MoNey NeVer SleEps

Apple to unveil new iPad

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:46:00 +0530

Washington: Tech giant Apple is set to unveil a new version of its hugely successful iPad in March. The iPad 2 will be thinner than its predecessor and feature an improved display.

Analysts expect the new version will have a front-facing camera and Face time video chat support, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. It will be powered by one of Qualcomm's multimode chips and will run on both GSM and CDMA-based networks around the world.

Apple said it had sold nearly 15 million iPads, since it went on sale last spring.

This is a very big deal, although Apple will be facing increased competition with the launch of a passel of tablets coming from numerous manufacturers, most of which are using the Honeycomb version of Google's Android mobile operating system, the Journal said.

The launch will take place March 2 in San Francisco, the scene of many such Apple events, it said citing sources..

ttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/10062208135

Avid updates Media Composer, NewsCutter and Symphony

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 13:33:00 +0530

Bangalore: In an attempt to boost its open media production solutions, Avid has introduced an upgrade to its Media Composer video editing software for Mac and Windows. The company has also released new versions of its News Cutter news editing tool and the Symphony finishing system.

The new releases namely Media Composer 5.5, News Cutter 9.5 and Symphony 5.5 get the Phrase Find add-on that allows editors to quickly find clips and segments by searching for words or phrases used in audio tracks. Designed to match dialogue to a script, it uses Nexidia phonetic indexing engine. The latest versions of Media Composer and News Cutter add support for AJA's Io Express input and output interface.

Eucon support for integration with Avid control surfaces such as Avid Artist Control, Artist Transport and Artist Mix devices delivering greater flexibility for effects, audio and transport manipulation.

It should be noted that by allowing Media Composer to work with the hardware they already own, Avid is setting its eyes on the current users of other editing software, especially Apple Final Cut Pro.

ttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/10062208135

Intel introduces XMM 2138 platform

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 13:27:00 +0530

Bangalore: Intel has announced the availability of XMM 2138 platform for Dual-SIM and Dual-Standby (DSDS) operation.

The platform is based on X-GOLD 213 EDGE base band chip, which being a low-cost single chip solution, offers cost-effective solution for the dual-SIM market. The X-GOLD 213 EDGE for mobile internet brings in integration of GSM base band, RF transceiver, mixed signal, power management, SRAM and FM radio in 65nm CMOS technology. The 8x8 mm eWLB-217 lead-free package of the X-GOLD 213 allows compact and slim feature rich designs. According to Dr. Hermann Eul, President, Intel Mobile Communications, with the cost-effective platform, Intel has shown its commitment towards providing solutions to all the market segments ranging from smartphones to low-cost models. Recently at MWC Intel has also demonstrated its OS Meego for tablet and smartphones.

XMM 2138 enables delivery of the same performance by using just one transceiver. This is one of the reasons of it being a cost-effective as generally the dual-SIM handsets come with two transrceivers.
The platform is available in two types- UTA-based XMM 2138 platform which offers Tier 1 customers with reuse and design flexibility and turnkey platform which helps mobile phone manufacturers in producing optimized and cost-effective products. This will in turn help in catering to the increasing demand for Dual-SIM handsets.

Along with this, the DSDS platform also supports WQVGA displays and touchscreens, WLAN for internet connectivity and Bluetooth. Other features include ARM11 core in the X-GOLD 213, chip-integrated FM radio providing high audio and video performance. At present the XMM 2138 platform is available for commercial distribution.

Few days back, Intel has also announced that it has started shipping of XMM 6260 platform for 3G smartphones.

http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Videocon_launches_new_range_of_handsets-nid-70077-cid-31.html

Helen Flanders Dunbar

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:06:00 +0530

Helen Flanders Dunbar (May 14, 1902 - August 21, 1959) — later known as H. Flanders Dunbar — is an important early figure in U.S. psychosomatic medicine and psychobiology, as well as being an important advocate of physicians and clergy co-operating in their efforts to care for the sick.

Eldest child of a well-to-do family — her father was the electrical engineer and patent attorney Francis William Dunbar (1868-1939) and her mother was the professional genealogist Edith Vaughn Flanders (1871-1963) — Helen Flanders Dunbar was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 14, 1902.

As a child she suffered from malnutrition; and despite Dunbar's later misleading claims that she had suffered poliomyelitis, and a childhood pediatrician's diagnosis of a muscular form of rickets ("rachitic pseudo-paralysis"), it seems far more likely that she was displaying what was known as "failure to thrive".

A diminutive adult — she was 4'11" (150 cm) — she always wore platform shoes.

She married her first husband Theodor Peter Wolfensberger (1902-1954) in 1932 — he was eventually known in the U.S. as Theodore P. Wolfe — and they were divorced in 1939 (Wolfe arranged for the immigration of Austrian psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich in 1939, and was the translator of most of Reich's books and articles).

