. Well, actually, he's just richer than those Google dudes and, um, me.

Turns out, thanks to some investors, Facebook's valuation is up to $70 billion, making Zuckerberg approximately worth $18 billion. Which means that the Facebook CEO is the third-richest man in the tech sector, only behind Bill Gates and Larry Ellison.

Gates is estimated to be currently worth $56 billion, while Ellison checks in as the world's fifth-richest billionaire at $39.5 billion.

With the new valuation, Zuckerberg has one-upped Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, whose fortunes are estimated to have dropped. It also turns out that Zuckerberg surpassed Steve Jobs in wealth, some time ago last year.

Brain-like computing is one step closer

2011-06-26T07:01:00.001-07:00

The development of a brain-like computer would have numerous and varied benefits, and this achievement is one step closer, according to research published by researchers from the University of Exeter.

Unique handling of information

The brain is an unique processor from many points of view, displaying many extraordinary abilities, including simultaneous information processing and storage using phase-change material, which is exactly what scientists have been able to obtain for the first time. This would make computers much more faster and efficient, as well as more similar to biological systems.

Today’s computers work unlike any biological systems and are much more uneffective in the way they treat processing and memory separately, which results in a speed and power bottleneck caused by the need to move data around continually. In order to perform these two tasks simultaneously researchers used phase-change materials, a kind of semi-conductor that exhibits remarkable properties.

This shows that materials made entirely from phase-change materials can be used to create artificial synapses and neurons, which means that such a processor could treat information in the way your brain does it; the study also points out that these materials can perform general-purpose computing operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

“Our findings have major implications for the development of entirely new forms of computing, including ‘brain-like’ computers. We have uncovered a technique for potentially developing new forms of ‘brain-like’ computer systems that could learn, adapt and change over time. This is something that researchers have been striving for over many years.”

Sony website Hacked Again

2011-06-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

Adding to Sony's woes, is a hack attack at Sony Pictures' France website. Lebanese hacker group, Idahc who have already hacked a Sony website in the past are the perpetrators once again. This time they had an accomplice in the form of another hacker group called Auth3ntiq who are from France.

According to a plain text post on Pastebin, Idahc claims that they found a SQL injection on sonypictures.fr but they will not publish the entire database and that they didn't upload a shell. They said that this was a POC while claiming not to be black hats. They said data retrieved from the site includes personal user information and there are a total of 177172 email addresses.

Idahc have previously hacked Sony claiming that they too were part of the ‘Hacker versus Sony’ game where in they gained access to 120 user names, passwords, mobile phone numbers, work emails, and websites from a user database on Sony's European site. As with the first time, the Sony website in France was hacked using an SQL injection
.

Airtel to Announces New High Speed Broadband Plans

2011-06-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

Airtel has announced the launch of new broadband plans, with minimum broadband speed at 2mbps in its top 10 cities and from 1mbps onwards for all other cities across the country. These 2mbps plans will be offered in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune. For all the other markets, across its service areas in the country, the new plans offer a minimum Broadband speed of 1mbps.

Airtel launches new broadband services

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Girish Mehta, Chief Marketing Officer, Telemedia Services of Bharti Airtel said that the company always took the lead in continually bringing in richer experience and higher speeds for customers. Over the past several months they have been continually adding to their broadband service portfolio. Raising the broadband speed threshold with the new broadband plans will help enhance uptake of the array of content and rich media experience on Airtel broadband.

Airtel claims that the experience comes with enhanced usage limits. The new plans offered by Airtel in their top 10 cities will be Rs. 649 and Rs. 799 for the Alfa 3GB and 6GB plans respectively. For the Max plan it is 10GB, 30GB, 75GB, 150GB plans at Rs. 999, Rs. 1,299, Rs. 1,599, and Rs. 1,999. Rest of India -1mbps plans will be offered at 3GB, 6GB plans at Rs. 549 and Rs. 699 for the Ace plan. The Mega plan will be priced at 10GB, 30GB, and 75GB plans at Rs. 899, Rs. 1499 and Rs. 1,999 respectively. The 4mbps plans which will be available at select markets will have a Turbo plan of 10GB, 30GB, 75GB and 150GB plans at Rs. 1099, 1,399, Rs. 1,699 and Rs. 2,099.

