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IndianExpress:  The Symbiosis Society, comprising 17 colleges offering courses ranging from journalism to nursing, has been issued a show cause notice by the central excise department to pay up Rs 35.65 crore due from service tax over the past three years.

The notice contends that courses run in 17 colleges of the society come under the gambit of service tax, as they are not recognised by any statutory body. Similar notices have been sent to 14 other institutes in the region.

When contacted, Symbiosis joint director Vidya Yeravdekar, confirmed receipt of the showcause notice but it was only for institutes not affiliated to the deemed university, she said.

“It is ridiculous that the service tax commissioner has compared us to a coaching or training centre which come under service tax net. We offer a two-year postgraduate diploma in business administration that is at par with IIMs and are ranked among the top ten in the country. We have taken up the matter with the highest authorities in Delhi,” Yeravdekar said.

Indianexpress: THE PMC’s ambitious BRTS project received a blow when Venkat Pindiprolu of the US department of transportation said, “The system cannot be called BRTS. It is only a modified bus service.’’

Speaking at a presentation on BRTS organised by Janwani on Monday at the MCCIA, Pindiprolu said Pune’s BRTs that are on the lines of Columbia’s Bogota model had many shortcomings, he said. He also visited the BRTS pilot route on Pune-Satara road.

According to Pindiprolu the BRTS bus stops can only be called improvised bus stops. He also added the system does not have the provision of ticketing before entering the bus and for facilities for quick boarding and disembarking.

“Due to traffic control, these buses halt for at least 2-3 minutes, then how can the system be called Bus Rapid,’’ he asked. Pindiprolu suggested ways to make the Pune BRTS successful like high quality bus stops and higher frequency of buses.

Indianexpress: WITH the IT hardware sector in the city growing by leaps and bounds, the Computers and Media Dealers Association (CMDA) has organised an IT EXPO and trade fair at the Sakhar Sankul in Shivajinagar from Thursday to Sunday.

The EXPO, an annual event of the CDMA, will put on display various products and services of Computer and Media dealers in the city.

It would also give the business community of the city’s IT sector an opportunity to interact with a wide cross section of customers ranging from government, corporate and SMBs to the home user.

Leading brands of the IT sector like Intel, Microsoft, AMDS, HP, IBM, Lenovo, TVS, Sony, LG and Xerox would showcase their products at the fair. A unique feature of the fair would be a ‘Career mela’ to give the youth an opportunity to interact with prospective employers. The industry would also be provided with a platform to attract young talent and database of potential employees.

IndianExpress: Global Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama will pay a visit to Pune in March to attend a function as part of the nationwide celebrations of the centenary year of Gautam Buddha’s ‘Mahaparinirvana’, which began in May 2006.

The programme will highlight the importance of Buddha’s values and teachings in a globalised world.

“The objective of this meet is to spread Buddha’s message of peace and non-violence, which is especially relevant in today’s scenario of violence and insecurity,” said Planning Commission member Bhalchandra Mungekar.

Celebrations will be held in Maharashtra in Pune, Aurangabad and Mumbai in the form of lectures and conferences on the topic Baudha Dhamma aani Ekveesave Shatak.

Techtree: Microsoft India, with an aim to spur innovation, has announced the launch of its ‘Voices for Innovation’ campaign in India.

‘Voices for Innovation’ is an open, voluntary network of individuals and companies who support a balanced and pro-innovation policy environment. Designed to generate grassroots momentum, this campaign will serve as a platform for the exchange of ideas, experiences, and opinions between the key stakeholders involved in the process of innovation, with a special focus on SMEs and the rural market.

The campaign was launched in Delhi by Union Minister for Science and Technology, Kapil Sibal, in the presence of the Chairman of the National Manufacturing Competitive Council (NMCC), V Krishnamoorthy, and the Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft India, Doug Hauger.

According to Microsoft, the launch is part of the company’s long-term commitment to partner with various parties, including the government, to strengthen the Indian manufacturing sector, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), to be able to compete at the global level.

TechTree: Epson has announced the launch of its Stylus Photo R270 photo printer targeted at photo enthusiasts.

This stylish printer, in its two-tone grey outfit, is capable of print jobs at speeds up to 30 pages per minute for both black text and color printouts. And, a borderless 4R printout is churned out in as little as 13 seconds

The Stylus Photo R270 uses the highly sophisticated Epson Claria Photo System. This next-generation ink system promises stunning photo quality printouts and longevity of up to 200 years.

The Claria Photo System is a duo system, comprising Epson Claria PhotoEnhance software and Epson Claria Photographic Inks.

