TECHNOLOGY

Dozens of Philippine rivers destroyed by pollution: official

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:37:06 PDT

MANILA ( 2008-04-02 13:00:25 ) :

Fifty rivers in the Philippines have been destroyed because people are using them to dump their rubbish, leaving some ecologically dead, an official said on Wednesday.
Of the country's 421 major rivers and 20 large river basins, 50 are "highly degraded because of man's abuse and neglect," Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Joselito Atienza said in a statement.
"History tells us that rivers have played an important role in the country's economic growth. Yet, we have disregarded this and continue to dirty our rivers and lakes by turning them into giant septic tanks and trash bins," he added.
One of the ecologically dead rivers is the Pasig which bisects Manila. The government has been relocating thousands of squatters from its banks, but those who remain "continue to throw their domestic waste into the river," he said.
Atienza said 53 percent of the pollution in Philippine rivers is due to domestic waste.
"In the face of climate change, it is important that Filipinos should now adopt water conservation as a way of life," the official said, urging them to plant trees.
"Trees moderate water flows by absorbing large amounts of water during heavy rainfall and releasing it gradually during the dry season.

Malaysia's Mahathir urges PM Abdullah to resign

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:52:24 PDT

KUALA LUMPUR ( 2008-04-01 15:54:35 ) :

Veteran ex-leader Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday urged Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to resign following disastrous election results.
Abdullah, president of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), is facing increasing calls to quit from party leaders.
"I ask (Abdullah) to resign," the former prime minister, who ruled Malaysia for 22 years, told a gathering of at least 2,000 UMNO members.
The focus of the meeting was to analyse the March 8 election results but it turned out to be a platform to demand Abdullah's resignation.
UMNO members criticised Abdullah and the alleged influence son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin, who is a deputy leader of the powerful UMNO youth wing, has over him in decision-making.
"Anyone else would have already resigned but (Abdullah) has no shame," Mahathir, who picked Abdullah to succeed him October 2003, told a cheering crowd.
Mahathir said Abdullah had ignored the will of the people, while the veteran's son, Mukhriz, a lawmaker, echoed the call for Abdullah to go.
"To bring about (reform), the top leadership has to be held responsible. The prime minister must gracefully withdraw," Mukhriz said.
He urged UMNO members to speak out and not be intimidated.
"Be brave, if you love your country and speak out," he said. "We have been told to keep quiet but I ask you now to stand by my side."
Abdullah, 68, has claimed a mandate to rule despite unprecedented election losses, but observers say he is on borrowed time.
Senior lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah had said he would challenge Abdullah's leadership if he received enough support.

Bush and Australian PM in talks to reinforce security links

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:18:05 PDT

WASHINGTON ( 2008-03-28 10:16:11 ) :

