Welcome 2009



Another New Year is coming tonight.Year 2008 has been my toughest year so far I have seen in my life, with lots of things happened around me and finally its coming to an end this brings some relax to me.Those tough and horrible days can't be forgotten so easily with many of sleepless nights.Even such things happened I was staying with my constant mind and was always thinking and daring to beat those.I think I have got a good resistance power to those sorrows but fear to check out my limit as no body wants it.



With New Year coming on its way I hope My Happy Days will return back which I had lost in 2008.Wish you a Very Birth Day 2009...

Smile

It seems like it’s just been yesterday
When I had met you on the way
We laughed and talked all day
But today we are all miles away

You are all in my memory never to be cast away
For we love each other and can never betray
Believe me my friends today
We are actually just smiles away

A smile that I truly mean and also the smile that make me feel lonely even when I am amongst a crowd.

Just an ordinary day

Today began as just another day and somehow is ending that way. Nothing exciting or interesting, still have my TODO list which never seems to get completed. Just hoping that tomorrow might turn out to be a little more interesting.

What is Life???

1. when in college : Hum honge kaamiyaab, Hum honge kaamiyaab ek din..

2. when giving interview to Multi National Company: Tu hi re.. Too hi re .....tere binaaa main kaise jiyunn....

3. waiting for interview result: Intehaa ho gai Intzaarki.. aayinaaa kuch khabar mere yaarki...

4. just joined: Too cheez badi hai mast mast......

5. after some time: Ye kahaan aa gaye hum??

6. After some more time: Naa koyi umang hai, naa koyi tarang hai, meri jindagi ek kati Pathang hai (booohoooo)

7.
floating the resume: kabootar ja ja ja... kabootar ja ja ja... pehele pyar ki peheli chitthi...

8. finally when you don't get a better offer any longer:

"Jeena
Yehaan, marna Yehaan iske siwa jaana Kahaa..."!!!

NAMMA BENGALOORU--Information about Bangalooru

The popular tale of Bengalooru (erstwhile Bangalore) getting it's name from 'Bende Kaalu Ooru' meaning 'Town of boiled beans' after King Veera Ballala II of the Hoysala dynasty in 1120 AD was fed boiled beans by an old woman in the forest is historically incorrect.

The name 'Bengalooru' was recorded much before King Ballala's time in a 9th century inscription found in a temple in Belur village near Bangalore.

*Bangalore was founded by Kempe Gowda I, who in 1537 AD built a mud fort in an area which is now K.R Market, Avenue Road and it's nearby areas.

Kempe Gowda built 8 gates for this fort:
1)Yelahanka Gate (present Mysore Bank Square).
2)Yeshwantpur Gate (near Upparapet police station).
3)Kengiri Gate (now a police station is named after it).
4)Halasoor (Ulsoor) Gate. (now a police station is named after it).
5)Kanakanahalli Gate (near Vokkaligara Sangha Bldg).
6)Sonde Koppa Gate.
7)Anekal Gate.
8)Delhi Gate (at the Fort in K.R Market, which was rebuilt in stone by Hyder Ali).

Inside the fort, he built the localities of Balepet, Aralepet (Cottonpet), Chickpet, Doddapet (Avenue Road), Upparapet, etc.

To this day these areas bear their old names, and serve as major wholesale & commercial markets.

*Kempe Gowda II came to power in 1585 and it was he who set the limit for Bangalore's expansion by erecting 4 watch towers. These Watch towers still exists and are known as the
KempeGowdaTowers.

*In 1638, the army of Adil Shah, the Sultan of Bijapur, led by Ranadulla Khan & Shahaji Bhonsle (Shivaji's father) captured Bengalooru fort. Kempe Gowda II was

then forced to retreat to Magadi, from where he and his successors ruled as Magadi Rulers. Magadi was later annexed to MysoreKingdom in 1728.

*Bangalore was gifted twice as a Jagir and sold once. In 1638 AD, Adil Shah gifted it to Shahaji Bhonsle, thus starting the Maratha rule of Bangalore.

In 1689, the Mughals captured Bangalore from the Marathas and sold it to Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar of Mysore for 3 lakh pagodas (gold coins).

In 1759, Hyder Ali, commander of Mysore's army, received Bangalore as a Jagir from Krishnaraja Wodeyar II. Later Hyder Ali declared himself ruler of MysoreKingdom after Krishnaraja Wodeyar II's death.

Bangalore returned to the Wodeyars after Hyder's son, Tippu Sultan, died in 1799 fighting the British.

*The British established the post of 'Mysore Resident' of MysoreKingdom in 1799 and appointed Col.Sir Barry Close as the first Resident. In 1804 The Mysore Resident was shifted from Mysore to Bangalore. The Resident's office & house known as 'The Residency' was first situated in the SACRED HEARTS SCHOOL, GOOD SHEPHERD CONVENT) building opp St.Joseph's college in Bangalore. It also housed a jail, while the site across the road where convicts were hanged now houses the ST. JOSEPH?S COLLEGE. Many a ghost was seen wandering about before the College came up!

The Road along the 'Residency' came to be called 'RESIDENCY ROAD' and even today it's known as Residency Road though officially it has been changed to 'Gen. Cariappa Road'.

In fact 'The Residency' later in 1881 shifted to what is today the RAJ BHAVAN, but Residency Road has retained it's name ever since 1804 (now 200 years).

*The Raj Bhavan in Bangalore was built in 1840s & owned by Sir Mark Cubbon, who was Commissioner then. Cubbon was passionately fond of Arabian horses and used to keep at least fifty horses in his stable here. Lewin Benthem Bowring who succeeded Cubbon as Commissioner purchased the bungalow with its vast estate in 1862 for the British Govt to be used as the official Commissioner's Bunglow. Later when the post of Commissioner was abolished, the Resident came to stay here and it came to be known as 'The Residency'. But the road still was known as Commissioner's Road, that is the reason why the road on the old Residency building continued to be known as 'Residency Road'.

*In 1806, the British established a new CANTONMENT AREA in Bangalore (at Ulsoor) for it's army and called it the 'Civil & Military Station'. Till India's independence this Cantonment area was ruled directly by the British. Thus Bangalore comprised of two separate areas, to the West, Bangalore (Pettah) administered by the Mysore Maharaja, and to the East, Bangalore Cantonment, administered as a separate unit by the British Govt through the Resident. Soon the Cantonment area became not only a military base for the British army & it's family, but also a settlement for a large number of Europeans, Anglo-Indians, missionaries, and Tamil speaking workers & traders from the neighbouring British controlled Madras Presidency. This is why the Cantonment area is today dominated by Tamilians.

*The Cantonment area under the British consisted of Shoolay, Blackpully (now SHIVAJINAGAR), The Parade (M.G ROAD AREA), St. John's Hill, Fraser Town, Benson Town, Cleveland Town, Cox Town, Richard's Town, Ulsoor, Knoxpet (Murphy Town), Agram, Richmond Town, Langford Town, Austin Town (named after British Resident, Sir James Austin Bourdillon), Whitefield (Anglo-Indian Colony created in 1882), etc. Even today these Suburbs still exist. The names given to the roads in the Cantonment were according to the military arrangement and campus. Thus, there was Artillery Rd, Brigade Rd, Infantry Rd, Cavalry Rd, South Parade (now M.G ROAD), East Parade (near Mittal Towers), etc. The heart of the city in those days was the so called MacIverTown, the area around South Parade, St. Mark's Road, Brigade Road and Cubbon Road.

