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Indianexpress: Three deaths in 10 days and all caused by the BPO vehicles forced the traffic police to crack down on all over-speeding vehicles in the city and collecting Rs 1 lakh in fine in just a day on Tuesday. The police also filed 66 cases against the errant drivers.

On Monday night, a 24-year-old student of the Indira Institute of Management, Pramod Kumar Singh, was killed when he was hit by an over-speeding BPO car on the Katraj-Dehu bypass road.

Deputy commissioner of police (Traffic) Mahesh Ghurye said not only the BPO cars but also other vehicles in the city broke the speed barriers and blamed it on traffic indiscipline. “We are carrying out traffic literacy drives through poster campaigns, street plays and drawing competitions highlighting the hazards of over-speeding and jumping traffic signals,” he said.

Ghurye said they would take strict action against speeding vehicles. “Self-discipline will go a long way in curbing the over-speeding menace,” he said.

Monday night’s accident was the second one in 10 days after Kalpesh Modi (26) and his pillion Naayab Ali Abdul Sayyad (23), both residents of Chinchwad, were killed when the two-wheeler they were driving had a head-on collision with a call centre vehicle at Kalewadi. In an earlier incident in first week of October, three call centre cars collided near the Khadki police station on the Pune-Mumbai Highway and the drivers escaped with minor injuries

Indianexpress: A shiny red bus was a big draw at the recent Auto Expo 2006. The plush seats, low floor, rubber-cushioned windows, graphically designed logo on its sides, classy rear view mirrors, elegant luggage rack, extra boot space had eyes popping out. It was a complete makeover for the drab, dirty, rattling and plainly uncomfortable State Transport bus.

Designed at the State Transport Central Workshop, Dapodi, the new bus will gradually replace the old red and yellow ST buses. An elated staff, under the guidance of works manager S P Jadhav, is looking forward to a final approval of the model by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC). While the prototype has an in-principle sanction, senior officials have suggested a few cosmetic changes.
 
“At the central workshop, we have been putting efforts to change the look of ST buses since 2003,’’ said Jadhav. After the model’s sketch was designed, it took one and half months for the team to develop it. Jadhav expects the MSRTC to give its approval by December-end. ‘‘We will roll out 1,700 ordinary buses and 235 semi-luxury buses by next year,’’ said Jadhav.

Indianexpress: The Pune rural police have filed cases against five candidates contesting the Jejuri Municipal Council elections for violating the model code of conduct which came into effect from November 22. The polls are on January 7.

Jejuri Municipal Council is among the 28 municipal councils in the state whose term ends in February. Polling for these municipal councils will be held on January 7 and results would be announced on January 8. Baramati, Saswad, Indapur, Alandi, Shirur and Daund will also go to the polls on January 7 .
 
All five candidates contesting in Jejuri against whom cases have been filed have been fielded by local parties. Among them were Kalpana Jejurikar and Sachin Sonawane of Parivartan party as well as Mahesh Ramakant Aglave, Suhasini Satish Ghatge and Ashok Arun Khomane of Jai Malhar Vikas Aghadi.

The decision to file the cases was taken after election observers visited Jejuri on Tuesday.

TechTree: LaCie has introduced a new, encrypted version of its biometric access hard drive.

The SAFE Mobile Hard Drive, as it is called, comes with Encryption - with new DES or Triple-DES hardware encryption in 40GB, 80GB, and 120GB capacities.

According to company sources, the new encrypted model allows people to choose between different levels of security depending on their needs. LaCie SAFE with Encryption is helpful for transferring and carrying sensitive data without fear of misuse, unauthorized access, or intellectual property theft. Only fingerprint authentication grants access to the drive.

Compact SAFE drive casing is small enough to fit comfortably in a pocket or a bag.

Marie Renouard, LaCie Product Manager, said, “We have incorporated the latest access control and encryption technologies, and now offer two security level choices for addressing any professional or individual need for completely safe data storage. SAFE is the best deterrent for snoops who try to access your private files whereas SAFE with Encryption is better for those who need absolute security for their data.”

LaCie SAFE Mobile Hard Drive with Encryption guarantees the highest-level protection for confidential files by employing hardware encryption in addition to biometric access technology. Data stored on the drive can be encoded in either DES (56-bits key) or Triple-DES (128-bits key) mode. The encryption key depends on a 24-character pass phrase stored onboard, making each drive unique and impossible to hack. Up to five different users can be registered with customized access privileges such as read/write or read-only.

TechTree: Recently, Reliance Communications announced the premier of “Ctrl+Alt+Del” on Reliance Mobile World.

What is significant about “Ctrl+Alt+Del” is that it is a movie specifically produced for the mobile platform by Phonethics Mobile Media (maker of exclusive mobile content).

Commenting on the initiative, Mahesh Prasad, President of Applications Solutions & Content Group, Reliance Communications, said, “The premiere of ‘Ctrl+Alt+Del’ on Reliance Mobile marks another milestone, whereby the Indian film industry has recognized the power of the mobile medium by releasing it on Reliance Mobile World.”

“Reliance continues to delight its mobile customers by bringing big screen content to mobile phones such as the recent introduction of TV serials like Mahabharata and Malgudi Days,” Prasad said.

Adding to it, Saurabh Gupta, CEO of Phonethics Mobile Media and Director of ‘Ctrl+Alt+Del’, said, “Phonethics is in the advanced stages of developing a slew of new products for exclusive distribution over mobile phones in the growing Indian market. We look forward to surge ahead with the support of partners such as Reliance and Rahul Bose.”

