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2012-01-10T02:05:00.001-08:00

CES 2012: Samsung unveils smart TVs - Google News

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2010-09-22T09:16:00.001-07:00

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Life = Thinking: Ambani could be the world's richest man

2010-09-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

Life = Thinking: Ambani could be the world's richest man

Ambani could be the world's richest man
Finally the man from India could reach the peak of the billionares and this is what the Forbes forecast looks .....

With a net worth of USD 62 billion, Indian business tycoon Mukesh Ambani would be he richest man on earth in 2014, according to a forecast issued by the prestigious Forbes magazine.

"One of the predictions is that Reliance Industries' chief Ambani, who currently has a net worth of 29 billion dollars, pips the world's richest man Mexican businessman Carlos Slim to top Forbes' rich list in 2014," it said.

Ambani's net worth swells to USD 62 billion while Slim is "hit hard by Mexican political, financial chaos," according to the prediction by Forbes.

53-year-old Ambani currently ranks fourth on Forbes' list of the world's billionaires.

2010-09-07T09:44:00.001-07:00

Road work

Bharti Names Chairman's Son as Manager - WSJ.com

2010-09-03T01:46:00.000-07:00

Bharti Names Chairman's Son as Manager - WSJ.com

The Pioneer > Online Edition : >> ADA is 3rd most valued business house

2010-07-01T17:45:00.000-07:00

The Pioneer > Online Edition : >> ADA is 3rd most valued business house

Carol Bartz replaces Jerry Yang as Yahoo chief

2009-01-14T02:17:00.000-08:00

14 January 2009 9:24 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Yahoo has revealed who its new chief executive is, naming "Silicon Valley veteran" Carol Bartz.

Described as a "well-respected industry figure", Bartz replaces Jerry Yang who stepped down late last year amid criticism from investors who saw Yahoo's share price drop substantially under his leadership.

Bartz was chief exec of software firm Autodesk until 2006, and has previously worked at Cisco and Sun Microsystems.

Bartz has been named in Fortune magazine's list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and featured on Barron's list of the World's 30 Most Respected CEOs. source

Citigroup, Morgan Stanley talk about merging units

2009-01-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

Associated Press
New York, January 10, 2009

Officials at the embattled banks Citigroup and Morgan Stanley will negotiate over the weekend about possibly combining their wealth management businesses, a deal mostly aimed at bolstering Citi with much-needed cash. The deal to merge Citi's Smith Barney with Morgan Stanley's comparable division was confirmed on Saturday by a person familiar with the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the matter. The negotiations come as investors digested news that Robert Rubin, a senior adviser to Citi who has drawn heavy criticism, would resign from the bank. The person said it was Rubin's decision to leave Citigroup and that "there was no inside pressure," or government pressure.

Citi's shares sank nearly 6 per cent yesterday. Even before the economy started tanking, many shareholders had complained that Citigroup was too huge, and lagging its peers. Calls for a breakup have been going on for years, and have grown louder since the federal government has had to pump billions into the ailing company. The New York-based bank late last year signed an agreement with the federal government to receive an additional $20 billion on top of the initial $25 billion it received. more

Singur enters Beijing class

2008-11-23T17:39:00.000-08:00

by ASHIS CHAKRABARTI

Martin Mulligan of theFinancial Times uses Singur as paradigm for problems of industrialization

The Nano didn’t roll out of Singur. But the controversy over the stillborn project seems to be rolling far and wide. Just last month, Mulligan used the same model in another workshop for journalists he conducted in Sofia, Bulgaria. The contrasts between the responses of his students in Beijing and Sofia could surprise both Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mamata Banerjee.

In communist Beijing, the journalist-students had more sympathy for Mamata. The consensus in Mulligan’s class was that higher compensation to landlosers in Singur at an earlier stage could have saved the project. In other words, the communist scribes didn’t think the Marxist government in Bengal had done enough to carry the farmers on its side.

In Sofia, the response was “more sophisticated”, Mulligan tells me over cups of green tea at the lounge of a Beijing hotel. The Bulgarians were more sympathetic to the Bengal chief minister and blamed Mamata’s “cynical politics” to exploit Singur in order to regain lost political ground.

But why did he choose the Nano story for his workshops? Mulligan says he had two broad reasons. One: the international focus on Nano, slated to be history’s cheapest car. “Here is a car that’s on offer for just the price of the stereo system of a Mercedes. That’s simply fantastic.”

The other reason is the widely varying kinds of reporting of the story in the international media. In his class in Beijing — he’s at Xinhua on a Thomson Foundation assignment — Mulligan gave the examples of three British papers — The Guardian (“sympathetic” to Singur farmers), Evening Standard (“absolutely Right-wing, pro-business”) andFinancial Times (“more balanced”). more

Rs. 30,000-crore sops for Nano project

2008-11-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

Rs. 30,000-crore sops for Nano project: document

Special Correspondent

Modi orders probe into leak of details

A sellout: Congress
Challenges Modi to debate on project

AHMEDABAD: The Narendra Modi government is reported to have offered over Rs. 30,000 crore in sops to Tata Motors to bring its Nano car project to Gujarat.

The government has agreed to not only provide a soft loan of Rs. 9,570 crore at a negligible interest of 0.1 per cent for setting up the project but also defer repayment for 20 years, besides initially meeting all the cost of infrastructure development, cut in power tariff rates and an expenditure of Rs. 700 crore on shifting machinery and equipment from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand.

While the Chief Minister’s office refused to give details of the October 7 agreement signed between the government and Tata Motors, an official document submitted to the Cabinet for approval was leaked to the media, bringing to light the concessions offered to the company to bring the “prestigious” project to Gujarat.

Mr. Modi has reportedly ordered an inquiry into the leakage of the document. more

Economics and Development: Neel Kashkari to oversee $700bn bailout

2008-10-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

Citigroup Says Judge Suspends Wachovia Deal

2008-10-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

By ERIC DASH and JONATHAN D. GLATER
Published: October 5, 2008

Citigroup announced late Saturday that it had persuaded a New York judge to temporarily block Wells Fargo from acquiring Wachovia, firing the first shot in what could be a prolonged legal battle.

Text of Judge’s Order (pdf)

Citigroup has accused Wells Fargo of wrecking its plan to acquire Wachovia’s banking operations for $2.2 billion, or $1 a share, in a deal arranged by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Four days after that deal was struck, it fell apart when Wachovia agreed to Wells Fargo’s offer to pay seven times as much for the entire company.

The underlying battle is over which company will emerge from the economic crisis in a stronger position among a smaller number of financial giants. Citigroup contends that the deal with Wells Fargo violates an agreement that prohibited Wachovia from having any sale or merger discussions with anyone other than Citigroup until Oct. 6.

The order issued by a judge on Saturday extends the term of that agreement until further court action, Citigroup said. A person briefed on the situation said that Citigroup was seeking $60 billion in damages from Wells Fargo for interfering with the initial transaction.

more

Nuclear Suppliers Group Statement on Civil Nuclear Cooperation with India

2008-10-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

The Frontline, Volume 25 - Issue 20 :: Sep. 27-Oct. 10, 2008

Statement on Civil Nuclear Cooperation with India

1. At the ... Plenary meeting on ... the Participating Governments of the Nuclear Suppliers Group decided that they:

a. Desire to contribute to the effectiveness and integrity of the global nonproliferation regime, and to the widest possible implementation of the provisions and objectives of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons;

b. Seek to avert the further spread of nuclear weapons;

c. Wish to pursue mechanisms to affect positively the nonproliferation commitments and actions of all states;

d. Seek to promote fundamental principles of safeguards and export controls for nuclear transfers for peaceful purposes; and

more

e. Note the energy needs of India.

2. Participating Governments have taken note of steps that India has voluntarily taken with respect to the following commitments and actions:

a. Deciding to separate civilian nuclear facilities in a phased manner and to file a declaration regarding its civilian nuclear facilities with the IAEA, in accordance with its Separation Plan (circulated as INFCIRC/731);

France signs PSLV utilization pact with India

2008-09-30T16:15:00.001-07:00

India France sign space cooperation pact
Tue, Sep 30 10:05 PM
Paris, September 30 (ANI): France signed a long-term agreement with India for the of India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle for launching satellites.The agreement was signed in Paris on Tuesday during the Indian Prime Minister's three day visit to France to sign civil nuclear cooperation agreement.

The Chairman of Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the Indian Space research Organisation ISRO and the CEO of Astrium, the French space organization signed the pact.

100 billion Euros Business with EU

2008-09-29T07:59:00.000-07:00

India-EU to ink trade pact, set 100 billion Euros as target: PM
India and the European Union (EU) on Monday agreed to conclude a broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement by 2009 and double their trade turnover to 100 billion Euros in the next five years, giving a fresh impetus to their strategic partnership. Read

India Open for $80 Billion in Nuclear Business

2008-09-27T05:29:00.000-07:00

India Open for $80 Billion in Nuclear Business
France and Russia Are Ready: Will the U.S. Get Any of India's $80 Billion Nuclear Business?
By ERIKA KINETZ AP Business Writer
MUMBAI, India September 26, 2008 (AP) The Associated Press

Indian nuclear energy officials say they would like to do business with GE and other U.S. firms. But if they can't, there's always France and Russia.

President Bush, right, greets Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, left, during their meeting in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008 in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
(AP)
Even as a landmark U.S.-India nuclear accord hangs in limbo in the U.S. Congress, the global gates of nuclear trade with India are now open.

Whether or not U.S. companies get the go-ahead to sell nuclear fuel and technology to India, the country's nuclear officials are confident they will get their uranium.

"If a deal with Congress doesn't happen, we will have business with other countries. So simple," said SK Malhotra, a spokesman for India's Department of Atomic Energy. more

RIL starts pumping oil and gas from its Krishna Godavari oil fields.

2008-09-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

RIL oil flows, import cut forecast

In a landmark development, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India’s largest private sector company by turnover, has started pumping oil and gas from its Krishna Godavari basin oil field off the Andhra Pradesh coast.

RIL will start selling natural gas from the field in January 2009, bolstering India’s energy security in a major way.

From an initial flow of 5,000 barrels a day, the total oil and gas output from the field would rise to 550,000 barrels a day in 18 to 24 months.

This is about 40 per cent of the current indigenous production in India (currently at 1.3 million barrels a day), which imports 70 per cent of the oil it consumes. At that time, oil and gas from the KG basin could mean savings of up to Rs 86,000 crore in oil bills for the country.

“Reliance began oil production from its predominantly gas-rich D6 block on September 17 with initial oil flowing at the rate of 5,500 barrels per day,” Mukesh Ambani, chairman, RIL announced on Sunday. “This is a finite resource and should last for 10-12 years.” The first batch of oil is currently being sold to Hindustan Petroleum.

More

Economic Armageddon: Fall of Lehman Brothers

2008-09-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy protection
The Hindu, September 16,2008

NEW YORK (AP): Lehman Brothers, a 158-year-old investment bank choked by the credit crisis and falling real estate values, filed for protection from creditors in the biggest bankruptcy filing ever and said it was trying to sell off key business units.

Monday's filing was made in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the bank's holding company. The case had been assigned to Judge James M. Peck.

Lehman fell under the weight of $60 billion in soured real estate holdings, and the credit market's dislocation ultimately forced it to seek court protection. The credit crisis has caused global banks to write down more than $300 billion in asset value since last year, and caused the shotgun sales of Merrill Lynch & Co. and Bear Stearns Cos.

Lehman's bankruptcy filing marks the end of a Wall Street firm that started the U.S. cotton trade before the Civil War and financed the railroads that built a nation.

