Thoughts for the New Year 2010

"Your Word is Your Wand"
-Florence Scovel Shinn

Man's word is his wand filled with magic and power!
Jesus Christ emphasized the power of the word; "By thy
words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt
be condemned," and "death and life are in the power of
the tongue."

So man has power to change an unhappy condition by
waving over it the wand of his word. In the place of
sorrow appears joy, in the place of sickness appears
health, in the place of lack appears plenty.

For example: A woman came for a treatment for
prosperity. She possessed just two dollars in the world.

I said: "We bless the two dollars and know that you have
the magic purse of the Spirit; it can never be depleted;
as money goes out, immediately money comes in, under
grace in perfect ways. I see it always crammed, jammed
with money: Yellow bills, green bills, pink checks, blue
checks, white checks, gold, silver and currency. I see it
bulging with abundance!"

She replied: "I feel my bag
heavy with money," and was so filled with faith that she
gave me one of her dollars as a love offering. I did not
dare refuse it and see lack for her, as it was important
that I hold the picture of plenty. Shortly afterwards she
was made a gift of six thousand dollars. Fearless faith
and the spoken word brought it to pass. The affirmation
of the magic purse is very powerful, as it brings a vivid
picture to the mind. It is impossible not to see your
purse or wallet filled with money when using the words,
"crammed, jammed."

The imaging faculty is the creative faculty and it is
important to choose words which bring a flash of the
fulfillment of the demand.

Never force a picture by visualizing; let the Divine Idea
flash into your conscious mind; then the student is
working according to the Divine Design.

Jesus Christ said: "Ye shall know the Truth and the
Truth shall make you free." This means that man must
know the Truth of every situation which confronts him.
There is no Truth in lack or limitation. He waves over it
the wand of His Word and the wilderness rejoices
and blossoms as the rose.

Fear, doubt, anxiety, anger, resentment pull down the
cells of the body, shock the nervous system and are the
causes of disease and disaster.

Happiness and health must be earned by absolute
control of the emotional nature.

Power moves but is never moved. When man stands
calm and serene, has a good appetite, feels contented
and happy when appearances are against him, he has
reached mastery. Then he has the power to "rebuke the
winds and the waves," to control conditions.
His word is his wand and he transmutes apparent failure
into success.

He knows his universal supply is endless and immediate
and all his needs manifest instantly on the external.
For example, a woman at sea awoke in the morning
hearing the fog-horns blowing. A dense fog had settled
on the ocean with no apparent signs of clearing.

She immediately spoke the word: "There are no fogs in
Divine Mind, so let the fog be lifted! I give thanks for the
sun! Soon the sun came out, for man has dominion over
"the elements - over all created things."

Every man has power to lift the fog in his life. It may be a
fog of lack of money, love, happiness or health.
Give thanks for the sun!

India 3G auction set for February

India's bandwidth auctions for third generation (3G) mobile telephone services will be held in February after being pushed back from their original date, an official said Thursday.

The official with the Department of Telecommunications who is involved in the auction process told Dow Jones Newswires the auctions "will be held in February."

The auctions for four slots of radio bandwidth, which have already been delayed several times, were previously scheduled for January 14 and a new date is to be posted on the ministry's website.

One slot is already reserved and will be shared by state-run telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) and Mahanager Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL), another nationalised firm.

The Indian government has set 35 billion rupees (754 million dollars) as the starting price for one slot.

The government has said it aims to raise 250 billion rupees (5.38 billion dollars) from the sale of 3G bandwidth that would allow high-speed Internet, video downloads and other sophisticated services on cellular telephones.

The money raised from the auction is set to help plug a yawning fiscal deficit.

Last week, Telecommunications Minister A. Raja had assured that the auction would be held on time despite his ministry missing a deadline to send out invitations to potential bidders.

Soon, control TV with a simple wave of the hand

You may soon be able to control your TV with a simple wave of the hand, thanks to researchers who have developed a 3-D gesture recognition system.
Softkinetic, a Brussels-based software company, and Texas Instruments have teamed up to make a system that would make touchscreens history.
With a simple wave of hand, people will be able to change television channels or turn the volume up or down.

