Indian googler

Google has launched a new update to its Google Earth application which includes 3D trees and even closer integration with its Street View service.

Google Earth 6 also includes a big update to its popular historical imagery feature which means that viewers can find out when old photographs of the place you are visiting are available to view.

Earlier versions of Google Earth already showed buildings in 3D, but version 6.0 now adds 3D trees to the landscape. These roughly approximate the areas where trees appear in real life and the update includes highly detailed models for dozens of different species of trees.

Google Earth 6.0 view of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, complete with new 3D trees

Google has already 'planted' 80 million trees in Athens, Berlin, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Tokyo.

Peter Birch, Google Earth Product Manager, said: ‘I think we can all agree that our planet without trees would be a pretty desolate place. Besides the ever-important task of providing us with the oxygen we breathe, trees are an integral part of the landscape around us.

‘In Google Earth, while we and our users have been busy populating the globe with many thousands of 3D building models, trees have been rather hard to come by.

 

‘All that is cha

nging with Google Earth 6, which includes beautifully detailed, 3D models for dozens of species of trees, from the Japanese Maple to the East African Cordia to my personal favourite, the cacao tree.’

The 3D buildings layer must be on to view  the 3D trees. In some cases, trees have been modeled individually in a handful of locations, such as Disney World and the Eiffel Tower.

Elsewhere the right types of trees are used to represent what exists in real life, so palm trees dot San Francisco's front and olive trees cling to the Acropolis in Athens.

All those who paid $0.99 (or pay) to purchase the Halloween version of the game, will now be able to pick up the Christmas version of the game for free as an update in the future.

Also, the Christmas version will not be an iOS exclusive like the Halloween version. Rovio Mobile, the makers of the popular mobile game, recently gave a sneak peak into Christmas edition of Angry Birds.

"Feast your eyes on a sneak peek of the next installment in the Angry Birds world," Rovio tweeted, providing a link to a Finnish Web site that had images from the upcoming game.

The company has not set an exact release date for the Christmas edition. Recently, there were also speculations that Rovio is building a version of Angry Birds for consoles like the PlayStation3, Xbox 360, and the Nintendo Wii. A Rovio executive also said Angry Birds 2 is in the works.

If you would like to know more about how the Internet and browsers work but are in no mood to grapple with geeky jargon, consider heading to the website '20 Things I Learned about Browsers and the Web' (http://www.20thingsilearned.com), and flipping through a virtual online 'book' - with your mouse, of course.

It is the team behind the Google Chrome browser that has come up with this 20-chapter 'book' in collaboration with an illustrator, Christoph Niemann.

It is an easy-to-read guide to many of the things technological that we encounter when we use the web and browsers. In itself, it is also shows how far modern browser technology has advanced - its designers have created a book-like feel using HTML 5, the latest version of the mark-up language that is used to build web pages. (If you have an 'old' browser that does not support HTML 5, you will still be able to read the 'book' but maybe not 'flip' through the pages and experience the interactivity of the graphics - the latest versions of all major browsers support HTML 5 to some extent or the other).

The illustrations and the interactivity make the 'book' fun to read. The topics covered include the Internet, cloud computing, web apps and the nuts and bolts of the technology that makes browsing and browsers possible - like HTML and Javascript. Security and privacy are topic threads that runs through the latter part of the 'book' - things like browser cookies, malware, and phishing are also dealt with. And it presents us with glimpses of how browsers and the web will shape up in the times to come.

Communications minister Kapil Sibal launched the eagerly-awaited mobile number portability scheme in Haryana on Thursday to allow cellphone users to change their operators while retaining existing numbers.

"On Jan 20 next year, mobile number portability will be available nationwide," Sibal said at a function to launch this scheme from this town that is a part of the Haryana telecom circle.

To demonstrate the launch, the minister made the first call from a "ported" mobile phone to Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The operator, according to officials here, was changed from a state-run company to Idea Cellular.

"The maximum time for porting would become seven working days except in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and North East service areas, wherein it would be 15 working days," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in a statement.

Haryana has a total of eight operators including Airtel, Idea Cellular , state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam, Aircel, Loop, Vodafone, Etisalat and Videocon.

The customers will have to pay a maximum of Rs.19 to the new operator for porting his number. However the minimum stay period for a customer to retain the new operator will be three months.

They will have to send an SMS from their phone to 1900. Based on this, they will get a unique porting code from the existing provider. The customer has to fill an application mentioning the code to the selected new service provider for transferring the number.

According to the Rajan Mathews, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India, the maximum waiting period for porting would be seven working days. However the numbers of the customers will remain out of service just for two hours.

