10 Hot apps for Android phones

As bound in open source awesomeness as Android is, using some of the default applications can be a less-than-exciting experience. The stock applications offer basic features and although they work well enough, there's always something better out there.

For instance, the default Webkit-based internet browser with Android is free and fast, but it doesn't have a whole lot of interesting things to fiddle around with or anywhere close to a genre-defining feature set.

In case you're worried about experimenting, everything is reversible. If you don't like the alternative browser, email client or media player, you can always choose to uninstall and get back to the default application.

So, if you wish to get more out of your Android device, a bit of an OS refresh maybe, here's a bunch of 10 alternative applications that get our recommendation.

Sony launches music steaming service

TOKYO: Sony Corp launched a music streaming service in a bid to boost sales of its consumer electronics and break Apple's dominance of the online music business.

The Japanese company's "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity" is a digital music service based on cloud technology that does not involve downloading tracks like Apple's iTunes, which started in 2001.

Instead, a subscription gives users access to a catalog of about 6 million songs, which can be streamed across Sony's Internet-connected devices like the PlayStation 3, personal computers and Bravia TVs. The service can be synchronized with a user's existing music files, including iTunes, Sony said.

The service debuted in the UK and Ireland on Wednesday and will be rolled out in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and New Zealand and the US next year. "Music Unlimited" follows the launch this year of an on-demand video service that is now available in the US and several European countries.

For Sony, the two services represent an effort to better integrate the company's consumer electronics with content like music, movies and games in a fiercely competitive market. Sony is banking on Qriocity _ its new online entertainment platform announced earlier this year--to help make that happen.

While it remains to be seen whether consumers will embrace the new services, Sony is starting off with a substantial user base through the PlayStation 3. The video game console has more than 60 million users worldwide, and about 80 percent of PS3s are connected to the Web.

In developing its new music service, Sony decided to shift away from downloadable songs, said Kazuo Hirai, executive vice president and head of the company's Networked Products and Services division.

"We realized that if we were playing catch up with the same (iTunes) model, it would be difficult to appeal to users," Hirai told reporters in Tokyo.

Initially, the service is intended to mainly enhance the appeal of its products against competitors like Microsoft Corp and Samsung Electronics Co.

"But over time, it needs to stand on its own," Hirai said. The service cannot yet be used on portable devices such as the Walkman or cell phones, though Sony says it plans to eventually integrate those as well.

Since taking over in 2005, Sony's Chief Executive Howard Stringer has been trying to unite the company's sprawling businesses, cut costs and improve efficiency. He promoted Hirai in 2009 in a management shuffle that looks to be paying off.

The company returned to profitability in the July-September quarter and raised its earnings forecast in part due to brisk sales of the PS3. Its stock has risen about 11 per cent this year, outpacing a 2 percent fall in the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average.

Hirai said his company is on pace to meet its goal of selling 15 million PS3 consoles this fiscal year through March, and expects the games division to finish in the black.

Launched in September, the PlayStation Move motion-sensing game controller has been a big holiday hit so far, exceeding Sony's own expectations. The company said in late November that it had shipped 4.1 million Move units to retailers worldwide.

Fab@50: Sachin makes history, at a place aptly called Centurion

ENTURION: In a year when adjectives like 'biggest' and 'unprecedented' were mostly used to describe scams, it was left to India's sportspersons to provide cheer to the nation with their stirring feats.

It is fitting, therefore, for 2010 to draw to a close with a stupendous achievement by a hero who has epitomized sporting perfection for over two decades and given millions of Indians countless moments of pride and joy.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar went where no cricketer ever had before - and no else may ever venture - when he scored his 50th Test ton on Sunday. It's a staggering achievement that reopens the debate about whether he's the greatest batsman ever, surpassing even the legendary Sir Don Bradman, who was famously reminded of himself while watching the Indian genius in action.

It was a fitting moment in many ways. After three disappointing home Tests against New Zealand when the master failed to reach the three-figure mark, it came on a bigger stage - against South Africa in South Africa, as Team India battled to avoid an innings defeat in a match-up between the world's two top Test teams.

MS Dhoni, the man who was at the other end when Sachin became the first batsman to hit 200 in an ODI, was again at the non-striker's end on Sunday. In both cases, the landmark was achieved off a speed merchant who's probably the most lethal in the business right now - Dale Steyn. They would have been special moments even if they'd come against lesser bowlers, but it was appropriate that they should come against another champion.

A gentle push to cover, a few quick steps towards the non-striker's end and history was made at the SuperSport Park, at a venue aptly called Centurion. Almost from the day he made his debut some 21 years ago, Sachin had seemed destined to get 50 Test centuries. Still, when the moment arrived, it prompted goosebumps, tears and loud cheering across the world.

As Sachin took off his helmet and looked skywards before throwing his arms up in his now trademark gesture, the stadium stood up as one to clap. Suddenly, tricolours were proudly fluttering in different parts of the ground.

It was another great knock in a year that has seen Tendulkar harvest over 1,500 runs with seven centuries and an average in excess of 85 from 13 Tests. But for the man himself, the century was but a brief stop in a long journey as he strove to pull off a miracle for India - a most unlikely draw in the first Test against South Africa. Or, at least, some honour in defeat.

While India are more or less finished, 30 runs behind with two wickets standing at 454/8 as a snap shower ended the day's play, Tendulkar was still not done. He is there, unconquered on 107 (226 balls, 13 fours, 1 six).

For a major part of the day, Tendulkar had to wage a lonely battle as a humiliating defeat loomed. India, shot out for 136 runs in the first innings, began the day at 190/2. When Tendulkar came to the middle after night watchman Ishant Sharma's dismissal about 45 minutes into play, India still needed 270 to avoid a loss by an innings. The little master battled on even though Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Suresh Raina left without any substantial contribution.

Finally, skipper MS Dhoni stepped up and lent the support Sachin was looking for. With Dhoni looking assured at the other end, a relaxed Tendulkar worked his way towards the landmark.

There is a sense of timelessness when Tendulkar bats. He seems to be in the zone, as if what is happening around him does not affect him. He does not bat, he meditates. Sunday was no different. He did survive a close LBW appeal by Harris when at 57. Other than that, he had an answer for everything South Africa threw at him.

While the pitch played well, the home attack was still testing. Steyn and Morne Morkel were unrelenting in their aggression and Tendulkar had to weave in and weave out of many searing bouncers. In fact, he took a painful blow on the left shoulder in the final minutes of the day as he tried to avoid a Steyn bouncer.

In between, there were the superb drives, delicate glances and fierce cuts drawing big applause from even home fans.

Anticipation at the stadium grew more intense with every run he scored. And it was an uneasy tea break when Tendulkar went in at 80.

But the maestro soothed nerves when play resumed with two crisp fours to move to 88. At 89, he launched Paul Harris into the stands to jump to 95. A couple of nudges here and there, and a two off Steyn got him to 99. History was made off the next ball.

