World Book and Copyright Day 2012

By celebrating this Day throughout the world, UNESCO seeks to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright.
23 April is a symbolic date for world literature, since 23 April 1616 was the date of death of Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. 23 April is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors such as Maurice Druon, K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.

Translation is the first step towards the rapprochement of peoples, and is also a decentralizing experience, teaching diversity and dialogue. Translation is one of the driving principles of our creative diversity, which enriches each language through contact with all the others. 

Irina Bokova, Director General
Message for World Book and Copyright Day 2012

This is why UNESCO chose this date to pay a worldwide tribute to books and their authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and to gain a renewed respect for the extraordinary contributions of those who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity.
The idea for this celebration originated in Catalonia (Spain) where it has become a tradition to give a rose as a gift for each book purchased.
The success of the World Book and Copyright Day will depend primarily on the support received from all parties concerned: authors, publishers, teachers, librarians, public and private institutions, humanitarian NGOs and the mass media.

Source: http://www.unesco.org

AICTE to power desi FB for tech students

AICTE to power desi FB for tech students
Himanshi Dhawan TNN

New Delhi: It’s our desi facebook. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Microsoft have collaborated to host acommunication service that offers e-mail, instant messaging, Microsoft Office web apps, and 0GB inbox for 7.5 million engineering students and 5 lakh faculty members spread over 10,000 technical institutes across the country.
Live@edu — to be up and running in the next three months — will use cloud deployment to expand students’ access to highquality technical education. This will allow students to interact and share content both for work and social networking, and even initiate collaborative research projects.
HRD minister Kapil Sibal said, “This is an era of collaboration and we hope to empower 7.5 million students and 5 lakh teachers. It is the first project of its kind.’’ Live@edu will be a social networking site linked to its portal, allowing engineering students to interact with each other about their projects. It will also provide a communication and collaboration platform for both institutes and students.

Source: The Times of India dated 13/04/2012

Airtel's 4G service to be launched in Bangalore in 30 days

Airtel's 4G service to be launched in Bangalore in 30 days

PTI |Apr 11, 2012, 10.51AMIST

NEWDELHI:

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it will be ready to launch 4G service in Bangalore

in the next 30 days.

"We will be ready for launching it (4G service) in Bangalore in 30 day s time. We have selected Huawei (as network equipment vendor) for Bangalore,"Bharti Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor told reporters during a conference call.

The company today announced launch of fourth generation (4G) telecom service using TD-LTE technology in Kolkata. It has selected Chinese telecom equipment company ZTE for providing technology and equipments for the service.

The company has not got approval to provide voice and sms service to users on 4G network, Kapoor said.

Airtel has selected Nokia Siemens Network for its launch in Maharashtra and is y et to finalise telecom equipment vendor for Punjab circle. Airtel has

selected Pune and Chandigarh to start 4G service in Maharashtra and Punjab respectively .

The company expects that consumer will get 10 times higher broadband speed compared to the speed that people get on 3G network.

"No one can tell exact speed that can be delivered on a wireless network because various factors govern it. However, we have seen data speed of around 1 .2 to 2 mbps on 3G network. The 4G data speed should be 10 times higher,"Kapoor said.

Bharti Airtel's President for Consumer Business K Srinivas said the network has potential to provide download speed of 100 megabits per second and the present speed can be upgraded based on the demand from market.

The company has announced 2 different USB dongles for accessing 4G service priced at Rs 7 ,7 50 and Rs 7 ,999 and three data plans ranging between Rs 999

and Rs 1 ,999.

The lesser priced device is meant for indoor access of the service while the higher priced dongle is for using broadband on the move.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Airtels-4G-service-to-be-launched-in-Bangalore-in-30-days/articleshow/12620049.cms

Project Glass

Google Glass revealed

By Joshua Ostrer in Sci/Tech | April 12, 2012 | Views: 116

On April 4, Google released a teaser video entitled “Project Glass: One day…” The video, which has already gained over 10 million views, showcases Google’s new product: Project Glass.

Project Glass is Google’s attempt at integrating your entire life with social media using their prototype glasses. The glasses, as shown in the video, employ the use of Augmented Reality (AR) in a transparent display in front of the user’s very eyes. Google intends to integrate Google Maps, Google+ and voice recognition technology to allow users to live their life through a Google-guide. “We think technology should work for you—to be there when you need it and get out of the way when you don’t,” says the Project Glass Google+ page.

In the video, the wearer of the glasses is able to look outside and instantly check the weather and see his schedule for the day, respond to text messages he views through the glasses by voice, view step-by-step directions anywhere he wants to go and is able to take a photograph by simply commanding the headset to “take a photo of this” and instantly share it to his Google+ circles. The video concludes with the user sharing his own view with his girlfriend while overlooking a sunset. While the device has excited many users over its futuristic ability to essentially merge a smartphone with your own eyes, it has also stirred up a lot of controversy.

