At Global CSR Congress - Ankesh Shahra of Ruchi Soya receives CSR Award for Community Development

                                   
Mumbai, February 20, 2013: Ruchi Soya Industries Limited (Ruchi Soya) has been Felicitated with the CSR Award for Community Development during the World CSR Congress.

Mr. Ankesh Shahra who manages the international businesses of Ruchi Soya and participates in the CSR activities of the Company was honoured with the felicitation at a glittering event in Mumbai. Dr. Christoph Stueckelberger, Executive Director and Founder of Globethics and Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, Director General & CEO, Indian Institute of Corporate  affairs handed over the trophy and citation to Mr. Ankesh Shahra.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Ankesh Shahra stated, “I am very grateful to the World CSR Congress for honouring Ruchi Soya with the award for Community Development. Ruchi believes in sharing its growth with every stakeholder and giving back to the society in a sustainable and transparent manner. A big congratulations to the team.”

Featuring among the top five FMCG players in India, Ruchi Soya is India’s number one cooking oil maker and marketer through popular brands like Nutrela, Ruchi Gold, Mahakosh and Sunrich. Ruchi Soya is working closely with the communities around its plants in Patalganga and Nagpur in Maharashtra. Ruchi Soya believes in the concept of ‘Giving back to the Society’. The corporate social initiatives of Ruchi Group are executed through Shri Mahadeo Shahra Sukrat Trust with the focus on three core areas of Health, Education and Women Empowerment.

An Integrated player from farm to fork, Ruchi Soya has secured access to oil palm plantations in India and other important parts of the world. Besides being a leading manufacturer of high quality edible oils, soya foods, vanaspati, and bakery fats, Ruchi Soya is also the highest exporter of soya meal, lecithin and other food ingredients from India. Ruchi Soya is committed to renewable energy and exploring suitable opportunities in the sector.

Source: http://planetcorporatenews.blog.com/ankesh-shahra-of-ruchi-soya-receives-csr-award-for-community-development-at-global-csr-congress/

First space tourist planning historic trip to Mars in 2018

A multi-millionaire investment tycoon and space travel enthusiast is planning a privately funded 501-day round trip mission to Mars in 2018.

Inspiration Mars Foundation, a nonprofit organisation, led by millionaire Dennis Tito - the world's first space tourist ¿ will hold a news conference next week to announce the mission, for a January 2018 launch.

"This 'Mission for America' will generate new knowledge, experience and momentum for the next great era of space exploration," Inspiration Mars officials wrote in a media advisory.

Some people and media reports speculate that given the speakers' backgrounds and the lofty goals articulated in the media advisory, Inspiration Mars is planning a manned mission to the Red Planet, 'SPACE.com' reported.

According to the NewSpace Journal, Tito's paper discusses "a crewed free-return Mars mission that would fly by Mars, but not go into orbit around the planet or land on it. This 501-day mission would launch in January 2018, using a modified SpaceX Dragon spacecraft launched on a Falcon Heavy rocket."

The Journal writes: "According to the paper, existing environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) technologies would allow such a spacecraft to support two people for the mission, although in Spartan condition."

It added the mission would be privately financed and cheaper than previous estimates for manned Mars efforts, though no overall cost is given.

A 501-day mission would pose potentially serious physiological and psychological issues for astronauts, experts say.

Tito made history in 2001, plunking down a reported USD 20 million for an eight-day trip to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/first-space-tourist-planning-historic-trip-to-mars-in-2018/1078136/

North Korea to allow mobile Internet for foreigners

North Korea will soon allow foreigners to tweet, Skype and surf the Internet from their cellphones, iPads and other mobile devices in its second relaxation of controls on communications in recent weeks. However, North Korean citizens will not have access to the mobile Internet service to be offered by provider Koryolink within the next week.

Koryolink, a joint venture between Korea Post & Telecommunications Corporation and Egypt's Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding SAE, informed foreign residents in Pyongyang on Friday that it will launch a third generation, or 3G, mobile Internet service no later than March 1.

The announcement comes just weeks after North Korea began allowing foreigners to bring their own cellphones into the country to use with Koryolink SIM cards, reversing a longstanding rule requiring most visitors to relinquish their phones at customs and leaving many without easy means of communication with the outside world.

The two changes in policy mean foreigners in North Korea will have unprecedented connectivity while living, working or traveling in a country long regarded as one of the most isolated nations in the world.

However, wireless Internet will not yet be offered to North Koreans, who are governed by a separate set of telecommunication rules from foreigners. North Koreans will be allowed to access certain 3G services, including SMS and MMS messaging, video calls and subscriptions to the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, but not the global Internet.

The lack of Internet access in North Korea has put the country at the bottom of Internet freedom surveys. Though North Korea is equipped for broadband Internet, only a small, approved segment of the population has access to the World Wide Web.

During a visit to Pyongyang early last month, Google's executive chairman pressed the North Koreans to expand access to the Internet. Eric Schmidt noted that it would be ``very easy'' for North Korea to offer Internet on Koryolink's fast-expanding 3G cellphone network.

``As the world becomes increasingly connected, the North Korean decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world and their economic growth,'' he wrote in a Jan. 20 blog post after returning to the United States. ``It will make it harder for them to catch up economically. It is their choice now, and in my view, it's time for them to start, or they will remain behind.''

Soon after Schmidt's visit, Google unveiled maps of North Korea with more details based on contributions from foreigners using satellite images and publicly available information to map the country. Before, North Korea was left mostly blank in Google Maps but with the update, Pyongyang and major North Korean cities are shown with street names, parks, roads, train stops and monuments.

Cellphone use has multiplied in North Korea since Orascom built a 3G network more than four years ago. More than a million people are now using mobile phones in North Korea, where the network now covers most major cities, according to Orascom.

Chinese-made Huawei cellphones sold by Koryolink are not cheap, with the most basic model costing about $150, and the governments restricts North Koreans from phoning abroad or foreigners from their cellphones. Still, mobile phones have become a must-have accessory among not only the elite in Pyongyang but also the middle class in cities such as Kaesong and Wonsan.

Foreigners, meanwhile, can now purchase SIM cards at the airport or at Koryolink shops for 50 euros ($70). Calls abroad range from 0.38 euros a minute to Switzerland and France and more than 5 euros a minute to the U.S. Calls to South Korea remain prohibited.

Starting next week, foreigners will be allowed to purchase monthly mobile Internet data plans for use with a USB modem or on mobile devices using their SIM cards. Prices for the service haven't been announced yet.

The expansion of cellphone and Internet services _ at least for foreigners _ comes as North Korea promotes the development of science and technology as a means of improving its moribund economy.

Late leader Kim Jong Il was revealed to have been a Mac user. His Macbook Pro, or a replica, is enshrined at the Kumsusan mausoleum where his body lies in state.

Current leader Kim Jong Un, meanwhile, was shown in a recent photo with a more mobile computing accessory: a smartphone.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/north-korea-to-allow-mobile-internet-for-foreigners/1078119/0

Facebook blocks access to NBC.com after reports site is infected

Facebook Inc has blocked users from accessing the NBC.com website following reports that the site is infected with a computer virus.

Facebook users were told "This link has been reported as abusive" on Thursday when they attempted to access the NBC.com website.

Several security bloggers warned on Thursday that the site was infected with malicious software, advising computer users to avoid the site.

Officials with NBC could not immediately be reached for comment.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/facebook-blocks-access-to-nbc.com-after-reports-site-is-infected/1078112/

Milky Way grew by 'cannibalising' other smaller galaxies

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered tantalising evidence for the possible existence of a shell of stars that are a relic of the Milky Way's past cannibalism of other galaxies.

Peering deep into the vast stellar halo that envelops our Milky Way galaxy, a team of astronomers led by Alis Deason, from UC Santa Cruz, used Hubble observations to precisely measure, for the first time ever, the sideways motions of a small sample of stars located far from the galaxy's center.

Their unusual lateral motion is circumstantial evidence that the stars may be the remnants of a shredded galaxy that was gravitationally ripped apart by the Milky Way billions of years ago. These stars support the idea that the Milky Way grew through the accretion of smaller galaxies.

"Hubble's unique capabilities are allowing astronomers to uncover clues to the galaxy's remote past," said coauthor Roeland van der Marel of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore.

"The more distant regions of the galaxy have evolved more slowly than the inner sections. Objects in the outer regions still bear the signatures of events that happened long ago," Marel said in a statement.

They also offer a new opportunity for measuring the "hidden" mass of our galaxy, which is in the form of dark matter -- an invisible form of matter that does not emit or reflect radiation.

"Our ability now to measure the motions of these stars opens up a whole new territory we haven't explored yet," Deason said.

