a2z Information: 2012-08-26

Saturday, September 1, 2012

9 quick hangover cures that actually work

A hangover can be very nasty, upsetting your entire schedule for a day or even more, depending upon your propensity for tolerating alcohol. Rather than trying-out different hangover medicines, some of which have rather unworthy credentials, it is much better to try quick hangover cures at home that are easy and effective.

Orange juice is among the commonest of home remedies for hangovers. It performs the function of rehydration with great intensity and the Vitamin C acts as a counter to that nauseating feeling. You can combine this with a few boiled eggs and slightly toasted bread. This might sound strange but the protein from eggs helps the liver to filter the toxins of alcohol faster while toasted slices have a charcoal-like effect, preventing bloating or vomiting caused by alcohol.

Here is a First Look at Facebook s Amazing New Campus by Frank Gehry

Facebook (FB) already has 2,000 employees at its headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. But it's preparing for a major expansion. Eventually, its current location—the East Campus—will hold 6,600 employees. Another 2,800 will occupy a second site, the West Campus, across the Bayfront Expressway.

Facebook has hired Frank Gehry's architecture firm, Gehry Partners, to design a new, sprawling office building which will house those engineers in a big, open space, with walls cleverly angled so the insides don't feel oppressive.

Here are some models and drawings which give an idea of Facebook's new home.

Here's the site. Right now it's undeveloped former industrial land. Environmental remediation starts in two weeks.

(Google Maps)

Mark Zuckerberg and Frank Gehry inspect a scale model of the insides.

(Everett Katigbak, Facebook)

Zuckerberg wanted the space to be one big, open building.

(Everett Katigbak, Facebook)

But a long, rectangular space would feel oppressive. So Gehry proposed angling the walls to create a more human sense of scale.

(Everett Katigbak, Facebook)

Here's the results: rows of desks and meeting rooms clustered throughout the building. You'll be able to walk from one end to the other without passing through a door. Note the looping ramp in the upper left—that gets you from the basement to the first floor to the roof.

(Frank Gehry/Gehry Partners)

The roof will be planted with grass, trees, and a vegetable garden. It's not just pretty—green roofs cut heating and cooling.

(Frank Gehry/Gehry Partners)

Tackling Hair Fall from the Root

It had been thought that most hair found in the sink or shower, on the brush etc. was broken hair due to damage and weathering. Studies have now shown this not to be the case. In fact at least 80% of hair loss is from the root, not breakage. Up to 20% of hair loss is due to breakage and will contain no visible root or hair bulb.

HAIR FALL/HAIR GROWTH COMMERCIAL LANDSCAPE

HAIR GROWTH: DRUGS
There are only two approved drugs on the marketplace with evidence to support their efficacy. These are an OTC (Over the Counter) drug called minoxidil and a prescription-only drug, finasteride.Minoxidil is sold as a scalp leave-on lotion or mousse formulation in the most popular variants. The active ingredient is present at 2% or 5% and is suitable for both men and women. The instructions for use indicate twice daily application. For many people using this product the frequency of use and sensory properties are unacceptable and the end benefit is often not seen to be worth the effort they have to go through. Finasteride is a prescription-only drug that inhibits an enzyme (5-alpha-reductase) that is responsible for modification of testosterone. Due to its impact on steroid hormone metabolism this drug is usually not prescribed to women of child-bearing age. It is usually prescribed as a tablet form.

The Press Information Bureau has launched a mobile version of its website for facilitating cellphone users seamlessly access information on the move.

"The URL of the mobile website ishttp://pib.gov.in/mobile. Mobile users who want the full functionality and display of the regular website can access it through the URL pib.gov.in," the PIB said in a statement today.

Apple extended its dominance in tablet computers in the second quarter, shipping nearly seven out of every 10 tablets, according to research firm IHS iSuppli. Other tablet makers include Amazon.com Inc, which said that it had sold out of the Kindle Fire amid expectations of a new model soon.
A new iPad model came out a few weeks before the April-June quarter began. Apple's 69.6 percent share in the April-June quarter is up from about 58 percent in the first quarter. It's the highest since the first quarter of last year, when Apple had 70 percent in a market with fewer competitors then.

