RCplusN

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 18:01:00 +0000

THE NEW MOTOR Vehicle Act

* New motor Vehicle Act came To Effect in india F 1st September , 2019 Penalty of Traffic Rules Has been Doubled For Public .

DIFFERENCE IN OLD AND NEW PENALTY

	Old Penalty	New Proposed Penalties
177	General	Rs. 100	Rs. 500
New 177A	Rules of road regulation violation	Rs. 100	Rs. 500
178	Ticketless travel	Rs. 200	Rs. 500
179	Disobedience of authorities’ orders	Rs. 500	Rs. 2,000
180	Unauthorized use of vehicles without license	Rs. 1,000	Rs. 5,000
181	Driving without license	Rs. 500	Rs. 5,000
182	Driving despite disqualification	Rs. 500	Rs. 10,000
182 B	Oversize vehicles	New	Rs. 5,000
183	Over speeding	Rs. 400	Rs. 1,000 for LMV Rs. 2,000 for Medium passenger vehicle
184	Dangerous driving penalty	Rs. 1,000	Up to Rs. 5,000
185	Drunken driving	Rs. 2,000	Rs. 10,000
189	Speeding/ Racing	Rs. 500	Rs. 5,000
192 A	Vehicle without permit	Up to Rs. 5,000	Up to Rs. 10,000
193	Aggregators (violations of licensing conditions)	New	Rs. 10,000
194	Overloading	Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 1,000 per extra tonne	Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 2,000 per extra tonne
194 A	Overloading of passengers	New	Rs. 1,000 per extra passenger
194 B	Seat belt	Rs. 100	Rs. 1,000
194 C	Overloading of two wheelers	Rs. 100	Rs. 2,000 Disqualification for 3 months of the licence
194 D	Helmets	Rs. 100	Rs. 1,000 Disqualification for 3 months of the licence
194 E	Not providing way for emergency vehicles	New	Rs. 10,000
196	Driving without Insurance	Rs. 1,000	Rs. 2,000
199	Offences by Juveniles	New	Guardian/Owner shall be deemed to be guilty. Rs. 25,000 with 3 yrs imprisonment.
206	Power of Offices to impound documents	New	Suspension of driving licenses u/s 183, 184, 185, 189, 190, 194C, 194D, 194E
210 B	Offences committed by enforcing authorities	New	Twice the penalty under the relevant section

I Hope It may Help You In your Daily Traffic Routine .

Thank you 🙏

#Bibek_jain

Top Tech Companies India

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 06:29:00 +0000

In a world where valuations reign supreme, something as basic as growth is often overlooked in the quest to form the next big business. With an objective of putting the focus back on growth and recognizing companies leading the charge, the 2016 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India in collaboration with ET SmallBiz has found India's tech industry is shrugging off any talk of a slowdown with the Top 10 showing average three year revenue growth of 900%.

"Over the 12 years of Technology Fast50 India, we have seen the composition of our winners shift from generic software services providers to developers of niche technologies, software products, digital marketing and ed-tech," says Partner and Program Director of Technology Fast50 India 2016, Rajiv Sundar. "Whilst the common belief is that Indian Technology-enabled businesses are at the threshold of breaking out on their own, the emergence of new age businesses in our Top 50 is a positive reflection that this would happen sooner than later," he added.

Ranked 3 in the previous edition, topping the list this year is GreyCampus Edutech Private Limited with a staggering three-year average growth rate of 1622% - in fact, the top 6 winners crossed 100% growth rates this year. GreyCampus provides online and classroom training for professional certification courses and primarily trains professionals in Project Management, Big Data, Data Science, Service Management and Quality Management.

Coming second in the list is Stellapps Technologies Private Limited with a three-year average growth rate of 1278%. One of the only companies in India involved in smart diary production or 'precision dairy', the full stack IoT company is leading a revolution in the India dairy farming sector through its end-to-end dairy technology solutions.

Exciting Stuff, myUzer ready to roll for you!

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 06:24:00 +0000

Wow, if you're a business owner you'll understand what does it mean to advertise. Really. It's costly. But we have something great to help you with your advertisement for free.

The service which was actually Uzer Ads before the majority was acquired by RockCrete. Also brought a lot of hysterics with Ad ranking. But for now, myUzer aims to be a semi-social networking website which replaces none, said Rohan (Co-Founder of myUzer) who created the website along with Raman.

Raman Chakraborty (Co-Founder, myUzer) Futher added that this service has unique IP configuration as it never allows to cheat views, whatever views you get is organic.

The website indeed looks quite decent and easy going. When asked about following function, Rohan replied that they are working in a way to integrate new things as time comes. Said, "We do want the entire service to look cool and gross a thick user base, we know we have to add a lot of new features but I guess that'll come in time. But for now, users can actually sign up and enjoy what we've done so far"

We hope you'll have a great success ahead!

Mobile Devices in the Bedroom Rob Kids of Sleep | #TECHNEWSREPORT

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 14:46:00 +0000

Good night, sleep tight, and don't look into that tablet light. Dads and moms who are concerned about the quantity and quality of their children's sleep should keep mobile devices like phones, tablets and laptops out of kids' bedrooms, according to a new study published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics.

It's no surprise that using a mobile device before bedtime is associated with trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, as well as more daytime sleepiness. Most of us know that the light from tablets and phones can mess with circadian rhythms, making it harder for us and our kids to get a good night's sleep, for example.

But the authors also report that simply having access to a device in the bedroom -- even if it is not used before bed -- is associated with increased odds of poor sleep length and quality for kids. "Sleep is an often undervalued but important part of children's development, with a regular lack of sleep causing a variety of health problems," study leader Ben Carter from King's College London said in a statement. "With the ever growing popularity of portable media devices and their use in schools as a replacement for textbooks, the problem of poor sleep among children is likely to get worse."

Already, the researchers report, 72% of all kids and 89% of adolescents have at least one mobile device in the bedroom, and most of them regularly use it before bedtime. For kids, a good night's sleep is defined as falling asleep relatively easily, staying asleep throughout the night, and only waking up after nine or 10 hours of rest.

Keeping mobile devices out of a kid's room is no guarantee that children will have a perfect night of sleep, but it can certainly boost the odds of it happening, the authors found in a meta-analysis of 11 different studies that looked at the relationship between kids and mobile devices. For example, the researchers found that 31.5% of kids who do not have mobile devices in their room reported that they don't get enough hours of sleep a night, compared with 41% of kids who have access to a device and 45.4% who use their devices just before bed.

They saw a similar pattern for sleep quality, or how hard it is for kids to fall asleep and stay asleep. About 34% of kids with no access to mobile devices at bedtime reported poor sleep quality, compared with 44% of kids who had a device in the sleep environment and 52% of kids who used a device before going to bed. Kids with no devices in their room also reported less daytime sleepiness than their peers who kept devices in the bedroom.

