Sunita Williams wants to see Indians smiling from the moon
By IANS
New Delhi : Indian students have enough capability and they should concentrate on exploring the universe more, American-Indian astronaut Sunita Williams said Monday. She expressed her desire to see Indian students smiling from the moon.
"There is a lot to know and explore about the universe. Now you should dream of going to the moon, Mars and space. I want to see your smiling faces from the moon," Williams said while interacting with school students in the capital.
Facebook users’ details on sale in New Zealand
By IANS,
Auckland : A Russian computer hacker is suspected to have set up an underground nexus in New Zealand for selling secret details of people using online social networking site Facebook.
Police are hunting the hacker who may have set up shop in New Zealand, selling the account details of millions of Facebook users, tvnz.co.nz reported.
Detectives from the National Cyber Crime Centre are investigating whether the hacker Kirllos is using New Zealand as a base.
He is offering to sell Facebook user names and passwords on an underground hacker forum.
Apple pays tribute to late co-founder Steve Jobs
By IANS,
Washington: Apple Friday paid tribute to its late co-founder Steve Jobs with a heartfelt video and a note from Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook.
GII: A group that tracks Indian cyberspace
By Frederick Noronha, IANS,
Bangalore : Does India have too many "cyber law experts"? What's wrong with the Blackberry service in India? How is BSNL's IPO shaping up? These and several such issues routinely crop up on India-GII.
So what is India-GII? Located in cyberspace, it is a network of techies and others fleshing out cyber issues in the country, tracking its progress from one of the most expensive and monopolistic telecom markets to one of the most competitive.
India-GII describes itself as a "list (that) has existed since 1995".
A worm in the apple: Macs in crosshairs of hackers
By Sven Appel,DPA,
Munich : It all used to be simpler for Mac users: viruses and other malicious software affected Windows computers, not them. That is slowly changing. "The threats have intensified," says Candid Wuest from anti-virus maker Symantec.
Tarang Software forays into Saudi Arabia
By IANS,
Mumbai : Tarang Software Technologies, a leading provider of point of sale (PoS) and mobile payment solutions, Thursday announced that it has acquired Saudi Arabia-based software major Intersoft.
Headquartered in Riyadh, Intersoft is a specialised provider of PoS solutions, a fully integrated software package for retailers, and has branches spread all over the Middle East.
Earlier, Intersoft had partnered with Tarang to develop several mobile payment solutions in Saudi Arabia.
Goa launches ambitious broadband network
By IANS
Panaji (Goa) : Goa has unveiled plans for a super-ambitious broadband network project to build a state that's "enabled by IT to be efficient and accountable with a global thinking approach".
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the Goa Broadband Network (GBBN) Friday amid both expectations and apprehensions as to how exactly the project will work and at what cost.
Microsoft profits decline
By DPA,
New York : Software giant Microsoft Corp has reported sales of $13.1 billion for the latest quarter, well below Wall Street expectations of more than $14 billion.
The PC market has dwindled for three straight quarters.
The company, based in Redmond, Washington, saw profits for the fourth quarter of its budget year drop 29 percent amid falling demand for its Office software package and Windows operating system.
"The economy continues to be challenging, and we need to lift our game to another level," chief financial officer Chris Liddell said.
Singapore welcomes Iran nuclear agreement
Singapore: Singapore welcomes the agreement reached by Iran and the major world powers over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, the ministry of foreign affairs...
Climate experts put EU case to India on emissions trading
By DPA,
Potsdam (Germany) : Top European Union experts on climate change briefed Indian scientists near Berlin Tuesday on an ambitious programme to "trade" carbon-dioxide emissions round the globe so as to cut the overall pollution level.
Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, a leading German scientist who works from Potsdam, argued that India would be a beneficiary for decades on end from a fair scheme, since it could earn income by selling the valuable rights.
NASA schedules final shuttle launches through 2010
By SPA,
Washington : The US space agency NASA issued a schedule Monday for the final 10 shuttle programme missions in 2009-10, DPA reported.
The list includes one launch to the Hubble Space Telescope, seven missions to continue construction on the orbiting International Space Station and two unspecified flights available for unspecified purposes.
New tech helps physically impaired enter virtual worlds
By IANS,
Washington : Relying on fleeting brain waves, a futuristic technology enables people with severe muscle disorder to operate computers and enter a 3-D virtual world to chat or stroll.
The technology, demonstrated by Junichi Ushiba of Keio University, opens up a world of possibilities for serious motion-impaired people to communicate with others and to work normally.
This marriage of leading-edge technologies in brain science and the Internet also heralds the world's first successful example to help the physically impaired meet people in the virtual world.
NASA could land probe on asteroid hurtling towards Earth
By IANS,
London : NASA is considering plans to land a probe on an asteroid that is on a potential collision course with the Earth.
The plan mirrors the plot of the 1998 Hollywood film "Armageddon", in which the White House sends a spaceship to land on an asteroid which is hurtling towards the Earth.
Asteroid 1999 RQ36, which has a 1-in-1,000 chance of hitting the Earth before the year 2200, would cause an explosion equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs detonating at once, reports the Telegraph.
World leaders condemn North Korean rocket launch
By DPA,
Washington : The US Sunday led the international condemnation of North Korea's controversial rocket launch with President Barack Obama calling it a "provocative act".
"North Korea's development and proliferation of ballistic missile technology pose a threat to the north-east Asian region and to international peace and security," Obama said in a statement issued from Prague, where he is to attend a US-European Union Summit.
Aksh Optifibre launches IPTV ‘icontrol’ in rural Rajasthan
By IANS,
Jaipur : Optical fibre manufacturer Aksh Optifibre Ltd, in association with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Thursday announced the launch of its IPTV brand 'icontrol' in Kukus of Jaipur district, making it the first IPTV service to be launched in rural India.
Simultaneously, Aksh also announced the commercial launch of icontrol in Jaipur, which will now enable BSNL broadband customers to avail IPTV (internet protocol television) service.
Astronomers identify second-brightest star in Milky Way
By Xinhua,
Washington : A contender for the title of the brightest star in our Milky Way has been unearthed in the dusty metropolis of the galaxy's center, according to a new study in an upcoming issue of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Nicknamed the "Peony nebula star," the bright stellar bulb was revealed by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and other ground-based telescopes. It blazes with the light of an estimated 3.2 million suns, reported a team of German astronomers.
