Monday, April 28, 2008

India launches record 10 satellites in one rocket


An Indian rocket launched a record 10 satellites into orbit in a single mission Monday, underlining the nation's emergence as a major competitor in the multi-billion-dollar space market.

The PSLV rocket ejected all the satellites within minutes of each other after liftoff at 9:20 a.m. (0350 GMT) in clear weather from the Sriharikota space station in southern India, the Indian Space Research Organisation said.

The mission's success demonstrated India's ability to launch multiple payloads into precise orbit as it seeks to reap commercial benefits from its 45-year-old space programme.

It was the 13th flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, which has "repeatedly proved itself as a reliable and versatile workhorse launch vehicle," said ISRO.

The rocket's unprecedented payload included an Indian remote-sensing satellite known as the Cartosat-2A, a mini satellite and eight so-called nanosatellites developed by foreign research institutions, including those from Germany and Canada.
The satellites were deployed in orbit within minutes of each other in a rare space feat, with the entire mission lasting about 20 minutes.
High resolution images and data from the satellite will be used to manage infrastructure and natural resources in the country, officials said.

India started its space programme in 1963, and has since developed and put several of its own satellites into space. It has also designed and built launch rockets to reduce dependence on overseas space agencies.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Not slap, it was slugfest with Harbhajan: Sreesanth

Sreesanth has told a Malayalam news channel that he had fist fight with Harbhajan sing after the IPL match.


COOL!!! Why didn't he tell this before.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Is maths invented or discovered ?

Think too hard about it, and mathematics starts to seem like a mighty queer business. For example, are new mathematical truths discovered or invented? Seems like a simple enough question, but for millennia, it has provided fodder for arguments among mathematicians and philosophers.

Those who espouse discovery note that mathematical statements are true or false regardless of personal beliefs, suggesting that they have some external reality. But this leads to some odd notions. Where, exactly, do these mathematical truths exist? Can a mathematical truth really exist before anyone has ever imagined it?

On the other hand, if math is invented, then why can’t a mathematician legitimately invent that 2 + 2 = 5?

Many mathematicians simply set nettlesome questions like these aside and get back to the more pleasant business of proving theorems. But still, the questions niggle and nag, and every so often, they rise to attention. Several mathematicians will ponder the question of whether math is invented or discovered in the June European Mathematical Society Newsletter.

Read the rest of the article at Science News

Friday, April 25, 2008

Dhoni's new Pepsi commercial in south indian lungi

Dhoni is now appearing in an ad for pepsi where he is seen as the south tamil super star (well, the typical lungi one, not resembling anyone) where he is throwing up cigarettes, sunglass and with a punch dialogue asking ” Yemm Ess Dhoni from Chennai, Doo youu have the baaals…I have the baeett ! Mind it ” Hilarious one.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Maharashtra Government to ban IPL cheerleaders

Maharashtra Government looks to play 'moral police'. They are planning to ban cheerleaders from Mumbai matches. They argue that if bar dancers were banned for indecency so should these cheerleaders.It should be noted that the IPL teams have spent a lot on these cheerleaders. Notable is Vijay Mallya's Team Bangalore Royal Challengers who have brought Washington Red Skins.

Hats off to these stupid politicians who are extremely able to find anything Under The Sun to protest and create some controversies. They don't seem to understand vulgarity depends on one's perception. These cheerleaders just adds to the colour and festivities of Twenty20 cricket and does not makes it an 'immoral' event.

A Salsa dance, depending on one's perception, will be the most beautiful form of dance or the most vulgar.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Video Games to make you learn how to think

Wired reports that The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency commissions three custom games to teach new recruits critical thinking skills, while the Army builds its own simulator to instruct intelligence officers in the art of interrogation. These method to boos thinking would be useful in present war against terror as terrorist are getting smarter. Hope big game creators make such games rather than normal crash and violent games.

Does having Video commenting make any sense ?

TechCrunch and several other blogs announced that they already have a plugin installed to allow readers to post video comments. But won't it irritate visitors as Videos take more time to load and any ways who would want to video comment on a tech blog. May be for music or video blog it will work. But it will be cool if people use it for good commenting rather than just say hi.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Dying 47-Year-Old Professor Gives Exuberant ‘Last Lecture’

Discovery Channel: I Love the World



Full Credits
Client: Discovery Channel
Agency: 72andSunny
Creative Director: Glenn Cole
CD/Designer: Bryan Rowles
CD/Copywriter: Jason Norcross
Agency Executive Producer: Sam Baerwald
Agency Producer: Angelo Ferrugia
Production Company: Outsider
Director: James Rouse
Director of Photography: Max Goldman
Producer: Jeremy Barrett
Editorial Company: Mad River Post
Editor: Lucas Eskin
Producer (Editorial): Ann Kirk
VFX: Method
VFX/Online Artist: Alex Kolansinski
VFX Producer: Helena Lee
Music: Beacon Street Studios
Composer: Brian Chapman
Producer (Music): Adrea Lavezzoli
Sound Design: Lime Studios
Mixer: Loren Silber
Telecine: Company 3
Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Signs of an arrogant DIGGER

