View Google Calendar offline

In addition to offline access to Gmail while you're traveling or without a strong internet connection, you can now see your Google Calendar events when you're disconnected. Offline Calendar lets you view your existing schedule and events, but not edit them, so you don't have to print out calendars the night before a trip. This feature has been available to businesses and schools using Google Apps for about a month; we're now turning it on for everyone.

Like Gmail, the offline feature of Calendar uses Gears, an open source browser extension that adds offline functionality directly to the browser.

To enable offline Calendar access, sign in to Google Calendar and look for the "Offline Beta" link in the upper right-hand corner of your account, next to your username. We've released this early and are still ironing out some kinks, so if you encounter any issues, be sure to let us know. If you access Calendar through the Premier or Education Editions of Google Apps, your domain administrator will first have to elect to turn on new features from the Domain Settings page of the Google Apps control panel.

There are multiple ways to see your calendar when you're away from your desk — in addition to offline mode, we offer two-way sync for iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and Blackberry devices. So wherever you go, Google Calendar can be there with you.

Let Your Lost Laptop Shout for Help

Techtree News Staff, Mar 03, 2009 1444 hrs IST

'Retriever' -- a software that alerts the finder to return a lost laptop

Now here's a software that offers one-way negotiation with the finder of your laptop, when lost. Imagine your laptop shouting, "Help, I've been stolen!" or even better, "Get your hands off me!"


U.S. firm Front Door Software has developed 'Retriever' -- a software that alerts the finder to return a lost laptop.

When your lost laptop boots, the Retriever displays your contact information and a message (that you've fed in) to its finder.


Also, you can log on to the software's website and check a box indicating the computer is missing. After this, when the finder boots the laptop, a big yellow and red banner appears on the screen, announcing that the laptop lost or stolen. This is a recurring message set to reappear every 30 seconds, no matter how many times the finder closes the window.


Further, Retriever tries to connect via Wi-Fi to report its loss in the background.


So, you have an option for the software to display your contact details and let you make an offer for the finder, or log in to the software's website to display annoying messages till he makes an attempt to return your laptop.


However, such interesting software sure has a promising future. It could be incorporated into, say public toilets, where the toilet's door will not let the user get out of there till he's not flushed the pot!


Or perhaps such software could be worked upon for (along with trackers) to be installed in other devices that are more prone to getting stolen like cameras, mobile phones, and music players.


Anyway, the Retriever program costs around $30 (Rs. 1550) for 3 years. It currently only works with Microsoft Windows XP and Vista; a version for Mac OS is on its way.

Gmail Gets Multi-attachment Updates

Now this is what we call uploading made easy

Uploading multiple attachments at the same time just got enabled. Gmail has warded off the tedious job of uploading files one at a time. Now Gmail will let uploading multiple files at a time, albeit, the maximum limit of attachments remains 20MB only.

As per a recent post on the Official Gmail Blog, sending multiple files from the same folder is as easy as cup of coffee. To add multiple files, simply hold down the Control key (Ctrl) to select multiple files. For adding continuous file lists, hold down Shift key (Shift).

All the files will have separate upload progress bars. It appears that Google has installed a little Flash plugin to allow multiple simultaneous file uploads with progress bars.



We noticed that this new feature works on Firefox, Opera, Chrome and even on the recently released Safari 4. Yes, the feature doesn't work on Internet Explorer 8 RC 1 or earlier. Ouch! That would hurt the Internet Explorer users worldwide.

Windows 7 RC Gets 36 Changes

Techtree News Staff, Feb 28, 2009 0830 hrs IST

Windows 7 Release Candidate anticipated for release on April 10, 2009

After the overwhelming response to Windows 7 and requests for features from users, Microsoft has finally released the feature list of the Windows 7 Release Candidate. This release candidate of Windows 7 is expected to arrive on April 10, 2009, as per Ars Technica.

In all, Microsoft's senior program manager, Chaitanya Sareen, outlined 36 changes in the Windows 7 release candidate. Minor changes will give users more control than what they had in the Windows 7 beta. However, Paul Thurrott dismissed these "laundry list of tiny changes, much like the '300+ New Features!' lists that Apple makes every time it ships a new version of Mac OS X."
Here are a few important changes we'd like to highlight:

Windows Flip (Alt+Tab) with Aero Peek
The ALT+TAB window feature will be implemented in Aero Peek. Time delay in flipping between and cycling through windows will be displayed in the respective window through Aero Peek.

Keyboard shortcut: Windows Logo+ #
Keyboard speed and efficiency freaks would love the new keyboard shortcut - Windows Logo key + # key. This new shortcut will give you access to the taskbar for launching and switching to a program that is running.

Touch-y tweaks
This much hyped touch feature in Windows 7 gets some improvements like multi-touch keyboard, drag-n-drop support, and multi-touch right click in the release candidate.

Native .mov file support
Say adios to QuickTime, for now, Windows 7 RC will allow .mov file playback on the fly.

FAT32 support
Support for non-removable FAT32 and NTFS hard drives will be added, which was absent in Windows 7 Beta.

