Reserve Bank of India CRR reduced to 5.5% from 6%

MUMBAI: Home loans and other loans to individuals and businesses are set to become cheaper with Reserve Bank of India releasing Rs 32,000 crore to banks through a half percentage point cut in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) on Tuesday, a step which is also aimed at driving growth.

The CRR, which is the level of deposits that banks have to mandatorily maintain with RBI, was reduced to 5.5% from 6%. This marks RBI's first reduction in CRR since January 2009 when it had released funds to stimulate demand in the wake of the Lehman Brothers crisis.

Bankers that TOI spoke to said that interest rates are headed down and it was a matter of time before lending rates also dip. Pratip Chaudhuri, chairman of the country's largest lender State Bank of India said that interest rates will come down on loans to certain sectors where there is good growth and low delinquencies. However, banks might be circumspect about reducing deposit rates since there are many tax-free schemes offering returns ranging from 8.3% to 8.5%.

Release of liquidity on account of CRR cut by RBI comes at a time when banks are seeing a slowdown in credit growth and have indicated to the central bank that actual growth may be around 16% as against the targeted 18%.

"The rate cut has lifted the mood and we should see an increase in (loan) volumes going ahead" said Chaudhuri. Keki Mistry, vice chairman and CEO, HDFC, however, doesn't expect rates to come down immediately. "I expect that in FY2012-13 interest rates will come down by around 150 basis points," he said.

The RBI move was cheered by the markets with the Sensex crossing the 17K level in intra day trades and the Rupee appreciating against the dollar to go below the Rs 50 mark in intra day trades.

Announcing the reduction in CRR, RBI governor D Subbarao said he decided to reverse a two-year policy of interest rate hikes because of decelerating growth although inflation continued to remain a concern. He said the central bank was prompted to ease liquidity because of a'structural shortfall' which was forcing banks to borrow anywhere between Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh from RBI in January.

RBI also lowered its growth forecast to 7% from 7.6% earlier. Subbarao said growth was slowing down because of global and other domestic factors in addition to the delayed impact of rate hikes by RBI over the past two years. "RBI has indicated that interest rates have peaked and over a period of time one could look at interest rates softening" said MD Mallya, chairman, Bank of Baroda.

The CRR cut is a positive development for banks which can earn interest income of over Rs 3,000 crore on funds which were hitherto locked with the RBI. SBI, for instance, with deposits of Rs 9.7 lakh crore, will see its lendable funds augumented by nearly Rs 5,000 crore. Considering that the bank can earn 8.5% by merely lending the money back to RBI, the bank could see its profits rise by over Rs 400 crore if it did not cut down lending rates.

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Bajaj Auto launches sports bike KTM Duke 200 Austrian manufacturer price in india Rs.1.17 lakh

To strengthen its position in sports bike market in India, Bajaj Auto, in collaboration with Austrian manufacturer KTM, Tuesday launched its 200cc power bike Duke 200, priced at Rs.1.17 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

"Launch of Duke 200 is one of the many steps in Bajaj Auto's association with KTM over the last five years," said Rajiv Bajaj, managing director.

"Between the Bajaj Pulsar and the KTM Duke, we intend to further strengthen our dominant position in the sports motorcycle segment in India."

He said the company will be launching at least one new KTM bike every year in the country.

Bajaj Auto has a 39 percent stake in the Austrian company with whom it produces two models-- Duke 125 and Duke 200-- at its Chakan plant near Pune.

The bike would be retailed through 34 KTM stores which were earlier known as Bajaj Probiking showrooms.

Duke has nearly 95 local components and is powered by 200cc, liquid cooled, four-valve engine which generates peak power of 25 bhp and a maximum torque of 19 Nm.

"We will be producing 3,000 units per month at the Chakan plant. We are very optimistic about the sales prospects as we have a very attractive price," Hubert Trunkenpolz, chief sales officer, KTM Power Sports, told IANS.

The total capacity at the plant for the two KTM bikes currently stands at 30,000 units.

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World's cheapest tablet PC Apps for Aakash tablet can win you R 1 lakh! www.aapkiapp.com

New Delhi: As per a release by Datawind, the makers of "World's cheapest tablet PC" Aakash , a contest to develop apps for its product has begun.

Datawind has invited students from all over the country to design innovative softwares and applications (apps) that can make the best use of Aakash's potentials and productivity.

