Monday 29 April 2013

Amazing Agatti Island,Lakshadweep, India


Spectacular Agatti Island, Lakshadweep, India

Below is the picture of Agatti Aerodrome,  located on the southern end of Agatti Island, in the union territory of Lakshadweep in India. It is the sole airstrip in the archipelago, which lies off the west coast of India.

Agatti Island has a breath taking spectacle of sparkling coral reefs, turquoise blue lagoons, silvery beaches and lush green coconut palms. It is one of world's most spectacular tropical islands

Saturday 27 April 2013

Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" rock the world of desktop OS


The Ubuntu team is very pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu 13.04 for Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products.
Codenamed “Raring Ringtail”, 13.04 continues Ubuntu’s proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. This release cycle has seen a significant push toward daily quality, which has allowed most developers and users to participate more actively throughout the cycle, and we feel this also shows in the final quality of this release.
Along with performance improvements to Unity, updates to common desktop packages, and updated core and toolchain components, Ubuntu 13.04 also includes the new Friends service, to consolidate all social networking accounts via Ubuntu Online Accounts. Also included is a tech preview of Upstart’s new user session feature.


1304-desktop
Ubuntu 13.04 default desktop


Ubuntu Server 13.04 includes the Grizzy release of OpenStack, alongside deployment and management tools that save devops teams time when deploying distributed applications – whether on private clouds, public clouds, x86 or ARM servers, or on developer laptops. Several key server technologies, from MAAS to Ceph, have been updated to new upstream versions with a variety of new features, and a preview of the new Go rewrite of Juju is available in the backports repository.


To be fair, Ubuntu 13.04 is a good, solid release. It has a more finely tuned and polished Unity shell, with incremental improvements in the Linux kernel and in all the major preinstalled applications. But that's it —
 no amazing new features. It even loses a couple of things: there's no ability to install the GNOME classic shell (unlike GNOME 3.8 which does offer a classic mode); and no WUBI (Windows-based UBuntu Installer).It is possible to install a GNOME 3 shell (version 3.6.3.1 at present) from the Ubuntu Software Centre, but if you don't like Unity, GNOME 3 may also not appeal, as you cannot even scale the size of its icons (or at least not without editing the gnome-shell.css file). Alternatively for GNOME die-hards there is now an official remix of Ubuntu, called GNOME Remix.


1304-gnome
The GNOME 3.6 desktop, as installed on 13.04 from the Software Centre. 'Show Applications' has been selected, showing that the icon scale is rather larger than Unity's.

WUBI has always been a promotional tool for Ubuntu — a way to tempt Windows users to trial Ubuntu with very little effort. With the extra security features of Windows 7 and now Windows 8, Microsoft has, coincidentally, made it much harder for other operating systems to share a machine with Windows. WUBI has therefore been dropped from 13.04 and the Desktop download page on the Ubuntu website provides specific advice for installing Ubuntu on a computer running Windows 8 or using UEFI firmware.

Arguably, 13.04 has lost three things because Gwibber, the social networking client, has gone too. The recent introduction of the Qt/QML application development toolkit prompted Gwibber's author to update and rewrite it. As part of that process, the application was renamed Friends and as it's not yet fully developed it's no longer part of the default installation set. You can install it separately from the Software Centre though.
.1210-navigation
Another casualty of Dash rationalisation: the drop-down 
text navigation, hidden on the left-hand end of the 
desktop bar in 12.10 (above), is now gone in 13.04.

What might have been: Smart Scopes

Early on in the development cycle, Mark Shuttleworth hinted at plans for some startling new features in Ubuntu 13.04. However, the only new feature that briefly surfaced was Smart Scopes, which promised to short-circuit the browser by extending the scope of the Dash search bar.

So keen were Shuttleworth and the Ubuntu developers to include this feature in Raring Ringtail that a slip on the feature freeze date for the beta was authorised to try and accommodate it. This still wasn't enough time, however, and Smart Scopes are currently slated for Ubuntu 13.10.

