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'Icy' water along with other frozen volatile materials has been found within 'burning hot' Mercury's permanently shadowed polar craters.

NASA's MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft has been studying Mercury, the nearest planet to the Sun, in unprecedented detail since its historic arrival there in March 2011.

Scientists have seen clearly for the first time a chapter in the story of how the inner planets, including Earth, acquired their water and some of the chemical building blocks for life, NASA said in a statement.

"The new data indicate the water ice in Mercury's polar regions, if spread over an area the size of Washington, DC, would be more than 2 miles thick," said David Lawrence, a MESSENGER participating scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL).

Spacecraft instruments completed the first measurements of excess hydrogen at Mercury's north pole, its reflectivity of polar deposits at near-infrared wavelengths and enabled the detailed models of the surface and near-surface temperatures of the planet's north polar regions.

Given its proximity to the Sun, Mercury would seem to be an unlikely place to find ice.

However, the tilt of Mercury's rotational axis is less than 1 degree, and as a result, there are pockets at the planet's poles that never see sunlight.

Scientists suggested decades ago there might be water ice and other frozen volatiles trapped at Mercury's poles.

Images from the spacecraft taken in 2011 and earlier this year confirmed all radar-bright features at Mercury's north and south poles lie within shadowed regions on the planet's surface.

Sir Albert Einstein's brain, though of average size, contained an unusually high number of folds which may have provided the genius with the ability to think in "extraordinary ways", scientists claim.

 Sir Albert Einstein's brain was divided into 240 blocks and distributed to researchers after his death in 1955. Most of the specimens were lost and little was written about its anatomy.

Scientists now have used photographs of the brain before it was segmented to produce a "road map" connecting the 240 sections and the 2,000 thin slivers into which they were later split, 'The Telegraph' reported.

The pictures, taken from the private collection of pathologist Thomas Harvey, who divided the brain up, show a number of peculiarities about Einstein's brain.

Although Einstein's brain was only of average size, weighing 1,230 grams, certain areas contain an unusually high number of folds and grooves, a comparison with 85 other brains showed.

Anthropologist Dean Falk of Florida State University found "regions that are exceptionally complicated in their convolutions" in each of Einstein's brain lobes.

The finding confirmed reports in two previous studies, which suggested that an unusual pattern of ridges in the brain could have been linked to Einstein's remarkable ability to solve problems in physics, the report said.

Falk and colleagues, writing in the journal 'Brain', also observed that Einstein's brain was enlarged in regions which transmit nerve impulses to the face and tongue, and in the prefrontal cortex, which is linked to concentration and forward planning.

The extra matter in areas linked to the face and tongue could explain a comment by the scientist that his thinking was "muscular" rather than taking the form of words.

Itanium 9500, which the company claimed is over two-times faster than its previous generation processors.

The new Intel Itanium processor 9500 series is more than twice as powerful as the previous generation, making it ideal for today's most demanding workloads, including business analytics, database, and large-scale ERP applications, Intel said in a statement.

Systems based on Intel's Itanium processors run in more than three-quarters of the world's global 100 companies across industries such as aerospace, energy, life sciences and telecommunications, the company said.

With the Intel Itanium processor 9500 series, these industries will benefit from a leap in performance and increase in reliability, availability and serviceability capabilities, it said.

"Built on a new microarchitecture and providing breakthrough performance, the Intel Itanium 9500 processor family signals Intel's ongoing commitment to deliver unparallelled reliability... to meet the critical application demands across all industries," Srinivasan Ramaprasad, Country Business Manager, MNC Accounts, Intel South Asia, claimed at a press conference here today.

According to HP, based on HP enhancements and the Intel Itanium processor 9500 series, transactions are processed up to three times faster than previous generations, while using 21 per cent less energy.

If your smart phone gets wet, never try to switch it on as it may cause short-circuiting in the phone and may lead to a bigger loss. Immediately remove your phone's battery and then use a towel to dry the physical parts of the smartphone and once you are through it, bury your phone and the battery in a bowl full of rice. This will cause the rice to absorb all the water and moisture from the device.

One of the best things you can do is to place the wet smartphone on the back of your PC monitor or TV screen over the heat vents. The conventional heat waves coming out of these devices are just perfect to dry and fix your phone. Else, you can place the smartphone in front of the air conditioner as well. Since the cold air coming from the AC is dry, it will dry up your phone quicker than you may expect.

