On-Spot: 'Bigg Boss Season 5' launch

The fifth season of TV reality show 'Bigg Boss' promises to get bigger and better with tons of drama and manipulation, having changed its house location to Karjat, besides having two star hosts --Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt -- who will be welcoming 14 new inmates.

The names that are doing the rounds include - former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, Colombian singer and dancer Shakira, former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, Nihita Biswas (wife of convicted murderer Charles Sobhraj) Mexican actress Barbara Mori, former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes, pop icon Lady Gaga, British singer- rapper Jay Sean, stand-up comedian Sudesh Lehri, Jaspal Bhatti, Shekhar Suman's actor son Adhyayan, TV actors Parul Chauhan (of 'Bidaai' fame), Karan Singh Grover (of 'Dil Mill Gayye') and Amar Upadhyay.

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TCS, Cognizant and Wipro record top revenues

Indian IT companies post an increase of 19 per cent in its total revenue during financial year 2010-11


Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant and Wipro were the top IT companies with revenues of Rs.29,801 crore, Rs.25,477 crore and Rs.21,393 crore revenues, respectively while IT companies posted an increase of 19 per cent in its total revenue at Rs.4,38,296 crore ($96.1 billion) during financial year 2010-11, said a research report, according to IANS.

The annual research report of industry journal Dataquest, the flagship publication of CyberMedia has informed "the growth is a significant bounce-back for the industry which recorded just 8 percent growth in 2009-10, in the wake of the global recession in 2009 and 2010, which made both global and Indian companies cut back on their IT spending."

According to the report, exports accounted for 66.4 per cent of the industry while the domestic market accounted for the remaining 33.6 per cent. Also the domestic market has grown 23 per cent with the revenues of Rs.1,47,152 crore while the exports reported Rs.2,91,144 crore, growing at 17 per cent.

However, Hewlett Packard India stood as the largest IT player in the domestic market while Tata Consultancy Services as the largest exporter from India.

Also, when IT services exports grew at 21 per cent, engineering services exports grew 22 per cent and BPO exports grew 7 per cent. Consumer technology segments also witnessed an impressive growth.

However, in the competitive landscape where IT giants like TCS , Wipro and smaller players are in an intense competition with each other, technology major Infosys's growth has witnessed a slow ride in the recent quarters. Due to the economic slowdown in the US and Europe the company's clients might curb their budget plan on information technology this year, feared the company CEO S.D. Shibulal once. More than 80 per cent of the revenues in India's IT sector usually comes from the markets like U.S and Europe.

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Top 10 BlackBerry PlayBook business apps

Explore the business side of Blackberry PlayBook as IT PRO India takes a closer look to find the business utility of this enterprise-ready tablet

RIM, which has carved its niche as a reliable business partner, has stepped into a new era of mobile computing, with the release of its PlayBook tablet. BlackBerry claims that the PlayBook delivers high-fidelity web browsing including support for Adobe Flash, as well as spectacular High-Definition multimedia, advanced security features and out-of-the-box enterprise support.

Let’s explore the 10 best business apps, both incoming and available, for the PlayBook.

Documents To Go

This is an essential application for any professional user as it allows you to edit and create Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on your PlayBook. You can work while on the move and without having to carry a laptop too.

The new Premium Edition for PlayBook includes support for PDF file viewing, password protection, desktop synchronisation and advanced character, font and paragraph formatting. In short, it’s the power of Microsoft’s Office suite on your PlayBook.

IdeaPad

IdeaPad takes full advantage of the PlayBook’s touch screen interface by allowing you to scribble notes down quickly and effectively. When an idea strikes you can make a note of it, save it and come back to develop it further at a later point.

IdeaPad comes with six templates – Plain Paper, Tic Tac Toe, Notes, Tablet Device, Smartphone Portrait and Smartphone Landscape – installed, so you’ll be able to perform a variety of tasks from the off, like constructing flow charts, designing new mobile interfaces or simply doodling some minutes from a meeting.

Finished files are saved in PNG format and can be shared via Facebook and Twitter as well as being viewable on your smartphone and PC.

SAP Business Intelligence Apps

SAP has confirmed that it will be releasing a whole host of business intelligence apps in the coming months aimed squarely at enterprise tablet users including the BlackBerry PlayBook.

The releases will to be delivered via its recently acquired enterprise mobility technology, which, according to SAP, allows it to deliver business intelligence solutions to users on any platform.