VMware's general manager for Asia Pacific and Japan, Andrew M Dutton, says the response to cloud computing from state governments in India has been proactive, compared with the "'UPA government which is preoccupied with other issues." VMwareprovides virtualization technology, which is the foundation of cloud computing - both private and public. Dutton, who was at VMworld 2012, the company's annual virtualization conference, spoke to TOI about India's preparedness and response to cloud computing , which is today revolutionizing the IT sector.

Production of Sharp's screens for Apple's latest iPhone is behind schedule as the Japanese display maker struggles with low production yields, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Friday.
Apple, which is also tapping other suppliers such as Japan Display and South Korea's LG Displayfor the new, thinner displays, is planning a major launch on September 12. That has raised expectations that the product will be its latest iPhone model.

Telecom equipment maker Teracom has launched three tablet PCs in partnership with state-run operator MTNL.

"In partnership with MTNL, we are launching three models of 'Lofty' tablet with high-end model priced at Rs 10,999 and entry level model is for Rs 3,999," Teracom Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Arora told reporters.

The high end model of the tablet has built in 3G SIM and can be used for making phone calls as well, he added.

Samsung has launched its second-generation Series 9 notebook in India. The company claims that the device, which has a 13-inch screen, boasts the world's thinnest and most compact notebook chassis.

The laptop features Samsung's MaxScreen technology, which minimizes the bezel size while maximizing the screen size by an extra inch. It weighs just 1.16kg — 28% smaller than its predecessor. The laptop is powered by a third-generation (Ivy Bridge) Intel Core i7 processor. It has 256GB solid state drive, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics chip and a 1.3-megapixel web camera. The laptop is priced at Rs 1,02,990.

This would sure delight the couch potatoes! Engineers have developed a TV which can monitor your eyes and change the channel if you give it the nod.

The Eye Control Television comes with a bulky device that you place in front of your TV, and with a determined blink of your eyes you can change channels, change the volume, or power your television off, the Daily Mail reported.

The eye-sensing technology relies on a Kinect-style sensor sat on your table, and your standard blinks will not interrupt your scheduled viewing, the Chinese manufacturer claimed.

The combined desk-based and mobile PC market in India has grown 17 percent to 2.9 million units in the second quarter of 2012, according to Gartner Inc.
"Consumer buying accounted for 50 percent of total PC sales in the second quarter of 2012," Gartner principal research analyst Vishal Tripathi said in a statement here.
"Consumer PC sales grew 24 percent sequentially, which emphasises the fact that media tablets are not yet cannibalising the PC market in India like in the West. Consumer growth is being primarily being driven by entry level products. Vendors such as HP, Lenovo,Asus and Samsung registered more than 50 percent growth in the consumer segment," Tripathi said.
Gartner expects PC shipment growth to continue in the third quarter of 2012 owing to the festive season and education buying.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed theNational Security Advisor to find a viable policy to tackle cyber terrorism threat.

"I have been asking my NSA to zero in the gaps to find a viable policy to tackle the menace of cyber terrorism threat," Singh said.

The remarks were made in the backdrop of the exodus of NorthEastern people triggered by the rumours spread through using cyber space which carried morphed images and inflammatory videos after the Assamviolence.

After a gridlock with the world's largest microblogging website Twitter in getting accounts of some 'miscreants' blocked, the government has managed to finally get some breakthrough.

Minister for Communications and IT Kapil Sibal told media on Friday that Twitter Inc was ready to cooperate with India. "Twitter is ready to cooperate. It will set up a special team to take up requests from the India to block accounts," Sibal said on the sidelines on a press briefing.

The government has requested Twitter to block some accounts which carry 'communal overtones' in the wake of recent violence in Assam.

Indians prefer smartphones, tablets to do office work, Assocham

More than half of employees at Indian companies prefer to do their office workthrough mobile electronic gadgets like smartphones, iPad and tablets, instead of by staying in offices, a survey today claimed.

