Infospice - bring it to the point

Where Rich Indians are investing ? - Study Report

2008-10-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

Where Rich Indians are investing. ? Recent Study by Capgemini – Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific Wealth Report-2008 tabulated these following facts.

» Around 1.32 lakh of HNWI’s (High Net Worthy Individuals) are in India . ( HNWI defind as People with at least USD 1 million in financial assets )

» Indian HNWI's are investing their money in the Equity Market -36%, Real Estate-24%, Fixed Income-18%, Cash/Deposits-15% and alternative investments like commodities, financial derivatives, hedge funds – 8%.

» Indian HNWI’s are investing their 75% of their mony only in Asia- Pasfic Region. Then 10% in Eroupe and 8% in North American Regions.

» Austrialian and Japanese HNWI’s are investing in Equity Market 38% and 17% Respecitively.

» India led the world in HNWI population growth, rocketing ahead 22.7% and exceeding gains of 20.5% in 2006.

» India’s Bombay Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India had respective growth rates of 122% and 115%. Market capitalization growth was driven mostly by price increases in the very active financial services, property, construction, and infrastructure sectors.

» China ranked second in HNWI population growth, advancing 20.3% in 2007, more than two and a half times greater than its 2006 pace.

» The Shanghai and the Shenzhen Stock Exchanges experienced the highest growth worldwide, at 303% and 244% respectively. Growth in the two exchanges was fueled by organic price increases.

» China attracted the largest absolute amount of private capital in 2007 at a country level, drawing in roughly $55 billion USD.

» The Nikkei 225 in Japan was the world’s worst performing index, contracting 11.1%.

No Batteries Required - Wind Up Universal Remote Control

2008-08-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

Can You imagine, Remote Control Will Work even without a battery. But having a remote that winds up to charge the battery is the best idea yet. How many batteries have your various remotes killed over the years. And it’s a pain replacing them. Some are AA some are AAA. Sometimes you only have one good battery and the thing takes two!

But Wind Up Remote Control, a handy device with completely battery free remote control so there are no batteries to replace, ever!

Just wind the dial and 30 full turns is enough to provide a full charge, which should last you about a week. Supposedly it works with hundreds of brands, including Samsung, Sony, Phillips, Panasonic so it should have you covered. It costs $39 but will pay for itself quickly by never needing batteries.

In near future you may say goodbye to batteries!

World's Smallest GSM Mobile Phone - China's Xun Chi 138

2008-08-10T21:42:00.000-07:00

The race for the World's Smallest GSM Mobile phone with entrants from Motorola, Samsung, Haier and NEC though the war still wages on, Now One Chinese Mobile Manufacturer also Join the race. Now as on the available data's World's Smallest GSM Mobile Phone is from China's Xun Chi 138.

The Xun Chi 138 is a GSM with bar form factor it measures only 67 mm (2.64 inches) in length a bit longer than the AA battery and weighs only 55 grams.

If you thought this was impressive & sure you will be blown away when you check out what this baby packs inside. As with the tiny size it is impossible for a keypad so the Xun Chi 138 has touchscreen with handwriting recognition and support for 260k colors.

The manufacturer has still found space to squeeze in a 1.3 Megapixel camera (actually VGA but interpolated to 1.3 Megapixel), USB port, WAP, GPRS, MP3 player and 138 MB of onboard memory. Maybe the next model will have a Mini SD card slot and Bluetooth.

The Xun Chi 138 is more like a chic phone as it comes in pink color. The stylus neatly fits at the back of the phone. Dont expect the phone to hit the West anytime soon as the Xun Chi 138 supports only Chinese character recognition for now. But it will work in many countries accross the globe.

World's First Bio-Degradable USB Drive - From Hoshino

2008-08-07T05:36:00.000-07:00

Most of the gadgets that we use right now will be tossed away within a few years and probably end up in a landfill somewhere. That’s why it’s nice to see that at least some companies are looking at biodegradable gadgets.

Hong Kong-based Hoshino announced the release of what it's designated "The World's First Bio-degradable USB disk." The USB keys are corn based. The corn is fermented into a material called polylactide (PLA), which, unlike the plastics traditionally used for these devices, can be safely broken .

The key is also shaped like an ear of corn, so you can acknowledge your own greenness, every time you go to retrieve information. Limited information only available about this device, but they have apparently made the entire drive biodegradable and obviously corny design, that’s good news.

Midori - Microsoft's Next OS after Windows

2008-08-06T03:27:00.000-07:00

Microsoft begins phasing out Windows XP by no longer providing copies of the operating system to PC makers and retailers for preloading on new machines from 2008 June 30 . It’s also a good day to start looking ahead to what comes next — after Windows. Midori is the next thing after Windows from MS. Eric Rudder heads this project, attempt to realize Gates’ vision of a truly object-oriented, distributed operating system.

Microsoft has started a new research project Midori, to develop a software program that will help uncouple Windows from a single PC. The company has revealed that a decision to develop Midori was taken because Windows is unlikely to be able to cope with the pace of change in future technology, and the way people use it.

"If you think about how an operating system is loaded, it's loaded onto a hard disk physically located on that machine. The operating system is tied very tightly to that hardware," the BBC quoted Dave Austin, European director of products at Citrix, as saying.

He said that that created all kinds of dependencies that arose out of the collection of hardware in a particular machine, and raised concerns for Microsoft's business in case Windows ends up being less important over time as applications become more OS agnostic.

