Now, control your TV, DVD player, stereo from your iPhone

Here is good news for people who are too lazy to pick up the TV remote to change the channel.

A Berlin-based company has developed a new gadget that converts your iPhone into a universal TV controller, which works on all major models of television.

The VooMote One is a sleeve that fits over your mobile and allows you to choose your programme or flip between functions - and make calls too.

The device also allows the user to "group" together different appliances such as a DVD player and stereo so that you don't even have to reach for those controllers either.

There are also the volume controls, which one would normally associate with a TV remote.

According to the manufacturer Zero1.tv, the device works with wireless technology and captures more than 30,000 infrared cords and thousands of electronic devices.

In total, it is compatible with "574 TV brands, 995 Top Box/DVR brands, and 151 audio and CD brands" with a list of codes that is regularly being updated.

Zero1.tv says that the VooMote's star feature is the 'Room Control' function which allows you to group devices according to their location, e.g. the kitchen.

"VooMote One is the only like-product on the market right now that makes set up effortless, reduces clutter, and streamlines the control of all of your devices with your iPhone," the Daily Mail quoted Zero1.tv as saying.

The VooMote, which also works on an iPod touch, comes with a free app that links up with the sleeve.

The hardware, however, is currently only available in the U.S. and costs 99 dollars.
Source: ANI

Use of Internet affecting our memory, finds study

New York: Researchers have found that the widespread use of search engines and online databases is affecting the way people remember information.

To know whether people were more likely to remember information that could be easily retrieved from a computer, Betsy Sparrow, an assistant professor of psychology at Columbia and her collaborators, Daniel M. Wegner of Harvard and Jenny Liu of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, staged different memory experiments, reports the New York Times.

In one experiment where participants typed 40 bits of trivia, the team found that the subjects were significantly more likely to remember information if they thought they would not be able to find it later.

"Participants did not make the effort to remember when they thought they could later look up the trivia statement they had read," wrote the authors.

A second experiment was aimed at determining whether computer accessibility affects precisely what we remember.

Latest Photos - Live Coverage - Mumbai Blasts 2011 - 21 Dead, over 100 injured

Source: Yahoo News

Security alert in Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai

New Delhi:  A security alert was sounded in Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai - after a series of blasts in Mumbai and police personnel were fanned across the city to carry out intensive searches and checkings.

A senior police official said top officials were reviewing the security situation in the city.

"A tight security apparatus has been put in place. Senior officials are on the streets monitoring the security scenario. Police personnel have been deployed across the city," a senior police official said.

The official said police personnel were deployed at public places like malls, cinema halls, parks, popular hangouts, ISBT and railway station. They are conducting checkings.

Three explosions were reported from south Mumbai's Zaveri Bazar, Dadar in Central Mumbai and Opera House in Charni Road following which this action has been taken, the official said.

The national capital last month had a minor scare when a low intensity blast took place outside Delhi High Court. No one was injured in the incident.
"There is nothing to worry. All precautions have been taken. We appeal to the citizens to report to us about any suspicious objects or persons they come across," the official said.
Source: NDTV

Three blasts in Mumbai, Home Ministry confirms terror attack - 10 Reported DEAD - Live on NDTV News

Mumbai:  Three explosions have taken place in Mumbai on Wednesday evening - two in South Mumbai at Opera House and in Zaveri Bazar and one at Dadar West, in central Mumbai. The Home Ministry has confirmed a terrorist attack and Mumbai is on high alert.

All blasts took place during rush hour and in crowded places.

• Explosions during rush hour at Dadar, Zaveri Bazaar, Opera House
• Four killed in Dadar, six dead in Zaveri Bazaar: reports
• Unconfirmed reports: 15 injured
• National Investigation agency team sent from Delhi to investigate, collect forensic evidence
• Unexploded bomb found at Dadar, bomb disposal squad rushed there
• Malls, markets in Delhi on high alert
• Chennai, Bangalore on high alert

Eyewitnesses said about 15 to 20 people have taken to hospital in Zaveri Bazar. Reports said six people had died in the Dadar blast, four in the Zaveri Bazaar blast.