*The Shoolay area (now Ashoknagar) still has streets named Wood Street, Castle Street, etc. The name 'SHOOLAY CIRCLE', however, still exsits near BrigadeTowers. The famous Shoolay Police Station of the Cantonment was renamed Ashoknagar Police Station and now it has been demolished.

*COLES PARK is named after British Resident of Mysore Kingdom, Arthur.H.Cole, who was Resident from 1809 - 1812 and again from 1818 - 1827.

*The British Cantonment area was also a host to SIR WINSTON CHURCHIL, the future British Prime Minister who stayed in Bangalore from 1897 to 1900.

*In 1892, new extensions were added to the old town of Bangalore (Pettah) by creating CHAMARAJPET (named after Chamarajendra Wodeyar) and SHESHADRIPURAM (named after the Mysore Diwan Sir K.Sheshadri Iyer).

*In 1898, a plague broke out in Bangalore. The Bangalore Administration at once laid out 2 new bigger extensions to the City to meet the demand that had risen due to people being forced to leave their original areas that were affected. This resulted in laying out a suburb, named BASAVANGUDI after the Basaveswara (Bull God) Temple (also called BullTemple) erected by Kempe Gowda I and another suburb, named MALLESWARAM, after the Kadu Malleshwara (Siva) Temple in the old Mallapura village.

*In 1901, VICTORIAHOSPITAL was established in commemoration of Queen Victoria of England's Diamond Jubilee.

*In 1902, VANIVILAS HOSPITAL & SCHOOL was opened and the Road was also named VANIVILAS ROAD in memory of Maharani Vani Vilas Sannidhana, the Queen Regent of Mysore.

*In 1905, Bangalore became the first city in India to get electrical power.

*During the post-Independence period KUMARAPARK area came into existence in 1947, JAYANAGAR was inaugurated in 1948, and at Binnamangala was created the INDIRANAGAR extension during the late 1960s.

*The large stone building on Residency Road, now housing L.I.C adjacent to DevathaPlaza once housed The Reserve Bank of India. The present canteen of L.I.C was once the strongroom of the bank!

*One wonders why in the old records there is a reference to 'CENOTAPH ROAD' in Bangalore when there is none to be seen. Cenotaph Road is today the NRUPATHUNGA ROAD named after Kanada poet Nrupathunga. The Cenotaph (Tomblike monument), was there at what is now the Corporation Circle. This Cenotaph was built in memory of Lt. Col. Moorhouse, Capt. Delany and about 50 soldiers who died in the siege in 1791, besides soldiers who died in different wars with Tipu Sultan till 1799. This monument was destroyed on Oct 28th 1964, by the Bangalore City Corporation and even the engraved stones
are not to be traced! Only one broken small section piece has been located in the Corporation compound, used as a bench.

*CUBBONPARK is named after Sir Mark Cubbon, who was the British Commissioner of Mysore Kingdom from 1834 to 1861. Sir Mark, incidentally, had never set his eyes on the park. He left India in April 1861, and died on his way back home at Suez on 23rd April 1861. CubbonPark was planned in 1864 by Sir Richard Sankey,

the then Chief Engineer of Mysore (SANKEY TANK & SANKEY ROAD is named after Richard Sankey). The park was initially known as 'MeadesPark' after

John Meade, the then acting Commissioner of Mysore. Subsequently it was rechristened as ChamarajendraPark in 1927 and later came to be known as CubbonPark.

*CHURCH STREET at M.G's is called so, because the road used to lead directly to St.MarksChurch. At one time the compound of the Church was much bigger and the Church could be seen as you walked along Church Street.

*MUSEUM ROAD next to Church Street was named so since the Museum was located there before it was shifted to the present Kasturba Road in 1866.

*MAYO HALL at M.G Road was erected in memory of Lord Mayo, the Governor-General of India who was assassinated in the Andamans in 1872. Built with public subscription it was
handed over to the Municipal Commission in 1883.

*LALBAGH (meaning RedGarden) is not the original name of the famous garden in Bangalore, which was established by Hyder Ali in 1760 as a mango garden. In earlier records it was referred to as the Mango Tope & the CypressGarden. The reason why people started calling it Lalbagh was due to the fact that Hyder & Tipu had a beautiful garden called Lalbagh at their capital, Srirangapatna.

*THE HOLYTRINITYCHURCH at Trinity Circle, at the end of M.G Road, was earlier the British Army's Garrison church, opened in 1851. The beauty of TrinityChurch is not only in
it's tall tower & unparalleled pillars, but also the British military memorials inside.

*In 1868 the construction of Attara Kacheri (present High Court) was completed. The Secretariat (with 18 revenue departments) was shifted to Attara Kacheri from Tippu's
Palace at K.R Market. Attara Kacheri literally means '18 Courts/Offices'.

*The TAJ WEST END HOTEL is the oldest Hotel in Bangalore and still maintains some of it's earlier memories!! The original Proprietors were Spencer & Co Ltd, Madras. Today it's owned by the Taj Group of Hotels.

*Opposite the Telegraph Office near Bangalore GPO, is the compound of the most famous Hotel of the late 1800's, The Cubbon Hotel. Today it is in ruins.

*Spencer & Co (where FOOD WORLD is now located) started by an Englishman, Mr.Oakshot, was the most sophisticated and only Departmental Store in B'lore in earlier days.

*On the West of Spencer's (present Food World) one used to find Liberty Theatre (today, try Handloom House!). Before it was called Liberty, it was The Globe, and before that the CrystalPicturePalace.

*The very popular Funnel's Restaurant of the 1800's & early 1900's stood where the present DECCAN HERALD Office stands at M.G Road.

*S.JPOLYTECHNIC & SILVER JUBILEEPARK (at K.R MARKET - KRISHNA RAJENDRA MARKET) was set up in 1927 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee Celebration of Mysore Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV. The SJP ROAD thus got it's name.

*J.C ROAD (Jayachamarajendra Road) is named after Jayachamaraja Wodeyar the last Maharaja of Mysore.

*The TATA SILK FARM was established south of Basavanagudi in 1906. The farm no longer exists but the area however is still known as 'Tata Silk Farm'.

*In 1910 a GeneralHospital was opened at Malleshwaram and named after Mysore Princess Kempu Cheluvarajamnanni. Today this Hospital at Malleshwaram Circle is popularly known as K.C GENERALHOSPITAL.

*Bangalore once had 141 lakes (tanks) of which 7 are untraceable, 7 are now small pools of water, 18 are illegally occupied by slums & private parties, 14 were dried up & leased out by the Government, 28 have been converted as parks, BDA housing extensions, & commercial areas and the remaining 67 lakes are in fairly advanced state of deterioration, save for two or three like Ulsoor lake, Sankey tank, Hebbal, etc.

Some famous tanks which do not exsit now are ...
1)Dharamambudi tank (present SUBASH NAGAR, BANGALORE CITY TRANSPORT SERVICE & KSRTC bUS STANDS are built on the bed of this lake). That's why we still have a road named TANKBUND ROAD in that area.

2)Sampangi tank (present KANTEERAVA STADIUM was built on the bed of this lake).

3)Miller's Tank (now houses Guru Nanak Bhavan, schools, and several buildings).

The Halasoor Tank (now called ULSOORLAKE), is the only surviving tank built by the Gowda (Kempe Gowda) Rulers in Bangalore.

*Gandhinagar area is popularly nicknamed MAJESTIC, because of the Majestic Talkies (Theatre), which still exists in that area.

