Tuesday, December 23, 2008

A touching poem regarding Drunken Driving

I went to a party Mom,
I remembered what you said.
You told me not to drink, Mom,
So I drank soda instead.


I really felt proud inside, Mom,
The way you said I would.
I didn't drink and drive, Mom,
Even though the others said I should.


I know I did the right thing, Mom,
I know you are always right..
Now the party is finally ending, Mom,
As everyone is driving out of sight..


As I got into my car, Mom,
I knew I'd get home in one piece.
Because of the way you raised me,
So responsible and sweet.


I started to drive away, Mom,
But as I pulled out into the road,
The other car didn't see me, Mom,
And hit me like a load.


As I lay there on the pavement, Mom,
I hear the policeman say,
"The other guy is drunk," Mom,
And now I'm the one who will pay.


I'm lying here dying, Mom....

I wish you'd get here soon.
How could this happen to me, Mom?
My life just burst like a balloon.


There is blood all around me, Mom,
And most of it is mine.
I hear the medic say, Mom,
I'll die in a short time.


I just wanted to tell you, Mom,
I swear I didn't drink.
It was the others, Mom.
The others didn't think.


He was probably at the same party as I.
The only difference is, he drank
And I will die.


Why do people drink, Mom?
It can ruin your whole life.
I'm feeling sharp pains now.
Pains just like a knife.


The guy who hit me is walking, Mom,
And I don't think it's fair.
I'm lying here dying
And all he can do is stare.


Tell my brother not to cry, Mom.
Tell Daddy to be brave.
And when I go to heaven, Mom,
Put "GOOD BOY " on my grave.


Someone should have told him, Mom,
Not to drink and
drive.
If only they had told him, Mom,
I would still be alive.


My breath is getting shorter, Mom.
I'm becoming very scared.
Please don't cry for me, Mom.
When I needed you, you were always there.


I have one last question, Mom.
Before I say good bye.
I didn't drink and drive,
So why am I the one to die?

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Indian General election will see the use of the Internet

Taking cue from Gujarat BJP's use of internet to get their message out to the citizens which helped it win the assembly election. Now there is a video on youtube exhorting all to vote for BJP.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Gears of the most famous Police Department- LA

Are you looking to buy some high quality Police gears? Check out LA Police Gears for the best Police gears in the market. LA police sell high quality gears to all, even general public. Their gears are quite famous as it is displayed in almost all Hollywood movies as they are shot in and around LA. The product which interested me is the 5.11 Tactical Backpack. This backpack is designed for specially for three day excursions.This backpack costs $149.99, $10 less than the retail price. You will also get free water bottle and pouch. It has been designed by special operations combat veteran, Kyle Lamb of VTAC , with two large compartments and a compression strap system that allows expandability depending upon how much gear we carry. Read more detailed description on the page.

L.A. Police Gear, Inc sells all types of high quality police gears such as Surefire 6P-N Submersible Flashlight, 5.11 Tactical L/S FLASH SHIRT - FRX 3, 5.11 Tactical Boots, BlackHawk CQC SERPA Holster Matte Finish Belt Loop and Paddle, Under Armour Cold Gear 5557 Tactical Quarter Zip, and many more.

L.A. Police Gear, Inc. also promises to provide extremely fast shipping, low prices, and outstanding service. The site is also well designed. The security is, obviously very, very good. What else could you expect from cops' website ???The detailed product information is displayed on the product's web page.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Downfall of the free press

This interview of Sagarika Gosh of Ram Jethmalani shows how low the media can stoop to gain TRP's. Gone are the days when the media used to be the voice for righteous, now it is just a money-making machine for the media tycoons.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Did we ever need themes for Gmail? Nope

Gmail had launched themes yesterday. By now everyone might have noticed the themes tab under settings. For months , avid users devised firefox addons that would change the look of your inbox. I am particularly a fan of Better Gmail addon which works with the help of Greasemonkey in Firefox. This does not change the looks of Gmail but adds small but useful features.

I always thought why Gmail did not have themes like other web based mail clients like yahoo, msn,etc. But finally when they launched themes, I did not get excited. Why?

I used to use yahoo mail for everything. Then I recieved a mail from my friend inviting me to join Gmail. I aprehensive at first, as creating a new mail id means going through the drill of entering your details again. ButI decided to give it a try after all the Giant of Search was offering this product. Also they were offering 2gb+ space which was unheard of at that time.

I was surprised that the information required to create an email account was minimal. I logged in. My first thought after looking at the interface was that it didn't look much advanced as the design was just minimalistic. I created this Blogger as well as Orkut account using this Gmail account. Due to this I used to check my Gmail inbox everyday. I realised that even though the designs where minimalistic it had powerful features.

Later, I starting using Gmail instead of yahoo mail as I liked Gmail's clean design. With keyboard shortcuts and clean interface reading 100 mails a day (most of them newsletters) was a easy task. I used to get headache using classic Yahoo mail reading so much mail. Even the ads were not distracting. It hardly bothers you as it is text ads on the right side of the page. Even if you do notice it you usually will find it useful as it is contextual.

But the themes which gmail has launched makes it almost like other web based mail making it look cluttered. One thing I like about Google is that they have a policy of keeping their pages whether search or any other clean, clutter-free and user friendly. The themes might get casual users of Gmail excited but avid users like me will stick to the classic look.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The West laying off employees. India inc hiring !!!

Citigroup on Tuesday cut 53,000 more jobs, triggering fears of more layoffs across industries. However, there are several top companies in India are hiring as if there is no recession.

