ScienceCasts: The Sound of Earthsong

Dates for the 2012 Nobel Prize announcements

Stockholm:  The winners of the 2012 Nobel Prizes are to be announced next week, with no clear frontrunners yet seen for the much-talked about Peace and Literature prizes and suspense and speculation mount. 

Betting sites have become a popular feature of the Nobel guessing game in recent years, with gamers sometimes surprisingly accurate, even suspiciously so. 

Chinese author Mo Yan and Japan's Haruki Murakami share the top spots on two Swedish betting sites a week ahead of the expected announcement of the Nobel Literature Prize, while Coptic Christian Maggie Gobran of Egypt who helps the poor in Cairo's slums tops the one Swedish site taking bets for the Peace Prize. 

Google invites Indian children for Doodle 4 Google competition

MUMBAI: Google is inviting Indian children to doodle their ideas on diversity. 

The company on Wednesday announced the 2012 Doodle 4 Google competition where children between the ages of 5 and 16, will be invited to create a doodle (using the Google logo) around the theme of 'Unity in Diversity'. 

The winning doodle will be featured on Google India's homepage on November 14, Children's Day. 

Over the years, the Google doodle has become a popular and innovative way for the company to commemorate important events, like the independence days of various countries (Including India's, which was depicted with a peacock doodle), special days and events like the Olympics, and celebrate the birthdays of well-known people, among other things. 

Gandhi Jayanti: Gandhi statues are revered in most cities even today

Not many of us remember the Mahatma anymore. And there aren't many takers for his teachings either. For most of us he remains a statue that is cleaned up on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi that is often celebrated as if by decree. TOI takes a look at the venerable Gandhi statues in our cities.

Thiruvananthapuram city sure is dusty and may look depressing at times. However, the vision of the sedate Gandhi standing tall overlooking the Gandhi Park in East Fort is quite inspiring. The Mahatma looks as if he is striding ahead clutching a book close to his chest. In his right palm is a thin stick that seems to steady his whole frame.

The corporation maintains this statue. "We maintain it with our fund. No specific amount is allocated for it," said Shajida Nazar, chairperson, development standing committee. The biggest Gandhi statue in the city is in front of the assembly building. A massive Mahatma sits cross-legged here. It is washed, cleaned and painted at the beginning of every assembly session by the assembly housekeeping staff. The smallest Gandhi figure in the city, at Gandhi Bhavan in Thycaud, is the most privileged of all. Unlike its larger counterparts, this smiling bust is brushed and garlanded every day.

Trai limits processing fee on top-ups

In a move that will provide relief to prepaid users recharging with lower denomination top-up vouchers, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Monday said that the processing fee charged on top-up vouchers should not exceed 10 per cent of the value of the coupon or Rs 3, whichever is less.

The will also help in uniforming the processing fee for top up recharge voucher. At present, processing fee charged for top-ups of Rs 20 and above is Rs 3, while for top-ups below Rs 20, it is Rs 2.

“With the earlier formula, the telecom companies were charging the poor more, as a recharge voucher of Rs 20 attracted a 10 per cent processing fee and a Rs 100 recharge voucher will attract only 3 per cent processing fee,” said a government official. Processing fee is included in the MRP of a recharge coupon used by prepaid mobile service users in the country. Around 95 per cent of mobile phone users in the country are estimated to be prepaid users and a large number of them recharge with lower value vouchers.

Facebook, YouTube blocked in Kashmir

New Delhi: Internet users in Kashmir are unable to access Facebook and YouTube. The government had issued orders to Internet service providers to restrict access to the websites. This move is believed to be in response to the protests against the anti-Islam video on YouTube.

It was previously reported that the certain URLs with offensive content had been blocked, but it now seems that access to the entire websites have been restricted. Last month the Government of Jammu & Kashmir had directed service providers to ensure that the controversial YouTube video was not accessible from the state.

The order was issued by the state Home Department, invoking the powers conferred under section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act 1885.

Pen drives major threat to cyber security: Indian Army

The Indian Army has dubbed the usage of pen drives as a major threat to the cyber security in the defence forces. An army official revealed that pen drives have been responsible for about 70 percent of the security breaches, despite a ban on their use.

According to reports, the Army headquarters has released fresh cyber security guidelines in a bid to secure sensitive military networks from hackers. "These pen drives, which are mostly manufactured in China, have emerged as a big threat to our cyber security systems," they said.

Other two defence services, the Air Force and Navy, have also taken measures to step up their cyber security. The IAF personnel have been recently warned against having any official data on their personnel computers or pen drives. The IAF directive to its personnel also warns of strict actions against those not abiding by these instructions.

What is Google Chrome OS

Telangana march in Hyderabad today, high security in place

Hyderabad: A massive pro-Telangana rally is scheduled to take place in Hyderabad this afternoon. The rally has been called by the Joint Action Committee of Telangana, the engine of a movement that wants the state of Andhra Pradesh to be bifurcated. Hyderabad is geographically a part of the Telangana region; the other two parts of the state are Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema.

High security arrangements are in place in the city to ensure that no untoward incident occurs due to the proposed march, which is expected to witness a huge turnout.

The government has imposed several restrictions on the rally. 12 express trains and 25 passenger trains have been cancelled; all cinema theatres and multiplexes in Greater Hyderabad limits will remain closed today. Apprehending trouble, the state police chief had refused permission to the Telangana march on the Tank Bund. But with political pressure from all parties, including Congress leaders from Telangana, the state government has, as a compromise, decided to allow the rally from 3 pm to 7 pm on the on Necklace Road on the edge of Husain Sagar Lake.