The company said that the best five applications will get an award of Rs 1 lakh and a share of the advertising revenue that is generated from their apps.

The company is also in talks to provide internet access at an affordable rate of Rs 99 per month.

The last date of submission of entries is 20th February, while the final app need to be submitted by 29th February.

Details about the contest can be found on aapkiapp.com.

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Idea Introduces Pongal Offer in Tamil Nadu & Chennai Rs. 35 recharge voucher is also available that offers talk time of Rs.42

Idea Cellular has launched special Pongal offer that offers More than Full Talk Time for prepaid subscribers in Tamil Nadu and Chennai. This offers more talk time value than the actual cost of the recharge voucher.

There are two recharge vouchers in this offer. The Rs. 111 voucher offers Rs. 134 Talk time and the Rs.222 recharge voucher offers a talk time of Rs. 260. Both these products are available only on Flexi and this Special Pongal offer is valid between 11th and 14th January 2012.

The Rs. 35 recharge voucher is also available that offers talk time of Rs.42.

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Bajaj Auto on Tuesday unveiled its first ever four-wheeler Price in india wallpaper

Bajaj Auto on Tuesday unveiled its first ever four-wheeler for intra-city passenger transportation targeting threewheeler customers. The company has until now been manufacturing two-wheeler and three-wheeler vehicles.

"The first thing I want to make clear is this is not a car but a four-wheeler. I am an anti-car guy and this is a fourwheeler autoricksaw. That is where I am going to position this car. The car will be sold through Bajaj three-wheeler dealerships," Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, Bajaj Auto, said.

The vehicle is powered by a 200 cc rear-mounted petrol engine and will also be available in CNG and LPG variants. It has a top speed of 70 kmph with a mileage of 35 km per litre.

It will be manufactured at the company's Aurangabad plant.

"We have been maintaining since 2009 that we are no longer working on a small car but a four-wheeler. Certainly, this is a product, the core customers for which are those who use a three-wheeler," Bajaj explained.

"This vehicle has been designed for intra-city passenger transport keeping in mind intra-city duty cycles and safety requirements," he added.

However, he refused to divulge details about the price and investment that the firm had made in developing the product.

Bajaj said as a matter of strategy he always looks at developing a product keeping in mind a 20 per cent EBIDTA margin.

Bajaj also did not share sales targets for the new product.

Commenting on the potential of the vehicle, he said the company expects a big growth opportunity by targeting the three-wheeler segment.

"We make about 5,20,000 three-wheelers a year of which only 2,00,000 are sold in India, while the rest are exported. So, we see countries like Sri Lanka, which could be the first overseas market and has a huge potential for RE60," he said.

Bajaj Auto also plans to export the vehicle to Bangladesh and African markets, where Baja Auto already has a presence in the three-wheeler market.

About the company's alliance with Renault- Nissan, Bajaj said, "They have not seen the product as yet and will be seeing it at the auto expo. Once they see it, we will decide the way forward."

He said if the Renault-Nissan alliance is interested, Bajaj can manufacture the RE60 with design modifications to sell it under their brand. In January, 2008 Bajaj Auto had unveiled its concept passenger car with an expected price of $ 3000.

Taking a dig at the Tata Nano Bajaj said, "I am personally not sure what the Nano is. If it is the cheapest car in the world or God's gift to twowheeler (customers)."

Expo turns away 100 firms
More than 100 exhibitors have been denied permission to participate at the forthcoming Auto Expo to be held in Delhi due to space constraint at Pragati Maidan.

The firms have been denied permissions on two criteria - late entry and past history of participation, Auto Expo 2012 Steering Committee chairman Rajive Kaul said, adding that about 60 exhibitors are from overseas countries, while the rest are domestic companies.

The latest edition of the exhibition will be spread across 1.15 lakh sq mt and will now present 1,500 participants from 24 nations, including the US, China, Thailand and Turkey.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bajaj-auto-launches-first-four-wheeler-re60/1/167180.html

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Aakash Tablet’s upgraded version UbiSlate 7 at the cost of Rs 2999 Order Your Aakash Tablet Now

The much anticipated world’s ultra low cost Tablet PC, Aakash tablet is finally available for sale online and is creating vibrations all around. Datawind, the developers of Aakash has put up for sale about 30,000 tablets on the internet at the cost of Rs 2500 each and the delivery is done in 7 days.