Facebook App for iPad Coming Soon

2011-06-18T06:14:00.000-07:00

Facebook, which released its official app for iPhone immediately after the launch of Apple's App store in 2008, has not come with an app for the tablet device -iPad, which was released in April 2010.

The No.1 social networking site has been reportedly working on a free iPad app for more than a year and is in the final stages of testing, the New York Timesreported citing sources familiar with the plans.

Currently, people have been resorting to third-party apps such as My Pad, iFace and Friendly for accessing Facebook on tablet devices, while many of the third party apps are currently operating in a risky space as the release of official Facebook app for iPad could curb traffic to their apps.

If Facebook releases its official app for iPad then iPad owners would prefer the consistent experience of an official Facebook app rather than third-party apps.

In terms of usage, Oecoway’s Friendly for iPad is the front runner among the third-party apps, which is having around 600,000 daily active users and ranked 59th in the top free iPad apps in the last month.

It is speculated that the upcoming Facebook application will address several issues from critics, who were saying that Facebook's web interface is not optimized for tablets such as iPad or any other touch screen interface.

According to those who have seen the app, it has a "slick design that has been tailored for the iPad and its touchscreen interface". Insider sources says the app enables users read and post on Facebook, participate in Facebook chats, as well as upload photos and video.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, is said to have invested heavily in the project and personally supervising the development apart from fine tuning the unique and advanced features of the app. Designers of the app are also working hard to make the user experience compelling and sticky.

The company is also working on the site to improve the compatibility of the website with iPad.

Google and Silicon Valley's cult of innovatio

2011-06-16T05:18:00.000-07:00

Take ‘Inside Search’, a Google event I attended this week, at which search guru Amit Singhal, known simply as a ‘Google Fellow’ (the equivalent of Jedi in Google terms), announced a series of search innovations.

He introduced voice search for the desktop (meaning you can now holler your requests at the search engine while at work) and Google Instant Pages (which speeds up searches by two to five seconds, while the engine pre-empts which web result you will click on and pre-loads it) and search by image.

Search by image meanwhile wonderfully allows you to drag and drop any photo, including old snaps which you cannot remember anything about into the engine and it will locate any information it can for you.

Googlers and some journalists at the event, who I believe were mostly of the American persuasion, actually whooped out loud with joy each time one of these announcements was made.

Set in a huge darkened room, only lit up by the stage, an enormous LED screen and several life-sized test tubes filled with red, yellow, blue and green water, to match Google’s trademark colours, it was pretty hard not to get excited by these innovative announcements.

And why not? As a journalist, my role is to question all developments these companies announce on behalf of the consumer, to check that people will not be taken advantage of, or their privacy compromised. But what if, just occasionally, we were to forget our British sensibility and simply enjoy it when we see something new that could actually enhance our lives?

Most technology developments from these consumer-facing giants, do not erode our privacy or endanger us in any way. In fact developments such as search by image are pretty amazing.

There is often a gap between perception and reality in the technology world. Google, Facebook and others, are often miles ahead of delivering what the consumer doesn’t actually know that they want and need. Instant Pages is a great example of that.

Singhal said he wanted search to be as fast and as easy as “turning the pages in a magazine”, and guess what? So do we. We always want everything to be faster and smoother. Google, and its contemporaries are taking us towards a faster, more useful and socially-powered internet.

It’s important to keep these powerful companies, who have access to so much of our data, in check. But equally sometimes it’s necessary to appreciate and acknowledge the positive impact the advancements they are making, such as voice search, could have on our lives.

Tata DOCOMO 3G Wi-Fi Hub

2011-06-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

Tata DOCOMO, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices Limited, India’s fastest-growing dual-technology telecom service provider, launched on Wednesday a internet access device—3G Wi-Fi Hub.