Although this particular study does not examine why devices interfere with sleep quantity and quality, the authors say it is probably a combination of factors. They note that digital content can be psychologically stimulating and that light emitted from devices affects circadian timing, making it difficult to fall asleep.

As for the effect on sleep of having a device in the room and not using it, experts say that may be due to the "always on" nature of social media. Although more work needs to be done to learn exactly how mobile device use can effect sleep, the authors say that the take-away for parents is to get those devices out of the bedroom, at least during sleeping hours. "It is imperative that teachers, health care professionals, parents, and children are educated about the damaging influence of device-use on sleep," they wrote.

© 2016 Los Angeles Times syndicated under contract with NewsEdge. All rights reserved.

"If I could go back, I’d have a few more years of anonymity" - Zayn Malik

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 14:37:00 +0000

One Direction helped Zayn Malik find fame, fortune and a supermodel girlfriend. But he says that if he could go back, he wouldn’t sign up — telling his 17-year-old self: “Don’t do it.”

New direction: Zayn Malik Clare Shilland | RCplusN | Courtesy: ES MAG

Malik, 23, quit last year after missing several live shows because of stress. This week he revealed he suffered from an eating disorder as well as anxiety during his time with the band, which rose to fame after finishing third on X Factor and signing to Simon Cowell’s Syco label.

Talking to ES Magazine about that time, Malik said: ‘I was very ignorant at 17 — blind beyond my years. I thought going on X Factor meant you won a million pounds and got a contract at the end of it. “And I was like, ‘Shit. All my problems are solved.

I win a million pounds and that’s it. Simple.’ But you don’t think about everything else that goes with it. You’re only 17, your dreams are immature.”

Asked what advice he would give his 17-year-old self, he replied “don’t do it”, but then added: “I would say, ‘Do your research and be a bit more prepared about certain situations before you make a decision.’ ” Asked if he would still have signed up with the knowledge he has now, he said he was grateful for everything he had as a result, “But I probably wouldn’t have [signed] — I would’ve waited a couple more extra years.

Just so I had that time to just get my head around being a famous person. I’ve never been able to have, what’s the word? Anonymity. If I could go back, I’d have a few more years of anonymity.”

Malik, who is dating American model Gigi Hadid, said his family in Bradford kept him grounded. ‘My mum brought me up as a feminist,” he added. “Three sisters, five aunties and a mum — not a hope.”

He also spoke about growing up in the city at the time of the 2001 race riots. Coming from a mixed-race family, he said did not see race, colour or religion and was confused when other people did. He sometimes got into fights, which he said “nine times out of 10 ... were due to racial things”

“I never really dwelled on this in the past, but I do believe it is something that people should know — this is who I am, this is where I’ve come from,” he added.

.“It’s not so much that it hurts — it’s what builds you as a person. What you learn from that. I have an understanding of certain issues.” His Yorkshire upbringing also gave him the culinary skills to impress Hadid. He makes her “steak and potato pie, Sunday roast dinner and Yorkshire pudding. Yeah, she likes a good Yorkshire pudding”.

Melinda Gates addresses Gender Tech Divide in India

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 04:32:00 +0000

Melinda Gates says she is concerned about the fact that more than a billion women in the developing world don’t have access to cellphones. “The cellphone is the basic building block,” for reaching poor women with the financial services they need, the co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation told The Wall Street Journal in an interview.

The Gates Foundation is trying to help provide more phones and financial services to females around the world. It is funding research on how to improve women’s access to financial services in several African countries. “There is a gap in access to phones and financial services for women,” she said last month. “We want to first close the mobile phone gap and then focus on financial services.” Close to 1.7 billion women in low- and middle-income countries don’t own mobile phones, according to estimates from GSMA, a global association of cellular service providers.

More than 400 million fewer women than men have cellular phones in those countries. More than half of that gender gap is in India, creating a kind of digital purdah for the women of the subcontinent, who often find themselves barred by fathers and husbands from taking advantage of technological leaps that benefit men as outlined in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal. ENLARGE Only around 30% of internet users in India are female, according to estimates by the Internet and Mobile Association of India. A government survey in 2014 found that 9% of females surveyed knew how to do an internet search or send an email compared with more than 16% of males. Meanwhile, the country has close to three men on Facebook for every woman, according to consultancy We Are Social. In most other parts of the world the ratio is about one to one. Mobile phones are dramatically bringing down the cost of providing basic financial services, but too often people outside the formal banking system who would benefit most from easier access to savings, small loan and money-transfer facilities can’t be reached using the new technology because they don’t have mobile phones.

The Gates Foundation is working with mobile operators and others in the GSMA Mobile Money Programme, which is trying to encourage more mobile money services to the close to two billion people in the world who are unbanked, or outside the formal banking system. For financial inclusion in emerging markets like India, digital inclusion of women is particularly important, said Ms. Gates, because women are more likely than men to use financial services and more likely to use them in a way that will benefit their families. “We know that if a woman has economic assets, she plows the money back into her family,” she said. “If a woman can save 1, 2, 3 dollars, she can protect against future health shocks in her family.” –Betsy McKay and Eric Bellman contributed to this article.

RockCrete Consultancy Opens Up In Amstelveen

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 04:00:00 +0000

Lot long ago, 2012. We had the FaceMashGlobal social networking website launched by Rohan Chakraborty and Raman Chakraborty inspired by original facemash theme by Mark Zuckerberg.
7 months later the brothers discovered lack of funds and mind-blowing traffic. This did change the face of 2000+ users at that time. The site was closed.
Soon after they shut it down, the collaborated with RGA to startup a IT firm RockCreteDesign. It was started to meet up to future creative and technology goals that the brothers had.
Later by 2015, RockCreteDesign broke off RGA and constituted a independent firm called RockCrete Consultancy. The firm is now handled by IT experts and business managers.
Now meeting up to further technological expansion RockCrete has opened up a Partnership with a partner in Amstelveen, The Netherlands. Now it's fair and square. RockCrete is a multinational with cool divisions Do You See, UZER Places and more..

myUzer to UZER: the transformation

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 03:23:00 +0000

Well, not while ago. We covered a new startup myUzer. Yup! The algorithmic ad ranker website. It was recently acquired by RockCrete Consultancy.

The website was then shut down due to huge traffic reported by RockCrete's official. It is now being relaunched as a UZER Places - Place directory based website which intends to provide deep tourist insights to cities. UZER Places is now functional for Kolkata city in India.