Telecom Secretary R. Chandrasekar said the scheme will result in a major benefit to the customer. "MNP will ensure vibrant competition, lower tariff and improved services to maintain healthy competition."

The scheme has been delayed several times. Initially, it was to be implemented by Dec 31, 2009 in all the metros along with the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The deadline was changed to March 31, 2010 and then to June 30. But the June 30 deadline was again deferred as operators were not ready with the infrastructure to provide the service, officials said.

Model Shubra Aiyappa who till yesterday, was happy with modeling assignments around the world has finally got her ticket to filmdom.
The girl who originally hails from the city of Bangalore will next be seen in a Tollywood film, claims reports. Word has it that Shubra Aiyappa has been offered a role in the next film from the makers of the super successful 'Bommarilu'. It is to be recalled that Shubra Aiyappa had also been offered a role in a Darshan film three years ago, but she had refused to be a part of the film citing the reason of professional commitments with her modeling agency in New York.

Things have changed in her life three years hence and Shubra Aiyappa is excitedly looking forward to work in the upcoming Tollywood film. In a statement to the media, Shubra says that she is taking her work in films easy and would only like to work with big producers and big banners, and that exactly was the reason why the Bangalore model agreed to work with the 'Bommarilu' team in the first place.

Her first Tollywood venture will be opposite Sai Dharam Tej, the nephew of popular Tollywood actor Chiranjeevi. The film also stars actress Amruta Patki.

Mobile number portability (MNP) has long been awaited in India. Its implementation was postponed several times due to technical and bureaucratic glitches.
The service was originally scheduled for launch in December 2009, but the launch date was postponed to March 31 this year. Then it was again postponed to June 30, and thereafter to October 30.
The government clarified that it had taken the decision to delay MNP to October after evaluating whether access providers and long distance service providers were ready to implement the service, and in consideration of the complexity and enormity of testing involved before MNP is implemented.
MNP makes it possible for people to switch operators while maintaining their mobile number. For fear of losing their number, people often continued subscribing to a certain operator's services despite being dissatisfied with service.
MNP finally!
The delay was caused by a variety of factors including policies and stakeholder preparation. Finally, though, MNP will now be available in Haryana starting today.
The countrywide launch of MNP will start from Rohtak district in Haryana. The service will be implemented across the country in a phased manner.
A subscriber who wants his mobile number ported (change service provider) will have to send an SMS to 1900 to obtain a 'unique porting code'. After getting the porting code, he will have to submit a duly filled porting form along with a customer acquisition form and a proof of identity to the service provider he wishes to shift. There will be a porting charge of Rs 19.
Upon completing the formalities, the customer will get the new operator's SIM card, and the new operator will inform him of when he can start using it, which should be within seven working days.
The subscriber can then start using his new SIM at the specified time.
A mobile number porting request can be withdrawn within 24 hours of having been made.
Conditions
For now, mobile number portability is limited to the Haryana circle.
Also, subscribers can switch their service provider only after 90 days either from the day when their existing number was activated, or from the time when they last ported their mobile number.
Before porting, all dues will have to be cleared if it is a post paid number. If it is a pre paid connection, any talk time that remains in it will lapse.

Miss Universe Ximena Navarrete up GQ

Understanding the immense potential of 3G market, world's leading mobile phone maker, Nokia, has announced new entry level 3G mobile, Nokia C2-01 on Monday, Nov 22.

The new Nokia C2-01 has a 2-inch screen with a 3.2 megapixel camera. This new phone runs on Series 40 operating system. Other features include music player, FM radio and Bluetooth connectivity.

Nokia C2-01 is Nokia's cheapest 3G mobile. This new phone can support micro SD memory card upto 16 GB. It also provides Nokia Messaging for email and instant messaging.

Users can access to Ovi Store and Ovi Music using Nokia C2-01. In selected markets, the Nokia C2-01 will come with the Ovi Life Tools service.

Nokia C2-01 specifications:

* 2-inch screen
* 3.2 megapixel camera
* Series 40 operating system
* 3G
* Bluetooth
* FM radio
* Micro SD card support 16 GB
* measures- 109.8 x 46.9 x 15.3mm
* weight- 89g
* Ovi Store
* Ovi Music
* Ovi Life Tools

Nokia C2-01 will be available in Europe market by first Quarter of 2011 and will be price around €70 (around Rs 4300). The availability and price in India market are yet announced. So, stay tuned for more updates.

Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) is inviting online applications for the ECIL Recruitment 2010 for Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET). These ECIL Recruitment 2010 Notification and ECIL Recruitment 2010 in 2010 online application forms were made available on the ECIL Careers Website. Candidates can apply as we have uodated you the details like ECIL Recruitment 2010 Notification, Qualification, How to apply, Selection procedure and ECIL Recruitment 2010 online Application form in the given below links or on the official website of Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) at www.ecil.co.in as the opening date for online Registration at ECIL website is from today on 22nd November 2010 from 2 PM and the closing date for online Application form is on 4th December 2010 8 PM.
Following are the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) Recruitment 2010 of Engineer Trainees:
No of posts : 122
Discipline: ECE, EEE, E&I, CSE, CSIT, IT, Civil & Mechanical
Age limit : 25 years as on 31-10-2010.
Stipend: Rs.23800/- per month.
Pay Scale : Rs.16400-40500/-
Selection Procedure: Written test and Interview.
Qualification : Four years Full Time Bachelor’s Degree/Masters degree in Engineering from recognized university / Institute in the disciplines ECE, EEE, EIE.CSIT, CSE, Civil and Mechanical with minimum 65% marks.
How to apply : Eligible and Interested candidates are required to apply online as the opening date for online Registration at ECIL website is from today on 22nd November 2010 from 2 PM (14:00 Hrs) and the closing date for online Application form is on 4th December 2010 8 PM (20:00 Hrs).
Click here for ECIL Recruitment 2010 Notification and to apply online
Click Here for ECIL Website

DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s grandson & DMK leader Alagiri and a member of the Union Cabinet son lavish amrriage to take place in Madurai on 18/11/2010.Invitations are being distributed by Azhagiri and his wife Gandhi to all the VVIPs. As a first step Kamal and Rajini were invited to the marriage.

Tamil Nadu Finance Minister and DMK senior leader K Anbhazhagan will preside over the wedding ceremony.

Alagiri has also invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi however they are unlikely to attend. Some of the mosts expected guests for today’s wedding are Union Ministers Praful Patel, P Chidambaram, G K Vasan, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Dayanidhi Maran & Karnataka CM Yeddyurappa.
Dayanidhi Alagiri Anusha Wedding Photos

ndia’s largest passenger car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki is going to launch another mid-size Sedan named “Maruti Suzuki Kizashi soon in Indian market. Kizashi is Maruti’s 5th sedan in the Indian market after Esteem, Baleno, SX4 and Swift Desire.

Suzuki Kizashi is already on sale in the international markets like US, Australia and Japan since 2009. In India it was first showcased in the Delhi Auto Expo 2010 in January.

In International market Kizashi is equipped with a 2.4 litre DOHC, 16 valve digital fuel injection engine with 4 cylinders, maximum output power – 185hp at 6500rpm, maximum torque – 170lbs-ft (230nm) at 4000rpm, four wheel drive,6 speed manual transmission and in four variants – S, SE, Sports GTS and Sports SLS.

Maruti has not officially disclosed the full details of Indian model but expected to come with all latest luxury and safety features.

Suzuki Kizashi Price : In the United States Suzuki Kizashi is selling for $19,000 to $24,700 which is approximately Rs 8.5 lakhs to 11 lakhs.

Maruti Suzuki Kizashi Price in India : Price not disclosed yet but expected to be in the range of 12-15 lakhs.

Prachi Desai  cover for AGL

 

Airtel’s new logo launched with a new symbol and a new font in which the name of the brand is written. The red colour has always been an integral part of the brand and it still remains in the new logo of Airtel. The red represents energy and dynamism which has brought success to Airtel today. The logo has a curve which will given automatic recognition to the identity of the brand.

The new Airtel logo by Telecom major has announced that it has crossed the milestone of 2000 crore customers which has helped them reinforce the position of leadership in global telecom. The new

identity by Airtel has been launched in 19 countries in the continents of Asia and Africa. Airtel’s new facial is youthful, has an international look, which is dynamic and represents the journey of the very first Indian brand to go truly global. The new identity of Airtel highlights that the Company is ready to start a new journey and embrace itself.
A new curve has been added to the logo is a symbol which will help in instant recognition of the brand across international markets. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti Airtel said, “Fifteen years ago Bharti airtel started its journey in India with a promise of delivering world class and affordable services. Today, as we expand on the global stage, this new brand identity gives us the opportunity to present a single, powerful and unified face to our customers, stakeholders and partners around the world. It reinforces our promise to deliver innovative services and a superior brand experience to our 2000 crore customers across Asia and Africa.”

The signature tune of Airtel composed by AR Rahman has also been refreshed by Rahman himself. He has made it more youthful and dynamic in line with the new visual identity. Earlier tune had made history as it was the world’s most downloaded mobile music with over 150 million downloads. The Oscar winner has yet again made another original piece for Airtel which will inspire a lot of soul.