The evolved device takes wireless mobile broadband to the next level, offering dual-mode internet connectivity to users—a first in the Indian Market. The device enables users to maneuver between Tata DOCOMO’s Next-Gen 3G GSM network and Tata Photon Plus on the CDMA platform—one technology at a time—offering speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps. In one small stroke, it allows users to access the internet at 3G speeds in all the nine Tata DOCOMO circles where the company has the license, while allowing them to seamlessly switch to the high-speed Tata Photon Plus platform in other locations.

“Our latest offering—3G Wi-Fi Hub—reaffirms our commitment to customers—that of making connectivity easy and relevant for a cross-section of user categories,” Mr Deepak Gulati, Executive President, Mobility Business, Tata Teleservices Limited.

The device offers speed up to 7.2 Mbps in the 3G mode, and up to 3.1Mbps in the High speed internet Access (HSIA) mode. Apart from a portable powered battery, seamless connectivity, simple browser-based configuration, the device is also password-protected for greater security.

“We offer a complete solution in terms of an efficient device and tariff combo. The high point is the fact that the device works on both the 3G and Photon (CDMA) platforms, depending on the SIM inserted,” Mr Sunil Tandon, Head, Devices & Mobility Support Services, Tata Teleservices Limited, added.

The Tata DOCOMO 3G Wi-Fi Hub is available with post-pay plans, to begin with. Customers opting for the sleek device will be provided with a starter pack containing both Tata DOCOMO 3G GSM and Tata Photon Plus kits (SUKs). Customers can choose from a number of plans on both the Tata DOCOMO 3G GSM and Tata Photon Plus SUKs and can data speed of 7.2 Mbps and 3.1 Mbps, respectively. To access data on the Tata DOCOMO 3G GSM and Tata Photon Plus platforms, customers will have to activate both SUKs separately with necessary documentation.

There are two plans available—the Wi-Fi Rs 750 and Wi-Fi Rs 1,000 plans. TheWi-Fi Rs 750 Plan comes with a monthly rental of Rs 750, wherein customers can enjoy data usage of 2GB.

The device is priced at Rs. 5,999 and is available across Tata DOCOMO and Tata Photon stores. Tata DOCOMO customers can call up 1800-2660000 for details.

Tata Docomo 3G Wi-Fi Hub Features

Tata Docomo 3G: DL up to 7.2Mbps; UL up to 5.76Mbps
Tata Photon Plus: DL up to 3.1Mbps; UL up to 1.8Mbps
99.7mm x 53.7mm x 13.9mm
Weight: 80g
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g (WEP/WPA/WPA2)
USB 2.0
Connects up to 5 devices
Secure and Password protected
Without Wi-Fi, internet surfing with the USB connection mode is only available for the Windows and MAC OS
Supports IE (7.0 or later), Firefox (3.0 or later), Opera (10.0 or later), Safari (4.0 or later), Chrome (5.0 or later)
Battery: 1500mAh (upto 4 hrs of working time, 100hrs of stand-by time)

Sony Greek Website Is Latest To Be Hacked

2011-05-23T01:55:00.000-07:00

Sony BMG Greece has become the latest Sony website to suffer a security breach as hackers scour the company’s web presence for more vulnerabilities.

According to the Naked Security blog, which cites Hacker News as the source of its story, an anonymous poster has uploaded a user database to pastebin.com, along with names and email addresses of people registered to SonyMusic.gr.

Chester Wisneiwski at Naked Security says it appears the hacker used an automated SQL injection tool to essentially cast a net over Sony’s websites to see if it could find any flaws. It appears that when it hit SonyMusic.gr, it found one.

“As long as it is popular within the hacker community to expose Sony’s flaws, we are likely to continue seeing successful attacks against them,” Wisneiwski says, though he adds, that while it’s cruel to kick someone down while they’re down, when this is all over “Sony may end up being one of the most secure web assets on the net.”

The TechHerald points out that Sony has suffered seven security incidents in two months, including an original mass DDoS (distributed denial of service) by Anonymous last month and the devastating breach that compromised the data of more than 100 million account holders of the PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment.