Several enhancements and performance tweaks have been added in the exhaustive list of changes. We know that the new features are going to disappoint many users (read: testers), but this time Microsoft is taking each step carefully to not repeat past mistakes.

Rumors based on insider information indicate the release of Windows 7 RC on April 10, 2009. Let's hope Microsoft has learned its lesson from the Windows 7 beta launch and will be well prepared for the Windows 7 Release Candidate roll-out.

Google Phone Search 1-800-41-999-999(toll free)

Google Phone Search - Voice Search for Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai New! and Bangalore New!, India

Google Phone Search is a new pilot service making local business information, movie times and real time flight status accessible from any phone.

Google Phone Search gives you the power of Google Search while you are on the go. This service is completely free of charge, bringing you the information you need, right when you need it the most. It can be reached from any phone number - landline or mobile.

Dial from any phone 1-800-41-999-999 (toll free)

Once you find the information you're looking for, you can:

• Get the information sent to you for free via SMS
• Have the information read to you

To give you the information you need quickly and efficiently, we are using a combination of advanced speech recognition technology and local experts - ensuring that you always find the best answers to your questions in the fastest way possible.

To find out more about getting other Google products on your mobile device, visit Google Mobile web site.

Note: Google Phone Search is still in its pilot stage and is available to users in Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, India only. It may not be available at all times and may not work for all users. We're fine-tuning the service to serve you better. It is currently only available in English, Hindi and Telugu.

Urgent Requirment for Java Professionals

Hi,

This is regarding an Urgent opening with one of our reputed Client based in Mumbai. Please go through the details and if it sounds interesting for you kindly revert back to me with your updated Resume asap.

About the company

We are a design house for development of Embedded Products. We provide quality solutions and undertake turnkey projects as well as specific customer application development.
We offer Smart card based RFID Solutions and manufacture Hardware like Smart Cards, Hand Held Readers, Automated Ticket Vending Machines, RFID Readers, RFID Tags for metallic and non-metallic applications. We also have Expertise in hazardous area applications (ATEX-CE and intrinsically safe systems) for Petroleum Sector.

We offer state of the art Retail Automation Solutions with POS, Cash Registers and RFID/ Smart Card Based Solutions.

All products developed follow latest internationally accepted test standards. Well developed R&D Centre with highly skilled dedicated team focused on development of new and innovative products. To know about the company please visit

Find the requirement details below;

Requirements:

Qualification : BE (preferably electronics background)
Skill sets : JAVA, socket programming, Database, Oracle, SQL, .net
Experience : minimum 3 yrs - Automation based project
Location : Mumbai (only)
Notice : Immediate or Minimum notice period

It would be appreciable if you can give any reference or else forward this mail to any of your friends or Collegues those who are looking for a change in the same Skill set.

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IT & Non IT Solutions
Email :resumes@techmidas.net
Tel :022-40214984/ 28807365
Mobile : 09867374984

Artificial Intelligence - Pros & Cons

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – PROS & CONS

ABSTRACT

On one hand, in the recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has grown from small scale laboratory science into technological and industrial success. Basic research in AI has expanded enormously during this period. In the last thirty years, AI have demonstrated that intelligence requires more than the ability to reason. It also requires a great deal of knowledge about the world. The ultimate goal of AI is the construction of programs that solve hard problems. Previously, most of the AI programs are written in LISP, PROLOG, or some specialized AI shell but now they are being written in wide variety of the programming languages as AI has spread in the mainstream computing world. On the other hand, by far the greatest danger of AI is that people conclude too early that they understand it. The problem seems to be unusually acute in Artificial Intelligence. The field of AI has a reputation for making huge promises and then failing to deliver on them. Actually, AI is not hard, but for some reason, it is very easy for people to think they know far more about Artificial Intelligence than they actually do.

INTRODUCTION

Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that deals with intelligence of machines. It is the study and design of intelligent agents or how to make computers do things that people do better. An intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success. We can also define it as the science and engineering of making intelligent machines. Today, artificial intelligence has become an essential part of the technology industry, providing the heavy lifting for the most difficult problems in the computer science. AI research is highly technical and specialized. Subfields of AI are organized around particular problems, the application of particular tools and around long standing theoretical differences of opinion. The central problems of AI include such traits as reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, communication, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects.

Cognitive biases potentially affecting judgement of global risk. Cognitive biases are settled science; one need simply quote the literature. Artificial Intelligence is not settled science; it belongs to the frontier. Actuarial statistics cannot be consulted to assign small annual probabilities of catastrophe. Calculations from a precise, precisely confirmed model to rule out events or place infinitesimal upper bounds on their probability, as with proposed physics disasters cannot be used.