The company's roots began in 1844 when Henry Lehman immigrated from Rimpar, Germany, to Alabama, where he established a dry goods store that catered to local cotton farmers in Montgomery. Lehman Brothers evolved from merchandising to a commodities broker, and then later into underwriting where the firm helped finance construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad, among others.

Chairman and Chief Executive Richard S. Fuld, who joined Lehman as a college student in 1969 and was the longest serving CEO on Wall Street, now has the dubious task of winding down the company's $639 billion of assets. It has about 25,000 employees worldwide, joining the swell of unemployed bankers and traders hurt by the credit crisis.

Many Lehman employees seen entering its headquarters in midtown Manhattan tucked their chins down to avoid talking to the media and others who had lined up behind metal barriers in front of the building.

Some carried empty shopping, tote bags or gym bags in to the office. Some walked in with ties undone or wore more casual clothes like polo shirts than they may have otherwise.

Lehman's filing is the biggest corporate bankruptcy in history in terms of assets held, Mike Bickford of Jupiter eSources said. The next biggest bankruptcy was Worldcom Inc., with $126 billion in assets, and Enron Corp., with $81 billion. The figures are not adjusted for inflation.

Lehman plans an orderly liquidation of its assets in the coming months, and possibly years.

``It is going to be big, it's going to be complicated, it's going to involve a phenomenal number of professionals and it will be very expensive,'' John Penn of Haynes & Boone LLP said about the case.

Martin Bienenstock, a partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf who was the lead lawyer on the Enron case, said that while Lehman's case was is the largest ever in terms of asset size, it could end up being far less complicated than Enron and get wrapped up within three to four months.

``It's in a race against time because its franchise is really its people,'' Bienenstock said, adding that Lehman's main mission would be to sort out its case before its employees find new jobs and move on.

In Washington, the Securities and Exchange Commission said its examiners will remain at the offices of Lehman Brothers to oversee an ``orderly transfer'' of assets in retail customer accounts to one or more brokerage firms that are insured by the Securities Investor Protection Corp.

The SEC noted in a statement that Lehman's decision to file for bankruptcy protection does not affect the SIPC protection covering the firm's retail securities customers.

The SEC also said it is coordinating with overseas regulators to protect Lehman's customers and to maintain orderly markets.

``We are committed to using our regulatory and supervisory authorities to reduce the potential for dislocations from Lehman's unwinding, and to maintain the smooth functioning of the financial markets,'' SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said in a statement.

In London, the administrators who have taken control of key Lehman Brothers' businesses in the United Kingdom said it could take years to dispose of the company's assets to pay off creditors.

Tony Lomas of PriceWaterHouseCoopers said liquidating those assets will be more complex than disposing of Enron's European assets, which took six years after the U.S. energy company's 2001 bankruptcy.

Lehman's last hope of surviving outside of court protection faded Sunday after British bank Barclays PLC withdrew its bid to buy the investment bank. The troubled investment bank learned at a last-minute meeting on Friday with federal officials that it would not be getting any emergency funding to give it the liquidity it needed, Chief Financial Officer Ian Lowitt said in an affidavit.

Lowitt said the company had hoped to ``restructure operations, reduce overall cost structure, and improve performance.'' There was a plan in place to sell a majority stake in its investment management business, which includes money manager Neuberger Berman, and to spin-off of its troubled real estate assets into a publicly traded company. It says it is exploring the sale of its broker-dealer operations and is in ``advanced discussions'' to sell its investment management unit.

``Management believed that divorcing the real estate assets from the rest of the company would relieve the pressure on the company,'' he said in the affidavit.

Investors didn't buy the plan, sending shares down 75 percent last week. The stock was worth pennies in electronic trading on Monday, an astonishing descent from the $67.73 it was worth one year ago.

``It's a weird case because ordinarily you think of bankruptcy as giving you breathing space _ it's not clear it will here,'' said David Skeel, a bankruptcy law historian at the University of Pennsylvania. ``They've used up a lot of their lives already. They desperately tried to find a solution. They've tumbled into bankruptcy kind of having run out of near-term options. This is a company that is in free-fall.''

The filing had been made so hastily that the company had not yet filed motions by Monday morning that are typically made on the first day, such as asking the court for permission to continue paying employees.

Ohmy News Korea
Economic Armageddon
Financial markets go into meltdown
John Patrick Boland (JohnBoland)
Published 2008-09-16 05:43 (KST)

Read any newsreel at the moment and if it is talking about the maelstrom currently swirling around the financial markets it might just mention the word "confidence."

Tony Lomas, of UK accountancy firm PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PWC), refers to it as his employers begin the Herculean task of administrating the chaos that is following the spectacular disintegration of Lehman Brothers -- the major US investment bank where 5,000 London employees face the unedifying prospect of no wages in their bank accounts this month.

The collapse of the bank is unprecedented within an industry that has seen its fair share of shocks recently. Lomas claims that it "underlines … the importance of market confidence." Once that starts to wane or, in the case of Lehman Brothers, disappear completely then an apparently sound business proposition disappears faster than you can say the words "credit crunch."

Despite the shockwaves rippling throughout the United States, the United Kingdom and around the rest of the world, President George Bush remains "confident … that financial markets are flexible and resilient."

There's that word again. Confidence. In the interests of clarity, let's define exactly what confidence means -- for it is in danger of becoming a dirty word. There are numerous references but confidence is variously defined as meaning trust in something -- be it a person or a thing. In this case the" thing" is our financial services industries and the corporate world in general.

Arguably, trust started to diminish a long time ago when financial mismanagement started to increase in its scale and impact. You only needed to be reminded of the disastrous collapse of Enron in late 2001 to discover that the upper reaches of the business world need to be treated with much skepticism. Since then a consistent and verifiable tale of woe featuring various corporations could be constructed -- leading up to what has already been referred to as a (very) Black Monday.

However, returning to the confidence theme and, tellingly, a secondary reference refers to confidence in the context of it being related to a swindle or a fraud. In other words, it's all a con.

The financial instruments created within the US subprime market could perhaps be described as no more than that -- the biggest corporate con of all time. Sadly, the fallout and subsequent impact looks likely to resonate far louder for ordinary hardworking citizens as opposed to the individuals who orchestrated it.

There was a quirky little film released in 2003 that bore the name "Confidence." Starring Ed Burns and Rachel Weisz it delivered a tale of cross and double cross, scam and counter-scam. It's tag line -- "It's not about the money. It's about the money." For our big corporate entities it has always been all about the money and an apparently insatiable greed that has clouded any seemingly rational judgment and led the financial world toward the abyss it currently stares at.

Yet, any keen reader of history could point out that all this might have been a long time in coming. The 1980s added huge impetus to the cause of financial deregulation and this should always have flagged up as a worry in an arena where a cynic might claim that greed and self-interest tend to predominate.

The administration of US President Ronald Reagan was matched in its liberalizing tendencies by that of the UK's then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Together, restrictions on financial markets and their associated activities were gradually eroded. It is no coincidence that with current conditions as they are there is a rising number of commentators suggesting the implementation of tighter controls and stricter regulation of business practices.

If the situation was not so serious then recent claims and comments from our politicians and leaders might actually raise a smile. For months now President Bush and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown have been aided and abetted by others such as Henry Paulson of the US Treasury and Alistair Darling (UK Chancellor of the Exchequer) in claiming that everything will be fine.

Each time a seismic shock makes the global economy quiver, comforting words such as "resilience" and "ability to cope" are offered by the men in ultimate charge. Yet, the arrival of another shock (each more serious than the last) are rendering their words increasingly futile.

Where will it all end? The news about Lehman Brothers precipitated a 30 percent fall in the share value of one of the UK's leading banks, Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS). It also heightened fears that AIG, a major player within insurance, might soon be brought to the brink of collapse.

The complexity of the modern financial system appears to cast a pall over any notions of clarity and transparency and is surely partly to blame for the current crisis. Information about the scale of the credit crunch seems to remain hidden away until a major event reveals a little more about the depth of the crisis.

Should we feel sorry for those caught up directly in the demise of Lehman Brothers? It is hard to know -- every major event always seems to involve collateral damage and innocent people get caught up in the mess. Yet, it would be ridiculous to claim that no one on the inside knew what we on the outside now all know -- that Lehman's business activities were built on very uncertain foundations.

Lehman Brothers had been in possession of a large and extensive portfolio of mortgage-based assets. When the market lost its nerve the bank was always going to be in trouble. My business acumen is not great but having all your eggs in one basket should always have seemed a touch risky, especially within an industry that relies on one thing above all -- confidence.

©2008 OhmyNews

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Price of a small car: Subsidies, tax breaks got Tata to Singur

2008-09-08T19:16:00.000-07:00

Kolkata September 09, 2008, 0:08 IST
The agreement between Tata Motors and the government of West Bengal to manufacture the world's cheapest car in the state involved much more than subsidies on land and interest paid on bank loans.
Nano, small car
The government worked out a package — which included tax paybacks and concessional power — to match the benefits the plant would have enjoyed in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, both designated backward areas that attracted central tax concessions.

The documents, which the West Bengal government released today, show that the state government will provide to Tata Motors a loan of Rs 200 crore at 1 per cent interest per year repayable in five equal annual installments starting from the 21st year of the date of disbursement of loan.

If the state had put the sum in a fixed deposit scheme, its principal would be worth Rs 3,000 crore in 20 years. Read more

This loan was disbursed within 60 days of signing of the agreement in May 2006.

The West Bengal government will also provide electricity for the project at Rs 3 per KwH, against the going rate of Rs 4.15 per KwH.

In the case of a more than 25 paise per KwH increase in tariff in every block of five years, the government will provide relief through additional compensation to neutralise the additional increase.

The state government also promised to revisit the computation of the comparison of benefits offered by Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

The incentive package in these states comprised excise exemption for 10 years and 100 per cent income tax exemption for the first five years and 30 per cent for the next five years.

The state government also subsidised the cost of land required for the factory and the interest paid by Tata Motors on loans taken to build the project.

Thus, the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) is to provide Industrial Promotion Assistance in the form of a loan to Tata Motors at 0.1 per cent interest a year for amounts equal to gross VAT and CST received by the government of West Bengal in each of the previous year ended March 31 on the sale of each Nano from the date of commencement of sales.

Industrialist K K Birla passes away

2008-08-30T07:15:00.000-07:00

August 30, 2008 10:09 IST

K K Birla, noted industrialist and former Rajya Sabha member, died on Saturday morning at his residence in Kolkata after a brief illness. He was 90.

The Chairman of Hindustan Times and several Birla group of industries is survived by three daughters Nandini Nupani, Shobhana Bhartia, who is vice chairperson and editorial adviser of Hindustan Times, and Jyoti Potddar. Read more

Meet next-gen tech billionaires

2008-08-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

Meet next-gen tech billionaires

Read from Indiatimes
Who says those billions accompany with grey hairs. Meet our next-gen tech billionaires, young, sassy and of course still to go grey. And mind you, we are not talking about rich heirs or those born with a silver spoon.

Part of Forbes Next-Gen Billionaires, these young czars boast of all traits that make our revered grey-haired flock: ambition, passion and aggression.

Most of these soon-to-be-billionaire techies owe their status to the Internet. While one is the name behind Japan's most popular social networking site, other is the founder of Bebo. Also on the list is venture capitalist.

Read From

One of the leading next-gen billionaires are Michael and Xochi Birch, founder's of the popular networking site Bebo. Together the couple command a net worth of $600 million.

Born in 1970, Michael Birch is a computer programmer turned entrepreneur. Married to his college sweet heart Xochi Birch, Micahel founded BirthdayAlarm.com in 2001, along with his brother Paul. The idea was to provide a simple way for people to remember birthdays.

In 2002, England-bred moved to San Francisco where he started Ringo.com which was later sold to tickle.com.