She married her second husband, economist and editor of The New Republic, George Henry Soule (1888-1970), in 1940. A daughter, Marcia was born in 1942.Dunbar was taught by private tutors and at private schools. She graduated from Bryn Mawr with a B.A. (dual major in mathematics and psychology) in 1923. She held degrees in theology (B.D. from Union Theological Seminary, where she encountered the psychologist of religion James H. Leuba, in 1927), philosophy (Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1929), and medicine (M.D. from Yale University 1930).

She also trained with Anton Boisen (1876-1965), a co-founder of the Clinical Pastoral Education Movement, at the Worcester State Hospital in the summer of 1925, and in 1929 with both Helene Deutsch and Felix Deutsch in Vienna, and with Carl Jung at the Burghölzli, the psychiatric clinic of Zurich University. In pursuit of more knowledge in relation to the psychic aspects of healing and disease she visited Lourdes and a number of other healing shrines in Germany and Austria.

Apple to dominate touch panel market in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:01:00 +0530

Bangalore: Apple with their innovative and diplomatic approach has come ahead to set aside glass capacitive touch panel to acquire 60 percent of the world's population through prepaying by 2011.

This in turn will churn other companies fighting for the remaining 40 percent. Business of these companies will grow similar to the tactics followed by Apple. Gigaom explains, " Prepaying for a bulk, long-term contract allows Apple to control pricing, causing scarcity in the market, which raises the prices of remaining component stock.

Apple's pre-bought parts then give it a price advantage when it comes to production costs, and one that could grow as the contract progresses. It's something Apple's been known to do in the past, specifically with NAND flash memory in 2005." Speaking about the business strata of Apple, it has suppliers Wintek and TPK, and is making a huge sum of $3.9 billion for long-term contracts, enough money to cover 136 million iPhone displays or 60 million iPad 2 displays.

When a giant organization can come up with such innovative means then they certainly have to endure risk and that comes from cash-on-hand. Indeed Apple can manifest itself to be one and unique.Apple has allegedly cornered a potion capacitive hold row marketplace prepaying for 60 percent of a universe s complete genius in 2011.

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100421111353.htm& lt;/span>

Intel demos Meego OS

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:57:00 +0530

Bangalore: Intel demonstrated Operating System Meego on a tablet device at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.

Meego was formed as a result of merger of the Nokia and Intel's Linux-based platforms Maemo and Moblin. However, Stephen Elop, CEO, Nokia has earlier announced that they have shifted their primary focus from MeeGo to Microsoft's Windows Phone platform.The OS, according to Darren Wilson, MeeGo Design Manager, makes it easier for users to go to applications. Here, the user has to touch a video or a picture for few seconds and the menu appears instantly, providing the users with various options. This is different from other OS where the users have to go to applications to find the options they are looking for. By putting information on the users' homepage, Meego will make information easily accessible.

Intel is expected to bring the tablet running on Meego by this year which will be followed by several smartphones. The exact date of the launch of these devices is still unknown. In spite of its focus on Windows Phone 7 as its primary platform, Nokia also plans to bring a mobile based on Meego platform.

The OS is currently being supported by Toshiba, Fujitsu, Asus, Acer, AMD, Texas Instruments, ST-Ericsson and Novell. Along with these, mobile operators such as Wind River, Orange, Telefonica and Sprint are also all backing the development.

ttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/10062208135

What is the difference between IPv4 and IPv6?

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:44:00 +0530

BERLIN, GERMANY: Many web surfers don't know it, but the introduction of new internet address standards might change the way they get online.

Since the supply of usable addresses governed by the IPv4 standard (internet protocol, version 4) has been exhausted, IPv6 has now been introduced. This will allow a previously impossible variety of addresses, says Christoph Meinel, a professor at Germany's Hasso Plattner Institute.

But what does this change mean for everyday surfers? Here's an overview.

Why are IP addresses necessary?

In order for internet-capable devices to share information, they need a unique machine-readable address. These addresses are assigned based on a standard of internet protocols.

But, since humans have a hard time remembering these strings of numbers, websites are also labelled with domain names, like www.google.com. When these addresses are typed into browsers, special servers translate them into IP addresses for the benefit of the computers.

What is the difference between IPv4 and IPv6?

Until now, IP addresses have been assigned in blocks of four numbers with up to three numerals each: 217.79.215.248, for example. The new IPv6 standard won't convert the numbers into the decimal system, rather a hexadecimal system, recognized by its combination of numbers and letters.

The new standard can be recognized by its eight blocks, separated by colons - 2001:db8:0:0:0:0:1428:57ab, for example.

Will my computer be able to process the new standard?

In most cases, yes. But an IPv6-capable operating system is a prerequisite. Those can be found in any Windows system post Vista. There are ways to install the functionality into Windows XP systems. Mac systems starting at 10.2 and Linux, in general, can support IPv6.

Will my DSL access support the new standard?

