Samz3D

The evolution of the mouse

2012-01-13T09:19:00.000+05:30

The evoMouse is the evolution of the computer mouse.
With the evoMouse, your finger is your pointer and there is no more pushing around a physical mouse.
The evoMouse works on nearly any flat surface and requires very little space. It tracks effortlessly to your comfortable and natural movements.
With the evoMouse, you can perform common mouse operations using only your fingers. You can control the cursor, click and select, double-click, right-click and drag with basic hand gestures.
The evoMouse also features multi-touch functionality including scroll, rotate, zoom, forward and back. The evoMouse can even be used for handwriting recognition with your finger or a pen.
The evoMouse is easy and convenient to set up and use with almost any desktop or laptop computer. It connects via Bluetooth or a standard USB port.
Because it allows natural movements and doesn’t require pushing around a physical object, the evoMouse may help reduce repetitive stress injuries like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Top 10 Guitar Anthems Of 2011

2012-01-03T13:29:00.002+05:30

This list celebrates all those amazing guitar-driven songs that emerged from the bubbling Indian indie music laboratory over the past 12 months. Songs that pushed the guitar beyond its conventional role, as well as tunes that reaffirmed our faith in the classic role of the guitar in the music we listen to. Feel free to add to this list and send us your feedback in the comments section at the bottom!
1.       Avial – ‘Annakallan’ (from Salt N’ Pepper OST)
Kerala’s favourite alternative-rock sons of the soil haven’t released a new album since their 2008 self-titled debut though the band has kept hinting that their next album is literally just around the corner. Till then, they’ve kept fans happy with the release of ‘Annakallan’ from the OST of the movie ‘Salt N’ Pepper. All crunchy guitar swagger and slamming drums, ‘Annakallan’ sees Avial infuse their alternative rock DNA with a healthy dose of radio-friendly glamour to make their catchiest and tightest tune yet.
Watch the video for ‘Annakallan’ here: http://goo.gl/T6dTJ
2.       Swarathma – ‘Aaj Ki Taaza Fikar’ (Single)
Best known for their socially-conscious folk-rock sound, Swarathma crank up the rock on ‘Aaj Ki Taaza Fikar’, the new single from their upcoming second album. With guitarist Varun Murali more involved in the song writing and production this time around, his classic hard rock influences shine through on this boisterous romp from the Bangalore folk-rockers. While the song still retains Swarathma’s signature tongue-in cheek social commentary, the new sound kicks the rock factor into top gear resulting in a sinewy, guitar-infused beast of a single.
Listen to ‘Aaj Ki Taaza Fikar’ here: http://goo.gl/L1GFR
3.       Junkyard Groove – ‘Beautiful Crime’
As his band collapsed around him twice this year, Ameeth Thomas, frontman and creative fulcrum behind the Chennai alternative-rock band, kept on recording, releasing an EP of acoustic versions as well as two new songs. ‘Beautiful Crime’ released in August featured one of the best guitar riffs of the year, a wailing, jangly electronic squall courtesy JYG guitarist Naveen Thomas Joseph.
Listen: http://goo.gl/2gx9x
4.       Pentagram – ‘Nocturne’
Having been around for the last fifteen years, Pentagram are Indian indie’s elder statesman. Still, you’d never guess it on the strength of Bloodywood, their fourth album. Seized by a restless creative energy, the Bombay foursome has crafted what is probably their most complete album to date, a buzzing, banging ode to their hometown Bombay. In contrast to the rest of the album’s electro-rock riffs and beats, album closer ‘Nocturne’ actually lets the guitars and drums breathe just a little bit more, making it Bloodywood’s guitar hero moment. Shimmering with atmosphere, ‘Nocturne’ is without a doubt, one of 2011’s most epic guitar anthems.
Watch the making of ‘Nocturne’ here: http://goo.gl/iXjsh
5.       Karsh Kale, Baiju Dharmajan and Njeralathu Harigovindan – ‘Sacred Science’
As part of the TV music and travel series The Dewarists, Asian electronica producer and multi-instrumentalist Karsh Kale, Carnatic rock guitarist Baiju Dharmajan and edakka drum maestro Njeralathu Harigovindan were brought together in Angadipurram in Kerala. Over the next few days they collaborated on a song that saw them throw all their individual musical influences and backgrounds into a metaphoric communal pot of ideas, eventually emerging with a swirling collision of cultures and ideas.
Watch the video for ‘Sacred Science’ here: http://goo.gl/3nHM2
6.       Skyharbor featuring Daniel Tompkins and Marty Friedman – ‘Catharsis’
Skyharbor quickly became the most exciting new act in Indian metal when it became known that Keshav Dhar, the man behind Skyharbor, was quietly working on a solo progressive metal project that featured collaborations with the likes of ex-Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman and ex-Textures vocalist Daniel Tompkins. Over the course of the year, the buzz encouraged Dhar to put together a band to perform the project’s songs live with a single instrumental performance at the NH7 Weekender. The album titled Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos was set to release at the Weekender but got pushed to a 2012 release date after Dhar signed with British metal label Basick Records.
Listen to ‘Catharsis’ here: http://soundcloud.com/skyharbor7/catharsis
7.       Goddess Gagged – ‘Visionary’
Alongside Skyharbor, the Goddess Gagged’s album Resurfaces was one of the most anticipated Indian metal releases of the year. The buzz around the band quickly grew after the band released the original version of ‘Visionary’ online earlier this year. They released Resurfaces, their debut album at this year’s NH7 Weekender Festival in November to rave reviews.
Listen to the album version of ‘Visionary’ here: http://goo.gl/k3RZn
8.       The Lightyears Explode – ‘She Probably Still Is’
Three minutes and forty six seconds of sweaty, fist-pumping, high-energy punk rock, ‘She Probably Still Is’ is the Mumbai trio’s opening salvo on their debut EP. Combining The Lightyears Explode’s three-punch formula of slashing guitar riffs, pounding drums and a super-sticky na-na-na chorus, the song goes for the kill from the get go. The Lightyears Explodes make music that demands that you get up and move. With that kind of energy, it’s no wonder that the band is one of the most exciting live acts to emerge from the scene this year.
Listen to ‘She Probably Still Is’ here: http://goo.gl/thLxq
9.       Dualist Inquiry – ‘Gravitat’
From Dualist Inquiry’s (real name: Sahej Bakshi) Dualism EP, ‘Gravitat’ combines futuristic electronic beats-and-bleeps with the urgent buzz-saw edge of Sahej Bakshi’s guitar playing to create a banging electro-rock crossover anthem that works equally for dance music junkies and rockers alike . ‘Gravitat’ is part of one of the most stunningly brilliant debuts this year. Look out for more from this pioneering production maverick as he takes Indian indie in a whole new direction.
Listen to ‘Gravitat’ here: http://goo.gl/eAgKm
10.   Sidd Coutto – ‘Free’
The first single from Coutto’s debut album Sunny Side Up, ‘Free’ saw the multi-instrumentalist choose not to throw everything into the mix, opting instead for a simple acoustic guitar, a trumpet and minimal percussion. The single would set the tone for the rest of the album, a collection of acoustic guitar led tunes that featured Coutto’s signature pop hooks and laidback, almost soulful vocals.
Listen to ‘Free’ here: http://goo.gl/Uk2tf

Love is more than saying I Love You !!

2011-11-11T21:34:00.001+05:30

Every couple can learn a lot from this beautiful pair. In these days lots of couple are getting divorced for silly reasons. It is very easy to say I love you, I love you for ever, I will be with you forever, I will die for you, I will care for you etc etc.. Love is more than saying “I Love you”.
Life is not a matter of milestones, but of moments.
The couple Ahmad 26 and his wife Fatima 25-year-old are disabilities.
They got married few years back. Ahmad disability of both hands and both feet of Fatima is.
The couple with disabilities, but strong in the field of artworks activities.
Fatima is washing dishes in the kitchen
Ahmad comb his hair by the foot
Fatima is helping Ahmad to tie his hair
Ahmad ironing clothes
Ahmed and Fatima watching television and eating Breakfast
Ahmad is washing his feet
Ahmad is brushing
Fatima spraying the perfume on Ahmad’s clothes before going out of the house
Fatima and Ahmed in the way of music workshop of rehabilitation nursing sector workshops
Ahmed and his friend practice a piece of music
Ahmad and Fatima help each other in home work
Ahmed and Fatima at lunch
Ahmed and Fatima in chat and review their wedding pictures
The young and passionate Ahmad Sometimes, speak with the God in solitude
Fatima is listening to Ahmad’s lovely poem
Always enjoy life, no matter how hard it seems!
When life give you a thousand reasons to cry. Show the world that…
You have million reasons to SMILE!!!

MEANING OF LOVE
Where there is trust there will be love.
Never try to tested the true love its very hard to forget.
You can not see the love and touch it.
Love can only be felled
Every supreme sacrifice of this world behind it there will be love.
And we human exist in this world is because of love.

Highest Paid CEOs in India

2011-11-10T10:12:00.001+05:30

It is not Mukesh Ambani, Azim Premji or Gautam Adani in the list of highest paid CEOs in India. The Capitaline study has made a clear salary figures on the highest paid CEOs in India which is listed below.

Naveen Jindal:

Naveen Jindal, chairman and MD of Jindal steel and power gets a salary of 69.7 Crores per annum that means 5.8 Crores per month. This is the highest salary fetched by the CEO in India. Jindal group is the fourth largest private sector by assets and sales turnover. Though his salary dropped down by 3.66 percent in 2010-2011 tenure he still ranks first. He is also a member of parliament from Haryana from where he gets 50,000 as income which he will be donating for social activities.

Kalanithi Maran:

The chairman and MD of Sun Network, most profitable television network in Asia and Spicejet is the second highest paid CEO in India with a salary of 64.4 crore. Kalanithi's salary got boosted up by 73.68 percent for 2010-2011. His television channels and newspapers dominate the whole south Indian media. He was won prestigious honors like young businessman award from VNBC and Ernest and young. The U.S. based Forbes magazine listed him as the television king of southern India. He is the son of the late and former union minister Murasoli Maran and grand nephew of the DMK president M. Karunanidhi.

Kavery Maran:

Kaveri Maran, wife of Kalanithi Maran and the joint managing director of Sun TV is the third highest paid CEO with a salary of 64.4 crores.

Sunil Mittal:

Telecom mogul, Sunil Mittal is the fourth highest paid executive in India. The chairman, founder and the group CEO of Bharti Enterprises fetches a salary of 27.1 crore that rose by 17.11 percent this year. In the year 2007 he was honored with Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honor. He is also known for his philanthropy. His works towards educating India through Bharti foundation that has established over 200 schools and listed him in the top 25 philanthropists in the world in the year 2009.

Brijmohan Lall Munjal:

The founder director and the chairman of Hero Motocorp, Brijmohan Lall Munjal is the fifth highest paid CEO in India with a salary of 26.75 Crores. His salary dropped down by 12.69 percent in 2010-11. He is the key person who developed the company to a great level which rose up from a cycle manufacturer to motor cycle and scooter.

Pawan Munjal:

The brother of Brijmohan Lall Munjal, Pawan Munjal is the sixth highest paid CEO in India. He is the MD and CEO of Hero Motocorp and is the key person in the success of the company. His ideas and deliberate plans elevated the brand name.

B.G Raghupathy:

The chairman and MD of BGR Energy Systems makes the seventh place in the list with a salary of 25.92 crore that rose up by 180 percent on 2010-2011. Till now the company has implemented 226 contracts in 74 countries and over 1,000 contracts in India. His company holds business in two parts, the supply of systems and equipments and Turnkey Engineering project contracting.

Pankaj Patel:

The Chairman and MD of Cadila Healthcare is the eighth highest paid CEO in India with a salary of 25 Crore though there was a salary drop of 12.68 percent for 2010-2011. He has perceived his bachelor and master degree in pharmacy from Gujarat University. Patel was named as the "best Pharma man of the year 2003" by the foundation of Indian industry and Economists. He was named the "Best Pharma man of the year 2003" by the Foundation of Indian Industry and Economists.

Sajjan Jindal:

The vice chairman and MD of JSW steel is ranked ninth in the list. He obtains a salary of 20.80 crore. He holds a bachelor degree from Bangalore University.

Debu Bhattacharya:

The head of Aditya Birla group and MD of Hindalco industries, Debu Bhattacharya. He gets a salary of 17.31 Crore. His salary increased by 31.64 percent in 2010-2011. Bhattacharya is also the VC of Novelis Inc.

Corbett National Park

2011-11-02T09:18:00.000+05:30

Jim Corbett National Park—named after the hunter and naturalist Jim Corbett who played a key role in its establishment—is the oldest national park in India. Situated in Nainital district of Uttarakhand, the park acts as a protected area for the critically endangered Bengal tiger of India, the secure survival of which is the main objective of Project Tiger, an Indian wildlife protection initiative.
An ecotourism destination, it contains 488 different species of plants and a diverse variety of fauna. Once inside the park, the safari is great, you get to see very relaxing jungle views, several kinds of antelopes, birds, Langur monkeys, and of course- tigers!
Over 585 species of resident and migratory birds have been categorized, including crested serpent eagles, blossom headed parakeet and the red jungle fowl — ancestor of all domestic fowl. 33 species of reptiles, 7 species of amphibians, 7 species of fish and 37 species of dragonflies have also been recorded.

History

The park was originally named Hailey National Park after Governor Hailey and was created on August 6th 1936. It was India’s first National Park. After independence the park was renamed after the Ramganga River and was call Ramganga National Park. The park was renamed again 1957 after James E. Corbett, who helped to set up the park and spent most of his life in the area.
The area of the park was increased in 1991 when the Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary was added to the park.

Climate

There are three well defined seasons in the Corbett National Park- the winter season which lasts from November to February, the summer season which lasts from March to June, and the rainy season which covers the rest of the month. The summer rains cause flooding in the park. The temperature in the Winters can go down to 4 degrees centigrade at night and the entire jungle is dry in the summer months as the temperature goes up to 44 degrees centigrade. The annual rainfall in the park ranges between 1400mm and 2800mm.

Get There

It is normally accessed from the town of Ramnagar, and is a two hour drive to the north.
The main areas (Dhikala and Bijrani) of Jim Corbett National Park are closed from 16 June – 14 Nov for the monsoon season. Jhirna & Sitabani (Buffer Zone)remain opened all year round.

See

Bengal tigers, although plentiful, are not easily spotted due to the abundance of camouflage in the reserve. Thick jungle, the Ramganga river, and plentiful prey make this reserve an ideal habitat for tigers who are opportunistic feeders and prey upon a range of animals. The tigers in the park have been known to kill much larger animals such as buffalo and even elephant for food. The tigers prey upon the larger animals in rare cases of food shortage, often in packs using the advantage of numerical superiority. The reserve has enormous boars, weighing up to 200 pounds, who provide a match for the tigers as a large male boar is capable of killing a tiger. There have been incidents of tigers attacking domestic animals in times when there is a shortage of prey.

Leopards are found in hilly areas but may also venture into the low land jungles. Smaller felines in the park include the Jungle Cat, Fishing Cat and Leopard Cat.] Other mammals include four kinds of deer (barking, sambar, hog, Black buck and chital), Sloth and Himalayan Black bears, Indian Grey Mongoose, otters, yellow-throated martens, ghoral (goat-antelopes), Indian pangolins, and langur and rhesus monkeys. Owls and Nightjars can be heard during the night.

In the summer, Elephants are seen in large herds of several hundred. The Indian python found in the reserve is a dangerous species, capable of killing a chital deer. Local crocodiles were saved from extinction by captive breeding programs that subsequent;y released crocodiles into the Ramganga river.

Indian Student Bag NASA Award

2011-10-17T12:57:00.002+05:30

Students of three Indian education institutions, which designed and launched their own satellites, have won a U.S. space agency's student competition (foreign category) challenge.

The three institutions are Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K), Anna University of Chennai, and SRM University located near here, according to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) website.

The students won the environmentally responsible (green) aviation college student challenge in May 2011.

According to a statement issued by SRM University here Friday, a four-member student team -- Akshay Garg, Surya Kiran Peravalli, Abdul Sayeed Khan and Pate Sweety Prakash -- under the guidance of G. Mahendra Perumal, assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, participated in the contest.

"They developed a conceptual aircraft named SERA (SRM Environmentally Responsible) Airliner".

The team designed an airplane for 200 passengers incorporating efficient technologies in many aspects like fuel efficiency, aerodynamic performance with small take-off and landing distances.

NASA's Langley Aerodynamic Research Centre, located in Virginia, is organising a student forum during Nov 15-16 and the SRM University team has been invited to make their presentation, the statement said.

IIT-K and SRM University launched their small satellites -- Jugnu and SRMSAT Wednesday -- using an Indian rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

City-based Anna University became the first Indian university to have launched a satellite Anusat in 2009.

Company Logos and their Meanings

2011-09-27T09:59:00.000+05:30

Company Logos and their Meanings

Ever wondered what company logos mean and whats the significance behind them? Wonder no more!

You might think the arrow does nothing here. But it says that amazon.com has everything from a to z and it also represents the smile brought to
the customer's face. Wow, that is quite deep.

Am not sure how many of you have noticed a hidden symbol in the Federal Express logo.
Yeah, I am talking about the 'arrow' that you can see between the E and the x in this logo. The arrow was introduced to underscore speed and precision, which are part of the positioning of the company.

The old logo of Baskin Robbins had the number 31 with an arc above it. The new logo took this idea to the next level. The pink parts of the BR still form the number 31, a reference to the 31 flavours.

Carrefour is one of the biggest European retailers, and its also French for crossroads. The logo symbolizes this word via two opposite arrows. They also added the first letter of the name, because if you look closely youll see the letter C in the negative space between the two arrows.

At first, this logo might not make much sense. But if you look closely, youll see the number 1 in the negative space between the F and the red stripes. I also love how this logo communicates a feeling of speed.

The NBC (National Broadcasting Company) is one of the biggest American television networks. I think most of you have already seen the peacock in this logo. The peacock has 6 different tail feathers, referring to the six divisions at the time that this logo was created. The peacocks head is flipped to the right to suggest it was looking forward, not back.

Sony Vaio is a well known brand of laptops. But did you know that the name Vaio logo also had a hidden meaning? Well, the first two letters represent the basic analogue signal. The last two letters look like a 1 and 0, representing the digital signal.

Toblerone is a chocolate-company from Bern , Switzerland . Bern is sometimes called The City Of Bears. They have incorporated this idea in the Toblerone logo, because if you look closely, youll see the silhouette of a bear.

Unilever is one of the biggest producers of food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. They produce a huge amount of different products and they wanted to reflect this in their logo. Each part of the logo has a meaning. For example: the heart represents love, care and health - feeling good, a bird is a symbol of freedom. Relief from daily chores “ getting more out of life.

Paul Rand (who designed the iconic IBM logo in 1972) designed this 'eye bee M' logo in 1981. I like that they are quite relaxed about the logo, unlike certain other companies who do not like the logo to be tampered with in any way even for internal promotions

The SUN Microsystems logo is a wonderful example of symmetry and order. It was a brilliant observation that the letters u and n while arranged adjacent to each other look a lot like the letter S in a perpendicular direction. Spectacular.

The above are two magazines from the Readers Digest stable. Again, the attempt to communicate what it is about quite figuratively through the logo catches my attention.

This was a logo created for a puzzle game called Cluenatic. This game involves unravelling four clues. The logo has the letters C, L, U and E arranged as a maze. and from a distance, the logo looks like a key

Eighty-20 is a small consulting company which does sophisticated financial modeling, as well as some solid database work. All their work is highly quantitative and relies on some serious computational power, and the logo is meant to convey it.

People first guess that 20% of the squares are darkened, but that turns out to be false after counting them. The trick is to view the dark squares as 1's and the light squares as 0's. Then the top line reads 1010000 and the bottom line reads 0010100, which represent 80 and 20 in binary.

Kinda like the surreal green screen of The Matrix, they want us to read stuff in binary

Why Should TRAI Restrict Us?

2011-09-27T09:56:00.002+05:30

This coming Dussehra, be watchful while drawing the list to wish your friends through SMSes. Given the fact that, the Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) from September 27th is limiting the number of texts per day to 100, are halcyon days of text messaging over?

Inexplicably, this latest rules is government's line of attack against spontaneous messages that broke out in recent years. TRAI asked the mobile operators to limit the number of SMSs to 100 per day for each subscriber. This new rule is expected to bang the SMS volume and consequently profit the operators, who can swell the prices to compensate their losses.

Though there are numerous mobile phone users who send more than 100 messages a day, the regulator and government officials are reluctant to buy this. They claim this is the best way to deal with annoying calls that the government and TRAI have been powerless to tackle for years.

Operators are adamant that there will be no major impact on the SMS tariffs due to the ban, but it will be thorny for them given the tight margins that they operate in, which has in recent past lead to increase in prices of call rates and SMSes alike.

"The volumes will definitely take a hit, however it will impact the new players more than the older ones. As SMS revenue are a very small part of the revenue for larger well established players. But then new operators' ability to survive with a price hike is very limited and therefore even they will wait for the larger operators to hike prices," said an executive of a leading telecom operator.

Rajan S Mathew, Director General, Cellular Operator Association of India does not feel there will be a crash on pricing. He said, "All though volumes will definitely take a hit, the cost implication will be very minimal and will not reach the retail subscribers. In fact we have already communicated to the TRAI that this move is not going to be beneficial for anyone in the eco-system as the unscrupulous elements that send out spam massages will end up buying more connection to continue to send these spasm, and only the end consumer will suffer."

Monitoring 3,000 SMSes a month for postpaid subscribers, adhered to or not will be tough for the telecom operators. "In case of prepaid users, you can monitor it on a day-today basis, but for postpaid customers, you will look at the number at the end of the month," said Rajan.

Previously this month, the telecom regulators had made it mandatory for commercial communications to be sent between 9 am and 9 pm to all subscribers whether registered for the "National Do Not Call Registry" or not. On the other hand, you can choose for the facility which allows you to access information on any of the seven segments-banking and financial products, real estate, education, health, consumer goods, automobiles, communication and entertainment, tourism and leisure. An exception will be made in case of transaction-related messages such as those from banks, insurance companies, railways, airlines or telecom service providers for providing information related to customers or passengers.

There are a few things that need to be measured. On a day to day basis very few consumers will comprehend that there is a limit as most users do not send even 50 messages a day.

The brunt will be felt all through the festivals and special occasions when most people send a lot of SMSes to wish their near and dear ones. And the impact on the operators will also be the highest on these days as the discounted rates are not applicable on these days, bringing in a lot of profit. They will not be proficient enough to make much profit on other days, and will be forced to extract profit by either escalating the SMS rates or making the discount vouchers costlier, or plummeting the number of free SMSes that users get with special vouchers.

Students, who have a preference to texting than calling as it is cheaper; individual professionals, who need to stay on clients' radars; or even a housewife sending out party invites will all be affected by the boundary. However, the law is not relevant to transactional messages, such as the balance updates sent by banks and to telemarketers registered with TRAI. Public interest messages or those about natural calamities and charities are also excused within the 160-character limit.