You can also pre-book Aakash Tablet’s upgraded version, UbiSlate 7, at the cost of Rs 2999 which will be launched during the end of January, 2012. This next generation of Aakash Tablet is loaded with better features and functionalities. Both the tablets are commercially available to everyone at its official website through Cash On Delivery option.

Specifications	Aakash	UbiSlate 7 (The upgraded version of Aakash)
Availability	NOW!	Late January, 2012
Pricing	Rs.2,500	Rs.2,999
Microprocessor	Arm11 – 366Mhz	Cortex A8 – 700 Mhz
Battery	2100 mAh	3200 mAh
OS	Android 2.2	Android 2.3
Network	WiFi	WiFi & GPRS (SIM & Phone functionality)

Aakash’s commercial version is powered by Android 2.3 and has a resistive touchscreen, a 7 inch display with 800 x 480 pixel resolution, 256 MB RAM, 2 GB internal memory, 3.5 mm audio jack, and a graphics accelerator HD video processor.

According to Economic Times, Datawind has achieved presale orders of approximately 400,000 tablets from various companies and individuals. However, the current supplies will be limited for individual buyers only.

According to sources, the Indian government is also planning to provide a new specification for Aakash, which will have a better battery life and a faster processor. The battery life of current version is about 1.5 hours.

The Indian government has obtained 10,000 tablets till now and it needs to obtain 90,000 more tablets for distribution in colleges and schools. Many other nations are also showing interest to the government for similar low-cost computing devices.

The CEO of DataWind, Mr. Suneet Singh Tuli says to media “This is a made-in-India product. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do this.” he adds, “The final goal is to either provide the same features at a lower cost or provide better functionality and features at the same cost.”

The tablet has a lot of add-on accessories as well. External antennas and car charges can be attached to it. You can also use a keyboard case. It comes with two USB ports and can be used as a phone. The commercial version will have a 3G option and also supports an external 3G dongle.

At the launch of Aakash, The Telecom and Education Minister, Kabil Sibbal, said, “The rich have access to the digital world, the poor and ordinary have been excluded. Aakash will end that digital divide.”

Definitely there is no other touch pad computing device or tablet available close to the price of Aakash or UbiSlate 7. It is an up-to-date and low cost computing device which comes with a lot of attractive features and functionalities. Though the basic aim of this tablet is to provide low cost tablet for students, anyone can buy it from Aakash official website.

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Nokia Lumia 800 Price WP7 Mango smartphone flagship Lumia 800 Reaview Wallpaper

Image: Nokia

Nokia has announced that shipments for its next Windows Phone 7 based Lumia 710 have started.

The Nokia Lumia 710 is the second and cheaper WP7 Mango smartphone from the Finnish phone maker after its flagship Lumia 800 hit shelves a couple of weeks ago.

The handset initially arrived in the Taiwanese market on Friday, with the following days to follow the device as it hits the shores of Singapore, Hong Kong, India and Russia, and a global release that will start in the upcoming weeks.

Nokia Lumia 710 is likely to come with a price tag worth €270 (exclusive of local taxes and subsidies) and black and white flavors for the front cover.

Back cover customization has been a Nokia tradition for several of its handsets and the Lumia 710 is not an exemption, with five unique colors available (sold separately) for its easily interchangeable back covers.

The Nokia Lumia 710 touts a more vernal appearance and cheaper price than its Lumia 800 sibling, which comes with a relatively elegant non-painted unibody.

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Google giving up on Wave, Knol and Friend Connect export your knols to WordPress.com

An important update about knol

Knol will be moving to Annotum on May 1, 2012

Knol will be discontinued as a service, but we've worked with Solvitor and Crowd Favorite to create Annotum, an open-source platform based upon WordPress that allows you to continue authoring and publishing scholarly articles. You can migrate your knols to WordPress and continue your work with Annotum. After May 1, you will no longer be able to create, view, enter or edit knols, but you will be able to export your knols to WordPress.com and download them to file through October 1st, 2012.

Google keeps whittling down its projects, narrowing the focus of the company's efforts behind Chief Executive Larry Page's push to put "more wood behind fewer arrows."

The latest trimming will eliminate seven Google products: Bookmarks Lists, Friend Connect, Gears, Search Timeline, Wave, Knol and the ambitious project Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal (RE

"We're in the process of shutting a number of products which haven't had the impact we'd hoped for, integrating others as features into our broader product efforts, and ending several which have shown us a different path forward," Urs Hölzle, Google's senior vice president of operations, said in a company blog post. "Overall, our aim is to build a simpler, more intuitive, truly beautiful Google user experience."