In most cases, no. Contemporary routers, like the ones provided by telecommunications companies when DSL packages are ordered, are still set for the old IPv4 standard. In some cases, IPv6 can be added with a firmware update. When purchasing a new router, make sure it supports IPv6.

Should I anticipate problems during the transition to the new standard?

Generally, no. Internet use shouldn't be affected after the switch - at least that's what providers are promising. Those providers have modified their network so that data packets reach all users whether they are using IPv4 or IPv6 standards, a method called dual-stack application. Alternatively, software solutions, like those based on tunnel technology, can be used.

China controls Internet again

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:40:00 +0530

Beijing: China has blocked the searches on micro blogs so as to restrict any searches on the 'Jasmine Revolution' that was to be staged in Chinese city.

It started with blocking any online searches for the word 'Jasmine'. However, later China suspended searches for all content on the micro blogs. It allowed queries only on screen names, events and other criteria. Following this, another micro blog operated by Tencent also blocked searches relating to the word 'Jasmine' and 'Jasmine Revolution'. On searching for the word Jasmine Revolution online, users were asked to participate in demonstration in 13 cities, across China which included the capital Beijing. The detail of the group or the person who has started this is still unknown. However, recent protests in Egypt and Tunisia seem to have inspired the call. According to sources, Boxun.com, a Chinese site was the first to publish the protest call. The blocking extended to other social networking sites too. For instance, a popular social-networking website, Renren.com also restricted its users from posting anything using the word Jasmine Revolution, asking the users not to publish any politically sensitive, inappropriate or salacious content.

Along with that, after the Egypt's anti-government protests various micro blogs such as Sina have blocked searches for term 'Egypt' too. Searches on micro blog Sina, for the word 'Hillary' and 'Hillary Clinton', were also blocked after U.S. Secretary of State asked China to stop the online restriction.

Earlier, China has blocked the access to search engine Google too. The control has been removed now.

http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Faster_cancer_prognosis_courtesy_IISc_and_Apple-nid-70421-cid--sid-.html

Growing cyberspace controls, Internet filtering

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:32:00 +0530

Governments in many parts of the world have been aggressively adopting a new generation of controls aimed at filtering and controlling information flow on the Internet, citing concerns such as cyber security, crime and terrorism, according to the Open Net Initiative.

The Open Net Initiative, which says it “investigates and analyses Internet filtering and surveillance practices in a credible and non-partisan fashion,” in its updated study released last year titled, “Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power, Rights, and Rule in Cyberspace,” said that it was fast becoming the global norm to control information flow on the Internet.

The Open Net is a collaborative partnership between the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard University, and the Ottawa-based Sec Dev Group.

Asked whether the trend was likely to become more pronounced, given the recent developments in the Middle East, one of the contributors to the study, Ethan Zuckerman, a senior researcher at the Berkman Centre, said, “In general, we see governments becoming more aggressive and more overt about their Internet filtering.”

The Open Net has described the recent Internet blackout in Egypt as ‘just-in-time-blocking' - when information flow is brought to a halt during critical times such as political crises, elections, or social unrest. Discussions have resurfaced about the deployment of 'Internet kill switches,' a way in which nations could snuff out the Internet when such a crisis occurs.

“For all the talk of Internet kill switches, turning off the Internet is a relatively easy and unsophisticated thing to do. What is hardest to do is filtering on finer, more granular levels,” Mr. Zuckerman told The Hindu.

The first-generation controls were deployed primarily at Internet “choke points,” places in the network where Internet addresses that had been blacklisted by the authorities could be filtered and blocked. These were mainly the gateways run by the Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The number-based IP addresses connected to particular websites or domain names could be used for the blocking. Keywords could also be used in weeding out proscribed sites or pages.

Reports of watchdogs such as the Open Net and Freedom House indicate that though not pronounced, selective filtering has been a part of the Indian Internet scene. Google's Transparency Report for the first half of 2010 also shows that India is among the nations from where a number of government inquiries for information about users and requests to remove or censor content emanate.

“As far as censorship of Internet goes in India it is still first generation in terms of blocking and filtering at the Internet choke points. However, the Indian government has made and is making several moves that continue to undermine privacy and anonymity on the Internet. This has a chilling effect on freedom of expression and information accessing behaviour on the Internet,” says Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society.

http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Faster_cancer_prognosis_courtesy_IISc_and_Apple-nid-70421-cid--sid-.htmlfont-size: xx-small;">

NVIDIA unveils quad-core 'Kal-El' chip

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 11:31:00 +0530

Bangalore: NVIDIA officially announced first quad-core mobile processor, Kal-EI. Also termed as Tegra 3, the chip has two extra processor cores along with 12-core graphic engine. This will help in getting better resolution in mobiles.

The chip will support a better display resolution. The media hardware is a 32-bit LPDDR2 controller. The 12-core GPU will not be a unified shader architecture design unlike Tegra 2. If we look at the pure processing, its overall performance is expected to be double of Tegra 2's performance. For visuals, it will be faster by three times.

