Manohar Parriker : One of those rare clean ministers

Manohar Parriker (Defense Minister, Govt of India) is widely considered among those rare of the rarest list of indian politicians, who have been at reputed positions and still came out clean for so many years. But the question is, if Manohar Parriker really as clean as he seems?

Manohar Parriker assumed ministry of defense on 26 November 2014. Prior to this, he was elected two times as Chief Minister for Goa. In 2014 after Modi led BJP won an historical parliamentary elections, he was called upon to become defense minister for the newly elected government. Parriker was reluctant to leave Goa and move to Delhi in November 2014, by his own admission but was persuaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the central government.

There have been number of events exemplifying his honesty, efficiency and simplicity in day-to-day life as chief minister. Here is one such example from a recent event which has been around the social network for a while now.

CEO of a company, which provides one of their products to defence field, told about a latest incident about Mr. Parriker which made whole country proud that Modi hand-picked him for this role.

The product we are talking here about are the shoes. Indian army use a special kind of shoes in some of their particular use. We used to purchase this shoes from Israel at a price of ₹ 25000 per shoe. This was in general routine till Mr. Parriker came into picture.

After he became the Defense minister, his people did some enquiries and they found that these shoes are exported to Israel from India only. The shoes were actually manufactured in Jaipur India. After this he directed the defense people to approach the company for direct procurement. The company directly refused the deal citing corruption, delay in payment and further difficulties.

Listening this, he directly approached the company and given his personal contact number and said, “even if your payment get delayed for a single day, contact me directly”.

The deal got finalized at ₹ 2200 per shoes. From ₹ 25000 to ₹2200 per shoes. This is the determination of Mr. Parriker, now you guys decide whether he is a good minister or not.

Modi rightly said Manohar Parrikar is one of the jewels in his cabinet. One of the efficient and sharp ministers that every Indian should be proud of.

Guess what the e-commerce giant is gearing up for..

Amazon, the well known commerce-giant, is one of those top notch IT giants who have tried and succeed a number of domains. Any clue on what is next big thing on its plate... Well, Its the PC gaming world which is going to be conquered next.

Amazon is actively gearing up to enter the PC gaming world, according to a recruitment post the company has put up on the gaming website Gamasutra. Amazon is seeking to hire game engineers, designers, visual effects artists, and other developers to work on the company's first PC game. The post on Gamasutra says the new roles will join a team that already includes the creators of hugely popular games such as Portal, World of Warcraft, and BioShock.

Last August, Amazon acquired online game streaming service Twitch for $970 million. Twitch allows gamers to broadcast live streams of gameplay to viewers on the Internet, who can chat with each other as they watch.

"Amazon is committed to gamers, and building great teams who are excited to use Twitch, the [Amazon Web Services] cloud, and technical innovation to radically evolve gameplay," the e-commerce giant wrote.

All you need to know about Google's self-driving car

The Google self-driving car, the cute Tata Nano lookalike works on sensors and software, and one can reach their destination by just at the push of a button.

The car comes without a steering wheel, accelerator pedal, or brake pedal, as the car driver won’t need any of it. In the bid to enter the uber-modern era, do we really need a self-driving car? Is this even possible and how safe it would be? If you are as intrigued as we were, here’s what we found out about the Google self-driving cars.

Why do we need a self-driving car?

The first question that would crop up in your mind is why do we need a self-driving tech-based car and is it safe? Ironically, Google’s prime reason to build a driverless car is – Safety. The search giant points out that 1.2 million people lose their lives due to traffic-related incidents, and more than 90 percent of these accidents are due to human error. With the self-driving car, it aims to ‘step up road safety and transform mobility for millions of people’. The self-driving technology is crafted to never get distracted and navigate the car as naturally as possible. It expects the car to be courteous, get defensive and drive as you would expect it. With the new car, drunk and distracted driving will be history, says Google.

Moreover, self driving cars even fizzle out issues related to parking spaces. It explains how driverless vehicles can go park themselves and eventually lessen the pressure to build parking next to every destination and residence. This would free up large amounts of city land. With less space set aside for car parking, more space can be utilized for residential development.

How does it work?

Firstly, the self-driving car needs to know where it is or what’s around it. Google has included several sensors that act as the eyes and ears of the driver. Firstly, for location, the car uses GPS data, but GPS isn’t always accurate and hence the car uses other sensors like laser to help identify the precise location and depth by gauging the environment. The sensors can see far off distance – around two American football fields away– and 360 degrees around. In fact, these sensors interact with one another to cross check the information.