One explosion,  in a car at a bus stop in Dadar West, has been confirmed. A police officer said there might have been an explosive in a meter box behind a hoarding at Khau gali, a street filled with eateries at Zaveri Bazaar. The Opera House blast took place at Prasad Chamber.

An unexploded bomb has also reportedly been found in Dadar and a bomb disposal squad is working to defuse it.

Early reports said a police control room had received a call claiming that there were serial blasts in Mumbai.

A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team has rushed to Mumbai from Delhi to investigate and collect forensic evidence. The police have appealed for calm.

Zaveri Bazaar has been hit before -  over 50 people were killed in twin blasts in 2002. 

Malls, markets and other crowded places in Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore are on high alert.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/?cp

Source: NDTV News

New app enables travellers to book hotels

New York: With air fares remaining stubbornly high, more people are taking to the road for summer getaways, making them more likely to need on-the-go travel resources.

Travel giant Orbitz has launched an app which is billed as the only online travel company iPad app to enable GPS-powered mobile research and hotel bookings.

Orbitz CEO Barney Harford said the new app was designed "from the ground up to take advantage of iPad's format and interface."

He added that it will allow customers to search for, compare and book hotels effortlessly.

In developing the app Orbitz noted its survey results which showed that more than half of the 1,000 people questioned said their mobile device was the most helpful for researching and planning activities once they arrived at their destination, compared to one-third who find it most helpful before they leave.

Only 15 percent said their mobile device was most helpful for booking vacations. And interestingly, more than one-quarter of men said they had booked travel with a mobile device, compared to only eight percent of women.

Mobile device users are also many times more likely to be booking same-day accommodations than people using the original website.

The app includes hotels at thousands of destinations worldwide available on Orbitz' website, which boasts 10 million visitors a month, and filters hotels by price, ratings or location.

It also allows users to locate nearby hotels using the iPad's GPS capabilities, and to compare hotels and prices on an interactive map.

Early reviewers praised the app for its accuracy, imagery and clarity, and functionality.

The Orbitz Hotels app is available as a free download from the App Store or at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/orbitz-hotels/id445927435.

Source: Reuters

Strong earthquake rocks northeastern Japan - 7.1 Magnitude

A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 hit Japan's northeastern coast on Sunday, prompting a tsunami warning for the area still recovering from a devastating quake and killer wave four months ago.

Residents in coastal areas were warned to evacuate, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

The quake hit at 9:57 local time (0057 GMT), and a warning of a tsunami was issued for most of the northeastern coastline. The epicenter of the quake was in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan's main island, Honshu, at a depth of about 6 miles (10 kilometers).

35 dead, 150 injured as train derails in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow, July 10: About 35 people were killed dead and at least 150 injured Sunday noon as 14 coaches of a speeding Kalka-bound train derailed in Uttar Pradesh, trapping hundreds of passengers for hours in the mangled mess. The army was hurriedly deployed in the rescue operations.

The accident, which took place as the Kalka Mail was nearing the Malwan railway station in Fatehpur district, toppled some of the coaches over two adjoining rail tracks, sealing off the busy route to Howrah from where the train was coming.

The overturned coaches included the air-conditioned ones and the pantry car. At least one coach was crushed by another. The accident site is about 140 km from here.

Even as dazed and slightly wounded passengers made it out of the train coaches, with or without help from villagers who were the first to rush to the site, the death toll began to steadily climb.

Uttar Pradesh Special Director General of Police Brij Lal told IANS that while 31 bodies had been taken out, he believed at least 35 passengers had been killed.

The reason for the accident was not clear. But some officials said the train was going at over 100 km per hour when the driver applied emergency brakes just before the Malwan station.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed shock over the disaster. The central and the Uttar Pradesh governments quickly announced compensation for the dead and the injured.

Rescue efforts at the start were slow as villagers and policemen lacked expertise and equipment to cut open the coaches. Some passengers charged the railways with lethargy.