*ANANDA RAO CIRCLE at Majestic is named after shri T. Ananda Rao, who was Dewan of Mysore from 1909 - 1912.

*VIDHANA SOUDHA, which houses the state Goverment's Secretariat & Legislative Assembly. It was planned & constructed in 1954 by Kengal Hanumanthaih, Chief

Minister of the then MysoreState (between 1951-1956). The Double Road near Lalbagh is now named KENGAL HANUMANTHAIH ROAD (K.H ROAD).

*CHOWDIAH MEMORIAL HALL, opp Sankey Tank, has been built in memory of T. Chowdiah, a noted musician & violinist. This building is shaped like a violin, the stringed instrument of
Chowdiah. Also the road along the Nehru Planetarium near Raj Bhavan is named T.CHOWDAIH ROAD.

*RAVINDRA KALAKSHETRA, near K.R Market was built to commemorate Rabindranath Tagore's centenary. It promotes cultural activity. R.T NAGAR is also named after
Rabindranath Tagore.

My desk

cartoon from www.weblogcartoons.com

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

I have nothing to say

cartoon from www.weblogcartoons.com

Cartoon by Sanjeev Kulkarni.

Google

Google the World's top Technology are they???

cartoon from www.weblogcartoons.com

Cartoon by Sanjeev Kulkarni

8 things India Inc, govt must do against Pakistan

The three-day-long terror strike on the country's financial capital was devastating in terms of its reach and impact. It has left Corporate India badly shaken and the elites numb.

It is no more about bombs being thrown at bus stations or trains getting blasted. It is no longer about only Nagpada or Govindpuri residents losing limbs and lives. Terror has now climbed up the value chain.

As the new age entrepreneur Kiran Majumdar Shaw told a Bangalore newspaper, "So far, the terrorists targeted common people. Now the society's elite, the business sector, is the target. What happened in Mumbai is a loud wake-up call for all of us to do something to protect ourselves."

Corporate India did not bat an eyelid when Mumbai train blasts took place, or when Sarojini Nagar was burning on a Diwali day, or Hyderabad was weeping two years before.

  • Light a candle for the fallen
  • Terror strikes at Mumbai's heart
  • But today, every corporate captain is angry, and so are the celebrities who people Page 3 of newspapers, due largely because the attacks on the three top hotels were directly aimed at those who frequent these places, for business or pleasure (contrast this with the scant coverage of the carnage at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, for example, where commoners were involved).

    All the same, the bleeding-heart liberals would be back to their routine ways after a few days. They will lament that the captured terrorist has not been given his favourite food and not allowed to watch TV or use his cell phone; they will say his human rights are violated. Just wait for the chorus.

    Of course, this time it will be between Page 3 and the jholawalas (activists) and that should be an interesting match to watch, but that's another story.

    In the last ten years, not a single session of any seminar sponsored by the CII or Ficci or business/general journals has focussed on terrorism. When this writer once broached the importance of talking about it, a senior business captain said it is for the government to deal with.

    Many of those seminars gave importance to Musharraf and now Zardari, as if they are going to provide any solution when they are a part of the problem.

    Now, at least, terrorism is being realised as a problem facing the country.

    Let us summarise what the real situation is and what the corporate sector should do if we are serious in fighting terrorism on our soil.

    1. Recognise and treat Pakistan as a terrorist state. The state policy of Pakistan is terrorism and their single-point programme is to destroy India. This needs to be internalised by every business baron including the owners of media.

    2. Now, the elite of Pakistan are more angry, since India is growing at 7% and they are given CCC rating and stiff conditions for borrowing from the IMF.

    Many an academic from that country, who I have met in global conferences, has openly lamented that nobody talks about Indo-Pak relations anymore, but only Indo-China or Indo-American, etc. They want to be equal but they are in deep abyss.

    3. Pakistan is the only territory in the world where an army has a whole country under its control. This is an important issue since studies have found that a large number of corporates in Pakistan are ultimately owned by the Fauji Foundation (FF), Army Welfare Trust (AWT) Bahria Foundation (BF), Shaheen Foundation (SF) all owned by different wings of armed forces (See paper presented by Dr Ayesha Siddiqa-Agha on 'Power, Perks, Prestige And Privileges: Military's Economic Activities In Pakistan' in The International Conference on Soldiers in Business -- Military as an Economic Actor; Jakarta, October 17-19, 2000).

    Hence, do not try to think of Pakistan without its army, irrespective of who rules that country temporarily and nominally. At least 70% of the market capitalisation of the Karachi stock exchange is owned by the army and related groups.

    4. There are three groups in India, who are obsessed with friendship with Pakistan. One is the oldies born in that part before partition and who are nostalgic about the Lahore havelis, halwas and mujras. The second is the Bollywood and other assorted groups, who look at it as a big market. The Dawood gang has financed enough of these useful idiots. The third is the candle light holding bleeding heart liberals (BHLs) who cannot imagine India doing well without its younger brother taken care of.

    All three have been proved wrong hundreds of times, but they are also opinion makers. Shun them, avoid them and ridicule them.

    5. We should categorically, unambiguously, unequivocally boycott Pakistan in all aspects for a decade or more. Be it art, music, economy, commerce, or other hand-holding activities. That army-controlled state has to realise that it has done enough damage to global civilisation.

    More than 100 acts/attempts of terror recorded in the world since 9/11 have had their roots in Pakistan. More than 40% of the prisoners in Guantanamo are Pakistanis.

    6. We should recognise that it is our war and nobody in the world is going to wage it on our behalf. What the Americans are thinking, or what the Britishers are going to do, will not help. A determined country should have a sense of dignity and independence to fight its war.

    We should stop interviewing leaders from that country who mouth the same inanities that "you have not produced any proof." The Government of India should perhaps create a museum of proof between India Gate and North Block.

    I am amazed that a country of a billion is required even to furnish proof. If one-sixth of humanity says that the terrorist state of Pakistan is the root cause of global terrorism -- it is factual. Let us not fall into the trap of providing proof to the culprits.

    7. We should realise that a united Pakistan is a grave threat to the existence of India. Hence, we should do everything possible to break up Pakistan into several units. This is required to be done not only for our interest, but for world peace.

    8. We have made a grave blunder by suggesting in the international fora that "Pakistan is also a victim of terror." That is a grave error and it will haunt us for decades. They are perpetrators and our government is in deep illusion if it tries to distinguish between organs of power in that country thinking it is like India.

    There is only one organ, namely its army (with ISI as a sub-organ) in that country, which owns and controls at least 70% of the GDP in that country.

    If we want the world to treat Pakistan for what it is, then we should start practising it. Always call it the 'terrorist state of Pakistan' and never have any illusion that it is going to be any different.

    If corporate India, including electronic/ print media, starts practising this, we should see results in a few years. Are the elites listening?

    Courtesy :The author is professor of finance and control, Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, and can be contacted at vaidya@iimb.ernet.in. The views are personal and do not reflect those of his organisation.

    Under license from www.3dsyndication.com.

    What is 3G spectrum? How does it help you?

    It's boom time for mobile phones in India. And people are looking forward to more information, faster data access and multimedia services through their mobile phones. 3G technology is here to turn this dream into reality. It's a technology anxiously awaited by telecom operations and subscribers in India.

    How long do you have to wait?

    Not very long! India is all set to launch 3G mobile telephone services by June 2007.

    According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Nripendra Misra, a total of 32.5 MHz is available for allocation within the next 6-9 months.