According to sources, NVIDIA claimed it is capable of outperforming 2GHz Core 2 Duo T7200 in some of the areas and be at par with notebook processors. The chip is expected to be good when it comes to mobile gaming. Game lovers are up for a treat if rumors of Sony using the chip for its upcoming media/gaming tablet are true.

The production of the chips is likely to begin by August. Though, NVIDA has announced its customers, it might choose tablet designers such as LG and Samsung. Tegra line can make its way to PC notebooks too.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100421111353.htm& lt;/span>

HTC and Qualcomm announce partnership on multi-core chips

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 11:25:00 +0530

Bangalore: HTC and Qualcomm announced a new partnership on multi-core processors at the Mobile World Congress (MWC). With this alliance, they will bring multi-core processors to HTC forthcoming line of devices.

According to Dr Paul Jacobs, Chairman and CEO of Qualcomm, HTC and Qualcomm are working together so as to bring next-gen platform for HTC's smartphones and tablets. As of now, HTC's new smartphones and its tablet-Flyer have single-core chips. With this deal, it is likely that HTC and Qualcomm will come up with new range of devices featuring dual-core or quad-core processor.

Qualcomm has already announced that its Snapdragon SOCs (System on Chips) will come up with different chips sets-singe, dual and quad. These new chip sets will be based on a 28nm scale. It is likely to increase the speed up to 2.5GHz per core and improves the energy efficiency by 75 percent. There are also expectations that the performance will be 12 times better.

ttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/10062208135

36 hours of videos uploaded on YouTube every minute

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:07:00 +0530

About 36 hours of videos are uploaded every minute on YouTube, the video—sharing website owned by global search giant Google Inc.

A top official of Google India told reporters here Wednesday that tens of hundreds of Indian movies from the classics of 1960s to the latest ones were available on YouTube.

The website is working actively to bring Hindi movies online, said Vinay Goel, head of products, Google India.

Salman Khan starrer “Dabaang” was the latest full-length Hindi movie made available on YouTube. Millions in India watched it for free.

Goel said many movie houses were bringing their films online. Several soap operas on various television channels are also available on YouTube.

Last year, 55 million people across the world watched Indian Premier League cricket live on YouTube, he said, pointing out the volume of information available online in various media formats.

“The amount of information being created on daily basis is mind-boggling. Last year, we created 800,000 of petabytes of data. One petabyte is a million gigabytes. You need 75 billion iPads required to store this data,” he said.

According to him, 100 billion non-spam e-mails and IMs (instant messages) are sent every day and 500 million people users visit various social sites.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100421111353.htm& lt;/span>

Britain likely to go for China’s high speed bullet trains

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 10:37:00 +0530

Britain may either rent or buy high-speed bullet trains manufactured by a Chinese firm, an official said.

The high-speed bullet trains are produced by the CSR Corporation, China Daily Thursday quoted the 21st Century Business Herald as reporting.

Gao Hucheng, China’s international trade representative, said British Prime Minister David Cameron has showed willingness to cooperate with China in Britain’s infrastructure construction and high-speed railway construction.

The media report said that CSR will lend a batch of train equipment to Britain for their high-speed railway reconstruction. Thereafter, a joint venture may be established when the cooperation is further strengthened.

This is the first time that China’s high-speed rail technology will enter the British market.

Britain plans to develop high-speed railways in the country over the next 15 years and promote high-speed bullet trains with a highest speed of 362 kph, the daily said.

China last year produced a high-speed train that set a world speed record during a trial run.

The train hit a maximum speed of 416.6 km per hour on its journey between Shanghai and Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province.

The train is designed to run at a speed of 350 km per hour on the 202-km-long track between the two cities. A one-way journey previously took two hours. But the new train would lessen that to around 40 minutes.

ttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/10062208135

Will India ever witness emergence of $35 tablet?

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 10:35:00 +0530

New Delhi: Can India dream of witnessing emergence of $35 tablet ever? HCL, the only hope also turned their back towards the tablet project. HCL Infosystems has denied its association with Sakshat project of the ministry of human resource development to manufacture access and computing device to be priced $35 a piece.

"It has been wrongly reported that we are associated with the project," Ajay Chowdhry, a co-founder of HCL and Chairman, HCL Infosystems said. Chowdhry mentioned that HRD ministry has recently floated a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the project and some companies have participated in it. When asked about HCL's participation in the RFP, Chowdhry told that his company will not participate in the RFP. "We will not apply for RFP," Chowdhry said on the sidelines of 'Electronics for You' expo. Chowdhry did not comment on the reasons for not participating in the RFP for Sakshat.

Kapil Sibal, union minister for human resource development has unveiled an access-cum-computing device designed by experts at Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Sciences and named the product 'Sakshat'.

The ministry is licensing the same to companies desirous of manufacturing the system. The product has been widely termed as $35 tablet. There were reports which claimed that HCL has launched 'Sakshat' that Chowdhry denied.