Sony is also due to reveal its annual profits on Thursday and it could prove disappointing for investors. At the time of writing, the company was preparing to give a press conference in which it would announce a revision to its annual profits forecast, and according to the Financial Times, companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange are required to inform investors if they believe they will miss earnings targets by 30% or more.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect it to report operating profits of 197 billion yen ($2.4 billion).

9 million users connect to 3G in 4 months

2011-05-23T01:54:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI, MAY 19:

As many as 9 million consumers have taken a third generation (3G) mobile connection since the services were launched in the country four months ago. This number assumes significance when one considers that there are only 11 million wireline broadband customers till date.

The leader of the 3G pack is Bharti Airtel with 3 million subscribers followed by Tata DoCoMo with 1.5 million users. Idea Cellular, Vodafone and BSNL have over a million 3G customers each. Reliance Communications did not give out its numbers but sources said that it also has close to a million 3G connections. “The initial trend clearly shows that 3G is giving a boost to broadband uptake in the country. Wireless is the way forward,” said Mr Alok Shende, Principal Analyst, Ascentius Consulting.

The initial numbers have added up despite the poor quality of service being experienced by consumers. While 3G is expected to give data speeds of about 500-600 kbps, consumers across the country are complaining of frequent call drops, poor speeds and erratic connectivity as operators have not yet fully set up their networks. “There is no excuse for operators to offer poor 3G connectivity given that technology is available to them. The initial uptake shows that there is a huge pent-up demand for broadband and operators should use that opportunity. At present, they are not even doing personalised marketing to high-end consumers who already have a 3G handset,” said Mr Kunal Bajaj, Director of technology advisory firm Analysys Mason. Another issue is the high cost of roaming. Most operators are charging as much as Rs 15 per MB of data even if the subscriber is roaming on the same network.

But operators say that these are only teething troubles and they are well on their way to meet the target of 100 million 3G connections by 2015 as projected by analysts. Mr Shireesh Joshi, Chief Marketing Officer -Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel, said, “The initial response from customers has been overwhelming - but we believe the revolution has just begun. The game changing differentiator for 3G in India will be content and services and not price points.”

Rapid Release Firefox 5 Beta Available for Download

2011-05-23T01:53:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Firefox released the beta version of Firefox 5 under its rapid-release structure. The new version is made to ensure frequent updates to the Firefox browsers instead of major changes in new Firefox programs.

Firefox 5 beta available for download

The new feature of the browser will include CSS animations, improved canvas, Java script memory and networking performance. The new version will also include improved standards support for HTML5, XHR, MathML, SMIL, and canvas. Among these updates, Firefox 5 beta also has improved desktop environment integration for Linux users.

Firefox seems to be going the Google Chrome way with frequent releases which will allow new versions to arrive sooner. Though major updates may not be seen in these builds, regular updates will appear through their Rapid Release implementation.

In a blog post announcing the release, Mozilla said that after five weeks of testing on the Firefox Aurora channel, the next version of Firefox is ready for the beta channel. This release includes the Firefox channel switcher, performance and stability enhancements and support for the new CSS Animations standard to allow developers to build more amazing Web experiences. The new Firefox channel switcher lets users move between Firefox Aurora, beta and Release channels to test features at various levels of development, quality and polish.

To download the beta version of Firefox 5 click here.

how to protect your Facebook profile

2011-05-17T01:33:00.000-07:00

dont let hackers to hack your facebook profile

Here are 10 Facebook settings for you to check now.

1. Who can see what?

Your first stop should be your privacy settings, which you can get to under “Account” at the top right of any page.

Here, make sure you’re using a set of custom settings. Click “Customize settings” under the grid on that page to see who can see which parts of your Facebook profile.

Unless you use your Facebook account as a public page, every option should at least be set to “Friends Only.” From there, you can make each setting more specific, keeping your photos hidden for certain people, for example.

2. Place your friends in lists

To make the previous tip more powerful, place your Facebook friends in lists. If you begin to define lists such as Coworkers, Best Friends, Employees, Students, etc., you can set each of your settings to be visible or not visible to a whole list of people.