10. You spam Digg.
09. You directly click the "I swear" button without even bothering to read the duplicates page.
08. You have no friends on Digg.
07. You feel commenting is not worth your time.
06. You just use digg to submit link.
05. You digg any thing that interests you by title ,but you don't visit the URL
04. Even though digg sends you most of the traffic, you blog about how useless the traffic is compared to search engiene traffic.
03. You only visit the home page and digg and visit the link you like. For you upcoming pages does not exist.
02. You don't login while using digg. You just visits some Links and leave.
01. You don't have a Digg account. Just use it and leave.

Visitors deleting cookies increases your unique visitors count

According to Comscore, Visitors deleting cookies can increase your unique visitors number by 2.5 times. Click here to request whitepaper.

What Encyclopedia Britannica can do to survive

Techcrunch reports that Britannica is going to be free for bloggers. It is a trick by them to some how drive up online subscription which costs $70 per year. They have been badly hit by wikipedia. According to Comscore, for every page viewed on Brittanica.com, 184 pages are viewed on Wikipedia (3.8 billion v. 21 million pave views per month).

They could well partner with Google Knol and share the revenue.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

After White house ?

Friday, April 18, 2008

Dignitaries booed at IPL opening ceremony ! WOW!!!

The crowd had enough of politicians and beurocrats hogging limelight at cricket events. When the eight captains names were announced you could hear the crowd cheering. The living legend received the loudest cheer. But the best part was when the crowd booed BCCI president Sharad Pawar. Ray Mali was given some respect but Lalit Modi reading out from four pages of written material was also not shown any respect.

Now I hope that Shahrukh Khan get this treatment. I had enough of him in cricket. Why doesn't he let new upcoming stars get some limelight.

Mumbai Trains claim 20000 lives in 5 years


Death on the railway tracks seems to have become a way of life for Mumbai. A query, under the Right to Information Act, has revealed that Mumbai’s lifeline has ended up claiming more than 20,700 lives in the last five years.

Most of the deaths occurred while people were crossing the tracks, sometimes to catch a train, but a significant percentage of commuters died after they were pushed off trains or hit trackside poles while struggling for a square foot of space in overcrowded coaches.

Talk about being lifeline of Mumbai.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

IPL cricket twenty20 web resources

Official IPL site- iplt20.com
BCCI site- BCCI.tv (not yet fully launched)
Exclusive online partner- cricket.com (not yet launched)

MumbaiIndians - Mumbai
Knightriders - Kolkata
RoyalChallengers - Bangalore
Superkings - Chennai
DareDevils - Delhi
Royals - Jaipur
DeccanChargers - Hyderabad
Kings X1 - Mohali

Tickets- Ticketpro.in ( except for matches in mumbai )
for mumbai matches kyazoonga.com

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Tag Heuer's Vertu Killer



Tag Heuer's mobile phone in partnership with Modelabs

Official Google Website Optimizer Blog: Welcome to the Website Optimizer Blog

Official Google Website Optimizer Blog: Welcome to the Website Optimizer Blog

Welcome to the Website Optimizer Blog
Are you optimized?

Wouldn't it be nice to test which of these two headlines might encourage you to learn more about Website Optimizer? Well, that's exactly what Website Optimizer does in a nutshell: you can test different variations of your site content to determine what is most effective at getting your visitors to take the action you want them to take. That desired action could be anything from a visitor making a purchase or signing-up for your newsletter, to spending a set amount of time on your page - the possibilities are endless.
Now that Website Optimizer has been around for a year, we thought it was high time to remove our beta label and start our own blog.

Nike ad featuring Ronaldo, maria, federer

New Nike commercial featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer and many other stars.

After search Google's youtube dominates video sharing market

YouTube (GOOG) now accounts 73% of all visits to video sites, according to the firm, which released its March numbers. That's a 32% increase from March 2007, and appears to have come largely at the expense other generic video sites such as MySpace TV (down 48%), Google video (down 52%) and Yahoo Video (down 18%).

The Hitwise numbers second Nielsen Netratings' latest data, which shows YouTube at 71.3 million unique visitors in March, or a little more than 70% of the 100.7 million visits to "video/movie" sites as defined by the research firm. In terms of total videos served, YouTube's share is more modest: just 48.5% of all video served on the Web, according to Nielsen's VideoCensus.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Dhoni and Yuvraj in Shahrukh Khan's new game show

It's rumoured that M S Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh will make guest appearance in the new game show to be hosted by Shahrukh Khan. The show is set to launch on 25 April. The prize money is Rs. 5 crores and the questions will be based on fifth grade textbooks.
However, it is uncertain when cricketers episode will be aired.