    Trai has also recommended auctioning 200 MHz for broadband wireless access services like Wimax (worldwide interoperability for microwave access) and has proposed a national frequency management board to oversee spectrum availability and its efficient use.

    He hopes that the allocated spectrum would be enough for the next two years and said Trai would recommend freeing up more spectrum for those who lose out in this auction.

    So what is 3G spectrum all about? Read on.

    What is spectrum?

    Radio spectrum refers to a range of radio frequencies. The bandwidth of a radio signal is the difference between the upper and lower frequencies of the signal.

    For example, in the case of a voice signal having a minimum frequency of 200 hertz (Hz) and a maximum frequency of 3,000 Hz, the bandwidth is 2,800 Hz (3 KHz). The amount of bandwidth needed for 3G services could be as much as 15-20 Mhz, whereas for 2G services a bandwidth of 30-200 KHz is used. Hence, for 3G huge bandwidth is required.

    How is 3G different from 2G and 4G?

    While 2G stands for second-generation wireless telephone technology, 1G networks used are analog, 2G networks are digital and 3G (third-generation) technology is used to enhance mobile phone standards.

    3G helps to simultaneously transfer both voice data (a telephone call) and non-voice data (such as downloading information, exchanging e-mail, and instant messaging. The highlight of 3G is video telephony. 4G technology stands to be the future standard of wireless devices.

    Currently, Japanese company NTT DoCoMo and Samsung are testing 4G communication.

    How will 3G services help you?

    3G services will enable video broadcast and data-intensive services such as stock transactions, e-learning and telemedicine through wireless communications

    All telecom operators are waiting to launch 3G in India to cash in on revenues by providing high-end services to customers, which are voice data and video enabled. India lags behind many Asian countries in introducing 3G services.

    What is Trai's recommendation on 3G pricing?

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended auctioning radio frequencies for 3G telecom services at a reserve price of Rs 1,050 crore (Rs 10.50 billion) to companies seeking to offer nationwide high-speed Internet and streaming video.

    The base price for spectrum in cities like Mumbai and Delhi and Category A telecom circles is Rs 80 crore (Rs 800 million); in cities like Chennai and Kolkata and Category B circles Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million); and in all other cities Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million).

    What are the frequency bands and quota for CDMA?

    Trai has recommended three sets of frequency bands - 450 mhz, 800 mhz and 2.1 ghz. For CDMA players like Reliance [Get Quote] and Tata Teleservices [Get Quote] 1.25 MHz each is offered. CDMA operators are free to bid both in the 2.1 GHz and the 450 MHz bands, but they will be allocated spectrum only in one. The pricing of these two bands is linked to the auction in the 2.1 GHz band.

    CDMA operators will pay the same as the second-highest GSM bidder. And if there is more than one claimant in the 450 MHz band, the reserve price will be half of that arrived at in the 2.1 GHz band. Another rider is that if the highest bid is a quarter more than the lowest, the lowest bidder has to raise its bid to 75 per cent of the winning bid.

    But CDMA operators are likely to face problems. Operating 3G services on 450 MHz is a problem because we they do not have dual-band phones that work both in 450 MHz and in 800 MHz (the band in which CDMA operates in India).

    What are the issues regarding 3G for providers and users?

    3G has successfully been introduced in Europe. But several issues continue to hamper its growth.

    High spectrum licensing fees for the 3G services

    Huge capital required to build infrastructure for 3G services.

    Health impact of electromagnetic waves.

    Prices are very high for 3G mobile services.

    Will 2G users switch to 3G services.

    Takes time to catch up as the service is new.

    What are the issues regarding 3G pricing?

    Pricing has been a cause of concern. Spectrum auctions ran into billions of euros in Europe. In Europe, spectrum licensing fees were collected years before the 3G service was developed and it required huge investments to build 3G networks, hitting mobile operators' margins.

    However, in Japan and South Korea, spectrum licensing fees were not applicable as the focus of these countries were national IT infrastructure development.

    Which companies have applied for 3G license?

    3G spectrum has been provided to GSM players like BSNL, MTNL [Get Quote], Bharti, and Hutch to carry out an interface check on a non-commercial basis ahead of the start of 3G mobile services.

    Trial spectrum has been given for a period of one month. This will be only 1/1000th of the actual 3G spectrum capability. Apart frm PSU majors, spectrum for carrying out 3G trials has been given to all those who have applied under the National Frequency Allocation Plan on the 2.1 GHz band. GSM players operate on 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz, while CDMA players operate on 800 MHz.

    What is the pricing issue in India?

    While Tatas have welcomed Trai's Rs 1,400-crore (Rs 14 billion) base price for a nationwide rollout of 3G services, the rest of the players find the price too exorbitant.

    Bharti-Airtel is disappointed with the pricing as they were expecting it to be Rs 300-400 crore (Rs 3-4 billion). The reserve price is a disincentive for telecom companies in India. Bharti has appealed to lower the prices specially for rural penetration.

    The Cellular Operators Association of India and the Association of Unified Service Providers of India are studying TRAI's recommendations and have not given their comments.

    However, Trai chairman Nripendra Misra has said that there is no reason to worry as players will not bid exorbitantly and derail the auction. Misra said telecom operators had matured from their experiences and global developments, and would bid sincerely.

    Where was 3G spectrum first introduced?

    Japan was the first country to introduce 3G on a large commercial scale. In 2005, about 40 per cent of subscribers used only 3G networks. It is expected that during 2006 the subscribers would move from 2G to 3G and upgrade to the next 3.5 G level.

    The success of 3G in Japan also shows that video telephony was the killer application for 3G networks. Downloading music was the biggest draw in 3G services.

    In how many countries does 3G exist?

    There are about 60 3G networks across 25 countries . In Asia, Europe and the USA, telecom firms use WCDMA technology. The WCDMA standard provides seamless global evolution from today's GSM with support of the worlds' largest mobile operators.

    WCDMA technology is built on open standards, wide ranging mobile multimedia possibility, and vast potential economies of scale with the support of around 100 terminal designs to operate 3G mobile networks.

    3G services were introduced in Europe in 2003.

    3G

    A radio communications technology that will create a "bit pipe" for providing mobile access to internet-based services. It will enhance and extend mobility in many areas of our lives.

    In the near future, mobility won't be an add-on: it will become a fundamental aspect of many services. We'll expect high-speed access to the internet, entertainment, information and electronic commerce (e-commerce) services wherever we are - not just at our desktop computers, home PCs or television sets.

    3G services will add an invaluable mobile dimension to services that are already becoming an integral part of modern business life: Internet and Intranet access, video-conferencing, and interactive application sharing.

    2G Wireless

    The technology of most current digital mobile phones

    Features includes:
    - Phone calls
    - Voice mail
    - Receive simple email messages

    Speed: 10kb/sec

    Time to download a 3min MP3 song:
    31-41 min

    2.5G Wireless

    The best technology now widely available

    Features includes:
    - Phone calls/fax
    - Voice mail
    -Send/receive large email messages
    - Web browsings
    - Navigation/maps
    - New updates

    Speed: 64-144kb/sec

    Time to download a 3min MP3 song:
    6-9min

    3G Wireless

    Combines a mobile phone, laptop PC and TV

    Features includes:
    - Phone calls/fax
    - Global roaming
    - Send/receive large email messages
    - High-speed Web
    Navigation/maps
    Videoconferencing
    - TV streaming
    - Electronic agenda meeting reminder.