ANTHROPOMORPHIC BIAS

Let us imagine a complex biological adaptation with ten necessary parts. If each of ten genes is independently at 50% frequency in the gene pool - each gene possessed by only half the organisms in that species - then, on average, only 1 in 1024 organisms will possess the full, functioning adaptation. If gene B depends on gene A, then gene B has no significant advantage unless gene A forms a reliable part of the genetic environment. Complex, interdependent machinery is necessarily universal within a sexually reproducing species; it cannot evolve otherwise. In every known culture, humans experience joy, sadness, disgust, anger, fear, and surprise, and indicate these emotions using the same facial expressions. Humans evolved to model other humans - to compete against and cooperate with our own co specifics. Not surprisingly, human beings often “anthropomorphize” - expect humanlike properties of that which is not human. In The Matrix, the supposed "artificial intelligence" Agent Smith initially appears utterly cool and collected his face passive and unemotional. But later, while interrogating the human Morpheus, Agent Smith gives vent to his disgust with humanity and his face shows the human-universal facial expression for disgust. The key result is that even when people consciously believe an AI is unlike a human, they still visualize scenarios as if the AI were anthropomorphic. Anthropomorphic bias can be classed as insidious: it takes place with no deliberate intent, without conscious realization, and in the face of apparent knowledge.

People need not realize they are anthropomorphizing in order for anthropomorphism to supervene on cognition. When we try to reason about other minds, each step in the reasoning process may be contaminated by assumptions so ordinary in human experience that we take no more notice of them than air or gravity. If the aliens have sufficiently advanced technology, they'll genetically engineer themselves to like soft skins instead of hard exoskeletons. Advanced aliens could reengineer themselves (genetically or otherwise) to like soft skins. An insectoid alien who likes hard skeletons will not wish to change itself to like soft skins instead - not unless natural selection has somehow produced in it a distinctly human sense of meta-sexiness. When using long, complex chains of reasoning to argue in favor of an anthropomorphic conclusion, each and every step of the reasoning is another opportunity to sneak in the error. And it is also a serious error to begin from the conclusion and search for a neutral seeming line of reasoning leading there; this is rationalization. If it is self-brain-query which produced that first fleeting mental image of an insectoid chasing a human female, then anthropomorphism is the underlying cause of that belief, and no amount of rationalization will change that.

THE WIDTH OF MIND DESIGN SPACE

Evolution strongly conserves some structures. Once other genes evolve which depend on a previously existing gene, that early gene is set in concrete; it cannot mutate without breaking multiple adaptations. Homeotic genes tell many other genes when to activate. Mutating a homeotic gene can result in a fruit fly embryo that develops normally except for not having a head. As a result, homeotic genes are so strongly conserved that many of them are the same in humans and fruit flies - they have not changed since the last common ancestor of humans and bugs. Any two AI designs might be less similar to one another than you are to a petunia. The term "Artificial Intelligence" refers to a vastly greater space of possibilities than does the term "Homo sapiens". AI deals about minds in-general, or optimization processes in general. Natural selection creates complex functional machinery without mindfulness; evolution lies inside the space of optimization processes but outside the circle of minds. It is this enormous space of possibilities which outlaws anthropomorphism as legitimate reasoning.

PREDICTION AND DESIGN

It is impossible to predict whether an arbitrary computational system implements any input-output function, including, say, simple multiplication. So how is it possible to build computer chips which reliably implement multiplication? Because human engineers deliberately use designs that they can understand. Anthropomorphism leads people to believe that they can make predictions, given no more information than that something is “intelligence” - anthromorphism will go on generating predictions regardless, of the brain automatically putting itself in the shoes of the "intelligence".

One path leading to global catastrophe – to someone pressing the button with a mistaken idea of what the button does - is that Artificial Intelligence comes about through a similar accretion of working algorithms, with the researchers having no deep understanding of how the combined system works. Nonetheless, the AI will be friendly, with no strong visualization of the exact processes involved in producing friendly behavior, or any detailed understanding of what they mean by friendliness. It's mistaken belief that an AI will be friendly which implies an obvious path to global catastrophe.

UNDERESTIMATING THE POWER OF INTELLIGENCE

Individual differences of human intelligence have a standard label, Spearman's g aka gfactor,a controversial interpretation of the solid experimental result that different intelligence tests are highly correlated with each other and with real-world outcomes such as lifetime income. Spearman's g is a statistical abstraction from individual differences of intelligence between humans, who as a species are far more intelligent than lizards. Spearman's g is abstracted from millimeter height differences among a species of giants. General intelligence is a between-species difference, a complex adaptation, and a human universal found in all known cultures. There may as yet be no academic consensus on intelligence, but there is no doubt about the existence, or the power, of the thing-to-be-explained. The phrase "transhuman AI" or "artificial superintelligence" evoke images of booksmarts-in-a-box: an AI that's really good at cognitive tasks stereotypically associated with "intelligence". But not superhumanly persuasive; or far better than humans at predicting and manipulating human social situations; or inhumanly clever in formulating long-term strategies.