Google Releasing Google Earth 4.3 Today

New features include

Street View inside Google Earth - As rumored weeks ago, Street View will be here soon. And, yes - the images will be viewed with the Photo Viewer. That answers that question.

Imagery Dates - You will now be able to easily see the dates when imagery was taken for most imagery (but, not all - simply because the date data isn't always available from the many imagery providers delivering to Google).

New navigational controls - New features enabling better ways to look around at 3D buildings and 3D terrain using new navigation gadgets and your mouse or keyboard.

More 3D buildings, faster loading - Faster loading 3D building models, and faster rendering as well. New photo-textured cities (it will be interesting to find out how they were made, where they came from, and how many new cities are included).

Day/Night Lighting - Real-time sunlight lighting option. Time slider control of the sun position. Expect a more realistic looking view of Earth from space. This has been done before by others, but now will be available built-in and supported by Google.

Flash Support for Mac - That's right, you'll now be able to play YouTube videos and put other flash apps inside Google Earth placemarks just like on Windows. There may be a couple of caveats though from reports I have. More on this later.

Switching to Sky Faster - Switching between Sky and Earth modes will be much faster.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Google share in US searches increases



Which means Yahoo's and Microsoft's share decreases.

So, keep Googling.

Google crawling forms

Google now admits to Crawling through HTML forms.

For select menus, check boxes, and radio buttons on the form, Google will choose from among the values of the HTML.

After gaining access to content pass the form, Google may or may not index that content

You can block Googlebot from crawling your forms by excluding them in your robots.txt file

Googlebot will only attempt to crawl GET forms

Googlebot tries to avoid forms requesting userids, login, passwords, contact information and so on

This should not impact PageRank

Pros: Google can crawl places they haven't and index more of your content, which gives you more visibility.
Cons: Pages you do not want indexed, might require you do more work to block them.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Bow before the KING

One video and music which can stand up to hollywood






Music Director : A R Rahman

azeem o shan shahenshah
(O great and glorious emperor)

Farma ravaa
(You are the commander of authority)

Hamesha hamesha salaamat rahe
(Forever may you be safe and secure)

Tera ho kya bayan, tu shaan e Hindustan
(How do we praise you, you are the pride of Hindustan)

Hindustan teri jaan tu jaan e Hindustan
(Hindustan is your life, and you are the soul of Hindustan)

Marhaba O Marhaba
(welcome o emperor, welcome)

Sab nagran ma, Har aangan ma
(In every town, In every territory)

Prem hai tumra, Har har mann ma
(Your love exists In every heart)

Daya jo tumri, Mahabali hai
(Its your mercy O emperor)

Des mein sukh ki Pavan chali hai
(That the breeze of joy blow in the county).


Jhan jana jananna….

Marhaba O marhaba
(welcome o emperor, welcome)

Azeem o shan shahenshah, Marhaba
(O great and glorious emperor)

Deta hai har dil yehi gawahi
(Every heart gives this testimony)

Dilwale hai dil-e-lahi
(Our emperor has a mighty heart)

Jao kahin bhi niklo jidhar se
(No matter where you go or come)

Galiyo galiyo sona barse
(every path is showering with gold )

Jhan jhanan nana………..

Marhaba Ho Marhaba
(welcome o emperor, welcome)

Azeem o shan shahenshah
(O great and glorious emperor)

Tera mazhab hai jo mohabbat
(Your religion is LOVE)

Kitne dilo par teri hukumat
(Your rule/reign over so many hearts)

Jitna kahe hum utna kam hain
(no matter how much we praise, its just too less)

Tehzeebo ka tu sangam hai
(You are the unifier of all cultures)

Azeem o shan shahenshah
(O great and glorious emperor)

Farma ravaa
(You are the commander of authority)

Hamesha hamesha salaamat rahe
(Forever may you be safe and secure)

Tera ho kya bayan, tu shaan e Hindustan
(How do we praise you, you are the pride of Hindustan)

Hindustan teri jaan tu jaan e Hindustan
(Hindustan is your life, and you are the soul of Hindustan)

Marhaba O Marhaba
(welcome o emperor, welcome)

C Ronaldo and Ronaldinho in Manchester?

Manchester United are set to hand Cristiano Ronaldo a massive £40m deal to keep him at the club, making him the highest paid player in England on £150,000 a week.

Manchester City's quest to sign Ronaldinho this summer has been boosted after the Brazilian admitted he wants to play in the Premier League. (The Sun)

Inside AdSense: A word of caution

From the blog post of Adsense blog Inside AdSense: A word of caution here is an excerpt

Of late, we’ve received a few emails from new AdSense applicants about not being accepted into the program despite paying a specific amount of money or buying a CD package.

We’d like to take this opportunity to state that we're not affiliated with any third-parties that solicit payment to join the AdSense program or that sell CDs with money-back guarantee offers. AdSense is a free product offered to publishers by Google Inc., and there’s no cost or obligation involved. As a result, we recommend that prospective publishers exercise caution when presented with such offers.