As usual, Indian government always disappoints people with false promises. Earlier in the beginning of 2009, Indian Government unveiled a $10 educational laptop which turned out to be a substandard flop receiving various negative views about it. Now it is $35 tablet's turn. There are a lot of speculations happening about the project. Earlier there were accusations regarding the product that it was not an Indian product and it is completely outsourced from China.

The big question that arises at this moment is why HCL didn't react about the news earlier? HCL's name was always associated with 'Sakshat' ($35 tablet). It was also reported that they denied security deposit of $60 crore at that moment but it never denied having an association with it.

http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Videocon_launches_new_range_of_handsets-nid-70077-cid-31.htm

Robots as chefs in Chinese restaurant

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 10:31:00 +0530

Shanghai: Visitors to a fast-food restaurant in Shanghai may be pleasantly surprised when they are served food cooked by two robot chefs.

The robot chefs at the Wishdoing restaurant on Shanghai's Nanjing Road can cook delicious Chinese cuisine within three minutes. They can serve customers eight popular dishes, including "crowd-puller dishes" like Kung Pao chicken, spicy diced chicken with peanuts and Mapo Tofu, bean curd with chilli sauce. The workers only have to press buttons on the robots to choose a dish and they will display the name of the ingredients and their quantities, the Shanghai Daily reported.

In appearance, the robots look like huge kitchen surfaces equipped with iron pots.

It only takes three minutes for a robot to clean the pot from a previous meal, stir the ingredients, finish cooking and then move the food onto a plate for serving.

Although the robots cost 200,000 yuan ($30,350) each, the fast food chain is planning to install them in all of its 100 outlets across the country, said an official surnamed Ma, working with the restaurant's parent company, Shanghai Qi Ding Food Development Co.

The robots were earlier displayed at the Shanghai World Expo in 2010 and attracted a lot of attention, Ma said.

"We believe the cooking robots will become a trend in the future for the fast food industry as they guarantee low-carbon emission, food safety and standard tastes that don't change from one outlet to another."

The coming of the robots has, however, raised concerns among some chefs, who are worried they could lose the jobs.

But Ma said the concern was totally unnecessary.

"The robot chefs will be one part of the restaurant, but it doesn't mean that we would abandon traditional cooking methods."

China controls Internet again

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:08:00 +0530

Beijing: China has blocked the searches on microblogs so as to restrict any searches on the 'Jasmine Revolution' that was to be staged in Chinese city.

It started with blocking any online searches for the word 'Jasmine'. However, later Sina suspended searches for all content on the microblogs. It allowed queries only on screen names, events and other criteria. Following this, another microblog operated by Tencent also blocked searches relating to the word 'Jasmine' and 'Jasmine Revolution'.

On searching for the word Jasmine Revolution online, users were asked to participate in demonstration in 13 cities, across China which included the capital Beijing. The detail of the group or the person who has started this is still unknown. However, recent protests in Egypt and Tunisia seem to have inspired the call. According to sources, Boxun.com, a Chinese site was the first to publish the protest call.

The blocking extended to other social networking sites too. For instance, a popular social-networking website, Renren.com also restricted its users from posting anything using the word Jasmine Revolution, asking the users not to publish any politically sensitive, inappropriate or salacious content.

Along with that, after the Egypt's anti-government protests various microblogs such as Sina have blocked searches for term 'Egypt' too. Searches on micro blog Sina, for the word 'Hillary' and 'Hillary Clinton', were also blocked after U.S. Secretary of State asked China to stop the online restriction.

Earlier, China has blocked the access to search engine Google too. The control has been removed now.

Cell phones: precautionary approach needed

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:03:00 +0530

Though no adverse health effects have been established for mobile phone use, excessive use by children should be discouraged

In December 2010, Matt Parker, a British mathematician, tabulated the number of mobile phone masts in each county across the United Kingdom and then matched it with the number of live births in the same counties. He discovered that the correlation was so strong that in areas above normal numbers of mobile phones, he could predict how many more births above the national average occurred.

Parker concluded that for every additional mobile phone base station in an area, the number of births goes up by an average of 17.6 babies!

In reality, mobile phone masts have absolutely no bearing on the number of births. Masts do not make people more fertile. There is no causal link between the masts and the births despite the strong correlation.

The number of mobile phone transmitters and the number of live births are linked to a third factor, the local population size. As the population of an area goes up, so do both the number of mobile phone users and the number of people giving birth. Instinctively we tend to assume that correlation means that one factor causes the other!

Parker published a phoney press release highlighting his finding to see whether media outlets would jump to the incorrect conclusion that mobile phone radiation causes pregnancies. Main-stream media ignored the hoax release after checking out the facts. Some readers reacted differently.

“There were the expected people who clearly did not actually read what I wrote before seeing the headline and getting excited about this apparent scare story, but there were also seemingly endless comments from people who understood my correlation-causality project but could not help putting forward a possible causal link anyway” Parker said.

