Karbonn launches Cosmic Smart Tab 10 tablet with Android 4.1 for Rs. 10,490

Karbonn has launched Cosmic Smart Tab 10 tablet in the Indian market. The tablet comes with 9.7-inch 1024x768 capacitive touch display and runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Cosmic Smart Tab 10 is powered by 1.5GHz dual-core processor alongside 1GB DDR3 RAM. The internal storage is not clear from the specs but it does include a microSD card for up to 32GB of additional storage. Karbonn claims the tablet is capable of 1080p video playback. It comes with a 2-megapixel rear camera and a VGA front-camera.

The connectivity options on Karbonn Cosmic Smart Tab 10 include Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), USB (with dongle support), Bluetooth, and HDMI interface. It comes with a 6000mAh battery. As mentioned earlier, the tablet runs Android 4.1 and comes with pre-installed apps like YouTube, E-Book, Google Currents, Angry Birds Seasons, Turbo FLY 3D, Flipboard, Kingsoft Office, Facebook and more.

This is Karbonn's second tablet with Android 4.1 after it became the first manufacturer in India to launch a budget tablet with Jelly Bean on board.

The Cosmic Smart Tab 10 tablet is now available for a MRP of Rs. 10,490.

Karbonn Cosmic Smart Tab 10 specifications

• 9.7-inch 1024x768 capacitive touch display
• 1.5GHz dual-core processor
• 1GB DDR3 RAM
• 2-megapixel rear camera, VGA front-camera
• Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), USB (with dongle support), Bluetooth, HDMI
• 6000mAh battery
• Android 4.1

Moody coach; Laxman,Srikkanth mentors for Hyderabad

The IPL's Hyderabad franchise, now called the 'Sunrisers', have appointed former Australian cricketer Tom Moody as the team's new coach, along with former India cricketers Kris Srikkanth and VVS Laxman as mentors.

The new owners, Sun TV Network, officially renamed Deccan Chargers as Sunrisers today, and also unveiled the new logo of the team, which is depicting an eagle soaring high and looking at rising sun.

Narendra Modi wins record third term in Gujarat

Gujarat chief minster Narendra Modi is heading for a landslide election win in Gujarat on Thursday, firming up his chances of being nominated by the BJP for running for prime minister in 2014. According to latest media reports on the counting of votes, BJP has bagged 115 seats related stories Keshubhai Patel wins from Visavadar constituency Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhwadia loses Porbandar seat Nitin Gadkari thanks Gujaratis for BJP's victory People of Gujarat can't see the truth: Shweta Bhatt Amitabh Bachchan congratulates Modi for win
out of state's 182 , with the chief minister scoring a hat-trick.

The Congress has won 61 seats while others have won 6 seats. Modi trounced his nearest Congress rival Shweta Bhatt by a margin of 86,373 votes, while BJP also bagged Amraivadi, Mangrol and Karanj seats.

Samsung top smartphone in 2012: IHS

Samsung's lead over Apple in smartphone manufacturing increased sharply in 2012, IHS reported on Tuesday, as the South Korean company took the lead in overall cellphone manufacturing for the first time.

In its preliminary report on cellphone manufacturing in 2012, the research firm reported that Samsung shipped 28 per cent of the world's smartphones this year, while Apple accounted for 20 per cent; in 2011, the margin was much closer, as Samsung accounted for 20 per cent of the market and Apple owned 19 per cent.

Samsung also displaced Nokia as the top cellphone manufacturer in the world, displacing the Finnish manufacturer from the top spot for the first time since 1998, IHS reported.

Nokia had held on to the top spot due to its feature phones, which do not feature the touch screen and advanced uses of a smartphone; however, smartphones' continued growth finally pushed Nokia down to No. 2.

Smartphone shipments increased by 35.5 per cent from 2011 to 2012, IHS reported, while overall cellphone shipments increased only 1 per cent.

IHS predicts that smartphones will account for 56 per cent of all cellphones shipped in 2013, which would be the first time smartphones were a majority of the mobile-phone market.

"The competitive reality of the cellphone market in 2012 was 'live by the smartphone; die by the smartphone,' " Wayne Lam, senior analyst for wireless communications at IHS, said in Tuesday's announcement.

"Smartphones represent the fastest-growing segment of the cellphone market — and will account for nearly half of all wireless handset shipments for all of 2012. Samsung's successes and Nokia's struggles in the cellphone market this year were determined entirely by the two companies' divergent fortunes in the smartphone sector."

Apple is third in the overall cellphone category, accounting for 10 per cent of shipments, while Samsung claimed 29 per cent and Nokia 24 per cent.

Samsung and Apple accounted for nearly 50 per cent of the smartphones shipped in 2012, as other companies suffered against the two giants.

Nokia's market share in smartphones dipped from 16 per cent to 5 per cent, and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion fell from 11 per cent to 5 per cent.

Apple claims Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets blatantly copies the Cupertino, California, tech giant's iPhone and iPad offerings, leading to lawsuit across the globe.