There are no specific details regarding any of these applications just yet, but SAP has confirmed that it is committed to making its business intelligence software available on all platforms.

Adobe Connect Mobile

Adobe Connect Mobile is one of quite a few Adobe Air applications that’ll be hitting the BlackBerry PlayBook in the coming weeks and months. Connect Mobile, also available on the iPad and Android, enables users to participate in mobile conferencing from the comfort of their PlayBook.

Features of note include two-way video conferencing with the ability to add your own upstream video broadcast. There’s also support for both the PlayBook’s cameras so you can switch to using the higher-resolution rear-facing camera when addressing colleagues.

The UI is slick, it’s simple to use and will be an extremely solid addition to the PlayBook’s growing arsenal of enterprise grade applications.

OANDA Currency Converter

This free application gives you on-the-spot conversion amounts for over 180 currencies and, in case you’re in commodities, four metal groups as well.

This is one of many official applications produced by trusted authorities for the PlayBook and is an indispensable tool for anyone that travels abroad a lot.

Not only does OANDA Currency Converter figure out the exchange rates for hundreds of currencies using the same daily filtered rates used by corporations, tax authorities, auditing firms, and financial institutions, but it also shows you interbank rates for money transactions and will even calculate how much you’ll be charged for using your credit card abroad.

Best of all, it does this for free. OANDA Currency Converter is an essential tool for professionals that do a lot of travelling and are constantly contending with fluctuating currency values and bizarre credit card charges.

Evernote

Many people praise DropBox like it’s the best thing to happen to mobile devices since wireless technology. Evernote is a far superior piece of kit and once you’ve used it, you’ll know exactly what we mean.

The app offers a word processor, the ability to record audio, save web pages and import pictures. You can also create different notebooks if you fancy having one for work, one for ideas, one for interesting websites and so on.

All in all, Evernote makes pretty much everything else look mediocre. And, yes, that includes Google Docs. We love this application and use it every day, so make sure you get it as soon as your PlayBook is booted up.

TimeZones

Frequent travel is commonplace in many professional roles. But operating across a variety of times can be both confusing and disorientating. This shouldn’t be a problem with TimeZones, as the app allows you view up to eight world clocks at once.

Each clock can be custom labelled, so you can assign different ones to different businesses and people so you’ll never be caught out making a 5am phone call again.

Granted, it’s not a cure for jet-lag but it’s certainly a handy tool to have at your disposal to ensure meetings, deadlines and phone calls are made at the correct times when you’re operating in a different time zone.

iSpeech Translator

iSpeech Translator is an app that converts words or phrases into a multitude of different languages. So, if you get an email in German you can simply convert it to English, and vice-versa.

The application also recognises voice input too, so you can say a phrase or read out an email, for example, and iSpeech will convert it into one of its 18 supported languages.

Once you typed or said the phrase, the results will always appear in text format. If you have a client, business partner or colleague based abroad and want to impress them by communicating with them in their native language, you can now do so via iSpeech Translator.

TaskMemo

Using your calendar to organise your day-to-day business is all well and good, but sometimes it’s better to have a bespoke option at hand. This is where TaskMemo comes into play, giving you the ability to store thousands of tasks, dates, meetings, notes and reminders in one easy to access place.

The application will also keep you posted on deadlines, meetings and up-and-coming events.

There are 22 standard categories, ranging from meeting dates to deadlines, and you can also implement your own if it’s not catered for within the presets. This app is designed to be used by serious professionals that plan their work lives out well into the coming weeks and months.

As you complete tasks you get a percentage completion notification telling you how far through your agenda you are, which is always handy – especially if you work on large projects with specific deadlines.

Overall, TaskMemo is a cost effective solution that’ll help you to organise and keep track of your business commitments. It also looks extremely professional and has a multitude of themes to choose from, meaning you can personalise the way the app looks too.

Poynt

Poynt is the perfect application for anyone that does a lot of business travelling. The application uses your GPS position to relay information about surrounding businesses, restaurants, museums, take-aways, galleries, pubs and so on.

If you travel for work a lot and often find yourself in an unfamiliar city, Poynt is a great app to have at your disposal. Not only will it tell you what the best authentic paella eatery is based on your current location, but it also does so in a very intuitive way.

News from - http://news.in.msn.com/technology/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5257665

Anna gets social; on blog, FB, Twitter

Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare seems set to take the virtual world by storm. He Thursday became a blogger and even joined social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.