Avesthagen founder receives top French award
By IANS,
Bangalore : Villoo Morawala Patell, founder-chairperson of India's leading life sciences firm Avesthagen Ltd, was late Wednesday honoured with a top civilian award by the French government for her entrepreneurship and significant contribution in the scientific field.
The Officier de L'Ordre National du Merite" (Officer of the National Order of Merit) award was presented to Patell by French ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont at a felicitation ceremony here.
Indian-American helps design energy-saving PCs
By IANS,
Washington : Personal computers may soon save large amounts of energy by "sleep talking".
Doctoral researcher Yuvraj Agarwal of the University of California San Diego (UCSD) in collaboration with computer scientists has created a plug-and-play hardware prototype for personal computers (PCs) that induces a new energy saving state known as "sleep talking".
With perfect launch, Chandrayaan heads for the moon
By Venkatachari Jagannathan and Fakir Balaji, IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : A perfect launch sent Chandrayaan-1 on an epic voyage of discovery to the moon Wednesday morning, marking a giant scientific leap for India.
“To our luck, rain gods and clouds kept away. They also kept away lightning,” said a jubiliant G. Madhavan Nair, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), after the moon probe took off at 6.22 a.m.
Brain regulatory gene identified
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists have identified a gene that seems to be a master regulator of human brain development.
The human brain is a marvel of nature with more than 100 billion neurons and billions of other specialised cells.
A team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UWM) have identified a gene - known as Pax6 - which guides undifferentiated stem cells to tightly defined pathways in becoming different types of cells in the brain.
Yahoo! hosting 24-hour ‘hacking’ event in India’s tech hub
By IANS,
Bangalore : Global search engine Yahoo! is hosting a non-stop 24-hour "hacking" event from Saturday noon in this tech hub where about 300 whiz-kids will use its web tools and services to develop new applications, a company official said Friday.
"About 300 developers across India will participate in the 24-hour hacking event, which involves using our web tools, services and application programming interfaces (APIs) to innovate new solutions for our global netizens," Yahoo! India Research and Development Head Shouvick Mukherjee told IANS here.
Russia in talks with India for transfer of technologies in other fields
Moscow : Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom is in talks with India on transfer of other nuclear technologies in other fields while the second...
Why is the sun’s core cooler than its crust?
By IANS
Washington : Why is our sun's outer crust some 200-300 times hotter than its core? One lot of astrophysicists claimed to have the answer last year. But now another group says the first lot got it all wrong, leaving the paradox unexplained.
The sun's core is about 6,000 degrees Celsius, but its outer layer, the corona, is far hotter. It's a phenomenon that influences solar weather forecasting and the theory behind fusion reactors.
India can send crew to space in seven years
By IANS
Washington : India will be able to send manned space flights in seven to eight years, G. Madhavan Nair, head of India's space programme, said here.
"We have sensitised the government on manned space flights. In seven to eight years, we will be able to carry crew to orbit and back," Nair, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Space Commission, said Wednesday.
He said India believes that space is the next frontier and international cooperation rather than competition in this field will be the future.
‘Big mistake’ if US blocks overseas skilled workers: Bill Gates
By IANS,
New Delhi : Microsoft founder Bill Gates Friday said it would be a "big mistake" if the US curbs the entry of skilled workers from abroad, rallying behind the "smart people" from countries like India that has a globally recognised outsourcing industry.
He also said Microsoft will like to partner the Indian government in its ambitious plan to give a unique identity number and a biometric card to each of its 1.17 billion people.
Exposed to sunlight, cotton fabric cleans itself
By IANS,
Washington: Scientists from China are developing a cotton fabric that can clean itself of stains and bugs when exposed to ordinary sunlight.
Technology Frontiers targets retail chains and malls
By IANS
Chennai : City-based Technology Frontiers (I) Pvt Ltd (TFPL) is targeting growing malls and retail chains for its digital kiosks, said a top official here.
"We have signed deals with Future Group to install our kiosks in their malls," M.S. Muralidharan, managing director of TFPL, told IANS on the sidelines of the press conference after launching a multi-broadcast digital kiosk TOUCHME Tuesday.
Adding lime to seawater could cut back carbon levels
By IANS,
Washington : Adding lime to seawater could dramatically reverse carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere, according to a new study.
However, the idea was thought impracticable because of the cost of obtaining lime and the quantity of carbon released in the process.
Gilles Bertherin, of Shell, which is funding the project, said: “There are potentially huge environmental benefits from addressing climate change - and adding calcium hydroxide to seawater will also mitigate the effects of ocean acidification.”
Microsoft launches Office 2010 for global customers
By IANS,
San Francisco : Software giant Microsoft Corp. has rolled out its latest version of application software, Office 2010, for customers across the world.
The company also announced Wednesday the release of Microsoft SharePoint 2010, a web-based collaboration software, as well as the new version of diagramming programme and project management software, Xinhua reported.
"Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 define the future of productivity," Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft's business division, said.
Sea-level to rise by one-metre this century: scientists
By DPA,
Berlin : Global warming calculations have been too optimistic, and the sea level round the globe is likely to rise a full metre this century, two senior German scientists warned Wednesday.
Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, who heads the Potsdam Institute for Research on Global Warming Effects and Jochem Marotzke, a leading meteorologist, said UN-backed data on climate change, predicting a rise of 18 to 59 centimetres, was out of date.
"We now have to expect that the sea level will rise by a metre this century," said Schellnhuber in Berlin.
Last decade warmest on record, says NASA
By IANS,
Washington : The last decade from January 2000 to December 2009 was the warmest on record, according to a NASA analysis.
Looking back to 1880, when modern scientific instrumentation became available to monitor temperatures precisely, a clear warming trend is present, although there was a levelling off between the 1940s and 1970s.
Amazing super 3-D camera to revolutionise photography
By IANS
Washington : Imagine a camera that sees the world through thousands of tiny lenses, each a miniature camera unto itself. Now stop imagining and start imaging.
Researchers at Stanford University already have the prototype of just such a gadget: a 3-megapixel chip, with all its micro-lenses adding up to a staggering 12,616 cameras.
The multi-aperture camera looks and feels like a small cell phone camera. And the final product may cost less than a digital camera, the researchers say, because the quality of its main lens is no longer of paramount importance.
Experimental flight of GSLV Mark 3 in December: ISRO chief
New Delhi : India will conduct an experimental test of its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark 3 in mid-December, Indian Space Research Organisation...
