About the 3G

With the foray of 3G or third generation in India, Mobile users will be able to watch TV, read mobile magazines, watch video clips, make video calls, browse and download at much higher speeds, all these would be in addition to the already existing services available on mobile devices.


Despite the delay in the introduction of 3G and the controversy surrounding the spectrum-allocation, mobile companies and millions of subscribers are looking forward to the proposed 3G auction, which is expected to be held on Jan 14, 2010. This time the auction will include some international participants wishing to make an entry into the lucrative Indian market.

Inline with the launch, not just Telecos but also Tech giants like HP, Google, Oracle have showed considerable interest in the run-up. HP has launched 4 new products and will sync with telecom providers for 3G services. Google is mulling participation in the auction through an Indian partner, in order to bid for the 3G bandwidth. While companies like Oracle are looking to become technology providers to various operators.

So how does this exercise that involves such high-stakes (expected revenue around Rs 25,000) going to be held? Well, the DoT, or Department of Telecommunications, intends to carry out this exercise in 4 steps - bid invitation, pre-qualification, auction process and final grant of spectrum.

At present the government has earmarked 200 Mhz of band frequencies between 900-1000 Mhz and 1800-1900 Mhz for 2G. For the additional 3G spectrum the government will allocate some of the space presently controlled by the India's defense forces. The additional spectrum of 30MHz to be sold in the auction will lie between 2100-2200 Mhz.

Once the winners are decided, they will have to abide by the regulations, which include -

- Spectrum-allocation winners would be required to pay 0.5% for the first 3 years and 1% thereafter.

- During the first 5 years, winners will not be allowed to trade or sell or even merge with another company

India having already witnessed a monumental growth in the Mobile market and with predictions of huge rise in the broadband penetration, you can expect 3G to not just tap the existing user base but also to make inroads into the 100 million first-time users over the next few years. Until the auction, hold your breadth as 3G gets to unleash its prowess

Rihanna says domestic violence could happen to anyone

Pop singer Rihanna is due to speak for the first time about the night she was beaten by her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, saying in a TV interview that this could happen to anyone.
R&B singer Brown, 20, was sentenced to five years probation and community service in August for attacking Rihanna, 21, on the eve of the Grammy Awards in February. He has since apologized for the assault but has remained largely out of the media spotlight.
In an interview with Diana Sawyer due to be aired on ABC's programme "Good Morning America" on Thursday and Friday this week, the Barbadian singer says Brown was "definitely my first big love."
"This happened to me ... it can happen to anyone," she told Sawyer according to a statement from ABC.
Brown and Rihanna were among the fastest rising R&B artists in the United States before the assault which led to Brown losing several commercial sponsorships and triggered a national debate on violent relationships.
Rihanna released a new single, "Russian Roulette", in October and her fourth studio album "Rated R" is due to be released by label Def Jam Records later this month.

Microsoft Launches Windows 7

Windows 7 is the most-hyped operating system from Microsoft that promises a streamlined interface, support for touch screens, and security features to consumers.

Microsoft Corporation has announced the global launch of its new operating system 'Windows 7'. The company claims that Windows 7 is designed to be more reliable and responsive, delivering a simplified PC experience for consumers. Windows 7 promises a streamlined interface, support for touch screens, and security features for its users. 
Windows 7 is "an easy to connect, easy to browse and simple to use operating system, requiring less waiting, less clicks, less hassle connecting to devices, less power consumption and less complexity for the consumers."

The new OS features Aero Shake, Peek, Snap, Jump Lists and a redesigned Windows Taskbar and is designed to become the control centre for all the media and make it easy to do more with photos, music, movies and videos, according to the company's claim. New features like HomeGroup, Play To, Windows Live Movie Maker and Remote Media Streaming in Windows 7 will help consumers discover new ways to have fun and get new things done with the PC.

Announcing the Windows 7 launch in India, Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Microsoft India, said, "Proactive engagement and feedback thereof with partners and consumers was fundamental to the development of Windows 7. It has helped deliver what is the highest quality OS in the history of Windows. It enhances the user experience by its sheer simplicity and caters to their connected lives across work and play. We are delighted by the initial reviews from partners and the technology community. Over 90 per cent of testers from around the world have rated it as 'good' or 'extremely good' and consider Windows 7 to be responsive, simple to use and stable."

