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Reversing Age with Science to Extend Longivity upto 100

2009-10-20T10:29:00.004-04:00

By Michelle Roberts
Health reporter, BBC News

Professor Eileen Ingham explains the main aims of the project

Science to 'stop age clock at 50'

1. Scientists have developed transplantable tissues the body can make its own, tackling rejection. They have made heart valves using the technique

2. A hip has been made from a durable alloy socket and ceramic ball that should last for life, rather than the current 20 years

3. Similar techniques are being developed for artificial knees

4. Eventually scientists hope to make ligaments and tendons to replace old and damaged ones

5. Artificial blood vessels are also being developed

6. The NHS is looking into using the transplantable tissue methods on donor skin for burns patients

7. Researchers also hope to do the same for organs

Centenarians with the bodies of 50-year-olds will one day be a realistic possibility, say scientists.

Half of babies now born in the UK will reach 100, thanks to higher living standards, but our bodies are wearing out at the same rate.

To achieve "50 active years after 50", experts at Leeds University are spending £50m over five years looking at innovative solutions.

They plan to provide pensioners with own-grown tissues and durable implants.

New hips, knees and heart valves are the starting points, but eventually they envisage most of the body parts that flounder with age could be upgraded.

The university's Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering has already made a hip transplant that should last for life, rather than the 20 years maximum expected from current artificial hips.

The combination of a durable cobalt-chrome metal alloy socket and a ceramic ball or "head" means the joint should easily withstand the 100 million steps that a 50-year-old can be expected to take by their 100th birthday, says investigator Professor John Fisher.

Meanwhile, colleague Professor Eileen Ingham and her team have developed a unique way to allow the body to enhance itself.

The concept is to make transplantable tissues, and eventually organs, that the body can make its own, getting round the problem of rejection.

So far they have managed to make fully functioning heart valves using the technique.

It involves taking a healthy donor heart valve - from a human or a suitable animal, such as a pig - and gently stripping away its cells using a cocktail of enzymes and detergents.

The inert scaffold left can be transplanted into the patient without any fear of rejection - the main reason why normal transplants wear out and fail.

Once the scaffold has been transplanted, the body takes over and repopulates it with cells.

Trials in animals and on 40 patients in Brazil have shown promising results, says Prof Ingham.

They have licensed the technology to the NHS National Blood and Transplant Tissue Services so it can be used on any UK donated human tissue in the future.

The NHS is already looking into using the method on donor skin for burns patients.

Professor Christina Doyle of Xeno Medical, the medical device company that is developing the technologies under Tissue Regenix, said the holy grail was to remove the heavy reliance on donor organs.

"That's where the technology will lead us eventually."

But she said: "To replace all donor tissue using this technology will take 30 to 50 years. Each single product will need to be designed and tested individually."

Prof Doyle said experts elsewhere were also working on similar regenerative therapies, but grown entirely outside of the body, to ensure that people can continue being as active during their second half-century as they were in their first.

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eBay Dropshipping

2009-10-19T05:04:00.000-04:00

Ebay Dropshipper - the Real Source

Everyone and their mother is trying to start a business selling on ebay these days. The first thing you need to do is find a reliable ebay dropshipperThis will allow you to get the lowest possible prices from a great wholesaler. The best part is that by using dropshipping you won\'t have to store any inventory. Therefore, you only buy a product if your auction sells!

Using an ebay dropshipper may sound like something only a seasoned auction professional can do, but this is not true. You will learn how to successfully list and make your products sell. This company wants you to do well, because when you do well they do well and everybody wins. You will also benefit from this because you customer will end up paying less than they would anywhere else they might look.

What I like best about using an ebay dropshipper is that you know they are a certified dropshipping company and ebay realizes that. There are so many websites out there that claim to be a real dropshipper with the lowest prices. Many claim that you will make $1000 every week as soon as you start setting up auctions. It is not that simple and many of those websites do not offer the lowest price for every product. What it really comes down to is if you have the dedication to learn to create an auction business. There is more to it than just listing an item and collecting money.

To take full advantage of an ebay dropshipper you should do some research first. Find out what types of products are selling well and find out if the dropshipper you are looking at can provide you with those products. There are some websites that again claim to be a legitimate dropshipper but then end up being out of stock of a product you are selling or just take way too long to ship it to your customer. This is not good because many customers that will buy from you on ebay will want their item in a timely manner. The bottom line is to find a reliable source.

There are certain steps you can take to ensure that you find what products are hot and selling. You can use an ebay search function that will show you all listings that have already ended and what prices they have ended at. To utilize the ebay dropshipper you choose you must be able to find out what your products are worth in the market. To do this use ebay advanced search. Type in the name of the product you want to sell and make sure you checkmark the box that says include items that have already ended. This will show you about what price your product will sell for.

If you thought that you could just sign up with any old dropshipping website and start to make money then you may want to reconsider. Finding a legitimate ebay dropshipper can make your auction business a success. You will want to do research on every wholesale company you come across. This will ensure that you pick the right ebay dropshipper. We all know very well that there are many, many cheap products available from China. There are two sources listed with this ebay dropshipper and they will show you exactly how to do the transactions from start to finish. This is essential to your success. I am a huge fan of ebay and the best part about selling on ebay is that you don\'t need alot of money to get started, all you need is the best ebay dropshipperSince I have joined this company it has been nothing but profits. They are hands down the best company to go with if you plan on starting an auction business.

Author
Daniel St-jean

About Author

To jumpstart your auction business and get up to 90% off retail like I have visit: Ebay Dropshipper

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Nobel Prize to Indian Origin - V Ramakrishnan for Chemistry

2009-10-07T09:29:00.004-04:00

Indian origin scientist V Ramakrishnan wins 2009 Chemistry Nobel

Tamil Nadu-born Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, a senior scientist at the MRC Laborartory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge, has been awarded the Nobel Prize [ Images ] in Chemistry for 2009 along with two others, the Nobel Committee announced on Wednesday.

Born in 1952 in Chidambaram, Ramakrishnan shares the Nobel prize with Thomas E Steitz (US) and Ada E Yonath (Israel) for their "studies of the structure and function of the ribosome".

Ramakrishnan earned his B.Sc. in Physics (1971) from Baroda University and his Ph.D. in Physics (1976) from Ohio University.

He moved into biology at the University of California, San Diego, where he took a year of classes, then conducted research with Dr Mauricio Montal, a membrane biochemist.

"This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry awards Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A Steitz and Ada E Yonath for having showed what the ribosome looks like and how it functions at the atomic level," the Nobel committee said in its citation.

All three have used a method called X-ray crystallography to map the position for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome, it said.

"This year's three Laureates have all generated 3D models that show how different antibiotics bind to the ribosome. These models are now used by scientists to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity's suffering," the citation said.

Better known as Venky among friends, Ramakrishnan started out as a theoretical physicist. After graduate school, he designed his own 2-year transition from physics to biology.

As a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, he worked on a neutron-scattering map of the small ribosomal subunit of E Coli. He has been studying ribosome structure ever since.

Ramakrishnan has authored several important papers in academic journals.

In the August 26, 2000 issue of Nature, Ramakrishnan and his coworkers published the structure of the small ribosomal subunit of Thermus thermophilus, a heat-stable bacterium related to one found in the Yellowstone hot springs.

With this 5.5 Angstrom-resolution structure, Ramakrishnan's group identified key portions of the RNA and, using previously determined structures, positioned seven of the subunit's proteins.

In the September 21, 2000 issue of Nature, Ramakrishnan published two papers. In the first of these, he presents the 3 Angstrom structure of the 30S ribosomal subunit.

His second paper reveals the structures of the 30S subunit in complex with three antibiotics that target different regions of the subunit. In this paper, Ramakrishnan discusses the structural basis for the action of each of these drugs.

After his postdoctoral fellowship, Ramakrishnan joined the staff of Brookhaven National Laboratory in the US. There, he began his collaboration with Stephen White to clone the genes for several ribosomal proteins and determine their three-dimensional structures.

He was also awarded a Guggenheim fellowship during his tenure there, and he used it to make the transition to X-ray crystallography.

Ramakrishnan moved to the University of Utah in 1995 to become a professor in the Department of Biochemistry. There, he initiated his studies on protein-RNA complexes and the entire 30S subunit.

He since moved to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, where he is a Senior Scientist and Group Leader in the Structural Studies Division. He joins the list of several Nobel laureates who worked at the laboratory.

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Nobel for Discovery of Telomeres - The Immortal Enzyme

2009-10-06T09:30:00.002-04:00

3 Americans win medicine Nobel for chromosome research

(CNN) -- Three U.S. researchers have won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for solving "a major problem in biology," the Nobel Committee announced Monday.

Jack Szostak, from left, Carol Greider and Elizabeth Blackburn will share the $1.4 million prize.

Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak are credited with discovering how chromosomes are protected against degradation -- a field that could shed light on human aging and diseases, including cancer.

"The award of the Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of a fundamental mechanism in the cell, a discovery that has stimulated the development of new therapeutic strategies," the committee said in a news release.

The three will share the $1.4 million prize.

It is the 100th year the prize will be awarded, and the first time that any Nobel in the sciences has gone to more than one woman.

The work that won them the prize took place in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

It centers on structures at the end of chromosomes called telomeres and an enzyme that forms them, called telomerase.

As cells divide, chromosomes need to be replicated perfectly. Work by the researchers determined that telomeres protect DNA from degradation in the process, and that telomerase maintains the telomeres.

Though there had been some speculation that the three scientists were being considered for the Nobel, the committee keeps its work top secret -- and all three researchers said they were surprised.

Szostak told CNN he got the news in "that classic early morning phone call from Stockholm."

He described it as "surprising and exciting" -- perhaps particularly for him because he has not worked on the subject for the past 20 years. "I've been working on other things," he said. "It started off as a collaboration with me and Liz [Blackburn] -- Carol [Greider] was a student of hers."

The work began as "a long-standing puzzle that we were interested in solving," he said. "It was only over later years that it emerged, through the work of many people, that this was probably important for aging andcancer."

How it might help fight such diseases is not yet known, Szostak said. "It will take a while yet for that to be figured out."

Blackburn and Greider did not immediately return calls from CNN.

In a telephone conversation with the editor-in-chief of the Nobel Prize Web site nobelprize.org, Greider said she had been attracted to the field of research because "it seemed like the unanswered question."

She also said telomere research has a higher proportion of women than other fields because in its early days, the lead researchers brought women into the field. She called it a situation in which "you have someone that trains a lot of women and then there's a slight gravitation of women to work in the labs with other women."

She added, "I think actively promoting women in science is very important because the data has certainly shown that there has been an underrepresentation. And I think that the things that contribute to that are very many ... subtle, social kinds of things."

Blackburn, in a separate conversation posted on the Web site, said the proportion of women in telomere research is "fairly close to the biological ratio of men and women."

"It's all the other fields that are aberrant," she added, laughing.

The field of study intrigued her because "it's so intricate and complicated, and you want to know how it works," she said.

Blackburn was Greider's supervisor at the University of California, Berkeley. Now Blackburn is at the University of California, San Francisco. Greider is a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.

Szostak was previously at Harvard Medical School and is currently professor of genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

Married with two children, he told CNN he has "no idea" what he'll do with his portion of the monetary prize -- about $467,000.

CNN asked whether he thinks his children, ages 9 and 12, will suddenly think dad's work is "really cool."