The biggest milestone came in January 2005 when the duo launched social networking site Bebo, which saw its official launch a few months later in July. With over 40 million users, Bebo has today surpassed erstwhile no.1 social network MySpace in several countries.

Later this year (March 2008), the couple sold Bebo to AOL in a $850 million deal, which got them a profit of $595 million. In June 2008, Michael invested in online shop, MyStore.com and joined its board.

He graduated from Imperial College London in BSc Physics.

Mittal street world's fourth most expensive

2008-08-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

Malayala Manorama Indian Newspaper of Malayalam Language from eight places in Kerela

Tuesday,5 August 2008 16:35 hrs IST
Mittal street world's fourth most expensive

London: A Mumbai lane where India's richest person Mukesh Ambani is building a billion-dollar home has joined the league of the world's 10 most expensive streets, but is outranked by over three-times costlier London's Billionaires Row where steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal owns three houses.

Altamount Road in India's financial capital Mumbai has been named as the 10th costliest in a survey of the world's top 10 most expensive streets in the world, while London's Kensington Palace Gardens has been ranked at the fourth place. While the tree-lined street in south of Mumbai is a favourite of India's "very rich," Kensington Palace Gardens area in West London is popularly known as Billionaires Row. It has been home to Late Princess Diana and NRI-billionaire Mittal owns three houses on this street.

In the survey conducted by Wealth-Bulletin, a UK-based online news and analysis provider for global wealth management industry, Avenue Princess Grace in Monaco has been named at the top with a price tag of USD 190,000 per square metre. It is followed by Hong Kong's Severn Road with a price of USD 121,000 per square metre (sq mt) at second and New York City's Fifth Avenue at third place (USD 80,000 per sq mt).

Kensington Palace Gardens has made to the fourth place with a price tag of USD 77,000 per sq mt, while the same for the last-ranked Mumbai's Altamount Road is USD 25,000 per sq mt. Noting that the Mumbai lane has always been a popular choice for homes of India's very rich, Wealth-Bulletin said that the street was "catapulted into the ranks of the world's most expensive when India's wealthiest individual Mukesh Ambani unveiled plans last year to build a residential apartment block on the street at a cost of around USD 1 billion."

Airbus superjumbo lands at New York's JFK - Yahoo! India News

2008-08-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

Airbus superjumbo lands at New York's JFK - Yahoo! India News

Airbus superjumbo lands at New York's JFK

Enlarge Photo The Emirates Airline's Airbus A380 arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York...

Sat, Aug 2 03:00 AM

By Bill Rigby

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Airbus's A380 superjumbo touched down at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday, marking the first commercial arrival of the giant, double-decker passenger plane on U.S. soil.

The Emirates aircraft, carrying 489 passengers, landed smoothly and on time after a 12-1/2 hour flight from Dubai.

The Gulf-based carrier, owned by the government of Dubai, is the second airline to put the A380 into service, following Singapore Airlines, which started A380 flights to Sydney in October.

The plane, costing $327 million at list prices, did visit New York and Los Angeles in March last year for route-testing purposes, but Friday's flight was the first regularly scheduled arrival of an A380 in the United States.

With its huge capacity and relatively fuel-efficient engines, airlines hope the world's biggest passenger jet will be the most cost-effective way of serving high-volume routes linking big cities, especially in light of soaring oil prices.

The touchdown marks a hard-won victory for Airbus, part of aerospace group EADS, which spent $10 billion and more than a decade on Europe's largest industrial project, in the face of widespread skepticism.

Airbus now has orders for about 200 of the planes from 16 airlines, but none from U.S. carriers. The company is still struggling to iron out production problems after an 18-month delay in getting the first one out of its Toulouse, France, plant.

The delays ended up pushing Airbus into loss and toppling its management, and are still causing political aftershocks in France.

OUTSELLING BOEING

Despite problems, the plane is outselling its nearest competitor, Boeing Co's revamped, expanded 747-8 jumbo, known as the Intercontinental.

Boeing, which invented the concept of mass travel over great distances with its original 747 in the 1970s, has sold only 27 passenger 747-8s so far. The plane, which can seat 467 people in a standard layout, is set to fly first in Lufthansa colors in 2010.

While the A380's success may be bad news for Boeing, plenty of U.S. suppliers are providing parts and electronics for the superjumbo, including Honeywell International Inc, Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc, Rockwell Collins Inc and Goodrich Corp.

The engines on the Emirates A380 are also U.S.-made, produced by the Engine Alliance, a joint venture between General Electric Co and Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp.

Emirates, the world's number-seven airline in terms of international passengers, is the biggest buyer of A380s, with 58 on order, worth almost $190 billion at list prices. After New York, it plans to fly the planes to London from December, then Sydney and Auckland from February.

Some 20 airports worldwide are currently able to handle the giant A380, which needs extra-wide runways for its long wingspan and two-tiered facilities for loading and unloading passengers.

Emirates took possession of the plane in a glitzy ceremony in Hamburg on Monday, flying it to Dubai and then over to New York. The plane has 14 first-class suites, two on-board showers and a bar for first-class customers, as well as a lounge for premium passengers.

Emirates, along with regional rivals Qatar Airways, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways and Bahrain's Gulf Air, are expanding their fleets and routes even as European and U.S. carriers find themselves pinched by high fuel prices and waning demand.

Oil-rich United Arab Emirates hopes the new planes will help it transform into a world business and leisure capital in the next few years, aiming to attract 15 million visitors a year by 2012.

ABC News: K-A-P-U-T: Facebook Ditches Scrabulous

2008-07-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

ABC News: K-A-P-U-T: Facebook Ditches Scrabulous

Facebook is set to release its own version of the popular word game Scrabble.When users click, they are taken to a note posted by the game's developers, Indian brothers Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla.

"Dear Friend, Please enter your e-mail address below to receive further updates. Your e-mail will remain with us and shall not be disclosed to third parties. Thank you! Rajat & Jayant."

The decision to remove the application came from the developers, not Facebook, the social network told "In response to a legal request from Hasbro, the copyright and trademark holder for Scrabble in the U.S. and Canada, the developers of Scrabulous have suspended their application in the U.S. and Canada until further notice," the company said in an emailed statement.

Outrage on the Facebook group "Save Scrabulous," the largest group of its kind -- more than 45,000 members strong -- was instantaneous. Fans of the game posted messages littered with words such as "madness" and "travesty," as well as several expletives, and encouraged fans to voice their displeasure to Hasbro, either by calling the customer service line -- or the company's CEO.

"I think this is a very dumb decision by Hasbro. For me and a number of our friends, we haven't thought about playing Scrabble for a long time ... I'll say Scrabulous got my interest in Scrabble again," Dominic Hung, a 28-year-old in Vancouver, British Columbia, wrote to ABCNews.com in an e-mail.

Derek Webster, a 35-year-old graphic designer from Toronto and 8-month player of Scrabulous, said he was disappointed that Scrabulous was pulled. According to Webster, the official online version of Scrabble has too many "bells and whistles."

Webster said he will be protesting via e-mail.
scrabulous
(ABC News/AP/Getty)

"I did send an e-mail off to the American and Canadian e-mail addresses just to say thanks, but no thanks" to the official Scrabble application released earlier this month on Facebook, he said.

Jason Madhosingh, the 30-year-old New Yorker that founded the Save Scrabulous group, says that Hasbro botched a chance to connect with a new generation of would-be Scrabble players.

"I think that the big loss here is that Hasbro has realy missed an opportunity to connec with a passionate fan base," he said. "The lack of engagement ... has an impact on brand preference and how strongly consumers feel about the brand and the company that delivers that brand."

As for the new Scrabble application, Madhosingh says he won't be installing it.

"I think it's something that I think was done in a way that alienated a large group of passionate fans and I'm unwilling to support that," he said.
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Some fans complained that they had problems accessing the official version of Scrabble -- released by Hasbro and video game developer Electronic Arts -- on Facebook today.

"We're working on some tech problems and Scrabble will be ready to play as soon as possible," EA spokeswoman Trudy Miller said in an e-mailed statement. "EA is monitoring feedback from fans, and we are already in the process of making changes that will result in a variety of improvements, including faster game play, leading up to the official launch scheduled for the first half of August."

Hasbro said it was "pleased" with the developments.

"We appreciate Facebook's assistance in expediting this matter. Hasbro has consistently stated that Scrabulous is a blatant infringement of Hasbro's Scrabble intellectual property rights in the United States and Canada," Hasbro said in a statement. "Mattel, holders of the SCRABBLE IP rights outside of the United States and Canada, several months ago also filed a suit which is awaiting a decision by the Indian court."

Scrabulous co-creator Jayant Agarwalla told ABCNews.com in an e-mail that the application was pulled in response to Facebook's concerns.

"We will sincerely hope to bring to our fans brighter news in the days to come," he wrote.

The Scrabulous fracas heated up last week when Hasbro, the owner of Scrabble in the United States and Canada, sued the Agarwalla brothers over intellectual property rights to the board game and asked Facebook to remove the popular application from its site.

In a statement issued late last Thursday, Facebook said it hoped the suit wouldn't discourage other developers from creating applications for the social network.
Related
WATCH: Quixotry: 365-Point Scrabble Word
Scrabble vs. Scrabulous: Hasbro Sues
More T-R-O-U-B-L-E for Scrabulous?

"Over the past year, Facebook has tried to use its status as neutral platform provider to help the parties come to an amicable agreement," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. "We're disappointed that Hasbro has sought to draw us into their dispute; nevertheless, we have forwarded their concerns to Scrabulous and requested their appropriate response."

Scrabulous is played much the same way as Scrabble and is among the top 10 most downloaded applications on Facebook, which has more than 90 million active users. It can also be played online at the brothers' Web site, Scrabulous.com. Despite the application's removal from Facebook, the Scrabulous.com site remained active.

Last year, Hasbro struck a deal with video game maker Electronic Arts to develop digital versions of classic board games.

That deal came to fruition in the past few weeks, as Hasbro launched an online version of the official Scrabble, also downloadable on Facebook.

Hasbro had been mum on what legal action, if any, it would take -- until last week.

"In deference to the fans, we waited in pursuing legal action until EA had a legitimate and better alternative available," Hasbro said in a statement.

Hasbro isn't the first company to bring a licensed Scrabble application to Facebook. In April, RealNetworks, an Internet software provider, launched Scrabble by Mattel on the social networking site. The application allows Facebook members outside the U.S. and Canada — or those who say they live outside the two countries — to play the real Scrabble.

Last year, RealNetworks struck a deal with Mattel, which owns the copyright to Scrabble internationally, to develop online casual games based on several Mattel board games, including Scrabble.

"We've been working with Mattel for a couple of months," RealNetworks spokesman Ryan Luckin said in April. "We do have a similar deal with Hasbro with online rights for Scrabble, so we'll continue to work with them as one of our partners."

Luckin said that RealNetworks is still in talks with the Agarwalla brothers; he declined to reveal details of those discussions.

"At the end of the day no matter what game is out there with a Scrabble trademark on it, it has to be approved by Mattel and Hasbro," he said. "So no matter what happens we want to work with them ... and also make this work for the Scrabulous guys as well."

Future Trouble for Facebook?

The situation calls into question a host of potential legal landmines for Facebook, which allows programmers to develop and upload all sorts of applications to the social networking site.

"The big issue here is what this implies for Facebook," said Tom Hemnes, a Boston-based attorney who specializes in copyright and trademark law. "If I were betting on this, if the case came to litigation or settlement, [I would bet] that Facebook would lose. They are indirectly associated with the name Scrabble to attract viewers to their site, and that would be trademark infringement."

