News

IndianExpress: HAPHAZARD construction activities, crumbling infrastructure and inadequate public amenities have become the order of the day, eliciting cries of protest from not only citizens, but also a harried service sector

So much so, that IT companies have begun declaring openly that they’ve had enough. Ganesh Natarajan, MD of Pune-based Zensar affirms that his company would not be looking to set up any additional facilities in the city, given its poor planning. Pune is no stranger to TP Schemes, having already implemented eight such schemes under the umbrella of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act (MRTP), 1966. But that was a long time time ago, with the last one to see the light of the day tracing its conceptualisation to 1987.
 

IndianExpress:  IF you suffer a power failure after September 15, all you have to do is lodge a complaint with the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) and relax.

The problem will be fixed within four hours, failing which, MSEDCL will pay the consumer Rs 50 and penalise the officer responsible.

In rural areas, the problem will be fixed within 24 hours, failing which the consumer will be paid.

The move comes a day after MSEDCL announced the setting up of six police stations formed specially to curb electricity thefts in Pune and other cities. Each police station is to be manned by a team of 1 assistant police inspector, 1 police sub inspector, 2 assistant sub inspectors, 4 head constables and 14 policemen.

IndianExpress:  Pune Municipal Transport was the first to embrace bio-diesel when it converted 100 buses the green way in early July. Now, the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded the Pune Municipal Corporation a grant of $ 296,000 (Rs 1.37 crore) to go in for retrofitting of its city buses in a bid to improve its local air quality management practices and reduce emissions. This will make Pune the first city to introduce retrofitted engines in its public transport vehicles.

As a pilot project, 20 PMT Euro 2 buses would be retrofitted. PMT Manager (Traffic and Administration) Shivajirao Rane and USTDA’s Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia Carl B Kress signed the enabling agreement in Mumbai on Friday.

IndianExpress: B V Biologicals — it is a group-company of Venkateshwara Hatcheries and specialises in livestock management and healthcare — has set up a Bio-Containment Plant at the Rajiv Gandhi Biotech Park, Hinjewadi.

Bio-containment is a system of zones to contain micro-organisms that may present a risk to the surrounding environment. Bio-containment can be classified by the relative danger to the surrounding environment as biological safety levels. As of today, there are four safety levels, called BSL1 through BSL4, with one anomalous level BSL3-ag for agricultural hazards between BSL3 and BSL4.

IndainExpress:  FOUNDER president of Vanrai, Mohan Dharia recently cautioned that various states may indulge in wars over water if special emphasis was not laid on water management.

He was speaking at a seminar on rain water harvesting organised by Reliance Industries Limited and Rotary Club of Pune, Gandhi Bhavan.

IndianExpress: TechniGraphics (India) Private Limited — it is engaged in providing IT services in the field of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Engineering Services and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) — has launched 3-Dimension Prototyping and Scanning Service.

Announcing the launch of 3D Prototyping Services, Uday Vaidya, managing director, TechniGraphics, said the company will now be able to offer the fastest ‘Rapid Prototyping’ technique to the designer community at an affordable price

BBCNews: Browzar promises users total privacy when surfing the web
A web browser that leaves no trace of a user’s online surfing habits on their computer has been released.
Browzar, as it is known, automatically deletes all records of the pages a person has visited when it closes down.

Most browsers, including Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Apple’s Safari, allow users to do this manually.

The developers of Browzar say that it will be useful for people who want to protect their privacy on work PCs or when using shared PCs in net cafes.
 

TechNews: Skype  on Thursday announced cordless phones that do not require a running computer to use its Voice over Internet Protocol services. The new class of phones lets users make and receive Skype calls over both Internet and traditional landlines.

Skype has partnered with Philips (NYSE: PHG)  and NetGear to introduce the first two cordless phones with this ability.

Skype recently introduced WiFi  phones and Skype PocketPC wireless. Making a way for users to use the service without a running PC is the next step, according to Stefan Oberg, general manager, desktop and hardware at Skype.

“We are broadening our reach to mass consumers by offering them the opportunity to communicate via Skype without having to be tied to the computer,” Oberg said

BetaNews: TDK announced Thursday that it had reached a new milestone in data storage on Blu-ray discs, revealing a prototype that can hold 200GB. The disc doubles TDK’s previous 100GB prototype and is possible by creating six distinct layers of data, each capable of holding 33.6GB.

The prototype, like all Blu-ray media, is single sided. “The ultra-ambitious technology roadmap for Blu-ray has now been confirmed as realistic, with landmarks such as this proving the long-term value of the format against its rivals,” said TD vice president Bruce Youmans. TDK said such high-capacity discs could be commercially available in several months.