News

Indianexpress: TO streamline the management of non-performing loans (NPL) in one unit in the Pune circle so that other branches can focus on other aspects of business, State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday opened Stressed Assets Resolution Centre (SARC) at Dhole Patil Road.

After inaugurating the center, N Raja, chief general manager (Mumbai circle), SBI said: “The centre will focus on restructuring of advances to units by rephrasing the loans and help them to become standard assets. For units where rehabilitation is not a viable option, the center will focus on recovery of the loan starting from serving notices to arranging for auctions.’’

All the 35 branches of the SBI in Pune that were handling the NPLs have now been linked to the center with administrative control being taken over and loan account operation resting with the home branch. SARC will handle all NPA accounts of personal and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segments in the city other than mid corporates and BIFR (Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction) accounts. SARC will handle assets up to Rs 5 crore and Stressed Assets Management Group, Mumbai, will handle non-performing loans exceeding the amount.

According to Raja, personnel who have experience in dealing with NPLs will be posted at the centre and the number of people will depend on the number of accounts that the center will handle. SARC will ensure that dues are recovered in a definite time period. Deputy general manager of SBI, Pune circle, Arun Agrawal will head the centre.

Indianexpress:  HAVING already gone through a terror scare with recent recovery of RDX in Aurangabad and Mumbai blasts, the Pune police are leaving nothing to chance when it comes to keeping tabs even on revelers. For, they will be deploying special squads and beefing up the manpower in police stations to check revellers and nuisance makers.

The Pune rural police have warned revellers partying at various picnic spots and hill stations for the New Year that stringent action will be taken against people causing public nuisance.

Additional superintendent of police (Rural) Ashok Morale said special squads would patrol at Lonavla, Khandala, Khadakvasla, Sinhagad, Panshet and Varasgaon. “Revellers should be cautious and ensure that they do not cause public nuisance. If anyone causes public nuisance, we will take strict action. We will also use breath analysers,” he said.

Morale said people driving in an inebriated state would be immediately put under arrest and cases would be filed against them under relevant sections of the Bombay Prohibition Act and Motor Vehicle Act. These people can face imprisonment up to six months and a fine up to Rs 2,000. They would be released only after they are produced in court and granted bail

TechTree: According to reports, computer security researchers and hackers have begun spotting potentially serious flaws in Microsoft’s Windows Vista system that was released to corporate customers late last month.

A Russian programmer posted a description of a flaw on Dec 15, which enables increasing users’ privileges on all of Microsoft’s recent operating systems, including Vista.

During the Christmas weekend, a Silicon Valley-based security firm said it notified Microsoft about another flaw it found, plus five other vulnerabilities, including one serious bug in the software code underlying the IE 7 browser. The firm said the browser flaw could result in Web users getting infected with malicious software simply by visiting booby-trapped Web sites.

California-based Determina, a vendor of anti-vulnerability software, added that the browser flaw could make it possible for attackers to inject rogue software into Vista-based computers.

Microsoft said on its Web site that the company is closely monitoring the vulnerability described by the Russian programmer. In a statement, Microsoft said that as of now, they have not observed any public exploitation or attack activity based on this flaw.

A Microsoft spokeswoman said the company is also investigating the browser flaw, and that as of now, they are not aware of any attacks attempting to use this flaw.

According to sources at Determina, the browser flaw, by itself, can permit damage such as information theft, etc,

But, the ’sandbox’ software in IE 7 would control damage even if a malicious program were to subvert the operation of the browser.

However, according to Determina, when coupled with the ability of the first flaw, it might be possible to circumvent the ’sandbox’ controls and alter files, and potentially permanently infect a target computer.

Techtree: Transcend has announced release of the world’s highest speed 1GB DDR2-800 Non ECC (Error Correction Code) Unbuffered SO-DIMM memory modules, specially engineered for speed, reliability, and extreme performance.

This is the first time ever that laptop memories with an ECC function have been introduced.

The 1GB DDR2-800 Non ECC Unbuffered SO-DIMM memory modules are engineered using 16 pcs of 64Mx8 original brand name DDR2 FBGA chips. The eight layer PCBs used in these modules are designed to meet the highest specifications, by minimizing noise signal disturbance and enhancing overall performance.

Additionally, the DDR2 memory chips incorporate On-Die Termination (ODT) to minimize signal reflections at higher speeds, thus improving timing margins, and increasing operating speeds.