Artificial Intelligence is not an amazing shiny expensive gadget to advertise in the latest tech magazines. Artificial Intelligence does not belong in the same graph that shows progress in medicine, manufacturing, and energy. Artificial Intelligence is not something you can casually mix into a lumped futuristic scenario of skyscrapers and flying cars and nanotechnological red blood cells that let you hold your breath for eight hours. The catastrophic scenario which stems from underestimating the power of intelligence is that someone builds a button, and doesn't care enough what the button does, because they don't think the button is powerful enough to hurt them. Underestimating the power of intelligence implies a proportional underestimate of the potential impact of Artificial Intelligence, the group of concerned researchers and grant makers and individual philanthropists who handle existential risks on behalf of the human species, will not pay enough attention to Artificial Intelligence. Or the wider field of AI will not pay enough attention to risks of strong AI, and therefore good tools and firm foundations for friendliness will not be available when it becomes possible to build strong intelligences. Artificial Intelligence could be the powerful solution to other existential risks, and by mistake we will ignore our best hope of survival. The point about underestimating the potential impact of Artificial Intelligence is symmetrical around potential good impacts and potential bad impacts.

CAPABILITY AND MOTIVE

When technology advances far enough we'll be able to build minds far surpassing human intelligence. Now, it's obvious that how large a cheesecake you can make depends on your intelligence. A superintelligence could build enormous cheesecakes - cheesecakes the size of cities - by golly, the future will be full of giant cheesecakes!" The question is whether the superintelligence wants to build giant cheesecakes. The vision leaps directly from capability to actuality, without considering the necessary intermediate of motive. The following chains of reasoning, considered in isolation without supporting argument, all exhibit the Fallacy of the Giant Cheesecake:

· A sufficiently powerful Artificial Intelligence could overwhelm any human resistance and wipe out humanity. [And the AI would decide to do so.] Therefore we should not build AI.

· A sufficiently powerful AI could develop new medical technologies capable of saving millions of human lives. [And the AI would decide to do so.] Therefore we should build AI.

· Once computers become cheap enough, the vast majority of jobs will be performable by Artificial Intelligence more easily than by humans. A sufficiently powerful AI would even be better than us at math, engineering, music, art, and all the other jobs we consider meaningful. [And the AI will decide to perform those jobs.] Thus after the invention of AI, humans will have nothing to do, and we'll starve or watch television.

OPTIMIZATION PROCESSES

The above deconstruction of the Fallacy of the Giant Cheesecake invokes an intrinsic anthropomorphism - the idea that motives are separable; the implicit assumption that by talking about "capability" and "motive" as separate entities, we are carving reality at its joints. This is a useful slice but an anthropomorphic one. To view the problem in more general terms, I introduce the concept of an optimization process: a system which hits small targets in large search spaces to produce coherent real-world effects. An optimization process steers the future into particular regions of the possible.

For any event one can predict the outcome of a process, without being able to predict any of the intermediate steps in the process. To hit a tiny target in configuration space requires a powerful optimization process. The notion of an "optimization process" is predictively useful because it can be easier to understand the target of an optimization process than to understand its step-by-step dynamics.

AIMING AT THE TARGET

What "AIs" will "want"? How the future will be? Predictions are that, "AIs will attack humans with marching robot armies" or "AIs will invent a cure for cancer". Complex relations between initial conditions and outcomes - that would lose the audience are not proposed. But we need relational understanding to manipulate the future, steer it into a region palatable to humankind. If we do not steer, we run the danger of ending up where we are going. The critical challenge is not to predict that "AIs" will attack humanity with marching robot armies, or alternatively invent a cure for cancer. The task is not even to make the prediction for an arbitrary individual AI design. Rather the task is choosing into existence some particular powerful optimization process whose beneficial effects can legitimately be asserted. I strongly urge my readers not to start thinking up reasons why a fully generic optimization process would be friendly. Natural selection isn't friendly, nor does it hate you, nor will it leave you alone. Thus, achieving harmony of predicted positive results and actual positive results.

FRIENDLY AI

It would be a very good thing if humanity knew how to choose into existence a powerful optimization process with a particular target. Or in more colloquial terms, it would be nice to build a nice AI. "Friendly AI" also refers to the product of technique - an AI created with specified motivations. One common reaction I encounter is for people to immediately declare that Friendly AI is impossibility, because any sufficiently powerful AI will be able to modify its own source code to break any constraints placed upon it. Any AI with free access to its own source would, in principle, possess the ability to modify its own source code in a way that changed the AI's optimization target. This does not imply the AI has the motive to change its own motives. When computer engineers prove a chip valid - a good idea if the chip has 155 million transistors and you can't issue a patch afterward - the engineers use human-guided, machine-verified formal proof.

Proving a computer chip correct requires a synergy of human intelligence and computer algorithms, as currently neither suffices on its own. Perhaps a true AI could use a similar combination of abilities when modifying its own code - would have both the capability to invent large designs without being defeated by exponential explosion, and also the ability to verify its steps with extreme reliability. That is one way a true AI might remain know ably stable in its goals, even after carrying out a large number of self-modifications. “Friendly AI” is theoretically impossible, dares to quantify over every possible mind design and every possible optimization process - including human beings, who are also minds, some of whom are nice and wish they were nicer.

TECHNICAL FAILURE AND PHILOSOPHICAL FAILURE

Potential failures of attempted Friendly AI can be categorized into two informal fuzzy categories, technical failure and philosophical failure.