UZER Places sort of provides Places Profiles and maps it. the website is indeed awesome.

myUzer : A new unique-startup alert transforming ideas (The Story Behind) | #startup

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 10:09:00 +0000

As they started up, its been 2 weeks and astounding 2000+ user signups on myUzer!
Later while myUzer puts up its views on its official blog as:

"Its very difficult to pen-down the exact words which is an obvious result of your kind support and acceptance of this new media. It means a lot to us"

Well, 2 weeks before it was really difficult to post ad-listings on website while trying to sell something. There was no ranking system. At-all!
This story is about to get interesting! Obviously,

It was summer of 2015 that two brothers Rohan and Raman Chakraborty based in Raipur, India were trying to sell their printer online which they no-longer needed. After putting up a free Ad they started noticing the fact of paid-ads over classified websites, which help other sellers top pages upon searches. It really came down to one-fact that millions of others were trying to sell the same thing without any cash. After that, Rohan had an idea to let people promote their ads for free on a website, additionally the website will sponsor verified ads for free.

The brothers formed a website, myUzer.xyz.

Upon launching the website it has got over 12,000 hits on 15th of June 2016 which led to crashing state, again on the 18th of June 2016 there was an overwhelming traffic of about 16,000 hits which crashed the website.

Later on 19th of June, Rohan let his friend Joy (a close friend of Rohan) know about these happenings and asked if he could join myUzer as the Business Development Officer of the website. Joy readily accepted the offer and joined Rohan & Raman in the journey. The website resumed by 21st of June. Today myUzer is open to 3 countries (India, USA and Japan) to 21,000 plus cities. Amazing, isn't it!
As of now myUzer has crossed over 19,000 users and 3100+ listings. Surely, there's a long way to go.

You can also visit the website here!

Review:Google Pixel Brand C Tablet

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 00:05:00 +0000

Until now, the Pixel brand was all about Chrome OS laptops. But in September, the company surprised us all when it announced its Surface competitor, the 10.2-inch Pixel C Android tablet with its optional Bluetooth keyboard. Unlike its Nexus line of tablets, this is the first time Google has built its own tablet.

If you’re willing to pay the price — starting at $499 for the 32GB model plus another $149 for the keyboard — the Pixel C is a very nice, solid tablet that sits atop the current crop of Android tablets. At that price, it directly competes with the iPad Air 2 (though the basic model of the Air only comes with 32GB of storage space).

With the keyboard, it also makes for a surprisingly productive laptop replacement, though that depends a bit on your personal needs. At that price, though, you could also get a relatively decent laptop without having to make the kind of tradeoffs that come with using Android with a keyboard.

The Pixel C is now available in the Google Play store in a select number of countries. You can now buy it in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Ireland, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland.

If you think this tablet/keyboard combo sounds a little bit like a Microsoft Surface, or maybe even Apple’s iPad Pro with a keyboard, you’re not alone. It’s impossible not to compare the C with them. While Microsoft’s Surface is essentially a fully featured laptop with a detachable keyboard, Google and Apple are opting for a combination of a tablet and mobile operating system with a keyboard.

But let’s not get hung up on this. It’s worth looking at the Pixel C as its own device first.

The Pixel C tablet, with its aluminum shell and brushed metal look, feels like a high-end machine. With the keyboard attached, it looks as if somebody shrunk a Pixel laptop down to tablet size – down to the light strip on top of the tablet and the plastic nubs on the bottom of the keyboard, which look exactly like those on the Pixel Chromebook.

This is a solid build if there ever was one. You pay a bit of a price for that, though. At half a kilo (or 1.1 pounds for those of you who haven’t gone metric yet), the Pixel C tablet doesn’t feel heavy, but it’s not exactly lightweight either. Add another 399 grams for the keyboard and you end up with a somewhat hefty combo.

IMG_9691

The Pixel brand has always been about the screen and the C is no exception. Once you turn the tablet on, ignoring the keyboard for now, the first thing you’ll notice is the screen. It features a 10-inch, 2560×1800 resolution screen (that works out to a nice 306 pixels per inch), with a 1500:1 contrast ratio.

It’s a beautiful screen. It’s also one of the brightest screens I’ve seen on a tablet. It’s actually so bright, it’ll hurt your eyes when you look at it with the brightness cranked up all the way. Despite all of this, Google says it still managed to keep energy consumption low.

The screen has a bit of an unusual aspect ratio. One to the square root of two — that’s the same as the European A4 paper size. Especially in landscape mode, that feels like a really good ratio for browsing the web and working on documents. With this ratio, you could split the screen in half and still get the same ratio again (only switching from landscape to portrait). That would be ideal for a split-screen view, but while this feature made a short appearance in some of the Marshmallow betas, it didn’t make it into the final release.

As for the C’s performance, there are no surprises here. Nobody is going to call it a slouch. With its Nvidia Tegra K1 and 3GB of RAM, everything works just as smoothly as you would expect it to.

Just like all of Google’s newest devices, the C uses a USB Type C port for charging. Google says the battery should last a good 10 hours and while we haven’t done any formal tests yet, that number does sound about right.

The C comes with the latest version of Android Marshmallow and it’s pretty much a standard build. The only difference I noticed is that the home and back buttons are on the bottom-left side, with the task switcher on the right.

To see how Google likes to go a little bit overboard with the Pixel line, just look at the four microphones it built into the tablet — all of that just to make sure it can hear your “OK Google” commands. The speakers, on the other hand, are loud enough, but won’t blow you away.

At $149, you’re allowed to expect quite a bit from the keyboard. It’s small but after a few days of using it, it’s grown on me. The keys are a bit shallower than I’d like, but it’s quite usable overall. I have the same complaint about most chicklet-style keyboards, and except for their size, Google’s keys here aren’t actually all that different from those on an Apple keyboard.

Surprisingly, even the extra small ‘tab’ and ‘return’ keys work just fine in daily use. For the most part, though, Google kept the most-often-used keys at a regular size.

Related Articles
Google Announces Pixel C Android Tablet With Magnetic Keyboard Add-on
Meet Google's New Chromebook Pixel
Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 Builds On The Pro 3, Bolstered By Windows 10
Review: The iPad Pro And The Death Of A Metaphor
The defining feature of the Pixel C/keyboard combination is how you attach them. Unlike on the Surface, there is no hinge on the tablet itself. Instead, it’s on the keyboard. You simply align the tablet with the keyboard and they’ll click together. All of this is held together with magnets. And those magnets are strong. I’ve stuck the C on a metal door to test them and there was no way it was going to drop. Similarly, I never worried about the tablet accidentally detaching from the keyboard.

The keyboard and tablet connect over Bluetooth, so there are no connectors, and the keyboard charges inductively from your tablet when the two are attached. That means you never have to worry about charging it.

It’s also pretty satisfying to smash the combo over your knee to disconnect the tablet from the keyboard.

Is It Any Good?