Deason and her team plucked the outer halo stars out of seven years' worth of archival Hubble telescope observations of our neighbouring Andromeda galaxy.

In those observations, Hubble peered through the Milky Way's halo to study the Andromeda stars, which are more than 20 times farther away.

The Milky Way's halo stars were in the foreground and considered as clutter for the study of Andromeda. But to Deason's study they were pure gold.

The observations offered a unique opportunity to look at the motion of Milky Way halo stars.

"We knew these stars were there, because for the Andromeda study we had to separate the stars in Andromeda from the stars in the Milky Way," said co-author Puragra Guhathakurta, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz.

Researchers said finding the stars was meticulous work. Each Hubble image contained more than 100,000 stars.

"We had to somehow find those few stars that actually belonged to the Milky Way halo. It was like finding needles in a haystack," Marel said.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/milky-way-grew-by-cannibalising-other-smaller-galaxies/1078215/0

Ankesh Shahra receives CSR Award (Ruchi Soya)

Ankesh Shahra who manages the international businesses of Ruchi Soya and participates in the CSR activities of the Company was honoured with the felicitation at a glittering event in Mumbai.

Ruchi Soya Industries Limited (Ruchi Soya) has been felicitated with the CSR Award for Community Development during the World CSR Congress.  Ankesh Shahra who manages the international businesses of Ruchi Soya and participates in the CSR activities of the Company was honoured with the felicitation at a glittering event in Mumbai.

Dr. Christoph Stueckelberger, Executive Director and Founder of Globethics and Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, Director General & CEO, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs handed over the trophy and citation to  Ankesh Shahra.

Commenting on the occasion,  Ankesh Shahra stated, “I am very grateful to the World CSR Congress for honouring Ruchi Soya with the award for Community Development. Ruchi believes in sharing its growth with every stakeholder and giving back to the society in a sustainable and transparent manner.

A big congratulations to the team." Featuring among the top five FMCG players in India, Ruchi Soya is India’s number one cooking oil maker and marketer through popular brands like Nutrela, Ruchi Gold, Mahakosh and Sunrich.

Ruchi Soya is working closely with the communities around its plants in Patalganga and Nagpur in Maharashtra. Ruchi Soya believes in the concept of ‘Giving back to the Society’. The corporate social initiatives of Ruchi Group are executed through Shri Mahadeo Shahra Sukrat Trust with the focus on three core areas of Health, Education and Women Empowerment.

An Integrated player from farm to fork, Ruchi Soya has secured access to oil palm plantations in India and other important parts of the world. Besides being a leading manufacturer of high quality edible oils, soya foods, vanaspati, and bakery fats, Ruchi Soya is also the highest exporter of soya meal, lecithin and other food ingredients from India. Ruchi Soya is committed to renewable energy and exploring suitable opportunities in the sector.

Source:  http://newsaboutruchigroup.wordpress.com/

Tiniest planet ever discovered outside our solar system

NASA has discovered the smallest known planet outside our solar system which is slightly larger than the Moon and orbits its Sun like host star every 13 days.

NASA's Kepler space telescope detected the smallest planet yet found around a star similar to the Sun in a new planetary system. The planets are located in a system called Kepler-37, about 210 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.

The smallest planet, Kepler-37b, is slightly larger than our Moon, measuring about one-third the size of Earth. It is smaller than Mercury, which made its detection a challenge.

The Moon-size planet and its two companion planets were found by scientists with NASA's Kepler mission to find Earth-sized planets in or near the "habitable zone," the region in a planetary system where liquid water might exist on the surface of an orbiting planet.

However, while the star in Kepler-37 may be similar to our Sun, the system appears quite unlike the solar system in which we live.

Astronomers think Kepler-37b does not have an atmosphere and cannot support life as we know it. The tiny planet almost certainly is rocky in composition.

Kepler-37c, the closer neighbouring planet, is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring almost three-quarters the size of Earth. Kepler-37d, the farther planet, is twice the size of Earth.

"Even Kepler can only detect such a tiny world around the brightest stars it observes," said Jack Lissauer, a planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

"The fact we've discovered tiny Kepler-37b suggests such little planets are common, and more planetary wonders await as we continue to gather and analyse additional data," said Lissauer in a NASA statement.

Kepler-37's host star belongs to the same class as our Sun, although it is slightly cooler and smaller. All three planets orbit the star at less than the distance Mercury is to the Sun, suggesting they are very hot, inhospitable worlds.

The estimated surface temperature of this smoldering planet, at more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit, would be hot enough to melt the zinc in a penny. Kepler-37c and Kepler-37d, orbit every 21 days and 40 days, respectively.

We uncovered a planet smaller than any in our solar system orbiting one of the few stars that is both bright and quiet, where signal detection was possible," said Thomas Barclay, Kepler scientist at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute in Sonoma, California, and lead author of the new study published in the journal Nature.

"This discovery shows close-in planets can be smaller, aswell as much larger, than planets orbiting our Sun," he said.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tiniest-planet-ever-discovered-outside-our-solar-system/1077692/0

HTC One looks to redefine photography, social hub

Smartphone maker HTC is looking to breathe new life into its fortunes with its latest product. HTC One, a 4.7-inch phone with the best display in the market at 468 pixels per inch, was launched in Sydney on Thursday.

With this phone, HTC has taken a big step away from the megapixel race. The camera is rated at just four megapixels, but HTC says that doesn't matter because it has a large sensor. The sensor is bigger than that in some compact cameras. This ensures that the picture quality is high.

HTC One is powered by Android Jelly Bean, running the firm's custom skin -- Sense 5. This version of Sense brings radical improvements to the phone. The most noticeable change is called Blinkfeed. Building on the features in Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10, HTC Blinkfeed lets users integrate all their social networks, calendar, email accounts and displays these with news updates. It's the default homescreen on HTC One, meaning that it can be accessed by pressing the home button.

Another radical feature of Sense 5 is HTC Zoe, the new gallery app. It captures a short video, letting users choose the best frame and save it as a picture, rivalling BlackBerry Time Shift. Users can also remove unwanted objects from the picture easily. Zoe can also make a short movie by putting together all your pictures and videos, it adds background music on its own.

Other additions include a new music player app that adds new visualisations and pulls lyrics from the web, and Sense TV. The company has built an infrared transmitter into the power button, which helps it double up as a TV remote. Using the Sense TV app, users can see TV schedules and open the channel airing a particular programme.

The phone will be launched in India in March. HTC did not announce the price, but it is expected to be around Rs 42,000.

(The reporter was in Sydney on the invitation of HTC India)

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/htc-one-looks-to-redefine-photography-social-hub/1077641/0

NASA rover Curiosity grabs first Martian rock sample

In a hunt for discovering life on Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover has beamed back pictures confirming the first ever sample collected from the interiors of a rock on another planet. No rover has ever drilled into a rock on any other planet and collected a sample from its interior, NASA said.

Transfer of the powdered-rock sample into an open scoop was visible for the first time in images received yesterday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"Seeing the powder from the drill in the scoop allows us to verify for the first time the drill collected a sample as it bore into the rock," said JPL's Scott McCloskey, drill systems engineer for Curiosity. "Many of us have been working toward this day for years. Getting final confirmation of successful drilling is incredibly gratifying," McCloskey said in a statement.

The drill on Curiosity's robotic arm took in the powder as it bored a 2.5-inch hole into a target on flat Martian bedrock on February 8. The rover team plans to have Curiosity sieve the sample and deliver portions of it to analytical instruments inside the rover. The scoop now holding the precious sample is part of Curiosity's Collection and Handling for In-Situ Martian Rock Analysis (CHIMRA) device.

During the next steps of processing, the powder will be enclosed inside CHIMRA and shaken once or twice over a sieve that screens out particles larger than 0.006 inch (150 microns) across. Small portions of the sieved sample later will be delivered through inlet ports on top of the rover deck into the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument and Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument.

The sample comes from a fine-grained, veiny sedimentary rock called "John Klein," named in memory of a Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2011. The rock was selected for the first sample drilling because it may hold evidence of wet environmental conditions long ago. The rover's laboratory analysis of the powder may provide information about those conditions.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using the Curiosity rover with its 10 science instruments to investigate whether an area within Mars' Gale Crater ever has offered an environment favourable for microbial life.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nasa-rover-curiosity-grabs-first-martian-rock-sample/1077627/0

Facebook, Google launch $15 mn prize for scientists who cure deadly diseases

The founders of Google, Facebook and other tech giants have announced a new multi-million-dollar prize for scientists who are working to cure the world's most devastating diseases. Mark Zuckerberg, his partner Priscilla Chan, Google co-founder Sergei Brin, 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki and Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner will launch 15 million dollars annual Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in hopes of curing cancer and other diseases

Five scientists will be given three million dollars for 'recognizing excellence in research aimed at curing intractable diseases and extending human life," the New York post reports. Zuckerberg said in a statement that he believes the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences has the potential to provide a platform for other models of philanthropy, so people everywhere have an opportunity at a better future.