US President George W. Bush and Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd are set for talks on Friday expected to reinforce their security alliance despite Canberra's upcoming partial troop pullout from Iraq, officials said.
This is the first White House meeting for Rudd, who ousted Bush's friend and staunch Iraq war ally John Howard in November elections on the back of a pledge to pull 550 combat troops out of southern Iraq by the middle of the year.
Australia will still have about 1,000 military personnel in and around Iraq, including a 110-strong security detachment in Baghdad and personnel for aircraft and a warship based outside Iraq.
"The most important thing" is for the leaders to establish a good personal relationship and, in their public comments, to make it clear that bilateral ties are "strong and will endure under new leadership in Australia," said Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley ahead of the meeting.
Speaking to reporters, Hadley sidestepped a question on the prospect of US prodding Rudd on any further Australian troop deployment.
Hadley would only say, "Australia has been a terrific partner."
The longstanding US-Australian alliance is expected to come under severe test under the Rudd-led government after more than a decade of intimate ties during the stewardship of Howard, who had positioned Australia as among Washington's top three or four allies, experts say.
"Australia could become a more qualified or, in certain circumstances, even a reluctant actor in the American-led 'long war' against international terrorism," said a recent report by the Hawaii-based Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.
The Rudd government will push for multilateral regional security dialogues and mechanisms in Asia, said Australian National University professor William Tow, who was commissioned by the center to prepare the report.
This "may force the United States to adjust its own long standing bilateral security approaches in the region on such key issues as trade and arms control," he predicted.
Aside from Australia, the other US treaty allies in Asia are Japan, Australia, South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines. Singapore, a strong supporter of US military presence in the region, allows American forces use of facilities in the island state.
Bush and Rudd had spoken on the phone earlier this month on the need to remain committed in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the importance of East Asian regional security, Bush spokesman Gordon Johndroe had said.
Australia has nearly 1,000 troops serving in the violence-ridden southern part of Afghanistan and has no immediate plans to add more troops.
Aside from security, Bush and Rudd are expected to discuss the turmoil in Tibet, climate change, and trade and investment issues as well as the upcoming Nato Summit in Bucharest, where the two leaders will be among participants, diplomats said.
Rudd would visit Beijing as part of his 17-day trip that would begin in Washington.
During his stay in Washington, he is scheduled to give a talk at the Brookings Institution and meet members of the US Chamber of Commerce to highlight the need to increase bilateral trade, officials said.
Both the countries have a four-year-old free trade agreement with two-way trade in goods and services totalling 44 billion dollars last year.
Among other officials, Rudd will also meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Chris Pirillo's Gnomepal - Drupal For The Masses

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:07:57 PDT

If you’ve tried working with open source CMS Drupal, and you’re not a full time developer, chance is you encountered problems. In fact, chance is that you completely gave up on it because it’s so damn complex; dozens of interdependent modules are needed for certain features, and not all modules are working well with the latest version of Drupal…in the end, you need to roll up your sleeves and dive into the code yourself, which is something not many are willing to do.

Chris Pirillo has a solution: he started a project which he calls Gnomepal (the name was announced on Twitter and is literally minutes old,) which should take Drupal and turn it into a CMS which is much easier to use and is modular in the sense that it offers readymade packages for various purposes; for example, a photo gallery, a Digg-like site and the like. This is a group effort; everyone that wants to participate can join in. Check out what Chris has to say about the idea himself.

While I do applaud Pirillo on a brave idea, I must say that it seems a bit too idealistic to me. Sure, everyone would like to have a great, powerful CMS which requires no programming knowledge, but it’s a very, very tough goal to achieve. You want proof? Just look at thousands of available CMS systems out there, and find the perfect one. That’s right, it doesn’t exist: if you want simplicity, you lose on power and features; if you want power and features, then there’s not way it’s going to be simple.

In any case, we’ll be watching, and hopefully we’ll have something more tangible to look at soon.

Consultation process over portfolios enters final phase

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:49:44 PDT

ISLAMABAD: The consultation process over formation of federal government, the allocation of ministries and portfolios has entered into final phase, the sources said.
In first phase the federal cabinet will comprise 22 to 23 members, said Ahmed Mukhtar of PPP while talking to newsmen outside Zardari House on Thursday.
He said that there were no differences among the coalition parties over the allocation of ministries and portfolios.
The phase of allocation of ministries and portfolios will be started after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani will get the vote of confidence on March 29, said Information Secretary of PPP Sherry Rehman.
Talking to newsmen here Sherry Rehman said that consultation with coalition partners over some issues was underway.
In first phase, the federal cabinet will comprise 22 members, she said.

Motorola to Split Into Two After Phone Sales Slide (Update5)

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:15:06 PDT

March 26 -- Motorola Inc. plans to split into two companies next year amid pressure from billionaire investor Carl Icahn to break off the money-losing mobile-phone business that it pioneered 25 years ago.

One company will focus on handsets and the other will sell network equipment, cable TV set-top boxes and two-way radios -- businesses that are profitable and growing faster. The board is looking for a new chief executive officer for the phone business, Motorola said in a statement today.

The decision buys time for Chief Executive Officer Greg Brown to revitalize the handset unit before the split. Icahn has said the division is undervalued and demanded that it be separated with new management. Before today, Motorola stock had fallen 56 percent in the past two years as customers snapped up phones from Apple Inc. and Nokia Oyj.