Don’t panic when fuel warning lights up
Berlin, Sep 13 (DPA) Motorists should not immediately panic when the warning lamp lights up indicating that the fuel tank is empty because most cars have an adequate reserve to last for a stretch of 50 km, according to a test by the German magazine AUTO/Strassenverkehr.
The magazine tested 10 different car models with some vehicles even managing to drive a distance of 150 km before coming to a standstill after the warning lamp lit up.
Saudi prince buys into Twitter
By IANS,
London: Saudi billionaire prince Alwaleed bin Talal has invested $300 million in the microblogging company Twitter, becoming its latest major investor.
Extreme weather can trigger epidemics, says study
By IANS,
Sydney : Climatic extremes like frequent droughts and floods, associated with global warming, can trigger epidemics that could potentially wipe out livestock or wildlife.
A new study suggests that such extremes are capable of altering normal host-pathogen relationships, causing a “perfect storm” of multiple infectious outbreaks.
Indian school girl’s project adjudged best by NASA
By IRNA,
New Delhi : A project on space satellites submitted by a Indian girl school student from Rourkela, the steel city in Orissa has been selected as the best by NASA.
The project by Prateeksha Das of Class XII in the Ispat English Medium School run by Rourkela Steel Plant, won a prize of $ 2,000. She has also been selected for the prestigious Bruce M-Clark Memorial award.
Egg-sized robots to monitor N-plants
By IANS,
Washington : Now small, hen-egg sized robots, can directly monitor nuclear reactors and pinpoint corrosion.
NZ astronomers measure smallest planet outside solar system
By Xinhua,
Wellington : Researchers in New Zealand have made the initial measurements of the smallest planet found outside the solar system, the New Zealand Press Association reported on Saturday.
Using the new MOA-II telescope at the Mt John Observatory, near Temuka in South Canterbury, they found the planet outside the solar system which is three times bigger than Earth.
More than 300 planets have been found outside the solar system, and the latest is the smallest planet orbiting a normal star, which is as little as one 20th the mass of the Earth's sun.
NASA’s Phoenix retests release of Martian soil
By Xinhua,
Washington : Engineers and scientists operating NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander decided early Tuesday to repeat a practice test of releasing Martian soil from the scoop on the lander's Robotic Arm.
When the arm collected and released its first scoopful of soil on Sunday, some of the sample stuck to the scoop. The team told Phoenix Tuesday morning to lift another surface sample and release it, with more extensive imaging of the steps in the process.
E. coli bacterium model of super industrial efficiency
By IANS,
Washington : E. coli bacterium, one of the best-studied single-celled organisms around, is a master of industrial efficiency. This bacterium can be thought of as a factory with just one product - itself.
It exists to make copies of itself and its business plan is to make them at the lowest possible cost, with the greatest possible efficiency. Efficiency, in the case of a bacterium, can be defined by the energy and resources it uses to maintain its plant and produce new cells versus the time it expends on the task.
Scientists find signs of flowing water on Mars
By IANS/WAM,
Abu Dhabi : The first signs of flowing water on Mars have been discovered by US scientists, the journal Science reported.
Iran to launch communications satellites
By IANS,
Tehran : Iran Sunday unveiled its plans to launch two homemade communications satellites into orbit by March next year.
Mohammad Ali Forghani, head of Iran's space agency, said the satellites would be displayed to public by mid this year, Iranian Fars news agency reported.
"These two satellites, which will be tasked with taking photos and sending them to the earth, will be sent to low Earth orbit," he said.
The satellites were jointly developed by the Iranian Space Agency and Iranian universities.
Don’t have a laptop? Try the virtual computer!
By Jeevan Mathew Kurian, IANS,
Kozhikode : You have heard of desktops and laptops, but now two engineering students in Kerala have come up with a virtual computer that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. All it needs is an internet connection.
K. Ansar and P.P. Ismail, final year computer science students at an engineering college in Vatakara, about 45 km from here, have set up www.bloxtr.com, the prototype of a virtual computer in which you can store all your important documents, favourite music, colourful pictures and even videos.
Tourist spaceship prototype unveiled in Britain
By IANS,
London : The London Eye gives you a bird's eye-view of the city at 440 feet. How would you like to go higher, say, 440,000 feet?
A prototype of the craft you would ride for such a space venture was unveiled in Salford Tuesday. The rocket maker, Steve Bennett, says it is possible in the very near future for tourists to take a ride in outer space.
KLM opts for Kerala firm’s crew management solution
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : IBS Software Services, a provider of information technology (IT) solutions to the travel, transportation and logistics industry, has signed an agreement with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for providing a crew management solution.
The company said here Thursday the airline will gradually replace the existing mainframe system with IBS crew management solution AvientCrew.
AvientCrew will help KLM manage all aspects of their crew operations - from planning vacations and roster systems, to tracking performance.
Rural areas fuel telecom growth in India
By Pupul Dutta, IANS,
New Delhi : When most sectors are bearing the brunt of global economic slowdown, India's telecom industry is continuing with its high growth saga, thanks to the expanding subscriber base in the rural areas.
India last month saw the highest number of subscriber addition, 15.87 million, about three times the population of countries like Finland, Denmark and Singapore.
US, Russian astronauts arrive at space station
By DPA,
Washington : A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying two US astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut arrived Thursday at the orbiting International Space Station (ISS).
The Soyuz lifted off Tuesday from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan with Americans Doug Wheelock, Shannon Walker and Russian Fyodor Yurchikhin aboard.
The 2221 GMT docking occurred over Argentina. It was the combined 100th flight to the ISS by US space shuttles and Russian Soyuz capsules.
China Launches Two Natural Disaster Monitoring Satellites
By Bernama,
Taiyuan : China launched two satellites for monitoring ecological environment and natural disasters at around 11:25 a.m. here on Saturday.
China's Xinhua news agency reported that the two satellites, launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi Province, were carried by a Long March 2C rocket.
They were expected to enhance the country's capacity to prevent and reduce natural disasters, according to Bai Zhaoguang, a leading scientist and designer of the satellites.
Data from Chinese lunar orbiter available to all
By Xinhua
Shanghai : Scientists and astronomy enthusiasts all over the country all have access to data sent back from China's first lunar orbiter Chang'e-I, a leading scientist in the program said here Sunday.
Computer virus attacks German defence computers
BY DPA,
Berlin : A computer virus that has already hit defence computers in Britain and France has spread to German military systems, the defence ministry in Berlin said Saturday.