A San Jose, Calif., jury found in August that Samsung had infringed on three Apple patents, awarding Apple a $US1.05 billion judgment. Samsung is appealing that verdict.

Source: http://www.afr.com/p/technology/samsung_top_smartphone_in_ihs_31Zs5ca931l3ew6BzbZWIM

Twitter tops 200 mn active users mark

The number of active users on Twitter has topped 200 million mark, the micro blogging site has announced. 

Twitter revealed the news via tweet on the firm’s official account. 

“There are now more than 200M monthly active @twitter users. You are the pulse of the planet. We're grateful for your ongoing support!” it said. 

The number was the first official estimate from Twitter since it claimed 140 million active users. 

Twitter offered no details on the latest update, but in the past has said the majority of active users were in the United States. 

According to the report, earlier this year, a French-based research firm said over 500 million people are on the micro-blogging site, with Americans and Brazilians the most connected. 

Another group, Sys-Con media, estimated last month that Twitter had over 465 million accounts and that the number of daily tweets had topped 175 million, the report added. 

Source URL: http://zeenews.india.com/news/net-news/twitter-tops-200-mn-active-users-mark_817578.html

Duncan Fletcher is useless: Players to BCCI

After the humiliating series defeat against England at home some players of the Indian team have expressed their unhappiness, saying that Fletcher was of little help during his tenure as a coach.

Unhappy with Fletcher’s style of working, some players are learnt to have expressed their displeasure to some senior BCCI officials.

A story in Times of India suggested that though there was no official complaint against the coach, the players discussed the matter with the officials at personal level. 

Fletcher was appointed the coach of the Indian team after Gary Kirsten decided not to renew his contracts after India won 2011 World Cup. Fletcher was appointed in April 2011 on a two-year contract on the recommendation of Kirsten. 

But under Fletcher India suffered one of their biggest humiliations when they lost all the eight consecutive Tests in England and Australia. 

Though there is hardly any chance of renewing his contracts, there is a strong possibility that he might face the axe even before it.

Source URL: http://zeenews.india.com/sports/cricket/india-vs-england-2012/duncan-fletcher-is-useless-players-to-bcci_753547.html

Brand Dhoni downhill, 5 companies end endorsement deals

Following the humiliation against England in the recently concluded Test series, Dhoni’s brand value suffered a major jolt after five companies ended their endorsement deals with the Indian cricket captain.

As per a report published in The Economic Times, only 22 advertisers used Dhoni’s commercials during the period of January to November earlier this year, reducing from 27 in 2011.

Adding to Dhoni's woes, the number of brands endorsed by him too have declined from 43 to 28.

The report by the newspaper further cites industry experts as saying that ‘Captain Cool’ might see his brand value dip by 30 % if he loses his captaincy after India`s recent series defeat to England.

Notably Dhoni has been criticized for his poor captaincy since 2011 where India lost two away series. Cricket experts now want in-form Virat Kohli to lead the Indian team. The series loss against England on home turf has only further fanned the flames of criticism for Dhoni. 

Source URL: http://zeenews.india.com/sports/cricket/brand-dhoni-downhill-5-companies-end-endorsement-deals_753592.html

Internet technology to contribute up to 3.3% to India's GDP by 2015: Report

Internet services and devices industry has potential to increase its contribution to up to 3.3 per cent to India's gross domestic product by 2015, a report by McKinsey & Company said today.

"The Internet currently contributes a modest 1.6 per cent to India's GDP in line with most aspiring countries. This could grow to 2.8-3.3 per cent by 2015, if India achieves its potential for growth in the number of Internet users and Internet technology related consumption and investment over this period," it said.

This would increase Internet's contribution to GDP from $30 billion now to nearly $100 billion in 2015.

India with a user base of 120 million is the world's third largest Internet market and is poised to have up to 370 million users in 2015.

China has the largest Internet user base in the world with 480 million users followed by the US with 245 million users as of 2011. By 2015 China is expected to have 583 million users, while the US is expected to have 279 million users.

The global Internet user base is expected to grow from 2,300 million users in 2011 to 2,662 million by 2015, the McKinsey & Company said in the report. a

HP refreshes laptop and ultrabook range; unveils Envy hybrid and AIO

HP has announced a slew of computing devices that will form a part of its Windows 8 portfolio of offerings. There are two laptops, one ultrabook, one hybrid and one AIO device.

The Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 is the latest ultrabook from HP. This update brings in a 14-inch multi-touch display (1366 x 768 pixels) to the ultrabook, with Windows 8 out of the box.

The new Envy 4 is powered by an Intel Core i5-3317U processor clocking at 1.7GHz with 4GB of RAM helping it along. It has no dedicated graphics card though, but HP claims that the battery life will touch 8 hours under certain conditions.

The Envy 4 ultrabook comes with a 500GB hard drive and a 32GB mSATA. HP has priced this ultrabook at Rs. 59,990 and will be available from January 2013.