All the information is then processed by Google’s software that plays a vital role in driving. It differentiates between the objects and classifies them using colour coded boxes. For example, cycle will be red, pedestrians in yellow and vehicle in green or pink. The software then needs to classify these objects appropriately by differentiating them depending upon their shape, movement pattern and so on. For instance, it can detect if a cyclist is in the bike lane and so on. It also takes under consideration that humans usually feel a little uncomfortable when next to large vehicles like trucks. So, the software distinctly marks larger vehicles. So, it keeps the car farther from such vehicles, just how a driver would.

The software is also designed to offer utmost safety, states Google. It gauges how close it is to other objects, matches speed with traffic and also anticipates other vehicles cutting in. The software is also capable of detecting and navigating in construction zones, taking naturalistic driving into account. For now, the speed limit has been capped at 25mph.

How does a self-driving car navigate?

It isn’t easy driving on roads, considering several scenarios such as jaywalking pedestrians, cars lurching out of hidden driveways, and double-parked trucks blocking the driver’s view. The Google software has been designed to master self-driving in all environments, claims the company.

It has taken care of some regular situations experienced regularly in California. For instance, the sensors detect if there is a road blockage ahead and inform the software, which then changes the lane safely. It also keeps safe distance from trucks around. The software is also capable of detecting the cyclist holding up his arm. The car knows to keep yielding even if the cyclist changes his mind, multiple times.

What’s it like to be in a driverless car?

The self-driving car functional prototype was tested by some people outside of the Google team. Many were surprised to see the missing steering wheel. “It knows when to stop and knows when to go,’ said one passenger. A passenger said how she can utilize the time to spend with her kids rather than focussing on driving, while an elderly couple shared how the car went really slow before a curve and accelerated only in the curve.

The car has two seats and some space for passengers’ belongings. On the inside, it is designed for learning, not luxury, so it's light on creature comforts, but it has two seats (with seatbelts), a space for passengers’ belongings, buttons to start and stop, and a screen that shows the route—and that’s about it.

Google plans to build a hundred prototypes of the vehicle, and later this summer, the company’s safety drivers will start testing early versions of these vehicles that have manual controls. Google also plans to run a small pilot programme in the next couple of years, provided all goes well. It is still at a nascent stage, but does this mean the conventional car makers are in trouble? If the technology develops, Google may also work with partners to bring this technology into the world safely, under recognised brands.

Super water-proof surface which will make water bounce off

Imagine a smart-phone or a laptop that repels water so strongly that it causes liquid droplets to "bounce off" its surface!

Scientists are working on a new super-hydrophobic surface that is extremely waterproof. Professor Julie Crockett from Brigham Young University in Utah and her colleague Dan Maynes have created a sloped channel that is super-hydrophobic, or a surface that is extremely difficult to wet.

Their study found surfaces with a pattern of microscopic ridges or posts, combined with a hydrophobic coating, produces an even higher level of water resistance - depending on how the water hits the surface. Their work is critical because the growing list of applications for super-hydrophobic surfaces is extremely diverse.

Crockett and Maynes' research is also headed towards cleaner and more efficient energy generation. Many power plants create energy by burning coal or natural gas to create steam that expands and rotates a turbine.

Once that has happened, the steam needs to be condensed back into a liquid state to be cycled back through.

If power plant condensers can be built with optimal super-hydrophobic surfaces, that process can be sped up in significant ways, saving time and lowering costs to generate power, researchers said.

The researchers then add a thin water-resistant film to the surfaces, such as Teflon, and use ultra-high-speed cameras to document the way water interacts when dropped, jetted or boiled on them.

Reference journal : Physics of Fluids

Boeing Black : The self-destructing smartphone

US company Boeing has unveiled a new smartphone, named Boeing Black, that appears to come straight from a James Bond spy movie. The company is said to be developing this device for last three years. This tamper-proof phone is aimed at government agencies and contractors who need to keep communication and data secure, according to Boeing and filings with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

In addition to encrypting your communication over the phone, any attempt to open the casing of the Boeing Black smartphone deletes all data and rendering the device inoperable. The secure phone marks an extension of the communications arm of the Chicago-based aerospace and defense contractor, which is best known for jetliners and fighter planes.

Made in the US, the phone runs on Google’s Android. The 5.2-by-2.7-inch (13.2-by-6.9 cm) handset, slightly larger than an iPhone, uses dual SIM cards to enable it to access multiple cell networks instead of a single network like a normal cellphone. It is manufactured as a sealed device both with epoxy around the casing and with screws, the heads of which are covered with tamper proof covering to identify attempted disassembly. Any attempt to break open the casing of the device would trigger functions that would delete the data and software contained within the device and make the device inoperable.

