Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Apple delays international iPad launch again
US buyers have been snapping up the iPad so quickly that Apple Inc. is delaying the tablet computer's overseas debut a second time, the company said Wednesday.
Apple said it will now start taking orders for the iPad from international buyers on May 10.
In January, it said the iPad would be sold worldwide in late March. After analysts reported production delays would limit the number of units available, Apple postponed the US launch to April 3 and delayed plans for the international launch until late in April.
Word of the second delay didn't faze Apple investors, who are eager to see signs the iPad is selling well. Apple shares rose $2.39, or 1 percent, to $244.82 in morning trading.
"We know that many international customers waiting to buy an iPad will be disappointed by this news, but we hope they will be pleased to learn the reason the iPad is a runaway success in the US thus far," Apple said in a statement.
Apple said has delivered more than 500,000 iPads in the US and has taken "a large number" of orders for the coming models that can go online over cellular broadband rather than solely where Wi-Fi is available. Those versions cost $629, $729 or $829, depending on the storage capacity.
The Wi-Fi-only iPads available now are $499, $599 or $699.
'Call of Duty: Black Ops' sales top $1 billion
"Call of Duty: Black Ops," the new videogame from Activision Blizzard, has crossed the one-billion-dollar mark in worldwide sales, the company said Tuesday.
Activision, citing internal estimates, said "Call of Duty: Black Ops" reaped more than 650 million dollars worldwide in the first five days after it went on sale in November and has gone on to earn more than one billion dollars.
"In all of entertainment, only 'Call of Duty' and 'Avatar' have ever achieved the billion dollar revenue milestone this quickly," Activision Blizzard chief executive Bobby Kotick said in a statement.
Activision said more than 600 million hours have been logged playing "Call of Duty: Black Ops" since the launch of the game on November 9.
Activision said that according to Microsoft, the average player logs on more than once a day and plays for more than one hour each time.
"Even more remarkable than the number of units sold is the number of hours people are playing the game together online which are unprecedented," said Eric Hirshberg, chief executive of Activision Publishing.
"Call of Duty: Black Ops" is the seventh title in a franchise that has won a devoted following since the first version was released in 2003.
The latest installment takes gamers on a series of Cold War-era military adventures.
"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" was last year's biggest grossing console game with more than 20 million units sold around the world.
Sony to launch PlayStation smartphone in spring
Sony's long-rumoured PlayStation Portable smartphone is set to be launched in North America and Europe as early as the spring, according to a Japanese newspaper report Wednesday.
The device would likely be based on Sony's handheld PSP Go game console, would be made by Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and run Google's Android operating system, said the Asahi Shimbun's English edition, citing unnamed sources.
Sony hopes to take on Apple's iPhone, Research in Motion's BlackBerry and Nokia devices by offering the first smartphone that is based on a portable game console, with a set of controls that allows very advanced gaming.
The PSP Go, launched in November 2009, already features software downloads through a wireless connection, allowing players to also browse the Internet, watch movies, play music and read books and comics.
The new PlayStation handset would similarly work with Sony's online media platform, the company's answer to Apple's iTunes.
Sony hopes the phone will stimulate sales in the sluggish videogame console market, said the Asahi.
Sony called the newspaper report "speculation" and declined to comment.
Wire agency IANS launch news apps for iPhone and Android platforms
Leading Indian wire agency Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) has launched its free iPhone and Android applications to help readers across the globe track the latest news, updates, features and analyses on a real-time basis.
"The iPhone and Android applications allow users to read news on all the major categories and topics, such as national, politics, diplomacy, business, sports, entertainment, technology and international," the New Delhi-headquartered group said in a statement.
"Users can choose to follow news from their own states, track news on specific topics or keyword, as also customise the applications to present news from the sections of their choice."
The applications have been developed using the open news platform from Nuvus Technologies (www.nuvus.com), which allow news providers a faster way to bring their content to the mobile platform.
Both the iPhone and Android applications -- named "IANS News" -- are available for download for free. Just log on, download and you're on.
The iPhone application is available on the iTunes store at http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/ians-news/id407894510?mt=8. The Android application is available at http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/news_and_weather/ians-india-news_pfor_download.html.
Other smartphone users, such as BlackBerry and HTC, can visit the mobile version at http://www.inewsone.com.