FINANCE & CONSULTANCY
SBI to hire 25,000 new hands, according to bank chairman O P Bhat. Fresh recruitment will be done this fiscal—20,000 in the clerical cadre and 5,000 supervisory staff

Bank of India to hire 10,000 over the next few months. This, on top of over 30,000 fresh recruits in 2008-09. In next 2 years, the bank plans to take in 75,000

Accenture will hire 10,000 people in India by 2010, says COO Stephen J Rohleder

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, top global mgmt consultants, looking to hire 3,500 in India in 3 years

MetLife, a new private insurance co., will recruit 30,000 agents and 2,000 managers by March 2009, says CEO Rajesh Relan

BPO
Aegis BPO Services will add 1,000 people per month this fiscal

CAMPUS HIRING

IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta say all their students have got placements for next year INFOTECH
TCS to hire 30,000-35,000 people this year, says a spokesperson. TCS made 24,789 technical campus offers for 2009-10, a 13% jump over this year

Infosys is sticking to plans of hiring 25,000 people this fiscal, says CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan. Infosys has made around 20,000 offers for next year

Satyam plans to hire 8,000-10,000 people this fiscal, says HR head S V Krishnan

MANUFACTURING
L&T will hire 10,000 people over the next 3 years, according to CMD A M Naik Maruti has decided to hire 1,000 fresh hands despite the sluggishness in the auto sector, says a company spokesman

What's more Citibank India said that its global job cuts would have only a limited impact in the country.The transaction is expected to be completed in the current quarter, the release said.
Citibank had been considering exiting the BPO business for sometime to concentrate on its core competence of financial services. Thus, with the sale, Citi would now be able to focus strongly on banking.
Citibank's India head, Sanjay Nayar, had then said that the bank was consolidating all its businesses and wanted to focus on its core operations. The freed-up capital following the sale of its BPO arm would be used for its core businesses.
With the sale of its BPO arm, not many job cuts might now take place in its banking operations

Source: The Times of India

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Reviews of web hosting services to reduce your dilemma

Blogspot, wordpress, etc are nice platforms if you are blogging for fun and you are not serious about blogging. They are free and easy to use and you don't have to bother about hosting,etc.
But the problem is that they do not create a brand image of your blog. It will always remain another blogspot or wordpress blog. You might get good traffic but not to the full potential of your blog.

So, you have decided to buy your own domain and host it. It will be daunting task to choose the hosting company as there several companies and all are out to confuse you. Buying domain is easy but choosing the hosting service is not.

Enter Web Hosting Geeks , a website which reviews the hosting service providers. The web hosting reviews on their site is impartial and complete.The need for such website is that as there are dozens of companies offering the “same” packages for different prices,you wouldn't know which offers of the hosting service provider would suit you the best. The reviews on this website is based on every aspect ie. tech support , software,customer support, traffic, space, price, quality, etc.

They also have great articles regarding web hosting. Check out their web hosting guide.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Booth capturing

I thought booth capturing was a international phenomenon in almost all democracies but was shocked to read the wikipedia article that says it is mainly prevalent in India.
Booth capturing is a type of election fraud ,found primarily in India, in which party loyalists "capture" a polling booth and vote in place of legitimate voters to ensure that their candidate wins. Though it is a kind of Voter suppression, unlike other forms of voting fraud, booth-capturing is a malpractice witnessed mainly in India and the least subtle of all.

The modus operandi of such booth capturing operations was facilitated by poor communication, long distances, and inadequate policing. By the 90s it had become a common and unsightly occurrence wherever elections were held. Sometimes two rival party thugs would descend on the same polling station, resulting in violent clashes with injuries and even deaths on both sides.

In 1989 the Representation of the People Act, 1951 was modified to include booth capturing as an offence punishable by law and countermanding or adjourning any poll that was booth captured. The development of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) was also intended to make it harder for booth captures to stuff the ballot boxes with their votes by enabling a 5 minute delay between each vote entered as against hundreds of votes in the same time using ballot papers (stamped by a group of 3-4). The EVMs also possess a "close" button which can be used by the polling officer to deactivate the machines. Despite this, booth capturing continues to happen, albeit at a much reduced rate and many candidates who lose elections in India regularly complain that their opponents indulged in booth capturing to win.

Other types of election malpractices are:
  • Gerrymandering
  • Intimidation by-
  1. Violence or threat of violence
  2. Attacks on Polling station
  3. Legal Threats
  4. Economic Threats
  • Vote Buying
  • Misinformation
  • Physical Tampering
  • Social Engineering

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Quantum of Solace cocktails


Cocktails in the name of BOND that is being served in the Mumbai bars to celebrate the release of Quantum of Solace

007 BLACK MARTINI
INGREDIENTS: 50 ml Smirnoff Black vodka, 5 ml dry vermouth, lemon twist as garnish.
METHOD: Pour the vermouth into a martini glass and fill with crushed ice and water, shake the vodka with the ice in a separate cocktail shaker. Pour out the contents of the martini glass, leaving on a vermouth rinse and strain in vodka. Garnish with a lemon twist.

THE QUANTUM OF SOLACE
INGREDIENTS: 40 ml Smirnoff Black vodka, 20 ml Campari, 60 ml blood orange juice, orange twist as garnish.
METHOD: Pour all ingredients into an ice-filled shaker and shake well. Strain into a pre-chilled Martini glass, garnish with an orange twist.

THE BLACK TIE
INGREDIENTS: 50 ml Smirnoff Black Vodka, 50 ml champagne, 5 ml sugar syrup, 6 mint leaves
METHOD: Shake the vodka, mint and sugar syrup well with crushed ice. Double strain into a champagne flute. Top with champagne while stirring continuously. Garnish with a mint leaf.


Fun facts about James Bond's drink:
• The phrase "Shaken… not stirred" first appears in the novel Diamonds Are Forever (1956), though Bond does not actually say the line until Dr. No(1958). Bond first orders a drink to be shaken in the novel Casino Royale(1953).

• Exposed to vodka during his time as a correspondent in the Soviet Union, Ian Fleming loved martinis. Andrew Lycett, a biographer, believed that Fleming liked his martinis shaken, not stirred because he thought that stirring a drink diminished its flavour.

• James Bond has almost single-handedly popularised vodka in the West, and vodka martinis everywhere else.There have been careful product placements of a variety of alcohol brands in recent Bond movies.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Why do we need stock markets?

This article has made it to the front page of digg written by Alec Chrystal. Here is the excerpt:

A key reason for forming a company is that the shareholders of a modern company have "limited liability". This means that a shareholder can lose what they paid for their shares in a company but they are not liable for the debts of the company beyond that. This is not true in, for example, a partnership, where partners are jointly liable for all the debts incurred.

Investing in company shares is thus potentially attractive, as shareholders get a share of the profit of the business but know that the worst that can happen is that they lose the value of the original investment.
Read more at Why do we need stock markets ?

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Trick to get out of a bad date

I have stumbled across a interesting site called Getmooh. It helps you, as it tagline says, "Get me out of here". The site makes free call to your phone at a pre-determined day and time. There are several recordings like baldwin to a girls voice,etc. You cn use this as a reason to leave whatever you are doing.

How it works?