Tons scored against: Australia (11), Sri Lanka (9), Eng (7), S Africa (6), B'desh (5), NZ (4), W Indies & Zimbabwe (3), Pak (2). Only Jack Hobbs (12) has more tons against Aus. Sachin's 9 are also the most centuries by any batsman against Lanka.

Favourite Grounds: MAC Stadium (Chennai), VCA Ground (Nagpur) - 5 tons each, SSC (Colombo) 4, Sydney 3.

28 tons scored on foreign grounds (a world record. But he doesn't have even one at Lord's), 22 centuries at home.

- When Sachin has scored a ton, India has won 20 Tests, lost 10 and drawn 19 (the 50th may well be in a losing cause)

- He has scored 20 tons in the first innings of a match, 17 in 2nd, 10 in 3rd & 3 in 4th

- Only player with 20 knocks of 150-plus

- Only batsman in world to complete a ton with a six five times.

What next?

He's achieved almost every landmark in cricket, but here are 3 more that we'd love to see:

1. A hundred international 100s: Has 46 tons in ODIs, needs 4 more

2. Test triple: Still hasn't scored 300 in an innings, done by many lesser batsmen

3. A World Cup win: The one prize to elude him so far.

Six of his best in Tests:

114 vs Aus, Perth; Feb 3, 1992: Barely 19, he hit a superb ton on a wicked wicket.

136 vs Pak, Chennai; Jan 31, 1999: Battling back spasms, Sachin guided a chase of 271 but fell with victory in sight. India lost by 12 runs. Heartbreakingly beautiful.

155 n.o vs Aus, Chennai; March 9, 1998: The one which had Warne admitting to nightmares. The leggie kept bowling into the rough, Sachin kept hitting him against the turn.

241 n.o. vs Aus, Sydney; Jan 4, 2004: His first double ton abroad came as he cut out the cover drive. Marked his transition from dasher to gritty accumulator.

111 vs South Africa at Wanderers; Nov 28, 1992: Sachin himself rates this as one of his finest, against an attack of Allan Donald, Brian McMillan and Craig Matthews.

103 vs England, Chennai; Dec 15, 2008: Silenced critics who accused him of not playing match-winning knocks in India's first Test after 26/11.

Yahoo to close Delicious, more services after layoffs

SAN FRANCISCO: The content-sharing site Delicious may not be on Yahoo Inc's shrinking menu of online services much longer.

Although a final decision evidently hasn't been made, Delicious is on a list of services that Yahoo is planning to close after shedding 600 employees, or about 4 percent of its work force, earlier this week.

An internal Yahoo slide containing the endangered list was posted on the Internet Thursday. The presentation was shared through Twitter, whose popularity may be one of the reasons that Yahoo no longer prizes Delicious as much as it did five years ago when it bought the site for an undisclosed sum.

In a statement, Yahoo confirmed it will phase out several services in the coming months without specifically mentioning Delicious. The company, based in Sunnyvale, California, said it would provide more details "when appropriate."

Other services on Yahoo's "sunset" list include MyBlogLog, Yahoo Buzz, Yahoo Picks and Yahoo Bookmarks.

They would become more detritus in a housecleaning that Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz began shortly after she was hired to engineer a turnaround nearly two years ago. She has closed or sold a variety of unprofitable or little used services so Yahoo could focus on other areas more likely to attract traffic and sell advertising. Some of the priorities heading into 2011 include mobile, communications and local services.

Bartz's strategy hasn't paid off yet, with Yahoo's revenue growth still lagging other Internet rivals such as Google Inc and Facebook, leaving its stock price in the doldrums.

Yahoo shares gained 6 cents to close Thursday at $16.51. The stock price is down slightly for the year and hasn't come close to approaching the levels it reached during the spring of 2008 when Yahoo was still mulling a takeover offer from Microsoft Corp Those talks ended after Yahoo balked at Microsoft's last offer of $33 per share in May 2008.

Yahoo bought Delicious at a time when its then-CEO, Terry Semel, was trying to build a social hub. He would later try to buy Facebook for $1 billion, only to be turned down by that social network's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, who was just named Time magazine's person of the year, for building one of the world's most influential services.

Delicious started in 2003, a few months before Zuckerberg began working on Facebook in his Harvard University dorm room.

In a Thursday e-mail to The Associated Press, Delicious founder Joshua Schachter said he regrets selling his creation to Yahoo. He left Yahoo in 2008 and is now working on a new startup, called Tasty Labs, that is trying to turn social networks into a more useful business tool.

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World Cup 2010 writes legacy in sport's vocabulary

PARIS: In years to come, the impact of the 2010 World Cup may be gauged by the words that it introduced to the footballing lexicon.

'Vuvuzela', 'Jabulani' and 'tiki-taka' would have meant little to football fans at the dawn of the year, but at the end of the month-long extravaganza in South Africa they were on the tips of every tongue.

The ubiquitous noise of the vuvuzela - a plastic horn blown by fans that emitted a sound not dissimilar to a swarm of hornets - was the first indication that Africa's first World Cup would dance to a different rhythm.

The cacophony created by the trumpets was such that some broadcasters developed technology to block it out of their coverage, while the Adidas Jabulani - the official tournament ball - proved similarly controversial.

Designed to be more perfectly spherical than any ball in history, it proved an irritant to goalkeepers and was derided as "horrible" by Spain's Iker Casillas and his Italian counterpart Gianluigi Buffon.

It was England's Robert Green who suffered the greatest embarrassment, however, letting a tame Clint Dempsey shot squirm through his grasp and into the net in his side's opening game, a 1-1 draw with the United States.

The vuvuzela and the Jabulani may ultimately become little more than footnotes in the story of South Africa 2010, but the tiki-taka style of slick passing football that swept Spain to their first ever World Cup triumph will provide a more enduring monument.

Success at the 2008 European Championship had made Spain one of the pre-tournament favourites, but they fell to a shock 1-0 defeat against Switzerland in their first match.

La Roja battled into the knockout rounds, however, before consecutive 1-0 wins against Portugal, Paraguay and Germany took them to the final.

The margins of victory may have been slender but Spain's modus operandi remained the same: patient inter-changes of passes, orchestrated by Barcelona playmaker Xavi, punctuated by rapier-like bursts into opposition territory.

The Netherlands barred Spain's path to glory, having disposed of Dunga's heavily backed but ultimately one-dimensional Brazil in the last eight.

A slow-burning final at Johannesburg's Soccer City Stadium was initially remarkable for a succession of robust Dutch challenges, including a chest-high assault on Xabi Alonso by Nigel de Jong that somehow failed to draw a red card from English referee Howard Webb.

Spain would not be cowed, however, and with four minutes of extra time remaining Andres Iniesta gathered Cesc Fabregas's pass before drilling an unerring drive into the bottom-left corner.

"Spain deserved to win this World Cup," said Iniesta afterwards.

"It's something we have to remember and enjoy, and we should feel very proud of everyone in this squad. To win the World Cup -- there are no words to describe it."