The Envy x2 is the hybrid device that lets you switch between the notebook and tablet mode with ease. The x2 has an 11.6-inch IPS (1366 x 768 pixel) display with multi-touch. The specifications seem slightly on the lighter side though – Intel Atom Z2760 dual-core processor clocking at 1.8GHz and is paired with 2GB of RAM. The x2 will come with a 64GB solid-state drive for storage. Both the base and the tablet have a 2-cell battery each, which combine together in tandem when used in laptop mode. The price of the x2 is Rs. 59,990 and will be available from January 2013.

HP also showed off the Envy dv6, with the updated touchscreen capabilities and slightly boosted hardware. The one on display was powered by an Intel Core i7-3630QM processor clocking at 2.4GHz and is paired with 8GB of RAM. The HP Envy m6 also gets a touchscreen with Windows 8. The prices of both these devices have not been announced yet, but do expect that to change soon.

The HP Envy 23 All-in-one (AIO) PC is powered by an Intel Core i5-3470S quad-core processor clocking at 2.9GHz and is paired with 4GB of RAM. Storage requirements are well taken care off by the 1TB hard drive, and this is the 7200RPM one. The highlight though is the 23-inch Full HD LED display with 10-point touch. The Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels) makes this a fairly good option for anyone who deals with designing and multimedia on a regular basis. HP says that the Envy 23 AIO will be available for around Rs. 71,990 and will hit stores on December 20, 2012. 

Rail fares to go up next year: Railway Minister

Train fares might go up next year as an increase has become necessary to meet the financial situation of the Railways which was "not sound", Minister of State for Railways Kotla Suryaprakasha Reddy said.

"It is necessary to increase the train fares as the financial position of the Railways is not sound. It is essential to raise the fares to take up developmental activities and provide amenities to commuters," he said.

Shah Rukh Khan honoured with BrandLaureate award

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan attended Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohammad's birthday where was also awarded the prestigious BrandLaureate Legendary Award. 

The 47-year-old actor was given this honour by the Asia Pacific Brands Foundation for his contributions to the Bollywood film industry and as India's foremost brand ambassador. 

The Jab Tak Hai Jaan star was humbled by the honour handed to him by Founder of Lord's Tailor Robert Loh, President of The BrandLaureate KK Johan and Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohammad. 

"It is an honour to be given the Brandlaureate Legendary Award. It is always a pleasure to be amongst friends and to be given so much love and motivation to do better," said Shah Rukh in a statement. 

"Got honoured at Dr Mahathirs function & a beautiful digital Koran. Now to India. Way I travel I could be the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy," the actor later tweeted. 

The BrandLaureate Legendary Award has been earlier given to the likes of Dr Nelson Mandela, Nobel Laureate recipient Mohammad Yunus, Ratan Tata, Steve Jobs, Marck Zuckerburg, Michael Schumacher and more. 

In 2008 Shah Rukh had become the first Indian actor to be conferred with the prestigious Malaysian title of Datuk (equivalent of the British Knighthood) by the governor of Malaysia's southern state of Malacca for promoting tourism through his movies in that region.

Sunny excited for Ragini MMS 2

After making her Bollywood debut with "Jism 2", Indo-Canadian movie star Sunny Leone is looking forward to start shooting her second film "Ragini MMS 2".

She is excited as the preparations for the film have already begun.

"'Ragini MMS 2' preparations are starting and I am so excited. I can't believe that I get to shoot another movie and with a great company," Sunny tweeted.

Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda quits as party chief after election loss

Taking the responsibility for his party's loss in parliamentary elections upon himself, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Sunday resigned as the chief of the Democratic Party of Japan. 

The main opposition Liberal Democratic Party won between 275 and 300 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament in today's election, NHK exit polls projected. 

The DPJ was expected to capture less than 100 seats, far below its pre-election strength of 230. 

Noda called the results "extremely severe" at a late night news conference, and said that the party lawmakers would hold a meeting as soon as possible to pick a new leader. 

Delhi policemen to watch 'Dabangg 2' with Salman

Delhi Police personnel, who have been appreciated for their bravery and meritorious services, will watch 'Dabangg 2' with actor Salman Khan before the film's release Dec 21, police said. 

According to Delhi Police sources, Salman Khan will arrive in Delhi Dec 18 and would pay tributes to police martyrs. 

Salman Khan will watch movie with "brave policemen" and will meet kins of the five policemen who died during the Dec 13, 2001, parliament attack. 

"The meeting with Salman Khan will be motivational for the force," said an officer. 

Earlier, a special screening of the movie 'Rowdy Rathore' was held for Delhi Police's SWAT (Special Weapon and Techniques) team with actor Akshay Kumar.

Kamal's wish, a film school!

Kamal Haasan's passion for cinema is well-known. The actor's latest step is trying to facilitate the setting up of a school in Chennai, in a bid to help aspiring young technicians in the film industry hone their skills.