A statement issued by Microsoft describes Midori as an ambitious attempt by Microsoft to catch up on the work on virtualisation being undertaken in the wider computer industry. Microsoft has said little about Midori and isn't commenting publicly on the project. But company research documents confirm that the project exists and is related to a public project called Singularity -- under which Microsoft developers are creating a slimmed down OS for use in the research community.

During a recent talk on a software tool called Chess, which is designed to check the status of programs that run in multithreaded architectures, Microsoft researchers Madan Musuvathi and Shaz Qadeer made reference to Midori by name in a PowerPoint presentation, documents show. In one slide, the researchers describe Midori as "OS in managed code." Midori, if it makes its way to the market, could solve a number of problems for Microsoft. The current version of Windows, known as Vista, has been poorly received by IT managers. Many view it as too large and resource hungry, and too desktop-centric, for an era in which much of business computing's heavy lifting is migrating to the Web.

Mahindra plans 2 Wheeler ride with Kinetic

2008-08-04T05:59:00.000-07:00

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M), one of India's leading automotive companies, announced that its Board of Directors has approved the acquisition of business assets of Pune-based Kinetic Motor Company Ltd. (KMCL). The acquisition will
be done through a New Company to be formed. (New Co). The consideration for the acquisition is a sum of Rs. 110 crores (subject to closing due diligence) plus 20 percent stake to KMCL in the New Co. M&M will hold the balance 80 per cent of the equity.

Kinetic Motor Co. Ltd. to retain 20 per cent stake in new company. The acquisition of business assets of KMCL is a defining moment in the history of Mahindra as it will give us an opportunity to emerge as a full range player with a presence in almost every segment of the automobile industry. KMCL is a strategic fit with our overall two-wheeler strategy. The strong in-house design and development competencies provided by Mahindra Engineering Services (MES) and the recent acquisition of Italy-based design house, Engines Engineering, coupled with KMCL's expertise will enable us to assume a significant position in the rapidly growing Indian and global two-wheeler market. I am also delighted to announce that Mr. Anoop Mathur, President Designate, Two-Wheeler Sector, will spearhead this new venture" said Mr. Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra Group.
Ms. Sulajja Firodia Motwani will be a Non-Executive Director in the new company. The deal will enable Mahindra to design and market a range of scooters, value engineered motorcycles and high-end motorcycles for the Indian and global markets, helping it establish a robust, end-to-end two-wheeler business in every segment of the industry.

"KMCL is a company with a rich heritage spanning more than three decades. Over the years, we have introduced several new concepts such as the Luna and India's first gearless scooter which have revolutionized the two-wheeler industry. Hence, we are delighted to associate with Mahindra, another pioneering automobile company with a rich legacy which will add long term value to the business and take it to greater heights,” said Ms. Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Managing Director, Kinetic Motor.

Within the overall two-wheeler strategy, scooters will form M&M's entry point into the Indian market and will be an important part of the company's overall two-wheeler product portfolio. There are several macro environmental trends which make the scooter market especially attractive to Mahindra. These include a younger, more affluent customer base with a significant number of empowered women and increased scooter demand in tier-2 cities and small towns. M&M is strongly positioned to cater to this demand, given the company's significant presence and brand equity in these markets.

For Mahindra, two-wheelers are an additional touch-point for consumers to interact and bond with the ever expanding universe of Mahindra products and services. Within the automotive space, it allows M&M to engage and build relationships with customers at a relatively early stage of the 'personal transport solutions' value chain. This will give an opportunity to place Mahindra in every household, given M&M’s dominant presence in the rural and semi-urban segments and Mahindra Finance’s extensive reach in these markets.

Moreover, the focus on more inclusive growth and improvement in rural transport infrastructure will only expand the demand footprint and increase two-wheeler penetration in semi-urban and rural areas as well.

India is the second largest producer of two-wheelers in the world. The two-wheeler industry has grown from 3 million in the Financial Year 1998 to 8 million in the Financial Year 2008. Domestic sales, which comprise 93% of total two-wheeler sales, have grown from 3 million in the Financial Year 1998 to 7.2 million in the Financial Year 2008, a CAGR of 9.2%. Despite recent market turbulence and volume decline due to tight credit situation, fundamental demand drivers for two-wheelers in the country remain strong. With growing GDP, higher disposable household incomes and increased discretionary expenditure on personal transportation, outlook for the two-wheeler business in India remains positive. Also, penetration at 25% of households in the country is still low and augurs well for increased “consumption”.

With sharply rising environmental concerns and favourable consumer attitudes in the West towards “green” vehicles, two-wheelers provide cleaner, quieter, more fuel efficient transport solutions. While this presents excellent opportunities in the overseas market, the trend is expected in India and other emerging markets as well.

Founded in 1970, Kinetic has a rich history of innovation and has introduced several new concepts over the years that have revolutionized the two-wheeler industry. Kinetic, in fact, brought the concept of personalized transport to India with the launch of the moped Luna in 1972. In 1984, it launched India's first gearless scooter which has come to symbolize comfort, convenience and universal appeal. Kinetic has also introduced new technologies to India including four valve engines, electric start on scooters and motorcycles, v- twin engines, USD forks, etc. It is also the only company to offer top-end world class bikes, Comet and Aquila, to Indian bike enthusiasts.

Mozilla sets New World Record - Largest number of software downloads in 24 hours

2008-07-18T05:59:00.000-07:00

Mozilla has set possibly the geekiest world record ever with the release of Firefox 3. Mozilla -The open source company said that On June 17, the browser's 8,002,530 downloads in its first 24 hours of release set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloads in that period of time.