The tablet/keyboard combo makes more sense than I first expected — and I’ll admit that I never used an Android tablet with a keyboard before.

I used the C as my main machine over the last few days and was able to pretty much do everything I needed to work. What’s missing is a split-screen view in Android and that’s a shame, given that the screen would be perfect for that.

There is a market for the C, but I think it’ll be a small one. The Pixel Chromebooks were meant to show what you can build when you don’t cut corners to keep the price down — the C is meant to showcase what that would look like for a high-end Android productivity tablet. It’s the Android Tablet for the CEO — assuming your CEO uses Android.

Make Sure You Save upto $37 Billion, by following Jobs | RC+N Tech & People

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 05:04:00 +0000

Save upto $37 Billion, Follow Jobs | RC+N

American businesses lose an estimated $37 billion a year due to meeting mistakes.

Steve Jobs made sure Apple wasn't one of those companies.

Here are three ways the iconic CEO made meetings super productive:

1. He kept meetings as small as possible

Jobs kept meetings small.

In his book "Insanely Simple," longtime Jobs collaborator Ken Segall detailed what it was like to work with him.

In one story, Jobs was about to start a weekly meeting with Apple's ad agency.

Then Jobs spotted someone new.

"He stopped cold," Segall writes. "His eyes locked on to the one thing in the room that didn't look right. Pointing to Lorrie, he said, 'Who are you?'"

Calmly, she explained that she was asked to the meeting because she was a part of related marketing projects. Jobs heard her, and then politely told her to get out.

"I don't think we need you in this meeting, Lorrie. Thanks," he said.

He was similarly ruthless with himself. When President Barack Obama asked him to join a small gathering of tech moguls, Jobs declined - the president invited too many people for his taste.

2. He made sure someone was responsible for each item on the agenda

Jobs held people accountable for each agenda item. In a 2011 feature investigating Apple's culture, Fortune reporter Adam Lashinsky detailed a few of the formal processes that Jobs used, which led Apple to become one of the world's most valuable companies.

At the core of Job's mentality was the "accountability mindset" - meaning that processes were put in place so everybody knew who was responsible for what.

As Lashinsky described:

Internal Applespeak even has a name for it, the "DRI," or directly responsible individual. Often the DRI's name will appear on an agenda for a meeting, so everybody knows who is responsible. "Any effective meeting at Apple will have an action list," says a former employee. "Next to each action item will be the DRI." A common phrase heard around Apple when someone is trying to learn the right contact on a project: "Who's the DRI on that?"

The process works. Gloria Lin moved from the iPod team at Apple to leading the product team at Flipboard - and she brought DRIs with her.

They're hugely helpful in a start-up situation.

"In a fast-growing company with tons of activity, important things get left on the table not because people are irresponsible but just because they're really busy," she wrote on Quora. "When you feel like something is your baby, then you really, really care about how it's doing."

3. He wouldn't let people hide behind PowerPoint

Jobs preferred "freewheeling face-to-face meetings" to more formal ones. Walter Isaacson, author of the "Steve Jobs" biography, said, "Jobs hated formal presentations, but he loved freewheeling face-to-face meetings."

Every Wednesday afternoon, he had an agenda-less meeting with his marketing and advertising team.

Slideshows were banned because Jobs wanted his team to debate passionately and think critically, all without leaning on technology.

"I hate the way people use slide presentations instead of thinking," Jobs told Isaacson. "People would confront a problem by creating a presentation. I wanted them to engage, to hash things out at the table, rather than show a bunch of slides. People who know what they're talking about don't need PowerPoint."

SENSEX down by 100 Points, Nifty under 8,050! What's up? | RC+N Update

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 04:58:00 +0000

The domestic equity market opened on a cautious note on Thursday, as fifth and final phase of polling in Bihar kick started and investors await exit polls later in the day.

At 9.20 am, the BSE benchmark Sensex was was ruling 92.49 points, or 0.35 per cent, lower at 26,460.43, led by selling in index heavyweights such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Sun Pharmaceuticals.

The NSE barometer Nifty50 was ruling at 8,012, down 28.20 points, or 0.35 per cent.

Overall, the market breadth remained mixed, with one of every two BSE stocks trading in the red.
The rupee came under pressure against the US dollar on Thursday morning after the US Fed chair Janet Yellen in a testimony before the joint economic committee in Washington overnight said the Fed rate hike in December is now a 'live possibility'.

The domestic currency fell 12 paise to 65.61 against the greenback in early trade. This was against a 15 paise rise in the local unit to 65.49 in the previous session on fresh dollar selling by banks and exporters.
Most other Asian markets saw positive trading on Thursday shrugging off the weakness seen in US markets after US Federeal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's commentary. Japan's Nikkei gained 1 per cent while South Korea's Kospi was down 0.4 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 2.5 per cent while mainland China's Shanghai Composite was trading higher by 4 per cent.

Markets @ 9:20

Sensex stocks Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharma dropped 1.40 per cent, 1.22 per cent and 1.10 per cent, respectively. Tata Steel will report its second quarter results later in the day.

Lupin fell 0.91 per cent to Rs 1,844.50. On the upside NTPC, Hindalco, GAIL and Bajaj Auto advanced 0.82 per cent, 0.45 per cent, 0.41 per cent and 0.31 epr cent, respectively.

WHAT TOP EXPERTS ARE SAYING:

Maintain Neutral on DLF, cut target to Rs 140 from Rs 170: Credit Suisse

Upgrade Marico to Outperform from Sell, target raised to Rs 460 from Rs 400: CLSA

Nifty likely to test 7,950; index may find resistance at 8,100: Sandeep Wagle

Nifty may see further downside in next 2-3 sessions; 7,930 on the cards: Mitesh Thacker
Here is a list of top 12 stocks that are in focus today:

IT stocks: US-based Cognizant Technology Solutions continued its strong run and for the third consecutive quarter raised its full-year revenue guidance to 21 per cent, after posting quarterly numbers that came in ahead of market expectations, driven mainly by robust spending from top healthcare customers such as Merck.

Ashok Leyland: Hinduja group flagship firm Ashok Leyland reported over two-fold rise in net profit at Rs 287 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2015.

DLF: Realty major DLF said its promoters are likely to sell their 40 per cent stake in the company's rental arm DLF Cyber City Developers (DCCDL) by the end of this fiscal.

Bata India: Footwear major Bata India reported a 38.74 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 54.11 crore for the second quarter ended September 30.

Essar Ports: Private sector port operator Essar Ports reported a 9 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 104.5 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2015 helped by growth volumes and cost optimisation measures

Omaxe: Realty firm Omaxe reported a 40 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 19.46 crore for the quarter ended September.

Neyveli Lignite: Public sector Neyveli Lignite Corporation has registered a 32.4 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 343.40 crore for the second quarter ending September 30, 2015.