Google seems to ignore the fact that these third parties use Adwords to advertise their schemes. Isn't Google partly responsible as these ads which appears on its sites makes it seem like Google endorses these services or product or affiliation.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Nike+ in iPhone and iPod touch

Apple Insider reports

The Nike+ Sport Kit released two years ago for use exclusively with Apple's iPod nano digital music player is finally getting an upgrade that will see support extended to iPhone and iPod touch.

With the existing version of the kit, runners must first return to their Mac or PC, dock their iPod nano, launch iTunes, and then push their latest performance data to the Nike+ website. But with the new application written for the iPhone and iPod touch -- presumably via Apple's iPhone SDK -- runners will be able to beam that data to the website wirelessly the instant they complete their workout.

The wireless feature is said to be particularly suited for use with Nike+ Coach, a new feature of the Nike+ website launched this week that simulates the experiencing of having a personal trainer schedule training runs based around the Sport Kit's 5k, 10k, half marathon or full marathon programs.

Launched in May of 2006, the $30 Nike + iPod Sport Kit for the iPod nano immediately became a runaway success, selling over 450,000 units in less than 90 days. Since then, it's believed Nike and Apple have gone on to sell millions more.

In fact, the response was so overwhelming that by early 2007 Nike said that it had sold over 3 million Nike+ compatible running shoes and as a result would build support for the iPod technology into every single pair of running shoes by the end of 2007.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Google to rescue Yahoo from forced marriage to microsoft

Here is the plot.
A very rich and powerful landlord Microsoft is forcing a beautiful girl Yahoo into marrying him. He is trying to attract her by giving her lot of expensive gifts. But the girl does not wants to marry him. She wants to remain free. The Landlord warns the girl that if she doesn't marry him then he will take her away forcibly.

Enters a very handsome and rich and powerful Knight from a distant land ie. Google. He is accompanied by his trusted assistant America Online code named AOL. They come to know about the damsel in distress and promise to help her.

In anger the land lord hires a dreaded dark knight News corp. to help him.

The story will be continued later........

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Flickr loyalists protest against Flickr introducing video

Here is the petition by groups on Flickr asking for roll back of video.

We the undersigned members of Flickr, free and pro, agree that video has no place on Flickr. Other sites on the web accept video already, but do not accept photos. We all joined Flickr because of it's dedication to photography and photographers, and we want Flickr to remain true to this dedication. It is our request that this feature and addition to Flickr be removed."

If you agree with this statement, type /signed followed by your username/full name in a reply to this thread.

David Beckham given ticket by a cop for traffic violation


How much I hope that Indian police too start and start punishing errant celebs rather than just leaving them maybe after taking a bribe.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Answers about Credit card Deal

Credit card is very useful as it provides fraud protection so that you don't lose your hard earned money.But, be careful with while using it. It is no doubt very convenient but be careful while spending as it is others money you are borrowing. Only borrow if you are sure you will be able to repay. The site best rate visa credit-card applications gives you information regarding different fees associated with credit card so that you can get the best deal.

In its online questions and answers page you can get answers to your credit card related questions for free. Search for your answer in their database or if you can not find it send your query to professional credit card advisors at their website. They will answer to you. They are not affiliated to any particular credit card company ,so that you can be assured of impartial answers. They will also help you to get the best credit card offer available.

Nokia's TUBE to challenge Apple's Iphone

The world's largest handset maker is starting to talk about its response to Apple's iPhone, almost 10 months since the iPhone made its debut.

Nokia showed off the Nokia Tube in a presentation slide noticed by Infoworld at a software development conference in California Monday. The Tube, like the iPhone, is a touch-screen phone that can be manipulated using your fingers, and is Nokia's "first touch device," according to Tom Libretto of Forum Nokia.

It's fair to say the iPhone forced just about every handset maker to take a second look at their product development lineup. HTC and LG have shown off their iPhone-lookalikes already, and more will probably start to appear over the rest of the year.

Nokia didn't provide a time frame for the launch of the Tube.

Bark now, we will Bite later- China to Tibet

It has been quite sometime since Chinese have been in news for human right violation in Tibet. But Tibetians are hogging limelight everywhere with their attempt to disrupt the olympic torch relay in London and Paris. It is surprising that the communist Government of China are keeping quiet. I am sure they are waiting for the completion of the games before they can continue their crackdown on Tibet.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Bush cartoon


This is my favorite Bush cartoon

For more click here

Google to store web software in it's server


Google plans to launch a service called App Engine Monday evening that the company hopes will attract programmers and eventually companies needing an expandable foundation for online applications.

App Engine, free to the first 10,000 people who sign up, offers a combination of several online Google services for those who want a place to host software, said Pete Koomen, a product manager on the Google developer team. Those include the BigTable service for data storage and processing--as expected--along with authentication to let people sign on to services and e-mail to let the system handle communications, he said.