According to the paper, the inaugural year of the prize, however, has gone to 11 scientists who will each receive three million dollars to further their scientific research. Among this years winners were Charles L. Sawyer, who the committee singled out for his work on cancer genes, and Shinya Yamanaka, whose research focuses on stem cells. Art Levinson, chairman of the board of Apple and Chairman and former CEO of Genentech, will serve as the Chairman of the Board of Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation, which will distribute the prize money each year, the report said.

The first 11 recipients of the Breakthrough Prize are:

- Cornelia I Bargmann

- David Botstein

- Lewis C. Cantley

- Hans Clevers

- Napoleone Ferrara

- Titia de Lange

- Eric S. Lander

- Charles L. Sawyers

- Bert Vogelstein

- Robert A. Weinberg

- Shinya Yamanaka

All prize winners have agreed to serve on the Selection Committee of the Foundation to choose recipients of future prizes. "We are thrilled to support scientists who think big, take risks and have made a significant impact on our lives. These scientists should be household names and heroes in society," said Anne Wojcicki.

"Curing a disease should be worth more than a touchdown," said Sergey Brin. "Priscilla and I are honored to be part of this," said Mark Zuckerberg. "We believe the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences has the potential to provide a platform for other models of philanthropy, so people everywhere have an opportunity at a better future."

"Solving the enormous complexity of human diseases calls for a much bigger effort compared to fundamental physics and therefore requires multiple sponsors to reward outstanding achievements," said Yuri Milner.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/facebook-google-launch--15-mn-prize-for-scientists-who-cure-deadly-diseases/1077600/0

Google reveals what users of wearable computer 'Project Glass' will see

Google has revealed for the first time what view users will get through its "Project Glass" wearable computer. The glasses allow wearers to see sat-nav directions, take pictures and reply to emails, but until today Google has refused to show how they actually work.

But now the firm explained for the first time what looking through its high-tech glasses feels like, the Daily Mail reports. "Want to see how Glass actually feels? It"s surprisingly simple. "Say "take a picture" to take a picture. Record what you see, hands free. Even share what you see, live," Google said. "Directions are right in front of you. Speak to send a message, or translate your voice.

Get the notifications that matter most. Ask whatever"s on your mind and get answers without having to ask," the firm added. The firm also said all of the footage was captured through Project Glass, which will come in five colours - black, gray, blue, red or white and have removable shades. According to the paper, Google also detailed how the first people to get hold of them.

Potential "Explorer" early-adopters will have to apply in 50 words or less, including a short video (15 seconds max) and five photographs, to explain what they would do with the early version of Glass, the paper said. They will then have to order a 1,500 dollars Project Glass "Explorer" kit and attend the pick up in New York, LA or San Francisco in person, it added.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/google-reveals-what-users-of-wearable-computer-project-glass-will-se.../1077591/

Apple computers targeted by Facebook 'hackers'

Tech giant Apple has said its computers were attacked by the same hackers that targeted Facebook last week.

The US-based firm said a small number of its machines were affected, but added there was 'no evidence' of data theft.

Last week Facebook said it had traced a cyber attack back to China, which had infiltrated employees'' laptops, the BBC reports.

In a statement, the iPhone maker said that it has 'identified malware which infected a limited number of Mac systems through a vulnerability in the Java plug-in for browsers.'

It added that the firm is working closely with law enforcement to find the source of the malware.

Source:http://www.indianexpress.com/news/apple-computers-targeted-by-facebook-hackers/1076926/

Top iPhone, iPad apps on App Store

Apple app store official charts for the week ending February 18, 2013:

Top Paid iPhone Apps:

1. Clear Vision 2 (DPFLASHES STUDIO)

2. Minecraft - Pocket Edition (Mojang)

3. WhatsApp Messenger (WhatsApp Inc.)

4. Angry Birds Star Wars (Rovio Entertainment Ltd)

5. Wood Camera - Vintage Photo Editor (Bright Mango)

6. Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick Studios)

7. Plague Inc. (Ndemic Creations)

8. CraftedBattle (C-Apps)

9. Haze (Robocat)

10. Arms Cartel Global (Pixel Addicts)

Top Free iPhone Apps:

1. 4 Pics 1 Word (LOTUM GmbH)

2. Lazors (Pyrosphere)

3. iMadeFace (Keyloft LLC)

4. Temple Run 2 (Imangi Studios, LLC)

5. YouTube (Google, Inc.)

6. What's the Word? - new quiz with pics and words (RedSpell)

7. Fast Camera (i4software)

8. Infinity Blade (Chair Entertainment Group, LLC)

9. Google Maps (Google, Inc.)

10. Ruzzle (MAG Interactive)

Top Paid iPad Apps:

1. Minecraft - Pocket Edition (Mojang)

2. Angry Birds Star Wars HD (Rovio Entertainment Ltd)

3. Pages (Apple)

4. Fionna Fights - Adventure Time (Cartoon Network)

5. Bad Piggies HD (Rovio Entertainment Ltd)

6. FIFA SOCCER 13 by EA SPORTS (Electronic Arts)

7. Trainz Driver - train driving game and realistic railroad simulator (N3V Games Pty Ltd)

8. Where's My Perry? (Disney)

9. TETRIS for iPad (Electronic Arts)

10. The Room (Fireproof Games)

Top Free iPad Apps:

1. Infinity Blade (Chair Entertainment Group, LLC)

2. 4 Pics 1 Word (LOTUM GmbH)

3. Temple Run 2 (Imangi Studios, LLC)

4. YouTube (Google, Inc.)

5. Tiny Dentist (fantastoonic)

6. Calculator for iPad Free (International Travel Weather Calculator)

7. Candy Crush Saga (King.com Limited)

8. Skype for iPad (Skype Communications S.a.r.l)

9. Netflix (Netflix,Inc.)

10. What's the Word HD (RedSpell)

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/top-iphone-ipad-apps-on-app-store/1076938/0

Nature follows a number pattern called Fibonacci

What do pine cones and paintings have in common? A 13th century Italian mathematician named Leonardo of Pisa.Better known by his pen name, Fibonacci, he came up with a number sequence that keeps popping up throughout the plant kingdom, and the art world too.

A fibonacci sequence is simple enough to generate: Starting with the number one, you merely add the previous two numbers in the sequence to generate the next one. So the sequence, early on, is 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 and so on.

NUMBERS AND PLANTS
To see how it works in nature, go outside and find an intact pine cone (or any other cone). Look carefully and you'll notice that the bracts that make up the cone are arranged in a spiral. Actually two spirals, running in opposite directions, with one rising steeply and the other gradually from the cone's base to its tip.

Count the number of spirals in each direction a job made easier by dabbing the bracts along one line of each spiral with a colored marker. The number of spirals in either direction is a fibonacci number.

I just counted 5 parallel spirals going in one direction and 8 parallel spirals going in the opposite direction on a Norway spruce cone.Or you might examine a pineapple. Focus on one of the hexagonal scales near the fruit's midriff and you can pick out three spirals, each aligned to a different pair of opposing sides of the hexagon. One set rises gradually, another moderately and the third steeply. Count the number of spirals and you'll find eight gradual, 13 moderate and 21 steeply rising ones. Fibonacci numbers again.

Scales and bracts are modified leaves, and the spiral arrangements in pine cones and pineapples reflect the spiral growth habit of stems. To confirm this, bring in a leafless stem from some tree or shrub and look at its buds, where leaves were attached.

The buds range up the stem in a spiral pattern, which kept each leaf out of the shadow of leaves just above it. The amount of spiraling varies from plant to plant, with new leaves developing in some fraction _ such as 2/5, 3/5, 3/8 or 8/13 _ of a spiral. Eureka, the numbers in those fractions are fibonacci numbers!

You can determine the fraction on your dormant stem by finding a bud directly above another one, then counting the number of full circles the stem went through to get there while generating buds in between.

So if the stems made three full circles to get a bud back where it started and generated eight buds getting there, the fraction is 3/8, with each bud 3/8 of a turn off its neighbor upstairs or downstairs. Different plants have favored fractions, but they evidently don't read the books because I just computed fractions of 1/3 and 3/8 on a single apple stem, which is supposed to have a fraction of 2/5. All are fractions with fibonacci numbers, at least.

NUMBERS AND ART

I haven't forgotten about the artists. It turns out there are certain proportions we humans generally find pleasing: the rectangular proportions of a painting, for example, or the placement of a focal point in a painting.