Fujifilm India Pvt Ltd, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese Fujifilm Corporation, today announced the launch of 'super zoom' compact camera in the Indian market.
The 'FinePix F300EXR' is equipped with the world's first 'Phase Detection pixel', which realises auto focus speed of 0.158 sec, as fast as human eyes blink, and has 15 x zoom feature, the company said in a statement.

''Today's discerning photographers are looking for a camera with a high zoom range, yet compact and pocketable, with no compromises on picture quality or being irritated by slow auto focus or blur.

The F300EXR delivers on all those counts, and is destined to be the star performer in this year's intense competition for the best 'super zoom' compact cameras,'' said Fujifilm India Managing Director Kenichi Tanaka.

The new model comes as a successor of Fujifilm's award-winning 'F' series models.

The new camera also boasts of advanced motion panorama feature that has been extended to 360 in degrees, enabling to capture the scene around in a single photo.

It sports the 12 megapixel version of the EXR sensor.
--UNI

Facebook, a popular social networking site, has come out with an improved messaging tool which aims to provide users with more than just an e-mail application. Zuckerberg,the chief executive of Facebook introduced a new unified messaging system for Facebook that allows people to communicate with one another on the Web and on mobile phones regardless of whether they are using e-mail, text messages or online chat services.
Facebook unveils e-mail
    
   

   
  The new messaging system envelopes e-mail, instant messages, Facebook messages and SMS to help users communicate faster and more seamlessly with their friends.
    
 
     
Swatting down recent rumors that he is launching a 'Gmail killer', Zuckerberg at a Facebook event in San Francisco said "This is not an e-mail killer... This is a messaging system that includes e-mail aspects to it."
     
Zuckerberg said project "Titan", as its service is called, was taken up after high school students, in chats,said they seldom use e-mail because "it's too slow" and "too formal."
   
The new system puts a user's identity above the communication protocol.Facebook engineer Joel Seligstein said, "You decide how you want to talk to your friends...They will receive your message through whatever medium or device is convenient for them and you can both have a conversation in real time. You shouldn't have to remember who prefers IM over email or worry about which technology to use. Simply choose their name and type a message."
   
Messages are received in an inbox, but it eschews the conventions of e-mail and Facebook messaging (subject lines,recipient/cc/bcc fields), and instead turns all conversation into a chat, where the conversations are merged. So, if one is conversing over Facebook chat, then the switches over to a
mobile device, the conversation stays in the same place,except it is being sent through SMS.
 
   It currently handles the four different methods of communication, but as it rolls out, it will also become a sharing and collaboration platform.
 
 
   Microsoft, which holds a stake in Facebook, has announced that it is integrating the Office Web Apps experience into the new messaging system. Users will be able to share Word, Excel,and Powerpoint documents in Facebook messages, and download them to their desktops.
     Facebook's new messaging system will be rolled out to different groups of users over the next few months, and will include a new mobile app and @Facebook.com email addresses for interested users. The addresses will be available to all irrespective of the whether they are Facebook users.

nternet users logging on to the Google homepage on Sunday will find a ‘doodle' that showcases what is termed as the ‘New India.' With a scholarly hat perched atop Google's G and a satellite bearing India's name on its way to the moon, the doodle, Google's creative logo that marks Children's Day, is designed by a Mangalore schoolboy, 14-year-old Akshay Raj.

A Class IX student of the St. Aloysius High School, Akshay will find his work displayed on the homepage of the popular search engine throughout Sunday. Titled ‘Technically and Naturally Growing India,' his entry was chosen from over 108,000 doodles submitted by students for the Doodle4Google competition from across the country.

Artistic merit

A statement from Google India said that the selection was based on “artistic merit, creativity, and expression of the theme.” Besides the privilege of seeing his work featured on the page, he will also take home a Technology Starter Package and a Rs. 2 lakh technology grant for his school.

The winners were chosen by Dennis Hwang, the original Google Doodler and graphic artist who is the creative force behind the festive logos that appear periodically on the homepage.

Speaking to The Hindu, Akshay's proud mother, Mamatha Rajesh, said Akshay and his father had left for Mumbai to attend the awards ceremony. “Akshay has always loved drawing. It was only in Class 7 he started learning art formally when he evinced an interest in charcoal drawing.”

Father Melwin Pinto, the school's headmaster, said they are all very happy and excited for Akshay.

It took 90 days to trawl through the entries for India to get its second ‘Made in India' Doodle. Dennis Hwang and Jennifer Hom — the designers of the Google Gandhi doodle — chose the Indian winner from 41 semi-finalists.