His headline to The Guardian article “Mobile phone radiation linked to people jumping to conclusions” was apt.

Over the years, there has been differing news on the risks of radiation from mobile phones. A WHO booklet published in May 2010, stated that no adverse health effects have been established for mobile phone use. Studies are ongoing to assess potential long-term effects. WHO noted that there is an increased risk of road traffic injuries when drivers use mobile phones (either handheld or "hands-free") while driving.

According to HPA (HPA, May 17,2010), there are thousands of published scientific papers covering research about the effects of various types of radio waves on cells, tissues, animals and people. HPA's views derived from them were identical to those of the WHO.

Widespread use

Given the uncertainties and the widespread use of mobile phone technology, HPA recommended a precautionary approach.

This included a recommendation that excessive use of mobile phones by children should be discouraged. Every country must enforce international guidelines on mobile phone technology.

Some possible effect

In 2009, members of the ICNIRP (International Commission on Non Ionizing Radiation Protection; most countries have accepted the Commission's guidelines) Standing Committee on Biology noted that there is some evidence of an effect of exposure to a Global System for Mobile Telecommunication (GSM)-type signal on the spontaneous electroencephalogram (EEG).

This may be of little functional significance since they did not observe significant effects on cognitive performance in adults. They noted that the effect is small and exposure seems to improve performance.

The authors noted that symptoms such as headaches and migraine had been attributed to various radio frequency sources both at home and at work.

“However, in provocation studies a causal relation between EMF exposure and symptoms has never been demonstrated. Psychological factors such as the conscious expectation of effect may play an important role in this condition” (HPA, May 2010).

http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Faster_cancer_prognosis_courtesy_IISc_and_Apple-nid-70421-cid--sid-.html

Florida University comes with fastest reconfigurable supercomputers

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:00:00 +0530

Washington: University of Florida's supercomputer Novo-G is the world's fastest reconfigurable supercomputer and outperforms the Chinese supercomputer touted as the world's most powerful.

Novo-G is about the size of two home refrigerators and consumes less than 8,000 watts, unlike conventional supercomputers that can consume up to millions of watts of electrical power, generating massive amounts of heat. In November, the TOP500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers, for the first time ever, listed the Chinese Tianhe-1A system at the National Computer Centre in Tainjin in China as Number 1.

"Novo-G is believed to be the most powerful reconfigurable machine on the planet and, for some applications, it is the most powerful computer of any kind on the planet," said Alan George, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Florida University.

Reconfigurable computing is an innovative form of computing, whose architecture can adapt to match the unique needs of each application, leading to much faster speed and less wasted energy, the journal IEEE Computing in Science and Engineering reports.

The TOP500 list ranks supercomputers by their performance on a few basic routines in linear algebra using 64-bit, floating-point arithmetic, said George, according to a Florida University statement.

However, a significant number of the most important applications in the world do not adhere to that standard. Most of the world's computers, from smart-phones to laptops to Tianhe-1A, feature microprocessors with fixed-logic hardware structures.

All software applications for these systems must conform to these fixed structures, which can lead to a significant loss in speed and increase in energy consumption.

Later this year, researchers will double the reconfigurable capacity of Novo-G, an upgrade only requiring a modest increase in size, power, and cooling, unlike upgrades with conventional supercomputers.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/10062208135

Intel's Core i7-990X hits the market officially

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:57:00 +0530

Bangalore: Intel has started selling a new chip- Core i7-990X that out performs the 980X. It is suppose to be the fastest processor in consumer's desktop with six chips in one chip. It is basically made for high-end laptops and desktops and Intel will charge it for $999 ( 45,500 approximately) for 1,000 units.

Core i7-990X belongs to what Intel calls "Extreme Edition Chip-set" family. The new chip-set can work with LGA 1366 motherboards as well as other motherboards.

The pricing of new chip-set is the same as for its predecessor. Intel is slashing the prices of the old chip-sets belonging to the same Extreme Edition Chip-set family. Six core Core i7 970 by 34 percent bringing it down to $583 ( 26,532 approximately) and the quad core Core i7-960 by 48 percent which puts it at $294 ( 13,379 approximately)Apart from the features like splendid speed of 3.46 GHz and Turbo Boost 3.73 GHz, Core i7-990X is almost identical to older 980X.

The 990X remains a six core multi-threaded CPU which leaves with twelve threads in total. It has 12 MB of cache and is based on the 32 mm fabrication process with a max TDP of 130 W. Company is expected to unveil its new high-end platform for enthusiasts based on the LGA 2011 socket by fourth quarter of 2011.