Smart Scopes are designed to allow you to search for anything, anywhere (local or online) by entering a simple search term to the Dash search. The existing Dash scopes would remain the same (Home, Applications, Files, Music, Pictures and Video displayed as icons across the bottom of the Dash pane), but the Dash Filters are to be expanded with many further scope modifiers helping to increase the accuracy of the search. Online searches will be referred to a Canonical-maintained server using a learning algorithm (hence the 'smart') to refine searching.

Unity 7

In Unity 7 a new-look Nautilus file manager adds file operations icons in a bar above the folder and file window. This seems slightly at odds with the principle of the text drop-down menus for the current application always appearing at the top of the display in the desktop menu bar. The top-level text menu for navigation that used to appear in the desktop bar in 12.10 has now gone, so the only way to navigate to Computer, for example, is via the left-hand panel menu in Nautilus.


1304-nautilus
New file operations icons occupy a bar at the top of the Nautilus window.

As mentioned in our Beta 1 preview some Ubuntu icons; the Ubuntu button, the Files icon, the Software Centre icon and the Software Updater icon, have been redesigned.

1304-icons
New icons for Unity 7: the Software Centre icon and Software Updater icon now share an 'A' element and the predominantly orange theme with the existing Ubuntu One and Ubuntu One Music icons.
New icons for Unity 7: the Software Centre icon and Software Updater icon now share an 'A' element and the predominantly orange theme with the existing Ubuntu One and Ubuntu One Music icons.
Apart from the changes to Nautilus and the new icons, many of the differences in Unity 7 are subtle and you might not notice them unless you were running two machines side by side performing the same tasks, one with Unity 7 and one with the previous version. These include: fuzzy search for application names in Dash; faster rolling reveal for launcher icons that overflow the bottom of the launcher bar; a further application-switching method using the mouse scroll wheel; and in the options list revealed by right-clicking on the applications launcher icons, if two instances of an application are open a dot appears next to the instance that has the focus.


Linux Kernel 3.8.0-19

Improvements to the Nouveau driver in the 3.8 kernel (the previous Ubuntu 12.10 release uses the 3.5 kernel) mean that 3D acceleration is now supported, for all of the GeForce graphics chips available so far, without the need for further configuration. However, better performance may still be achieved via Nvidia's proprietary driver. Intel graphics are also well supported.

There are improvements to the file systems too, with support for Samsung's F2FS (Flash-Friendly File System) and upgrades to the still-experimental Btrfs and Ext4.

Preinstalled applications

The preinstalled application on Ubuntu 13.04 are: LibreOffice 4.0.2.2 (office suite); Firefox 20.0 (browser); Thunderbird 17.0.5 (email client); Rythmbox 2.98 (music player); Shotwell 0.14.1 (photo manager); Remmina 0.9.99.1 (remote desktop client); and Brasero 5.6.1 (CD/DVD burner).







Better Social Media Integration



Ubuntu's Online Accounts preference pane has some handy new features. Now, when you add an account (like a Facebook or Twitter account), you can choose which apps on your system have access to it. Want Shotwell to access your Facebook photos, but don't want Empathy using it for Facebook chat? You can turn it off here with the flick of a switch.


The Dash also has a new Social lens (see the top image in this post), which allows you to see status updates from the friends you follow in your integrated social media apps. It also gives you notifications of new messages or mentions coming in, which is kind of cool.

What's next?

Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical have a stated goal of creating a platform-agnostic operating system — that is, an OS that will run on desktop PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones, all presenting the same user interface with touch support.
Current plans indicate that operating system convergence is to occur with the release of Ubuntu 14.04, due on 24 April 2014. A number of consequences seem to be rippling back from this aim point as the Ubuntu developers get to grips with what will be necessary to achieve this convergence. I've mentioned plans to move from X Windows to the Wayland display server in previous Ubuntu release reviews. One result of the convergence plan is that Wayland has now been dropped in favour of Mir, Ubuntu's own display server, which is currently under development.
Another consequence is that some of the features that were to be included in 13.04 have been shelved in favour of presenting a polished and solid release, with most of the improvements residing behind the scenes. As a result, Raring Ringtail may seem a bit of a disappointment. Some new features should appear in October's 13.10 release, but you'll have to wait until 14.04 for the really big changes.


Availability

Download Ubuntu 13.04 at: www.ubuntu.com/download
Find out about developing for Ubuntu at developer.ubuntu.com
Download Ubuntu Touch Preview onto spare devices here.
Get involved with Mir here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Mir/GetInvolved



Source:







Thursday 18 April 2013

World's first smartphone for the blind, made in India


 The world's first smartphone for blind people is here. Soon, they will be able to read SMSes and emails on this phone, which converts all text into Braille patterns.
"We have created the world's first Braille smartphone," says its innovator, Sumit Dagar, whose company is being incubated at the Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship, located in IIM Ahmedabad campus. "This product is based on an innovative 'touch screen' which is capable of elevating and depressing the contents it receives to transform them into 'touchable' patterns," he says.
Dagar, who is a post-graduate from the National Institute of Design (NID), says he was motivated to develop the device when he realised that so far, technology was only serving the mainstream and ignoring the marginalised. He is collaborating with IIT Delhi on making the prototype, which is currently being tested at L V Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad.
"The response during the test has been immense. It comes out as a companion more than a phone to the user. We plan to do more advanced versions of the phone in the future," Dagar adds.
Dagar started the project three years ago while studying interaction designing at NID. After working with a couple of companies, he gave up his job to concentrate on his technology, formed a team of six people and started his venture, Kriyate Design Solutions. Currently, the venture is being funded by Rolex Awards under its Young Laureates Programme, in which they select five people from across the world every two years and fund their projects.
                                                 World's first smartphone for the blind, made in India

How it works 

The smartphone uses Shape Memory Alloy technology, based on the concept that metals remember their original shapes, i.e. expand and contract to its original shape after use.
The phone's 'screen' has a grid of pins, which move up and down as per requirement. The grid has a Braille display, where pins come up to represent a character or letter.
 This screen will be capable of elevating and depressing the contents to form patterns in Braille.

· All other elements are like any other smartphone.

Source:Times Of India

Monday 8 April 2013

Asia's largest Tulip garden, Srinagar, Kashmir, India

Asia’s largest Tulip garden on the banks of Srinagar’s Dal Lake opened this week for both tourists and local residents. The Floriculture department hasplanted 2.3 million bulbs over an area of 15 hectares with 80 varieties of the flower added this year.

Google+ Hangout is doing wonders !



Google+ Hangout is powering the education of underprivileged children in Indian cities of Kolhapur (Maharashtra) and Kolkata (West Bengal), where two NGOs are using the power of the Internet and virtual classrooms to conduct classes in English and Mathematics.

Kolhapur-based organisation Helpers of Handicapped (HoH),  is using the web to provide quality education to about 500 underprivileged children. Through Google Hangout, the HoH school has connected to a school run for slum children in Kolkata, and to another school for the underprivileged in Ahmednagar.

The teachers are quite excited about the prospects of remote education and the excitement of the students is also quite understandable.

Thank you +Google+ 

Lotus Temple, New Delhi, India

The Lotus Temple, located in New Delhi, India, is a Bahai House of Worship completed in 1986. Notable for its flower-like shape, it has become a prominent attraction in the city. The Lotus Temple has won numerous architectural awards and it’s the most visited building, attracting more visitors than the Taj Mahal.

Indian Games which now disappear

Listed below are some of the games that were once played across the streets of the country, which are now fast disappearing, taking away the fun & frolic along with it !