Mozilla Vice President of Marketing Paul Kim thanked Firefox fans in a statement, calling them "instrumental in achieving this record." "Our community members came together and not only spread the word, but also took the initiative to help mobilize millions of people to demonstrate their belief that Firefox gives people the best possible online experience," he said.

Mozilla unveiled a campaign on May 28 to set the record, which previously did not exist. The company asked Firefox enthusiasts to pledge to download the browser on the day it was released- June 17,2008, which it dubbed "Download Day."

Mozilla also hosted a Download Day event, the Camp Firefox BBQ, at its offices in Mountain View, California, and asked other Firefox fans to host similar download parties. It also encouraged people to place "Download Day" buttons on their Web sites as reminders of the big day.

Despite its eventual success, Firefox 3 Download Day didn't go off without a hitch. Interest in the endeavor crippled Mozilla's servers on the day of the release, so the U.S. part of the download process started about two hours later than originally planned when Mozilla's site wouldn't work properly.

The European leg of the effort began a little more than an hour later than planned and marked the start of the download-logging process. There were no more problems reported once the U.S. site was back up and running.

When Mozilla Planned this event, at the time the Guinness World Records had no such record, but Mozilla had campaigned to allow this new record.

Well it now seems that Guinness officials have decided to accept Mozilla’s final count of 8,002,530 downloads for Firefox 3.0 in 24 hours. We can now say that Firefox 3.0 is a record holder.

When Mozilla launched their latest Web Browser last month, at their busiest time their servers had to handle at least 9,000 downloads per minute.

The previous version of Firefox had 1.6 million downloads in 24 hours; version 3.00 beat that in just 5 hour

Source: Yahoo News

Now Tatas set to launch Air Car with MDI Tech

2008-07-16T05:07:00.000-07:00

With Shooting Fuel Prices, Global warming of Environment are hitting economies eco-friendly cars are ruling the day. One such car which uses compressed air as fuel is the "Air Car." French Based company "Moteur Development International" (MDI) has researched and developed a concept callled Compressed Air Technology (CAT). In this technology they developed an Air Car Called Mini C.A.T .

Tata Motors, India's largest automobile company, has signed an agreement with MDI for application in India of MDI's engine technology, and believes the engine is viable - It's press statement describes it as "efficient, cost-effective, scalable, and capable of other applications such as power generation". The MiniCAT could cost around $ 8177 in India and would have a range of around 300 km between refuels.

The cost of a refill would be about $ 2. Although there is no official word on when the car will be manufactured in India, report says it will be sooner than later. Tata motors will also launch the world's cheapest car, Tata Nano for $2500 by October, in India. The MiniC.A.T which is a simple, light urban car, with a tubular chassis that is glued not welded and a body of fibreglass powered by compresed air. Microcontrollers are used in every device in the car, so one tiny radio transmitter sends instructions to the lights, indicators etc.

There are no keys - just an access card which can be read by the car from your pocket. Most importantly, it is incredibly cost-efficient. According to the designers, it costs less than one Euro per 100Km (about a tenth that of a petrol car). Its mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric car (200 to 300 km or 10 hours of driving), a factor which makes a perfect choice in cities where the 80% of motorists drive at less than 60Km. The car has a top speed of 68 mph. Refilling the car will, once the market develops, take place at adapted petrol stations to administer compressed air. In two or three minutes, and at a cost of approximately $2.3, the car will be ready to go another 200-300 kilometres.

As a viable alternative, the car carries a small compressor which can be connected to the mains (220V or 380V) and refill the tank in 3-4 hours. Due to the absence of combustion and, consequently, of residues, changing the oil (1 litre of vegetable oil) is necessary only every 50,000Km.] The temperature of the clean air expelled by the exhaust pipe is between 0-15 degrees below zero, which makes it suitable for use by the internal air conditioning system with no need for gases or loss of power.

Zero Pollution Motors(ZPM) expects to produce the world's first air-powered car for the United States by late 2009 or early 2010. As the US licensee for Luxembourg-based MDI, which developed the Air Car, ZPM has attained rights to build the first of several modular plants, which are likely to begin manufacturing in the Northeast and grow for regional production around the country. And while ZPM is also licensed to build MDI's two-seater OneCAT economy model (the one headed for India) and three-seat MiniCAT (like a SmartForTwo without the gas), the New Paltz, NY, startup is aiming bigger, company officials want to make the first air-powered car to hit US roads a $17,800, 75-hp equivalent, six-seat modified version of MDI's CityCAT that is said to travel as far as 1000 miles at up to 96 mph with each tiny fill-up. Another car gaining popularity because of its features is the Mercedes-Benz Smart.

To date, over 900,000 smart vehicles have been sold in 36 other countries throughout the world. In January 2008, the United States became the 37th country to sell the Smart Fortwo. The models available in the United States are the smart fortwo pure coupe (entry-level), the smart fortwo passion coupe (well-equipped) and the smart fortwo passion cabriolet (well-equipped convertible). The smart fortwo ranges from $11,590 to $16,590. The most fascinating feature is that one can book this car for just $99.

The top speed of the smart fortwo is 90 mph (Electronically limited). Protecting the environment, energy efficiency and preservation of natural resources are hallmarks of smart brand. For example; only water-soluble paints are used for the Smart's three basic colors - black, white and yellow. Painting of the tridion safety cell is done by the powder-coating process. This removes the need for solvents.

The body panels with molded-in color are fully recyclable. Environmental management is a high priority. Smart is dedicated to protecting the environment with future focused recycling and an environmental policy that makes a strong statement.