You can simply detach all the removable parts of your smartphone including the battery and keep it in the oven for over night. But be very sure to set oven only to warm lest some serious damages may occur.

To be on the safer side you can later use a hair dryer to remove the remaining moisture and water from the phone, however, never use a dryer as the first solution. This will worsen the situation by blowing the water droplets into deeper areas of your phone.

After few months, bank account holders will be able to access their accounts, transfer funds, check balances and request cheque books by simply punching in *99# from their mobile phones, including the most basic GSM handsets.

Some lenders have already rolled out similar services, *99# will be a universal code to access account details across all banks. What sets apart the *99# initiative from other mobile telephony services currently offered is that the *99# connectivity is under the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) platform where each dial-in results in a live connection with the bank's server.

The system is similar to the system used in pre-paid phones to check balances. The user's numerical literacy would be enough to operate the account . Since it's not based on SMS or GPRS connectivity, there's no charge on the user.

Govt pushes mobile banking to boost reach
At the annual bankers' conclave (Bancon) in Pune on Saturday, finance minister P Chidambaram outlined the government's strategy to shift most transactions to the electronic mode. The mainstay of this strategy is to have Aadhaar-enabled bank accounts for all and to transfer government benefits such as pension, scholarships and subsidies directly to individual accounts. The government has set December 2013 as the deadline for banks to ensure that all beneficiaries have Aadhaar numbers linked to their bank accounts and to ensure that those without an account are given one.

Another part of the initiative is the electronification of kisan credit cards (KCCs). Although KCCs were launched way back in 1998, they were used more like identity cards until now. On Saturday, Bank of Maharashtra, hosts of Bancon 2012, became the first lender to issue a Rupay KCC—India's answer to Visa and MasterCard. This will provide KCC holders access to 1.04 lakh ATMs and enable merchant payments as well.Besides ensuring speedy transfers and reducing leakages , banks have a collateral benefit of these measures to eliminate cash. "The total cash in circulation is almost Rs 11 lakh crore; even if Rs 1 lakh crore would come into bank accounts, it would go a long way in augmenting resources of banks," said Pratip Chaudhuri, chairman , State Bank of India.

The government is pushing mobile banking because it will provide those in remote areas the opportunity to access their Aadhaar accounts even if banks are not around nearby.

The *99# service—the first time banks and telcos have come together at the industry level—is the brainchild of the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI). According to AP Hota, MD & CEO, NPCI, the new service best suits India as it is simple and secure as no information is stored in the mobile device. "Ninety percent of phones used in the country are GSM handsets and this service works on all GSM phones, irrespective of make, cost, operating system or even the telecom service provider," said Hota. MTNL and BSNL have been the first to get on board.

According to a new study Smoking 'rots' the brain by damaging memory, learning and reasoning.Researchers from the King's College London in brain tests and analysis of health and lifestyle data of a group of over-50s found that smoking affects the brain negatively even more than high blood pressure and obesity.

Participants took brain tests like learning new words or naming as many animals as they could in a minute, the BBC News reported.

They were all tested again after four and then eight years.

Researchers found a "consistent association" between smoking and lower scores in the tests.

The study of 8,800 people also found that high blood pressure and being overweight also seemed to affect the brain, but to a lesser extent.

Scientists involved said people needed to be aware that lifestyles could damage the mind as well as the body.The results showed that the overall risk of a heart attack or stroke was "significantly associated with cognitive decline" with those at the highest risk showing the greatest decline.

"Cognitive decline becomes more common with ageing and for an increasing number of people interferes with daily functioning and well-being. We have identified a number of risk factors which could be associated with accelerated cognitive decline, all of which, could be modifiable," researcher Dr Alex Dregan, said.

"We need to make people aware of the need to do some lifestyle changes because of the risk of cognitive decline.Researchers do not know how such a decline could affect people going about their daily life. They are also unsure whether the early drop in brain function could lead to conditions such as dementia.

A parliamentary apology was made by the Australian government to the victims of sexual and other abuse in the country's armed forces and set up a compensation fund for them.

The public apology was made in the Parliament by Defence Minister Stephen Smith who also announced setting up of an independent task force to assess every allegation of abuse made by individuals."Young men and women have endured sexual, physical or mental abuse from their colleagues. And to those men and women who have suffered such forms of abuse, on behalf of the government I say sorry," Smith told Parliament, 'The Australian' reported."You should have never experienced this abuse as such experiences have a lasting, traumatic and adverse impact on the people," the Minister said.

