India facing must-win ODI against Australia

The World Cup champions are four points adrift of second-placed Australia ahead of two crucial ODIs in three days.

Sydney: India must beat Australia in Sunday's one-day international in Sydney to retain any hope of reaching the tri-series finals, and they must do it while denying claims of changing room unrest.

The World Cup champions are four points adrift of second-placed Australia ahead of two crucial ODIs in three days. It is likely they will have to win both if they are to play in next month's best-of-three finals.

India have slipped behind after back-to-back losses to Sri Lanka and Australia following their tie with Sri Lanka in Adelaide on February 14. If India lose on Sunday they will fall at least eight points behind Australia and will need a bonus-point (five points) win over Sri Lanka in their last match next Tuesday to Hobart to have any chance of reaching the March 4-8 final series.

India's big showdown comes after Indian media reported differences between captain MS Dhoni and two senior batsmen, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, and the continuing slump in form of Sachin Tendulkar.

Dhoni, who was suspended from India's 51-run loss to Sri Lanka in Brisbane last Tuesday denied Saturday there was any rift within the team over the rotation policy of the opening batting positions.

"Will play like a unit against Australia," said Dhoni, adding that the team was looking forward to building momentum after their recent losses.

BSNL launches Aakash tablet's rival

BSNL has launched three tablets including two 7 inch resistive screen based tabs with Android 2.3 operating system while the third tablet comes with an 8 inch capacitive touchscreen.

Made by Noida based company - Pantel, the tablets will be sold with discounted data plans from BSNL. The three tablets are priced at Rs 3,250, Rs 10,999 and Rs 13,500.

The cheapest model is Panta Tpad IS 701r which is priced at Rs 3,250. Notably, Aakash is priced at just Rs 2500. However, Tpad has better specification than the Datawind's low cost tablet.

Panta Tpad is a WiFi only tablet with Android 2.3 operating system, it has a 1 GHz processor (ARM11 IMAP210) clubbed with 256 MB RAM. The tablet also offers HDMI port through which it can be connected to a TV. Its 7 inch resistive touch screen comes with 800x600 resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio.

Anonymous hacks US prison contractor's website

Hacker group Anonymous vandalized the website of a major US prison contractor in the latest salvo in an anti-police campaign.

SAN FRANCISCO: Hacker group Anonymousvandalized the website of a major US prison contractor in the latest salvo in an anti-police campaign.

Anonymous subgroup "Antisec" took credit for replacing The Geo Group website home page with a rap song dedicated in part to convicted murderer Mumia Abu-Jamal and a message condemning prisons and policing in the United States.

Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose birth name is Wesley Cook, is a former Black Panther and radio journalist serving a life sentence for the 1981 shooting death of a police officer in Philadelphia.

Activists around the world have rallied in support of the former Death Row inmate, who they contend fell prey to racism in the justice system.

"As part of our ongoing efforts to dismantle the prison industrial complex, we attacked one of the largest private prison corporations in the US - Geo Group," Anonymous said in a message posted at the Geo Group website.

"We are acting in solidarity with all those who have ever been wrongfully profiled, arrested, brutalized, incarcerated, and have had all dignity and humanity stripped from them as they are cast into the gulags of America."

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Steve Jobs birthday wishes flood Twitter

Twitter was abuzz on Friday with loving words for Steve Jobs on what would have been the late Apple co-founder's 57th birthday.

SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter was abuzz on Friday with loving words for Steve Jobs on what would have been the late Apple co-founder's 57th birthday.

"Happy birthday Steve Jobs," read a post from Apple-centric blog Cult of the Mac. "The whole world misses you."

Jobs' birthday was among the top five trends at Twitter.

Those feeding the torrent of messages tweeted through the day ranged from young folks who cherished their iPods to major corporations or publications paying tribute to how Jobs changed lives around the globe.

"Innovation won't be the same without you," read a Jobs birthday message at the official Twitter account of General Electric.

Rolling Stone magazine tweeted a link to a 2003 interview with Jobs focused on Apple's move into digital music.