Vicente del Bosque's team were acclaimed as worthy winners, but there were also plaudits for Joachim Loew's effervescent young Germany, who thrashed old foes England 4-1 in the last 16 before overwhelming Diego Maradona's Argentina 4-0 in the quarter-finals.

German forward Thomas Mueller won the Golden Boot for top scorer, while Diego Forlan was crowned player of the tournament after firing Uruguay to the last four for the first time since 1970.

Italy and France both limped out in the group phase; France amid high farce after their players boycotted a training session in protest at the expulsion of Nicolas Anelka for clashing with coach Raymond Domenech.

Ghana, meanwhile, came within a whisker of becoming the first African team to reach the semi-finals, but Asamoah Gyan's missed penalty in the last minute of extra time against Uruguay enabled the South Americans to progress at their expense.

None of it came as any surprise to the tournament's true star, however.

Paul the Octopus earned international fame by correctly 'predicting' the outcome of eight consecutive games before passing away at a German aquarium in October.

iPhone to get Toshiba LCD panels

Toshiba Corp will spend about 100 billion yen ($1.19 billion) to build a factory to make small LCD panels, mainly to supply to Apple Inc for use in iPhones, Japanese business daily Nikkei said.

Its subsidiary Toshiba Mobile Display Co will build the facility in Ishikawa prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast and it will churn out low-temperature polysilicon LCD panels, which allow for high-resolution images, the paper said.

A Toshiba spokesman said the report was untrue and nothing had been decided regarding a new plant to build LCD panels for Apple.

Work on the plant will start by early next year, with production due to begin in the second half of 2011, the paper said.

Toshiba Mobile Display already makes low-temperature polysilicon LCD panels at a facility in the prefecture and its monthly production capacity of 8.55 million units is projected to more than double with the new factory, the daily said.

Apple will invest in the factory, the Nikkei said. Toshiba's shares gained 0.5 percent to 442 yen in early trade in Tokyo, outperforming the benchmark Nikkei average, which dipped 0.1 per cent.

Bombay HC upholds stay on Rajasthan Royals termination

NEW DELHI: Bombay High court upholds the interim order of independent arbitrator Justice BN Srikrishna arbitrator's stay on IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals termination made by BCCI.

Meanwhile, the court allowed Rajasthan Royals to take part in IPL 4 auction which will be held in January.

However, the court has set financial conditions to Royals while upholding the stay.

The BCCI had on October 10 decided to terminate the franchise agreement of Rajasthan Royals, along with that of Kings XI Punjab, for alleged breach of agreement by the two franchises.

Royals had challenged the termination before the Bombay High Court.

10 Weird laptop designs

Over the years laptops have gone sleeker in looks, lost weight and gained in processing power, but there has been little change on the basic design and appearance front.

Not largely! As, there are also some laptops that have been given shapes of gaming consoles like Wii and Sony PSP3, while some carry Hummer's stamp in both looks and ruggedness. There is also one that has been modded to accomodate as many as four operating systems.

It’s romance for Priyanka, Shahid!

Looks like this winter is the time for romance for Priyanka Chopra and Shahid Kapoor. Industry is abuzz with news that the two have patched up.

This is the third time that they made up after a bitter breakup. Priyanka and Shahid broke up when she was filming for Don 2 and both deleted each other from their social network list. But when she was returning to Mumbai, the ex-lovers spoke to each other and it just took a phone call to start the fire again.

"Priyanka and Shahid got very emotional on the phone and decided to give their relationship one more shot. But, they will keep it hush-hush till they feel it's the right time to talk about their relationship," says a source.

"Sometimes when you are not in touch with someone, you realise the value of that person. This has definitely happened for Shahid and Priyanka. Now, they are constantly in touch and get along like a house on fire again," adds the source.

iPhone breaks Samsung, LG monopoly

For more than a decade, Kim Jung Yeon only bought phones from Samsung Electronics Co and LG Electronics Inc, passing on best sellers made by non-Korean companies such as Motorola Inc's Razr. Her loyalty ended with Apple Inc's iPhone.

"The iPhone has a cool design and I love the feel and grip of the phone," said the 37-year-old Web designer in Seoul, who bought the device last year, and enjoys using applications about food recipes. "I don't see any reason why I should return to LG or Samsung phones again if I buy another smartphone."

Samsung and LG, the world's two-largest handset makers after Nokia Oyj, can no longer count on home-field advantage as they play catch up in the fastest-growing segment of the $163 billion global industry. A year after Apple's phone debuted in Korea, LG is reeling from record phone losses while Samsung this week unveiled the Nexus S phone equipped with Google Inc's latest Android operating system to win back customers.

"Korean companies are going to face a tough situation overseas going forward, given how much share they are losing at home," said Han Eui Lim, a consultant at ROA Group Inc in Seoul. "Especially in the case of LG, it's very concerning."

Samsung and LG shares have both underperformed the benchmark Kospi Index this year. Samsung has gained 11 per cent and LG has declined 7.8 per cent in 2010, compared with the index's 16 per cent gain. Apple shares have surged 51 per cent, helping it overtake Microsoft Corp as the world's most valuable technology company.

Fewer carriers

The iPhone, available in Korea only through KT Corp as opposed to all of the nation's three wireless carriers for Samsung and LG, has sold about 1.6 million units since it went on sale in the country in November 2009, according to KT.

South Korea had about 4.52 million users of smartphones -- devices that can be used to surf the Web, and play games and video -- at the end of September, with a quarter of those being the iPhone, according to Nomura Holdings Inc. analyst Stanley Yang.

The iPhone created a "mobile big bang" by changing the way Koreans live and work, according to Digieco, a research division of KT, in a report last month.

Espoo, Finland-based Nokia is the world's largest maker of mobile phones, accounting for 117.5 million of the 417.1 million phones sold worldwide in the third quarter, according to research firm Gartner Inc. Nokia's share of 28 per cent was followed by Samsung's 17 pe rcent and LG's 6.6 per cent. Apple was fourth with 3.2 per cent, Gartner said last month.

Phone software

Among smartphones, handsets using Nokia's Symbian software held marketshare of 37 per cent in the quarter, with Android surging to 26 per cent from 3.5 per cent last year. Apple had 17 per cent, according to Gartner.

Global handset revenue is forecast to be approximately $163 billion this year compared with $154 billion last year, according to Credit Suisse Group AG estimates.

Samsung and LG, which are adopting Google's Android, may have fallen behind in the smartphone market because of their external reliance on software, according to Peter Yu, a Seoul- based analyst at BNP Paribas SA.

"The iPhone and smartphones in general are mostly about software content -- it's more of a cultural product," said Yu, who has a "reduce" rating on LG. "When the iPhone was introduced, the Korean companies were in a state of denial, they underestimated the potential."

Short films

LG replaced its chief executive officer and head of the handset-making division in October after the mobile-phone business posted record losses for two consecutive quarters. Standard & Poor's cut LG's debt-rating outlook to "negative" on Nov. 11, citing the "deteriorating" competitiveness of the main handset business.