The Conficker computer worm has exasperated computer users right around the globe in recent weeks, but security-conscious military users had been thought to be better prepared to repel it.
The spokesman said several German armed forces sites had to be disconnected from the military network after hundreds of computers were taken over by Conficker. However, no other disruptions were reported.
Unitech allotted spectrum for three service areas
By IANS,
New Delhi : Real estate major Unitech has been allotted 4.4 MHz of spectrum in three service areas, the company said Monday.
“The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued the letter to the company`s telecom subsidiaries for allotment of 4.4 MHz of spectrum in 1800 MHz GSM band in respect of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Kolkata service areas,” a company statement said.
With this, the company has been allotted initial spectrum in 16 service areas out of the total 22 service areas.
Keeping distributed families together through technology
By IANS,
Hyderabad : Buddibot, a web applications company, has developed a web-based communication tool to keep distributed families connected.
This tool, comprising a mobile webcam, will help elderly people remain in touch with their children studying and working abroad through video and audio streams.
Buddibot Thursday launched the subscription-based communication tool, targeting non-resident Indians (NRIs).
Researchers to explore ‘lost world’ beneath Caribbean
By IANS,
London : Scientists are set to explore the world's deepest undersea volcanoes and find out what lives in a 'lost world' five kilometres beneath the Caribbean.
The team of researchers led by Jon Copley of University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science, will explore the Cayman Trough, which lies between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
This rift in the Caribbean seafloor plunges to a depth of more than 5,000 metres. It contains the world's deepest chain of undersea volcanoes, which have yet to be explored.
Behind India’s rise as IT power lies 25 years of C-DOT
By Sam Pitroda, IANS,
This month marks the 25th anniversary of what is now widely acknowledged to be India's first defining steps towards an information and communications revolution. It was in August 1984 that the Centre for Development of Telematics or C-DOT was set up with the specific intention of indigenising digital switching technology to meet India's unique requirements.
New digital map reveals more secrets about Antarctica
By IANS,
Sydney: A new digital map configured by British and Australian scientists has revealed astonishing new geological facts about Antarctica, not known till now.
Watch out for brightest Jupiter on July 9
By IANS,
New Delhi : Keep your telescopes handy for a wonderful celestial activity - Jupiter will shine at its brightest when it aligns directly with the Sun and Earth Wednesday.
“It is an interesting phenomenon as Jupiter and Earth would be in a straight line. Both the planets come closest at this time of the year and Jupiter, in turn, shines at its brightest,” said Nehru Planetarium director N. Ratnashree.
Ratnashree said if we could see Earth from Jupiter then it would be passing in front of the Sun.
Strong demand for IT services, says Wipro’s Premji
Bengaluru: There was a strong demand for IT services in Europe and the US where the economy gained a lot of strength, Wipro chairman...
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.
Two more carriers offer pan-India number portability
New Delhi: Two more service providers will provide pan-India mobile number portability from Friday, enabling customers to retain their mobile phone number while relocating...
TCS bags $100 mn deal with NXP
By IANS,
Mumbai : India's leading IT firm Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) has signed a five-year contract worth $100 million with Dutch chip maker NXP Semiconductors B.V., founded by Philips.
TCS will provide consultancy services as well as application management, development and support services across NXP's supply chain operations.
TCS chief operating officer and executive director N. Chandrasekaran said, "The engagement with NXP is a perfect demonstration of our business credentials in a specialist sector and enables TCS to develop a deep relationship with NXP."
Day and night to be equally long Saturday
By IANS,
New Delhi : Sky gazers in the capital are looking forward to watch the spring equinox Saturday - when the sun shines directly overhead as viewed from the earth, making the night and day equally long.
According to scientists, equinox marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and the word 'equinox' is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night). Around the equinox, the night and day are approximately equally long.
Wi-fi in homes can be hacked in five seconds
By IANs,
London : Wireless internet networks in millions of homes can be hacked in less than five seconds.
Security flaw tarnishes Firefox download record
By DPA,
San Francisco : The new version of the Firefox browser was downloaded over eight million times in its first 24 hours of release in what organisers claimed was a world record.
But the success was tempered by reports from a software security company that Firefox 3.0 contained a serious security flaw that potentially lets an attacker take over a PC if a user clicks on a booby-trapped link.
According to the Mozilla foundation that released the new browser, the software was downloaded 8.3 million times in its first 24 hours of release starting Tuesday morning.
Satellite collision reflects necessity for int’l laws: Russian expert
By Yu Maofeng, Nie Yunpeng, Xinhua,
Moscow : The collision between a Russian satellite and a U.S. satellite highlights the growing importance of making international laws to monitor human activities in space,a Russian military expert told Xinhua in an interview on Friday.
The root cause of the Russia-U.S. satellite collision is the lack of international rules on space activities, said Leonid Ivashov, the president of Russia's Academy on Geopolitical Affairs.
India to set up 550 more weather stations to help farmers
By IANS,
New Delhi : India will set up 550 additional Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) and 1,350 automatic rain gauge (ARG) stations to provide district level agricultural met advisory to millions of farmers.
Inaugurating the district level agro-met advisory service (DASS), Minister of Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said this will help farmers to take advantage of benevolent weather and minimise the crop damage due to worst weather conditions.
Hackers help fight natural disasters too!
By IANS,
Washington : During the biannual event called the Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK), hackers worldwide develop software that can help identify and reduce risks from natural hazards.
INSAT 3D to boost weather forecasting accuracy
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : India is expected to launch the INSAT 3D satellite later this year to boost its weather forecasting accuracy, Shailesh Naik, Secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences, said here Tuesday.
"The country will achieve more accuracy level within a few years in short-term and long-term weather forecasts," Naik said while delivering a lecture on 'Weather, Climate and Environment' at the ongoing 97th Indian Science Congress.
Previously unknown species of dinosaur discovered in Mexico
By RIA Novosti
Mexico City : Scientists in northern Mexico have unearthed evidence of a previously unknown species of plant-eating dinosaur that inhabited the Coahuila desert more than 72 million years ago, national media said.
The creature had three giant horns, which are thought to have helped it attract females and fight predators.
NASA technology detects ruins under rainforest
By IANS,
Washington : A flyover of Belize's thick jungles, employing NASA technology, has revolutionised archaeology by detecting ancient Mayan ruins through impenetrable jungles.