FORTUNE: Techland Cuil not a Google killer - yet «

2008-07-29T02:22:00.000-07:00

FORTUNE: Techland Cuil not a Google killer - yet «

Cuil not a Google killer - yet

By Yi-Wyn Yen

With hours of being launched Monday, Cuil - a new search engine created by former top Google engineers - was already being touted in the blogosphere as the next Google killer. But unless Cuil (pronounced ‘cool’) can develop an ad platform to rival Google’s, Cuil will have a difficult time challenging the search giant.

The comparisons to Google (GOOG) were inevitable. Cuil was founded by several lead engineers from Google, including Anna Patterson, chief architect of the company’sTeraGoogle search index. Cuil also claims its search algorithm scans through 120 billion web pages - three times the number that Google sifts through. And Cuil’s spare start page is reminiscent of Google’s minimalist home page.

The launch of Cuil certainly raised eyebrows at Google. Though the company would not comment on Cuil’s launch, Google’s web search team stuck it to the small search startup on Monday with a blog post that begins, “We knew the web was big…We’ve known it for a long time.”

Cuil representatives did not return phone calls.

Despite the buzz - and Cuil’s PR folks deserve credit for spinning this David v. Goliath story - it would be foolish to start arguing that Cuil will be the next big threat to Google.

“It’s a new kind of technology and platform that is going to unseat a company like Google - not a company that‚s trying to beat them at their own game,” says Scott Kessler, Standard & Poor’s Internet analyst.

Both Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT) have been trying for years to make a dent in Google’s search business. Yahoo (a distant second) and Microsoft (and even more distant third) have spent billions trying to figure out how to close the gap on Google in the lucrative paid search market. Google’s paid search business made up 40% of all online search dollars in 2007, according to eMarketer.

Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer admitted last week to investors that Google has a huge advantage over other search engines because it delivers more relevant ads and has more advertisers in its system.

Yahoo has also admitted that it can’t beat Google at its own game. In June, Yahoo struck a deal with Google to run Google’s superior search advertising technology on Yahoo’s web properties alongside its own search results.

Cuil currently offers no ads on its pages. And the company claims it won’t monitor a user’s search habits in order to target advertising the way Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft do. That’s an ambitious goal. But one of the biggest advantages of Google has over its competitors is that it can provide better search results because it has its massive advertising platform supporting it.

“Google is receiving so many searches per second and gathering incremental information from new [auction] bids and new advertisements that the search engine gets more relevant and powerful,” Kessler say. “It’s self-perpetuating.”

Cuil, which has raised $33 million, could find its niche in search - or become an attractive acquisition for Microsoft, Yahoo or Google itself. The company says it will stand out because it delivers results with images in three columns and it will scour the web more aggressively than the other big search engines. So far, the site has been sporadically down because of the high volume of searches, which often happens to startups on opening day.

2008-07-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

Malayala Manorama Indian Newspaper of Malayalam Language from eight places in Kerela

Sunday,27 July 2008 15:36 hrs IST

Arctic holds 90 billion barrels of oil

Washington: The area north of the Arctic Circle has an estimated 90 billion barrels of recoverable oil, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said.

Included in the Artic bonanza is 1,670 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 44 billion barrels of natural gas liquids, the USGS said in a statement posted on its website.

The Arctic Circle is the name given to the region around the North Pole. It includes the Arctic Ocean, the northern parts of Europe, Asia, North America and the Russian Far East.

The natural resources are distributed in 25 geologically defined areas thought to have potential for petroleum, according to the assessment, which is the first publicly available petroleum resource estimate of the entire area north of the Arctic Circle.

These resources account for about 22 percent of the undiscovered, technically recoverable resources in the world.

The Arctic itself accounts for about 13 percent of the undiscovered oil, 30 percent of the undiscovered natural gas, and 20 percent of the undiscovered natural gas liquids in the world.

About 84 percent of the estimated resources are expected to occur offshore.

"Before we can make decisions about our future use of oil and gas and related decisions about protecting endangered species, native communities and the health of our planet, we need to know what's out there," said USGS director Mark Myers.

"With this assessment, we're providing the same information to everyone in the world so that the global community can make those difficult decisions."

Of the estimated total, more than half the undiscovered oil resources are estimated to occur in three geologic provinces -- Arctic Alaska, the Amerasia Basin, and the East Greenland Rift Basins.

On an oil-equivalency basis, undiscovered natural gas is estimated to be three times more abundant than oil in the Arctic. More than 70 percent of the undiscovered natural gas is estimated to occur in three provinces -- the West Siberian Basin, the East Barents Basins, and Arctic Alaska, the assessment shows.

Till now, exploration for petroleum has already resulted in the discovery of more than 400 oil and gas fields north of the Arctic Circle.

These fields account for approximately 40 billion barrels of oil, more than 1,100 trillion cubic feet of gas, and 8.5 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.

Nano to cost Rs 1 lakh despite plant cost rise

2008-07-17T18:38:00.000-07:00

The Statesman - Indian Newspapers in English Language from two editions.

Nano to cost Rs 1 lakh despite plant cost rise

KOLKATA, July 17: Tata Motors is expected to price its Nano at around one lakh despite cost escalation at their Singur plant but the one time tax you would pay during registration of your newly acquired Nano would go up by Rs 2,000 once the state Legislative Assembly gives its approval to the West Bengal Additional Tax and One Time Tax on Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill. The bill would be placed in the House tomorrow.
The one time tax, payable every five years would go up between Rs 2,000 and 10,000 once the existing Motor Vehicles Act is amended. Battery operated two wheelers and vehicles which enjoyed tax holiday so long would also be brought under tax net for the first time.
Tax on new vehicles with engine capacity of 900 cc owned by individuals or societies would be increased from Rs 8550 to Rs 10550. The Nano would have an engine capacity of 623 cc. The tax on motor cars up to 1490 cc would go up to Rs 13,900 and the special tax for air conditioned cars in this category would be another Rs 7,500.
Again for vehicles upto 2000 cc capacity engine the tax would be Rs 21,800 and the special tax would be nearly Rs 10,000. For vehicles with engine capacity of 2500 cc the tax payable would be Rs 25,000.
State finance minister Mr Asim Dasgupta had announced about the increase in tax during his Budget speech while claiming that this would bring in additional revenue of Rs 15 crore. n SNS

The Five Stupidest iPhone 3G Accessories (So Far) | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

2008-07-17T17:03:00.000-07:00

The Five Stupidest iPhone 3G Accessories (So Far) | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

The Five Stupidest iPhone 3G Accessories (So Far)
By Danny Dumas EmailJuly 16, 2008 | 7:19:24 PMCategories: Avoid At All Costs, iPhone, Reviews

Another iPhone launch, another generation of multicolored condoms, holsters and other miscellaneous polycarbonate crap designed to waste your time and drain your money. As the accessory market for the first-gen iPhone aptly demonstrated, there seems to be no limit to the gimmicky, over-the-top and flat-out useless accessories companies can conjure up for the device. And while it's still early in the 3G game, here's our short list of products whose very existence angers us. We have a strange feeling this list will grow exponentially in the coming months. —Bryan Gardiner

[Editor's note: We've assigned each accessory an A-F grade with "A" being excellent and "F " being your standard epic fail.]

Vshell_iphone3gaction 1. The DLO VideoShell

Part see-through protective case, part iPhone 3G kickstand, the VideoShell saves you the trouble of actually holding your new iPhone, all 4.7 ounces of it. DLO says the stand/case will work on any flat surface. It

Grade: Lazy, transparent and useless. Fail.

$20, dlo.com

Iphone_home_cherry 2. The iWood

If the $200 or $300 you just shelled out for the iPhone, plus the minimum $1,680 you'll be paying over the lifetime of your AT&T contract didn't put enough of a hurting on your checking account, try Minot's iWood case. This ligneous shell costs nearly as much as the 8GB iPhone -- and rumor has it, it's fashioned from Ents! Optional wood dock sold separately. Seriously we're not making this up.

Grade: Chop down a tree to make an iPhone case? Great, I've got a car that runs on baby-seal blood and bald eagles you might like. Fail.

$125, miniot.com

Picture_8 3. Macally Privacy Screen Protective Overlay

You're an important person with an important phone…doing important things. Needless to say, you'll want some privacy while updating your Facebook profile. The Macally privacy screen overlay is just the ticket. Nosey onlookers out of the 60-degree viewing angle won't see a thing on your iPhone, including how horrible you are at Super Monkey Ball.

Grade: You suck at Super Monkey Ball, and by extension, at life. Fail.

$20, macally.com

Another vanity/utility hybrid gem of an accessory from Macally; this screen protector doubles as reflective mirror when your iPhone 3G screen is turned off. Are you more beautiful than your new iPhone? Buy one and find out.

Grade: Perfect for conceited douchebags who need to signal low-flying aircraft. Fail.

$10, macally.com

Speck 5. ClipPod Car Visor and Belt Clip

OK, this one is really an accessory for an iPhone accessory. So meta! Fifteen dollars will buy you a protective pouch for (…wait for it) your Bluetooth headset. Clip it to your belt or car visor and let everyone know how easy it is for you to throw money away.

Grade: An accessory for an accessory. What, are you trying to be ironic? No, you're being an idiot. Fail.

$15, speck.com

And because we're not a bunch of jaded, chain smoking bitter cynics, here's a list of the Top 5 iPhone 3G accessories we absolutely love.

Indian firms make killing out of clean technologies

2008-07-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

tag: green business

Economic Times - Indian Newspapers in English Language from seven editions.

Indian firms make killing out of clean technologies
15 Jul, 2008, 0416 hrs IST,Nitin Sethi, TNN

Save Write to Editor

NEW DELHI: Investments in clean technologies are riding a green wave into India. In 2007, Green India Inc raised $1.4 billion through convertible bonds from the international market even as it picked up $628 million from the domestic stock market.

Indian companies are at the forefront of a trend in global investments in clean technologies like wind and solar power, an increasing drift of money from the developed countries towards developing economies of India, China and Brazil. The United Nations Environment Programme has revealed this in a recent report 'Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investments'.

2007 was a breakthrough year for the Indian green energy corporates, they had never before garnered money from the global market through bonds, a fiscal device that provides medium-level security to investors. Convertible bonds appeal to investors in unsteady markets, as they provide a fixed return with capital appreciation.

While the bond market might have been a new venture for Indian companies, consummate in the well-established wind-energy market in the country, India attracted $2.5 billion for asset finance, up almost four times from the $671 million it had picked up in 2006. As a consequence, the country's wind power capacity grew by 1.7 giga watt in 2007.

Suzlon might have hit a snag with its new exports this year but the potential of the market continues to expand. Venture capital funds and private equity placements hit $265 million, slightly higher than the $236 million that Indian companies had attracted in 2006.

While wind power seems to be drawing most of the investments into India, the role of solar energy is bound to scale up substantially with the National Action Plan on Climate Change promising a ramp-up during the 11th and 12th plans, in both power capacity as well as solar power equipment production.

This push might help India match the substantially higher investments China is attracting at the moment, though clubbed together, the troika of China, India and Brazil are continuing to pull money to the 'South'. Put together, their share of new investment has grown from a paltry 12% in 2004 ($1.8 billion) to 22% ($26 billion) in 2007, an expansion by 14 times in a mere three years.

But, the UNEP report gives a perspective to these figures that otherwise might look impressive. They indicate the creation of a new market which has now found trust in investors but is yet far from its potential. The $145.6 billion of global investment in new renewables in 2007 was merely 9.4% of the total global energy investment and Europe and US were still attracting most of it.

ABC News: Mortgage Mess: IndyMac Bank Fails

2008-07-12T03:39:00.000-07:00

ABC News: Mortgage Mess: IndyMac Bank Fails

Government Shuts Down Mortgage Lender IndyMac
Office of Thrift Supervision steps in and closes IndyMac Bank; FDIC takes over operations
By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer
LOS ANGELES July 11, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press

IndyMac Bank's assets were seized by federal regulators on Friday after the mortgage lender succumbed to the pressures of tighter credit, tumbling home prices and rising foreclosures.

