Google in exploring human body

Google has come out with another innovative approach which is an educational tool called as Google Body Browser which uses HTML5 technology to let you examine the human body in fully layered, three-dimensional detail.

Google Body Browser does not load in any general browser as the app uses WebGL, a plug-in-free programming interface, to power its 3D graphics. WebGL is a relatively new standard, and most major browsers are still testing its implementation. Very soon the stable versions of Chrome and Firefox (and most others) will also offer integrated WebGL support other than just the beta versions.

Google showed off the app at the WebGL Camp. WebGL is a cross-platform low-level 3D graphics API that is designed to bring plugin-free 3D to the web. It uses the HTML5 Canvas element and does not require Flash, Java or other graphical plugins to run.

When you open Google Body Browser in a WebGL-enabled program, you're greeted with a three-dimensional layered model of the human anatomy that you can zoom in on, rotate and search. While you start using the Google Body Browser layering tool, located below the zoom controls is the layering tool that allows peeling back layers of the body to see detailed views of the human anatomy. With the help of a compatible browser, the Body Browser home page can be visited that shows off the human body. The various layers of skin, muscles, tissues and the skeletal system can be adjusted very easily. The most interesting fact drawn is that if organ or bone or ventricle system is typed down, it directly takes the viewer to that area in the anatomy, zoomed in. The labels can turn labels on or off and the app supports multitouch so users of trackpads multi-touch mice can zoom in with ease.

Another fact that is worth being mentioned is that the body browser adjusts its URL so as to save a particular where all what is required to be done is to copy the current web address. It has been presumed that the browser has been designed for healthcare industry but it is also capable of educating students and lecturers as well. 

Indians at number three in Google searches

Indians stood at number three position after Chinese and Americans in terms of Google users, a top official of the popular search engine said today.

"India is a big market for Google and is behind China and US," Vinay Goel, country head (products) of Google India told a press conference here.

He, however, did not specify any period in this regard.

India is a bigger market than the UK, Japan and Germany, he said, adding Google users had been steadily rising in the country.

"Three years ago, Google had 20 million users. Now it is at 100 million."

He said that revenues were directly related with the number of users.

Speaking about Google's latest offering, Google Instant, he said that it was a new search interface which was very fast and predictive.

"It saves between two and five seconds on typical searches," he said.

3G mobiles more vulnerable to hacking

As 3G mobile services are set to be rolled out soon in the country, cyber experts sound a word of caution about the high tech enabled mobile phones, which they say are more vulnerable in the world of technology related crimes.

While the next generation technology aims to make life simpler enabling downloading of movies and music within minutes, it can also be used for various unscrupulous activities.

"With 3G, cellphones will have faster broadband Internet and with such speed you can watch television live, make video calls and download music and movies in no time. But through spying software and virus, the hacker can easily break into your system," says Ankit Fadia, an ethical hacker and cyber security expert.

"The hacker can record all the audio conversation and video files. Not many people in India install anti-virus in the phones. I would recommend them to install anti-virus and fireballs while using 3G, says Fadia who recommends switching off the bluetooth function of the phone when not required to protect the user's password.

Not limited to an individual's privacy issues, the 3G technology will also lead to increase in piracy of films and music, thereby giving a staggering amount of losses to the entertainment industry that is battling the piracy threat.

"It will become extremely easy for anybody to download an entire Bollywood film in few minutes using 3G. This is going to lead to further tremendous growth of websites like torrents," says advocate Pavan Duggal, a cyberlaws expert.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) points out that Bollywood would be hit most by the 3G and wants service providers to adopt a stricter approach to check cybercrimes.

"Today it takes several hours to download a new release Bollywood film but with 3G it will be in minutes that will encourage people to use illegal means to view a film," says Rakshit Tandon, consultant, IAMAI.

According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report titled, "Indian 3G broadband subscribers," the mobile subscriber base is projected to cross one billion in 2014. The 3G broadband subscriber base is expected to cross 107 million by 2015.

Indian law enforcement lacks the necessary training to deal with cyber-crimes and there is a distinct need for amending the law and making security agencies aware about the Internet, say experts.

"Laws are there to protect but our police agencies are yet not ready to take-up the cyber crime challenges, especially 3G. They need to be trained to tackle the growing usage of Internet by criminals," says Fadia.

Duggal, who is a Supreme Court lawyer, says there is a distinct need for amending the law so as to provide for far more broad generic provisions which can withstand the onslaught of any other new technology.

"Further adequate statutory protections needs to be given to users so that whatever limited right to privacy they have in the context of the electronic ecosystem are not appropriately compromised with the advent of new technology," he says.

As mobile handsets is becoming an integral part of the consumer experience, the availability of a large number of feature-rich handsets at affordable prices or in attractive bundled offers is likely to further drive the adoption of 3G value-added services, according to a report by RNCOS.