The self-destructing phone contains a rather small 1590mAh battery and is quite chunky looking from the renders Boeing has released. It sports a 4.3-inch 540×960 display of unspecified type and will play nicely with LTE, UMTS, and GSM networks. Customisation is also a major selling point for Boeing Black — the back door can be swapped out for add-on modules such as satellite radio, expanded battery packs, solar chargers, precise GPS receivers, secure discrete radio channels, biometric scanners, etc. The Black also sports a PDMI port that combines USB, audio, power, HDMI, and DisplayPort output in one connection. You will also find a a standard USB port for data and charging, along with a microSD slot.

An unspecified dual-core 1.2Ghz ARM Cortex-A9 processor is ticking within. Due to the phone’s security features, Boeing is releasing few details about the wireless network operators or manufacturer it is working with, and has not provided a price or date by which the phone might be widely available, but said it has begun offering the phone to potential customers. Boeing has not mentioned any specific details about the cameras on the phone, but we can clearly see one on the back. The phone can also be configured to connect with biometric sensors or satellites. Other attachments can extend battery life or use solar power. The phone can operate on the WCDMA, GSM and LTE frequency bands and offers WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.

Google's Advanced Technology and Projects group

Though Google marked deal to sell Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.9 billion, motorola's best division - Advanced Technology and Projects group was not sold and it was left behind with Google. Since then this group have been working on two major projects - Project Tango & Project Ara.

Project Tango is an Android-based prototype 5-inch phone and developer kit with advanced 3D sensors. With the sensors, the phone is capable of tracking motion, and can build a visual map of rooms using 3D scanning. Google wants to combine these 3D sensors with advanced computer vision techniques that will help fork out newer innovations for indoor navigations, games and so on. Looks like Google wants to build something like the Sony Kinect or Playstation Move, into a small 5-inch phone.

Google is using Movidius’ Myriad 1 vision processor platform for Project Tango. These sensors were considered very expensive and difficult to employ earlier. They are reportedly also known to drain the phone’s battery rapidly. However, the new generation vision processors consume significantly lesser power. This is one of the reasons, why Google finally went ahead with this project.

The Project Tango devices will be available for developers so they can play around and build apps related to “indoor navigation/mapping, single/multiplayer games that use physical space, and new algorithms for processing sensor data.” However, initially, select 200 developers will be able to access these phones. Developers will have to give Google some cool app ideas for the device by March 14, 2014. It should be noted that Google is not looking for simply leap-motion based or gesture-based apps.

On the other hand, Project Ara is a free, open hardware platform for creating highly modular smartphones. It comes with a structural frame that holds smartphone modules of the owner’s choice, such as a display, keyboard or say the battery. The approach allows users to swap out malfunctioning modules or upgrade as new innovations emerge. This also means that the handset can potentially last much longer than normal smartphones do.

Google, the software giant, will also be marking Google’s first hardware launch from its Advanced Technology and Projects group with Project Tango while working side-by-side on Project Ara.

Mako : A robot designed to operate computers

A new artificial intelligence robot that can navigate through almost any computer programme and across the internet has been developed.

Mako, created by 18-year-old Michael Ghandour in Chino, California, has voice recognition and responds to even the slightest command with super speed.

It can create powerpoint presentations from scratch, search anything on Google and give updates on the local weather. The robot can also read out long passages on a screen.

According to its Kickstarter page, MAKO is multilingual; it can speak in five different languages, which is soon to be 30, 

 
The page lists Mako's numerous abilities - it can open any website/programme, define any word, type anything you say, retrieve any online image, Google search anything, switch windows to other programmes, empty recycle bin/delete any file/words, do math equations of all kinds and write a report on any subject, among other functions.

Ghandour who spent seven years working on artificial intelligence programmes like this, believes Mako will "revolutionise how we interact with the technological world.

Sony and Panasonic working together on a 300GB optical media

If you thought the time of the optical disk was over - think again. Especially if you happen to work for Sony or Panasonic.

The two tech giants have announced they they will jointly work to produce the next generation of disks. The new disks will be capable of storing at least 300GB per disk - if not more. Currently the storage limit is of 50 GB hold at the moment by dual-layer blue-ray disk.

As per Sony officials, optical discs have excellent properties to protect them against the environment, such as dust-resistance and water-resistance, and can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored. They also allow inter-generational compatibility between different formats, ensuring that data can continue to be read even as formats evolve. This makes them a robust medium for long-term storage of content.

Mainly aimed at professionals, the disks could be used to back up HD films, move large amounts of data or perform essential maintenance.

Indeed, and to be deliberately generous to Sony and Panasonic, if a flight to New York takes about 7 hours 50 minutes, you'd need a transfer rate of about 10 mb/s to send 300GB of data faster than sticking it on a plane.

