Twitter ends 140-character limit for sending direct messages
New York : Starting Wednesday, the micro-blogging site Twitter lifted the 140-character limit for its 300 million-plus users to send direct messages, an...
14 cities around Delhi are quake prone
By IANS
New Delhi : The national capital and 14 cities around it, from Alwar in Rajasthan to Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, are highly quake prone, the ministry of earth sciences said Monday.
The 15 cities - Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Hapur, Panipat, Rohtak, Palwal, Bulandsehar, Khurja, Alwar, Bahadurgarh, Kundali and Rewari - fall under seismic zone 4.
Seismic zone 4 is considered to be highly prone to earthquakes.
Chuck a ball to put out fire
By IANS
Kolkata : Now to douse a fire, you can do better than using a fire extinguisher or splashing buckets of water. Just free your arms and throw a ball into the leaping flames. And voila! The blaze would be gone.
Siam Safety Premier Co Ltd, a Thailand-based company, has come out with an innovative and environment-friendly technology to douse fire. The fire extinguisher is marketed in India by Shree Shyam Bearings Pvt Ltd (SSBPL).
Donkey work began much later than thought
By IANS
Washington : Domestication of the donkey as a beast of burden might have taken much longer than thought previously, according to a new study.
Researchers, basing their study on 10 donkey skeletons from three 5,000-year-old graves in the Pharaoh's complex at Abydos, Egypt, found that they were then in an early phase of domestication.
They looked like wild animals but displayed joint wear that showed that they were used as domestic animals.
Earlier estimates suggested that the domestication of animals began much earlier.
Google opens store for Chrome users
By DPA,
Mountain View (US) : Google has started up a portal for downloading extensions and web applications to its Chrome internet browser.
90 percent digitisation achieved in Kolkata: Siticable
By IANS,
Kolkata: The percentage of digitisation of cable televisions in Kolkata has currently reached 90 percent, leading multi-service operator (MSO) Siticable said Tuesday.
NASA scientists identify smallest known black hole in universe
By Xinhua
Washington : Two astronomers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have identified the smallest known black hole in the universe, according to the Astrophysical Journal on Wednesday.
The two astronomers presented their results this week at an American Astronomical Society meeting.
Robot chef who can make rasam, sambar
By IANS,
Chennai : Here is a chef that can prepare lip-smacking sambar, rasam and vatta kozhambu and may give the best cooks in Tamil Nadu a run for their money. But the secret of Chef-bot's culinary skills lies not in a kitchen but in a laboratory.
Four students of the Saveetha Engineering College in Sriperumbudur, Chennai's industrial suburb, have designed a robot, Chef-bot, as part of their college project. As of now, Chef-bot's skills are limited to Tamil preparations.
ISBA secretariat at Technopark-TBI
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram: The Indian Science and Technology Entrepreneurs Parks (STEPs) and Business Incubators' Association (ISBA) will open its new headquarters in the Technopark-TBI here.
Indian-origin scientist creates first single-molecule device
Washington: A team of Columbia Engineering researchers led by an Indian-American scientist Latha Venkataraman has created a single-molecule electronic device which has a potential...
Why women take a detour from engineering
New York : Women who go to college intending to become engineers stay in the profession less often than men, as a result of...
AOL to shutter support for Netscape
By Xinhua
Beijing : AOL announced in its blog post to shutter support for Netscape Navigator from Feb. 1 and recommended the Netscape users to make the move to Firefox, media reported Saturday.
Netscape would still be available for download from the Netscape Archive after Feb. 1, but no "active product support" will be offered.
The decision came after Netscape Navigator, once the dominant Web browser, failed in the battle against Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
Helmet-crested, duck-billed dinosaur discovered
By Xinhua
Beijing : U.S., Mexican and Canadian scientists on Tuesday announced the discovery of helmet-crested, duck-billed dinosaur that lived about 7 million years ago.
The composition of its skull -- with a nose on top of its head and elongated nasal passages -- meant its call was probably one of its most unique aspects, said Terry Gates, a Utah Museum of Natural History paleontologist.
Beijing : U.S., Mexican and Canadian scientists on Tuesday announced the discovery of helmet-crested, duck-billed dinosaur that lived about 7 million years ago.
The composition of its skull -- with a nose on top of its head and elongated nasal passages -- meant its call was probably one of its most unique aspects, said Terry Gates, a Utah Museum of Natural History paleontologist.
Murthy bids adieu to Infosys, once again
Bangalore: For the second time in three years, Infosys chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy will Saturday bid adieu to the iconic company he co-founded with...
India’s e-vault to store documents on cloud draws crowds
By Sharon Thambala
Bengaluru : A key part of the "Digital India" initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the free government scheme that...
Tell how you can stop rape video circulation: SC to IT ministry
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the information technology ministry on how it (ministry) can assist in the reporting...
Iran parliament approves law to implement n-deal
Tehran: Iran's parliament on Tuesday approved a legislation which asks the government to implement the recent nuclear deal reached between Tehran and the...
From paper planes to Columbia…Kalpana remembered
By Devirupa Mitra, IANS
Karnal (Haryana) : Under a giant poster of Kalpana Chawla with the words "the whole universe is my native place" scrawled across, students sat whispering to each other before falling silent at the entry of an elderly man with a stern visage.
Banarasi Lal Chawla had been to his youngest daughter Kalpana's alma mater - Tagore Bal Niketan Senior Secondary School - when she was a student over 20 years ago. On Friday he was the chief guest at a small function there to mark the day she died five years ago.