The industry analysis provider also predicts that the number of 3G mobile subscribers is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 80 per cent during 2011-2013. 

India ranked third largest cloud service user, ahead of U.S.

India ranked third largest cloud service user in world ahead of U.S., reveals a new study by Cisco Connected World Report commissioned by networking equipment vendor Cisco. The study was conducted by the U.S. market-research firm InsightExpress.

According to the study, globally 52 percent of the IT professionals have stated that the use or plan to use cloud computing. Higher cloud adoption rates are predicted in Brazil (70 percent), China (69 peThe study evaluates how IT managers are evolving their data centers and taking advantage of new technologies, while working to accommodate trends in the workplace like social media, device proliferation, video and an increasingly mobile workforce.

The top three data centre priorities for the next three years are improve agility and speed in deploying business applications (33 percent), better manage resource capacity to align demand and capacity (31 percent), increase data center resilience (19 percent), and reduce power and cooling costs (17 percent).

The study conducted in 13 countries reveals that only 18 percent of respondents are using cloud computing today, while an additional 34 percent plan to use the cloud. The present top cloud users and the top countries taking maximum advantage of cloud computing today are Brazil (27 percent), Germany (27 percent), India (26 percent), U.S. (23 percent) and Mexico (22 percent).

A large majority (88 percent) of IT respondents predict that they will be storing some percentage of their company’s data and applications in private or public clouds within the next three years. 

Patni computer to hire 350 by 2011

IT and BPO service provider Patni Computer Systems plans to recruit 350 employees by the end of 2011, the company said today.

The new recruits would be based in the second delivery centre in Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat which was inaugurated recently, Patni Computer Systems said in a statement here.

"We are looking at strengthening our presence in this burgeoning IT delivery hub and expect Gandhi Nagar to play a crucial part in this delivery expansion strategy...," Patni Chief Executive Officer Jeya Kumar said.

The company currently has a headcount of 400 at the existing centre and had planned to add 350 employees at the new centre taking the total employees to 750 in the next one year, it added.

Patni currently has over 16,000 employees at global delivery centers across 16 cities. It has 30 offices across the Americas, Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA), and Asia-Pacific region the statement added.

Read more: The Times of India

Cloud computing to grow 40% by 2014 in India

The cloud computing market in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 40 per cent by 2014, from an estimated $66.7 million in 2009, driven by cost and performance efficiencies, IT research firm IDC on Thursday said.

According to IDC's 'India Cloud Computing Market: Current State and Future Roadmap Study 2010', the Indian public cloud computing market was estimated to be $66.7 million in 2009.

Cloud computing is an internet-based facility to share technological resources, software and digital information. The emerging field would function on a pay-per-use model, helping companies bring down operational costs.

"In the backdrop of the global economic slowdown, cloud computing has gained wide interest. The most attractive feature of this new technology is the prospect of converting large, upfront capital investments in IT infrastructure into smaller, manageable 'pay-per-use' annuity payments," IDC India Lead Analyst (Software and Services Research) Kamal Vohra said.

This feature has sparked a high degree of interest and debate among technology vendors, users and channel partners alike, he added.

The study mapped the current adoption levels and preferences of Indian enterprises based on interviews with nearly 700 medium and large enterprises.

The study noted that since cloud computing is at a nascent stage, there is an issue of lack of awareness, which affects the overall adoption of cloud computing in India.

"A significant segment of the market is aware of the concept, but do not really understand what it actually means or how it can benefit them," IDC India Lead Analyst (User Research) Indranil Dutta said.

As the market matures and more industry vertical specific applications become available, we expect more and more Indian enterprises to see the benefit of adopting cloud computing, he added.

Read more:The Times of India

Opera Mobile 10.1: 9 times faster than Opera 10.0

The latest version of Opera Mobile browser, 10.1 for Symbian/Series 60 phones promises some upgraded features. Released on November 24, 2010, the company believes the new edition of the browser will speed up the browsing experience on the Symbian platform.

The Opera Mobile 10.1 offers faster JavaScript performance, running the browser nine times faster than the earlier version on the SunSpider JavaScript test, Opera revealed. The new browser also packs in the geolocation feature with web services like maps and travel applications.Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera said, "Opera Mobile 10.1 today brings the best mobile browsing experience to the world's most popular smartphone platform."Other features included in the browser are speed dial, tabbed browsing and a password manager to reduce the typing required to navigate websites.Opera 10.1 can be downloaded for free and is available for Symbian^3 and Symbian S60, third and fifth editions. 

Today Opera released Opera Mobile 10.1 beta for Symbian/S60 keypad (series 3) and touchscreen (series 5) devices.