    Speed: 144kb/sec-2mb/sec

    Time to download a 3min MP3 song:
    11sec-1.5min

    We are not just talking about "road warriors" who spend their entire lives travelling. It's more a question of supporting new, flexible working practices where employees need access to a wide range of information and services via their corporate intranets, whether they are at their own desk or anywhere else.

    Employees who spend some of their working at home. Accountants that carry out audits at client premises. On-site maintenance engineers who need access to detailed instruction manuals, mobile emergency services who need a video link with a hospital or doctor for specialised advice. These are a few situations where 3G will play a valuable role.

    Key features of 3G systems are a high degree of commonality of design worldwide, compatibility of services, use of small pocket terminals with worldwide roaming capability, Internet and other multimedia applications, and a wide range of services and terminals.
    3G System Capabilities

    Capability to support circuit and packet data at high bit rates:

    • 144 kilobits/second or higher in high mobility (vehicular) traffic
    • 384 kilobits/second for pedestrian traffic
    • 2 Megabits/second or higher for indoor traffic

    Interoperability and roaming

    Common billing/user profiles:

    • Sharing of usage/rate information between service providers
    • Standardized call detail recording
    • Standardized user profiles

    Capability to determine geographic position of mobiles and report it to both the network and the mobile terminal

    Support of multimedia services/capabilities:

    • Fixed and variable rate bit traffic Bandwidth on demand
    • Asymmetric data rates in the forward and reverse links
    • Multimedia mail store and forward
    • Broadband access up to 2 Megabits/second

    We're likely to see 3G services enter our day -to-day lives in all sorts of new ways: for example, in shopping, especially Internet "mail order" (e-commerce), banking, or playing interactive computer games over the Net.

    We'll think nothing of sitting on a train and using a mobile palmtop with Internet browser to log into our bank accounts. While on-line we'll be able to check our accounts, pay a few bills and click on a screen icon to immediately set up a video-conference to discuss our account with a bank clerk.

    On vacation, we'll be able to use our mobile palmtops to obtain local tour guides, make a last-minute reservation at a hotel, find and call the nearest taxi firm, and send video postcards. We'll expect location-independent mobile access to a personalised set of services that matches the way we live and work.

    Increasingly, machine-to-machine communications will also be enabled and enhanced with future mobile network technology. Domestic appliances will have built-in radio modems to provide remote control and diagnostics. Our refrigerators will have built-in sensors that detect which items need restocking and automatically send a reminder message to our Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). We could even get the refrigerator to send an order direct to our local store. Likewise, vending machines will be able to tell the warehouse when they need restocking.

    SmartGWT 1.0: A Q&A with Sanjiv Jivan

    Earlier this month, SmartGWT 1.0 was released. SmartGWT is an API for building GWT applications using the SmartClient Javascript component library. SmartGWT was developed by Sanjiv Jivan, the same developer who previously lead gwt-ext development, and subsequently ceased his involvement due to licensing issues.

    InfoQ had a chance to discuss SmartGWT with Sanjiv Jivan and get his perspective on the new project, comparisons to gwt-ext, and the plans for the project.

    What are the main features that SmartGWT supports?

    SmartGWT makes the complete APIs of the SmartClient AJAX RIA platform available in GWT. SmartClient is very different from other Ajax libraries in that it provides not only a very complete widget set, but also handles the hard problems involved in building enterprise applications: not just loading and displaying data, but propagating user changes back to the server, and handling all of the consequences of those changes - server validation and other error handling, cache updates across multiple components, etc.

    SmartGWT's data-aware widgets - such as Tree, Grid, Calendar and several others - provide complete end-to-end user interactions like tree reordering, dragging events in a Calendar, which automatically generate appropriate server requests to update data with a simple protocol that's easy to customize. This subject is key in understanding the true value SmartGWT provides and a more detailed introduction can be found here.

    A few other features worth mentioning:

    • SmartGWT supports live grids that not only lazy load rows from the server on demand, but also lazily render columns as the user scrolls horizontally. Most browsers can't handle rendering a large number of columns in tables and the lazy rendering capabilities of SmartGWT grids makes displaying large tables a breeze without a performance hit. The TreeGrid which supports multiple columns, editing, lazy loading of nodes, and virtual scrolling is also very powerful and something that many applications require.
    • Adaptive sorting and filtering in grids is pretty neat feature. When the data is filtered down to a number that fits in the local buffer, additional filters applied by the user no longer results in roundtrip calls to the server and data from the local buffer is used. It transparently reverts back to making calls to the server when the the data required to fulfill the request is not in the local buffer. This makes a huge difference in the real-world responsiveness and performance of enterprise apps, by cutting down on trips to the database and giving users instant responses instead
    • Relogin: For applications requiring authentication, if a request is made and the session has timed out, SmartGWT makes it easy to implement a workflow where the user is prompted to relogin and on being authenticated successfully the original transaction is resumed without loss of data or context

    What is the primary difference between gwt-ext and SmartGWT?

    Besides the obvious difference in the actual functionality provided by each underlying library, in gwt-ext, there a is a fair amount of glue code to "fix" inconsistent API's and funky rendering behavior in ExtJS. In working with SmartClient, everything pretty much worked right away. The widget component hierarchy is consistent and object oriented so a direct translation to SmartGWT worked out real well.

    SmartGWT also uses the standard GWT 1.6 event API which is much cleaner and flexible compared to its predecessor. As a result users no longer have to deal with listener adapter classes.

    Another important difference is that SmartGWT has the full support of SmartClient where users can make feature requests, expedite bug fixes, get support and training and not worry about hitting a roadblock. Additionally, users have the benefit of a commercial friendly LGPL licensed library. Its the best of both worlds.

    Having worked with both ExtJS and SmartClient, how do the two component frameworks compare?

    ExtJS is certainly feature rich and looks sharp. It was the reason that I started gwt-ext a while ago when Ext was LGPL. However when working on GWT-Ext, there were a lot of corner cases, gotchas, deferred rendering workarounds and inconsistent class hierarchies in Ext where glue code had to be added to "fix" some of these inconsistencies. For example some layouts allow you to dynamically add new components while a couple of key layouts don't support it. Also another key issue is that a good percentage of widget properties cannot be changed after the widget has been rendered, and in some cases users need to set a property and sometimes they need to call a method to accomplish the same thing.

    SmartClient has been developed over the past 8 years and it is extremely stable and virtually bug free. The component model is consistent and it is highly dynamic allowing users to change most properties post-render with the changes reflected immediately. It has significantly more functionality and handles server integration really well. If you browse the SmartClient forums, a few things become quickly apparent:

    1. You almost never hear that "this feature is not available / supported". Pretty much everything that users request is available.
    2. The number of bugs reported in next to zero.
    3. You don't find any unanswered questions.

    Another thing that you'll notice if you view the source of the samples in their Showcase is that so much can be done with so little code. A master-detail screen that also sends updates to the server can be written with as few as 10 lines of code when passed a reusable DataSource definition.

    Do you have any comments for users on SmartGWT being a wrapper over SmartClient versus being a complete rewrite?

    A common misconception that users have is that any third-party library written in GWT magically runs fast, is completely leak free, and renders perfectly on all browsers. As an example a TableGrid written by a third party in GWT from scratch could still perform really poorly, and not display consistently on all browsers. There are obviously several aspects to GWT that helps avoid leaks and such but this does not mean that any third party code written in GWT is 100% leak free. What actually matters is that the framework code is well written and carefully tuned and well tested.

