Friday, February 25, 2011

Workplace etiquette: Mind your manners in office!

According to an alumnus of a premier business school in the US, during an etiquette class Asian students were advised not to order salads with iceberg lettuce during business meetings in America or Europe. Order freshly cut fruit or skip the salad altogether, was the suggestion. The reason being, since this green vegetable is not a staple food in Asian countries, they may come across as clumsy when attempting to eat it.

As freshers enter the workplace, they can expect to be catapulted into tricky situations like this one.

Tapas Majumdar, General Manager, Human Resources, Cox and Kings recounts how they still pull the leg of a young employee because she referred to all her seniors as 'Sir'. "At Cox and Kings, we follow the first name culture and things are pretty relaxed, so much so that we barge into cubicles sometimes without knocking," says Tapas. Some companies prescribe a code of conduct for its employee and some don't. So, we got professionals to share with us what worked for them in tricky situations.

Icebreaker at a meeting

Every now and then important meetings give the 24-year-old Siddhesh Gawde from Mumbai, the jitters. "I tend to freeze and don't know what to say, especially if I am meeting the CEO. I usually wait for others to speak first," he confesses. He suggests listening to what is being discussed and asking clarifying questions could help to break the ice. But Balu Pandian, former corporate director and chairman of Brookfield High School, Bangalore feels that being silent, waiting for things to pan out in a meeting is not ideal.

Balu's suggestions:

* Introduce yourself right away and seek introductions from others. People with initiative are admired.

* Give a quick overview of your work responsibilities and enquire about others in the meeting. This gives everyone a chance to participate and open up.

* Ask a few questions based on their answers. This indicates that you are eager to learn more about their area of work, and can open channels of addressing senior colleagues.

.

* Ask people how they would like to be addressed. For example: 'Hi Shilpa, is it okay if I call you that?'

* Be confident while you speak to your senior colleagues.

Phone calls

Bibin Verghese, 25, works in the pre-sales department at Mobikon Technologies, a web solutions provider to hospitality businesses in Pune. He spends more than half of his day interacting with potential customers, most of whom he speaks to for the first time. The MBA student from Singhad Business School, Pune says, "There was this one instance where I completely went blank while talking to the CEO of a hotel and had to simply hang up abruptly. I was so nervous and conscious of the fact that I was talking to a CEO." Lucky for him, the company didn't lose the client.

Tapas advises emphatically, "Do not be casual on the phone, even if the other person is. Maintain some distance, simply because you don't know the other person at all." Sunder Ramachandran, Managing Partner, WCH Training solutions, a New Delhi-based training company says a bit of planning before a first phone call can help.

Sunder's suggestions:

* Open the call with a standard professional greeting like a 'Good Morning' depending on the time of the day and move on to introducing yourself.

* Ask if it is a good time to talk.

* Be as direct as possible and don't beat around the bush; small talk can be an irritant.

* Allow the other person plenty of time to respond and use prompt words such as 'I see' and 'really' in a sincere tone.

* Don't repeat the name of the person too many time, three times every eight to 10 minutes is good enough.

* Keep conversations brief.

Lunch time manners

Lunch time is a good time to find out the interests of your colleagues, says Shipra. People usually tend to their guard in the cafeteria but there are some dos and don'ts here as well.

"It is natural to form groups, especially in a cafeteria. But you never know when groups change, so by forming groups don't form barriers," advises Tapas.

Their suggestions:

* Since groups are inevitable, it's a good idea to have lunch with different groups rather than sticking to the same clique, everyday. You will get to know more people and will not be viewed as "clannish".

* When in the presence of one group don't speak ill of a person in another group. In fact, try not to comment on a third person in his or her absence.

* Try not to carry on any conversations from the café to the workplace but discussing work while at lunch is not a bad idea.

* Finally Shipra adds, "A little caution and thought in the manner in which you interact at work will definitely benefit you professionally."

Source: Yahoo Education

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

China controls Internet again - Google seach engine renters China

Beijing: China has blocked the searches on microblogs so as to restrict any searches on the 'Jasmine Revolution' that was to be staged in Chinese city.

It started with blocking any online searches for the word 'Jasmine'. However, later Sina suspended searches for all content on the microblogs. It allowed queries only on screen names, events and other criteria. Following this, another microblog operated by Tencent also blocked searches relating to the word 'Jasmine' and 'Jasmine Revolution'.