Now get alert on your smartphone when satellites are watching you

In the modern era of technology, we are surrounded by a number of satellites in their orbits spying on us 24X7. You never know, when your privacy is being invaded and some satellite is zooming around you, tracking your moves and recording your actions.

In this scenario, a mechanism which may notify us while being watched could be something really great. Sticking to the same need, an smartphone app has been developed in US that tells you when and what imaging spacecraft might be watching you. The app, SpyMeSat, provides notifications when spy satellites and unclassified imaging satellites are zooming above your head and may be taking your picture. 

All of the imaging satellites in SpyMeSat are in low-Earth orbit at an altitude of about 805 kilometres, SPACE.com reported. Enabled SpyMeSat satellites include such zoom-lens notables as GeoEye, the French space agency's SPOT-5, India's CartoSat-2A, DigitalGlobe's WorldView satellites and Canada's RADARSAT-2. 

The idea for the app sparked to Alex Herz, president of Orbit Logic in Greenbelt, Maryland, which developed the app. It was originated while talking to his friends outside the aerospace industry who were always very interested in space and satellites and imaging from space. 

The app uses available public information about commercial and international imaging satellites. It also uses orbit data from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). However, SpyMeSat does not include all imaging spacecraft. No classified imaging satellites, from any nation, have their orbit information published, so these satellites do not show up in the app.

Himalayan yeti(a.k.a. Hima Manava) mystery unveiled

Yetis have been in discussions over a long period of time now. We have seen footprints and other signs of their existence in Himalayan regions but no one has ever seen them alive, though scientists claim that they are still there. Recent research by a British scientist shows that Yetis may actually be a sub-species of brown bear.

DNA tests on hair samples carried out by Oxford University genetics professor Bryan Sykes found that they matched those from an ancient polar bear. He subjected the hair samples to the most advanced tests available. He says the most likely explanation for the myth is that the animal is a hybrid of polar bears and brown bears. Prof Sykes told the BBC that there may be a real biological animal behind the yeti myth.

The sample had a 100% match with a sample from an ancient polar bear jawbone found in Svalbard, Norway, that dates back to between 40,000 and 120,000 years ago - a time when the polar bear and closely related brown bear were separating as different species. The species are closely related and are known to interbreed where their territories overlap.

The hair samples from Laddakh came from the mummified remains of a creature shot by a hunter around 40 years ago, while the second sample was in the form of a single hair, found in a bamboo forest by an expedition of filmmakers around 10 years ago.

What is it like to be a Programmer?

Programmer, as the word defines is someone who programs, who creates solutions to the problems at hand.

Lets go a little dipper into this, what exactly are the problems. Are the problems first of its kind OR its just imitation of another problem solved already by someone at some other corner of the globe(possibly even in your own city). Later being the case, you are not creating any new solution rather re-programming the already programmed solution, provided you discover a better solution for it. But, in most of the cases, it is quite possible that the existing solution itself is even better than the solution you are working on. Do you really think, the work you are doing in that case is programming. Come on, its not even re-programming, since you are not even finding a better way to do it.

Thinking on this particular topic, my attention automatically gets dragged towards the words of dean of electronics engineering at my university. Lets have a brief overview of that incident as well. Being a student of electronics, we were supposed to dedicate more of our time into that but some of us were more keen towards computer. Justifying electronics over computer, electronics dean came with a point which more or less said that software programming is nothing but copy and paste. At that time, we took it as just one of those accusation you get from your professors which you get used to in the course of 4 years. But now, after spending almost 5 years in IT, those lines really seem to be relevant as more than 90% of IT professionals are into this copy and paste task.

Most of us in IT domain, concentrate more on satisfying clients at the earliest, keeping aside innovation. This will definitely achieve short term goals for us but for a while think about long term. What new you achieved with that on a given day, which can make life easier or smoother than before. The answer is NULL(as we say), i.e. nothing. If your answer is any-thing different, you are one among few of those, lucky enough to get into those kinds of work, which can be considered as programming in real sense.

The bottom-line is unless you design something unique or at least better than earlier works, the job you are doing is more like that of a clerk than of a programmer.

Narendra Modi : From a tea vendor to chief minister for record tenure... (one step away from PM)

Narendra Modi completed 12 years of continuous rule as the Gujarat chief minister today. During this 12-years tenur, he not only hard-sold the so-called ‘Gujarat model of development’ but also got himself nominated as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 elections. Modi is the 14th chief minister of Gujarat. According to a government release, “This is a record… No chief minister has served continuously for 12 years.” 