Getmooh is an automated call back service. It is designed to help you escape a variety of situations by calling you automatically on your phone at a pre-specified time and playing you a recording which will either instruct you on what to say to elude your tormentor(s), or which will simply give a convincing sense of you being on an important call.

Creating a Call

To use Getmooh take the following steps:

1. Select the international dialling prefix of the phone you want to call.

2. Enter the local number of the phone you want to call

3. Specify the time at which you want to be called. Use the calendar icon () to select a time. (For notes on time availability see notes below).

4. Select the recording you want played to you during the call. You can listen to the full recording in advance by selecting it and then clicking "play sample". This will give you an idea of what to expect and let you hone your acting skills.

5. Click "Continue". (If Getmooh recognises you it will say "Add Call" and the process will complete). Otherwise....

6. Enter your email and your password. (See Getting a password below).

7. Click "Add Call".

8. That's it!

Getting a Password

To get a password so you can Create Calls:

1. Click on "Get one now" which appears by the password field.

2. Enter your Name, Email, Intl' Prefix and Mobile Number

3. Your password will be texted to you! So ensure the number is right.

4. Click "Send me My Password by SMS"

5. When you get the password go back to the Main Window and enter it.

6. Anytime you return you can use the same password!

Retreiving your password

To get your password again:

1. Repeat the same steps for signing up

2. Your password will be re-texted to you

Notes

1. Caller ID Policy: Getmooh run a very simple Caller ID policy. At the end of every call, the mobile number of the person who placed the called is read out very distinctly by a computer generated voice.

2. Availability of minutes: Getmooh can only make a certain number of calls a day. As people add calls, the minutes available get used up. Select the closest time to when you want a call. If the time you need is completely booked out we apologise...we are working to increase the number of calls we can make all the time.

3. Number of Calls: You can only use the service for a maximum of two calls a day! If you need more than that you should consult a health professional.

4. Prank or Crank Calling: If you are going to set a call for a friend be sure that if they call us and identify themselves as the owner of the number we can happily verify who gave them the call.

5. Why is Getmooh free?: Because Google exists.

Firefox 3.1 takes the browser war a step further

Yesterday Mozilla announced that Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 was available for download. This brings with it a whole new raft of features and improvements:

  • Web standards improvements in the Gecko layout engine
  • Added support for CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 properties
  • A new tab-switching shortcut that shows previews of the tab you’re switching to
  • Improved control over the Smart Location Bar using special characters to restrict your search
  • Support for new web technologies such as the
There is special character support for the Awesome Bar (for example, you can restrict the search to your history by typing ^, or search only bookmarks using *, or tagged pages with +, if you want to match only text in the URL type @, and for title and tags only use #).

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Why tech websites and blogs should not use third-party advertising like AdSense

Technological websites are money makers. The more how-to related articles in your sites the more visitor you tend to get. Internet related sites too get good traffic.
So in order to monetize from it you need to put ads on it. The first choice is of course Google's Adsense due to it's good CTR and CPC. Then there are several like chitika, ypn, bidvertiser, etc.

However, the problem is that most of your users would be geeks,(not true for reviews website as non-geeks will also vist for reviews) they probably might have embraced Firefox and most probably might have installed addon called Adblock Plus which blocks most of these ads.
You might have noticed that impression shown in your adsense stat is less than the actual impression. So, how to go around this?

The option is to have direct advertising hosted on your own server. As the url of the ad will be different(adblock plus works by detecting ad url like pagead..... for adsense) adblock plus will not be able to block this. But, make sure your url does not contain the word "ads", "sponsored",etc.
However, visitors can block these ads manually. But then only regular visitors would do this. Search engiene visitors will see your ads and hopefully click it.

Monday, September 29, 2008

IQ of famous people

Name Position country IQ

Abraham Lincoln President USA 128
Adolf Hitler Nazi leader Germany 141
Al Gore Politician USA 134
Albert Einstein Physicist USA 160
Albrecht von Haller Medical scientist Switzerland 190
Alexander Pope Poet & writer England 180
Andrew Jackson President USA 123
Andrew J. Wiles Mathematician England 170
Andy Warhol Pop artist USA 86
Anthonis van Dyck Artist Belgium 155
Arnauld Theologian France 190
Arne Beurling Mathematician Sweden 180
Arnold Schwarzenegger Actor Austria 135
Baruch Spinoza Philosopher Holland 175
Benjamin Netanyahu Israeli Prime Minister Israel 180
Benjamin Franklin Writer, scientist & politician USA 160
Bill Gates CEO, Microsoft USA 160
Bill(William) J. Clinton President USA 137
Blaise Pascal Mathematician & religious philosopher France 195
Bobby Fischer Chess player USA 187
Bonaparte Napoleon Emperor France 145
Buonarroti Michelangelo Artist, poet & architect Italy 180
Carl von Linn Botanist Sweden 165
Charles Dickens Writer England 180
Charles Darwin Naturalist England 165
Christopher Langan Bouncer & scientist & philosopher USA 195
Sir Clive Sinclair Inventor England 159
David Hume Philosopher & politician Scotland 180
Dr David Livingstone Explorer & doctor Scotland 170
Dolph Lundgren Actor Sweden 160
Donald Byrne Chess Player Irland 170
Emanuel Swedenborg
--
Sweden 205
Felix Mendelssohn Composer Germany 165
Sir Francis Galton Scientist & doctor England 200
Friedrich von Schelling Philosopher Germany 190
Friedrich Hegel Philosopher Germany 165
Galileo Galilei Physicist & astronomer & philosopher Italy 185
Garry Kasparov Chess player Russia 190
Geena Davis Actress USA 140
George Washington President USA 118
George W. Bush President USA 125
George Sand Writer France 150
George Friedrich H?ndel Composer Germany 170
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) Writer England 160
George H. Choueiri A.C.E Leader Lebanon 195
George Berkeley Philosopher Ireland 190
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
--
Germany 205
H. C. Anderson Writer Denmark 145
Hillary Clinton Ex-President wife USA 140
Hjalmar Schacht Nazi officer Germany 143
Honor de Balzac Writer France 155
Hugo Grotius Writer Holland 200
Hypatia Philosopher & mathematician Alexandria 170
Immanuel Kant Philosopher Germany 175
Sir Isaac Newton Scientist England 190
James Woods Actor USA 180
James Watt Physicist & technician Scotland 165
James Cook Explorer England 160
Jayne Mansfield
--
USA 149
Jean M. Auel Writer Canada 140
Jodie Foster Actor USA 132
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
--
Germany 210
Johann Sebastian Bach Composer Germany 165
Johann Strauss Composer Germany 170
Johannes Kepler Mathematician, physicist & astronomer Germany 175
John H. Sununu Chief of Staff for President Bush USA 180
John F. Kennedy Ex-President USA 117
John Adams President USA 137
John Stuart Mill Universal Genius England 200
John Quincy Adams President USA 153
JohnLocke Philosopher England 165
Jola Sigmond Teacher Sweden 161
Jonathan Swift Writer & theologian England 155
Joseph Louis Lagrange Mathematician & astronomer Italy/France 185
Joseph Haydn Composer Austria 160
Judith Polgar Chess player Hungary 170
Kim Ung-Yong
--
Korea 200
Leonardo da Vinci Universal Genius Italy 220
Lord Byron Poet & writer England 180
Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosopher Austria 190
Ludwig van Beethoven Composer Germany 165
Madame de Stael Novelist & philosopher France 180
Madonna Singer USA 140
Marilyn vos Savant Writer USA 186
Martin Luther Theorist Germany 170
Miguel de Cervantes Writer Spain 155
Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomer Poland 160
Nicole Kidman Actor USA 132
Paul Allen Microsoft cofounder USA 160
Philip Emeagwali Mathematician Nigeria 190
Phillipp Melanchthon Humanist & theologian Germany 190
PierreSimon de Laplace Astronomer & mathematician France 190
Plato Philosopher Greece 170
Ralph Waldo Emerson Writer USA 155
Raphael Artist Italy 170
Rembrandt van Rijn Artist Holland 155
Ren Descartes Mathematician & philosopher France 185
Richard Nixon Ex-President USA 143
Richard Wagner Composer Germany 170
Robert Byrne Chess Player Irland 170
Rousseau Writer France 150
Sarpi Councilor & theologian & historian Italy 195
Shakira Singer Colombia 140
Sharon Stone Actress USA 154
Sofia Kovalevskaya Mathematician & writer Sweden/Russia 170
Stephen W. Hawking Physicist England 160
Thomas Chatterton Poet & writer England 180
Thomas Jefferson President USA 138
Thomas Wolsey Politician England 200
Truman Cloak
--
--
165
Ulysses S. Grant President USA 110
Voltaire Writer France 190
William James Sidis
--
USA 200
William Pitt (the Younger) Politician England 190
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Composer Austria 165