"Well," Szostak said, laughing, "maybe."

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Nobel Prize for Optical Fibre and Electronic Eye for Digital Camera Invention

2009-10-06T09:23:00.004-04:00

3 win Nobel in physics for digital devices

Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for two breakthroughs that led to two major underpinnings of the digital age -- fiber optics and digital photography, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

Willard Boyle, left, and George Smith handle a charge-coupled device in 1974.

Charles K. Kao, a British and U.S. citizen, won for "groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication."

Willard S. Boyle, a Canadian and U.S. citizen, and George E. Smith, a U.S. citizen, "invented the first successful imaging technology using a digital sensor, a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device)."

Kao in 1966 "made a discovery that led to a breakthrough in fiber optics. He carefully calculated how to transmit light over long distances via optical glass fibers," the academy said in a press release.

Today, "optical fibers make up the circulatory system that nourishes our communication society" and "facilitate broadband communication such as the Internet," the academy said.

Don't Miss

3 Americans win Nobel Prize in medicine

Boyle and Smith's Charge-Coupled Device -- invented in 1969 -- "is the digital camera's electronic eye" and paved the way for digital photography.

"It revolutionized photography, as light could now be captured electronically instead of on film. The digital form facilitates the processing and distribution of these images. CCD technology is also used in many medical applications, e.g. imaging the inside of the human body, both for diagnostics and for microsurgery."

The Nobel Prizes are being awarded this week and next. The medicine award was handed out on Monday.

The prizes for chemistry and literature will be awarded Wednesday and Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize winner will be named on Friday, and the award in economics will be issued on Monday.

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eBay Dropshipping - Start Your Own Home Business

2009-10-05T23:23:00.002-04:00

Can Dropshipping Help My Ebay Business?

Author: JamesThomas

EBay is a great place to find bargains online, but did you know that it's also a great place for you to start your own work from home business? In fact, by using this guide to drop shipping, you'll find out just how simple it can be to earn cash from your living room!

eBay is an auction site that is popular throughout the world, but it's a particularly booming business in the USA. The great thing about it is that it's actually one of the easiest ways to start up a business, as all you have to do is create a listing for an item and watch as people bid on it. Unlike other businesses, eBay already has millions of customers, so you don't have to do your own marketing - in fact all you have to do is keep up with your eBay competition.

The main problem that people have when starting their eBay business is sourcing products to sell. It can be expensive to start up if you have to purchase bulk loads of different items and you're your somewhere to store them until they sell, but there are alternatives which you should consider that allow you to start your business for next to nothing and beat the prices of your eBay competition.

Drop shipping is the process that you need to know. As a guide to drop shipping and how it works, quite simply you will advertise products for sale that you are the property of your wholesale supplier. They will provide you with all the photos and details you need to create your listing, and once you have made a sale, you simply raise an order with your wholesaler, and you keep any profit you have made from the sale. It's a method which big sellers use to blow their eBay competition out of the water, and you can use it to.

One of the major benefits of using this guide to drop shipping is that you don't need any start up cash to get selling with your business. All you have to do is have access to the internet and the ability to create an eBay listing.

The hardest thing that you will have to do is find a reliable drop shipper. There are many people who advertise their services as being drop shippers, but in truth they are nothing more than companies looking to take advantage of you, and the exorbitant prices you will end up paying will not help beat your eBay competition.

In fact, as a guide to drop shipping reliably, your best bet is to find a good quality wholesale supplier that offers a drop shipping service. Trustworthy companies will be fully contactable, and have customer service assistants who are glad to be helping you. They will offer you the lowest prices available for your products which will help you ensure that you are making the best profits, and are able to survive against the eBay competition. A good quality wholesale drop shipper is your key to eBay success.

About the Author:

Author Bio:

WholesaleNewsletter.com
News and Sources for Wholesale Drop Shipping and Online Products Sourcing. Discover Drop Shipper Tips to Wholesale Marketing, and Finding Profitable Merchandise for Resell.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Can Dropshipping Help My Ebay Business?

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India Agriculture and Food Management Survey

2009-10-04T04:57:00.000-04:00

Agriculture -

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India Industry Survey Report 2008-2009

2009-10-04T03:00:00.001-04:00

Industry -

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HD CamCorder How to Choose the Best HD Camcorder

2009-10-01T05:55:00.003-04:00

Here is a wonderful article that explains the basic nitty-gritty in a HD Camcorder. The article has carefully weighed all the pros and cons for choosing the different types of HD Camcorder currently in the market.

If you are planning to buy a HD camcorder then this article would help you to make your choice as per requirement and temparament.

How to Choose the Best HD Camcorder

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Video Screen Recording and Market Presentation the Easy Way

2009-09-29T23:58:00.004-04:00

Video Screen Recording of Presentation without Complex Editing

Video is proving to be a remarkable marketing tool on the net, which allows the webmaster to present his or her products and services to potential clients in an audio-visual mode.

In fact video on a website is the best way to enhance ones credibility. It instantly creates a rapport with the viewer and the person is better able to judge for oneself to the extent they could put their trust and money on the person and the website in whatever they have to offer.

Its trust and not fancy tempting products which is important to win the hearts and mind of the customers. No relationship can exist for lack of trust.

No wonder Video presentation is playing a big role in Internet Marketing.

Screen Video or Screencast

For video recording of presentation no fancy lights or video equipment is required. All you need is a simple Video screencast.

Here is how its all done.

Step 1: Video Recording

Allow five to seven seconds for each slide or animation to wait before moving to the following one. This is important since the brain cannot absorb quickly what appears on the screen as well as follow the audio running in the background at the same time. Hence the five to seven seconds of wait before proceeding to the next slide.

Also avoid piling up messages which would make it too jumbled up for the person to coordinate his eyes to read through the messages as well as listen to the audio commentary describing what the message is all about.

It is best to have one message at a time for each slide. This makes it easier for the brain to breathe easy as the person watching the video can assimilate the picture along with the single message as well as listen to the short commentary at a leisure pace.

Step 2: Audio Recording

After the video recording is all over you can start the audio recording.

Audio recording can be done with the help of a USB microphone.

By separately recording the audio, you can concentrate one at a time not both video and audio at the same time during recording.

Also there is no need to stop the video to rectify any mistake made while recording the audio, when you record the audio separately and not when you do the same along with video recording.

So start by playing the video. As each slide appears on screen, you make a comment on the picture and message being shown immediately. This is very similar to commenting on photos of your recent vacation which you show to your near and dear ones as and when it appears on screen.

So by making your comments in a relaxed and nice voice, you are better able to explain to your viewers what you have to show and drive the message to them. This helps to avoid speaking hurriedly when showing the video.

By maintaining a gap, of five to seven seconds before shifting to the next slide in the video, you have enough time to speak your thoughts aloud so that the viewer is better able to understand what he or she watches.

In case you need to speak more, then the gap between the slides could be increased to ten seconds at most.

Step 3: Synchronizing the video and audio using software

Software such as Camtasia helps to record the video and audio in separate layers, and accordingly set them to synchronize well with one another. You can move forward and backwards as per your will.

Since the video and audio are in two separate layers so in case any mistake crops up during video recording, you avoid re-shooting the screen video all over again. The same is true for audio too.

So go ahead and start shooting your screen video for your marketing presentation for your Internet surfers and viewers to win over their hearts and mind by your superb communication using screen video as your medium.

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Twitter India - India Climbs to Third Position as The Most Twittering Nation after Germany and USA

2009-09-29T01:08:00.004-04:00

- By Somik Ranjan Roy

Indians traditionally are exceedingly noisy and communicative which at times turns to a roar and that's exactly happened in the virtual world too.

Having been placed in the ninth position way back in July by Sysomos in terms of volume shared by Indians for keying their thoughts to share with others on the Twitter.

In just two months India has climbed the third position as more Indians are joining the chorus to twitter more and more.

As per the internet users and traffic report by Alexa , India is now the third major contributor to the fastest growing Micro blogging site amongst Twitter Users according to Alexa.

8% of the total Twitter Users are from India, this despite only 7% of the population having access to the internet.

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Copenhagen Summit 2009 - 200 Pages Draft Prepared to Save The Earth by 190 Countries at Bangkok

2009-09-28T23:57:00.006-04:00

by Somik Ranjan Roy

The world has increasingly become more concerned about the future of Earth's environment upon which depends the very survivability of humans and other living organisms that thrive on this planet, the only one so far amongst heavenly bodies, known to be inhabited because of the presence of the right environment on earth which is congenial to sustain living beings including humans.

As a good part of the globe is turning to automation and forests are being replaced by towns and cities, our dependability on fossil fuels has taken a quantum leap, which in turn has in the same proportion increased the carbon content in the air.

Since the denudation of forests on a large scale has resulted in non utilization of carbon-di-oxide an essential raw material for photosynthesis, the excess carbon-di-oxide remains in the air which in turn is causing the glass house effect i.e. sun radiation reflected back into the atmosphere by earth cannot escape the earths atmosphere, as a result of which the temperature continues to rise.

Scientists are of the opinion that even after taking all preventive measures the global temperature would soar to 3 degree Celsius.

If steps are not taken immediately for corrective measures, the temperature would rise beyond the prescribed threshold and cause terrible chaos and pathos on earth.

It is with the intention of a coordinated efforts between the members of the united nations, the Copenhagen Meet is being organised so that there is a meaningful efforts to contain the thermal content that envelops the earth.

The effect of Global warming is for all of us to see and experience, as polar caps begins to melt and ocean level is spilling over the coastal regions threatening to flood that is threatening not only human habitats as well as the large stretches of agricultural land, needed to feed the millions.

Here is a report on the 200 pages of draft that's being prepared and would be discussed in details for the first time by 190 countries who are assembling at Bangkok this week ahead of the Copenhagen Summit in December, to find ways and means as well as define roles for each category of nations, to reduce to confusion that's prevailing as well as the dispute between the developed and the developing countries such as China and India, two emerging Asian economic giants.

200 Pages to Save the World?

by David Adam

Draft agreement being discussed ahead of December's crucial Copenhagen summit is long, confusing and contradictory

Interactive: Beginner's guide to the negotiating text

It is a blueprint to save the world. And yet it is long, confusing and contradictory. Negotiators have released a draft version of a new global agreement on climate change, which is widely billed as the last chance to save the planet from the ravages of global warming.

Running to some 200 pages, the draft agreement is being discussed for the first time this week as officials from 190 countries gather in Bangkok for the latest round of UN talks. There is only one short meeting after this before they meet in Copenhagen aiming to hammer out a final version.

The draft text consolidates and reorders hundreds of changes demanded by countries to the previous version, which saw it balloon to an unmanageable 300 pages. It has no official status yet, and must be formally approved before negotiators can start to whittle it down. Here, we present key, edited sections from the text and attempt to decipher what the words mean.

The text includes sections on the traditional sticking points that have delayed progress on climate change for a decade or longer.

• How much are rich countries willing to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, and by when?

• Will large developing nations such as China make an effort to put at least a dent in their soaring levels of pollution?

• How much money must flow from the developed world to developing countries to grease the wheels and secure their approval? How much to compensate for the impact of past emissions, and how much to help prevent future emissions?

According to the UN rules, for a new treaty to be agreed, every country must sign up – a challenging requirement. The new treaty is designed to follow the Kyoto protocol, the world's existing treaty to regulate greenhouse gases, the first phase of which expires in 2012.