The smart fortwo is also classified as an Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) on account of its extremely low exhaust emissions. The catalytic converter is positioned close to the engine for a quick response. An electric pump blows fresh air into the exhaust port when the engine is cold to almost completely oxidize the carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC) and render them harmless.

Bus Ticket Booking Websites List - Ticketing Made Easy

2008-04-14T03:16:00.000-07:00

Online Bus Ticketing business is likely to witness robust growth in the coming years. A number of online bus-ticketing portals have sprung up of late. Though the business is still at a nascent stage, it’s witnessing a 30% year-on-year growth.

Though the contribution of online bus ticket booking to the overall online travel business is mere 8-10% currently, the share is expected to double in the next three years.

These online services will enable travelers to choose a bus seat, book onward and return tickets, order home delivery of tickets, compare prices of different travel operators, consult boarding points and timings.

Apart from Bus Operators / Travels, the Many Players ( some of the budding Online Bus-Ticketing Portals) aggressively planning to foray into this sector and are looking for tie-ups with Bus Operators .

Although air travel is growing in popularity with the middle class, road networks in India are said to carry about 85% of the country’s passenger traffic as per Department of Road Transport & Highways 2006-07 Report.

The Buses have a reach into the every corners of India that trains and planes just cannot reach and match.

Growing requirement popularity of online bus ticketing, We Listed some of the web sites.

» RedBus.in

» iticket.in

» Abhibus.com

List of Travel Operators Who offer the Online Bus Ticketing services

» KPN Travels - South India

» ABT X Travels - Tamil Nadu

» Raj National Express - Western India ( South India Also )

» Paulo Travels

» Parasannatours.com

» Kesineni Travels - South India

» Dhanunjaya Travels - Andra

» VRL Logistics - South India

Government / State Owned Transport Corporations

» Andra Pradesh - APSRTC

» Karnataka - KSRTC

» Himachal Pradesh - HRTC

Apart from than Travel Ports Like Makemytrip.com and Yatra.com also jump in to the Online Bus Ticketing Space.

Sun Direct - India's First MPEG-4 DTH Service

2008-04-09T01:45:00.000-07:00

Sun Direct, A DTH arm of Sun TV Ltd is planing to provide India's First MPEG-4 Format Video Quality DTH Service.

By incorporating Harmonic's video delivery solutions, it has become the first carrier in India to offer up MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) direct-to-home broadcast service.

As it stands, 120 standard-definition channels are currently available to subscribers, and it is planning to add an undisclosed amount of HD channels in the near future.

Sun Direct, will offer 75 TV channels and 15 radio channels. Both the dish and set-top box would be free, but the company will collect one-time installation charges of Rs999 with a monthly subscription of Rs75, excluding taxes.

Sun Direct is a 80:20 joint venture between Sun TV’s core promoters Kalanidhi Maran, his wife Kaveri Maran and Malaysia-based Astro Group.

DTH Market - The Indian scenario:

Dish TV and Tata Sky, the country’s two direct-to-home (DTH) companies ( Besides Prashar Bharati's DD Direct ), are expected to post losses in excess of Rs 1,400 Crore for 2007-08 in their quest to expand the market by offering set-top boxes at subsidised rates. The companies have over five million subscriber homes across the country collectively.

Tata Sky will soon cross the 2-million DTH subscriber mark, while its rival Dish TV recently went past the 3 million user mark. For 2008-09, analysts project a DTH customer base in access of 8 million.

Apart from Sun Direct, Two big players all set to enter the DTH sector this year (with new technology offerings), the companies expect losses to go up further this financial year. Big TV (Reliance ADAG) and Bharti AirTel also plan the similar type MPEG 4 set-top boxes, which provide higher quality pictures.

Both Big TV and Bharti are expected to bundle a number of value-added services such as Movie-on-Demand, Games, Internet and Telephone Service.

Recently Consumer Durables heavyweight, Videocon is making a pitch for the direct-to-home (DTH) market through its media arm Bharat Business Channel.

The industry expects the DTH market to hit the 10 million subscriber base mark by the end of this financial year. According to experts, DTH players will take five to six years to break even.

Adlabs Plans India's First Megaplex Chain

2008-04-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

Adlabs Cinemas, An Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group promoted Cinema Exhibition Company plans to bring in the concept of megaplexes in India & Plans to build 12 such megaplexes in the next five years.

Megaplexes would have 11-15 screens ( Unlike 5-6 screens in a multiplex ) and a seating capacity for more than 4000. Apart from the movie auditoriums, the megaplexes would offer Gaming Zones, Kids Zones, Food Courts and other Value Added Services.

As per Adlabs Cinemas COO Tushar Dhingra, Adlabs has carefully chosen the locations keeping in mind the high spends by consumers in these catchments areas.

In addition, the Adlabs is in the process of signing up seven more locations for building such megaplexes. The exhibition company is in the process of sourcing hi-end digital technology from overseas partners.

It has signed up five massive locations to build large megaplexes. Two of them would be located in Mohali, one each will come up in Delhi, Lucknow & Hyderabad.

Adlabs Cinemas expects its turnover to touch Rs 166-167 crore for the fiscal ended March 2008. The multiplex player currently operates 151 screens in 43 cities across India.

Reliance Entertainment ( Adlabs' parent company ) under its Brand Name Big, in the process of launching some multiplexes in US.

It has recently signed up three properties in Mauritius keeping in mind the huge Indian population in the country.

Know More about Inflation - FAQ

2008-04-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

Inflation is a measure of rise in general price levels of goods and services.

Inflation is measured by taking a set of goods and services, and then the prices of the items in the set are compared to prices one time period ago.