"If consumers in Korea choose iPhones because of better usability in the local market, overseas customers will do the same," said Kim Jee Hyun, who wrote "Mobile Innovation," a book about the changes in the Korean mobile-phone industry.

To attract Korean users, KT is sponsoring local film directors including Chung Yoon Chul, to make movies with the device's high-definition video capability.

Park Chan Wook, who won the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival with "Old Boy," is making a 25-minute film that will hit wide-screen theaters this month.

The Korean companies aren't giving up.

New models

Samsung in June introduced the Galaxy S, equipped with a 4- inch touchscreen that's larger than the iPhone's 3.5-inch display. The Korean company has sold 8 million units of the phone worldwide already, including 1.8 million locally, and the aim is to double the number next year, according to the company.

Samsung is looking to boost sales by developing models using multiple operating systems, including its own Bada software, and by selling its products through a wide range of carriers, said James Chung, a company spokesman.

"In the next two or three years, Samsung's position in smartphones will be quite similar to or better than Apple," said Stan Jung, a Seoul-based analyst at Woori Investment & Securities.

Seoul-based LG introduced the Optimus One in October and sold more than 1 million units of the model as of mid-November, with a goal to sell 10 million globally.

LG added 500 research-and-development staff this year for developing handsets, Chief Financial Officer David Jung said in October. The company plans to introduce a "premium" model next year, he said.

Until then, Kim's loyalty toward the iPhone may deepen with applications that let her find recipes to cook dinner.

"The iPhone's operating system offers so much variety in terms of applications, it seems to me it will take a while for Samsung and LG to catch up," she said.

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Lava brings the A10 mobile phone to India

Lava mobile, one of the lesser known brands in mobile phones, have come out with their latest phone - the A10. The body has a unique gun-metal finish which supposedly gives it a "masculine" look. The phone boasts of some unique features like a 3-inch IPS screen.

In simple terms, an IPS screen gives you better quality and brightness and lets you view the screen from different angles, that is you don't have to be bang opposite to the screen to know what's going on in the phone.

Introducing Mobiking mobile Videocon v600 with GPS, Thermometer, Barometer etc.

Introducing Mobiking

MRP: INR 11,995

Key Features

Rugged & Sports Design Powered by Ducati

Screw framed body chasis

V6200 is powered with Sports Features like: GPS, Thermometer, Barometer, Pedometer, Altimeter, UV Rays Sensor, Digital Compass, LED Pulse Indicator

Rubberized Panel with Steel Side Skirting

Large 6.4 cms (2.4) TFT Screen with 3 modes - Phone, Fun & Sports

Dual LED Torch

Dedicated keys for - GPS, LED Torch, Camera & (MFD) Sports Feature

Customizable back OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) Screen

Pre-bundled 4GB MicroSD Card with Preloaded GPS with life time validity

2MP Camera with Video Recording

V6200 Specifications

General

240*320 TFT Screen with 262K Colors

1030 mAH battery, Upto 6 hrs Talk Time/ upto 400 hrs Standby Time*

Remote controlled access

Private Security feature

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Entertainment

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FM Radio on loudspeaker

Camera

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Memory

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1000 SMS memory

Connectivity

Dual-Band GSM (900/1800 MHz)

Colour

Black

Inbox Contents

Standard Content:

Handset

Charging Adaptor

USB Charger

Headset & Sportz Headset

3.5 mm headset connector

Data Cable

User Manual

Warranty Card

Service Center Directory

Sports Content:

Adventure Flask

Arm Band

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Mo-biking used guide and PC Suite

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3rd ODI: India crush New Zealand by 9 wickets to seal series

Gautam Gambhir hit a second successive century as India crushed New Zealand by nine wickets in the third one-day international on Saturday to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.

Scorecard | Match in Pics

The stand-in skipper hammered 16 fours in his unbeaten 126 off 117 balls to help his side overhaul New Zealand's 224/9 with 10.3 overs to spare in the one-sided encounter at the Reliance Stadium.

Gambhir, leading the side in place of rested regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, had also starred in India's eight-wicket win in the second one-day international in Jaipur, making an unbeaten 138 off 116 balls.

The fourth game of the five-match series will be played in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Gambhir carried his form in to the third game in Vadodara, adding 115 runs for the opening wicket with Murali Vijay (30) and another 114 for the next with Virat Kohli (63 not out).

Kohli also continued to torment the rival bowlers with a breezy 70-ball knock containing six fours and two sixes, as New Zealand slumped to their eighth one-day defeat in a row.

"We knew 224 was never going to be enough," New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori said.

"It was really tough early on. The track got better, and India played exceptionally well, with Gambhir leading the way.

"We have to keep fighting. Our top order needs to stand up, and hopefully that will happen in the next couple of games."

Gambhir's stroke-filled innings overshadowed a career-best 72 not out by James Franklin who helped the visitors recover from a shaky 106/7 after they were sent in to bat.

Franklin hit five fours and a six in his 108-ball innings and shared 94 runs for the eighth wicket with Nathan McCullum (43) to lend respectability to New Zealand's total.

Left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan (2/31) had given India a flying start by striking twice inside the first 11 overs before spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Yusuf Pathan claimed two wickets each.

Zaheer, playing his first game of the series, dismissed Brendon McCullum off the second ball of the innings when the opener edged tamely to Vijay at second slip.

"It was an important game because we did not want to give New Zealand any scope for a comeback in this series," said Gambhir, named man of the match.

"Zaheer is a quality bowler and he got Brendon McCullum in the first over, and that set up the game for us."

The in-form Martin Guptill (12) was run out following a direct hit from Gambhir before Zaheer returned to have Ross Taylor caught behind the stumps.

Yuvraj Singh snapped up a sharp, low catch to dismiss Scott Styris (22) while Pathan claimed the wickets of Vettori and Gareth Hopkins in successive overs.

Franklin, who came in to bat with New Zealand struggling at 49/4, worked with Nathan McCullum to add 68 valuable runs in the last 10 overs.

Few smartphone owners are loyal to their brand

The booming smartphone market shows no sign of slowing but manufacturers will have to fight hard to keep their customers as smartphone owners show little loyalty to their current brands, a GfK survey shows.

The survey, to be published later on Monday, found that 56 percent of smartphone owners in key global markets were keeping their options open about which phone they would buy next, with only Apple commanding a significant degree of loyalty.

With features such as Wi-Fi, GPS and high-resolution cameras now commonplace, owners of Internet-enabled phones are increasingly concerned with the ease of accessing attractive services to enhance their devices, often through app stores.

"Loyalty with a handset is a lot more complicated these days in that people buy into experiences at the high-end level," Ryan Garner, the lead analyst on the survey, told Reuters.

"If a phone doesn't do what it says it will do or what the owner hopes it will do, the maker will lose loyalty."

The survey found that just 25 percent of smartphone owners planned to stay loyal to the operating system running their phone, with loyalty highest among Apple users at 59 percent, and lowest for Microsoft's phone software, at 21 percent.

