New tools to measure levels of influence on Twitter and Blogs

PR firm Edelman has launched two tools for communicators to identify and recognise who is influential on a particular topic on a designated platform, BlogLevel and version 2.0 of TweetLevel.

TweetLevel helps finds influencers on Twitter and BlogLevel helps find influencers in blogosphere.

These free tools help one determine – buzz around a topic, who is relevant and influential on that topic, what else are people talking about on the topic, and which web links are frequently shared.

The new tools are built on the original TweetLevel which MTV used to select its first “Twitter Jockey,” in 2010.

Using a specially developed algorithm, TweetLevel and BlogLevel track bloggers and tweeters in any language and in any country, and score them according to their influence, using 40 distinct metrics. People who rank highest are those who create unique ideas that are then amplified, and those who engage with their followers by providing informative and relevant content.

Commenting on the launch of tools, Robert Holdheim, Managing Director, Edelman India, said, “Social Media is not only about popularity. Factors like engagement and trust play an equally important role. Through our proprietary tools like BlogLevel and TweetLevel, we can better guide our clients on identifying the leading online influencers for their brand and measure the effectiveness of online campaigns.”

He added that although the tools were primarily developed for internal use, the algorithm and tools are being made widely available because the broader application for communicators is clear, and that Edelman welcomes a crowd-sourced approach to the tools’ evolution over time.

Karbonn unleashes its first Android smartphone, 3 more in the pipeline

Karbonn Mobile has launched its first Android phone in Indian market, dubbed as Karbonn A1. The handset is powered by Android 2.2 OS and is sports a 2.8-inches capacitive touchscreen. When it comes to connectivity features, then it offers Bluetooth, 3G, and Wi-Fi.

This company has excellent plans to grab more market share by introducing three more Android smartphones focusing students, housewives and business executives. The Android device from Karbonn quite resembling to the Micromax A60. The only major difference is the capacitive touchscreen, which is not as good as of the Micromax A60. The Karbonn A1 is available at a price of Rs. 6,999.

Another difference is Karbonn Mobile A1 runs on Android 2.2 version, while Micromax A60 runs Android 2.1 version. The device allows users to store applications in the phone memory. As far as design is concerned, both the devices look quite alike.

The new entrant Karbonn A1 has few exciting features such as 7.2 Mbps support for 3G, 600 Mhz processor, 3.2-megapixels camera, Adobe Flash 10.1 version and 1,100 mAh powerful battery. The handset allows external memory up to 32 GB and supports GPS feature.

The A1 includes all standard Android apps and attributes such as G-Sensor and Google Maps. The device also allows user to download required apps from Android Market conveniently like any other high-end Android mobile.

Karbonn Mobile stated recently, while launching this new phone that they are planning to invest around 5 million US dollars in marketing as well as some other promotional activities of their smartphones. These mobile phones will be designed to match with the diverse lifestyles of the mobile users.

Happy Birthday DOS, You’re 30!

DOS or Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) as it was called back then celebrates it's 30th birthday. The MS in MS-DOS stands for Microsoft. The OS was the backbone of most PCs for the following decade or longer. In schools across India, DOS was one of the first things taught in computer classes. While there was no graphical user interface that we’re so used to on Windows, the operating system had everything from text editors to games and mouse support. For example, titles such as Wolfenstein and Doom on PCs originated on DOS. Ever since Windows 95 or so, DOS has been present as a standalone product only to kickstart downed systems. The last operating system to use DOS-based startup disks was Windows XP. The last commercial product used was DOS 6.22.

Three decades later, DOS is still present on Windows systems, often hidden away. You can use it by type CMD in the Run diag box. There are also DOS emulator and free versions of DOS on the web. If you want to go back in history and try out a few DOS apps and games, do check out DOSBox.

China launches new satellite to reduce dependence on GPS

China on Wednesday successfully launched an orbiter into space which is a part of its indigenous satellite navigation and positioning network known as Beidou, aimed at reducing the dependence on U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS).

The orbiter, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern Sichuan Province, was boosted by a Long March-3A carrier rocket into a geostationary orbit.

China started to build up its own satellite navigation system to break its dependence on the GPS since 2000.

Between October 2000 and May 2003, China had set up a regional satellite navigation system after launching three Beidou, or Compass system, geostationary satellites.