More than 1000 enterprises are currently deploying Windows 7. These include Infosys, Maruti, Bangalore International Airport, L&T ECC, Wipro, Big Cinemas, Manipal University, Biocon, Malayala Manorama, Greenply Industries, MindTree, GMR Infrastructure Limited and NIIT, among others.

Windows 7 is available in six editions, targeted at specific user groups. The two primary editions are: Windows 7 Home Premium for home consumers and Windows 7 Professional for small and medium sized businesses. Also available in the line-up are Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic (in emerging markets only), Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate. The FPP pricing for Windows 7 has reduced in the range of 25-35 per cent over Windows Vista, for most SKUs, said the company.

Windows 7 is available at more than 45,000 retailers around the world and in India, all 16 OEMs will bring in more than 100 different Windows 7 PCs within 30 days from today. Globally, more than 17,000 software and hardware companies are building solutions on Windows 7 and over 50,000 developers are enrolled in the Windows Ecosystem Readiness Program. 

Cricket must be an Olympic sport

Cricket must be an Olympic sport - Gilchrist

Adam Gilchrist has called for a dramatic reduction in the number of Tests in a move he believes will preserve the five-day format in the face of the Twenty20 challenge. While delivering the Cowdrey Lecture at Lord's on Wednesday, Gilchrist said Tests were the "most impractical vehicle to use" when trying to promote the game globally and he continued his push for the expansion of Twenty20, along with a call to include cricket in the Olympics

"To preserve [Test cricket's] future, which we must - less is in fact more - we should go back to the future where there were fewer Test matches, but a lot more important ones," Gilchrist said. "And where the best cricketers of the day played closer to 50 Tests in their career, not 150."

Despite wanting a cull of the five-day itinerary, Gilchrist said Tests should be tampered with "as little as possible". "Its rules, customs and playing conditions - like Major League Baseball - should remain as close to how it has been played for the past 130 years," he said. "Many of cricket's innovations should be applied only in the shorter forms of the game. This not only includes the expanded umpire referral system, but especially the mooted introduction of night Test cricket and a different coloured ball needed to accommodate this."

Gilchrist, who captained Deccan Chargers to the IPL trophy in May, does not believe Twenty20, which he wants in the Olympics, answers all of cricket's problems. "Whilst I now appreciate and enjoy playing and watching T20 cricket - especially after captaining the Deccan Chargers to the 2009 IPL title - I am at heart a traditionalist, who firmly believes that Test cricket is the ultimate test of a player's and team's ability," he said. "This is not to say that T20 isn't a skilful game. It certainly is.

"For all their similarities, T20 still requires many different skill sets from the longer forms of the game. The fact that some very well credentialed Test cricketers have struggled to adapt to the game, whilst others who will probably never come close to playing Test cricket have thrived in T20- is surely proof enough."


Gilchrist spent considerable time in laying out his reasons for cricket's inclusion in the Olympics. "The single best way to spread the game globally," said Gilchrist, "is for the ICC to actively seek its inclusion as an Olympic sport.

"Without doubt, the Olympic movement provides one of the most efficient and cost effective distribution networks for individual sports to spread their wings globally. It would be difficult to see a better, quicker or cheaper way of spreading the game throughout the world.

"The Olympic movement's only remaining dead pocket in the world happens to coincide with cricket's strongest - the subcontinent," said Gilchrist. "This region, which includes India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, represents just over one fifth of the world's population. But with the exception of their great hockey teams of the past, these cricket powerhouses have received barely a handful of Olympic medals in nearly 100 years of competition.

"What better way for the IOC to spread the Olympic brand and ideals into this region, than on the back of T20 cricket? The rewards for both the ICC and IOC getting this right would be enormous."

Blind People Can Read SMS: Courtesy Nokia

Nokia's new Braille Reader application allows blind and visually impaired people to read a discreet SMS using phone vibration. 

Nokia has introduced an interesting piece of software, called Nokia Braille Reader. The new application allows blind people to read a discreet SMS using phone vibration. The Nokia Braille Reader application gives SMS for the blind and visually impaired and captures received SMS messages and brings them to the foreground for reading using Braille and tactile feedback. Developed at Nokia Beta Labs, the application has been developed in a joint project between Nokia, Tampere University and the Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired.


The Nokia Braille Reader application is an application developed specially for blind people using Nokia mobile phones. The application uses Braille and also a tactile feedback to enable blind people to read SMS messages. Each text message is fed into the application and the characters are converted into braille. Then each character is read out to the user using the vibrating facility of the phone. As braille is a series of raised dots each character can be communicated by changing the vibration to depict raised or not with a whole sequence allowing the user to figure out which character it is, explains Geek.com.