In India, inflation is measured based on the wholesale price index (WPI) which measures the change in prices of a selection of goods at wholesale prices. Inflation is primarily of two types - inflation due to cost push and inflation due to demand pull (supply side). Cost push inflation is due to rise in costs of input materials or labour, whereas demand pull inflation is due to increase in demand beyond installed capacity.

Controlled inflation is good for the economy as it increases motivation levels of people. The government, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, decides the inflation threshold in the country (current inflation threshold range in India is 4-5 per cent). The inflation target is one of the key parameters that go into determining fiscal and monetary policies.

Inflation went up quite a bit in the beginning of last year (around seven percent) on the back of high liquidity in the markets (huge funds inflows in the form of FII and FDI). The RBI controlled inflation by tightening the monetary policy (raising cash reserve ratio and interest rates) and letting the rupee appreciate against foreign currencies.

» What is a price index?

If you need to know how much the price of a particular commodity has increased in, say, the last year it is a simple enough computation. However, if you need to give a figure for the increase in prices over a range of commodities, things obviously get more complicated, since individual commodity price variations are likely to be quite different. You could choose to say the price rise ranges from, say, 4% to 26%, but that is clearly less meaningful than if you could put a single number to it and say prices have on the whole risen by 8.3%.

The purpose of a price index is to let you do just that. It does that by assigning different weights to prices of various commodities, so that you can get a weighted average of the price increases. The weights are needed because you surely wouldn't want the price of a tube of shaving cream ticket to be equated in importance with the amount you spend on petrol over a month.

» Why do we need so many price indices?
There are different levels at which prices can be measured. The price of your vegetables is different for the wholesaler who buys it from the farmer, the retailer who gets it from the wholesaler and for you. We need different indices, therefore, to measure what is happening to prices a each of these levels. In India we have the wholesale price index (WPI) to track wholesale prices, as its name suggests, and three different consume price indices to track prices facing different categories of consumers — industrial workers, urban non-manual employees and agricultural workers.

The different CPIs are needed because the prices facing different consumer groups are different. Thus, while urban house rents may be of great significant to the first two groups, they would be of no consequence to farm labour. Thus the composition of each CPI is different and should ideally reflected the actual consumption patterns of the relevant consumer groups.

» What is the inflation rate we keep reading about?
What is generally reported is the annual point-to-point inflation rate, which measures the change in the level of a price index over a full year. The CPIs in India are computed on a monthly basis, while the WPI is computed every week. Unless otherwise indicated, the inflation rate being referred to is normally the one based on the WPI. The year in this case would be 52 weeks.

Thus when the papers report that inflation for the week ended July 24, 2004 was 7.5%, what this means is that the WPI for that week was higher by 7.5% than the one for the week ended July 26, 2003. It is important to realise that the point-to-point inflation rate reflects only the difference in prices over two specific weeks. Hence, if the inflation rate moves up from one week to the next, it need not mean that prices have actually moved over that period.

It may equally be because there was a fall in the corresponding period of the previous year. This also explains why economists prefer to deal with average annual inflation rates rather than with point-to-point rates. Since the former involve averages of the index over longer periods,
temporary blips are evened out, giving a more realistic picture of the trend.

» What is the composition of the WPI?
The WPI has an All Commodities Index, which consists of four three major groups - Primary Articles; Fuel, Power, Light & Lubricants; and Manufactured Products. These are again broken up into smaller sub-groups. For instance, the primary articles group would have food articles, non-food articles and minerals. Each of these sub-groups would have several individual commodities in them.

All told, the current WPI tracks prices of 435 commodities, of which 98 are primary articles, 19 fall in the fuel, power, light & lubricants group and 318 are in the manufactured products group. The WPI has been periodically revised from the time it was first constructed in the 1930s and for obvious reasons the weights have moved progressively in favour of manufactured products.
The current index, which uses 1993-94 as its base year, has weights of 22.025 for primary articles, 14.226 for fuel etc and 63.749 for manufactured products.

Source: ET, TOI, REDIFF

Modu - World's Lightest Mobile Phone

2008-04-03T23:59:00.000-07:00

Modu Mobiles - Israeli modular mobile manufacturer has announced that they are the proud producer of the world's lightest mobile phone.

Mobile Phone with the weight of 1.41 ounces ( 40.1grams ) and dimensions are 72.1 mm (2.8 inches) x 37.6 mm (1.4 inches) x 7.8 mm (0.3 inches).

Modu launched its quirky and 'modular' mobile at Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona, Spain in February 2008.

A Offical Press Release stated that, Modu was awarded this prestigious honour after careful consideration by the Guinness World Record judges, who declared that: 'The lightest mobile phone is the Modu, which weighs 40.1grams (1.41oz).

"Throughout the design process of Modu, the emphasis has been on keeping the phone small, light and compact in order that Modu's innovative approach could be realized. The result is a phone that is not only miniature, but also superbly designed and minimalist, whilst offering all the functions and capabilities of a normal-sized handset," the release continues.

Modu's partners includes Bee-Line (VimpelCom), Cellcom, Telecom Italia, Blaupunkt, Magellan Navigation Inc, SanDisk, Card Guard, Tele Atlas, Universal Music Group, WorldMate, Amphenol, ChiMei, In4Tel, Texas Instruments, Renesas, RiTdisplay, SKY MobileMedia and Varta.
More On Modu

Videocon Plans to Acquire Motorola's Mobile Handset Business

2008-04-02T02:35:00.000-07:00

This time After Tatas, the Acquisition turn to Videocon Industries, Now Motorola's Mobile Handset Business is in its radar. The world’s third-largest handset maker had announced on March 26 its intention to hive off the mobile devices business into a separate company in the wake of sustained pressure from Its Key investor Carl Icahn, who wants the company to sell the business.

