Atlantis link with ISS

Space shuttle Atlantis docked with the International Space Station(ISS) at 15:07 GMT yesterday, on its final visit to the orbiting outpost as the US prepares to wrap the shuttle programme.
Before connecting with the ISS, the venerable vehicle did the customary back flip to allow station crew to photograph its heat shield. The snaps will be sent to ground controllers to check for any damage.
Atlantis is carrying the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module, loaded with spares and supplies. Pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialist Sandy Magnus will today use the ISS's Canadarm2 robot limb to shift the module from the shuttle's cargo bay to the station's Harmony node.
Ground-based flight controllers, meanwhile, are monitoring reports from the US Department of Defense’s Strategic Command that a piece of Soviet satellite COSMOS 375 may pass close to the ISS tomorrow afternoon.
NASA said yesterday: "The team expected updated tracking information following today’s docking to help determine if a maneuver using the shuttle’s thrusters is necessary to avoid the debris."

New e-ticket booking website from Indian Railways

Indian railways will launch its own e-ticket service on the website www.indianrailways.gov.in.

The new service will not allow travel agents and will be available exclusively for passengers for booking he tickets. Currently Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) runs the online booking portal for Indian railways. The decision to start a new e-ticket booking website comes after receiving numerous complaints form the common public that travel agents has been involved in bulk booking of the tickets, especially the Tatkal tickets.

According to the new railway e-ticketing service a maximum of eight transaction per ID will be allowed and a service charge of Rs. 5 for sleeper class ticket and Rs. 10 for other classes will be collected. This is less than the service charge collected by IRCTC.

Google Street View - start of driving in Bangalore!

Google has extended its street view application to India. From now onwards Google Street View will include images s from Bangalore and streel level images will be available on Google Maps.

Google Street View was launched in US during 2007 and was a instant hit offering street level images of cities. Now Streetview is available in 27 countries all over the world.

Intex introduces Mini Home Cinema

Intex has launched a Mini Home Cinema, a high definition media player which allows user to connect the digital storage devices such as USBs, hard drives, flash drives and memory cards to the television sets. It has the versatility to play almost all kinds of video and audio formats.

This new product makes a boon for the consumers whose TVs do not support all formats and input sources like HDMI, SD Card.

IBM, HP opt out of 2,000-crore UIDAI bid

Two of the world's largest technology companies - IBM and HP - on Monday opted out from bidding for the 2,000-crore outsourcing contract to manage the world's biggest citizen identity database, people familiar with the development said. 

The Unique Identity Development Authority of India, or UIDAI, headed by Infosys founder Nandan Nilekani , had asked vendors to submit their proposals for the contract by Monday evening. After IBM and HP dropped out from the race, the remaining five - Accenture , Wipro, TCS , HCL Infosystems and Mahindra Satyam - will go to the next stage and begin their negotiations with the UID officials. 

Wipro to deploy WAN solution for United Bank of India

Indian IT company Wipro said it has been selected by United Bank of India to deploy a wide area network optimisation solution from Cisco for across its more than 1,600 branches and offices.

"The engagement involves commissioning, implementation and integration of the solution with UBI's existing WAN network. In keeping with our endeavor to bring leading-edge technology solutions to our customers, we decided to partner with Cisco for its WAN optimisation solution," Vikas Srivastava, Vice-President, Infrastructure Technology Solutions, Wipro said in a statement.

Software engineering is the No.1 IT Job of 2011

Software engineering has been ranked as the best job in the United States, according to a new study.

The 2011 Jobs Rated Methodology was conducted by Career Cast.com, which included factors like environment, income, hiring outlook, stress and physical demands. 

The study placed a variety of tech jobs, includingsoftware engineers and computer systems analysts, in the top 30 best careers of the year, the CBS Newsreports. 

Software engineering, a job that involves the design and creation of software for operating systems, mobile phone applications and interactive games, was listed as the No. 1 job of 2011. 

According to the survey, software engineers make an average of about $87,140 and have relatively low work-related stress, a great outlook for employment and strong income growth potential. 

Other tech jobs that made the list were computer systems analysts, technical writers and computer programmers. 

However, the hiring outlook for computer programmers was considerably worse due to more companies looking to outsource this job. 

For IT hiring, 2011 to be landmark year after 2007

The calendar 2011 is expected to be a landmark year for tech hiring and job movements after 2007 as market visibility improves, global customers step up spending and pipelines remain packed.

External head hunters are optimistic of a very bullish trend with hiring requirements going up substantially this year by 60 per cent to 70 per cent, compared to last year's 20 per cent jump over the previous year. 

The industry will see around 2 lakh fresh engineering graduates entering the job market this year while another 3 lakh people will move and change jobs within the industry. Also, there will be another over a lakh graduates (BSc computer science, electronics, and bachelor of computer applications) coming to the market from colleges across the country. 

Facebook Announces "Send" Button: A "Like" with context

Over the past year, we've become accustomed to using Facebook's 'Like' button for a variety of reasons - to show approval, to agree with a sentiment, to follow a brand and to share content. For this last function, however, the Like button can be a bit of a blunt tool when what's really needed is a precision instrument.

Today, Facebook announced the 'Send' button. By using Send, Facebook users will be able to share content with specific groups of friends, rather than everyone on their friends list, giving them the precision sharing tool they've needed all along.

The Top 5 Most Phished Websites in 2010

PayPal 45.9 %


Facebook 5.3 %


HSBC Group 4.1 %

Census of India 2011 Highlights, Results

The population of the country as per the provisional figures of Census 2011 is 1210.19 million of which 623.72 million (51.54%) are males and 586.46 million (48.46%) are females. The provisional figures of Census 2011 were released in New Delhi today by Union Home Secretary Shri G.K.Pillai and RGI Shri C. Chandramouli.