University of Central Florida (UCF) researchers led a NASA-funded research project in April 2009 that collected the equivalent of 25 years worth of data in four days.
Paper thin tablet!
By IANS,
London: A revolutionary tablet as thin and flexible as paper that can be twisted or dropped without suffering damage is set to be showcased soon in American city of Las Vegas.
Space shuttle Discovery heads home after 14-day mission
By DPA,
Washington : The US space shuttle Discovery began its earthward journey Wednesday after completing a 14-day mission to carry out further construction and maintenance work on the International Space Station (ISS).
The shuttle is scheduled for landing Saturday at the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Caneveral, Florida.
Discovery undocked from the ISS for the return journey after a mission in which astronauts carried out three spacewalks chiefly devoted to installing and preparing the Japanese scientific laboratory module Kibo.
This February was the Earth’s ninth warmest since 1880
By IANS,
Washington : The combined land and ocean surface average temperature for February was the ninth warmest since records began in 1880, according to an analysis by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The analysis in NOAA's National Climatic Data Centre (NCDC) global reports are based on preliminary data, which are subject to revision. Additional quality control is applied to the data when later reports are received several weeks after the end of the month and as increased scientific methods improve NCDC's processing algorithms.
Brand logo can make you think differently
By IANS
New York : Whether you are a Mac person or a PC person, even a brief exposure to the Apple logo may make you behave more creatively, according to a new study.
Most people are exposed to thousands of brand images daily and it is assumed this does not affect those exposed in any way. But the new study has demonstrated that even fleeting glimpses of logos can affect people quite dramatically, ScienceDaily reported.
The study, by Duke and Waterloo University researchers, has been published in the forthcoming issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.
Mysterious object seen refuelling from sun
By IANS,
London : An orbiting NASA space telescope has captured the footage of a planet-sized object flying close to the sun, and extending a "refuelling tube" into the sun's surface.
India’s probe first to sniff water on moon
By IANS,
Bangalore : India's Moon Impact Probe (MIP) was the first instrument to detect water on the moon - way back in November last year when the spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 entered lunar orbit, space agency chief G. Madhavan Nair said here Friday.
"I am happy to share for the first time with all of you that the MIP, while it was descending from Chandrayaan to the moon Nov 14, 2008, picked up strong signals of water particles on the lunar surface," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman told reporters here.
NASA delays flight of Endeavor to avoid space jam
By IANS,
Washington : NASA has postponed the launch of its Endeavor space shuttle by 10 days after a scheduling conflict with Russia's Progress space freighter.
Researchers overcome kinks in solar energy storage
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers have created a new material that overcomes two of the major obstacles to storing solar energy: it absorbs all the energy in sunlight, generating electrons in a way that makes them easier to capture.
Ohio State University chemists and their colleagues combined electrically conductive plastic with metals including molybdenum and titanium to create the hybrid material.
Power supply snag hits Indian communication satellite
By IANS,
Chennai : Scientists of the Indian space agency are working to fix a power snag that switched off 12 transponders of the INSAT-4B comunication satellite Wednesday night, affecting services of some television channels and telecom operators.
"An expert team is looking at the possibilities of partial utilisation of some of the transponders that were switched off. The team is working to restore the services at the earliest," S. Satish, director (Publications and Public Relations), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told IANS from Bangalore over phone.
Microsoft’s Windows 7 to debut Oct 22
By DPA,
San Francisco : Microsoft said Tuesday that it will debut its new operating system Oct 22 as it seeks to block a growing challenge from Google, Apple, and the open-source Linux operating system.
The world's largest software company is releasing Windows 7 just 33 months after launching Windows Vista which has been widely panned for its demanding hardware requirements and slow response time.
Interplanetary voyages – Man’s quest for a second home
By Andrei Kislyakov, RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Deep space exploration is becoming an ever bigger part of national space programmes. Currently, missions to the Moon and Mars are considered feasible.
The US has announced preparation for another space probe launch to collect data from the martian atmosphere, scheduled for 2013.
In Russia, martian exploration is confined to ground tests so far. The project Mars-500, aimed at determining the effect of a space flight over months on the crew, will be launched soon under the aegis of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems (IMBP).
Shuttle Endeavour undocks from International Space Station
By Xinhua
Washington : Space Shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday to begin its return trip to Earth, according to NASA TV.
"Physical separation, Houston," shuttle pilot Charlie Hobaugh told Mission Control.
Undocking took place according to schedule at 7:56 a.m. EDT (1156 GMT) as the shuttle and ISS passed 214 miles (about 344 km) over the South Pacific.
Watch that big, bright Jupiter tonight
By IANS,
New Delhi : As the sun goes down Monday, Jupiter, the largest celestial body after the Sun in the solar system, can be seen in the sky with naked eye.
70 scientists focussing on Bigfoot research
San Francisco : Seventy scientists from around the world, defying widespread scepticism, have been involved for the past four decades in the search for...
Hathway unplugs Internet services in Chennai
By IANS,
Chennai : The city's first broadband Internet service provider Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd has unplugged its services here and started refunding its subscribers their dues, officials said.
"We are forced to close down our business. We don't know why. This is the answer I give to all my subscribers," a company official, who did not want to be identified, told IANS.
Part of the Mumbai-based Rajan Raheja group, Hathway Cable has around 50,000 subscribers in the city.
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.
Shuttle Endeavour Undocks from Space Station
By SPA,
Washington : Space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of seven left the international space station Friday, ending a 12-day mission that made the orbiting laboratory more accommodating to bigger crews of researchers.
Shortly after the undocking, Mission Control advised Endeavour’s crew to delay their third and final rocket firing to avoid a piece of an old Russian satellite. The rocket firing was rescheduled for early evening.
Master your Windows 7 desktop
By Jay Dougherty, DPA,
Washington : Who's in control of your Windows 7 desktop - you or the operating system?
With applications and icons scattered all over the place, constant pop-up notifications, and programmes hidden deep within the Start menu, you might feel like Microsoft has done its best to hinder your productivity rather than enhance it.
But with a little know-how and a few free tools, you can take charge of your desktop like never before.
Researchers developing more powerful solar cells
By IANS,
Washington : University of Rochester researchers are designing more efficient solar cells by using special coatings that split light into colours like blue and red, to boost their power by 50 percent.
Researchers then would then use different types of solar cell materials that each optimally absorbs energy from a light of different colour, said Duncan Moore, a professor at Rochester research, who is leading the team that is trying to boost this further by finding ways to intensify the light.