Because the US did not ratify Kyoto, the climate talks have been forced on to awkward parallel tracks, with one set of negotiations, from which the US is excluded, debating how the treaty could be extended past 2012. This new text comes from the second track, which lays out a plan to include all countries in long-term co-operative action.

Behind the scenes, pessimism about the Copenhagen talks is rising. Despite references in the text to a global goal and collective emission cuts of 25-40% by 2020 for rich countries, many observers believe there is little chance such an approach will succeed.

Stuart Eizenstat, who negotiated Kyoto for the US, said: "Copenhagen is more likely to be a way station to a final agreement, where each country posts the best that it can do... The key thing is let's not go into Copenhagen with all the same kind of guns blazing like we did in Kyoto."

A top European official told the Guardian: "We've moved on from the idea that we can negotiate on targets. That's naive and just not the way the deal will be done. The best we can get is that countries will put in what they want to commit to."

Once all the carbon offsets – buying pollution credits instead of cutting emissions – and "fudges" are taken into account, the outcome is likely to be that emissions in 2020 from rich countries will be broadly similar to those in 1990, he said. "That's really scary stuff."

Copenhagen climate change conference 2009

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

David Adam

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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Environment Protection - The Nine Eco Commandments To Save the Earth

2009-09-25T22:55:00.008-04:00

Earth's Fragile Fecundity - The Nine Environmental Rules That We Must Never Violate To Save The Earth from getting Barren and Lifeless

by Somik Ranjan Roy

If we humans want that our future generation enjoy the bounties on earth and turn it into heaven instead of hell, then we must follow certain principles in life that would not in any way destroy the fragile ecosystem that sustains life on land, water and air on Earth.

We humans must never forget that this Earth that we have made our home, is just a speck in the vast cold universe. It is the only one till date which is known to be teeming with life, while none of the planets within the solar system, let alone those in far flung universe of other stars that we see each night, has provided any concrete evidence of an congenial environment that can sustain life as on Earth.

Yet we mortals to whom Nature has provided the brains to build industries and very tall skyscrapers that has in hundred years have replaced vast stretches of natural green forests with those of concrete ones all across the earth. Instead of horses and elephants we have cars and trucks that run on precious fossil fuels (such as oil and coal).

In our pursuit to seek comfort and luxury, we humans have forgotten that to imbalance the fragile environment by our careless attitude and scarce regards to protecting the ecosystem we are inching closer to make Earth a barren and cold planet that would no longer be able to sustain life of any form, as it did for millions of years.

We humans are the guardian of this little place within the universe and its our duty to see that the Earth does not bald all of a sudden, that it turns barren like the Moon without life.

It is for this very reason to stop the mistakes that we have already committed motivated by greed, 28 leading scientists, experts on environment gathered to draw out Nine Important Ecology Rules that we must never knowingly or unknowingly violate, if all of us are eager to save the Earth.

Here is a list of the Nine Eco Rules that we must not upset if are to avoid the changing the global environment drastically and put life at stake on earth.

According to these scientists they have found nine such processes for which they believe it is necessary to define planetary boundaries, these are namely:

1. climate change

2. rate of biodiversity loss (terrestrial and marine)

3. interference with the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles

4. stratospheric ozone depletion

5. ocean acidification

6. global freshwater use

7. change in land use

8. chemical pollution and

9. atmospheric aerosol loading

Unfortunately we have already violated three of these rules and whose effect we are reeling from, such as global warming that's causing the ice at the poles and higher regions of the Himalayas to melt, rise in sea water level that's threatening to flood the coastal regions, causing acute shortage of fresh water.

The primary cause of this is the increased concentration of carbon-di-oxide that's causing a green house effect, meaning that the sun radiation reaching the earth, which is radiated back from the earth surface remains trapped in the air, causing heat build up, much like we observe in a glasshouse receiving sunlight.

Already many species of organisms have either gone extinct or are on the verge of getting wiped out for once and for all.

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Moon Water - At Last Water Sighted on The Moon by ISRO (India) and NASA Scientists

2009-09-25T00:21:00.002-04:00

These images show a very young lunar crater on the side of the moon that faces away from Earth, as viewed by NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper on the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. On the left is an image showing brightness at shorter infrared wavelengths. On the right, the distribution of water-rich minerals (light blue) is shown around a small crater. Both water- and hydroxyl-rich materials were found to be associated with material ejected from the crater.

Credits: ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS/Brown Univ.

Water on the Moon - Chandrayan 1 India's Moon Mission Accomplished

By Somik ranjan Roy

Water on the Moon! Holy Cow, I could not believe this when one of the spokesman from ISRO (which stands for Indian Space Research Organisation) made the claim that Chandrayan I, India's first moon mission had discovered water on the moon.

Like most Indians I was sceptical and for me it was too good to be true, yet there was an undercurrent of excitement somewhere in my heart.

However the following day NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Agency) of USA, confirmed and conveyed the good news to the world, that indeed there are water molecules present on the lunar surface.

It is indeed what Times of India mentioned that this discovery is " India's First Step to the Moon but a Giant Leap for Mankind".

However make no mistake for water on the moon is not present in liquid form as we are so familiar with on Earth, such as in the form of river, glacier, lakes, pools, ponds, sea and ocean. the water present is in combination with either glass (silicates) or minerals found on Lunar rocks.

When Chandrayan I because of a malfunction caused by overheating, that exceeded the 78 degrees centigrade limit which it could withstand, of the scorching sun rays reflected and radiated back by the Lunar surafce it lost contact with scientists at Bangalore, and inadvertently had to be abandoned prematurely by 14 months this August (2009), like others in India, I too fell crestfallen by the abrupt failure.

However yesterdays announcement was like a rainbow in the sky and certainly it is for scientists around the world who all are rejoicing at the prospect of extracting water from the moon itself, instead of spending millions to ship water to the Moon for use by humans as the cost estimated stands at $2,000 to $20,000 per kg.

The Chandrayan I is India's first lunar probe mission dedicated to map the lunar surface and determine the exact composition of the moon's mineral composition.

To make the probe successful NASA had offered its Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) built specially for this mission and which was singularly instrumental in detecting the wavelengths of the sun light that reflected back from the surface of the moon.

It was after scrutinising the wavelengths of the reflected light intently and after analysing them carefully, the Indian scientists were able to finally announce to the world that indeed water molecules are present on the moon, what was for forty long years had been a suspect and scientists have long debated over this.

From the analysis of the wavelength of the lunar light ( moon does not emit light on its own, it only reflects back the sun rays that strikes its surface, just as it does on our Earth), it is now confirmed that there is a chemical bond between Hydrogen and Oxygen which clearly dicates that its either water (i.e.H2O) or hydroxyl (i.e OH group).

"The data from Cassini's VIMS instrument and M3 closely agree," said Roger Clark, a US Geological Survey scientist in Denver and member of both the VIMS and M3 teams.

"Water ice on the moon has been something of a holy grail for lunar scientists for a very long time," said Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

"This surprising finding has come about through the ingenuity, perseverance and international cooperation between NASA and the India Space Research Organisation," he said. "We see both water and hydroxyl.

While the abundances are not precisely known, as much as 1,000 water molecule parts-per-million could be in the lunar soil. To put that into perspective, if you harvested one ton of the top layer of the moon's surface, you could get as much as 32 ounces of water," Clark said.

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Uranium from Nuclear Waste can be Recovered using E-Coli

2009-09-22T12:54:00.007-04:00

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I am sure after you read this report you too would no longer look down upon E-Coli that is so much responsible for causing diarrhoea and those irritating stomach upset accompanied with cramps caused from excesss dehydration.

Well nuclear scientists have found a feasible method of recovering uranium from nuclear waste with the help of E-Coli.

E. Coli Can Be Used To Clean Up Nuclear Waste

by Jerry James Stone, San Francisco, CA

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Picture courtesy of Hulu.com

Researchers have found that E. coli can be used to recover uranium from tainted waters and can even be used to clean up nuclear waste.

Using the bacteria along with inositol phosphate, the bacteria breaks down the phosphate--also called phytic acid--to free the phosphate molecules. The phosphate then binds to the uranium forming a uranium-phosphate precipitate on the cells of the bacteria. Those cells can then be harvested to recover the uranium.

Photo of Escherichia coli bacteria (E. coli) from LimbicNutrition Weblog

The findings were presented at a Society for General Microbiology's meeting by Professor Lynne Macaskie from a research team at Birmingham University. Though, the process was first discovered back in 1995 but at the time was not economical.

In early research a very expensive additive was used and the low cost of uranium just didn't make it feasible. But the discovery of inositol phosphate being six-times more effective--as well as a cheap waste material--made the venture more viable.

Not too shocking. More countries are clearly looking to expand their nuclear technologies and the price of uranium is likely to increase. Another option for bringing down the cost of inostiol phosphate is that it can easily be obtained from agriculture waste.

"The UK has no natural uranium reserves, although a significant amount of uranium is produced in nuclear wastes. There is no global shortage of uranium but from the point of view of energy security the EU needs to be able to recover as much uranium as possible from mine run-offs (which in any case pollute the environment) as well as recycling as much uranium as possible from nuclear wastes," commented Professor Macaskie.

And while the cost of uranium concerns me as much as the next guy (actually, I don't really care that much) there is obviously huge environmental and health impacts to this process.

"By using a cheap feedstock easily obtained from plant wastes we have shown that an economic, scalable process for uranium recovery is possible," Macaskie ended.

Source: Science Daily

Free Games - Top Indie Games of the Year at Intel

2009-09-22T00:08:00.003-04:00

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Play The Year's Top Indie Games for Free
by Michael Brito

Top indie games according to whom? Glad you asked. Sid Meier, Will Wright, and a panel of esteemed judges helped select the winners of this year's Intel Level Up Game Demo Challenge - showcasing the world champs of indie games. Want to take a look? All of the winning game demos are available for you to play at www.intel.com/software/levelup2009.

Indie developers from around the world submitted their best work for a chance at huge prizes and an industry breakthrough. The judges had their hands full narrowing down the group of 22 finalists to just seven winning demos. Awards were given to the top three demos in three categories, as well as an honorary award for the Judge's Choice. The winners were announced on Wednesday at the Austin GDC.

We've been hosting this contest for three years and this year's winning batch has some of the most innovative and fun games we've seen. Don't take our word for it, try them out for yourself and let us know what you think.

Best Game on Intel® Graphics

First place: I Know Your Deeds by Yakov
Second place: Spin Tires by Pavel Zagrebelnyy
Third place: Inferus by Kevin Gadd, Ian Maclean, and Troupe Gammage IV

Best Game-on-the-Go

First place: Inferus by Kevin Gadd, Ian Maclean, and Troupe Gammage IV
Second place: GermiNation by Bradley Wesson
Third place: Rise of Pirates by Stefans Keiss

Best Threaded Game

First place: Spin Tires by Pavel Aleksandrovich Zagrebelnyy
Second place: I Know Your Deeds by Yakov
Third place: The Ray Trace Game by Klyuchnikov Eugene

Judge's Choice Award:

Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War by Albert Zhiltsov

The Indian Economy Can Sustain 6 - 8% Growth Rate till 2025

2009-09-21T10:58:00.004-04:00

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India can sustain 6-8% growth rates up to 2025

With a year of economic downturn behind us, Stuart Corbridge, professor of development studies at London [ Images ] School of Economics, expects that the world might suffer a public sector downturn next year. However, he is optimistic about Indian prospects.