The Claria PhotoEnhance is an advanced software, which automatically corrects color and lighting imperfections in digital images. When dealing with poorly taken photographs, Claria PhotoEnhance picks out flaws and optimizes features such as skin tones and scenery with its Smart Auto Scene Correction feature.

The Claria Photographic Inks aim at reducing the gap between home- and photo lab- quality printing. These photographic inks offer a wide color range, and offer improved color richness, depth, clarity, and glossiness - just like traditional photo lab-quality prints.

TechTree: Hynix Semiconductor has introduced a family of components and high capacity modules, based on the industry’s first 60nm 1Gb DDR2 DRAM.

The company said it is also the first DRAM supplier to be validated by Intel on the 1Gb DDR2 DRAM component, and that modules using this component are under evaluation.

Hynix said that the 1GB and 2GB UDIMMs boast operating speeds of 800 MHz, the fastest in the industry. And that as the 60 nm process ramps, manufacturing cost of the 1Gb DRAM is expected to decline up to 50 percent as compared to first generation 80 nm technologies, significantly improving the company’s cost competitiveness in the industry.

The resulting 1Gb package size will allow Hynix to cost-efficiently manufacture 4GB and higher density RDIMMs (Registered DIMM) and FBDIMMs (Fully Buffered DIMM). Planar dual-row assembly, made possible by the small package size, will eliminate the need to stack components in some modules, reducing overall manufacturing costs. Very Low profile (VLP) modules would also be enabled by the small package.

In a statement, Hong Sung Joo, Vice President of Product Development, Hynix, said, “Our 60 nm process has been highly stable, even under worst case conditions. Additionally, the 3D transistor architecture and triple-metal layer process significantly improves speed-power characteristics of the components.”

TechTree: Google, in a move aimed at extending its private-label calendar, e-mail, and IM service, has announced the launch of a domain name search and registration service called ‘Google Apps for Your Domain’ (GAFYD).

The company said that it has partnered with GoDaddy and eNom, the two domain registration companies that help Web sites officially register their names under domains like ‘.com’ and ‘.net’, to offer the new domain name registration service.

Speaking about this service, Raju Gulabani, Director of Product Management, GAFYD, said that previously, if customers wanted to use ‘Google Apps for Your Domain’ they had to have a domain. Now, with this addition, the company is expanding to those customers that don’t have a domain.

Google plans to sell domains for a nominal $10 (Rs 450) per year, which will include private registration to protect personal information, and will support .com, .org, .net, .biz, and .info domains.

Besides search and registration, the service also includes the creation of an administrative account for managing the site, and a configurator to ensure that Google Apps are immediately available on the new site.

TechTree: A-Data Technology has released its Professional Series PD7 Turbo Speed USB 2.0 flash disk with 33MB/sec read and 22MB/sec write speeds, in sizes ranging from 1 to 8 GB.

With outstanding read/write speeds, the PD7 can work with “Windows Vista ReadyBoost”, one of Windows Vista’s innovative features.

A technology built into Windows Vista, “Windows ReadyBoost” caches disk reads onto flash memory devices. It does not cache file writes; it is a write-through cache.

“Windows ReadyBoost” improves system performance, as it retrieves data stored on flash memory faster than it retrieves data stored on the hard disk drive (HDD), thereby decreasing PC response times.

The feature allows even novice computer users to easily connect removable flash memory devices, and enhance system performance without having to open the computer case.

With “Windows ReadyBoost”; not only is system performance is enhanced, HDD Read/Write times are reduced, and power consumption of notebooks with batteries is reduced.

TechTree: On Friday, the Government has introduced in the Lok Sabha, a bill to amend the Information Technology (IT) Act of 2000 with a view towards checking the increasing incidence of cyber crime and data theft.

The bill proposes addition of new sections plus amendments to existing sections in the IT Act, the Indian Penal Code, the Indian Evidence Act, and the Code of Criminal Procedure. The objective of the bill is to address various issues, including breach of confidentiality, data leakage, e-commerce fraud, identity theft, offensive/sexually explicit material in electronic form, and video voyeurism.

Besides, an expert committee has been set up to deliberate on issues, and offer their recommendations.

Amongst others, the committee proposes insertion of a new section to the Act on data theft prevention, so as to ensure adoption of secure practices and procedures by firms handling sensitive data.

It recommends the government provide legal framework for new forms of crimes such as video voyeurism, publishing of material containing sexually explicit acts in electronic form, e-commerce frauds through impersonation alias ‘Phishing’, and other cyber crimes.

The committee recommends replacing the term ‘digital signature’ with ‘electronic signature’ to promote development of alternative technologies for authentication of electronic records.