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indianexpress: AN initiative that will see Pune being catapulted into the animation and gaming hub, is being launched. The Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) has formed an action group of professionals, training institutes and celebrities for this initiative, of which Amol Palekar will be brand ambassador.

An ecosystem for this is already evolving in Pune with the best animation and gaming schools from across the globe setting up schools to train manpower for the industry. Dozens of design studios are already flourishing in the city with companies setting up operations here. Nvidia Graphics has set up its operations and is rapidly expanding. Jump Games has set shop to develop mobile gaming. Verisoft is into testing gaming software and has 50 people dedicated to testing the latest gaming software. Auryn Animation Studios, involved with films such as Titanic, Shark Tales, Stuart Little and Spiderman, has set up its India operations. Two more are set to launch operations in the city.
 
“The goal is to attract top global players to Pune,” said commodore Anand Khandekar (retd), chairman, animation and gaming committee of the MCCIA and director/chief mentor, Nvidia Graphics Pvt Ltd said. “A roadmap will be prepared and the group will push for a policy with the Government of Maharashtra to develop the industry.”

Dr Ashok Kolaskar, MD of DSK School of Gaming and Animation, said there was scope to go beyond entertainment.

“Import teaching aids is expensive, so it is best we do it on our own,” Kolaskar said. Gireendra Kasmalkar, founder and CEO of Verisoft, said the industry was waking up to possibilities of outsourcing and offshoring.

Samir Bose of Auryn India, however, said a lot of donkey’s work was being done in India and it was high time creative work came out of India, which his company was focussing on. Jaya Panwalkar, director, Nvidia India, said the cost of animation was no longer a stumbling block as a graphics card ranging from $ 200-2,000 was available depending on the need.

indianexpress: TILL Wednesday, four-year-old Rizwan Shaikh, despite being gifted with amazing memory could not go to school because his parents Rajmohammad and Ruksar could not afford it.

On Thursday morning, after German national Heinz Toelle, partner of Sanaswadi-based Menshen Ropa Plastics Pvt Limited, read about his extraordinary recall in Pune Newsline, Rizwan had found a benefactor.

Toelle is willing to sponsor Rizwan’s education.The decision was communicated to Superintendent of Police (Pune Rural) Vishwas Nangre Patil by managing director Hiten Patel on Thursday.

According to Patel, Heinz Toelle, who was visiting the company facility read the report and made up his mind to sponsor Rizwan’s schooling.Toelle said he would pay his fees, lodging, boarding and all his educational expenses. “ He wants Rizwan to achieve his goals and now it is up to his father to decide.The choice of school lies with the family,” Patel said.

Nangre Patil on Thursday deputed police sub-inspector Arvind Gokule of the Local Crime branch (LCB) to facilitate a meeting between Heinz Toelle and Rizwan’s family members. Gokule was instructed to locate Rizwan’s address in Padmavati and take him to the company headquarters at Sanaswadi in Shirur taluka. However, both could not meet since Toelle had to leave for Mumbai to catch a flight back to Germany.

“Toelle was disappointed he could not meet the child,” said Patel.

Nangre Patil said, “The rural police will play the role of mediator in the process and ensure there is a comprehensive programme to settle Rizwan. All the focus will be to ensure that he gets the best of education in a top school.”

indianexpress:  THE University of Pune’s ambitious Vision Document introduced amid much fanfare by Vice Chancellor Narendra Jadhav, has run into problems with the teachers at the University. In a series of strongly worded letters to Jadhav, heads of various departments have raised objections to the document. These include lack of consultation of stakeholders within the university, and omission of critical issues like recruitment and promotion policy.

The draft of the document, Mission, Strategic Vision and Action Programme, was prepared by a high-powered committee appointed by Jadhav, comprising experts like Vijay Bhatkar, Ram Takawale, Suma Chitnis, Vijay Kelkar, and others.

It was sent to various departments for review, and a meeting was held on April 17 with directors and heads of departments. Feedback letters and emails were written by faculty members from departments like Electronics, Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Physics, Political Sciences, Communication Studies, Sociology, and Women’s Studies.

While certain aspects of the vision document have been welcomed by the professors, doubts were raised regarding its overall approach and implementation. “… We note with regret that the distinguished team who drafted the Mission Document does not include a single stakeholder from the University… It is no wonder that the Programme of Action suggested has nothing solid to offer given that it is built upon weak foundations, naïve views and unrealistic expectations,” one of the letters said.