The theme provided was ‘My Dream for India.' The submitted doodles were shortlisted by partner art schools from across the country, after which 9051 doodles entered the quarter-final round. Faculty from the Sir J.J. School of Arts then shortlisted the 600 doodles that made it to the semi final round.

Besides the national winner, three group winners were also chosen through an online poll in which Google users participated. Khushi Mahender, of Ryan International, New Delhi, won the Group I prize; Tahera Sohail of Young Horizon School, Kolkata, topped Group II and Chennai's V. Vinoth Kumar of SBOA Matriculation School bagged the award in Group III.

Special Judges' Awards were given to Anwesh Saha from Kolkata, Nishi Bordia from Indore and Sanjali Desai from Mumbai in Groups I, II and III respectively

The Land of the River Nile -Egypt will play host to supermodel Naomi Campbell's wedding. Campbell who ruled the ramp for top notch designers all around the globe finally decided to tie the knot to her long time boyfriend Vladislav Doronin at a temple in Egypt.
It is going to be a gala affair as Naomi will take the wedding vows with her billionaire boyfriend. Doronin is forty seven and is the Chairman of Capital Group real estate. They both met at the 2008 Cannes film Festival and the rest they say is history

Reports carried out by tabloids suggest that Naomi plans to convert to the Russian Orthodox Faith of her boyfriend Vladislav Doronin . According to Al Arabiya, Naomi's partner Vladislav has already been termed as "Russian Donald Trump".

The grand ceremony will be held at the Temple of Luxor which is located on the River Nile in the North Africa. The Temple of Luxor is dedicated to the Sun God which is named Amun, according to Egyptian mythology. Campbell finally seemed to have found the man of her dreams as she stayed single for long, though she had a very brief affair with U2 bassist Adam Clayton in the past.

The admission cards for the written examination of the UCO bank have been made available today that is Saturday, November 13, 2010. These admit cards are for the written exam for the clerical posts for the state of Bihar.

 

The candidates must be aware of the exam date change. Previously the exam was scheduled to be held at November 14, but due to some unavoidable circumstances the UCO bank management had to reschedule the date and now the exam is going to be conducted on November 19.

The candidates who have appeared for the UCO bank’s clerical recruitment will receive the call letters by post. The call letter will have every required detail regarding the exam like venue, timings and roll no.

For duplicate call letters, the candidates should visit any branch of UCO bank. The call letters will be made available from November 13 to November 18.

Just in case if the candidate needs to more about the exam, results or any other information, he should click on the link provided below. It is the link for the official website of UCO bank.

http://www.ucobank.com/

U.S. web search giant Google plans to launch an online music service in India that would enable users to search for legal music streams and downloads, the Wall Street Journal said.
For this purpose Google will be partnering with digital music providers, who hold rights to hundreds of thousands of Indian tracks – ranging from Bollywood hits to Indian classical music.
Google has reportedly partnered with in.com, saavn and saregama.
Google has launched a Labs feature, “Indic Music Search”.
Music tracks can be played from the three partners in pop-up windows that carry ads.
You can try it out here google.co.in/music

The new doodle can be seen on the Google search engine home page in Australia and New Zealand. The special doodle depicted paintings from Robert Louis Stevenson‘s famous novel Treasure Island.
Treasure Island narrated the story of of pirates and buried gold. Treasure Island was first published in the form of a book in 1883. This novel was originally serialized in the children’s magazine Young Folks between 1881-82 under the title Treasure Island, or, the mutiny of the Hispaniola and the pseudonym Captain George North.
Users can also see the name ‘Google’ on the doodle. The first letter ‘G’ can be seen on the pirate, ‘O’ in compass of the map, ‘O’ on the mountains, ‘G’ has been marked on the ship, the flag of the pirates as letter ‘L’ and the final letter ‘E’ as the box with the treasure.
Robert Louis Stevenson was born on Nov, 13, 1850 in Scotland. He was essayist, poet, and author of fiction and travel books, known especially for his novels of adventure. Some of his famous works are Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Master of Ballantrae, Kidnapped, Prince Otto and Catriona. He died on Dec 3, 1894.

 Google Inc will give its staff a 10 per cent pay increase at the start of next year, according to website Silicon Alley Insider.

Chief executive Eric Schmidt informed it's more than 23,000 employees of the raise by email, the Wall Street Journal later reported.

Silicon Alley Insider, citing a reader, earlier reported that Google is giving all its employees a $1,000 holiday bonus in addition to pay increases of at least 10 per cent.

The Internet industry is waging a "war for talent", Google chief financial officer Patrick Pichette said on a call with analysts last month.

People searching on Google will soon be able to see previews of websites before clicking on them.