According to Transcend, the modules are built to the highest specifications, with the best chips and materials, and have undergone rigorous lab testing to ensure highest performance.

The specifications of the modules are: 200-Pin DDR2-800MHz high speed memory module; 1GB memory capacity; High compatibility and reliability; FBGA chip packages for improved electrical and heat dissipation characteristics; and Eight-layer PCB

Besides, the modules come with a lifetime warranty and a global service network.

In India, the modules will be available in around a fortnight’s time through Transcend’s Authorized Distributor, Mediaman Group. They will be priced at Rs 12,000 per module. The company expects prices to fall once consumption rises.
 

TechTree: Wikia, a for-profit corporation created by Wikipedia Founder, Jimmy Wales, along with financial backing from online retailer - Amazon, is planning to launch a search engine that will leverage the user-driven model deployed by Wikipedia.

Reportedly, the search engine will be called “Wikiasari” deriving its name from ‘Wiki’ which is Hawaiian for ‘quick’ plus ‘asari’ which is Japanese for ‘rummaging search’. Wales intends “Wikiasari” to compete with the likes of Google and Yahoo!. Apparently, the revenue model of the proposed search engine will also be advertising, just like Google and Yahoo!

With Google commanding nearly 50 percent of search traffic, and Yahoo! around 25 percent, Wales is hoping that the reputation of Wikipedia and the transparency of the user-driven approach will do the trick for “Wikiasari”.

Besides, “Wikiasari” will add human editorial input rather than simply render search results based on popularity and other such algorithms.

According to Wales, “Wikiasari” will be designed to apply the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ to judging a Web page’s value.

However, considering the Web is such a humungous entity, it would be rather difficult to come up with a comprehensive, editorially driven search engine, without infusing inputs by ‘trusted users’ in the form of ‘clickstream/attention data’.

The Wikipedia community is said to be facing problems concerning command and control, and its not clear whether “Wikiasari” will also end up facing similar such problems.

However, the commercial version of “Wikiasari” is set to be developed through California-based Wikia Corp. A provisional launch is planned for Q1 2007.

TechTree: Epson has announced the launch of the Epson Stylus Photo R390 printer, designed for photo enthusiasts looking for direct printing.

The Stylus Photo R390 crunches print jobs at speeds of up to 30 pages per minute for both black text and colour prints. For photo prints, the speed is 4R-sized photographs in 13 seconds each.

The Stylus Photo R390 comes with a generous, super bright, 3.5-inch LCD screen for easy viewing. To make printing straightforward, the photo selection controls located on both sides of the screen enable hassle-free navigation and printing options.

The advanced printer is able to operate as a stand-alone, and supports printing without a PC. Backed with ports for PictBridge devices, USB Direct Print, IrDA, and optional Bluetooth, wired and wireless printing is achieved with similar efficiency. In addition, the card slot bay accepts all popular memory card formats.

The printer incorporates the Epson Claria Photo System, a twin system consisting of Claria PhotoEnhance software and Claria Photographic inks.

While the Claria PhotoEnhance software automatically corrects colour and lighting imperfections in digital images, Claria Photographic inks help in bridging the gap between home printing and photo lab printing.
The new inks offer richer colour tones, excellent depth, stunning clarity, and improved glossiness.

The printer includes Epson’s award-winning Micro Piezo system for reliability and consistency in printing. Paired with Epson’s Advanced Variable Sized Droplet Technology (VSDT), ink droplets in five different sizes can be procured, starting from 1.5 picolitre.

The new printer is already available for a price of Rs 15,000.
 

BBCNews: A mission that will scour space for Earth-like planets is scheduled for launch on Wednesday.
Corot will be the first spacecraft capable of detecting planets outside of the Solar System that are just a few times larger than the Earth.

The French-led multinational mission will also help uncover the secrets of stellar interiors.

Corot will be launched at 1443 GMT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on the Soyuz-2-1b vehicle.

  We’ve been waiting 25 years to get such a mission into space

Professor Ian Roxburgh
It will be taken into a polar orbit 827km (514 miles) above the Earth where it will survey star fields for approximately 2.5 years.

The mission is led by the French space agency, Cnes, which is working with six international partners: European Space Agency (Esa), Austria, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Brazil.

“We’ve been waiting 25 years to get such a mission into space,” said Ian Roxburgh, professor of astronomy at Queen Mary, University of London, UK, and the Esa member of the Corot scientific committee