The system was known as Beidou-1 and is said to have played an important role in the rescue efforts following the devastating earthquake in May 2008 in Wenchuan as it provided the only channel connecting the quake-hit area and the outside, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The Beidou-1 system can not meet growing demand, so a better functional Beidou-2 regional and global navigation system will be set up, Qi Faren, former chief designer for Shenzhou spaceships, said in an interview with Xinhua early this year.

From April 2007 to April this year, China launched another eight orbiters to form its Beidou-2 system, which will eventually consist of 35 satellites.

The network will provide satellite navigation, time and short message services for Asia-Pacific regions by 2012 and global services by 2020.

Lenovo is preparing a seven inches tablet

Although last week Lenovo announced that they are preparing three new tablets with ten inches displays, it appears that by accident, FCC (the commission that approves the electronic devices from the United States) revealed that the company is preparing a seven inches tablet.

Unlike the IdeeaPad and ThinkPad, the new tablet from Lenovo will compete to the rest of the similar devices on the market that have seven inches displays, offering the same functionality like their older brothers in a compact design.

Until this moment, the new device of the company is known by Lenovo A1-07 and the rumors have it that it will come to a processor TI OMAP3621, the same that is used in Nook Color from Barnes & Noble.

It will allow the display of the 1024x600 images and it will also have a capacitive touch screen that includes a GPS chip provided by Broadcom, two cameras and 3G SIM slots and also microSD cards.

The battery has 3700 mAh and it should offer enough life at only one charging stage for the little device. The back of Lenovo A1-07 is protected by a plastic that is shiny, enough thick to offer full protection. It is still unknown what version of Android will run on it, but the experts’ further details on the public announcement of the new tablet.

This comes right after Lenovo already made public the next appearance of three new tablets, and two of them are based on the Android 3.1 operational system. The third one will have the Windows 7 operational system. IdeaPad K1 is one of the announced tablets, that is designed for the regular consumers.It has a dual core processor NvidiaTegra 2, at 1GHz, a 10.1 inches display, the memory of 1GB and two cameras of two and five megapixels.

The Android operational system provides a browsing experience without any interruptions and the same thing is promised on the social network and gaming preferences also. The second device that Lenovo launched is
ThinkPad Tablet that is a special design device for the business segment.

It is very easy to use and access the documents, because the tablet comes with Document to Go option included and also it has an accessory that allows the keyboard to be included and this way the tablet is transforming into a real Android laptop.

The third one is IdeaPad P1 that is stronger than the other ones, but is difficult to be placed in a category because the Windows 7 tablet’s demand is not a big one and the utility is not a wide spread either.

R.I.P. DVD: Six Reasons It's Time for Discs to Die

When Apple launched refreshed hardware last week, it was no surprise that the ultrathin MacBook Air still does not have an internal DVD drive. Many were shocked to find out, though, that Apple has now also removed the DVD drive from the Mac Mini. But, Apple shouldn't stop there, and the revolution shouldn't be limited to Apple, or even just to PCs for that matter. It's time for discs to die.


Don't get me wrong, discs were great and contributed to the evolution of technology--I greatly appreciated when CDs came along to replace stacks upon stacks of floppy disks. We are now at a point, though, where discs are unnecessary and cause more problems than they solve.


CDs and DVDs are better than 3.5" floppy disks, but they've outlived their usefulness.
Here are six reasons I won't be sad to see discs go:

1. Noise. The CD or DVD drive has mechanical parts that spin the disc at high speed while the data is read using a laser. Even if you can't obviously hear it, the whirring of the drive adds ambient noise. In some cases--like my Xbox 360 drive--the spinning of the drive is audible and annoying from the next room.

2. Maintenance. Things with mechanical parts that spin at high speed eventually break. Disc drives can collect dust which can affect the ability of the laser to read the data. Looking back over the last decade, disc drives have been the number one cause of repair and replacement costs for me whether it's in a desktop or notebook PC, a game console like the Nintendo Wii or Xbox 360, or the variety of DVD and Blu-Ray players we have gone through.

3. Energy. It takes more juice to keep the disc spinning, and using a CD or DVD drive greatly reduces battery life on portable devices. Whether we are talking about an Xbox 360, a desktop PC, or a portable notebook, a disc drive consumes more energy than the alternatives.

4. Speed. Reading data from a solid state drive (SSD), or even from a traditional hard drive is exponentially faster than reading that same data from a CD or DVD. Your mileage will vary depending on the drives you're comparing, but you will get significantly better performance from data stored locally on a drive than you will reading it from a CD or DVD.