What can help thwart this hike is the fact that the registered telemarketers are still free to send as many massages as they want, but only to people who have opted for promotional SMSes. And since the volumes here are massive it might be able to soak up the crash from the cutback in retail user generated volumes.

But what impact will this regulation have on volumes? Only time will tell!

Exercise For Your Eyes

2011-07-08T11:27:00.000+05:30

We all know how important it is to keep our bodies fit by doing things like going to the gym, jogging, and swimming. But, did you know that you can exercise your eyes as well?

Eye exercising will keep your eyes healthy and help minimize eyestrain. Here are some easy to follow steps and tips to exercise your eyes and keep them healthy!

Palming Exercise - Sit comfortably on a chair. Rub your hands together until they feel warm. Close your eyes and cover them lightly with your cupped palms. Avoid applying pressure on your eyeballs. Place your palms so that the nose remains uncovered, and the eyes remain behind the slight hollow of the palms. Make sure that no light rays enter the eyes, and leave no gaps between fingers or between the edge of the palms and the nose. You may still see other lingering traces of colors. Imagine deep blackness and focus on the blackness. Take deep breaths slowly and evenly, while thinking of some happy incident; or visualize a distant scene. After your eyes see nothing but blackness, remove your palms from your eyes. Repeat the palming for 3 minutes or more.
Close your eyes tightly for 3-5 seconds, then open them for 3-5 seconds. Repeat this 7 or 8 times.
Close your eyes and massage them with circular movements of your fingers for 1-2 minutes. Make sure you press very lightly; otherwise, you could hurt your eyes.
Press three fingers of each hand against your upper eyelids, and hold them there for 1-2 seconds, then release. Repeat 5 times.
Sit and relax. Roll your eyes clockwise, then counter-clockwise. Repeat 5 times, and blink in between each time.
Focusing Exercises – Sit about 6 inches (150 mm) from the window. Make a mark on the glass at your eye level (a small sticker, black or red, would be perfect). Look through this mark and focus on something far away for 10-15 seconds; then focus on the mark again.
Hold a pencil in front of you at arm’s length. Move your arm slowly to your nose, and follow the pencil with your eyes until you can keep it in focus. Repeat 10 times.
Look in front of you at the opposite wall and pretend that you are writing with your eyes, without turning your head. It may seem difficult at first, but with a bit of practice it is really fun. The bigger the letters, the better the effect.
Imagine that you are standing in front of a really big clock. Look at the middle of the clock. Then look at any hour mark, without turning your head. Look back at the center. Then look at another hour mark. Do this at least 12 times. You can also do this exercise with your eyes closed.
Focus on a distant object (over 150 feet or 50 m away) for several seconds and slowly refocus your eyes on a nearby object (less than 30 feet or 10 m away) that’s in the same direction. Focus for several seconds and go back to the distant object. Do this 5 times.
Focus on an object in the distance (as far as possible) with a low contrasting background. Do this for a few minutes every half hour or so. This does not improve your vision, nor does any other technique. It can, however, maintain your best eyesight level during the day and prevent significant further vision deterioration.
Make up and down eye movements starting from up to to down. Do this 8 times. Then do the side to side eye movement, starting from left to right. Repeat this 8 times. Make sure not to add pressure to your eyes! It only worsen your vision!

Tips

It’s more important to do the exercises regularly than to do them for a long time. Even 30-60 seconds of eye movement every hour is very helpful. For example, when your computer takes its sweet time to do something, most people just stare at the poor thing and waste the time, but you can make a few circles with your eyes. Even the first day you do this, you should notice that, when you finish working, your eyes aren’t as tired as usual.
Taking short breaks from near work (e.g. staring at a computer monitor) to stare out to the distance also relieves some strain.
Palming is a good method to help your eyes feel better. You close your eyes and put your palms over them, this will rest your eyes.
Blink the eyes many times.
Splash your eyes with cold water repeatedly when feasible, and especially when your eyes are strained.

Genepax Water Cars

2011-06-13T17:41:00.002+05:30

Run a car with water review - Increase gas mileage With A Kit Like Water4Gas!

Everyone around the world is tired of watching gas prices inch up day by day. Most car owners are driving less than they used to and many people are opting to take public transportation. The high price of gas is really affecting the average person’s lifestyle as they have to decide whether to drive or to eat.
High gas prices have a ripple effect as well. The higher the price goes, the higher the price of many other items that need to be delivered go as well. Airfares have skyrocketed with the high price of fuel and the automobile manufacturers are seeing a huge drop off in new car purchases.

Genepax! the Japanese have Done it Again

Genepax a Japanese company, recently revealed in Osaka an electric powered car that can run on any type of water (you can even use tea and soda...etc). The car can run for an hour at about 50 miles per hour on just a liter of water; about 2 cans of soda worth. As long as a bottle of water is on hand, that is how long the car will run. Genepax will truly change the world as we know it which is ironic since the media is giving hardly any coverage to such a world changing event; I am sure conspiracy theorists will have plenty to say about this. Unlike other electric cars, the Genepax car does not require that batteries be recharged and has no emission. The water electrical generator is located in the back of the car and when water is poured it is then broken
down in order to create electricity to power the car. Imagine what such a generator could do to the oil industry, the nuclear plants and the electrical grid; it wont be pretty for them. Of course the prices of such a car along with other hydrogen model vehicles are well beyond the means of the average consumers so far. Any new technology when first introduced is astronomical in price, but as more manufacturers catch on to the new idea, the price slowly but surely comes back down to earth.

But what can consumers that are sick and tired of having their wallets emptied at the pump do in the meantime except drive less? There are a number of products that can turn your gas guzzling automobile into one that can run on alternative power for a price that most can well afford.

How You Can Do This

Hydrogen conversion kits like Water4Gas and Gas4Free also known as hydrogen gas savers are all over the market. By converting your car or truck gas or diesel into one that uses hydrogen in other words to a water hybrid to boost fuel economy you can save literally hundreds of dollars in just a single month. Your car’s engine performance will improve and the cost of maintaining your car will drop as well. The government offers those that drive a car that is friendly to the environment tax incentives, so converting your car is a win-win situation. Interestingly enough using a water kit to improve mileage in your car may also help clean up you engine by removing sludge. According to yahoo a man was able to double his mileage using a water for gas kit. As has already been proven this is possible using one of the showcased kits. With such results the days of high gas prices are counted. Most importantly by converting your car using a water for gas kit you will be saving yourself a lot of money which you could use for other things in your life.

Fox 26 News Broadcast On Water For Fuel Technology

The Best Guides for Fuel Conversion and Water for Gas Kits

Finding the simplest and most cost effective guide to run your car on hydrogen can be tough with all the materials available online today.
In our water for gas review we have taken some of the guesswork out of choosing a guide to help convert your car by rating the manuals with rate of satisfaction, ease of use, value for the money and its overall effectiveness.

Gas4free - Save a lot of gas using Gas4free hydrogen kit

Based on search engines traffic gas4free AKA gas for free is one of the most popular hydrogen gas saver kits in the market. According to gas4free with their kit one might be able to even double gas mileage for certain vehicles. Gas4free turns water into HHO which in turn results in better gas mileage and cleaner emissions for all types of engines including gasoline and diesel. The publisher of the gas4free manual also claims that not only the gas4free kit will improve your gas mileage but also might help clean up your engine. It is clear that Gas4free provides a win-win alternative to just using gas or diesel alone for both your pocket and the environment. Gas4free offers very easy directions to follow and should be a fun weekend project.

Effectiveness: very effective
Ease of use: very easy
Support: excellent
Value for money: great
Satisfaction Rate: great
Price: $97 affordable

Visit www.Gas4free.com and find out more!

Simplewaterfuel Hydrogen Fuel Conversion Kit

Most folks don’t know that for less than $150 they can convert their car to run on water. This manual is a cost effective way to convert your car to hydrogen power. The procedure will work on almost all models of cars though it has not yet been tested on hybrids. Your car is guaranteed to emit cleaner emissions and be much more efficient at burning fuel.
Other conversion kits can have a price tag of $600 or more. A do-it-yourself guide with a low price tag can be the most economical way to stop paying at the pump. This particular manual rates high on all categories and only costs $97 which equals one tank of gas for a big SUV like a Hummer.
Effectiveness: very effective
Ease of use: easy
Support: excellent
Value for money: great
Satisfaction Rate: great
Price: $97

Visit www.Simplewaterfuel.com and find out more!

Water4Gas Hydrogen Fuel Conversion Kit Review

Similar to the Run Your Car With Water the water4gas manual is similar in price to gas4free. There are some free bonuses though that comes with it. Those that purchase the Water4Gas manual may be able to receive tax incentives from the government for driving a “greener” car. Those that purchase water4gas also stand to make money each time they refer the guide to a new customer that buys it for themselves.
Other The time required to cover the original investment can be as soon as fifty seven days. You can even resell the water4gas technology to others and profit even more as the company holds no patents on water4gas.
Effectiveness: very effective
Ease of use: very easy
Support: excellent
Value for money: great
Satisfaction Rate: great
Price: $97 affordable

Google’s view of Indian streets begins from Bangalore

2011-06-01T15:21:00.003+05:30

Forgot the name of your favourite showroom in Delhi's Connaught Place or Mumbai's Colaba or Bangalore's Brigade Road? There'll soon be an easy way out. With the click of a mouse, you can virtually roam the locality and locate the shop that failed your memory.

That's what Google's Street View does. This popular feature of Google Maps is making its India foray through a Bangalore launch.

The web giant on Thursday took the first step of putting its camera-mounted cars on Bangalore roads to capture images of landmarks. To access narrow and uneven roads, Google employs a trike, a camera-mounted modified bicycle.

Google on Thursday announced that it will begin collecting street-level imageries for its Street View in India from Bangalore, four years after it was initiated in the US.

Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth, which allows users to explore places around the world through 360-degree views from various positions along many streets in the world.

The California, US-based Internet search giant has already incorporated the feature in as many as 27 countries.

Announcing the launch of Street View in Bangalore, Vinay Goel, country head, products, Google, said it would soon be taken to other places across the country. The internet giant has decided to begin the collection of imageries from Nrithyagram, a dance village promoting Indian classical dance forms, located in Hessaraghatta.

Street View comprising the streets of India would be incorporated to Google Maps and Google Earth on a later date.

“Bangalore being the IT capital of India was the obvious choice to start with. The aim is to map India in totality which is a tough job considering two-third streets in India do not have names,” he said.

Camera-mounted vehicles would be used to capture the imageries, Google said, adding that specially designed three wheel pedi-cab, the trike, would be deployed in streets inaccessible to cars.

Street View would be useful for urban development planners, house hunters and travellers. Users could also check parking slots before arriving at a place and arrange meeting points. Businesses can also benefit from the Street View technology by embedding Google Maps directly into their websites.

Learning from its experience in the US, where the concept came under fire because of privacy issues, Google would blur human faces and registration number plates of vehicles to render them unidentifiable.

Users could also request Google to further obscure any images. Goel said the company would look into such requests. An option, “Report a problem,” would be incorporated on each Street View image.

First introduced in the US in 2007, Google Street View had come under fire by governments as well as individuals for alleged breach of privacy. There had been instances of Google cameras inadvertently capturing images of private moments, besides candid picture which those pictured would prefer to hide from the world.

Cars, Trikes & More

Street View car on display at Google

See the Car in action

Street View Car

When we first started Street View as an experimental project, we packed several computers into the back of an SUV, stuck cameras, lasers, and a GPS device on top, and drove around collecting our first imagery. Since Street View launched for five U.S. cities in May 2007, we’ve expanded our 360-degree panoramic views to include locations on all seven continents.
We then moved to a van for a brief period, before switching to a fleet of cars that would allow us to scale the project throughout the US and around the world. We went from a rack of computers to one small computer per car, and then set to work refining our camera system to capture higher-resolution panoramic views.
After several iterations of the car and camera technology, the latest car has 15 lenses taking 360 degrees of photos. It also has motion sensors to track its position, a hard drive to store data, a small computer running the system, and lasers to capture 3D data to determine distances within the Street View imagery.

Dan Ratner riding the Trike near the Googleplex

Watch the Trike in action

Street View Trike

While we’ve been able to visit some beautiful places around the world with the Street View car, some of the most interesting and fun places aren’t accessible by car. One day while mountain biking, Mechanical Engineer Dan Ratner realized he could combine his favorite hobby with Street View to explore new places, and set to work building a bicycle-based camera system. As a result, we’ve been able to take the Trike to parks and trails, university campuses, and even sports stadiums.
You can invite the Trike to visit so the world can explore your property in Street View.

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The Snowmobile at Whistler

Watch the Snowmobile in action

Street View Snowmobile

Once we were able to take the Trike to all of these interesting places, we got to thinking about where else we could go and had the idea of putting our Street View equipment on a snowmobile. In typical Google fashion, we were able to put this together over the course of a few weekends using some 2x4s, duct tape, and extra hard drives wrapped in ski jackets to last through the freezing conditions. Fortunately the folks at Whistler Blackcomb were just as enthusiastic, so now you can explore Whistler in Street View.

Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. Content can be viewed at http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/mini?mid=8f43f844c6c621647e7220e0f528d998&etyp=sw&width=280&height=167

Dan Ratner & Matt Williams at the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam

Street View Trolley

When a group of art-loving Googlers wanted to take Street View technology to museums around the world, we needed to develop a system that could easily fit through museum doorways and navigate around sculptures. We worked to fit all of the equipment on an even smaller frame, a push-cart lovingly dubbed Trolley, and gathered the imagery for you to explore in Google Maps.

Beware! You are being tracked online

2011-04-26T09:41:00.004+05:30

You simply surf the web and can avoid other sites that use tools from Facebook, Twitter, Google and others that give you more social experience - That's impossible. Whenever you visit a site having a Like button, data including the address of the site you are visiting is sent to Facebook. No matter you are logged in or not, they have all the information they would need with your Facebook identity. With privacy issues at the vanguard of technology news, it is vital to note that these social media tools track user's behavior.

In computing, the web browsing history means the list of web pages a user has visited recently and associated data such as page title and time of visit, which is recorded by web browser software as standard for a certain period of time. Apart from the web browser software itself, third-party services can also record a user's web browsing history. The worrying part of third-party tracking of your daily surfing is that there are many things companies can do with this information that isn't so beneficial to its users.

Banner ads are the ones that can track your browsing history. Each advert sets a cookie in your browser, and when you visit another site with ads served by the same provider, this cookie will be sent back with the referring URL. For instance, if you visit facebook.com the tracking cookie will be set in your browser. Even after visiting Facebook, the tracking cookie will still be sent to Facebook when any Like buttons are loaded on other sites. How to avoid that?

A user can avoid that by deleting all Facebook cookies from the browser, or even surf in his browser's incognito/anonymous mode. Apart from that there are some other ways which can be effective in this regard.

Disconnect, an open-source browser add-on developed by a former Google engineer, Brian Kennish can block third-party tracking scripts from major data gatherers like Google, Facebook, Yahoo! and Twitter. It blocks tracker scripts from collecting information from the user, such as Facebook Like buttons or those auto-login sites, and de-personalizes the user's searches on Google. A user can also use other computers as proxies to hide their IP address from the web sites they visit or the other computers they communicate with on the Internet.

Since web browsers play an ever more central role in our use of computers, and even becoming the only way to interact with a machine, it?s obvious that the subject of privacy keeps coming up. And with privacy comes along the topic of how we are tracked on the web. While registering or doing business with a Web site, the user should always review its privacy policy to see how it will use your information. You should never do business with any site that doesn't have a clearly stated privacy policy.

Text replacement using Cufon

2011-04-07T12:16:00.001+05:30

Cufon Technique for web page custom fonts

One of our recent project demanded custom font family for web pages. Upon a whole lot of research and evaluating pros and cons of different methods to use custom fonts on remote web pages, we finalized on ‘Cufon’ method to do the same.

Cufon is basically a javascript text replacement technique which takes the font, renders every character with its information like color, size, etc and replaces original text.

Other text replacement techniques are sIFR and @font-face. But we would vouch for Cufon as it is

* Browser independent. We have tested Cufon technique in Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Internet Explorer and it works fine.
* Requires no plug-ins
* Fast to generate
* Easy to use

One important thing we might have to consider is try and not use the same for the entire website content replacement, which might make the website slow. We have used cufons mainly for header tags / titles / sub-titles and the site has not slowed down.

How to Create and use Cufon:

* Download the basic javascript file - cufon-yui.js ( which is easily available)
* Use Cufon generator, like the one found in http://cufon.shoqolate.com/generate/ and upload your font (True Type (TTF) / Open Type (OTF) / Printer Font Binary (PFB) / Post Script fonts) to obtain cufon javascript file for the same
* Include the above javascript files in your website directory
* Call the same in your web page header
example -

* Cufon replacement script can be called either in the header or just before you close the body tag.

We would suggest you to call Cufon replacement script just before closing the body tag so that the page content is all loaded and later the font family is replaced with cufons.

Jan Lokpal Bill, why it's important

2011-04-06T17:10:00.001+05:30

Source: http://indiaagainstcorruption.org/

The Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's ombudsman Bill) is a draft anti-corruption bill drawn up by prominent civil society activists seeking the appointment of a Jan Lokpal, an independent body that would investigate corruption cases, complete the investigation within a year and envisages trial in the case getting over in the next one year.

Drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde (former Supreme Court Judge and present Lokayukta of Karnataka), Prashant Bhushan (Supreme Court Lawyer) and Arvind Kejriwal (RTI activist), the draft Bill envisages a system where a corrupt person found guilty would go to jail within two years of the complaint being made and his ill-gotten wealth being confiscated. It also seeks power to the Jan Lokpal to prosecute politicians and bureaucrats without government permission.

Retired IPS officer Kiran Bedi and other known people like Swami Agnivesh, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Anna Hazare and Mallika Sarabhai are also part of the movement, called India Against Corruption. Its website describes the movement as "an expression of collective anger of people of India against corruption. We have all come together to force/request/persuade/pressurize the Government to enact the Jan Lokpal Bill. We feel that if this Bill were enacted it would create an effective deterrence against corruption."

Anna Hazare, anti-corruption crusader, began a fast-unto-death today, demanding that this bill, drafted by the civil society, be adopted. The website of the India Against Corruption movement calls the Lokpal Bill of the government an "eyewash" and has on it a critique of that government Bill. It also lists the difference between the Bills drafted by the government and civil society.

A look at the salient features of Jan Lokpal Bill:
1. An institution called LOKPAL at the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set up

2. Like Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely independent of the governments. No minister or bureaucrat will be able to influence their investigations.

3. Cases against corrupt people will not linger on for years anymore: Investigations in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be completed in next one year so that the corrupt politician, officer or judge is sent to jail within two years.

4. The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of conviction.

5. How will it help a common citizen: If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office, Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant.

6. So, you could approach Lokpal if your ration card or passport or voter card is not being made or if police is not registering your case or any other work is not being done in prescribed time. Lokpal will have to get it done in a month's time. You could also report any case of corruption to Lokpal like ration being siphoned off, poor quality roads been constructed or panchayat funds being siphoned off. Lokpal will have to complete its investigations in a year, trial will be over in next one year and the guilty will go to jail within two years.

7. But won't the government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members? That won't be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through a completely transparent and participatory process.

8. What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.

9. What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician.

10. It will be the duty of the Lokpal to provide protection to those who are being victimized for raising their voice against corruption.

Jan Lokpal Bill version 2.1

An act to create effective anti-corruption and grievance redressal systems at centre so that effective deterrent is created against corruption and to provide effective protection to whistleblowers.

1. Short title and commencement:- (1) This Act may be called the Jan Lokpal Act, 2010.

(2) It shall come into force on the one hundred and twentieth day of its enactment.

2. Definitions:- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(1) “Action” means any action taken by a public servant in the discharge of his functions as such public servant and includes decision, recommendation or finding or in any other manner and includes willful failure or omission to act and all other expressions relating to such action shall be construed accordingly;

(2) “Allegation” in relation to a public servant includes any affirmation that such public servant-

(a) has indulged in misconduct, if he is a government servant;

(b) has indulged in corruption

(3) “complaint” includes any grievance or allegation or a request by whistleblower for protection and appropriate action.

(4) “corruption” includes anything made punishable under Chapter IX of the Indian Penal Code or under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988;

Provided that if any person obtains any benefit from the government by violating any laws or rules, that person along with the public servants who directly or indirectly helped that person obtain those benefits, shall be deemed to have indulged in corruption.

(5) “Government” or “Central Government” means Government of India.

(6) “Government Servant” means any person who is or was any time appointed to a civil service or post in connection with the affairs of the Central Government or High Courts or Supreme Court either on deputation or permanent or temporary or on contractual employment but would not include the judges.

(7) “grievance” means a claim by a person that he sustained injustice or undue hardship in consequence of mal-administration;

(8) “Lokpal” means

a. Benches constituted under this Act and performing their functions as laid down under various provisions of this Act; or

b. Any officer or employee, exercising its powers and carrying out its functions and responsibilities, in the manner and to the extent, assigned to it under this Act, or under various rules, regulations or orders made under various provisions of this Act.

c. For all other purposes, the Chairperson and members acting collectively as a body;

(9) “Mal-administration” means action taken or purporting to have been taken in the exercise of administrative function in any case where,-

a. such action or the administrative procedure or practice governing such action is unreasonable, unjust, oppressive or improperly discriminatory; or

b. there has been willful negligence or undue delay in taking such action or the administrative procedure or practice governing such action involves undue delay;

(9A) “Minor penalty” and Major penalty” shall mean the same as defined in CCS Conduct Rules.

(10)“Misconduct” means misconduct as defined in relevant Conduct Rules and which has vigilance angle.

(11)"public authority" means any authority or body or institution of self- government established or constituted—

a. by or under the Constitution;

b. by any other law made by Parliament;

c. by notification issued or order made by the Government, and includes any body owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Government;

(12)“Public servant” means a person who is or was at any time,-

(a) the Prime Minister;

(b) a Minister;

(d) Judges of High Courts and Supreme Courts;

(e) a Government servant;

(f) the Chairman or Vice-Chairman (by whatever name called) or a member of a local authority in the control of the Central Government or a statutory body or corporation established by or under any law of the Parliament of India, including a co-operative society, or a Government Company within the meaning of section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 and members of any Committee or Board, statutory or non-statutory, constituted by the Government;

(g) includes all those who are declared as “public servants” in section 2(c) of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.

(h) Such other authorities as the Central Government may, by notification, from time to time, specify;

(13)“Vigilance angle” includes –

(a) All acts of corruption

(b) Gross or willful negligence; recklessness in decision making; blatant violations of systems and procedures; exercise of discretion in excess, where no ostensible/public interest is evident; failure to keep the controlling authority/superiors informed in time

(c) Failure/delay in taking action, if under law the government servant ought to do so, against subordinates on complaints of corruption or dereliction of duties or abuse of office by the subordinates

(d) Indulging in discrimination through one’s conduct, directly or indirectly.

(e) Victimizing Whistle Blowers

(f) Any undue/unjustified delay in the disposal of a case, perceived after considering all relevant factors, would reinforce a conclusion as to the presence of vigilance angle in a case.

(g) Make or undertake an unfair investigation or enquiry either to unduly help those guilty of corruption or incriminate the innocent.

