News

indianexpress: Some 50 Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists on Tuesday gheraoed Kothrud Telephone Exchange divisional engineer Dattatreya Ghodke, protesting against the BSNL authorities’ failure to carry out repairs of over 3,000 telephone connections on Karve, Prabhat and Bhandarkar roads.

Upset over the lethargic approach of the authorities, a group of agitated party workers — led by MNS’ Kothrud unit president Ram Borkar — gheraoed Ghodke and demanded that connectivity be restored to the telephones that had gone dead during the road repair work around two months ago.
 
Borkar said that the residents had been suffering, with the dysfunctional phones for the past two months with the BSNL authorities showing no regard to the residents’ problems. “But they have now given us a letter stating that all telephone lines would be repaired within the next six days,” Borkar told Newsline. BSNL chief general manager D K Maheshwari could not contacted for comment.

MNS workers also slammed Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for not taking authorities from Maharashtra State Energy Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) and BSNL into confidence during the road widening exercise, as a result of which so many faults were reported in the telephone systems. “The communication network in the three localities has been thrown out of gear, with PMC not bothering to restore the service lines,” Borkar said.

indianexpress:  A Smart look, better parking arrangements, events for children and a club for patrons will mark the new look at the walking plaza on MG Road when it opens after the monsoon break on Saturday. Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) has signed a lucrative deal with Modular Advertising and Display Solutions (MADS) to give the concept a smart look.

In a meeting on Tuesday, the PCB chalked out a detailed plan for parking places near the plaza. The parking places will be at Golibar Maidan (for two-wheelers and four-wheelers), at Bombay Garage for four-wheelers,at the VIP basement parking, Kumar Pavilion, Virmani Plaza and the whole of Lt Col Tarapore Road.
 
Modular Advertising and Display Solutions (MADS) bagged the contract to run the plaza for a year. To attract children, magicians, portrait makers, photographers and various competitions will be organised. “There will be an exclusive area allotted for cultural performances by Indian folk artistes, painters, folk singers, instrument players, performers,” a MADS press release said.

A special club — GoMG Club — has also been planned for patrons that will entitle them to special benefits on shopping and upcoming events.

To rake in the revenue, the company will look out for advertising through centre medians, revolving stages, standees as in tree wraps, backlit boards, mobile signs and vans.

“Last time, we got Rs 6 lakh from the event management company managing the walking plaza. This time, we have awarded the contract at the rate of around Rs 12 lakh per year. We will closely monitor the earnings of the company. The amount for next year will go up after one year depending on the profits posted by the company,” said Cantonment Executive Officer S K Sardana.

indianexpress:  Special Judge R Y Shaikh on Tuesday remanded lady police inspector Rajeshree Sushilkumar Gandhi of Pune Rural Police and driver Abdul Latif Abdul Razzak Shaikh to one-day police custody till Monday. The duo was arrested by the state Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Pune for allegedly extorting Rs 18,000 from a hotel manager on August 15.

Additional public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar informed the court that the custodial interrogation of Gandhi was necessary to recover Rs 20,000 as she had misused her official position and had accepted the bribe amount through Shaikh. Pawar argued that Gandhi even tried to destroy some handwritten documents when a search was conducted by the ACB at her flat in Fatima Nagar. Defence lawyer Alankar Karlekar told the court that there was a delay in registering the complaint and said that the alleged incident took place on August 15.
 
Karlekar further alleged that the ACB had suppressed the house search panchanama that showed recovery of cash and some bank receipts and submitted that the grounds mentioned in the remand report for seeking police custody was insufficient and pleaded to remand the duo to judicial custody. However, judge Shaikh remanded the accused to police custody till Wednesday after he found substantial prima facie evidence in the submissions by the prosecution

indianexpress: Seven-year-old Bharati Gore from Kasarwadi loves going to school. She missed the initial years due to blindness in one eye but after a corneal transplant, she now excels in academics. Bharati had to wait long for a donor — almost two years before she could get the transplant done.

Like Bharati, hundreds of others are in the list who have registered with eye banks and hospitals but have to wait for indefinite periods due to lack of donors. There is a requirement of at least 3,000 eyes in Pune. “We collect at least 250-300 eyes every year and have performed 250 corneal transplants. However, there is need for more corneas,” said chairperson (western zone) of Eye Bank Association of India Dr Bageshri Gogate. She is also the director of the eye bank at H V Desai Eye Hospital.

With national eye donation fortnight going on till September 8, several hospitals and eye banks have organised programmes for creating awareness about eye donation. At a unique programme on September 6, H V Desai Eye Hospital will conduct an interaction between 250-donor families and 100 recipients where the names of families who have donated the eyes will not be disclosed. Patients who have received the eyes will relate their experience at the event, Gogate said.

indianexpress: Reconnex Corporation USA, the leader in data loss prevention appliances, has started its India operations in Pune. The India centre will focus on developing innovative technology for the product line of the company for the worldwide market.

Anand Kekre, Country Manager, Reconnex, said that Reconnex’s data loss prevention appliances are designed for any organisation — including enterprises, government agencies or educational institutions — that wants to protect its brand, maintain compliance or secure sensitive information. Data loss prevention is one of the fastest growing network security markets worldwide. Reconnex protects information for over one million users.
 
“The India operations will be beefed up within a year and we expect it to be a 40 plus organisation,” Kekre added.