5. Media. This is the main reason I won't be sad to see discs go--the discs. The discs take up space. If you need to reinstall a program a year later, you have to try and remember where you stored the disc, and hope it is not unusably scratched or cracked. Hard drive capacity is cheap and virtually limitless, and it can be easily searched to find what you're looking for.

6. Convenience. I bought a Blu-Ray player over a year ago. I own one Blu-Ray movie and I can count on one hand the number I have rented. Why? The player also connects to my Internet connection and provides streaming media content--enabling me to choose and watch movies instantly rather than going to a video store or waiting for a disc to arrive in the mail.The same convenience applies with computer software, and with console games. Why deal with having to get or wait for a physical disc when the software can be delivered over the Internet in a few minutes?

I don't care that Apple ditched the drive in the Mac Mini, or that it only offers Mac OS X Lion as a digital download. I don't mind that Netflix seems to be intentionally driving customers away from using physical DVDs. I welcome rumors that Microsoft might develop a disc-less Xbox console.

Thank you for your service CDs and DVDs, but your time has passed. Buh-bye.

First Windows "Mango" Phone Unveiled

The first smartphone based on the new "Mango" edition of Microsoft's Windows Phone platform was unveiled on Wednesday in Tokyo.

The phone is the first of several handsets due over the next few months, that Microsoft hopes will signal its return to the smartphone market as a serious player. (Video of the new phone and its launch is available on YouTube.)

If that wish sounds familiar, it is. This time last year the company was hoping the first version of the Windows Phone 7 would accomplish the same thing. But that didn't happen.

Despite getting several thousand applications and generally positive reviews, the new platform, which replaced Windows Mobile, was relegated to the sidelines by a rush of new Android devices and updates to Apple's iPhone.

Far from boosting its market share, the introduction of the new operating system saw Microsoft lose share.

Microsoft captured 2.7 percent of the smartphone market during the first quarter of 2011, according to IDC. But a year earlier during the first quarter of 2010, its market share was 7.1 percent, the market research company said. In terms of handsets shipped, those with Windows Phone 7 or Windows Mobile fell from 3.9 million to 2.8 million phones in the two periods.

"We've gone from very small to....very small," quipped Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer earlier this month on his company's lackluster performance.

Mango, officially Windows Phone 7.5, adds some 500 improvements to the Windows Phone 7 platform, according to the company. They include an e-mail "conversation view" that is said to make long e-mail discussions more efficient, a "threads" feature that brings together text, instant messages and Facebook chat, and Internet Explorer 9 for faster Web browsing.

Some of those improvements can be seen in the new handset, the IS12T, which will be available in Japan only. Built by Fujitsu Toshiba Mobile Communications, the phone will be available in September or after. No price was disclosed.

The company is one of several partners Microsoft is working with on Mango handsets. Others include Taiwan's Acer and China's ZTE, but perhaps the most awaited phones will be from Nokia.

The Finnish cell phone maker threw its weight behind Windows Phone 7 earlier this year when it announced a wide ranging agreement with Microsoft to collaborate on future handsets and technologies.

Nokia is losing market share to aggressive competitors, but it remains one of the world's largest manufacturers of smart phones, so it has the potential to help Microsoft shift the market.

The launch of the phone came just hours after Microsoft signed off on the operating system and declared it ready to be installed in consumer handsets. That should mean additional phones will get launched in the coming weeks.

For Japanese consumers, the IS12T phone has a 3.7-inch screen and a 13.2 megapixel camera. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are included in the CDMA-based phone. It weighs 113 grams and Fujitsu Toshiba says the battery should provide more than 11 days on standby and more than 6 hours of talk time.

The phone has 32GB of memory and is waterproof with an IPX5 rating.

Facebook debuts “Facebook for Business”

Facebook on Tuesday debuted a step-by-step online guide aimed at helping small businesses use the social networking site. The company is billing the new webpage, found at Facebook.com/business, as an “online education center” that gives directions on such things as how to set up a profile page, create targeted ads and deals, and interact with customer feedback online.

The timing is interesting, as it comes just a week after Google began shutting off all company profiles on its Google+ social network. The search engine giant says it’s just company policy to restrict Google+ access to individual users, a stance that has inspired a good deal of controversy in recent days.

Facebook’s new business webpage does not come along with any new features — it simply puts a lot of information that may be handy for small businesses in one place. Perhaps most importantly, it serves as a nicely timed reminder that unlike Google+, Facebook encourages companies to use its service for company branding. “Facebook allows small businesses to create rich social experiences, build lasting relationships and amplify the most powerful type of marketing –- word of mouth,” a Facebook spokesperson wrote in an email Tuesday afternoon. “We created Facebook.com/business to make it even easier for people to reach these objectives and grow.”