IDBI Bank: IDBI Bank plans to raise equity capital up to Rs 2,800 crore through qualified institutional investors (QIP) or a follow-on public offer before March 2016, said media reports.

Bank of Baroda: Public-sector lender Bank of Baroda (BOB) has trimmed rate of interest, payable on bulk deposits of Rs 1 crore and above across maturities, by 0.25-0.60 per cent.

Fortis Healthcare: The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 33.98 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2015.

Jain Irrigation Systems: JISL said the company has bagged a tender worth Rs 473 crore from Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) for supply and installation of 8,959 solar agri pumps.

PNC Infratech: PNC Infratech reported 18.22 per cent drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 17.81 crore for the quarter ended September 30 on increase in depreciation on account of Kanpur-Kabrai BOT project.

Facebook high on market, stock are moving up. | RC+N Update

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 04:35:00 +0000

Facebook posted a surprisingly strong 40.5 per cent jump in quarterly revenue as new advertising services and its mobile app boosted ad sales at the world's largest social network.

The stock rose about 5 per cent to an all-time high of $109.34 in extended trading on Wednesday, before paring gains to about 2 per cent. It closed earlier at $103.94.

And now, here's the moment for Zuck! | RCplusN

Third-quarter profit also beat Wall Street's average estimate despite increased spending on Facebook's Messenger and WhatsApp apps and Oculus, its virtual reality business.

Ad revenue grew 45.4 per cent to $4.30 billion, with mobile ads accounting for 78 per cent of the total versus 66 percent in the same quarter last year.

"As it matures they continue to prove they can not only effectively monetize businesses and advertising partners but they have products and services that bring significant value to users," said Brian Blau, research director, personal technologies at research firm Gartner Inc.

Facebook continued to expand its reach, hitting 1.55 billion monthly active users as of Sept. 30, up 14 percent from a year earlier. Of these, 1.39 billion used the service on mobile devices.

"Growth is happening across the board and we're of course looking for a lot of growth in the future in emerging markets," Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg in an interview.
"We're also pretty focused on helping bring the next set of people who are not online, online."

Market research firm FactSet StreetAccount had predicted 1.53 billion monthly active users, with 1.36 billion on mobile.

Revenue jumped to $4.50 billion in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, from $3.20 billion a year earlier. Analysts had expected revenue of $4.37 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"The biggest surprise coming out of the quarter was the ability to accelerate advertising revenue growth," said analyst James Cakmak of Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. "That is a testament to the demand for their platform by advertisers."

Net income attributable to stockholders rose to $891 million, or 31 cents per share, from $802 million, or 30 cents per share.

Excluding items, the Menlo Park, California-based company earned 57 cents per share, ahead of analysts' average estimate of 52 cents per share.

Diversity Issues Leads To The Resignation Of Miley From Twitter | RC+N Update

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 15:12:00 +0000

Twitter Engineering Manager Leslie Miley, the only black engineer in a leadership position at Twitter, just publicly announced that he has left the company. In his post, he says his reasons for leaving have everything to do with the way Twitter is addressing diversity and inclusion.

Though Miley was laid off as part of Twitter’s cuts in October, he says he had already told Twitter that he had planned on leaving at the end of October. He also passed on the severance package so that he could speak openly about his experience at Twitter. So, it seems as if Twitter was hoping to silence Miley by bundling him into the company’s layoffs.

A particular low moment for Miley, he wrote, happened when he asked a question at Twitter’s engineering leadership meeting about what specific steps Twitter engineering was taking to increase diversity. Twitter’s senior VP of Engineering responded, “diversity is important, but we won’t lower the bar.” Miley did not name names in his post. A visit to the leadership page on Twitter’s website will reveal that the company’s SVP of engineering is Alex Roetter.

The tipping point for Miley, who joined Twitter in January 2013, came after meeting with Roetter to discuss Miley’s idea for a job proposal that focused on increasing diversity in engineering at Twitter. They both agreed that it was important to track the ethnicity of potential candidates in order to better understand where candidates were dropping out of the employment pipeline, Miley wrote on Medium.

Where the two disagreed was around how to track the ethnicities of the candidates.

As we continued the discussion, he suggested I create a tool to analyze candidates last names to classify their ethnicity. His rationale was to track candidates thru the pipeline to understand where they were falling out. He made the argument that the last name Nguyen, for example, has an extremely high likelihood of being Vietnamese. As an engineer, I understand this suggestion and why it may seem logical. However, classifying ethnicity’s by name is problematic as evidenced by my name (Leslie Miley) What I also found disconcerting is this otherwise highly sophisticated thinker could posit that an issue this complex could be addressed by name analysis. (For reference, here is a tool that attempts to do that. With Jewish or African/African Americans, this classifier scored 0% on identifying these groups in Twitter engineering). While not intentional, his idea underscored the unconscious tendency to ignore the complex forces of history, colonization, slavery and identity.

After that meeting, Miley started thinking about how, in good conscience, he could continue working at Twitter, where its SVP of engineering “could see himself as a technology visionary and be so unaware of this blind spot in his understanding of diversity.”

Still, Miley wrote that he left Twitter feeling conflicted, as he sees Twitter as a platform for empowering underserved and underrepresented people. He mentioned how he felt pride and a sense of purpose working on a platform that made powerful movements like #BlackLivesMatter possible.

In agreement with Mark S. Luckie, former manager of journalism and news at Twitter, Miley believes that some people see diversity as something that gets in the way, rather than as a benefit to growth.

Twitter’s workforce consists of 1% African-Americans, 3% Hispanics and 13% women, according to its latest diversity report. Miley argues that Twitter’s issues with growth and engagement are related to the company’s issues with diversity.

“For some at Twitter, diversity is an obstruction to avoid,” Miley wrote. “With my departure, Twitter no longer has any managers, directors, or VP’s of color in engineering or product management. From this position, Twitter may find it difficult to make the changes to culture and product.”

Twitter has since “responded,” but failed to address what Miley said about his experience at Twitter and interactions with Roetter.

“We’re committed to making substantive progress in making Twitter more diverse and inclusive,” a Twitter spokesperson said. “This commitment includes the expansion of our inclusion and diversity programs, diversity recruiting, employee development, and resource group-led initiatives. Beyond just disclosing our workforce representation statistics, we have also publicly disclosed our representation goals for women and under-represented minorities for 2016, making us the largest tech company to put hard numbers around its diversity commitment.”

"I then specifically asked Twitter about Miley’s interactions with Roetter, to which a spokesperson responded, “We’re not commenting on that.”

Before joining Twitter, Miley spent time at tech giants like Apple, Google and Yahoo. He says he plans to take some time off before diving into his next venture. Head on over to Medium to read more about why Miley left Twitter.