It took some time for the railway staff to reach the coaches and start cutting them to extricate the trapped passengers. The dead had to be taken out. Some passengers smashed window panes to come out.

Some 200 policemen did what they could -- putting the injured on large pieces of cloth to be lifted to the nearest vehicles to be taken to Kanpur and Fatehpur hospitals.

Soldiers then joined the rescue work. Military helicopters ferried the more seriously injured to hospitals to Lucknow and Allahabad, about 120 km away.

'Hundreds remained trapped inside the coaches until gas cutters were put on the job to cut open the metal-frame of the coaches,' North Central Railway senior divisional operations manager Pradeep Ojha told IANS over telephone from Allahabad.

Fatehpur's Chief Medical Officer Keshav Narain Joshi also put the number of dead at 35. He said at least least 150 were injured in varying degrees.

'We are including not only the bodies which have been extricated from the coaches but also those yet to be pulled ou,' he said.

About 15 of the seriously injured were rushed to hospitals in Fatehpur (16 km away) and Kanpur (45 km away), Joshi added.

The railway ministry announced a compensation of Rs.5 lakh to the next of kin of the dead.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati declared an ex gratia relief of Rs.1 lakh to families of each of the dead. Those who sustained serious injuries will get Rs.1 Lakh each.
Officials said two relief trains - from Kanpur and Allahabad - have been sent to the spot.
India's rail network is one of the largest in the world and carries about 14 million passengers a day.
Source: IANS

Cell phones, devices biggest driving distractions - Do not use cellphones while driving

WASHINGTON - Driving distractions, primarily by cell phones and other electronic devices, are associated with up to 25 percent of U.S. car crashes, according to a report released on Thursday.

The study by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), a nonprofit group that works to improve traffic safety, assessed research from more than 350 scientific papers published since 2000.

It showed that drivers are distracted up to half the time and that crashes caused by distractions range from minor damage to fatal injury. Cell phone use raises the risk of crashing, but texting is likely to increase crash risk more than cell phone use.

"Despite all that has been written about driver distraction, there is still a lot that we do not know," GHSA executive director Barbara Harsha said in a statement.

Facebook Launches Video Calling in Assocation with Skype. - Talk to your friends face to face.

Now facebook users can enjoy video calling on their chats.. Setup video calling features in your system by Following the below steps:

• Click this link: https://www.facebook.com/videocalling
•  Click "Get Started"
• Set up video calling - video call Setup download starts
• Install the video call setup in your system
• After installation Click on any users chat, At top right corner you can see Video icon

Now, hide Facebook from your boss by converting it into an Excel sheet!

Now, you can easily check your Facebook account at your work place without the fear of being caught by your boss.
A website developed by a university student allows you to automatically convert your Facebook news feeds into an Excel spreadsheet, reports the Herald Sun.
Users can instantly see what their friends are up to on Facebook with updates appearing as new spreadsheet rows.
Uploaded pictures and videos can be viewed by hovering over the entries, and users can interact by "liking" the updates with a simple click on the spreadsheet.

Some useful tips for buying petrol/diesel

Imp news for today's scenario when the fuel prices are touching new heights...

Only buy or fill up your car or bike during early morning, when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their
storage tanks underground. The colder the ground, the more  dense  the fuel. When it gets warmer, petrol expands. So, buying in the afternoon or in the evening, your litre is not exactly a litre . In  the  petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature play  an  important role. 1 degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this   business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.
 
Another important tip is to fill up when your  tank is HALF FULL. The reason for this is, the more fuel  you have in your tank the less is the air
occupying its empty  space. Petrol evaporates faster than you can imagine.
 
Another reminder, if there is a fuel truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy, DO NOT fill up--most likely the petrol/diesel is being  stirred up as the fuel is being delivered, and you might pick up some of  the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.
 
DO  SHARE  THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS - IT IS IMPORTANT FOR AS MANY PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT THIS,  ESPECIALLY IN THE WAKE OF RISING PETROL PRICES.

Click EMAIL icon below to share this article to your friends.
 