The main new features include:

• Geolocation. Web sites can now query the location of your device. End user controls access on a site by site basis.
• Carakan JavaScript engine (w/o JIT)
• Vega graphics library
• Update of Opera Core and numerous bug fixes

Download Opera Mobile 10.1 Beta for S60 directly to your phone at m.opera.com/next.

Or download direct to your PC here:

• International
• With Asian language support

Known issues in the 10.1 Beta:

• Somewhat higher memory usage, especially on JavaScript intensive sites
• Due to timing issues with different geolocation information providers (WiFi, cell towers, GPS) first request may have poor precision
• Fast scrolling on Touch devices not optimized for page rendering
• Opera Link may not work when using APN with a proxy configured
• Some SVGT images may appear to freeze on Nokia E-series phones
• If SIM card is not registered, or phone is in flight mode, first geolocation request in a browser session may fail

Infosys to open campus in Kolkata

 In a major boost to West Bengal's industrialisation drive, IT major Infosys Technologies today signed an MoU with WBHIDCO for a 50-acre plot to open a campus in Kolkata to provide job opportunities to nearly 15,000 people. 

"Infosys today signed an MoU for a 50-acre plot close to Wipro site at Rajarhat for a total cost of Rs 75 crore," State Housing minister and West Bengal Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBHIDCO) Chairman Gautam Deb said here. 

Comments from Infosys were not available. State's IT minister Debesh Das said as the completion of the connective road to the plot is pending the government has offered a relief to Infosys in paying instalments. 

"They (Infosys) will pay 25 per cent as first instalment and rest of the instalment will begin after road connectivity is completed," Das said. 

Wipro and TCS had already taken the possession of plots at Rajarhat in December 2009. With the formal entry of Infosys, Bengal gets all the IT majors in the state. 

Das said Infosys has promised to begin construction work of the campus very soon. 

Last year Infosys had postponed the investment plan in Kolkata campus due to global economic slowdown, but the project was never abandoned. 

According to earlier announcements, Infosys had planned in 2004 to invest some Rs 500 crore to set up a development centre in Kolkata housing 5,000 people. 

The project got delayed and in June 2009 an IT township project in Salt Lake, Kolkata, was scrapped by the West Bengal government following a controversy on alleged forced land acquisition.

How hot is a career in Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing is the latest technology that will make life easier for people in organisations dealing with huge amounts of data and information. Today institutions, both government and private, invest a great deal in maintaining servers to store that information. However, not all of this data is accessed frequently. This results is underutilisation of available services and unnecessary costs. That's where cloud computing helps.

It uses remote servers to store and maintain data for clients who can access it when they need to. You don't need software or a server for this; all a consumer requires is an internet connection to start sending emails. The server and email management software is on a 'cloud drive' on the internet and is managed by service providers like Yahoo, and Google.

"Since cloud services has a huge potential, the demand for professionals will be equally high in the coming years. Moreover, since India does not a have ready talent pool, they might command a premium," says Nitin Khanapurkar, executive director (advisory) KPMG, who works in the domain of cloud computing.

According to a study by global IT consulting firm Zinnov, the global cloud computing market is expected to be over $70 billion by 2015, and India will create job opportunities for about 3 lakh people in the same period.

Salary levels will be equally impressive. An entry-level professional, perhaps with 5-6 years of experience, can earn around 12-19 lakh; while a mid-level executive will get around 20 lakh. People with 10-15 years experience can hope to get 30 lakh or more.

For those who want to upgrade their skills, the options are, however, limited. For their staff, IT companies themselves are providing training and there are some certificate courses offered by Aptech and NIIT, among others. Job seekers and students who want to enter the exciting world of cloud computing, might have to wait a while before choices for study open up. 

Tips to make your browser secure

Web browsers are the key to the internet. Without them the internet is an impenetrable black box.

Browsers may be among the most commonly used applications, but they also offer the greatest number of attack options for dangerous content on the net. To keep viruses, worms and other malware away from your computer when surfing, it's crucial to configure your browser  for security.

The firewall on a DSL router is a good first step for protecting the computer during surfing, says Marco Rinne from the computer portal chip.de. But that doesn't hold true if your browser is out of date: “Internet Explorer 6 and 7 or Firefox 2 no longer satisfy current security standards,” he says. For optimal protection, he therefore urges users to keep their browsers updated.

There are numerous security tools already present in Firefox and Internet Explorer. The pop-up blocker, for example, prevents more than just annoying ads. It also throttles other windows that can be used to sneak malicious software onto PCs. Phishing filters protect personal data against theft.

Firefox offers additional configuration options under the Settings item in the Security tab of the Options dialog box: this includes the ability to block risky or forged websites. It's also a good idea to prohibit websites from installing add-ons on their own. Similar settings are possible under Internet Explorer in the Security tab of the Internet Options dialog box, accessible from the Tools menu.