The major highlights of the Census 2011 (Provisional figures) are as under ;-

Apple is facing iPod battery shortages

Apple is facing iPod battery shortages due to quake in Japan

For a company of Apple’s stature that relies on a wide array of Asian suppliers to ship millions of gadgets to the market every month, I’ve always felt even the smallest disruption in supply chain could spell trouble. The March 11 disaster that struck Japan has affected a lot of firms that make electronics components like memory chips and touch panels.

Most energy-efficient browser

Microsoft has made many claims about IE9′s speed, but now the company is saying the latest version of its browser also bests the competition in terms of energy use.

 

Based on several tests conducted by Microsoft, it would seem that IE9 makes fewer demands on a computer’s battery — at least in certain scenarios. Firefox 4 came in a close second in every test; Opera 11 was the least energy-efficient browser in most tests.

World's first artificial leaf developed

Scientists have created the world’s first practical artificial leaf that can turn sunlight and water into energy, which they claim could pave the way for a cheaper source of power in developing countries like India. The innovation has been made by the team led by Daniel Nocera at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The artificial leaf which performs activity resembling photosynthesis and produces energy is regarded as a successful alternative form of energy for the future. The so called artificial leaf is a small visiting card size solar cell which uses solar energy to generate electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Top five destinations for tech lovers

IT professionals usually prefer to visit places where they may find something related to technology, places that are epitome of technological research and inventions and that have captured and preserved the remains of tech innovations and history. They will find these places interesting and would love to visit such places.

Kennedy Space Center

European Organization for Nuclear Research

Kennedy Space Center (KSC): The NASA's John F Kennedy space center is located on Merritt Island, Florida. The space center manages and operates America's astronaut launch facilities. It can be the best attraction for the IT professionals. There is option for one day trip to Kennedy Space center from Orlando. There are options while get into the center, there will be "Dine with an astronaut" option and also the shows of IMAX films. People can visit the NASA's launch headquarters as well.         

European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN): CERN is founded in 1954, located astride the Franco ,Swiss border near Geneva. This center is one of the most respected centers for scientific research. World's largest and most complex scientific instruments are used to study the basic constituents of matter at CERN. World Wide Web (WWW) was created in the same place.

So IT professionals have lots to see and learn from this place where all the things are related to technology.

International Spy Museum: This museum is located in Washington DC. It is one of the few museums in Washington that charges admission fees. Here visitors can learn about Microdots and invisible ink, buttonhole cameras and submarine recording. Technical people will be very much benefited from this visit to the museum.
The Computer History Museum: The Computer History Museum was built in 1996, it's located in California. This Museum has three key exhibits, "Mastering the Game", "history of computer chess", and "Innovation in the valley."The place also has some rare objects like Cray-1 supercomputer, Cray-2, Cray-3. There is lot of things to explore in this place. People will get to know much technical information here.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL): JPL is located in the outside of Los Angeles. The key function of the JPL is to construction and operation of robotic planetary spacecraft. The lab also conducts Earth-orbit and astronomy missions. JPL also operates the NASA's Deep Space Network. It offers free tour that includes a multimedia presentation on JPL, visits to the Spacecraft Assembly Facility and live demonstrations of JPL science and technology.

You just got a glimpse of the five places that we presented to you.If you want to explore more here are some of the similar places, Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, German Museum of Technology, Bletchley Park, England.

Google working on restoration of messages, provides backup methods

Google has offered a set of directions under Gmail Help to prevent any future attacks like the glitch that has been reported in over 150,000 Gmail accounts which led to affected users losing their messages, attachments and Google Chat logs.

Google provides configuration directions on its site for popular programs such as Apple Mail, Outlook Thunderbird and Windows Mail.

2011 TED Fellow Studies Tech Needs in Low-Income India--and Builds a Braille Phone in His Spare Time

Polymath interactive designer Sumit Dagar also dabbles in interactive movie-making. Feeling lazy yet? 

Sumit Dagar packs his bags every few months to travel India's rural communities to get the lowdown on how they use technology. Or he concentrates on his latest prototype, a Braille phone. Or he dabbles in interactive movie-making--a big passion.

The polyDagar was born and raised in Delhi, India, studied Information and Interface design at the National Institute of Design in Bangalore, and has worked as an interaction designer for the likes of Microsoft Research and Whirlpool.

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IBM Builds NATO a Private Cloud for Intelligence Work

Many of us use the cloud to store music, pictures, and important files, but few individuals or businesses could benefit from cloud computing as much as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) military command center in Virginia. The center is responsible for organizing NATO Network Enabled Capability (NNEC), or the organization's ability to leverage an IT infrastructure from the strategic level down to tactical levels. Now IBM is easing NATO's IT operations in Virginia into a private cloud that could eventually help the organization smooth out command, control, surveillance, and intelligence projects, and improve decision-making on the ground.

NASA Throws Cash at Suborbital Flight, Piggybacking on Space Tourism

Sir Richard Branson, you may want to pay attention here. NASA's got another proposals request out, for future space tech investigations--but this time it looks like the agency's getting wise to the rise of the commercial space biz, and its growing opportunities to access suborbital zones.

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Facebook Now Biggest Driver of Video Traffic Behind Google

When it comes to watching videos online, there is one dominant player: Google. The search giant drives more traffic to video sites than Facebook, Yahoo, Bing, and Twitter combined. But another player is fast catching up: Facebook.