The Australian Defence Minister was unsparing on top military brass who occupied positions of trust saying they had "turned a blind eye to such abuses which was not
acceptable".The minister also acknowledged the "shameful" Skype sex scandal at Australian Defence Forces Academy (ADFA) where a video of a female cadet having consensual sex with a male cadet was streamed on the Internet without her knowledge.

Smith announced setting up of a judicial probe headed by former West Australian Supreme Court judge Len Roberts Smith to determine the victims who qualify for compensation of up to USD 52,000.

Some of the most serious allegations of the abuse include the claims of 24 rapes allegedly occurred at ADFA in the 1990s, and which may have been covered up or not properly investigated.

According to reports on the web, the ‘revolutionary’ device aimed at bridging the digital divide in the country is actually a cheap ‘Made in China’ device, and has been embellished with some applications from IIT Bombay. Questions are being raised whether the Aakash 2 is a true Indian innovation.

Economic Times in its report claims DataWind, the company assigned to design, develop and manufacture the Aakash tablet, procured about 12,000 devices A-13 model designed by AllWinner Tech of China. The supplier was finalised by IIT-Bombay, which is also implementing the Aakash project. The report says the procurement took place shortly before the Aakash 2 was officially launched.

The Chinese tablets cost about $42 (around Rs. 2,310) per unit, and were purchased from firms such as Kalong Technology Co., Ltd, Dasen International Electronics Co Ltd, Trend Grace and Shenzhen Shetong Zhaoli Co Ltd. The report points out that IIT Bombay issued a certificate dated October 29 for importing 20,000 units in India, and sought a waiver of duty as they were meant for school students under an HRD ministry programme – days before the Aakash 2 was launched.

According to the report, DataWind didn’t design or manufacture the Aakash 2 tablets. DataWind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli has refuted the charges and claimed his company had designed the Aakash 2. "For the first 10,000 units for IIT, and for expediency sake we had the motherboards manufactured in one of our Chinese subcontractor’s facilities And then the units have been ‘kitted’ in China at various manufacturers for expediency, whereas the final assembly and programming has happened in India. We finished this batch of 10,000 units and delivered them to IIT and will be starting another batch of 20,000 units for them in two weeks," Hindustan Times quotes Tuli as saying.

Clarifying reports of the Aaksh 2 not being an Indian device, Tuli told website PKR, “Our business model is similar to that of Apple where we use subcontract manufacturers to build our products. So, these are built in facilities of our contractors. For the first 10k units for IIT, and for expediency sake we had the motherboards and kits manufactured in our Chinese subcontractor’s facilities, and then the units have been ‘kitted’ in China at various manufacturers for expediency, whereas the final assembly and programming has happened in India.”

The government hasn’t made any official statement on the controversies surrounding the Aakash 2. However, the ET in its report quotes a senior government official involved in the project as saying he was unaware whether the products were off the shelf tablets from China. IIT Bombay has also not responded on the issue yet.

A naked man in London installed himself on a statue near Prime Minister David Cameron's office for nearly three hours.

He braved the November cold and gawking crowds to straddle the monument to Prince George, a 19th century military chief and one-time Duke of Cambridge, adopting various poses including balancing precariously on the prince's head.

Police were called to the statue on Whitehall, the street on which many government offices including Cameron's Downing Street residence are located, after reports that a man had climbed up and might have had a knife.

From midday to about 3pm, police cordoned off the area as they tried to persuade him to come down. Finally they got him into a police van, where he was detained under the Mental Health Act.

According to a new research  Eating a low calorie diet can slow down the process of ageing, .

Adhering to a sensible healthy eating regime may even ward off major diseases from diabetes to cancer, and dementia to heart­illness, found the study by the Fred Hutchinson­Cancer Research Center in Seattle.Researchers discovered that consuming fewer calories, without going hungry, can delay the destruction of vital body cells, the Daily Express reported.This in turn staves off the dreaded signs of ageing while helping you to stay fit and healthy.

Previous studies have pointed to the need to cut food intake by about 40 per cent to live 20 to 30 per cent longer.The study focused on a powerhouse of cells called mitochondria. In the early stages of ageing, the mitochondria begin to degrade.Experts discovered this was because of changes in a membrane - known as the vacuole - which lost its acidity.