Of users of Research in Motion's BlackBerrys, 35 percent said they would stay loyal. The figure was 28 percent for users of phones running Google's Android software, and 24 percent for users of Nokia Symbian phones.

Nokia, the world's biggest maker of cellphones, is revamping its software strategy under new Chief Executive Stephen Elop, and is due to release two new platforms next year.

GfK conducted the survey of 2,653 mobile phone users in Brazil, Germany, Spain, Britain, the United States and China online during October and November.

The German market-research company also found that 37 percent of cellphone owners in all those markets excluding China planned to upgrade to a smartphone on their next purchase. They did not ask the question in China for logistical reasons.

Sales of smartphones nearly doubled in the third quarter and are expected to be up more than 50 percent for 2010, according to IT research firm Gartner, outpacing growth seen at closer to 30 percent for the cellphone market as a whole.

Smartphones command far higher margins than regular mobile phones, although that profitability is being eroded by new competition from vendors who have been able to enter the market thanks to Google's open-source Android software.

Rare Apple I computer sells for $ 210K

Its processor works 1,000 times slower than the Apple iPad, but the first ever Apple computer has sold for 425 times the price.

The Apple I, one of only 200 such models ever made, was sold today afternoon at Christie`s auction house in central London for 133,250 pounds (about USD 210,000.) It came with its original packaging and a signed sales letter from Steve Jobs, one of Apple Computer`s co-founders and the current CEO of Apple Inc.

When the Apple I was introduced in 1976, it was the only personal computer to come with a fully assembled motherboard, making it ready to use straight from the box - provided the user supplied a keyboard, power supply, and display, Christie`s said.

It sold for USD 666.66 and was available until it was discontinued in 1977.

Bidding on the Apple I came quickly, with the computer eventually going to Italian businessman and private collector Marco Boglione, who made his offer over the phone.

Marco`s brother Francesco Boglione, who attended the auction in person, told The Associated Press that Marco`s purchase was a testament to his love of computers.

Asian Games: Somdev Devvarman wins seventh gold for India

Somdev Devvarman defeated Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-1, 6-2 to clinch India's seventh gold at the Asian Games on Tuesday.

India's tennis ace had also won the double's gold pairing with Sanam Singh on Monday.

Somdev Devvarman played tirelessly to provide India with a gold in the men's doubles with Sanam Singh by stepping on the tennis court barely an hour and a half after cruising into the singles final with hard-fought three-set win in the Asian Games on Monday.

On Monday, Somdev and Sanam secured India's third successive men's doubles crown with an energy-sapping 6-3 6-7 (4) 10-8 victory in the final against crowd favourites and second seeds Gong Maoxin and Li Zhe of China on the centre court at the Aoti Tennis Centre.

In the men's singles semifinal match, showing a lot of spunk and fighting spirit, India's No 1 player Somdev came back from the brink to subdue Japanese rival Tatsuma Ito to reach the final on Monday.

In the baseline slugfest, that lasted almost two hours, second seed Somdev pocketed the opening set in his semifinal clash with Ito, ranked 195 on the ATP circuit, with a measure of comfort 6-2 and then was blown off court by fourth seed Ito in the second to drop it 0-6.

Things were looking difficult for the Indian world no. 106 when he and his rival traded service breaks in the first four games before Somdev staged an excellent rally under severe pressure by saving two break points in the fifth game.

That was the turning point as the Tripura-born Somdev regained poise and then broke his rival for the third time, this time decisively, before taking the set 6-3 and reaching the final.

Aircel to launch 3G in early 2011

Mobile phone service provider Aircel on Friday said it would launch 3G services in 140 cities across 13 circles in January-February 2011, with an investment of $500 million and would invest another $500 million to expand its 2G network across the country.

"Over a period of one year we will cover at least 50% of the 2G footprint under 3G network," said Aircel chief operating officer Gurdeep Singh while launching a value added service. Aircel would launch 4G or BWA services in a year's time and was evaluating Wimax and TD-LTE platforms for the same, he added.

The company won 3G licences for Delhi (Metro), Mumbai (Metro), Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh , Maharashtra & Goa, Rajasthan , Punjab, UP (West) and UP (East) in an auction earlier this year.

The company would clock 50 million customers by end of this year and was expecting 10% of its customer base to move to 3G in the first year of 3G launch. The company foresees an additional 25% of its customers to shift to 3G by end of 2012. On pricing, Aircel officials said that 3G services would be more expensive compared to 2G tariffs and would be priced so as to commensurate the investments it was making. It may adopt a strategy where consumers will pay more for faster speeds and vice-versa .

The company added that it had not received any notification from Trai with regard to cancellation of 2G licences. Aircel is one of the six companies mentioned by Trai in its recommendations to the Indian government saying that 69 licences to companies including Etisalat DB, Uninor (Unitech), Videocon (Datacom), Loop Telecom and Aircel should be cancelled since they have not complied with their rollout obligations as mentioned in the licence conditions.

"I can only say that we haven't received any notification as yet. till such time we receive (the notification) I can say 'no comments' ," said Mr Singh. Trai has also suggested penal action to be taken against the mobile operators, as they were required to cover at least 10% of each district headquarters in each circle within 12 months of the date of award of the licence.

India beat Pakistan 3-2 to move into Asian semifinals

Sandeep Singh scored two goals as India stormed into the Asian Games men's hockey semifinals with a 3-2 win over Pakistan Saturday, their fourth success over their arch-rivals this year.

In Pics: India beat Pakistan

The penalty corner specialist slammed one in each half and Dharamvir Singh chipped in with the third goal as India recorded their third consecutive win in group B after an action-packed encounter.

India have nine points ahead of Sunday's last league match against Japan, who are level with Pakistan on six points each.

India beat Pakistan 4-1 at the World Cup in March, won 4-2 in the Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia in May and hammered the rivals 7-4 at last month's Commonwealth Games.

"Winning four times in a row does not matter, this is not a series," said Indian captain Rajpal Singh. "What is more important for me is that we play well in every match.

"Our strategy was simple. We had to attack from the start and not give Pakistan too many penalty corners."

Pakistan's lone penalty corner, which came in the 58th minute, did not succeed as Indian goalkeeper Bharat Chetri leaped in the air to deflect Sohail Abbas' stinging drag flick.

Pakistan captain Zeeshan Ashraf blasted the umpiring, saying poor decisions throughout the match cost his team the match.

"The umpires made the difference," he said. "We should have got at least three or four more penalty corners.

"I don't think there is any difference between the two teams. It was a close game that could have gone either way.

"India also got only three scoring chances in the entire game, but they converted all."

Pakistan's Dutch coach Michel van den Heuvel, who watched the match from the stands, argued with the umpires and technical officials after the final whistle.

Zeeshan denied Pakistan will protest, but wanted his team to recover quickly from the defeat and prepare for the rest of the tournament.

"The main thing is we are still in contention for the gold medal," he said. "We will bounce back."

The match, watched by some 1,000 fans at the small Aoti Hockey Centre, began on a rousing note as Sandeep put India ahead in the second minute and striker Rehan Butt drew level for Pakistan in the fourth.