Here's the rundown on each discontinued product from Hölzle's post:

• Google Bookmarks Lists — This is an experimental feature for sharing bookmarks and collaborating with friends, which we’re going to end on Dec. 19, 2011. All bookmarks within Lists will be retained and labeled for easier identification, while the rest of Google Bookmarks will function as usual. As Lists was an English-only feature, non-English languages will be unaffected.
• Google Friend Connect — Friend Connect allows webmasters to add social features to their sites by embedding a few snippets of code. We're retiring the service for all non-Blogger sites on March 1, 2012. We encourage affected sites to create a Google+ page and place a Google+ badge on their site so they can bring their community of followers to Google+ and use new features like Circles and Hangouts to keep in touch.
• Google Gears — In March we said goodbye to the Gears browser extension for creating offline Web applications and stopped supporting new browsers. On Dec. 1, 2011, Gears-based Gmail and Calendar offline will stop working across all browsers, and later in December Gears will no longer be available for download. This is part of our effort to help incorporate offline capabilities into HTML5, and we’ve made a lot of progress. For example, you can access Gmail, Calendar and Docs offline in Chrome.
• Google Search Timeline — We’re removing this graph of historical results for a query. Users will be able to restrict any search to particular time periods using the refinement tools on the left-hand side of the search page. Additionally, users who wish to see graphs with historical trends for a Web search can use google.com/trends or google.com/insights/search/ for data since 2004. For more historical data, the "ngram viewer" in Google Books offers similar information.
• Google Wave — We announced that we’d stopped development on Google Wave over a year ago. But as of Jan. 31, 2012, Wave will become read-only and you won’t be able to create new ones. On April 30 we will turn it off completely. You’ll be able to continue exporting individual waves using the existing PDF export feature until the Google Wave service is turned off. If you’d like to continue using this technology, there are a number of open-source projects, including Apache Wave and Walkaround.
• Knol — We launched Knol in 2007 to help improve Web content by enabling experts to collaborate on in-depth articles. In order to continue this work, we’ve been working with Solvitor and Crowd Favorite to create Annotum, an open-source scholarly authoring and publishing platform based on WordPress. Knol will work as usual until April 30, 2012, and you can download your knols to a file and/or migrate them to WordPress.com. From May 1 through Oct. 1, 2012, knols will no longer be viewable, but can be downloaded and exported. After that time, Knol content will no longer be accessible.
• Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal (RE— This initiative was developed as an effort to drive down the cost of renewable energy, with an RE

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Australia to host the G20 leaders summit in 2014 Prime Minister Julia Gillard Australia to host 2014 G20 summit

World leaders have asked Australia to host the G20 leaders summit in 2014, as plans to get Europe back on track failed but progress was made on global trade and jobs.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who will get to set the summit agenda, said she would consult with the state premiers on who would host the event.

"Hosting the G20 will allow Australia to set and shape the international agenda on issues of fundamental importance to our national interest, including the health of the global economy, financial regulation, trade, jobs and clean energy," she said.

While the final communique spelled out plans for a jobs task force, stronger powers for the bank watchdog, financial sector reform and a way forward for the stalled Doha trade round, the leaders failed to agree on the future direction for Europe.

With European finance ministers due to meet next week, the only successes being claimed were convincing Greece to back down from a referendum on its bailout and Italy agreeing to get its budget back into surplus in 2012 and provide regular reports on its efforts to stave off a crisis.

G20 finance ministers, including Treasurer Wayne Swan, are set to meet as early as December to flesh out the details of how much the International Monetary Fund's resources will be bolstered.

Australia and China are among a number of countries to pledge extra resources for the IMF, while steering clear of the European Financial Stability Facility set up to stop the spread of the debt crisis.

The IMF is likely to put in place a new short-term credit line to help countries facing economic shocks that they can't immediately handle.

The extent of the global problem was shown in figures released by the Reserve Bank, which forecast GDP growth of 3.25 per cent for 2011/12, rather than the four per cent it had predicted in August, while for 2012/13 it forecasts GDP of 3.25 per cent rather than 3.75 per cent.

The Greek situation dominated much of the talks, with Greek politicians preparing to vote on a motion of confidence in the government of Prime Minister George Papandreou around midnight Athens time (0900 AEDT Saturday).