On searching for the word Jasmine Revolution online, users were asked to participate in demonstration in 13 cities, across China which included the capital Beijing. The detail of the group or the person who has started this is still unknown. However, recent protests in Egypt and Tunisia seem to have inspired the call. According to sources, Boxun.com, a Chinese site was the first to publish the protest call.

The blocking extended to other social networking sites too. For instance, a popular social-networking website, Renren.com also restricted its users from posting anything using the word Jasmine Revolution, asking the users not to publish any politically sensitive, inappropriate or salacious content.

Along with that, after the Egypt's anti-government protests various microblogs such as Sina have blocked searches for term 'Egypt' too. Searches on micro blog Sina, for the word 'Hillary' and 'Hillary Clinton', were also blocked after U.S. Secretary of State asked China to stop the online restriction.

Earlier, China has blocked the access to search engine Google too. The control has been removed now.
Source: Siliconindia

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Booksdelivery.com

 
Jagansindia started online book store on feb 18th 2011. Beta version of website is released. After successful implementation of website e-store provides online sales of books targeted to Chennai location. We provide college books, school books, CBSE books and so on via Home delivery!! 

Booksdelivery.com - Your Books @ Your Door Step!! 

Sony to release 9.4 inch new tablet

Sony is finally following the tablet market. They are planning to release a new 9.4 inch tablet named S1 which will run on Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Though they have not revealed any detail for this but they are planning to unveil this by the end of Q3 of 2011.

The S1 will come with Playstation One games preloaded and it will be PlayStation Suite-certified. It will allow S1 to interact with many other forms of PlayStation media. Engadget has spotted this new device, which will totallybe focused on Qriocity, a new Sony service for music, games, e-books and video on demand.

The device is expected to have a wrapped design which will mimic the effect of an open magazine. It has an uninterrupted, glossy black surface and silver in sides. The other expected features include a Tegra 2 processor, front and rear facing cameras with 1280/800 pixel resolution. It also features with a USB port. The device may have a "Q" control which jumps to the Qriocity service.

Sony has not revealed the exact price but the tablet will not come cheap. The targeted price of Sony S1 is $599 which is $100 more than the Wi-Fi iPad.

Apple, HTC, Samsung, Dell have already entered the tablet market. So now we have to see how Sony will build their tablet, and how it will attract the consumer. 
Source: Siliconindia

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Free Calls for US and Canada from Gmail

Gmail voice and video chat makes it easy to stay in touch with friends and family using your computer’s microphone and speakers. But until now, this required both people to be at their computers, signed into Gmail at the same time. Given that most of us don’t spend all day in front of our computers, we thought, “wouldn’t it be nice if you could call people directly on their phones?”


Calls to the U.S. and Canada will be free for at least the rest of the year and calls to other countries will be billed at our very low rates. We worked hard to make these rates really cheap (see comparison table) with calls to the U.K., France, Germany, China, Japan—and many more countries—for as little as $0.02 per minute.

Dialing a phone number works just like a normal phone. Just click “Call phone” at the top of your chat list and dial a number or enter a contact’s name.



We’ve been testing this feature internally and have found it to be useful in a lot of situations, ranging from making a quick call to a restaurant to placing a call when you’re in an area with bad reception.

If you have a Google Voice phone number, calls made from Gmail will display this number as the outbound caller ID. And if you decide to, you can receive calls made to this number right inside Gmail (see instructions).

We’re rolling out this feature to U.S. based Gmail users over the next few days, so you’ll be ready to get started once “Call Phones” shows up in your chat list (you will need to install the voice and video plug-in if you haven’t already). If you’re using Google Apps for your school or business, then you won’t see it quite yet. We’re working on making this available more broadly - so stay tuned!

For more information, visit gmail.com/call.


Update: This has now been rolled out to everyone in the U.S. If you don't see the feature yet, try logging out of Gmail and signing back in.

Source: Gmail Blog

Toy Story 3D Trailer in 3D Anaglyph


Video courtesy: Youtube - Watch this video using 3D glass

Create your own 3D images in Home PC

You can create your own red/blue 3D images to print, or look at on a computer screen, using a normal digital camera and some image processing software. For this activity we explain how to use Adobe Photoshop, but you should be able to get the same results using similar programs by playing around with the tools and settings.