#TBT to One Direction's first ever non-made song, "FOREVER YOUNG" | RC+N Update

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 15:08:00 +0000

Now this could be a tricky one. The thing is we essentially end up in tears and unable to cope with life whenever we listen to 'Forever Young'; and now all this hiatus malarky's all anyone's yapping on about you can expect that x100. You know that Liam Payne key change when he's like 'ARE YOU GONNA DROP THE BOMB OR NOT?' That's when we lose all chill.

Because Throwback Tuesday is, contrary to popular belief, a thing we've decided to take a look back at that time One Direction filmed a music video for their very-nearly-debut-single 'Forever Young' before they kind of came third on The X Factor.

Anyway, yeah. Back in 2010 everyone sort of assumed One Direction were gonna win The X Factor; then Matt Cardle and Rebecca Ferguson happened and the rest is history. That didn't stop the final four filming music videos for their potential debut singles, though (Cher Lloyd's was gonna be Shontelle's 'Impossible,' fact fans.) And since that fetus video shoot pic found its way onto our Twitter timeline earlier we thought we'd get all nostalgic.

FireFox 42 : Upgrade Alert+Tracking Protection | RCplusN Update

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 14:59:00 +0000

After a short beta period, Mozilla today graduated its new Tracking Protection feature for Firefox’s Private Browsing mode into its release channel with the launch of Firefox 42.

While Private Browsing (which is Firefox’s counterpart to Chrome’s Incognito mode) ensures that none of your browsing history and cookies for this private session are saved locally, some of your data can still leak out to third-party sites. The new tracking protection ensures that third-party trackers, including those from social networks and analytics companies, can’t receive any data from your browsing session.

That’s not all that different from how plug-ins like Ghostery and the EFF’s Privacy Badger work, but for the time being, tracking protection only works within the confines of the Private Browsing mode.

It’s worth noting that the tracking protection feature isn’t about blocking ads, but given that many ads also track you, chances are you will see significantly fewer ads in Private Browsing mode now.

A Mozilla spokesperson told me today that Mozilla built this new feature into the browser “because the organization believes in giving you more choices and control over your web experience. Creating a balance between commercial profit and public benefit is critical to the health of the web. Mozilla is dedicated to keeping this balance.”

It’s unlikely that Mozilla will turn on tracking protection outside of the Private Browsing mode anytime soon, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the organization decided to make it an opt-in feature for regular browsing sessions, too.

Also new in this release is a new icon that shows you when one of your tabs is playing sound. Chrome has been doing this for a while now and it’s nice to see Firefox catch on, especially now that every second site insists on auto-playing video. One nifty feature here is that you only have to click on the speaker icon in the tab to mute the sound. On Chrome, this feature is still hidden behind a flag.

The updated version of Firefox for the desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux) is now available here. Most of the changes in today’s release are also available in Firefox’s Android version, which you can find here.

What?? One Direction Really Looking Up For A Reunion album with the Fifth Harmony? | RC+N Update

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 14:20:00 +0000

After One Direction finished their world tour, the boys celebrated with a night out on the town. They weren’t alone as the ladies of Fifth Harmony joined the party! Could this night of clubbing lead to these ‘X-Factor’ superstars collaborating on a song before 1D goes on hiatus?

Did Simon Cowell, 56, have anything to do this? It was an X-Factor festival in London, as the boys of One Direction — Liam Payne, 22, Niall Horan, 22, Louis Tomlinson, 23 – met up with the ladies of Fifth Harmony. But before 1D boys go on their announced break, will this night of fun lead to a song featuring both 1D and 5-H?

It looks like Harry Styles missed out, as he wasn’t with his boys when they joined Ally Brooke, Camila Cabello, Dinah Jane Hansen, Lauren Jauregui and Normani Hamilton at Cirque le Soir.

The two pop groups were spotted clubbing together on Nov. 2, leaving fans hopeful for a joint song between One Direction and Fifth Harmony before the boys go on break.

This fun evening was just days after 1D’s emotional finale to their On The Road Again world tour. After giving Directioners one last chance to see them before their expected hiatus, the boys couldn’t hold back their tears at the Oct. 31 show in Sheffield, England. When Harry asked Directioners everywhere, “Please don’t forget us,” there wasn’t a dry eye for miles.

Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any crying during this night of clubbing with Fifth Harmony. However, this X-Factor party happened right after Camila compared 5-H to 1-D. Camila said she and the rest of her sisters in music would be “lying if we all said that this is a picture-perfect thing” and that they all expect to break-up one day, like One Direction! However, that day won’t be soon — since Camila and the rest of the group is excited for their upcoming album!

One Direction Not Splitting Up For Good: Already Open To Reunion TourOne Direction’s hiatus doesn’t mean they’re broken up for good.

The Oct. 31 show wasn’t the end of 1D. “It’s just the end of a chapter of their lives,” a source close to the band EXCLUSIVELY. The insider also said that they “will take some much-needed time off” while Harry and Niall are looking to release some solo material. But, before Directioners know it, the band will be back together!

NINTENDO’S FIRST SMARTPHONE

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Sun, 01 Nov 2015 04:06:00 +0000

NINTENDO’S FIRST SMARTPHONE game is a communication game called Miitomo, and it will be released in March 2016, the company said today.

New Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima, in his first public appearance as the company’s head, said at a press briefing today in Tokyo that in the free-to-play game, users will create a “Mii” avatar character, which will go out and communicate with their friends’ Mii avatars automatically.

Miitomo is meant to facilitate more communication between friends, getting them talking about things they wouldn’t have brought up on their own, Kimishima said at the press briefing today in Tokyo. “You might dig up some previously-buried topics of conversation, learn about a surprising side of your friend you’ve never seen before, find things you never knew you had in common,” Kimishima said.

Kimishima also said that Nintendo’s new online customer account system would be called Nintendo Account, and transfer data between mobile and home games.

Additionally, Nintendo announced the replacement for its shuttered Club Nintendo service. It’s called My Nintendo, and it’s described very much like Club Nintendo: By buying and playing games, customers earn points that they can redeem for digital game content like wallpapers or in-game items, or redeem them for actual physical goods like game figurines, or for discount coupons.

Postiga To Be In ATK uniform in 7 days! | RC+N Update

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 14:31:00 +0000

Atletico de Kolkata head coach Antonio Lopez Habas on Wednesday said marquee player Helder Postiga is recovering and he hopes that the Portuguese international will join the team in a week's time.

Postiga scored a brace in the Indian Super League (ISL) opener against Chennaiyin FC but then had to be stretchered off the field due to a ligament injury.

"We will be waiting for him for another week. He was in Portugal for recovery. I believe he will be with us in the next seven days," Habas said here.