The man who started as a vendor serving tea to customers at a railway station in Gujarat has come a long way in politics after he joined the RSS as a pracharak and later became associated with the BJP. Narendra Modi, the 63-year-old leader was last month anointed as the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers in Vadnagar in Mehsana district of what was then Bombay State (present-day Gujarat). He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife, Heeraben. While a teenager, Modi ran a tea stall with his brother around a bus terminus. He completed his schooling in Vadnagar, where a teacher described him as being an average student but a keen debater. He began work in the staff canteen of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC), where he stayed till he became a full–time pracharak (propagator) of the RSS. After Modi had received some RSS training in Nagpur, which was a prerequisite for taking up an official position in the Sangh Parivar, he was given charge of the Sangh’s student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), in Gujarat. Modi organised rallies and covert distribution of Sangh’s pamphlets during the Emergency. During his years in the RSS, Modi came in touch with Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, leaders of the Jan Sangh, who later founded the BJP’s Gujarat state unit. He remained a pracharak in the RSS while he completed his Master’s degree in political science from Gujarat University. In 1998, Modi was promoted to the post of National Secretary of the BJP. Modi was a key strategist for the BJP in the successful 1995 and 1998 Gujarat state election campaigns. 

He first became chief minister of Gujarat in October 2001, being promoted to the office upon the resignation of his predecessor, Keshubhai Patel, following the defeat of BJP in by-elections. Patel’s failing health, allegations of abuse of power and poor administration, the loss of some BJP seats in by-elections, the after-effects of the devastating Bhuj Earthquake of 2001 which his administration struggled to handle, all these factors prompted the BJP’s national leadership to seek a new candidate for the office of chief minister. Modi, who had aired his misgivings about Patel’s administration, was chosen as a replacement. However, LK Advani did not want to ostracise Patel and was worried about Modi’s lack of experience in governance. It was suggested that Modi should be made the deputy chief minister in a government led by Patel. But Modi declined the proposal and told Advani and Atal Behari Vajpayee that he was “going to be fully responsible for Gujarat or not at all”. 

On 7 October 2001, Modi was appointed the Chief Minister of Gujarat and was assigned responsibility to prepare the BJP for elections in December 2002. Since then, Modi has led his party, the BJP, to score three consecutive electoral victories, almost pushing the opposition to fringe. In 2002, there was a widespread Anti-Muslim violence throughout Gujarat after reports that a crowd of Muslims had attacked a train carrying mostly Hindu pilgrims and set it on fire near Godhra railway station, burning alive many of the passengers. As riots broke out, the Gujarat administration was accused by the opposition and sections of the media of taking insufficient action against the violence, and even condoning it in some cases. The Modi government’s imposition of curfews, shoot-at-sight orders and calls for the Army to prevent the violence from worsening proved insufficient. In April 2009, the Supreme Court of India appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to inquire into the Gujarat government and Narendra Modi’s role in the incidents of communal violence. The SIT reported to the court in December 2010 submitting that they did not find any incriminating evidence against Modi of wilfully allowing communal violence in the state. In April 2012, the SIT absolved Modi of any involvement in the Gulbarg Society massacre that occurred in 2002. On 7 May 2012, the Supreme Court-appointed amicus curiae, Raju Ramachandran, observed that Modi could be prosecuted for promoting enmity among different groups during the 2002 Gujarat violence. The amicus curiae report has been criticised by the Special Investigation Team for relying heavily on the testimony of Sanjiv Bhatt. 

In March 2012, Modi appeared on the cover of the Asian edition of the Time magazine, one of India’s few politicians to have done so. His leadership was described as being strong and businesslike; one that could guide India towards honesty and efficiency. 

In July 2013, Zakia Jaffri, widow of Ehsan Jafri, alleged that the SIT was suppressing evidence. Soon after, Modi told Reuters an interview that he feels no guilt. He said he was sad about the riots, adding he would be sad even if a “puppy” came under a car. Modi said, “… any person if we are driving a car, we are a driver, and someone else is driving a car and we’re sitting behind, even then if a puppy comes under the wheel, will it be painful or not? Of course, it is. If I’m a Chief Minister or not, I’m a human being. If something bad happens anywhere, it is natural to be sad.” As for his personality, a Wikipedia entry says this: He (Modi) is known for leading a frugal lifestyle. Known to be a workaholic and an introvert, but he is a crowd-puller as a speaker.” 

He also has a proven electoral track record amid controversy. In the aftermath of the Gujarat violence, there were calls for Modi to resign from his position as chief minister of Gujarat. The opposition parties stalled Parliament over the issue. Both the DMK and the TDP, allies of the BJP, also asked for Modi’s resignation, as did Jayalalithaa, the then-Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and leader of the AIADMK. Modi submitted his resignation and the state Assembly was dissolved. In the resultant elections, the BJP, led by Modi, won 127 seats in the 182-member assembly. 