Better known by its acronym, IANS is an independent news wire service, with a wide network of correspondents to comprehensively cover India and South Asia, as also developments of interest to the region from across the globe.
IANS also covers the Indian diaspora story like no other Indian media.
The group also offers content outsourcing, entertainment-based photos, and ready-to-print content on contractual and turnkey basis for clients that spans government to corporate houses.
It has also recently started a new service for Bollywood text news, pictures and videos.
The group's 24x7 news operation in English and Hindi has a premium subscriber base that includes most major newspapers, magazines, TV stations and websites not just in India but also the Gulf region, Britain, the US and Australia.
The IANS photo service -- www.iansphoto.com -- releases 300 exclusive images per week, mainly from the entertainment world. These cover Bollywood, regional film industries, TV, fashion shows and celebrity events.
still no justice
Miffed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for not informing him of its decision to close the murder case of thirteen-year-old Aarushi Talwar, her father Rajesh Talwar said: "We had pinned our hopes on the investigation but it's been shattered."
Talking to reporters here, Rajesh said: "I got to know of it from the media. And, there has been no communication from the agency."
Claiming the CBI had not properly verified Aarushi's DNA and other forensic reports, he said he would meet the CBI Director AP Singh.
"We had done everything to get our daughter justice. Why did the CBI do such a thing?" asked Rajesh.
"We are certainly not satisfied. There is no doubt that someone murdered my daughter. We are broken parents today. UP police failed to act but even the CBI has failed to act. Today, her killers are walking free. I do not care who botched up the case. We want justice for our daughter," said Aarushi's mother Nupur.
On Wednesday, the investigating agency, in its closure case said the case has been damaged beyond repair and that crucial evidence has been handled badly.
The CBI took over the investigation into the murders of Aarushi and Hemraj on June 1, 2008, forming a 25-member team in a resolute attempt to crack the case.
The investigating agency later constituted a new team to look into the case, and recovered Aarushi's phone Nokia N-72 by tracking the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number six months after the murder.
The CBI also questioned Aarushi's family with respect to the recovered phone.
In June 2008, the CBI arrested three men, including Krishna, a helper at Dr. Talwar's dental clinic, for Aarushi's arrest. The other two men worked as domestic helpers in the Talwars' neighbourhood.
However, three months later, all three men were granted bail when the CBI admitted that it had no hard evidence against them.
The CBI had also conducted narco-analysis tests on Aarushi's parents to examine the possibility of their involvement or that of any other person.
Aarushi was found murdered in her Noida home on May 15, 2008. She was found with her throat slit and several stab wounds to her face. The family's domestic help Hemraj was later found dead on the rooftop.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Australia's Ashes failure started from the top
Australia will take a long, hard look at their cricketing future after England's Ashes triumph on Wednesday and just may find it was one of their perceived strengths that let them down over the last six weeks.
The long decline of the Australia team from the side that put England to the sword 5-0 four years ago to the squad that failed to regain the Ashes on home soil has been well documented.
The loss of bowling greats like Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath without the talent coming through to replace them, some erratic selections, the loss of basic disciplines like fielding well and even injuries and bad luck have all played their part.
In this Ashes series, however, it is difficult to look beyond the performance of their top order batsmen.
Australia's top four batsmen have so far accumulated just 763 runs between them in eight innings in this series.
If you take out the 352 accumulated by the best performer, opener Shane Watson, that falls to a paltry 411.
By contrast, England's top four have rattled up 1,593 over the four Ashes tests and even without the prolific Alastair Cook (577), they are still comfortably ahead of the Australian tally.
No matter how good your bowlers are, and Australia's have been patchy at times in this series, they must have something to bowl at if they are to put any pressure on the opposing batsmen.
None of Australia's top four made a century, while all of England batsmen did with Cook and Trott both accumulating two.
Long before Warne and McGrath pitched up with their wicket-busting bowling, Australia's batting strength was assumed, and that was no less the case at the start of the 2010-11 series.
Captain Ricky Ponting is the second most prolific batsman ever in test cricket and his vice captain Michael Clarke is a proven test performer.
FEW ALTERNATIVES
Opener Simon Katich, lost after the second test to an Achilles injury, is a seasoned test player and his replacement Phillip Hughes a hugely promising talent, albeit one found out by England when they won the Ashes last year.