Lunar eclipse coincides with winter solstice in 400 years
By IANS,
London : If the skies are clear just before dawn, you could be treated to the sight of the moon's surface turning a blood red in the western hemisphere Tuesday.
Chandrayaan II design complete
By IANS,
New Delhi : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Wednesday said the design for Chandrayaan II has been completed and it will be launched by 2012.
"The designs for Chandrayaan II have been completed and we hope to launch it by 2012," ISRO chairperson G. Madhavan Nair told reporters here on the sidelines of a function organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to felicitate the Chandrayaan I team.
The Chandrayaan II project is slated to land a small rover on the moon's surface and collect and analyse samples, he said.
India, France to launch tropical weather satellite in 2009
By IANS,
New Delhi : India and France will jointly launch a satellite next year to understand climate change and the tropical weather phenomena including monsoons.
The joint working group of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the French Space Agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) met in Goa Saturday and Sunday to review the progress made on this.
ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair and CNES president Yannick d'Escatha discussed the various modalities and technicalities involved with the launch of satellite Megha Topiques.
India hopes to send spacecraft to moon: PM
By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday said that India hopes to send a spacecraft to the moon this year and called it "an important milestone".
"This year we hope to send an Indian spacecraft, Chandrayan, to the moon. It will be an important milestone in the development of our space programme," he said on the occasion of India's independence day.
"I want to see a modern India, imbued by a scientific temper, where the benefits of modern knowledge flow to all sections of society," he added.
Vietnam to launch first telecom satellite next month
By RIA Novosti
Hanoi : Vietnam's first communications satellite, the Vinasat-1, is to be launched on April 12, a Vietnamese government official said on Wednesday.
Nguyen Ba Thuoc, deputy director of the Vietnamese Post and Telecommunications Corporation, the satellite project's investor, said the satellite would be launched by an Ariane carrier rocket by the French company Ariane Space from the Kourou space center in French Guiana.
India joins 5-nation project to build world’s biggest telescope
By Arun Kumar,
Washington : As a follow up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit, India has joined the US and three other countries...
Just click 160by2.com and send free SMS!
By Nayanima Basu, IANS
New Delhi : Want to send an SMS for free? Just click www.160by2.com.
"On one side were users who wanted free SMS and on the other side were brands and media companies trying to reach these consumers. Initially we ignored them but as the number increased, we realised that there was a genuine opportunity here, waiting to be exploited," said Satya Kalyan Yerramsetti, CEO, SMSCountry Networks Pvt. Ltd.
For sending an SMS from 160by2.com, one needs to only fill up a simple registration form.
Copenhagen aims to be first carbon neutral capital
By IANS,
Copenhagen : The capital of Denmark has set itself the ambitious target of becoming the world's first carbon-neutral capital by 2025 by bringing its net carbon dioxide emissions down to zero.
The target was announced by the seven mayors of Copenhagen here Tuesday, while they launched the city's new climate plan. The plan has 50 specific initiatives to achieve the city's target of a 20 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2015.
Free software helps Indian techies in many projects
By IANS,
Bangalore : Free software and open source tools are helping a range of Indian entrepreneurs to build software solutions that enhance the potential of computing for millions.
With names like Hindawi, Zmanda and Dhvani or KDE Hindi, these products are helping an entire new generation of software developres.
Hindawi (hindawi.in) is a suite of open source programming languages. It allows people to write computer programmes in languages other than English.
Unseen for 112 years, dwarf cloud rat captured
By Xinhua,
Beijing : Unseen in the canopies of tall trees in the Philippines for more than 112 years, a greater dwarf cloud rat has been found and captured in the island nation's Mount Pulag National Park.
The fist-sized mammal has dense, soft, reddish-brown fur, a black mask around large dark eyes, small rounded ears, a broad and blunt snout, and a long tail covered with dark hair.
AITA clears the air over project Apollo Mission 2018
By IANS,
New Delhi : The All India Tennis Association (AITA) secretary Anil Khanna Monday was at pains to explain that the apex organisation of the game was only trying to bring about transparency in the sponsorship world and it had nothing to do with Mahesh Bhupathi as a media report suggested.
Khanna said that AITA was not interested in kicking up an unnecessary controversy, it only sought to check the veracity of ads in the media about a corporate - Apollo Tyres - in quest of producing Grand Slam champions.
Facebook overhauls privacy settings
By DPA,
San Francisco : Social networking site Facebook introduced a new set of privacy controls Wednesday in an attempt to quell criticism that it was lax about protecting users' personal information.
The new controls are featured in a streamlined privacy panel that allows users much easier management of who can access their information.
"We believe in privacy. We believe in giving people control," Facebook founder Marc Zuckerberg said at a press conference to announce the overhaul.
Software may help diagnose cardiac infections
By IANS,
Washington : New research suggests that "teachable software", designed to mimic the human brain, may help diagnose cardiac infections in a non-invasive manner.
Endocarditis -- an infection involving the valves and sometimes chambers of the heart -- can be a problem in patients with implants. It is a serious condition and can be deadly.
The mortality rate can be as high as one in five, even with aggressive treatment and removal of the device. With additional complications, the mortality can shoot up to over 60 percent -- or more than one in two.
Nine win funding for rural innovation projects
By IANS
Chennai : The Rural Innovation Fund (RIF), promoted by Microsoft India among others, has selected nine innovators, who will receive $15,000 (Rs.590,000) each to implement their projects to empower rural India.
Microsoft India has established a RIF corpus of $200,000 to encourage innovations that will benefit rural India.
U.S. probe produces three major findings about universe
By Xinhua
Washington : NASA, the U.S. space agency, released on Friday five years of data collected by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), which include three major findings about the universe.
The probe got the new evidence that a sea of cosmic neutrinos permeates the early universe. According to the scientists' analysis, universe is awash in "a sea of cosmic neutrinos". Neutrinos made up a much larger part of the early universe than they do today.
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.
Researchers uncover music’s secret structure
By IANS,
Washington : More than 200 years after Pythagoras discovered the orderliness of music, three professors have devised a way of analysing music that takes advantage of the deep, complex mathematics seemingly enmeshed in its very fabric.
Writing in the April 18 issue of Science, they have outlined a method called "geometrical music theory" that translates the language of musical theory into that of contemporary geometry.
Scientists find smallest planet
By Xinhua
Beijing : The smallest planet discovered outside our solar system has been found by Spanish scientists.