Lagori:  Two teams, seven stones, a ball and target.
Lattu: A solid turnip shaped wooden toy, spinning top.
Hopscotch: A tile piece with a flat surface and six boxes drawn in style.

Gilli Danda: Combination of four inch danda and a gilli.
Kancha(Goti):  Rounded green glass balls, strike and play.
Pallanghuzi: A traditional game played in South India, a wooden board with fourteen pits and shells.

Let us keep these games alive, else the next generation will be able to read them about it in the books only !

Beautiful Chandra Taal, Himalayas, India

Chandra Taal or The Lake of the Moon is situated at an altitude of about 4,300 m  in the Himalayas. The name of the lake originates from its crescent shape.Mountains of scree overlook the lake on one side, and a magnificent cirque presents a view on the other.

   

Father of Indian Cinema

100 years of Indian Cinema -  Dadasaheb Phalke, Father of Indian Cinema

It was 100 years ago that the first-ever Indian movie was made by a visionary who broke all barriers to launch the world's largest film industry. Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter. He directed and produced Raja Harishchandra, a silent film in 1913, which is the first full-length Indian feature film and marathi feature film. He made a total of 95 movies and 26 short films in his career spanning 19 years, till 1937.

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, for lifetime contribution to cinema, was instituted in his honor by the Government of India and is the most prestigious and coveted award in Indian cinema.

This is Great ! - Oldest university on earth is reborn after 800 years

Nalanda University in Bihar, India, was the first great university in recorded history and one of the world's first residential university. In its heyday, it accommodated over 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers. Originally the university was established in 5th century AD by Gupta Kings. It was destroyed in a war in 1197, when it was just the same time that Oxford was being established and Cambridge had not yet been born.

Nalanda will rise again, thanks to a high-level international team of consultants, including Nobel laureate Prof Amartya Sena. The new university will also be residential, offering courses in science, philosophy and spiritualism along with social sciences. The first academic session is set to start from 2014.

Experts believe the establishment of the university would act as a global reminder of India's history as a center of learning and culture.

Amazing ! Great Banyan Tree, Kolkatta, India

The Great Banyan tree is a Banyan Tree in Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah, Kolkatta, India. It is over 250 years old and in spread it is the one of the largest in the World. The Great Banyan looks more like a forest than an individual tree. The area occupied by the tree is about 14478.44 square metres. The present crown of the tree has a circumference of 1.08 kilometres and it has 2880 aerial roots reaching down to the ground.

And Banyan is the National tree of India !

Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

Love to get lost in a far away paradise?  Welcome to Andaman and Nicobar Islands!

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a group of islands at the juncture of the Bay of Bengal and North-east of Indian Ocean, and are a Union Territory of India. The total land area of the territory is approximately 7,950 km. Andaman & Nicobar Islands are blessed with a unique tropical rainforest canopy, made of a mixed flora and endemic floral strains. The territory is home to 270 species of birds & 225 species of butterflies, including some of the larger and most spectacular of the world.

Amazing Architecture

Amazing Architecture - Mamallapuram, Chennai,  India

Varaha Cave Temple, an example of Indian rock-cut architecture dating from the late 7th century, is a rock-cut cave temple located at  Mamallapuram, Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.This is a part of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Forest Man of India

Great effort ! Jadav Payeng, India  - The man who made a forest !

Jadav Payeng, a man in his mid-fifties, has been instrumental in converting a sand bar in the middle of the river Brahmaputra in Assam, India, into a huge forest. He started his project 30 years ago when he was still a teenager. "Mulai", as he is known among locals, started work on the land in 1980. A scheme was launched at that time by the social forestry division of the district, involving the planting of trees on only 200 hectares. The project was completed after 5 years and all the laborers left, except Mulai. Dedicated to the forest, he stayed on and single-handedly looked after the trees. He not only looked after the plants, but continued to plant more trees on his own effort slowly transforming the area into a big forest. Total area of the forest is about 1000 hectares and now it is known as Mulai forest.