Watson has a major problem converting half centuries to centuries but at least he has been making fifties on a regular basis and is also fairly decent bowling option.
This series, however, they have to a large part looked like the "bunnies" Mitchell Johnson and Co wanted to make of Cook and England skipper Andrew Strauss in the face of a tourist attack which was supposed to struggle on the hard Australian tracks.
Whether the pressure of losing successive Ashes got to them, or the dressing room unrest reported and denied in November did exist, or the England bowlers were just too good, the fact remains there is not any better batting talent out there.
So, short of a few tweaks in the order -- perhaps giving Usman Khawaja his debut to allow Ponting and Clarke to move down -- the Australian selectors do not really have many alternative batting options ahead of the fifth test in Sydney next week.
The injury to the luckless fast bowler Ryan Harris will allow them to make the sensible move of including a spinner for Sydney without dropping Johnson or his fellow quicks Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus.
And perhaps for the batsmen, the release from the pressure of contesting their country's most coveted trophy might allow them to play more freely and their true talent will shine through at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The long decline of the Australia team from the side that put England to the sword 5-0 four years ago to the squad that failed to regain the Ashes on home soil has been well documented.
The loss of bowling greats like Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath without the talent coming through to replace them, some erratic selections, the loss of basic disciplines like fielding well and even injuries and bad luck have all played their part.
In this Ashes series, however, it is difficult to look beyond the performance of their top order batsmen.
Australia's top four batsmen have so far accumulated just 763 runs between them in eight innings in this series.
If you take out the 352 accumulated by the best performer, opener Shane Watson, that falls to a paltry 411.
By contrast, England's top four have rattled up 1,593 over the four Ashes tests and even without the prolific Alastair Cook (577), they are still comfortably ahead of the Australian tally.
No matter how good your bowlers are, and Australia's have been patchy at times in this series, they must have something to bowl at if they are to put any pressure on the opposing batsmen.
None of Australia's top four made a century, while all of England batsmen did with Cook and Trott both accumulating two.
Long before Warne and McGrath pitched up with their wicket-busting bowling, Australia's batting strength was assumed, and that was no less the case at the start of the 2010-11 series.
Captain Ricky Ponting is the second most prolific batsman ever in test cricket and his vice captain Michael Clarke is a proven test performer.
FEW ALTERNATIVES
Opener Simon Katich, lost after the second test to an Achilles injury, is a seasoned test player and his replacement Phillip Hughes a hugely promising talent, albeit one found out by England when they won the Ashes last year.
Watson has a major problem converting half centuries to centuries but at least he has been making fifties on a regular basis and is also fairly decent bowling option.
This series, however, they have to a large part looked like the "bunnies" Mitchell Johnson and Co wanted to make of Cook and England skipper Andrew Strauss in the face of a tourist attack which was supposed to struggle on the hard Australian tracks.
Whether the pressure of losing successive Ashes got to them, or the dressing room unrest reported and denied in November did exist, or the England bowlers were just too good, the fact remains there is not any better batting talent out there.
So, short of a few tweaks in the order -- perhaps giving Usman Khawaja his debut to allow Ponting and Clarke to move down -- the Australian selectors do not really have many alternative batting options ahead of the fifth test in Sydney next week.
The injury to the luckless fast bowler Ryan Harris will allow them to make the sensible move of including a spinner for Sydney without dropping Johnson or his fellow quicks Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus.
And perhaps for the batsmen, the release from the pressure of contesting their country's most coveted trophy might allow them to play more freely and their true talent will shine through at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
India seal historic win in Durban, set up series decider in Cape Town
India scored a historic Test win in Durban, a venue where had fared poorly at in the past, and levelled the series 1-1 with a game left in Cape Town. Needing 303 to win this game and the series, South Africa were bowled out for 215.
With Zaheer Khan's return, India had a rejuvenated bowling attack in this game. The veteran seamer took six wickets in the match, including 3-57 in the second innings while S Sreesanth hit top form taking 3-45.
Sreesanth began the day in fine style for India when a vicious bouncer aimed at Jacques Kallis' nose was fended off Virender Sehwag behind the wicket.
India had some luck with the umpiring decisions today. Harbhajan Singh bowling over the wicket got AB de Villiers LBW. Hawk Eye suggested the ball would have gone well over the stumps.
