News

IndianExpress: RESPONDING to a security alert sounded by intelligence agencies on the occasion of Independence Day, the city police have beefed up security at all vital installations and sensitive areas in Pune.

Top police officials said that the department was not taking any chances and had covered all vantage points in the city. Security has been tightened at Lohegaon Airport and put in place at educational institutions, government offices, places of public importance, picnic spots, shopping malls and busy roads. All entry and exit points of the city are being closely monitored.
 
A thick security blanket has been thrown over Council Hall, the venue for the main flag hoisting function to be held on Tuesday. Scores of VIPs are scheduled to attend the function, for which 80 policemen have been deployed for bandobast.

IndianExpress: THE Pune Municipal Corporation has failed to use funds earmarked in the budget for construction of new roads and reconstruction of existing roads in suburban areas and merged villages. This was alleged by corporator Ujjwal Keskar on Monday.

Speaking to reporters, Keskar stated that a financial provision of Rs 55 crore was made in the civic budget for the current fiscal for 10 road works in suburban areas and merged villages. However, he alleged, only Rs 3 crore of this Rs 55 crore has been used so far.

IndianExpress: THE frequent snarls on Ganeshkhind Road due to work on the flyover may soon be a thing of the past. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)’s City Improvement Committee (CIC) on Monday instructed the authorities concerned to provide more carriage width on the road and to open access from Fergusson College Road to Wakadewadi subway at Agriculture College Chowk.

The CIC members gave the instructions when they carried out a survey of the traffic situation on Ganeshkhind and Senapati Bapat roads. They were accompanied by senior officials of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, PMC, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) and the traffic police.

Indianexpress: VARIOUS political parties staged demonstrations to protest against the bad roads in the city on Monday.

Workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party staged a ghantanad at the Pune Municipal Corporation. Later, a delegation of BJP leaders including MLA Girish Bapat, former MLA Vishwas Gangurde, leader of the Opposition Anil Shirole, City Improvement Committee chairman Vikas Mathkari and corporator Ujjwal Keskar submitted a memorandum to additional municipal commissioner Mohan Adtani.

The delegation also plans to stage an agitation if the roads are not repaired in a week.

ABCNews:  Riding on the new version of Segway Inc.’s self-balancing electric scooter is “very similar to skiing,” according to the company’s chief technology officer.

That’s because a new batch of technology in the second generation of the Segway, which was unveiled Monday, allows users to steer the device simply by leaning in the direction they want to go, rather than using a handlebar, said Segway Chief Technology Officer Doug Field.

The new version of the Segway Personal Transporter also comes with a wireless device that lets the user start it by remote control and receive an alert if it has been disturbed while left unattended.

TechTree.com: Bangalore-based distributor, Tamco Technologies, is bringing Wallet Flash to the country, a credit card sized USB drive that is the product of Israel-based Walletex, which is reportedly the maker of the world’s first Wallet-friendly USB device.

M D Talzanki, proprietor, Tamco Technologies, says that Wallet Flash is slim, durable, and a walking advertisement for business. It is made from two layers of unbreakable plastic, and is waterproof as well as heat protected. The drive will not fail if it is exposed to a hot surface such as a heated dashboard. Not only does it act as a USB drive but also as a marketing tool. The company’s logo can be printed on it.

The Wallet Flash has storage capacity options of 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB; weighs 12g; comes with an interface of USB 1.1 and USB 2.0; promises data retention for ten years; and comes in dimensions 3.37-inch 2.12-inch 0.08-inch. The new device has a double-sided USB connector for easy access, and an LED to tell the status of the drive.

TechTree.com: Samsung Electronics has announced developing the first three-inch LCD panel with VGA (640 x 480 pixels) resolution that directly meets industry interface standards for digital still cameras.

Yun Jin-hyuk, executive vice president, Samsung Electronics, said, “Our new LCD panel will make viewing of digital pictures distinctly more impressive on camera screens, personal multi-media players, and other products requiring high-image resolution and low-power consumption.”

According to Samsung, the three-inch VGA LCD also incorporates a dot inversion scheme that lowers power consumption, while substantially reducing the image flickering that has in the past prevented such an approach

TechTree.com: Microsoft has reportedly launched a set of software tools that the company claims will help gaming enthusiasts and independent game makers develop games for its Gen-Next gaming console, the Xbox 360.

Dubbed “XNA Game Studio Express,” the toolkit is based on Microsoft s XNA game development platform. According to the company, it presents novice developers with probably their first opportunity to create a console game, sans the need to invest heavily in resources.

The announcement was made by Chris Satchell, general manager - game developer group, Microsoft, during his keynote address at Gamefest 2006, a video game development conference hosted by Microsoft in Seattle.