In a conversation with Devika Banerji, Corbridge says that the problem with India's growth story has been its inability to reduce poverty to significant levels. Excerpts:

As economies like Germany , the US and France have come out of recession, do you see the global economy recovering?

I am a little nervous. I believe that we have been lucky, it could have tipped over to something worse. If you take the case of the US and the UK, there is a massive building up of deficits which I think was necessary. All that money has shown signs of recovery, so people are optimistic in that respect.

However, the recession in the West has largely been a private sector phenomenon, but now the pressure will be on the public sector. Government books will have to balanced next year and taxes will go up. So, I fear a public sector recession next year and if it happens too soon, it might even drag the recovering private sector along with it. So, I am apprehensive.

What should India learn from the crisis?

There are a number of answers to this. Well, the way forward for India would be not to believe in the concept of free markets. Markets always need to be underpinned by functioning institutions. They have to be regulated. There are informational symmetries, there are externalities.

The idea that we can simply open up markets is a self-defeating idea. It will engender political opposition because it will bring extreme volatility. I think the recession in the western world is a result of refusal to regulate some industries like real estate and finance.

In case of the UK, the economy has become unbalanced because we lack a manufacturing base and are heavily dependent on finance capital.

In the long run, do you think an average Indian growth rate of 7-8 per cent is sustainable?

I think sustaining the rates of 6-8 per cent growth a year up to 2020-25, except some exceptional years, will be possible. The main reason would be that India has invested so little in relative terms in human capital.

Once investment comes into infrastructure, education and healthcare, we will see the productivity of workers in India increase significantly.

Second, this is the time India should reap the benefits of its demographic dividend. Most of the countries, including China, have already done that and so India has more potential. This, of course, presupposes that jobs will be created in India.

The worst-case scenario would be lots of skilled unemployed labour, which might challenge growth. But I am optimistic about the Indian growth rate for the years to come, provided you neutralise the political tensions.

You seem to be very optimistic about India's growth? Has the growth story been disappointing in some way?

Well, the problem is that the growth has not translated into reduction of poverty in the scale that we had expected, at least not in the eastern parts of the country. One per cent increase in the rate of growth in China has resulted in around 1 per cent reduction in poverty.

However, in India it is half of this. Therefore, the growth story becomes clogged up. The reasons are that some people are unaffected with the growth taking place; they are not in the labour market, and are discriminated and left out of the system. All of this is holding the productivity of the country and making the growth less benign.

What then would be the way forward for India?

It's interesting that India has achieved such high rates of growth with a majority of the population living in rural areas. I would expect an enormous migration of people to urban areas in the next 20-30 years, so to say. Then you will need space for new cities to come up to accommodate such migration. You will have to think about cities double the size of Delhi or Mumbai.

India and China have often been compared against each other as far as economic development is concerned. Do you endorse that India has paid an economic penalty because of a democratic set-up?

The India-China comparison is a very interesting one. A crude way to put it would be the classic case of the tortoise and the hare, with the tortoise catching up.

You can solve some coordination problems in a rational authoritarian state set-up like in China, but I will still maintain that a democratic set-up is more suited for a consistent growth rate in the long run. It is very difficult to argue that India has paid an economic penalty because of a democratic set-up.

India has achieved pretty respectable rates of growth since 1980 and good growth rates since 2000. And to my mind, along with this, a lot of things have been done around the 'dignity' agenda. A lot of empowerment has taken place, both at the Centre and at the state level, and going ahead, India will reap the benefits of these.

You have studied the social sector in India. According to you, is it a right time for India to move away from the public distribution system for more qualitative social sector schemes?

The key issue in a public distribution system is that of leakages. The results are region-specific, and some systems that work for Kerala may not work for Bihar. Currently, the focus should be on making these schemes efficient and identifying the right beneficiaries. In more time, you might hope to move away from public distribution systems.

Devika Banerji in Mumbai

India - The Trillion-Dollar Opportunity

2009-09-21T08:40:00.005-04:00

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Why does India sell one million motorcycles in a month? Why does the demand for cars in the country grow by 30 per cent and the same for Maggie noodles rise by 25 per cent annually?

And, why has India become the fastest-growing cellphone market in the world? This is because India is moving from being a trillion-dollar economy to a two trillion-dollar one in the next six years.

In 1950-51, India's GDP stood at Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion), which translated into a per capita income of Rs 285 when distributed among a population of 350 million.

For 2008-09, the country's GDP stood at Rs 54 lakh crore (Rs 54 trillion), translating into a per capita income of Rs 48,450, thus resulting in a compounded annual per capita income growth rate of 9.25 per cent during 1951-2009.

India achieved its first trillion-dollar GDP in 2007. It took India 60 long years after Independence to move up to a Rs 42-lakh crore (Rs 42 trillion) GDP. As per current estimates, we should touch a nominal GDP of Rs 100 lakh crore (Rs 100 trillion)by 2015, and if the rupee-dollar exchange rate remains stable, the next trillion-dollar economy will be born in seven-eight years.

The journey doesn't stop here, rather it picks up further momentum. The next doubler comes in after another seven-eight years, thus elevating India's GDP to $4 trillion (roughly Rs 193 lakh crore or Rs 1.93 trillion) before 2025. The significance of this transition lies in understanding how this linear event will impact businesses.

The structural change that will be witnessed during this journey is that the basic needs of human life will be taken care of by the initial $600-700 of income. At present, with a savings rate of over 35 per cent, the discretionary spending in the economy is $100 per person.

However, as India's per capita income rises to $2,000 and the country moves from the category of 'low-income' to 'middle-income' nations, the discretionary expenditure in the economy would experience an exponential growth.

For instance, if we analyse the consumption pattern of 70 different economies and segment them into low-income, middle-income and high-income brackets, we will observe that consumer spendings on food, beverages and clothing & footwear account for 47 per cent, 34 per cent and 22 per cent of their total consumer expenditures, respectively.

On the contrary, consumer expenditures of the three categories of countries on discretionary items, including cultural and recreational activities, account for 13 per cent, 19 per cent and 28 per cent of their total consumer spends, respectively. This implies that discretionary spending by the Indian consumer will grow manifold in the next five years.

Indian consumption of durable as well as non-durable items has been just a fraction of the consumption average of emerging markets.

This is purely an affordability issue. As and when affordability catches up with the prices of consumer goods, the pent-up demand gets released. And, such demand keeps growing for many years.

This change can be engineered even by reducing product prices. However, in the absence of product price deflation, affordability will take its own time to increase.

The emergence of the next trillion-dollar economy will dramatically change people's income level, resulting in steep acceleration in demand for many goods and services. We have seen telecom penetration rising from 4 per cent in 2001 to 40 per cent in 2009. This quantum jump could come about due to increased affordability in wireless telephony.

The corporate sector -- automobiles, processed food, fashion clothes, advanced communication, healthcare, transport, entertainment and financial services among others -- is not there to provide the basic needs of the economy. It is there to provide value-added goods and services to the people at large.

In fact, financial services will be one of the biggest success stories out of India. The savings rate has climbed to 37 per cent of GDP in 2007-08. In India, credit is not directed towards boosting consumption, but is channelised towards funding government deficits.

This has kept the private sector credit-to-GDP ratio in the economy at a lower level of 52 per cent compared to 100 per cent for China, 300 per cent for the US, 200 per cent for the UK, 145 per cent for Europe, 166 per cent for Japan [ Images ] and 140 per cent for Australia [ Images ] (2008 figures).

We are likely to witness many changes in government policies over the foreseeable future. These changes may include encouraging consumption in order to hold the savings rate at not higher than 40 per cent. Even at this rate, India is going to emerge as one of the largest saving nations among the developing countries with a saving of about $1 trillion per annum before 2020. So, the opportunity for savings deployment is going to be gigantic.

At present, physical infrastructure (roads, ports, housing, etc.) deficit is immense. As affordability increases, spends on personal and public infrastructure will boom. Demand for cement, steel, automobiles etcetera will grow at a pace not seen in the last 20-30 years.

The government's own projection pertaining to infrastructure spending in the 11th Plan period is staggering. The intention is clearly to accelerate infrastructure spend matching with the GDP growth aspiration.

There is a lot of gap between the current infrastructure spend and the desired level of expenditure in order to meet the aspirational level of GDP growth. The catch-up game in the next five-six years will mean a 15-20 per cent growth in every aspect of construction activity.

Analysts and economists have been drawing their own conclusions on how consumers and the economy responded when the economy was at half-to-a third of its current GDP size. But how they will respond in the next five-ten years requires a very different kind of thinking by everyone.

Politicians should tailor policies keeping this development in mind. And, for investors, it is probably one of the biggest macro-opportunity. A perfect setup for long-term investing.

The author is the co-founder and director of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. The views expressed are his own.

Raamdeo Agrawal

Source:

Health Care - Who's Responsibility, Corporate or Government?

2009-09-20T03:08:00.002-04:00

Given a choice not many people who fend for themselves and have a meagre income, especially when they are no longer efficient and competent as is the case of the old and sick, would like to pay their premium for health care insurance.

Since 2001, premiums for family coverage have increased 78%, while wages have risen 19% and inflation has risen 17%, according to a 2007 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

In desperation a good lot of people in the US purchase wide range of health insurance products, that literally leaves them with little money to spend on food, transport, housing and good education for self and children.

In fact Medical debt is the principal cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States.
This is bad since it affects the economy badly.

Around 84.7% of citizens have some form of health insurance; either through their employer or the employer of their spouse or parent (59.3%), purchased individually (8.9%), or provided by government programs (27.8%; there is some overlap in these figures).

No wonder health care is very thorny, an exceedingly expensive priority for companies both small and large that has ostensibly very few visible, tangible benefits.

Insurance for dental and vision care (except for visits to ophthalmologists, which are covered by regular health insurance) is usually sold separately.

In the United States, hospital and doctor expenses are covered by payments received from patients and insurance plans.

Visits to facilities outside the insurance program's "network" are usually either not covered or the patient must bear more of the cost (usually waived for emergencies).

According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the United States is the "only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not ensure that all citizens have coverage" (i.e. some kind of insurance).

What is perhaps shocking that in a 2009 Harvard study published in the American Journal of Public Health it has been revealed that there has been on an average 44,800 excess deaths annually in the United States due to Americans lacking health insurance.

Its estimated that in USA as much as 15.3% of the Gross Domestic Product or GDP is spent on health care alone. This is next to East Timor (Timor-Leste). It is expected that the upward trend would continue to surge in the USA which is likely to touch 19.5% of GDP by 2017.

As per a report prepared by WHO (World Health Organization) in 2000, of all countries totalling 191 member nations of the United Nations Organisation, USA tops the list for having the costliest health care system in the world.

Although the United States is a leader in medical innovation, having spent three times than Europe on a per capita basis on biomedical research most of which funded by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2004, its performance in health care system is shockingly dismal.

The overall performance of health care in USA vis a vis other countries stands at 37th and 72 by overall level of health respectively.

Its obvious those who have proper employment in good corporate organisations and have sufficient disposal income are in a better position to take care of them.

In fact salary and health insurance are most important if corporates wishes to attract the best talent and qualifications in the industry and retain them for long.