To recreate this 3D effect in print or on a computer screen, we need to simulate binocular vision. In short, we need to take two photos of our subject, separated by a short distance (the distance between your eyes: about 3 inches), then make it so your left eye only sees the left image and your right eye only sees the right. To do this we will use red/blue 3D glasses and when viewed through the glasses, our photo will appear three-dimensional!


Materials

  • 1 Digital camera
  • Photo editing software (Such as Adobe Photoshop)
  • Red/blue 3D glasses (You can make your own )

Activity procedures

  1. Start out by picking a subject. It is easier to take photos of objects or landscapes because we need to take two photos that are as identical as possible. Shots of people can work provided they stay very still and do not move in the time it takes you to snap two photos. Take your first photo, then try to slide the camera over 3 inches and take the same photo again. One easy trick is to take one photo looking through your left eye and the second while looking through your right. A common mistake is to take the pictures too far apart.
  2. Download the photos to your computer and open them up in a photo-editing software such as Adobe Photoshop. Any program will work as long as it allows for red, blue, and green color channels to be manipulated independently.
  3. Once both pictures are open, convert them both to grayscale by clicking on IMAGE in the menu bar and selecting MODE then GRAYSCALE. [Image>Mode>Grayscale]
  4. Convert the right photo back to red, green, and blue (RGB) by clicking IMAGE on the menu bar and selecting MODE then RGB (the image will still appear gray).
    [Image>Mode>RGB]
    In the Channels tab (in the layers palette between the LAYERS and PATHS tabs), select the red channel by clicking on the word RED - NOT the little eye next to it (eyes indicate which channels are displayed, not selected). Only that channel should appear highlighted.
  5. Go back to the left photo and select the entire photo [Ctrl-A] for PC or [Command-A] for MAC then copy the image [Ctrl-C] for PC or [Command-C] for MAC, and finally return to the right photo and paste the image [Ctrl-V] for PC or [Command-V] for MAC.
  6. Now you are ready to complete the merging of the left and right images. Go back to the channels palette. Click on the little box next to RBG. An eye should appear in all four channels but still only the red channel is highlighted. You should now have a mostly black and white image with red and blue halos.
  7. You are nearly done. The left and right eye images need to be better aligned to remove as many of the halos as possible. This is achieved by centering the two images on the subject of your photo (typically what is in front and center - this will be the easiest part of the 3D photo for peple to focus on). Select the move tool [press V] then use the arrow keys to move the red image until you see the best alignment. We are trying to remove the halos from around our subject, though objects towards the edges will still be quite haloed.
  8. The final step is to crop the image down to the size you want using the crop tool located in the tool bar (left hand column, third tool down). Try to remove areas of excess red or blue around the edges. Once you have selected the area of the image you want to keep hit ENTER to crop the image. Now that you are done, don't forget to save!
Now when you look at your image using red/blue 3D glasses you should see the scene appear in 3D, depending on which way your shifted the images you might need to switch which way you are looking through the glasses. You should try experimenting for a while with taking photos and creating the images to get the best results.

Hints

  1. Don't save the changes to the original photos, always work with a copy.
  2. Try making other versions and centering on something else in your photo (something more in the foreground or background) than what you originally planned.
  3. It may be helpful to adjust the alignment while watching through 3D glasses.
  4. This method works especially well with close up photos of detailed and textured things (use your camera's macro mode, usually indicated with an icon of a flower which will make it auto focus even when very close to your subject).
Source: NASA Stereo Download in PDF

Build your own 3d glasses

 Now build your own 3d glasses at your home to enjoy 3D movies, games, photos in computer with very easy steps in short time. 
 
Materials
  • sturdy poster board
  • Scissors
  • Clear tape
  • Basic pattern for glasses
  • Sheets of red and blue acetate

Steps

  1. Cut out the sample pattern (including eyeholes) for your 3D glasses and tape the sides to the center section. You now have your stencil for the actual glasses.
  2. Trace the stencil on the oaktag or sturdy poster board. Cut the glasses out making sure to also cut out the eyeholes.
  3. Tape the red (left) and blue (right) acetate pieces to cover the eyeholes. Make sure to cut the acetate pieces a little larger than the opening for the eyes. DO NOT get tape on parts of the acetate visible through the eyehole. 
Source: NASA Download in PDF 

Food prices rising to dangerous level

World Bank has expressed serious concerns over food prices rising to "dangerous levels" globally and said this has pushed 44 million people in developing countries into extreme poverty since June last year.