The survey, conducted by industry body Assocham, found that majority of the respondents said they do not need to stay in office to be productive, as they carry their electronic devices to remain accessible to colleagues and clients.

The study was conducted among 350 officers and executives in sectors like automobile, banking, manufacturing and real-estate.

Sony Mobile, which uses Google Android software for its smartphones, has not seen much impact from patent problems of the software platform.

Last week a US jury decided many of Samsung's Google Android-based phones infringed Apple Inc patents.

"We don't see much impact to our business as yet of today," Sony Mobile Chief Executive Kunimasa Suzuki told Reuters.

Suzuki said he was confident to sell more smartphones in its fiscal year 2012-2013 than 34 million in previous year.

HP launches Envy x2, Envy TouchSmart notebooks

HP on Thursday announced two consumer notebooks, HP Envy x2 and HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook, powered by Intel's latest processors.

The HP Envy x2 is an ultrathin hybrid PC with a detachable screen that can be used as a tablet when separated from the keyboard. The device features a sleek aluminum finish and a magnetic hinge to hold the tablet. Envy x2 has 11.6-inch display and weighs 1.4 kg. The tablet is powered by Windows 8 and features a 8-megapixel HD webcam. The HP Envy x2 also features Beats Audio, HP Connected Photo application that allows users to sync photos across multiple devices and offers basic editing options. The other key features include solid-state memory, Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.

Security solutions providerMcAfee has launched a new free application 'McAfee Social Protection' to help users protect their photos from being shared without their permission on social networking site Facebook.

Offered as a Facebook app together with a browser plug-in , the app lets users select which friends have access to their photos and makes pictures appear blurry to everyone else, McAfee said in a statement.

Government on Thursday lifted the ban on bulk SMSs and MMSs with immediate effect -- a day before the earlier stipulated deadline of August 31.

The telecom ministry had, on direction of home ministry, imposed the ban for 15 days on August 17. Later, the restriction was reviewed on August 24 when the telecom ministry increased the limit from five SMSes to 20 SMSes.

"After reviewing the matter again on Thursday, the ministry lifted the restriction allowing citizens to use text messages and MMSes without any limit of numbers with immediate effect," said a home ministry official.

India's no. 1 IT companyTata Consultancy Services has been recognized as one of the Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces in the United States. The annual award recognizes top employers that display leadership and innovation towards engaging their employees.

The Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces award is judged by a panel of judges that evaluate each applicant based on the eight elements of employee engagement: communication, leadership, culture, rewards & recognition, professional & personal growth, accountability & performance, vision & values and corporate social responsibility.

Calling the market's opinion of a leadership change requirement as frivolous, KV Kamath, Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys told ET Now that no change in top level management is needed. Kamath said that the Infosys board is completely aligned with the leadership.

Stating that the company has clearly articulated its strategy, Kamath said that 'Infosys 3.0' will undergo changes as and when required. Kamath defended not taking the path that Infosys' competitors take by saying that the company follows strategies that it feels will help in the longer term. "Infosys has gone through all the challenges that the IT industry has faced and has come out shining," he added.

Rural internet users to reach 45 million by December 2012

Rural India is getting fast on the information superhighway. Rural India has 38 million claimed internet users and 31 million active internetusers, according to a report on 'Internet in Rural India' by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB.

The penetration of claimed internet users in rural India has grown from 2.6% in 2010 to 4.6% in 2012, a CAGR of 73%. On the other hand, the penetration of active internet users has grown from 2.13 percent in 2010 to 3.7% in 2012.

While Samsung Electronics is reeling from a patent pounding by its smartphone rival Apple, this is unlikely to damage the other part of their relationship - where Samsung is the sole supplier of Apple-designed chips that power theiPhone and iPad.

At an emergency meeting in Seoul early on Sunday following the damning US legal defeat, the South Korean group's post mortem was led by vice chairman Choi Gee-sung and the head of the mobile business JK Shin, rather than by CEO Kwon Oh-hyun, whose primary role is in charge of the components business.