In video games, your movements will control your onscreen digital avatar.
"On the consumer side you have three markets-television, video games and personal computers," Discovery News quoted Softkinetic chief executive Michel Tombroff as saying.

"The objective is to be on the consumer market at the end of next year, by Christmas, so people can buy these things," he said.
"In the same way that the Nintendo Wii completely changed the way that people play video games this 3-D camera technology will allow us to completely transform the way people interact with television," Tombroff added.
According to Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, gesture recognition technology is "directionally correct because anything leading to a more natural interface for a human is better.

"We're in that transition to a time when gestural input will be quite natural. From what I've seen of the demos they're pretty close," Kay added.
However in video games, "using a camera in real time to capture motion and then take the representative avatar from that and play it on a screen with other elements in a virtual world is a pretty compelling experience," he added.
Tombroff said Softkinetic's gesture recognition system includes a 3-D camera that "looks like a little webcam" and is mounted on top of a television set or computer monitor.
"It looks at the scene and it can analyze gestures without you holding anything in your hand or wearing any special equipment. It's really the ultimate gesture-based solution," he said.
Tombroff said the technology has the capability of transforming television.

"It will become an active component of the living room. It's not just about sitting in the living room, turning it on and watching," he said.
"It's about interacting. The TV will recognize you. If you step in front of it, the camera will recognize it's you," he added. (ANI)

Viru, Sachin in Roebuck's XI



MS Dhoni will lead Peter Roebuck's Test team of the year, which also includes the likes of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar.

Christmas is the season of forgiveness!



Christmas is the season of forgiveness, hope and cheer all around. Bollywood too seems to have forgotten the differences of opinions as the stars come together for the premiere of Aamir starrer '3 Idiots.' From the event.


'4 Idiots' Bollywood actors R Madhvan, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Sharman Joshi at the premiere of '3 Idiots' in Mumbai on Wednesday night (23 Dec 2009).

Kashmiris asked to decide on state's special status

Jammu: The fifth working group on Jammu and Kashmir set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has submitted its report and recommended that the people of the state decide whether it should retain the special status under Article 370 of the constitution or not.

"It is for the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir to decide how long to continue Article 370 in its present form and when to make it permanent or abrogate (it)," the first recommendation of the group said.

"The matter being 60 years old should be settled once and for all," it added.

The report was submitted by Justice (retd) Sageer Ahmad, heading the working group, to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday evening.

The group recommended that the "the question of autonomy and its demand can be examined in the light of the Kashmir Accord or in some other manner or on the basis of some other formula as the present prime minister may deem fit and appropriate so as to restore the autonomy to the extent possible".

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had in 2006 set up five working groups on confidence building in Jammu and Kashmir and to improve relations between the state and the central government.

The group also called for a "consensus" on the term of the state legislative Assembly.

Cognizant offers job to 700 Anna University students

The Anna University students are excited to receive 700 job offers from the U.S.-based Cognizant Technology Solutions, though it was less than the 1,000 offers that Cognizant made last year, said Dr. P. Mannar Jawahar, Vice Chancellor, Anna University.


"The numbers may be less from Cognizant, but we are still happy considering the downturn in the software industry," Jawahar told Business Line. Cognizant was the first large recruiter this year in the university that includes the College of Engineering, Guindy, Madras Institute of Technology, Chrompet and Alagappa College of Technology.

The starting salary offered by Cognizant remained unchanged from last year, at Rs. 3 lakh a year. Around 1,640 students took the test, of whom 1,345 were shortlisted and 700 were offered jobs, Jawahar said. Before Cognizant, 'core and dream' companies such as Caterpillar and Larsen & Toubro that offer a starting salary of over Rs. 4 lakh have given job offers to around 300 students, Jawahar said.

India tightens visa rules, U.S., UK tourists in trouble

To fill the gap in the visa system, Indian government has decided to tighten its long-term tourist visas. Tourists who have been in the country for more than five or 10 years will have to leave the country every six months, and will have to wait for two months before they can reenter India, reports NDTV.