The blog, with posts in English, Hindi and Marathi, is titled "Anna Hazare Says" and can be accessed on: https://annahazaresays.wordpress.com.

In his inaugural post, Hazare wrote: "It is after a long time that I am directly communicating with you. Henceforth, it is from this blog that I will be constantly in touch with you."

"We started a movement demanding that Janlokpal Bill be passed in India and slowly the crusade spearheaded into a full-fledged non-violent revolution spilling on to the Ramlila grounds," he added.

The activist said he found the support of the people and his young friends as overwhelming as they came forward from every corner of the country and their cries awakened India from its deep slumber.

"Their cries not only shook the very roots of our country but people from world over who had fallen prey to injustice, corruption took active part in the movement.

"The entire movement was infectious. This was the beginning of a revolution. It was the beginning of India's second struggle for independence," Hazare said.

The 74-year old leader pointed out that parliament gave an assurance that it would put forward some of the demands from the Jan Lokpal Bill and get them approved.

"But assurance doesn't necessarily mean law. A bigger fight awaits us," Hazare urged.

The activist warned that the movement still "has a long way to go and very soon it will acquire a non-violent, but intense flavour of a nation-wide revolution".

"To enable a one-to-one conversation with you I will soon embark on my journey throughout India. I will address problems faced by people at every step of life... Interactive communication on this blog will start very soon. You can share your queries, problems thoughts and emotions with me," Hazare appealed.

He also wrote on his blog that he has joined Facebook and Twitter.

News from - http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5473498&page=0

Nano looks set for Indonesia, eastern Europe assembly

Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata said the country's largest auto maker is looking at assembling facilities in Indonesia and eastern Europe for rolling out its small car Nano.

"We are already selling the Nano in Sri Lanka and Nepal. We are also looking at assembling facilities for this, possibly in Indonesia and in some parts of Eastern Europe," Tata told the company AGM here. However, he did not specify which European country would be his choice.

By and large, Tata Motors is also looking at assembly of some of its vehicles in Latin America, Brazil, South-east Asia, especially Indonesia, and in some other countries, Tata said, adding, "Our plan is in fact to grow both in the neighbourhood and in some specific countries".

On the company's JV with the Italian company Fiat, which is still making losses, Tata said, "Yes, the Fiat JV is showing losses. Assumptions (made while starting the JV) in terms of volumes didn't work out, more so for Fiat than for us because there was a downturn and they made an assumption on off-take which did not materialise.

"Well, as we are 50 per cent owners, we have had to share in losses of the company. Both Fiat and we are having a re-look at the whole contractual undertaking to see whether we can make it more realistic. So, I hope we will be able to resolve that in course of time".

Tata also said the company planned to introduce its electric cars in Britain and Norway shortly.

He further said that the auto major is planning to sew together a joint venture in China for assembling the Range Rovers, besides exploring the possibility of setting up a joint engine project with Jaguar.

The Tata Group bought the British marquees Jaguar Land Rover brands from Ford Motor a few years back and had successfully revived the company and today almost 60 per cent of Tata Motors' sales come from this business.

Yesterday, Tata Motors reported a 1.4 per cent rise in standalone profit in the June quarter as the company was impacted by the rise in raw material costs and a drop in domestic sales coupled with shrinking margins even as its sales rose 14 per cent to Rs 11,833.19 crore and had warned of more margin pressures in the coming quarters.

On the coming quarters, Tata said the coming years pose considerable challenge and demand for cars may be dampened due to the global economic happenings. Similarly, if infrastructure spends go down, commercial vehicle sales can be affected, he said.

On the ongoing macroeconomic crisis in the West, Tata said, "the country will have to use this downturn as an opportunity to leverage our low-cost capabilities, right from design to manufacturing".

"We should tailor ourselves to become an auto hub," he said, adding, Tata Motors India will explore the possibility of having a joint engine development project with its British arm Jaguar.

Stating that the days of relative complacency is behind the company, he said Tata Motors will have to protect its market share in the country. Currently, it enjoys only third slot in the car market after Maruti and Hyundai, while in the bus and truck spaces, it is the market leader.

On expanding into overseas market, he said the company is exploring the possibility of expanding into South Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia where Tata products may have an acceptance. But he said, for this, the company needs to see where it can complement with JLR, which has a presence in 116 countries.

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