(h) Any other matter as notified from time to time by the Lokpal

(14)“Whistleblower” is any person, who faces the threat of

(a) professional harm, including but not limited to illegitimate transfer, denial of promotion, denial of appropriate perquisites, departmental proceedings, discrimination or

(b) physical harm, or

because of either making a complaint to the Lokpal under this Act, or for filing an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 or by any other legal action aimed at preventing or exposing corruption or mal-governance.

3. Establishment of the institution of Lokpal and appointment of Lokpal:

(1) There shall be an institution known as Lokpal which shall consist of one Chairperson and ten members along with its officers and employees.

(2) The Chairperson and members of Lokpal shall be selected in such manner as laid down in this Act.

(3) A person appointed as Chairperson or member of Lokpal shall, before entering upon his office, make and subscribe before the President, an oath or affirmation in the form as prescribed.

(4) The Government shall appoint the Chairperson and members of the first Lokpal and set up the institution with all its logistics and assets within six months of enactment of this Act.

(5) The Government shall fill up a vacancy of the Chairperson or a member caused due to

a) Retirement, 3 months before the member or the Chairperson retires.

b) Any other unforeseen reason, within a month of such vacancy arising.

Chairperson and Members of Lokpal

4. The Chairperson and members of Lokpal not to have held certain offices- The Chairperson and members of Lokpal shall not be serving member of either the Parliament or the Legislature of any State and shall not hold any office or trust of profit (other than the office as Chairperson or member) or carry on any business or practice any profession and accordingly, before he enters upon his office, a person appointed as the Chairperson or member of Lokpal shall-

(i) if he holds any office of trust or profit, resign from such office; or

(ii) if he is carrying on any business, sever his connection with the conduct and management of such business; or

(iii) if he is practicing any profession, suspend practice of such profession.

(iv) If he is associated directly or indirectly with any other activity, which is likely cause conflict of interest in the performance of his duties in Lokpal, he should suspend his association with that activity.

Provided that if even after the suspension, the earlier association of that person with such activity is likely to adversely affect his performance at Lokpal, that person shall not be appointed as a member or Chairperson of Lokpal.

5. Term of office and other conditions of service of Lokpal– (1) A person appointed as the Chairperson or member of Lokpal shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office or upto the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier;

Provided further that.-

(a) the Chairperson or member of Lokpal may, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his office;

(b) the Chairperson or member may be removed from office in the manner provided in this Act.

(2) There shall be paid to the Chairperson and each member every month a salary equal to that of the Chief Justice of India and that of the judge of the Supreme Court respectively;

(3) The allowances and pension payable to and other conditions of service of the Chairperson or a member shall be such as may be prescribed;

Provided that the allowances and pension payable to and other conditions of service of the Chairperson or members shall not be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment.

(4) The administrative expenses of the office of the Lokpal including all salaries, allowances and pensions payable to or in respect of persons serving in that office, shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund of India.

(5) There shall be a separate fund by the name of “Lokpal fund” in which penalties/fines imposed by the Lokpal shall be deposited and in which 10% of the loss of Public Money recovered under section 19 of this Act shall also be deposited by the Government. Disposal of such fund shall be completely at the discretion of the Lokpal and such fund shall be used only for enhancement/upgradation/extension of the infrastructure of Lokpal.

(6) The Chairperson and members of Lokpal shall not be eligible for appointment to any position in Government of India or Government of any state or any such body which is funded by any of the governments or for contesting elections to Parliament, state legislatures or local bodies, if he has ever held the position of the Chairperson or a member for any period after demitting their office. A member could be appointed as a chairperson, provided that the total tenure both as member and as chairperson would not exceed five years and no member or chairperson would be eligible for reappointment or extension after completion of a five year term.

6. Appointment of the Chairperson and members:

1. The Chairperson and members shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of a selection committee.

2. The following shall not be eligible to become Chairperson or Member of Lokpal:

(a) Any person, who is not a citizen of India

(b) Any person, who was ever chargesheeted for any offence under IPC or PC Act or any other Act or was ever penalized under CCS Conduct Rules.

3. At least four members of Lokpal shall have legal background. Not more than two members, including Chairman, shall be former civil servants.

Explanation: “Legal Background” means that the person should have held a judicial office in the territory of India for at least ten years or has been an advocate in High Court or Supreme Court for at least fifteen years.

4. The members and Chairperson should have unimpeachable integrity and should have demonstrated their resolve to fight corruption in the past.

5. A selection committee consisting of the following shall be set up:

a. The Vice President of India

b. Speaker of Lok Sabha

c. Two senior most judges of Supreme Court

d. Two senior most Chief Justices of High Courts.

e. Retired army personnel who are five star Generals.

f. Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission

g. Comptroller and Auditor General of India

h. Chief Election Commissioner

i. After the first set of selection process, the outgoing members and Chairperson of Lokpal.

6. The Vice President shall act as the Chairperson of the selection committee.

7. The following selection process shall be followed:

a. Recommendations shall be invited through open advertisements in prescribed format.

b. Each person recommending shall be expected to justify the selection of his candidate giving examples from the past achievements of the candidate.

c. The list of candidates along with their recommendations received in the format mentioned above shall be displayed on a website.

d. Each member of the selection committee, on the basis of the above material, shall recommend such number of names as there are vacancies.

e. This list shall be displayed on the website.

f. Public feedback shall be invited on the shortlisted names by putting these names on the website.

g. The selection committee may decide to use any means to collect more information about the background and past achievements of the shortlisted candidates.

h. All the material obtained so far about the candidates shall be made available to each member of the selection committee in advance. The members shall make their own assessment of each candidate.

i. The selection committee shall meet and discuss the material so received about each candidate. The final selections for the Chairperson and members shall be made preferably through consensus.

Provided that if three or more members, for reasons to be recorded in writing, object to the selection of any member, he shall not be selected.

j. All meetings of selection committee shall be video recorded and shall be made public.

8. The Prime Minister shall recommend the names finalized by the selection committee to the President immediately, who shall order such appointments within a month of receipt of the same.

9. If any of the members of the selection committee retires while a selection process is going on, that member will continue on the selection committee till the end of that process.

7. Removal of Chairperson or members-

(1) The Chairperson or any member shall not be removed from his office except by an order of the President on one or more of the following grounds:

a. Proved misbehavior

b. Professional, mental or physical incapacity

c. Insolvency

d. Being charged of an offence which involves moral turpitude

e. Engaging while holding such office, in any paid employment

f. Acquiring such financial interests or other interests, which are likely to affect his functions as member or Chairperson prejudicially.

g. Being guided by considerations extraneous to the merits of the case under his consideration with a view to favoring someone or implicating someone through any act of omission or commission.

h. Unduly influencing or attempting to influence any government functionary.

i. Committing any act of omission or commission which is punishable under Prevention of Corruption Act or is a misconduct.

j. If a member or the Chairperson in any way, concerned or interested in any contract or agreement made by or on behalf of any public authority in the Government of India or Government of any state or participates in any way in the profit thereof or in any benefit or emolument arising there from otherwise than as a member and in common with the other members of an incorporated company, he shall be deemed to be guilty of misbehavior.

(3) The following process shall be followed in respect of petitions for the removal of any member or Chairperson of Lokpal:

(a) Any person may move a petition before the Supreme Court seeking removal of one or more of the members or Chairperson of Lokpal, alleging one or more of the grounds for removal and providing evidence for the same.

(b) The Supreme Court will hear the matter on receipt of such petition and may take one or more of the following steps:

(i) order an investigation by a Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court, if a prima facie case is made out and if the matter cannot be judged based on affidavits of the parties. The Special Investigation Team shall submit its report within three months.

(ii) Pending investigations by a Special Investigation Team under sub-clause (i), order withdrawal of a part or complete work from that member.

(iii) dismiss the petition if no case is made out

(iv) if the grounds are proved, recommend to the President for removal of the said member or Chairperson

(v) direct registration and investigation of cases with appropriate agencies, if there is a prima facie case of commission of an offence punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act or any other law.

(d) The bench shall be constituted by a panel of five seniormost judges of the Supreme Court.

(e) The Supreme Court shall not dismiss such petitions in liminae.

(f) If the Supreme Court concludes that the petition has been made with mischievous or malafide motives, the Court may order imposition of fine or imprisonment upto one year against the complainant.

(g) On receipt of a recommendation from the Supreme Court under clause (b)(iv) supra, the Prime Minister shall immediately recommend the removal of the member(s) or Chairperson of Lokpal to the President, who shall order the removal of the said member(s) or Chairperson within a month of receipt of the same.

Powers and Functions of Lokpal

8. Functions of Lokpal: (1) the Lokpal shall be responsible for receiving:

(a) Complaints where there are allegations of acts of omission or commission punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act

(b) Complaints where there are allegations of misconduct by a government servant,

(d) Complaints from whistleblowers

(e) Complaints against the staff of Lokpal

(1A) It shall be the prime duty of Lokpal to ensure the integrity of its own staff and employees, whether temporary or otherwise. Lokpal shall be competent and empowered to take all actions to ensure that.

(2) The Lokpal, after getting such enquiries and investigations done as it deems fit, may take one or more of the following actions:

a. Close the case, if prima facie, the complaint is not made out, or

b. Initiate prosecution against public servants as well as those private entities, which are parties to the act

c. Recommend imposition of appropriate penalties under the relevant Conduct Rules

Provided that if a government servant is finally convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the penalty of dismissal shall be recommended on such government servant.

d. Order cancellation or modification of a license or lease or permission or contract or agreement, which was the subject matter of investigation.

e. Blacklist the concerned firm or company or contractor or any other entity involved in that act of corruption.

f. Issue appropriate directions to appropriate authorities for redressal of grievance as per provisions of this Act.

g. Invoke its powers under this Act if its orders are not duly complied with and ensure due compliance of its orders.

h. Take necessary action to provide protection to a whistleblower as per various provisions of this Act.

(3) Suo moto initiate appropriate action under this Act if any case, of the nature mentioned in clauses (a), (b), (c) or (d) of sub-section (1), comes to the knowledge of the Lokpal from any source.

(4) Issue such directions, as are necessary, from time to time, to appropriate authorities so as to make such changes in their work practices, administration or other systems so as to reduce the scope and possibility for corruption, misconduct, public grievances and whistleblower victimization.

(5) Orders made by Lokpal under sub-section (2)(c) of this section shall be binding on the government and the government shall implement it within a week of receipt of that order.

(6) Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act shall be deleted. Section 6A of Delhi Special Police Establishment Act shall not be applicable to the proceedings under this Act.

(7) Section 197 of CrPC shall not apply to any proceedings under this Act. All permissions, which need to be sought for initiating investigations or for initiating prosecutions under any Act shall be deemed to have been granted once Lokpal grants such permissions.

9. Issue of Search Warrant, etc.- (1) Where, in consequence of information in his possession, the Lokpal

(a) has reason to believe that any person. –

(i) to whom a summon or notice under this Act, has, been or might be issued, will not or would not produce or cause to be produced any property, document or thing which will be necessary or useful for or relevant to any inquiry or other proceeding to be conducted by him;

(ii) is in possession of any money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing and such money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing represents either wholly or partly income or property which has not been disclosed to the authorities for the purpose of any law or rule in force which requires such disclosure to be made; or

(b) considers that the purposes of any inquiry or other proceedings to be conducted by him will be served by a general search or inspection,

It may by a search warrant authorize any Police officer not below the rank of an Inspector of Police to conduct a search or carry out an inspection in accordance therewith and in particular to, -

(i) enter and search any building or place where he has reason to suspect that such property, document, money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing is kept;

(ii) search any person who is reasonably suspected of concealing about his person any article for which search should be made;

(iii) break open the lock of any door, box, locker safe, almirah or other receptacle for exercising the powers conferred by sub-clause (i) where the keys thereof are not available.

Seize any such property, document, money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing found as a result of such search;

(iv) place marks of identification on any property or document or make or cause to be made; extracts or copies therefrom; or

(v) make a note or an inventory of any such property, document, money, bullion, Jewellery or other valuable article or thing.

(2) The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, relating to search and seizure shall apply, so far as may be, to searches and seizures under sub-section (1).

(3) A warrant issued under sub-section (1) shall for all purposes, be deemed to be a warrant issued by a court under section 93 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

10. Evidence - (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, for the purpose of any investigation (including the preliminary inquiry, if any, before such investigation) under this Act, the Lokpal may require any public servant or any other person who, in its opinion is able to furnish information or produce documents relevant to the investigation, to furnish any such information or produce any such document.

(2) For the purpose of any such investigation (including the preliminary inquiry) the Lokpal shall have all the powers of a civil court while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 , in respect of the following matters, namely:-

(a) Summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;

(b) Requiring the discovery and production of any document;

(d) Requisitioning any public record or copy thereof from any court or office ;

(e) Issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents ;

(f) ordering payment of compensatory cost in respect of a false or vexatious claim or defence;

(g) ordering cost for causing delay;

(h) Such other matters as may be prescribed.

(3) Any proceeding before the Lokpal shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding with in the meaning of section 193 of the Indian Penal Code.

11. Reports of Lokpal, etc. (1) The Chairperson of Lokpal shall present annually a consolidated report in prescribed format on its performance to the President.

(2) On receipt of the annual report, the President shall cause a copy thereof together with an explanatory memorandum to be laid before each House of the Parliament.

(3) The Lokpal shall publish every month on its website the list of cases disposed with brief details of each such case, outcome and action taken or proposed to be taken in that case. It shall also publish lists of all cases received by the Lokpal during the previous month, cases disposed and cases which are pending.

12. Lokpal to be a deemed police officer: (1) For the purposes of section 36 of Criminal Procedure Code, the Chairperson, members of Lokpal and the officers in investigation wing of Lokpal shall be deemed to be police officers.

(2) While investigating any offence under Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, they shall be competent to investigate any offence under any other law in the same case.

13. Powers in case of non-compliance of orders: (1) Each order of the Lokpal shall clearly specify the names of the officials who are required to execute that order, the manner in which it should be executed and the time period within which that order should be complied with.

(2) If the order is not complied with within the time or in the manner directed, the Lokpal may decide to impose a fine on the officials responsible for the non-compliance of its orders.

(3) The Drawing and Disbursing Officer of that Department shall be directed to deduct such amount of fine as is clearly specified by the Lokpal in its order made in sub-section (2) from the salaries of the officers specified in the order.

Provided that no penalty shall be imposed without giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard.

Provided that if the Drawing and Disbursing Officer fails to deduct the salary as specified in the said order, he shall make himself liable for a similar penalty.

(4) In order to get its orders complied with, the Lokpal shall have, and exercise the same jurisdiction powers and authority in respect of contempt of itself as a High court has and may exercise, and, for this purpose, the provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 (Central Act 70 of 1971) shall have the effect subject to the modification that the references therein to the High Court shall be construed as including a reference to the Lokpal.

13A. Special Judges under section 4 of Prevention of Corruption Act: (1) On an annual basis, the Lokpal shall make an assessment of the number of Special Judges required under section 4 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 in each area and the Government shall appoint such number of Judges within three months of the receipt of such recommendation.

Provided that the Lokpal shall recommend such number of Special Judges so that trial in each case under this Act is completed within a year.

(2) Before making any fresh appointments, the Government shall consult the Lokpal on the procedure to be followed in selection to ensure the integrity of the candidates selected. The Government shall implement such recommendations.

13B. Issue of Letter Rogatory: A bench of the Lokpal shall have powers to issue Letters Rogatory in any case pending with the Lokpal.

Functioning of Lokpal

14. Functioning of Lokpal: (1) The Chairperson shall be responsible for the overall administration and supervision of the institution of Lokpal.

(2) All policy level decisions including formulation of regulations, developing internal systems for the functioning of Lokpal, assigning functions to various officials in Lokpal, delegation of powers to various functionaries in Lokpal etc shall be taken by the Chairperson and the members collectively as a body.

(3) The Chairperson shall have an annual meeting with the Prime Minister to assess the needs of Lokpal for finances and manpower. Lokpal shall be provided resources by the Government on the basis of outcome of this meeting.

(3A) The expenditure so decided shall be charged to Consolidated Fund of India.

(3B) Lokpal shall take all possible steps to ensure the integrity of its employees and integrity of all enquiries and investigations. For this purpose, it shall be competent to make rules, prescribe work norms and prescribe procedures for swift and effective punishment against inefficient and corrupt employees.

(4) Lokpal shall function in benches of three or more members. Benches shall be constituted randomly and cases shall be assigned to them randomly by computer. Each bench shall consist of at least one member with legal background.

(5) Such benches shall be responsible for

(i) granting permission to initiate prosecution in cases against Joint Secretary and above.

(ii) Hearing cases of complaints against its own staff.

(iii) Such other orders as may be decided by Lokpal from time to time.

Provided that the full bench of Lokpal may lay down norms as to which category of cases will be dealt by the benches of members and which cases would be decided at the levels of Chief Vigilance officers or Vigilance Officers. The norms could be based on loss caused to the government and/or impact on public and/or the status of the accused.

(6) The Lokpal may decide to initiate investigations into any case suo motu.

(7) The decision to initiate investigation or prosecution against any member of the Cabinet shall be taken by full bench of Lokpal.

(8) Certain matters, as provided under this Act shall be dealt by the full bench of Lokpal, which shall consist of at least seven members.

(9) Minutes and records of meetings of Lokpal shall be made public.

15. Making a complaint to the Lokpal: (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, any person may make a complaint under this Act to the Lokpal.

Provided that in case of a grievance, if the person aggrieved is dead or for any reason, unable to act for himself, the complaint may be made or if it is already made may be continued by his legal representatives or by any other person who is authorized by him in writing in this behalf.

Provided further that a citizen may make a complaint to any office of Lokpal anywhere in the country. It shall be the duty of that office of Lokpal to transfer it to appropriate officer within Lokpal.

(2) A complaint could be on a plain paper but should contain all such details as prescribed by Lokpal.

(2A) After its annual report has been presented in the Parliament, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India shall forward all such cases, which constitute an allegation under this Act, to the Lokpal and Lokpal shall act on them as per provisions of this Act.

(3) On receipt of a complaint, the Lokpal shall decide whether it is an allegation or a grievance or a request for whistleblower protection or a mixture of two or more of these.

(4) Every complaint shall have to be compulsorily disposed of by the Lokpal.

Provided that no complaint shall be closed without giving an opportunity of hearing to the complainant.

16. Matters which may be investigated by the Lokpal– Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Lokpal may investigate any action which is taken by or with the general or specific approval of a public servant where a complaint involving a grievance or an allegation is made in respect of such action.

Provided that the Lokpal may also investigate such action suo moto or if it is referred to it by the government, if such action can be or could have been in his recorded opinion, subject of a grievance or an allegation.

17. Matters not subject to investigation:- (1) The Lokpal shall not conduct any investigation under this Act in case of a grievance in respect of any action-

(i) if the complainant has or had, any remedy by way of appeal, revision, review or any other recourse before any authority provided in any other law and he has not availed of the same.

(ii) Taken by a judicial or quasi-judicial body, unless the complainant alleges malafides

(iii) If the substance of the entire grievance is pending before any court or quasi-judicial body of competent jurisdiction.

(iv) any grievance where there is inordinate and inexplicable delay in agitating it.

(2) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as authorising the Lokpal to investigate any action which is taken by or with the approval of the Presiding Officer of either House of Parliament.

(3) Nothing in this section shall bar Lokpal from entertaining a complaint making an allegation of misconduct or corruption or a complaint from a whistleblower seeking protection.

18. Provisions relating to complaints and investigations-

(i) (a) The Lokpal, on receipt of a complaint in the nature of an allegation or a grievance or a combination of the two, or in a case initiated on his own motion, may on perusing the documents, either decide to proceed to enquire or investigate into that complaint or decide, to make such preliminary inquiry before proceeding to enquire or investigate into such complaint or direct any other person to make such preliminary inquiry as it deems fit for ascertaining whether there exists a reasonable ground for conducting the investigation. The outcome of such preliminary enquiry, and if the complaint is being closed along with reasons for the same and all material collected during preliminary enquiry, shall be communicated to the complainant.

Provided that if any case is closed, all documents related thereto shall thereafter be treated as public. Every month, a list of all such cases shall be put on the website with reasons for closing a case. All material connected with such closed cases will be provided to anyone seeking it under Right to Information Act.

Provided further that no complaint of allegation shall be rejected on the basis of the motives or intention of the complainant.

Provided further that all hearings before Lokpal shall be video recorded and shall be available to any member of the public on payment of copying costs.

(b) The procedure for preliminary enquiry of a complaint shall be such as the Lokpal deems appropriate in the circumstances of the case and in particular, the Lokpal may, if it deems necessary to do so, call for the comments of the public servant concerned.

Provided that the preliminary enquiry should be completed and a decision taken whether to close a case or to proceed with investigations preferably within one month of receipt of any complaint, and positively within three months. Where the preliminary enquiry has not been completed within one month, reasons for the delay will be recorded in writing at the completion of the enquiry and made public.

(c) No anonymous complaint shall be entertained under this Act. The Complainant will have to reveal his identity to the Lokpal. However, if the complainant so desires, his identity shall be protected by Lokpal.

(ii) Where the Lokpal proposes, either directly or after making preliminary inquiry, to conduct any investigation under this Act, it.-

(a) may make such order as to the safe custody of documents relevant to the investigation, as it deems fit.

(b) at appropriate stage of investigations or in the end, it shall forward a copy of the complaint, its findings and copy of the material relied upon to the public servant concerned and the complainant,

Provided that such hearing shall be held in public, except in rare circumstances, to be recorded in writing, where it is not in public interest and in the interest of justice to hold it in public, it will be held in camera.

(iii) The conduct of an investigation under this Act against a public servant in respect of any action shall not affect such action, or any power or duty of any other public servant to take further action with respect to any matter subject to the investigation.

(iv) If, during the course of a preliminary inquiry or investigation under this Act, the Lokpal is prima facie satisfied that the allegation or grievance in respect of any action is likely to be sustained either wholly or partly, it may, through an interim order, recommend the public authority to stay the implementation or enforcement of the decision or action complained against, or to take such mandatory or preventive action, on such terms and conditions, as it may specify in its order to prevent further harm from taking place. The public authority shall either comply with or reject the recommendations of Lokpal under this sub-section within 15 days of receipt of such an order. Lokpal, if it feels important, may approach appropriate High Court for seeking appropriate directions to the public authority.

(v) The Lokpal, either during the course of investigations, if it is satisfied that prosecution is likely to be initiated in that case, or at the end of the investigations at the time of initiating prosecution, shall make a list of moveable and immoveable assets of all the accused in that case and shall notify the same. No transfer of the same shall be permitted after such notification. In the event of final conviction, the trial court may, in addition to other measures, recover the loss determined under section 19 of this Act from this property,.

(vi) If during the course of investigation or enquiry into a complaint, the Lokpal feels that continuance of a public servant in that position could adversely affect the course of investigations or enquiry or that the said public servant is likely to destroy or tamper with the evidence or influence the witnesses, the Lokpal may issue appropriate recommendations including transfer of that public servant from that position or his suspension, if he is a government servant. The public authority shall either comply with or reject the recommendations of Lokpal under this sub-section within 15 days of receipt of such an order. Lokpal, if it feels important, may approach appropriate High Court for seeking appropriate directions to the public authority.