Xenitis to make lowest-price mobile phone handsets
By IANS,
Sugandha (Hooghly) : Xenitis Telecommunication, a newly floated venture of West Bengal-based conglomerate Xenitis Group, plans to invest Rs.2.5 billion for setting up a mobile handset manufacturing facility in West Bengal.
Now a helicopter with spinning disc instead of blades
By IANS,
Washington : The US defence department is funding a radical helicopter design called the DiscRotor that would have a spinning disc instead of conventional spinning rotor blades at high speeds.
The DiscRotor, which is being funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), would have a large circular saucer-like hub on top with retractable rotor blades extending from the saucer's edge.
ET, where are you? NASA to launch Kepler camera
By DPA,
Washington : The search for extraterrestrial life will take another step in March, when NASA launches its Kepler satellite to systematically look for Earth-type planets orbiting other stars.
The Kepler mission, named after the 17th century German astronomer, is to be launched March 5 and target 100,000 stars in the Milky Way galaxy that scientists believe could have planets orbiting in a "habitable" zone, NASA scientists said Thursday.
World misled over glacier meltdown: Report
By IRNA,
New Delhi : A warning that most of the Himalayan glaciers will melt by 2035 owing to climate change is likely to be retracted after the United Nations body that issued it admitted to a series of scientific blunders.
Two years ago, the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) headed by India's Rajendra Pachauri, issued a benchmark report that claimed to have incorporated the latest and most detailed research into the impact of global warming.
A central claim was that world's glaciers were melting so fast that those in the Himalayas could vanish by 2035.
Memmoo, a phone to speak with many, to launch in Kerala
By IANS,
Kochi: Britain's KloudPaD, a mobile electronics convergence brand, is ready with its non-GSM based wireless open phone memmoo network for consumers in Kerala.
NASA probe finds second mountain range in Pluto’s ‘heart’
Washington : The New Horizons probe has found a second mountain range situated between bright, icy plains and dark, heavily-cratered terrain on the...
Infosys pitches for greater affirmative action
By Rajeev Ranjan Roy, IANS
New Delhi : India's software giant Infosys Technologies wants to expand its affirmative action initiative for the country's disadvantaged groups in association with the government.
Having already trained around 100 graduate and postgraduate science students free of cost as a pilot project in 2007, Infosys has written to the social justice and empowerment ministry, offering to continue the training programme for poor students, mainly from the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC).
Astronauts at space station kick off first of five spacewalks
By Xinhua
Washington : Two astronauts at the International Space Station kicked off the first of a series of spacewalks to assemble new components for the orbital outpost, NASA TV reported Thursday.
The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour's crew member Rick Linnehan and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman stepped out of the station at 9:18 p.m. EDT on Thursday (0118 GMT on Friday). The excursion will last for about six hours and a half.
The computer helper: restarting your PC
By Jay Dougherty, DPA,
Washington : With each new version of Windows, Microsoft promises that you'll have to restart your computer less often. But that promise never seems to materialise. Restarting a Windows PC is not only a dreaded task - thanks to the amount of time required to load Windows - but always seems to be required when you least desire it.
What's behind all of this restart madness, anyway, and is there a way to cut down on the number of times you need to restart? Read on for some answers.
UAE company to invest $2 bn in solar energy technology
By IANS,
Abu Dhabi : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) based energy company Masdar has announced that it would invest $2 billion in solar energy technology, WAM news agency reported Thursday.
Masdar, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi government, plans to set up two plants for manufacturing solar panels.
The first plant would be based in Germany and would become operational in 2009 while the second one would be set up in Abu Dhabi and would become operational in 2010.
Household robots? Sooner than you think
By Saurabh Yadav, IANS,
New Delhi : As tech companies around the world - and in India - develop smarter robots, it is only a matter of time before the big three of housework - vacuuming/cleaning, dishwashing and cooking - are done successfully by robots, thus liberating urban households from dependence on the almighty housemaid.
Japanese auto giant Toyota has announced that it intends to start selling next-generation household robots by 2010 and the South Korean government has said that it aims at having a robot in each home by 2013.
Spineless marine sponge built our nerves
By IANS,
Sydney : Queensland University researchers have traced the evolution of nerves to one of the unlikeliest objects in existence - the marine sponge.
"Sponges have one of the most ancient lineages and don't have nerve cells," informed Bernie Degnan of Queensland University School of Integrative Biology.
"So we are pretty confident it was after the sponges split from trunk of the tree of life and sponges went one way and animals developed from the other, that nerves started to form.
Bangalore’s battle between astronomy and astrology over eclipse
By IANS,
Bangalore : Even as the world looks forward to the rare celestial phenomenon of a total solar eclipse Wednesday, astrologers here say the event could be a bad omen. But brushing aside the fears as superstition, astronomers are urging people to look at it as a scientific phenomenon.
Astrologer Daivajna K.N. Somayaji says the war of Mahabharata, World War II and Indira Gandhi's assassination all followed solar eclipses.
Dolphins surface, rationalists feast during eclipse
By IANS,
Chennai : Joggers on the Chennai beach were surprised to see dolphins swimming and jumping very near the shore early Wednesday, the day of the century's longest eclipse, even as Dravida Kazhagam cadres ate food in public to debunk superstition linked to the celestial event.
As news about the dolphins being close to shore spread, a large number of people gathered on the beach to enjoy seeing them swim.
The sighting of dolphins is being attributed to the solar eclipse and the resultant changes in the sea.