The “Instant Previews” feature, announced on Tuesday, is meant to help people bypass websites that are either irrelevant or simply too visually cluttered for their tastes.

It works for Google web searches, as well as searches for news, video and local businesses.

After clicking on an icon of a magnifying glass, people will see a picture of the website in the white space to the right of the search results within a tenth of a second.

Although the preview photo will vary in size, just as Google Inc.’s image results do, Google designed the previews so that they’ll never eclipse the search results and clutter the page.

Google will also show a box above the picture zooming in on the section of the website where the search terms appear. The search terms will be highlighted in that box.

While someone looks at a picture of a website, Google will load visual previews for other search results in the background so that people can quickly compare websites by rolling the cursor over the results on the page.

The feature is a follow-up to Instant Search, a feature Google unveiled in September that updates search results as people continue typing. Last week, Google said that people who own an iPhone or a smart phone running Google’s Android software can use Instant Search too.

Google claims that people who use Instant Previews are five per cent more likely to feel satisfied with the website they choose.

Google will roll out Instant Previews in 40 languages over the coming days.

The Web has changed a lot since Marc Andreessen revolutionized the Internet with the introduction of his Netscape browser in the mid-1990s. That's why he's betting people are ready to try a different Web-surfing technique on a new browser called RockMelt.

The browser, available for the first time Monday, is built on the premise that most online activity today revolves around socializing on Facebook, searching on Google, tweeting on Twitter and monitoring a handful of favorite websites. It tries to minimize the need to roam from one website to the next by corralling all vital information and favorite services in panes and drop-down windows.

"This is a chance for us to build a browser all over again," Andreessen said. "These are all things we would have done (at Netscape) if we had known how people were going to use the Web."

Andreessen didn't develop the RockMelt browser the way he did Netscape, whose early popularity waned as Microsoft Corp. bundled its Internet Explorer browser with the Windows operating system.

RockMelt is the handiwork of Tim Howes and Eric Vishria, who formerly worked with Andreessen. But Andreessen's seal of approval has been stamped on startup.

The biggest chunk of RockMelt's $10 million in funding has come from the venture capital firm that Andreessen runs with his partner, Ben Horowitz.

Andreessen also sits on RockMelt's board of directors, and his advice has been called upon frequently.

"When you are trying to reinvent the Web browser, who would you rather run your ideas by besides Marc?" said Howes, RockMelt's chief technology officer (Vishria is CEO).

Facebook's imprint also is all over RockMelt, although the two companies' only business connection so far is Andreessen. He also serves on Facebook's board of directors.

RockMelt only works if you have a Facebook account. That restriction still gives RockMelt plenty of room to grow, given Facebook has more than 500 million users.

After Facebook users log on RockMelt with their Facebook account information, the person's Facebook profile picture is planted in the browser's left hand corner and a list of favorite friends can be displayed in the browser's left hand pane. There's also a built-in tool for posting updates in a pop-up box.

Freida Pinto's photoshoot for Blackbook magazine

Apple has just officially announced the immediate availability of the new 2010 MacBook Air ultra-thin laptops, available with 11.6- and 13.3-inch displays and based on Intel Core 2 Duo processors, solid state Flash storage, new battery solution, and aluminum unibody enclosures.

Starting at $999, the MacBook Air notebooks are only 0.11-inches thin at their thinnest point and 0.68-inches the thickest. The systems weigh 2.3 pounds for the 11.6-inch model and 2.9 pounds for the 13.6-inch.

Here’s the official press relase: CUPERTINO, California—October 20, 2010—Apple® today unveiled an all new MacBook Air®, the first of a next generation of notebooks which will replace mechanical hard disks and optical drives with Internet services and solid state flash storage. These next generation notebooks are:

* faster—solid state flash storage is up to twice as fast as hard drive storage
* more reliable—hard drive crashes are eliminated
* lighter and smaller—solid state flash storage is up to 90 percent smaller and lighter than hard drives

Available in 11-inch and 13-inch models and weighing as little as 2.3 pounds, the new MacBook Air is Apple’s lightest and most portable notebook ever. MacBook Air uses the same solid state storage technology as iPad™ to deliver instant-on responsiveness, up to seven hours of battery life and up to 30 days of standby time.* Starting at $999, the affordable MacBook Air defines the next generation of MacBooks.

“MacBook Air is the first of a new generation of notebooks that leaves behind mechanical rotating storage in favor of solid state flash storage,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve taken what we have learned with the iPad—solid state storage, instant-on, amazing battery standby time, miniaturization and lightweight construction, to create the new MacBook Air. With its amazing responsiveness and mobility, it will change the way we think about notebooks.”

