December 2, 2010 in Internet by M Chakraborty

Plasma HDTV Offers and Discount on LG Plasma TV’s now available at Amazon

Amazon, for a limited time as a part of their Cyber Week Deals, is offering select range of LG 50″ to 60″ Plasma HDTVs at huge discounts. These offers can be viewed at this link at Amazon.com. The offer is for a limited time and it will run till 11:59 p.m. PST of December 4, 2010 or while the supplies last, which ever is earlier.

According to the release note available at Amazon, the discounted price will be applicable to products sold at Amazon.com and not from any other stores available on the website. With the new services available through these HDTV’s, one can directly access movies and TV shows without even a computer, although an internet connection and the subscriptions are required and are sold separately.

Update: Amazon started the Top Holiday Deals on HDTV’s. Lots of great offers to check out!

Amazon has listed a selection of five LG 50″ to 60″ HDTV’s on their offer page which are available in the stock right now. LG 50PK550 50, LG INFINIA 50PK750, LG INFINIA 60PK750, LG 60PK550 60 and LG 50PJ350 50 are the models which come with this wonderful offer.

December 2, 2010 in Technology by R Biswas

Google to launch e-book store

Google, the world’s biggest search engine is going to launch an eccentric application ‘an e-book store’ named Google Edition by the end of this year. The peculiar application will help browsing and previewing the books on web.

The luring application ‘Google Edition’ will make user capable of reading and browsing books from any browser skipping the requirement of dedicated e-reading devices, which means any computer, tablet or a smartphone with a browser would be capable of accessing the e-books.

Speaking to the media persons, Scott Douglas, Google project manager director, said that the new application, which had essentially been planned to launch in the summer, had recently overcome the technical and legal obstacles and was ready to launch.

Mr. Douglas further added that because of the complexity of the project they were not willing to bring something into market which was not thorough.

It has been reported that, in recent weeks, Google has begun to bidding contracts to independent booksellers, which are supposed to play a vital role in Google Edition. Several publishers said that they were pretty much excited about the contract and they were exchanging files with Google- a sign that had to be launch, added the publishers.

Reportedly, Google executives said that their plan was to scan 150 million books across the world so the book could be made accessible to the users.

The Google Edition is really going to be a nightmare to Amazon.com because using Google edition would be more convenient to user than Amazon.com provided service.

December 2, 2010 in India News by R Biswas

Azim Premji transfers 213 million shares of Wipro worth $ 2 Billion to trust

Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro, donated 213 million shares which are worth a staggering $ 2 billion or Rs 8846 crores to  Azim Premji Foundation, in the largest act of Philanthropy by an Indian. The transfer will take place on December 7, 2010. The donation will fund the educational activities of Azim Premji Foundation which works for school education mainly in rural India.Azim Premji has previously donated Rs 700 crore to the Foundation.

In a statement, Premji said, “The endowment trust will be set up with funds raised by transferring 213 million equity shares of mine in Wipro Limited, which have a current market value of Rs.8,846 crore”. The statement further sates, “The trust will utilize the endowment to fund various social, not-for-profit initiatives, which are expected to scale significantly over the next few years”.

Azim Premji Foundation was formed in 2001 and has set up over 25,000 schools with over 2.5 million students all over India. It has also worked extensively in six districts, two in Uttarakhand, two in Rajasthan and two in Karnataka.

The money will be transferred on 7 December and Wipro’s fomer strategy Chief K R Lakshminarayana will be the Chief endowment officer. The $ 2 billion donation is expected to generate atleast a return of $160-250 million annually which will be used to run Azim Premji Foundation initiatives.

December 2, 2010 in India News by M Chakraborty

Arvind Swamy and wife, Gayathri Ramamurthy seeks mutual divorce

Actor Arvind Swamy and his estranged wife, Gayathri Ramamurthy had filed for divorce. The couple appeared before a family court in Chennai yesterday. Actor Arvind Swamy is the lead actor of blockbuster movies like Roja, Bombay and Thalapathy.

Arvind and Gayathri got married in 1994 and have two children, Adhira Swamy (14) and Rudra Swamy (9). The couple have been separated from the past seven years and has been living apart since 2003.

It is reported that the actor will pay a sum of Rs 75 lakhs as divorce settlement and a monthly payment of Rs 1 lac for maintenance.It is also reported that the children will be in Arvind’s custody. The couple have filed for divorce by mutual consent in May this year. The Principal Judge have adjourned the hearing to December 10 for further proceedings.

December 2, 2010 in Miscellaneous by M Chakraborty

Best of Cyber Monday Deals extends to Cyber Week Deals on Amazon

Amazon Cyber Monday Deals just won’t get over since the deals have been extended for the Cyber Week. Just like the Black Friday Week Deals, Amazon is giving more deals and discounts this week as a part of their Cyber Week Deals and Discount Offers.

There are tons of offers right now being offered with big discounts. Online shoppers seems to be active all day to grab the deals and it is clear from the discussion and feedback forums at Amazon.