Hypersonic jets that fly at five times the speed of sound
By IANS,
London : NASA is planning to build hypersonic jets that would travel at five times the speed of sound and bring in a new age of aircraft.
Soon, Internet speed 1,000 times faster than yours!
By IANS,
New York: The next dawn of Internet technology is fast coming - at a speed you can't even imagine!
Google is exploring the next...
Iran awaits lift of sanctions to resume crude exports
Tehran: Iran has signed a preliminary document with South Africa to resume its oil exports when the western sanctions against Tehran are lifted, a...
IIT Delhi to conduct 12th edition of Open House
New Delhi : The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, has announced the 12th edition of Open House which will be held on April 23...
Hyderabad IT Summit to replace GITEX India
Hyderabad, Sep 13 (IANS) The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to hold a Hyderabad IT Summit in March 2008. This event will replace the Global Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX India), held annually in the city since 2002.
The state government is scouting for a partner for the event, where many global and national IT companies are expected to participate. A key feature of the three-day event will be an India-US software conference, which is likely to be attended by software giants from both countries.
Kerala to host global conference on Raman spectroscopy
By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : An international conference on "Perspectives in Vibrational Spectroscopy" will be held here next week, drawing in a galaxy of participating scientists from various countries.
The scientists will be speaking on recent developments in Raman spectroscopy, named after India's physicist Nobel laureate C.V. Raman eight decades back.
Raman spectroscopy is a spectroscopic technique used in condensed matter physics and chemistry to study vibrational, rotational, and other low-frequency modes.
Punjab students make 250 km per litre ‘wonder car’
By IANS,
Chandigarh : Imagine doing a 250-km journey from Delhi to Jaipur or Delhi to here in a car that will go the distance in just one-litre of petrol (just over $1)!
That's exactly what students of a technical institute in Punjab - the Rayat Institute of Engineering and Information Technology near Ropar, 50 km from here - claim to have developed.
Truecaller launches new messaging app from India
New Delhi : Truecaller, an app that helps identify unknown numbers and also block spam calls launched a new app on Tuesday that offers...
Indian-origin food scientist gets international award
Wellington : A noted Indian-origin food scientist based in New Zealand has been honoured for his contribution in improving the quality, safety and...
Space industry part of efforts to achieve vision 2020 – Malaysian PM
By NNN-Bernama
Ipoh (Malaysia) : The country's involvement in space industry is part of broader efforts to attain the Vision 2020 objective of turning Malaysia into a developed country, said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
He said to bring about progress, the government had to implement various initiatives, one of which was Malaysia's foray into space science.
Now throw your alarm clock when jolted awake!
By DPA
Tokyo : Who hasn't felt the urge, when jolted awake by a peace-shattering alarm clock, to hurl the thing against the nearest wall? For morning grumps in Japan, there is now an alarm that allows them to let off some steam: a clock that looks like a hand grenade.
As soon as the grenade look-alike with a built-in digital clock sounds off in the mornings, its user can feel free to fire it into a corner. A motion sensor 'disarms' it, and its soft shell minimizes damage to the alarm and the owner's belongings
China’s first lunar probe enters moon’s orbit
Beijing, Nov 5 (Xinhua) China's lunar probe Chang'e-1 successfully entered moon's orbit Monday, becoming China's first circumlunar satellite.
Chang'e-1, following the instructions of the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre (BACC), started braking at 11.15 a.m. at a position around 300 km away from the moon and entered the moon's orbit at around 11.37 a.m. after completing the braking, according to the BACC.
Move over Orkut, here comes India’s BigAdda
By Azera Rahman, IANS
New Delhi : Check the scribbles in your phone scrapbook, send friend requests on the wireless, have discussions in as many as eight different languages...all on India's social networking site, BigAdda, which could give Orkut and Facebook a run for its money.
With an estimated 1.24 million users so far, this five-month old networking site is fast catching up among Indian youth, especially in tier 2 cities like Guwahati, Nashik, Surat, Tuticorin, Bhilai and Amritsar.
India successfully launches Israeli satellite Polaris into orbit
By KUNA
New Delhi : India Monday launched an Israeli satellite "Polaris" from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in the Southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
The satellite was put into orbit by indigenously developed Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), a spokesman of the Indian Space Research Organisation told reporters, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
Last year, Italian satellite Agile was also put into the orbit by PSLV, the spokesman said.
Polaris is a radar-imaging, remote-sensing satellite and weighs about 300 kgs.
ISRO, NASA tie up for space exploration
By IANS,
New Delhi : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has joined hands with the US's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for space explorations, parliament was informed Wednesday.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan said the framework agreement was signed between the two space research organisations for cooperation in the “exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes”.
Bangalore declared as ‘nano city’ of India
By IANS,
Bangalore : Vice President Hamid Ansari Saturday declared Bangalore the "nano city of India" after the Karnataka government announced it would take measures to encourage research and development in nanoscience and facilitate development of the nanotechnology industry in the state.
Making the declaration at the second 'Bangalore Nano 2008' conference-cum-exposition here, Ansari said nanotechnology, which was changing the face of industry and economy, would be a transformative force in India in the coming years.
Humans first ate fish 40,000 years ago
By IANS,
Washington : Freshwater fish remains a staple in many regions of the world, but it remains unclear when it became a year-round diet for early humans. A new study led by Erik Trinkaus, anthropology professor at Washington University, St. Louis, shows it may have happened in China as far back as 40,000 years ago.
Chemical analysis of collagen, a protein, can show whether such fish consumption was an occasional treat or a regular food item.