    The reality is that SmartClient is fast and stable and provides an excellent base for SmartGWT. In fact, in my experience, SmartClient actually does a better job of solving browser inconsistencies than pure GWT third party libraries. SmartClient offers an accurate and consistent cross-browser layout with an object-oriented skinning system that doesn't require deep CSS expertise or knowledge of browser quirks.

    In May you blogged about your decision to step down from the gwt-ext project due to the controversial licensing changes with ExtJS. How has that decision been received by the community?

    The community has been very understanding and the other team leaders of gwt-ext have also stepped up and done a great job. Most importantly the community that really grown and its great to see users helping other users.

    I've had conversations with the gwt-ext team leads and they have expressed that having an option for users that feel limited with gwt-ext to migrate to SmartGWT is a healthy option. Assistance will be provided to users who are interested in migrating. Ofcourse the gwt-ext project will continue to run the way it currently is.

    The evolution of SmartGWT to version 1.0 has been very quick, even assuming you started development in May. Were there lessons you learned in developing gwt-ext that you were able to apply to SmartGWT?

    Working on an open source project is mostly about personal satisfaction and the "feel good" aspect of being involved in a project that is of use to several other users. It is also a great learning experience that helps personal development.

    On the technical side of things, I was able to apply my learnings during the development of gwt-ext towards SmartGWT while improving upon the common issues faced by the users. I also learned it was very important to pick a project that doesn't involve politics and something that is motivating.

    It was extremely distressing to frequently receive emails from the owners of Ext, LLC threating to sue me if I didn't play along with their plans. For instance they wanted me to switch to GPL or else they would find me in violation of their license. Again, no details were provided. I also received another threat where they said that I would hear from their lawyers within 24 hours if I didn't allow them to post on the gwt-ext forum. And this was after I put in a lot of effort building a project which directly supported growth and sales of their own library.

    In contrast, the folks at SmartClient have been fully supportive of SmartGWT, providing technical assistance and a safe home for SmartGWT which will be operated under their umbrella. They even wrote a public letter indicating that they will not switch licenses of their LGPL offering. It feels great to be back working on technical stuff with what I consider a superior product.


    The top 10 challenges for India

    By 2050, India can be 40 times bigger than it is now, but it needs to overcome some tough challenges. If it can implement certain changes, it has the potential to be larger than the United States by 2050, says a global research report by Goldman Sachs on 'Ten Things for India to Achieve its 2050 Potential.'

    The report, brought out by Jim O'Neill, head global research at Goldman Sachs, and Tushar Poddar, vice president, research, Asia Economic Research Team, Goldman Sachs India, outlines 10 crucial steps that India must take in order to achieve its full potential.

    If India can undertake the necessary reforms, it can raise its growth potential by as much as 2.8 per cent per annum, says the report.

    Find out what the 10 key areas where reform is needed are.

    1. Improve governance

    Without better governance, delivery systems and effective implementation, India will find it difficult to educate its citizens, build its infrastructure, increase agricultural productivity and ensure that the fruits of economic growth are well established.

    2. Raise educational achievement

    Among more micro factors, raising India's educational achievement is a major requirement to help achieve the nation's potential. According to our basic indicators, a vast number of India's young people receive no (or only the most basic) education. A major effort to boost basic education is needed. A number of initiatives, such as a continued expansion of Pratham and the introduction of Teach First, for example, should be pursued.

    3. Increase quality and quantity of universities

    At the other end of the spectrum, India should also have a more defined plan to raise the number and the quality of top universities.

    4. Control inflation

    Although India has not suffered particularly from dramatic inflation, it is currently experiencing a rise in inflation similar to that seen in a number of emerging economies. Thea authors of the report think that a formal adoption of inflation targetting would be a very sensible move to help India persuade its huge population of the (permanent) benefits of price stability.

    5. Introduce a credible fiscal policy

    6. Liberalise financial markets

    To improve further the macro variables within the GES framework, the report believes that further liberalisation of Indian financial markets is necessary.

    7. Increase trade with neighbours

    In terms of international trade, India continues to be much less 'open' than many of its other large emerging nation colleagues, especially China. Given the significant number of nations with large populations on its borders, the Goldman Sachs report recommends that India target a major increase in trade with China, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

    8. Increase agricultural productivity

    9. Improve infrastructure

    Focus on infrastructure in India is legendary, and tales of woe abound. Improvements are taking place, as any foreign business visitor will be aware, but the need for more is paramount. Without such improvement, development will be limited.

    10. Improve environmental quality

    The final area where greater reforms are needed is the environment. Achieving greater energy efficiencies and boosting the cleanliness of energy and water usage would increase the likelihood of a sustainable stronger growth path for India.

    The Goldman Sachs report adds that not all these 'action areas' can be addressed at the same time, but in coming years progress will have to be made in all of them if India is to achieve its very exciting growth potential.


    Using GWT-Ext in Eclipse

    Using Eclipse to develop your GWT-Ext code helps you utilize the built-in tooling available with the IDE and access the myriad plugins which Java developers swear by. Together with Cypal Studios' GWT plugin for Eclipse, developing GWT-Ext applications is a breeze. Let's get started with designing a simple page with a static titled panel and some inner text. This simple tutorial explores the configuration of your project and simple but useful features of Eclipse.

    Using GWT-Ext you can develop Rich Internet Application like the one seen below

    GWT-Ext 2.0 Showcase

    How to install Netbeans in Ubuntu

    I'm used to use Netbeans 6.1m but find it quite lacking compare to Eclipse. After that, I settled with Eclipse for quite some time. Just last week, I happen to bump into Netbeans website and see Roumen's Ruby Flash Demos: Ruby on Rails in NetBeans (Part One)
    Advanced Ruby editing features in NetBeans (Part Two).

    After seeing the flash demos, I said, "Wow! Netbeans has improved tremendously. " So I decided to install it. Below is the steps:

    1. Go to http://wiki.netbeans.org/wiki/view/MilestoneDownloads
    2. Download Binaries and sources
    3. Choose Netbeans version: 6.0 and Build Type: Daily, click continue
    4. Choose the latest build, usually the one on the top (the product type is IDE)
    5. Then download the linux installer (around ~45MB)
    6. When the download completed, make the installer executable
    chmod +x netbeans-6_0-daily-bin-200703151900-linux-15_Mar_2007_1900.bin
    7. Then execute the installer by typing
    ./netbeans-6_0-daily-bin-200703151900-linux-15_Mar_2007_1900.bin
    8. A graphical installer will appear, just follow the steps in the installer. It's damn easy that I can click cleck all the way to the end.
    9. After installation completed, you'll find Netbeans under Application | Programming | Netbeans 6.0 Dev
    10. Run it. When it fully loaded. Choose Tool menu and then Update Center.

    11. Choose "Check the Web for available Updates and New Modules" and then click Next.
    12. After it complete download the latest update available, choose Ruby on Rails Project support under "Available Updates and New Modules".

    12. Click add button to include module that you've chosen. After you satisfied with the selection, click next to initate the installation. Get a cup of coffee while the downloading and installing happen.

    13. After download completed, choose next and then choose finish. A dialog box will ask you whether to restart IDE and continue working. Choose restart IDE.
    14. When the IDE restarted, choose the File | New Project, look for Ruby. If your installation is OK, you'll get the options as in below pic:


    15. The installation has been successful. Do view the two flash demos I mentioned earlier to know further how to develop the Ruby and Rails applications under Netbeans.