Computer owners should also activate all options for warning against attacks, advises Markus Linnemann, managing director of the Institute for Internet Security (ifis) at the Polytechnic University of Gelsenkirchen in Germany. This applies in particular to warnings about suspicious content to be displayed using ActiveX, Flash, or JavaScript.

Yet the warning mechanism on most browsers alone isn't usually enough, Linnemann says. Those who wish to be especially careful can, for example, use the Firefox add-on 'No Script,' which blocks all active content of a website by default and allows the user to decide which should be permitted. The problem is that most users are unable to determine  which content represents a threat to their computer, Rinne msays. 

Twitter launches Push Notifications for @mentions

Twitter has come out with an intelligent way for the social networking savvy to check their tweets all the time without actually looking at twitter. The replies feature has been updated and is referred as mentions.

In the Twitter sidebar, the users will see their own @username tab and after clicking on it, they will see a list of all tweets with a reference to their account with the @username convention instead of only at the beginning, which is how it worked in the past.

The users will receive a notification by an account they follow whenever they get mentioned. This latest feature, known as push notifications, has been launched for @mentions. It enables the users to know every detail about what is happening regarding them on the site. The handset owners would be curious to know who spoke about them or to them. The conversation can be continued also by the users, as is revealed by the official twitter blog.

The latest version of Twitter for iPhone will initially send Notifications for @mentions through SMS. Those who need to download the latest variant of the app can head over to the App Store. Not to slip by, push notifications are also sent for Messages to Twitter for iPhone.

The Twitter blog elucidates the company is working on the Android and Windows Phone variant of this feature. Users may turn on SMS notifications by accessing twitter.com/devices and selecting Text message notifications, these notifications settings can be altered anytime, anywhere.    

HCL Infosystem hires 300 people

NEW DELHI: IT firm HCL Infosystems today said it has expanded its software development facility in Jaipur with the addition of more than 300 people at the centre.

The centre, which had an operating capacity of 120 people, now has a headcount of 425, HCL Infosystems said in a statement.

The centre was established with the objective of designing and developing software capabilities for the company's System Integration (SI) projects.

"The Jaipur centre has been playing a significant role behind the success of our SI projects and with this expansion, the company will be reinforced with stronger capability and much improved software development practice," Harsh Chitale, CEO of HCL Infosystems said.

The company will gradually expand this development centre further, he added. 

Android will beat iPhone

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has praised Google’s smartphone operating system Android and has predicted that it will soon surpass the iPhone operating system in both quantity and quality.The comments by the man who invented the first Mac computer came as Android-powered phones are fast catching up with Apple’s iPhones in market share.

“The Apple phone has very few weaknesses,” Wozniak told Netherlands newspaper De Telegraaf in an interview posted on Thursday.

“When it comes to quality, the iPhone is leading.” But he conceded that “Android phones have more features” and deliver more buying options for those who don’t want to be limited to a single device.In addition, Mr. Wozniak told the publication that eventually the quality of Android will match Apple’s operating system and much like Windows in the desktop space, Google’s mobile platform will become the “dominant” option in the mobile market.

6 WAYS TO ACCESS BLOCKED SITES

1) Using IP Instead of URL

This depends on the software/application used. Sometimes blocked sites are stored as a list of URLs (eg. www.yahoo.com, www.donwload.com,etc) and typing the IP instead of the URL might sometimes work.

In a local computer, doing a ping domain.com command in Command Prompt (Mac users use Terminal) will return you the IP address.

For example , we can use ping command to find IP address of facebook.com

2) Redirection with Short URL service

Sometimes the URL you intend to browse might be ban, but converting them to another a shorter URL with short URL services might just help you to bypass the settings.

Here’s 2 Short URL service - tinyURL, SnipURL

3) Google Cache

Search engines like Google and Yahoo cache webpages and these cached pages are stored in search engines themselves, which likely will be added to the blocked list. Click on the ‘cache’ will bring you to a cache version of the page, as updated as how Google caches it.

4) Internet Archive – Wayback Machine

Wayback Machine is a internet service that periodically keeps a copy of almost all websites in the Internet way from the date they’re started. Clicking on the latest copy of what Wayback Machine have should be somewhat similar to the real site. Another way to access blocked sites via caches.

5) Use Proxy in Browsers

There are tons of sites out there that distributes free proxies of almost any country.

For example : www..proxy4free.com

Check out the following methods on how/where to insert proxies in your web browsers.

Proxy Surfing In Firefox
Under Advanced tab, select Network tab, then click inside Connection Settings.
Select Manual proxy configuration, put proxy under HTTP proxy.

Proxy Surfing in Internet Explorer
Go to Tools -> Internet Options. Select Connections tab.
Click into LAN Settings, check Proxy Server. Insert your proxy URL inside Address.