Nitish Kumar excited about solar eclipse at Taregana
By IANS,
Patna : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is upbeat about watching the total solar eclipse Wednesday along with scientists from across the world at Taregana village, one of the best places in India to view the celestial spectacle.
"I am really upbeat to watch the total solar eclipse along with astro-physicists, scientists and researchers ... a lifetime opportunity," Nitish Kumar said here Monday.
Facebook makes Timeline feature compulsory
By IANS,
London: Social network Facebook has made compulsory its Timeline feature through which all of a user's photographs and wall posts would be seen by friends on their homepage.
When WhatsApp, BBM foxed poll officials
By Mohit Dubey
Lucknow: How does one prevent hate speeches and inflammatory videos from being shared through applications like WhatsApp and on BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)?...
Solar powered-plane breaks non-stop flight record
London : The solar-powered plane Solar Impulse 2 broke the endurance record of 72 hours of non-stop flight over the Pacific on its round-the-world...
‘Helicopter parenting’, bonding issues: New challenges for urban Indian parents
By Sahana Ghosh
Kolkata : Hollywood's latest animation offering "Inside Out" has struck a chord with parents globally. Parallels with modern parenting...
Why India’s $35 computer joke isn’t funny
By Prasanto K. Roy, IANS,
Here we go again! India's Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal has "launched" a $35 computer, evidently a "dream project" of his. The touch-screen, Linux-based device looks iPad-inspired, but we know little about how it works.
It emerged from a student project with a bill of material adding up to $47, a price that the minister wants to bring down to $10 "to take forward inclusive education". It promises browser and PDF reader, wi-fi, 2GB memory, USB, Open Office, and multimedia content viewers and interfaces.
New software that identifies unnamed faces to go public
By IANS,
London : A new software which can identify unnamed faces and then collate photographs of that individual on the net will go public soon.
The software works by scanning a person's configuration of eyes, nose and mouth and claims to be 90 percent accurate.
It can then comb the net for more photographs of the same person and, in tests, locate untagged picture which had not previously been seen by some of the people in them, reports the Telegraph.
The managers of Face.com, which created the software, told the Sunday Times that 5,000 developers were already using it.
Google announces cloud-computing service
By IANS,
San Francisco: Google has announced Compute Engine, a cloud-computing service that allows businesses to run their applications on servers in the tech giant's data center.
Russia to launch US satellite
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : A Russian rocket is set for a seaborne launch Sunday to put a US telecom satellite into orbit, a spokesman for the Sea Launch company said.
Google celebrates MF Husain’s birth centenary with doodle
New Delhi : Google is celebrating the birth centenary of renowned Indian artist Maqbool Fida Husain who died in London on June 9, 2011...
Microsoft launches local data centres in two states
Chennai/New Delhi: Microsoft on Tuesday launched its public cloud services from newly inaugurated local data centres in two states -- Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra...
Hyderabad to host VLSI conference next month
By IANS
Hyderabad : The 21st international conference on very large scale integration (VLSI) design and the 7th international conference on embedded systems will be held here next week to highlight the next generation challenges and opportunities in multicore processor design.
The five-day conference will start Jan 4 and will be held at Hyderabad International Convention Center (HICC). It will be attended by leading VLSI and embedded systems architects and technology experts.
Indian scientists develop GM mice through transgenic sperms
By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS,
New Delhi : Indian scientists have made history by developing transgenic sperms to help mice give birth to genetically modified (GM) pups - an effort that is expected to boost clinical research and drug development across the world.
Scientists at the National Institute of Immunology (NII) here have been successful in inserting human genes inside the testes of male mice and integrating it with the chromosome of the germ cells.
Thus they have created transgenic sperms in a natural manner.
India may launch two more navigation satellites this year
Chennai : India is expected to launch at least two more navigation satellites this year and one more in 2016 to offer satellite navigation...
Smartphones can help improve kids numeracy skills
New Delhi: Smartphone and tablet-based games can help improve literacy and numeracy skills of children, a study done in India has found.
The study was...
Sunita Williams, galaxy of scientists to attend space meet
By IANS
Hyderabad : Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams will be the star speaker at an international astronautical congress that begins here Monday to focus on the growing use of space technology to improve the quality of life.
Over 2,000 space scientists, heads of leading space agencies and astronauts will attend the five-day 58th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2007) which has as it theme 'Touching humanity: Space for improving quality of life'. It will be held at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) near Hitec City.
NASA plans to put man on Mars b 2037
By Fakir Balaji, IANS
Hyderabad : The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to put man on Mars by 2037, a top official of the US space agency said here Monday.
"We are planning many missions. Our long-term game-plan is to put man on Mars by 2037, so that by 2057, when the International Aeronautical Congress (IAC) holds its centenary, we should be celebrating the 20th year of putting man on the red planet," NASA administrator Michael Griffin told the delegates at the first plenary of the 58th IAC on the inaugural day.
Kerala’s first Active Web GIS Service launched
By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : The state-run Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala (IIITM-K) Saturday launched Kerala's first Active Web Geographical Information System (GIS) service in public domain.
The GIS has been developed using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) technology.
"The main objective of Active Web GIS is to make the dynamic geographical information available in a simplified, open Web interface," said IIITM-K Director K.R. Srivathsan, announcing the launch at the concluding session of three-day Free Map Workshop here.
Astrologers to astronomers: Oct 22 good day for moon mission launch
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : There are astrologers among the astronomers in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) too. They have declared that the day set for the country's first moon mission, Oct 22, will be aupicious.