    Update (19th March 2007):
    The easiest way to install Ruby and Rails is to choose Ruby under the Features module. It'll installed both Ruby and Ruby on Rails and all the dependencies.

    ##Known problem:
    1. Netbeans not yet fully support running Rails outside JRuby as mentioned by Tor Norbye in his blog
    2. There is no way to run 'script/console' yet.

    10 steps to a prettier, more useful and secure USB pen drive

    USB thumb drives are one of the most commonly used ways to transfer data if you happen to work across multiple computers. Lets just make the USB drives prettier, useful and secure.

    1. Add icons and labels to your drive.

    usb driveDownload an icon you would want to see appear when you plug in your thumb(pen) drive. Place the icon at the root of the drive. Next open notepad and type the following:

    [autorun]

    label = ""

    icon = "yourIcon.ico"

    Save the file onto the root of your thumb drive and name it "autorun.inf", be sure to put the quotes or else it will be saved as a text file. Now Safely remove your USB drive and plug back in, the icon and name should appear in Windows Explorer if your did everything right. You can also automatically launch an application. If this is not the way you prefer to work use this neat application to generate the autorun.inf file automatically

    2. Add a Start Menu to your USB drive

    portable appsDownload and install the Portable Apps Suite on your USB drive, it not only gives you a nice start menu for your USB drive but also gives you the ability to run some of the most popular applications (like Firefox, Putty, OpenOffice, SumatraPDF, notepad++ and many more) right from your USB drive. A must have for your USB drive

    3. Use Mojopac

    mojopacMojopac gives you your operating environment right on your USB drive. You can be rest assured that you will find a familiar interface with Mojopac on any pc you plug your USB drive into, all the customization will be preserved from computer to computer. Moreover it lets you operate without leaving any trace what so ever on the computer, so you can be rest assured about your privacy and data

    4. Write Protect your Drive

    My USB drive has a write protect notch that prevents it from being written onto when plugged on a computer, this is important because if the computer you are plugging into is infected than it can readily infect your USB drive. However if your drive cannot be write protected then you can use thumbscrew. It makes anything connected to the USB non writeable until you are sure and want to make it writeable.

    5. Make Autorun.inf read only and system file

    Thumbscrew may prevent writing on USB devices but it has to be already present on the computer you want to plug your USB drive into, so if its not possible for one reason or the other then you should make sure that you have a custom autorun.inf file and that its read only and has the system file attribute set. This prevents malicious code from writing entries to your autorun.inf and thus even if your USB drive may have a virus it won’t actually run it automatically. So a little bit more protection but not fool proof by any means.

    6. Hold down the shift key

    If you suspect your USB drive may be infected but still you have to plug it in to scan and remove the infections, then when you plug it in hold down the shift key to prevent autorun if its not already disabled.

    7. Encrypt your drive using Truecrypt

    true cryptYou can encrypt all the data on your USB drive using Truecrypt. This fives you added security if you have some sensitive data on your USB drive. Simply run it and choose your USB device to encrypt. TrueCrypt is free, Open Source and efficient and gives you extra security, download it here.

    8. Sync your drive.

    Microsoft offers an excellent application specially to address all your syncing needs. Its called the SyncToy. If you have to work on the same files on two different computers than you want to have the latest version of all files all the time, this can be easily done with synctoy. It offers both oneway and twoway synching. Its also free to download. Download it here

    9. Backup your drive

    toucanBacking up is always a nice thing to do, specially when you have to use it on different computers. There is a portable app to make this very easy. Its toucan, you can install it on your USB drive and back up, sync and encrypt your data as and when you want. Or else there is this the USB Image Tool that creates an image of everything you have on your drive and saves it as one file.

    10. Make it bootable

    pen drive linuxYou can install and run Linux from your USB thumb drive, this is an excellent way to recover systems that won’t boot, or to just plug it into another computer and do all of your work using linux applications and surf the net without leaving any history on the host computer. For this try pendrivelinux

    How to know if someone is invisible on Gmail

    As you might be knowing from quite some time you can go invisible while chatting on Gmail. The invisible status is available in Gmail Chat, Google Talk gadget, Google Talk Labs Edition and Google Talk for iPhone .

    What to do if you want to know if someone in really offline or is playing Mr. Hideous or as we call here in India - "Mr. India" ?

    Follow these steps:

    Step 1:

    Open the chat window for the contact you want to confirm is offline of invisible

    Step 2:

    If you see a message "The chat is off record" then proceed to step 3, else click on options in the chat window (Gmail) or the down pointing arrow (Gtalk) and choose "Go Off Record" You will now surely see that "The chat is off record"

    Step 3:

    Now you need to interpret what you get.

    • If you get a message in red like below, this indicates that the user is really offline.
    offline
    This shows the contact is offline
    • If you get nothing then the user is invisible, or any status updates in gray it means the user is online but invisible.
    invisible
    This shows the contact is invisible


    World's first 'personal supercomputer'




    The world's first personal supercomputer is 25 times faster than your average PC -- a technological breakthrough which could bring 'lightning speeds' to the next generation of home computers.

    The Tesla supercomputer, designed by US-based company NVIDIA, is priced from Rs 288,000 to Rs 576,000 (4,000-8,000 pounds), and looks much like your ordinary PC.

    According to scientists, the new machine will revolutionise the way researchers and medical professionals carry out their work. For instance, it will allow doctors to process the results of brain and body scans much more quickly and tell patients within hours whether they have a tumour.


    David Kirk, the chief scientist at NVIDIA, said in a statement: "Pretty much anything that you do on your PC that takes a lot of time can be accelerated with this. These supercomputers can improve the time it takes to process info by 1,000 times."

    "If you imagine it takes a week to get a result (from running an experiment), you can only do it 52 times a year. If it takes you minutes, you can do it constantly, and learn just as much in a day."




    Scientists say that the machine can help researchers discover cures for diseases, such as cancer and malaria, much more quickly than using traditional research methods.

    This is because the device lets them run hundreds of thousands of simulations to create a shortlist of the drugs that are most likely to offer the potential for a cure, The Daily Telegraph reported.

    Free Airtel GPRS Trick is Back! Its working guys!!!

    Update: Using TeaShark on mobile, you can access FREE Airtel GPRS from mobile handset. Also using some more complex methods, as posted in comments you can access FREE Airtel GPRS via PC also. [June 25, 2008]
    Once again, free Airtel GPRS is working.

    In NUTSHELL you had to do only 3 things

    1. Enter your cel no. into USER NAME/NO. Field (If it is blank)
    2. Change access point / APN to airtelfun.com or airtelmms.com
    3. Configuring your application for following proxy setting…

    - If u r using airtelfun.com
    IP Addr : 100.1.200.99
    Port no. 8080

    - If u r using airtelmms.com
    IP Addr : 100.1.201.172
    Port No. 8799

    That all about settings!

    More proxy settings can be found in comments. Specially check comments by Dharmubaba & Nadeem.

    Related: If you want to access free AiretlGPRS on phone only, use TeasShark

    [NOTE: Not all proxy will work for all. Also proxies are location-specific so a proxy working at my place may not work at yours. I know it means checking so many proxies but there is no shortcut for FREE!]

    Access Free Airtel GPRS using TeaShark Browser

    TeaShark, a mobile browser like Opera Mini, allow you to access Airtel GPRS for FREE. Shockingly it has nothing to do with modifying any Airtel settings or any kind of hack. I am clueless about how its working! I tested it personally throughout the week but I haven’t been charged a single penny.