(vii) The Lokpal may, at any stage of inquiry or investigation under this Act, direct through an interim order, appropriate authorities to take such action as is necessary, pending inquiry or investigation.-

(a) to safeguard wastage or damage of public property or public revenue by the administrative acts of the public servant;

(b) to prevent further acts of misconduct by the public servant;

The public authority shall either comply with or reject the recommendations of Lokpal under this sub-section within 15 days of receipt of such an order. Lokpal, if it feels important, may approach appropriate High Court for seeking appropriate directions to the public authority.

(viii) Where after investigation into a complaint, the Lokpal is satisfied that the complaint involving an allegation against the public servant, other than the Ministers, Members of Parliament and judges, is substantiated and that the public servant concerned should not continue to hold the post held by him, the Lokpal shall pass orders to that effect. In case of public servant being a Minister or a Member of Parliament, Lokpal shall make such recommendation to the President, who shall decide either to accept such recommendation or reject it within a month of its receipt.

Provided that the provisions of this section shall not apply to the Prime Minister.

(ix) All records and information of Lokpal shall be public and shall be accessible under Right to Information Act, even at the stage of investigation or enquiry, unless the release of such information would adversely affect the process of enquiry or investigation.

Recovery of Loss to the Government and punishments

19. Recovery of loss to the Government: When a person is convicted of an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, then the trial court shall quantify the loss caused to the government and apportion that amount to various convicts from whom this money must be recovered as arrears of land revenue.

19A. Punishments for offences: For offences mentioned in Chapter III of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the proviso to section 2(4) of this Act and section 28A of this Act, the punishment shall not be less than two years of rigorous imprisonment and may extend upto life imprisonment.

Provided that if the accused is an officer of the rank of Joint Secretary or above or a Minister, a member or Chairperson of the Lokpal, the punishment shall not be less than ten years of imprisonment.

Provided further that if the offence is of the nature mentioned in the proviso to section 2(4) of this Act and if the beneficiary is a business entity, in addition to other punishments mentioned in this Act and under the Prevention of Corruption Act, a fine amounting to five times the loss caused to the public shall be recovered from the accused and the recovery may be done from the assets of the business entity and from the personal assets of all its Directors, if the assets of the accused are inadequate.

Dealing with complaints against judges of High Courts or Supreme Court

19B. Receiving and disposing complaints against Judges of High Courts or Supreme Court: (1) Any complaint against any Judge of a High Court or Supreme Court shall be dealt only by the office of the Chairperson of Lokpal.

(2) Each such complaint shall be subjected to a preliminary screening, which shall determine whether prima facie evidence exists of an offence under Prevention of Corruption Act. The screening shall be done by a member of Lokpal, who shall then present his findings to a full bench of Lokpal.

(3) A case shall not be registered without the approval of a full bench of Lokpal with majority of members of that bench being from legal background.

(4) Such case shall be investigated by a special team headed by an officer not below the rank of a Superintendent of Police.

(5) A decision whether to initiate prosecution shall be taken by a full bench of Lokpal with majority of members with legal background.

Whistleblower protection

20. Protection of Whistleblower: (1) A whistleblower may seek the protection of the Lokpal if he has been subjected to or threatened with, professional or physical victimization.

(2) On receiving such a complaint, Lokpal shall take following steps:

(a) Professional victimization: If after conducting appropriate enquiries, the Lokpal feels that there is a real threat to the whistleblower on account of having made an allegation under this Act, it shall, as soon as possible but not more than a month of receipt of such complaint, direct appropriate authorities to take such steps as directed by the Lokpal.

(b) If a whistleblower complains that he has been victimized professionally on account of making an allegation under this Act and the Lokpal, after conducting enquiries, is of the opinion that the whistleblower has been victimized for having made an allegation under this Act, it shall, as soon as possible but in not more than a month, direct appropriate authorities to take such steps as directed by the Lokpal.

Provided that for clause (a) the Lokpal may, but for clause (b) the Lokpal shall, also issue orders imposing appropriate penalties under relevant Rules against the government servants who issued threats or caused victimization.

Provided further that no such penalties shall be imposed without giving an opportunity of being heard to the affected government servants.

(c) Threat of physical victimization: Lokpal shall conduct appropriate enquiries and if it feels that there is a real threat to the person and the threat is on account of that person having made an allegation under this Act or for having filed an RTI application to any public authority covered under this Act, then notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, the Lokpal shall pass appropriate orders, as soon as possible but in not more than a week, directing appropriate authorities, including police, to take such steps as directed by the Lokpal to provide adequate security to that person, to register criminal cases against those who are issuing threats and also to take all such steps necessary to mitigate circumstances leading to such threat.

Provided that if the threat is imminent, Lokpal may decide to act immediately, within a few hours to prevent physical assault on that person.

(d) If a person complains that he has already been physically assaulted on account of making an allegation under this Act and if Lokpal is satisfied after conducting enquiries that the person has been assaulted because of his having made an allegation under this Act or for filing an RTI application in any of the public authorities covered under this Act, then notwithstanding anything else contained in any other law, the Lokpal shall pass such orders, as soon as possible but in not more than 24 hours, directing the concerned authorities to take such steps as directed by the Lokpal to provide adequate security to that person, to register criminal cases and also to ensure that no further harm visits on that person.

(e) If the whistleblower has alleged an act punishable under Prevention of Corruption Act, then for cases under clause (c), Lokpal may and for cases under clause (d), the Lokpal shall, assign the allegations made by that person to a special team, put it on a fast track and complete investigations in that case in not more than a month.

(f) If the whistleblower has alleged an act punishable under any law other than the Prevention of Corruption Act, then for cases under clause (c), Lokpal may and for cases under clause (d), the Lokpal shall, direct the agency which has the powers to enforce that law to assign the allegations made by the whistleblower to a special team, put it on a fast track and complete investigations in that case in such time as directed by the Lokpal.

(g) Lokpal shall have the powers to issue directions to appropriate agencies in the cases covered under clause (f), monitor such investigations and if necessary, issue directions to that agency to do the investigations in the manner as directed by the Lokpal.

(h) Whistleblowers, who face threat of physical victimization or are actually assaulted may directly approach the Chairperson of Lokpal who shall meet them within 24 hours of their seeking such meeting and shall take appropriate action as per provisions of this Act.

(3) If any complainant requests that his identity should be kept secret, Lokpal shall ensure the same. Lokpal shall prescribe detailed procedures on how such complaints shall be dealt with.

(4) Lokpal shall Issue orders to the Public Authorities to make necessary changes in their policies and practices to prevent recurrence of victimization.

(5) Lokpal shall make appropriate rules for the receipt and disposal of complaints from whistleblowers.

Grievance Redressal Systems

21. Citizens’ Charters: (1) Each public authority shall be responsible for ensuring the preparation and implementation of Citizens Charter, within a reasonable time, and not exceeding one year from the coming into force of this Act.

(2) Every Citizens Charter shall enumerate the commitments of the respective public authority to the citizens, officer responsible for meeting each such commitment and the time limit with in which the commitment shall be met.

(3) Each public authority shall designate an official called Public Grievance Redressal Officer, whom a complainant should approach for any violation of the Citizens Charter.

Provided that a public authority shall appoint at least one Public Grievance Redressal Officer in each station, where they have an office.

Provided further that the Public Grievance Redressal Officer shall either be Head of that Department or an officer not more than one rank below him but if that station does not have a Head of Department in any station, the seniormost officer in that station shall be appointed as the Public Grievance Redressal Officer.

(4) Every public authority shall review and revise its Citizens Charter at least once every year through a process of public consultation to be held in the presence of Chief Vigilance Officer in that public authority.

(5) Lokpal may direct any public authority to make such changes in their citizens’ charter as are mentioned in that order and that public authority shall make such changes within a week of receipt of such order.

Provided that such changes shall have to be approved by at least a three member bench of Lokpal.

Provided further than such changes should not increase the existing time limits or reduce the number of items in citizen’s charter.

21A. Receipt and disposal of Grievances: (1) The Chief Vigilance Officer of any public authority shall declare such number of Vigilance Officers, as it deems fit, to be known as Appellate Grievance Officers, to receive and dispose grievances related to that public authority.

(2)If a citizen fails to receive satisfactory redressal to his grievance within a month of making a complaint to Public Grievance Redressal Officer, can make a complaint to Appellate Grievance Officer.

Provided that if Appellate Grievance Officer feels that considering the gravity or urgency of the grievance, it is necessary to do so, he may decide to accept such grievance earlier also.

(3) If the complaint does not relate to an issue mentioned in Citizen’s Charter of that public authority, the Appellate Grievance Officer, within a month of receipt of complaint, pass an order either rejecting the grievance or directing the public authority to redress the grievance in the manner and within such time, as is mentioned in the order.

Provided that no grievance shall be rejected without giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard to the complainant.

(4) A complaint to the Appellate Grievance Officer shall be deemed to have a vigilance angle if any of the following two conditions are satisfied:

(i) for issues mentioned in citizen’s charter, if a citizen fails to get satisfactory redressal from Public Grievance Redressal Officer.

(ii) for issues other than those mentioned in citizen’s charter, if the orders of Appellate Grievance Officer made under sub-section (3) of this section are violated.

(5) Each case, as mentioned in sub-section (4) of this section, shall be dealt in the following manner:

(i) After giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard, the Appellate Grievance Officer shall pass an order fixing responsibility for failure to satisfactorily redress complainant’s grievance in prescribed time and direct the Drawing and Disbursing Officer of that public authority to deduct from the salary of such officials, as mentioned in the order, such penalty amounts as are directed by Appellate Grievance Officer, which shall not be less than Rs 250 per day of delay calculated from the day the time limit mentioned in citizens’ charter or the time limit specified in the order passed under sub-section (3) of this section, for redressing that grievance got over,

(ii) Direct the Drawing and Disbursing Officer to compensate the complainant with such amounts as are deducted from the salaries of the said officers.

(6) The Officers mentioned in the order made under clause (i) of sub-section (5) of this section shall be required to show cause that they acted in good faith and did not have corrupt motives. If they fail to do so, the Appellate Grievance Officer shall proceed to recommend penalties against the said officers under CCS Conduct Rules.

Imposition of major and minor penalties

21B. Allegations of misconduct shall be received and enquired by vigilance officers.

21C. Allegations of misconduct and public grievances with deemed vigilance angle under section 21A shall be dealt in the following manner:

(1) The vigilance officer shall conduct an enquiry into each such case within three months of its receipt and present its report to the Chief Vigilance Officer.

(2) Within a fortnight of receipt of report, the Chief Vigilance Officer shall constitute a three member bench of Deputy Chief Vigilance Officers other than the one who conducted enquiry at clause (1) above.

(3) The bench shall hold a summary hearing giving reasonable opportunity to the vigilance officer who conducted enquiry, the complainant and the officers accused.

(4) The bench shall hold hearings on day to day basis and pass an order either imposing one or more of the minor or major penalties on the accused government servants.

Provided that such orders shall be passed within a month of constitution of the bench.

Provided that such order shall be in the form of a recommendation to the appropriate appointing authority.

(5) An appeal shall lie against the order of the bench before the Chief Vigilance officer, who shall pass an order within a month of receipt of appeal, after giving reasonable opportunity to the accused, the complainant and the vigilance officer who conducted enquiries.

Employees and staff and authorities in Lokpal

22. Chief Vigilance Officer: (1) There shall be a Chief Vigilance Officer in each public authority to be selected and appointed by Lokpal.

(2) He shall not be from the same public authority.

(3) He shall be a person of impeccable integrity and ability to take proactive measures against corruption.

(4) He shall be responsible for accepting complaints against any public authority and shall transfer the complaints related to other public authorities within two days of receipt.

(5) He shall be responsible for carrying out all such responsibilities as assigned to him from time to time by Lokpal including dealing with complaints in the manner as laid down by Lokpal from time to time.

Provided that the complaints which require investigations under Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 shall be transferred to the Investigative wing of Lokpal.

Provided further that the complaints, other than grievances, against officers of the level of Joint Secretary or above shall not be dealt by the Chief Vigilance Officer and shall be transferred to the Lokpal, who shall set up a committee of Chief Vigilance Officers of three other public authorities to enquire into such complaint.

(6) All the grievances shall be received and disposed by Chief Vigilance Officer on behalf of Lokpal, if the citizen fails to get satisfactory redressal from Public Grievance Officer under section 21 of this Act.

(7) Such number of Vigilance Officers shall be appointed under the Chief Vigilance Officer as are decided by Lokpal from time to time.

(8) The Vigilance Officers and the Chief Vigilance Officer shall have powers to enquire and impose penalties under CCS Conduct Rules in such cases and as per such rules as laid down by the Lokpal from time to time.

23. Staff of Lokpal, etc.- (1) There shall be such officers and employees as may be prescribed to assist the Lokpal in the discharge of their functions under this Act.

(2) The number and categories of officers and employees shall be decided by the Lokpal.

(3) The categories, recruitment and conditions of service of the officers and employees referred in sub-section (1) including such special conditions or special pay as may be necessary for enabling them to act without fear in the discharge of their functions, shall be such as may be prescribed by Lokpal.

Provided that no official, whose integrity is in doubt, shall be considered for being posted in Lokpal.

Provided further that all officers and employees, who work in Lokpal on deputation or otherwise shall be eligible for the same terms and conditions as prescribed under this clause.

(4) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), the Lokpal may for the purpose of conducting investigations under this Act utilize the services of.-

(a) any officer or investigating agency of the Central Government; or

(b) any officer or investigating agency of any other Government with the prior concurrence of that Government; or

(5) The officers and other employees referred to in sub-section (1) shall be under the administrative and disciplinary control of the Lokpal:

(6) Lokpal shall have the powers to choose its own officials. Lokpal may enlist officials on deputation from other government agencies for a fixed tenure or it may enlist officials on permanent basis from other government agencies or it may appoint people from outside on permanent basis or on a fixed tenure basis.

(7) The staff and officers shall be entitled to such pay scales and other allowances, which may be different and more than the ordinary pay scales in the Central Government, as are decided by the Lokpal from time to time, in consultation with the Prime Minister, so as to attract honest and efficient people to work in Lokpal.

(8) Lokpal shall be competent to increase or decrease its staff at various levels, within its overall budgetary constraints, depending upon its workload and keeping in mind the terms and conditions of the staff employed.

24. Repeal and savings – (1) The Central Vigilance Commission Act shall stand repealed.

(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, any act or thing done under the said Act shall be deemed to have been done under this Act and may be continued and completed under the corresponding provisions of this Act.

(3) All enquiries and investigations and other disciplinary proceedings pending before the Central Vigilance Commission and which have not been disposed of, shall stand transferred to and be continued by the Lokpal as if they were commenced before him under this Act.

(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in any Act, the posts of the Secretary and other Officers and Employees of the Central Vigilance Commission are hereby abolished and they are hereby appointed as the Secretary and other officers and employees of the Lokpal. The salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of services of the said Secretary, officers and other employees shall, until they are varied, be the same as to which they were entitled to immediately before the commencement of this Act.

(5) All vigilance administration under the control of all Departments of Central Government, Ministries of the Central Government, corporations established by or under any Central Act, Government companies, societies and local authorities owned or controlled by the Central Government shall stand transferred, alongwith its personnel, assets and liabilities to Lokpal for all purposes.

(6) The personnel working in vigilance wings of the agencies mentioned in sub-section (5) shall be deemed to be on deputation to Lokpal for a period of five years from the date they are transferred to Lokpal. However, Lokpal may decide to repatriate any one of them anytime.

(7) That Department from where any personnel have been transferred to Lokpal under sub-section (5), shall cease to have any control over the administration and functions of transferred personnel.

(8) Lokpal shall rotate the personnel and create vigilance wing of each department in such a way that no personnel from the same department get posted for vigilance functions in the same department.

(9) No person shall be employed with Lokpal against whom any vigilance enquiry or any criminal case is pending at the time of being considered.

25. Investigation Wing of Lokpal: (1) There shall be an investigation wing at Lokpal.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 17 of Prevention of Corruption Act, such officers of Investigation wing, upto the level as decided by Lokpal, shall have, in relation to the investigation and arrest of persons throughout India, in connection with investigation of complaints under this Act, all the powers, duties, privileges and liabilities which members of Delhi Special Police Establishment have in connection with the investigation of offences committed therein.

(3) That part of Delhi Special Police Establishment, in so far as it relates to investigation and prosecution of offences alleged to have been committed under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, shall stand transferred, alongwith its employees, assets and liabilities to Lokpal for all purposes.

(4) That part of Delhi Special Police Establishment, which has been transferred under sub-section (3), shall form part of Investigation Wing of Lokpal.

(5) The Central Government shall cease to have any control over the transferred part and its personnel.

(6) The salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of services of the personnel transferred under sub-section (3) shall be the same as to which they were entitled to immediately before the commencement of this Act.

(7) All cases which were being dealt by that part of Delhi Special Police Establishment, which has been transferred under sub-section (3), shall stand transferred to Lokpal.

(8) After completion of investigation in any case, the investigation wing shall present the case to an appropriate bench of Lokpal, which shall decide whether to grant permission for prosecution or not.

26. Complaints against officers or employees of Lokpal: (1) Complaints against employees or officers of Lokpal shall be dealt with separately and as per provisions of this section.

(2) Such complaint could relate to an allegation of an offence punishable under Prevention of Corruption Act or a misconduct or a dishonest enquiry or investigation.

(3) As soon as such a complaint is received, the same shall be displayed on the website of Lokpal, alongwith the contents of the complaint.

Provided that if the complainant so desires, his identity shall be protected.

(4) Investigations into each such complaint shall be completed within a month of its receipt.

(5) In addition to examining the allegations against the said official, the allegations shall especially be examined against sections 107, 166, 167, 177, 182, 191, 192, 196, 199, 200, 201, 202, 204, 217, 218, 219, 463, 464, 468, 469, 470, 471, 474 of Indian Penal Code.

(6) If, during the course of investigations, it is felt that the charges are likely to be sustained, such officer shall be divested of all his responsibilities and powers and shall be placed under suspension.

(7) If after completion of enquiry or investigations, it is decided to prosecute that person under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 or he is held guilty of any misconduct or of conducting dishonest enquiry or investigations, then that person shall not work with Lokpal anymore. Lokpal shall either dismiss that person from the job, if that person is in the employment of Lokpal, or shall repatriate him, if he is on deputation, with a recommendation for his removal.

Provided that no order under this clause shall be passed without giving reasonable opportunity of being heard to the accused person.

Provided further that order under this clause shall be passed within 15 days of completion of investigations.

(8) A three member bench shall hear the cases of complaints against its staff and employees. However, for officers of the level of Chief Vigilance Officer or above, the hearings shall be done by full bench of Lokpal.

(9) Lokpal shall take all steps to ensure that all enquiries and investigations on complaints against its own staff and officials are conducted in most transparent and honest manner.

27. Protection- (1) No suit, prosecution, or other legal proceedings shall lie against the Chairperson or members or against any officer, employee, agency or person referred to in Section 14(4) in respect of anything which is in good faith done while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duties under this Act.

(2) No proceedings of the Lokpal shall be held to be bad for want of form and except on the ground of jurisdiction, no proceedings or decision of the Lokpal shall be liable to be challenged, reviewed, quashed or called in question in any court of ordinary Civil Jurisdiction.

Miscellaneous

28. Public Servants to submit property statements-

(1) Every public servant, other than those mentioned in Section 2(12)(a) to (c), shall within three months after the commencement of this Act and thereafter before the 30th June of every year submit to the head of that public authority, in the form prescribed by Lokpal, a statement of his assets and liabilities and those of the members of his family. Public servants mentioned in sections 2(12)(a) to (c) shall submit their returns in a format prescribed by the Lokpal, which shall include their sources of incomes, to the Lokpal with the aforesaid time lines.

(2) The Head of each public authority shall ensure that all such statements are put on the website by 31^st August of that year.

(3) If no such statement is received by the Head of that public authority from any such public servant within the time specified in sub-section (1), the Head of that public authority shall direct the concerned public servant to do so immediately. If within next one month, the public servant concerned does not submit such statement, the Head shall stop the salary and allowances of that public servant till he submits such statement.

Explanation- In this section “family of a public servant” means the spouse and such children and parents of the public servant as are dependent on him.

(4) The Lokpal may initiate prosecution against such public servant under Section 176 IPC.

28A. Properties deemed to have been obtained through corrupt means: (1) If any property, moveable or immoveable, is subsequently found to be owned by the public servant or any of his family members, which had not been declared under this section by that public servant and which was acquired before filing of last return under this section, the same shall be deemed to have been obtained through corrupt means.

(2) If any property, moveable or immoveable, is subsequently found to be in possession of the public servant or any of his family members, which had not been declared under this section by that public servant, the same shall be deemed to be owned by that public servant and the same shall be deemed to have been acquired through corrupt means by that public servant, the onus of proving otherwise shall be on the public servant.

(3) The public servant shall be given an opportunity to explain, within 15 days,

(a) in the case of properties under sub-section (1) of this section, whether he had disclosed that property in any of the earlier years.

(b) in the case of properties under sub-section (2) of this section, to explain why these properties should not be deemed to be owned by the public servant.

(4) If public servant fails to provide satisfactory reply under sub-section (3) of this section with respect to some properties, Lokpal shall immediately confiscate all such properties.

(5) Transfer of those properties for which notices are issued under sub-section (3) of this section, shall be deemed to be null and void after the date of issue of such notices.

(6) Lokpal shall intimate such information to the Income Tax Department for appropriate action.

(7) Appeal against the orders of Lokpal shall lie in High Court of appropriate jurisdiction, which shall decide the matter within two months of filing of the appeal.

Provided that no appeal shall be entertained after expiry of 30 days from the date of order of Lokpal under sub-section (4).

(8) All properties confiscated under this section shall be auctioned to highest bidder. Half of the proceeds from the same shall be deposited by the Lokpal in Consolidated Fund of India. The balance amount could be used by Lokpal for its own administration.

Provided that if an appeal has been filed in any case, the auction shall not take place till the disposal of appeal.

28B. (1) Within three months after the conclusion of any elections to the Parliament, the Lokpal shall compare the property statements filed by the candidates with Election Commission of India with their sources of income available with Income Tax Department. In such cases where assets are found to be more than known sources of income, it shall initiate appropriate proceedings.

(2) For an allegation against a Member of Parliament that he has taken a bribe for any conduct in Parliament, including voting in Parliament or raising question in Parliament or any other matter, a complaint could be made to the Speaker of Lok Sabha or the Chairperson of Rajya Sabha, depending upon the House to which that member belongs. Such complaints shall be dealt in the following manner:

(a) The complaint shall be forwarded to the Ethics Committee within a month of its receipt.

(b) The Ethics Committee shall, within a month, decide whether to

29. Power to delegate and assign functions: (1) Lokpal shall be competent to delegate its powers and assign functions to the officials working in Lokpal.

(2) All functions carried out and powers exercised by such officials shall be deemed to have been so done by the Lokpal.

