The Martian View

Voice Calls on Facebook?

2013-01-05T12:53:00.002-05:00

Social networking giant Facebook is planning to launch a new feature for its Messenger app that allows users to place free voice calls to friends. The feature is so far available only to iPhone users in Canada. The feature to be introduced by Facebook will help users to make free internet voice calls, known as VoIP calls, to any friend on the social network. According to the Daily Mail,

Mahindra and Mahindra to buy Aston Martin?

2012-11-24T23:51:00.001-05:00

Aston Martin is at the centre of an international takeover battle after Mahindra and Mahindra trumped an Italian bid for half of the British luxury car maker. Italian private equity fund Investindustrial reached an agreement on Thursday with the owner, Kuwaiti investment house Investment Dar, but Mahindra and Mahindra made a higher offer on Friday, leaving the fate of the 98-year old icon

Nokia's Here on iTunes (Maps)

2012-11-20T17:26:00.001-05:00

Nokia’s big bet on mobile maps is now in Apple’s iOS App Store. The free app is called Here.Apple’s own Maps app has been heavily criticized, and Google does not yet have a Maps app for iOS ready, so Nokia’s timing in offering an alternative on the iOS platform seems good as it tries to build up its user base. But the reviews as of writing this blog have not been that great. The look of the

Dubai to have Taj Mahal by 2015

2012-10-07T16:41:00.001-04:00

Developers in Dubai are reportedly planning to construct a replica of the famous Taj Mahal, which would be over four times bigger than the original monument. Developers said that Taj Arabia, an imitation of the 360-year-old marble mausoleum that took Mughal emperor Shah Jahan almost 22 years to build, would be constructed in a span of just two years. The billion-dollar project will be

Is US to launch a pilot program with 55000 new Green Cards in the next two years?

2012-09-22T17:16:00.001-04:00

Both Senate and House introduced new immigration bills to reform the U.S. visa system, to encourage the world's best and brightest to stay in America, and fix the shortage of highly qualified engineers. On Tuesday, Senator Charles Schumer unveiled the "BRAINS" Act (a.k.a the Benefits to Research and American Innovation through Nationality Statutes Act), an immigration bill to make an

India was undecided about national anthem at Independence

2012-09-01T14:23:00.002-04:00

Even though India attained independence on Aug 15, 1947, the country was undecided on its official national anthem on the auspicious day, an archived letter made public here Saturday has indicated. The current national anthem, 'Jana Gana Mana', penned by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, was adopted and accorded the status only much later, by the Constituent Assembly Jan 24, 1950. A few days

Atom's shadow clicked for first time!

2012-07-05T21:18:00.000-04:00

Scientists have been able to click the shadow of a single atom for the very first time -- an unprecedented feat crowning efforts lasting more than five years. "We have reached the extreme limit of microscopy; you cannot see anything smaller than an atom using visible light," said Dave Kielpinski, professor at the Griffith University's Centre for Quantum Dynamics in Brisbane, Australia. "We

Cockroach essential to earth's ecoystem

2012-06-24T18:21:00.004-04:00

People need to stop stamping on cockroaches, as one of the most despised of all insects is essential to our planet for converting nitrogen into fertiliser, experts have said. Cockroaches live in the most unsanitary conditions, and it is no wonder the first reaction of many people on seeing the insect is to try to exterminate it. Few people would shed tears at the thought of the entire species

Withdraw cash with your phone

2012-06-16T23:31:00.002-04:00

Mobile phones could soon be used at ATMs to withdraw cash. A new application has been developed in Britain that will allow people to take out 100 pounds a time from the cash machines with a few taps of their smartphone. The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has created a new Getcash app which will be available to its 18 million customers who will be able to withdraw from any one of the 8,000 RBS,

Petrol price hiked by Rs 7.50 a litre in India

2012-05-23T22:19:00.002-04:00

The petrol price was hiked on Wednesday by a record Rs 7.54 per litre as rupee had a free fall, an unpopular decision that was attacked by allies of UPA government who demanded its immediate rollback holding it as unacceptable. The hike, the third in one year, came a day after end of the Budget session of Parliament and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh speaking of the need to take 'difficult

Philippines students invent mobile phones for the blind

2012-05-09T23:49:00.000-04:00

Thanks to a new invention by university students in the Philippines, blind people may be able to use mobile phones with much more ease. Engineering students created a mobile phone for the visually impaired by putting a braille pad on the console to help them read and send text messages. One of the country's largest mobile phone networks is now looking into developing and distributing

Suspicions over Google Drive?