· Technical failure is when you try to build an AI and it doesn't work the way you think it does - you have failed to understand the true workings of your own code.

· Philosophical failure is trying to build the wrong thing, so that even if you succeeded you would still fail to help anyone or benefit humanity.

HARDWARE

People tend to think of large computers as the enabling factor for Artificial Intelligence. Outside futurists discussing Artificial Intelligence talk about hardware progress because hardware progress is easy to measure - in contrast to understanding of intelligence. Rather than thinking in terms of the "minimum" hardware "required" for Artificial Intelligence, think of a minimum level of researcher understanding that decreases as a function of hardware improvements. The better the computing hardware, the less understanding you need to build an AI. The extremal case is natural selection, which used a ridiculous amount of brute computational force to create human intelligence using no understanding, only nonchance retention of chance mutations. Increased computing power makes it easier to build AI, but there is no obvious reason why increased computing power would help make the AI Friendly. Increased computing power makes it easier to use brute force; easier to combine poorly understood techniques that work.

THREATS AND PROMISES

It is a risky intellectual endeavor to predict specifically how a benevolent AI would help humanity, or an unfriendly AI harm it. There is the risk of conjunction fallacy. There is the risk - virtually the certainty - of failure of imagination; and the risk of Giant Cheesecake Fallacy that leaps from capability to motive. Nonetheless I will try to solidify threats and promises. The future has a reputation for accomplishing feats which the past thought impossible. Future civilizations have even broken what past civilizations thought (incorrectly, of course). The three families of unreliable metaphors for imagining the capability of a smarter-than-human Artificial Intelligence:

· G-factor metaphors: Inspired by differences of individual intelligence between humans. AIs will patent new technologies, publish groundbreaking research papers, make money on the stock market, or lead political power blocs.

· History metaphors: Inspired by knowledge differences between past and future human civilizations. AIs will swiftly invent the kind of capabilities that cliché would attribute to human civilization a century or millennium from now: molecular nanotechnology; interstellar travel; computers performing 1025 operations per second.

· Species metaphors: Inspired by differences of brain architecture between species. AIs have magic. G-factor metaphors seem most common in popular futurism: when people think of "intelligence" they think of human geniuses instead of humans.

A fast, nice intelligence wielding molecular nanotechnology is power on the order of getting rid of disease, not getting rid of cancer. There is finally the family of species metaphors, based on between-species differences of intelligence. The AI has magic - not in the sense of incantations and potions, but in the sense that a wolf cannot understand how a gun works, or what sort of effort goes into making a gun, or the nature of that human power which lets us invent guns. Strong super humanity would be more than cranking up the clock speed on a human equivalent mind.

CONCLUSION

· Cognitive biases potentially affecting judgement of global risk.

· Anthropomorphic bias can be classed as insidious: it takes place with no deliberate intent, without conscious realization, and in the face of apparent knowledge.

· Enormous space of possibilities which outlaws anthropomorphism as legitimate reasoning.

· AI will be friendly which implies an obvious path to global catastrophe.

· The point about underestimating the potential impact of Artificial Intelligence is symmetrical around potential good impacts and potential bad impacts.

· When technology advances far enough we'll be able to build minds far surpassing human intelligence.

· A risky intellectual endeavor to predict specifically how a benevolent AI would help humanity.

· A fast, nice intelligence wielding molecular nanotechnology is power on the order of getting rid of disease, not getting rid of cancer.

Goodbye International Cricket in Pakistan

As I broke the story of the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, I also mourned the imminent death of international cricket in Pakistan. This deadly attack simply means no international team will be willing to come and play any sport in Pakistan. What is most embarrassing is the fact that the attack was targeted at a team that was trying to help Pakistani cricket and cricket-crazed fans by agreeing to tour in a time of dire crises.

Kumar Sangakkara, Ajhanta Mendis, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavithana are injured and although their lives are out of danger, it was most unfortunate that these most sporting of cricketers had to face this. Only last week, during the Karachi Test, former England fast bowler Dominic Cork and Sri Lankan coach Trevor Bayliss spoke about the fool-proof security arrangements in Pakistan and pleaded international sides to come and play cricket here. What must they be thinking and doing now? Eating their words, and packing their bags to board the next flight home, I suppose.

The least the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Pakistan government can do now is issue a national, government-level apology to the Sri Lankan team and the people of Sri Lanka for this unfortunate incident – a bit more than the PCB chief saying ‘we’re assessing the situation.’

Pakistani fans can pretty much say goodbye to international cricket after this attack and dare I say, even prepare for a total boycott of all sports events in the country for the next few months.

Google SMS New! Take the power of Google search with you, through Google SMS search on your phone.

Get cricket scores, Indian Railways train schedules & ticket status, horoscopes, movie showtimes, restaurant information and more ...all through SMS on your phone.

Best of all, you don't pay a premium charge for any of this, just the price of a standard SMS.

Try it out! Simply send your search query by SMS to 9-77-33-00000 and we'll send you results back by SMS immediately.