He has been honored by Jawaharlal Nehru University on Earth Day for his remarkable achievement.It’s truly amazing when we see people who single-handedly create something truly significant.

Well done  "Forest Man of India"

Symbolism of India

Lotus, National Flower of India

Lotus is the National flower of India. Lotus is a sacred flower and occupies a unique position in the art and mythology of ancient India and has been an auspicious symbol of Indian culture.

The Lotus symbolizes spirituality, fruitfulness, wealth, knowledge and illumination. It also symbolizes purity of heart and mind and represents long life, health, honor and good luck.

Switzerland in India

Khajjiar, Himachal Pradesh, India - Mini Switzerland

Khajjiar  is a hill station in Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh, India, near Dalhousie. The hill station is surrounded by green meadows and dense forests. It is about 6,500 feet above sea level in the foothills of the Dhauladhar ranges of the Western Himalayas.

Mr. Willy t. Blazer, Vice Counselor and Head of Chancery of Switzerland in India brought Khajjiar on the world tourism map by christening it Mini Switzerland. It has a rare combination of three ecosystems: lake, pasture and forest, all in one place.

Beautiful Lake in the World

Gurudongmar Lake is a fresh-water lake located in the northeast of the Kangchenjunga range in a high plateau area connected with the Tibetan Plateau.This lake, located at a height of 17,800 ft, is one of the highest and beautiful lakes in the world

Sunday 7 April 2013

IIT JEE 2013



The Indian Institutes of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (abbreviated IIT-JEE or simply JEE) is an annual college entrance examination in India. It is used as the sole admission criterion by the sixteen Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian School of Mines. The examination is organised each year by one of the various IITs, using a round robin rotation pattern. It has a very low admission rate (about 1 in 50 in 2011).
                                                       
From 2013, IITJEE will be clubbed with AIEEE an Engineering Entrance Examination for NITs. Furthermore IITJEE will be held in two phases, Phase 1 will be called as JEE Main and the second stage of the test will be JEE Advanced.[1] Apart from the NITs, IIITs & IITs, the Indian Institute of Space and Technology has also announced that it will select students based on JEE Main.

According to the central board, JEE Main, formerly known as the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE), have registered a record 14 lakh candidates for the 2013 exams. The registrations closed on December 24, 2013.
This is the highest ever registration for the test. This year the number has increased by nearly 2.8 lakh as compared to last year. Last year around 11.2 lakh candidates registered for the exam.
JEE (Advanced) will replace IIT-JEE and will be conducted by the IITs and only the top 1.5 lakh candidates of JEE (Main) merit list will be eligible for JEE (Advanced). JEE Advanced will be conducted on June 2 for the top 1.5 lakh (inclusive of all categories) students. For selection of students to NITs and CFTI, ranking will be given based on score of 60 per cent JEE Main + 40 per cent normalisation score of board results.
The JEE (Advanced) will have two objective type papers. Each paper will comprise of physics, chemistry and mathematics. Duration of each paper will be 3 hours.


New Admission Norms for IIT:


The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Union government have finally agreed to the new format of IIT entrance examination as suggested by the Joint Admission Board (JAB). The new format of exams will be implemented from 2013.
Joint Admission Board (JAB) of IIT Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced)- 2013 met on August 27, 2012 at IIT Delhi to discuss the forthcoming admission. The admission to the undergraduate programmes at the 16 IITs and ISMU, Dhanbad for the year 2013 will be based on a two-tier test. The first test called the JEE (Main), will be held during the month of April, 2013 (both offline and online). This test will be conducted by CBSE. The second test, called the JEE (Advanced), will be held on June 2, 2013 (only offline). Only 1,50,000 of the top rankers in JEE(Main), which includes students from all categories( GE,OBC(NCL), SC and ST ) will be eligible to appear in JEE(Advanced).
The JEE (Advanced)- 2013 will have two objective type papers. Each paper will consist of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Duration of each paper will be 3-hours. Question papers will be in both English and Hindi. Admissions to IITs will be based only on category wise All India Rank (AIR) in JEE(Advanced) subject to the condition that such candidates are in the top 20 percentile of successful candidates of their Boards in applicable categories.
According to RK Shevgaonkar, director, IIT-Delhi, the aim of the new format is to make students perform well in their board exams without neglecting it and not get influenced by the coaching classes offering tutorials
for IIT-JEE