For Videocon, an attempt to shore up its planned Mobile services business in India through its telecom arm Datacom, one of the world’s fastest-growing mobile markets. Datacom has already received licences to offer mobile services throughout India ( All 23 Circles ) and is awaiting allotment of spectrum to launch commercial operations.

Videocon has already announced an initial investment of Rs 6,000 crore for its telecom operations and eyeing 25 million customers in the next three years. Videocom expect handset business will be an added advantage as the company can bundle attractive offers with mobiles.

As per the estimates, Motorola’s handset business at $3.8 billion. Motorola’s market share in India at 14% in December 2006 which has now slipped to 6.5%. Its worldwide market share has also dropped from 22% to 12%. Last Year it sold over 159 million mobile phones globally.

The failure to replace the popular Razr model has been the main cause of decline. Motorola’s Indian market share is not available, even though industry experts say it is behind Nokia and Samsung.

Motorola also has a handset manufacturing facility in India ( Chennai ) that makes both CDMA and GSM Mobile Phones.

“We have hired one of the world’s top three investment bankers who will convey our interest to buy out the mobile handset business of the US company,” Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot told to Media. “The Indian market for mobile phones is around 120 million units a year and we have our own retail chain stories that we can leverage. Also, we can transfer the manufacturing plant to India to leverage cheap labour in the country,” added Dhoot.

India is adding over 8 million subscribers every month. With a tele-density of 25% in a country of 113 crore people, there remains immense room for growth. The acquisition, if it comes through, will give a boost to Videocon’s plans to become a pan-India player.

» Videocon's Global acquisitions are Thomson SA’s television glass tube business and Electrolux’s Indian operations. It recently failed to acquire Daewoo Electronics, for which it bid $711 million.

» In domestic through its retail chain, NEXT has acquired Planet M, the music and entertainment retail arm of media house Bennett, Coleman & Co. (owner of The Times of India, The Economic Times), for Rs 200 crore. Planet M has 150 stores across 42 cities in India and is mainly into organised music retail and home entertainment business.

Google Dream - HTC names Google phone

2008-03-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

High Tech Computer (HTC) has been developing a mobile phone to run on the Android software from Google will be called " Dream ", and it will have a large touchscreen and full QWERTY keypad.

HTC may become the first handset maker in the world to put out a mobile phone developed around Android, but it faces stiff competition from Samsung, a separate source said. Samsung has stepped up its effort to put out a Google phone.

HTC's Google handset is just over 5 inches long and 3 inches wide, with a keypad underneath the screen that either slides out or swivels out. The aim of the keypad is for easy e-mail, note-taking, and writing Web addresses. Internet navigational controls are situated below the screen on the handset.

The handset will likely hit the market near the end of this year, but the company officially remained mum on the handset.

Last November, HTC became the first company to admit to developing a mobile phone based on Android, although Samsung, Motorola, and other handset developers are part of the group dedicated to furthering the software, the Open Handset Alliance.

Android, an open source software platform that includes an OS, is designed to take advantage of Internet services for mobility. The software could become a potent new rival to Windows Mobile and other handset operating systems. At the launch ceremony, Google announced that over 30 companies had joined the Open Handset Alliance.

BigFlicks joins with Raj TV for Video-on-Demand

2008-03-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

Reliance -ADAG own Movie rental service BigFlicks, has partnered with the media and Chennai based Entertainment & Televison company Raj Television Network for its video-on-demand division, BigFlicks.com Broad Band.

According to BigFlicks.com, the alliance will enable its users to access the content of Raj Television for free viewing. BigFlicks has already partnered with channels like NDTV, Zoom, Star TV, and 7 Star Care to allow its website users view the programs of these channels for free. Kamal Gianchandani, COO, BigFlicks, has said, “Raj Television Networks is one of the largest media and entertainment houses in India with a very strong and niche content base down south. We are very happy to tie-up with Raj Television to make available all content on our platform for free viewing.”

S.Swaminathan, head of distribution unit of Raj Television Network, has said, “Today online media plays a very pivotal role in every ambitious company’s growth plans. We, at Raj Television Network are growing at a fast pace with regards to access and reach of our content and partnering with BigFlicks will help us cater to a wider audience not only in India but also the NRI audiences present across the globe.” Source: alootechie.net

How to View Google Sky through a Browser

2008-03-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

Recently Search Major Google unveiled a browser version of its Google Sky application on last week for people who don't want to download the Google Earth software. The browser version allows you to zoom in and out and pan around the celestial bodies, search for planets and galaxies and view the sky through infrared, x-ray, ultraviolet, and microwave views.

There are also galleries of some of the best shots from the Hubble telescope and others. You can also listen to podcasts and look at historical maps of the sky.

The backstory on the app is that it was done by staff engineers and Diego Gavinowich, from Buenos Aires, who was a finalist in Google's Latin America Code Jam and spent the past three months in an internship at the company, according to the official Google Blog.

Several weeks ago Microsoft demonstrated its own virtual telescope software called Worldwide Telescope that will be available for free this spring.

Now Camera Looks through Your Clothing

2008-03-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

Now A camera that can see under clothing from 25 metres has been invented. All objects emit Terahertz Radiation ( Even explosives, drugs and hidden weapons ) that can be detected. The ThruVision system could be deployed at airports, railway stations or other public spaces. It is based on so-called "terahertz", or T-ray, technology, normally used by astronomers to study dying stars.