Yet the corporate world has scrupulously avoided being dragged into the debate on providing health care to the citizens most of whom are their employees.

But corporates the world over especially large multinationals a majority of which have their head quarters in the USA must reach out to share the health care burden as part of a social responsibility.

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Windows 7 Discount for Students at $29.99

2009-09-19T23:57:00.003-04:00

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Are you a student and interested to buy the Windows 7 for a discount?

Well here is a wonderful opportunity which Microsoft is offering for a very limited period.

Don't you dilly dally, for Windows 7 will be available for $29.99 till 3rd of January , 2010 only.

As announced on September 17 all details are available in www.win741.com, concerning this lucrative offer as part of Microsoft's recent promotion spree to popularise Windows 7.

Here is what they have announced in their own words:

"For a limited time, eligible college students can get the sweetest deal on Windows 7 - for only $29.99 USD. That’s less than most of your textbooks! Hurry — offer ends January 3, 2010 at 12:00 am CST"

Students can pay for a copy of either Windows 7 Professional or windows 7 Home Premium.

Windows 7 Professional would be useful to those students who would wish to remain connected to their school network such that they may be able to take advantage of Remote Media Streaming and HomeGroup.

For those having Windows Vista its advisable to upgrade to the same version in Windows 7 as well.

Assuming the student already has a 32-bit Windows Vista Home Premium software, they would do well to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium, as this will be convenient and easy for them to install.

However for other upgrades, its quite demanding and cumbersome, as this would require a custom (clean) installation in several steps. consuming several hours at one go.

In case the installation appears difficult it would be better to seek professional help from PC retailer.

So students! don't miss the opportunity to upgrade to Windows 7 at a discounted price now.

PENTAX K-x The Cheapest DSLR with HD Video Mode in the Market

2009-09-18T13:19:00.007-04:00

For those enthusiatic about High Definition (HD) digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) or HDSLRS, which in addition of having the capability to take digital still photographs is equipped with an HD - video mode, a piece of good news awaits them .

In a press release today Pentax has announced the launch of the cheapest DSLR to be made available in the market by next month i.e. on October 2009 , the Pentax K-x.

Priced at $649.95 only, it costs $200 less than the other two cheapest dSLRs with HD video currently available in the market , the Canon EOS 500D (Rebel T1i) and Nikon D5000.

The Pentax K-X comes with several features such as a 12.4 Mp CMOS sensor, 11-point autofocus, Live View and HD video mode.

The PENTAX K-x is available for pre-order in black or white at www.pentaxwebstore.com.The limited edition red and navy colors will become available at select locations to be announced.

The K-x’s 12.4 megapixel sensor comes with a sensor-shift Shake Reduction capability.

The K-x’s has a high-speed continuous shooting mode that can record as many as 17 images (in JPEG recording format) at a maximum speed of approximately 4.7 images per second.

The top shutter speed of 1/6000 second allows the photographer to preserve sharp, crisp images of fast-moving subjects.

It also has a 2.7 inch LCD with Face Detection autofocus. The K-x’s video capabilities include the ability to record full 720p resolution (1280×720) at 24 fps using any PENTAX 35mm lens.

The K-x includes a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image capture feature which blends three bracketed images into a single picture to give you the best possible shadow, highlight, and midrange detail. The camera supports a sensitivity range between ISO 100 and ISO 12800.

Other configuration options for the K-x include a twin lens kit for $749.95 that includes a K-x body, the smc PENTAX DA L 18-55mm lens, and the smc PENTAX DA L 50-200mm zoom lens.

Moreover the K-x, unlike the other DSLRs operates on AA batteries.

It can also accept lithium batteries, NiMH rechargeable, and alkaline batteries.

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Interesting Facts About the Internet and Social Web

2009-09-17T23:58:00.003-04:00

Interesting Facts About the Internet and Social Web

via Digital Inspiration - Technology Blog by Amit on 9/16/09

For more interesting facts about the internet, the state of advertising and how people are leveraging the power of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, check this video:

This video is part of the popular "Did You Know" series that originally started out as a PowerPoint presentation [Shift Happens} and, after going viral, the presentation was converted into a video by xplane. You can watch all the previous versions of the "Did You Know" series here or download source presentations and high-res videos from the Shift Happens wiki.

Did You Know? Version 3

Did You Know? Version 2

Did You Know? Version 1

Interesting Facts About the Internet and Social Web

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Medical Tourism to India & Mexico at a Fraction of a Cost for Employees of Self - Insured Companies

2009-09-17T20:09:00.005-04:00

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Here is a piece of good news for those patients who do not have adequate medical insurance cover in the USA and Europe.

English speaking developing countries such as India, Philippines and Mexico are offering the state of the art medical facilities at their world class hospitals, to patients arriving from USA and Europe at highly reduced prices.

The cost incurred would be a fraction of what one would have to pay for the same facilities and treatment at home.

These modern hospitals have highly qualified medical doctors and surgeons who have obtained their degrees from the best of Medical Schools in USA and Europe especially Britain and Germany .

All these medical treatment packages are obtained at a fraction of the cost had the patients from the West availed the same in their own countries.

We must remember that a large section of the population in USA and Europe amounting to as many as 40% are not adequately covered by a proper medical insurance.

Rather they are dependant upon their companies in which they are employed to take care of them. These employees subscribe to self-insurance pools offered by their companies.

These companies in turn avail the services of insurers for administrative and back office functions only. The rest they manage on their own to cut costs and bypass the mounting prices.

Those companies offering self-insurance to their employees manage their own risks and pays the medical bills to hospitals directly from their self insurance funds on behalf of the employees.

With mounting costs for medical facilities, these companies have found it convenient to send their employees to the sate of the art hospitals such as in India, Mexico, Singapore, Philippines etc.

Since the expenses are far less than those offered at home, companies are sending their patients to these countries to avail world class medical facilities under the care of foreign qualified doctors of international repute.

Steven Lash, CEO of Satori Medical World, has a patent to his credit whereby companies offering self insurance can avail medical tourism at highly reduced price, but with the best of results that at times surpass those offered at US hospitals for the same treatment.

Satori is a Japanese term for sudden flash of enlightenment, something akin to Eureka.

Steven Lash has been busy building a vast network of hospitals round the world that offer the best of medical facilities at hospitals maintaining top rated international standards. Based on price and facilities he has an adequate data from which he could make an offer to companies medical tourism to companies based on their budget and expectations from such medical services to their employees.

Lash has been constantly approaching these self-insured companies, to sell them his idea to cut medical costs for their employees.

“We would become embedded as a health care option for their clients. They would have a choice of going to five network options and we’d be the sixth. We don’t replace the benefit. We become an option.”

Since Lash wants that his system works he is offering his services to screen the patients carefully and categorising them based on several parameters.

"If you have co-morbidity, stay. If your case is just emerging, stay. The benefit will be offered to those who need a defined procedure only." said Lash.

By doing so an optimal solution is obtained where everyone benefits. The patients thus get their medical treatment clubbed together with a foreign tour say to India along with a visit to the Taj Mahal at company expenses which hardly puts a financial strain to their employers.

This is what the Satori Patent is all about.

“We have a business method patent whereby the employee gets to share in the savings through a deposit in a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA).

“If the savings are $40,000, the employer shares $8-10,000 with the employee and makes a deposit in their HRA. This money can then be used to do co-pays, deductibles and for further premiums.”

HRAs are defined by the Treasury Department, and are different from Health Savings Accounts in that they are “100% employer funded, and non-portable. It rolls over. There’s no limit on what you can put in. And it can pay for first dollar coverage.”

There are incentives here for both sides. The self-insurer pockets big savings, plus they build loyalty because the employee isn’t going to leave with a big HRA balance. The employee, meanwhile, may save enough to pay for the next year’s premiums, or the birth of their next child.

However those with real insurance won’t see this for years because such things need to go through state regulatory processes.

No wonder this is the beginning of an era of Medical Tourism by outsourcing them from distant countries such as India.

As an Indian I think the government and the medical fraternity and hospitals can come together to provide a chain of medical facilities round the country that will offer medical facilities to patients from West at reasonable price, and this funds could be utilised to provide economy or no frills medical facilities to the poor and middle class families in Indian Towns and cities. Its a good way to earn foreign exchange too.

Boston Summit 2009 - Google Visibility Report & Improvement

2009-09-16T19:46:00.000-04:00

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Get ranked in Google and make search engines become your largest source of targeted website traffic!

What is your greatest source of incoming traffic? Is it inbound links? Direct traffic from email newsletters? Phone-to-web leads? Maybe search engines drive a lot of traffic, but not to the pages you want?

If you are mastering these methods of driving website traffic, you have a great head start, but how well are you being found in Google with your targeted keywords? Any company can be found on page 1 with the name of their company or their brand.

Do a simple test right now.

Go to Google.com and type in one of your primary keywords. For example, if you are a food magazine, try typing in "apple pie recipe".

Does your website come up? AllRecipes.com, FoodNetwork.com and a site that looks like it was designed in 1998 all come up. How about you?

If you have an amazing recipe for Apple Pie, it's a shame that only your existing audience is seeing it.

When you search for something with Google, the results you get are organic. You cannot pay Google to put your results in the organic search; you can only pay for a spot on the right or at the top of the listings, which Google labels sponsored links.

Compared to organic results, sponsored results get a fraction of clicks. Users know that organic results are more likely to contain what they are looking for.

That's why we invented the Google Visibility Report.

The Google Visibility report is the lovechild of all our keyword research strategies.

It involves the full course of keyword research along with identifying where you rank on all of those keywords. It also helps you determine how likely you are to be found on a keyword, based on the number of pages that are already out there.

To get a sample Google Visibility Report and learn how to create one for your online publishing business that will inspire editors with new topic ideas and SEO goals to reach, join us at the Mequoda Summit on October 7-9^th 2009.

At the Mequoda Summit:

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Google Micropayments to Allow Payment from Penny to Several Dollars

2009-09-15T07:43:00.006-04:00

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Google Micropayments to be Made Available Soon

In a press release to the Newspaper Association of America Google has announced that it will soon allow merchants to accept micropayments from its Google Checkout..

Micropayments is a new form of earning revenue online by offering say contents to a large volume of subscribers for a very small price per reader. It could be as low as a tenth of a cent per single web page of a book or magazine such as comics.

These innovative ideas for providing micropayment services online are the result of an evolutionary process amongst Internet content providers.

This is just another method for obtaining revenue from contents such as Google Ads (Adsense) by webmasters.

In a micropayment system, as the amount of micropayments continue to accumulate and reaches a predetermined level, that total amount of revenue earned could be paid as one lump sum payment to the webmaster either before or after transaction.

Its a novel form of earning revenue from subscribers for whom the price is ridiculously low

Its already in use in some massively multi player online games (MMOGs)that has no monthly fee.

This is a good way to compensate for the cost of increased bandwidth costs, if the site attracts a large volume of surfers. Unlike radio, Internet cannot cope with huge volume of subscriber, since it puts strain on the bandwidth provided by the host.

That's why sites that depend totally on advertising revenue have failed and the only alternative left is to charge a minuscule amount from each subscriber to overcome the cost of bandwidth suffered by the operator because of the popularity of its site.

If this facility for micropayments is to be provided in Google Checkout, then those merchants who provide contents and services would find it convenient to accept payments from cents to several dollars from their subscribers and clients.