When the actor recently addressed the media during a recent FICCI conference, he revealed, "When I grew up, wanting to be an actor, there were no facilities or places where we could learn acting. But now, facilities have increased tremendously and several acting schools have emerged. However, there are no proper training schools for people working as film technicians, stunt artists and other who work hard behind the scenes. We're trying to set that up and working out the details currently."

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/regional/tamil/news-interviews/Kamals-wish-a-film-school/articleshow/16654580.cms

Lenovo to set up first PC plant in US

Lenovo Group, the world's No.2 PC maker, will open its first PC production plant in the United States with operations expected to begin in 2013.

The Whitsett, North Carolina, facility will manufacture Think-branded laptop and desktop PCs, tablets and servers aimed at the US market, Lenovo said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Lenovo did not provide any investment figures but said it would create 115 jobs.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/enterprise-it/infrastructure/Lenovo-to-set-up-first-PC-plant-in-US/articleshow/16651062.cms

Vodafone launches SMS service to find blood donors

Vodafone India, one of India’s leading telecommunications service providers, has launched a unique and innovative service on SMS that allows customers to find blood donors or become a blood donor through easy search on their fingertips.

All the user needs to do is, send an SMS ‘BLOOD’ to 55444 and find a donor or become a donor by replying as per the instructions in 2-3 easy steps.  Search results are narrowed down to the user’s pin code.  Users will be charged a nominal fee of INR 1/SMS for this service. This innovative service is supported by Innoz who have partnered with IndianBlooddonors.com.

Blood requirements are increasing exponentially on a daily basis and with this service; Vodafone users can search for blood donors and also become a donor using SMS. Vodafone India, as a value based organization, is passionate about people. This latest initiative is in line with its commitment to achieving highest standards of health, safety and well-being in and around its operating environment. As part of its customer connects initiatives, Vodafone intends to make a small and meaningful contribution to saving lives of the needy.

ICC T20 World Cup: Dhoni’s captaincy comes under scrutiny

Mahendra Singh Dhoni`s "tactical errors" and the poor form of some senior players were the main reasons for India`s early exit from the World Twenty20, according to former cricketers who said that there was no need for making drastic changes in the team despite the debacle.

While Dhoni came under fire for some of his "tactical blunders", some former cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar were not in favour of changing the captain or making too many changes in the team.

India failed to qualify for the semifinals of World Twenty20 on net run rate and former cricketers said the team`s repeated failures in this format should be analysed and corrective measures should be taken.

Former Indian captains like Gavaskar, Anil Kumble, Dilip Vengsarkar and Ajit Wadekar and a host of other ex-cricketers felt that a combination of factors led to India`s ouster from the World T20. Some of Dhoni`s decisions also evoked criticism from the former players.

"Indian cricket is now at the crossroads. We have not been able to do well in the two shorter formats which we have dominated. We won the World Twenty20 in 2007 and then won the longer 50-over World Cup last year. After that we have been struggling. This is something we have to look into. We have to put our heads together and find out why this has been happening," Gavaskar said.

Google announces Doodle 4 Google India 2012 competition

Google India has announced its Doodle 4 Google competition for 2012 and has invited school students between the ages of 5 to 16 years across the country to create innovative Google doodles. Winning doodle will be featured as the Google logo on the 14th November, which is also celebrated as Children's Day in the country. This year's theme is “Unity in Diversity”.


Google says the contest had received more than one lakh entries last year. And this year, the company hopes the participation will increase as the contest will reach 40 cities. Announcing this year’s competition, Nikhil Rungta, Country Marketing Head, Google India said, “Doodle 4 Google is a great opportunity for students to explore the intersection of art and technology, while sharing their talents and creativity on a national scale. Through this program we hope participants will have fun, think creatively and learn something new all at the same time.”

As per the tradition, the participants will be divided in three different categories. Group 1 will feature students from class 1 to 3, Group 2 has students from class 4 to 6 and Group 3 has students from class 7 to 10. The new thing introduced by Google is that the participants will divided into four regions – North, South, East and West. Google will shortlist three students from every region across each of the three groups.

The first round of entries will undergo preliminary judging, post which 12 entries will be announced based on a selection by a panel consisting of independent judges. All chosen entries will be exhibited for public voting, and based on the number of votes, one winner from each group will be selected. The Jury along with the original Google Doodler will then choose the final winning Doodle from all the finalists.

The last date to submit the entry is October 23rd, 2012. Check out other submission guidelines for the Doodle 4 Google competition here.

MTS launches mobile advertising service

Sistema Shyam TeleServices, that operates telecom services under the MTS brand, on Wednesday announced the launch mobile advertising service, MTS mAd, which will enable users to make free local calls in return for watching a video advertisement.

"MTS mAd is a unique service which enables our smartphone customers to make free calls by just watching a video ad on their device. The service also provides an opportunity to leading brands to connect with customers in a personalized manner," MTS India Chief Marketing and Sales Officer Leonid Musatov said in a statement.

Users will get one minute talk time after watching a video ad, it said.

The service -- MTS mAd -- is available on all Android devices on the MTS network, including Samsung Galaxy Y and Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos CDMA.