Jadhav said the feedback was a part of finalising the draft. “Now the document has reached a further, more refined stage. Next, it will be approved by the university authorities, and taken forward,” he said.

indianexpress:  THE Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) tax department on Thursday decided to cancel the backdated assessment of property owner Someshwar Prabhakar Bhide.

On Tuesday, Pune Newsline had reported how the PMC has asked Bhide and some 350 others to pay tax on their property from the previous years.
 
Bhide had applied for tax assessment for his 2,000 sq feet plot at Kondhwa Budruk in April 2006. The PMC, instead of charging the assessment fee for that year, had asked him to make the payment from April 1, 2005.

The PMC has now rectified the notice and Bhide has to pay Rs 10,000 less. According to the earlier notice, he had to pay Rs 5,440 per year from 2005.

“The tax department officials visited my residence on Thursday morning and handed me the rectified notice. I now have to pay Rs 6,888,” said Bhide.

Bhide’s refusal to pay the backdated amount had stalled his plans of constructing a house on the open plot. “I will pay the tax immediately and forward my building permission plan,” he said.

Acting assistant tax collector and assessor Dyanand Sonkamble said there was a ‘mistake’ in the earlier notice by the civic administration. “We checked our files and realised that the assessment year should have been 2006 but was typed wrongly as 2005,” he said.

Moreover, Sonkamble said the PMC will verify the legality of all cases of backdated assessments and make amends wherever necessary.

indianexpress: THE next time you travel in an MSRTC bus, don’t be surprised if the conductor suddenly invites the passengers for a round of antakshari. As part of a new initiative by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), plans are to start interactive sessions and games like antakshari on Asiad buses.

The idea is to bring back passengers weaned away by private tour operators. The initiative will be part of the three coastal tours to be organised by the MSRTC beginning this month. The first tour to Karnataka will start from May 19, followed by Hyderabad on May 21 and the Konkan on May 24, said officials at the Swargate bus depot.
 
“The concept of tour packages is not new to the MSRTC. We have been organising day-long tours to Lonavla, Harihareshwar and Malshej. The passengers are brought back to the city the same day,” an MSRTC official said.

What drove the transport body to undertake the new venture was the fact that a fun atmosphere was conspicuous in its absence during the tours.

In a similar tour organised in December, officials learnt their lessons. “We noticed passengers sitting idle in the buses during travel and there was no ‘tour atmosphere’. So, this time, conductors and tour guides in buses have been asked to organise antakshari and interactive programmes,” the official informed.

Also, from now on, efforts will be made to ensure that people get to know their co-passengers which might add an element of comfort during the trip. “Every passenger will be from a different background and will have unique experiences. So, they will all be asked to share their experiences. Also, they will be given information about the next day’s location,” the official said.

A 7-day tour to Karnataka will cost Rs 4,500; which will cover Badami, Hampi, Bangalore, Srirangapattam, Mysore and Shravanbelagola along with Goa and Ganapatipule on the return journey.

indianexpress:  RESOLVING to end malnutrition in the tribal belt of Melghat, NGO Maitri has announced on the completion of its 10th year, a variety of initiatives for creating awareness and encouraging greater public participation in its activities.

Maitri will be setting up ‘friends circles’ of senior citizens, assistance at local hospitals, environment cleanliness drives, educational and other programmes for awareness creation on issues like famine prevention, social service in schools and so on.

“We will be providing opportunities to anyone who wants to volunteer with Maitri and will offer a variety of modules depending on their convenience and time available,” Maitri secretary Anil Shidore said at a press conference on Wednesday. He added that volunteers at Maitri had varied backgrounds including medicine and software. To provide information on opportunities available for volunteers, Maitri will hold a ‘Resolution Day’ programme on May 13 at the SM Joshi Foundation Hall at 6 pm.

Over the past 10 years, Maitri has sent 250 volunteers to work with tribes battling issues like malnutrition and infant mortality. Efforts are on to curb infant mortality in 22 villages. Volunteers including doctors have been visiting Melghat as part of Maitri’s monsoon programme to counter the outbreak of diseases.

indianexpress: COMMUTERS will soon have to shell out Rs 5 for parking their four-wheelers on Junglee Maharaj Road, Fergusson College Road, Barne Road and Aundh Road. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will introduce a pay-and-park system on all main roads within a fortnight.