``If they had been forced to sell it off, shareholders would have been forced to accept a bargain basement price,'' said Richard Windsor, a Nomura International analyst in London who recommends holding on to the stock. The move is ``the one that makes the most sense for shareholders.''

Brown said on a conference call that he and Chief Financial Officer Paul Liskawill stay with the network equipment business. Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola said it wants the split to be a tax-free way to create two independent, publicly traded companies.

Stock Gains

Motorola rose 13 cents to $9.89 at 12:07 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Icahn didn't return a call seeing comment. He owns about 6 percent of Motorola's stock and is the No. 2 shareholder.

Motorola lost market share in phones last year after failing to come up with a hit successor to its Razr, which created the category of slim phones when it was introduced in 2004. The Razr, which initially sold for $500, lost its cachet. While all its main rivals boosted sales in the fourth quarter, Motorola's phone shipments plunged 38 percent.

The breakup will accelerate a recovery in the handset business and provide ``clarity of direction'' for customers and employees, Brown said. The company said on Jan. 31 that it would consider splitting off the unit.

`Unique Product'

``The Razr was so successful as a unique product that it masked a lot of the underlying problems,'' said Michael Walkley, an analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis. ``Once Razr sales started to fade, their cost structure wasn't competitive, especially now that they don't have the right products for the market.''

Motorola would be valued at about $8 a share without the handset business, American Technology Research analyst Mark McKechnie in San Francisco said today in a note. Brown wouldn't comment on the market value of the phone unit.

``Each company would benefit from improved flexibility, a capital structure more tailored to its individual business needs and increased management focus,'' said Brown, who took over after Ed Zander stepped down at the start of the year.

He declined to comment on the effect on earnings or what will happen to the Motorola brand name. Motorola has shed businesses in tough times before, including its Freescale chip division in 2004.

Handset Losses

The handset business lost $388 million last quarter. The networks and set-top box unit had a profit of $192 million on 11 percent sales growth, while the unit making radios and scanners had a profit of $451 million and a 35 percent revenue increase.

Motorola made 19 acquisitions in two years to bolster the units. Its purchase of Symbol Technologies Inc. last year for $3.9 billion made it the biggest seller of handheld scanners with built-in computer features to track goods.

Apple stepped up competition in handsets with the introduction of its Web-browsing iPhone in June. The company sold 2.3 million of the devices in the holiday quarter. Motorola's Razr sequel sold 1.5 million units in that period.

``Software is becoming more important in the mobile-device business,'' Brown said in an interview, referring to applications such as Web browsing, mapping and music. ``We have traditionally been strong in design as a corporation and quite innovative. I think that innovation needs to extend itself into broader experiences and consumer applications.''

DynaTac

Motorola started selling the world's first commercial mobile phone, the DynaTac, in 1984, after gaining regulatory approval for the device the year earlier. It created the first prototype for the product in 1973.

The phone acquired further cachet in 1987, when fictional financier Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas, used it to make deals in the movie ``Wall Street.''

In 1996, Motorola introduced the $1,000 StarTac, among the first handsets to flip fully open. After its appeal faded, the company lost its No. 1 position in 1998 to Nokia, whose candy- bar-shaped phones won over customers in Europe and Asia.

To revive sales, Motorola brought in Zander in 2004. He introduced the Razr later that year.

The device, which sold more than 110 million units, helped Motorola cement its position as the second-largest handset maker and fend off Asian competition until last year. Samsung Electronics Co. took over the No. 2 spot from Motorola in the second quarter with its sleek Sync and BlackJack devices. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd. may steal the No. 3 position this year, demoting Motorola to fourth, analysts say.

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 03:16:10 PDT

Microsoft catches social networking religion. And most folks are wondering where Facebook will land in this mess. The larger question: Is there a business hook here somewhere?

Yup, I hear the crickets too.

Social networking remains a consumer thing. And to the blogosphere it’s an opportunity to work in a Mark Zuckerberg quip, toss in Google as a reference and navel gaze a bit about the “conversation.”