The defending champions are presently battling injury issues which have plagued their side. To add to it, defender Josemi will miss the next clash against Delhi Dynamos on Thursday, but Habas insists the outfit will play to bag all three points.

"The situation is good but then in 90 minutes anything can happen. We will target all three points," he said.

Elaborating on Josemi's injury, Habas said "It doesn't look good. The injury is serious. We cannot evaluate as of now the time he will need to comeback."

Habas added that he believes ATK have more quality in the midfield and that the match would be a closely contested one. "We have more quality in the midfield. The contest will be a good one."

ATK have lost their last two matches but the Spaniard said it does not worry him much as long as his team are creating chances.

"We have created a lot of chances. Unfortunately we could not finish on many occasions so that does not worry me much. What matters is the attitude. We want to be the protagonist," he said.

Speaking about conceding late goals in the last few games, Habas said: "Sometimes you just cannot control things in football. We are fighting to have the right balance."

Habas added that Botswana midfielder Ofentse Nato is likely to play in defence against the Dynamos.

FDA announces one more CANCER killing virus. | RC+N Update

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 14:21:00 +0000

The newest FDA-approved treatment for skin cancer doesn’t seem a real game changer.
A $65,000 course of treatment extends melanoma patients’ lives by less than four and a half months, on average—and that result is barely statistically significant.

It’s how the new drug—Imlygic, made by the pharmaceutical company Amgen—works that has the oncology world so worked up. Imlygic is a virus—alive and infectious, the first to get a stamp of approval in the US for its ability to attack cancer cells. It opens a whole new front in the fight against cancer, which has the sneaky habit of coming back after chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery.
“It is a totally new class of weapons that we can now use,”
says Antonio Chiocca, a neurosurgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. And the armory could be bigger, because coming up right behind Imlygic are over a dozen clinical trials for more anti-cancer viruses.

The idea of deploying viruses against cancer actually stretches back decades. The theory makes sense: When normal cells turn cancerous, replicating out of control, their virus-fighting machinery shuts down. That makes them vulnerable. But the field is littered with oncolytic viruses (“onco” is for cancer and “lytic” is lysis, or bursting) that fizzled out in clinical trials. “What this really is, in the end, is proof of concept,” says John Bell, a cancer researcher at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, who helped pioneer the use of these viruses. Not just proof of concept that a virus can fight cancer—but that all the extra problems with injecting a live virus are surmountable.

Imlygic itself is a reengineered version of the herpesvirus—the one that causes cold sores. To administer the drug, oncologists inject a massive dose—millions of viruses—directly into the skin tumor. Herpesvirus also prefers to infect cancer cells, busting them into bits. “The immune system sees all the debris,” says Chiocca. “This makes the immune system wake up and say, ‘Hey, there’s something going on here. Let’s check it out.’” So it’s a two-fer: Notionally, Imlygic attacks the tumor directly, and helps stimulate the patient’s own immune system into joining the fight.

The key was learning to engineer the virus into something useful. Researchers had to keep it from infecting healthy cells or causing cold sores, but make sure that it’d get pieces of viral and tumor protein to break up properly to alert the immune system (and express a new protein that also boosts the signal to the immune system). It wasn’t easy.

Although scientists know about the workings of the virus, they’re still pretty fuzzy on the role of the immune system here. Yes, the virus kills some of the cancer cells directly. But when the immune system sweeps in, is it just killing virus-infected cancer cells, or is it able to recognize any cancer cells, no matter where they are in the body? Howard Kaufman, a Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey oncologist who is involved in Imlygic’s clinical trials, calls it one of the open questions for the field, which still “suffers from an acute lack of understanding the science behind it.” Some preliminary evidence suggests the virus is actually targeting all cancer cells, but the results are not clear yet.

What the data do show, though, is that Imlygic isn’t that great a drug by itself. In trials it extended survival time by 4.4 months and shrunk tumors for at least six months in 16 percent of patients. That’s not terribly effective (though its side effects—flu-like symptoms—are downright mild compared to most chemotherapy). It does show promise in combination with other drugs called checkpoint inhibitors, which inhibit the molecules that inhibit—so basically, stimulate—the immune system. One small trial of 19 patients with Imlygic and a checkpoint inhibitor called Yervoy found a response for half of the patients. “I think these combination approaches are where the real action is going to happen the future,” Bell says.

But as Bell also said, Imlygic’s real significance is as proof-of-concept. Oncolytic viruses work—now they have to get better at attacking cancer cells and in other types of cancer. Bell is working with vaccinia, a virus related to smallpox. Duke researchers are experimenting with a poliovirus. The company Oncolytics Biotech has a reovirus in clinical trials. Dozens more studies are underway. Imlygic is just generation one.

BackStreet Boys' are back, Covering update from Balmain H&M | RC+N Update

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 14:53:00 +0000

The BackStreet Boys, the genius boy band performed some of their classic hits. By making news again!

Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing had teased fans with the promise of a nostalgic music revival at the reveal of his special H&M collection, but few expected the Backstreet Boys.

The famed 90s boy band showed up to the Tuesday event and performed some of their classic hits, including “Larger than Life” and “I Want it That Way”, the Cut reports.

The pleased onlookers included models Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner, who were both but wee tikes when the Backstreet Boys first rocked the world’s bodies with their self-titled international debut album in 1996.

Mystery Revealed | Why did One Direction had to cancel out their show. | RC+N Update

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 14:28:00 +0000

Mystery solved! One Direction fans were worried sick about Liam Payne’s mysterious disease after the band canceled their Oct. 20 concert. Harry Styles went on BBC Radio 1 to reveal how exactly Liam was ill and the truth is…disgusting. Click to find out!

It might have been the biggest scandal to rock Directioners since Zayn Malik, 22, left the band. Why was Liam Payne, 22, so sick that it caused One Direction to cancel a show? What was the mystery illness? Will he be okay? After days of confusion and speculation, Harry Styles, 21, finally revealed the answer.

Harry solved the mystery behind Liam’s sudden illness when he spoke to Chris Evans on BBC Radio 2 on Oct 22. When Chris asked if he can send Liam anything to help him fell better, Harry had one reply: “Pepto-Bismol.” When asked if it was a “stomach issue,” Harry said Liam was “just…very ill.” Harry tried his best to not be very gross about it, before he just said, “it wasn’t pretty.”

Uh, yikes. Since Pepto advertises itself as a cure for nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, and lastly, diarrhea, Harry pretty much painted a graphic picture without saying much. No wonder Liam and the rest of the boys had to pull out of their Oct. 20 show in Belfast. Harry also explained why he, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson didn’t perform as a trio, saying that it wouldn’t be the same since “Liam’s a huge part of everything.”