6) Retrieve web pages via Email

Web2Mail.com is a free service that sends websites you want to read right into your inbox.

All you need to do is send an email to www@web2mail.com with the URL as subject title.

LINUX-YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. A 21 year-old Finnish college student created the Linux kernel as a hobby. (Do you know him?)

2. An asteroid was named after the creator of the Linux kernel.

3. Thousands of developers/programmers scattered all around the world are continuously contributing to the development of the Linux kernel.

4. The Linux kernel's official mascot is a penguin named Tux.

5. According to a study funded by the European Union, the estimated cost to redevelop the most recent kernel versions would be at $1.14 billion USD.

6. As of today, only 2% of the Linux kernel has been written by Linus Torvalds.

7. The Linux kernel is written in the version of the C programming language.

8. Linux is now one of the most widely ported operating system kernels, running on a diverse range of systems from handheld computers to mainframe servers.

9. Linux kernel 1.0.0 was released with 176,250 lines of code. The latest Linux kernel has over 10 million lines of code.

10. Microsoft Windows and the Linux kernel can run simultaneously in parallel on the same machine using a software called Cooperative Linux (coLinux).

11. At first, Torvalds wanted to call the kernel he developed Freax (a combination of "free", "freak", and the letter X to indicate that it is a Unix-like system), but his friend Ari Lemmke, who administered the FTP server where the kernel was first hosted for downloading, named Torvalds' directory linux.

12. A guy name William Della Croce, Jr. trademarked the name Linux and eventually demanded royalties for its use. He later agreed to assign the trademark to Torvalds.

13. The Linux kernel can be found on more than 87% of systems on the world's Top 500 supercomputers.

14. A "vanilla kernel" is not an ice cream flavor but an unmodified version of the Linux kernel.

15. The Linux Kernel is not in any way related to the army rank called ‘Colonel’.

10 reasons why PCs crash

10 reasons why PCs crash U must Know

Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy," it says. "Enter to return to Windows or press Control-Alt-Delete to restart your computer. If you do this you will lose any unsaved information in all open applications."

You have just been struck by the Blue Screen of Death. Anyone who uses Mcft Windows will be familiar with this. What can you do? More importantly, how can you prevent it happening?

1 Hardware conflict

The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. Each hardware device communicates to other devices through an interrupt request channel (IRQ). These are supposed to be unique for each device.

For example, a printer usually connects internally on IRQ 7. The keyboard usually uses IRQ 1 and the floppy disk drive IRQ 6. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself.

If there are a lot of devices, or if they are not installed properly, two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen. The way to check if your computer has a hardware conflict is through the following route:

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager.

Often if a device has a problem a yellow '!' appears next to its description in the Device Manager. Highlight Computer (in the Device Manager) and press Properties to see the IRQ numbers used by your computer. If the IRQ number appears twice, two devices may be using it.

Sometimes a device might share an IRQ with something described as 'IRQ holder for PCI steering'. This can be ignored. The best way to fix this problem is to remove the problem device and reinstall it.

Sometimes you may have to find more recent drivers on the internet to make the device function properly. A good resource is www.driverguide.com. If the device is a soundcard, or a modem, it can often be fixed by moving it to a different slot on the motherboard (be careful about opening your computer, as you may void the warranty).

When working inside a computer you should switch it off, unplug the mains lead and touch an unpainted metal surface to discharge any static electricity.

To be fair to Mcft, the problem with IRQ numbers is not of its making. It is a legacy problem going back to the first PC designs using the IBM 8086 chip. Initially there were only eight IRQs. Today there are 16 IRQs in a PC. It is easy to run out of them. There are plans to increase the number of IRQs in future designs.

2 Bad Ram

Ram (random-access memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying Fatal Exception Error. A fatal error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing.

But a fatal error caused by Ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips. For example, mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will usually force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed. This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.

One way around this problem is to enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the Ram. This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected Ram problem is to rearrange the Ram chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. Then try to repeat the circumstances that caused the crash. When handling Ram try not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged.

Parity error messages also refer to Ram. Modern Ram chips are either parity (ECC) or non parity (non-ECC). It is best not to mix the two types, as this can be a cause of trouble.

EMM386 error messages refer to memory problems but may not be connected to bad Ram. This may be due to free memory problems often linked to old Dos-based programmes.

3 BIOS settings

Every motherboard is supplied with a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up.

Once inside the BIOS, great care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a piece of paper all the settings that appear on the screen. That way, if you change something and the computer becomes more unstable, you will know what settings to revert to.

A common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This refers to the Ram. Older EDO (extended data out) Ram has a CAS latency of 3. Newer SDRam has a CAS latency of 2. Setting the wrong figure can cause the Ram to lock up and freeze the computer's display.

