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.