In July 2007, Modi became the longest-serving Chief Minister in Gujarat’s history when he had been in power for 2,063 days continuously. He is currently into his fourth consecutive term as Chief Minister. A media statement issued by the state information department on Monday said, “In the last 12 years, Gujarat has showcased and implemented the policy of development to all and appeasement to none.” “Chief Minister Modi has demonstrated how to face challenges and come out of them successfully. He has converted adversities into opportunities,” the statement added.

Live Indian Independence Day for the first time on YouTube

Yes, you heard it right. YouTube, in association with Doordarshan will live stream the 67th Independence Day celebrations to be held on Thursday in the capital along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s address to the nation.

This association will enable millions of Indians worldwide to enjoy high definition live feed on Doordarshan's YouTube channel and get front row access to all celebrations lined up for the grand event.

The live streaming of the celebrations, a first for YouTube, will be available on August 15 from 6:25 a.m. (IST) onwards, including the flag-hoisting ceremony by the Prime Minister. Highlight clips will also be available for viewers. 

Doordarshan Director General Tripurari Sharan said this move will help the channel to reach a global audience in a format that best suits today's generation. Earlier this year, streaming of the 64th Republic Day Parade also received a tremendous response with over a lakh views. The objective is to cater to Indian and global audiences and take events of national importance beyond their TV screens.

Royal Enfield Bullet 500 launched in India for INR 1.53Lacs

Royal Enfield has now officially launched the new Bullet 500 in India. In India, the Bullet brand of motorcycles enjoys quite a cult status and has been synonymous with toughness and dependability. Such has been the ruggedness quotient of the bike that it has been associated with the Indian Army since 1955. The new Bullet 500 is an attempt to provide the aficionados with a perfect amalgam of iconic design and modern technology.

The latest avatar of the iconic Bullet is powered by a carbureted 500 cc Unit Construction Engine (UCE) that has a very healthy torque figure of 40.9 Nm. Talking about the modernity, the new Bullet 500 comes equipped with modern day features such as front disc brakes, electric starter and rear gas shock absorbers. At front, the bike is equipped with 130mm telescopic front suspensions. The piece de resistance on the new Bullet 500 is the hand-painted tank that invokes a sense of nostalgia. The headlamp cluster too has the traditional Bullet styling. Combined to this authentic Bullet design detail is the 55w headlamp that should enhance the visibility during night riding.

The Bullet 500 goes on sale with a sticker price of INR 1,53,855/- (on road price for Delhi).

The Royal Enfield Bullet 500 will be launched in a phased manner across the country. Initially the product will be launched in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi-NCR and Kerala which have traditionally been the best markets for the Bullet.

Nexus 7 in Google Play India for 15999

Finally, Google has started selling Nexus 7 tablet in India via Google Play Store. Just to remind all of you, it is the first Android and Nexus device to ever become available directly from the search giant in the country. The 16GB version is being sold for INR 15,999 in India whereas the same can be bought for INR 10777 (199 $) in USA.

Made in partnership with Asus, Google Nexus 7 is termed a commercial success and the companies had sold around 4.5 million units of the tablet in 2012. The numbers would have gone up since then.

The Nexus 7 tablet features 1.2GHz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor, 1GB RAM and 7-inch 1280x800p resolution backlit IPS display with Corning Glass. Full specifications of the tablets are as below:

• Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)
• Lithium-ion polymer 4,325 mAh battery
• 1.2 GHz (1.3 GHz in single-core mode) quad-core Cortex-A9 NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30L
• 16, or 32 GB flash memory
• 1 GB RAM DDR3L
• 7-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen with 1280×800 WXGA pixels resolution (216 ppi)
• Scratch-resistant Corning Fit Glass
• 416 MHz twelve-core Nvidia GeForce ULP GPU
• Accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, GPS, magnetometer, microphone
• 1.2 MP front-facing camera
• 3.5 mm headphone jack, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n @ 2.4 GHz), NFC, Micro USB 2.0, docking pins
• Dimensions: 198.5×120×10.56 mm (7.81×4.7×0.416 in)
• Weight: 340 g

For those already interested, here is a 5 step process to order your own tablet on Google Play :

5 viable alternates to Canvas HD : The smartphone on-demand

Leading smartphone manufacturer Micromax has been making rounds in the tech headlines since quite a long time for its Canvas HD. With the hype created on the phablet, consumers have now started asking "Where is Canvas HD?" As of now, there is no clear information on the specific date of the arrival of Canvas HD even for those who booked it.

Just to revive, Micromax Canvas HD packs a 5 inch HD IPS capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, 1.2GHz quad core MediaTek MT6589 processor, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, 8MP rear camera, VGA front camera for video calling, 4GB internal storage, 1GB RAM, micro SD card slot supporting up to 32GB additional storage, 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS/A-GPS and a 2,100 mAh battery.