Mcft Windows is better at allocating IRQ numbers than any BIOS. If possible set the IRQ numbers to Auto in the BIOS. This will allow Windows to allocate the IRQ numbers (make sure the BIOS setting for Plug and Play OS is switched to 'yes' to allow Windows to do this.).

4 Hard disk drives

After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become piecemeal or fragmented. It is a good idea to defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Defragmenter

This will start the procedure. You will be unable to write data to the hard drive (to save it) while the disk is defragmenting, so it is a good idea to schedule the procedure for a period of inactivity using the Task Scheduler.

The Task Scheduler should be one of the small icons on the bottom right of the Windows opening page (the desktop).

Some lockups and screen freezes caused by hard disk problems can be solved by reducing the read-ahead optimisation. This can be adjusted by going to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System Icon-Performance-File System-Hard Disk.

Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are too full. Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the Windows folder on the C drive and find the Temporary Internet Files folder. Deleting the contents (not the folder) can free a lot of space.

Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space. Hard disk drives should be scanned every week for errors or bad sectors. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk

Otherwise assign the Task Scheduler to perform this operation at night when the computer is not in use.

5 Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors

Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems.

These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings

Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the colour settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high colour 16-bit depth is adequate.

If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager

Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts.

If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse.

The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message.

Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics

Here you should move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left. As ever, the most common cause of problems relating to graphics cards is old or faulty drivers (a driver is a small piece of software used by a computer to communicate with a device).

Look up your video card's manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

6 Viruses

Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs

Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance.

A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer.

An excellent antivirus programme is McAfee VirusScan by Network Associates ( www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus 2000, made by Symantec ( www.symantec.com).

7 Printers

The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.

Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer's performance.

If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognized, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer's default settings and you may be able to carry on.

8 Software

A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the programme in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.

The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000.

Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don't do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from www.jv16.org

Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message "Starting Windows" press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode.

Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly.

Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn't work.

Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation.

9 Overheating

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU. Specialist cooling fans/heatsinks are available from www.computernerd.com or www.coolit.com

CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable.

10 Power supply problems

With all the new construction going on around the country the steady supply of electricity has become disrupted. A power surge or spike can crash a computer as easily as a power cut.

If this has become a nuisance for you then consider buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut.

It is a good investment if your data are critical, because a power cut will cause any unsaved data to be lost.

Tips for GRE preparation

The GRE is an important part of your application to graduate school. Here is a bit of advice on how to prepare more efficiently:

What's the ideal timing?

You'll probably submit your application form between January and March of the year you want to begin your graduate degree. Ideally, you'll take the GRE around September of the previous year so that you can retake it if you feel that you haven't performed as well as you could have. If you plan for three months of preparation, you should get down to work in June of the year preceding your potential admission date.

What books and other materials should you use?

Preparation books do the job, but the official exams from ETS are only published after they're given. This is the test that you need more than any other. To supplement it you can use others, which may offer good advice and questions that are close to the real thing, but concentrate first and foremost on past exam questions.

How should you organize yourself?

You'll have to be strict with yourself. Here's a recommended plan of action:

* Start by completing a mock GRE to get yourself into exam mode (get up early, no long breaks between sections, silence, etc.).
* Depending on your first score, decide on the amount of work you're going to have to do. If you think you'll need a significant amount of preparation time, set aside weekly blocks of time.
* Go over the word list for the vocabulary questions. Get into the habit of reading as much as possible. This also has the benefit of improving your awareness of current affairs.
* At the same time, keep testing yourself with questions from past exams.
* Half-way through, do another practice GRE test under exam conditions so you can check on your progress. Depending on the results, you might now be able to turn your undivided attention to the question types that still cause problems for you. Learn to recognize such questions, so that you do not waste an inordinate amount of time on these weakness during the real test.
* Lastly, finish your preparation with one or two practice GREs under exam conditions. The last one should be close to your set target. date


During the test

Throughout the GRE exam period, time and stress management are as important as understanding and knowledge of the material covered. Stay calm during the exam (this really is of the utmost importance!), do breathing relaxation exercises during the short pauses between sections, and eat well before the test.

Infosys to hire 40,000, TCS to hire 50,000 in the ongoing fiscal

As growth returns to the software industry, major IT companies in India are stepping up their hiring plans for the next few quarters to meet the reviving demand in the US and European markets.

Infosys has announced plans of hiring 40,000 new employees in the ongoing fiscal, up from the earlier projection of 36,000.The largest software firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has revised its hiring plans to add 50,000 people this fiscal against earlier target of 30,000 persons.

According to chairman of Wipro, Azim Premji,"There was strong momentum in demand (during the September quarter)... While the macro-economic environment continues to remain uncertain, there is higher degree of confidence at the micro level."