This represents the second time in a month Facebook has followed up Google+ news with its own feature launch. Earlier in July, Facebook announced a partnership with Skype to bring video chat features within the social networking site — just one week after Google+ made waves with its own in-app video chat feature called Hangouts.

The timing of these events could certainly be coincidental, but it does look like Facebook is taking Google’s recent entry into the social networking landscape seriously — and is increasing its feature updates and user satisfaction initiatives in turn. The new competition may be stressful for Zuckerberg and company, but ultimately it’s great for consumers if both Google and Facebook continue to bring their A-games.

Geometric implements virtual desktop to reduce cost

MUMBAI: IT consulting and software services provider Geometric today said it has implemented a virtual desktop based on VXI cloud architecture withCisco,NetApp and Citrix technologies to reduce operational costs.

Virtualisation Experience Infrastructure (VXI) architecture is a service-optimised desktop virtualisation platform that can deliver any application to any device in any workplace environment and provide IT with additional security and control, Geometric said in a filing to theBombay Stock Exchange.

The deployment will allow Geometric employees to access their server-hosted virtual desktop from anywhere and from a broad range of devices, with the cloud infrastructure also helping to drive business productivity and reduced operating costs, the filing added.

"This solution allows our employees to work from anywhere, at any time, using any device of their choice, without affecting security or performance. Moreover, it also reduces the time and effort needed for provisioning and maintenance of computing resources," Geometric Director IT Solutions and Services Prashanta Ghoshal said.

A cost reduction of $ 27,000 is anticipated with the deployment of 600 desktops. The company has already achieved significant benefits by an initial deployment of 250 desktops, which will further improve with scale.

Shares of Geometric were trading at Rs 50.45 on the BSE, no change from the previous close.

Survey: Consumers Give Thumbs Down to Facebook, NY Times

Low customer satisfaction with Facebook could leave an opening for Google's Google+ social network, according to a report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which presented its 2011 results on Tuesday.

Facebook's score increased 3 percentage points to 66, a number derived from 70,000 annual customer evaluations and used as inputs into an econometric model, the ACSI said. However, that score was not only the lowest of the social-network companies ACSI evaluated, but the lowest of the three categories - Internet news and information, social media, and portals - that the ACSI studied.

The report was completed before Google launched Google+, which left ForeSee's Larry Freed only able to speculate about the impact of Google's social network on Facebook.

"We don't know yet how Google+ will fare, but what we do know is that Google is one of the highest-scoring companies in the ACSI and Facebook is one of the lowest," Freed, who is president of ForeSee Results, which conducted the survey, said in a statement. "An existing dominance of market share like Facebook has is no longer a safety net for a company that is not providing a superior customer experience."

Wikipedia dominated the social media category, recording a score of 78, one better than last year. YouTube finished second at 74, also a point higher than 2010. The "others" category, which includes the multitude of social networks not explicitly surveyed, plunged 6.9 points to finish at 67. That left Facebook's ranking, followed by MySpace, which wasn't surveyed.

Overall, social media is one of the lowest-scoring industries measured by the ACSI, at a category ranking of 70 - only airlines, newspapers, and subscription television services score lower. In 2010, Facebook and MySpace finished at the bottom of the heap, as well.

Customers reported a higher overall satisfaction with the Internet portal and search engine category; ACSI reported a score of 80 for the category.

In the all-important race between Microsoft's Bing and Google, Google won, 83 to 82. Both showed gains - 80 to 83 for Google, and 77 to 82 for Bing. Behind the two search leaders came the "others" category, at 81, followed by Ask.com and Yahoo at 80 and 79, respectively. The smaller players, Ask.com, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and AltaVista, all trailed behind.

ACSI also surveyed the top mainstream news sites, which slipped a point to a score of 73. The top news site, in terms of satisfaction? FoxNews.com, which held steady at 82.

"FOXNews.com tops all news and information sites for a second straight year with an unchanged ACSI score of 82," ACSI wrote in a commentary. "While there may be several reasons for this strong performance, the relative homogeneity of its audience is a contributing factor. Not so for The Huffington Post, which has gone from serving a fairly tight, liberal-leaning audience to reaching a much broader user base. As a result, at least in part, the site debuts in ACSI with the lowest score in the category (69). As Huffington Post continues to grow following its acquisition by AOL, the challenge of ensuring user satisfaction becomes greater as well."