LG launches low-budget smartphone 'Optimus Net'

Wipro Infotech launches India's slimmest 14 inch ultrabook, Aero Ultra

Wipro Infotech, the India, Middle East and Africa IT Business unit of Wipro Ltd today launched a series of ultra-portable notebooks, which includes the country's slimmest and first 14 inch ultrabook called theAeroUltra. The range comprises of Aero Alpha, Aero Book and Aero Ultra. 

Aero Ultra comes with with about 19.3mm thickness, making it the slimmest notebook in the 14 inch category available in India. It weighs about 1.7 kg and comes with a 4GB memory and 500 GB hard disk. The e.go Aero range is priced between Rupees 39,000 and Rupees 49,000.

Ashok Tripathy, VP and Business Head, Wipro Systems and Technologies said the initial adoption of the product is expected to be at the enterprise level. "Wipro has understood that there is a need for light-weight, powerful yet affordable laptops in India. E.go primarily targets the progressive Indian on the move," he said. 

According to research firm Gartner, the Indian PC markethad declined 6.5 per cent in the final quarter of 2011.The combined desk-based and mobile PC marketin India totaled close to 2.5 million units.

Sachin Tendulkar must quit ODIs, say 57% in TOI poll

The surprising results came a day after Sachin Tendulkar's former opening partner Sourav Ganguly had hinted that the maestro should reconsider his ODI future. (AFP Photo)

After former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, is it time for the world's greatest run-maker to bid adieu to one-day cricket? As many as 57% of respondents in a TOI online poll have answered with a 'yes', indicating that the public anger over Team India's dismal performances Down Under also extends to Sachin Tendulkar's poor ODI form.

The poll went online on TOI's website on Tuesday afternoon and by 9.30 pm on Wednesday, almost 47,000 people had responded. The question asked was, 'Should Sachin retire from ODIs?' While 19,127 voted 'no' (41%), as many as 26,813 votes were polled in favour of the question. Around 2% (817) people were undecided.

The surprising results came a day after Sachin's former opening partner Sourav Ganguly had hinted that the maestro should reconsider his ODI future and concentrate on Test cricket.

Ganguly said it was up to Tendulkar to decide if "he's still good enough to play in the ODIs". The former Indian skipper said, "I think Sachin deserves to decide on his own if and when to leave international cricket or one-day cricket... I don't think the selectors have got the right to ask him to go."

US cloud computing report slams Brazil, India, China

WASHINGTON: A US software industry report on Wednesday chided Brazil, China and India for policies it said threatened the future of cloud computing, but also took aim at developed countries such as Germany that did well on its inaugural scorecard. 

The Business Software Alliance, which represents US industry heavyweights such as Microsoft Corp, said Brazil finished last in its survey of 24 countries, earning only 35.1 points out a possible 100 because of its policies in areas such free trade, security, data privacy and cybercrime.

India, which has the world's second-largest software industry after the United States, and China, whose information and communications technology sector is expected to nearly double to $389 billion by 2015, also were in the bottom six, with scores of 50.0 and 47.5, respectively.

Cloud computing refers to providing software, storage, computing power and other services to customers from remote data centers over the Web. Demand for cloud-based software is rising rapidly because the approach allows companies to start using new programs faster and at lower cost than traditional products that are installed at a customer's own data center.

A major purpose of the report is to rally the international "technology community around the need for greater harmonization of laws so a truly global cloud can come about," said Robert Holleyman, president of the US software group.

Without greater coordination of government policies, "the cloud could be chopped into little pieces," reducing the efficiency that comes from being able to move data and software services freely across borders, Holleyman said.

The 24 countries included in the survey represent 80 percent of the global information and communications technology industry. They were scored in seven areas, which also included intellectual property protection, infrastructure and support for industry-led standards to promote smooth data flows.

Japan was ranked highest with 83.3 points. It was followed closely by other developed countries including Australia, Germany, the United States, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and South Korea, which all scored in the high 70s.

While the report showed a "sharp divide between advanced economies and the developing world, even some of the high-ranking countries are walling themselves in with conflicting laws and regulations," Holleyman said.

European Union countries scored well, but "what's happening now in the EU is lawmakers and regulators are effectively putting their thumbs on the scale in ways that will make it difficult for non-European firms to compete," he said.