The bank is the largest regulated thrift to fail and the second largest financial institution to close in U.S. history, regulators said.

The Office of Thrift Supervision said it transferred IndyMac's operations to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation because it did not think the lender could meet its depositors' demands.

IndyMac customers with funds in the bank were limited to taking out money via automated teller machines over the weekend, debit card transactions or checks, regulators said.

Other bank services, such as online banking and phone banking were scheduled to be made available on Monday.

"This institution failed today due to a liquidity crisis," OTS Director John Reich said.
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The lender's failure came the same day that financial markets plunged when investors tried to gauge whether the government would have to save mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Shares of Fannie and Freddie dropped to 17-year lows before the stocks recovered somewhat. Wall Street is growing more convinced that the government will have to bail out the country's biggest mortgage financiers, whose failure could deal a tremendous blow to the already staggering economy.

The FDIC estimated that its takeover of IndyMac would cost between $4 billion and $8 billion.

IndyMac's collapse is second only to that of Continental Illinois National Bank, which had nearly $40 billion in assets when it failed in 1984, according to the FDIC.

News of the takeover distressed Alan Sands, who showed up at the company's headquarters in Pasadena, Calif., to find out when he could withdraw his funds.

"Hopefully the FDIC insurance will take care of it," said Sands, of El Monte, Calif. "I'm also kind of kicking myself for not taking care of this sooner, sooner as in the last couple of days."

ABC News: More T-R-O-U-B-L-E for Scrabulous?

2008-07-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

ABC News: More T-R-O-U-B-L-E for Scrabulous?

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Home > Technology & Science
More T-R-O-U-B-L-E for Scrabulous?
Can the Old-School Board Game Compete With Online Copycat?
By ASHLEY PHILLIPS
July 7, 2008

First, members of Facebook fell in love with Scrabulous, an unauthorized, near-identical online copycat of the board game Scrabble; legal issues ensued.
scrabble
(courtesy electronic arts)

Now, after a months-long legal kerfuffle, game publisher Electronic Arts and Hasbro are striking back by launching a Scrabble application on Facebook by month's end.

Hasbro owns the rights to Scrabble in the United States and Canada. Last year, Hasbro struck a deal with Electronic Arts to develop digital versions of classic board games.

The companies will launch a Facebook application of the long-time word game by the end of July; an online version of the game is available now at Pogo.com.

The Scrabulous fracas began in January, when Hasbro tried to get the online copycat yanked offline. Scrabulous, which is played much the same way as Scrabble, was developed by brothers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla in Calcutta, India. The game is among the top 10 most downloaded applications on Facebook and also can be played online at the brothers' Web site, scrabulous.com.

Despite that fight, the Scrabulous application is still available on Facebook.

Hasbro refused to comment on the current legal fight, spokesman Gary Serby told ABCNews.com in an e-mail.

"Hasbro has been consistent in stating that Scrabulous infringes upon our intellectual property, and we are keeping our legal options open," Serby said. "We have no further comment at this time on Scrabulous and our legal strategy going forward."

Earlier this year, Serby refused to comment on reports that Hasbro sent out legal notices to four parties involved in developing and hosting the game.

Hasbro isn't the first company to bring a licensed Scrabble application to Facebook. In April, RealNetworks, an Internet software provider, launched Scrabble by Mattel on the social networking site. The application allows Facebook members outside the U.S. and Canada — or those who say they live outside the two countries — to play the real Scrabble.

Last year, RealNetworks struck a deal with Mattel, which owns the copyright to Scrabble internationally, to develop online casual games based on several Mattel board games, including Scrabble.

"We've been working with Mattel for a couple of months," RealNetworks spokesman Ryan Luckin said in April. "We do have a similar deal with Hasbro with online rights for Scrabble so we'll continue to work with them as one of our partners."

The Statesman - Indian Newspapers in English Language from two editions.

2008-07-07T16:41:00.000-07:00

The Statesman - Indian Newspapers in English Language from two editions.
Exchange of damaged currency

Press Trust of India
MUMBAI, July 7: Exchanging soiled and damaged currency notes with fresh ones has been made easier with the Reserve Bank of India asking banks to set up facilities in this regard at their branches.
Even the mutilated currency notes, with essential features intact, can be exchanged at designated branches of the banks, RBI said while issuing a Master Circular on exchange of notes and coins.
The Master Circular on exchange of notes and coins, issued after six years, asked banks to provide “customer services more actively and vigorously” by providing facilities for exchange of soiled notes at all branches.

The Skylimo: Helicopter pick up service in Bangalore

2008-07-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

Caught in a jam? Heli-hop to your destination
- Chopper metro service launched in Bangalore, surgeon catches flight he would have missed
ANIL BUDUR LULLA

Bangalore, July 4: The southern city has got what many in the metros have desired: a pair of wings to beat the traffic.

Ask Dr David Rajan, who would have missed his 10.15am flight to Coimbatore from the new airport at Devanahalli had he taken the road.

At 8.50am, the sports medicine specialist and his assistant Kandaswamy were still in Electronics City, a good 66km and a three-hour road ride away.

But the 43-year-old doctor from Coimbatore, who was in Bangalore to carry out an emergency operation this morning, knew he would make it in time as he had booked himself on Skylimo, a first-of-its kind helicopter shuttle service in India between locations within a metro. The first commercial flight of the service lifted off today.

A similar service was planned in Mumbai but it never took off. Other cities have chartered chopper services but for rides to nearby towns.

For starters, the Bangalore service, launched by Deccan Aviation — which pioneered low-cost flying in India — is being offered from Electronics City to the new BIAL airport. Electronics City is a hub of IT and multinational companies with several super-speciality hospitals in the vicinity, whom Deccan Aviation wants to target as potential heli-hoppers.

By road, the distance to the airport takes anywhere between two-and-a-half hours and three hours if there is free passage. For software clients and top CEOs used to returning to base the same night or even taking a connecting international flight, the commute time is something they can ill afford. What they can afford is the Skylimo at Rs 5,800 per passenger for a one-way flight.

A one-way ride in a rented Mercedes or BMW costs nearly as much. Even a sedan like the Accent or Baleno will charge upwards of Rs 2,000. The fare in AC taxis works out to approximately Rs 1,000.

“The weather is the only impediment for helicopter operations. Otherwise, it’s an under-20 minute flight,” says Lt Col Rajendra Menon, a former army aviation pilot who commandeered the first commercial Skylimo flight today with three passengers.

The copter — a Bell 206 that can seat four — lifted off around 9, giving a spectacular view of the glass-fronted buildings around Electronics City, crossing the highway where the morning rush hour had already choked the arterial road and flying north towards Devanahalli.

The early morning weather was perfect for the flight and Dr Rajan wondered why the pilot was not following the highway to reach the airport.

“We are flying from south to north in an arc (through east), so we will avoid the city almost entirely and instead fly on its fringes. The distance is approximately 43km as the crow flies,” explained Menon.

Familiar landmarks slipped past as the chopper cruised. From 1,000 feet above, the old HAL airport resembled a ghost town — its terminals, apron, parking bays, cargo godowns, maintenance hangars and taxiway looking desolate. Just five weeks ago, it was a hub of activity with over 600 aircraft movements per day till the civilian air traffic shifted to the new airport. With poor connectivity and

the government struggling with oft-advanced deadlines to improve the

road to Devanahalli, a helicopter ride is the right prescription, especially for those who can afford.

“It’s a breeze,” exclaimed the usually calm Dr Rajan as he travelled at 180km per hour, whizzing over the clogged roads below. The surgeon had a harrowing time reaching the city from the airport yesterday morning as he was caught in one of the vicious traffic snarls Bangalore is becoming notorious for.

In the distance, BIAL loomed on the horizon as the helicopter flew over vineyards that Devanahalli is famous for. The copter settles comfortably into the large letter H marked on the ground. The total flight duration was 19 minutes, including 15 spent in the air, said Menon.

Kandaswamy looks anxiously at his watch, while Dr Rajan can't believe

it. His 10.15am flight to Coimbatore was still an hour away, this when he was struggling to reach the Electronics City helipad at 8.50 am.

A waiting Innova would take him and his assistant to the departure terminal, a minute’s drive.

Deccan Aviation plans to pick up and drop passengers at several city points –HAL airport, Palace Grounds, Whitefield and later even from UB City near Cubbon Park where a rooftop helipad is awaiting clearance.

Flying to the city points will cost a passenger Rs 4,800. Talks are on with HAL airport as it has become a defence airport now and needs to get special clearance to allow the Skylimo services.

The Palace Grounds, a vast lung space owned by the erstwhile Mysore maharajas, is embroiled in litigation over ownership. “As no permanent constriction activity

can take place, we are asking the owners to put up a temporary lounge

and maintenance room,” Deccan Aviation executive director Col

Jayant Pooviah said.

Pooviah expects Skylimo traffic to pick up towards the end of the year

as word gets around. “There are several IT companies who have come

forward to enquire. We are thankful to Infosys for letting us use

their pad and Bangalore International Airport Limited which gave us a separate area to set up operations,” Pooviah said. The company is willing to press in the larger Bell 407 which seats six passengers if bookings soar.

India's Economy Hits the Wall by Manjeet Kripalani

2008-07-02T01:22:00.000-07:00

India's Economy Hits the Wall
Growth is slipping, stocks are down 40%, and foreign stock market investors are fleeing. Businessmen blame the ruling coalition for failing to make reforms

by Manjeet Kripalani
Asia

Just six months ago, India was looking good. Annual growth was 9%, corporate profits were surging 20%, the stock market had risen 50% in 2007, consumer demand was huge, local companies were making ambitious international acquisitions, and foreign investment was growing. Nothing, it seemed, could stop the forward march of this Asian nation.

But stop it has. In the past month, India has joined the list of the wounded. The country is reeling from 11.4% inflation, large government deficits, and rising interest rates. Foreign investment is fleeing, the rupee is falling, and the stock market is down over 40% from the year's highs. Most economic forecasts expect growth to slow to 7%—a big drop for a country that needs to accelerate growth, not reduce it. "India has gone from hero to zero in six months," says Andrew Holland, head of proprietary trading at Merrill Lynch India (MER) in Mumbai. Many in India worry that the country's hard-earned investment-grade rating will soon be lost and that the gilded growth story has come to an end.

Global circumstances—soaring oil prices and the subprime crisis that dried up the flow of foreign funds—are certainly to blame. But so is New Delhi. Much of the crisis India faces today could have been avoided by skillful planning. India imports 75% of its oil to meet demand, which have grown exponentially as its economy expands. The government also subsidizes 60% of the price of such fuels as diesel. In 2007, when inflation was a low 3%, economists such as Standard & Poor's Subir Gokarn urged New Delhi to start cutting subsidies. Instead, the populist ruling Congress government spent $25 billion on waiving loans made to farmers and hiking bureaucrats' salaries.
Botched Opportunities

Now those expenditures, plus an additional $25 billion on upcoming fertilizer subsidies, is adding $100 billion a year—or 10% of India's gross domestic product, or equivalent to the country's entire collection of income taxes—to the national bill. This at a time when India needs urgently to spend $500 billion on new infrastructure and more on upgrading education and health-care facilities. The government's official debt, which dropped below 6% of gross domestic product last year, will now be closer to 10% this year. "Starting last year, the government missed key opportunities" to fix the economy, says Gokarn. In fact, he adds, "there has been no significant reform done at all in the past four years"—the time the Congress coalition has been in power.