At an event called Campfire One Monday night, Google plans to show off some internally developed Web applications written with the service. One of them lets people sign up for carpools, joining the service, declaring whether and when they want to drive or be driven, and then being matched to likely partners.

The company is pitching App Engine as an easy way for programmers to build software without having to worry about rebuilding it once it gets too big for its original hardware or software britches.

But Stephen Arnold, author of "Google Version 2," sees grander ambitions in the App Engine plan. Google's BigTable software and accompanying Sawzall technology for analyzing huge quantities of data offers big companies a way to tackle data-mining tasks they currently can't manage, such as American Express plumbing five years' worth of credit-card transactions to determine the merits of Father's Day promotions.

App Engine programs can be written in the Python programming language, Koomen said, though Google is seeking advice on what other languages to support. With App Engine, programmers can use a Google software development kit to write the software on their own computer, then upload it to App Engine when desired.

Google's App Engine initially will have limits of 500MB of storage, 10GB of daily data transfer bandwidth, and 200 million daily cycles of processor use. That should be enough to power a Web site with about 5 million page views per month, Koomen said.

After the preview period ends, all comers will be able to use that amount of capacity for free, and using more will cost pay-as-you-go fees that Google isn't yet announcing.

Google expects to generate some revenue from the service and from AdSense if developers incorporate that service into their Web applications, said Tom Stocky, another Google product manager. But the real payback from the service is indirect, Koomen said.

"The primary motivation is to enable the Web as a platform and move it forward," Koomen said. "If it's easier for developers to build Web applications, (that) means more applications. That attracts more users to the Web and helps Google as well."

Future features will include mechanisms for storing files larger than 1MB, billing users for computer use, and support for offline applications, Koomen added.

Rare lynx appears in Italian Alps


A lynx has appeared in the Italian Alps for the first time in 100 years.

The authorities in Italy's South Tyrol region say the lynx, which crossed the mountains from Switzerland, does not pose a threat to livestock in the area.

The lynx was fitted with a signalling collar after being captured in Switzerland in February.

Lynx were wiped out by hunters and farmers in the region in the early 20th Century. They were reintroduced in Switzerland in the 1970s.

On Friday the South Tyrol authorities said the lynx spotted in the area had wandered through the Pejo Valley and had stopped in the Deutschnonsberg area of South Tyrol.

The WWF conservation organisation says there are about 100 lynx in Switzerland, in two main areas: the northwestern Alps, which includes Interlaken, and the Jura Mountains near Lake Geneva.

Lynx are solitary hunters, inhabiting high-altitude forests and preying on small mammals such as hares, foxes and small deer as well as fish.

WWF Italy spokesman Riccardo Nigro told the BBC News website that lynx "are fully protected in Italy". But he said carnivores such as bear, lynx and wolves could be at risk in some places because alpine communities had forgotten simple preventive measures such as low-voltage fences and dogs trained to defend cattle.

An Italian programme to reintroduce bears to the Alps suffered a setback when one - nicknamed Bruno - ventured into Austria and Germany and preyed on local livestock. Bruno dodged Bavarian hunters for weeks before being shot dead in June 2006.

Sony Ericsson M700 mobile platform

Ericsson recently announced its M700 mobile platform. Among its specs:

It has peak data rates of up to 100Mbps in the downlink and up to 50Mbps in the uplink.
It’s compatible with networks around the world, can support up to six bands, including the 700 MHz bands, and supporting bandwidths range between 1.4MHz and 20MHz.
Silicon will arrive in 2008 and the commercial release is set for 2009.
The first products based on the M700 will be data devices such as laptop modems, express cards and USB modems for notebooks, as well as other small-form modems suitable for consumer electronic devices.
Products based on the platform are expected in 2010.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Good girl , Bad Girl- Hilary Duff

Just look at the video and if you wanted your kid to be like her you are in for a surprise. And as Perez Hilton asks "How long until Miley Cyrus does that????"

Yahoo details plans for new online ad sales system

Yahoo Inc on Sunday detailed plans for its forthcoming Web advertising management system that gives its ad sales-partners access to online ad space both on Yahoo and other major sites.

The widely anticipated system, known as AMP!, aims to simplify the process of buying and selling online ads for advertisers, ad agencies, fast-growing ad trading networks and Web site publishers.

The ad management system seeks to capitalize on Yahoo's strength as a Web site publisher that reaches 500 million Web users monthly and recent efforts to sell ads off of Yahoo through major partnerships or specialized ad-sales networks.

The planned advertising system, formerly code-named Apex, is the lynchpin of the company's strategy to reach outside its own base of users and increase its position as the "must buy" location for online advertisers.