The clear message from Samsung is that a strict internal firewall between its handset business and its components operations remains intact. While it plans to appeal the US verdict, and a damages bill for $1.05 billion for copying critical features of Apple's popular mobile devices - a sum that could be trebled - Samsung will not want to put at risk its Apple supply contract which is worth billions of dollars.

As well as being the only supplier of micro processors for the iPhone and iPad, Samsung also supplies DRAM and NAND-type memory chips and flat screens used in the popular Apple gadgets. Samsung products comprise 26 percent of the component cost of the iPhone, Samsung's lead counsel Charles Verhoeven was quoted as saying in the media. Samsung's component sales could hit $13 billion next year and bring in $2.2 billion in operating profit, according to a recent estimate by Morgan Stanley. That's nearly 8 per cent of estimated group operating profit for next year.

Too important
Experts and analysts said the symbiotic business relationship between Samsung and Apple is too important for either to put at risk. "Apple needs Samsung to make the iPhone and iPad. Period. Samsung is the sole supplier of Apple's processing chips and without Samsung, they can't make these products," said James Song, an analyst at KDB Daewoo Securities in Seoul.
"Samsung might be considering lots of options to leverage its components business' importance and pressure Apple, and Apple could be also well aware of this." With that in mind, Samsung had sought to resolve the patent dispute with Apple - which Apple first brought up shortly after Samsung launched its first Galaxy model in 2010 - through negotiation rather than in the courtroom. "We initially proposed to negotiate with Apple instead of going to court, as they had been one of our most important customers," Samsung said in an internal memo sent to employees and released to the media on Monday.

"However, Apple pressed on with a lawsuit, and we have had little choice but to counter sue." While Samsung has been found to have copied innovative features of the iPhone and iPad, the Korean group's lawyers have emphasized that its own innovative components and wireless technology patents, which the US jury ruled that Apple did not violate, made Apple's products a reality.

"Apple isn't that stupid (to risk its Samsung parts deal). Apple's agreements with Samsung will ensure that Samsung has no choice but to comply and supply," Florian Mueller, an intellectual property consultant, posted on his blog. "Also, Samsung's other customers would lose faith if it turned out unreliable. And since Apple threatened Samsung with litigation two years ago, it's had plenty of time to identify alternatives."

Sharp sell-off
Samsung itself shrugged off market concerns that its component contracts were at risk due to the litigation. Samsung shares tumbled more than 7 per cent on Monday, wiping $12 billion off its market value.

"(The) supply contract remains a separate issue from the litigation and there'll be no change to it going forward," said an executive who took part in Sunday's meeting, which was not attended Jay Y Lee, chief operating offer and heir apparent to Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, according to the executive.

Kwon was promoted to CEO in June, with JK Shin and BK Yoon leading the telecommunications and consumer electronics divisions respectively so as to avoid potential conflicts of interest, as Samsung supplies parts to its main rivals such as Apple, Nokia, HTC andSony.
As demand for mobile gadgets has soared, Samsung announced just last week a $4 billion investment to boost output at its US chip plant, where it makes chips for the iPhone and iPad. That comes on top of $2 billion of spending Samsung unveiled two months ago to build a new chip plant and the conversion of existing chip lines to make logic chips to power mobile gadgets.

Supply chain
Apple has been looking to spread its supply chain to reduce its reliance on Samsung. The US firm frequently faces a supply crunch when a new product is launched, triggering a consumer stampede that drives demand far in excess of supply and production capability. Earlier this year, a source told Reuters that Japan's Elpida Memory was selling more than half of its mobile DRAM chips to Apple.

Samsung mainly competes with Toshiba and Korean rival SK Hynix in supplying memory chips for Apple, and LG Display in flat-screen panels. Samsung has around 70 percent global market share in mobile DRAMs, but Apple sources only 40 per cent of its mobile DRAM chip requirement from Samsung, a boon to the likes of Elpida and SK Hynix, analysts say. Shares in LG Display, which is widely speculated to supply a new and thinner panel for the next iPhone, jumped more than 4 per cent on Monday. SK Hynix slipped 0.5 per cent in a flat market.