To do this go to “Edit Friends” under the Account menu. Type in a friend’s name and add it to a list.

Then you can make sure that only your best friends, for example, can see the photos you post. Or you can make sure that your students or employees don’t see your status updates.

You can also add a friend to a list as you accept their friend request.

3. How secure is your password?

This is the front line to your Facebook security and should be taken seriously. Good passwords include capital letters, punctuation, numbers and words that can’t be found in the dictionary.

Resist using anything that someone who knows you well enough could guess (kids, pets, phone numbers, etc.).

If you think for any reason that your account’s security has been breached, change your password immediately. Doing so will end every active session of Facebook for your account, locking out anyone else but you.

4. Who can find you?

Facebook also allows you to set what people see if they’re not your friend. Under privacy settings, click “View Settings” under the “Connecting on Facebook” setting at the top of the page.

Here, you can set what people see when they search for you on Facebook.

Pay special note to the bottom option, which allows you to set who can see what you have “liked” on Facebook. Many don’t realize that by default this option is set to show everyone on the Web what you like.

Don’t want that future employer to know that you “like” naps or skipping class? This is a good thing to check.

5. What does my profile look like to Grandpa?

Even the most conscientious Facebook user can miss a check box or two, putting his or her entire weekend escapade on Facebook for Grandpa to see.

But the good news is that you can preview what your profile looks like to any of your friends, many of whom can see different things depending on how advanced you have set your privacy settings.

In your privacy settings, click “Customize Settings” then “Preview My Profile.”

Here, you’ll be able to type in any friend’s name and see exactly what they see. Very handy.

6. Browse Facebook securely

One of Facebook’s most vulnerable features is that much of your browsing is done without a secure connection to the Web site. Hackers have exploited this hole by accessing your personal information if you use Facebook on a public or unsecured WiFi network.

In your account settings, choose Account Security. There’s a check box there to enable secure browsing whenever possible. Check that.

You’ll soon see that Facebook will be using https:// instead of http://. That’s how you know you’re more secure.

7. Who is logging in as you?

One of Facebook’s greatest security features is the ability to individually approve each computer or mobile device that logs into your account.

You can name each computer you use Facebook with (work, home, laptop, iPhone, etc.).

To turn this on, go to your account settings, click on “Account Security” and choose that you want an e-mail or text message when someone tries to log in from a computer that isn’t one you’ve approved.

Here, you can also see all the open sessions of Facebook tied to your account. Someone logging in from five states away? Click “end activity” and they’ll be stopped in their tracks.

8. Which apps know you?

As we have used Facebook over the years, each of us has amassed lists of applications that have access to our Facebook information.

To see which apps currently have access to your Facebook information, go to your privacy settings and click edit under “Apps and Websites” at the bottom left of the page.

On the next page, click edit settings next to “Apps you use.”

Here, you’ll see a list of all the apps that have your information on file. Many of them are used for convenience, such as integration with the popular Instagram photo-sharing app or commenting services on news Web sites. But there are certainly some you could lose.

Click the X next to any app from which you want your information yanked.

9. Even your friends’ apps know you, too

This one is even scarier. On the same app privacy page, check out the subhead that says “Info accessible through your friends.”

You may not know it, but anything your friends can see on Facebook can also be seen by any app that your friends add on Facebook — including apps that you have no idea were ever given access.

To disallow this, click on edit settings and uncheck all the boxes that allow you to choose what can be shared with apps that your friends add. Click save.

10. Who can post on your wall?

I said in my Sunday package on Facebook security that the social network has become a veritable cesspool of spam.

Many of these spammy links are clickjacking schemes, which spread by posting links on a bunch of your friends’ walls.

The only foolproof way to prevent these links from gumming up your own wall is to set it so no one can post directly on your wall. Friends can still comment on your status messages, links and photos, but won’t have the ability to leave you a public note.

To change this setting, head to the customize settings area under privacy. Then uncheck the “Enable” box where it allows friends to post on your wall.

learnext

2011-05-06T06:36:00.000-07:00