ABCNews.com finished second, but far behind Fox, at 77. Behind ABC came USAToday.com, at 76, and CNN.com, at 74, tied with MSNBC.com. Perhaps surprisingly, NYTimes.com came in last, at 73, just above the "Others" category, which ACSI attributed to its new paywall strategy.

Teenager arrested in cybercrime investigation

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested in Britain on suspicion of being connected with computer hacking group Anonymous.


The teenager was arrested at a south London address yesterday and taken to a central London police station, where he remains in custody, police said.

He was held on suspicion of breaching the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

The Metropolitan Police is liaising with the FBI and authorities in the Netherlands, a police spokesman added.
It is understood that he is suspected of being connected with hacking group Anonymous.

It came as 14 people were arrested in the US for allegedly mounting a cyberattack on PayPal's website in retaliation for suspending the accounts of WikiLeaks


The attacks on the online payment specialist by the group Anonymous followed the release by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks in November of thousands of classified US State Department cables.

Anonymous, a loosely-organised group of hackers sympathetic to WikiLeaks, has claimed responsibility for attacks against corporate and government websites all over the world.

The group also claims to have disrupted the websites of Visa and MasterCard in December when the credit card companies stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange.

The 14 allegedly involved in the PayPal attack were charged in US District Court in San Jose, California, and were arrested in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Ohio.

Meanwhile, FBI agents executed more than 35 search warrants around the country in an continuing investigation into coordinated cyber-attacks against major companies and organisations.

There were two arrests in the United States unrelated to the PayPal attack and four arrests by the Dutch National Police Agency.

The London suspect is the second British teenager to be arrested over allegations of cybercrime in recent weeks.
Last month Ryan Cleary was detained and accused of attempting to hack into the website of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).

Cleary, 19, who is accused of taking part in a conspiracy to attack sites including those of Soca and the British Phonographic Industry, is currently on conditional bail.

ASUS brings the Transformer TF101 Tablet to India

After a lot of waiting, ASUS has officially launched the much anticipated TF101 Eee Pad Transformer tablet in the Indian market. Right now, the manufacturer has launched its 16GB WiFi-only variant which is priced at 32,999 INR. The company has further mentioned that the 3G variant of the tablet will launch in the market at an later date, however they have not been specific about it.


ASUS has mentioned that the price includes the keyboard docking station, which is the highlight of this tablet device. Docking the tablet gives you two USB ports, a multi-touch touchpad, a full QWERTY keypad and a SD-card reader.

The Transformer TF101 is powered by a dual-core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. It sports a 10.1-inch IPS panel with 10 finger multi-touch, supports 1080p video playback, 1GB of RAM along with Bluetooth 2.1 and WiFi n connectivity. The device runs Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

Android 3.2 official, coming to a tablet near you

The latest version of Google's Android operating system fortablets is official, which means the update will likely be arriving on a range of tablets in the near future.

Motorola has already begun to roll out the update on its Xoom tablet, the company confirmed with CNET on Wednesday. Other tablet candidates for a 3.2 rollout include Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, Acer's Iconia Tab 500, and Toshiba's Thrive.

Huawei last month announced what it claims is the "world's first"7-inch Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet to pack a dual-core processor.

Android 3.2 is "an incremental release that adds several new capabilities for users and developers. The new platform includes API (application programming interface) changes and the API level is 13," according to a July 15 announcement posted on Google's Android Developers Blog.

Android 3.2 highlights: 

• Optimizations for a wider range of screen sizes: allows developers to better target a range of screen sizes--not just 10.1-inch. 
• New fill-screen mode: a new zoom-to-fill screen compatibility mode, which "renders the application in a smaller screen area and then scales the pixels to fill the current screen." 
• Media files can be loaded directly from the SD card: users can now "load media files directly from the SD card to apps that use them," and there is a "system facility [that] makes the files accessible to apps from the system media store."
• Extended screen support API: provides developers with more "precise control over [the user interface] across the range of Android-powered devices." It's also meant to "allow [the] targeting [of] screens by their dimensions."

The Android 3.2 software development kit is available for download here.

Via Netbooknews.com.

HTC ChaCha Launched for Rs.15,990

HTC’s much awaited ‘Facebook phone’ has just been launched in India for Rs.15,990 and will be available in the market shortly. The phone will feature the beefed up 800MHz processor and Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread. This will be HTC’s first touch and type QWERTY handset and will go on to compete with Nokia’s E6 and LG’s upcoming Optimus Pro.