The civic administration has already issued tenders for parking on these roads. Parking stripes will be drawn and provisions for alternate parking — P1, P2 — will be made. The PMC hopes to bring parking discipline to congested roads through this system and make it easy for the traffic police.

Workers of the parking contractor will be present every 100 metres and will give commuters printed receipts.

techtree: Intel India yesterday announced a host of new technologies, including faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors for its latest generation Intel Centrino processor technology used in consumer and business notebook PCs.

The company says over 230 Intel Centrino Duo and Intel Centrino Pro technology-based designs from PC manufacturers, resellers, and integrators worldwide are expected to take advantage of the new technologies. And the notebooks will come in an array of designs, ranging from fully loaded, 17-inch wide-screen entertainment models to tiny, energy-saving notebook PCs, some weighing even less than 3 pounds.

Speaking at the occasion, Ramamurthy Sivakumar, Managing Director of Intel South Asia, said, “When we introduced Intel Centrino four years ago, we changed the computing landscape with our mobile innovations. Now, simply said, we have improved virtually all aspects of Intel-based notebooks, the most popular and fastest growing computing market segment in the world.”

At the core of these new notebooks will be the next generation of Intel’s highly acclaimed Intel Core 2 Duo processor technology.

The Gen-Next Core 2 Duo processors promise improved performance while running multiple applications simulaneously.

There are additional power management features to enable users derive greater performance from their notebooks, at an even longer battery life.

The Mobile Intel 965 Express chipset family with Intel Clear Video Technology will facilitate an improved high-definition video experience.

With the Intel TV Wizard, users will be able to more easily share content with loved ones.

A new suite of drivers will make for a robust Windows Vista Premium experience featuring Windows Aero.

techtree: New Dell Latitude D630, D830, and D531 notebook models were unveiled by the company today.

The notebooks are in response to customer demand for better mobility, along with better battery life, performance, and connectivity, Dell said.

Besides, the systems are claimed capable of energy efficiency with their select Energy Star 4.0 compliant configurations.

The Latitude D630 and D830 notebooks pack the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors together with Gen-Next wireless technologies and extended battery capacities of up to 9.4 hours.

Whereas, the Latitude D531, a mainstream-value notebook, boasts AMD Turion 64 and Sempron processors.

All three notebooks support: fully encrypted hard drive for maximum security sans performance loss; optional solid state (SSD) drive available in coming weeks; choice of Intel Turbo Memory cache card (on the D630 and D830) or Hybrid hard drive for leveraging flash memory to support Microsoft Vista ReadyDrive and reduce boot time; and displays up to 38 percent brighter than previous generation notebooks.

Besides, the notebooks sport: HyperConnect features such as integrated 802.11n wireless connectivity; smart security solutions such as integrated smart card/biometric readers, TPM 1.2, and fully encrypted hard drives; and a customer-driven design with latest 64-bit hardware and energy efficient products.

They are road ready with Magnesium alloy construction and full-time Strike Zone hard drive protection that is backed by rigorous testing, Dell claims.

An important new aspect of these notebooks is that they are ‘energy smart’ thanks to their select Energy Star 4.0 configurations. Which means, they are compliant with an environmental protection agency specification that calls for more stringent controls on energy consumed by both desktops and notebooks.

techtree: Leading manufacturer of virus prevention solutions, Spain-based Panda Software, has added India to its global footprint of over 50 countries.

To coincide with its India launch, Panda Software is introducing three new consumer products, including Panda Antivirus 2007, Panda Antivirus + Firewall 2007, and Panda Internet Security 2007.

Of the three, Panda Internet Security 2007, the company says, is a complete security solution that provides protection against Internet threats, featuring technologies to combat all types of viruses and spyware.

Panda Internet Security 2007 is claimed to offer anti-spam, anti-phishing, parental control, Panda firewall, as also specific technology for prevention of online identity/data theft.

Speaking on the occasion, Mohandas, MD of Panda Software India, said, “Panda Software, ever since its establishment, has been focused on providing best-of-the-breed security technologies to its customers worldwide. Bringing that value to companies in India, we are pleased to launch Panda Software in the country.”

“Panda Internet Security 2007 has already received certification from the most widely respected organizations in the sector, such as ICSA Labs, and West Coast Labs. In addition, a study of different security solutions conducted by VeriTest, the test service of Lionbridge, found Panda Internet Security 2007 faster and better performing as compared to rival products.”