Google says that the glasses could be available for a late 2012 release, but others insist that the technology featured in the video is unrealistic and would not be available for another two years. “In one simple fake video, Google has created a level of over-hype and over-expectation that their hardware cannot possibly live up to,” said Director of the Augmented Environments Lab at Georgia Tech Blair MacIntyre.

Since the video’s release, a Google spokesperson has indicated that it is unlikely the glasses will be available by the end of 2012. However, the price of the glasses has been announced, and is expected to range from $250 to $600. Despite the technical debate of whether or not Google Glass is actually possible today, the glasses have sparked an argument about whether they are positive or negative project. Many have spoken up in opposition to a world where everyone who is wearing a computer is constantly aware of your personalized data and most likely feeding all of that information back to Google’s servers.

For more information regarding the development and release of Google Glass, go to the Google Glass Google+ page online or check out the preview through Youtube.

Source: http://www.concordy.com/article/science-and-technology/april-12-2012/google-glass-revealed/4398/

Active Users - March 2012

ACTIVE USERS OF THE LIRC

(Period: 01/03/2012 to 31/03/2012)

CATEGORY: STUDENTS

Sr. No.	Member	No. of transactions
1	MERIN SHAILA MANIDURAI PACKIALET	20
2	SAWANT SAISH UMAKANT SHRADDHA	20
3	ISHA D. SHAH	16
4	KOTIAN HARSHITA MOTILAL	16
5	PAIS NIGEL	16
6	DESAI GOURI S.	15
7	JHAWAR SHRIMOHAN	13
8	YOGESH PUSARLA	13
9	ROSE JOYCE JOSEPH	13
10	PAWAR VIVEK	12
11	YADAV JAGDISH H.	12

CATEGORY: FACULTY

Sr. No.	Member	No. of transactions
1	Asso. Prof. NAZNEEN ANSARI	10
2	Asst. Prof. PRACHI RAUT	10
3	Asso. Prof. BIDISHA ROY	05
4	Asst. Prof. NITIKA RAI	05

CATEGORY: NON-TEACHING STAFF

Sr. No.	Member	No. of transactions
1	Ms. YASHADA AGHARKAR (Lab. Asst. – ExTC)	02
2	Ms. SEEMA JADHAV (Lab. Asst. – ExTC)	02
3	Shri. AMANAT PATHAN	02

The above “Active Users” are entitled to one extra book till 30^th. April, 2012.

Typing A to Z in a blink

Breaking the records of Jayasimha, Mohammed Khursheed Hussain, Pothireddy Krishna Teja and Sridhar Raju, B V A Manoj Varma, a junior analyst at the Wordworks Apex ITES (India) Pvt Ltd set a new record.This confirmed his entry into the India Book of Records for typing all the 26 English alphabets in just 2.16 seconds without any space in between the letters, and 3.90 seconds with space between the letters.However, he has his dreams, set high.A native of West Godavari district, BVA Manoj Varma Penmetsa pursued his masters in computer applications from Karimnagar and is also an expert with the lower hand in typewriting.“I have been practicing this for almost two years and it is my dream is to become a Guinness World Record holder.” His stint at the India Book of records, Varma says, is his first step to the Guinness Books of Records.“Two years ago, when I saw Jayasimha breaking the world record, I have been working on it. And this is very important to me as people get recognised for their talents in different fields and being one among them would be a great feeling.”Evidently excited Manoj, flanked by his friends and teachers cheering him up, did have to struggle a bit with the second task where he had to type each letter with a space.And he was successful after quite some attempts.He used a Dell key board for typing the alphabets without space, while he used a Logitech one for typing with space.He says, “The type of keys on the keyboard are very important and spacing your fingers between them is also vital. Keys on laptops are surely placed close to each other, but are really soft, hence they reduce the speed of typing.”Guests who were judging this attempt were DSP G Nageshwar Rao, Krishnaiah Goud, dept of commerce, AV College and R Ramchandhar Rao, head master, ZPHS, Miyapur
Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/typing-a-to-z-in-a-blink/243453-60-121.html

First cancer encyclopedia ups hope for new drugs

London: The first “book of cancer knowledge” detailing how hundreds of cancer cells respond to anti-cancer agents has been published, which scientists say will speed up the search for new cancer drugs.
The cancer “encyclopedia” is a step towards tailoring cancer medicine to a patient’s genetic profile.
In the field of cancer research, scientists have so far grown a number of cancer cells in the lab that allowed them to study the effect of new cancer drugs on humans. Now, a team at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute near Cambridge and various cancer institutes around the world have released two papers cataloguing data on hundreds of cancer cell lines, the BBC reported.
The team screened more than 600 cancer cell lines with 130 drugs, identifying genetic signatures linked with drug sensitivity. Already clues are emerging that could be of benefit to patients, including the discovery that a rare bone cancer in children.
Mathew Garnett of the Sanger Institute, lead author of one paper, said, “It’s bringing together very large and powerful data sets and asking which cell line is the most sensitive and what is behind that sensitivity.” PTI
Source: Times of India dated 30 March 2012