"For its part, Samsung is also diversifying its customer base to reduce its reliance to Apple - adding new ones like Qualcomm, and that'll prove to be a good strategy longer term as Apple component margins are generally low due to its huge bargaining power," said Daewoo's Song. "Other suppliers may benefit from a worsening Apple/Samsung relationship in the short term, but in terms of margins, I'm doubtful they can make good money from any Apple cookie crumbs that Samsung throws away."

Nokia to pay Rs 67,000 for selling defective mobile

Nokia India has been directed by a city district consumer forum to pay Rs 67,000 to one of its customers for selling him a "defective" cell phone and then failing to repair it or refund its price.

The South-II District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum held Nokia guilty of indulging in unfair trade practice for selling a defective phone and then failing to repair it or refund its price since September 2007 when it was first taken for repairs by Delhi resident and complainant Rohan Arora.

The forum also held retailer Luthra Communications guilty of resorting to unfair trade practice.

Wipro to expand Kolkata campus

Wipro Technologies will expand its campus in Kolkata, Chairman Azim Premji said Monday but refused to comment on the company's proposed special economic zone (SEZ) project in the city.

"We will carry out expansion on our existing project," Premji, who was here for an interaction with industry captains, told reporters without giving further details.

The project, a SEZ, is in the the satellite township of Salt Lake and employs 7,500 people.

Facebook to delete your embarrassing photos forever

In a good news for Facebook users, the social networking website has finally decided to remove millions of embarrassing and inappropriate pictures forever after keeping them for years against users' wishes.
Until recently, any pictures erased from an account would in fact remain stored by Facebook and anyone who had the direct link to that picture could therefore still view it.

Now the pictures erased by a user will permanently be wiped from the system within 14 days, but with a potential maximum delay of 30 days, The 'Daily Mail' reported.

After being on the fringes for quite some time, cloud computing is set for a major leap. In these tough times, companies have been proactively looking at various 'disruptive technologies' that will ensure that technology is elastic enough to meet the business growth needs. Cloud models and the flexibility they bring are featuring high here.

WhatsApp, the popular messaging app for various smartphones, has achieved a new record with a total ten billion messages sent and received in one day.

People behind the app disclosed the news this week on Twitter.

"New daily record: 4B inbound, 6B outbound = 10b total messages a day!"," its creators tweeted.

WhatsApp, which is called 'text message killer' offers different features such as the ability to share photos, videos and audio notes, The Telegraph reports.

A conducive work environment is one in which all the varied employees work in unison, to achieve the common goal of overall success.

As an employer, you need to learn some tricks in order to generate the maximum output out of your workforce.

1. Each Employee is Different

Although it is extremely common to view the employees as a collective workforce, paying attention to their individuality will help boost output in the long run. As an employer, you should celebrate their uniqueness and develop a transparent communication system addressing their needs, expectations and requirements. Although it is your duty to treat every employee equally, take care not to treat them partially. This will only spite discord among them.

Information technology companies are being forced to subcontract more work than ever before in the US, as the measures adopted by that country have made it harder and costlier for Indian software professionals to travel on work to their main market.

For companies such as Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, the use of staffing firms instead of their own employees for US assignments is resulting in higher costs and lower margins, further eroding their competitive advantage in a weak demand environment. Ironically, they are being forced to subcontract work to temporary consultants when an increasing number of their own software engineers are sitting idle on the bench.

Information technology services firm Mahindra Satyam doled out moderate hikes to its employees exercising caution on the back of a fragile economic scenario in the US and Europe, from where it gets over 80% of its revenues.

Satyam's Indian employees received salary hikes of about 7% while on site employees got a 2% raise, much in line with the rest of the industry. Last month, while announcing the June quarter earnings, company's chief executive CP Gurnani had sought to temper expectations by sounding cautionary on salary hikes.

Technology services firm Wipro has partnered with internet search engine provider Google to offer cloud computing solutions that leverage the vastcomputing infrastructure that the search major has built over the past several years.

Wipro will build technology services solutions such as developing applications using Google App Engine, cloud-based storage solutions that use Google's vast data centers and data analytics that require significant computing power using both Google's compute engine and its extensive server farms across the globe.