While the strategy remains in its early stages, AMP! is one of the products which Yahoo management believes will help propel the Web pioneer's next wave of growth. It is also one factor behind Yahoo's reluctance to accept Microsoft Corp's unsolicited takeover bid currently valued at $42.4 billion, which executives believe undervalues the company's assets.

AMP! will be introduced in stages starting in the third quarter of this year, Yahoo said. It aims to give individual sites the capacity to sell ads across the Web, replacing single-site systems that still use e-mail and even faxes.

The move also is a response to major competitors Google Inc and Microsoft Corp, which have each acquired major competitors in the market for sales of online display ads used by corporate brand marketers. Google closed its $3.4 billion acquisition of ad sales management firm DoubleClick last month. Microsoft paid $6 billion for aQuantive last May.

AMP! is a suite of tools that offers precise geographic, demographic, and interest-based targeting across a vast network of Yahoo sites and ad sales deals Yahoo has struck with more than 600 newspapers, Comcast and eBay Inc.

It also includes niche Web sites such as WebMD, Forbes, the major ad networks, and thousands of smaller sites on the Web.

In its initial stages, AMP! is designed to expand the reach of dedicated sales forces at newspapers or sites such as WebMD to allow them to reach many times larger audiences outside of their own sites, where they can cross-sell their advertising.

Felipe Massa's Bahrain win splits the title race wide open


Brazilian Felipe Massa stormed to victory here on Sunday for his second successive victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix and answer his mounting bank of critics as his Ferrari team celebrated a comfortable one-two with Kimi Raikkonen finishing second.

The 26-year-old Latin American, who had failed to score a point after an error-strewn performance in both opening races, came home as a comfortable winner ahead of his team-mate defending drivers world champion Finn Kimi Rakkkonen.

They came home first and second ahead of third-placed Pole Robert Kubica of BMW, who had started from the first pole position of his career, and his team-mate German Nick Heidfeld.

This was enough for the BMW-Sauber team to lead the constructors' championship for the first time.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Learn how to write threatening letters with microsoft

Dear Members of the Board:

It has now been more than two months since we made our proposal to acquire Yahoo! at a 62% premium to its closing price on January 31, 2008, the day prior to our announcement. Our goal in making such a generous offer was to create the basis for a speedy and ultimately friendly transaction. Despite this, the pace of the last two months has been anything but speedy.

While there has been some limited interaction between management of our two companies, there has been no meaningful negotiation to conclude an agreement. We understand that you have been meeting to consider and assess your alternatives, including alternative transactions with others in the industry, but we’ve seen no indication that you have authorized Yahoo! management to negotiate with Microsoft. This is despite the fact that our proposal is the only alternative put forward that offers your shareholders full and fair value for their shares, gives every shareholder a vote on the future of the company, and enhances choice for content creators, advertisers, and consumers.

During these two months of inactivity, the Internet has continued to march on, while the public equity markets and overall economic conditions have weakened considerably, both in general and for other Internet-focused companies in particular. At the same time, public indicators suggest that Yahoo!’s search and page view shares have declined. Finally, you have adopted new plans at the company that have made any change of control more costly.

By any fair measure, the large premium we offered in January is even more significant today. We believe that the majority of your shareholders share this assessment, even after reviewing your public disclosures relating to your future prospects.

Given these developments, we believe now is the time for our respective companies to authorize teams to sit down and negotiate a definitive agreement on a combination of our companies that will deliver superior value to our respective shareholders, creating a more efficient and competitive company that will provide greater value and service to our customers. If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo! board. The substantial premium reflected in our initial proposal anticipated a friendly transaction with you. If we are forced to take an offer directly to your shareholders, that action will have an undesirable impact on the value of your company from our perspective which will be reflected in the terms of our proposal.

It is unfortunate that by choosing not to enter into substantive negotiations with us, you have failed to give due consideration to a transaction that has tremendous benefits for Yahoo!’s shareholders and employees. We think it is critically important not to let this window of opportunity pass.

Sincerely,

Steven A. Ballmer
Chief Executive Office
Microsoft Corp.

Are you going to buy VISTA ? DON'T !!!!!

Bill Gates announced the successor of Windows Vista- Windows 7. Microsoft is already finding it difficult to upgrade Windows XP users to Vista and with this news there is no point in purchasing Vista at all.

Clintons earned $109 Million!!! Bush can make even more

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Clinton made nearly $109 million since they left the White House, capitalizing on the world's interest in the former first couple and lucrative business ventures.

The Clintons reported $20.4 million in income for 2007 as they gave the public the most detailed look at their finances in eight years. Almost half the former first couple's money came from Bill Clinton's speeches.

George Bush can make even more as he is famous for all the things he has done during his two terms. His Bushism ,Iraq war and other point of view would make him great public speaker. The most hated are the ones who make more money a.k.a. Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. And Bush has a comical image too. May be he could take some public speaking tips from our very own Laloo Prasad Yadav.