Vizag airport to function 24X7

The Defence Ministry has approved the deployment of more than 380 officers and sailors of the Navy at its base in Vishakhapatnam for enabling round-the-clock operations at the military and civilian airport there.

“The Defence Ministry has sanctioned additional manpower of 24 officers, 356 sailors and 27 civilians for INS Dega at Vishakhapatnam for ensuring that the airport is operational on a 24X7 basis,” Ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar said here.

The airport, which is under the Navy, is operational only for 12-hours every day at present and there is an increasing demand for extending the flying hours in both civil and military spheres.

Recently, Minister of State for Defence M. M. Pallam Raju had said that his Ministry has given its nod for operation of international flights from the Vishakhapatanam airport which is under the control of the Navy.

He said the timing of flight operations has been extended by three hours and international flights will start operating from October 1.

Kar said with the increased number of flight operations from the city, it is expected that its connectivity with the rest of the world and the country would improve considerably. - PTI

India’s heaviest satellite GSAT-10 launched

GSAT-10, the country's newest and heaviest satellite, was launched on Saturday from the Kourou launchpad in French Guiana in South America. It will directly boost telecommunications and direct-to-home broadcasting among others.

The satellite, 9th in ISRO's present fleet, will be operational in November and add 30 transponders to the domestic INSAT system, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said soon after the launch.

The ISRO launched the 3.4-tonne spacecraft on the European Ariane 5 rocket as the agency cannot currently launch satellites of such mass on its own vehicles. The satellite and the launch fee cost the agency Rs. 750 crore.

Iran cuts access to Google Search and Gmail

Iranians’ access to Google Search and Gmail has been cut, as announced by the state television. Although coming through as unconfirmed at the moment, Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) said that the ban on the popular Google services “was connected to the anti-Islamic film posted on the company's YouTube site which has caused outrage throughout the Muslim world”. 

Reports confirm that the country is in the process of shifting its citizens to a domestic Internet network, in what it claims to be an attempt at improving cyber security. Without disclosing any further, an official identified only by his last name, Khoramabadi, said, “Google and Gmail will be filtered throughout the country until further notice.”

The fall of Nokia

The mobile world has changed rapidly in the last couple of years. While some mobile players pioneered these changes, others were quite slow and couldn’t adapt to the lightening-fast changes. Earlier this year, there were reports from HIS iSuppli how Nokia’s 14-year run as the biggest phone manufacturer finally comes to an end.  Most of us have loved our Nokia devices and it brings in a lot of nostalgia to many users, but that’s the problem. The company introduced us to the term smartphone in 2002. Just five years later, the iPhone was launched, changing everything one may demand from a smartphone, but Nokia failed to see the changing consumer demand. Though Nokia builds quality hardware for phones, it moved too slowly to catch up with its competitors in terms of OS and app ecosystem. In mere 2-3 years, Google and Apple have managed to shake Nokia off its position to run a two horsed mobile race. While the question on everyone’s mind was whether Nokia will ditch Symbian for Android, the company surprised everyone by joining hands with Microsoft’s Windows Phone. After a lukewarn response for the Lumia series last year, followed by dipping shares and hundreds of lay offs, Nokia’s future still doesn’t seem stable. Here’s a timeline showing the fall of this once-mighty company.

Top Useful Sites To Learn New Skills - Top 40 Wesites for Learning New things

The web is a powerful resource that can easily help you learn new skills.  You just have to know where to look.  Sure, you can use Google, Yahoo, or Bing to search for sites where you can learn new skills, but I figured I’d save you some time.

Here are the top 40 sites I have personally used over the last few years when I want to learn something new.

1. Hack a Day - Hack a Day serves up fresh hacks (short tutorials) every day from around the web and one in-depth ‘How-To hack’ guide each week.
2. eHow - eHow is an online community dedicated to providing visitors the ability to research, share, and discuss solutions and tips for completing day-to-day tasks and projects.

What made Apple invent iPhone

The remarkable story of how tech giant Apple, which has been credited for creating the revolutionary iPod and Mactintoch computers, and how it invented its first iconic iPhone, has been finally revealed.

The Samsung case, which ended last month with a resounding victory for Apple, revealed a trove of details about the invention of the world's most popular mobile handset.

According to Slate.com, Apple, which created iPod that revolutionized the music industry, should have been the last company on the planet to try to build something whose explicit purpose was to kill music players.

Yet, Apple's inner circle knew that one day, a phone maker would create a universal device that could make calls, play music and videos, and do everything else, and would ultimately eat the iPod's lunch. Apple's only chance at staving off that future was to invent the iPod killer itself.

Download Latest Device Drivers for your Computer Hardware

Download latest device drivers for your computer hardware from Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, Lenovo, Panasonic, Sony and Toshiba.

To download updated device drivers for hardware in your laptop or desktop computer, the best option is go to go the manufacturer’s website and download the latest version of the hardware device drive.

If you encounter problems with your computer or device after upgrading the hardware device driver, just restore the driver for that particulate device to a previous version using the Control Panel.

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How to Trace Your Lost or Stolen Mobile Phone

Almost all every Individual using cell phones these days and it became a necessary Goodies. Along with the usage number of people losing their phones are also increasing day by day according to the recent surveys one will lose his phone at least once in 3 years of usage. What if we loose the phone ? Many of the people don't know what to do if they lost their phone. Actually There are many ways to trace the mobile phones. In smartphones we can set the anti theft code and for normal phones IMEI can be traced. So how can we trace the phone with IMEI ?? Follow the steps below and this may work to get Your mobile phone Back..