In a painting, for example, the Golden Cut states that the ratio of the distance of the focal point from the closer side to the farther side of a painting is the same as the ratio of the distance from the farther side to the painting's whole width. A pleasing ratio, it turns out, is 0.618... or, if you want to use the inverse, 1.618... . Enter fibonacci: Divide any fibonacci number by the fibonacci number before or after it and you get 0.618... or 1.618..., not exactly at first, but closer and closer the higher the fibonacci number you start with. Try it.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nature-follows-a-number-pattern-called-fibonacci/1076960/0

Microsoft users say goodbye to Hotmail, hello to new Outlook.com

Microsoft has announced that its new webmail service, Outlook.com, is now set to replace Hotmail.com. The software giant said that Outlook.com is coming out of beta testing and is now ready for primetime. The service, which was announced last July, now has 60 million users and will now replace Microsoft's older webmail system. Microsoft''s Hotmail, which was originally MSN Hotmail, has been online since 1997. Hotmail users will still keep their Hotmail.com email addresses and their contacts and emails will all be moved over, they will just now get a new user interface and all the new features of Outlook.com, ABC News reports. According to the report, Outlook.com was designed with a similar aesthetic to Microsoft''s Windows 8 operating system.

It also includes new social features and a sorting option called Sweep, the report said. The Sweep feature moves newsletters, promotional messages and other recurring emails into their own folders or to the trash, it added.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/microsoft-users-say-goodbye-to-hotmail-hello-to-new-outlook.com/1076963/

HTC says it 'reinvents smartphone' with new Android-powered handset

Taiwan-based mobile maker HTC has announced its latest flagship Android phone -the HTC One. Mike Woodward, President of HTC America said that they think 'it''s time to shake things up in the smartphone space.'

The firm has decided to come out and reinvent the smartphone, he added. According to Woodward, the One is a complete shift for the industry, built around how people use their phones now, ABC News reports.

The report said that HTC''s Android phones have always been known for their top-of-the-line hardware parts and the One is no different.The phone is made entirely of aluminum, no small feat, according to Woodward, who said it took two years to make a good all-metal phone.

It also has a large 4.7-inch, 1080p screen, which is flanked vertically by two speaker strips. (HTC calls it Boomsound.)The phone is fast too, due to its quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor and 2GB of RAM.

According to the report, where the One stands out from other Android phones on specs is with its camera. HTC has ditched megapixels for an ultrapixel camera, which would allow users to take much better low-light shots without having to use flash, Woodward said.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/htc-says-it-reinvents-smartphone-with-new-androidpowered-handset/1076972/

Ruchi Soya forays into health drinks

Ruchi Soya Industries Limited (RSIL) has expanded their product portfolio by launching ‘N’rich’ in the beverage segment with their flagship brand-Nutrela. RSIL is the first Indian company to export Soya meal and manufacture edible grade Soya flour and textured Soya proteins.

N’rich is a tasty protein drink available in 3 distinct flavours, rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, which make it a healthy beverage. The flavours are a rich combination of exotic fruits like, Apple Kiwi, Apple Peach and Multifruit. The range of fruit juices are an assortment of traditional Indian and international flavours. The product will be offered in all leading metros.

On the occasion of the launch, Sarvesh Shahra, Head-Foods Division, RSIL said, “While all segments of the beverage market are evolving, the growth seems to be directed more towards healthy, light and low-calorie drinks, in particular organic and fruit juice varieties. We have created N’rich using an innovative technology and recipe that includes ingredients from natural sources, capitalizing on the growing consumer demand for premium and more nutritious products.”

N’rich is a packaged, 100% preservative-free fruit juice brand offering consumers the great taste and wholesome nutrition of fruit juices in a hygienic and attractive pack.

Source: http://metrocitiesnews.wordpress.com/

Launchpad: Samsung REX 90

Samsung REX 90

Samsung has launched a new series of feature phones developed in India. The REX 'smart' feature phones are priced between Rs 4,280 and Rs 6,490 and run on the Java platform. The company launched four models. REX phones are dual SIM and let you change SIM cards while the phone is on. They run the TouchWiz interface and two of them support WiFi.

Dell Inspiron 15z

Dell has launched a new model in its mid-range Inspiron laptops. Inspiron 15z is available starting Rs 41,990. The ultrabook comes with a 15.6-inch LED display with a resolution of 1366×768 pixels and weighs 2.17 kg. Another variant comes with a touchscreen. The laptop has Intel's third generation core-series processor and Nvidia GeForce GT630M 2GB graphics card, optimised for Windows 8.

XOLO A1000

Xolo has entered the 5-inch smartphone segment with A1000. The device runs on Android Jelly Bean and has One Glass Solution HD IPS display. Other specs include 1GHz (dual-core) processor, 1GB RAM, 8-MP rear camera and a 2100mAh battery that Xolo claims delivers music playback of 21 hours, and 4GB memory expandable up to 32GB.

MapMyIndia LX340

Digital maps and GPS provider MapmyIndia has added another product — Lx340 Navigator — to its navigation devices portfolio. It has a 4.3-inch display for seamless navigation. Its Don't Panic software features instant route calculation and re-routing, and has visual and audible alerts for lane guidance, over-speeding and road signs.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/launchpad-samsung-rex-90/1075724/

Scientists discover water on Moon's oldest rocks

Researchers have detected traces of water within the crystalline structure of one of the oldest rocks obtained from the Apollo missions on Moon. The new findings indicate that the early Moon was wet and that water there was not substantially lost during the Moon's formation.

The lunar highlands are thought to represent the original crust, crystallised from a magma ocean on a mostly molten early Moon, according to a University of Michigan study.Researchers used Infrared spectroscopy to analyse the water content in grain of plagioclase feldspar from lunar anorthosites - highland rocks composed of more than 90 per cent plagioclase. The bright-coloured highlands rocks are thought to have formed early in the Moon's history when plagioclase crystallised from a magma ocean and floated to the surface. The infrared spectroscopy work detected about 6 parts per million of water in the lunar anorthosites. "The surprise discovery of this work is that in lunar rocks, even in nominally water-free minerals such as plagioclase feldspar, the water content can be detected.

"It's not 'liquid' water that was measured during these studies but hydroxyl groups distributed within the mineral grain," researcher Youxue Zhang said in a statement. We are able to detect those hydroxyl groups in the crystalline structure of the Apollo samples," said study's first author Hejiu Hui from the University of Notre Dame.

The hydroxyl groups the team detected are evidence that the lunar interior contained significant water during the Moon's early molten state, before the crust solidified, and may have played a key role in the development of lunar basalts.The results also contradict the predominant lunar formation theory that the Moon was formed from debris generated during a giant impact between Earth and another planetary body, approximately the size of Mars."Because these are some of the oldest rocks from the Moon, the water is inferred to have been in the Moon when it formed," Zhang said."That is somewhat difficult to explain with the current popular moon-formation model, in which the Moon formed by collecting the hot ejecta as the result of a super-giant impact of a martian-size body with the proto-Earth.

"Under that model, the hot ejecta should have been degassed almost completely, eliminating all water," Zhang said.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/scientists-discover-water-on-moons-oldest-rocks/1075845/0

Apple iPhone 5 behind 4 Android phones in user satisfaction: survey

Apple's iPhone 5 ranks fifth behind four Android smartphones in user satisfaction, a new report has said. Mobile research firm OnDevice Research conducted a new survey, which covered 92,000 smartphone users, to determine how satisfied people are with their devices.

On a scale of 1-10 with the latter being the best, the Motorola Atrix HD ranked highest with a score of 8.57, the survey showed. According to the survey, the Motorola Droid Razr M trailed the Atrix with a grade of 8.5, Fox News reports.

Following this was the HTC Rezound 4G at 8.32 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 at 8.26, the report said. According to the report, the iPhone 5 trailed the Note 2 by 0.03 with a score of 8.23. Those who participated in the survey also indicated that they were more satisfied with 4G devices (7.76) than non-4G enabled phones (7.28).

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/apple-iphone-5-behind-4-android-phones-in-user-satisfaction-survey/1075883/

"Meteorite rush" begins as Russian scientists find fragments

A meteor that exploded over Russia's Ural mountains and sent fireballs blazing to earth has set off a rush to find fragments of the space rock which hunters hope could fetch thousands of dollars a piece. Friday's blast and ensuing shockwave shattered windows, injured almost 1,200 people and caused about $33 million worth of damage, said local authorities.

It also started a " meteor ite rush" around the industrial city of Chelyabinsk, 1,500 km (950 miles) east of Moscow, where groups of people have started combing through the snow and ice. One amateur space enthusiast estimated chunks could be worth anything up to 66,000 roubles ($2,200) per gramme - more than 40 times the current cost of gold.