2012-04-27T00:25:00.001-04:00

Google is facing suspicion and confusion as it tries to persuade people to entrust personal documents, photos and other content to the company's new online storage service. That became apparent shortly after Tuesday's unveiling of the Google Drive service. Before the day was over, technology blogs and Twitter users were seizing on a legal clause in the "terms of service" that could be

Apple fights Greenpeace

2012-04-18T23:32:00.003-04:00

Apple has responded to environmental campaign group Greenpeace’s claims that it is the 'dirtiest' of the technology giants for the second year in a row because of the way it powers its cloud-based services. Greenpeace, in its annual report on Internet firms, said that Apple relied on coal power for services such as iCloud and the voice-controlled 'personal assistant', Siri, more than its

Raspberry Pi - A $35 credit card sized computer

2012-03-09T23:04:00.003-05:00

Recently, a good friend of ours asked us to look into a computer that was the size of a credit card and costs around $35. As expected, we took it with a pinch of salt. So what is it? It's basically a basic Linux PC that is not only designed to help encourage children to code but also is powerful enough to handle everyday tasks such as spreadsheets and word processing. It is a well known

Is your computer “male” or “female”?

2012-03-04T13:33:00.005-05:00

1. Open Notepad 2. Type the following line in notepad: CreateObject("SAPI.SpVoice").Speak"I love you" 3. Save file as computer_gender.vbs 4. Run the file. . If you hear a male voice, your pc is a boy If you hear a female voice, your pc is a girl

Nursery admissions cost as much as an engineering degree in Delhi

2012-03-04T12:49:00.001-05:00

After successfully clearing the rigorous process of securing the elusive nursery seat for their tiny tots, parents in the capital city of New Delhi in India are gearing up for the last big hurdle - fees that range between Rs 75,000 and Rs 1.25 lakh in almost all sought-after schools. Some schools are even demanding three to four lakh rupees to ensure a child's admission under their 'highly-

AT&T's Releases New Data Policy for Heavy Users

2012-03-03T22:16:00.001-05:00

Under a new policy announced Thursday, AT&T has established clear thresholds for unlimited data subscribers – those who exceed 3GB a month and 4G LTE smartphone owners who surpass 5GB. Some heavy users – whom AT&T has said are the top 5 percent of data users in its networks – feel that AT&T was pushing them to sign up for one of its newer tiered plans instead of the unlimited plan, which is no

Japan invents speech-jamming gun that silences people mid-sentence

2012-03-03T17:03:00.001-05:00

According to a recent article by newsgroup, Japanese researchers have invented a speech-jamming gadget that painlessly forces people into silence. Kazutaka Kurihara of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and Koji Tsukada of Ochanomizu University, developed a portable "SpeechJammer" gun that can silence people more than 30 meters away. The device works by

Sheep sold for Dh75,000 near Dubai

2012-02-27T23:19:00.001-05:00

A Saudi farmer paid Dh75,000 for a male sheep owned by an Emirati man during a livestock auction held near the eastern oasis town of Al Ain. Abdul Rahman Al Arouk bought the Najdi ram from Abdullah Al Nasiri, who said the animal is one of the best sheep species in the Arabian Peninsula. The deal was struck at a sheep auction which is held regularly near Al Ain and attracts a large number of

Qatar named world's richest country by Forbes

2012-02-26T02:36:00.002-05:00

Qatar has been ranked as the world's wealthiest country in a list compiled by the US magazine Forbes. The Gulf State with a population of 1.7 million topped the list as the world's richest country per capita, thanks to a rebound in oil prices and its massive natural gas reserves. Adjusted for purchasing power, Qatar booked an estimated gross domestic product per capita of more than USD 88,000

Petrol may become 60% cheaper in the UAE

2012-02-23T00:07:00.002-05:00

In a welcome change, petrol in the UAE could become cheaper by up to 60 per cent as the Federal National Council (FNC) yesterday called for prices to be brought in line with other Gulf peers, which boast of some of the cheapest petrol prices in the world. The FNC has decided to form a temporary six-member committee to consider the implications of further subsidizing petrol prices in the

Retirement Is A Thing Of The Past?

2012-02-17T21:32:00.002-05:00

Historically, once you’re fully eligible for social security and pension benefits—or just 65 and tired of the job—you exit the workforce and enjoy retirement in USA. But those days may be over, according to a recent study. Most (57%) of the 800 surveyed workers age 60 and up said they would look for another gig after retiring from their current jobs. “There are several reasons why more mature

Retinal Implant May Bring Eyesight To The Blind

2012-02-14T23:02:00.002-05:00

Approximately 200,000 people in the west suffer from retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disease that causes the slow degradation of eyesight starting from a young age, and often leads to blindness. The problem is that the genes in the eye are “programmed” to produce the wrong number of proteins that are needed for the cells. Over time, this causes the rods and cones in the eye end up dying, which

Italian professor challenges to Google

2012-02-07T22:47:00.000-05:00

An Italian computer science professor whose research helped inspire Google launched a new search engine and social media network on Monday that he hopes will challenge the US technology giant. The new site entitled ‘Volunia’ allows users to view the components of particular websites to find the subject of interest more quickly and to interact with registered users who might be looking at the

Quran in Songs

2012-01-23T10:58:00.000-05:00

Blogged by Nahk. Over the course of last few weeks, I was privileged to have meaningful conversations with a few of my acquaintances, most of whom were Muslims. I'm not quite sure how the topic exactly started but soon we were all involved in a dialogue over the permissibility of Quranic Ayahs in mainstream Bollywood songs as well as some local forms of arts like 'Qawalli' & 'Shayri'.