Of course, don't forget to save 9-77-33-00000 to your phonebook for quick and easy access to Google SMS in the future!

There are no premium charges for this service, only the cost of sending a standard SMS. Incoming messages from Google are not charged.

To get started, SMS 'help' to:
9-77-33-00000

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Cricket	cri, cricket score
Railways PNR Status	pnr number
Train schedule	trains delhi to mumbai
Business Search	restaurants indira nagar banglore, taxi vasant kunj
Stock Quotes	reliance stock
Horoscopes	virgo
News	news, news big b
Movies	movies delhi, dostana delhi
Flight status	it302
Definition	define inflation
Weather	weather delhi
Translation	translate hello in french
Web Snippets	web hubble telescope
Calculator	5*10/5-4, 1 kilo in pounds
Currency Conversion	5000 inr in usd
Facts	GDP of india
Help	tips

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* Google SMS will return results using your saved location if no location is specified.

Requirements: SMS enabled mobile device; All GSM/CDMA mobile operator networks are supported (Aircel, Airtel, BPL, BSNL, Idea, Reliance, Spice, Tata, Vodafone).

Note: Only standard SMS rates apply for using Google SMS. Incoming messages from Google are not charged.

Google SMS Channels: Send SMS Text Messages to your Group for Free

Google India has just introduced a new product called Google SMS Channels that lets you subscribe to news alerts, blog updates and other kinds of information like horoscopes, jokes, stocks or even cricket scores via SMS text messages.

If you are based in India and like to subscribe to this site on your mobile phone via SMS, please join the Digital Inspiration SMS channel on Google. Thanks Amit Somani.

Google SMS Channels, which seems to have lot in common with SMS Gupshup, is free both for content publishers as well as mobile phone users who subscribe to text updates via SMS.

Families or friends can create private SMS groups on Google SMS channels and stay in touch via SMS without paying any fees to their mobile carrier.

Other than receiving blog RSS feeds via SMS, you may also use the Google SMS service to get news alerts and weather information on your phone.

Another interesting part – you don’t really need a mobile phone to send an SMS to your group as there’s an option in Google SMS channels that lets you can compose and send SMS messages via the web itself. It supports English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada.

Google SMS channels currently works only with with phone numbers of India but they are “working towards making this service available to international numbers.”

LS polls from April 16

To be conducted in 5 phases
Counting on May 16
Code of conduct in force
New Delhi, March 2
The Election Commission of India today announced the much-awaited dates for holding elections to the 15th Lok Sabha. The general elections would be conducted in five phases — between April 16 and May 13 — while the counting would be done on May 16. The model code of conduct, too, was enforced with immediate effect.

The poll schedule was announced at a press conference here this afternoon by Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami and Election Commissioners Naveen Chawla and SY Quraishi.

As many as 124 Lok Sabha constituencies would go to the polls on April 16 in the first phase, followed by 141 on April 23, 107 on April 30, 85 on May 7 and finally 86 on May 13. Significantly, this would be the first general election after the delimitation of the parliamentary constituencies.

Notably, most of the constituencies in north India — Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, western parts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand — would go to polls in the fourth or the fifth phase. In Punjab, polling would be held in two phases while in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh it would spread across five phases.

The poll schedule was announced a day after President Pratibha Patil rejected Gopalaswami’s controversial suggestion to sack Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla from the poll panel on grounds that he was “biased” towards the Congress. The CEC said the new Lok Sabha would be constituted by June 2.

Notably, this time there would be 4.3 crore more voters than 2004. At 71 crore, the strength of the Indian electorate is more than the combined population of Russia and the US.

More than 40 lakh civil officials and 21 lakh security personnel would be deployed across some 8.28 lakh polling stations, an increase of 20 per cent over 2004 when 6.87 lakh polling stations were set up. As many as 12,000 of the new polling stations have been set up in villages having less than 300 electors. The commission has also undertaken exercise of vulnerability mapping to identify areas where voters could face threat. A total of 13.68 lakh electronic voting machines would be used.

Among other states, Bihar would have four rounds of polling. Maharashtra and West Bengal would undergo polling over three phases. Apart from Punjab, seven more states, including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur and Orissa, would witness voting in two rounds. All other states and union territories would go to the polls in one go.

Lok Sabha polls in 5 phases between April 16-May 13

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha elections will be held in five phases between April 16 and May 13. The counting will be done on May 16.

New Lok Sabha will be constituted by June 2. The elections will be held in 5 phases in J&K and Uttar Pradesh, in four phases in Bihar, three in Maharashtra, two in AP, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, MP, Orissa and Punjab, remaining states and UTs, the election will be held on one day, the Election Commission informed the media on Monday.

Polls will be conducted in 124 constituencies on April 16, in 141 constituencies on April 23, in 107 constituencies on April 30, 85 on May 7 and 86 on May 13.

Treating Manipur as an exception, polls will be conducted in the state on April 22, considering April 23 is a local holiday there.

Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Orissa will go to polls with the other states.