Amazon has listed a special Holiday Toy list as well for the festive season and you may find the same on the Amazon.com Cyber Week Deals Page.

December 1, 2010 in India News by AK Dubey

Abhijeet Sawant and friend beaten up by mob

It was definitely a tough day for Indian Idol winner Abhijeet Sawant as he was beaten up by the angry mob after his friend Prajakta Shukre rammed her car into two persons on motorcycle. As per report of the sources, the victims are out of danger and are recovering.

Sources have reported that Abhijeet Sawant and Prajakta Shukre were driving back home from night out at Juhu restaurant on Tuesday night which turned out to be a nightmare when they decided to race their cars down the empty road. However, fun turned dangerous when Prajakta rammed her Honda City into two teenagers, Tohil Khan (19) and his brother Taufiq Khan (14), on a motorcycle and seriously injuring them.

According to the police, Shukre and a few of her friends, including Sawant, were racing with each other when Shukre lost control of her vehicle and hit the motorcycle.

Police official also reported that locals who had witnessed the entire incident immediately gathered at the spot and assaulted Sawant who came back in his Audi and began to shield Shukre after the accident from angry mob.

Police immediately arrived on the spot and took the singer duo to the Santacruz police station.

After the incident, Prajakta was taken into custody for rash and negligent driving but was later released on bail after submitting Rs 3000. Reportedly, singer Sonu Nigam came to the police station after hearing the news about the incident.

Police doubts that Abhijeet and his group are in drunken condition, hence investigation is on.

December 1, 2010 in India News by M Chakraborty

Tainted IIT Professor surrenders before the Police

It’s really heartening news that  one of the best technology  institute of the country, IIT Kharagpur, which used to remain in news for its excellence has this time come in the limelight because of its tainted professor who surrendered to police on Monday after being accused of running a fake institute.

Though the professor named Amit Kumar Ghosh was suspended after the probe kick start in the institute from the HRD ministry, it would be less hurting the professor as he got his full pay till November month from the institute despite of his suspension breaking the rule that says a suspended professor can get only half of the pay during the period of the suspension.

The three member panel scrutinizing the case has clearly mentioned that the probe is not going to be limited to the role of only Ghosh. It will also look into how other faculty members and former directors were involved with IEE (I).

Calling himself innocent, Ghosh kept reiterating that the institute had been running for many years prior to his taking over as its president in 2006.

Sources have reported that IIT Kharagpur had filed a police complaint, accusing him of operating the IEE with “forged documents” claiming recognition from the IIT. Earlier, students of the institute had also lodged complaints against him.

As per latest report, Ghosh has been booked to jail under sections 417 and 420 of the IPC for cheating and under section 468 (for forgery for purpose of cheating). The charges leveled against him are serious as two of the offences are non- bailable, with a penalty of seven years imprisonment and fine.

Well, we all have to wait till Wednesday when court will take up the case and decide the fate of beleaguered professor.

December 1, 2010 in Miscellaneous by AK Dubey

Hindus & Jews want resignation of Romania minister found guilty of Roma discriminatory remarks

(From Our Correspondent) Romania’s Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi has been reportedly found guilty of discriminatory remarks about Roma (Gypsy) population by country’s anti-discrimination board and now Hindus and Jews want him to resign.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed; and Rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich, prominent Jewish leader in Nevada and California in USA; in a statement issued in Nevada today, said that Baconschi had no moral standing to continue in the government after making such disparaging remarks about a major group of the population.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, and Rabbi Freirich, although applauded the Board for declaring Baconschi guilty but criticized it for letting him go just with a mild recommendation instead of a fine or at least warning. How a foreign minister could represent a country when he had such a prejudiced opinion about a large ethnic group of its population, they asked.

Rajan Zed and Jonathan Freirich asked for European Union intervention if Baconschi did not resign. They said that they did not expect action from Romania President Traian Basescu, who reportedly himself made some ‘racist’ remarks about Roma in the recent past during his Slovenia visit, blaming them for making a living on stealing and not willing to work, thus stigmatizing the entire Roma community. It seemed like an attempt by Romania’s ruling politicians to demonize the already most prejudiced against community in Europe and eternalizing negative stereotyping of them, instead of showing strong political will to integrate them.

In its annual “Human Rights Report” about Romania issued in the recent past, US Department of State said: “Roma faced persistent poverty and had poor access to government services, few employment opportunities, high rates of school attrition, inadequate health care, and pervasive discrimination.”

Europe’s most persecuted and discriminated community, Roma were reportedly encountering apartheid conditions in Europe. Roma reportedly regularly faced social exclusion, racism, substandard education, hostility, joblessness, rampant illness, inadequate housing, lower life expectancy, unrest, living on desperate margins, stereotypes, mistrust, rights violations, discrimination, Zed and Freirich pointed out.

Romania’s Roma community is said to be the biggest in Europe and according to reports, between 1.8 and 2.5 million Roma live in Romania and about 75 per cent live in poverty.