Now, an iPhone app that alerts homeowners how to manage power usage!

A team at the University of Arkansas and the University of San Francisco, led by an Indian-origin computer science researcher, has developed an iPhone automated energy-management system that monitors energy generation and consumption in off-grid and grid-tied homes that use solar energy or wind power.
As part of the system, an iPhone application warns homeowners of critical battery situations, suggests appliances to turn on or off, recommends ideal times to execute tasks that require greater power and adjusts power states of devices to reduce energy consumption.
"We've built a system that strikes a balance between totally automated control, which might irritate homeowners by turning off the television while they're watching a program, and reactive or manual techniques that really are not sufficient to prevent critical battery situations or energy outages," said Nilanjan Banerjee, assistant professor of computer science and computer engineering at the University of Arkansas.

'Indestructible' botnet virus attacking Windows PCs globally!

London: Software security experts have warned that cracking the TDL-4 botnet is not going to be easy, terming it as 'indestructible'.

A botnet is a network of home computers that have been infected by a virus that allows a hi-tech criminal to use them remotely.
Botnet controllers often steal data from victims' PCs or use the machines to send out spam or carry out other attacks, reports the BBC News.
According to the experts, more than four million PCs have been enrolled in a botnet security. The botnet targets Windows PCs and is difficult to detect and shut down.
They further stated that the code that hijacks a PC hides in places that the security software rarely looks in and the botnet is controlled using custom-made encryption.
It is informed that nearly 4.5 million PCs have become victims over the last three months, following the appearance of the fourth version of the TDL virus.
Giving a detailed analysis of the virus, Kaspersky Labs security researchers Sergey Golovanov and Igor Soumenkov wrote that the changes introduced in TDL-4 made it the "most sophisticated threat today."

Facebook to launch ''something awesome'' next week: Zuckerberg

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has a surprise up his sleeve for the over 500 million users of his social networking site with the billionaire CEO today saying his company is planning to "launch something awesome" next week. Zuckerberg, speaking at his company''s office in Seattle, did not divulge any further details apart from saying that the company planned to "launch something awesome" next week. However, it is being speculated that the new feature to be launched could be in the mobile or tablet space. A report in the Los Angeles Times said there are various mobile products in development at Facebook, including the release of a long-awaited Facebook app for Apple''s iPad and a specialised app for photo-sharing on the iPhone.

Exclusive Photos: China opens world's longest sea bridge - High Resolution Images - Arieal View

This photo taken Tuesday, June 21, 2011 released by China's Xinhua news agency shows the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. China opened Thursday, June 30, 2011, the world's longest cross-sea bridge, which is 42 kilometers (26 miles) long and links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to an offshore island, Huangdao. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Yan Runbo)

Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Bridge is seen in Qingdao, Shandong province, in this general view taken June 27, 2011. The world's longest sea bridge spanning Jiaozhou Bay of Qingdao City, Shandong Province, opened on Thursday, June 30. The bridge is 36 km (22 miles) long, Xinhua News Agency reported. Picture taken on June 27, 2011. REUTERS/China Daily

This photo taken Tuesday, June 21, 2011 released by China's Xinhua news agency shows the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. China opened Thursday, June 30, 2011, the world's longest cross-sea bridge, which is 42 kilometers (26 miles) long and links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to an offshore island, Huangdao. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Yan Runbo)

This photo taken Wednesday, June 29, 2011 released by China's Xinhua news agency shows the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. China opened Thursday, June 30, 2011, the world's longest cross-sea bridge, which is 42 kilometers (26 miles) long and links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to an offshore island, Huangdao. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Yan Runbo)

A sign that reads: "Shandong Highway Corp. invests to operate Shandong Highway Jiaozhou Bay Bridge" is seen at Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao, Shandong province June 27, 2011. The world's longest sea bridge spanning Jiaozhou Bay of Qingdao City, Shandong Province, opened on Thursday, June 30, 2011. The bridge is 36 km (22 miles) long, Xinhua News Agency reported. Picture taken June 27, 2011. REUTERS/China Daily