List is compiled from aceviper.net. You can take free IQ test from the site.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Google Chrome blocking Adsense ads

I don't know if it is because of my slow internet connection or anything else but adsense ads are not being shown. Ads are only being shown on the youtube video player like in the case of Adblock Plus of firefox. Please tell me what to do.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Create and design ringtones for your mobile phones

You can create your own ringtone of your favourite song by following these steps.
1. Log on to www.zedge.com and register.

2.On the 'ringtone maker' click browse and select the song of your choice from your computer.

3. Upload the track.

4. Check whether the track plays by clicking the play button.

5. Crop the track using the start and end tab. Preview your tone.

6. Download to PC and then copy to your phone.

Similar websites: makeownringtone.com
mobile17.com
mytinyphone.com
phonezoo.com
myxertones.com

Sunday, September 21, 2008

The Phenomenal power of Human mind

Read this

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Spielberg Signs Movie Deal with India's Reliance

DreamWorks SKG, the movie production vehicle for star director Steven Spielberg, on Friday completed a widely expected new financing deal with Reliance Entertainment of India.
The Wall Street Journal said on its Web site Friday that Reliance will invest $500 million and provide another $700 million in debt through JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The deal will give DreamWorks its independence from Viacom Inc. subsidiary Paramount Pictures, which bought the production house for $1.6 billion in 2006, and save Paramount overhead costs by cutting loose the high-priced director.
Paramount released a statement wishing the DreamWorks principals well and said it would waive certain provisions of their original deal to allow them to join the new company without delay.
Spielberg is,however, expected to continue to direct "Indiana Jones" sequels with Paramount and Lucasfilm as production companies.
Meanwhile, Reliance Entertainment — part of one of India's top conglomerates, Reliance ADA Group — is deepening the ties between Bollywood and Hollywood.
Reliance Entertainment has as many as 100 films in production and development in India, and Reliance Big Entertainment, a subsidiary, is focused on striking cross-border collaborations involving gaming, movies, online, animation and music.
During the Cannes Film Festival in May, Reliance Big Entertainment announced that it would invest $1 billion to develop and co-produce movies with Hollywood stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks and Nicholas Cage and filmmaker Chris Columbus' 1492 Pictures.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

NY ex-Mayor to help banned Indian drugs maker

n a severe setback for Ranbaxy Laboratories, the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) has banned the entry in the US of over 30 medicines manufactured by the drug maker at two of its Indian facilities. The regulator has also decided not to grant any new approval to Ranbaxy to sell drugs in the US that are manufactured at its facilities in Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) and Paonta Sahib (Himachal Pradesh).

The US drug regulator has issued warning letters to the drug major where it has cited cross-contamination problems at the Dewas facility and equipment validation and improper maintenance of inspection re-cords at its Paonta Sahib as reasons for its action against Ranbaxy.

“Because of the extent and nature of the violations, US FDA on Tuesday issued an Import Alert, under which US officials may detain at the US border, API and both sterile and non-sterile finished drug products manufactured at such Ranbaxy facilities and offered for import into the US,” said an US FDA statement.

Indian drug firm Ranbaxy has hired ex-New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as an adviser, the company says.

Ranbaxy said Mr Giuliani's consulting and investment firm will advise it and look into compliance issues.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Champions League rights sold for $900 million to ESPN

ESPN-STAR Sports has won the exclusive Global Commercial Rights to telecast the Twenty20 Champions League matches for 10 years starting from the event's inaugural edition scheduled to be held from December 3-10.
The channel bagged the rights for USD 900 million, making the League highest value cricket tournament on a per game basis. On their way to secure the commercial right, ESPN STAR Sports left behind Abu Dhabi Sports Club and DIC.

The status of Twenty20 cricket as the sport's most lucrative avatar has been confirmed with commercial rights to the Champions League being sold to broadcasters ESPN-Star Sports (ESS). This makes the Champions League, promoted by the national boards of India, Australia and South Africa, the highest valued cricket tournament on a per-game basis.