"The price is hard to say yet ... The fewer meteor ites that are recovered, the higher their price," said Dmitry Kachkalin, a member of the Russian Society of Amateur Meteor ite Lovers. Meteor ites are parts of a meteor that have fallen to earth. Scientists at the Urals Federal University were the first to announce a significant find - 53 small, stony, black objects around Lake Chebarkul, near Chelyabinsk, which tests confirmed were small meteor ites.

The fragments were only 0.5 to 1 cm (0.2 to 0.4 inches) across but the scientists said larger pieces may have crashed into the lake, where a crater in the ice about eight metres (26 feet) wide opened up after Friday's explosion. "We just completed tests and confirm that the pieces of matter found by our experts around Lake Chebarkul are really meteor ites," said Viktor Grokhovsky, a scientist with the Urals Federal University and the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"These are classified as ordinary chondrites, or stony meteor ites, with an iron content of about 10 percent," he told RIA news agency. He did not say whether the fragments had told his team anything about the origins of the meteor , which the U.S. space agency NASA estimated was 55 feet (17 metres) across before entering Earth's atmosphere and weighed about 10,000 tons. The main fireball streaked across the sky at a speed of about 30 km (19 miles) per second, according to Russian space agency Roscosmos, before crashing into the snowy wastes.

Treasure Hunters

More than 20,000 people took part in search and clean-up operations at the weekend in and around Chelyabinsk, which is in the heart of a region packed with industrial military plants. Many other people were in the area just hoping to find a meteor ite after what was described by scientists as a once-in-a-century event. Residents of a village near Chelyabinsk searched the snowy streets, collecting stones they hoped would prove to be the real thing. But not all were ready to sell.

"I will keep it. Why sell it? I didn't have a rich lifestyle before, so why start now?" a woman in a pink woollen hat and winter jacket, clutching a small black pebble, told state television Rossiya-24. The Internet filled quickly with advertisements from eager hunters hoping to sell what they said were meteor ites - some for as little as 1,000 roubles ($33.18).

The authenticity of the items was hard to ascertain. One seller of a large, silver-hued rock wrote in an advertisement on the portal Avito.ru: "Selling an unusual rock. It may be a piece of meteor ite, it may be a bit of a UFO, it may be a piece of a rocket!"

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/meteorite-rush-begins-as-russian-scientists-find-fragments/1075932/0

Ruchi Soya net sales up 18%

During the quarter, branded sales registered a healthy 22.95% growth from Rs. 1,374.23 crore to Rs. 1,689.59 crore
Ruchi Soya Industries Limited (Ruchi Soya) has announced its un-audited financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2012 (Q3). As compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, net profit for the quarter rose by 105.45% from Rs. 24.05 crore to Rs. 49.41 crore whereas net sales rose by 17.56% from Rs. 6,954.29 crore to Rs. 8,175.16 crore.

During the quarter, branded sales registered a healthy 22.95% growth from Rs. 1,374.23 crore to Rs. 1,689.59 crore. Refining capacity utilization improved by 8.85% from 4,78,589 MT to 5,20,960 MT. Export of Soya Meal in value improved by 47.29% from Rs. 883.16 crore to Rs. 1,300.83 crore. Sale of Textured soya protein (TSP) stood at Rs. 28.16 crore registering an impressive rise of 43.53% from Rs. 19.62 crore during Q3 in the last fiscal.

Commenting on the performance, Managing Director, Dinesh Shahra said, “I am happy to share the healthy growth recorded by the Company during the third quarter ended December 31, 2012. Improved branded sales, better sales realization of oilseed extraction, effective control on the costs and favourable business sentiments helped us to get profit on the track. We are making our efforts to have good performance on a sustained basis in the times to come.”

Source: http://planetcorporatenews.blog.com/

Meteor shower hits Russia, 500 injured by blasts

A meteor streaked across the sky above Russia's Ural Mountains today morning, causing sharp explosions and injuring more than 400 people, many of them hurt by broken glass.

"There was panic. People had no idea what was happening. Everyone was going around to people's houses to check if they were OK," said Sergey Hametov, a resident of Chelyabinsk, about 1500 kilometers east of Moscow, the biggest city in the affected region.

"We saw a big burst of light then went outside to see what it was and we heard a really loud thundering sound," he said.

Fragments of the meteor fell in a thinly populated area of the Chelyabinsk region, the Emergency Ministry said in a statement.

Interior Ministry spokesman Vadim Kolesnikov said more than 400 people had sought medical treatment after the blasts, and at least three had been hospitalized in serious condition.

Many of the injuries were from glass broken by the explosions.

Kolsenikov also said about 600 square meters of a roof at a zinc factory had collapsed.

Reports conflicted on what exactly happened in the clear skies. A spokeswoman for the Emergency Ministry, Irina Rossius, told The Associated Press that there was a meteor shower, but another ministry spokeswoman, Elena Smirnikh, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying it was a single meteorite.

Amateur video broadcast on Russian television showed an object speeding across the sky about 9:20 am local time (0320 GMT), leaving a thick white contrail and an intense flash.

Russian news reports noted that the meteor hit less than a day before the asteroid 2012 DA14 is to make the closest recorded pass of an asteroid -- about 28,000 kilometers. There was no immediate demonstrable connection.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/meteor-shower-hits-russia-500-injured-by-blasts/1074796/

Asteroid, large enough to destroy a city, to whiz past Earth today

Over 700 people, including 159 children, were injured on Friday in a freak incident when a meteor weighing about 10 tonnes streaked across the sky above Russia's Ural Mountains, creating panic as shockwaves blasted windows and rocked buildings.

According to officials, 725 people have sought medical attention in the disaster area, 112 of whom have been hospitalised. Among the injured there are 159 children.

Most of those hurt suffered minor cuts and bruises but some received head injuries, Russian officials said.

Gas supplies were cut off to hundreds of homes in the Chelyabinsk region as a safety precaution and some 3,000 buildings were reported to have been damaged, a media report said.

A fireball was seen streaking through the clear morning sky above the city of Yekaterinburg, followed by loud bangs, but much of the impact was felt in the city of Chelyabinsk, some 200 km south of Yekaterinburg.

President Vladimir Putin said he thanked God no big fragments had fallen in populated areas.

Putin also promised "immediate" aid for people affected, saying kindergartens and schools had been damaged, and work disrupted at industrial enterprises.

Russian space agency Roskosmos has confirmed the object that crashed in the Chelyabinsk region is a meteorite. They said in a statement, "According to preliminary estimates, this space object is of non-technogenic origin and qualifies as a meteorite. It was moving at a low trajectory with a speed of about 30 km/second."

Asteroids are small bodies that orbit the Sun as the Earth does. Larger asteroids are called planetoids or minor planets and smaller ones are called meteoroids.

The Russian Academy of Sciences estimates that the meteor weighed about 10 tonnes and entered the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of at least 54,000 kmph.

It would have shattered about 30-50 km above ground, with most of the meteor burning up.

Russian Army units found three meteorite debris impact sites, two of which are in an area near Chebarkul Lake, west of Chelyabinsk. The third site was found some 80 km further to the northwest, near the town of Zlatoust.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/asteroid-large-enough-to-destroy-a-city-to-whiz-past-earth-today/1074841/0

Ruchi aims to turn Nutrela into Rs 5,000-cr brand in 5 yrs

Kolkata, Feb 4 (PTI) Ruchi Soya Industries today said it aims to expand the Nutrela brand five-fold to Rs 5,000 crore in the next five years.
Stating that Nutrela was a small brand compared to the Ruchi brand which accounted for sale of Rs 7,000-8,000 crore, Ruchi Soya AVP Marketing Sandipan Ghosh said the company wanted to make Nutrela a Rs 5,000 crore brand in the next five years from Rs 1,000-1,200 crore now.

On reports of raids by the Mumbai income tax authorities on the group, the company did not forsee any hurdle towards its growth target. "No," Ghosh said when asked whether the raids would have any adverse impact on growth.

Ghosh said the existing business of Nutrela would grow by around 20 per cent year on year and the company planned to introduce more products. "Currently, we are carrying out market research to enter new product categories under Nutrela brand," he said.

The brand was currently restricted to soya products, edible oil and margarine. In 2008, the company had made an attempt to foray into beverage from soya but failed to get the desired response. Ghosh said Nutrela offered high EBITA margin of 10-15 per cent for the company among other products.

Source: http://planetcorporatenews.blog.com/

Now, jumping robot to facilitate search and rescue

Scientists have designed a soft jumping robot that can leap as much as a foot in the air, a technique that will help it avoid obstacles during search and rescue operations.