What sets this phone apart from the competition is the dedicated Facebook button which is context aware meaning if you’re viewing a photo or a video, the button will light up allowing you to share that instantly with a single press. You can even update your status, upload a photo, share a picture, upload a video, share a link to a website by the same manner. Other features include:

2.6-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels
3G, Wi-Fi, GPS with A-GPS, Wi-Fi Hotpsot
Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash
3.5 mm audio jack
Memory expandable to 32 GB

Gregor Mendel 189th birthday Google Doodle

Toshiba reveals the smallest 8 MP CMOS sensor ever created

Toshiba has recently revealed the world’s smallest 8MP CMOS sensor, which promises to offer smaller pixels, yet keep image quality. Usually, image quality is affected when manufacturers try to cram as many pixels as possible on a small panel.

The company is committed to fixing the issue by developing the world’s densest camera sensor, in which each pixel is separated by its neighboring pixels by only 1.12 micrometers. Toshiba has thus managed to integrate 8.08 million pixels on a 1/3 inch-surface.

The sensors also integrate the back-side illumination technology (BSI). This means that lenses are placed behind the sensor, not in front of it, as in the case of older generation sensors.

The technology improves light sensitivity and light absorption and, at the same time, prevents the small size of the sensor from affecting image quality in a negative manner.

The sensor offers support for 720p HD video content at 30 frames per second and 1080p HD video content at a rate of 60 frames per second.

Toshiba is already testing the new sensor which will go into production in 2012.  The sensor will then be used in the manufacturing process of smartphones and other gadgets.

Source

One billion pixel camera from European Space Agency, calls her GAIA

When we hear the name GAIA, our memory automatically zooms back to the Whoopi Goldberg-voiced Mother Earth from Captain Planet. This isn't that GAIA, but it does have to do with planets. Back at the turn of the millennium, the European Space Agency devised an ambitious mission to map one billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy -- in 3D (insert Joey Lawrence 'whoa!'). To do this, it enlisted UK-based e2v Technologies and built an immense digital camera comprised of 106 snugly-fit charge coupled devices -- the largest ever for a space program. These credit card-shaped, human hair-thick slabs of silicon carbide act like tiny galactic eyes, each storing incoming light as a single pixel. Not sufficiently impressed? Then consider this: the stellar cam is so all-seeing, "it could measure the thumbnails of a person on the Moon" -- from Earth. Yeah. Set to launch on the Soyuz-Fregat sometime this year, the celestial surveyor will make its five-year home in the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point, beaming its outerspace discoveries to radio dishes in Spain and Australia -- and occasionally peeping in your neighbor's window.

Devices to be powered out of thin air

Researchers have discovered a way of harnessing energy from the air around us that could potentially power wireless sensors, microprocessors and communications chips.


"There is a large amount of electromagnetic energy all around us, but nobody has been able to tap into it," said Manos Tentzeris, professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Tentzeris' scavenging device could be used by itself or with other generating technologies. For example, scavenged energy could assist a solar element to charge a battery during the day.

If a battery or a solar-collector or battery package failed completely, scavenged energy could allow the system to transmit a wireless distress signal while also maintaining critical functionalities, according to a Georgia Tech statement.

Tentzeris and his team are using inkjet printers to combine sensors, antennas and energy scavenging capabilities on paper or flexible polymers.

They believe that self-powered, wireless paper-based sensors will soon be widely available at very low cost. They could be used for applications that include airport security.

Airports have both multiple security concerns and vast amounts of available ambient energy from radar and communications sources.

These dual factors make them a natural environment for large numbers of wireless sensors capable of detecting potential threats such as explosives or smuggled nuclear material.

These Next Gen sensors could be used for chemical, biological, heat and stress sensing for defense and industry; radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging for manufacturing and shipping, among others.

These findings were presented earlier this month at the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Symposium in Spokane, Washington.

Space robot to refuel satellites

Houston - With the end of the space shuttle programme, the US government intends to stimulate development of private space transportation and also to lay the foundation for an entire new industry to service satellites in orbit.

The Robotic Refuelling Mission flying aboard the space shuttle Atlantis will use the International Space Station's Dextre robot to test tools for refuelling and repairing existing satellites, none of which were designed with reuse in mind.

"I've likened it to a Fisher-Price play toy for a robot, and I don't mean that in a negative sense," Atlantis commander Chris Ferguson said in a pre-flight interview.

