Sachin Tendulkar's 20 year in cricket

Sachin Tendulkar has expressed his disappointment at India not playing enough Tests in the near future. Besides the three Tests in the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka, which begins in Ahmedabad on November 16, India play only two more Tests, in Bangladesh in January, in the 2009-10 season. There are no further Test series planned at least till the end of the 2010.


"We should play more Test cricket for sure. It is obviously not great news that we are only playing five Tests this season," Tendulkar said at a media event on Friday to commemorate his completing 20 years in international cricket.

Test cricket, he said, was the true testing ground for any youngster and the best way to fast track his development. "Ideally for any team to progress you need to play more Test cricket as that is where the real cricket is according to me. Test cricket is cricket of the highest level and since it is played across five days at the end of each day it allows you to regroup, re-think, come up with fresh ideas and plan for the next day. Sometimes in Twenty20 and ODIs even before you realise the match is over."

As a 16-year-old Tendulkar cut his teeth in the 1989 Test series against Pakistan and immediately understood it was not going to be easy. In the final Test of that series, Waqar Younis drew blood after striking Tendulkar on the nose. Ajit Tendulkar, his elder brother, the man whom Sachin counts as his biggest influence as a player, was sitting in the stands. Ajit might have winced but his brother didn't: "When I was hit by Waqar that got me more competitive and I decided not to move from the middle and I would continue to fight," Tendulkar animatedly recounted the incident to a 75-odd media contingent.


Though the event was by invitation only for a select group of journalists, a lot of media personnel - aware of the unique opportunity it presented - gatecrashed the event. Tendulkar remained unruffled and for the next five hours remained seated in the middle of the room, answering hundreds of questions, even if most were repeated. Displaying the same proficiency he has shown against various forms of bowling, Tendulkar moved seamlessly from English to Hindi to Marathi in his responses, paying detailed attention to the questioner's every word.

While his zeal for the game continues to amaze, he is not at all surprised by it. He says it is because he is passionate about what he does and is confident and clear about what he wants to do.

It's not his fans alone who wonder how Tendulkar has been strong in various situations and stayed competitive over the last two decades; MS Dhoni, the India captain, recently said he did not rule out Tendulkar being in contention to play the 2015 World Cup.

Tendulkar, though, said he wanted to live in the moment and plan for the near future instead of dwelling on what could happen five years down the line.

"It would be nice if I can go on that that long (till 2015) but I don't want to think that far and concentrate on the next phase," he said. "My focus is on the near future. I've enjoyed every bit so far and I feel there is cricket left in me and everything is going really well."

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.