However, restricting calorie intake helped to keep the acidity high, researchers told the journal Nature.
"It's very clear from these studies that caloricrestriction has a powerful, protective effect against diseases associated with ageing. If people's hearts are ageing more slowly, it's conceivable they will live for a very long time," said Professor John Holloszy, who has carried out similar research into the effects of cutting calories.

The team at Fred Hutchinson made the latest breakthrough by experimenting on yeast.
"Normally, mitochondria are beautiful, long tubes, but as cells get older, the mitochondria become fragmented and chunky," researcher Dr Daniel Gottschling said.

Employed

Jobless

 A new study has found  that having a demanding job can be just as bad for a person's mental health as being unemployed, .

The study is the first to use nationally representative data from England to compare the mental health of those who are unemployed with those in jobs of differing psycho-social quality.Researchers led by Associate Professor Peter Butterworth from the Australia's National University said poor psychosocial job quality is measured by factors such as high job demands, low job control, poor job security and low job esteem.

Butterworth said the study's findings support the hypothesis that the mental health benefits of work are restricted to good quality jobs, and that the poorest quality work is comparable to unemployment as a risk factor for poor mental health."Our analysis clearly established that there was no difference in the rates of common mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression, between those who were unemployed and those who were in the poorest quality jobs," Butterworth said."Both of these groups of individuals were more likely to experience a common mental disorder than those who were in high quality work.

"Importantly, the results from this analysis of UK data confirm previous findings from analysis of Australian data. They add to a growing body of research highlighting the need to address the psychosocial aspects of the work environment as part of national government plans to reduce mental illness in the community," Butterworth said in a statement.

"Policy efforts to improve community mental health shouldconsider psychosocial job quality in conjunction with efforts to increase employment rates.

This is the 'world's first smart bag' that can charge your electronic devices like mobiles and laptops besides storing them.

'Phorce' project is helping to raise funds for the bag.The bag has a waterproof shell and specially designed pockets to safely hold all the big tablets on the market.Additionally, the bag changes shape ¿ it can be morphed between a backpack, a shoulder bag and a suitcase.

It pairs directly with your smartphone via Bluetooth.

Using that connection, one can monitor how much reserved power you're packing.

The pairing can also work as a pseudo-tracking device, the report said.

For instance, if you accidentally forget your bag under a table at a coffee shop, for example, your phone will remind you before you wander too far away.

Cellular services in major cities of PAK were stopped temporarily on Friday to prevent terror attacks from marring commemorations for the holy month of Muharram, officials said.
Mobile and wireless phone services were temporarily blocked in Karachi, the southwestern city of Quetta and in parts of the capital.It is the second time Pakistan has shut down mobile networks during Muharram, which culminates with Ashura, the holiest day in the Shiite Muslim calendar when faithful march to mourn the seventh-century killing of Imam Hussein.

A suicide bomber killed 23 people and wounded 62 others at a Shiite procession in Rawalpindi on Thursday, the deadliest bombing in Pakistan for five months.Ashura falls this year on Sunday and has been a magnet for sectarian attacks with rights groups heavily criticising the government for failing to stop extremist violence."We have shut our service in Karachi and Quetta on the instructions of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority from 1:00 pm (0800 GMT) to midnight," said an official at Mobilink, the country's largest mobile phone service provider.

An official at PTCL, which runs the only landline and wireless phone services in Pakistan, said wireless phones had also been turned off at the government's instructions.Interior minister Rehman Malik announced the phone suspension earlier, saying it was intended to "ensure security during and after the Muharram processions".Southern province Sindh, where Karachi is the capital, also declared Friday a public holiday for security reasons.Most businesses and shops were closed in the city and roads were deserted.

In December 2009, a suicide bomber killed 43 people in Karachi at a Shia procession to mark Ashura.Pakistan says 35,000 people have been killed as a result of terrorism since the 9/11 attacks and the 2001 US-led invasion of neighbouring Afghanistan.

Law enforcement and security experts say that as more people use their mobile devices in stores and on open Wi-Fi networks, the risks are increasing as well.

The FBI-backed Internet Crime Complaint Center is warning consumers to be on the lookout for fraudulent apps, messages and Wi-Fi networks which can trick users of mobile devices to divulge passwords, personal data or credit card numbers."Many times, e-mails, texts or phone calls will look or sound like they are coming from a well-known retailer, stating a need to 'verify' the full credit card number you used for a purchase or ask you to click a link to update personal account information," the center said.The center said Android devices are often targeted by spyware, including one system called FinFisher, capable of taking a mobile device, or Loozfon, "an information-stealing piece of malware."