Even the most bullish on India are hard-pressed to recall any significant economic reforms made in the recent past. A plan to build 30 Special Economic Zones is virtually suspended because New Delhi has not sorted out how to acquire the necessary land, a major issue in both urban and rural India, without a major social and political upheaval. Agriculture, distorted by fertilizer subsidies and technologically laggard, is woefully unproductive. Simple and nonpolitical reforms, like strengthening the legal system and adding more judges to the courtrooms, have been ignored.

A June 16 report by Goldman Sachs' (GS) Jim O'Neill and Tushar Poddar, Ten Things for India to Achieve Its 2050 Potential, is a grim reminder that India has fallen to the bottom of the four BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) in its growth scores, due largely to government inertia. The report states that India's rice yields are a third those of China and half of Vietnam's. While 60% of the country's labor force is employed in agriculture, farming contributes less than 1% to overall growth. The report urges India to improve governance, raise educational achievement, and control inflation. It also advises reining in profligate expenditures, liberalizing its financial markets, increasing agricultural productivity, and improving infrastructure, the environment, and energy use. "The will to implement all these needs leadership," points out Poddar.

"We have a government in New Delhi with the best brains, the dream team," he says, referring to Oxford-educated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Harvard-educated Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. "If they don't deliver, then what?"
Disillusioned Business

More worried than most are India's businessmen, who have turned in stellar performances with their investment and entrepreneurial drive and begun to look like multinational players. For them, there's plenty at stake. But lack of infrastructure, from new ports to roads, along with an undeveloped corporate bond market and high prices for real estate, commodities, and talent, are causing them to hit "choke points and structural impediments all over. We will lose years," says Bombay investor Chetan Parikh of of Jeetay Investments.

Sanjay Kirloskar, chief executive of Kirloskar Brothers (KRBR.BO), a premier $470 million maker of water pumps, already has $100 million in overseas contracts. Yet few infrastructure contracts have come from New Delhi. Kirloskar had hoped to be part of a grand project linking India's rivers, but those plans have been on hold for four years. "The infrastructure growth we had hoped for has not come about," he says. "Instead, we will now expand overseas more than in India."

Such constraints on growth at home will have an impact. Corporate earnings growth is likely to dip, says Merrill Lynch's Holland, who now predicts just 10% growth, instead of the previous year's 20%. That slowdown makes it less attractive for foreigners to invest in India's stock market. Already this year, foreigners have taken $5.5 billion out of the market, compared with the $19 billion they invested last year. Gagan Banga, chief executive of India Bulls Financial Services, an emerging finance and real estate giant, points admiringly to China's ability to maintain its growth momentum for a decade, while India's has not been able to hold up for even three years. "Serious companies are going to grow at a much slower pace, and some may even de-grow this year," he says. Unless major policy decisions are made by New Delhi immediately to keep the economy on the growth path, he says, "India will slow down even further."

New Delhi defends its four year reign in India. "We've had 9% growth for four years in a row," says Sanjaya Baru, media adviser to Prime Minister Singh. "That is unprecedented." He attributes it to the increasing rate of investment, up from 28% of GDP to 35% currently, "close to most ASEAN economies," though he admits that a large part is from the private sector. "Yes, there is a fiscal problem, but there's a price to be paid for coalition politics," adds Baru. So having growth drop "from 9% to 7% is not grim."
Social Backlash?

Chetan Modi, head of Moody's India, says the increasingly high cost of doing business in India may force global investors who had set up base in India—especially financial-services players—to move to more affordable and efficient hubs, such as Singapore and Hong Kong. If the economy slows and inflation continues to accelerate, says Sherman Chan, economist at Moody's Economy.com, "social unrest is possible."

In fact, India is becoming a dangerous social cauldron. The wealth harvested by the reforms of previous governments has made itself evident in the luxury cars and apartments in India's big cities, leaving much of India full of aspirations but few means to achieve them. There is a severe shortage of colleges, yet a plan to build 1,500 universities gathers dust. The Communists in the ruling coalition are against both globalization and industrialization, so without new factories being built, employment growth has been almost stagnant, rising to just 2%—a disappointing rate in a country where an estimated 14 million youths enter the workforce every year, but just 1 million get jobs in the regulated, above-ground economy.

Meanwhile, few expect any bold moves New Delhi, especially with national elections due in 2009 and five important state elections scheduled before the end of this year. Thus far, the ruling Congress party's record has been poor; it has lost almost every state election this year and is likely to lose all five of the upcoming ones.

The big hope for a return to the course of reform in India, businessmen hope, will be a new government in New Delhi next year. The gravest danger is that India's messy coalition politics will bring into power another indecisive alliance that will keep the country in policy limbo for another five years. If so, says S&P's Gokarn, it's a meltdown scenario: growth slipping below 6.5%, accelerating the chances of India reverting to its 1991 status when it was plunged into a balance-of-payments crisis.

Kripalani is BusinessWeek's India bureau chief.

India's New Capitalists by Harish Damodaran Reviewd by CP Chandrasekhar

2008-07-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

Frontline
Volume 25 - Issue 14 :: Jul. 05-18, 2008
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU

BOOKS

Roots of capital

C.P. CHANDRASEKHAR

India's New Capitalists: Caste, Business and Industry in a Modern Nation by Harish Damodaran; Permanent Black in Association with The New India Foundation, Ranikhet, 2008; pages xxiii+341, Rs. 695

Here is an important contribution to the still limited corpus of work on the evolution of India’s capitalist class.

INDIAN industrialisation or the emergence and growth of factory production has a long history, with its origins normally dated to 1854. Include large-scale trade and commercial services and the history of Indian business is even longer. Yet, Harish Damodaran argues, in his book (perhaps not too accurately) titled India’s New Capitalists, that Indian entrepreneurship has often been presented as being restricted to a few communities/castes traditionally linked with commerce and geographically concentrated in a few States and regions. This book takes a long-period, cross-country perspective to challenge this view.

Factually, it suggests, the evidence is to the contrary. To start with, during the colonial period, the post-Independence years and, perhaps, in heightened fashion over the past three decades, there was a more diverse set of entrepreneurs who made a mark in modern business than has been captured in extant business history. Quite a few of those entrepreneurs built empires that have sustained themselves and grown. They came from varied origins along very different trajectories, placed by Harish Damodaran in these major categories: those who followed the traditional ‘bazaar-to-factory’ route; and those whose experience reflects the not-so-traditional ‘office-to-factory’ and ‘farm-to-factory’ trajectories that “democratised” Indian capitalism and brought into business castes that were believed to abjure or were considered to be shut out of such activity.

The richness of the book lies in the multi-level structure it adopts to support this perspective. From secondary sources, primary material and interviews the author has garnered a wealth of material in the form of case studies that identify India’s diverse capitalists, their origins, their, often unusual, traverse to industry, the factors that influenced their success and the role of community links and organisations in ensuring the success of those who did succeed. Much of this material is woven into a narrative that can be taxing to absorb because of the detail, but is rich with information and insight. Some of it is in the form of case studies that highlight features that the author wants to draw attention to.

At various points this detailed micro-level narrative is broken to raise issues that belong to a second plane in the argument. Thus, Damodaran examines the role of Arthur Cotton’s irrigation works in improving the living standards and advancing the educational attainments of the monsoon-dependent and flood-prone Kamma peasantry of coastal Andhra, which in turn facilitated their movement into industry. He captures the role of “Cambodia” cotton, introduced in Kongunad in 1904, in triggering a process that resulted in the Gounders and Naidus, who were not the traditional mercantile communities of Tamil Nadu, playing a role in the conversion of the “landlocked” region around Coimbatore into the Manchester of the South and the location for a large number of foundries and engineering units. He analyses the factors that enabled the so-called “lower” toddy-tapping castes and communities such as the Nadars and the Ezhavas to take to commercial activity that varied from match and cracker production, through printing, to the manufacture of coir products and the hotel business.
Macro issues

This micro-narrative and meso-level discussion then forms the basis for investigating a number of “macro” issues. Why did the Brahmins of the North not display the same degree of entrepreneurial dynamism as those in the South and the West of the country? Why did the agricultural communities of the North demonstrate a similar failing when compared with their Southern and Western counterparts? And how has the solidarity ensured by caste and community relationships, which facilitated the emergence of a bourgeoisie among groups that were not traditionally commercial, been affected by the penetration of the capitalist ethic?

In answer to the first of these questions Damodaran refers to a host of “intertwined cultural, historical as well as economic factors”. The fact that the Brahmins of the West and the South were affected by the inroads of colonialism and those of the northern hinterland “were insulated from the winds of change blowing right through the late colonial era” shaped their entrepreneurial potential. The former took to modern education early and, therefore, could make up for what they lacked in capital “with their knowledge of English and technical education – important ingredients for establishing contacts and starting complex industries, often through foreign collaborations and licensing arrangements”.

When moving to his analysis of a similar difference between North Indian farming communities and their Western and Southern counterparts, the argument turns more structural. The environment in the West and the South is seen as having been conducive for the traverse from the field to the boardroom since the traditional mercantile communities, such as the Chettiars and the Komatis, exercised no decisive stranglehold over business. On the other hand, in the North the “Banias, Marwaris and Khatris have been ubiquitous in commodity and money markets”, which, according to Damodaran, “made the entry point for affluent capitalist farmers not terribly inviting even in areas such as agro-processing”. This could have played a role in the differential regional success of Brahmins as entrepreneurs as well.

The book concludes with the suggestion that the argument about the democratisation of Indian capitalism should not be pushed too far. As has been often noted, while there have been many instances of the emergence of a capitalist class among minorities such as Christians and Muslims, it has been, especially in the case of Muslims, much less than warranted by their share in the population and distribution across the country. And the democratisation of capitalism has stopped at the Dalit frontier: there is yet no clear sign of the emergence of a Dalit bourgeoisie.
A corrective

The terrain covered and the arguments advanced make Damodaran’s well-researched book an important contribution to the still limited corpus of work on the evolution of India’s capitalist class. It also serves as a much-needed corrective to the many biases that have characterised business history scholarship relating to India. But as any good book does, it leaves the reader thirsting for more. The book offers the reader a lavish diet of micro detail. Combining this with some more discussion of the fascinating meso- and macro-level questions that the author raises would have (perhaps) been a legitimate reward for a reader who has invested the effort to follow the rich (but unavoidably tedious) detail relating to the experiences of individual capitalists, their families and their communities. But then, one cannot ask for everything in a single book.

Finally, given the author’s project, it may have been useful to link the discussion to the rich post-Independence literature analysing the nature and evolution of the representative unit of capital in India, the business group. While there are references to the work of R.K. Hazari (but unfortunately not Aurobindo Ghose) and to the reports of the Monopolies Inquiry Commission and the Industrial Licensing Policy Enquiry Committee, these works are most often used to identify the rank of a particular group among the top business groups of the country. But there was a larger question which these studies explicitly or implicitly addressed: why was there a tendency for a few business groups to recur among the top few producers in a wide range of rudimentary industrial groups, and for them to account for a disproportionate share of assets and sales in the private corporate sector?

The answer to that question had many aspects, but one that was of particular significance was the ability of these traditionally dominant business groups to use state intervention, especially in the form of licensing, as an instrument to create barriers to the entry of new entrepreneurs. As a result, while new groups and entrepreneurs did emerge, theirs numbers were limited and they were very often restricted to new areas that were by definition not the bases of the traditional monopolies. This changed only when licensing was diluted or dismantled in particular industries or when certain new capitalists were able to influence or manipulate state policy. The implications of the complex relationship between the state and Indian capitalists (old and new) is an aspect that is substantially missing in the discussion in the book. But, as noted earlier, it would be wrong to look for everything in one place.