Spiralling prices of wheat, maize, sugar and oils apart from food items such as vegetables turning costlier, are pushing food inflation higher, according to World Bank.

"Rising food prices have driven an estimated 44 million people into (extreme) poverty in developing countries since last June as food costs continue to rise to near 2008 levels," the multilateral agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

Those who earn less than USD 1.25 per day are considered to be in extreme poverty.

World Bank Group President Robert B Zoellick noted that global food prices are rising to dangerous levels and threaten tens of millions of poor people. 

Source: Siliconindia

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Reliance Comm accuses old 2G operators of Rs.1 Trillion fraud

Mumbai: Reliance Communications has accused all old 2G operators for causing losses over 1 trillion to the exchequer through fraudulent business practices. Reliance Communications said in a statement that the old 2G operators had concealed material facts from the government and has caused unscrupulous loss to the national exchequer during 2001 and 2010. The company has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the irregularities. Although RCom did not mention the old operators it is understood that during that period the 2G operators were Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.

Syed Safawi, president of Reliance Communications, said in a statement that an excess of 6.2 MHz of excess spectrum was held by some of the DoT officials and the loss incurred due to the concealation of the holding was around Rs 55,000 crore (Rs 550 billion). He also said that the 2G operators also had the luxury of extending their license period from 10 years to 20 years without paying any additional fees.
As mentioned in the CAG (comptroller & auditor general) report of 2010, the 2G operators had gained many benefits through their illegal practices and they flaunted off the benefits by giving away stakes in their companies.

The CAG also reported that Reliance Telecom held 10.17 per cent in Swan Telecom, breaching government rules,for which Safawi said that the company had held only 9.9 per cent of the equity share capital of Swan at the time of filing the relevant licence application in March 2007. He said that this information was made public as well. Safwai said that abiding to the legal advice, RCom had not disclosed the preference share capital held by Reliance Telecom in Swan, as it is not included for the purposes of determining shareholding levels, under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956. He said that there were no monetary gains that the company made during the 2G license was granted to Swan.

Coming to the CBI investigations on RCom, firstly the company had denied the rumors that it was being probed by the government's investigation wings. After which the company shares dropped and incurred a loss of 115 billion. After the sharp fall in the share price, the group filed a complaint with the market regulator urging a probe into the alleged illegal trading in its groups' stocks and claimed it was being targeted by rivals, who were spreading baseless sensational charges against it.

Source: Siliconindia


Saturday, February 12, 2011

Apple working on smaller, cheaper iPhone

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc is working on a smaller and less expensive version of the iPhone , Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing sources.
The prototype device is about one-third smaller than the iPhone 4, the report said, citing a person who had seen it.
Apple has considered selling the new iPhone for $200 without a two-year wireless contract, Bloomberg reported.
Apple is aiming to unveil the device around the middle of this year, but the launch may be delayed or canceled altogether, the report said.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
The company often develops products it never brings to market.
According to the report, Apple is also working on a dual-mode phone that would be able to work with the world's two main wireless standards.
AT&T, which carries the iPhone on its wireless network in the United States, declined to comment. Verizon Wireless, which also carries the device, could not be reached for comment.
Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple closed down 1 percent at $354.54 on the Nasdaq on Thursday.

Source: Yahoo Finanace - REUTERS

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

UK visa curbs will hit Indian MBA students

London, Feb 7 (PTI) Britain''s move to abolish the visa that allows Indian and other non-EU students to take up employment in the UK for two years after the completion of their courses is likely to reduce the number of Indians coming here for MBA degrees, an industry body has said.

The London-based Association of MBAs, which accredits business management courses in 70 countries, including the UK, said the proposed move was of ''significant concern'', and would restrict enrolment of international students from India and elsewhere.