Security firm McAfee's Gary Davis said that as the popularity of apps surges, "so have the chances that you could download a malicious application designed to steal your information or even send out premium-rate text messages without your knowledge."Davis said some fraudsters are using Twitter ads offering special discounts for popular gifts, linking to malicious software."Criminals are getting savvier with authentic-looking social ads and deals that take consumers to legitimate looking websites," Davis said.

"In order to take advantage of the deals or contests, they ask them for personal information that can obtain a shopper's credit card number, email address, phone number or home address."Lookout, a security firm offering free apps for Android and iPhone, also urges prudence."Be careful what you do on public Wi-Fi networks especially when you're shopping. Do not expose passwords, account numbers or credit card information unless you are certain that you are on a secure connection," a company statement said.

1.The MX Player

MX Player is the most popular free video player on Android market and comes with a host of neat features, such as pinch-to-zoom in videos, on-screen lock and gesture controls. The app can play videos in most formats and is also comptible with a host of subtitle formats. When you starting watching a video that was playing earlier, MX Player will also ask if you want to start over or resume from the point you stopped at.


2.AVG Antivirus

AVG AntiVirus Free is the most popular free antivirus app on Android and will go through all the contents of your smartphone to ensure is protected from malware. The app will also keep an eye on the memory and battery consumption, along with mobile data usage. By activating the anti-theft feature of the device, you can even track your smartphone in case it is lost or stolen.




3.Indian Rail Info

Indian Rail Info App is the most downloaded Android application for information about Indian Railways. It enables users to search information about train schedules, including arrival and departure time. Along with that, the app offers details like PNR status, seat availability, train numbers seat upgrade status, fares and status of running trains.

4.My LIC

My LIC app enables users to calculate premium as well as find and compare policies provided by Life Insurance Corporation of India. Along with that, it provides data about the policies offered by 24 other companies, including Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, Birla Sun Life, HDFC Standard Life, ICICI Prudential Life, ING Vysya Life Insurance and Max New York Life Insurance. It provides screenshots of the policies offered by the companies and supports comparison of various premium plans.

5.Justdial

With the Justdial app, you will have all information about your local area on your fingertips. Using the device's in-built GPS and Google Maps, this app easily finds the businesses, services and products in any area in India. Users can even add the addresses listed with Just Dial to their device's Contact List, book events and send listings over SMS and email free of cost.

6.The Times Of India


Stay up-to-date with all major news and happenings with the official The Times of India app. It provides content in form of text, videos and images and covers topics of national and international importance, along with city, technology, sports, entertainment and business news and movie reviews.Users can customise the app, select their cities, change text size and save articles and images for later. The app even supports offline viewing as the last updated content is saved in cache.

7.Viber

When it comes to free calls and messages, Viber is the top free app in Google Play marketplace. This app can help you reduce the amount you spend each month by enabling you to make calls and send SMSes via a reliable internet connection. Along with that, you can send photos and videos with your friends using this app. Think of it as the combination of WhatsApp and Skype and use it to call another Viber users, irrespective of which platform they use, be it Android, iOS or Windows.

8.Bookmyshow

The official Bookmyshow app features a smooth user interface, with options like Movies, Arts & Theatre, Sports and Events. Users can easily check the venue, timing and seat availability for their preferred events using this app. They can even book and pay for their tickets via credit card, debit card, net banking etc seamlessly.

9.Zomato

It has been found that connection between the gradual development and exacerbation of psychotic symptoms, including delusions, anxiety, confusion, and intensified use of computer communications such as Facebook.

In his study, Dr. Uri Nitzan of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Shalvata Mental Health Care Center presented three in-depth case studies linking psychotic episodes to Internet communications from his own practice.According to Dr. Nitzan, patients shared some crucial characteristics, including loneliness or vulnerability due to the loss of or separation from a loved one, relative inexperience with technology, and no prior history of psychosis or substance abuse.The good news is that all of the patients, who willingly sought out treatment on their own, were able to make a full recovery with proper treatment and care, Dr. Nitzan said.