The sudden, literal last-minute cancellation of the show left fans terribly concerned over what was wrong with Liam. Still, the band was just as heartbroken as their fans that they weren’t performing. Both Harry and Louis Tomlinson apologized to the fans. “Deepest apologies,” a very disappointed Harry tweeted, with Louis saying that the choice “was out of [their] control.”

When Liam finally broke his silence, he said that he was “feeling much better now” and that he couldn’t wait to “make it up” to all his fans with the rescheduled concert date. What Liam didn’t say was why he was sick.

He looked perfectly healthy when he joined the band on stage for their Oct. 22 concert. There was plenty of speculation as to why Liam pulled out of the concert, with him reportedly suffering a “complete meltdown” to his reported pressures of fame and touring. Perhaps this pressure was felt in his digestive system.

Are you glad that Liam is feeling better? Do you think Liam should have just said he was having stomach issues?

Almost Impossible To Unlock New IPHONES | RC+N Update

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 08:33:00 +0000

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) told a U.S. judge that accessing data stored on a locked iPhone would be "impossible" with devices using its latest operating system, but the company has the "technical ability" to help law enforcement unlock older phones.

Apple's position was laid out in a brief filed late Monday, after a federal magistrate judge in Brooklyn, New York, sought its input as he weighed a U.S. Justice Department request to force the company to help authorities access a seized iPhone during an investigation.

In court papers, Apple said that for the 90 percent of its devices running iOS 8 or higher, granting the Justice Department's request "would be impossible to perform" after it strengthened encryption methods.

Those devices include a feature that prevents anyone without the device's passcode from accessing its data, including Apple itself.

The feature was adopted in 2014 amid heightened privacy concerns following leaks by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden about NSA surveillance programs.

Apple told U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein it could access the 10 percent of its devices that continue to use older systems, including the one at issue in the case. But it urged the judge to not require it to comply with the Justice Department's request.

"Forcing Apple to extract data in this case, absent clear legal authority to do so, could threaten the trust between Apple and its customers and substantially tarnish the Apple brand," Apple's lawyers wrote.

A spokeswoman for Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Robert Capers, whose office is handling the case, declined comment.

Earlier this month, Orenstein expressed skepticism about whether he could require Apple to disable security on the iPhone, citing Congress' failure to act on the issue of encryption despite the urging of the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Orenstein deferred ruling until Apple had a chance to say if it was "technically feasible and, if so, whether compliance with the proposed order would be unduly burdensome."

Apple in its brief said it limited its views to those questions rather than the broader legal issue at hand, which it called "important." In an order Tuesday, Orenstein invited Apple to address that issue. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

The case is In re Order requiring Apple, Inc to assist in the execution of a search warrant issued by the court, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 15-mc-01902.

Martin O'Malley broke out into song during his Tuesday interview on "The View" | BAD BLOOD| RC+N Update

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 08:21:00 +0000

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley broke out into song during his Tuesday interview on "The View."

The former Maryland governor brought out his guitar and sang some verses from Taylor Swift's hit single "Bad Blood" with a Celtic twist.

"Because baby now we got bad blooood. You know it used to be mad loooove. So take a look at what you've done," O'Malley crowed.

"Now we got proooblems."

O'Malley is the lead vocalist and guitar player for the Celtic rock band O'Malley's March, and he sometimes plays songs for his supporters on the campaign trail.

He suggested he chose Swift's song because her rival Katy Perry was doing a benefit concert for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner. "Bad Blood" is rumored to be about Perry.

Microsoft Lab to come with Quantum Computers!! | RC+N Update

noreply@blogger.com (RC+N Media Team) — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 05:00:00 +0000

Quantum computers could smash speed and security bottlenecks in electronics and completely change the world as we know it.

Or at least that's the promise of the technology, which always seems to be right around the corner. Now, however, a team led by researchers at Microsoft have said a working, useful quantum computing system finally seems to be within reach.

The team just published a paper about their scheme on the preprint server arXiv, and it predicts a working quantum computer in the next 10 years.

"Recent improvements in control of quantum systems make it seem feasible to finally build a quantum computer," the researchers write in their study.

This is a contentious announcement, as a story at The Register points out, because a company called D-Wave claims to have built the first quantum computer (pictured above). However, research published last year demonstrated that D-Wave's prototype was no faster than some regular computers. D-Wave disagrees, and said the researchers did not fairly test the computer.

The new study suggests a "hybrid" quantum computer — one embedded in a traditional, silicon-based computer — could process simulations that would be useful to materials scientists, for example. And their hybrid model, the researchers write, could also help solve a lot of the problems that have plagued efforts to build effective quantum computers.

How quantum computers work
The computers we're all familiar with use "bits" to represent information in "0"s and "1"s. Strings of bits can represent specific numerals and letters, for example, as well as more complex data like image and audio files.

Computer processors have improved over the years to handle more bit-based data, but engineers think a physical bottleneck is on the horizon: There's only so much you can do to shrink circuits to process more and more bits. Once that limit is reached, to improve performance computers may start to take up more space and use more energy.

Quantum computers might leap over this hurdle by not only increasing the number of bits, but changing their very nature. Instead of using bits that only have a "0" or "1" setting, quantum computers use a weird-but-true law of physics — where a particle can exist in multiple places at once — to make "qubits." Qubits have an extra setting, so they can exist as a "1," or a "0," or both at the same time.

This flexibility enables the devices to process much, much more information at once than regular computers. For example, a quantum computer could theoretically perform a complex calculation in a few minutes that might take a regular computer years to complete.

Developers dream of harnessing such speed to create exceedingly accurate weather models, revolutionize the cybersecurity and cryptography fields, and instantaneously sort huge piles of data (no wonder Microsoft is so interested).

How to build one in 10 years
Quantum computers and their qubits have the potential to shake up entire industries, including those trying to discover brand-new molecules, materials, and pharmaceuticals. The materials industry in particular, write the Microsoft researchers, "will profit enormously from the availability of quantum computers as special-purpose accelerators."

The problem is that quantum computers are very tricky to build.

Prototypes do exist, but they only work at temperatures near absolute zero – colder than the darkest depths of space. Also, the smallest disturbance can jostle the qubit particles and corrupt their data. The devices are also very expensive, since cooling isn't cheap and most designs call for pricey materials like diamond or cesium.

The hybrid model proposed by Microsoft researchers would partly address these hurdles by integrating a small quantum computer into a regular silicon-based computer. According to the group's study, the regular part could take most of the basic computing load, freeing up the quantum part to tackle really difficult problems. The whole device may be less expensive to build and operate than other quantum computers, too, since it'd require less cooling and use fewer expensive materials.

Qubit stability, however, is still a big snag for the device and one of the biggest roadblocks to the age of superfast computing. But Google's quantum research team has already made headway on that problem — they figured out how to stabilize a small chunk of qubits earlier this year.