Provided that the following functions shall be performed by the benches and cannot be delegated:

(i) Granting permission to initiate prosecution in any case.

(ii) Order for dismissal of any government servant under CCS Conduct Rules.

(iii) Passing orders under section 10 on complaints against officials and staff of Lokpal.

(iv) Pass orders in cases of complaints, other than grievances, against officers of the level of Joint Secretary and above.

30. Time limits: (1) Preliminary enquiry under sub-section (1) of section 9 of this Act should be completed within a month of receipt of complaint.

Provided that the enquiry officer shall be liable for an explanation if the enquiry is not completed within this time limit.

(2) Investigation into any allegation shall be completed within six months, and in any case, not more than one year, from the date of receipt of complaint.

(3) Trial in any case filed by Lokpal should be completed within one year. Adjournments should be granted in rarest circumstances.

30A. Transparency and application of Right to Information Act: (1) Lokpal shall make every effort to put every information on its website.

(2) A citizen would have a choice to make an appeal under section 19(3) of Right to Information Act, either with a member of Lokpal, so appointed for this purpose, or with the Central Information Commission. However, once having exercised that choice, he cannot go to the other authority for the same matter.

31. Penalty for certain types of complaint- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, if someone makes any complaint under this Act, which lacks any basis or evidence and is held by Lokpal to be meant only to harass certain authorities, Lokpal may impose such fines on that complainant as it deems fit.

Provided that no fine can be imposed without giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard.

Provided further that merely because a case could not be proved under this Act after investigation shall not be held against a complainant for the purposes of this section.

(2) Such fines shall be recoverable as dues under Land Revenue Act.

(3) A complaint or allegation once made under this Act shall not be allowed to be withdrawn.

31A. Preventive measures: (1) Lokpal shall, at regular intervals, either study itself or cause to be studied the functioning of all public authorities falling within its jurisdiction and in consultation with respective public authority, issue such directions as it deems fit to prevent incidence of corruption in future.

(2) Lokpal shall also be responsible for creating awareness about this Act and involving general public in curbing corruption and maladministration.

31B. Reward Scheme: (1) Lokpal shall encourage complainants from within and outside the government to report and fight against corruption by publicly recognizing such persons.

(2) Lokpal shall also prepare an appropriate scheme to give financial award to such complainants.

Provided that the total value of such reward shall not exceed 10% of the value of property confiscated or loss prevented.

32. Power to make Rules – (1) The Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this Act.

Provided that such rules shall be made only in consultation and with the approval of Lokpal.

(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions, such rules may provide for .-

(i) the allowance and pensions payable to and other conditions of service of the Chairperson and members of Lokpal;

(ii) the powers of a Civil Court which may be exercised by the Lokpal under clause (h) of sub-section (2) of section 11;

(2A) Lokpal shall also be competent to make its own rules for the proper functioning of Lokpal.

(i) the salary, allowances, recruitment and other conditions of service of the staff and employees of the Lokpal;

(iii) procedure for registration of cases at Lokpal and initiation of prosecution

(iv) any other matter for which rules have to be made are necessary under this Act.

(3) Any rule made under this Act may be made with retrospective effect and when such a rule is made the reasons for making the rule shall be specified in a Statement laid before both Houses of the Parliament.

(4) Lokpal shall strictly adhere to the time limits mentioned at various places in this Act. In order to achieve that, Lokpal shall lay down work norms for each level of functionaries and make an assessment of the additional number of functionaries and budget required in accordance with workload.

33. Removal of difficulties- Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the President, in consultation with Lokpal or on request of Lokpal may, by order, make such provision -

(i) for bringing the provisions of this Act into effective operation;

(ii) for continuing the enquiries and investigations pending before the Central Vigilance Commission by the Lokpal.

34. Power to make regulations: Lokpal shall have power to make its own regulations for the smooth functioning of the institution and to effectively implement various provisions of this Act.

35. This Act shall override the provisions of all other laws.

Speak Well and Confidently

2011-03-29T10:05:00.003+05:30

Are you very shy when it comes to new surroundings, such as starting a new class or moving to a new area? Sometimes, it is necessary to overcome your shyness and speak confidently. By doing this, it can help you not only to share your ideas properly to others, but also to learn communicating with others. Here are a few steps to consider when speaking with confidence.

Steps

Learn how to have conversations with people. Your ideas or opinions may not always be accepted by others, but this is nothing unusual. Open your mouth, express your beliefs! This will improve your courage.
Don’t be afraid and speak loudly. If you speak in a low voice, not only will others not be able to hear what you say, but you will also portray a submissive demeanor, which suggests the opposite of a confident one.
Make eye contact when you speak. For one thing, it is polite for others. Also, eye contact will help others to listen to your thinking carefully.
Praise yourself everyday! This will promote your own confidence, which is important when you speak. With more confidence, people will take your thinking more seriously.

Tips

Don’t be nervous when you make mistakes. Human error is far from being a new concept — nobody is perfect! It is normal for everyone to make mistakes. Just calm down and keep speaking bravely.
Try and try again! This may be difficult for a shy person at first, but you need to force yourself to speak, and not seclude your thoughts. If you have some ideas, then try to speak out! Don’t just keep them in your head.
If you have self confidence issues, try to think that you are the only one who has sound knowledge about the topic. Then go ahead and impart your knowledge to the audience in an effective way.
Remember that there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. Don’t portray an exaggerated amount of confidence, or you will come off as arrogant, believing that your ideas are better than the ideas of everyone else.

Chhavi Rajawat, sarpanch from the village Soda

2011-03-28T15:32:00.000+05:30

There was a sense of disbelief among ministers and ambassadors from diverse nations when the chairperson of the 11th Info-Poverty World Conference held at the United Nations introduced the jeans-clad Chhavi Rajawat as head of a village in India.

For, from a distance one could easily mistake Rajawat, an articulate, computer-savvy woman, for a frontline model or at least a Bollywood actress.

But she is sarpanch of Soda village, 60 kilometres from Jaipur, in backward Rajasthan and the changing face of growing dynamic rural India.

Thirty-year-old Rajawat, India's youngest and the only MBA to become a village head -- the position mostly occupied by elders, quit her senior management position with Bharti-Tele Ventures of Airtel Group to serve her beloved villagers as sarpanch.

Rajawat participated in a panel discussion at the two-day meet at the UN on March 24 and 25 on how civil society can implement its actions and spoke on the role of civil society in fighting poverty and promoting development.

It is necessary to re-think through various strategies of action that includes new technologies like e-services in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in an era where resources have become limited, she told the delegates of the international conference.

"If India continues to make progress at the same pace as it has for the past 65 years since independence, it just won't be good enough. We'll be failing people who dream about having water, electricity, toilets, schools and jobs. I am convinced we can do it differently and do it faster. In the past year alone, I and the villagers in Soda have brought about a radical change in the village purely through our own efforts. We have had no outside support - no NGO help, no public, nor private sector help," she said.

On achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Rajawat said she sought full support from outside agencies and the corporate world.

"I thank United Nations Office for Partnerships (UNOP) which had deputed its senior adviser in India Mr Babu Lal Jain to visit Soda and extend all support in the opening of the first bank in the village. That made all the difference."

"In three years I will transform my village. I don't want money. I want people and organisations to adopt projects in my village as often projects fail owing to lack of a local connect and that is what I am here to provide by bridging that gap. I want the conference to help bring about faster change so that this generation can enjoy that kind of life that I - and you in this audience - take for granted," she said to thunderous cheers from the delegates.

Indian credit card "Rupay"

2011-03-22T15:47:00.001+05:30

After almost two years of planning, the National Payments Corporation has at last finalised the proposed unique India Card which once commercially launched would be an domestic alternative to the global real-time payment processing firms like Visa and MasterCard.

"We have finalised name of the proposed card as Rupay at our board meeting here today. We have also finalised the logo for the same," a senior official of the RBI-set up National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), told PTI this evening. The official sought not to be named.

The official further said the leading financial consultancy firm Ernst & Young(E&Y) will develop and roll out the entire architecture, including the design and software for the Rupay card rollout.

A senior E&Y official confirmed the development to this agency. He further said, the NPCI will initially launch a domestic ATM/debit cards to begin with and then would hit the credit card market later on.

In 2009, the RBI had asked the Indian Banks Association to launch a not-for-profit company and design a rival card, then tentatively called India Card, that meets the requirements of the domestic banks.

And finally, RBI plan is materialising and Rupay will be like the Union Pay of China, which is the domestic real-time payment processing firm for Chinese banks, and was planned to be launched last year.

What’s New With Blogger

2011-03-15T11:14:00.001+05:30

2010 was a big year for Blogger. We cemented ourselves as one of the largest blogging platforms and the sixth largest website in the world, according to Alexa. Blogger users published more than half a billion blog posts, which were read by more than 400 million active readers across the globe. We introduced template designer, real-time stats, comments spam filtering, mobile templates, web fonts, and more. And to top it all off, we were dubbed the most reliable blogging service around.

2011 promises to be another exciting year.

To start, we’re kicking things off at SXSW by giving folks a sneak peek at our next-generation user interface. The new design is not only cleaner and more modern, but it also uses Google Web Toolkit, delivering the latest in web technology.

Current post editor

New post editor

Current dashboard

New dashboard

We’ll also be showcasing our new content discovery feature that lets you uncover interesting and related content based on the topics of the blog you’re currently reading.

These are just a couple of new features we want to share with you. We look forward to unveiling more throughout 2011!

If you’re in Austin for SXSW, be sure to visit us at the Google booth—or come by and enjoy a drink with us tonight at our annual Blogger bash.

14 yr old becomes youngest CEO of the country

2011-03-11T12:24:00.000+05:30

Meet 14-year-old Sindhuja Rajaraman, the CEO of Seppan, a Chennai-based animation company launched only in October last. And we're not kidding. A ninth-standard student, she was adjudged the fastest 2D and 3D animator by software lobby Nasscom at the Gaming and Animation Conclave 2010 at Hyderabad. Interestingly, she is also a brand envoy of design software major Corel Software.

As head of this nascent firm, today she may give tough competition to some of the top CEOs when it comes to taking business decisions, that too quickly. But where did she start?

"It all started five years back when I wanted to take my mind off studies and do something new. My father, who is a cartoonist, instilled in me the passion to do animation and taught me the entire process," she says. "I have tried my luck with animation even before I started learning it prossfessionally. I did my first mini animation project when I was in sixth standard. It was on 'do not disturb animals'," she recalls.

Sindhuja Rajamaran the youngest CEO and 2D Animator of India

About a Small Girl Achievement : i copied below text from a web .. Its really nice 2 see Her Achivement ..

At a time, when most children of her age are competing to get high marks in school examinations, miles away from deciding what they want to be, Sindhuja Rajaraman already has a resume that will make top achievers go green. India’s youngest 2D animator, youngest digital caricaturist as certified by Corel Corporation, fastest 2D animator as certified by Nasscom Animation and Gaming Conclave, 2010 and one of the youngest CEOs with Seppan, she is all of 13 years old and had incredibly started out with animation only a couple of years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aftI1ibrAJU&feature=player_embedded

CG Today : We are almost awed by your achievements. Please accept our warm welcome.

Sindhuja : Thank you.
CG Today : Your dad, Mr. Rajamaran is credited to be the first digital caricaturist. How big an influence is he in your life in and out of animation? When you submitted your first 2D project, was it your own choice or at his encouragement?
Sindhuja : My father’s paintings are my real inspiration, I born among them and started observing his work since my early childhood days. I started learning and practicing by observing his works, on seeing my interest towards painting my father started teaching me while the same time he worked on his animations. I slowly grabbed the techniques of animation through him. Even though the process of 2D animation is tedious I was very attracted on the output. That’s the way it started. In case of my first 2D animation project, I had a tremendous help from my family. My sister gave voice, my father worked on character designs and my mother helped a part in tracing while I did the major tracing and animation. It was late mid night before the submission day when my father helped me in video output. But the second project was totally different!
CG Today : Tell us more about your 10 hour effort on October 10, 2010, for Exnora’s Lights Out Campaign. How did you get the idea of one eyed Litti? You seemed to have prepared intensely for this effort. How did it go eventually?

Sindhuja : It was my school principal who initiated me to participate on the campaign conducted by ExNora and the Velammal International School on Global Warming. It was a Guinness Record attempt of making a 2D animation short film by one person in ten hours. It was scheduled on 10^th October 2010 requiring me to work 10 continuous hours on a single stretch, starting from morning 10:00 A.M till evening 08:00 P.M. I realized the challenge and decided to go full-fledged on it.

I had two months to get prepared and I used to practice eight hours a day. One eyed Litti is an imaginary character which roles in my dream, I had a strong belief in this character and chose it to convey the message. On this project I practiced myself, counted and divided the shots and timing. It was a great gathering with Chief Guests and reporters to witness the event. My father was of great support on location, there was no break in between and I survived on liquids. All went well and I managed to complete the film within 08:30 hours. Most enticing moments I had on this project; my second one.

CG Today : You did a 2D project on Tuberculosis in your 8th Standard and then you worked for creating awareness on global warming this year. We see many elders and top political leaders unresponsive to global warming and conservation of nature. What helped you understand the importance of these campaigns so early?

Sindhuja : In 2004 Tsunami attacked Chennai taking thousands of lives had made a great impact on me… a Global warming… In case of a film in T.B, I had a valuable input from by father who worked for about 21 years as a health inspector. The information’s and incidents happened around me made me to think on creating awareness campaigns and I started using animation as a medium to express it.

CG Today : At a time, when a lot of kids are trying to find out who their idol is, you are already a source of inspiration for many kids and adults. Does this help you to do better or does this add to pressure? Are you comfortable with so many people following your efforts now?

Sindhuja : I just enjoy my work and I don't think it is a pressure.

CG Today : It is incredible to have such a young CEO. Currently you seem to be working on proposals for commercials for Pothys and Joyalukkas. Do you find yourself looking at things differently compared to others around you, being so young? Do you have a work philosophy of your own that you try to follow?
Sindhuja : Currently I am still a father’s girl; I am not forced to work on anything. I just love and I feel fun while working for commercials. I don’t feel strange though my team members are of 18 – 25 of age group. I got the opportunity and I took it as a challenge. I don’t have any philosophy as yet, I just take it as it goes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLIm73r9yAk&feature=player_embedded

G Today : How did the opportunity to make a Diwali greeting for US President Obama come along? How did you choose the right design?
Sindhuja : I just got curious on hearing the news of the American President’s visit to India. I decided to create a greeting welcoming them as family. I collected several pictures of Mr. Obama along with his family and started drawing and animating them. The finished animation was then uploaded in Youtube, I got really excited when I see more than 800 visits for my animation in less than a week time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFtYiFVexdA&feature=player_embedded

CG Today : Your dad is the first digital caricaturist in Tamil Nadu. Your younger sister is the youngest Indian to write haiku in India. You are the youngest digital caricaturist of the country. Yours is a family of records. Is it a competitive world in your house or these records happened just on the way?

Sindhuja : Everything happened just on the way. Nothing is planned or expected. My father was the ambassador of Corel and one day the Indian Territory Manager of Corel came to meet my dad at home. During this visit he noticed me drawing with Corel when I was 11 years old. While he was to leave, he said to my dad ‘From now let this girl be the ambassador for Corel’. I got invited to attend several launches of Corel products and got honored as the youngest digital caricaturist and cartoonist.

As a government employee for about 21 years my father explored his creative part on his free time. He had an opportunity to exhibit his caricatures. Through media and interviews he later came to know that he is the first person in India to do digital caricatures and exhibit them.

In regards to my sister, she was learning Japanese for five years and she is good in writing English poems. My father insisted her to write in Japanese. By seeing her poems in Japanese, her institute Chairman suggested to publish it as a book, which went real when the Consulate of Japan came and released the book and commented ‘Being Japanese the haiku’s written by her are so difficult for me to read, it’s of pure language.’

I would just say it is all due to my mother, who is very encouraging and supportive on all our interests. She was daring enough to encourage my father who decided to drop his secured government job to take up his passion as a career. Without my mom’s support we would have not have done anything!

CG Today : The workflow at Seppan involves requirement gathering, designing the concept, building the design, testing and then finally delivery and maintenance. What aspects of this workflow are you involved in and how?

Sindhuja : I decide the concept and direct my team; we have a strong professional artist’s who can take it from there. I do the quality check and deliver the final output.

CG Today : You have got such a great head start in the world of animation. Do you think about where you want to be 10 years from now? Do you have any specific records in mind?
Sindhuja : I want to be in India running my own production house and delivering quality film products respected globally. I desire to be an employer hiring experts and novice and create more job opportunities…

CG Today : You have already worked on software like Flash, Photoshop, Corel Painter, After Effects and Maya. Are you planning to go to any animation school for formal education in the future? What would you want to learn about when you get the chance?

Sindhuja : I desire to learn at Vancouver Film School, Canada. And wish to work in Japan and get exposed to Japanese art. As I mentioned earlier, I love to start my own film production house and make films like ‘The Robot’ directed by Mr. Shankar.

CG Today : Can you share with us, your favourite animation movie. Why do you like the movie in particular?
Sindhuja : My favourite movie is "Kunfu Panda", excellent characterization!
CG Today : You seem to have a passion and a great talent in animation. But, how do you unwind? Do you go for vacations often, watch movies, and play with your sister and friends? What is your favourite pastime apart from animation?

Sindhuja : I don’t have any rules; I just play and get along with everyone in school. I love to spend most of my time with my parents at home. I watch Naruto; a Japanese cartoon serial and spend a lot in browsing.

CG Today : It’s been an immense pleasure having you at CG Today; we wish you all the very best in future endeavors.
Sindhuja : Thank you very very much

Tata Pixel

2011-03-04T10:08:00.002+05:30

Tata Motors today presented at the 81st Geneva Motor Show the Tata Pixel, a new city car concept for Europe. Based on the Tata Nano, the Tata Pixel — at just over three metres in length — is the most package-efficient four-seater in the world, comfortably accommodating four adults, unlike a typical city car which is either a two-seater or can accommodate two adults and two children only.

Speaking on the occasion, Carl-Peter Forster, managing director and group CEO of Tata Motors, said, “Tata Motors holds true to its belief that there is an opportunity in Europe for a city car, which is optimal in space, manoeuvrability and environment-friendliness. The Tata Pixel is a reflection of Tata Motors’ idea of what such a car should be.”

The Tata Pixel’s ability to manoeuvre and park in the tightest of spaces is made possible by its zero turn toroidal traction drive infinitely variable transmission (IVT), which assists rotation of the outer rear wheel forward and the inner rear wheel backward, while the front wheels turn at acute angles. The result is a turning circle radius of just 2.6 metres. The 'scissor' doors rotate upwards from the front to allow passengers to effortlessly enter or exit the Tata Pixel, even in the tightest of spaces.

A forward-sweeping roofline, with minimal front and rear overhangs, accentuates the youthful styling. The Tata Pixel is also designed to provide a high level of connectivity. Key functions are controlled by the driver’s smart phone, running ‘My Tata Connect’ — the first integrated human-machine interface (HMI) concept from Tata Motors.

A 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine, positioned at the rear of the Tata Pixel, gives lively performance. The engine is a low-friction design, featuring a variable coolant and oil pump and rapid warm-up technology. With optimised aerodynamic drag, low rolling-resistance tyres, stop-start technology and intelligent battery charging, the Tata Pixel returns European combined cycle (NEDC) fuel economy of 3.4 l/100km and CO2 emissions of just 89g/km.

Taking its pursuit of electric vehicle development forward, Tata Motors is also displaying the Tata Indica Vista Electric Vehicle at the motor show’s Green Pavilion. The Tata Indica Vista EV will be made available to fleet customers this summer in the UK. The four-seater family car has a predicted range of up to 160km.

The Tata Indica Vista EV bagged two trophies for its performance at the Royal Automobile Club’s Brighton-to-London Future Car Challenge. A special version, the Tata Indica Vista EVX, participated in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize contest, one of the world’s most prestigious events for environment-friendly vehicles.

The company’s displays also include the Tata Aria, the first Indian four-wheel drive crossover, which was launched in India recently to rave reviews; the Tata Indigo Manza, among India’s best-selling sedans scheduled for launch this year in select countries; and the Tata Indica Vista, a top-selling hatch already launched in select geographies. In Europe, the Indica Vista has already been introduced in Poland and Italy, and is planned for launch in Spain. The Tata Aria too will be launched, further enhancing the company’s portfolio in these markets.

Tata Pixel Concept is the Europeanized Nano

Tata has been trying to dip its toe into the wild, wacky world of the European automobile market ever since they released their $2,500 Nano supermini. They made an attempt at appeasing discerning European customers with the Nano Europa, an “upscale” Nano with alloy wheels, power steering, and an extra cylinder (bringing the total to three).
But the Pixel, shown at Geneva, is Tata’s most dedicated effort yet. A slick, white little egg, the Pixel is only 10 feet long but can still seat four, who enter through upward-opening scissor doors. The small size enables the Pixel to turn within its own space – it rotates the rear wheels in separate directions, thanks to what Tata calls a “Zero Turn toroidal traction-drive Infinitely Variable Transmission,” whatever that means. Result: its manuverability in parking is perfectly matched for the city streets of Europe.
Inside, the Pixel features smartphone connectivity through “My Tata Connect,” which allows the driver to control the car’s functions from his phone. And the driver will be in control of a 1.2-liter three-cylinder turbodiesel engine that is expected to return more than 60 miles per gallon.
If Tata is serious about selling the Nano in Europe, and eventually America, then the Pixel indicates the direction they’re planning to take their next small car.

IBS Technopark wins 'excellence in Air Cargo' Award

2011-03-03T10:41:00.000+05:30

Leading IT systems provider to the global air transportation industry, Technopark headquartered IBS Software, has received the prestigious 'STAT TIMES International Awards for Excellence in Air Cargo' at the recently-concluded Air Cargo Africa 2011 event in Nairobi, Kenya.

IBS earned the award for its new generation iCargo solution which is widely being hailed as one of the most definitive IT products in the world for managing the movement of air cargo.

Air Cargo Africa, a biennial air cargo conference and expo, provides opportunities to global players from the air freight industry to meet and find ways to tap into the huge market potential of the African continent, an IBS statement issued here Wednesday said.

Available both in licensed and SaaS (Software as a Service) modes, the iCargo solution suite's impressive list of customers across six continents include other names like All Nippon Airways (ANA), Jet Blue, Kingfisher Airlines, Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) and Qantas.

This new recognition comes close on the heels of the region's largest carrier, South African Airways, implementing iCargo across its network of 48 stations, including 39 international locations.

IBS is one of the leading IT solution providers to the global travel, transportation and logistics industry and 2010 saw 55 successful 'go-lives' of IBS solutions all around the world - equivalent to over one per week throughout the year.