The deal marks ESS's entry into the specialized Twenty20 market; it had lost out on the bid for the Indian Premier League after what seemed like a miscalculation on its part. The IPL rights were eventually sold to a consortium, including Sony Entertainment Television and the Singapore-based World Sports Group, for more than $1 billion. It had seemed like an outrageous price to pay at the time; now, after the overwhelming success of the inaugural IPL, it seems a steal.

ESS are the ICC's television rights holder until 2015 - they acquired the rights in 2006 for $1.1 billion over nine years - but the postponement of the Champions Trophy, originally due to start in Pakistan tomorrow, left them facing a long spell without a major series.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Block ads in Chrome

Those complaining about not having adblock plus in chrome here is a trick from Google Blogoscoped by

How can I install an ad blocker for Chrome?

I received the following small tutorial on how to do this, but I can't guarantee it works and I don't know about potential side-effects... please use with care (quote HTML'ified):

1. Install free software Proxomitron. It stays in your system tray and only eats 3MBs of RAM.

2. In Google Chrome go to Options -> Under the Hood and click on "Change Proxy Settings".

3. A new window will open. Click on "LAN Settings", tick "Use a proxy server for your LAN". In the Address field enter "localhost" and for Port enter "8080". Also tick "Bypass proxy server for local addresses"

That's it really. It's not as effective as the Firefox Adblock extension but it works well nonetheless.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Will Google Chrome be a hit in browser market?

Google announced that the launch of it's browser or OS for the internet Chrome. This is a direct shot at Microsoft's IE as well as desktop dominance. However, surprisingly, this decision shocks me as it's partnership with Mozilla's Firefox was going well. Maybe the top brass at Google did not like the idea of depending on other company to extend it's Internet dominance.

What does this mean for Firefox long term? Google is one of the biggest supporters of Firefox. It has contributed financially and in terms of development talent. According to PaidContent, "just last week Google extended its support of the Mozilla foundation until 2011".

At CNET, Matt Asay writes

Nor can I imagine web developers getting excited about developing for yet another browser. It took years for anyone to start developing for Firefox, and no one got excited about developing for Flock or other spin-offs of Firefox. Google has the brand equity to make people pay attention to Chrome in the way start-up Flock never did, but could Chrome be Google's Zune moment?

In the media player world, the iPod reined despite Microsoft coming out with a good-but-not-good-enough alternative. Firefox has managed to gain a 20 percent market share after years of fighting: 72 percent of web users still slum with Internet Explorer. Are these magically going to dump Internet Explorer just because Google showed up to the party? Unlikely.



Google had many failures in the past. Google desktop, Videos,etc. Hope this does not becomes the same. However, Google has created enough buzz to ensure considerable amount of downloads on the first day.

I don't think the web developers of websites will be happy as they have to create websites suitable for several browsers and their several versions.

UPDATE: Download Chrome Here(windows XP and Vista only. No version for mac and Linux yet)
Chrome Features
Chrome's Code

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Who killed the iPhone in India

Samsung Omnia i900 


It has a 3.2-inch display and being a windows mobile phone, it offers a greater variety of softwares and games. It is packed with features like a 5 mega pixel camera, 8 GB / 16 GB internal memory, multi-touch, windows mobile 6.1 Pro etc. FM radio with RDS, geotagging, 3.5 mm audio jack, TouchWiz UI, optical joystick. It has flash and video recording. The audio quality is also excellent. It is a iphone look alike.

HTC Touch Diamond
It is easily the lightest and the thinnest windows mobile phone in the market. Taiwan-based HTC was the first company in India to launch a touchscreen phone. With Touch, HTC debuted touchscreen phones in India (officially). Key features include, a 2.8 inch VGA touchscreen display, 3.2 megapixel camera with an optical auto-focus lens, video calling capability and auto sensor screen pivoting.
It runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, comes with 4GB of internal storage with 256MB flash and 192MB RAM. Other features include Bluetooth with EDR, minUSB, integrated GPS and Wi-Fi.


Asus P320
Based on the Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional platform, the P320 features GPS navigation, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi for Internet access, Bluetooth and USB connectivity. It comes pre-loaded with ASUS Today suite that includes applications such as Time, Mail Box, Calendar, News, Weather and Music Player available to users via a single window.
Some other key features are a 2.6 inch TFT touchscreen with 65K color, 240 x 320 pixels resolution, OMAP 850 (Texas Instrument's Open Multimedia Application Platform) 200 MHz processor, 128MB Flash ROM + 64 MB DDR RAM and business applications. The phone boasts of 2 megapixel AF camera and microSD support.

Samsung TouchWIZ F480 
The phone, which made its India debut recently, has a 2.8-inch TFT LCD (240x320) touchscreen, integrated FM radio, multi-format video playback (MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV, Real), MPEG4 video recording and editing functions.
The phone also comes with face detection technology, image stabiliser, CMOS video lens and Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) features. There are also a few customisable features like Drag `n' Drop and Auto Smile Shot coupled with full touch navigation.
TouchWIZ F480 has a 5 megapixel auto-focus-LED Flash camera, equipped with 240MB of internal memory, which can be expanded up to 8GB. Positioned in the lifestyle segment, the phone come with a host of entertainment features and is compatible with GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA (7.2mbps) networks and functions on GSM 900/1800/1900, and WCDMA 2100 bands.

LG 1000 
Here's a touchscreen option for CDMA users, LG 1000 CDMA available on Reliance network. The Nokia Communicator look-alike features a 2.8-inch external touch sensitive LCD and an internal display of the same size along with a full QWERTY keyboard.
LG 10000's key features include a media player (playback for MPEG 4 formats), a 2 megapixel camera with video recorder, expandable memory up to 8GB and Office mail applications for corporate users access (Push mail through Microsoft Server, Pull mail - IMAP and POP3).
It also features a full HTML browser. Other media features include a voice recorder and dual stereo speakers. It also supports Bluetooth and external memory via microSD cards. 


The Nokia N96 
The most awaited phone of the lot. Available through pre-Booking. Though not a touchscreen phone, has everything you could ever expect from a phone. A superb 5 MP cam with auto focus and flash, video recording - VGA at 30 FPS, 16 GB internal memory, A-GPS, a DVB - H receiver, a dual ARM 9 CPU, 128 MB RAM, a brilliant 2.8″ 16M colour screen The most popular smart phone OS ever, it features the most user friendly interface.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Unique way to monetize your traffic

After reading this great blog post on several unique ways to monetize your blog I hit upon this idea.