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Internet to get new domain names

2008-06-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

Internet to get new domain names
27 Jun 2008, 1149 hrs IST,AP

NEW YORK: The Internet's key oversight agency relaxed rules Thursday to permit the introduction of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of new Internet domain names to join ".com," making the first sweeping changes in the network's 25-year-old address system.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers unanimously approved the new guidelines as weeklong meetings in Paris concluded. ICANN also voted unanimously to open public comment on a separate proposal to permit addresses entirely in non-English languages for the first time.

New names won't start appearing until at least next year, and ICANN won't be deciding on specific ones quite yet. The organization still must work out many details, including fees for obtaining new names, expected to exceed $100,000 apiece to help ICANN cover up to $20 million in costs.

Domain names help computers find Web sites and route e-mail. Adding new suffixes can make it easier for Web sites to promote easy-to-remember names -- given that many of the best ones have been claimed already under ".com."

New names could cover locations such as ".nyc" and ".berlin" or industries such as ".bank." The hefty application fees could curb a rush for individual vanity names, though larger companies might claim brands like ".disney."

The new guidelines would make it easier for companies and groups to propose new suffixes. ICANN had accepted bids in 2000 and 2004, but reviews took much time, and one -- ".post" for postal services --remains pending more than four years later. Ultimately, only 13 have been approved in those two rounds.

The streamlined guidelines call for applicants to go through an initial review phase, during which anyone may raise an objection on such grounds as racism, trademark conflicts and similarity to an existing suffix. If no objection is raised, approval would come quickly.

Some ICANN board members expressed concerns that the guidelines could turn the organization into a censorship regime, deciding what could be objectionable to someone, somewhere in the world.

"If this is broadly implemented, this recommendation would allow for any government to effectively veto a string that makes it uncomfortable," said Susan Crawford, a Yale law professor on the board. She voted in favor of the rule changes, but called for more clarity later.

None of the new names is likely to dethrone ".com" as the world's leader, and critics fear new suffixes will merely force companies and organisations to spend more money registering names such as "microsoft.paris" simply so others can't. Legal battles are possible over common but trademarked names like ".apple."

The other proposal before ICANN would permit addresses entirely in non-English characters for the first time. Specific countries would be put on a "fast track" to receive the equivalent of their two-letter country code, such as Bulgaria's ".bg," in a native language.

The ICANN board said it would seek public comment on the guidelines before its next major meeting in November.

Demand for such names has been increasing around the world as Internet usage expands to people who cannot speak English or easily type English characters. Addresses partly in foreign languages are sometimes possible today, but the suffix has been limited to 37 characters: a-z, 0-9 and the hyphen.

In other action, ICANN approved recommendations designed to clamp down on domain name tasting -- the online equivalent of buying new clothes on a charge card only to return them for a full refund after wearing them to a big party.

A loophole in registration policies now allows entrepreneurs to grab domain names risk-free for up to five days to see whether they generate enough traffic and advertising dollars. That practice ties up millions of Internet addresses, making it even more difficult for individuals and businesses to find good names in the crowded ".com" space.

The new guidelines would withhold refunds if too many are returned

'India created more jobs in US than US did here' - Kamal Nath

2008-06-13T09:17:00.000-07:00

'India created more jobs in US than US did here'
Aziz Haniffa in Washington DC

Taking on critics of outsourcing to India and the alleged loss of American jobs in the process, India's Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath asserted that Indian investments in the United States in the last two years had created more jobs in the US that American investment in India has.

In an interactive session with PBS television's talk show host Charlie Rose at the 33rd anniversary summit of the US-India Business Council, Nath said, "Indian investment in the United States in the last two years is more than the US investment in India in the last two years, and India has created more jobs in the US than the US has created in India."

"Now, the Democrats must hear this," he said, to which Rose quipped and asked if it were a campaign statement.

Nath said that "trade and investment is now a two-way street," and pointed out that American exports to India "went up by over 70 per cent last year. That's not a small thing."

"Why are they going up? Because India is a healthy economy and that's what I keep saying not only to the US, but to all developed countries," he said. "That you must ensure that there are healthy economies in developing countries and it's a great market for developed countries."

Nath said that the US needs to understand this "because healthy economies in developing countries mean greater markets. It's no use being a country of one billion people if you have no ability to buy anything."

Asked if India's remarkable growth rate would continue, Nath said there was no doubt about it and added, "We projected that we would be getting close to 10 per cent growth, but global economic outlook being what it is, we revised it downward to 8.5 per cent. Now, that itself is good."

Nath said this confidence and optimism were borne out of a notion that because of the "strong fundamentals," the Indian economy has "built up a momentum of its own and we are confident this momentum will continue whatever be the global economic outlook."

However, he acknowledged that the 3 F's -- fuel, food and finance -- were certainly cause for concern not just for India but for the whole world, and recalled that "they weren't there when I came to the USIBC last year."

Nath also said the sub-prime loan crisis that has devastated the US housing market and led to unprecedented foreclosures in the country and plunged the country into what many economists say is indeed a recession with worldwide implications, would not impact on India.

"We are quite decoupled from it," he said. "There has been no exposure by the Indian financial system to the sub-prime crisis, but of course if there is slowdown in the US, it does affect us."

But Nath said that "more important is the sentiment and that's what we need to guard against -- this sentiment of gloom. The sentiment of gloom is worse than the gloom itself, and that's what drives markets -- this sentiment and this frenzy that goes around. (But) It's not there in India."

He argued that the impact of this crisis is minimal "because our growth is not export-market driven -- it's domestic market driven. So, that keeps us in a little bit of a less vulnerable position," unlike other Asian countries whose economies are largely export-driven.

Nath also took exception to the allegations that India was responsible with its export ban for the worldwide shortage of rice, saying that "we banned the exports of only the cheap quality rice. If you want to buy rice from India, buy the good quality one. Why do you want to buy the cheap quality one."

He said, "Keep the cheap quality one for our 300 million people who earn less than $1 a day."

Nath also said the criticism that India was attempting to kill the Doha Round of global trade negotiations was "unfair and inaccurate."

He said that "India needs as much as the US, a rule-based multilateral trading system. So, for us, the Doha Round is as important as it is for the US."

But Nath asserted that "this round really needs to respect sensitivities. The United States has sensitivities on subsidies. Some countries have sensitivities on bananas. There is huge issue on coconuts. There are whole issues on tropical fruits. There are whole issues on subsistence. This round will close with each other respecting sensitivities. We need to harmonize these sensitivities."

"We are not going to get everything," he acknowledged. "No country is going to get everything, but no country is going to give away everything."

Nath said, "I don't criticize the US, I enlighten them. But we have moved forward since we were two years ago, where we were two months ago, and we continue to move forward."

The final question by Rose to the articulate and humorous Nath was that it used to be said that "every Senator in Washington used to look in the mirror in the morning and see a future president. When you look in the mirror in the morning do you see a future prime minister?"

The 600 plus audience cracked up and engaged in sustained applause, when Nath replied: "Well, I see myself. And, there's nothing better than seeing yourself."

Roadrunner the Fastest Computer performs 1,000 trillion calculations per second

2008-06-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

Scientists Develop Fastest Computer
Weapons lab develops world's fastest computer dubbed Roadrunner
By H. JOSEF HEBERT Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON June 9, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press

Supercomputer
Lead engineer Don Grice of IBM inspects the world's fastest computer in the company's Poughkeepsie, NY plant.
(IBM)

Scientists unveiled the world's fastest supercomputer on Monday, a $100 million machine that for the first time has performed 1,000 trillion calculations per second in a sustained exercise.

The technology breakthrough was accomplished by engineers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory and IBM Corp. on a computer to be used primarily on nuclear weapons work, including simulating nuclear explosions.

The computer, named is twice as fast as IBM's Blue Gene system at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which itself is three times faster than any of the world's other supercomputers, according to IBM.

"The computer is a speed demon. It will allow us to solve tremendous problems," said Thomas D'Agostino, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees nuclear weapons research and maintains the warhead stockpile.
Related
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But officials said the computer also could have a wide range of other applications in civilian engineering, medicine and science, from developing biofuels and designing more fuel-efficient cars to finding drug therapies and providing services to the financial industry.

To put the computer's speed in perspective, it has roughly the computing power of 100,000 of today's most powerful laptops stacked 1.5 miles high, according to IBM. Or, if each of the world's 6 billion people worked on hand-held computers for 24 hours a day, it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner computer can do in a single day.

The IBM and Los Alamos engineers worked six years on the computer technology.

Some elements of the Roadrunner can be traced back to popular video games, said David Turek, vice president of IBM's supercomputing programs. In some ways, he said, it's "a very souped-up Sony PlayStation 3."

"We took the basic chip design (of a PlayStation) and advanced its capability," said Turek.

But the Roadrunner supercomputer, named after the New Mexico state bird, is nothing like a video game.

Apple Releases 3G iPhone with a faster Internet connection

2008-06-09T17:50:00.000-07:00

Sexy Skinny: Apple Releases 3G iPhone
New iPhone Gets Faster Internet, Longer Battery Life
By JORDAN ROBERTSON
June 9, 2008

Apple Inc. unveiled an upgraded iPhone Monday with a faster Internet connection and GPS capabilities -- and priced $200 lower than current models.
Apple's newest, fastest phone is just $199.

Analysts have said Apple needed to slash the multimedia gadget's price and upgrade it to work over so-called 3G, or third-generation, wireless networks to hit the company's target of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.

An 8 gigabyte model is to sell for $199 starting July 11. A 16 gigabyte model will cost $299. They'll come in a black case with a white case optional on one model. The devices are to roll out initially in 22 countries.

Apple has inked deals for wireless carriers in a total of 70 countries to carry the new iPhone.

Apple's participation in the cell phone market has been hurt by complaints about the year-old iPhone's data download speeds, which can make simple tasks like sending pictures over e-mail or downloading Internet videos painfully slow.

The original iPhones operate on so-called 2.5G networks. The upgrade in performance from those networks to 3G will be similar to the difference between a dial-up Internet connection and a high-speed broadband connection.

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said the computer chips used on the faster network sapped too much battery life and were too bulky when the iPhone was being designed so the company decided to wait to improve the device until better chip technology emerged that could fit the iPhone's slim design.

The addition of global-positioning technology improves the iPhone's accuracy in locating users. Current versions use a combination of cell phone towers and Wi-Fi locations to help users figure out where they are.

Jobs showed off the phone at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. His announcements were widely expected.

Free Broadband Plan Delayed

2008-06-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

FCC Chief's Free Broadband Plan Delayed
By JOHN DUNBAR Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON June 6, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press

A plan by the nation's top telecommunications regulator to provide free wireless high-speed Internet service hit a snag this week over concerns about possible interference and a proposed censoring feature that upset free speech advocates.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin told The Associated Press on Thursday that the plan will not be voted on at the June 12 meeting as first promised, but he hopes to present it to the full commission in July.

"I want to be clear that I am still very supportive of the cause of providing a lifeline broadband service across the country," he said.

Under the plan, the FCC would auction 25 megahertz of spectrum — a sizable chunk — to a single bidder who would use it to build a nationwide network and dedicate about 25 percent of it for the broadband service.

The concept first was envisioned by wireless startup M2Z Networks Inc. of Menlo Park, Calif. The company asked the FCC to let it use the same frequencies in the current plan so it could offer a free nationwide broadband service.

In exchange, the company would pay the federal government a percentage of revenues earned on sales generated from advertising on the resulting network.

The FCC rejected the proposal because it meant giving the airwaves to the company without it bidding against other carriers for the rights.

Martin said some wireless companies whose frequencies are near those of the proposed network voiced concerns that it may create interference. He also said some were worried about a plan to filter offensive content that could be accessed on the network that might be inappropriate for children.

The chairman said he supports allowing adults to opt out of the filtered service.

Martin said he decided not to put the issue on the June agenda to give other commissioners more time to consider the proposal.