"Initially, our soft robot systems used pneumatic pressure to actuate," said Robert Shepherd, first author of the study, and former postdoctoral researcher in the Whitesides Research Group at Harvard.

"While that system worked, it was rather slow - it took on the order of a second. Using combustion, however, allows us to actuate the robots very fast. We were able to measure the speed of the robot's jump at 4 meters per second," Shepherd said in a statement.

Just as with other soft robots, the three-legged jumping system begins life as a mold created by a 3-D printer. The robots are molded using soft silicone that allows them to stretch and flex.

But where pneumatic robots are connected to tubing that pumps air, the jumping robots are connected to tubes that deliver a precisely controlled mix of methane and oxygen, according to the study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

Using high-voltage wires embedded in each leg of the robot, researchers deliver a spark to ignite the gases, causing a small explosion that sends the robot into the air.

Among the key design innovations that allowed the combustion system to work, Shepherd said, was the incorporation of a simple valve into each leg of the robot.

"We flow fuel and oxygen into the channels, and ignite it. The heat expands the gas, causing the flap to close, pressurising the channel and causing it to actuate.

"As the gas cools, the flap opens and we push the exhaust out by flowing more gas in. So we don't need to use complex valve systems, all because we chose to mold a soft flap into the robot from the beginning," Shepherd said.

"It's a lot more powerful, but the question we had to answer was whether it was compatible - were the temperatures compatible - with this system," Shepherd said.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/now-jumping-robot-to-facilitate-search-and-rescue/1074164/0

After Higgs Boson, scientists prepare for next quantum leap

Seven months after its scientists made a landmark discovery that may explain the mysteries of mass, Europe's top physics lab will take a break from smashing invisible particles to recharge for the next leap into the unknown.

From tomorrow, the cutting-edge facilities at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) will begin winding down, then go offline on Saturday for an 18-month upgrade.

A vast underground lab straddling the border between France and Switzerland, CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was the scene of an extraordinary discovery announced in July 2012.

Its scientists said they were 99.9 percent certain they had found the elusive Higgs Boson, an invisible particle without which, theorists say, humans and all the other joined-up atoms in the Universe would not exist.

The upgrade will boost the LHC's energy capacity, essential for CERN to confirm definitively that its boson is the Higgs, and allow it to probe new dimensions such as supersymmetry and dark matter.

"The aim is to open the discovery domain," said Frederick Bordry, head of CERN's technology department. "We have what we think is the Higgs, and now we have all the theories about supersymmetry and so on. We need to increase the energy to look at more physics. It's about going into terra incognita (unknown territory)," he told AFP.

Theorised back in 1964, the boson also known as the God Particle carries the name of a British physicist, Peter Higgs. He calculated that a field of bosons could explain a nagging anomaly: Why do some particles have mass while others, such as light, have none?

That question was a gaping hole in the Standard Model of particle physics, a conceptual framework for understanding the nuts-and-bolts of the cosmos.

"Initially we thought we'd have the long shutdown in 2012, but in 2011, with some good results and with the perspective of discovering the boson, we pushed the long shutdown back by a year. But we said that in 2013 we must do it," said Bordry.

Unlike the LEP, which was used to accelerate electrons or positrons, the LHC crashes together protons, which are part of the hadron family.

"It's about recreating the first microsecond of the universe, the Big Bang. We are reproducing in a lab the conditions we had at the start of the Big Bang," Bordry said.

Five billion collisions yielded results deemed worthy of further research and data from only 400 threw up data that paved the road to the Higgs Boson.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/after-higgs-boson-scientists-prepare-for-next-quantum-leap/1074042/0

Asteroid to whizz past Earth tomorrow night

An asteroid, about half the size of a football field, will pass in close proximity to Earth, closer than the orbits of some geosynchronous satellites, tomorrow night.

The asteroid called "2012 DA14" will flyby earth at a distance of 27,700 km on February 16 at 00:10 AM, Secretary and Director of Planetary Society of India N Sri Raghunandan Kumar said.

The 45-metre wide space rock is moving at a speed of 7.8 km/sec. This is the closest approach by any asteroid in recorded history to buzz past our planet, NASA scientists have said. This asteroid was discovered on February 23, 2012 in Spain.

It will pass within the moon's distance from Earth and closer than the orbits of some geosynchronous satellites, which provide weather data and telecommunications. However, the space rock poses no danger of impacting the Earth.

The next time it will have closest approach to Earth on February 15, 2019 when it be at 6,91,64,078 km. The last time it came close was on 16th February 2012 and was at 26,06,840 km. On the day of its closest approach, it will shine at 8 Magnitude. The space rock is not visible to the naked eye but can be spotted with the help of telescopes.

The best viewing location for the closest approach will be Indonesia. Eastern Europe, Asia and Australia are also well situated to see the asteroid, he said. Meanwhile, another space rock called "Asteroid 1999 YK5" will flyby Earth at distance of 1,88,87,632 km on February 15 at 3.48 PM. Its travelling at the rate of 20 km/sec.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/asteroid-to-whizz-past-earth-tomorrow-night/1074181/

Samsung launches REX series of 'smart' feature phones

Samsung has launched a new series of feature phones on Thursday. Developed in India, the REX 'smart' feature phones are priced between Rs 4,280 and Rs 6,490. These phones run on the Java platform.

The company launched four models in the series: REX 60, 70, 80 and 90. At the launch, Samsung Mobile Vice President Asim Warsi said: "This new series of phones has been developed in India, for Indian consumers. We look at this series as a way to broaden our appeal. These are targeted at young consumers."

With the REX series, Samsung is taking on Nokia's Asha series of feature phones. REX phones are dual SIM and let you change SIM cards while the phone is on. They run Samsung's TouchWiz user interface and two of these phones support WiFi.

The company said these phones come with many pre loaded apps such as ChatOn, Facebook, Gtalk, Twitter, etc. None of these phones have 3G connectivity.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/samsung-launches-rex-series-of-smart-feature-phones/1074237/

Nutrela TVC

Launch of TVC and radio Jingle to tap Bengali market; veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee to sing a jingle for the new campaign.

Ruchi Soya Industries is set to target the West Bengal market with an aggressive marketing campaign for their premium brand, Nutrela Kacchi Ghani Mustard Oil. The state accounts for over a third (around Rs 110 crore) of the Rs 300-crore mustard oil market in the country.

With the intent of reaching out to Bengali masses, the company is also planning to launch a 35-second TVC and a 25-second radio jingle this month. With the campaign, the company aims to create a bridge between the brand and true 'Bangaliaana', using a thoroughly Bengali concept, 'Jagai Bangaliana', which aims at evoking the authentic taste of food every time they use Nutrela Kacchi Ghani mustard oil.

The idea revolves around reviving and rejuvenating this 'Bangaliaana' and brings back the fading Bengali persona and spirit, reminding them of their roots. The campaign largely aims to reawaken authentic taste of Bengali food. It evokes the rich culture and tradition of the state and exhorting the people of Bengal to rediscover the pride of eating authentic Bengali food.

'Bangaliyana' is a tradition that has been passed on from one generation to the next in every Bengali family over the past century. It is a way of life as in the weekend 'adda', inviting friends and family to the house and discussing music, literature, politics, food, culture, history and then savouring authentic home cooked Bengali cuisine together. 'Bangaliyana' is also in celebrating togetherness and appreciation of Rabindrasangeet or Sumoner 'gaan' or Bangla 'natok' and even discussing Shakespeare, and most importantly how good the food was at the last brunch party.

Strengthening this connect further, the company has roped in veteran Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee to sing a jingle for the new radio campaign.

"We are sure that the campaign will rejuvenate the fading spirit of 'Bangaliyana' and the need for 'kacchi ghani' mustard oil as the predominant cooking medium. We are extremely excited about reviving 'Bangaliyana' and more so being able to make Soumitra Chaterjee partake in bringing the idea alive by singing a song for us," said Sandipan Ghosh, Assistant Vice-President Marketing, Consumer Brands Division, RSIL.

The television and radio campaign has been conceptualized and developed by Hammer Communications in New Delhi.

The TVC and radio campaign will be simultaneously rolled out in Bengal and Assam. The 360 degree clamour marketing campaign is the company's first campaign centred around the three-year-old mustard oil brand. Bihar and Jharkhand are next in the company's radar.

Please note: This channel contains 3rd party videos shared by PR/Media/Advertising Agencies and Production houses.
Videos uploaded have the due credits of the team that has worked on it.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SltHF_7vYOg

Ice ages wiped out Australian plant diversity: study

Part of Australia's rich plant diversity was wiped out by the ice ages, proving that extinction, instead of evolution, influences biodiversity, scientists say. Researchers led by the University of Melbourne and University of Tasmania found that plant diversity in South East Australia was as rich as some of the most diverse places in the world, and that most of these species went extinct during the ice ages, probably about one million years ago.