The Internet is a free and liberal space that many individuals use on a daily basis and a growing part of a normal social life.But while technologies such as Facebook have numerous advantages, some patients are harmed by these social networking sites, which can attract those who are lonely or vulnerable in their day-to-day lives or act as a platform for cyber-bullying and other predatory behavior.All three of Dr. Nitzan's patients sought refuge from a lonely situation and found solace in intense virtual relationships. Although these relationships were positive at first, they eventually led to feelings of hurt, betrayal, and invasion of privacy, reported Dr. Nitzan."All of the patients developed psychotic symptoms related to the situation, including delusions regarding the person behind the screen and their connection through the computer," the researcher said.

Two patients began to feel vulnerable as a result of sharing private information, and one even experienced tactile hallucinations, believing that the person beyond the screen was physically touching her.Dr. Nitzan and his colleagues plan to do more in-depth research on Facebook, studying the features and applications that have the potential to harm patients emotionally or permit patients to cause emotional harm to others.

The latest  version,Firefox 17 has a whole new social API, which allow the users to access social networking sites inside the sidebar of the browser itself, without switching between tabs

.It comes with Facebook messenger integration to the browser and the API provides facilities for social networks like Twitter, blogs or even news sites to easily add social sidebars, toolbar notifications and chats to the browser, no matter which site a user is currently looking at.Some of these features were present in the Rockmelt browser, but with the APIs appearance in a mainstream product like the Firefox, it would be interesting to see how “social” the competing browsers can be. With Firefox 17, the users can check notifications and see updates including comments and photo tags. They can respond right in the sidebar or they can hide it when they need less distraction.

According to Mozilla’s VP of Firefox Engineering, Jonathan Nightingale, “While users on the ‘normal’ web generally interact with a tab and close it and they again revisit their social sites. Mozilla tried to solve this problem by adding app tabs to Firefox. But people still had to work around the limitations of browsers because they were treating social just like any other sites. Social sites, however, need to be treated different from other sites, and that’s where the social API comes in.”

A computer scientist in the US has built a prototype smartphone that can distinguish between touches from the knuckle, fingertip and even fingernail.To open up the smartphone screens to commands from other parts of the hand, Chris Harrison, from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, has built the prototype.

A modified smartphone, fitted with a small vibration sensor and running Harrison's FingerSense software, listens for the acoustic and vibrational differences between the three different types of touch, the New Scientist reported.A fingertip could select an object while a knuckle tap could work like the right-click on a computer mouse and open up a submenu, for example.

"A big problem with touchscreens right now is that they are very simplistic, relative to the capability of our hands. We could do so much more," Harrison said."The more ways you have of expressing input into smartphones the better," said Joseph Paradiso at the MIT Media Lab in Boston, who has worked on similar technology. Harrison said the sensor is a standard piece of electronics that can be added to the main circuit board of any smartphone, and he is already in talks with major phone manufacturers to do just that."The real magic is in the software, this artificial intelligence that lives in the heart of the phone,".He has just launched a company called Qeexo to sell his device.

Sky smartpen by Livescribe, a writing tool with a tiny computer inside that records notes written on special microdot paper. The notes are sent wirelessly to a personal account through a partnership with Evernote, the digital archive service.

The pen has up to 8GB memory. It also records audio, which can be beneficial for meetings and lectures. Users can playback moments of the audio by touching the pen at the corresponding spot in the handwritten notes.

It includes 500MB of free storage through Evernote. Once in the cloud, the notes and audio are accessible on any computer, or any iOS or Android mobile device.

The pen comes with an extra ink cartridge, two caps, a notebook of microdot paper and a micro-USB cable for charging. The Sky pen and accessories , including extra notebooks, are available online at Amazon.com and Livescribe's website, as well as at retailers like Staples and Best Buy. I tested the four-gigabyte Sky pen, which costs $200, and found it easy to set up and use.

Functions of the pen are listed in the notebook ; just touch the pen to the command you want. The pen, al- though chunky, felt comfortable in my hand when I was writing or doodling. And syncing through Wi-Fi to my Evernote account was effortless. I was able to see the notes quickly on my iPad and iPhone; however, I could not open the Livescribe player on my PC at work to play the audio.

The habit of traditional messaging via SMSes among Americans has slowed for the first time ever, a new study has suggested.The number of SMS messages sent per customer each month dropped 3 percent to an average of 678 texts in the third quarter, according to a report by independent mobile analyst Chetan Sharma.

According to the report, services like Apple's iMessage, Viber and Jaxtr SMS allow customers to send SMS-like texts at a much lower cost than the major US carriers, which charge as much as 20 cents for a single text.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said that the rise in alternative messaging presents a major threat to his company."You lie awake at night worrying about what is that which will disrupt your business model. Apple iMessage is a classic example. If you're using iMessage, you're not using one of our messaging services, right?" he said.Social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram may also be partly to blame for the declining numbers, the report said.