AUG25 (All United In God)

2011-02-02T09:49:00.000+05:30

ABOUT THE BAND

With the grace of God, AUG25 (All United In God) has everything in them to produce
any kind of music ranging from Pop, Country, Jazz,World Music, R&B, Hip Hop,
Alternate Rock to Heavy Metal, with the perfection of what it demands. The uniqueness
of SHIJIN, SUSHIN, NIRAN & VARUN is that , Its these guys from India with so much
passion of making western music from India go international. They compose, arrange,
program, sing and make us feel better, relaxed and happy giving us every time
a new reason to live. If you are a person who loves music, come and listen to us we have everything for you which makes us all the more special. With this passion and dream of taking Indian music have its own space in international arena

band members

SHIJIN HUTTON

“Music is a medicine that transcends all miseries, sorrows and indifferences in this world, making it a beautiful place to live in“

He’s someone who’s been passionate for music from the time he couldn’t even spell his name. And that propelled him graduate in Sound Engineering. His addiction to western classical was completely inspired from Beethoven, and that took him towards pop music which slowly drove him through all his genres and music became a mantra that can be replaced for blood in him. His family is his tower of support. Father had been a Church Choir conductor and his passion for music has always amazed him.

Under the protective arms of almighty it was on August 25th that he met Niran which led to the formation and naming of the band as AUG25, which also means (All United In God). And he’s quiet sure that with everyone’s support and for a good cause it's going to be bigger and better every time.

SUSHIN

He's the youngest in the band, knows music before he knew himself. At the age of 3 started playing keys with “Love in blue “. In his transformation of being an artist he learned the basic lessons from his father and played for a band at the age of 8 and thereon went places with many more performance to his kitty. His backbone and inspiration was always his father. And here in AUG25 as the Synth player with an urge of performing in front of a million fans on his own composition, he awaits you !!

VARUN

If fingers on fret and pick on strings can do miracles, then Its him for you !!
Having a heart with passion that bleeds, he says Life’s too much of a roller coaster ride. But as he look back it wasn’t that bad too.
Not different from others his inspiration and hero is his father who took him to the world of music. And with great devotion towards John Petrucci and Steve Vai he started experimenting on his own. With lot of gratitude and love for everyone holding and helping him reach where he is striving for, he thanks the Almighty for making everything next to Impossible Possible.

NIRAN

The best way to describe this guy is a “Self Trained Musician”. Father and brother being singers, he always wanted to sing the way they do, but sheer lack of inspiration left him behind. His will was to become a musician. And with the support of his family and holding on to his desires he explored his potential by believing in him and trained himself to get into the perfection he is. Soon after making his friends and family accept and realize he has it in him, he met Shijin and both of them having the common thoughts, dreams and desires went on to create their own compositions and thus he became a vital part of AUG25.

BONEY GEO

Now, Its time to know about me !!

Not different from others, I had the genres of music in me from childhood well supported by my family, and my family always stood ahead of me when it comes to music. Though I became a professional in work life, I felt incomplete and kept searching for something what my heart always desired to. I believe that God has created all of us with a purpose, and I’m here as his servant and tool to contribute something valuable and to make every creation of God think in him about the purpose for which he has sent us to the world. But as I’m from a family that had music in it always, I wanted to blend music with my intend of taking it to the world as music is the only common language known across the oceans .

After realizing the purpose for which I was sent ,I’m here to make each of you think and act upon the events surrounding us from all walks of life and to every corner of the world . Thus Lord Almighty made me meet Shijin who wanted me to take charge of AUG25 , where I found four highly talented young guys all set to begin.

And here I’m along with them to reach out to the world making you realize, why have we been chosen to be one of God’s creation and also to entertain all that he has created reaching out to all emotions of mankind through music;
We, AUG25 begin our journey!!!
God Bless You All,
Love
Boney Geo
Band Manager

10 Key SEO Strategies Every Facebook Page Owner Should Know

2011-01-25T10:21:00.000+05:30

Facebook Pages are increasingly becoming a “second home page” for businesses online. And while more and more Page owners are learning how to become expert Facebook marketers, Facebook has recently created many new opportunities for Pages to get more traffic through the tried and true methods of – you guessed it – search engine optimization (SEO).
While Facebook’s “viral channels” – the News Feed, invitations, and messages – play a central role in the spread of content through Facebook, employing important SEO tactics within your Facebook Page can help your Page reach more and more Facebook fans. While viral distribution can help you reach people your fans are directly connected to, search engine optimization exposes your Facebook Page to Facebook’s entire userbase. In fact, Facebook itself has taken major steps to improve its own SEO during recent weeks and months, creating opportunities for Page owners to benefit directly while creating value for Facebook at the same time.
So, without further ado, here are 10 SEO strategies and tactics every Facebook Page owner should know:
1. Choose the best name for your Facebook Page – and don’t change it

Choosing the right name for your Facebook Page is vital. Despite the temptation to stuff your Page title with high value generic keywords – like “Mike’s Travel Agency: Las Vegas, Hawaii, Cancun – Hotels, Flights, & More” – this approach will actually harm your Page’s viral growth rate inside Facebook more than it will help through better SEO. For example, if your page’s title appears too spammy, fans will be less likely to share it with their friends on their profile and more likely to hide your updates from their News Feed.
Second, don’t give into the temptation to choose a fully generic page name like “Travel” or “Hawaii.” Because Facebook’s intention for Pages is that they authentically represent businesses, brands, or celebrities, Facebook has recently been disabling updates for generically named Pages – effectively neutering their ability to reach their Facebook fans.
The bottom line: use your business’s real name as the name of your page. And once you pick your Page’s name, don’t change it. Facebook uses your Page name in the title of the Page, and since Google dings pages when their titles change, modifying your Facebook Page’s name will cost you SEO points.
2. Select the best URL (Facebook username) for your Facebook Page
Facebook recently launched the ability to choose a vanity URL (Facebook calls it a “username”) for your Facebook Page, one of the most important SEO opportunities on Facebook to date. When you choose a Facebook username for your Page, your Page’s URL becomes www.facebook.com/YourUsernameHere. Usernames can be selected at www.facebook.com/username.

Facebook usernames present a better opportunity for businesses to consider incorporating generic keywords for SEO purposes than the Page name itself. While Facebook has created a black list of generic usernames that Pages (and users) are prevented from registering, there are still opportunities for businesses to obtain relatively generic usernames, or usernames that combine their actual name with additional generic keywords.
However, we do offer a word of caution when incorporating generic keywords in your Facebook Page URL: Facebook intends for Pages to authentically represent the identities of businesses, and brands and has revoked privileges from Pages with generic titles in the past, so it’s not unfathomable that Facebook might somehow punish Pages with generic usernames by similarly revoking status publishing rights (or at least the username itself) at some point in the future.
The safest option – and wisest long term bet in our view – is to choose a username that authentically represents your business or brand. For example, we chose www.facebook.com/InsideFacebook. Once you pick a Facebook username/URL for your Page, it cannot be changed – ever. So pick a username you’re going to be comfortable with and confident in for the long term.
One important note: in order to mitigate Facebook username squatting, Facebook requires that your Page have at least 100 fans before it becomes eligible to select a username. If your Page has less than 100 fans, you’ll need to recruit more fans before being able to take advantage of this important SEO strategy.
3. Use the “About” text box to place keyword-dense prose near the top of your Page
One important SEO strategy that should be employed on your Facebook Page whenever feasible is placing keyword-dense prose as close to the top of the Page as possible. Because Facebook limits where Page owners can place large chunks of text on the default Wall tab of Facebook Pages, the “About” box actually represents the highest place in the CSS structure of the page to add custom text.
In order to add text to your Page’s “About” box, click the “Write something about [YourPage]” in the box underneath your Page’s profile picture. You’ll then be able to enter custom text in the input box – there is a 250 character limit, so choose your words wisely.
4. Use the “Info” tab to include more important keywords, text, and high priority links on your Page
Facebook creates an “Info” tab for every Facebook Page that has fields containing important descriptive metadata about the Page. It’s important to fill out these fields, because they provide the opportunity to include keywords, prose, and links that will increase the content score of your Facebook Page for many types of Google searches. For example:

Address, City, State, and Zip code are important fields for local searches
Company Overview, Mission, and Products are important fields for product searches
Websites is a valuable opportunity to add direct links to your own websites or other relevant sites in your space

The specific fields present will vary according to the category you choose for your Page when you create it (business, brand, or public figure), so choose the category that best fits your needs.
5. Create “Static FBML” boxes and tabs to place lengthy content and more static links on your Page
While opportunities to place large blocks of static text on the default tab of your Facebook Page are quite limited (see the “About” box section above), Facebook allows Page owners to create additional boxes or tabs that can hold any kind of static content, including text, images, and links. Adding content boxes or tabs to your Page can be a great way to boost the content density score of your Page (note, however, that each tab lives at a separate URL in Google’s eyes).

In order to add a custom content box or tab to your Page, follow these steps:

Go to the “Static FBML” application on Facebook.
Click “Add to my Page” on the top left side, and choose the page you’d like to add a custom content box or tab to.
Once you’ve chosen one, close the dialog box, go to your Page, and click “Edit page” under your Page’s profile picture.
In the applications list on the resulting page, you should see an application called “FBML 1″. Click the pencil icon on the right, and choose “Edit.”
You’ll be taken to a page with 2 fields: “Box Title” and “FBML.” Enter the name you’d like to give the box or tab in the “Box Title” field. Enter the HTML you’d like to use in the “FBML” field (FBML stands for Facebook Markup Language, and is a subset of HTML.), and then click the Save Changes button.
Once changes are saved, click the “Edit” link at the top of your Page to return to your Page’s application settings page. Click the pencil icon next to the name of the FBML application you just created, and choose “Application Settings.”
If you want to add the FBML you just entered as a box, choose “Add” next to the Box option. The custom FBML box will by default appear on the Boxes tab, so if you want to move it to the left side of your Wall tab, you’ll need to then go to the Boxes tab, click the pencil icon on your FBML box, and choose “Move to Wall tab.”
Or, if you want to add the FBML you just entered as a tab, choose “Add” next to the Tab option. The custom content should then automatically appear on its own tab on your Page. Note, however, that Facebook truncates tab titles after 10 characters, so you’ll need to choose a short title.

And voila! After that somewhat arduous process, your custom content should appear. Be sure to write good copy
6. Post direct links to your website (or other relevant sites) in your Page’s stream
Status updates offer a powerful way to place direct links near the top of your Page’s CSS structure. Because Google boosts pages that link to relevant sites – and dings pages that link to unrelated sites or add too many links too suddenly – posting links in status updates can be a powerful and authentic way to boost your Facebook Page’s link score.
There are two ways to post links into your Page’s stream:

Including the raw URL in the text of the status update itself
Using the “attach link” feature in the Facebook publisher

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each approach from an SEO perspective:
1. Raw URL
When you include the raw URL in the text of the status update itself, Facebook auto-links the text directly to the URL. While you can’t control the anchor text of the link (it is always just the URL itself), the link does go directly to the destination page – and not through a Facebook.com URL that adds the Facebook menu bar at the top when you click through to the destination page.

2. Attach Link
When you use the “attach link” feature of the Facebook publisher, Facebook pulls in the title, body, and images from your Page, and suggests a thumbnail image and text snippet which it places adjacent to your Page’s link. The automatic inclusion of this text further boosts the keyword density of the CSS region near the link, and the thumbnail also links to the destination URL – both nice perks of using the “attach link” feature.

Power tip: You can also change the anchor text while clicking the page’s title before clicking “Share” in the Facebook publisher.
However, importantly, the link itself does not go directly to the destination URL – rather, it goes through a Facebook.com share URL that includes the destination URL as an iframe on the resulting page, with the Facebook menu bar at the top which includes commenting and sharing features. While there is still some debate in the SEO community as to the impact of the specific implementation details of such toolbars, the lack of a direct link when using Facebook’s “attach link” feature does partially mitigate the SEO benefits of posting links on Facebook Pages.

7. Add photos with captions, events with descriptions, and a discussion forum
It almost goes without saying, but it’s important to always be sharing interesting content on your Facebook Page, and always using all available descriptive fields on each type of content shared. When posting photos, use verbose and keyword-dense descriptions. When posting events, take the extra minute to include text and keywords in the event description field that you want to rank for. Add a discussion forum to your Page.
Facebook makes all of the content shared on Facebook Pages indexable by search engines, so use the tools Facebook provides to your full advantage.
8. Get more inbound links to your Facebook Page from the web by posting links to your Page on all your websites
Just as a variety of inbound links from authoritative websites help boost PageRank for traditional websites, getting more inbound links to your Facebook Page will boost its PageRank as well. You can do this with text links, but Facebook has also created a “Find Us On Facebook” badge which it encourages Page owners to use. The new Fan Box widget for Facebook Pages also includes links back to your Facebook Page.
Facebook has created promotional guidelines for promoting your Facebook Page that are worth a read. Basically, Facebook doesn’t want Page owners to claim you have officially partnered with Facebook by virtue of having a Facebook Page. However, Facebook does want as many links as possible pointing to Facebook.com
9. Get more intra-Facebook inbound links by getting more Facebook fans
Because Facebook places links to Facebook Pages on the default version of Facebook users’ profile pages which are visible to search engines, the more fans you get, the more links you’ll have to your Page within Facebook. For Pages with thousands (or even millions) of fans, the number of links can really add up.

10. Strengthen intra-Facebook reciprocal linking by getting fans to comment and like content in your stream

When fans comment or like content in your Facebook Page’s stream, Facebook links their name back to their Facebook profile page. As a result, when the profile stubs of those fans who have posted comments and likes on your Page are indexed, Google will see more reciprocal links between your Page and your Page’s fans (in a way that grows organically over time), which it will see as a stronger bond. This creates a virtuous cycle of improved link weight from the indexed profile page stubs to your Page, and vice versa.

Conclusion & Next Steps

While building and expanding your Facebook Page presence requires creative planning and consistent execution, SEO can play a vital role in boosting your Page’s growth rate. While viral distribution limits you to the people your fans are connected to, search engine optimization exposes your Facebook Page to Facebook’s entire userbase – and as we’ve discussed above, there’s a lot that Page owners can do to maximize their exposure through Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, and other popular search engines.

14-year-old's kid video game downloaded two million times

2011-01-20T11:02:00.003+05:30

Promotional screenshot of the Bubble Ball iPhone app game.

A simple video game designed by a 14-year-old school kid is taking the world by storm.

Bubble Ball is a physics-based puzzle game that has been downloaded by more than two million iPhone users.

It became the top free application on the Apple store. But it hasn't been designed by a team of highly paid experts - it is the work of Robert Nav, a teenaged schoolboy.

Nav's game even outsold the adventure game Angry Birds. Since its release on December 29, Bubble Ball's success has become astounding, the Daily Mail reports.

Adding to Robert Nav's glory is the David versus Goliath nature of his victory. While he designed Bubble Ball in his bedroom in Spanish Fork, Utah, Angry Birds was developed by 17 professionals in Finland.

The rules of Bubble Ball are simple - players must move a small blue ball from one side of the screen to the other by steering it around various obstacles.

Robert was encouraged to try his hand at programming by a friend who noticed how much he liked his iPod touch. Robert released Bubble Ball through his own company, Nav Games.

Websites that changed the world

2011-01-19T17:30:00.000+05:30

Ever since the internet came into our lives, we have come across many websites in one way or the other that have influenced us a lot. They have such a deep mark in our day to day life that we can't even think of a world where they don't exist. By changing our perspective towards anything we see, these websites have made such a huge impact that they have changed the world forever. Listing here are the top websites among them.

1. Google:

Founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998 as an advertising company, Google today commands the largest internet search engine in the world. It has turned out to be a gigantic empire and is branching out into parts like email, news, price comparison (Froogle), cartography (Google Maps), literature (with Google Book Search), free telephony (Google Talk), and Google Earth, an incredibly detailed virtual globe. So far it has been able to have such an impact over people that its name is listed as a verb in the Oxford English Dictionary. To be honest, there is nothing much to say about Google. Google speaks for itself.

2. Wikipedia:

When Jimmy Wales founded Wikipedia in 2001, he hardly thought that his creation will one day be considered as one of the most trust-worthy sources of information. What has made this free online encyclopaedia such a big success is that, it is open to everyone to read, and also to edit. Its 17 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world, and almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site. Today, Wikipedia is attracting 2,000-plus page requests a second.

3. Facebook:

Who thought that a site to connect students of a university with each other will become a tool that every internet user uses? But this is the story of Facebook, the most popular social networking site today. Facebook was was co-founded as a private company in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and classmates Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, and Chris Hughes. With its dynamic development system, almost any application is possible. Facebook therefor has many interesting features like Connect, the Facebook Developer Platform, Facebook Chat and so on.

4. Twitter:

Ever since its launch in July 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gained tremendous popularity worldwide and currently has over 175 million users globally. Who is not on Twitter today? Starting from celebrities, to politicians to scientists, everyone has a twitter account and sending and reading messages called tweets. It is estimated that Twitter is generating 65 million tweets a day and handling over 800,000 search queries per day. Most businesses have twitter accounts as well to be more interactive.

5. Yahoo!:

Started as a hobby by two Stanford University graduates Jerry Yang and David Filo in 1994, Yahoo! today is considered as one of the most visited and popular websites on the internet. On the back of its early success, Yahoo! branched out into email, instant messaging, news, gaming, online shopping and an array of other services. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine (Yahoo! Search), Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, advertising, online mapping (Yahoo! Maps), video sharing (Yahoo! Video), and social media websites and services. Although eclipsed by Google, Yahoo! still has its own image among the internet users.

6. YouTube:

Launched in 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim as a user-friendly site to upload and share videos, YouTube has become one of the most popular sites on the net today, with claiming that 100 million clips are watched every day. Starting from homemade video clips to long-lost TV and film gems, YouTube is a place where people can upload and share videos. It has also taken off as a place for amateur film-makers to show off their talents

7. MySpace:

Owned by News Corporation, this California-based social networking site became the most popular social networking site in the United States in June 2006. Although it was overtaken internationally by its main competitor, Facebook, in 2008, based on monthly unique visitors, MySpace is too effective and ubiquitous to ignore. As of June 2010, the social networking site has 66 million users all over the world. One of its interesting features is the ability to upload and listen to music, which has attracted 2.2 million new bands and artists to the site.

8. ebay

ebay was the website that brought the concept of online shopping and bidding industry for the first time. Ever since its launch in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar and Michael Dean Johnson, ebay has turned out to be a huge shopping mall where people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide. It is now a multi-billion dollar business with operations localized in over thirty countries.

9. WikiLeaks:

The recent controversy associated with it and its founder Julian Assange has created a big hype and has attracted attention of the whole world. The website may not that big yet, but the impact that it had on the world is shocking. The website has faced criticism from various governmental and non- governmental organizations, but the fact that makes it so influential is that this site gives you proof and the truth.

10. Amazon:

Starting with an office in a Seattle suburb with desks made out of old doors, Amazon today is the largest online retailer in the U.S. Founded by Jeff Bezos as an online bookstore in 1994, Amazon.com soon diversified, selling DVDs, CDs, MP3 downloads, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, and toys. Amazon's continued dominance rests on price-slashing which has made it one of the biggest online shopping centers with new and old items available to the users at a simple click of a button.

Basic guitar lessons

2011-01-17T16:06:00.000+05:30

We will start by getting you set up on your guitar. If you've already covered holding your guitar, sitting and standing positions and holding a pick then feel free to more on to part 2 of this lesson.

Part 1 - Getting into position

Sitting Positions

There are two sitting positions for holding the guitar; classical and casual.

Pick up the guitar and make sure that the guitar body is supported by your leg.
Position yourself at the edge of your chair.
Ensure that your back is relaxed but straight.
Lean the guitar back towards you slightly.

Casual Position

Classical Position

Standing Position

Pick up the guitar and place the strap over your shoulder. Adjust the strap so that the guitar is positioned mid-body.
Use your left hand to support the neck of the guitar.
Rest your right hand over the bridge of the guitar.

Hand Positions

It is important that you relax your wrists and hands. Straining them can cause injury.

Front view

Rear view

Fretting

On a typical right handed guitar, your left hand will form the chords and your right hand will strike the strings. Fretting is the act of pressing the strings down on the fret board. Here are some tips you will need to know:

Short fingernails are essential.
Use only the tips of your fingers to press the strings.
When making a chord, be sure that each fingertip is placed directly behind the fret. We will cover chords in lesson one.
Check each string that it rings clearly and is not muted or buzzing. As a beginner guitarist, it may hurt your fingers to play. This is normal. Every guitarist starts this way for the first couple of weeks. With practice, you will develop guitar fingers (hard skin on your fingertips).

Holding the Pick

Position the pick between thumb and index fingers like in the diagram below:

Time to take a break

Well done, you've just completed the first part of this lesson. Take a few minutes to reinforce what you've just learned.

Coming Up

Learn about chords
Start using the A and D Major chords

Part 2 - Chords

Now you are ready to start your first theoretical lesson. Your aim in this lesson is to learn the A and D major chords and to introduce yourself to reading guitar tablature. This lesson is very important, so you'll need to stay focused.

Remember! It is more beneficial for you to practice several times during a week than to practice for one long session. This is because your brain processes information in chunks at a time and it can only hold a certain amount in short term storage.
If you take a break between practice sessions, even if it is just 10 minutes, you’ll find that your brain is much more efficient at turning your short term practice into long term knowledge.

Ok, let’s continue with the lesson. Have a look at the diagram below and familiarize yourself with the neck of the guitar.

Frets

The guitar neck is divided into what we call frets, making a fret board. Most guitars have around 20 frets. We will focus on the first four frets, also known as the first position.
Note: Each string on the guitar is numbered. When you hold your guitar as you would when using the casual playing position, the 1st string is at the bottom and the 6th string is at the top.
Notice also the term, ‘Tuning’ at the bottom of the above diagram. Tuning refers to the notes that the guitar strings are tuned to. In the above diagram, we have given a very common tuning called standard E tuning that consists of the notes E, A, D, G and B. Strings 1 and 6 are both tuned to the note E. The open 6th string is called low E. The open 1st string is called high E as it is two octaves higher than the 6th string open E. We explain notes and octaves in the Jamorama Beginners Course, but for now, you only need to know the names of the notes in standard open E tuning.

Now make sure that your guitar is tuned to standard E tuning (the most common tuning). If you don't know how to tune your guitar, then download our free guide to tuning your guitar from here.
Note: To open the above tuning.pdf file you'll need a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can download a free copy here.
We will stick to standard E tuning throughout this mini-course.

Introduction to Chords

Now we are going to look at guitar chords. Guitarists use many different chords to make progressions or riffs that can then be used to create songs. If you are not familiar with some of these terms, it’s ok. We will cover everything that I am talking about in good time.
A chord is defined as a combination of 3 or more notes played together. To examine this, I want to take a look at chord diagrams. Chord diagrams are used to illustrate how a chord is played. They are very easy to use because they look very much like the neck of the guitar, in fact, the Jamorama chord diagram is a guitar neck.
You may like to use 'standard' chord diagram when writing up chords on when you practice.
So, now that you know what a chord diagram looks like and how it matches with the neck of your guitar, it’s time to come back to what we mentioned earlier about a chord being a combination of 3 or more notes played together. Numbered finger symbols are added to the chord diagram so we know which notes to play. To start with, let’s look at your fingers.
Each playing finger is numbered so we can then match it on the chord diagram (see below).
And now, let’s look at a full chord diagram. We will use the example of the A major chord:

Chord Diagram - A Major Chord

In the chord diagram below you can see that the A major chord uses fingers 1, 2, and 3. Take note of how this chord diagram looks - we will use this style from now on.
The A major chord is constructed of the notes A, C# and E. We will cover notes a little later.
Note that there is a red dot marking the 6th string on the above chord diagram. The red dot tells you that you are not to play that string. The sixth string of the A major chord is not played, but you play the rest.
Throughout this lesson series, every chord diagram will be accompanied by a picture of the chord being held on the fret board and video of the chord being played for you to check with. Pictured below is the A major chord being played and you will find the video further down the page.