Seven years ago, on Oct 22, 2001, ISRO had successfully launched a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C3) carrying three satellites - one of its own and two from overseas.
Have you experienced a vague feeling of familiarity in a new place?
By IANS,
Washington : You might be overcome with a vague yet familiar feeling when you find yourself in an entirely new place.
Somehow you sense that you have been there before, but when and how, you have not the remotest idea. You are also dead sure that it is your first visit. But something is missing and the experience keeps nagging you.
For a long time, this eerie sensation has been attributed to everything from paranormal disturbances to neurological disorders.
Watching the solar eclipse through ribs and skulls
By IANS,
New Delhi : Unable to buy a solar goggle but keen on watching the century's longest solar eclipse, 25-year-old Anurag Gupta caught hold of an old x-ray scan of his chest and went to the Nehru Planetarium to have a glimpse of the celestial spectacle.
Gupta was not the only one armed with an x-ray. Many others people were seen looking at the sun through scans of their legs, head, hands and other body parts.
Chandrayaan images debunk Apollo 15 conspiracy theory: Scientist
By IANS,
Panaji : In a considerable downer for space conspiracy theorists, Chandrayaan-1's terrain-mapper camera has recorded images of the landing site of US spaceship Apollo 15 and tracks of its lunar rovers that were used by astronauts to travel on moon's surface nearly four decades ago, a scientist said Wednesday.
Prakash Chauhan of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said the images captured by the hyper-spectral camera on board Chandrayaan-1 debunked conspiracy theories that have claimed that the Apollo 15, the fourth US mission to land on the moon was a hoax.
Google features Gandhi doodle
By IANS,
London : The search engine Google Friday decorated its home page with a sketch of Mahatma Gandhi on his 140th birth anniversary.
The page, seen by millions of people around the world every day as they search the internet, showed Gandhi's face - the dome of his head and mushtacheo forming the initial letter 'G'.
India marks ‘Ring of Fire’ spectacle with faith and science
By IANS,
New Delhi : Millions of Hindus bathed in holy rivers and tanks across India after a four-hour celestial spectacle that turned the sun into a 'Ring of Fire', bringing out science enthusiasts to view and record the rare event.
Hundreds of thousands of temples all over the country closed their doors and covered their deities with muslin shrouds during the period when traffic on roads in many cities thinned as people kept indoors.
New dinosaur species discovered
By IANS,
Washington : A team of paleontologists in the US has discovered a new dinosaur species they're calling Abydosaurus.
Abydosaurus belongs to the group of gigantic, long-necked, long-tailed, four-legged, plant-eating dinosaurs such as Brachiosaurus.
In a rare twist, they recovered four heads - two still fully intact - from a quarry in Dinosaur National Monument in eastern Utah in the US. Complete skulls have been recovered for only eight of more than 120 known varieties of Sauropod dinosaurs.
VXL Technologies launches safety device for seafarers
By IANS,
Kolkata: To help the seafarers in distress, VXL Technologies has launched a global positioning system (GPS) based search-and-rescue beacon, called Distress Alert Transmitter (DAT), a company official said Thursday.
"By pressing a button of this transmitter, fishermen can save themselves when they are in danger," the company's executive director B.D. Bose told reporters here.
World’s tiniest camera perches on your finger
By IANS,
London : The one-square-inch camera that sits snugly on your finger can click two megapixel images and even shoot video.
More people now want to be astronauts: NASA
By IANS/EFE,
Washington : NASA has received 6,372 applications for its 2013 class of astronauts, double the usual number, the US space agency said.
Technology will help improve tax compliance: Chidambaram
By IANS,
Ghaziabad: Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Saturday said the government has introduced "world-class" technology that improved tax compliance, resulting in a boost to the exchequer.
Website with 900,000 pictures launched
By IANS,
Mumbai: A website with a bank of over 900,000 news images has been launched to tap the estimated Rs.300 crore image market in India.
India close to having its own satellite navigation system
By Venkatachari Jagannathan,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : India successfully put its fourth navigation satellite into orbit in copy book style on Saturday, bringing the country...
Wipro wins best outsourcing though leadership award
Bengaluru: Indian IT bellwether Wipro Ltd won the best outsourcing thought leadership award for this year from a US-based leading institute, the global...
Fresh estimates of Earth’s liquid assets revealed
Washington : Using NASA's fleet of Earth-observing satellites, scientists have provided estimates for the global water cycle budget for the first decade of the...
Infosys net up in rupees, down in dollars
Bengaluru: Global software major Infosys Ltd on Tuesday reported five percent net profit growth year-on-year (YoY) in rupee terms but a 1.3 percent YoY...
Venus’ S02 from recent or ancient volcanos?
By Xinhua
Beijing : Scientists are debating whether the sulfur dioxide found in the atmosphere of Venus is the product of relatively recent volcanic eruptions or lingers from eruptions as old as 10 million years.
"Volcanoes are a key part of a climate system," said Fred Taylor, a Venus Express scientist from Oxford University.
Sulfur compounds don't stay long in Earth's atmosphere because they eventually react with the planetary surface, but they may take longer to react with surface rocks on Venus.
21 of 23 major cyclones worldwide in Indian region
By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS,
New Delhi : Twenty-one of the 23 most devastating cyclones worldwide during the last 200 years occurred in the northern Indian Ocean zone popularly know as the Indian region.
