Saturday 1 November 2014

Fadnavis takes oath as Maharashtra CM, promises transparent government

44-year-old Fadnavis, who was sworn in as Chief Minister of the first BJP government in the state, got down to work immediately and has instructed Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya to have a draft of the Right to Service Bill ready within a month.
  
"I have directed the Chief Secretary to prepare a draft of the legislation, a form of citizen's charter, to provide better services to the people who can take legal recourse if they don't get them," he told reporters at a meet the press programme shortly after taking oath.
  
He said the decision was taken at the first meeting of the Council of Ministers. Portfolios will be allocated to the seven Cabinet and two Ministers of State tomorrow.
  
"People of Maharshtra have high expectations from us and it is a big responsibility. We will provide an efficient and transparent administration with focus on development," he said.
  
"The state government's financial condition is not that good. If all the assurances given by the erstwhile (Congress-NCP) government are to be implemented, the government would have to spend Rs 52,000 crore," Fadnavis said.
  
The Chief Minister said the decisions taken by the previous Congress-NCP government just before the model code of conduct for election kicked in will be reviewed.
  
"It will take time to bring the administration back on the track but we will do it. We will bring Maharashtra to the number one position," he said.
  
Asked about the possibility of Shiv Sena joining the new government, Fadnavis said," There was a positive talk between Amit Shah and Uddhav Thckeray today."
  
On the presence of godmen at the swearing-in ceremony, Fadnavis said, "They belonged to all religions. There is a thin line between belief and superstition. We are against superstition."

Coal unions protest 'privatisation' move; to strike on 24th November

The steering committee of the central trade unions met at Ranchi and served a joint notice on the token strike in the coal industry including Coal India and Singareni Collieries, Secretary General of Indian National Mine Workers' Federation S Q Zama said.
  
The call for the strike, which coincides with the opening day of Parliament, came ten days after the government issued an ordinance to e-auction coal blocks enabling private sector firms, barring those convicted for offences related to mines allotment, to bid. The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance 2014, got Presidential nod on October 21.
  
The unions, which also included INTUC, CITU, AITUC and HMS, demanded scrapping of the enabling clause for commercial mining by private players and stopping of further disinvestment and restructuring of CIL.
  
The unions are also seeking first preference to CIL and its subsidiaries before auctioning of any coal block, besides steps to revive units like Dankuni Coal Complex, CIL subsidiary Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited (CMPDIL) and Assam's North Eastern Coalfields.
  
Left parties have also opposed the ordinance, with AITUC General Secretary Gurudas Dasgupta earlier saying the decision of the government on coal blocks "has a covert implication. It is a back-door entry for taking over the entire coal sector by the private corporates".
  
All India Coal Workers Federation General Secretary Jibon Roy had also warned of nationwide protests if the government implemented any enabling provision to allow commercial mining by private companies.
  
The Supreme Court had last month quashed allotment of 214 coal mines to various companies since 1993 on the ground that they were done in an illegal manner by an "ad-hoc and casual" approach "without application of mind".
  
Allocation of coal blocks became a political issue after Comptroller and Auditor General alleged arbitrariness and absence of any criteria in the screening process and pegged notional loss to the exchequer at Rs 1.86 lakh crore.

Friday 31 October 2014

App to help blind 'see money'

Developed by researchers Suriya Singh, Kumar Vishal and C.V. Jawahar from the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, and Shushman Choudhury from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the currency recognition software relays the information as an audio clip.

It can be used on low-end smart phones. In our current approach we have been able to report a recognition accuracy of 96.7 percent on 2,584 images. We have worked with the Indian Rupee.

However, it can be extended to other currencies," told Singh. The app will be available in English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Kannada. It takes 1.09 seconds for the app to tell the currency denomination, running on a  typical smart phone with specifics of 1.2 Ghz CPU and IGB RAM.


Samsung electronics seeks China turnaround, unveils mid-tier handsets with premium feel

The Galaxy A3 and A5 will be Samsung's first devices to feature fully metal bodies and its thinnest smartphones to date. In size, they are comparable to those of the top-of-the-line Galaxy S5, though of lesser screen resolution quality.

Samsung said on Friday that it will start selling the Galaxy A3 and A5 in China sometime in November. It classified them as mid-tier, and said they will be launched in other "select markets", without disclosing the pricing.

The announcement, combined with hopes for an earnings recovery and bigger dividends, pushed Samsung's shares to a two-month high in Seoul in midday trade on Friday.

The news comes a day after Samsung reported its worst quarterly operating profit in more than three years. Earnings from its handset division slumped 73.9 percent from a year earlier.

The company said its responses to "rapid shifts in the competitive landscape" were not quick enough. It vowed to revamp its offerings.

"For our mid to low-end smartphones we will enhance product competitiveness by differentiating our displays and materials as well as upgrading camera functionality," Senior Vice President Kim Hyun-joon told analysts on Thursday.

The world's smartphone leader is regrouping as it lost market share in annual terms for the third straight quarter in July-September, according to Strategy Analytics.

It has been beaten by Apple Inc's iPhones in the premium segment and undercut by Chinese rivals like Lenovo Group Ltd and Xiaomi Inc at the bottom end.