The Nokia Braille Reader application is absolutely free to download and use and is compatible with Nokia devices based on S60 5th Edition, including Nokia N97, 5800 XpressMusic and the newly released N97 mini, 5530, 5230 and X6.

Download the Nokia Braille Reader - http://betalabs.nokia.com/apps/nokia-braille-reader. 

Mobile Users Can Switch Operators From 31 Dec: TRAI

The Mobile Number Portability, which allows subscribers to retain their mobile telephone number while discarding one service provider for another, shall be implemented from 31 December 2009 in metros and category 'A' service areas and by 20 March 2010 in rest of the country.

 The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has announced that Mobile Number Portability (MNP), which allows subscribers to retain their mobile telephone number while discarding one service provider for another, shall be implemented from 31 December 2009 in metros and category 'A' service areas and by 20 March 2010 in rest of the country. MNP facility shall be available only within a given licenced service area.

According to the TRAI notification, a subscriber holding a mobile number is eligible to make a porting request only after 90 days of the date of activation of his mobile connection. If a number is already ported once, the number can again be ported only after 90 days from the date of the previous porting. The subscriber who wishes to port his mobile number should approach the Recipient operator (the operator to whom the subscriber wants to port his number). The subscriber may be required to pay porting charges, if any, to the Recipient Operator.

The subscriber making the porting request is required to have cleared all the bills issued prior to the date of porting request. He shall give an undertaking that he has already paid all billed dues to the 'Donor Operator' as on the date of the request for porting and that he shall pay dues to the Donor Operator pertaining to the mobile number till its eventual porting and that he understands and agrees that in event of non-payment of any such dues to the Donor Operator, the ported mobile number shall be liable to be disconnected by the Recipient Operator.

A subscriber may withdraw his porting request within 24 hours of its submission to the Recipient Operator. However, the porting charges shall not be refundable.

The regulation envisage a maximum time period of four days for the completion of porting process in all licenced service areas except in the case of J&K, Assam and North East licenced service areas where the maximum time allowed is 12 days. However, efforts will be made to further reduce the porting period. Access providers are required to implement 'All Call Query' method. The originating operator shall be responsible to route the call to correct terminating network.

Chandrayaan-1 Not A Failure, Finds Water On Moon!

India's first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 has reportedly found evidence of large quantities of water on the lunar surface, before the project was terminated by ISRO.

 India's first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 was not a failure indeed. Despite of premature end, Chandrayaan-1 has reportedly found water on the lunar surface -- one of the main mission of the spacecraft. According to The Times newspaper, India's first lunar mission has found evidence of large quantities of water on its surface, before the project was called off.


"It's very satisfying," the newspaper quoted Mylswamy Annadurai, the mission's project director at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru, as saying.

This discovery is credited to the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration). NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), an imaging spectrometer, was one of the 11 instruments on board Chandrayaan-I. M3 was aimed at providing the first mineral map of the entire lunar surface.

Both ISRO and NASA, as of now, have refused to reveal anything on this. A spokesman for Brown University had also declined to comment, saying there was an embargo. "It will be a major announcement of a major discovery and is something great for Chandrayaan. It will mark a major leap for India's space programme," he told The Times Of India.

Lunar scientists have for decades contended with the possibility of water repositories. They are now increasingly confident that the decades-long debate is over, says a recent report published by Nature News. "The moon, in fact, has water in all sorts of places; not just locked up in minerals, but scattered throughout the broken-up surface, and, potentially, in blocks or sheets of ice at depth." The results from the NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter are also "offering a wide array of watery signals."

The breakthrough is expected to be announced by NASA on 24 September 2009. According to NASA website, "NASA will hold a media briefing at 14:00 p.m EDT on Thursday, September 24, to discuss new science data from the moon collected during national and international space missions."

Chandrayaan-1 was India's first unmanned lunar probe which was launched by ISRO on 22 October 2008. After suffering from several technical issues including failure of the star sensors and poor thermal shielding, Chandrayaan stopped sending radio signals on 29 August 2009 shortly after which, the ISRO officially declared the mission over. Chandrayaan operated for 312 days as opposed to the intended two years but the mission achieved 95 per cent of its planned objectives.