"Though the Indian region faces only five to six percent of the total number of cyclones erupt every year, the magnitude of these cyclones is very high," said Akhilesh Gupta, scientific advisor to the science and technology ministry.
"We have found that 21 of the 23 devastating cyclones across the globe during the last two centuries occurred in the Indian region," Gupta told IANS.
India to miss total solar eclipse
By IANS,
New Delhi : This year's total solar eclipse on Sunday will be missed by sky gazers in India as the celestial phenomenon will not be visible in Asia.
The eclipse will be visible from parts of the South Pacific Ocean area and South American countries like Argentina and Chile. A total solar eclipse occurs every 18 months.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the earth, and the moon fully or partially covers the sun as viewed from the earth.
China launches new satellite
By IANS,
Beijing : China successfully launched a new satellite into space Sunday, which will improve television and radio broadcasting signals in the country.
The "SinoSat-6" was launched at 12:14 a.m. from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China's Sichuan Province. The Long March 3B rocket took SinoSat-6 into a geostationary transfer orbit 26 minutes after the launch, Xinhua reported.
Indian-origin researcher uses Wi-Fi to power camera
Washington: In a first such demonstration, an Indian-origin researcher has developed a system that uses Wi-Fi internet signals to beam power to remote devices...
New therapy against cancer
Santiago : An innovative immunological therapy that attacks carcinogenic cells in humans by increasing the body's anti-tumour response was presented in Santiago city in...
Lockheed begins construction of US presidential choppers in India
By Gulshan Luthra
New Delhi : Construction of the first lot of six VH 92 Super Hawk helicopters that transport the US president...
Making e-greetings on mobiles livelier
By Jatindra Dash, IANS
Bhubaneswar : Thanks to a young web developer in Orissa, one can now send and receive animated as well as customised e-greetings on GPRS-enabled mobile phones and PCs with Internet connections.
The software application MobileWish, developed by Samir K. Dash of Rourkela city, 450 km from here, has proved to be quite a hit, with its latest version launched just last month.
The software can be downloaded from the website www.mobilewish.com. Dash already claims to have over 2,000 users - most of them from Europe and the US.
Wipro-NewLogic tops in Bluetooth, wireless IP market
By IANS
Bangalore : Wipro-NewLogic, the semiconductor business unit of the IT bellwether, has been ranked as the number one supplier of wireless LAN (local area network) and Bluetooth IP (Intellectual Property) by Gartner in a recent survey.
The Austria-based NewLogic became a wholly owned subsidiary of Wipro Ltd. after the latter's flagship IT division (Wipro Technologies) acquired it in Dec 2005 for $56 million.
BITS to offer technology course for Maytas employees
By IANS
Hyderabad : Maytas Infra Ltd, a Hyderabad-based construction and infrastructure development company Friday entered into a strategic partnership with BITS-Pilani, a global leader in technology education to offer off-campus work-integrated learning programmes to Maytas employees.
The initiative is named as M-BITS. P.K. Madhav, CEO, Maytas Infra and L.K. Maheshwari, vice chancellor, BITS Pilani signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect here Friday.
Gecko inspires creation of ‘sticky nanotubes’ for industry
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers are trying to harness the gecko's ability to scale walls effortlessly, with a practical bearing on military and industrial uses, by developing 'peel test' norms for nanosized manufacturing.
'Peel tests' are used in industry to determine just how much force is required to pull a material off another. But no tests exist for nanoscale structures, said Arvind Raman of Purdue University.
Pollen-coated bullets will help find criminals
By IANS,
London : British researchers have developed a new coating for gun cartridges with pollen and grit to help identify criminals that use firearms.
The new technique involves coating batches of cartridges with unique "nanotags" that are invisible to the naked eye and designed to attach to hands, gloves and clothing of anyone that handles such a coated cartridge. Some of the tags also remain on the spent cartridge casing.
Will Poznan climate conference save the Earth?
By Andrei Fedyashin, RIA Novosti,
Moscow : The UN conference on climate change has been in session in Poznan, Poland, where delegates from 192 countries will prepare the draft of a document intended to replace the 1997 Kyoto protocol on reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG).
The 1997 protocol, known as Kyoto-One, must be replaced with Kyoto-Two in Copenhagen in December 2009. Time must be left for its ratification before it enters into force Jan 1, 2013, as its predecessor expires Dec 31, 2012.
Telenor acquires 49 percent stake in Unitech Wireless
By IANS,
Mumbai : Norway's Telenor has acquired another 15.5 percent stake in Unitech Wireless, the telecom arm of realty major Unitech, for Rs.1,130 crore (Rs.11.3 billion/$237 million), taking its shareholding in the Indian company to 49 percent, it was announced Wednesday.
"Unitech Wireless on May 19, 2009, received an amount of Rs.1,130 crore in aggregate from Telenor Asia Pte Ltd for acquisition of further 15.5 percent stake in Unitech Wireless by way of issuance of fresh shares," the Indian telecom operator said in a regulatory statement.
This IAF pilot chased the sun’s shadow
By IANS,
New Delhi : For an Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter pilot chasing a target at Mach 2.5 or more than twice the speed of sound and yet not managing to play catch seems like something out of a sci-fi film. But for Air Marshal S. Mukerji, chasing the sun's shadow during the total solar eclipse on Oct 24, 1995, that's exactly what happened.
Work begins on Tata helicopter cabins facility
By IANS,
Hyderabad: The work on Tata Advanced Systems' facility on the outskirts of Hyderabad to manufacture Sikorsky helicopter cabins formally began Thursday as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy unveiled a plaque for the project.