Monetize your visitors through metacafe, revver, or best as a Youtube Partner which pays you for your uploaded videos on view count,etc. I mean, if your blog gets over 1000+ visitors per day, you can upload videos to these sites and embed the video on your blog. The visitors combined with your subscribers are going to hit the play button. This will increase your videos view count which will help your video to make it to the front page of these sites bringing more viewers and more revenue.

However, the video should be related to your blogs content. Eg. If you have a blog related to stock market trading, make and upload a video related to stock trading,etc.

Just imagine, how much (more!) money Perez Hilton would make. He is rumoured to have around 4 million unique vistors a day and as many subscribers. Even if, 25% hit the the videos play button he would earn a lot of money which would be a fortune for rest of us.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Who is the greatest of all Michaels ?

All right!!! another Michael achieves greatness by winning 8 gold medals in one Olympics and 14 in all. But he joins a list of first name Michael who have also achieved greatness and have become legends.

The King of pop- Michael JACKSON:American superstar Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana in 1958 and has been entertaining audiences nearly his entire life. His father, Joseph Jackson, had been a guitarist but was forced to give up his musical ambitions following his marriage to Katherine (Scruse). Together they prodded their growing family's musical interests at home. By the early 60s the older boys Jackie, Tito and Jermaine had begun performing around the city; by 1964 Michael and Marlon had joined in.

A musical prodigy, Michael's singing and dancing talents were amazingly mature and he soon became the dominant voice and focus of "The Jackson 5." As a product of the 70s, the boys had emerged as one of the most accomplished black pop/soul vocal groups in music history, successfully evolving from a Temptations-like group act to a disco phenomenon.Solo success for Michael was inevitable, and by the 80s he had become infinitely more popular than his brotherly group. Record sales consistently orbited, culminating in the biggest-selling album of all time, "Thriller."

First solo artist to generate four top ten hits on the Billboard charts on one album with "Off the Wall."
First artist to generate seven top ten hits (USA) on one album with "Thriller."
Only artist in history to generate five #1 hits (USA) from one album with "Bad."
His 1982 album "Thriller" is the biggest selling album of all time, with confirmed sales of over 47 million copies worldwide.
His 1991 album "Dangerous" is second to "Thriller" as the biggest selling album of all time, with over 20 million copies sold worldwide.
His 1987 album "BAD" is third to "Thriller" as the biggest selling album of all time, with 20 million copies sold worldwide.
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 (as a solo artist).
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 (as a member of the Jackson 5)
Has sold 170 million albums worldwide.
Has sold over 300 million records worldwide.

Michael Schumacher: German ace Michael Schumacher is widely recognised as being the world's best ever racing driver. In 1995 Michael became the (at that time) youngest double Formula 1 World Champion (1994 and 1995 seasons) ever. He is also the 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 World Champion. This phenomenal record speaks for itself. In 2003 he beat Juan Manuel Fangio's five championships from the 1950s, by taking his sixth! He has now retired from F1, at the end of the 2006 season.

The 2004 championship was secured by Michael before its conclusion, making it title number 7. He did it by finishing 2nd at Spa in Belgium, in Ferrari's 700th race, to accumulate enough points to seal the deal.

Michael also holds the F1 records for: most career wins (91), most wins in a season, most career pole positions, most points during a season (148 in 2004), most consecutive world championships (5), most consecutive race wins (2004), most podium finsihes (154), most laps leading, most fastest laps (76), plus several others!

Michael Phelps: The man of the moment. Michael Phelps went a perfect 8-for-8 in Beijing, breaking Mark Spitz's single-Games record for gold medals. He swam 17 times over nine days and broke the world record in four of his five individual swims. His three relay teams also set world marks. He had won six golds and two bronze in the Athens Olympics. So a total of 14 gold medals making him the greatest Olympian ever.




Michael Jordan: The greatest athlete of the 20th century in North America.
* Five-time NBA Most Valuable Player (1987-88, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1995-96, 1997-98)
* Ten-time All-NBA First Team selection (1986-87 to 1992-93, 1995-96 to 1997-98)
* Selected in 1996 as one of the "50 Greatest Players in NBA History"
* A member of six Chicago Bulls NBA championship teams (1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1995-96, 1996-97 and 1997-98)
* Six-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player
* The 1987-88 NBA Defensive Player of the Year and record nine-time NBA All-Defensive First Team selection (1987-88 to 1992-93, 1995-96 to 1997-98)
* Entering 2002-03, ranked first in NBA history in scoring average (31.0 ppg), second in steals (2,391), fourth in points (30,652) and in field-goals made (11,513), fifth in free-throws made (7,061), sixth in field-goals attempted (23,010) and eighth in free-throws attempted (8,448)
* Closed the 1997-98 season as the Bulls' all-time franchise leader in points, rebounds (5,836), assists (5,012), steals, games (930), field-goals made and attempted and free-throws made and attempted (8,115)
* Holds the NBA record for most seasons leading the league in scoring (10)
* Shares the NBA record with Wilt Chamberlain for most consecutive seasons leading the league in scoring (seven, 1986-87 to 1992-93)
* Holds the NBA record for most consecutive games scoring in double-digits (842)
* Holds the NBA record for most seasons leading the league in field-goals made (10) and attempted (10)
* Led the NBA in steals in 1987-88 (3.16 spg), 1989-90 (2.77 spg) and 1992-93 (2.83 spg)
* Holds the NBA single-game records for most free-throws made in one half (20 against the Miami Heat on 12/30/92) and most most free-throws attempted in one half (23 in the same game)
* Shares the NBA single-game records for most free-throws made in one quarter (14 against the Utah Jazz on 11/15/89 and against the Miami Heat on 12/30/92) and most free-throws attempted in one quarter (23 against the Miami Heat on 12/30/92)
* Holds the NBA Finals record for highest single-series scoring average (41.0 ppg in 1993)
* Entering the 2002-03 season, ranks as the all-time NBA Finals leader in three-pointers made (42), second in three-point attempts (114), third in points (1,176), fourth in steals (62), fifth in field-goals made (438), sixth in assists (209) and free-throws made (258), seventh in field-goals attempted (911) and eighth in free-throws attempted (320)
* Holds the NBA Playoffs record for highest career scoring average (33.4 ppg)
* Established an NBA Playoffs record with 63 points against the Boston Celtics on 5/20/86
* Entering the 2002-03 season ranks as the all-time NBA Playoffs leader in field-goals attempted (4,497), free-throws made (1,463) and attempted (1,766), second in steals (376) and field-goals made (2,188), fifth in assists (1,022), seventh in three-point attempts (446) and ninth in three-pointers made (148)
* Recorded two playoff career triple-doubles, both against the New York Knicks (5/9/89 and 6/2/93)
* Participated in 13 NBA All-Star Games (1985, 1987-1993, 1996-98, 2002-03), starting 13 times, and missed another due to injury
* Named the MVP of the 1988, 1996 and 1998 NBA All-Star Games
* All-time NBA All-Star Game leader in steals (35) and ranks second in field-goal attempts (206), third in points (242), fourth in scoring average (20.2 ppg), and eighth in assists (52)
* Notched the first triple-double in All-Star Game history, with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, in the 1997 NBA All-Star Game in Cleveland
* Won the Slam Dunk Contest in 1987 and 1988, also participating in 1985
* Notched his 28th career triple-double, with 30 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, against the Toronto Raptors on 4/14/97
* Returned from retirement against the Indiana Pacers on 3/19/95 and posted 19 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals in 43 minutes