With its precision aluminum unibody enclosure, the new MacBook Air measures an incredibly thin 0.11-inches at its thinnest point and 0.68-inches at its thickest, and weighs just 2.3 pounds for the 11-inch model and 2.9 pounds for the 13-inch. Like iPad, MacBook Air was designed from the ground up to use flash storage exclusively. Apple’s custom-designed flash storage is 90 percent smaller and lighter than a conventional notebook hard drive, contributing to MacBook Air’s mobile, featherweight design. MacBook Air’s flash storage also provides faster data access and is more reliable than notebook hard drives due to its solid state design.

MacBook Air features a full-sized keyboard for typing comfort and productivity, as well as the highly acclaimed glass Multi-Touch™ trackpad found on Apple’s MacBook® Pro, so you can scroll through web sites, flip through photos, and resize or rotate images all from the trackpad. The built-in FaceTime® camera, mic and stereo speakers are perfect for video calls with iPhone® 4, iPod touch®** and other Macs.

Flash storage combined with power-efficient Intel Core 2 Duo processors and NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics delivers an ideal balance of mobility, battery life and performance. MacBook Air features an 11.6-inch or 13.3-inch high-resolution LED-backlit display and Mini DisplayPort to connect your 27-inch Apple LED Cinema Display, projector or HD TV. Ultra-fast 802.11n Wi-Fi networking allows you to download music and movies from iTunes®, back up data to Time Capsule® and store or share files with MobileMe? and iDisk®. MacBook Air includes Bluetooth 2.1+EDR for wireless peripherals and two USB ports making it easy to sync and charge an iPad, iPhone or iPod® while using another device. The 13-inch MacBook Air also includes an SD card slot.

Apple makes the industry’s greenest notebooks and the MacBook Air is the latest Mac® notebook to achieve EPEAT Gold status and meet Energy Star 5.0 requirements.*** Each unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. Mac notebooks contain no brominated flame retardants, are PVC-free and are constructed of recyclable materials.

Apple uses advanced chemistry and Adaptive Charging technology to create a MacBook Air battery that delivers up to seven hours of wireless productivity on a single charge and up to 1,000 recharges.**** The built-in battery design results in less waste, and depleted MacBook Air batteries can be replaced for $129, which includes installation and disposal of your old battery in an environmentally responsible manner.

Every Mac comes with Mac OS® X Snow Leopard®, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife®, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for creating and sharing great photos, movies and music. Snow Leopard builds on more than a decade of innovation and includes multiple features for portable computing such as Multi-Touch navigation, advanced wireless networking, easy file sharing, automated data backup and intelligent power management. The new iLife ’11 features iPhoto® with stunning full screen views for browsing, editing and sharing photos; iMovie® with powerful easy-to-use tools to transform home videos into fun theatrical trailers; and GarageBand® with new ways to improve your playing and create great sounding songs.

Pricing & Availability
The 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air are immediately available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The 1.4 GHz 11-inch MacBook Air with 2GB of memory and 64GB of flash storage starts at a suggested retail price of $999 (US) with a 128GB model for $1,199 (US). The 1.86 GHz 13-inch MacBook Air with 2GB of memory and 128GB of flash storage starts at a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US) with a 256GB model for $1,599 (US). Configure-to-order options and accessories include faster processors, 4GB of memory, MacBook Air SuperDrive® and a USB Ethernet Adapter.

Facebook on Wednesday began offering coupons from various retailers, including a promotion from Gap which will give away 10,000 pairs of jeans. Mobile users can access the partner deals on their smartphones, go to the store and show the virtual coupon to the clerk.
Facebook said it is launching a test version of the feature, called Deals, with more than 20 companies, including the Gap, McDonalds, 24 Hour Fitness, American Eagle Outfitters and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, a chain of movie theaters that serves food and drinks.
The Web's largest social networking site added Deals, along with improvements to its Groups and Places tools, to its free applications for iPhone and Android. Facebook made the announcements during a press event at its Palo Alto, California, office.
Smartphone app developers will be able to implement a tool called "single sign-on," which allows users to log in to third-party mobile apps using their Facebook accounts and connect with their networks of friends there. Reps from FarmVille maker Zynga, Game Network and daily-deal provider Groupon took the stage to say they would support the feature in their apps.
Facebook has offered something similar in Connect, but single sign-on makes the process easier. The system recognizes when someone is signed in to the Facebook app on their phone and can use that information in other apps.

Pop superstar Prince is apparently being lined up to be top guest on 'X Factor' final this year.
Simon Cowell is said to have got the singer, 52, to agree to go on the December show, reports the Daily Express.

The music mogul, 51, is a huge fan of Prince's music and has wanted him to appear on the hit ITV1 show for years.