The governing Socialists have a slim two-seat majority in the 300-member legislature, and at least one MP has publicly threatened to vote against the government.

Ms Gillard said the best way forward for Greece is to swing behind the efforts of G20 leaders who want the nation to succeed, and not see its debt problems infect the rest of the global economy.

The leaders backed a plan being driven by Australia to set a road map for trade as the Doha round comes to a halt.

The round will be broken into more achievable pieces, with the first of these - in terms of Australia's focus - being reforming trade facilitation, such as fishing subsidies, and helping low-income countries.

Ms Gillard said the action plan on jobs and growth is the first time that G20 nations have committed to a united effort to tackle the issue.

Every country's actions will be monitored and a report provided to the summit in Mexico in 2012.

Before she left France, the prime minister briefly met with Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, who addressed the G20 on a plan to find better ways to raise money to feed the world's poorest people.

Russia will host the G20 in 2013 and Turkey in 2015.

The issue of climate change was discussed, with the leaders calling for the Cancun agreements to be implemented, including the Green Climate Fund, and handing the G20 finance ministers the job of finding innovative ways to fund climate action.

• CANNES SUMMIT FINAL DECLARATION
• G20 Leaders Summit Cannes 3-4 November 2011
• The Cannes Action Plan for Growth and Jobs - 4 November 2011
• Communiqué of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the G20 - Paris, France, 14-15 October 2011

Welcome from the French G20 presidency

France is very honored to chair the Group of Twenty in 2011.

The G20 was established in 1999, in the wake of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, to bring together major advanced and emerging economies to stabilize the global financial market. Since its inception, the G20 has held annual Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meetings and discussed measures to promote the financial stability of the world and to achieve a sustainable economic growth and development.

To tackle the financial and economic crisis that spread across the globe in 2008, the G20 members were called upon to further strengthen international cooperation. Accordingly, the G20 Summits have been held in Washington in 2008, in London and Pittsburgh in 2009, and in Toronto and Seoul in 2010.

The concerted and decisive actions of the G20, with its balanced membership of developed and developing countries helped the world deal effectively with the financial and economic crisis, and the G20 has already delivered a number of significant and concrete outcomes:

First, the scope of financial regulation has been largely broadened and prudential regulation and supervision have been strengthened. There was also great progress in policy coordination thanks to the creation of the framework for a strong, sustainable and balanced growth designed to enhance macroeconomic cooperation among the G20 members and therefore to mitigate the impact of the crisis. Finally, global governance has dramatically improved to better take into consideration the role and the needs of emerging of developing countries, especially through the ambitious reforms of the governance of the IMF and the World Bank.

Building on these important progresses, the G20 has now to adapt to a new economic environment. It must prove that it is able to coordinate the economic policies of major economies on an ongoing basis.

2011 will be the occasion to build on the recent successes of the G20 and ensure an active follow-up on processes already underway. It will also be the time to address other essential issues which are crucial to global stability such as the reform of the international monetary system and the volatility of commodity prices.

We believe indeed that today's key economic challenges require a collective and ambitious action which the G20 is able to impulse.

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Face book login Facebook Facebook is without doubt the most popular social networking website Facebook login problems

Face book login Facebook. ... 60307 like this. God's Love. 92426 like this ...

www.facebook.com


Facebook is without doubt the most popular social networking website on the Internet with millions of users logging in to the site each day. It is only natural that some Facebook users experience Facebook login problems when they try to log into their Facebook profile to post status updates, see what their friends and contacts are up to and perform all the other activities that Facebook offers.

Some of the most important account information is the following:

• Official Facebook login page: http://www.facebook.com/, and http://www.facebook.com/login.php
• Facebook login username: can either be one of the registered emails of the Facebook account or the Facebook username
• Facebook login password: selected by the user during setup of the email account

The two most common Facebook login problems are that the login page is not loading correctly or that the login information is not accepted by the social networking site.

Facebook offers a link if the password of the account cannot be remembered. This leads to the “Trouble Accessing Your Account” site where the user needs to enter a captcha and the email that was used to register the account. If all information is filled out correctly the user will be sent an email to restore the account password.

Make sure to check the email spam folder if the Facebook login password reset email is not received. There is a contact page for users who are not receiving the email with the password reset information.

Another Facebook login issue users experience are page errors that are displayed before, during or after the log in including pages that does not seem to have been updated for a long time.