According to industry body Nasscom, the Indian IT industry is estimated to have added 90,000 jobs during FY'10, taking the workforce to 2.3 million professionals. With demand for workforce returning, attrition rates have also gone up. While TCS reported an attrition rate of 14.1 per cent, Infosys saw attrition rates to the tune of 17.1 per cent for the quarter ended September 30, 2010.

According to Sunil Goel, director of GlobalHunt, " During the recession period in 2008 and 2009, many companies either did not offer salary hikes and some went in for compensation cut. Now with demand for IT services returning to the market, companies are ramping up headcount and offering good packages to meet the demand."

Also, most companies hired minimally from campuses last year since clients across major markets like the US and the Europe were in recession and were cutting down on IT spends. However, campus hiring is set to pick up after the lag experienced during the slowdown. The country’s top software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services , intends to step up the number of offers made to students on campus to 30,000 this year from about 20,000 last year as demand for IT and back office services bounces back, said Ajoy Mukherjee, global head (HR), TCS.

Most companies hired minimally from campuses last year because their major markets were in recession and clients were cutting down on tech spends. TCS, for instance, had to increase its intake of freshers through off-campus drives in the second quarter to fulfil the higher demand. “Off-campus drives are for freshers, primarily for students who have already passed out. So, yes, it is a bit of a challenge to get in touch with them. Campus recruitment is the best possible way to hire because it gives you maximum throughput,” said Mr Mukherjee.

While TCS visited 370 institutes for campus hiring last year, this year it will visit more campuses and also hire more.

The company is yet to decide on whether to offer higher salaries for those recruited from campuses. “It is very difficult to say. I perceive that for the industry there may be a slight change — maybe a marginal upward revision, but I am still collecting data and our talent-acquisition team is looking at it,” said Mr Mukherjee.

Since many freshers joined the firm in the third and fourth quarters of last year, when demand started showing an uptick, TCS has decided to tweak the appraisal cycle, making freshers eligible for promotion much earlier. Normally, promotions at the junior level are annual and are based on performance and experience. This time, they will become eligible for promotion during the quarter itself if they have the requisite experience, instead of having to wait till the year end, Mr Mukherjee said. The change will take effect from this quarter.

Wipro BPO wins ‘Company of the Year’ Industry Award

Wipro BPO, the Business Process Outsourcing arm of Wipro Technologies, the Global Consulting, System Integration and Outsourcing Business of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) has been recognized as the ‘Company of the Year’ in the ‘International’ category, at the ‘BPO Industry Awards 2010’, organized by Economictimes.com, the online portal of India’s largest circulated financial daily, in a ceremony held in New Delhi on October 27th.

The BPO division of Wipro Technologies is one of the largest BPO service providers on a global delivery platform. Wipro BPO provides a broad spectrum of services across CRM, Back Office Transaction Processing, Industry Specific Solutions and BPO Consulting.

Commenting on the award, Ashutosh Vaidya, Sr. Vice President and Head, Wipro BPO, said “We are delighted to receive this recognition. This award is testimony to Wipro BPO’s proven track record of partnering with client organizations to build transformation programs that deliver business value beyond labour arbitrage”.

Wipro BPO has made rapid progress in the last few years extending the delivery presence to many countries including Brazil, Canada, Japan and New Zealand. Starting with two international locations in 2007, we have grown to twenty locations in 2010. Today, the talent pool at Wipro BPO spans 27 nationalities and provides service to customers in 22 global languages.

The BPO Industry Awards 2010 were instituted by Economictimes.com, in association with QAI, a leading consulting and workforce development organization, to reward professionals and organizations for their superlative achievements in the field of Business Process Outsourcing.

The members of the jury included prominent industry leaders like Raman Roy, Chairman & Managing Director, Quatrro BPO Solutions (P) Ltd, Pradeep Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of CyberMedia and T K Arun, Editor-Delhi, The Economic Times.

About Wipro:--

Wipro Technologies, a division of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) is the first PCMM Level 5 and SEI CMM Level 5 certified global IT services organization. Wipro Technologies was recently assessed at Level 5 for CMMI V 1.2 across offshore and onsite development centers. Wipro is one of the largest product engineering and support service providers worldwide. Wipro provides comprehensive research and development services, IT solutions and services, including systems integration, information systems outsourcing, package implementation, software application management, and datacenter managed services to corporations globally.In the Indian market, Wipro is a leader in providing IT solutions and services for the corporate segment in India, offering system integration, network integration, software solutions and IT services.

Wipro also has a strong presence in niche market segments of consumer products and lighting. In the Asia-Pacific and Middle East markets, Wipro provides IT solutions and services for global corporations. Wipro's ADS' are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and its equity shares are listed in India on the Stock Exchange - Mumbai, and the National Stock Exchange.