The following document has been released by Google to the Press with reagards to its plan to introduce Micropayment facility:

"Micropayments - While currently in the early planning stages, micropayments will be a payment vehicle available to both Google and non-Google properties within the next year. The idea is to allow viable payments of a penny to several dollars by aggregating purchases across merchants and over time. Google will mitigate the risk of non-payment by assigning credit limits based on past purchasing behavior and having credit card instruments on file for those with higher credit limits and using our proprietary risk engines to track abuse or fraud. Merchant integration will be extremely simple."

Way back in 2005 DFC Intelligence made a forecast that revenue from micro-transactions under $5 would reach $1.8 bl by 2009.

COBOL - 50 Years of Long Service in the World of Computers

2009-09-15T06:14:00.006-04:00

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Golden Anniversary of COBOL

COBOL which stands for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, is perhaps the oldest language still in use on a large sacle helping to bring about efficiency and automtion in our modern day to day life.

COBOL has been around for the last fifty years when the first seeds were sown for its full fledged development and application way back in 1959.

This year COBOL is celebrating its success for having remained in the market for the last half a century, and are still going strong.

With times COBOL too has undergone several modifications to adapt into its language several features available in modern computer languages such as object-oriented programming and XML generation and parsing.

Significance of COBOL in our Day to Day Life

What is most surprising is that although COBOL has been around for decades and people have been using its services, such as in ATM, not many are however aware of its vast existence and great importance, till date. COBOL has permeated every sphere of our lives and continues to have a firm grip over the business world, even today.

The following facts and figures made available by Jeff Atwood would make it clear that how much COBOL is still relevant in spite of the emergence of many new and innovative computer programmes that most are familiar with.

There are over a million COBOL programmers the world over.

COBOL transactions surprasses those of Google search by more than 200 times, each day. This figure puts it well ahead than those of web 2.o.that makes it look insignificant in comparison to COBOL.
COBOL has helped to provide connectivity to as many as 500 million plus mobile/cell phone users across the globe.
COBOL takes care of maintaining records and processing the medical case history and reports of 60 million patients for better diagnosis and prognosis by medical practitioners.
COBOL helps in processing as many as 80% of point-of-sales transactions.
Around 72,000 shipping containers depend upon the services of COBOL for global freight movementand logistics by land,sea and air.

Is COBOL a Dying Programme?

Way back in 2007, a survey was carried out which placed COBOL at the top amongst those computer programmes that no longer attracts young computer programmers and is expected to die naturally, if its popularity and significance is not revived immediately.

However COBOL is still ancient when it comes to the number of lines of coding thats required to bring the same result as those by other modern computer languages. According to Capers Jones, COBOL takes (IIRC) 90-100 lines of code to express function point, making it 3 times more verbose than Java.

Each line of code cannot exceed 75 characters. Not to mention that you have to literally write out code as if you’re writing a book. Since time is a factor and programs have become more complex than ever before, COBOL has lost much of its relevance.

It continues to be in service especially in large corporations such as Health and Insurance, that has been maintaining records for decades.

Evolution of COBOL

In 1952, Grace Murray Hopper developed a language we today know it as COBOL.The language was one that all understood using phrases that we normally use in English to express anything in words. This language which was close to a natural language, was developed by her to express the operations of business data processing.

In 1959, an industry-wide team was assembled to formulate a common business programming language

COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) was developed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Defense in cooperation with computer manufactures, users and universities who met on April 8, 1959, at the University of Pennsylvania Computing Center, led by Joe Wegstein of National Bureau of Standards (now National Institute of Standards and Technology).

The initial specifications for COBOL were presented in a report of the executive committee of CODASYL committee in April of 1960.

Since 1960,COBOL has made several modifications to keep pace with demand and competition from industry and market . It has over the years in the last 50 years emerged as one of the most popular data processing language of the business world. The standard language specification has three levels low, middle and high so that it could be implemented on computers of varying sizes.

Our Gratitude to COBOL

So please express your gratitude to this wonderful computer language COBOL that was devloped so that you and I could enjoy the modern lifestyle that we have taken them for granted, but never acknowledge those who worked to improve COBOL and its applications.

So instead of criticising because of its lengthy codes, let us all appreciate the great contribution this Grand Old Lady amongst Computer programming languages has made since the last fifty years of its existence.

Most Popular Social Sites that People Use to Share Content on the Internet

2009-09-14T01:11:00.002-04:00

Which Social Sites Do People Use Most for Sharing Content on the Internet

from Digital Inspiration Technology Guide by Amit

27 people liked this

Social Bookmarking – 2007

This graph show how people were sharing web pages in the year 2007. Google Bookmarks and delicious were the two most favorite destinations for bookmarking online content while a large number of Internet users also preferred saving pages into their local bookmarks or favorites.

Social Bookmarking – 2008

Habits changed in 2008 as social networks replaced social bookmarking sites.

Facebook, Digg, MySpace became the most preferred destinations for sharing content while delicious, Google Bookmarks and other "online bookmarking" services took a backseat.

Social Bookmarking – 2009

Enter 2009. Facebook is now the most popular site for sharing content followed by a distant Twitter. Surprisingly, more people now prefer to bookmark content on Yahoo! Bookmarks and Windows Live Favorites than Google or Delicious which dominated the scene in 2007.

And here the next 10 places where Internet users are posting content with the purpose of bookmarking or for sharing with their social contacts.

The sharing statistics for 2009 are courtesy Pat from AddToAny while the numbers for 2008 and 2007 were provided by ShareThis and AddThis respectively. All these companies provide some very awesome social sharing widgets for both blogs and regular sites.

While the report suggests that more people are using Facebook than email to share content on the Internet, I guess that may not be the case because not everyone feels comfortable sharing their email address with a widget so they probably use their own email client to share links of web pages with friends.

Virtual - Desktop Managers - Best of Five

2009-09-13T05:20:00.008-04:00

Five Best Virtual-Desktop Managers

by Jason Fitzpatrick

Long before multiple monitors were popular (or financially feasible), there were virtual desktops—applications that allow you to swap your entire workspace with another for easy compartmentalization of your work. Here's a look at five of the most popular virtual-desktop managers.

Photo by dcJohn.

After making a survey here are the top five contenders, covering a nice spread of Windows, Mac, and Linux virtual-desktop tools.

Taking a screenshot of a virtual-desktop manager is particularly tricky and we've done our best to select images that represent the tool in question. Since virtual-desktop managers are such dynamic tools and difficult to capture in a single moment of use, each tool in this week's Hive Five also includes a link to a video demonstrating the application in action. The quality of the videos varies but all of them do a vastly better job showing off the application than a static screenshot.

Compiz (Linux, Free)

If you like your virtual-desktop managers to come with some flair and eye candy, Compiz is definitely worth a look. Linux users who just want simple workspace switching might be better served by Gnome Workspaces, but if you're on a rig with a nice graphics card—and you want to live it up with fancy graphic-intensive transitions between virtual desktops—Compiz's more advanced effects are pretty nifty. Compiz comes with a core of plug-ins that cover all sorts of 3D effects which can be further supplemented by using Compiz Fusion, a version of Compiz that sports additional plug-ins and enhanced graphics. Check out Compiz in action here:

VirtuaWin (Windows, Free)

VirtuaWin is a simple virtual-desktop manager that a power user can quickly turn into a highly customized tool thanks to a large library of plug-ins. Out of the box VirtuaWin does a great job with simple window switching and management, but VirtuaWin users have contributed a variety of useful plug-ins to the project that do everything from change wallpaper based on your current desktop to selectively enabling and disabling icons on each individual desktop. If you're using VirtuaWin to sparate work from play or to separate individual projects, you'll even find a plug-in for tracking how much time you spend in each virtual space. You can check out the windows switching and wallpaper changing in VirtuaWin here:

Spaces (Mac, Free)

Spaces is the virtual-desktop tool built right into Mac OS (starting in Leopard). You can create up to 16 virtual workspaces and access them via keyboard shortcuts or a fullscreen preview. Spaces also integrates with Exposé, and you can designate a corner of the screen which will pull up a mini-thumbnail preview of your Spaces grid for easy drag and drop arranging of application windows. Spaces supports window assignment, meaning you can assign specific applications to display on designated spaces. You can see Spaces in action here:

Dexpot (Windows, Free)

Dexpot is a feature rich desktop manager for Windows. You can setup Dexpot to simply enable extra workspaces—up to 20 total workspaces—just to have a little extra space to spread out your work. If you delve into the more advanced features you can set up rules for where applications will end up when launched and customize each virtual desktop to have its own wallpaper and resolution. Dexpot has multiple ways of navigating your virtual desktops including keyboard shortcuts, a small thumbnail catalog of your active desktops, and a full screen Exposé-like preview of all desktops. See Dexpot in action here:

Gnome Workspaces, (Linux, Free)

The Gnome Linux desktop environment sports its own virtual-desktop system called Workspaces. By default it is set to two virtual desktops, but you can increase it up to 36 virtual desktops. Windows can be easily moved from one workspace to another by drag and drop or keyboard shortcuts. Gnome Workspaces is, by comparison to other virtual-desktop managers, very spartan but many users favor it specifically for its spartan and snappy user interface. If you're using Linux and you just want speedy switching between multiple workspaces without the bother of further customization, Gnome Workspaces is a solid option. The screenshot here is taken from a demonstration video, which you can watch here:

Now that you've had a chance to look over the top five contenders for best virtual-desktop manager, it's time to cast your vote:

Which Virtual-Desktop Manager is Best?(trends)

We realize that, considering none of the virtual-desktop managers listed here are cross-platform, it may be tough to judge the virtual desktop tools that are unavailable on your machine. We'd recommend voting for the one you wish you could use most, regardless of whether or not it supports your platform.

Have a virtual-desktop trick of your own? Can't believe your favorite wasn't featured? Think everyone should just buy 8 physical monitors and forget this virtual-desktop nonsense? Tell us about it in the comments.

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Genuine Software at Discount - Buy Online

2009-09-12T13:32:00.004-04:00

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How to Buy Genuine Software Online for Less

by Amit

Here are tips to help you purchase licensed software programs online at a price that is much less than the suggested retail price. You’ll also learn about useful sites that offer excellent deals on popular software titles. These include comparison shopping search engines, coupon code databases and sites that offer educational discounts on software to students and parents.

Finding Software Deals on the Internet – Tips

1. Always do comparison shopping (keep reading to learn about sites that offer comparison shopping for software). Never assume that the online software store you are looking at offers the best deal just because it’s popular.

2. Always remember to check extras like free shipping; this can turn one deal better than the other one even though it may look the opposite way when you look just at the price of the software.

3. If there is a software program that you want to purchase, go to the manufacturer’s website and subscribe to their email lists and also follow their blog, Twitter feed, or Facebook page. Many companies regularly post deals and offers through these channels so you can be the first one to find about new deals.

4. Make sure to purchase upgrade versions if you are eligible. Most companies discount upgrade versions of their software for people who already own an older version, and often upgrade versions are less than half the price of the full retail version. Run a software inventory check and you may discover software stuff you forgot you had.

5. Some companies will let you purchase a software program at upgrade price if you own a competing product, so be sure to check the company’s website for upgrade requirements before you buy.

6. Many software companies offer discounts on full versions of the software to registered users of a trial version of the software, or of the company’s limited versions of the same software or online services. They often also offer discounts on upgrades to registered owners of previous versions of software.