Releasing ‘Ctrl+Alt+Del’ on Reliance Mobile World, noted actor Rahul Bose, said, “For the first time in world telecommunications history, the customer has been offered two completely diverse offerings on a single platform: mobile services and movies! I am thrilled to be part of this never-before initiative jointly promoted by Reliance Communications and Phonethics Mobile Media.”

“Ctrl+Alt+Del” is now accessible on Reliance Mobile World under the option, ‘Movies N More’. It is available at Rs 15 for a 5 minute online streaming; Rs 10 for movie video clips; and Rs 5 for downloads of ringtones and wallpapers.

TechTree: With many voicing their concern over Xbox 360’s rather large power consumption and heat output, Microsoft has been planning a hardware upgrade in the form of manufacturing Xbox 360’s three-core CPU using 65nm technology instead of the current 90nm technology.

Originally scheduled for Q1 of 2007, this production of the 65nm version of Xbox 360 CPU has now been postponed to mid-2007.

In April this year, Microsoft signed an agreement with Chartered Semiconductor, a dedicated semiconductor foundry, for the manufacture of the 65nm version of Xbox CPU using Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) semiconductor technology. Initially, production was slated to begin in the first quarter of 2007. That window of release has now been pushed back to mid-2007.

According to Microsoft, the switch from 90nm to 65nm technology will ensure reduced heat generation and power consumption, in turn leading to reduced costs.

All current generation Xbox 360s that run on 90nm technology manufactured by Chartered Semiconductor will not be affected by the hardware upgrade. However, for those Xbox 360 fans eagerly waiting for a less hot, bit less noisy, and bit cheaper version of Xbox 360, their wait - it seems - just got longer…
 

TechTree: The annual TNS CellTrack 2006 study, which covered around 3,000 mobile users and 1,057 multi-brand retail outlets across 17 telecom circles, threw-up some interesting results.

Finnish handset major, Nokia, retained top slot in the Indian GSM market with 79 percent market share, while Motorola more than doubled its share to seven percent in 2006.
Perhaps Motorola’s gain was Samsung’s loss for the latter’s GSM market share dropped from 6 percent in 2005 to 4 percent in 2006.

Meanwhile in the CDMA market, Nokia again managed to retain top share, while Samsung lost market share from 17 percent to 8 percent, and Motorola too lost market share from 12 percent to 4 percent.

LG notched top slot with 49 percent of the CDMA market vis- -vis 43 percent in 2005.

The study said the TRIM index for the industry, which measures the strength of ’subscriber-service provider relationship’ increased from 79 in 2005 to 82 in 2006.

Amongst telecom players, Bharti Airtel retained number one spot with TRIM Index up from 82 in 2005 to 92 in 2006. Hutch notched second slot, while Reliance the third.

Idea, BSNL, and Tata Teleservices all maintained performance, but in terms of rankings - they stood below industry average.

State-run MTNL improved its TRIM Index rating to 100, while Aircel continued to top regional player ratings with a 110 score

TechTree: India’s biggest IT brand, Infosys, is reportedly in talks with 10 international banks for export of its core banking software solution, Finacle.

As it is, Finacle has been dominating the Indian market with 30 big banks as clients. Now, Infy has ambitious overseas plans for its software solution, with some big orders said to be already in its kitty.

Merwin Fernandes, Vice President and Business Head of Infosys Finacle, said they are in talks with more than 10 big banks for large deals in different countries for their core banking software, Finacle.

Fernandes said the banks they are dealing with are major tier I and tier II banks placed in different regions across the globe, and that they have already increased their tally with 7 new banks choosing Finacle in the first half of this year.

With core banking operations a major revenue spinner for Infy, the IT major is also looking towards untapped markets like Latin America.

In the long run, advanced countries too could become potential markets for Infy since their core banking systems are already about a decade old, and as such, require implementing changes as soon as possible.
 

TechTree: Philips Electronics India has unveiled its 42PF9831 Ambilight Full Surround and 32PF9531 Ambilight TV in the Indian market.

Of the two, the 42PF9831 is a four-sided Ambilight Flat TV display that incorporates Philips’ proprietary new technology called ‘Ambilight Full Surround’.

The most advanced of Ambilight technology, ‘Ambilight Full Surround’ offers four-sided color and a completely immersive as also more relaxed viewing experience.

The 42PF9831 Ambilight Full Surround, as the name suggests, is a Cineos Flat TV with Pixel Plus 3 HD and ‘Ambilight Full Surround’. The digital media reader offers full access to multimedia content. The high definition LCD WXGA display gives wide monitor display. With HD ready, the highest quality HDTV signal display is procured. The ‘Ambilight Full Surround’ makes for an immersive viewing experience. The compact Lambda 4 sound subwoofer technology for deep bass enables a superior audio performance. The TV is also equipped with a USB and Memory card slot to bring instant multimedia.

The 32PF9531 Ambilight TV is slim and stylish, with Pixel Plus 2 improving the resolution of still and moving pictures. The LCD WXGA display with LCD screen technology gives wide-screen HD Resolution.
With HD Ready, superior picture quality is got. With digital Natural Motion, jittery movements are corrected. The Active Control optimizes picture, while Virtual Dolby Surround enhances surround sound effects.