Ferguson and three crew arrived at the space station on Sunday to deliver a year's worth of food, clothing and other supplies. The mission is the 135th and final flight in the 30-year-old shuttle programme, which is ending due to high costs.

Nasa hired two firms, Space Exploration Technologies and Orbital Sciences Corp, to deliver cargo to the station beginning in 2012.

Hardware

The Obama administration wants Nasa to buy rides for its astronauts as well, though no commercial suppliers are expected to be available until around 2015. In the meantime, the US will pay Russia for space taxi flights, at a cost of more than $50m a seat.

The $22.6m Robotic Refuelling Mission equipment is scheduled to be installed to the outside of the space station during a 6.5-hour spacewalk on Tuesday.

The hardware consists of a box of tools, fittings and a tank of ethanol fuel that the station's Dextre robot can use to perform tasks that would be needed to refuel a satellite, such as cutting away thermal insulation and wires, removing protective caps, installing fuel valves and transferring fuel from one tank to another.

The test work, which won't start until after the shuttle leaves the station, is scheduled to run for two years. Nasa plans to hire an industry partner for a follow-on mission around 2015 to refuel a US government weather satellite and then nine other spacecraft in orbit.

"We want the commercial world to take over this service," said Benjamin Reed, deputy project manager for the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland.

There are currently about 360 operational commercial communications satellites and another 100 government-owned satellites orbiting Earth.

"Every single one of them one day is going to run out of fuel and be thrown away. That's the way it's always been done. If a robot can go up and refuel it, you wouldn't have to throw it away," Reed said.

Trial run

Because the satellites weren't designed with refuelling in mind - they have no navigational aids, no reflectors, nothing to help guide in an approaching spacecraft - the technical hurdles are steep.

Since the same technology also could be used to disable satellites, Reed said Nasa intends to be as open as possible about the project.

"We plan an international workshop next spring where we will lay out in more detail what our plans are to make the world aware of what we are doing so that we can minimise the anti-satellite weapon accusers," Reed said.

The spacewalk to install the project's trial run will be conducted by Nasa's two space station crew, Ron Garan and Mike Fossum.

The agency said on Monday that a piece of orbital debris that had been projected to pass near the station about the time of the spacewalk was not a threat. The debris, part of a defunct Soviet satellite, should pass about 18km from the station, said Nasa flight director Jerry Jason.

Nasa figures that over a six-month period, the space station has a 1-in-100 chance of being hit by a piece of debris and sustaining damage that might have to force the crew to evacuate part of the station, said spokesperson Kelly Humphries.

Overall, the chance of a debris strike to the shuttle during its 12-day flight is 1-in-314.

Atlantis, which blasted off on Friday from the Kennedy Space Centre, is due back on July 20.

- Reuters

St. Basil's Cathedral 450th anniversary Google Doodle

Evidence of a Facebook Music Service Surfaces

References to a product called “Vibes” have been found in Facebook’s code, and it could be related to the company’s rumored music service.

The social network launched its Skype-powered video chat service on Wednesday. Part of the process of gettin

g started with the one-on-one video communication product is downloading and installing a programon the desktop.

Eagle-eyed software engineer and researcher Jeff Rose was curious about what he was installing and how it interacts with Skype, so he decided to look into the code of the desktop app. In it, he found that the installer supports not one but two applications. One is called “Peep,” which is related to the video chat client, and one is called “Vibes,” which is apparently related to a music downloading app.

Here’s the code in question:


if (paramString.equals("com.facebook.peep"))
return this.window.getMember("VideoChatPlugin");
if (paramString.equals("com.facebook.vibes")) {
return this.window.getMember("MusicDownloadDialog");
}

It seems clear that Facebook has something related to music downloading up its sleeve. Could it be an app for downloading your music and uploading it to the cloud? Could it be powered by Spotify? Or could it just be code that refers to a defunct or discarded product?

Don’t bet on Facebook’s music app being called “Facebook Vibes,” though. There’s a reason why Facebook’s video chat product isn’t called “Facebook Peep.” Still, we know Facebook has a music product coming soon, and now we believe it will do more than simply play your favorite tunes.

Bajaj Auto planning to launch 250cc variant of Pulsar brand

Bajaj Auto, one of the India’s leading 2 wheeler manufacturers, is reportedly working on a plan to launch a new 250cc variant of their Pulsar brand later this year.

