News

IndianExpress: A NATIONWIDE agitation is the only answer to ensure effective implementation of the RTI Act, said veteran activist Anna Hazare, speaking at an interaction with RTI users organised by the Surajya Sangharsh Samiti on Saturday on the occasion of the first anniversary of the RTI Act.

Expressing disappointment with the implementation of RTI Act in the past year, Hazare said that the government had not taken sufficient interest in effectively implementing the RTI. This was shown in the fact that all the information commissioners were bureaucrats who took liberty with the law. ”Instead experienced members from the judiciary should be appointed to this post,” Hazare said.

IndianExpress: BRINGING the twin industrial township on a par with its big brother Pune, the State government has granted permission to the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation to allow buildings up to 25 floors or 70 metres in height within its jurisdiction. The decision, taken at a meeting where Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and district guardian minister Ajit Pawar were present on Wednesday, promises to change the entire landscape of the twin industrial township.

While civic officials believe it will usher in an era of planned growth, builders argue that it will lead to drop in flat rates and availability of more open space for setting up basic amenities.

IndianExpress: A 14-year-old boy, working as a domestic help at the house of a prominent city businessman, reached Janwadi police chowkey on Thursday morning with an injury on his head and lodged a complaint saying his head had been bashed with tongs used in the kitchen by his employer’s wife.

The victim, Krishna Kamal Pandey, a Nepali citizen living at Sutarwadi in Pashan with relatives, lodged his complaint. The police filed a case under sections 14 of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 and section 323 of Indian Penal Code against the wife of his employer, Anuj Bhandari, who lives at Rohan Garima Society, near Janwadi.

IndianExpress: THE Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has announced the one rent-free landline (bfone) to its commercially important, corporate and general customers. The service is to be offered to individuals or organisations having one BSNL landline with an average monthly bill (average of last six months) of Rs 1500, and more, per landline. The customers have the choice of selecting the option of outgoing facility or barring. The consumer would not get any free calls, for which he would need to pay a security deposit or installation charges. The calls would be charged at the rate of Rs 1.20 per metered call unit if the outgoing facility is taken.
 

IndianExpress: RESIDENTS of Aundh had to tolerate unscheduled power cuts for the third consecutive day as the 11 kV breaker which was supporting a load of 1,200 ampere could not be replaced. At present two 400 amperes are being used.

Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd officials said that the breaker was scheduled to be installed on Thursday but due to technical fault it did not happen. The installation will now be done on Friday.
 

IndianExpress: SEVENTEEN medical graduates were commissioned into the three services at the commissioning ceremony at the Armed Forces Medical College, on Thursday. Lt Gen Saibal Mukherjee, director and commandant, AFMC was the chief guest. He congratulated the newly commissioned offices and called on them to put in their best effort to win the trust and confidence of the clientele to whom they are going to impart total healthcare and uphold the great traditions of the Indian Armed Forces Medical Services.

BBCNews: Search giant Google is relaunching its online spreadsheet and word processor software, in another challenge to archrival Microsoft.
The new service will be free and give its current Writely and Spreadsheet packages a unified look and feel.

Users need to be online to use the service, which will run in a browser.
 

TechTree: Nokia has announced that they are expecting to launch the WiMAX-capable Nokia mobile devices in 2008.

This announcement comes along with another announcement about the Nokia Flexi WiMAX Base Station, which according to the company, will revolutionize the way broadband wireless networks will be built while minimizing operating and capital expenditures for broadband wireless operators.

The introduction of Nokia Flexi WiMAX Base Station is a part of company’s overall mobile WiMAX solution. The WiMAX solution from Nokia includes unique end-to-end infrastructure capabilities with radio and core network solutions along with a comprehensive services business solutions portfolio including fluent processes for planning, building, optimizing, maintaining networks, integrating end-user services to the network as well as taking on greater responsibilities for service delivery through managed service operations.

TechTree: MapmyIndia.com, a 2-year-old, only online maps portal for the country has unveiled v-2007, its easier-to-use, futuristic version.

The new version exploits the Web 2.0 platform to introduce a number of features such as providing detailed maps at different zoom levels on the Net and other offerings such as Mapsearch, eLocation, Driving Directions, and Local Search.

Rakesh Verma, managing director, CE Info Systems, the parent company of MapmyIndia.com, said “The new version brings online mapping closer to the consumer expectations. It is a manifestation of our efforts to make MapmyIndia an accessible, usable, and valuable proposition for users.”
 

BetaNews: Microsoft on Thursday released a beta version of Virtual PC 2007, the latest version of the company’s virtual machine software that is capable of running Windows Vista as both a host and guest operating system. The update takes advantage of new hardware virtualization technology from both Intel and AMD.

“So now you have an easy way to try out Windows Vista, even if you are reluctant to replace the OS on one your existing PCs; or if you have already taken the plunge you can spin up a legacy operating system in a virtual machine on your Windows Vista machine,” explained Vista product manager Nick White. Virtual PC 2007 Beta is available for download from Microsoft’s Connect beta site.