 .

Saturday 6 April 2013

India's 10 top Engineering Colleges in 2013

India's Top 10 Engineering Colleges 2013

1.   IIT , Kanpur
2.   IIT , Bombay
3.   IIT , Madras
4.   IIT , New Delhi
5.   IIT , Kharagpur
6.   BITS , Pilani
7.   IIT , Roorkee
8.   IIT , Guwahati
9.   IIT , BHU
10. NIT , Trichy

India's biggest shopping mall : Lulu shopping mall

Asia biggest shopping mall Lulu shopping mall is open in Kochi at 10th March 2013 .It was built at a cost
of  Rs 1,600 crore, an official has said.The mall is spread over 2.5 million square feet of space and is
owned by EMKE group of United Arab Emirates (UAE) businessman M A Yousuf Ali, who hails from Kerala. Opened on 10 March 2013, the mall consist of more than 360 outlets including food courts, restaurants, family entertainment zones and a nine-screen multiplex, ice skating rink and bowling alley.




Location:

Located in Edappally Junction, one of the prime locations at the meeting point of three key Highways, NH 47, NH 17, and the Kochi Bypass, the mall is expected to be a landmark for the state of Kerala and its people. The opening of the mall has caused a major traffic bottleneck in the area and the NHAI along with the civic body is planning to construct a flyover above the NH-47 and 17.Temporarily they are going to use the free area available in either side of the road thus enabling motorists a free left turn. Lulu seems to have grand plans for Edappally by building its own self contained city in the surrounding areas of the Mall. The management have started to buy out the needed land. A major set back was the refusal of the nearby convent management to sell their huge chunk of land beside the mall.





 Atrium:

> Lulu Hypermarket on the ground floor having an area of 25,800 square metres (278,000 sq ft) selling          
   fresh, frozen, canned food, fruits and vegetables, along with butchery, bakery, hot food counters etc.

> Lulu Fashion Store on the First floor with 13,500 square metres (145,000 sq ft) of shop floor selling non  
   food items like garments, footwear, luggage, white goods, cosmetics, electronic goods etc.

> International home furnishing store of area 49,500 square metres (533,000 sq ft)

> Gross leasable retail space over 19,800 square metres (213,000 sq ft)



Food court:

> A fine dining restaurant of 4,500 square metres (48,000 sq ft) and a coffee shop of 1,800 square metres
   (19,000 sq ft) are located in the second floor

> A large Food Court to seat around 4,500 people serviced by eighteen kitchens will offer an array of exotic
   cuisine

> Three fine dining restaurants with terrace dining facilities on the third floor







Leisure zone:

> An Amusement area of 7,500 square metres (81,000 sq ft) on the third floor comprising indoor thrill
   games, computer gaming zone and a bowling alley.

> A nine screen multiplex managed by PVR, occupying an area of 54,000 square metres (580,000 sq ft) on
   the  fifth floor.

 
Five star hotel (Marriott):

A highlight of the Lulu Complex will be a 5-star hotel located adjacent to the imposing shopping mall run by JW Marriot. The 420 room property will offer royal suite rooms and Executive Suites with international standard multi cuisine restaurants, swimming pool, coffee shop, spa and privilege club facilities, etc. The hotel stands at a height of 84 meters and has a Helipad.




Source: Lulu Mall