Earlier in the day, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) led by Ajit Singh announced its entry into the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The RLD will have a poll pact with the main NDA constituent the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

January exports fall by 15.9%

NEW DELHI: The global economic downturn continued to take its toll on Indian exports in the first month of the calendar year. Exports in January 2009 fell by 15.9% to $12.38 billion compared to exports worth $ 14.72 billion in January 2008. Thanks to a sharp dip in India’s oil bill during the month, imports registered the first dip during the on-going fiscal. There was a sharp fall of 18.2% im imports to $ 18.45 billion in January 2009 compared to $ 22.56 billion in January 2008. The official estimates of trade data for January 2009 was realsed by the commerce department on Monday.

Sectors which took the most severe drubbing during the month include textiles, handicrafts, gems & jewellery, leather, plastics, metals and rice, as per the initial estimates brought out by the commerce department earlier this month. The early estimates had painted a darker picture by putting the drop in exports at 22%.

India’s cumulative value of exports for the period April-January, 2008-09 was $144.26 billion as against $127.45 billion in the first ten months of 2007-08 registering a growth of 13.2%. The commerce and industry minister revised India’s growth target for the fiscal downwards to $170-175 billion from $200 billion fixed earlier. The minister is, however, optimistic that in the next fiscal it will be possible to meet the $200 billion target. India exported goods worth $162 billion in 2007-08.

In January 2009, India’s oil imports went down by 47.5% to $4.46 billion from $8.5 billion in January 2008. The dip in non-oil imports was relatively negligible at 0.5% with imports falling to $13.99 billion in January 2009 compared to imports worth $14.06 billion in January 2008.

Non-oil imports during April-January 2009 were valued at $ 160 billion which was 21.9% higher than the level of such imports valued at $ 131.36 billion in April-January 2007-08.

The trade deficit for April-January 2008-09 was estimated at $99.1 billion compared to a deficit of $66.83 billion during April-January 2007-08.

Sensex plunges to three-month low, RIL leads the fall

2 Mar 2009, 1627 hrs IST, PT
MUMBAI: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Monday tumbled to a three-month low by losing 284 points, impacted by the deepening global economic crisis, sparking heavy selling by funds in blue-chips led by Reliance Industries.

The Sensex plunged by 284.53 points at 8,607.08, after touching the day's low of 8,563.52, the lowest since November 20, mostly on reports of the US economy contracting at the fastest pace in more than 27 years.

The 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped by 89.05 points to 2,674.60, after touching a low of 2,659.55 during the day.

The trend-setter Reliance Industries, which approved the absorption of its unit Reliance Petroleum, led the decline with many stocks in the Mukesh and Anil Ambani group firms closing with losses.

Tata Consultancy Services led the decline among software makers as the US economy shrank at the fastest pace since 1982. More than 50 per cent of the country's software export revenue comes from the US.

RIL lost 3.15 per cent, Reliance Infra 9.12 per cent, RCom 6.50 per cent, Reliance Capital 6.97 per cent, Reliance Power 1.86 per cent and Reliance Petroleum 1.38 per cent.

Rupee at all-time low of 51.80/$; Citi sees 54/$ ahead

The Indian rupee is at a record low of Rs 51.80 per dollar on the back of dollar buying by oil companies.

Most other Asian currencies fell too on global risk aversion.

Citi has said the rupee may touch touch Rs 54 per dollar levels in the next two to four weeks. “Customers are still on the short side,” it said. “The rupee will move along with other Asian currencies as risk aversion is still there. Any RBI intervention will smooth the movement but cannot stop the rupee slide.”

Standard Chartered said it expects rate cuts to happen soon.

“There is little fresh supply coming from the market and with global equity markets weakening outflows, it is likely to put pressure on the rupee,” said HDFC.

Wages at IT multinationals start melting down

Bangalore: Software multinationals in India have begun freezing wage increases, slashing salaries and postponing merit-based hikes, a study by Indian consulting firm Zinnov has found.

"Though Bangalore stands highest in its average salary for multinational R&D firms, followed by Pune and Chennai, the economic slump is causing undue pressure on them to retain compensation levels," Zinnov director for advisory services C.S. Chandramouli, told IANS after the survey was made public.

Hinting that IT salaries in 2009 would see a freeze across the board in a majority of the firms surveyed, Chandramouli said the average increment would be in the 5-12 percent range.

"Of the 30 representative multinationals surveyed in these three cities (Bangalore, Pune and Chennai), 27 percent of them said they have frozen salary increases this year, while 42 percent said they would provide salary increases and 15 percent have postponed their merit increase cycle to take a call at a later stage if the economic scenario changes," Chandramouli said.

As a preferred destination for IT services and R&D, about 680 multinationals operate in India. Many of them have more than one R&D centre and presence in one or two of the three cities surveyed.

According to Zinnov's annual report on "Compensation and Benefit Study 2009", 12 percent of the MNCs have announced 5-10 percent salary cuts either for senior management or across levels.