The new chips based on this socket will support Sandy Bridge E-series processors and also feature quad-core memory controllers.These days it's less about the megahertz and more about the cores, but custom PC maker Origin isn't leaving either benchmark untouched. It's taken the as-yet-unannounced six-core, 3.46GHz Intel Core i7-990X processor and pushed it up to 4.6GHz -- a full 200 hertz more than the company's previous hotness, a 4.4GHZ Core i7-980X. The 990X is now available in the company's desktops as well as the EON-17 laptop -- which is honestly pushing the boundaries of capability.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100421111353.htm& lt;/span>

Interoperability, network concerns spur innovation

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:54:00 +0530

NEW YORK, USA: Growth in videoconferencing and telepresence adoption has led to a parallel market for managed services because of persistent technology and network complexities and interoperability issues.

Global telepresence and videoconferencing managed services market is set to reach $1.2 billion by 2016, a CAGR of 19 percent, finds ABI Research in its latest study.In 2010, the market, which includes hosted and managed telepresence and videoconferencing services offered by managed video services providers (MVSPs), grew by 25 percent to reach $512.5 million.

Telepresence equipment and network interoperability continues to pose strong challenges to business-to-business (B2B) collaboration. MVSPs have developed a compelling suite of services that help companies overcome the complexities associated with telepresence and videoconferencing technologies.

The growing need of enterprises to take telepresence beyond their firewalls and integrate multi-modal conferencing applications has led to the popularity of managed services.

“MVSPs are responding to market needs by launching B2B telepresence exchange services,” says senior analyst Subha Rama. “MVSPs are building core capabilities in telepresence managed services. However, expertise is still evolving, especially when it comes to integrating mobile and desktop conferencing users with telepresence rooms.”

Apart from dedicated video services providers, large telcos have identified telepresence managed services as an attractive opportunity to cross-sell their network assets by bundling them with multimedia applications such as telepresence, multi-point HD videoconferencing and real-time content sharing, adds the analyst firm.

Also, the use of mobile devices for videoconferencing requires networks to scale and provide secure access to users, which allows providers to bundle multiple services.

However, B2B telepresence exchanges are still at an early growth stage with a number of providers having launched these services only in the last 12 to 18 months.

http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Faster_cancer_prognosis_courtesy_IISc_and_Apple-nid-70421-cid--sid-.htmlfont-size: xx-small;">

Joy Adamson

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:46:00 +0530

Joy Adamson and her husband George were among the most famous wildlife conservationists of the 1960s. Born in Austria, Joy went to Kenya, then a British Colony, in 1937. She married George Adamson, a British game warden, in 1944 and adopted Kenya as her own country. (An accomplished painter, she specialized in collecting and illustrating African wildflowers.) The Adamsons acquired Elsa, a tame lion cub, in 1956, after George had killed a lioness in self-defense. For two years Elsa and George trained the animal for a return to the wild, and the subsequent book about Elsa, Born Free (1960), was an international success. Adamson followed the book with Living Free (1961) and Forever Free (1962). Joy and George separated in the 1970s, and on 3 January 1980 Joy was found murdered in a remote region of Kenya. Paul Nakware Ekai, a Turkana tribesman who was employed by Adamson, was convicted of her murder in 1981 and sentenced to life in prison. In 2005 he recanted his 1980 confession and claimed he had nothing to do with her killing.

George Adamson was Joy Adamson's third husband; earlier she had been married to Austrian Viktor von Klarwill and Swiss botanist Peter Bally... George Adamson was shot and killed by poachers in 1989... Another expatriate author in Kenya was Beryl Markham.

Joy Adamson is best known for her conservation efforts associated with Elsa the Lioness. In 1956, Adamson's husband George Adamson, in the course of his job as game warden of the Northern Frontier District in Kenya, shot and killed a lioness as she charged him and another warden. George Adamson realized that the lioness was protecting her cubs which were later found nearby. Taking them home, he and Joy Adamson raised the cubs. Early on, George Adamson attended to their physical needs while Joy Adamson and her pet Pati-Pati, a rock hyrax, raised them. Joy Adamson named them "Big One", "Lustica" and "Elsa," and was completely devoted to the cubs.

Video of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:42:00 +0530

LG has big plans on 3D TVs for 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:40:00 +0530

SEOUL, S. KOREA: South Korea's LG Electronics Inc, the world's No.2 TV manufacturer, said on Wednesday that it aims to sell 5 million 3D televisions in 2011 as part of its overall sales target of 40 million flat-screen TVs.BANGALORE, INDIA: A new Accenture survey predicts that consumer purchase rates for personal computers and mobile phones (excluding smartphones) will decline by 39 percent and 56 percent this year compared with last year, respectively. By contrast, buying rates of 3DTVs (three-dimensional TVs) are expected to rise 500 percent; tablet computers 160 percent; eBook readers 133 percent; and smartphones 26 percent.

The annual survey focused on usage and spending on 19 different consumer electronics technologies among more than 8,000 consumers in eight countries in both emerging markets and developed economies: Brazil, China, India, Russia, France, Germany, Japan and the United States.

Survey respondents in emerging countries represent key urban markets rather than the population as a whole.The survey found that only 17 percent of survey respondents plan to buy a desktop or laptop computer in 2011-- a 39 percent drop from 2010.