"There are concerns that Germany, for example, wants to put a wall around the country to limit the provision of cloud services to companies that are located in Germany."

Strong laws to protect privacy are important to give users confidence "that private information stored in the cloud, wherever in the world, will not be used or disclosed by the cloud provider in unexpected ways, the report said. 

Anonymous publishes FBI call on hacking

Internet activist group Anonymous published a recording on Friday of a confidential call between FBI agents and London detectives in which the law-enforcement agents discuss action they are taking against hacking.

British police said they were investigating reports of the illegally recorded call, and the FBI said a criminal investigation was under way into the incident.

Anonymous also published an email inviting participants to the call, with dial-in details, in which an FBI agent wrote that investigations relating to Anonymous, LulzSec, Antisec and associated splinter groups would be discussed on the call. (pastebin.com/8G4jLha8)

Anonymous and fellow group LulzSec have carried out a number of high-profile hacking actions against companies and institutions across the globe including the Central Intelligence Agency, Britain's Serious Organized Crime Agency, Japan's Sony Corp and Mexican government websites.

On the 16-minute-long call, one British detective is heard discussing an alleged 15-year-old hacker who they described as "a bit of an idiot" who was doing it for attention. (here)

Kingfisher Airlines not to be bailed out by the government, says Ajit Singh; DGCA summons officials

20 FEB, 2012, 11.36AM IST, PTI 

NEW DELHI: Kingfisher's CEO and top officials were summoned today by the DGCA to explain the large-scale disruptions in the operations of the cash-strapped carrier even as government ruled out any bailout. 

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked senior officials of the airlines, including CEOSanjay Aggarwal, to appear before it tomorrow to explain the cancellations. 

More than 20 flights were cancelled today. About 80 flights of the carrier from six metro cities did not operate yesterday leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. 

The ailing carrier had till late last evening failed to file a report on the number of flights it had cancelled since Friday night to the DGCA. 

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh made it clear that government will not bailout the airline. 

"No, government is not going to have any bailout," the Minister told reporters, adding, "Government is not going to ask banks or private industry for that matter". 

All about Apple's upcoming OS Mountain Lion

20 FEB, 2012, 05.50AM IST, KARAN BAJAJ,ET BUREAU 

Apple's next version of the OS X operating system is heavily inspired by the iPad and it will have over a hundred new features when it arrives this summer. ET sifts through the announcement to highlight the prominent ones. 

Messages 
The new Messages application replaces the existingiChat application with the added feature that you can send and receive messages (including photo and video attachments) to and from iOS devices and Mountain Lion systems. It will also sync with the iMessage app on your iOS device - you can start a conversation on the Mac and continue it on your iOS device. Messages will continue to work as a multi-IM client with built in support for GTalk, Yahoo Messenger, Jabber and AIM. 

Reminders & Notes 
Reminders now come to OS X desktop and support multiple list creation. You can set deadlines and get alert notifications as well. Notes on the other hand, lets you jot down your thoughts along with photos, videos and other attachments. You can share notes via mail or messages and even pin them to the desktop for viewing later. Both the Notes and Reminders application use iCloud and will sync content with your iPhone/iPod Touch or iPad - you can edit them on the go and they will be updated across devices. 

Google faces music over tracking Apple's Safari Web browser

19 FEB, 2012, 10.59AM IST, PTI 

HOUSTON: Google has allegedly violated users' privacy on Apple's Safari Web browser, adding to mounting criticism from consumer groups over how the internet search giant tracks people online. 

Using its DoubleClick ad network, Google has been dodging a privacy setting in Safari, the primary Web browser on the iPhone and iPad, a report by Stanford University's Security Lab and the Centre for Internet and Society claimed. 

The study named three other companies -- Vibrant Media, Media Innovation Group and PointRoll -- that also allegedly evaded privacy settings. 

"Apple's Safari Web browser is configured to block third-party cookies by default," Stanford graduate student Jonathan Mayer said in the report. "Google andVibrant Media intentionally circumvent Safari's privacy feature." 

Google, the world's biggest internet search company, has drawn regulatory scrutiny and pressure from consumer advocates for the way it handles personal information.