Google India, has been fined by the income tax department for Rs 76 crore for flaunting tax rules.The tax office said that the company has misled the department, deflated income, violated accounting norms set by the chartered accountants’ institute and also attempted to show wrong revenues to avoid being subjected to transfer pricing adjustments with respect to its international transactions.IT department of India has refused to keep the penalty in abeyance after their investigations with the company’s auditor, SR Batliboi and Associates, who have offered the full so-operation in the proceedings.

Google has appealed against the penalty order that is related to assessment year 2008-2009. "If the order is upheld, the total advertisement revenue of Google India will be taxed in India," said a person familiar with the case.According to the tax officers, Google India had transferred Rs 119.83 crore to Google Ireland Limited, the Google’s subsidiary in Ireland, without paying tax at the source in line with the treaty between India and Ireland. "The entire activity of (Google's) AdWords Programme and the revenue earned until now has happened in India with both the advertisers as well as people making use of the advertisements situated in India. To this extent, the income of Google Ireland Limited was held to be accrued as well as arisen in India itself," said the order.

The tax officers tracked the other markets of Google through various sources and media reports, and they were abreast with the nature of the Google Ireland transactions which were aimed at tax evasion. According to the report, Google’s arms in Asia, Middle-East and other reasons routed their money through Netherland office to an entity in Bermuda, a tax heaven.

IBM, has unveiled a new technology teamed up with Lyon, France, to develop the technology that helps the traffic operators to reduce congestions on the road, and maintain an easy traffic flow.The researchers said they process the real time traffic data, which helps in “predictive traffic management technology” to determine how to keep traffic flowing. It technology is called as “Decision Support System Optimizer” or DSSO, which can detect incidents, predict the impact of these incidents, predicts traffic and suggests the best course of action to solve a problem.

For example it helps the operators to adjust the traffic signals, so that other cars detour quickly when an ambulance is rushing fast on the particular road. “Piloting this analytics technology will help the city anticipate and avoid many traffic jams before they happen, and lessen their impact on citizens,” Gerard Collomb, Lyon’s mayor, said in a statement, reports Mashable. “Using the data that we are collecting to make more informed decisions will help us to promote about how to resolve unexpected traffic events, and optimize public transportation.”

The traffic operators presently use the predetermined response plans or make spontaneous decisions to tackle the bottlenecks, however they can’t factor in previous and future traffic patterns into their decisions, according to IBM.“Historical and real-time traffic data from the City of Lyon is combined with advanced analytics and algorithms to help model predicted conditions under both normal and incident conditions, and the resulting impact across the entire network of roads, buses and trams,” IBM said in a statement. “The system can estimate drive times and traffic patterns more accurately,” IBM added. Eventually, the algorithms will “learn” from successful plans, and apply that knowledge to its future recommendations.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies is expecting a growth slowdown in country's software services sector.  Sluggish development in local software companies which serve MNCs has been the underlying cause for this slowdown.As reported by ET, Nasscom which was earlier estimating a 11-14% growth rate in IT outsourcing industry, has now lowered their expectations to the downline of 11%. According to the latest calculations, an estimated $75-77 billion of export revenues will be generated in the year to march 31, 2013.Currency movements are also responsible for reduction in revenues reported by captives, which constitute 20-25% of software exports. Largely varying growth rates among India’s top 5 software services also contribute to the slowdown.

Europe,US markets consume 80% of service exported by domestic companies have seen a rough time this year. Hence, the two digit growth rate still remains an encouraging factor.However, the sector will grow by 18-20% by local currency.Nasscom president Som Mittal said,”The global in-house centres are going through huge efficiency improvement. They are on a cost-plus model”“Growth rate has picked up in September and many companies have indicated that the second half will be better than that of the first half. Based on that, we are pretty confident we will meet the lower end of the guidance.” said Nasscom chairperson N Chandrasekaran.
Nasscom said that in the long term the industry has good growth prospects.

The Regional Science Park in the city would be opened for science enthusiasts very soon as all the construction are completed. We are just waiting for a convenient date for Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to launch the park,'' said P Iyamperumal, executive director of Tamil Nadu Council for Science and Technology.