India took a 2-1 lead by half-time as Dharamvir swooped on a pass from the centre to flick the ball past the rushing goalkeeper Salman Akbar in the 16th minute.

An error from Indian defender Dhananjay Mahadik, who failed to clear a loose ball, allowed veteran Shakeel Abbasi to net Pakistan's equaliser eight minutes into the second session.

India earned their second penalty corner five minutes later and Sandeep once again executed a perfect flick to make it 3-2.

Pakistan, who won the last of their seven Asian Games gold medals in Beijing in 1990, have not bagged a major title since the World Cup triumph in Sydney in 1994.

'Indian ready to pay for genuine software'

Most Indians are ready to shell out more for original software rather than pirated versions, as they feel genuine products are more secure and stable, according to a Microsoft survey.

"More than 75 per cent of consumers in India said they believed genuine software was more secure, more stable and was easier to keep up-to-date," the survey released today said.

Coming against the backdrop of rising software piracy, the survey found many participants were in need of ways to protect themselves from inadvertently purchasing counterfeit software.

Going by the report, 86 per cent of Indians are ready to pay more for genuine software, while 79 per cent feel there is a need to protect themselves from unknowingly buying illegal software.

About 2,000 people in India took part in the survey, which covered more than 38,000 people across 20 countries. Consumers that had a personal computer and were the primary decision-makers at home on PC/software purchases took part in the survey.

Microsoft India Director (Genuine Software Initiative) Anil Varghese said the survey findings showed that users in India were gradually acknowledging the risks of using pirated or counterfeit software.

"Approximately, 6,000 Indian customers have reported the incidents of pirated or illegal software to Microsoft India in the last two years," he noted.

He pointed out that the number of complaints related to piracy has increased in recent times, which is a good sign of increased awareness among consumers.

As per the survey, 82 per cent of respondents said software companies should do more to stop their products from being counterfeited and 76 per cent believed the government should take more steps to curb illegal software.

In its fight against piracy, Microsoft India is also carrying out various programmes to create awareness among consumers and resellers about the risks associated with pirated software.

For corporate clients, Microsoft conducts software asset management audits to ensure there are no incidents of piracy.

IT services firm Symphony's CIO Vijaya Shaker said the company is using technology to ensure compliance with guidelines against piracy. Symphony is a client of Microsoft.

Aliens 'hit our nukes' claim US airmen

Aliens have been hovering over US and UK since 1948 and hitting weapons-a scene, which seems straight from a sci-fi movie is actually a reality, only if US airmen are to be believed.

The researchers have claimed that since 1948, aliens have been hovering over UK and U.S. nuclear missile sites and deactivating the weapons. They once even landed in a British base.

"We're talking about unidentified flying objects, as simple as that," the Daily Mail quoted Robert Salas, who, along with six others is to break his silence on the subject.

"They're often known as UFOs, you could call them that.

"The U.S. Air Force is lying about the national security implications of unidentified aerial objects at nuclear bases and we can prove it," he said.

The former officer said he witnessed such an event first-hand on March 16, 1967, at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.

"I was on duty when an object came over and hovered directly over the site.

"The missiles shut down - ten Minuteman [nuclear] missiles. And the same thing happened at another site a week later. There's a strong interest in our missiles by these objects, wherever they come from. I personally think they're not from planet Earth," he said.

The six former U.S. Air Force officers and one former enlisted man, are to present declassified information which they claim backs up their findings.

They have witness testimony from 120 former or retired military personnel which points to alien intervention at nuclear sites in the U.S. as recently as 2003.

They will urge the authorities to confirm that alien beings have long been visiting Earth.

Pink 'champagne' diamond fetches record $46 million

A rare pink diamond fetched 45.44 million Swiss francs ($45.75 million) on Tuesday, virtually doubling the previous record to become the most expensive stone ever sold at auction, Sotheby's said.

The rectangular step-cut pink diamond, which weighs 24.78 carats and is about the size of a pinball, was the star lot among nearly 500 on the block at semi-annual jewellery sales in Geneva.

Top diamond trader Laurence Graff, bidding by telephone, was the buyer of the diamond which is mounted in a platinum ring, Sotheby's said in a statement.

"It is a world record price for a jewel at auction," said David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby's jewellery department in Europe and the Middle East, as he brought down the hammer to applause in the packed sales room.

"It's like pink champagne," he told Reuters before the sale.

The stone, purchased from American jeweller Harry Winston 60 years ago by the anonymous owner who consigned it for auction in the Swiss city, had a pre-sale estimate of $27-38 million.

Previously, the world's most expensive jewel sold at auction was the historic "Wittelsbach" blue diamond, a 17th century stone of 35.56 carats that fetched $24.3 million in December 2008 at rival Christie's.

That was also purchased by Graff of Graff Diamonds, who later had it repolished, making it smaller at 31.06 carats, and renaming it the Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond.

"Laurence Graff is a great connoisseur of gem stones. He certainly now owns two of the greatest stones in the world," Bennett told reporters on Tuesday night.

"There were four active bidders for the diamond, which at that level is quite extraordinary," he added. "It tells you a lot about the health of the market."

The sale netted $105.05 million, a world record for a jewellery sale, exceeding the previous record of $68.5 million also set by Sotheby's in Geneva in 1993, its statement said.

In all, 397 of the 487 lots on offer found new owners, for a sell through rate of nearly 82 percent by lot. The top 10 lots, including diamond rings by Harry Winston and French jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels, each sold for more than $1.3 million.

Ashish Kumar, Khade create history, India slip to 9th position

S S Ramaswamy Guangzhou, Nov 16 (PTI) India opened a new page in its Asian Games history with Ashish Kumar clinching the first-ever medal in gymnastics while Virdhawal Khade broke the swimming medal drought after 24 years as the contingent added four bronze to its kitty in the fourth day of competitions here today. Ashish Kumar made the country''s first foray into the gymnastics medals podium with a bronze in the men''s floor event but disappointing performances in other disciplines resulted in India slipping to the ninth position in the medals table.

The 19-year-old Khade also scripted history as he became the first Indian swimmer in 24 years to clinch an Asian Games medal by notching up a bronze in the men''s 50 m butterfly event. Harika Dronavalli also clinched a bronze in the women''s individual chess.

Bimoljit Singh won a bronze in the 60 kg category of the wushu event while Sandhya Rani Devi has assured herself of at least a silver medal by reaching the final in the women''s event. With the addition of four bronze medals to the kitty, India''s medals tally rose to one gold, four silver and seven bronze.

India had finished tenth on the medal''s tally in the Doha Asian Games in 2006 with ten gold, 17 silver and 26 bronze medals. But the failure to win any gold medal meant that India could not maintain their seventh position on the medal rostrum, going down by two places.

The Chinese juggernaut continued to roll on as the hosts maintained their position atop the medals table with a whopping tally of 77-28-28 while South Korea (22-17-27) and Japan (15-34-29) were in the second and third position respectively. Pugilist Suranjoy Singh also provided some spark to punch his way into pre-quarter finals while the shooters came a cropper for the second successive day.