What is with Manchester City

Manchester United could take some help from it's neighbour City. City needs to win or at least draw with Chelsea, so that Man Utd get a breathing space at the top of the table. But Chelsea are heading for a win and trimming the point difference to 2 before United's match tomorrow. They are 2-0 up at the at 68 min.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Why no body wants to give me a job

My first year degree exams are over. Actually, they finished almost a month ago. Now I am looking for a job in a BPO. As blogging doesn't earn me bread and butter (in my case- mobiles, games,DVD,etc), I am looking for a job. But I am unable to join any BPO. I am clearing all interviews but I am unable to join.

The BPO's have a policy that one must work for at least 6 months with them. As my college will restart in about 3 months I won't be able to do that. There are many who join BPO for summer, earn good cash and then leave the job or just abscond. The BPO's have got a wind of this and they have tightened the selection policy. They now demand original HSC marksheet and passing certificate which most are unable to provide as it is submitted in the college.

Now, I am trying for domestic BPO as they are not strict as International one. Pay is less but I have no other option.

Google Olympic Torch relay route map error



In google olympic's torch relay map there is a glaring error. The torch is scheduled to pass through Delhi, India on 17, April. The map shows it but instead of indicating Delhi, where it is actually is, in central India- it is shown in the place of coastal city of mumbai. Such a big error where two of the biggest cities places of India been swapped is a blot on Google Maps.
Hope, google corrects it.

iPL Twenty20 schedule

April 18: Bangalore v Kolkata at Bangalore
April 19: Mohali v Chennai at Mohali and Delhi v Jaipur at Delhi
April 20: Mumbai v Bangalore at Mumbai; Kolkata v Hyderabad at Kolkata
April 21: Jaipur v Mohali at Jaipur
April 22: Hyderabad v Delhi at Hyderabad
April 23: Chennai v Mumbai at Chennai
April 24: Hyderabad v Jaipur at Hyderabad
April 25: Mohali v Mumbai at Mohali
April 26: Bangalore v Jaipur at Bangalore; Chennai v Kolkata at Chennai
April 27: Mumbai v Hyderabad at Mumbai; Mohali v Delhi at Mohali
April 28: Bangalore v Chennai at Bangalore
April 29: Kolkata v Mumbai at Kolkata
April 30: Delhi v Bangalore at Delhi.
May 1: Hyderabad v Mohali at Hyderabad; Jaipur v Kolkata at Jaipur
May 2: Chennai v Delhi at Chennai.
May 3: Hyderabad at Bangalore at Hyderabad; Mohali v Kolkata at Mohali
May 4: Mumbai v Delhi at Mumbai; Jaipur v Chennai at Jaipur
May 5: Bangalore v Mohali at Bangalore
May 6: Chennai v Hyderabad at Chennai
May 7: Mumbai v Jaipur at Mumbai
May 8: Delhi v Chennai at Delhi; Kolkata v Bangalore at Kolkata
May 9: Jaipur v Hyderabad at Jaipur
May 10: Bangalore v Mumbai at Bangalore; Chennai v Mohali at Chennai
May 11: Hyderabad v Kolkata at Hyderabad; Jaipur v Delhi at Jaipur
May 12: Mohali v Bangalore at Mohali
May 13: Kolkata v Delhi at Kolkata
May 14: Mumbai v Chennai at Mumbai; Mohali v Jaipur at Mohali
May 15: Delhi v Hyderabad at Delhi
May 16: Mumbai v Kolkata at Mumbai
May 17: Delhi v Mohali at Delhi; Jaipur v Bangalore at Jaipur
May 18: Hyderabad v Mumbai at Hyderabad; Kolkata v Chenna at Kolkata
May 19: Bangalore v Delhi at Bangalore
May 20: Kolkata v Jaipur at Kolkata
May 21: Mumbai v Mohali at Mumbai; Chennai v Bangalore at Chennai
May 22: Delhi v Kolkata at Delhi
May 23: Mohali v Hyderabad at Mohali.
May 24: Delhi v Mumbai at Delhi; Chennai v Jaipur at Chennai
May 25: Bangalore v Hyderabad at Bangalore; Kolkata v Mohali at Kolkata
May 26: Jaipur v Mumbai at Jaipur
May 27: Hyderabad v Chennai at Hyderabad
May 28 and 29: Rest days
May 30: First semi-final at Mumbai
May 31: Second semi-final at Mumbai
June 1: Final at Mumbai

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Cost of Google's April fool's prank-Few million dollars

Google's April Fool day pranks have achieved legendary proportion. This year, some pranks were quite evident while some cleverly done. The most evident prank was, of course, the Virgle prank. It was so obvious that even a 10 year old would understand that it is a April fool joke.

So why would the brilliant guys at Google cook up such pranks which goes this way "Earth has issues, and it's time humanity got started on a Plan B. So, starting in 2014, Virgin founder Richard Branson and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will be leading hundreds of users on one of the grandest adventures in human history: Project Virgle, the first permanent human colony on Mars."