Dr Sniderman of the University of Melbourne's School of Earth Sciences said the findings show extinction is just as important to diversity of organisms as evolution. "Traditionally scientists believed some places have more species than others because species evolved more rapidly in these places. We have overthrown this theory, which emphasises evolution, by showing that extinction may be more important," he said.

The study compared two regions of Southern Australia and South Africa. "South-western Australia has a huge diversity of tough-leaved shrubs and trees such as eucalyptus, Banksia, Grevilleas and Acacias, making it one of the most biodiverse places on earth," Sniderman said in a statement. "The southern tip of South Africa is even richer, with astonishing numbers of similar kinds of plants like proteas and ericas," he said.

For the study, researchers analysed plant fossils that accumulated in an ancient lake in South Eastern Australia. They found the region had at least as many tough-leaved plants 1.5 million years ago as Western Australia and South Africa do today.

"As Australia dried out over the past several million years, rainforest plants largely disappeared from most of the continent," said Sniderman. "It has been thought that this drying trend allowed Australia's characteristic tough-leaved plants to expand and became more diverse. We have shown that the climate variability of the ice ages not only drove rainforest plants to extinction but also a remarkable number of tough-leaved, shrubby plants," he said.

Dr Greg Jordan of the School of Plant Sciences at the University of Tasmania said not only has the study overturned current thought on the role of extinction in plant diversity, it has implications for understanding how Australian plant diversity will deal with current and future climate change.

"The species that went extinct in SE Australia during the ice ages were likely to be the ones most sensitive to rapid climate change, meaning that the species that now grow in eastern Australia may be more capable of tolerating rapid changes than predicted by current science," he said.

The study was published in the journal National Academy of Sciences.

Source:http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ice-ages-wiped-out-australian-plant-diversity-study/1073604/0

Supervolcano forming under the Pacific could wipe out life

Life on Earth could be facing threat from a catastrophic "supervolcano" which seismologists believe is due to erupt in 200 million years' time. At least two "piles" of rock the size of continents are crashing together as they shift at the bottom of Earth's mantle, 2,900 km beneath the Pacific Ocean, researchers say.

"What we may be detecting is the start of one of these large eruptive events that - if it ever happens – could cause very massive destruction on Earth," said seismologist Michael Thorne, the study's principal author and an assistant professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Utah.

However, disaster is "not imminent," he adds, "This is the type of mechanism that may generate massive plume eruptions, but on the timescale of 100 million to 200 million years from now. So don't cancel your cruises." The new study, published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, said the activity is creating a Florida-sized zone of partly molten rock that may be the root of either of two kinds of massive eruptions far in the future.

Hotspot plume supervolcano eruptions like those during the past 2 million years at Wyoming's Yellowstone caldera, which covered North America with volcanic ash. Gargantuan flood basalt eruptions that created "large igneous provinces" like the Pacific Northwest's Columbia River basalts 17 million to 15 million years ago, India's Deccan Traps some 65 million years ago and the Pacific's huge Ontong Java Plateau basalts, which buried an Alaska-sized area 125 million to 199 million years ago.

"These very large, massive eruptions may be tied to some extinction events," Thorne said. The Ontong eruptions have been blamed for oxygen loss in the oceans and a mass die-off of sea life. Since the early 1990s, scientists have known of the existence of two continent-sized "thermochemical piles" sitting atop Earth's core and beneath most of Earth's volcanic hotspots – one under much of the South Pacific and extending up to 20 degrees north latitude, and the other under volcanically active Africa.

Using the highest-resolution method yet to make seismic images of the core-mantle boundary, Thorne and colleagues found evidence the pile under the Pacific actually is the result of an ongoing collision between two or more piles. Where they are merging is a spongy blob of partly molten rock the size of Florida, Wisconsin or Missouri beneath the volcanically active Samoan hotspot. The study's computer simulations "show that when these piles merge together, they may trigger the earliest stages of a massive plume eruption," Thorne said.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/supervolcano-forming-under-the-pacific-could-wipe-out-life/1073560/0

Space laser could help detect counterfeit food post life on Mars

The European Space Agency (ESA) has revealed that a laser device developed to measure carbon on Mars could soon be used here on Earth to detect counterfeit food.

Today's equipment is large, bulky and stationary. Samples of, say, polluted soil must be collected in the field, put in a flask and brought to the lab for testing – clearly unsuitable for space testing. But the new laser 'isotope ratio-meter' from RAL Space could change that.

Thanks to its small, lightweight, robust, highly accurate lasers, the device could be sent into space to look for trace amounts of gas in very small samples. "You take a laser, whose optical frequency or 'colour' can be continuously adjusted, beam it at a gas sample, and detect the level passing through the gas," explained Dr Damien Weidmann, Laser Spectroscopy Team Leader at RAL Space.

As the laser colour changes, the light passes straight through the sample until it reaches a particular frequency, specific to the isotopic gas, that is partially blocked. "Each molecule, and each of its isotopic forms, has a unique fingerprint spectrum. If, on the other hand, you know what you are looking for, you can simply set the laser to the appropriate frequency."

Through an ESA program, Weidmann and his colleagues have been able to demonstrate that the laser can quickly root out counterfeit food. Fake honey made using sugar, for example, would be detected by the laser by scanning the carbon dioxide released from burning only a few milligrams of the product. Likewise, counterfeit olive oil and chocolate could also be detected.

Though Weidmann said it was important for his project to attract interest from industry, sending the laser to Mars is his real goal. "I wanted to develop this to help gather evidence as to whether or not there was life on Mars," said Weidmann.

Weidmann stated that using the laser to measure carbon isotopic ratios in methane on Mars could help determine where the hydrocarbon came from. "If it's bacterial in origin, it would mean a form of life occurred on Mars," he added.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/space-laser-could-help-detect-counterfeit-food-post-life-on-mars/1073539/0

Indian region moved to Australia when splitted 100 mln years ago

The present size and form of Indian Ocean came into being after parts of the Indian region shifted back to the Australian plates during Gondwana split more than 100 million years ago, a new research claimed.

An Australian scientist, Ana Gibbson who collaborated with Indian National Institute of Oceanography and Australian National university show that after the continental split, some Indian regions moved back to the Australian plate.

Roughly the size of Tasmania, they remained sunk in the seafloor roughly 500-1000 kilometers from the western coast of Australia. "It's a bit like doing a really big 3D jigsaw puzzle," she said.

Using the magnetic data from the seafloor provided by the institutes, she has been able to reconstruct the movement of the tectonic plates. Her findings are giving scientists new insights into the age and nature of Australia's western margins. Ana attributed the success of the project to its international reach.

She said, "being able to work with open-minded, enthusiastic professionals from all over the world has helped a lot. The study has been supported by Australia-India Strategic Research Fund, a statement said.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/indian-region-moved-to-australia-when-splitted-100-mln-years-ago/1073524/

Ruchi Soya introduces new campaign to market mustard oil brand

Ruchi Soya Industries' brand Nutrela inked pact with six major city fish markets to promote its mustard oil brand. Under the campaign the company has identified five or six fish-sellers in each of these six markets. A complimentary pack of mustard oil branded Nutrela Kachi Ghani will be given following a purchase of one kg of fish.

The entity has taken this initiative keeping in mind the Bengali sentiments and the need for mustard oil as a cooking medium. It is looking for tie-ups in other markets. It will be carried out simultaneously in Bengal and Assam. Bengal alone accounts for over a third around Rs 110 crore of the Rs 300-crore mustard oil market in the country.

Source: http://www.indian-commodity.com/corporate/ruchi-soya-introduces-new-campaign-to-market-mustard-oil-brand.aspx

50% of smartphone users in India are under 25 yrs: Nielsen

Indians are increasingly taking to smartphones and the number of such devices in the country touched 40 million last year with almost half of the users younger than 25, says a survey.

The dramatic growth in the usage of smartphones is driven by a desire among users to stay connected and have instant access to social networking sites, according to the survey by research firm Nielsen.

"Decreasing device and data costs, coupled with a wide range of features that today's smartphones offer, readily encourage consumers to trade in their traditional cell phones for handsets with much more functionality," the survey said.

According to the Indian smartphone user study – conducted in September and October 2012 across 46 cities – people overwhelmingly prefer mobile devices that operate on the Android operating system.

While Symbian usage is also high in India, Windows, BlackBerry and iOS devices each only have single-digit market shares, said Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights that polled more than 10,000 smartphone owners.

Moreover, tablet ownership among Indians is set to spike as consumer interest in tablets is also on the rise.