India important market for Lenovo; to co-exist with Motorola

In January this year, Lenovo had announced that it will acquire Motorola Mobility for USD 2.9 billion from tech giant Google, one of the largest acquisitions by a Chinese tech firm. Google, itself, had bought Motorola in 2012 for USD 12.4 billion.
   
"India is one of the most important markets for Lenovo. Lenovo and Motorola combined are third in the Indian market after Samsung and Micromax... We will continue to sell Motorola handsets online and Lenovo in offline stores," Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing told reporters in a conference call.
   
He added that while the dual brand strategy will be for emerging markets like India, the company will use the Motorola brand in mature markets like the US.
   
In India, Motorola sells its devices in partnership with eCommerce major Flipkart. Its range in the country includes Moto G, Moto E and Moto X as well as the Moto 360 smartwatch. It has recently unveiled the second generation of Moto G and Moto X smartphones.
   
India is one of the fastest growing smartphone markets globally. According to IDC, 63.21 million units were shipped to India in Q2 2014. Samsung had a 29 per cent share, followed by Micromax 18 per cent and Karbonn at 8 per cent. Motorola had 5 per cent share.
   
"We will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lenovo and remain headquartered in Chicago's Merchandise Mart while maintaining offices around the world, including in Silicon Valley," Motorola Mobility President Rick Osterloh said.
   
The iconic Motorola brand will continue as will the Moto and DROID franchises that have propelled growth over the past year, he added.
   
With the completion of the acquisition, Lenovo has added nearly 3,500 employees globally, including about 2,800 in the US.
   
"This partnership has always been a perfect fit. Motorola brings a strong presence in the US and other mature markets, great carrier relationships, an iconic brand, a strong IP portfolio and an incredibly talented team. This is a winning combination," Yuanqing said.
   
Liu Jun, Lenovo Executive Vice President and President of Lenovo's Mobile Business Group will be the Chairman of the Motorola Management Board.

Expert claims hacking Xiaomi server, firm calls it hoax

"Chen Huang is an independent Taiwanese Security Expert. Session Abstract: In this session Taiwanese Researcher will demonstrate how Xiaomi Phones have been sending device data and personal data of Xiaomi Phone user to Chinese Servers," said the website of Ground Zero Summit.
   
"The Researcher will also release Server Logs, Mi Account username, Emails and passwords of millions of Xiaomi users which have been obtained using a Zero Day flaw in the Xiaomi Servers," the webpage added.

Xiaomi is now world's third largest smartphone maker after Samsung and Apple, as per the latest IDC report.
   
When contacted, Xiaomi' Head of India Operations Manu Jain said: "We have verified that the zero-day data breach allegation made by security researcher Chen Huang and the Ground Zero Summit organising committee reported by The Hacker News on October 30, 2014 is a hoax."
   
Jain said that the zero-day vulnerability reported by the cyber security researcher Chen Huang is a deliberate falsehood and Xiaomi is taking the necessary legal action against the parties involved.
   
Jain in his reply admitted that the company's user account file was leaked in May this year.
   
"To date, throughout Xiaomi's history, there has only been one incident in which a two-year-old user account file was leaked in May 2014," Jain said.
   
He said that leaked information was from user accounts registered before August 2012 in an old version of the Xiaomi user forum website.
   
Meanwhile, organisers of the summit, which is to be held here next month, said that they have put Cheng's session on hold till the time Xiaomi completes its investigations.
   
"Xiaomi representatives contacted and requested us regarding the session. We have decided to withhold session till the time Xiaomi investigates data breach and accusations and works with the researcher to fix it," Indian Infosec Consortium CEO Jiten Jain said.
   
The summit's website shows former chief of Indian Army and Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region General VK Singh, Home Ministry Joint Secretary Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi, Enforcement Directorate Special Director Karnail Singh and NTRO Director of Cyber Security Operations Alok Vijayant will be among key speakers.

I am proud to be gay, says Apple's Tim Cook

"So let me be clear: I'm proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me," Cook said in the article.
             
"I don't consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I've benefited from the sacrifice of others," he said.
             
Cook is at least the third CEO of a publicly listed U.S. company to come out of the closet.
             
C1 Financial Inc's Trevor Burgess and IGI Laboratories Inc's Jason Grenfell-Gardner have previously acknowledged that they are gay.
             
Cook's disclosure was greeted by a flood of congratulatory comments on Twitter.
             
"I have so much respect for this man," a person identifying himself as Andrew Clarke tweeted.

Apple Chairman Art Levinson called Cook "courageous."
             
"(His) decision to speak out will help advance the cause of equality and inclusion far beyond the business world," Levinson was quoted by CNBC as saying.
             
"On behalf of the board and our entire company, we are incredibly proud to have Tim leading Apple."
             
Apple has a long history of supporting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
             
The company recently criticized an Arizona bill that would permit businesses to refuse service on religious grounds, a measure that critics said could allow discrimination against gay people.
             
"...I will personally continue to advocate for equality for all people until my toes point up," Cook said.
             
"Plenty of colleagues at Apple know I'm gay, and it doesn't seem to make a difference in the way they treat me," he added.