Reconnex’s appliance delivers accurate detection while protecting an enterprise before, during, and after any threat to corporate privacy or intellectual property. Reconnex products have the ability to discover, capture, prevent and control all sensitive information entering or leaving the corporate network. This allows enterprises to protect vital information both at rest and in transit.

indianexpress: The city known for its links to the Father of the Nation is all set to get a landmark associated with him.This time it will be a contemporary and modern one in the form of a 70-foot sculpture depicting the Mahatma’s charkha.

This was the design that bagged for its creator Nuru Karim, the coveted first prize in the ‘Notions of a Nation’ competition held in Kolkata on the eve of India’s 60th year of Independence.
 
Organised by Tata Structura and Indian Architects and Builders (IA&B) magazine, the competition had over 110 entries from across the country, each striving to give their interpretation of which architectural symbol best represents contemporary India.

The jury comprising some of the best names in Indian architecture like BV Doshi, finally zeroed in on Karim’s futuristic portrayal of Gandhi’s charkha for the prestigious award.

And this design that is presently in 3-D and a scale model version, will take its final shape that will be installed in Pune. “Several places were discussed after the contest and finally the choice narrowed down to Delhi and Pune. Pune then won because of its emerging mega-city status. Also it’s an important centre now for design and IT and in every way is itself the symbol of contemporary India,” says Karim.

techtree: Dell has reportedly introduced its OptiPlex 755 Desktop, claimed to be the world’s most manageable energy efficient commercial desktop.

In keeping with its commitment to being the ‘most green technology vendor’, Dell’s OptiPlex 755 Desktop is Energy Star 4.0 compliant. Which means it will help reduce Carbon emissions through energy efficiency.

The desktop features innovations in systems management, eco-design, and services, claims Dell.

Dell is hopeful that the OptiPlex 755 will help reduce the number of desk side service visits required for maintainance. The desktop integrates Intel vPro technology with remote management features. As such, customers can manage systems that are powered down or have no operating system.

Other features of the desktop include: flexible upgrade path from ASF to vPro within the same platform, Dell Client Manager (DCM) standard, and support for leading management solutions.

techtree: SanDisk has reportedly launched its Sansa Clip, a tiny clip-on rectangular shaped MP3 player that measures about 3 x 2cm.

Unlike the iPod Shuffle, the Sansa Clip features a screen for music navigation, FM radio with recorder, voice recorder, and microphone, and can play tracks in MP3 and WMA formats.

SanDisk claims that with it’s Sansa Clip, customers can buy music cheaper as against with Apple Computer’s iPod.

Tracks with Sansa Clip compatible DRM can be purchased from Wal-Mart’s new online store for 88 cents each as compared to 99 cents per iPod compatible DRM track purchased from the iTunes digital music store.

SanDisk says the device has a battery life rated at 15 hours.

The Sansa Clip will be available in the US in September for $40 (Rs 1,800 approx) for the 1GB model, and $60 (Rs 2,700 approx) for the 2GB one. The Clip will come in three colors; namely, Black, Blue, and Pink.

techtree: Canon has reportedly launched the Pixma MP145 photo all-in-one printer that integrates Canon’s double color gamut processing technology for sharper, more vibrant images.

The new all-in-one supports Canon’s full photo lithography inkjet nozzle engineering (FINE) print head technology, and according to the company, enables borderless 4-inch x 6-inch photo prints in just 60 seconds.

Photographs can be printed at up to 4800 x 1200 dpi in color, with ink droplet size as small as 2 pico litres, the company claims.

The printer comes with new PG-830 and CL-831 FINE cartridges that make for affordable printing.

The Pixma MP145 scans photos/documents using a high quality CIS sensor that provides optical scanning resolution of up to 600 x 1200 dpi, Canon claims. The Z-lid cover can be raised up to 20mm, allowing scanning of thicker items like books.

The USB 2.0 hi-speed interface enables faster image transfers and scanning speeds. Scanning can be done in either ‘fit to page’ or ‘borderless copy’ mode.

The all-in-one also doubles as a copier, producing 19 copies per minute (mono) and 15 copies per minute (color), the company says.

Printing speeds are up to 20 pages per minute for monochrome and 15 pages per minute for color, making it one of the fastest printers, as per Canon.

techtree: Canon has reportedly launched the Pixma MP145 photo all-in-one printer that integrates Canon’s double color gamut processing technology for sharper, more vibrant images.

The new all-in-one supports Canon’s full photo lithography inkjet nozzle engineering (FINE) print head technology, and according to the company, enables borderless 4-inch x 6-inch photo prints in just 60 seconds.

Photographs can be printed at up to 4800 x 1200 dpi in color, with ink droplet size as small as 2 pico litres, the company claims.

The printer comes with new PG-830 and CL-831 FINE cartridges that make for affordable printing.

The Pixma MP145 scans photos/documents using a high quality CIS sensor that provides optical scanning resolution of up to 600 x 1200 dpi, Canon claims. The Z-lid cover can be raised up to 20mm, allowing scanning of thicker items like books.

The USB 2.0 hi-speed interface enables faster image transfers and scanning speeds. Scanning can be done in either ‘fit to page’ or ‘borderless copy’ mode.

The all-in-one also doubles as a copier, producing 19 copies per minute (mono) and 15 copies per minute (color), the company says.

Printing speeds are up to 20 pages per minute for monochrome and 15 pages per minute for color, making it one of the fastest printers, as per Canon.