"The survey highlights that multinationals are also shifting focus to the variable pay component to reward and retain top performers as opposed to fixed pay. Some of them have even restructured their compensation, linking employee rewards to individual and organisational results," the report said.

Referring to the adverse impact of the tough economic conditions on the compensation budgets, Chandramouli said MNCs were attempting to balance their need to retain key talent and address concerns over wage increase.

"Organisations are being proactive in managing people cost as it constitutes about 62 percent of the total operating cost," he noted.

Highlighting compensation trends across functions like engineering, quality assurance testing and technical architects, the report said senior positions such as engineering manager and director engineering continued to be on a rise, with an average eight percent increase.

As India's IT hub, Bangalore, however, continues to dominate the compensation index, especially in software product and R&D.

"Bangalore engineers are paid five percent higher than their counterparts in Pune and eight percent higher than in Chennai for engineering and quality positions," Zinnov consultant Sahana Shetty said.

However, average salaries of senior positions in the three cities are similar, though average salaries at junior positions are two-three percent higher in Bangalore.
"Employees are not clear if they will be laid off or if the projects they are working on will be de-prioritised. They are also concerned about the financial health of the parent company. Employees are frustrated with cost cuts for wha

t seem like inexpensive benefits (snacks, lunch, office parties, etc)," Shetty added.

HP is the consumer PC king

This year we clubbed together the consumer notebook and consumer desktop categories, and called it PC-Consumers. Reason—notebooks now account for more than 50 percent of the PCs sold to consumers and SOHOs.
HP with its dual brand (HP and Compaq) strategy topped this category by ranking higher on three out of five criteria. HCL, on the back of its strong tier-3 and tier-4 channel connect, came second. Lenovo and Dell both ended up with same final scores thus sharing the number three spot followed by Acer.
While the desktop business has been HCL’s strength, its notebooks are seeing good demand especially in smaller cities. Lenovo, which began the year by consolidating its consumer business under the Idea brand, has been criticized for favoring Large-Format Retailers, especially in tier-1 cities. Lenovo retailers polled blamed the vendor for letting LFRs sell products at much lower prices than theirs.
Dell made strong strides in the retail segment on the back of its brand pull, onsite warranty and better price-performance. But, respondents said, to rank higher on channel preference Dell still needs to prove its commitment and consistency.
While respondents appreciated Acer’s improved retail program, the vendor’s marketing and post-sales support need improvement. It also needs to review its LFR strategy.

Price-performance
HP was the overall price-performance leader in both the notebook and desktop category, followed by Dell, HCL, Lenovo and Acer. Despite Dell’s lower MOP, where HP scored was on the freebies it bundled with its products. Dell ranked ahead of Lenovo, Acer and HCL for notebooks, while HCL fared better for desktops, primarily because of favorable votes from resellers in smaller cities. Interestingly, Acer, despite its competitive pricing, scored the lowest on this parameter.

Marketing & branding

On this criterion HP leads, followed by Lenovo, HCL, Acer and Dell. The HP-Compaq duo enjoys strong customer pull; it was also ranked the most aggressive in rolling out consumer and channel incentive schemes. Throughout the year the company gave away freebies with its notebooks and desktops, which helped its partners sell more.
Lenovo, which ranked second on this parameter, enjoys customer pull in tier-1 and tier-2 cities, but in smaller cities it is still considered a push brand. HCL enjoys a brand pull like no other in smaller cities, and also does more promotions in these cities compared to tier-1 and tier-2 geographies. Acer lacks customer pull in small cities, while Dell lacks promotions and schemes for end-user demand generation.

Service & support
Dell’s onsite warranty policy is a clear winner. Many respondents believe that onsite warranty should become the standard in the consumer segment. HCL came in second by getting higher positive votes from smaller cities.
HP, despite the warranty woes of the past four months, ranked ahead of Lenovo and Acer. Lenovo partners polled said that the company suffers from a longer turnaround time than its peers for repair and replacement.
Though Acer’s RMA turnaround time is similar to Lenovo’s, what probably puts it behind is the consistent grouse among respondents in tier-1 and tier-2 cities about the frequent change of service partners and the lack of communication about these changes. Even the company’s Web site doesn’t have an updated list of ASPs, thus creating confusion among partners and customers.

Channel relationship
HP’s retail program was rated the most structured and consistent. Respondents appreciated the vendor’s rebate programs and its automated rebate authorization and clearance process.
HCL ranked second on this parameter because it enjoys a strong positive association with channels in tier-3 and tier-4 cities, where it outperformed even HP.
Lenovo needs to improve its clearance process as it’s currently ridden with disputes and delays. Resellers, especially in tier-2 cities, complained of frequent changes in local staff and authorized dealers, which is affecting Lenovo’s channel relationships.
Acer ramped up its retail partner network and also introduced new benefits for them. While respondents in tier-1 cities criticized its LFR strategy, those in smaller places complained of not getting regular communication about products and prices.
Dell failed to win the trust and confidence of respondents. The pricing disparity between its products sold through channels and those sold online continues to pique respondents. But Dell’s better price-performance and onsite warranty continue to push channel sales.