Suranjoy gave a resounding start to the team''s boxing campaign by entering the fly weight (52kg) pre-quarters with a thumping win over Thailand''s Chatchai Butdee but the script turned out to be quite different at the other venues where the shooters, shuttlers, lifters, men''s football team and the women''s hockey team came up with dismal performances. Indian shooters drew a blank for the second successive day after they failed to qualify for the final round of the women''s 25m pistol individual event and finished a lowly seventh in the team competition.

The women''s hockey team were handed a 0-3 thrashing by Japan in their second game while the paddlers endured another disappointing day with only the men''s doubles pair of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Subhajit Saha progressing to the pre-quarterfinals. Editors: Pick up suitably from the ASIAN-LDALL IND series issued under FGN62, 63, 64).

What Ferrari, Nano Have in Common

What’s the price you pay for the world’s cheapest car? Just under $2800 – and a small chance that it might catch fire.

At least that is the conclusion some observers may have drawn as they followed the saga of Tata Motors Ltd.’s Nano—the most affordable car on the planet. Some reports of the car catching fire soon after it began to be delivered in the summer of 2009 led Tata Motors to launch two investigations between May and October. A total of six incidents, some of which were smoking rather than fire incidents, have been reported, the company told India Real Time.

In a statement released Wednesday the company said it would offer additional safety equipment to its owners, free of charge.

But folks shouldn’t actually jump to the conclusion that this is a “cheap car” problem. Turns out it happened to some of the most expensive cars in the world too. Owners of the Tata Motors minicar might find some comfort in knowing that owners of the iconic Italian sports car share similar worries – despite having paid a much higher price tag.

Last September, Italian luxury car maker Ferrari S.p.A recalled all of its 458 Italia model – a total of around 1,250 cars – after three customers reported their cars caught fire. “We gave (the three customers) brand new cars, and fixed the flaws in all the other 458 Italias,” Ferrari spokeperson Stefano Lai said in a phone interview. The base model of Ferrari’s 458 Italia stands at around $275 000 – about 100 times more than the Nano.

“The truth is – it happens to everyone, not just to Nanos or Ferrari,” said Mr. Lai, referring to incidents of overheating and fires.

The Indian auto giant has stopped short of recalling its 70,000 minicars from customers across India and said their investigation did not find manufacturing flaws. Rather, problems with additional electrical fittings added after the purchase and material , such as newspaper scraps, found in the exhaust system during the investigation probably caused the incidents, the company said.

Both companies say theirs cars are perfectly safe.

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Samsung, Sony book profits but wary of road ahead

Three of the world's biggest names in electronics Samsung, Sony and Panasonic are bracing for weaker global demand and a rocky road ahead even as they reported stellar quarterly profits Friday. South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co.

booked a record net profit for the third straight quarter thanks to brisk sales of semiconductors and mobile phones. Japanese rival Sony Corp.

climbed back to the black as consumers clamored for its PCs and the PlayStation 3 gaming console. Panasonic Corp.

's net profit surged more than fivefold on strong demand for flat-panel TVs and Blu-ray Disc recorders. The results underscore how major Asian manufacturers have benefited from a recovering global economy and government stimulus measures that boosted consumer spending.

But with that recovery now in doubt in key overseas markets like the U.S., companies are preparing for a tougher fight for customers and with each other. Rising currencies in Asia also cloud their outlooks.

"We believe the operating environment will become more severe," said Sony's Chief Financial Officer Masaru Kato at a briefing for analysts. "We are being very cautious regarding the second half.

" Samsung is wary of oversupply and price cuts for memory chips, along with a potential further decline in prices of the panels used in LCD televisions. "Combining these with the possible appreciation of the won, we expect overall fourth-quarter business conditions to be difficult," said Samsung vice president Robert Yi on a conference call with analysts.

What happens to Samsung matters because it is such a major force in the global electronics industry. Besides dominating in memory chips and flat screen TVs, the company is also the world's largest manufacturer of large-sized liquid crystal displays and ranks second in mobile phones behind Nokia Corp.

of Finland. The company manufactures both DRAM chips, used mostly in personal computers, and NAND flash memory chips, used in products such as digital cameras, music players and smartphones.

Samsung earned 4.46 trillion won ($3.97 billion) in the three months ended Sept. 30, up from a net profit of 3.81 trillion won the previous year.

Its semiconductor business boasted record sales of 10.66 trillion won during the quarter, while revenue in the memory division rose 60 percent from the year before. That led pushed overall sales up 12 percent to 40.23 trillion won, also a record and the first time the company's revenue has surpassed the 40 trillion won mark.

Over in Tokyo, Sony reported net profit of 31.1 billion yen ($375 million) for the July-September quarter, a huge turnaround from losses of 26.3 billion yen a year earlier. The results were so good the company raised its profit outlook and expressed confidence that it could weather turbulence, including a persistently strong yen.

The solid results reflect the success of cost cuts and restructuring carried out under Chief Executive Howard Stringer. Since taking over in 2005, the Welsh-born CEO has been trying to unite the company's sprawling businesses and improve efficiency.

Revenue climbed 4.3 percent to 1.73 trillion yen. Its "Networked Products&Services" division, which includes gaming and PCs, did particularly well.

The September launch of the highly anticipated PlayStation Move motion-sensing game controller helped drive demand, the company said. Of its three previously money-losing businesses TVs, games and mobile handset maker Sony Ericcson the latter two are now in the black.

Sony's Kato said the company is trying to break even in TVs. He acknowledged that Sony lags Samsung in profit growth but said the two companies aren't necessarily comparable.

"Our business model is different," Kato said. "One of our assets is our mix of hardware, software and content.

" "We will compete on this overall basis." In its forecast revision, Sony expects net profit of 70 billion yen, 17 percent more than its previous forecast of 60 billion yen.

But it lowered its sales outlook slightly to 7.4 trillion yen due to the impact of the strong yen, which erodes income brought back to Japan from overseas sales. Panasonic, Japan's biggest home appliance maker, made a profit of 31 billion yen ($384.3 million) in the three months through September, up from 6.1 billion yen the year before.

Quarterly revenue rose 27 percent year-on-year to 2.21 trillion yen. Lower materials costs and other expenses helped offset the impact of growing price competition and an appreciating yen, which hit a 15-year high during the quarter.

The Osaka-based company is pushing ahead with a strategy to strengthen its green technology business. It recently raised its stake in Sanyo Electric a money-losing unit with strong battery and solar panel businesses to more than 80 percent and intends to take full ownership by the end of March.

But an increasingly precarious future kept Panasonic from revising up its forecasts for the fiscal year through March 2011. It still expects a profit of 85 billion yen on sales of 8.9 trillion yen.

It expects an uncertain business environment to continue into the end of the year "with further price declines due to ever-intensifying competition, appreciation of the yen and rising prices for raw materials." ___ AP Business Writer Kelly Olsen in Seoul contributed to this report.