A common solution for this problem is to clear the web browser’s cache and cookies so that new data will be transferred directly from Facebook. There is a help page that contains instructions on how to clear the web browser cache of popular browsers.

Update

We have created a login helper document that walks you through the Facebook Login troubleshooting steps in detail. You can download the documents below:

Facebook Login Helper PDF
Facebook Login Helper PowerPoint

Links

Help for hacked or phished account

Facebook Log In Updates

October 12, 2010: Facebook has added two interesting security related features to the login process. US-users can now receive SMS messages with a one-time password that they can use to log in to the website. They need to add a mobile phone number to their account, and can from that moment on receive the passwords by sending an SMS to 32665 with the text otp. Facebook replies with the one-time password that users can then enter instead of their original password during login.

In addition, it is now possible to log out remotely. Say you were at a library or friend’s house, checked your status but forgot to log out. Anyone with access to the computer could access your Facebook account. To prevent his, remote logout was created. Open the Account Settings to see if any sessions are open. If they are you can sign out of them from the computer you are working on to prevent unauthorized access.

January 26, 2011: Facebook has added an option to enable HTTPS on the whole site, instead of just the login page. HTTPS makes sure that other users of the network cannot listen to the traffic which eliminates the danger that someone steals your login credentials or reads your messages.

The new HTTPS always setting is found in Account Security under Account Settings. Just check the secure browsing checkmark to enable the feature.

April 19, 2011: Facebook has started to introduce two factor authentication to their site. This new feature improves the security during log ins on Facebook. Users not only have to enter their email address and password when logging in, but also a one-time code that is send to their mobile phone whenever they log in from a new computer or device.

Facebook has also started to automatically redirect users from the http://www.facebook.com/ page to the secure login page https://www.facebook.com/

August 8, 2011: Facebook has updated the social networking site’s mobile security. The two new features that improve Facebook login and overall security are mobile social reporting and mobile password reset. The latter allows users to reset their Facebook password from their mobile device.

Users can now select the email address they want to receive the recovery link plus they get additional means of identifying the account.

Social reporting is more of a user to user way of making Facebook a better place. Users can send a social report to the owner of a post or photo to have it taken down or changed.

August 21, 2011: Facebook has released the pdf document “A guide to Facebook security” which has been specifically created for your adults, parents and educators. The 14-pages of the document explain how to protect the Facebook account, avoid scammers or how to recover a hacked account on the social networking site.

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Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies ! Apple co-founder Steve Jobs 56 passed away today

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs,56,who single-handedly changed the way the world listened to music,communicated on the phone and used the computer, has died,leaving behind a vacuum that will be hard to fill.The iconic technocrat had been battling cancer and other health problems for several years and had a rare form of pancreatic cancer.

In a brief statement, Apple's Board of Directors said "we are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.""Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."The iconic technocrat was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant two years in 2009.

He had been on medical leave since January this year but had appeared briefly on a few occasions. In March, he unveiled the second version of the iPad and later attended a dinner hosted by President Barack Obama for technology honchos in Silicon Valley. In June, he was on stage in San Francisco to talk about iCloud, Apple's latest foray into cloud-based computing.

Jobs' health had been visibly deteriorating over the years, with the Apple chief looking more gaunt and frail with each successive appearances he made to launch various path breaking Apple products.

In a stunning move in August that had taken the technology world by surprise, Jobs had resigned as CEO of the technology giant and named Tim Cook as his successor.

In his letter to the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple community, Jobs had said, "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come."

Jobs continued as Chairman of the Board.He was the highly-respected visionary behind some of Apple's most iconic and bestseller products like the iPod,iPhone and iPad. Under his leadership, Apple redefined the music business through the iPod, the mobile business through the iPhone and the entertainment and media world through the iPad.

In August, Apple had briefly surpassed energy major Exxon Mobil to become the country's most valuable company with a market capitalisation of about USD 346 billion.Jobs' prolonged medical leave of absence had raised concerns of how the technology major, which he had co-founded in a garage, would succeed without Jobs.

I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role. I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you," Jobs had said in his resignation.

Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 with Steve Wozniak and developed the Apple II and Macintosh computers. He left Apple in 1985 after a power struggle with the company's board of directors.The following year he founded NeXt Computer, a computer platform development company specialising in the higher education and business markets. In 1986, he bought the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm and re-established it as the independent animation studio Pixar.