In 2005, when the Indian IT sector was focused on application development and maintenance, HCL Technologies decided to combine its traditional strength in infrastructure services with application development and maintenance and offer what in industry parlance is known as total IT outsourcing. In total IT outsourcing, you manage the customer's applications and infrastructure (server, storage, network) together in a seamless way, and you offer a single rate for this entire work.

Western Digital, one of the world's largest computer hard disk drive makers, today said it will launch a series of networking solutions in the country to tap the burgeoning demand for connected homes market.

According to estimates, there were over 80 million connected homes globally in 2011, which is expected to grow to close to 900 million by 2016. This would mirror strong growth across product segments like gaming consoles, Blu-ray connected players and Hybrid set top boxes.

It had been thought that most hair found in the sink or shower, on the brush etc. was broken hair due to damage and weathering. Studies have now shown this not to be the case. In fact at least 80% of hair loss is from the root, not breakage.

Yahoo Lifestyle Entertainment – 9 hours ago

The hair shaft is a remarkable structure that takes a great deal of abuse, ranging from exposure to the environment, and to frequent combing and brushing. Normal hair keeps its resiliency, flexibility, and strength for up to 7 years, unless there are genetic defects present. During the time that hair is on the scalp and before it is shed, there may be some breakdown. This is often called “weathering,” which is characterized by changes in the hair structure, generally limited to cosmetic occurrences. Weathering is due to: “combing, brushing, and permanent waving...natural friction, wetting, and ultraviolet radiation.”

Apple s big burden

In the annals of meaningless milestones, Apple's latest achievement -- surpassing Microsoft, circa 1999, as the largest US company ever -- is right up there. I mean, how high is up? How big is BIG? What does Apple win, Johnny!?

But it did get me to thinking again about the lifespan of successful tech and Internet companies. There seems to be a trajectory that grants them life in the fast lane for 10 to 20 years before they are overtaken, made obsolete or dismissed as boring.

The general public is a punishing grader that deifies promising, charismatic kids with hoodies and burn rates (at least for a while) but dismisses massive companies -- like Microsoft, Oracle, Silicon Graphics and IBM -- that print money and arguably control the world but aren't sexy.

Microsoft is, of course, more IBM than Palm or even Sony on my spectrum. It was one of the original Harvard dropout startups and among the first of them to mint wealthy employees (called Microsoft Millionaires). And in December 1999, at the height of the dot-com boom, Microsoft became worth $616.34 billion -- more than any US company had ever been. (By one metric it still holds the record: Apple would have to reach a market cap of $842.5 billion, Microsoft's inflation-adjusted market cap, to be the clear winner of this meaningless milestone sweepstakes.)

During the tech bubble of the late 1990s there were a lot of screwy valuations for companies that are now worth exactly nothing. Netscape was valued at $4.2 billion by AOL. Yahoo paid $5 billion for Broadcast.com. CMGI bought a search engine called AltaVista for $2.3 billion and scotched a deal to sell another, Lycos, for more than $100 a share. Terra then purchased Lycos for $12.5 billion.

Microsoft came by its valuation honestly. It powered virtually all of the computers in the world, and its Office suite was ubiquitous -- and neither of these facts has changed. Microsoft hasn't faded as much as its buzz has.

Can Apple avoid doing the same? I think the answer is a qualified yes, for the opposite reason that Microsoft was fated to fade.

Microsoft was and really still is an enterprise company (Xbox and Bing notwithstanding). The bulk of its revenues are based on locking in large customers -- corporations, for example -- and keeping them more or less happy, secure in the knowledge that it would be difficult for them to switch gears easily.

This bred complacency. Microsoft did not have a strategic motive to innovate, only one to iterate. Indeed, Microsoft was years late to the Internet party, launching the Internet Explorer web browser only in 1995, a full year after Netscape, and wasn't able to take significant market share until 1999.

Apple, on the other hand, has always been a consumer company. The dynamic is reversed: Apple caters to a whimsical, easily distracted crowd, winning it over one person at a time. Much tougher. To pull that off you have to be not only a serial innovator but also correct most of the time.