Exercise: Playing the A Major Chord

Position each finger with care, according to the above diagram. Make sure that each fingertip is placed directly behind the fret. Firstly, pluck across the strings one by one with your right hand, checking that each string rings clearly and is not muted or buzzing.
Now that we’ve looked at chord diagrams, I want to move on to strumming.

Introduction to Strumming

In a strum there are two types of guitar stroke. They are up stroke and down stroke.
With either an up strum or down strum, brush the strings with your pick, mid way between the bridge (where the strings are pinned) and the end of the neck of the guitar. When strumming a chord make sure you play all the required strings and take note of the strum indication - up or down.

Exercise: Strumming the A Major Chord

Carefully position each finger according to the A major chord diagram above.
Place each fingertip behind the fret.
Pluck the strings 1 by 1 with your strumming hand.
Check that each string rings clear and is not muted or buzzing.
Practice strumming the A chord with single down strum as indicated below:

Try counting an even 4 count as you strum as this will get you used to playing in time.
Tip: You can watch a video example of the above exercise to see and hear it for yourself.

Try your best to start your strum from the fifth string each time you strum. A major, doesn’t sound bad if you accidentally hit the top string, although if you want your music to sound professional, you’ll want to play this chord properly. Remember to stay relaxed. Your fingers may hurt a little but they will get stronger.
Now that you are playing the A major chord properly, let’s take a look at strumming another chord...

The D Major Chord The D Major Chord is constructed of the notes D, F# (F sharp) and A and is played using fingers 1, 2 and 3:
As with the A major chord: try strumming the D major chord in downward strokes with your right hand.

Video - D major chord

Note: The top two, or fifth and sixth, strings are not played in the D major chord. Make sure that you start your stroke from the forth string each time you strum D major, it doesn’t sound bad if you accidentally hit the fifth string, although as with A major above, if you want your music to sound professional, you need to play this chord properly.

15 odd interview questions by tech cos in 2010

2011-01-14T12:10:00.000+05:30

What is the philosophy of Martial Arts? or If you could be any superhero, who would it be? - Don't be surprised, these are some of the odd interview questions shared on the IT careers portal Glassdoor.com. Hiring as been on high in again especially in IT after the global economic downturn and top technology companies like Apple, Facebook, Google have surprised many job applicants with such odd questions which are very tricky but has no definitive answer at all. Here are the top 15 odd questions companies asked in 2010.

How many basketballs can you fit in this room. This was a question asked by Google to one of the job seekers who felt it's odd enough and an answer seems downright impossible.

2.

The global investment banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs asked a job aspirant for the post of an analyst - If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out? The analyst had no idea as to how to analyze this question to give a satisfactory answer.

3.

The smart and the world's biggest social networking site Facebook had a very smart but an off-the-wall question to a candidate applied for a software engineer post - Given the numbers 1 to 1000, what is the minimum numbers guesses needed to find a specific number if you are given the hint "higher" or "lower" for each guess you make - which left him with no guesses.
4.

How many ridges around a quarter? The project analyst candidate was stunned with the whacky question by Deloitte interviewers for which a definite answer was impossible.

5.

A sales associate applicant was asked by the supplemental insurance Aflac - What is the philosophy of Martial Arts? - who really wished he knew a bit of martial arts then.

6.

Explain me what has happened in this country during the last 10 years? - for a consultant post at Boston Consulting - too broad a question to even come close to answering.
7.

IBM asked for a software engineer position: How do you weigh an elephant without using a weigh machine? - A question beyond the reach of a software engineer to even attempt to answer it.

8.

Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 how weird you are - asked at Capital One and the candidate wonders what would be the weirdness of this question.

9.

Amazon asked to a managerial position - If you had 5,623 participants in a tournament, how many games would need to be played to determine the winner? - A question that leaves the candidates with no other options but to call it a quit.
10.

How many traffic lights in Manhattan? - Argus Information & Advisory Services asked during an interview for the position of an analyst.

11.

Apple showed its touch of uniqueness even in the interview with a question quite enough to confuse the candidate - There are three boxes, one contains only apples, one contains only oranges, and one contains both apples and oranges. The boxes have been incorrectly labeled such that no label identifies the actual contents of the box it labels. Opening just one box, and without looking in the box, you take out one piece of fruit. By looking at the fruit, how can you immediately label all of the boxes correctly?

12.

Another question asked for a project manager position at Epic Systems is even funnier - An apple costs 20 cents, an orange costs 40 cents, and a grapefruit costs 60 cents, how much is a pear?
13.

You have 8 pennies, 7 weight the same, one weighs less. You also have a judges scale. Find the one that weighs less in less than 3 steps. - Intel asked this during an interview for validation engineer.

14.

How many bottles of beer are drank in the city over the week? - asked the global information and measurement firm, The Nielsen Company asked for a research analyst position.

15.

Out of 25 horses, pick the fastest 3 horses. In each race, only 5 horses can run at the same time. What is the minimum number of races required? - asked for the position of a Financial Software Developer by Bloomberg LP.

Although they say the intention of such bizarre questions is to evaluate how one would react in stressful and challenging situations, candidates are often effaced by these whacky questions with no definitive answers. We encourage you to drop your comments with any such bizarre questions you have ever come across.

Indian F1 Grand Prix in 2011

2011-01-10T16:04:00.000+05:30

2011 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX OF INDIA

New Delhi

Formula One racing is forever on the move and in 2011 ventures east yet again for the inaugural Indian Grand Prix. In light of recent F1 successes in Korea and Singapore, India - and more specifically its capital city New Delhi - is the latest Eastern powerhouse to welcome the paddock with open arms. After learning plenty of lessons from hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games, New Delhi plans to wow the international sporting stage once more with its first race in October.

A brand new circuit has been built to the south of the city in the suburb of Noida. The track, designed by renowned circuit architect Hermann Tilke, stretches to 5.141-kilometres and is expected to seat up to 150,000 spectators. Two sizeable straights and an interesting mix of corners should guarantee a track full of challenges for drivers and engineers alike.

In an interesting move, organisers also consulted several of the Formula One teams before construction began in earnest. The track design was run in various factory simulators and as a result several amendments were made in an effort to boost overtaking for the drivers - and excitement for the fans.

Four million cubic tons of earth was moved to give the track plenty of undulation, and it rises 14 metres between Turns One and Three alone. Inspiration has also been drawn from rival venues' best features, with Turkey's infamous Turn Eight inspiring a double-apex corner, slightly banked, which forms part of a 'mini-arena' which alone will accommodate 13,000 spectators.

The earthworks for the circuit were finished ahead of India's 2010 monsoon season and everything is on course for the track to be completed well ahead of its October debut.

DESTINATION GUIDE

Location: New Delhi
Population: 21.5 million
Currency: Indian Rupee
First Grand Prix: 2011

Timezone: GMT +5.5
Language: Hindi, English, Urdu and Punjabi
Religion: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian and other 6.1%; Visa / Passport Requirements

Why go?

Empires have come and gone, but Delhi has remained. It’s a fascinating fusion of the crumbling, narrow lanes of Old Delhi - once the capital of Islamic India - the tree-lined imperial avenues of the British Raj-built New Delhi and the chaotic modernity of a growing metropolis. With one foot in the past and another very firmly in the future, this city of cities hopes to rule the road too with its very own Grand Prix.

“Delhi is the buzzing capital of a buzzing country,” says Indian driver Karun Chandhok. “It is a great modern Indian city with good roads, hotels, shopping malls, parks, markets and cultural sights. I have always loved to visit there since I was a kid. My dad used to take me with him when he was going for business.”

Staged on a purpose-built 5.141-kilometre circuit, on the outskirts of the city’s hustle and bustle in the Noida suburb, the race should rival the best. Designed by Hermann Tilke, with extensive input from the Formula One teams, the track features a raft of interesting features and gradient changes, and is a worthy rival to more established venues.

Did you know? At 72.5 metres tall, the Quatab Minar is the tallest brick tower in the world and you need to climb up 399 steps to get to the top.

Transport

Delhi is a city on the move and it couldn’t be better connected. The Indira Gandhi International Airport, to the west of the city, is the major gateway. International visitors will arrive at the newly-opened Terminal Three, which is expected to handle almost 35 million passengers a year. The much smaller Safdarjung Airport is still in use too.

For public transport aficionados, buses are best avoided to get into (and around) the city, but Delhi's metro system is one of the most modern and efficient in the world and a high-speed line from the Indira Gandhi airport will be in place well ahead of the Grand Prix. Trains, hire cars, pre-paid taxis and, of course, auto rickshaws are popular alternatives, so keep some change handy. The track’s location at Noida is a 45-minute journey by train from the city centre and an hour's drive from the airport.
Book a Package

Useful tips

Eat. Sampling some of Delhi’s diverse and iconic street food is a must do. The best stalls can be found in the Jama Masjid area, Dilli Haat, and at the Chandini Chowk market. Try papri chaat (fried pastry with chickpeas, potatoes, and a yoghurt-like sauce), golgappas (fried dough filled with chickpeas and spicy potatoes) and for the sweet-toothed there’s joyful Jalebi (rounds of sugary flavoured batter). Avoid ‘Delhi belly’ by following the crowd and watching where’s popular with the locals.

But the city’s culinary repertoire stretches well beyond street food. For delicious Mughal style food, the Karim Hotel offers some of the best, while Chor Bizarre - with outposts in downtown Delhi, near the track at Noida and London’s Mayfair - aims to mimic a ‘thieves market’ and offers delicious Kashmiri cuisine.

“The food in Delhi is also outstanding and it has a great mix of the past and modern India with New and Old Delhi,” says Chandhok. “It's definitely worth checking out the markets. Khan Chacha's in Khan market is a good one for a lower budget as is Pindi on Pandara road. For the high end, Bukhara at ITC Maurya hotel is widely recognised to be the best Indian restaurant in the world but you need to book a table as the queue is huge normally!”

Where to go?

You might have guessed already, but in Delhi you’re spoiled for choice. Visit the massive sandstone Red Fort to see Mughal majesty at its best, enjoy a breather at the massive Lotus-shaped Bahai temple, be wowed by the Indian art on display at the National Museum, or wander around the Lodhi gardens. Rashtrapathi Bhavan (residence of India’s President) and India Gate (a memorial for the soldiers who fought in World War One) should also be on your itinerary.

Delhi is such a cultural powerhouse, it would easy to forget to go shopping - but don’t, as Delhi is as much a paradise for shoppers as it is for history buffs. Connaught Place has plenty to attract, with both Janpath’s Indian craft emporiums and underground shopping centre Palika Bazar nearby. The narrow Bazaars of Old Delhi are equally enthralling, as are the boutiques of the Hauz Khas district.

“You'll see some incredible architecture,” says Chandhok. “Check out the markets - either Khan Market, or the South extension market, are great for shopping and trying out local food. If travelling with kids, Lodhi Gardens is a great place to relax in the evenings and if there's a cricket match on that week, then you must go to Feroze-Shah Kotla Cricket ground to soak up the atmosphere.”

Where to stay?

From deluxe top-end hotels and international chains to inexpensive guest houses, Delhi boasts accommodation to suit everybody’s tastes. The area around Connaught Place is a favoured haunt, thanks to its close proximity to the main shopping areas and tourist attractions. Five-star hotels include the Lutyens-designed Imperial, Le Meridien, The Metropolitan Nikko, and the Intercontinental. The south of the city, handy for the circuit, also has many comfortable places to stay, including the Park Royal and The Surya. Don’t forget India’s two well-known Indian hotel chains, The Taj and The Oberoi, which are also worthy options, while for those on a tighter budget - and on the lookout for a home-cooked meal - a government initiative has devised a list of vetted ‘friendly families’ willing to take in tourists.
Book a Hotel

Extended stay

Delhi itself has more than enough to offer, but for an extended stay look further afield to experience even more of India at its best. To the north, the picture-perfect villages and awe-inspiring views of the Himalayan ranges await, while the exquisite Taj Mahal is just 200 kilometres to the south. Several wildlife reserves can also be found close to Delhi, with the Sariska tiger reserve and Sultanpur bird sanctuary two highlights.

“Agra and the home of the Taj Mahal is only a drive away with the circuit actually on the way from Delhi to Agra,” says Chandhok. “Jaipur is also only four hours away and is one of my favourite places with the exotic palaces and heritage properties. Shimla is a famous 'hill station' just a few hours away in the mountains if you want somewhere a bit cooler.”
Book a Package

Enthusiasts only

Cricket may be the national obsession, but India’s interest in motorsport is growing rapidly. There are a few notable circuits in the Asian country including Mumbai’s Hiranandani Kart Track and Chennai’s 3.7-kilometre Irungattukottai Circuit, where hopefuls can try to emulate Indian racers Chandhok and former Jordan driver Narain Karthikeyan.

EVENT TIMETABLE

Note - please be advised that this timetable is subject to change.

Friday 28th October
Formula One	Practice 1	TBC
Formula One	Practice 2	TBC

Saturday 29th October
Formula One	Practice 3	TBC
Formula One	Qualifying	TBC

Sunday 30th October
Formula One	Race	TBC

Nano satellite designed by Chennai students, to be launched April

2011-01-07T11:27:00.000+05:30

A group of 54 engineering students from the city has designed a 10-kg nano satellite to monitor greenhouse gases (GHG) that the Indian space agency is planning to launch in April.

The students from the SRM University, some 40 km from the capital city, have been working on the project 'SRMSAT' since 2008. The satellite weighing just 10 kg is being developed under the guidance of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at a cost of 1 crore.

With climate change becoming a cause of serious concern globally, the satellite will monitor GHG - mainly carbon dioxide - in the atmosphere. A grating spectrometer is employed for monitoring earth-based sources and sinks of anthropogenic and natural sources of GHG.

The students from 12 disciplines of engineering in the university have been working closely with the ISRO to develop the nano satellite.

A nano satellite is one that weighs less than, or equal to, 10 kg.

"The satellite is scheduled for launch in April this year with ISRO's Megatropics G satellite. We have signed a memorandum of understanding with the national space agency for the project," M. Loganathan, former ISRO scientist who is heading the team, told IANS on the sidelines of the ongoing Indian Science Congress at the SRM University campus here.

According to Loganathan, the students are very passionate about the project and would work on it after their classes.

"Their classes get over by 4 p.m. and after that all of them hang on in the research laboratory for say till midnight to work on the nano satellite. It's their baby and an outcome of their hard work," he said.

The ISRO said the satellite has to be tested before it can be included as a payload.

The students have been wholly involved in the project, right from procuring components to assembling and testing the satellite.

Explaining the initial problems they faced, Sarwesh Narayaan, a mechanical engineering student, told IANS: "It was difficult to communicate technically as we all come from different disciplines of engineering, but we did overcome it as each of us had to understand the concepts of all the other disciplines before designing the project."

"All of us are multi-tasking, and an electrical engineer student in the group is also conversant with the concepts of mechanical, aerospace, electrical communication and information engineering. We have been solving each others' problem," Guruditya Singh, a final year student, told IANS.

It's the team spirit that keeps this group of 51 men and 3 women students going.

"Whenever we get some time, maybe over lunch or dinner or during weekends, our point of discussion is only SRMSAT. Each one of us enjoys talking about it and our sessions go on for hours. There is nobody junior or senior but a team, and our mantra is value for thought. A first year student can also give a good piece of advice to the group," said Anushree Mahapatra, a student of electronic and information engineering.

The conception of SRMSAT dates back to August 2008 when the vision of launching a student satellite was put forward at a seminar taken by eminent space scientist D. Raghavamurty.

"It is planned to make our first nano satellite as a SRMSAT bus so that further missions can be continued with different payloads that can be supported with this design," said Loganathan.

More and more students are showing interest in the space science.

In 2010, ISRO launched Studsat -- a tiny satellite built by 35 students from four engineering colleges in Bangalore and three in Hyderabad -- which can take pictures of the earth from space, helping in weather forecasting.

During the golden jubilee celebrations of IIT-Kanpur last year, President Pratibha Patil handed over to the ISRO a nano satellite 'Jugnu' developed by students of the country's premier institution.

Other institutes have got in the act as well. A 3.5-kg satellite 'Pradhan' is being built by students of IIT-Mumbai. Students of Sathyabhama University, Chennai, are also working on a nano satellite.

In Vellore Institute of Technology University (VITU), Vellore, the students have designed the TubeSat, which is a pico-satellite, weighing less than 1 kg.

Top 10 Piano Songs

2011-01-06T17:40:00.001+05:30

Songs with piano accompaniment leave us with a mix of emotions -- feeling melancholy, inspired, playful or even loved. Piano songs fused with rock are no different, especially when the talent behind the melodic chord progressions derives from iconic artists such as Paul McCartney, Billy Joel and Elton John.

10 'Werewolves of London'

Warren Zevon

Co-written by LeRoy Marinell, Waddy Wachtel (who has worked with Keith Richards, James Taylor and Stevie Nicks) and Warren Zevon, the 1978 single features Fleetwood Mac's bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood. The notable playful piano melody fits well with chorus refrain ("Ah-ooo!") and the bizarre lyrics: "I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's / His hair was perfect." Grateful Dead, Jimmy Buffett and even Adam Sandler have all covered the tune, which was Warren Zevon's only successful single.

iTunes | Lyrics

09 'The Way It Is'

Bruce Hornsby and the Range

Written by Hornsby, The beautifully composed piano-driven song references the civil rights movement: "Well they passed a law in '64 / To give those who ain't got a little more / But it only goes so far / Because the law don't change another's mind." Generation Y may recognize the piano medley, which was heavily sampled in Tupac's 1998 single 'Changes.'

iTunes | Lyrics

08 'Maybe I'm Amazed'

Paul Mccartney

Initially featured on McCartney's eponymous 1970 album, the piano song was never released as a single. The live track from the Wings' 1976 Tour of America however, became insanely popular -- reaching No. 10 on the Billboard Pop charts. The romantic song is dedicated to McCartney's late wife Linda.

iTunes | Lyrics

07 'Walking in Memphis'

Marc Cohn

Singer/Songwriter Marc Cohn wrote this after seeing an Al Green sermon in Memphis. The lyrics emphasize a "spiritual awakening" in the world of blues and soul rock. The piano driven song -- with elements of Billy Joel melodies and Bruce Springsteen vocals -- grew in popularity on both the US and UK charts, resulting in a Best New Artist Grammy win for Cohn in 1991. A 2008 live performance of the song proves that Cohn's still got it.

iTunes | Lyrics

06 'Imagine'

John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band

I don't even need to dwell on this favorite. Written in 1971 on a white grand piano (alongside Yoko) while at his estate in Tittenhurst, England, the song's piano melody is so simplistic, chills linger as Lennon sings about world peace and love: "Imagine there's no countries / It isn't hard to do / Nothing to kill or die for / And no religion too / Imagine all the people / Living life in peace." Almost 40 years later and this prolific song is still classic. 'Rolling Stone' agrees: They ranked the song No. 3 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

iTunes | Lyrics

05 'Clocks'

Coldplay

According to frontman Chris Martin, the song's repeating, pulsing piano riff was inspired by the band Muse. 'Clocks' was not even supposed to be featured on 'A Rush of Blood to the Head,' but once Martin played the haunting tune on a keyboard for lead guitarist Johnny Buckland, Buckland had worked out a chord progression. Lyrics soon followed, and the album was delayed two months to include the song. 'Clocks' won Record of the Year at the 2004 Grammy Awards and is considered their biggest hit to date.

iTunes | Lyrics

04 'Let It Be'

The Beatles

Inspired by a dream McCartney had of his mother, the song's lyrics evoke subtle religious imagery. The piano melody -- written in the key of C Major -- features a series of cadences and inversions, which set the mood of the song. There are three versions in existence: two are official releases (the single, and the 'Let It Be' album track) and the third (an unofficial track from the aborted 'Get Back' album) is the least tampered with, and only available illegally. The other two had much work -- overdubbed with string orchestration and guitar.

Lyrics

03 'Lean on Me'

Bill Withers

The lyrics stem from Withers' childhood memories growing up in the coal-mining town of Slab Fork, WV. The fond memories of community were vapid once he moved to Los Angeles, which inspired him to write this song. The piano intro grabs you immediately, followed by Withers soulful, R&B vocals. The song reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972.

iTunes | Lyrics

02 'Tiny Dancer'

Elton John

Penned by Bernie Taupin, the lyrics are about Taupin's first wife Maxine Feibelman, a seamstress for John's band. Taupin's romantic lyrics paired with Paul Buckmaster on strings and Rick Wakeman on the organ help the song, but the backbone is John's breathtaking piano melody. This piano song -- featured on John's 1972 'Madman Across the Water' -- only reached No. 41 on the US Pop chart, but was revived after it's inclusion in the Cameron Crowe flick 'Almost Famous.' Ben Folds, Tim McGraw, and even Dave Grohl have covered this tune. Check out Grohl's acoustic cover on Kilborn.

iTunes | Lyrics

01'Piano Man'

Billy Joel

Sometimes the best songs have the simplest melodies. If you take out the lyrics, which reference people's unfulfilled dreams and disappointing lives, this 1973 tune is quite repetitive. But Joel's intentions of the song -- to be a distraction to those who feel miserable -- turned out to be quite effective. The piano riff and spliced harmonica sound are so beautiful, jovial, and almost romantic, you "forget about life for a while," and start singing. Go on: "La la la, de de da / La la, de de da da da."

iTunes | Lyrics

Tracking of lost laptops made easier

2011-01-06T11:58:00.003+05:30

Quick Heal, an Internet security tools provider, has introduced a new technology called Laptop Tracker that helps to track and recover lost laptops. The technology works on the premise that every laptop or PC has a Media Access Control ID (MAC ID) - the physical address of the device. When the stolen devices are connected to the Internet, its IP location can be found using the physical address number.

To use the services of the Laptop Tracker technology, one needs to register into its website known as www.trackmylaptop.net. All one needs to do there is key in the physical address number of the laptop or PC.

The solution from the Pune-based company is open for everyone. However those of who are using its anti-virus solution do not have to fill the MAC IDs. The technology would help the cyber crime departments and law enforcement departments of the country and the company is in talks with them to deploy the technology.

At 12, he is newspaper editor, reporter and publisher

2011-01-06T11:43:00.001+05:30

He is all of 12 years but Utkarsh Tripathi painstakingly brings out a handwritten newspaper every week to spread awareness among his peers on issues like the environment and female foeticide. And all this to satisfy his urge to "serve the country".
A Class 8 student of the Brij Bihari Sahai (BBS) Inter College in Allahabad, Utkarsh has been bringing out the newspaper Jagriti for the last one year.
And for the four-page, black-and-white newspaper, Utkarsh not only dons the role of a reporter, editor and publisher, but also turns hawker for circulating the weekly.
Unlike other papers, readers of Jagriti don't have to spend a single penny -- Utkarsh distributes it free of cost.
"Yes, I manage it all alone. Right from gathering the content, its editing, publishing and ultimately distributing the copies to readers," Utkarsh, a resident of Khatju colony in Allahabad, told IANS.