The 'X Factor' is expected to draw in 20 million viewers when the 2010 winner is announced.

Google's Android software platform rose to No. 2 spot globally on the booming smartphone market in the third quarter, research firm Canalys said on Monday . Nokia's Symbian continued to lead the market with a 37% share, while Android had 17% of the market. It has surpassed Research In Motion, Apple and Microsoft this year.

Growing popularity of Android phones—made by companies including Motorola Inc, HTC and Samsung Electronics—puts Google in a good position as handsets look set to surpass computers for browsing the Web.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in September he expects mobile searches to generate most of the firm's revenue eventually, but it could take a long time, despite growing at a rapid clip.

Android software, offered free to cellphone vendors , has experienced dramatic growth since coming to market two years ago. Last quarter it saw a 14-fold growth from very low levels a year ago, Canalys said.

Helped by the surge of Android phones, cheaper smartphones are becoming increasingly the growth engine of the overall smartphone market, the researcher said. "We are seeing more volume going into the midand lower-tier . We have reached a tipping point, smartphones are no longer the high-tier product," said analyst Pete Cunningham.

"Operators are looking to push smartphones into prepay market as these phones are generating a lot of data traffic revenues," Cunningham said. This opens a new, large market for smartphones which have been sold on many developed markets mostly with monthly contracts.

Rangoli designs are generally based on themes that have been in use through ages. The common rangoli themes are the celestial symbols such as the rising sun, moon, stars, zodiac signs
, holy symbols like Om, mangal kalash, swastika, chakra, a lighted Deepak, trident, “shree”, lotus etc. Goddess Lakshmi in the lotus symbolizes the figure of renewed life. Other popular themes are natural images like flowers, creepers, trees, fish, birds, elephants, dancing figures, human figures and geometrical figures such as circles, semi-circles, triangles, squares and rectangles. Drawing Diwali rangoli at the entrance door of individual homes is the common sight during Diwali decoration. For this, the footsteps of Goddess Lakshmi entering into the home are designed at the main entrance of the home or near the place of worship, which indicates the entrance of prosperity in the home. This is the special Diwali rangoli for the entrance. It is considered auspicious as it signifies showering of good luck and prosperity on the house and in the family.
However, all said and done, the theme and design of a Diwali Rangoli is dependent upon the creativity andrangoli imagination of an individual. Rangoli can be improvised into diverse visual art forms. There is really no limit to what you can do with a Rangoli. Because of this aspect of Rangoli, some Hindu communities in India actually organize Rangoli competitions during Diwali celebrations and prizes are given for the best designs. It is a delight to see the colorful designs unfold in the lights and fireworks of Diwali.

Diwali Rangoli Ingredients

rangoliA variety of ingredients are used to create a Rangoli. In old days, the colors were traditionally derived from natural dyes – from barks of trees, leaves, indigo, etc. Today however, synthetic dyes are used in a range of bright hue. Rangoli being mainly a floor art, powdered colors are used on cleaned floors to form decorations. The powder primarily consists of finely grounded rice flour. Finely ground white stone powder is used these days, as this is easier to apply and makes the rangolis brighter and well finished. One can also mix rice flour with white stone powder for a better preparation. The powder is usually taken in a pinch and applied with the thumb and the forefinger. Rangolis can be vivid, three-dimensional art complete with shadings when cereals, pulses either in their natural coloring or tinted with natural dyes are applied or they can be the traditional plain, yet as beautiful as, two-dimensional designs when colored powder such as rice, brick, chilly, turmeric, etc is used. In south Indian states like Kerala, flowers like marigolds and chrysanthemums and leaves are used to create Rangoli.

As a Diwali Rangoli is created through sprinkling powder by hand it is a very laborious and difficult process, and it’spattern difficult to render fine details – meaning the image must be quite large. But all pains are taken to create a perfect Rangoli. Why? Because this art reflects the Indian culture and upholds the age old values of hospitality, perfection in art and also, a deep-rooted reverence for the divine beings and a fear for the powers beyond the realm of human understanding.

Diwali Rangoli brings a sense of completion in the joyous celebrations of .
iwali is celebrated whole over India.Diwali Rangoli is made to welcome Goddess Lakhmi ,the Goddess of wealth,which is a part of Diwali Celebration.Rangoli is the art which is drawn on the doorsteps with various combinations of colors.

Diwali Rangoli is made up of mixture paste of Turmeric powder,chalk powder and colored rice grains.In Maharastra its called Rangoli,In Bengal its named as Alpana and in South India its called as Kolam.

Some Diwali Rngoli DESIGNS ( Pictures) collection added here and also Diwali Rangoli patterns