But there has to be a corporate use in here somewhere.

Tuesday’s news that Yahoo is supporting OpenSocial and Google is stepping away to assure “neutrality” and interconnect social apps is a big deal. OpenSocial can now forge ahead as a real standard. Meanwhile, Microsoft has also entered the social network standard game (boy this all sounds familiar after awhile) and launched its own initiative. The gory details are fortunately rounded up by Techmeme.

I can’t help but think that this neutral OpenSocial foundation is a good thing for the enterprise. Perhaps enterprise apps will hook into OpenSocial. Perhaps vendors–beyond Oracle and Salesforce.com–will flick to the effort. Perhaps corporations will become more social.

Until then, however, there isn’t much of a huge plan when it comes to businesses.

Last week, I spoke to Joe Kraus, Director of Product Management at Google, about the enterprise implications of OpenSocial. Even though OpenSocial will be “forever free and open” there’s a lot of work to do before this becomes even slightly interesting to the enterprise.

Among the highlights of my conversation with Kraus:

Social networking is the new black. Most killer apps are social by nature–email, IM and photo sharing for instance. Companies have been slow to adopt these uses–beyond email of course.
Social networking isn’t a destination site. It will branch out through the entire Web. How will corporations handle this branching out process?
Enterprises will adopt social standards like OpenSocial to embed third party applications. The rub: “These applications will need policies around them,” says Kraus. Simply put, a lot of social applications are frivolous–throwing sheep, awarding virtual beers (what’s the point folks?) and poking people. Surely, there’s a business function here somewhere.
How do you tighten up social applications? “Social applications are loose in consumer land,” says Kraus. “We expect them to become much tighter in enterprise land.”
What’s the model? Consumer social applications are built around advertising. In the corporate world that model won’t fly. What exactly will corporations license?
Whatever develops in the socialprise will begin with CRM. “Salesforce and Oracle both see the opportunity, but CRM is a social application to begin with,” says Kraus.

Spears delivers 'Mother's' highest ratings

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:31:16 PDT

A guest appearance by Britney Spears on Monday gave the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" its highest rating ever.
"Mother" spiked to a series high 4.5 preliminary rating among adults 18-49, even as the rest of the CBS comedy lineup fell from last week's record-setting return to original episodes.
Critics were relatively impressed. "Britney the Trainwreck showed how she can still be Britney the Performer," wrote the Associated Press. "Spears proved she can act every bit as well as she can sing," wrote the New York Daily News.
The second week of strong "Mother" ratings (10.6 million, 4.5/12) assures the one-time bubble comedy will be renewed for the fall. "Mother" was the fourth-highest-rated show of the evening, and CBS won the night (averaging 12.5 million, 4.4/11).
At 10 p.m., "CSI: Miami" was the first major broadcast network drama to return with post-strike original episodes. "Miami" easily won the 10 p.m. hour and outperformed its previous season average by 7% (15.8 million, 4.8/12).

2008 Workplace Resolutions

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:41:26 PDT

MICROSOFT ASSESSMENT & PLANNING BETA PROGRAM HAS CONCLUDED

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:31:50 PDT

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Solution Accelerator is an integrated platform with tools and guidance that make it easier for you to assess your current IT infrastructure and determine the right Microsoft technologies for your IT needs. It offers easy inventory, powerful assessment and actionable recommendations for Windows Server 2008, Windows Server Hyper-V, Virtual Server 2005 R2, Microsoft Application Virtualization (formerly SoftGrid), System Center Virtual Machine Manager, Windows Vista, and 2007 Microsoft Office. The popular Windows Vista Hardware Assessment readiness tool will be integrated into this platform.
This automation tool helps IT professionals and consultants like you establish a clearer understanding of your infrastructure, desktop and virtualization needs through network-wide assessment of your assets including desktops, laptops, servers, applications and network devices. Actionable recommendations are provided through the auto-generated migration proposal reports and documents.
In addition, the new MAP user interface also offers a "resource center" where users can download other relevant tools and useful resources such as white papers and technical guidance from Microsoft and other sources from the IT community.