India requires 70,000 more networking professionals

The world’s leading networking equipment company, Cisco Systems, estimates that India is facing a shortage of 70,000 professionals in networking alone, as data centres mushroom and the Internet expands to help businesses and homes alike.

Quality networking professionals are a rare species at the global level too. Globally, the shortage is as high as one million. According to Milind Gurjar, director of global market development and training delivery at Cisco, " It is high time India trains more number of networking professionals to reap benefits."

Over the next few years, the trends that will dominate the industry inlcude Network architecture, network design, unified communications and cloud computing would also be the trends over the next five years.

Campuses get ready, tech hiring will be high this year

Early indicators suggest this year recruitments may touch a historic high, as top Indian tech majors, including TCS, Infosys and Wipro, will alone recruit close to one lakh engineers, if not more. Back-of-the-envelope analysis, coupled with stated recruitment plans of the IT biggies, shows that December-January will be action-packed at engineering college campuses, not to mention the impact that MNC biggies like Accenture and IBM will have.

N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD of TCS, says, " According to our original plans, we were to recruit 30,000 people this fiscal, but we will close the current year with 50,000 persons added. For the next fiscal, we could hire as much as this year, if not more."

TCS follows a policy where it recruits 70% of its annual intake from campuses. The company recruited 24,000 persons in the fiscal ended March 2010.

Nasscom, the industry body for software companies , has laid down ground rules for campus recruitments under which member-companies are allowed to enter campus only at the beginning of the eighth semester of engineering. Going by recruitment data and growth projections, most tech majors began 2010 with conservative estimates of manpower required but gradually scaled up their targets as the year progressed.

At the beginning of this fiscal, Infosys had said it would recruit 30,000 but hiked the figure to 40,000 by September-end . The annual report of Infosys says in the previous year (2009-10 ), the company interviewed 61,000 people and made 26,200 job offers. As of March 2010, Infosys and its subsidiaries had an employee strength of approximately 1,13,800 employees, of which 1,06,900 are technology professionals, including trainees.

Shankar Srinivasan, chief people officer, Cognizant , told TOI, "In the last one year (from October 2009 to September 2010), we saw a net addition of over 27,500 employees. We continue to be active in campuses as well as in the lateral market (hiring of experienced professionals ). We ended the September 2010 quarter with approximately 95,600 employees globally."

On the assumption that Cognizant, Wipro and HCL Tech will recruit as much in the forthcoming recruitment season if not more than they did in 2009-10 , there are bound to be fireworks at engineering colleges . "We have never seen such large scale recruitment numbers. This is clearly the highest levels that I have seen in the past 10 years of campus," a campus recruitment watcher told TOI. Placement officers and institutional administrators in Tamil Nadu too are upbeat that IT majors such as TCS and Infosys have revised manpower projections for the coming year.

"This is fantastic news. I am excited at this (revised HR projections). This is something that must keep not just placement officers, students, job seekers and job providers happy but the nation as a whole as the job sector is looking up," says Jayakumar, former deputy registrar (placements and training) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Madras ). However, pay packages at campuses might not witness any significant uptick despite the surge in recruitments. An entry-level engineer is likely to get Rs 3 to Rs 3.25 lakh as a starting offer, while a post-grad engineer may get an additional Rs 20,000.

Likewise, professor S Gowri, registrar of Anna University of Technology , to which over 150 engineering colleges are affiliated in Chennai and surrounding regions, says while it is appreciable that the job market is looking up, much will depend on the kind of jobs they provide.

Google will hire 300 engineers in India

Google will hire 300 engineers in India to focus on cloud computing

Global Internet search giant Google Inc on Thursday announced plans to hire 300 people to double its engineering headcount in India and strengthen Hyderabad as its largest cloud computing research and development centre in the world.

Google plans to recruit 300 engineers in couple of years to increase its presence in India with focus on cloud computing. According to Peeyush Ranjan, head of engineering, Google India , 300 engineers were already working in Hyderabad and Bangalore on cloud computing.

Google in India :--
According to Ranjan, Google already has 2,000 employees in India and the Hyderabad engineering centre will be core to its efforts to focus on cloud computing. While the engineering centre in Bangalore is working on cloud computing as well as search, ads, maps and news, the Hyderabad centre is focusing only on cloud computing.

He said, " The work being done in these two centres are global in nature and the technologies they are developing are for the business globally."

About Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is web-based processing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices such as smart phones on demand over the Internet.
Google already has cloud computing centres in Mountain View in California and New York but the Hyderabad centre is the largest in terms of the number of engineers working here.

Peeyush Ranjan says, " India is a great market for cloud computing as it is the most price sensitive. Since cloud computing ensures efficiency and better utilization of resources, small and medium business are excited about it."

Google has around three million customers in cloud computing globally. About 100,000 businesses in India are already using Google's cloud computing technologies.