MTS is working on launching the service on Blackberry and BREW-enabled entry level MTS handsets as well.

Brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Mentos, Center Fresh, Fiat, Kellogg's, Titan and Lenovo have associated for MTS mAd service to engage with customers, the statement said.

"MTS mAd service requires no charges for activation, application download and for data transfer while watching video ads. The user will get a seamless experience with no buffering and video streaming hassle. Customers using this service will be able to make as many as 4 MTS mAd calls in a day," it added.

Tata Motors launches new Indica eV2; price starts at Rs 4,01,162

Tata Motors today cut the prices of its compact car Indica eV2 by Rs 23,000 with the launch of a refreshed version, at a time when other auto makers have either raised their product rates or are mulling to do so.

"Tata Motors today launched the refreshed Tata Indica eV2... The Tata Indica eV2 has been made even more economical with a reduction in price by Rs 23,000," the company said in a statement.

ICC Awards 2012

Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara  - "Test Player of the Year Award”, “Player of the Year Award” and “People’s Choice Award”.

India's Virat Kohli  - The ODI cricketer of the year.

West Indies bowler Sunil Narine - Emerging Cricketer of the Year 2012.

George Dockrell of Ireland - ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year.

South Africa batsman Richard Levi - ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year 

Sri Lanka's Kumar Dharmasena - ICC Umpire of the Year.

New Zealand's Daniel Vettori - ICC Spirit of Cricket Award 2012.

iPhone 5 preview

At long last, the Apple iPhone 5 is here. We got our hands on the new phone at Apple's September 12 launch event in San Francisco.

Apple’s next iPhone is official, and despite being the sixth iPhone model (technically), we know it’s officially the iPhone 5.

Over the last year, we've heard a ton of rumors about what it might deliver with LTE, a taller display, and a redesigned connector being the most likely tidbits. Fortunately, we now can put all that speculation to rest as Apple spilled the secrets.

As expected, the new iPhone is 18 percent thinner (0.30 inch vs. 0.37 inch thick) than the iPhone 4S. Apple says it's the thinnest handset around, but that's a race that changes often. That means it's also 20 percent lighter for a total of 3.95 ounces. The Retina Display expands from 3.5 inches (its size since the original iPhone) to 4 inches. The total resolution remains the same, though, at 326 pixels per inch. The total pixel count is 1,136x640, and we now have a 16:9 aspect ratio.

GoDaddy apologizes for outage with 30% discounts

GoDaddy announced Thursday 30 percent across-the-board discounts to its customers as an apology for an outage that knocked out the company's services for several hours this week.

"We owe you a big apology for the intermittent service outages we experienced on September 10 that may have impacted your website, your e-mail and other Go Daddy services," GoDaddy CEO Scott Wagner writes in an e-mail to the company's customers.

"We let you down and we know it," he adds. "We take our responsibilities—and the trust you place in us—very seriously. I cannot express how sorry I am to those of you who were inconvenienced." Wagner maintains that throughout its history GoDaddy's DNS infrastructure has provided 99.999 percent uptime: "This is the level of performance we expect from ourselves."

The 30 percent discounts will be available for the next seven days by using the code Apology4a at checkout. With the discount, registering a .com domain for a year costs about $9.10. That compares favorably with other registrars who charge around $13 a year for a .com domain. In the past, however, GoDaddy has offered limited-time one-year deals on .com domains for as little at $7.99 a year.

MTNL launches three Android tablets

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), in partnership with device manufacturer Teracom, has announced its entry in to the Indian tablet market with the launch of three new Android tablets under the name "Lofty".

The tablets - namely Lofty TZ300, Lofty TZ200 and the Lofty TZ100 - are priced at Rs 3,999, Rs 6,499 and Rs 10,999 respectively. MTNL is offering these tabs with free complementary data bundle of 10 GB of 3G data valid for two months, both local as well as roaming.

Lofty TZ300

This tablet is a low cost entry level Android 4.0 (Ice-Cream Sandwich) based tablet featuring a 1.2 GHz Arm cortex A9 architecture based processor with 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of internal storage. It has a 0.3 megapixel front facing camera for video calling too.

The tablet features a 7 inch display with an 800 480 pixel resolution with a resistive touch to keep the price on the lower side. While it gets data support through USB data dongles.

Lofty TZ200

The Lofty TZ200 is a mid range Android 4.0 (Ice-Cream Sandwich) based tablet featuring a 1.2 GHz Arm cortex A9 architecture based processor with 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of internal storage. The TZ200 features a capacitive touch based input system with support for multi touch.

It does not have any rear camera but comes with a front 0.3 megapixel camera for video calling. For 3G connectivity, there is a USB port.

Lofty TZ100

The Lofty TZ100 is also based on Android 4.0 (Ice-Cream Sandwich) but is powered with a 1 GHz Cortex A9 architecture based processor. The TZ100 also has 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of internal storage. It has a 7 inch display with a 1024 x 600 pixel resolution display.