There are many more Michaels out there like Michael Ballack(soccer) ,clarke(cricket), etc. These are good players but have not achieved greatness like these four in their fields.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Lenovo slips out the new ThinkPad X301: new CPUs, 128GB SSD, still thin as hell


Lenovo today announced the ThinkPad X301 notebook PC, taking the thinnest and lightest full-function notebook in its class1, to new heights in performance. Like its predecessor, the industry-acclaimed ThinkPad X300 notebook, the ThinkPad X301 notebook offers cutting-edge features and technologies in a thin and light form starting at less than three pounds and one-inch thin. The notebook offers even greater storage capacity with choices of either 64 GB or new 128 GB solid state drive storage available in September. The ThinkPad X301 notebook provides on average nearly 20 percent better performance over the ThinkPad X300 notebook due to the latest DDR3 memory and the latest Intel Core 2 Duo ultra low volt processor2.

"Lenovo continues to push the technology envelope by giving road warriors the latest enhancements in solid state drive storage and digital display technologies with the new ThinkPad X301 notebook PC," said Sam Dusi, vice president, worldwide notebook product marketing, Lenovo. This announcement extends our commitment to blending ultraportability and functionality, and equipping today's business users with the most advanced, highest-performing computing tools.

New support for DisplayPort makes viewing high definition content easy and ideal for models with the ultra-thin DVD burner. With support for both DisplayPort and VGA, users can even watch high definition content on multiple displays. Designed for maximum options for wireless connectivity, the ThinkPad X301 notebook offers models with high-speed mobile broadband and WiFi to connect wirelessly to the Internet, and also with Bluetooth and Ultra-Wideband technology to connect wirelessly to other devices. Lenovo offers improved uplink performance by up to 250 percent for models with AT&T mobile broadband over previous ThinkPad notebooks with AT&T mobile broadband4. Models supporting WiMAX will be available later this year. Additionally, GPS on notebook models with high speed mobile broadband5 allow travelers to more easily navigate to the office or airport.

The notebook also includes Lenovo's ThinkVantage Technologies, unique hardware-software tools designed to maximize user productivity. With Lenovo's improved Access Connections tool, users can navigate a user-friendly interface to easily find and access Internet and network connections. Also, Lenovo's improved Power Manager gives users more control over notebook functions to enable longer battery life.

The ThinkPad X301 notebook also continues Lenovo's focus on environmentally-responsible design. Its 13.3-inch LED backlit display, solid state drive storage and other energy-efficient technologies help make it rated Gold by the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool. This designation adds to Lenovo's portfolio of Gold-rated ThinkPad notebook and ThinkCentre desktop PCs.

Pricing and Availability

Pricing for models of the ThinkPad X301 notebook starts at approximately $2,599. The notebook will be available on August 26 through Lenovo Business Partners and www.lenovo.com

Gays in India seek British apology for law


Gay activists in India say they want Britain to apologize for introducing anti-sodomy laws that still makes homosexuality illegal there.

Organizers were to call for an apology during their first gay pride march Saturday in Mumbai. It is part of a campaign to abolish Section 377 of the Indian penal code outlawing "unnatural sexual offenses,"

Indian law, adopted when Britain ruled the country, calls for up to 10 years in prison for engaging in oral or anal sex, the newspaper reported. India has kept the law since gaining its independence in 1947.

Gay rights campaigners also argue that because Section 377 enshrines homophobia in India's legal systems it also legitimises the continued repression of gay men and women in wider Indian society.

A draft copy of the statement accuses Britain of exporting homophobia during the 19th century when colonial administrators began enforcing Victorian laws and morals on their Indian subjects. It reads: "We call on the British Government to apologise for the immense suffering that has resulted from their imposition of Section 377. And we call on the Indian government to abandon this abhorrent alien legacy of the Raj that should have left our shores when the British did."

Gay rights activists argue that Hindu, Buddhist and early Muslim cultures on the subcontinent had a long history of tolerance towards same-sex relationships.

Friday, August 15, 2008

The fastest man to overshadow all

Michael Phelps gold winning streak will be out of limelight for a while as Men's 100 meters sprint is about to take place. He will be the most talked about person and admired,too. After all this might,arguably, be the oldest game of the world.

This is not to undermine the effort and the triumphs of the other champions, "but the fastest man in the world" is a breed apart evoking shock and awe and admiration.

The 100 m race not just symbolises love for sport but also the acme of achievement in sport. Nothing can quite capture the magic and meaning of human endeavour than this race where athletes train for 10 years while the result is out in less than 10 seconds.

After Ben Johnson was stripped of the gold he won after he finished first at Seoul olympics 1988 , the 100 meter athletes have been on the radar of the anti-doping officials.

But the 100m sprint has never lost it's appeal. This year we have got the most anticipated games in our hand. It will be Powell vs Bolt vs Gay and of course there can be an upset.

I am a Heath Ledger fan


OK. I didn't know who Heath Ledger was till I saw the story that he is dead on front page of Digg. I went to see The Dark Knight last Tuesday.(finally)Whew I was blown by Ledger's performance. The Joker which he portrayed made me shiver. I thought what if all the terrorist where as funny,mean and cruel as he is??? Thankfully it was just a movie.