The facility to assemble fuselages of Sikorsky S-92 helicopters is coming up at the Aerospace Special Economic Zone (SEZ) being developed by the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) in Adibatla.
Sulphur dioxide level drops in Delhi
By IANS,
New Delhi : The level of sulphur dioxide (SO2), a major pollutant, has decreased in the national capital, data released by the environment ministry revealed Friday.
While the sulphur dioxide levels are within the norms, the nitrogen oxide (NO) and particulate matter 10 (PM10) levels exceed the prescribed norms.
"Decreasing trend of sulphur dioxide may be due to various interventions that have taken place in recent years such as reduction of sulphur in diesel and the use of cleaner fuel such as CNG," a ministry official said.
Effective way found to produce anti-flu vaccines
By IANS,
Washington: A rapid and effective way to produce vaccines against new flu strains has been developed by scientists.
The virus that causes flu frequently changes its genetic code, making it difficult for scientists to think up an effective vaccine.
But now, University of Miami computer scientist Dimitris Papamichail and researchers from Stony Brook University have developed a way to produce shots against new strains.
Faster, larger, quieter superplanes by 2025?
By IANS,
London : US space agency NASA has unveiled three concept designs for quieter and more energy efficient superplanes that could be ready by 2025.
Cocoons to green energy: Indian scientists find the way
By Sahana Ghosh,
Kolkata : Centuries ago trade in Chinese silk spawned the mighty transcontinental network of passages dubbed the Silk Route. Now, Indian scientists...
Israel ready to share aviation security technology with India
Tel Aviv : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country was "ready and willing" to share with India technology in areas such...
India calls for transparency in internet surveillance
By Arul Louis
United Nations : India has called for transparency and accountability in internet security surveillance and for striking balance between human rights and...
AsusTek chairman to visit India for first time
New Delhi : AsusTek chairman Jonney Shih will be in India for the first time, according to a mail sent by the company.
The...
2 plus 2 may not always equal 4
When it comes to percentages, consumer calculating errors can be costly
By TwoCircles.net newsdesk
People deal with percentages every day: the performance of a stock portfolio, a sale at the department store, or the performance of a new hybrid car, are all often expressed as percent changes. As an everyday occurrence, calculating percentages should be second nature to the average person. "Not so," says Akshay Rao, professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.
Computer takes on CA’s job, at least for filing returns
By IANS,
New Delhi : Can the computer replace your chartered accountant? Yes, says a software firm, which is aiming its only product at the small-time taxpayer who can't afford the hassles of finding a person to help file tax returns.
TaxSpanner - an online income tax preparation and filing tool for India at taxspanner.com - offers to help you "e-file" your income tax return in three easy steps.
Delhi-based SpanAcross IT Solutions Private Ltd. director Manoj Yadav said the product was gearing up to work with some big players and was expecting to extend its reach.
Adlabs launches India’s first 6-D movie screen in Agra
By IANS,
Agra/Mumbai : Adlabs Cinema Friday launched India's first six-dimension (6-D) movie screen at Agra, where cutting edge technology would provide a multi-sensory cinematic experience as never experienced by the audience.
Tube Investments to launch electric scooters
By IANS,
Chennai : Tube Investments of India Ltd, part of the Rs.95.82 billion ($2.3 billion) Murugappa group, inaugurated its new electric scooter plant here Thursday.
Tube Investments manufactures cycles, automotive and industrial chains, car door frames and steel tubes.
"The investment at the plant is around Rs.200 million. We will be launching the product sometime this September," TI Cycles senior vice-president Arun Alagappan told IANS.
TI Cycles is the company's cycle manufacturing division.
The initial capacity of the new plant will be 100 scooters a day.
‘Designing Chandrayaan was like writing lyrics to a set tune’
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : While building India's first moon craft, Chandrayaan project director Mylswamy Annadurai was reminded of his engineering college days when he wrote lyrics to the tunes of his classmates.
At that time he used to write poetry - some were published in the college magazine.
India successfully tests supersonic cruise missile
By IANS,
Bhubaneswar: India Sunday successfully test fired BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a vertical launcher fitted on board moving warship INS Ranvir off the east coast, defence sources said.
The missile performed supersonic manoeuvring following the exact flight path and homed in on to the decommissioned target ship INS Meen, the sources said.
"The mission met 100 percent success," Praveen Pathak, additional general manager of BrahMos Aerospace, told IANS over phone from New Delhi.
World’s smallest atomic clock in matchbox size
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers have created an amazing, matchbook-sized atomic clock 100 times smaller than commercial versions with both military and commercial applications.
Life ruled out on Mars after 600 mn year drought
By IANS,
London : Arid conditions on Mars for more than 600 million years may have been too hostile for any life to survive on its surface
Russian scientists revive plants frozen for 30,000 years
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : A team of Russian biophysicists has successfully grown ancient plants from tissue material that stayed frozen in the Siberian region for about 30,000 years.
Airport scanner can damage diabetes device
By IANS,,
Washington : Full-body scanners used at airports can damage the insulin pump or continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device used by diabetics, caution experts.
Facebook faces action over ’emotion contagion’ study
Washington: US privacy group Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) has filed a formal complaint with the Federate Trade Commission (FTC) over Facebook's use of...
Adani group to set up solar power parks in TN
Chennai : Gujarat-based Adani group on Saturday signed an agreement with the Tamil Nadu government to supply 648 MW of solar power from...