Canvas HD was announced on the eve of Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos release in India. With superior specifications and lesser price tag, the Micromax offering created a great impact on the Samsung phablet, however, it could not stay for a long time as Canvas HD went out of stock since the day of its release, while Galaxy Grand Duos is making scorching sales in the nation. For those who are eagerly waiting for their Canvas HD, it will take around another two weeks to get their hands on it.

For those who can not wait this long, Micromax is not the only budget phablet with high-end specs. Following the launch of Canvas HD, several India based vendors have also started coming up with their multi-core Jelly Bean offerings in order to counteract it. Few of these smartphones  with their specifications in brief are :

1. Karbonn Titanium S5 : Titanium S5, from another Indian smartphone manufacturer Karbonn, boasts a 5 inch qHD multi-touch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels, 1.2GHz quad core processor, 1GB RAM, 4GB internal storage, micro SD card slot, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS, 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth and a 2,000 mAh battery. Karbonn has priced Titanium S5 at Rs 11,990 making it even cheaper than Canvas HD.

2. Wickedleak Wammy Titan 2 : Wickedleak, the growing gadget manufacturer, launched Wammy Titan 2 boasting a 5.3 inch HD IPS multi-touch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels, 1.2GHz quad core MT6589 processor with Power VR SGX544MP GPU, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS, 12MP rear camera with LED flash and support to Panoramic Shot, 5MP front camera for video calling, 4GB internal storage, 1GB RAM, micro SD card slot supporting up to 32GB additional storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS with A-GPS, 3G and a 2,300 mAh Li-Ion battery offering a decent backup.

3. Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos : Galaxy Grand Duos packs a 5 inch multi-touch LCD capacitive touchscreen display with a very low resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, dual core 1.2GHz processor, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS, 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera for video calling, 8GB internal storage capacity, 1GB RAM, micro SD card slot supporting up to 64GB additional storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, HDMI, A-GPS, DLNA and a 2,100 mAh Li-ion battery. The phablet is priced at Rs 21,500 and has received a plethora of minor software updates. Price being comparatively higher and specification being a bit low compared to others, but the title Samsung itself adds enough recipe to bring the race on.

4. Lava Xolo A1000 : Lava Xolo A1000 packs a 5 inch HD IPS OGC capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, 1GHz dual core processor, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS, 8MP rear camera, 1.2MP front camera, 4GB internal storage, 1GB RAM, micro SD card slot supporting up to 32GB expandable storage support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, micro USB 2.0 and a 2,100 mAh battery of undisclosed backup. Xolo A1000 is priced at Rs 13,999 being a reasonable offering.

5. Swipe MTV Volt : Pune based startup, Swipe also launched a Jelly Bean phablet with in partnership with MTV. The phablet dubbed MTV Volt that carries a 6 inch 5 point multi-touch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels, 1GHz dual core MediaTek MTK 6577 processor for blazing performance, 8MP rear camera, 1.3MP front camera for video calling, 4GB internal storage, 512MB RAM, micro SD card slot supporting up to 32GB additional storage, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, micro USB 2.0, 3G and a 3,200 mAh Li-Po battery. Further, MTC Volt is priced at Rs 12,999.

News app from All India Radio(AIR) launched for Android

India's 83-year-old radio station just got a little tech-savvy with the launch of an Android app.

The official AIR News app will bring users stories from AIR News network in India. Users get the latest news, national as well as regional from Prasar Bharati, India's Public Service Broadcaster. The official AIR News Android app also brings users India’s regional news bulletins along with special news-based programs. Your Android device needs to be Android version 2.2 or higher to be able to run the app and is a mere 1.9 MB to download.

With the launch of the AIR Android app, the content will be available to people globally. All that is required are an Android device and the ability to connect to the Internet.

Manish Tewari, Minister for Information and Broadcasting said, “This is a landmark step in the history of AIR broadcasting as live webcasting would give the public broadcaster a new profile as far as news dissemination in real time is concerned. This initiative would also enable the listeners of AIR to access the archives at one click of a button. With the use of social media, people can now access the content of AIR in any part of the globe. It would also enable AIR to keep pace with contemporary trends in the social media space.”

So far, on the Google Play store, the app has received an average of 4.7 out of 5 rating and has seen 64 user reviews.

The Android market is flooded with a bunch of radio apps that offer both local as well as international stations, and it is nice to see AIR take the initiative to make a place for itself in the radio app world. In the dawn of the smartphone era, access to radio was considered as a given feature, but today it is a rarity, especially in high-end smartphones.