Bajaj Auto hasn’t made any confirmation pertaining to 250cc variant of Pulsar, but emerging reports suggest that the new model could be launched in September.

Mr. Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto, also stated that the Pulsar series would get an upgrade in September.

The potential 250cc variant of the popular Pulsar motor cycle will allow Bajaj Auto to defend it market share from the new breed of 250cc motorcycles which have recently been rolled out in India.

The Pulsar 220 DTS-I is the premium bike in the Pulsar Series in India, and it has been reporting strong sales as it offers a blend of power, style, reliability, and affordability.

Recently, Bajaj Auto allowed all Bajaj dealers to sell and service Bajaj Pulsar 220 and Avenger 220, in a move that will make these motorcycles available at a lot more sales points across India. Earlier, the sales of Bajaj Pulsar 220 and Avenger 220 were restricted to Bajaj Pro Biking dealerships.

Meet India's first WOMAN to own a Harley Davidson

The first woman to buy a Harley Davidson in the country talks about her love for bikes.

If you think that Harley Davidson is a male icon, think again. Women are not impervious to the mystique of the heavyweight super bikes. Look at Sheeja Mathews of Bangalore who has recently acquired one, becoming the first woman owner of a Harley Davidson in India.

Google+ disk space cockup creates notification spam-storm

Google+ blitzed early adopters of the social networking service with spammy notifications over the weekend following a technical glitch. The Chocolate Factory said the problem was due to the service having run out of disk space.
The spam messages carried some of the hallmarks of those generated by dodgy apps of the type that have become a regular nuisance on Facebook over recent months. In reality, however, the messages were the product of bugs in the Google+ code, which had kicked in because the site was unable to cope with early demand.

Vic Gundotra, senior vice-president of social for Google, apologised for the snafu in astatus message on his Google+ account.

Please accept our apologies for the spam we caused this afternoon.For about 80 minutes we ran out of disk space on the service that keeps track of notifications. Hence our system continued to try sending notifications. Over, and over again. Yikes.
We didn't expect to hit these high thresholds so quickly, but we should have.
Thank you for helping us during this field trial, and once again, we are very sorry for the spam.

Google+ is, of course, only a few days old – a newborn in the world of social networking – so problems of one type or another can be expected. Even so, and given its capacity to run its own massive data centres for core operations such as ad brokerage, you wouldn't expect Google to run into problems such as running out of disc space for anything.

Twitter is Not Safe, Say Experts

Experts in Reuters article commented that as compared to the other sites, security on Twitter is not safe. The quote was commented after the site’s security was inspected and it was found that Twitter sent out fake reports to the Fox News saying that President Barack Obama is dead.

The fake news was given because the site was hacked. The article also said that if twitter had adopted the Two-factor authentication, then they would surely have been able to stop the hacking.

As compared to other sites like Google and Facebook, Twitter simply allows the users commune with the site using a common decoded link, which can make it easier for possible hackers to whip the passwords.

Twitter Spokeswoman Lynn Fox refused to utter whether the company proposed to add two-factor authentication or make https encryption an evasion and she further commented that for every social networking site, it becomes the duty of the users to protect their passwords.

She adds, "We take safety very seriously and we all the time look for ways to help the users to make their accounts more protected”.

Daniel Diermeier, a Professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, also commented that Twitter needs to entrust to do a systematic assessment of their security and the practices.

Scientists in Scotland decode potato genome

An international team of scientists based in Scotland has decoded the full DNA sequence of the potato for the first time.

The breakthrough holds out the promise of boosting harvests of one of the world's most important staple crops.

Researchers at the James Hutton Institute in Dundee say it should soon be possible to develop improved varieties of potato much more quickly.

The genome of an organism is a map of how all of its genes are put together.

Each gene controls different aspects of how the organism grows and develops.

Slight changes in these instructions give rise to different varieties.

Each individual has a slightly different version of the DNA sequence for the species.

Professor Iain Gordon, chief executive of the James Hutton Institute, said decoding the potato genome should enable breeders to create varieties which are more nutritious, as well as resistant to pests and diseases.

Colour and flavour


He hopes it will help meet the challenge of feeding the world's soaring population.

The research is far from complete. Analysing the genetic sequence of the plant will take several more years.

At the moment it can take more than 10 years to breed an improved variety.

By locating the genes that control traits like yield, colour, starchiness and flavour, the research should make it possible to develop better spuds much more quickly.

Potatoes provide the world's fourth-largest crop, with an annual, global yield of 330m tonnes.