Apple subsequently bought NeXT in 1996, bringing Jobs back to the company he had co-founded. Jobs has served as its CEO since 1997.

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world's cheapest tablet computer its launching ceremony in New Delhi sold to students at the subsidized price of $35 and later in shops for about $60.

New Delhi— Apple's iPad at $499, Amazon's Kindle Fire at $199 and the HP TouchPad at $99. How about a tablet computer for $35 with hope of an eventual $10 price tag?

Parivartan Sharma/Reuters

Students display Aakash, which means sky, dubbed the world's cheapest tablet computer, after its launching ceremony in New Delhi.

India on Wednesday unveiled the Aakash, which means "sky" in Hindi, and billed it as the world's least-expensive tablet. The plan is to distribute thousands of the computers in coming months to students at a government-subsidized rate of $35.

It has taken several years to develop, faced a lot of skepticism and received help from taxpayers given the state's actual cost of around $50.

But the Aakash offers the promise of computing to millions of people in rural India who seem to be living more in the 19th century than the 21st.

"Today we reach to the sky and demonstrate what is possible," said Kapil Sibal, India's information technology and human resources development minister. "Let me send a message, not just to our children but the children of the world: This is for all those who are marginalized."

The 13-ounce touch-screen device can handle basic computing, including email, social networking, Web surfing, online banking, instant messaging and multimedia. The stripped-down system uses Google's Android 2.2 operating system and comes with headphones, WiFi access, two USB slots, 256 megabytes of internal memory and a 7-inch screen. It's not considered on the same level as the more advanced tablets available.

"This will allow basic computing beyond the mobile phone," said Vishal Tripathi, an analyst with Gartner, a high-tech research firm.

The device will probably get a strong reception from students in remote areas, many of whom have never used a computer, provided the government can deliver on its promise.

Pervasive corruption and bureaucratic ineptitude have undermined a host of government programs, including food distribution, jobs, healthcare and road building. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi once said he was lucky if 15% of every rupee got to its intended recipient.

Some critics also questioned the program's basic premise of providing electronics to help students in rural areas.

"I'm not against computers, but it needs to be thought through," said Aruna Sankaranarayanan, director of Prayatna, a civic group focused on education. "Most rural schools aren't even equipped with toilets or teachers. Just giving computers [doesn't] guarantee computer literacy. There are more crying needs."

Despite its reputation for call centers and legions of engineers, India still lags in many high-tech areas. Only about half the nation's 25,000 colleges are linked to the Internet under the government's National Mission on Education program. Of these, less than 15% have broadband of at least 512 kilobits per second.

Many of the potential student users may also see the computers more as a way to chat with friends than read the lectures India is offering online.

"I'll probably use it mostly for Facebook," Ravi Banshiwal, 22, a commerce student from Delhi, said with a laugh. "So we need to thank the minister for that. We'll send him a tweet first thing."

Suneet Singh Tuli, chief executive of Britain-based DataWind, the company that designed, sourced and built the device, said he's negotiating with Indian telecom carriers for a low monthly rate for Internet access bundled with an upgraded Aakash. The current model can access the Web only through WiFi hot spots, which are nonexistent in many parts of the country.

The Aakash will be assembled in India, and officials expressed hope that it will jump-start its computer hardware industry and complement the nation's software strengths. About 16% of the 800 components are sourced here, while about 70% comes from South Korea, China and the U.S.

History is littered with well-meaning products that fell short. Initially conceived in 2006 as a personal computer, this one morphed into a tablet after repeated delays and coordination problems. Two years ago, DataWind showed off a $10 version that was dismissed as little more than a storage device.

Officials hope the new device will become cheaper and more powerful over time.

"My target audience is the 1 billion Indians who don't use the Internet," Tuli said. "People say, 'Computers for rickshaw wallahs, you must be crazy.' You watch!"

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world's cheapest table computer, Aakash, was launched today at an event in New Delhi

The world's cheapest table computer, Aakash, was launched today at an event in New Delhi.

Created for use by students, the $35 (Rs 1,750) tablet will first be made available to college goers.

Developed as part of the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the tablet computer is designed in India as a low cost but full functioning device.

It aims to link 25,000 colleges and 400 universities through e-learning programme.

The tablet sports a 7” colour LCD/TFT display and runs on Google's Android platform.