Tracking with this trend, the survey revealed that 75 percent of U.S. survey respondents emailed each week from their PCs in 2010, down from 80 percent the year before. The research also showed that respondents are using multiple devices such as tablet PCs for activities that used to be done on traditional PCs. For example, on at least a weekly basis, 40 percent of the respondents email from a tablet PC. In addition to checking email, respondents are using tablet PCs for browsing the web, watching videos and reading books, newspapers and magazines.

“The research findings raise the question as to whether, in the long run, desktop and laptop PCs in the home will be increasingly replaced by a group of newer technology alternatives such as tablet computers, net books, smartphones and e-book readers,” said Kumu Puri, senior executive with Accenture’s Electronics & High-Tech Practice.

“If strength is measured by unit sales, the computer will remain the strong consumer technology giant for many years. Our research found that 93 percent of survey respondents own a computer—a higher proportion than any of the other 19 technologies included in the survey. But if measured by growth rate, the PC market--at least for consumers--has reached a level of saturation and will continue to see diminished growth rates. There’s increasing potential for an end in sight for the relevance of the personal computer in the home as we know it today.”

The research also found that ownership of basic mobile phones dropped from 79 percent in 2009 to 65 percent in 2010. In the same period, ownership of smartphones quadrupled from eight percent to 32 percent. In the survey, mobile phones were described as having basic voice capability but not the enhanced features available on smartphones, such as surfing the Internet

http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Videocon_launches_new_range_of_handsets-nid-70077-cid-31.html

Cisco partners Control4 for home control systems

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:38:00 +0530

SALT LAKE CITY, USA: Networking company Cisco has partnered with Control4, a provider of IP-based home control systems, for network-enabled automation platforms for connected smart communities and home energy deployments.

“Both Cisco and Control4 share a vision of delivering a connected world where we all lead better and simpler lives,” said Will West, CEO, Control4. “The integration of Control4’s operating system is a key component of the value proposition for Cisco’s Smart+Connected Communities vision to use the network as the platform to build smart, green and connected communities around the world and helps bring the benefits of automation and control to potentially millions,"

Cisco envisions a future where successful communities and cities will run on networked information enabling economic, social and environmental sustainability for citizens,” said Wim Elfrink, chief globalisation officer and executive vice president, Cisco Services.

“Cisco’s collaboration with Control4 will offer our customers the network as the platform to transform and manage their properties, enhance economic development and city management, and improve energy management and citizens’ quality of life.”Aniruddh Sinh Jadeja, managing director, GTPL, said:

“Digitization will help us address several issues that have been dogging the industry and strengthen our competitive edge in the market over direct-to-home players. Combining GTPL’s expertise as a cable and Internet solutions provider with Cisco’s Internet Protocol next-generation network technology will enable us to offer improved value-added services such as digital video recording, video on demand and a host of other experiences to our subscribers.”

http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Reports_of_Google_acquiring_Slide_emerge-

Has HTC become more than just friends with Facebook?

noreply@blogger.com (Goutam Bose) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:36:00 +0530

BANGALORE, INDIA: Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC unveiled on Tuesday two social networking phone models, with a focus on Facebook access, and introduced its first tablet computer to a crowded marketplace.

Has the Taiwanese handset gadget maker become more than just friends with Facebook?

Says Nick Dillon, analyst with Ovum “While not officially known as ‘Facebook phones’, HTC’s socially oriented ChaCha and Salsa smartphones certainly raise the bar in terms of mobile implementations of Facebook. It is also somewhat ironic that the devices use Google’s Android platform to enable that experience.

He points out that a dedicated Facebook button on the front of both devices offers much more than a shortcut to a Facebook application – the button is contextually aware, changing function depending on the application the user is currently in. The integration also includes easy access to Facebook Messaging and Chat – functions that could threaten the hegemony of RIM’s wildly popular BlackBerry Messenger in the minds of teens – as well as the promise (not yet delivered) of extending Facebook’s third-party apps to mobile for the first time.“This deeper level of integration could make the mobile experience of Facebook more compelling than other mobile versions of the application and, potentially, even more so than the full web version. This possibility will not have been lost on Facebook, or for that matter Google. It’s hard to imagine Google being overly happy that HTC is using its Android platform to provide an improved experience and greater access to arguably its biggest rival. If Google does ever seek to exert greater control over the Android platform, we would imagine that this could be a trigger point for it", Dillon added.

According to the analyst, either way, HTC and Facebook’s initiative does at least illustrate that there are still opportunities for hardware providers to differentiate themselves outside of offering their own services. Equally, it also demonstrates a compelling means by which web application providers can influence buyer behavior without needing to own or control the software platform on a device themselves.

“Under the circumstances, it’s inevitable that the ChaCha and Salsa will become known as Facebook phones, even though they are not a result of a joint venture with Facebook but rather a clever outgrowth of a partnership dating back to 2009. But in a very real sense they deserve that tag.”