Along with that the TZ 100 comes a 3 megapixel rear camera along with a 0.3 megapixel front camera for video calling. That’s not all as the TZ 100 also comes with calling functionality with support for a 3G SIM for both voice as well as data functions.

All tablets support 32 GB of additional memory with the onboard SD card slot for expansion. Data dongles for the TZ 200 and TZ300 will have to be bought separately by the users to access data.

All tablets are manufactured by an Indian device manufacturer Teracom, which has its manufacturing unit in Goa and is already supplying 3G Data cards to both MTNL and BSNL. Users can book their tablets through MTNL Sanchar Haats as well as on the Teracom online store (terracomstore.in).

Akshay Kumar's Joker gets negative reviews from film critics

Director Shirish Kunder's latest Hindi movie Joker starring Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha in leads, is a mass entertainer movie and it has bagged all negative reviews from film critics. Akki's rocking performance, music and cinematography are its major highlights; and predictable, illogical story and dragging narration are its drawbacks. The fantasy adventure flick has been rated an average 1.5 out of 5. Continue to read film critics' verdict.

Koimoi - Roshni Devi's Rating: 2

What's Good: The direction; the music; the cinematography; some puns. What's Bad: The predictable storyline. Watch or Not?: It's a timepass watch but not really engrossing.

Rediff - Raja Sen's Rating: 1.5

There isn't a single line in Shirish Kunder's Joker that actually works, leaving us with a film that, while commendably brisk in a 100-minute package, refuses to get going at all.

NDTV - Saibal Chatterjee's Rating: 1

Akshay Kumar is as good as he can be - and that isn't all that good. Sonakshi sleepwalks through the film, grinning and frowning as he drowns in the morass. Give Joker a miss if you value your sanity and money. It gives commercial Hindi cinema a bad name.

Bollywood Hungama - Taran Adarsh's Rating: 1

JOKER is a joke of a film. Disaster!

Andy Roddick announces retirement from top-level tennis after US Open

The 30-year-old American defeated Australian teen Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 in only 87 minutes before a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd of 24,674 just a day after announcing that the US Open would be his final career tournament.

"I had no idea what was going to happen out there," Roddick said. "That was a different kind of nerves than I've had before. That was surprising for me.

"It was great. I took a look around and I didn't even feel bad about it. Literally I took a look around. I had a good time. When they were dancing and stuff on the switch-overs I was just watching. That was a lot of fun."

"When it's what you're going to do the next week and a month from now, you are so consumed by what's going on in the next five minutes that you don't really notice stuff," Roddick said.

India beat Australia to win Under-19 World Cup

India won the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup for the third time, beating Australia by six wickets behind captain Unumkt Chand’s 111 not out on Sunday.

Australia made 225-8 after being sent in to bat, with captain William Bosisto scoring 87 not out. India started strongly, then collapsed to 97-4 before Chand guided the winners to 227-4 in the 48th over.

Chand, who hit seven fours and six sixes, shared in a 130-run partnership with Smit Patel (62 not out), who hit the winning runs with eight balls remaining. Australia, who also have three under-19 World Cup titles, had never lost a final in the tournament.

India 227-4 in 47.4 overs (Unumkt Chand 111 not out, Smit Patel 62 not out; Joel Paris 1-33), def. Australia 225-8 (William Bosisto 87 not out; Sandeep Sharma 4-54) by six wickets.

Sony Mobile launches Xperia ion for Rs 36,999

The Android smartphone has a 4.6-inch screen, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 16GB internal storage, 12 MP rear camera and VGA front facing camera.

"With Xperia ion, we're bringing together a seamless experience across the multiple screens that we use to play, watch, listen, and share," Sony Mobile Communications Marketing Head Prasun Kumar said in a statement.

SpiceJet flight makes emergency landing at Bagdogra

A SpiceJet flight with 127 people on board, including crew members, on Tuesday made an emergency landing at Bagdogra airport in Darjeeling district, airport sources said.

The Bagdogra-Kolkata flight took off from Bagdogra airport in the afternoon but after sometime the pilot suspected some technical problem in the aircraft and decided to return back and asked the airport for permission to make emergency landing, the sources said.

The plane landed safely at the Bagdogra airport and all the passengers are safe, the sources said.

Salman to celebrate Ek Tha Tiger success

Salman's Ek Tha Tiger touches Rs. 100 crore mark, he plans a party in his farm house in Panvel to celebrate Ek Tha Tiger success. The bash would be organised on either Tuesday or Wednesday, reports Mumbai Mirror. “With just three days to go, the entire Salman khandaan is busy.

Ek Tha Tiger breaks first weekend record Salman's Ek Tha Tiger to have a sequel? Salman Khan's Ek Tha Tiger makes fastest 100 crore helping him make arrangements for the khaana peena. Salman has told them to leave no stone unturned,” a source close to Salman told the tabloid.

“It will be a double celebration of sorts. Salman will celebrate Eid also, along with the success of Ek Tha Tiger,” the source was quoted by the tabloid.