"I know, you would like to know how I publish the newspaper. First I prepare a handwritten copy of Jagriti and later take out copies at a photocopy shop in my locality. It's simple," he explained.

Jagriti has about 150 readers belonging to varied age groups in Allahabad, some 200 km from the state capital Lucknow.

"Children comprise the major chunk of Jagriti readers - my school friends, my seniors in school, teachers and also my neighbours," he said.

According to Utkarsh's father Hari Prasad, who runs a coaching institute, his son has a flair for writing and wanted to serve the country in some way.

"More than a year ago, he read an article on Indo-China relations in a Hindi daily. I don't know what came into his mind... After reading the article, he came to me and asked me to suggest a way he could serve the country," Prasad said.

"At that time I wasn't sure how serious he was about the question... I said that joining the defence services was one of the best options to serve the country... To this, he said that he wanted to start serving the society from his school life itself. I then suggested why not work like a journalist and make people aware of their rights," he added.

Utkarsh took the suggestion seriously and came up with Jagriti.

"I named the newspaper Jagriti, as my mission was to make people aware of various issues affecting them," the 12-year-old said.

"I try to cover social issues pertaining to environment, female foeticide and others in the editorial section, and also information about public welfare schemes and important government policies for the betterment of the poor or children," Utkarsh added.

Jagriti also has success stories of scientists, political leaders and other prominent personalities.

But how does he get time from his studies to bring out a weekly newspaper.

"I believe if anyone is passionate about something, he or she can take out some time to purse his passion, irrespective of the hectic schedule," Utkarsh replied.

"I spend some time daily on researching topics and gathering public utility information from sources like magazines, news dailies and the internet. On Sunday I get more time to work on my project and make pictorial representations that could go along with the articles," he said.

Utkarsh's efforts are much appreciated by people in Allahabad.

"He has shown all of us that an ordinary person can contribute to the society in one way or other...You just need to have an urge for that," Kashi Kesarwani, a resident of Chandpur area, told IANS.

Nutan Devi, a local journalist and the boy's neighbour, said; "For me it's real journalism... It has revived the decades-old objective of journalism that seems to have now have got lost somewhere..."

Pod car in India

2010-12-28T11:15:00.001+05:30

The Pod car used in personal rapid transit system has been designed by the UK-based firm ULTra.

ULTra-Fairwood, the joint venture which wants to introduce personal rapid transit (PRT) system in India, is in talks with infrastructure developers for partnership. It is also in talks with small car manufacturers to ensure local manufacturing of the pod car.
In a PRT system – small, driverless, battery powered vehicles with Central control system or pod cars – run on slender, special purpose tracks. The tracks (or guideways) can be on ground or elevated. The cars – with capacities of seating 4-6 people – provide on-demand transport.
ULTra (Urban light rapid transit) is a UK-based company, which owns this PRT technology, and has just concluded trials on its 4-km track at Heathrow airport (between Terminal 5 and parking).
The company is hopeful of getting its first projects off ground in Amritsar and Gurgaon; and is pursuing its case with State Governments of Punjab and Haryana. According to the project proposal, the Amritsar project is expected to cost about Rs 500 crore, while the Gurgaon project is expected to cost about Rs 5,000 crore.
In Amritsar, the company proposes to build 3.2 route km stretch with seven stations. In Gurgaon, it aims to build 105 km of route with 143 stations powered by about 3,000 vehicles.
“For users, the ticket pricing will be at a level lower than auto rickshaw fares, and higher than bus fares,” said Mr Ranbir Saran Das, Managing Director, Fairwood. Mr Das shared that the company is in talks with infrastructure developers and small car developers but declined to share details.
ULTra-Fairwood proposes to implement the project on a build operate transfer (BOT) basis, so that the State Governments do not have to make any financial investments. For this, apart from the right to operate the system for a long-term (30-35 year) period, it requires to get right of way from the State Government to make elevated guideways on which the pod cars can move. It also requires land for building stations.
On the company's fund raising plans, Mr Das said that the company is in talks with developers and financial investors, but the exact contours of financing will emerge only after there is further clarity on the concession terms being extended by the State Governments.
However, the challenge for State Governments would be to give out the project to ULTra-Fairwood through a bidding process.

Vehicle Overview

The ULTra Heathrow vehicle design.

The ULTra vehicle's modern design immediately conveys the feeling of travelling in an iconic “streamlined” mode of travel, with clean and subtle lines the result of extensive design and customer focus research. ATS began developing the ULTra system in 1995, and the design of the vehicles has progressed from initial concept, through prototyping and testing (the Cardiff Test Facility opened in 2001), to reach the sleek and high quality product supplied to BAA for the London Heathrow application.

Capacity

A standard ULTra vehicle is fitted with four contoured seats, with ample space for other items such as shopping, pushchairs and luggage (Total ~450kg). Other arrangements are possible, such as bench seating (selected by BAA for the Heathrow vehicles) which allows further flexibility in group sizing, such as five adults plus luggage, or two adults with four children. The vehicles can also easily accommodate bicycles and wheelchairs, and are designed to meet access requirements for both the UK (Disability Discrimination Act, DDA) and the US (Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA) - see the Accessibility page for further information.

An example of an ULTra vehicle interior; this option is fitted with four contoured seats, with room for shopping, pushchairs or luggage. The vehicles can also easily accommodate bicycles and wheelchairs.

The vehicle is designed to make the passenger feel safe, secure, and comfortable at all times.

Passenger Comfort & Security

The personal nature of the ULTra experience ensures that passengers feel safe and secure at all times: passengers have exclusive use of their vehicles and travel only with chosen companions - once a passenger journey starts the vehicles do not stop to pick up other passengers. In addition, the vehicle is continuously monitored by the control system during use - passengers may contact the system controller at any time, and the controller can talk to the passengers, see them via onboard CCTV, and respond to any concerns immediately.
Air-conditioning and heating systems provide passenger comfort during journeys, and can be adapted to suit the most extreme environments. The vehicle controls, lighting and information systems are designed to the latest standards to aid usability, with the option of in-vehicle media systems (e.g. music/video clips) to provide entertainment if desired.
For further details, please see the pages on the user benefits of the ULTra system.

An ULTra vehicle under construction.

Construction

ULTra vehicles are four wheeled with rubber pneumatic tyres, front-wheel steering and conventional damped spring suspension. They comprise an aluminium ladder frame chassis on which the majority of the vehicle propulsion and guidance equipment is mounted. Sitting on top of the chassis is an aluminium honeycomb floor. The above floor level is constructed of a steel frame and an ABS panel body that can be fitted with single side or double side electric doors.
See the Configuration & Features and Vehicle Specifications pages for more details.

Guidance and Power

Vehicles use a laser sensor system to guide the vehicles on the guideway and in the stations. Vehicles are currently lead acid battery powered to allow for rapid charging (up to 150amps) and to achieve recyclability. The vehicles are designed to be adaptable for future battery developments and for other power sources such as hydrogen fuel cells, ultracapacitors, and Tesla Motors-style lithium ion battery systems. Batteries are charged via electrical contacts at station berths, or at waiting points. ULTra vehicles have a very low energy usage of 0.15Kw h/vehicle km at 25mph.
See the Control Systems page for an operational overview of the ULTra control system.

2 tips for filling petrol and diesel

2010-12-27T11:44:00.005+05:30

2 tips for filling petrol and diesel:-

Only buy or fill up your car or bike during early morning, when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks underground. . The colder the ground, the more dense the fuel. When it gets warmer, petrol expands. So, buying in the afternoon or in the evening, your litre is not exactly a litre. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature play an important role. 1 degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

Another most important tip is to fill up when your tank is HALF FULL. The reason for this is, the more fuel you have in your tank the less is the air occupying its empty space. Petrol evaporates faster than you can imagine.

DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS - IT IS IMPORTANT FOR AS MANY PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT THIS, ESPECIALLY IN THE WAKE OF RISING PETROL PRICES.

Ford Figo wins Indian Car of the Year award

2010-12-21T17:10:00.006+05:30

In the fiercely competitive and rapidly growing market, Ford Figo was selected the Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) 2011 on Thursday.
Now in its sixth year, the ICOTY is awarded to a new vehicle after comprehensive testing by a jury of leading automobile journalists in India.
Michael Boneham, president and managing director, Ford India, accepted the award from R P Singhania, vice chairman and managing director, JK Tyre & Industries, at a ceremony in Mumbai.
The Ford Figo is a celebration of the best-in-class features, style, comfort and ownership.

Robust build and construction
Interiors more comfortable than chief competitors i10 & Swift
1.4 Diesel's proven driveability and fuel efficiency. No turbolag
The Ford Figo's mature big-car-like ride quality
Ford's DNA in the on-road behaviour and quick steering
Class-topping 284 liter boot space
Lacks the modernity of recently launched hatchbacks
Both of the engines in the Figo are lacking in outright performance. Neither engine can exploit the car's dynamics
No true top-end variant (tilt adjustable steering, rear power windows, MID etc.)
Average backseat legroom. Not in the league of, say, an Indica Vista
Ford's sub-par dealership experience

Dimensions
The Figo is one of the longest, widest and shortest in height in its segment. This contributes to the best aerodynamic design and its spacious interiors.

Overall length - 3795 mm
Overall width - 1680 mm
Overall Height - 1427 mm

Wheelbase

With a 2489 mm wheelbase, the Figo clearly offers the most spacious interiors in its category.
Leg Room
Smart designing makes the Figo one of the most spacious cars available.

Front leg room - 1084 mm
Rear leg room - 860 mm
Rear shoulder room - 1300 mm

Boot space
The Figo has 284 litres of boot capacity - again, the largest among all hatchbacks.
Air-conditioning
The Figo boasts of the most powerful air conditioner in its segment.
With the largest compressor and the best air speed, the Ford Figo offers the fastest-in-class time to comfort.

Bluetooth
Plug and unplug mobile phones to make and receive calls and hear the other person's voice over car speakers, access your complete phonebook on the audio unit without reaching for the phone, browse the last 10 dialed numbers, the last 10 missed and received calls, redial a particular number and swap, hold, mute and transfer calls from audio to phone.
Smart audio allows you to stream songs from mobile phones to the car audio via Bluetooth and enjoy music over the car speakers without transferring files.

Intelligent features

Programmable keyless entry
Intelligent safety locking features (central locking, drive away, crash unlock, ignition off auto unlock, and auto relock)
Distance to empty display
RDS capable audio
Speed sensing volume controls
Electric boot release
Lane change indication
Hazard deceleration warning
Variable (6 Speed) intermittent wipers
Intelligent PATS

Styling
The Figo is designed in line with Ford's Global Kinetic Design philosophy.
Streaky side repeater lamps, raising belt line, door lines, grille-less front, wide open trapezoidal lower grille, wrap-around head lamps and stylish tail lamps make it stamp a style statement.
Interiors: The Figo sports a unique coral theme on the inside, along with colour coordinated instrument panels and stylized door boards with pull cup type handles.
Vibrant Instrument Panel: The Figo is the first in its segment to make a style statement with colour infused vibrant interiors.
The coral Instrument panel makes for the most vibrant looking Interiors available in its segment.

Google TV

2010-12-21T15:32:00.001+05:30

Google TV is an internet-connected television platform. It was announced by Google on May 20, 2010 at Google’s Google I/O event and was co-developed by Google, Intel, Sony and Logitech. Google TV integrates Google’s Android operating system and Google Chrome browser to create “a new experience for television”.Google TV officially launched October 6, 2010 with devices from Sony and Logitech

Features

Google TV leverages many of Google’s existing products. Google’s Android operating system provides the underlying foundation, allowing developers to create applications that extend the system’s functionality. Google’s Chrome browser provides a gateway to the Internet, allowing consumers to browse web sites and watch television, in tandem. Consumers can access HBO, CNBC, and content from other providers through the Chrome browser. Partners have built applications that allow customers to access content in unique ways. Netflix, for example, has built an application that allows customers to access Netflix’s large library of movies and television shows. Android and Apple phones will be used as remote controls for Google TV. Google TV products ship with wireless remote controls with a full QWERTY keypad.

Sony Internet TV

Devices

Sony Internet TV - 24", 32", 40" and 46" models (NSX-24GT1, NSX-32GT1, NSX-40GT1 and NSX-46GT1)
Sony Internet TV Blu-ray (NSZ-GT1)
Logitech Revue (PN 970-000001)

According to a Bloomberg report, Toshiba and Vizio will unveil Google TV devices at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2011.

Critical Reaction

Google TV has been met with mediocre reviews. Nilay Patel, of the tech blog Engadget remarked, “Google TV feels like an incomplete jumble of good ideas only half-realized, an unoptimized box of possibility that suffers under the weight of its own ambition and seemingly rushed holiday deadline.”
Kevin Sintumuang said of Google TV during his Wall Street Journal review that, “The potential is as big as, well, the Internet, but right now Google TV is a bit of a tease.”
The New York Time’s David Pogue had similar sentiments, saying, “This much is clear: Google TV may be interesting to technophiles, but it’s not for average people.” David Pogue also expressed concern about the inconsistencies throughout the user interface as well as the fragmentation of Google TV.Fragmentation is when a product is launched by many different companies spawning similar, yet different iterations of the original product which may not support the same features. Google currently faces this problem with the Android operating system.

What's new with Google TV?

It’s been two months since the first Google TV device went on sale. Since
then, we have been hard at work thinking about how we can make the
platform even better for our users. In fact, one of the greatest things
about Google TV is that it comes with free, automatic “over-the-air”
software updates that give you the newest features and content as we
release them. It’s as if Google TV goes up in value over time.

Today we’re excited to start pushing out our first Google TV software update. In addition to fixing some bugs, there are four significant improvements to the platform:

Netflix

We’ve partnered up with our friends at Netflix to upgrade the app so that you can search, browse and watch any movie or show
that is in the Netflix streaming catalog. You can even add these titles
to your DVD queue if you want them mailed to you. Not sure what to
watch? The new Netflix app will also give you personalized
recommendations based on what you’ve watched before. Your TV is now an
unlimited source of entertainment.

Dual View

Google
TV brings the TV and web together in one seamless experience so you can
easily watch your favorite TV show and browse your favorite website
together at once. With the feature, you can do things like watch Conan
while tweeting about him on Twitter at the same time. Since launch,
we’ve had users give us feedback that they want even more customization
options for this feature, and so today we have enhanced it to allow you
to re-size and move the window however you’d like.

Standard capability

New capability to move and re-size

Remote Control App for Android Phones

What
if you could control your TV with the power of your voice? Starting
today you can download the Google TV Remote app in Android Market. Apart
from the standard TV remote options like changing channels or accessing
your DVR, you can now interact with your TV in ways you never have
before. For instance, try using the integrated voice search which allows
you to find your favorite shows and movies just by speaking into your
phone. Or, go from small screen to big screen by sharing videos and
websites directly from your phone to your TV. We’ve included a short
preview of these features below. Stay tuned for more information about
the Google TV Remote for other platforms in the near future.

Movies

Say
you’re searching for a movie like ‘Harry Potter’. Google TV now has a
movie results page that shows you all films associated with the title so
you can quickly watch what you want, wherever it’s available -- ranging
from sources like live TV, Netflix, and Amazon Video on Demand. You can
also read a quick summary, see photos, and find the cast list. Click on
the name of a cast member and we’ll take you to a new search landing
page where you can find other movies featuring that actor. Trust us,
you’ll never leave the couch again.

Google
TV users will start to see these updates roll out to their devices
throughout the week. The Google TV Remote app is available today (click here from your Android device or scan the barcode below) but all features may not work until your device has received the update.

Search your television

Type in what you want to watch, and we'll find it for you. Google TV lets you seamlessly search all of the content on your TV, the web, and apps – then access it with a single click. You can also easily switch between TV and the web without having to change inputs on your television.

The web is now a channel

With Google Chrome and Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Google TV lets you access everything on the web. Watch your favorite web videos, view photos, play games, check fantasy scores, chat with friends, and do everything else you're accustomed to doing online. Plus, the world's best websites are now being perfected for television -- check out our Spotlight gallery for examples.

A new world of apps for your TV

Google TV will come pre-loaded with apps like Netflix, Twitter, CNBC, Pandora, Napster, NBA Game Time, Amazon Video On Demand and Gallery. Starting early next year, apps from Android Market will work on Google TV as well.
Watch the video.

Your phone = remote control

Your Android phone or iPhone can be used to control your Google TV in place of a remote control. Use your voice to search, and even use multiple phones to control the same TV. No more fighting over the remote!

Fling a video to your television

Find a great website on your phone and want to show it to everyone? Now you can. "Fling" what you're watching, listening to, or doing on your phone by sending it to your TV with the press of a button.

Watch it now

Never miss a show again. With Google TV, you can access over 40,000 shows and movies whenever you want with Netflix ($8.99 a month) or Amazon Video On Demand (shows start at 99 cents!).

YouTube perfected for TV

YouTube is great on the web, but it's even better on television. With YouTube Leanback, you can watch videos without ever clicking play -- just sit back and watch all of your favorite YouTube content, personally chosen for you, in full screen HD. You can even create new channels on the fly.

Watch and browse,
simultaneously

With Google TV, you can browse the web or open an app and watch TV on the same screen. Check your fantasy football stats while watching the game, check your @replies on Twitter during American Idol, or purchase a product online right after you watch the ad. It's just like picture-in-picture mode, but with the web and the TV.

TV gets a homepage

Turn on your television and you'll instantly have access to your favorite channels, apps, podcasts, and websites, thanks to the Google TV home screen. The home screen is customizable for you, by you, so that you can always change your preferences.

Find your favorite episode

Google TV has a special page for every TV series that lets you quickly find and watch any episode, whether it's on TV or the web.

Create a TV playlist

Want to watch something, but don't have time right now? Send it to your Google Queue and watch it later. You can also subscribe to your favorite websites and video podcasts, add YouTube videos, and more. It's like building a DVR for the web.

Record from the search bar

If you're a DISH Network subscriber using Google TV, you’ll enjoy many enhanced TV and DVR features, including recording a show right from the search bar and being able to search all of your recordings at once.

Rock out in your living room

Listen to your favorite music on the best speakers in your house by creating a personal radio station on the fly with Pandora or listening to any song, any time, with Napster.

The ultimate picture frame

Turn the biggest screen in your house into a beautiful, high definition photo gallery. Now your TV can stream photos from Picasa, Flickr, and every other photo-sharing site. Plus, you can access any public gallery, not just your own.

Over-the-air updates

How many consumer electronics products go up in value after you buy them? Google TV updates itself automatically, so you'll get new features for free.

3D website

2010-12-21T09:45:00.000+05:30

In what is touted to be the world's first 3D website, Stereografix, a UK based company has launched a stereoscopic 3D website which is designed specifically for viewing on 3D HD TV sets. Although the website is still a prototype, the basic requirements to correctly view 3D components on the website include your computer/laptop to be connected to a 3D television, a compatible browser and 3D viewing glasses.

The website, stereoscopic-3d.co.uk, features a 3D interface as well as additional content. The company's Founder Saif Chaudhry said, "I don't think many people are even thinking this far ahead, and we've got a prototype already. It's not every day you can say you're first with something where the internet is concerned."
However Chaudhry is of the opinion that there is a demand for more 3D TVs and computer monitors before the website actually becomes mainstream.

The 3D website has two optimised display versions: Active (LCD Shuttering) and Passive (Polarised). Although you need 3D glasses to view the site now, the company is working toward a version with passive 3D televisions planned.

Stereografix was launched in March and offers services in the latest 3D technology to organizations.

Indian origin kid wins $100,000 for speech recognition

2010-12-09T09:41:00.000+05:30

Inspired by the science fiction movie "I, Robot," two high school students, one of them an Indian American, have developed a speech recognition technology that has won them a $100,000 grand prize.

Akash Krishnan and Matthew Fernandez of Portland, Oregon, who developed a computer algorithm that can detect a speaker's emotions better than current technology, would share the team prize, the Siemens Competition for America's top math and science students announced Monday.

Krishnan, 16, and Fernandez, 17, watched "I, Robot," while taking a break from trying to come up with a project idea. The movie featured a robot that could detect when its user was stressed, and they decided to try to improve on the existing technology.

Their algorithm has a 60 percent accuracy rate, compared with about 40 percent for a previous system. They say their work could be used to improve computer automated phone systems, helping, for example, to tell if a caller was becoming irate.

"The duo built a computer algorithm that allows us to listen to an auditory signal from a human, analyse it and assess the emotional state of the speaker," said competition judge Gert Lanckriet from the department of electrical and computer engineering, University of California, San Diego.

"It can help identify if the speaker is angry, sad, bored, anxious or happy. They came up with a strong creative idea and brought it from theory into practice."

"Using an emotional speech database with 18,215 files and five emotions -- anger, positive, neutral, emphatic, rest-the team developed, trained and tested a classification engine to determine emotions from an input signal," he said.

Lanckriet said that their work could even be used to enhance
cellphone technology.

"In cell phones, most of the encoding is designed to ensure words are understood, but the emotional background of the conversation may be lost. Krishnan and Matthew's work could help ensure that the emotion comes through," he said.

Krishnan was not the only one in the competition who has his roots in India. Three other students of Indian origin-Santosh Narayan of Munster, Indiana, Nikhil Mehandru of Roslyn, New York and Sonia Prasad of Roslyn Heights, New York-bagged the fourth position in the team category in the national championship and were awarded a $30,000 scholarship.

China reveals world's fastest train

2010-12-09T09:35:00.000+05:30

China played host to railway authorities and railway experts from around the world in Beijing , and used the opportunity to showcase a high-speed train that clocked the fastest ever speed in a test run last week.

In the spotlight is the 16-car CRH380A, a new generation of high-speed train which Chinese Ministry of Railways officials say recorded a top speed of 486.1 kilometers per hour on Friday, far exceeding Japan's bullet trains.

Chinese railway officials say the CRH380A, designed to operate at a cruising speed of 380 kph, is the fastest train in operation in the world today.

China is reportedly in the process of developing a super high-speed train that can run at 600 kph.

China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Corp., which designed the CRH380A, was clearly the focus attention as foreign railway experts toured an international exhibition of railway technology organised by the Ministry of Railways on the sidelines of a world congress on high speed rail.

After attending a briefing by China South Locomotive, an Iranian government official said Iran is considering buying the Chinese high-speed train.

"We definitely want to import it," an Israeli railways executive also said.

Railways executives from the US State of California also listened attentively as China South Locomotive officials briefed the international visitors.

China boasts the world's longest high-speed railway network, which totals 7,531 km, and Chinese railway officials say the country plans to expand the system to 16,000 km by 2020.

The exhibition, held at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, has drawn entries from more than 200 companies worldwide, each showcasing its wares and know-how to a global audience of railway experts and transport officials.