In a speech last week, immigration minister Damian Green said that non-EU students could not be allowed unfettered access to the UK labour market amidst growing unemployment in Britain.

He said: "The post study work route was intended to form a bridge between study and skilled work, allowing all international graduates to remain for two years after graduation... To allow unfettered access to the jobs market for two years to anyone with a student visa from abroad is putting an unnecessary extra strain on our own graduates".

Noting that India and China are two of the UK''s biggest markets for international students, the association said in its response to the consultation on the student visa review that the UK must do all it can to remain competitive in the highly skilled business education sector.

"Turning students away by restricting their access to post-study employment puts their reputations at stake and threatens future viability," it said.

The association said that MBA courses have high fees, and does not attract the type of migrants which the David Cameron government was seeking to deter from entering and abusing the student visa system.

Moreover, MBA international students bring "a high level of income for UK universities at a time when they are struggling for funding", the association said.

In British universities, MBA tuition fees range from 10,000 pounds to 50,000 pounds per year.

The Association of MBAs surveyed 47 accredited business schools in the UK in early January 2011.

Of the 34 who responded, 97 per cent said that they believe continued restrictions on student visas are likely to impact their enrolment numbers in the future.

Of these, 56 per cent said that the impact was highly likely.

"This supports deep concerns voiced in focus groups among business schools that prospective students will look elsewhere to competitor countries including Canada, the United States and Australia", it said. .

Source: Yahoo News

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Cisco TelePresence - On-Stage Holographic Video Conferencing

World's First Live Holographic Video Feed from California, USA to Bangalore, India

The Cisco TelePresence On-Stage Experience was an ambitious collaboration between Cisco and Musion Systems, which took place during the opening of Cisco’s Globalization Centre East in Bangalore, India.
Musion seamlessly integrated their 3D holographic display technology with Cisco’s TelePresence’s system to create the world’s first real time virtual presentation

Read more..


Monday, February 7, 2011

Sun's Entire Surface Pictured For First Time

Three-dimensional images showing the entire surface of the sun have been released for the first time.



The images, taken from two separate Nasa satellites, will allow
scientists to see both sides of the star together for the first time. This will enable significant advances in space weather forecasting
for Earth and improve planning for future spacecraft missions throughout
 the solar system. The images are believed to be as significant as those taken of the first men on the Moon. Information about sunbursts was also collected by the satellites, which could be vital for protecting communications on Earth. Astronomer Robin Scagell told Sky News that a big solar storm on the sun could have a devastating impact on our lives. "It could wipe out the satellites and what is more, it is quite likely it would knock out the power grids. "Big currents up in the sky caused by solar storms could cause them all to trip out and damage them.
"We do not have replacement units for these transformers.If they went out it could be months or years before they could be replaced nationwide and we would be without power.

"If the satellites give us warning when these storms are due to come we could perhaps shut down the power for 24 hours."

Scientist Professor Heinz Wolff told Sky News: "The sun is our life
and small changes in the surface of the sun affect our life very
considerably.

"By having a much better image of [the sun], it will make it easier to predict what it is going to do.

"For instance, climate scientists do not know whether climate changes
 are to do with the sun and anything we can add to our human knowledge
by having a much more detailed picture of our life giver will help
scientists."

The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory mission launched its two satellites in 2006.

They are travelling at different speeds and so every few years they
achieve 180 degrees of separation on exactly opposite sides of the sun,
enabling them to take the pictures.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Internet will run out of IP addresses by Today

London:  The internet will run out of numerical IP (Internet Protocol) addresses by Friday. But the web will not ground to a halt. A new system, Internet Protocol version 6 or IPv6 will replace version 4.

Every device connected to the net is assigned a number. But with millions of web enabled phones now online, the numbers are running out.

The system, set up in the 1980s with a maximum of 4.1 billion addresses, was supposed to never run out. The original creators of the web initially thought it would be used only for academic purposes.

IP addresses act as phone numbers to ensure that surfers reach websites and e-mails and find their destination, the Daily Mail reports.

The authority that governs such addresses will distribute the last batches Thursday.

"It will just be 'business as usual' if everyone gets their job done," said John Curran, chief executive of the American Registry for Internet Numbers, one of five regional groups that dole out such addresses. They cover the US, Canada and the Caribbean.

Source: NDTV.com