Also see Dark Knight Records

The Dark Knight records

1 - LARGEST NUMBER OF OPENING THEATRES WITH 4,366 (MORE THAN THE 4,362 DEBUT THEATRES OF PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END IN 2007).

2 - BIGGEST MIDNIGHT PREVIEW GROSS WITH $18.489 MILLION IN 3,040 THEATRES (BEATS STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH AND ITS $16.9 MILLION IN 2,915 THEATRES IN 2005).

3 - BIGGEST IMAX MIDNIGHT PREVIEWS SET AN NEW RECORD WITH $640,000 (INCLUDED IN THE $18.489 MILLION PREVIEW NUMBER).

4 - BIGGEST SINGLE-DAY GROSS IN BOX-OFFICE HISTORY WITH $67.850 MILLION (BESTS THE $59,841,919 SET BY SPIDER-MAN 3 IN 2007).

5 - BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND GROSS IN BOX OFFICE HISTORY WITH $155.340 MILLION (BESTS THE $151,116 MILLION SET BY SPIDER-MAN 3 IN 2007).

6 - BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND GROSS FOR AN IMAX RELEASE IN BOX OFFICE HISTORY WITH $6,214,061 MILLION IN 94 THEATRES WITH $66,107 PER THEATRE. (BESTS THE $4.7 MILLION SET BY SPIDER-MAN 3 IN 2007.) IMAX SHOWING AT FULL CAPACITY $1.9 MILLION ON SATURDAY ALONE.

7 - BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND OF 2008 WITH $151.340 (BEATS INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL'S $101.137 MILLION FROM MAY 23-25, 2008)

8 - BIGGEST JULY OPENING EVER (BEATS PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST'S $135,634,554 ON JULY 7, 2006).

But even then there are reports that it won't catch up with the Tiatanic.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

India to sue Google, Yahoo & Microsoft for sex selection ads

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre, Google India, Yahoo India and Microsoft Corporation on a petition seeking a ban on popular online search engines promoting sex selection techniques.

A three-Judge Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices P. Sathasivam and J.M. Panchal issued notice on a writ petition filed by Dr. Sabu Mathew George highlighting the violation of Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act by the websites.

Counsel Sanjay Parikh submitted that despite bringing the websites to the notice of the departments concerned, no steps were taken to block them. He said the petition was filed for full and effective implementation of the Act.

He sought a direction to the Centre to block all websites, including those of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, that violated the Act.

Dr. George wanted a direction to the Centre to take punitive and deterrent action against these three companies.

It is funny that even though Google's adwords policy does not allows this
advertising when ads are targeted to India, it still shows up.

It is banned because of selective abortion for past centuries have resulted in dip in girl population. The sex ratio in many parts is almost 900 to 1000 men.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The Evolution of Windows

"Windows is a flop!" When version 1.01 made it's appearance at the end of 1985, no one wanted it. Apple threatened to take legal action for using Macintosh features like the menu bar, program windows, drop down menus and mouse support.
At that time Apple was IT giant while Microsoft a small fish. However, after IBM machines started dominating the markets so did Microsoft's Operating System DOS. It tasted success with version 2.0. Microsoft later switched from 16 bits OS and DOS platform to more stable 32 bits and NT kernel. Windows 95 introduced the concept of task bar and start menu.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Difference between diferent video related Adsense product

AdSense for video
AdSense for video allows publishers with video content to earn revenue using relevant, non-intrusive ad placements from Google's extensive advertiser network. Video content will display both InVideo overlay and text overlay ads.

At this time, AdSense for video is in Beta may only be implemented for pages and videos that are in English with traffic primarily from the United States. If you're interested in participating, learn about the requirements, then fill out our interest form.

Adsense video ads
Click-to-play video ads are a new type of ad available for sites in the Google network, including AdSense sites. They're available in several ad formats and will be shown only if a publisher is opted in to image ads for one of the supported ad formats.

When a video ad is served to a page, it will be displayed as a static opening image. Once the user clicks the play button or the opening image, the video will begin playing within the ad space. If the user clicks the display URL at the bottom of the ad, or clicks the ad while it's playing, the user will automatically be taken to the advertiser's website. Users can control the volume and can replay the video if they choose; the video will not automatically replay.

Adsense Video units
Video units are a new way to enrich your site content -- and earn more -- with relevant video from YouTube partners on an embedded, customizable video player. When you place a video unit on your site, you can choose the video content in several ways: by picking content categories, by select individual content providers, or by having video automatically targeted to your site content.

The videos you display will be monetized with relevant ads, too. The video unit displays companion and text overlay ads that are highly targeted and non-intrusive. Plus, to help integrate video units into your site further, you can also customize the color scheme and layout of the video unit.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Getting out of debt

Being in debt is bad enough. Not managing it well is worse.
The first principle towards settling your debt and moving towards a debt-free existence (however distant it may sound) is in prioritising your debt.
What you must hold on to and what you must clear as soon as possible is the first step towards debt management.
In this article, we will tell you how you can reach that blissful state. Start by asking (and answering) these four questions.

1. Are you getting any tax benefits on the loan?
A home loan and an education loan come with tax benefits.

2. Is the rate of interest very high?
Logically, the one with the highest rate of interest is the one that should be cleared quickly.
Two types of loans that should be cleared as soon as possible are personal loans and credit card loans.
The interest rate on these loans is the highest. On credit cards, it amounts to around 24% per annum (at 2% per month). A personal loan should be around 18% onwards.
Even if you get the personal loan at a discount, it would be around 14% per annum.
Interest-free or low interest rate loans from friends and family are the ones you can hold on to, if it will not cause a rift in your relationship.

3. Which are the loans that you can close?
This one will be tough because you have taken a loan to own something.
Sure, you may lose face. But no one is going to come and bail you out. It is better for you to make some smart moves on your own.
Let's say you took a loan to buy a swank car and now realise that you have bitten more than you can chew. In that case, sell the car and close the loan.
You can always buy a car later once you have settled all your debt.

4. Can you switch the loan?
If the rate of interest on your loan is high, you can switch it to a financier who will charge you a lower rate of interest.
Credit cards do this and call it a balance transfer. Say you are paying 2% or 2.25% per month on your card. You can go in for another credit card. They will pay back the bank and transfer your loan onto the new card. For the first six months, they will give you a lower interest rate. Say 1.5% or 1.75% per month.

The sbove steps will help you get out of debt.