Nissan Is Readying Micra Diesel For December Launch

I’ve been spotting throngs of Nissan Micras on the road recently, which itself is a proof for the model’s success in India. Riding high on this success, Nissan is all set to roll out Micra’s diesel variant on Indian roads. Nissan has already announced the commencement of the booking orders across its 20 dealerships for the diesel variant. The Diesel-powered Micra is expected to go on sale before Christmas this year.

The car is expected to get Renault Logan’s 1.5-liter CRDI engine which should deliver around 65-70bhp of power, 150-160 Nm of torque and 20-25 kmpl.

The Micra diesel will be available in two variants – the XV and the XV Premium. The diesel XV will have the same features as the XV petrol except ABS and EBD, which will be available in the XV Premium variant. XV Premium will also sport 15 inch alloy wheels, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and a rear spoiler.

The diesel Micra is expected to be priced in the Suzuki Swift DDiS territory.

Men using laptop in laps 'may be risking fertility'

Melbourne, Nov 06 (ANI): Men who use their laptops while keeping them in their laps could be risking their fertility, a new research has found.

A new study by Fertility and Sterility has found that when men use their laptops in their laps instead of on their desks, they may be overheating those male parts, which, in turn, may be damaging their sperm.

In studies, even men who used laptop pads as a buffer between their machine and their man parts, dangerously overheated themselves within 10 minutes.

The authors noted that other research has shown that warming the scrotum more than 1.8 degrees is enough to damage sperm.

After one hour, the 29 subjects working with a laptop on their knees had raised the temperature in their testicles by more than 4 degrees.owever, Yefim Sheynkin, lead author of the study and State University of New York urologist, stated that this is not proof that laptops definitely lead to infertility among men.

Nissan shows tiny electric concept vehicle

YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) Nissan showed a two-seater electric vehicle resembling a go-cart Monday that isn't ready for sale but spotlights the Japanese automaker's ambitions to be the leader in zero-emission cars. Nissan Motor Co.

is planning to produce 250,000 electric vehicles a year, starting with the Leaf electric car set for delivery in Japan and the U.S. in December, and next year in Europe. Its alliance partner Renault SA of France is planning to produce another 250,000 electric vehicles a year.

The two companies together will produce 500,000 batteries for EVs a year, said Nissan, which makes batteries with Japanese electronics maker NEC Corp. "We don't want EVs to be a niche product," Corporate Vice President Hideaki Watanabe told reporters at the company's headquarters southwest of Tokyo.

He said Nissan boasts 18 years of development experience in lithium-ion batteries, which will power the Leaf, and the company developed its first electric vehicle in 1947. Lithium-ion batteries are common in devices like laptops but will be relatively new for autos.

Then Watanabe zipped around smoothly and silently as is characteristic of electric vehicles Nissan's showroom in the tiny electric vehicle called "Nissan New Mobility CONCEPT." It has a range of a 100 kilometers (62 miles), and maximum speed of 75 kilometers (47 miles) per hour. The EV system was developed by Renault, but the car's design was by Nissan.

Some analysts are skeptical about the practicality of electric vehicles, noting they will make up only a tiny fraction of the overall auto market for some years to come. Watanabe did not give a price for the concept car.

He said uses were still being studied, such as amusement parks and Yokohama city's green mobility projects. Nissan said it is setting up charging stations for electric vehicles, and forging partnerships with governments and companies, now climbing to more than 80 around the world from 30 last year in an effort to make the move to electric successful.

"That shows how interest in zero-emissions is growing," said Watanabe. Nissan dealers in Japan will be equipped with battery rechargers with the goal of having 2 million chargers, and an additional 5,000 that recharge quicker, around Japan by 2020, according to the manufacturer of the March subcompact and Infiniti luxury models.

Nissan has set up a company to recycle used EV batteries to reuse and repackage, as well as reselling for back-up and storage.

New-age technologies and mobile phones

During this festive season, a cursory glance through newspapers shows advertisements of several new phone launches— Blackberry Torch and the Samsung Tablet. The advertisements do not talk about the hardware but what the "devices and the technology" put together can do for us. With the new age technology products, the whole is truly more than sum of the parts. Let's look into a few reasons why these devices have evolved to the current level.

One key reason has been the rapid pace evolution of core technology in mobiles. Core technology in the mobility space consists of fundamentally the processor speeds and the base memories (RAM, ROM) in the hardware, graphic accelerators, internal memory, display sizes, resolutions and types, ability of play a multitude of music and video formats, camera and video capture in megapixels, output formats and so forth.

Processor speeds that used to be non-existent some time back, have now clocked up to 1GHz. This entails that the device becomes quicker and more responsive to the input commands of the customer. The average speed in the basic Chinese phones is 104 MHz and at best goes up to 208 MHz. These used to be the speeds in the erstwhile premium devices costing 30K or so but this is now passé .

With the operating system (OS) system becoming hungry and constantly being required to ensure multitasking of applications, the average speed of the processors have come to 600 MHz in the touch and Qwerty segment devices from Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry and Sony Ericsson. Processor speeds have little meaning if the RAM and ROM are inadequate. From a mere 1 megabyte or some kilobytes in basic phones which is good enough to take care of saving limited contacts and SMS, the evolved phones now boasts of 256 megabytes of both RAM and ROM and this goes up to as much to 2 gigabytes. This ensures more memory available to the user to store and load programs as well as for the device to store its OS, programs as well as contacts and SMSes etc.

Another reason is the increase in internal and external memory capabilities. For a user, this translates into "more" music, movies, images and so forth. From less than 2 MB memory a few years ago, to 32 GB as internal memory and support up to 32 GB of external memory cards is what is now available in mobiles. A customer can carry about 4,000 songs on a 16 GB card costing a mere 2.5K. The new era mobile phones have the ability to play all or any music format be it MP3, AMR, MIDI, WMA, WAV, RMVB etc.

A few years ago, a video player evolved from a VCR to a VCD player and then a DVD player. This reached its zenith when a Blu-ray player got launched. Today, a mobile phone can play all possible formats including MPEG4, DIVIX, 3GP and WMA. In fact, two models of Nokia and Motorola—N8 and XT720—have HDMI output ports. They can be attached to the HDMI port of the TV and the two devices get integrated—convergence at its best.

The technology pundits are also predicting that growth of the digital camera category will slow down, as the mobile phones enhance their camera capabilities. With pricing going south on phones, this may well become a reality with 5 MP camera phones becoming available at entry level prices.

Display quality in the phones has perhaps seen technology at its best. From the plain Jane black and white displays, we now have colour displays that would put a movie theatre to shame. LCDs consist of TFT, Amoled and now Super Amoled. Vendors have left nothing to imagination with a choice of 16 million colours to give the real depth of the display quality. Along with the colours comes the pixel size. Higher the pixel size better the resolution. A high end phone like the Samsung Super Amoled device—Galaxy S makes viewing a true pleasure.

In a nutshell: The convergence of various technologies on the mobile phone is a force multiplier that is truly delighting the customer.