While only 3 per cent of respondents who participated in the study in the last quarter of 2012 said they owned a tablet, 11 per cent said they intended to purchase one.

Voice calls and texting accounted for only 25 per cent of smartphone usage; multimedia, games, apps and Internet browsing made up the rest.

Among apps, consumers prefer games, particularly with respect to paid apps. Games were the most popular category among paid apps, with nearly three out of five users (58 per cent) paying for games.

Other popular paid app categories among smartphone users include chat and instant messaging (53 per cent) and streaming music (45 per cent).

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/50--of-smartphone-users-in-india-are-under-25-yrs-nielsen/1073123/0

Six months WorldSpace subscription free with EAFT tablets

EAFT Technologies, a Bangalore based company, has launched two new tablets. These are Destiny D90T and D70P. The company has tied up with on-demand music service WorldSpace and buyers will get a free subscription for six months. Users can listen to DRM-protected music from 12 channels for free.

The D90T has a 9.7-inch IPS screen and runs on Android 4.0. D90T utilises can play full HD 1080p content, and has an HDMI port that lets you connect it to big screens. Powered by 1.6 GHz dual core Cortex A9 processor, EAFT says the tablet has a battery life of 8 hours on continuous video playback. The battery is rated at 8,000 mAh battery.

The D70P is a 7-inch tablet with built-in 3G (data+voice) for connectivity. It also has an IPS panel on the display, with a resolution of 1024x600 pixels. The device is powered by a 1GHz Cortex A9 processor. The D70P comes with connectivity options like HDMI, USB, memory card slot, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. The battery is rated at 4,000 mAh.

Both tablets come with Smart Office, an application that lets you read and edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

Jithendhar GS, president and CEO, EAFT Technologies, said "We are excited to bring WorldSpace into the hands of music lovers once. Having consolidated our presence in the enterprise segment offering highly customised solutions in the entertainment and education verticals, we are now committed to offer unique propositions and best-in-class devices to retail customers."

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/six-months-worldspace-subscription-free-with-eaft-tablets/1073079/

Now, charge your phone powered by a hot cup of coffee or a cold beer

Researchers have developed a mobile phone charger that can be powered by either a cold beer or a hot coffee.

The Epiphany One Puck, which doubles as a drinks coaster, connects to a phone with a USB cable. It has two sides, one red, one blue, the Daily Mail reported.

Owners use the red side as a drinks coaster to place a hot drink on it, and the blue side as for a cooling drink such as a beer.

It uses something called a Stirling engine to turn heat into energy.

US company Epiphany Labs, based in New Castle, Pennsylvania, has built a working prototype and hopes to have it on the market early in 2014.

The company is still vague on just how long it takes for the device to charge up a phone because there are a lot of variables at play, including how hot or cold the source is.

Any source of heat that can fit on the Puck will work.

It works best with something that's very warm like a steaming cup of tea or coffee, or very cold like a well chilled beer or soft drink.

Epiphany is aiming to raise 63,000 pounds on fund raising website Kickstarter to turn the prototype into a gadget that can be mass-manufactured.

By Feb 8, more than 25,000 pounds had been raised, and early birds can still get in for a 62-pound pledge price.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/now-charge-your-phone-powered-by-a-hot-cup-of-coffee-or-a-cold-beer/1073078/

Light bulb shining after an incredible 130 years

While most modern light bulbs barely last a year, a bulb in UK is still glowing after an amazing 130 years, making it one of the oldest in the world.

The bulb, dating from 1883, was clearly built to last with six internal filaments which wobble when in use.

It continued to give good service throughout two world wars, shining well into the new millennium, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

The bulb first belonged to the late Florence Crook who once took it to school to dazzle her classmates. It then passed down to her son Kenneth, in Morecambe, Lancshire and is still in use by his widow Beth, 79, at their home.

"It's a real talking point. There is no substitute for craftsmanship. The new eco bulbs take all week to warm up and hardly give off any light," Beth told the 'Daily Express'.

The bulb, marked EDISWAN, has the number 200-32:B.56 on the glass. The UK's previously oldest working bulb surfaced after 113 years continuous use in Margate, Kent, in 2008.

Ediswan was a collaboration between the British Physicist Sir Joseph Swan and US scientist Thomas Alva Edison, both of whom are independently credited with the invention of the light bulb in 1879.

Swan's break through was to use a vacuum which meant there was very little oxygen inside the bulb so the filament to glow white-hot without catching fire.

It rolled of the production line as Queen Victoria was beginning her 64th year on the throne and William Gladstone was the UK Prime Minister, the report said.

According to the Guinness Book of Records the world's oldest light bulb in continuous use has been burning for 109 years and holds pride of place in Fire Station 6, in Livermore, northern California.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/light-bulb-shining-after-an-incredible-130-years/1073013/0

Nutrela Likely To Have New Products To Increase Biz Prospects

Kolkata: Ruchi Soya Industries is planning to have new products in the health and wellness space to increase sales under its flagship soya food brand Nutrela about five-fold in five years, a company executive said on Monday.

Currently the company under the brand sells edible oil, soya chunks and granules, and table spread. The firm has clocked Rs.1,200 crore sales turnover from the brand.

"We have a target to garner Rs.5,000 crore turnover from the Nutrela brand within the next five years," Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd assistant vice president, marketing, consumer brands division, Sandipan Ghosh said here.

"We will be aiming for both inorganic and organic growth. We will be growing from existing categories of around 20 to 30 percent and then we will also be expanding into newer category, which will also fuel the growth," Ghosh said.

He said the newer categories in the health and wellness space would be home-grown and the company was now carrying out a consumer research for that.

"On the basis of the consumer research we are going to decide the potential of the category and potential of our business. As we progress towards second and third quarter of this calendar year, we will see that Nutrela will be expanding into newer category or incrementally innovate into the existing category," he explained.

The makers of the largest-selling soya food brand enjoys about 90 percent market share in organised soya chunks and granules segment.

The firm, which is currently concentrating on domestic market said it will also focus on expanding its presence in tier III and IV cities.

Source: http://www.pardaphash.com/news/nutrela-likely-to-have-new-products-to-increase-biz-prospects/705094.html#.URlHux32815

Intex launches 4.5-inch AQUA Wonder smartphone at Rs 9,990

Intex Aqua Wonder is the latest entrant in the sub-Rs 10,000 smartphone market.

Aqua Wonder is a 3G-enabled dual-SIM device powered by 1GHz processor, 512 MB RAM and runs on Android's Jelly Bean OS.

The 4.5-inch capactive IPS display offers a resolution of 960x540 pixels. Aqua Wonder has an 8MP rear view camera and 1.3MP front camera for video calling.

The device has 1.93 GB internal memory which is expandable up to 32 GB. Intex claims that Aqua Wonder's 1800 mAH battery gives a talktime of 3.5 hours and a standby time of upto 72 hours.

Aqua Wonder comes with popular apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Google Maps, YouTube, Nimbuzz, Skype, Google+.

As introductory offer, Intex has bundled the Aqua Wonder with 4GB microSD card, phone pouch and screen guard at no additional cost.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/intex-launches-4.5inch-aqua-wonder-smartphone-at-rs-9990/1072630/

MapmyIndia launches Lx340 Navigator at Rs 8,990

Digital maps and GPS provider MapmyIndia has added another product -- Lx340 Navigator – to its navigation devices portfolio. Lx340 Navigator has a 4.3-inch display for seamless navigation.

MapmyIndia says Lx340 Navigator has comprehensive and detailed pre-installed maps which provide for door-to-door navigation in 39 cities and connectivity 5,79,000 towns and villages across India. Built-in maps mean no more recurring charges and no dependence on internet or mobile network for navigation.

The device's Don't Panic software features instant route calculation and re-routing to help users find routes available to reach their destination. It has visual and audible alerts for lane guidance, over-speeding and road signs.

Shivalik Prasad, Executive Director, MapmyIndia, says, "With Lx340, we're making available to all car owners in India, a powerful and premium GPS navigation and entertainment experience, at a very affordable and attractive price point. We're excited to further accelerate the strong proliferation of in-car GPS navigation systems in India and power every car in India with a MapmyIndia product in the coming time, and will continue to innovate and invent new products and technologies to deliver the best navigation and driving experience to Indians."

Specs:

*SiRF V GPS chipset with Windows CE 6.0 OS

*Matte-black finish,

*Dimensions: 118x82x12.5mm, Net weight: 124 g

*In-built 2GB storage with expandable SD card slot up to 8GB (for movies, music, photos)

*950mAH battery

*4.3-inch (10.9 cm) LCD touchscreen display with 480 x 272 pixels resolution

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mapmyindia-launches-lx340-navigator-at-rs-8990/1072634/