Australia cancels cricket team’s tour of Pakistan

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:02:31 PST

SYDNEY: Australia’s newspapers have claimed that the Australian cricket team’s tour of Pakistan has been cancelled. However, if the ICC investigates the security arrangements in Pakistan through independent sources then there may be any chance of the tour.

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'Idol' Shocker! Another Truth Bared!

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:21:51 PST

Aparticipant in a CBS competition series once worked as a stripper at a club in New York City, performing for its mostly male clientele!

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Crews to Move 9/11 Survivors Staircase

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:16:53 PST

NEW YORK -- Tom Canavan saw the stairs through the smoke after tunneling out of debris that buried him when the World Trade Center's south tower collapsed. The sun fell on a section of gold awning that led him down the stairs to safety on a nearby street.

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Even in Victory, Clinton Team Is Battling Itself

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:11:41 PST

For the bruised and bitter staff around Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Tuesday's death-defying victories in the Democratic presidential primaries in Ohio and Texas proved sweet indeed. They savored their wins yesterday, plotted their next steps and indulged in a moment of optimism. 'She won't be st...

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Money rates firm; rupee flat

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:59:10 PST

In the currency market, the rupee was flat at 62.86/89, compared with Tuesday’s close of 62.86/90.

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ANP crowned, MMA dethroned in Frontier

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:53:34 PST

The Feb 18 general elections have rendered severe blows to some parties like PML(Q) and MMA or more precisely JUI(F) and the election results were something of a gust of a pleasant wind for some other parties like PPPP, PML(N) and ANP.

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The closure of roads in Bara and Jamrud tehsils

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:49:22 PST

armed followers of Ameer Mangal Bagh Afridi's Khyber Agency-based Lashkar-i-Islam

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Taliban and US in race to woo future govt

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:44:51 PST

Does the latest announcement by the spokesman for the Taliban movement to end the unilaterally announced ceasefire in tribal areas, after accusing the government of targeting their people, indicate that the Taliban consider themselves out of the undeclared race with the US to woo the future government in Pakistan?

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Egypt was trying to persuade Hamas to accept a truce

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:23:48 PST

Deputies of Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met with officials from the Islamic militant Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad in the city of el-Arish in the Sinai peninsula, security officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to discuss activities of the intelligence services.

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Blast hits recruiting center on Times Square

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:19:19 PST

NEW YORK - A small bomb caused minor damage to an empty military recruiting station in Times Square early Thursday, shaking guests in hotel rooms high above "the crossroads of the world."

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Troop depression on rise in Afghanistan

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 04:46:19 PST

WASHINGTON - U.S. troop morale improved in Iraq last year, but soldiers fighting in Afghanistan suffered more depression as violence there worsened, an Army mental health report says.

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Hot Clip of a Hot Item: Penn + Petra

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:47:26 PST

We hit you with scoop of this new couple earlier, but play the video above to get an even more intimate look at love in bloom. As in, the night's Best New Item Sean Penn and Petra Nemcova leaving Elton John's Oscar party to a flurry of flashbulbs, in the wee hours.

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Christian Makes for Fierce Runway Finale

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:43:21 PST

"It's crazy, but, hello, did you have a doubt?"So opined the self-proclaimed obvious winner of the fourth season of Project Runway, 21-year-old Christian Siriano, whose final collection of neutral-toned, extravagantly detailed and slightly androgynous couture proved to be just the effort the outspoken designer.

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FBI admits it violated Americans' private records in 2006

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:26:28 PST

WASHINGTON - The FBI acknowledged Wednesday it improperly accessed Americans' telephone records, credit reports and Internet traffic in 2006, the fourth straight year of privacy abuses resulting from investigations aimed at tracking terrorists and spies.

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Can Colombia cross into Ecuador in hot pursuit of rebels?

uzairimran1@gmail.com (IMRAN) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:41:43 PST

In what was labeled a "hot pursuit" mission, Colombian forces crossed into Ecuador and killed more than a dozen FARC guerrillas March 1.

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