It will have WiFi connectivity for internet access and cloud storage, 256 MB of RAM, a 2GB SD memory card and a 32 GB expandable memory slot.

Other features include PDF reader, video conferencing facilities, multi content viewer and two USB ports.

The cheapest tablets available globally are at about $99 for an HP TouchPad and $199 for Amazon's Kindle Fire.

At a function in Delhi in September, HRD Minister Sibal had said, “The tablet would be launched by October in a bid to let children go beyond the boundary of classroom and teachers to acquire knowledge through IT. Soon, a 35 dollar computer will be made available to every child in school. The tablet shall help enhance the quality of learning of children…This is not just a dream, it is a reality.”

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Google on Saturday paid tribute to Jim Henson The doodle is a collaboration between Google and The Jim Henson Company

New Delhi: Google on Saturday paid tribute to Jim Henson, one of the greatest puppeteers of all time and the creator of the popular Muppets with a doodle featuring a series of digital puppets shaped in the form of the company logo.

James Maury Henson would have been 75 years of age on Saturday had he been alive. He is best known for ‘The Muppets’ and memorable shows such as Sesame Street, The Muppet Show and films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper.

The Henson doodle features six digital muppets in the shape and colour of the Google logo that respond to a mouse over as ‘real’ muppets would.

The doodle is a collaboration between Google and The Jim Henson Company. The Google Doodle team tweeted: “Become a digital puppeteer today and tomorrow with our homepage tribute to Jim Henson! #googledoodle”

James Maury Henson would have been 75 years of age on Saturday had he been alive.

The official Google blog said “We’re thrilled to share this guest post by Brian Henson about his father - puppeteer, director and producer Jim Henson, best known as the creator of the Muppets. For the next 36 hours, we’re honoring Jim’s birthday on our homepage with a special doodle created in tandem with The Jim Henson Company.”

Brian Henson, Chairman of The Jim Henson Company, reminisced about his father in the touching post that threw valuable insight into the man behind the puppets. ”When we were kids, my brother and sisters and I were always allowed to stay up late to watch our father’s appearances on The Tonight Show or The Ed Sullivan Show. No matter how late it was or how young we were, my mother would wake us up and trundle us down to the living room television. We’d be giddy—like Christmas. When he came home, he’d head down to the garage where he had a workshop, and repair everything that we broke while he was away—or build a dollhouse for one of my sisters. Jim never stopped making things.”

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Jeweler Creates A $4.7 Million Tata Nano Tata Nano Gold: World's first Gold Jewellery Car by GoldPlus

First Tata Nano rolls out of new Sanand factory on June 2, 2010, with founder Ratan Tata at left

The Tata Nano was created by Tata Motors to provide inexpensive and reliable transportation for India’s growing middle class. One problem, though: the Indian middle class wants to buy aspirational cars that say, “we’ve made it,” not inexpensive cars that say “we’re too frugal to buy a Suzuki Alto or a Hyundai i10.”
By being cheap and practical, the Tata Nano ceases to be desirable. The Wall Street Journal reports that one enterprising Indian jewelry store chain has found a way around that: by covering a Tata Nano with 176 pounds of gold, 33 pounds of silver plus assorted gemstones, Goldplus has created the world’s most expensive Tata Nano.

The value of the bling-bedecked Nano? A cool 225.17 million Indian rupees, or the equivalent of $4.7 million, based on the current exchange rate. That kind of money buys you a Bugatti Veyron, a loaded Chevy Volt to balance out your carbon credit deficit, and a really, really nice house to store them in.

In fact, we can’t envision a single instance where buying a gold-laden Nano makes sense, fiscal or otherwise. You wouldn’t want to drive it, since adding over 200 pounds of precious metal isn’t going to help with the Nano’s already sloth-like acceleration, or it’s unsafe-at-any-speed handling and braking ability.

You certainly can’t park it anywhere, since even a thirty second trip to the 7-11 would likely devalue the car by a few hundred thousand dollars, as curious onlookers help you reduce the car’s curb weight by taking souvenirs.

While other creations from Goldplus (like the six-foot-diameter gold bangle cast to be the world’s largest) have been melted for scrap, the company hopes someone will buy the golden Nano as a family heirloom. While it does avoid the stigma of being just another cheap Nano, we hope that Goldplus reconsiders smelting the car (which has a reputation for doing this on its own); just because you can cover something with gold and jewels doesn’t mean you should.

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