The dangerous Mark Boucher was dismissed quickly by Zaheer. Umpire Steve Davis gave the LBW but replays showed the ball was missing off-stump.
With the ball reverse-swinging, Zaheer worked out the lower-order.
The win was set up primarily by the batting exploits of VVS Laxman, who is the only man in the Test match to cross 40. In the first innings he made 38, following it up with 96, mainly batting with the lower order.
Harbhajan showed good form, taking 4-10 in the first innings giving India a substantial lead of 74 in a low-scoring game.
BITSAT Mock Papers
It consists of 5 mock papers from Brilliant Tutorial with Solution provided in the last.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Maths MCQ Question Bank
The following question bank contains MCQ questions on the following topics.Answer keys are provided at the end of every file.
62 questions in Boolean Algebra
280 questions in Vectors And 3 - D Geometry
193 questions in Statics & Dynamics
101 questions in PROBABILITY
11 questions in LINEAR INEQUALITIES
361 questions in INDEFINITE INTEGRALS, DEFINITE INTEGRALS & THEIR APPLICATIONS
143 questions in Differential Equation
62 questions in Boolean Algebra
280 questions in Vectors And 3 - D Geometry
193 questions in Statics & Dynamics
101 questions in PROBABILITY
11 questions in LINEAR INEQUALITIES
361 questions in INDEFINITE INTEGRALS, DEFINITE INTEGRALS & THEIR APPLICATIONS
143 questions in Differential Equation
Chemistry MCQ Question Bank
The following question bank contains MCQ questions on the following topics.Answer keys are provided at the end of every file.
- 118 questions in Chemical Kinetics
- 52 questions in SOLUTIONS
- 122 questions in Chemistry of Representative Elements (p-block)
- 126 questions in Adsorption and colloids
- 84 questions in Electrochemistry
- 86 questions in CHEMICAL THERMODYNAMICS
- 45 questions in Nature of Chemical Bond II
The Life at KOTA
Many of the students are curious to know what happens at kota. How kids live there away from their family. How are the landlords their . How study goes . How is the mess food. here is my experience ..
This post is dedicated to my dear landlord "uncle" the biggest asshole I have ever faced in my life. As I have already mentioned in my blog how reluctant I was to live in his house but unfortunately I had to stay in it for 9 months. There is another unfair system in kota in which you have to give a caution money in advance so that you can't leave the room earlier. So I had also paid 4500rs in advance which uncle was going to return me in dec or jan. Uncle used to look more like a less paid servant. Very bad and tortured clothes and Aunty also used to wear very cheap clothes.
At the very first day I forgot to turn off the lights of my room and aunty politely asked me to turn off them next time. It was a good experience the wolves were talking underneath sheep skin. Soon uncle showed his real colors. He daily used to abuse us a lot if some one had left the cooler or light open. First Uncle had a mess with the Delhi boys living on ground floor. Now daily fight between them in the evening was common. It disturbed a lot in our studies. We used to sneak at some hidden places to get a glance or some words of that fight. One day there was a huge aggressive telephonic interaction of uncle and their dad and aunty throw out all of their luggage. The complaint to the police and uncle hadn't returned their caution money of 8krs. I don't know what happened next. Aunty was uncle's DHAL as if the students started dominating then AUNTY came into play. They were having NAPPA and VEGETA like relationship. Aunty's powers were much more superior. She was a fierce fighter equipped with all kinds of bad words and slang.
My first selfish mess owner was more degraded person. The food they used to send was awful. No quality and nutrition at all. I was paying 2500 for food including 2 times of milk and another boy of my hostel was paying the same but he was supplied 3 times milk. The milk had 90% water and rest 10% I don't know. They sent us calabash consistently for a week. When I complained about this the owner said that how can they sent calabash to us as he hadn't bought them for 2 weeks. Then he said it cost 60 per kg shortly his wife unfamiliar with out conversations said it cost 30 per kg . I called mom and she said it is only 15 per kg. The mess used to be off at Sunday. To save money I used to do fast at this day. This act was quite peculiar for the students living with me as they were born with a silver spoon.
I had broken all the record of misery that time. One day I had a severe fight with mess owner. He told that he would inform me if the food will not be coming today. But he didn't do that and we all were hungry. When I reached there for a serious talk. He started shouting and said I told you I'll inform you if food will be coming today. Kota peoples are degraded , having no emotions , self respect and exceptionally talented liar. I demanded for the return of my money that day. Amazingly the mess owner reduced the price of food from 1700 to 1500. This people can degrade that much I hadn't expected. Just to save 5 rs they had crossed all the limits.