"I think we are very close, just a few years away, from detecting a planet like Earth," team leader Ignasi Ribas told a news conference Wednesday.
Critically endangered seabirds unable to find mates
By IANS,
Washington : Alarmed by the probability that one of the world's rarest seabirds might soon be extinct, scientists are creating a protected breeding colony to help them attract females.
The rapidly dwindling species, Magenta Petrel, now has only between eight and 15 breeding pairs. Molecular analysis of the endangered species discovered that 95 percent of non-breeding adults were male, hence unable to attract a mate.
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.
Zen Mobile launches Sonic 1 exclusively on eBay India
New Delhi : Zen Mobiles on Wednesday launched a new smartphone named Sonic 1 at a price of Rs.5,999 exclusively on eBay India.
The new...
GVK Bio gets approval from Turkey for bioequivalence studies
By IANS,
Hyderabad : GVK Biosciences, a leading contract research organisation, Wednesday said it has received approval from Turkey to conduct bioequivalence studies.
A three-member delegation from Turkey's ministry of health inspected the GVK Bio clinical pharmacology unit (CPU) here and carried out a detailed audit of the facility for systems and processes.
This approval enables GVK Bio to cater to generic drug manufacturers in Turkey as well as to those who intend to market their products in the country, said a statement from GVK Bio.
White stuff on Mars is ice: NASA
By DPA,
Washington : The white material on Mars uncovered by the robotic arm of the Phoenix probe is ice, scientists at the US space agency NASA have said.
"We have found proof that this hard bright material is really water ice and not some other substance," Peter Smith of the University of Arizona said in a transcript of a press briefing released late Friday.
Unique, magnetic death star fossil discovered
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists have discovered microscopic, magnetic fossils resembling spears and spindles, among sediment layers deposited during an ancient global-warming event along the Atlantic coastal plain.
The researchers were led by geobiologists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and McGill University.
Fifty-five million years ago, earth warmed by more than nine degrees Fahrenheit after huge amounts of carbon entered the atmosphere over a period of just a few thousand years.
Russian Proton-M rocket to launch Japanese satellite
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : A Russian Proton-M carrier rocket will put a Japanese telecommunications satellite into orbit in September, a leading Russian space company said Tuesday.
JCSAT-11, an A2100 satellite built by US-based Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, will join a cluster of nine satellites operated by Japan's JSAT Corporation.
The new satellite will provide broadcast and transponder capacity for a number of telecom companies, including SKY Perfect TV, a leading digital broadcasting service provider in Japan.
Sony Computer to launch seven Indian games this year
By IANS,
Kolkata : London-based Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) would launch six to seven Indian games this year, a top official said here Monday.
"We will launch games based on Indian contexts, like traditional Indian outdoor and indoor games and another game based on the underworld activities in Mumbai," Atindriya Bose, country-manager - Playstation, part of Sony Computer Entertainment, told IANS.
AMD unveils new chip for server platform
By IANS,
Bangalore : Leading chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Thursday unveiled a more powerful chip based on 45 nm (nanometre) quad-core Opteron processor, codenamed 'Shanghai', for server platform.
"The Opteron processor gives 35 percent more performance consuming 35 percent less power. Our Indian team made significant contribution to the design and development of the new chip working with the Austin R&D centre," AMD India managing director Dasaradha Gude told reporters at a preview of the product here.
NASA’s Spitzer detects light of alien ‘Super-Earth’
By IANS,
Washington : NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light emanating from a "super-Earth" planet beyond our solar system for the first time.
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...
Cooling of unique arctic biodiversity vault begins
By IANS
Geneva : Work on cooling an underground vault that will preserve seeds of vital food crops from around the world for up to 1,000 years has begun in an arctic archipelago off Norway.
Refrigeration units Friday began pumping cold air deep into a mountain on the Svalbard archipelago that lies midway between Norway and the North Pole so as to speed up the opening of the fail-safe repository of vital crops.
Google Chrome is third most popular browser
By IANS,
London : Google Chrome is now the world's third most popular web browser with one in five users preferring it.
Chandrayaan moved to launch platform for rehearsal
By IANS,
Bangalore : India's first lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 has been moved to the launch platform for rehearsals ahead of its Oct 22 launch, a top Indian space agency official said Saturday.
The fully integrated Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11) with the lunar spacecraft atop was moved to the launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 80 km from Chennai, and off the Bay of Bengal.
All going well and weather permitting, India's first unmanned lunar mission is set for launch at 6.20 a.m. Wednesday.
Solar storm particles bombard earth relentlessly
By IANS,
Washington : Solar storm particles are relentlessly bombarding the earth, through two gaping breaches in the earth's magnetic field, which shields it from such particles, according to researchers.
"The discovery overturns a long-standing belief about how and when most of the solar particles penetrate earth's magnetic field, and could be used to predict when solar storms will be severe. Based on these results, we expect more severe storms during the upcoming solar cycle," said Vassilis Angelopoulos.
Human intervention alters natural systems: NASA study
By IANS,
Washington : Human intervention has caused widespread climatic alterations like permafrost thawing, premature blooming of plants across Europe and declining lakes in Africa, according to a NASA study.
Cynthia Rosenzweig of NASA and co-author of the study, said it is the first to co-relate global temperature data sets and observed changes in a broad range of physical and biological systems with humans, climate, and impact.
Dinosaurs survived mass extinction by 700,000 years
By IANS,
Toronto : A fossilised dinosaur bone unearthed in New Mexico shows that dinosaurs survived mass extinction by 700,000 years, according to a new dating method.
Ten technologies which MIT sees as impacting lives
By IANS,
New York : Technology Review, the magazine of innovation brought out by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Tuesday announced its annual list of 10 top emerging technologies, seen to impact the way we live and do business.
"These revolutionary innovations - each represented by a researcher whose vision and work is driving the field - promise fundamental shift in areas from energy to health care, computing to communications," the magazine said.
Indian rocket blasts into space
By Xinhua,
New Delhi : An Indian rocket blasted into space on Monday, carrying a cluster of 10 satellites, according to local media reports.
The PSLV-C9 rocket lifted off at 09:20 a.m. local time (0350 GMT) from the Sriharikota space station in Andhra Pradesh in southern India.
The rocket is carrying an unprecedented payload including an Indian remote-sensing satellite, a mini satellite and eight so-called nanosatellites developed by German and Canadian research institutions.