Can India bring 2012 T20 World Cup home for the second time?

The Indian team would leave for Sri Lanka to compete in the T20 World Cup in quite some time. The selectors once again announced a team that has some of the best names but also a few which have raised many eyebrows.

Gautam Gambhir, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh are the seven players who were a part of the Indian squad than won the maiden T20 World Cup organised in Johannesburg in 2007.

The announcement would have come as a huge relief for two players-Harbhajan Singh and Rohit Sharma. Bhajji went into hibernation after his struggle in the Indian Premier League where he failed both as a Mumbai Indians skipper and as a spin bowler.

The Indian selectors have played a gamble by including a few players out of the blues. These could be the players who can make it or break it at the big stage for the 2007 T20 world champion.

T20 squad: MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Irfan Pathan, R Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, L Balaji, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, Ashok Dinda. 

Two strong earthquakes rock Iran

At least 80 people died in two strong earthquakes that jolted northwest Iran on Saturday, the head of the regional natural disasters centre, Khalil Saie, told state television.

The figure was double that given just a short while earlier by the head of the country's emergency services, 

Gholamreza Masoumi, who was quoted by the ISNA news agency saying "about 40 to 50 people have been killed."

Masoumi was referring to the biggest cities in the region and a neighbouring province.

The two temblors, registering 6.2 and 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale according to Tehran University's Seismological Centre, struck within minutes of each other, damaging scores of villages northeast of Tabriz.

The US Geological Survey, which monitors quakes worldwide, ranked them as more powerful than that, at 6.4 and 6.3, respectively.

Sun surrounded by dark matter, claim scientists

Scientists have claimed that the Sun is surrounded by dark matter, a phenomenon first proposed in the 1930s by a Swiss astronomer. 

Researchers from the University of Zurich have developed a new theory - and built a simulation of the Milky Way to test their mass-measuring method before applying it to real data, the 'Daily Mail' reported. 

"We are 99 per cent confident that there is dark matter near the Sun," lead author Silvia Garbari was quoted as saying by the paper. 

The study claims that the techniques used over the past 20 years were biased, always tending to underestimate the amount of dark matter in the universe. 

I’ll welcome Rahul’s entry into government, says PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said he would welcome the Congress general secretary into the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

“I have always said that I will welcome Rahul’s entry (in the government),” Manmohan Singh told reporters after Vice President Hamid Ansari’s oath-taking ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Gandhi had recently announced that he was ready for a more proactive role both in the party and the government.

Sources said a clarification to this effect could come in September when a reshuffle in the party and the cabinet is expected after the ongoing monsoon session of parliament ends.

However, the prime minister’s statement failed to excite any major reaction from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which said it was not concerned with the issue.

“Whom they (Congress) induct in government is their prerogative. We are not concerned,” said Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley.

Earlier too, the prime minister had invited Gandhi to join his cabinet but the young Congress leader was reluctant, indicating that rejuvenating the party was his priority.

Saina Nehwal dedicates Olympic medal to father

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal created history by becoming the first ever shuttler from India to win an Olympic medal at the 2012 Games.

“This medal is for my dad. It is because of him that I am at this stage today,” she said.

Her semifinal loss to China’s world no 1 Yihan Wang was heartbreaking but nevertheless she returned with a medal. She revealed that the loss came as a disappointment for her and she did not speak to anyone after the match.

“I felt bad after losing the semis. I wanted to play in the final. Unfortunately my strategy was wrong for that match.”

“I couldn’t believe that I’ve won an Olympic medal."

“I am happy with the performance. There was some emotional pressure but Olympics is one competition where I don’t feel any kind of pressure. I love and enjoy playing In Olympics,” she said.

Paes/Sania advance to the quarter-finals in London Olympics

Leander Paes and Sania Mirza defeated Serbian pair of Nenad Zimonjic and Ana Ivanovic in staright sets to enter the mixed doubles quarter-final of the Olympic Games.

Paes-Sania beat the Serbian pair 6-2 6-4 in only 64 minutes to set up a last eight clash with top seeds Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka from Belarus.

All the best both of you.

Saina meets world's best Wang in semis in London Olympics

Saina Nehwal created history by becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the Olympic semi-finals, where she will take on the World No. 1 Yihan Wang of China.

The Indian shuttler, seeded fourth, displayed tremendous skill as well as moments of nervousness in defeating Denmark's Tine Baun 21-15, 22-20 here at the Wembley Arena and en route improved upon her quarter-final finish at Beijing four years ago.

The semi-final will be by far Saina's most difficult match as she has never beaten Wang in the five matches they have played so far.

Four low-intensity blasts in Pune; one injured

Four low-intensity blasts within a one-km range on the busy Junglee Maharaj Road were witnessed in Pune on Wednesday. While one person was confirmed to be injured in the incident, Pune Police Commissioner Gulabrao Pol has ruled out the terror angle and stated that it was a case of mischief.

The explosions were set off by pencil cell detonators placed in a plastic bag, a dustbin and in cycles at two locations, police said.