The answer is money. It is quite evident that Virgin inc. has paid Google to play this prank. With it's pay per click revenues wavering, Google has ventured into new territory almost like "get paid to blog". Just think about the number of links made by other site to this virgle page and amount of visitors due to this. It is easy advertising. This kind of unique advertising leaves a lasting impression of the brand on the users mind.

With Virgin inc. trying to enter eastern markets, this kind of advertising will help Richard Branson gather enough publicity for his company as Google is used by most internet users or because of the links made to the page by blogs and website.

Real Madrid coach- Christiano Ronaldo is the best

Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo is better than AC Milan's world player of the year Kaka, according to Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster.
The 23-year-old scored against Roma on Tuesday to take his tally to 36 goals for the season, while Kaka's form has dipped in Serie A.
"Ronaldo has already overtaken Kaka after (the Brazilian's) recent slump," said the German coach.
"Right now, Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world."
Kaka beat Ronaldo into third place in the voting for Fifa's world player of the year award last December, with Barcelona's Lionel Messi in second.
But Ronaldo's mesmeric form this season has seen the Portuguese winger move to the top of many observers' lists.
Schuster added that he would like to sign Ronaldo, although he accepted United were unlikely to let him leave in the immediate future.
"He's the star at Old Trafford and until they win the Champions League and another league title or two then they aren't going to let him go," he said.
"So in the short term I don't think it will be possible to sign him.
"But in a couple of years, yes, I believe he could be wearing the white shirt at the Bernabeu."

Google to appeal against OOXML

Microsoft's OOXML has finally passes ISO certification. However, many critics of OOXML have argued against the specification because Microsoft has failed to build in native support for ODF files, which are used by the likes of IBM, Sun Microsystems and others, into its latest Office suite. Others, meanwhile, have complained that approving OOXML as a standard would see Redmond tighten its monopolistic stranglehold on the software industry. This ISO voting has been marred by accusations of voting irregularities which are still loudly being voiced in some quarters.
Viewing this Google, which is a supporter of ODF, and some national standard bodies in Norway and elsewhere could yet try and crash the party by mounting formal appeals in an attempt to reverse the ISO's approval of OOXML.

Great April Fool Pranks I wish I had done




Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Indian company Videocon eyes Motorola handset biz

Videocon hires top global banker to convey interest in handset biz.

The Videocon group has expressed interest in buying telecom giant Motorola’s struggling mobile handset business, which is being split into a separate company.

“We have hired one of the world’s top three investment bankers who will convey our interest to buy out the mobile handset business of the US company,” Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot told Business Standard.

Explaining why he was bidding for Motorola’s handset business, Dhoot said his group was ready launch its pan-Indian GSM mobile operations at an investment of Rs 6,000 crore.

Also, it has a consumer durables retail chain under the brand name “Next” with over 1,000 stores across the country that stock mobile phones too.

“The Indian market for mobile phones is around 120 million units a year and we have our own retail chain stories that we can leverage. Also, we can transfer the manufacturing plant to India to leverage cheap labour in the country,” added Dhoot.

Motorola has a handset manufacturing facility in Chennai that makes both CDMA and GSM mobile phones.

Dhoot said the deal will be financed through a combination of around Rs 1,800 crore of cash reserves and long-term loans raised in the global market.

Motorola’s mobile business will be valued at between $3.5 billion and $4 billion. Last year, the company sold over 159 million mobile phones globally.

When contacted, a Motorola India spokesperson said that the company would not be able to comment on speculation.

If Dhoot is able to pull through the deal, he will become the world’s third largest mobile player with around 14.3 per cent market share - just behind Nokia and Samsung.

However, in the fourth quarter of 2007, Motorola registered a 12.3 per cent global share down sharply from 22.4 per cent in Q4 2006.

The failure to replace the popular Razr model has been the main cause of decline.

Motorola’s Indian market share is not available, even though industry experts say it is behind Nokia and Samsung.

On March 26, Motorola decided to split the troubled mobile device business into a separate company due to sustained pressure from one of its key investors Carl Icahn, who wants the business to be sold. The Mobile Devices business will focus on mobile handsets, accessories and software.

Dhoot’s record of global acquisitions has been mixed. It recently failed to acquire Daewoo Electronics, for which it bid $711 million. However, it has successfully bought Thomson SA’s television glass tube business and Electrolux’s Indian operations.

The Videocon Industries scrip rose 2.48 per cent on BSE, closing at Rs 314.55 per share against the previous close of Rs 306.95 per share.

Celebrity Gossip April Fools Show

Does Halle Berry have a glass eye? Is Madonna related to Celine Dion? Does Scientology pay celebrities? Play the Popcrunch Show's April Fool's Day game to find the answers.

Naruto VS Toon USA

All the hype surrounding Anime, and that Naruto character has made Mr. Can feel a little alienated.