BlackBerry unveils new Bold and Pearl smartphones

Toronto, April 27: BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) on Monday launched another smartphone — called BlackBerry Bold 9650 — to add another device to its premier Bold brand.

The company also unveiled the new BlackBerry Pearl 3G, its smallest smartphone yet.

Cyber mafia out to steal your identity

Mumbai, April 27: Phising, online fraud, and hacking are passe;. Internet users will soon face an identity theft.

Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report, April 2010, talks about the latest threat that has been doing the rounds in several countries across the world.

Facebook users’ details on sale in New Zealand

Auckland, April 25: A Russian computer hacker is suspected to have set up an underground nexus in New Zealand for selling secret details of people using online social networking site Facebook.

Police are hunting the hacker who may have set up shop in New Zealand, selling the account details of millions of Facebook users, tvnz.co.nz reported.

Detectives from the National Cyber Crime Centre are investigating whether the hacker Kirllos is using New Zealand as a base.

He is offering to sell Facebook user names and passwords on an underground hacker forum.

–IANS–

Women prefer chocolate to sex

London, April 25: British women would rather have chocolate than wine, designer cosmetics and sex, says new research.

It is the ultimate guilty pleasure, with 2.3 million admitting that they have the sweet treat at least three times a day, reports express.co.uk.

A third of women confess that they dream about chocolate during the day compared with only 18 percent who think about sex.

In contrast, six in 10 men have sex on their minds for most of the day and 11 percent think about chocolate.

Spanish surgeons ‘perform world’s first full-face transplant’

Spain, April 24: In a ground-breaking operation, surgeons in Spain claim to have successfully carried out the world’s first full-face transplant on a 30-year-old man whose face was disfigured in an accident.

A team of 30 plastic surgeons at the Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, led by Dr Joan Pere Barret, took nearly 24 hours to perform the gruelling operation last month on the patient, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ reported.

As well as skin tissue, the patient, a farmer, received new cheekbones, facial muscles, teeth, palate, skin, nose, lips and jaw, according to the surgeons.

Hubble space telescope turns 20

Washington, April 24: The Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its 20th anniversary Saturday and NASA has released a new photograph from the orbiting observatory of a cosmic pillar of gas and dust piled high in the Carina Nebula galaxy.

The Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its 20th anniversary Saturday and NASA has released a new photograph from the orbiting observatory of a cosmic pillar of gas and dust piled high in the Carina Nebula galaxy.

Why is Facebook so popular?

Washington, April 24: The popularity of social networking websites like Facebook is based on the phenomenon of social searching where people are keen to get information about a person, group or event.

Facebook.com boasts of more than 350 million users worldwide. With so many people interacting with one another online daily, a Missouri University researcher was interested in the cognitive and emotional implications of social browsing versus social searching.

U.S. military tests X-37B reusable spaceship

Washington, April 23: An unmanned Atlas rocket carrying a miniature space shuttle blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Thursday on a technology test flight that could last as long as nine months.

The 20-story rocket, built by United Launch Alliance — a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co — lifted off at 7:52 p.m. EDT (2352 GMT) and soared over the Atlantic Ocean, heading toward orbit.

EBay reports profits up 11 percent

San Francisco, April 22: Online auction leader eBay Wednesday reported an 11-percent rise in quarterly profits, as revenue grew in its core businesses of auctions and its Paypal online payment system.

The Internet pioneer said that it earned $398 million in its fiscal first quarter, compared to earnings of $357 million year ago.

Revenue rose 9 percent to $2.2 billion, an 18-percent rise from last year.

Non-graduates, graduates at par on happiness index, says study

Melbourne, April 21: University degrees can’s buy happiness, claims a new study.

Despite having privileged backgrounds and higher earnings, people in their 20s with higher degrees are not happier than the young adults who dropped out of high school at the age of 10, the research shows.

The study observed a group of 13,600 students with nine year of education for over 11 years until they were aged 25 and found that youngsters destined for university graduation were happier than their peers during their school and university years.

Uttar Pradesh clears seven new thermal power plants

Lucknow, April 20: The Uttar Pradesh cabinet Tuesday gave its nod for setting up seven new thermal power plants to bring an additional 4,500 MW of power in the energy-starved state, an official said.

The new plants would entail an investment of more than Rs.25,000 crore.

Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation chairman Navneet Sehgal said: “Each of these plants are coming up in the private sector and would be set up through the MOU (memorandum of understanding) route.”

“Under the arrangement, the state would provide land and water for setting up and running the plant,” he said.

Biotech firms seek end to seed price control measures

Hyderabad, April 20: Claiming that the current Bt cotton seed price control by states would hamper innovation in agriculture biotechnology, an association of biotechnology companies today sought a free market competitive environment.

“Since 2006, some state governments have been consistently controlling and reducing MRP of seeds with Bt cotton technologies, thereby exercising indirect control on technology fees,” K V Subbarao, Member, Executive Council of ABLE-SIGAB, told reporters here.

Apple’s stunning iPhone model leaked

Washington, April 20: Apple’s future generation iPhone model, which was leaked after being mistakenly left at a bar in California, has been put on display by a technology news portal.

The secret version of the next generation iPhone was not expected to be formally unveiled for a couple of months.