Yahoo! paints rosy picture, partner thinks Microsoft will prevail
By IANS
New York : Yahoo! Inc looked to a bright future over the next three years to bolster its argument that it is worth more than what Microsoft Corp offered, but the moves by its Chinese partner underscore investor doubts that the web portal can stay independent.
Yahoo! forecast released in a regulatory filing was intended to convince investors that it has a bright future as an independent company, despite a series of recent struggles.
‘No fresh evidence to indicate Bay of Bengal tsunami’
By Avijit Chatterjee, IANS
Kolkata : The Geological Survey of India has allayed fears of a tsunami hitting the Bay of Bengal soon - though the findings of an Australian geologist suggest that a giant undersea earthquake could inundate India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
In Argentina, a fungus that produces diesel
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers have isolated a fungus that produces a new kind of diesel fuel, describing the find as promising.
The discovery may offer an alternative to fossil fuels, said Gary Strobel, Montana State University (MSU) professor of plant sciences. The find is even bigger, he said, than his 1993 discovery of fungus that contained the anticancer drug taxol.
NIIT Technologies, British Airways ink three-year deal
By IANS,
New Delhi : Leading Indian global software major NIIT Technologies Ltd said Friday that it has signed a "multi-million pound" three-year deal with Britain's premier airline British Airways.
"The deal enables the support and testing of business critical applications across various business areas of the global airline," the regulatory statement said.
The contract is one of the largest ever deals to be signed by NIIT Technologies with a member of the British airlines industry and follows a 12-year relationship between the two companies, the statement said.
Scientists gear up to tackle 15 million gigabytes of data
By IANS,
London : The four huge detectors of the new Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, when fully operational, are expected to generate up to a staggering 15 million gigabytes of data every year.
Andreas Hirstius, manager of CERN Openlab and the CERN School of Computing, explained how computer scientists have met the challenge of handling this unprecedented volume of data.
China’s green pig has two green piglets
By Xinhua
Harbin (China) : A fluorescent green pig in northeast China has given birth to two piglets which share their mother's transgenic characteristic after she mated with an ordinary pig, Chinese scientists said.
"The mouths, trotters and tongues of the two piglets glow green under ultraviolet light, which indicates the technology to breed transgenic pigs via cell nuclear transfer is mature," said Liu Zhonghua, of Northeast Agricultural University in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province Tuesday.
Facebook registers 200 million users
By DPA,
San Francisco : Five years after it was founded in a Harvard dorm room, the online social networking site Facebook has registered its 200 millionth user, the site confirmed Thursday.
"Growing rapidly to 200 million users is a really good start, but we've always known that in order for Facebook to help people represent everything that is happening in their world, everyone needs to have a voice," said Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Birds instinctively pick the healthiest fruit
By DPA,
Hamburg (Germany) : Birds instinctively choose the fruit which is healthy and shun less health-giving food options, German researchers have found.
Given a choice, birds flock to fruits with the highest levels of antioxidants known as flavonoids, which boost the immune system.
The German researchers offered a group of blackcaps, a common European summertime bird, a choice of two foods containing different amounts of flavonoids.
They found that the birds deliberately selected the food with added antioxidants.
Scientists tackling Internet’s ‘black holes’
By IANS
Washington : You might have heard of distant black holes swallowing up light or crunching ship-sized objects into tiny teaspoon replicas. But what about black holes in cyberspace, here on earth every day?
At any given moment, a portion of the vast computer traffic disappears into these vast sinks, out of reach or trace. Try logging into the web. It could be a very frustrating experience.
E-recycling major Infotrek acquires European technology
By IANS,
Mumbai : Indian electronic equipment recycling major Infotrek Syscom Ltd Friday announced that it has acquired European e-waste management technology for its subsidiary Eco Recycling ltd (Ecoreco).
The Mumbai-based firm said that the facility for managing both electrical and electronic waste is based on the "dry process technology" and the unit has been geared to recycle e-waste generated across the country.
Google India unveils new desktop maps
Bangalore : Google, the world's largest search engine provider, Thursday unveiled a new tool to search, navigate and explore Indian cities, streets, landmarks, restaurants...
Shuttle Endeavour docks with ISS on ‘home-improvement’ mission
By RIA Novosti,
Washington : The space shuttle Endeavour has docked with the International Space Station at the start of a home-improvement mission due to last almost two weeks, NASA's Mission Control said.
The shuttle linked up with the orbiter at 22:01 GMT on Sunday, NASA spokeswoman Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters said.
A mobile-based security system for BPO employees
By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS
New Delhi : Even as the rape and murder of a Pune call centre employee by her cab driver is fresh on everyone's mind, a software analyst has developed a mobile phone-based system that may provide better protection to BPO staff in transit.
"After two cases of rape and murder of female call centre employees, BPO firms have an uphill task so far as security is concerned. And here comes our system - simple and effective," said Chennai-based V.M. Sankaran Nampoothiri.
Google and Microsoft innovations excite
By Andy Goldberg
DPA
San Diego : Some of the fanciest new technology in the world was unveiled this week at the high-powered All Things Digital conference in San Diego.
65-year-old bulb still shines, and outshines all
London, Dec 21 (IANS) It withstood German air raids on London in the second world war. It defied the British police opposed to its presence. And it continues to survive, about to outlive the store it was brought from. This is the story of a light bulb, aged 65.
The 40-watt bulb, which still works, now has the pride of place in a china cabinet at the home of Valerie Beaney, 68, whose late mother Rose Allen bought it from Woolworths in 1943.
Iran plans to send satellite in high Earth orbit
By IANS,
Tehran : Iran plans to send satellites in medium and high Earth orbits in two or three years, Iran's ISNA news agency reported quoting a senior official. On Feb 3, the country launched Omid light satellite in low Earth orbit, using the Safir 2 (messenger) rocket.
The chief of Organisation for Iranian Scientific and Industrial Research, Hossein Rahimi, said Sunday that Iran's next step in space technology was sending operational satellites in an orbit of 36,000 km.
Indian-American devises nano-springs to protect mobile phones
By IANS,
Washington : An Indian-American scientist has devised tiny, shock-absorbing carbon nano springs to protect delicate electronic devices like mobile phones from damage.
Apparao Rao, physicist at Clemson University, who led the researchers, working with California University collaborators, showed that layers of these tiny coiled carbon nanotubes, a thousand times smaller than a human hair, can act as resilient shock absorbers.