This particular science park is spread across 6.71 acres near Codissia Trade Fair Complex on Avinashi Road. The National Council of Science Museum and Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre have collaborated in setting up the park on a cost-sharing basis by the state and Centre. Initially, the park was scheduled for inauguration in May this year but was delayed due to construction related issues and problems in sourcing of objects to be displayed.Iyamperumal said the park will have a special textile gallery to expose children to textile technology, considering the rich textile tradition of Coimbatore and the rest of Western Tamil Nadu. The 5000 sq ft textile gallery will have exhibits pertaining to the textile industry's evolution from conventional to modern technology. The Fun Science Gallery will have exhibits to impart knowledge on basic science. Swings have been installed across the premises. The gallery will display construction models of common consumer items including TVs, fridges and air conditioners to enable children understand the principles behind their functioning.

A giant size globe measuring 3m in diameter has been set up using anamorphic drawings to help children see the image of Sir CV Raman from a distance. A 3D theatre on campus will accommodate 70 persons and facilitate learning through an infotainment module. The theatre will also be used to conduct lectures on science. The park is designed to allow children to participate in the learning process.To provide a green ambience, the forest department has started planting saplings of various species in the park. More than 200 varieties of saplings have already been planted.

A science village is set to come up in Tripura to popularise scientific concepts in rural areas of the northeastern region. The project at Nimbark village, 10 km from here, will have a planetarium, a botanical garden, a bird sanctuary, heritage and theme parks, a labratory, a museum and a library.The state government has sought Rs.66 crore from the Union ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar told IANS.

He said 13 acres had been allotted for the project and work would start soon."Without spreading modern science, how can the new generation be familiar with the world?" Sarkar asked.The project's nodal authority is the Tripura State Council for Science and Technology (TSCST), a part of the Science, Technology and Environment Department.TSCST will manage the science village and turn it into a regional science hub. The National Council of Science Museums under the ministry of culture is supporting the project.The project will be completed over four years in two phases. The first phase will to be ready in 33 months."The project seeks to develop scientific awareness among the people," science and environment minister Joy Gobinda Deb Roy told IANS.

He said it would help people learn about scientific works through recreational and playing activities and also promote research work.The project will also contribute towards generating employment and promoting eco-tourism, he said.TSCST secretary Mihir Lal Roy said the Vigyan Gram was expected to attract students and science enthusiasts from Bangladesh, with India planning to improve connectivity with the neighbouring country.

Titan,the super computer which is 10 times more powerful than the last lab machine, has claimed the title of the world's most powerful supercomputer.Titan uses microchips more usually used for video-gaming to crunch numbers for climate studies, models of advanced materials and alternatives to petrol.
The machine has seized the top spot in the Top500 – a closely-watched global league of the fastest supercomputers, the Telegraph reported.Built by Cray at the US government's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, Titan is 10 times more powerful than the lab's last supercomputer, Jaguar, which led the world as recently as 2009.

Titan was measured at 17.59 petaflops ¿ or 17.59 thousand trillion calculations per second beating the previous record of 16.32 petaflops, held by Sequoia, a supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, which simulates nuclear attacks.It had reclaimed the crown for the United States earlier this year from the K supercomputer in Japan, the report said.
The new champion contains almost 19,000 processing nodes and 710 terabytes of memory. As well as a 16-core AMD CPU, each node contains an Nvidia GPU accelerator, a specially-adapted version of processor technology originally developed for the video gaming market.

Four teenage schoolgirls in Nigeria have invented a 'pee-powered' generator that converts one litre of urine into six hours of electricity.Fourteen-year-olds Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, Faleke Oluwatoyin, and 15-year-old Bello Eniola showed their creation at the Maker Faire Africa entrepreneurs event, in Lagos, southern Nigeria on 5 and 6 November, using a resource that is free, unlimited and easily obtainable.According to the Maker Faire blog, urine is put into an electrolytic cell, which cracks the urea into nitrogen, water, and hydrogen.The hydrogen goes into a water filter for purification, which then gets pushed into the gas cylinder.

The gas cylinder pushes hydrogen into a cylinder of liquid borax, which is used to remove the moisture from the hydrogen gas. This purified hydrogen gas is pushed into the generator, and one litre of urine provides six hours of electricity.Maker Faire blog described the generator as "possibly one of the more unexpected products" at the event. While the system does have one-way valves for safety, more robust measures may be needed before it can be sold widely.Nigeria's economy is on the rise, however, more than half of the country's 162 million citizens have no access to electricity.