The uncertainty of the consumer market drives a process that the certainty of business-to-business enterprise actually suppresses. IT people don't want lots of change or upgrades. They want stability, the rough edges rounded, not something completely different.

Review, Nikon D3200 DSLR camera

The D3200 is Nikon's second entry-level DSLR and includes significant upgrades over its predecessor, the D3100. Upgrades include a 24MP CMOS sensor which gives you a whole lot more freedom with cropping images, an EXPEED 3 image processor, a higher resolution screen with improved viewing angles, 4fps continuous shooting speed and improved full HD video recording at 30fps. All of this has been done without increasing the weight (505 grams) or the size of the camera body.

The camera body is available in either red or the standard black — general opinion was that the red finish is not as durable and looks cheap. In black, the build quality of the camera is impressive and it provides good grip. The buttons are well placed and easy to access, however Nikon has still not provided a dedicated ISO button which is a letdown for power users.

The D3200 offers a dedicated video recording button and also comes with a front and rear wireless infrared ports, making it easy to use an infrared trigger from anywhere. The user interface is similar to most Nikon DSLRs and has a fast learning curve. Like the D3100, this too comes with a 'guide mode' that makes it easy for new users to learn about various controls and modes on the camera.

Thanks to the EXPEED 3 processor, the camera does not feel slow even when shooting at full 24MP resolution and saving images in RAW & Jpeg format. We got excellent results — good colour rendition and reasonably sharp images from the included 18-55mm kit lens.

Even low light performance is impressive thanks to excellent noise reduction done. Full HD video recording is top-notch with no frame drops, but the audio recording is in mono only. For anyone considering stepping into DSLR territory, the D3200 is a great choice.

How Facebook design tricks people into trading away privacy

On TechCrunch, Avi Charkham provides an excellent side-by-side comparison of an older Facebook design and the latest one, showing how the service has moved to minimize the extent to which its users are notified of the privacy 'choices' they make when they interact with the service. The Facebook rubric is that people don't value their privacy ('privacy is dead, get over it,') and we can tell that because they demonstrate it by using Facebook. But really, Facebook is designed to minimize your understanding of the privacy trades you're making and your ability to make those trades intelligently.

Analysts at IDC said Friday that the launch of Windows 8 in October will be directly responsible for boosting the flat U.S. PC market into a period of moderate growth next year. And they were surprisingly specific about how big a bump Microsoft’s new operation system will deliver.

David Daoud, research director of personal computing at IDC, said the firm is attributing 5 percentage points of U.S. PC market unit growth to Windows 8.

From Flat To Up

“In other words, for 2013, the market otherwise would have been flat,” Daoud told ReadWriteWeb. “But for Windows 8, we boost it by about 5%, so that gives it 5% growth. That’s essentially the premium given to Windows 8.”

Research In Motion’s new BlackBerry 10 operating system and the handsets on which it will run are still months away from shipping, but the company’s leadership is already showing them off to their carrier partners. And it says responses so far have been quite positive.

“The response that we got back from the executive team at some of the Canadian carriers was tremendous,” Andrew McLeod, managing director of RIM’s Canadian operations, told reporters during a Thursday media briefing. “They were visibly positive and visibly enthusiastic.”

Apple’s next generation iPhone and its so-called “iPad mini” will debut at two separate events this fall, rather than a single one as has been widely speculated, according to several sources.

First comes the latest iteration of the tech giant’s hugely popular smartphone, which will be unveiled at an as yet unannounced event on September 12.

Only after the next-generation iPhone is out the door and on sale will Apple announce the smaller iPad it’s been working on. That device, which is expected to have a display of less than eight inches, will be uncrated at a second special event, which sources said is currently scheduled for October.

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Saturday, September 1, 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

A conducive work environment is one in which all the varied employees work in unison, to achieve the common goal of overall success.

1. Each Employee is Different

It had been thought that most hair found in the sink or shower, on the brush etc. was broken hair due to damage and weathering. Studies have now shown this not to be the case. In fact at least 80% of hair loss is from the root, not breakage.

Monday, August 27, 2012

From Flat To Up