Although it is able to see through clothes it does not reveal "body detail" or subject people to "harmful radiation", according to the designers. "It is totally and utterly passive - it receives only," said a spokesperson for Thruvision.

The portable camera, which has already been sold to the Dubai Mercantile Exchange and Canary Wharf in London, will be shown off at the Home Office scientific development branch's annual exhibition later this week.

Unlike current security systems that use X-rays, the ThruVision system exploits terahertz rays, or T-rays. This electromagnetic radiation is a form of low level energy emitted by all people and objects. These are able to pass through clothing, paper, ceramics and wood but are blocked by metal and water.

The system works by collecting these waves and processing them to form an image which can reveal concealed objects. "If I were to look at you in terahertz you would appear to glow like a light bulb and different objects glow less brightly or more brightly," said the firm's pokesperson. "You see a silhouette of the form but you don't see surface anatomical effects."

In addition, the system does not involve any of the "harmful radiation associated with traditional X-ray security screening", according to the firm. The company has made previous versions of the camera, but the T5000, as it is known, is the first that works both indoors and out.

The system exploits technology originally developed at the government owned Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Oxfordshire. "Astronomers use T-ray cameras that can see through dust and clouds in space, revealing what lies beyond," explained Dr Liz Towns-Andrews, of the Science and Technology Facilities Council which runs RAL. Other terahertz systems, developed by companies such as TeraView, are used to probe the structure of pharmaceutical compounds.

Get Blood Donors Information via SMS

2008-03-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

Now One Indian Organisation Named Indianblooddonors has mobile enabled their helpline with SMS functionality to search for blood donors as well as to register yourself as donor.

Through IndianBlooddonor.com an SMS will be sent to the donor with your details. Please contact him/her for the Blood donation. The patient will get a donor’s name with his contacts details via SMS. Simultaneously an SMS will be triggered by the system and an alert will be sent to the donor with details of the patient for co-ordination.

If you need another donor, send the SMS again. The service of the helpline is free of cost.

When a patient or immediate relatives needs blood, he has to send an SMS to 5676775.

» Format :

» Blood <.space> STDCode <.space> BloodGroup <.space> Name of the Needer

» Example: Blood 080 B positive Shivani

Donors can register by sending an SMS to 5676775 .

» Format: Donor City STD Code Blood Group Name

This service will be open only between 8.00 am and 7.00 pm. The SMS is charged at Premium SMS rates, though indianblooddonors.com does not get any revenue out of these SMSs. The website now has contact information of over 45,000 blood donors from across the country.

TV Channel running by Bihar Villagers

2008-03-12T01:55:00.000-07:00

In a major example of women empowering themselves, a team of five girls from Bihar are running a news channel, set up by a self-help group. Class IX students hailing from Chand Kewari village in Muzaffarpur district are being assisted in running the channel by Mission Eye International. "People living in nearby villages do not get to know what is happening in our village. We want to inform people in other villages about the problems of our village," said Khushboo, a newsreader.

These girls visit various areas in their village as well as nearby areas on bicycles carrying a tripod, camera and other necessary equipment to cover news. "Girls are making news. We feel good on seeing this. We get news relating to our village and other villages. This is good for poor people like us," said Madina Khatoon, a viewer.

Titled 'Appna Samachar' channel went on air from December 6, 2007 and the girls pitch in for everything including reporting, editing and news reading.

Villagers gather at a common place and watch the news bulletins with keen interest. And there is praise from the villagers for the excellent coverage of news.

Indian Govt Websites Becoming Hackers Paradise

2008-03-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

Website hacking, especially of government sites, has attained critical mass in India and the Centre is donning the riot gear.

The last few months have seen hackers attack the website of the Ministry of railways, Air cargo customs (Mumbai), Forward Markets Commission, National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, National Institute of Social Defence, department of administrative reforms and public grievances, wireless planning and coordination wing, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, department of information technology, and the Anthropological Survey of India.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN), a DIT body, is in the process of implementing a high-end attack detection solution to make the systems, especially government-owned ones safer.

The websites were hacked by exploiting technical vulnerabilities in the operating systems, web server, database software and application software.

Yet stats show that despite all the efforts, the number of security-related incidents of hackers crashing Indian websites has been growing continuously. In January, 87 security incidents were reported compared with 45 in December 2007. Out of all the incidents, 47% were related to phishing, 21% unauthorised scanning, 25% incidents related to virus/worm under the malicious code category and 7% were related to technical help under other categories, reveal a government data.

The MHA pointed out that in the recent past, a number of government sites hosted in the servers of private companies, or those hosted in servers located outside India, were targets of different hacker groups. The home ministry and DIT want all ministries and departments to host their sites on National Informatics Centre (NIC) or ERNET (Education and Research Network) as a possible solution.

Facts:

» India remained an internet hackers' paradise during the first half of the current calendar year with 1,752 websites being defaced, according to an analysis by the Department of Information Technology.

» In the first half till June this year, 39 '.gov.in' websites were defaced, which is 15 per cent of the total number of hacked sites in the '.in' domain while 81 '.co.in' websites were defaced in this period, according to Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In) which handles computer securities incidents.

» Of the total 1,752 Indian websites defaced, 67.5 per cent were '.com' domain websites and 15.9 per cent were '.in' websites.

Power Your Mobile with Fuel Cell

2008-03-06T04:13:00.000-08:00

Japanese mobile giant KDDI displays a prototype of a Hitachi mobile powered by a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC).