India launches satellite-based air navigation services
New Delhi: India on Monday launched its satellite-based air navigation services, thereby joining a select league comprising the US, Europe Union (EU) and Japan...
Crude prices fall further with Iran n-deal
New Delhi: As Iran and the six world powers reached a nuclear agreement by their deadline, crude oil prices fell further on Tuesday, pulled...
‘Iran n-deal done, yet not a time to celebrate’
Beijing: The Tehran nuclear deal has finally been done, yet this is "not a time to celebrate as Iran and the international community should...
Truncated Delhi Metro service till 2 p.m.
New Delhi: Due to maintenance work ongoing on a part of a track, Delhi Metro will run single-line train services between the Mandi House...
India, US to enhance cyber security cooperation
Washington : India and the US have committed to robust cooperation on cyber issues to increase global cyber security and promote the digital economy.
They...
US says Iran’s missile test may have violated UN resolution
Washington : "Strong indications" showed that Iran's test of a new precision-guided ballistic missile on Sunday violated a UN Security Council resolution, the White...
He’s built an aircraft, now wants full-time job!
By Sanu George
Thiruvananthapuram : Saji Thomas is 45 years old from Kerala and, while God did not give him the faculties of...
Infosys-enabled UAE airline website a hit in the Gulf
By IANS
Bangalore : The website of the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) airline Etihad Airways, revamped by Infosys Technologies Ltd, has witnessed a dramatic boost in traffic, with the number of visitors increasing by almost 95 percent.
According to a statement from the Bangalore-based IT firm here Saturday, the website became a hit in the Gulf region for its customer friendliness, business strategy and design in the first 60 days of its re-launch.
Insects use plants as ‘green telephone lines’
By IANS,
New York : Some insects that live above and below the ground communicate with each other by using plants as "green telephone lines", a new study has found.
Subterranean insects issue chemical warning signals via the leaves of the plant. This way, insects above the ground are alerted that the plant is already "occupied", according to the study by Dutch scientists.
This messaging enables spatially-separated insects to avoid each other, so that they do not unintentionally compete for the same plant, ScienceDaily reported.
Botanist on mission to save rare Indian herbal remedies
By Shudip Talukdar, IANS,
Lucknow : Ethno-botanist Deepak Acharya has spent eight years in the Satpura mountains in Madhya Pradesh, parts of which lie cut off from civilisation, driven by a single goal -- documenting and salvaging India's traditional herbal remedies before they are lost to the world.
Magic of 3G services in India, PM launches ‘Jaadu’
By IANS,
New Delhi : Indian users can now access a range of multiple utilities on their mobile phones as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday launched the state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd's (MTNL) third generation (3G) service, called 'Jaadu' or magic.
"I congratulate MTNL and the communications minister for launching the 3G service," the prime minister said.
Indiegenous combat jet successfully lands at high altitude air base
New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS) India's indigenously developed Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) has achieved another milestone by successfully landing at the Leh airbase in Jammu and Kashmir, one of the highest airfields in the world at 10,600 ft, an official said Tuesday.
Technology vital to counter terror: PM
By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said the role of technology in supporting India's counter terrorism and internal security efforts was not being given adequate emphasis and there was need for greater investment in security technologies.
Gallagher pictured by Google’s new mapping service
By IANS,
London : Oasis lead singer Liam Gallagher was photographed by Google's new mapping service as he was having a beer.
The 36-year-old Gallagher was having a drink at Street View, reported thesun.co.uk. He spotted the Google camera car taking his pictures and pointed at it. But his face was blurred since it is Google's policy to not reveal anyone's identity.
A source said: "If there's one man you'd recognise having a pint, it's Liam Gallagher. He's often in The Queens. He must be the most high-profile celeb to be caught on Google Street View."
Obama urges UN to punish North Korea for missile launch
By IANS,
Prague : US President Barack Obama has said that North Korea violated international rules when it tested a rocket capable of sending weapons at long range, and called on the UN Security Council to take action, a media report said.
"This provocation underscores the need for action, not just this (Sunday) afternoon at the Security Council but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons," Obama said.
"Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something," the New York Times quoted Obama as saying Sunday.
Indian IT industry on alert to prevent swine flu fallout
By Pupul Dutta and Fakir Balaji, IANS,
New Delhi/Bangalore: The $60-billion Indian IT industry is on an alert mode on account of the pandemic swine flu that has affected travel and led to postponement of events, according to a top industry official.
"Though we are taking preventive measures, we have postponed a few events, including one in Pune," said Som Mittal, president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), the industry's representative body.
Agra based firm launches free astrology software for mobiles
By IANS,
Agra : Star gazers and those interested in astrology can now prepare their horoscopes on their mobile phone itself, and that too free of cost.
A free software developed by Ojas Softech's research wing in Agra, was Wednesday launched by Surendra Sharma of the Brahmin Maha Sabha.
"With the number of star gazers going up and the younger generation getting hooked to astrology, the new software will prove a useful tool," Sharma said.
For those who follow Jyotish (astrology) personally and professionally, Ojas has launched free Jyotish software for mobile phones.
Plant develops echo to attract bats
By IANS,
London : A rainforest vine has evolved dish-shaped leaves which develop echoes to attract bats for pollination, researchers claim.
Russia launches US satellite
By IANS,
Moscow : Russia launched a 5,600-kg US communications satellite Sunday from a seaborne launch platform in the Pacific Ocean, Xinhua reported.
Kerala must go for modern farm technology: Chandy
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala should embrace modern technology in agriculture, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said Saturday.