Earlier, tourists on similar visas could leave India for short trips to Nepal or other close-by countries, before returning to India. The new rules are learnt to be the result of David Coleman Headley case. Headley, a U.S. national, made frequent trips to India between 2006 and 2009, travelling to different cities to allegedly plan terror attacks. Headley was arrested in Chicago in October by the FBI for helping to plan and execute the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai last year.


Home Minister P Chidambaram said, "The gaps in the visa system have been exposed in number of cases, the most notable among them being the case of David Coleman Headley. The compelling need to create a fool-proof system cannot be overstated."

But will this step of Indian Govt be acceptable for other countries? Both the U.S. and UK have expressed concern over the new guidelines because a large number of tourists and people of Indian origin live in these countries and travel frequently to India. The envoys of both countries have conveyed their reservations.

The British High Commission states that while it appreciates the Indian government's right to protect its citizens, it hopes 'genuine tourists' won't be adversely affected. Seven lakh British tourists visit India every year. The U.S. Embassy, on its website, also seems to be critical of the new policy. The website highlights 'inconsistencies' in implementation of new rules that have not been publicized and cites examples of Americans who say they've gone through problems.

HCL announces new laptops for Christmas

HCL Infosystems has unveiled its new range of 3G enabled ME series Netbook, the HCL ME 06. Especially designed to match the persona of today's youth and support the on-the-go lifestyle of business executives, HCL ME 06 comes with integrated 3G capabilities, offering seamless connectivity and faster access to the internet. With energy star 5.0 certified, HCL ME 06 will be available in a range of exciting festival colours including red, blue and black.

HCL also launched the new notebook HCL ME 45, equipped with multi touch gesture touchpad that helps user to expand, shrink and rotate the picture through the movement of figures on touchpad. Other innovative features include "Split ME" where one can share their data without worrying about the size of the file. "Lock ME" that prevents data theft from the system.

This feature ensures that the data cannot be copied on to external storage devices, USB memory sticks, CD optical disk drives, hard disk drive without getting authorization from the user. "Secure ME" is an effective tool which can be used to lock any application installed on the PC like Internet Browser, Adobe, Power point. "Encrypt ME" allows the user to encrypt their data and avoids unauthorized access of the data providing assurance against data theft.

HCL ME 06 Netbook is priced at Rs. 19,990 and HCL ME 45 notebook is available for Rs. 39,990. These products will be available across stores in the country.

With the launch of these products, HCL also kick started a special festival campaign the "Winter Carnival". Under this limited period festival offer a consumer will get an assured gift including Yuvraj Singh autographed Reebok Track suit worth Rs. 5999. In addition on purchase of a HCL ME 38 series laptop a consumer will also be eligible to receive a Nokia 3500c mobile phone worth Rs. 6289.

Sensex closes 129 points up, auto stocks gain

Mumbai: Sensex closed 129 points higher on Thursday, with auto companies leading the gains, on growing optimism about December quarter earnings and the long-term prospects of the economy.


 The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 17,265.47 points and ended at 17,360.61 points up 129.50 points or 0.75 percent from its previous close at 17,231.11 points. The National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty closed in the green at 5,178.40 points, against the previous close at 5,144.6 points, a gain of 0.66 percent. The chart showing the 52 week performance of Sensex is on the left.
Broader market indices also closed in the green, with the BSE midcap index ending 0.64 percent up and the BSE small cap index 0.46 percent higher.

On the sectoral front, the BSE auto index rose 1.5 percent and the metal index was up 1.4 percent.In the auto pack, Tata Motors rose 4.4 percent and Escorts advanced 3.6 percent.
In the metal space, Gujarat NRE Coke surged 5.8 percent and Hindustan Zinc gained four percent. Hindalco, Sesa Goa and Tata Steel were up over two percent each. Among the Sensex stocks, Tata Motors was the top gainer. The stock closed up 4.4 percent at Rs. 779. Hindalco jumped three percent and Reliance Infra gained 2.9 percent.

Bharti Airtel and JP Associates, however, were the biggest losers, down over 1.5 percent each. In the Nifty pack, Tata Motors, Hindalco, Reliance Infra and M&M were among the major gainers.
Markets in Asia finished higher on Thursday. China's Shanghai Composite gained 2.6 percent and Japan's Nikkei advanced 1.5 percent. Hang Seng in Hong Kong also ended up 0.9 percent.