7. Before you buy software, always check how many computers a program is licensed to run on. For instance, Microsoft Office Home and Student is licensed for use on 3 computers in the same household, so if you have 3 computers in your home the price of Office is virtually 1/3 of what it would be. Some programs are available as family packs (like Windows 7) so if you can use all the licenses available in the family pack, then it is usually cheaper per computer.

8. If a program is available in multiple editions (e.g. Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite or Autodesk Suite), try picking the edition that has the features you need – you probably don’t need every single feature or component of a software suite and this will help you save a considerable amount over purchasing the top edition.

For instance, I purchased Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection last year but I only need Photoshop, Acrobat, Dreamweaver and Soundbooth (occasionally) so a better choice would have been the Web Premium bundle.

9. If you are planning to use coupon codes with the order, make sure that all of the promotions can work together. In most cases, multiple discounts cannot be clubbed so if an item is already on sale, it may not be possible to use coupons in the shopping cart.

10. Corel, Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Symantec, Google (SketchUp) and many other software vendors offer large academic software discounts to faculty, staff members, and students of recognized educational institutions. These licenses are identical to the retail versions except that you cannot use the software for commercial purposes. As a parent, you can probably make use of such offers if your child is attending college.

11. You can sometimes buy an older version of the software at a lot cheaper price than the latest version.

Comparison Shopping Sites for Software

While there are numerous online stores where you can find good deals on computer software, you should always consider using a comparison shopping search engine to know prices of the same product on different stores all across the web.

There are many sites that do this for you and very often these sites themselves will offer additional discounts to users who buy the produce via their site. However, to find the best deal (or lowest price), you should not limit yourself to one comparison shopping site.

1. Bing Shopping – Bing can help you quickly find the cheapest price of anything you’re looking for, including software. Bing searches the inventory of hundreds of online stores for the best price (including popular ones like Walmart, Buy.com, Best Buy, etc.), and then sweetens the deal by offering 2% – 20% Cashback from select stores.

Although you will still have pay the regular price from the online store, Microsoft will put that Cashback money in your PayPal account after your purchase has gone through, or you can choose to receive it as a check by mail. With Bing, you can easily figure out which online retailers offer free but the search engine doesn’t show the shipping rates if the retailer doesn’t have free shipping.

2. PriceGrabber.com – Another good site to do comparison shopping is PriceGrabber. They will list the prices from multiple online retailers in a neat table and also offer a handy shipping calculator that will show you the final price of a product once you include postage and taxes applicable in your region.

The PriceGrabber site will always show listings from their "Featured Sellers" at the top even though they may not be offering the cheapest price so keep an eye on that.

3. Shopzilla.com – One more site you might want to try is Shopzilla.com, which again searches a multitude of online stores for the software you want to buy and lets you compare the price offered by different retailers. Like PriceGrabber, you can put in the zip code and it will show you the total price for your product including shipping and taxes if any.

Am not too sure what factors does Shopzilla use to determine the default order of retailers in the list, it does give you an option to sort results by price, store name, or store rating. Overall, Shopzilla does seem to uncover some good deals, so make sure to check it when you are looking to buy any software program online.

Online Stores That Sell Software at a Discount

Here are some websites that almost always have good deals on software:

Amazon.com (software) – Amazon.com provides excellent bargains on software that they sell themselves, and as some third party merchants are also listed on the Amazon size, you can often find the best price right at this one site.

Then there’s a special page on the Amazon.com site that highlights popular software titles that are available with large discounts but exactly for the week. Amazon.com is also getting into selling downloadable software so you don’t have to wait for the software boxes to arrive via FedEx. Right now, you can purchase games and tax software using the digital downloads option and hopefully they will add more software categories over time.

Newegg.com – Newegg is one of the first sites that people check for computer parts, and they also have a large selection of software in store. Newegg offers free shipping on everything, so if you are ordering a cheap program you will often come out cheaper here than at other sites, as most sites only offer free shipping on orders of $25 or more.

Newegg also sells OEM versions of Windows and other programs, but make sure you are eligible to purchase these software licenses before you buy yourself a copy. Normally, OEM licenses are tied to a single computer so you can’t use that same license on another machine.

eBay.com – eBay is known worldwide as the place for online auctions. Many small companies and individuals sell software on eBay, and it can especially be a great place to find an obscure program that has been discontinued. Make sure you exercise a great deal of caution when buying software from eBay because if the deal is too good to be true, you are probably buying pirated software. Always look at the seller’s feedback and ask questions over email before making that final bid.

Software Discounts for Students, Parents and Non-Profit

If you are a student, educator, or from the non-profit community, check out JourneyEd.com for some unbelievable software deals and discounts. You’ll be required to fax your academic proof after the purchase and they’ll ship the box once it gets accepted. You can continue to use the software after you leave school or college.

The amazing thing about JourneyEd is this low price guarantee – "Buy your software now and if you see a lower advertised price of that same exact item (including our own sale prices) within 30 days of your purchase, we’ll refund the difference."

Other popular sites where students (and their parents), teachers and schools can buy cheap software includeAcademicSuperstore.com and Gradware.com.

TechSoup.org is another good site that offers donated software licenses from companies like Cisco, Microsoft, Dell, etc. to nonprofits with valid 501(c)(3) status and public libraries listed in the IMLS database. TechSoup is only for organizations and not individuals. They they even prove free premium accounts from online services like Wikispaces and Flickr to eligible organizations.

Also check the software vender’s site, as many now have digital storefronts where you can directly purchase and download software. The boxed options from other stores are often still cheaper, but it is still worth checking especially if you have a coupon for their store. Additionally, some companies offer free software for students likeMicrosoft Dreamspark.

Find Coupon Codes for Software Stores

Now that you’ve found the perfect place to buy software at the right price, let’s make the deal even sweeter – apply a coupon code and you might get some extra discount or free shipping or another perk with your purchase.

RetailMeNot.com – This coupon code site seems to always have the best and most recent coupons in my experience, so be sure to check this site first for finding coupons. They also offer numerous ways to follow their site, including twitter, email and RSS so you can always stay informed of the latest deals.

CouponCabin.com – The site has a large database of coupons for a wide arrangement of online retailers. The majority of the coupons they list are verified and guaranteed to work, but they do list user-submitted coupons and promo code that may or may not work.

Most coupons available on CouponCabin are for online purchases, but they do also have printable coupons that you can use at traditional stores like Walmart and Target.

Coupon Mountain – This has special page that lists current deals and coupons for software programs. In addition to user-submitted coupons, they also list special coupons that offer free shipping.

Fatwallet.com – Fatwallet is another good site to check, as it provides coupons and has its own cashback system. While the cashback is not usually as much as Bing offers, it is still worth checking out as deal coupled with cashback and a coupon could turn out be cheaper.

Slickdeals.net – Although not strictly a coupon website, Slickdeals often has some good deals posted by members for numerous products including software.

For International Customers – Most software stores won’t ship outside US or Canada so in that case, the only option is that you either use your international credit card and buy downloadable software or get the software box shipped to your friend’s address in US and ask him to ship it to you.

You may however have to pay taxes in your country. For instance, I had to pay around 9% customs duty for importing a software program from US to my address in India.

Source: http://www.labnol.org/software/buy-software-online-for-less/9690/

Global Brands of the World

2009-09-11T09:49:00.000-04:00

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Top 100 Global Brands of The World



Rank	Brand Name	Company	Country Based	Brand Value	Brand Value	Percentage
				In 2005	In 2009	Change
				(in USD million)	(in USD million)

1	Coca Cola	Coca Cola	USA	67, 525	67000	-1.00%
2	Microsoft	Microsoft	USA	59925	56926	-5.00%
3	IBM	IBM	USA	53376	56201	5.00%
4	GE	GE	USA	46996	48907	4.00%
5	Intel	Intel	USA	35588	32319	-9.00%
6	Nokia	Nokia	Finland	26452	30131	14.00%
7	Toyota	Toyota Japan	Japan	24837	27941	12.00%
8	Disney	Disney	USA	26441	27848	5.00%
9	McDonalds	McDonalds	USA	26041	27501	6.00%
10	Mercedes-Benz	Mercedes-Benz	Germany	20006	21795	9.00%
11	Citi	Citi Group	USA	19967	21458	7.00%
12	Marlboro	Philip Morris International	USA	21189	21350	1.00%
13	Hewlett-Packard	Hewlett-Packard	USA	18866	20458	8.00%
14	American Express	American Express Company	USA	18559	19641	6.00%
15	BMW	BMW	Germany	17126	19617	15.00%
16	Gillette	Gillette	USA	17534	19579	12.00%
17	Louis Vuitton	Louis Vuitton	France	16077	17606	10.00%
18	Cisco	Cisco	USA	16592	17532	6.00%
19	Honda	Honda	Japan	15788	17049	8.00%
20	Samsung	Samsung	S.Korea	14956	16169	8.00%
21	Merrill Lynch	Merrill Lynch	USA	12018	13001	8.00%
22	Pepsi	Pepsi	USA	12399	12690	2.00%
23	Nescafe	Nestlé	Switzerland	12241	12507	2.00%
24	Google	Google	USA	8461	12376	46.00%
25	Dell	Dell	USA	13231	12256	-7.00%
26	Sony	Sony	Japan	10754	11695	9.00%
27	Budweiser	Anheuser-Busch	Brazil/Belgium	11878	11662	-2.00%
28	HSBC	HSBC	Britain	10429	11622	11.00%
29	Oracle	Oracle	USA	10887	11459	5.00%
30	Ford	Ford	USA	13159	11056	-16.00%
31	Nike	Nike	USA	10114	10897	8.00%
32	UPS	UPS	USA	9923	10712	8.00%
33	JPMorgan	JP Morgan Chase	USA	9455	10205	8.00%
34	SAP	SAP	Germany	9006	10007	11.00%
35	Canon	Canon	USA	9044	9968	10.00%
36	Morgan Stanley	Morgan Stanley	USA	9777	9762	0.00%
37	Goldman Sachs	Goldman Sachs	USA	8495	9640	13.00%
38	Pfizer	Pfizer	USA	9981	9591	-4.00%
39	Apple	Apple	USA	7985	9130	14.00%
40	Kellogg's	Kellogg's	USA	8306	8776	6.00%
41	Ikea	Ikea Group	Sweden	7817	8763	12.00%
42	UBS	UBS	Switzerland	7565	8734	15.00%
43	Novartis	Novartis	Switzerland	7746	7880	2.00%
44	Siemens	Siemens	Germany	7507	7828	4.00%
45	Harley-Davidson	Harley-DavidsonUSA		7346	7739	5.00%
46	Gucci	Gucci	Italy	6619	7158	8.00%
47	eBay	eBay	USA	5701	6755	18.00%
48	Philips	Philips	Netherlands	5901	6730	14.00%
49	Accenture	Accenture	Bermuda	6142	6728	10.00%
50	MTV	Viacom	USA	6647	6627	0.00%
51	Nintendo	Nintendo	Japan	6470	6559	1.00%
52	Gap	Gap	USA	8195	6416	-22.00%
53	L'Oreal	L'Oreal	France	6005	6392	6.00%
54	Heinz	Heinz	USA	6932	6223	-10.00%
55	Yahoo!	Yahoo	USA	5256	6056	15.00%
56	Volkswagen	Volkswagen	Germany	5617	6032	7.00%
57	Xerox	Xerox	USA	5705	5918	4.00%
58	Colgate	Colgate	USA	5186	5633	9.00%
59	Wrigley's	William Wrigley Jr. Company	USA	5543	5449	-2.00%
60	KFC	YUM! Brands, Inc.	USA	5112	5350	5.00%
61	Chanel	Alain Wertheimer and Gerard Wertheimer	France	4778	5156	8.00%
62	Avon	Avon	USA	5213	5040	-3.00%
63	Nestle	Nestle	Switzerland	4744	4932	4.00%
64	Kleenex	Kimberly-Clark	USA	4922	4842	-2.00%
65	Amazon.com	Amazon.com	USA	4248	4707	11.00%
66	Pizza Hut	YUM! Brands, Inc.	USA	4963	4694	-5.00%
67	Danone	Groupe Danone	France	4513	4638	3.00%
68	Caterpillar	Caterpillar	USA	4085	4580	12.00%
69	Motorola	Motorola	USA	3877	4569	18.00%
70	Kodak	Kodak	USA	4979	4406	-12.00%
71	adidas	adidas	Germany	4033	4290	6.00%
72	Rolex	Bruno Meier	Switzerland	3906	4237	8.00%
73	Zara	Zara	Spain	3730	4235	14.00%
74	Audi	Audi	Germany	3686	4165	13.00%
75	Hyundai	Hyundai	S.Korea	3480	4078	17.00%
76	BP	British Petroleum	Britain	3802	4010	5.00%
77	Panasonic	Panasonic	Japan	3714	3977	7.00%
78	Reuters	Reuters	Britain	3866	3961	2.00%
79	Kraft	Kraft	USA	4238	3943	-7.00%
80	Porsche	Porsche	Germany	3777	3927	4.00%
81	Hermes	Hermes	France	3540	3854	9.00%
82	Tiffany & Co.	Tiffany & Co.	USA	3618	3819	6.00%
83	Hennessy	Hennessy	France	3201	3576	12.00%
84	Duracell	Duracell	USA	3679	3576	-3.00%
85	ING	ING	Netherlands	3177	3474	9.00%
86	Cartier	Cartier	France	3050	3360	10.00%
87	Moet & Chandon	Moet & Chandon	France	2991	3257	9.00%
88	Johnson & Johnson	Johnson & Johnson	USA	3040	3193	5.00%
89	Shell	Shell	Britain	3048	3173	4.00%
90	Nissan	Nissan	Japan	3203	3108	-3.00%
91	Starbucks	Starbucks	USA	2576	3099	20.00%
92	Lexus	Toyota	Japan		3070
93	Smirnoff	Smirnoff	Britain	3097	3032	-2.00%
94	LG	LG	S. Korea	2645	3010	14.00%
95	Bulgari	Bulgari	Italy	2715	2875	6.00%
96	Prada	Prada	Italy	2760	2874	4.00%
97	Armani			2677	2783
98	Burberry	Burberry	Britain		$2,783
99	Nivea	Nivea	Germany	2576	2692	4.00%
100	Levi's	Levi's	USA	2655	2689	1.00%