Those interested can download the AIR app from the Google Play store.

The farthest Galaxy of our universe...

Making it a breakthrough the astronomers, powered with NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes and one of nature’s own natural “zoom lenses” in space, have discovered the most distant Galaxy ever seen in the Universe.

The galaxy appears as a diminutive blob that is only a tiny fraction of the size of our Milky Way Galaxy. It offers a peek back into a time when the universe was 3 per cent of its present age of 13.7 billion years.

This galaxy named as MACS0647-JD, was observed 420 million years after the big bang, the theorized beginning of the universe. Its light has traveled 13.3 billion years to reach Earth. This finding is the latest from a program that uses natural zoom lenses to reveal distant Galaxies in the early Universe.

Along the way, 8 billion years into its journey, light from MACS0647-JD took a detour along multiple paths around the massive Galaxy cluster. Without the cluster’s magnification powers, astronomers would not have seen this remote Galaxy. Because of gravitational lensing, The Cluster Lensing and Supernova Survey with Hubble (CLASH) research team was able to observe three magnified images of MACS0647-JD with the Hubble telescope. The cluster’s gravity boosted the light from the faraway galaxy, making the images appear about eight, seven, and two times brighter than they otherwise would that enabled Astronomers to detect the galaxy more efficiently and with greater confidence. As per Marc Postman of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore,“This cluster does what no man-made telescope can do. Without the magnification, it would require a Herculean effort to observe this galaxy,”

MACS0647-JD is so small it may be in the first steps of forming a larger galaxy. An analysis shows the galaxy is less than 600 light-years wide. Based on observations of somewhat closer galaxies, astronomers estimate that a typical galaxy of a similar age should be about 2,000 light-years wide. For comparison, the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy companion to the Milky Way, is 14,000 light-years wide. Our Milky Way is 150,000 light-years across.

Matured Android now occupies 3 out of 4 smartphones in market

Ever since the inception of this revolutionary mobile platform, Android have always been on the peak of buyer's mind. Now after a few years, when Android has become a matured platform across the markets, the total market occupancy has increased even further making it almost 75%.

As per the latest report, almost three out of four of smart phones around the world are now running the Android mobile operating system. Here are the detailed analysis of this report.

According to IT market research firm Gartner, Google's mobile OS now has a 72.4% share of the market for mobile operating systems, a massive increase from the 52.5% it held a year ago. Samsung's wildly popular smartphones accounted for a big portion of that gain, with the South Korean tech giant shipping 55 million units, the majority of which run on Android.

According to the survey, Apple, whose devices run on its own proprietary iOS software, sold around 23.5 million phones over the same period, the third quarter of 2012. That was up from 17.3 million a year ago, but the rise was not enough to stop the market share of the Silicon Valley company's operating system slipping from 15% to 13.9%. The survey also said that the fall in Apple's market share could have been a result of users around the world waiting for the release of the iPhone 5 in their countries.

Though, with the recent launch of iPhone 5, Gartner analysts expect iOS share will grow strongly in the fourth quarter of 2012 because users held on to their replacements in many markets ahead of the iPhone 5 wider roll out.

Think before you do, you are being Googled!

Google, the search giant introduced its first transparency report in 2009 and since then the number of inquiries across the globe has risen by around 37 percent. Governments all around the world are increasingly using Google as a key surveillance tool.

According to Google :

Government surveillance is on the rise... Government demands for user data have increased steadily since we first launched the Transparency Report. In the first half of 2012, there were 20,938 inquiries from government entities around the world. Those requests were for information about 34,614 accounts.

Google surveillance is definitely a global issue, but even here the US government is in the forefront. Brazil, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom each generated more than 1,000 government-related requests for user data. India was more inquisitive, with 2,319 requests. The US issued almost as many requests as those countries put together: 7,969.

With the introduction of transparency, the charge is also on when it came to requesting the removal of content from Google, with a total of 273 removal requests, including a number of being court orders.

Before completely despairing of user privacy, it's worth putting these figures in context. Google claims to have more than 400 million Gmail users alone. If the total number of Google accounts is, say, half a billion, then your chances of being subject to a request for user data is still only 25,000 to one.

Of course, most of us lead lives of much less interest to government authorities. For enterprises, the concern should probably be less about spying, and more about negligence. If Google, Microsoft, or Amazon complies with an agency's request to hand over enterprise data, what becomes of it? Is it securely protected in the hands of law enforcement? Is it securely disposed of once the investigation is over? If it's obtained without a warrant, will you even know that your data is being examined?

These are just further questions for individuals and organizations to consider before committing sensitive and confidential information to what is, in effect, the cloud. The government across the globe might be having an eye on all you commit.