The technology — which draws energy from the chemical reaction when hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water — is more commonly seen in futuristic cars with tanks of hydrogen instead of gasoline, whose combustion is a key culprit in pollution and global warming.

Developers say fuel cells for homes produce one-third less of the pollution that causes global warming than conventional electricity generation does.

The oxygen that the fuel cell uses comes from the air. The hydrogen is extracted from natural gas by a device called a reformer in the same box as the fuel cell.

But a byproduct of that process is poisonous carbon monoxide. So another machine in the grey box adds oxygen to the carbon monoxide to create carbon dioxide, which — though it contributes to global warming — is not poisonous.

Developments:

East Japan Railway Company has researched and developed a fuel cell system for railcars as an independent type motive power system that reduces the burden on the global environment and can also overcome the problem of exhaustion of fossil fuels. The company is developing of the world’s first fuel cell hybrid railcar. Development of railcar system technology that uses fuel cells is also being promoted to utilize future breakthroughs in fuel cell technology.

How Fuel Cell Works:
Hydrogen stored in a tank aboard the train is supplied to the fuel cells, where it reacts with oxygen to produce electricity. Unused electricity and electricity generated during braking is stored in a secondary battery, which is used as an auxiliary power source. In addition to being energy-efficient, hydrogen fuel cells emit no carbon dioxide, only water.

From BBC

Virgin Mobile Enters India

2008-03-05T22:21:00.000-08:00

The British communication group Virgin Mobile launched its Indian operation in India in collaboration with telecom operator Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTL), heralding a new era in mobile telephony. Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, launched the Virgin Mobile brand by flying down the façade of popular hotel in south Mumbai and unveiled its logo in mid flight.

“The deal brings a tie-up between two of world’s leading business leaders - Ratan Tata of the Tata Group and Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin conglomerate” quotes. Virgin Mobile will be launched in 50 cities initially and will subsequently be launched in more than 1,000 cities by the end of 2008.

Virgin Mobile is the largest MVNO in UK.

Virgin Mobile’s business strategy is to act as a MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) and sell competitively priced pre-paid handsets through retail stores while ‘piggybacking’ onto an existing operator’s mobile network.

The company expects to get five million subscribers over the first three years with special value-added services and handsets priced between $50-$125, i.e. from Rs 2000-6000. The handsets will be 100 percent colour and will have a variety of value added services such as, the customers will get 10 paise credit for every incoming minute they receive from any network and can have unlimited access to various portals for a daily charge of Rs. 5.

“Our aim is not to get as many subscribers as possible but we want to deliver this brand to a more distinct segment,” said Branson. After success in this network, Virgin plans to extend its services in GSM network.

Beware of Keyloggers

2008-03-04T01:43:00.000-08:00

How keyloggers can hijack your banking password ? ! Are Your Shocking ! Read this Whole Story.
Keyloggers are key stroke recorders which can record all keystrokes made on your keyboard! There are two types of keyloggers, hardware & software. Hardware keyloggers can be attached to keyboard, placed below keyboard or even some keyloggers comes built in with keyboard. External keyloggers are noticeable by the user, while built in keyloggers are not. There are various types of software keyloggers also, kernel based & hook based are popular.

Kernel based keyloggers resides at kernel level, which gains unauthorized access to hardware (keyboard). Kernel based keyloggers can be in the form of keyboard drivers, so be careful while installing drivers from unknown sources. Hook based keyloggers, hook to keyboard using functions provided by OS & records keystrokes.

So, let it be your banking password or email account password, it can be easily recorded. Secured encrypted connection wont avoid keylogging, it secures your password after entering & secures until it travels to server.

Software keyloggers can also be programmed to send recorded keystrokes to a pre-defined email ID, to upload keystrokes to FTP server or even to access & monitor log on your local machine via internet.

Some of the ways to prevent from keyloggers:
Web Keyboard: Many banks provide you with online keyboard, make use of this while logging into your banking account.

Firewall: Use a firewall which alerts you when any application tries to connect to internet. Few firewalls are available for free, Comodo is one of those.

Anti Spyware: Many anti spyware softwares can detect keyloggers & cleans your PC. Auto form fillers: Using form fillers on your browsers will avoid keylogging & also saves your time. There’s an extension called “iMacro” for Firefox, which helps you record any event you make on Firefox & playback whenever required. Get this Firefox addon

Browse Web even Offline

2008-03-03T22:45:00.000-08:00

Internet firm Webaroo has launched a service that allows people to search parts of the web on their laptops or mobile devices without needing a connection to the internet. The software works by downloading sections of the internet to a portable device. Webaroo's servers then scour the internet to create relevant packs of information from which users can choose.

"Once you download web packs or websites onto your mobile device, you can search them anytime, anywhere without a connection," said a statement on the Webaroo website.

The company provides packs on topics including news and sports, as well as information on major cities such as London and New York.

"As mobile use grows, consumers want to be able to do more with their mobile devices," said Webaroo chief executive Rakesh Mathur. "At home or on the go, in the air or on vacation, users can now find the information they need wherever they are."

The downside is that users are unable to view live information as the packs update only when a user syncs their mobile device with an internet-connected machine. Webaroo already has one major fan in PC maker Acer, which plans to bundle the software with its range of laptops.

"Acer believes that this new, powerful ability to search the web offline will bring tremendous advantages for consumers and business people," said Campbell Kan, head of Acer's mobile computing business unit.

The Webaroo software is currently free to use and that firm plans to raise revenue in the future by including targeted adverts. Download Here