9/11 - Horrors of September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack on World Trade Centre New York

2009-09-11T01:55:00.000-04:00

Friends!

Who can ever forget the scale and the heights of terrorist attack (different from conventional war between nations)that has been ever witnessed by man, that too live as the world watched helplessly and in horror as thousands of innocent men, women and children were killed and injured as brave men fought gallantly to save them.

Here is a collection of artcles that had appeared on the Atlantic which might be of interest to you. This will give you an understanding as well as help you to feel emphaticslly with those innocent men, women and children who fell victim to a bunch of fantics ready to unleash misery as part of their crusade bringing bad name to Alla/God the saviour, had to go through while coping with a human tragedy at the turn of a promising century and millenium. This post by James Fallows is an eye opener thats highly informative and useful. I hope you too will enjoy as much as I did.

September 11
by James Fallows

Some of the Atlantic's articles from the past eight years, collected here, stand up well as assessments of the moment and its aftermath. As a way to return to the mood, the reactions, the unity, and the incipient disagreements of the attacks on September 11, 2001, William Langewiesche's American Ground will be studied and admired for a long time.

If you're looking for thematic readings today, you could do very well with the links on this page -- not simply the four articles in the center of the page but the six others in the "From the Archives" column.

The newspaper story that struck me most today was this one, by N.R. Kleinfield in the New York Times: "A Fortress City that Didn't Come To Be." Its subject is New York, and it explains how, despite its unprecedented loss and trauma, the city recovered not just its vitality but also its deeper sense of balance. It decided to go ahead as a live, open, and inevitably still-vulnerable city, rather than surviving hunkered down, as an armed camp. Having visited New York only once since moving back to the country, I am struck by how much lower is its level of "security theater" than what prevails in Washington. Usually I regard New York as an interesting variation on "normal" American life, rather than as an example to the rest of us. I think in this case it has been the most American part of the country.

India Ranks 49th in Economic Competiveness by the World Economic Forum

2009-09-09T13:24:00.010-04:00

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Being from India I am always interested to know where India stands today vis a vis rest of the world.

I was quite shocked and dismayed that India although being considered the second most progressive economies of the world next to its giant neighbour China is nowhere close to any of the most developed countries of the world as far as competitiveness in economy is concerned.

Even Singapore a tiny country in comparison to India's size and population is well placed after USA, ranked third in the merit of economic competiveness.

No wonder India has many miles to go and have to move faster to catch up to find a place amongst the top ten most economically and technologically developed countries of the world.

In a recent worldwide report prepared by the World Economic Forum (WEF) India managed a poor 49^th position a notch better than Jordan, amongst the 133 countries whose competiveness level has been measured after taking into several parameters.

According to the report Switzerland has beaten USA to the second position to take the leading position as the most competitive economy of the world today.

The Top 50 Competitive Economies in the world

	Rank	Score
Switzerland	1	5.60	2
United States	2	5.59	1
Singapore	3	5.55	5
Sweden	4	5.51	4
Denmark	5	5.46	3
Finland	6	5.43	6
Germany	7	5.37	7
Japan	8	5.37	9
Canada	9	5.33	10
Netherlands	10	5.32	8
Hong Kong SAR	11	5.22	11
Taiwan, China	12	5.20	17
United Kingdom	13	5.19	12
Norway	14	5.17	15
Australia	15	5.15	18
France	16	5.13	16
Austria	17	5.13	14
Belgium	18	5.09	19
Korea, Rep.	19	5.00	13
New Zealand	20	4.98	24
Luxembourg	21	4.96	25
Qatar	22	4.95	26
United Arab Emirates	23	4.92	31
Malaysia	24	4.87	21
Ireland	25	4.84	22
Iceland	26	4.80	20
Israel	27	4.80	23
Saudi Arabia	28	4.75	27
China	29	4.74	30
Chile	30	4.70	28
Czech Republic	31	4.67	33
Brunei Darussalam	32	4.64	39
Spain	33	4.59	29
Cyprus	34	4.57	40
Estonia	35	4.56	32
Thailand	36	4.56	34
Slovenia	37	4.55	42
Bahrain	38	4.54	37
Kuwait	39	4.53	35
Tunisia	40	4.50	36
Oman	41	4.49	38
Puerto Rico	42	4.48	41
Portugal	43	4.40	43
Barbados	44	4.35	47
South Africa	45	4.34	45
Poland	46	4.33	53
Slovak Republic	47	4.31	46
Italy	48	4.31	49
India	49	4.30	50
Jordan	50	4.30	48

Here are some of the highlights of the report:

India Specific Key indicators

Population (millions), 2008…………………………….1,186.2
GDP (US$ billions), 2008……………………………….1,209.7
GDP per capita (US$), 2008 …………………………..1,016.2
GDP (PPP) as share (%) of world total, 2008 …..…….4.77

The most problematic factors for doing business in India

A single glance at the chart above gives a clear picture for diagnosis of the many problems that is holding back the country from moving swiftly ahead.

If we scrutinize the picture closely, its evident that poor infrastructure and a very inefficient government bureaucracy are acting as drags and holding back the country from zipping on the fast lane along the highway to economic development and prowess.

However there are few things to cheer about. India ranks fourth as far as market size is concerned.This is good news for foreign investors and entrepreneurs who would like to set up industry for which they have a sizeable potential market with purchasing power.

However if we look at chart below we find that in spite of a large middle class market within India which is larger than the total population of Europe, a good 42 percent of India's population lives on less than $1.25 a day.

This is a great shame for all Indians particularly the well to do urbanites who are more prone to be anglophiles and suppose to be progressive.

GDP per Capita

However there are few silver linings for India too and for which Indians are being envied the world over today. India has been ranked 30^th and 27^th as far as innovation and business sophistication are concerned respectively. This is something that Indians need to concentrate more to make it their forte to bypass the problems and grab the top most positions.

It ranks an outstanding 28th in the most complex areas measured by the business sophistication and innovation subindex, ahead of several advanced economies.

India also boasts fairly well functioning institutions (54th), bustling financial markets (16th), and a sound banking sector (25^th)

However, India ranks very poorly on some of the basic determinants of competitiveness, namely health and primary education (101st), macroeconomic stability (96th) and infrastructure (76th).

The biggest surprise to me however was the penetration rates of Mobile Telephony – India is ranked at 116th out of 133 countries, so much for being 2nd largest mobile phone market !

Penetration of Internet and personal computers are also one of the lowest with a ranking of 104th and 96th respectively.

Take that for Indian competitiveness !

You can download full 492 page report for all countries from here.

What is stopping India’s progression ? Everybody understands the importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)...
Top 10 innovative countries. India ranked 41. Success of a country will depend upon capital it has...
For all its Outsourcing prowess, India ranks a lowly 54 in using IT India ranks 54 amongst 134 countries in effectively using IT....
Doing Business in India is even tougher than in Pakistan, SriLanka or Nepal Now that does not sound very positive, is it? India...
India ranked at No. 1 for starting a Retail business across the globe The Retail sector in India has been hot for last...

OLED HDTV - Asia takes the lead

2009-09-08T09:55:00.029-04:00

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More and more technological marvels would be seen to rise from the east from Asia, before the West gets them to experience commercially.

Korea will be the first to receive the most talked about 15 inches OLED HDTV which LG plans to, launch sometime in November. This will no wonder make the 15 inch LCD a thing of the past with the gradual emergence of the OLED monitors before it makes its official debut at the IFA 2009 Berlin.

Currently we have only the 11.1-inch Sony XEL -1 OLED television.

Although available commercially it is still in its early phase of maturity and needs further refiness for more acceptability in the market. Its rather more of a prototype because of its technological marvel that Sony produces in very small quantities. What is most amazing is that the whole TV set is no more than 3 mm thick.

However the price is still forbidding, quite out of reach for the common gizmophiles. As of now its selling for a mere $2500 a piece if not more.

As for those who are not very familiar with OLED tvs, I would like to explain what they are actually.

OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diodes. They are supposed to be class apart, than either the Plasma TVs or the LCD in all aspects be it in clarity, contrast, brightness or energy efficient.
Moreover it does not requires a backlight to function. It will be as thin as paper and would weigh not more than few ounces. It will be virtually indestructible and highly flexible. This will be the future of televisio technology, that could be worn around a wrist.

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