Under Martin's tentative plan, the network that would be built using the airwaves must reach 50 percent of the population in four years and 95 percent after 10 years.

Microsoft's India MD Neelam Dhawan to join Hewlett-Packard

2008-06-06T17:58:00.001-07:00

Microsoft's India MD Neelam Dhawan to join Hewlett-Packard
6 Jun 2008, 2109 hrs IST,PTI

NEW DELHI: In a major setback to IT giant Microsoft, its India Managing Director Neelam Dhawan has decided to call it quits and will join Hewlett-Packard.

"I am sorry to announce that Neelam Dhawan will be leaving Microsoft to join HP as the Managing Director of HP India," Microsoft India Chairman Ravi Venkatesan said in a statement.

"We are losing a strong leader who has, over the past three years, helped position Microsoft very strongly in the Indian market. We wish her continued success in all her endeavours," he added.

He, however, said Dhawan's move would only strengthen Microsoft's relationship with one of its most important partners, HP.

"Being a part of the leadership team at Microsoft India has been one of the most rewarding roles of my professional life and the decision to leave was a difficult one to make. I am, of course, excited about my new role at HP, and the opportunity it gives me to further strengthen the partnership between the two companies," Dhawan said.

Dhawan joined Microsoft India in March 2005, and was responsible for the business strategy of the company. Her last working day at Microsoft would be June 30, 2008.

Threat from Sahara Depositors to RBI

2008-06-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

Thursday, June 05, 2008
Sahara fallout: UP orders security to RBI
Blue Star

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has directed all district police chiefs to ensure the security of all establishments of the RBI after it apprehended security threats from depositors and collection agents of Sahara India Financial Corporation Limited (SIFCL) which was prohibited from accepting deposits.

"In a bid to maintain law and order in the state, we have directed district police chiefs to ensure the security of RBI establishments in state and SIFCL also," Secretary (Home) Mahesh Kumar Gupta told reporters today.

Asked about the reasons of providing security to SIFCL, Gupta said the decision was taken to ensure law and order.

He said that after yesterday's decision RBI Deputy General Manager, Lucknow, Ram Sudhar had requested the UP government to provide security as it apprehended trouble from depositors and collecting agents of SIFCL.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Atul Kumar Gupta in a letter written to Executive Director, RBI, Mumbai G. Gopal Krishnan said nothing seems to have been done to satisfactorily address the concerns of depositors.

Mentioning the letter of DGM, RBI Lucknow, Gupta said it did not mention anything about how the interests of depositors would be protected and what steps were being taken to satisfy the apprehensions and queries of the depositors.

The Chief Secretary said in the letter that it appeared imperative that RBI clarified to the depositors at large how their interests were being protected and what it was doing to ensure it.

"The RBI order to SIFCL to repay the deposits as and when they mature will not provide any comfort to depositors in the absence of such an assurance," it said.

Gupta requested the RBI official to issue a press release explaining to the depositors the steps being taken by it to ensure protection of their interests.

"The UP government should have been taken into confidence sufficiently in advance to prepare for law and order arrangements and not presented with a fait accompli," the Chief Secretary's letter to Gopalkrishnan said.

Meanwhile, the Sahara Group is all set to approach the Supreme Court Friday to ensure that no ex-parte order is passed against the company's para-banking operations.

"The caveat is likely to be filed in the apex court tomorrow and I have given instructions to the company," Senior advocate Prashant Chandra, who appeared for the Sahara Group in the Allahabad High Court today, told PTI.

"We are expecting that RBI will appeal against the High order," he said.

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court today stayed the RBI ban on Sahara's para-banking company from taking fresh deposits.

© Copyright 2008 PTI. All rights reserved.

Mail through Short Message Service enabled

2008-06-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

Mail through Short Message Service enabled

Bangalore: One can now send an e-mail from one's mobile phone without enabling GPRS/Internet facility but through short message service (SMS).

This innovative service was launched by Bangalore-based MyDuniya Networks Private Limited, a player in `beyond voice' applications for mobile consumers.

With this service, all that a user has to do is send an SMS to 53695 (Airtel Service) and then can send an e-mail, save and retrieve personal information, send a file to an e-mail address, share and access contact information. One can also participate in interactive group messaging.

MyDuniya Networks Founder and Chairman Jagadish Kini said at present these services are operational with Airtel in Karnataka and would be expanded with national coverage shortly. The company is in dialogue with other operators for integration in near future. Subscribers to operators other than Airtel need to send SMS to 99801-53695 to avail this service.

"MyDuniya platform brings processing power of the web and reach of the mobile to provide simple and useful applications", Kini said. Company CEO Subramanian noted that SMS is the most widely used non-voice service. "Our services are designed with consumer choice, convenience and usability as focal points", he said.

© Copyright 2008 HT Media Ltd. All rights reserved.

Icahn to seek removal of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang - WSJ

2008-06-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

Icahn to seek removal of Yahoo CEO Yang - WSJ

Wed, Jun 4 01:11 AM

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn would seek to remove Jerry Yang as chief executive of Yahoo Inc if Icahn succeeded in a proxy battle against the company over its failure to reach a deal with Microsoft Corp, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Icahn has proposed an alternate slate of directors for Yahoo's board, but has yet to directly target Yang over the breakdown in talks early this month for a $47.5 billion deal.

"It's no longer a mystery to me why Microsoft's offer isn't around," the Journal quoted Icahn as saying. "How can Yahoo keep saying they're willing to negotiate and sell the company on the one hand, while at the same time they're completely sabotaging the process without telling anyone?"

Icahn cited details from court documents related to a shareholder suit that were unsealed on Monday. The documents showed how Yahoo had taken steps to rebuff a Microsoft takeover bid months before the software maker made its offer public on Feb. 1.

The shareholder lawsuit argued that Yahoo had taken aggressive steps to block a deal, including the adoption of a costly plan to retain employees, leading up to a breakdown in negotiations.

The Journal said Yahoo's board was due to meet on Tuesday. Icahn and Yahoo officials were not immediately available.

Yahoo shares were down 35 cents or 1.3 percent to $26.05 on the Nasdaq.

Bill Gates signals end of computer mouse era

2008-05-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

Bill Gates signals end of computer mouse era
Friday, 30 May , 2008, 17:50

London: Microsoft is developing a system that could spell an end to the use of computer mouse, Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft, said.

"The way you interact with the system will change dramatically," the billionaire said at a conference in Canada, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph today.

He said that computer users of the future would control their machines by voice and pen as well as touch. Users of Windows - 7 will issue commands by touching the screen rather than by the traditional keyboard and mouse combination that has dominated since the 1970s.

Windows - 7 is due to be released in 2010 and is Microsoft's attempt to catch up with Apple, whose touch screen iPhone has proved popular.

Touch screens are appearing on a host of other devices, including satellite navigation (sat-navs), mobile phones and remote controls. A touch screen BlackBerry is also expected shortly.

History of Gulf Oil discovery

2008-05-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

May 26, 1908: Mideast Oil Discovered — There Will Be Blood
By Randy Alfred Email 05.26.08 | 12:00 AM

1908: A British company strikes oil in Persia (now Iran). It's the first big petroleum find in the Middle East, and it sets off a wave of exploration, extraction and exploitation that will change the region's -- and the world's -- history.

Englishman William D'Arcy had obtained a license to explore for oil in Persia in 1901. He sent explorer George Reynolds, who searched fruitlessly for seven years.

Fresh investment from the Burmah Oil Co. had rescued the expedition financially in 1904, but with no results and D'Arcy's personal fortune completely run out, he risked losing his two country houses and his London mansion. In Persia, staff was already being dismissed. Reynolds received orders from London for his last-chance well: Drill to 1,600 feet and then stop.

Why all the fuss? The automobile was in its infancy, and few people could foresee its future. How did an investor expect to get rich off an oil strike? Well -- and we really do mean well -- you could run an electric-power plant with oil, you could run factory machinery on oil and, perhaps most importantly, the world's powerful navies were converting their ships from coal to oil. Almost anything that had run on coal -- especially coal that heated water to create steam -- could run on oil.

Exactly 100 years ago today, the smell of sulfur hovered in the air at Masjid-i-Suleiman. That was a good sign for an experienced oil hand like Reynolds. At 4 in the morning, the drill reached 1,180 feet below the desert and struck oil. A huge gusher shot 75 feet into the air.

The site was so remote that it took five days before D'Arcy got word by telegram in England. "If this is true," he replied, "all our troubles are over." It was indeed true, and more wells hit oil elsewhere in Persia, including a huge one in September.

D'Arcy and Burmah reorganized their holdings in 1909 as the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. (which became the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. in 1935, British Petroleum in 1954 and BP in 2000.) Its initial public offering of stock shares sold out in 30 minutes in London. People stood five deep around the tellers' cages to buy shares in Glasgow. The race for oil accelerated throughout the Middle East.

At the instigation of First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, the British government became a majority (and at-first secret) shareholder of Anglo-Persian during World War I. Britain soon became a dominant power in Persian and later Iranian politics. British and American political operations in that nation shaped the developments that led to the Iranian revolution in 1979 and the current Middle Eastern power situation.

Source: Various

Airlines to pay for denying boarding

2008-05-25T18:24:00.000-07:00

Airlines to pay for denying boarding
25 May 2008, 0000 hrs IST,Saurabh Sinha,TNN

NEW DELHI: Shoddy treatment of fliers will soon cost airlines dear.

Within days of issuing strict refund rules, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation is finalising a new policy under which airlines will have to compensate passengers denied boarding on overbooked flights.

Fliers will also be given the option of asking for a refund or a later flight if the one they were booked on is delayed by more than a certain number of hours.

Titled 'Facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines’, the policy will cover a gamut of issues that concern passengers ranging from denied boarding to those who reach airports in the stipulated reporting time, cancellations and long delays.

"When an airline has overbooked and needs to deny boarding to some passengers, it will have to call for volunteers. Those who volunteer will have to be given an option of refund or a later connection. If that flight happens to be next day, the airline will also provide accommodation," said sources.

Airlines frequently sell more seats than are available, betting that some travellers won’t show up. In case an airline forcibly denies boarding to unwilling passengers, the latter shall be entitled to a hefty compensation along with refund from the carrier. There could be slabs for such compensation based on the duration of flight and whether it’s domestic or international.

Realising that the economic model of low cost carriers (LCC) may not be able to sustain these extra costs, the rules are expected to work as a deterrent against rampant overbooking. The DGCA keeps getting complaints of passengers being stranded due to forcible denied boardings. One LCC was particularly notorious for such a practice.

Similarly, when a flight is cancelled the airline will have to give the option of refund or a later connection along with meals and accommodation if required. The ministry is also considering if passengers of such flights should be entitled to some compensation.

"Our idea is not to put a financial burden on airlines but to ensure that strict rules act as disincentive against taking passengers for granted. If there are delays or cancellations, airlines should inform passengers in time and avoid penalty for them and inconvenience for others. But that is not happening as there are so many airlines now and each one of them is under pressure to cut costs. The passenger’s interest has to be protected," said an official.

The new policy could follow international norms and exempt airlines from such liabilities "when an event has been caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures were taken".

This would include delays or cancellations caused by "political instability, weather conditions, security risks, unexpected flight safety or strikes." Despite this safeguard, the new rules are likely to face stiff opposition from airlines.

But the fact that government means business is clear from the fact that in past month itself, the DGCA has announced two consumer-friendly decisions. First, it issued a rule that physically challenged travellers will neither be denied travel wrongly nor disallowed to take guide dogs with them on aircraft.

On Thursday, it made it mandatory for domestic airlines to give refunds in time and also not force people to travel with them within a certain time if they cancel their booking.

saurabh.sinha@timesgroup.com