But, the technology news site Gizmodo said the gadget was left by an iPhone software engineer at Gourmet Haus Staudt, a German specialty store and beer garden in Redwood City.

Space shuttle Discovery returns

Washington, April 20: Space shuttle Discovery touched down at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Tuesday, completing a 15-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The landing at 9:08 a.m. (1838 IST) was about 90 minutes later than planned because of fog and rain at Kennedy. US space agency NASA had to delay its planned Monday landing because of bad weather.

Mount Abu sanctuary to be eco-friendly

Jaipur, April 20: Mount Abu Sanctuary and Keoladev National Park will be developed as eco-friendly destinations with an estimated cost of Rs 4.92 crore.

“The Centre has approved Rs 2.61 crore for Keoladev National Park and Rs 2.31 crore for the sanctuary to develop them as eco-friendly destinations,” Rajasthan Minister of State for Forest and Environment Ram Lal Jat said today.

Space shuttle Discovery, crew of 7 back on Earth

Cape Canaveral, April 20: Shuttle Discovery and its astronauts returned safely to Earth today after making a rare flyover of America’s heartland to wrap up their 15-day, 9.7 million kilometre journey to the International Space Station.

The touchdown was delayed by rain and fog that dissipated as the sun rose, allowing Mission Control to take advantage of the morning’s second landing opportunity.

Google’s Single Sign-On software Hacked

New York, April 20: US internet giant Google’s password system that controls multiple access to almost all of its web services was hacked through an innocuous message sent to a google employee in China, a media report said on Tuesday.

Though Google had disclosed in January that intruders had stolen information from its computers in the cyber attack in December 2009, the extent of the theft has been a closely guarded company secret till now.

Underground 2-storeyed parking plaza inaugurated

Kolkata, April 19: The Rs 44 crore underground two-storeyed car parking plaza in front of the Writer’s building here was today inaugurated by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

The underground facility, having an accommodation of over 600 cars, would improve situation in the entire area, he said.

Bhattacharjee said the parking plaza was commissioned within its target period of three years maintaining all norms to keep intact heritage status of the Laldighi, a tank, and its adjoining land, popularly known as Dalhousie Square since the British period.

India’s first robot-assisted urological surgery

New Delhi, April 19: The country’s first robot- assisted urological surgery was today conducted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here.

The operation was carried out by Dr P N Dogra, Professor and Head, Department of Urology, on a 50-year-old woman who was suffering from cancer of urethra and urinary bladder last week.

The surgery called the ‘Anterior Pelvic Exenteration’ involved removal of the urinary bladder, uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, anterior vaginal wall, urethra and pelvic lymph nodes of the patient, the hospital said in a statement today.

Mobile testing labs in Rajasthan to check adulteration

Jaipur, April 19: The Rajasthan Government today launched mobile testing laboratories in all the districts of the state to check adulteration of food.

The mobile units would have sleuths of food and medical departments and action would be taken also in cases of hoarding of essential commodities.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot inaugurated the first mobile lab van in the city. It was simultaneously introduced in all 33 districts, he said.

Gene that regulates hair growth identified

London, April 19: Scientists have identified a gene that leads to increased hair growth, says a new study.

The research was led by Leif Carlsson and his team at Umeniversity, Sweden.

Hair is important for temperature regulation, physical protection, sensory activity, seasonal camouflage and social interactions. Hair is formed in hair follicles, which are complex mini-organs in the skin that are specialised for this purpose.

Ocean census uncovers ‘new world’ of marine microbe life

Washington, April 19: An ocean census has revealed a “new world” of richly diverse marine microbe life that could help scientists understand more about key environmental processes on Earth, a study said on Sunday.

Scientists participating in the International Census of Marine Microbes (ICoMM) said they had uncovered an astonishing array of hard-to-see marine lifeforms, including microbes, zooplankton and larvae.

Traditional research methods have already isolated some 20,000 marine microbes, but new data suggests the true numbers are much higher.

Dust, vanishing greenery threaten Taj

Agra, April 19: The Taj Mahal and other heritage monuments in and around Agra are facing a major threat from dust-laden air. Unabated construction is making the city’s green cover disappear and drying up water bodies, adding to the dust levels.

“The collision (of the dust with the marble) results in micro-scratches that retain moisture which attracts pollutants and gaseous substances,” said PC Gupta, head of the Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI) chemical department.

Now see 3D movies without glasses

Tokyo, April 19: The huge success of 3D movies like “Avatar”, “Clash of the Titans” and “Alice in Wonderland” has led scientists to explore possibilities of developing 3D technology that does not require glasses. Japanese companies supplying 3D technology and services to Hollywood production houses have said they hope to see their goods having an impact on people’s day-to-day lives within the next few years, and that further development in the technology will lower prices and makes the experience affordable for commoners, Xinhua reported on Saturday.

Mobile media venture gives voice to Gond tribals

Jashpur,April 18: Even as this region hits the headlines for the wrong reasons, in particular the running battle with Maoists, an innovative mobile phone-based media venture is giving a voice to the native and badly exploited Gond tribals and helping them reach out to the rest of India.

CGnet Swara, the mobile phone-based information network, has been launched by Shubhranshu Choudhary, a former BBC producer and currently Knight International Fellow working in what is called the ‘Maoist belt’ bordering Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.