    Here is how I used this…

    * Download TeaShark v. 312. Its free and being JAR file it can be installed on most handsets.
    * Open it from your mobile and select AirTel Live as access point.
    * That’s it! Open any site from TeaShark and you won’t be charged anything.

    Note for the first time, when TeaShark starts, it may take more than one minute to initialize. Also this one time initialization may fail many times. But don’t loose your heart! :-)

    Here are some famous sites’ mobile version...

    * Gmail: m.gmail.com
    * Orkut: m.orkut.com
    * Facebook: m.facebook.com
    * Twitter: m.twitter.com

    As a first post at Devils Workshop, I wrote about free Airtel GPRS two years back. This is much different that earlier trick. As of now, this trick is limited to handsets only. The earlier one used to work even from PC.

    The whole thing seems a fortunate coincidence for mobile users and unfortunate one for network operators. This trick cannot be termed illegal as you are not cracking any software or modifying any configuration. For the same reason, I think this will take longer to get rectified.

    Please keep in mind that AirTel may charge you all of a sudden in future of this free ride. So please use it at your own risk! ;-)
    FAQ:

    Q. Error: “Subscribe to Packet Data First”

    Ans: This means you need to activate AirTel Live service which is free. Contact customer care to get it activated. Also select only AirTel Live as access point when prompted by TeaShark.

    Link: Download TeaShark v. 312

    (Credit: Dr. Rahul Talale)

    Interview of Alekhya - the girl behind Saaral






    Anu: “A person may rightfully be happy if in this life he could do a great favor for widows and orphans, could assist support than, and facilitate fate of people.”-Islom Karimov

    In this irrational world where everyone thinks about his/her own needs Alekhya comes forward as an inspiration. It is difficult to find words to describe a person who has the heart and will to help people in real crisis.

    SaaRaL ~:~ HeLp tHe OrPhAnS the community made by Alekhya with over 4000 member speaks volumes about Alekhya herself and the community…


    We are lucky that Alekhya is among us today
    A very warm Welcome to Alekhya Orkut’s Hall of Fame
    Its a pleasure having you here

    Alekhya: hai anu……..good evening….thank you for the honor…its my pleasure being here too…

    Anu: Its wonderful to have you here Alekhya. So please tell us something about yourself?

    Alekhya: well….am an engineer basically………fun loving……enjoying life as it comes
    n these days I am actively involved in social work along with my friends…….

    Anu: well that’s great…
    so can you tell me a little about your family background and the place you are from?

    Alekhya: am from Chennai…….
    my dad a doctor n mom a homemaker……that’s all bout ma family….v r jus 3 of us…sweet lil family!!


    Anu: Engineering and Social work… two different fields… how do you manage your time? What’s your daily routine like?

    Alekhya: week days goes on with work n stuff…….I allot weekends for social work…..my dad used 2 take me to orphanages regularly n that inspired me to help the needy…….it really gives a good feel n immense pleasure to spend time with them!

    Anu: So how did Saaral mould into shape?

    Alekhya: when we were introduced to orkut many of my friends started communities for fun…n i i tried my hand in creating one for the well-being of the orphans….it clicked………..though there were only 5 active members to start with……but then slowly it picked up….we organize visits to orphanages once in two months(that’s because of various factors like work, studies, etc) spend time with kids n v help them in cash n kind……..now there r 50 active members of which 95% of them r acquainted through orkut……..n Saaral is 1 n a half yrs old

    Anu: From 5 to above 4000 that’s quite good…
    So what according to you is the state of children/orphans in India and what can/should be done for them?

    Alekhya: the state of the orphans is really pathetic……they don even have the basic needs…not even a shelter nor food!!
    though there r many helping hands…….its difficult to bring about a change totally in each n every orphans life!!
    hence the government should take necessary steps to help them provide at least the basic needs!
    I’ve heard people saying there r many orphanages whose owners nourish themselves with the donations n it has turned out to be a new business!!
    so I personally feel that govt. should allot some funds for them & c to that it reaches the right persons……..
    n as citizens all we can do is to help the needy with whatever we can do !!

    Anu: Rightly said Alekhya
    so….What are the projects Saaral has undertaken in tackling this problem?

    Alekhya: right now we don have any major plans as ours is jus a small team! but we see to that v satisfy the basic needs required by the orphanages we have visited so far…..
    we have repaired the roof of a dilapidated orphanage n now we r in the process of finding a shelter to another group……..

    Anu: Thats really good
    now before I wind up for today my last question to you
    In today’s world the youth is more attached to materialistic things and almost detached from their social responsibilities. Do you think the youth can work towards the task of uplifting the poor and helpless?

    Alekhya: yes anu……that’s true!!
    frankly speaking…..there were some friends of mine who loved partying n felt social work is a mere waste of time! but then I forced them to come to the orphanage once n they were truly shaken 2 c their plight……the orphans’ situation really moved them n they joined with me henceforth!
    so i feel when the youth of 2day r exposed 2 such situations will really come forward to help n i strongly feel that the youth of today r definitely socially responsible as our team consists of only youngsters……

    Anu: What according to you are the basic needs of orphans?

    Alekhya: well…they r the mandatory stuff like food, clothing, shelter, education n above all immense care n affection!!

    Anu: How has Saaral been instrumental in fulfilling these needs?

    Alekhya: as mentioned earlier v c to that we satisfy at least their basic needs if not totally at least 85% n it has been almost accomplished in all the 7 orphanages we’ve visited so far….we spend a lot of time with the kids…….v listen 2 what they have 2 say…..they share their happiness, dreams n sorrows with us……they r really in need emotional support n that’s what we concentrate on….we conduct a lot of events n distribute awards etc……we also teach them at times……on the whole their happiness is more important than anything else!

    Anu: Given a chance to work for any other NGO which organization would you like to work for and why?

    Alekhya: we r already working with 2 NGO’s namely Bhumi n Jeevan Sahitiya…..the reason is all of us r like-minded people working for the same cause…….we feel very comfortable with each other as we don’t impose conditions on one another….they join us on our visits n we do support them likewise.

    Anu: alright Alekhya
    Do you want to give any message to the youth/political groups/individuals regarding social work? If yes please elaborate.

    Alekhya: yeah sure…..i would definitely want to…….
    helping the needy really gives u an inner satisfaction, the amount u donate doesn’t matter but the heart does!! u may help in the betterment of an orphans’ life with your donation even without your knowledge…….we do need to take care of our own lives but then please allot your time for the needy too…….you’ll feel contented that you’ve brought happiness in ones’ life………if you haven’t done anything of this sort till date….please try doing it once n am sure you’ll never let go the pleasure u get in helping them!!

    Anu: Right you are
    So
    What’s your goal in life and how will you accomplish it?

    Alekhya: my goal is to do really well in my job which will lay a strong foundation for my social work……
    I would want 2 provide free education to the kids, develop a secure environment for the aged n adopt a child depending on how far i am financially strong!

    Anu: Oh thats amazing Alekhya

    It was a pleasure talking to you…
    I am immensely impressed with the social responsibility you have taken upon yourself when most of us don’t even think about the poor and needy
    I would like to end this wonderful interview with you with the question:

    Your message to the readers of orkutheroes.com?


    Alekhya: oh thanks anu….nice speaking with u too…..I would like to thank orkutheroes.com for their wonderful job n efforts taken…great going yaar!!
    I would b very happy if this interview of mine inspires at least a few 2 come forward 2 lend a helping hand……….
    Stop Existing & Start Living…………..