Speaking to reporters at the blast site, Mr. Pol said, “The situation is under control. There is no need to panic.” The Pune ATS and teams from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from Mumbai and Delhi will investigate the matter further, he said.

The first explosion occurred around 7.30 p.m. near Balgandharva Rang Mandir, an auditorium on Junglee Maharaj Road. Dayanand Patil, who was injured in the blast, was carrying a cake box kept in a plastic bag, police said.

He was admitted to Sassoon Hospital, where the police recorded the evidence.

“The bomb blasts incident is being probed. We are waiting for more informations”, Sindhe told reporters.

Microsoft replaces Hotmail by Outlook.com

Microsoft is replacing its pioneering webmail service Hotmail with a new browser-based version of Outlook, its desktop email application.

Microsoft has announced an overhaul of its free email service Hotmail.

The service has been rebranded as Outlook.com, and Microsoft describes is as reimaging of personal email, and "modern email designed for the next billion mailboxes".

The new design is intended to reduce clutter in inboxes, and be easier to use, with an interface more inline with Microsoft Office Outlook, and to work better on mobile devices.

Microsoft says that 50% of email in a typical inbox today is newsletters, and another 20% is social network updates. To manage this, Outlook.com will have a cleaner interface with more visibility of messages, rules to better organize emails, and automatic connection to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google, with Skype to follow

Outlook.com will also include Microsoft's Office Web Apps, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote, so that users can view and edit attachments in the inbox. Outlook.com also incorporates Microsoft's SkyDrive cloud storage solution, with 7GB of storage.

Chris Jones, Microsoft's corporate vice president of Windows Live commented: "We think the time is right to re-imagine personal email, from the data centre to the user experience. So today we're introducing a preview of Outlook.com."

Current Hotmail users can upgrade to Outlook.com through existing Hotmail accounts, and a preview is available at Outlook.com.

Kohli set up series win

Virat Kohli's dream run in ODIs continued as his brilliant century guided India to a comfortable six-wicket victory in the fourth one-dayer against Sri Lanka, thereby clinching the five-match series 3-1

Kohli's 119-ball 128 and his partnership of 146 runs with another in-form batsman Suresh Raina (58), India reached the 252-run target in 42.2 overs at the R Premadasa stadium.

This is Kohli's 13th century in his 89th ODI appearance, a feat still unattained by any other batsman in ODI history.

Scrore: http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-india-2012/engine/current/match/564784.html

Worst power crisis ever, over 60 crore people in 21 states hit

In the worst ever power crisis, over half of the country's population in 21 states went without electricity for several hours on Tuesday as three major transmission grids failed, bringing northern, eastern and north-eastern regions to a grinding halt.

The massive failure came less than 24 hours after the northern grid collapsed and was revived yesterday.

Today, the worst sufferers were 265 miners who got trapped in coal mines in West Bengal and Jharkhand due to power outage. They were evacuated after hours of agony.

In the national capatal, thousands of Metro commuters had a harrowing time when the trains stopped inside the tunnels as transmission lines tripped at 1pm.

Railway services too were hit, with 300 trains getting disrupted in seven zones in 10 states.

Gagan Narang win with a bronze in the 10m Air Rifle event

Ace rifleman Gagan Narang put India into the medal bracket by shooting a bronze in his pet 10 metre air rifle event.

Narang, 29, participating in his third Games, had a total score of 701.1 (598 qualifying, 103.1 final) to finish third at the Royal Artillery Barracks range, triggering celebrations among the Indian diaspora here and the countrymen back home.

Major grid collapse hits 600 m

Over 600 million people were affected as almost half of India went without power for more than six hours on Tuesday.

Three electricity grids — Northern, Eastern and North-Eastern that transmit 57,297 MW during peak hours — collapsed to cause a blackout in 20 States and two Union Territories. Restoration of power started after three-four hours.

The Eastern grid supplies West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Sikkim, while the North-Eastern grid serves Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram. The northern grid powers Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. Those connected to the Northern Grid suffered the second day of outage.

No one knows what led to the ‘world’s biggest blackout’. Or, if they know, prefer to remain non-committal. “Some sectors are overdrawing, we don’t want to name them,” said Mr R. N. Nayak, Chairman and Managing Director, Power Grid Corporation. PowerGrid maintains and operates five national grids.

India beat Sri Lanka to go 2-1 up in series

The fire of Raina and the poise of Irfan Pathan steered them to a thrilling five-wicket victory and a 2-1 lead in the five-match One-Day International series at the R Premadasa Stadium on Saturday.

 India started the match strongly despite Mahendra Singh Dhoni calling wrongly, and reduced Sri Lanka to 20 for three midway through the sixth over on the back of an inspired spell by Zaheer Khan.

Sri Lanka were hauled back on track by the old firm of Kumar Sangakkara, who batted for most his 160-minute stint with a broken left little finger, and Mahela Jayawardene.

 View Scrore: http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-india-2012/engine/current/match/564783.html