I changed the mess. My new mess was good and used to serve quality food. My food problem was solved. Till now Uncle had thrown out the music buy and eaten up his 4500rs also. Frequent collisions of uncle with other students were common. I used to argue a lot with him. Many a times I thought to say to him " sale paise bharte to hai fir tere baap ka kya jata hai light chalaye ya pankha". But I was also restricted if he thrown out my luggage I had no place to stay. So some how we controlled our fury and revenging intentions. He used to switch off our cooler from outside during morning giving excuses of filling them with water. He often threaten us to take extra charges for electricity use.
He took out all the coolers before oct. Due to this all of us were very discontented. But no one had any right . We were living like animals. No rights just bear his dominance patiently. But we used to balance the thing in his absence. Turned on all the lights, fans and cooler. Opened the water purifier and wasted a lot from it. The water purifier was also a trash old plastic box. It hardly had any filtering property left. One of the fellow had started relying on mineral water. We created havoc in his absence. And our street fights also aided a lot in it.
When we came back from Diwali vacations. Uncle had once again used his master mind. He cut the wires of fridge to save his electricity and denied to repair it. We had to accept the situation unwillingly. All the students there were pseudo brave. They used to talk bravely behind uncle's back but in face of him they knew only one word " yes uncle ". I had rebelled few times but in a soft and light manner.
The main drama started when the winter season started. Although Kota is a very hot city but still We didn't like bathing in morning with chilled water. So every body planned to ask uncle for a geyser. But none of us had the guts to initiate. Finally I gathered all the students and we initiated in leadership of mine and MOTRAM. Although I initiated and propagated later MOTRAM took all the credit. Uncle was reluctant but due to a fear of riot he gave us the date of mid November.
The major drama started then. Most of us had bought an electric kettle. Which sucks lots of electricity. A boy had brought an electric cooker. And 2 others a heater. We enjoyed that era. Daily uncle used to abuse us a lot. Some time he caught us using them but he couldn't do any thing. He just threatened us that he'll increase the electricity charge. But we used to shuffle the rooms. At Sunday while making the family Maggy it was like a military mission. Two students were on the gate. Two on the balcony to keep an eye on uncle. One roaming here and there for some ground floor traitors and one with mobile phone to inform in emergency. Same cautions had to be taken while using kettle or heater.
Uncle started waking up at 4am to check whether the heaters are running or not. But due to some miracle one meter stopped blinking fast and we can enjoy the most in that room. UNO became enjoyable under the soothing warmness of heater or eating food or gossips. When the end days were coming we started planning what should we do to take revenge. Some of our creative plans were
1) blast a huge "rassi bomb" put in glass bottle at the roof
2) destroy the condenser of the fridge
3) fill the walls with lots of slang and cover them with paper ( the delhi boys had already did that )
4) using lime juice or pomegranate juice to create permanent marks on tiles
5) crushing the water purifier
and many other but all were rough futile thoughts needed to burst out our frustration. Uncle always installed half filled cylinder which exhausted soon and after replacing once he denied to install another. I used to say that time that I'll gonna spit on his face before leaving. We had a mobile theft on the ground floor and all of us finally came to the point that uncle had stolen it. The ground floor was a WWE ring. There were 2 major blocks there. One included the landlord and their relative aunty and other one a bengali aunty and a bihari aunty. They used to quarrel daily on non sense things and my room was in such a position that I was disturbed a lot. That time I used to study in the toilet. The fight gradually turned more vehement day by day.
Finally when I had decided to leave that MANHOOS house. I demanded my caution money back which uncle refused. He refused to return all of the others student caution money also. He had already eaten up the caution money of 5 students in the running era. When my dad and mom , simultaneously Amar's dad also arrived. They had some serious discussions for the return of caution money. Uncle was also threatening us as he had some contacts with GUNDA peoples. Finally uncle told us that he didn't have any money as of now and would deposit the price in our bank account but as expected he didn't do it. This time as I'm free if I met with him again I'll definitely spit on his face and punch him hard in his belly to take my revenge.
The Largest, Longest, Biggest, Highest, Smallest in the World
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