6 IITians develop Android based tablet PC

Using Google's Open Source operating system Andorid, six IITians and an MBA, who have formed a technology startup called Notion Ink, have designed a tablet PC which they plan to launch in market by June 2010. The Tablet PC will consist of Nvidia's yet-to-be launched Tegra processor chips and a power-saving display screen from the U.S.-based fabless developer Pixel Qi, according to Business Standard.
The product is named after the company and has a 10.1 inch touchscreen. It is powered by Nvidia's Tegra processor chip, weighs 770 grams and offers features like Bluetooth, a 3-megapixel digital camera with autofocus, video recording and 32GB data storage. The company is also working on creating digital books, songs, movies and media content for the device.

"After the evolution of desktops, laptops and notebooks, the next innovation is going to be a complete touchscreen you can write on. And, we thought we needed to take the first step. It took us a year to come up with the design, requirements and proposed technologies to make this device a reality," says Rohan Shravan, Founder and Director (creatives) of Notion Ink. The company was floated in February 2009.

"Theoretically, it can work for 25 days if one just listens to music. To be precise, it has 48 hours of standby, eight hours of high-definition video and 16 hours of Wi-Fi internet surfing usage time," claims Shravan.
For designing the device, the company collaborated with Bangalore-based National Institute of Design. "We wanted to adopt an operating system which would make our device 'talk' to any other device. And we chose Google's Android. But India doesn't have people working on Android and those who have, charge Rs. 1 lakh per resource per month (like Tata Elxsi or Sasken). So, we opted to train 46 students from the Hyderabad-based information technology institute BVR IT who are now working full time with us," he adds.
Notion Ink has filed two patents - one for the design and the other for technology - in India, Taiwan and China, which makes it easy to tie up with any original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in Taiwan. The company would adopt a complete service model, wherein the Taiwanese OEM will have 90 days to manufacture and Notion Ink, another 90 days to pay them back after selling the devices. It is targeting to sell 1.5 million units of the tablet PC in the first year of launch. The device is tentatively priced at below $400 (Rs. 18,800) in the U.S. and below $300 (Rs. 14,100) in India (with subsidy from telecom operators).
"The device will be bundled with internet services by telecom operators. Already 10 Telcos in the U.S. and four in India, which offer 3G services, have shown interest. We will be finalizing one Telco for the U.S. and one for India during the four-day Mobile World Congress, which is scheduled to be held at Barcelona, Spain, from February 15, 2010," Shravan adds.

Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli tons hand India series

India v Sri Lanka, 4th ODI, Kolkata

India 317 for 3 (Gambhir 150*, Kohli 107, Lakmal 2-55) beat Sri Lanka 315 for 6 (Tharanga 118, Sangakkara 60, Zaheer 2-49) by seven wickets
Score Card

Virtually chanceless centuries from Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir made sure they would go to their home ground, Feroz Shah Kotla, with the series in the bag. The ease with which they chased down 316 in 48.1 overs, with Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar out inside the first four overs, and the absences of MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh for this match, was remarkable. On a day that youngsters outshone the more familiar performers in the series, Upul Tharanga's first ODI century in 53 innings and more than three years, along with Suranga Lakmal's opening burst finished second-best to the 224-run partnership between the Delhi batsmen.

The Sri Lankan spinners were hampered by the dew, and were not helped by the ease with which the Indian batsmen kept alternating the strike. Kumar Sangakkara's strategy to sit and wait for a mistake in the middle overs confounded equally. Of the 224 runs that Kohli and Gambhir added, they ran 125. As a result, they were not forced to take risks, neither did the required run-rate ever go over 6.7.

That had little bearing on how well Kohli - who scored his maiden international century - and Gambhir played. The main features of Kohli's innings were the flicks into the leg side, and punches off the back foot. Gambhir looked to run the ball off the face of the bat, place it into gaps for couples, and he also made sure he was there till the end.

Lakmal would have happily settled with Sehwag and Tendulkar as his first two international wickets, within seven deliveries and before either batsman had settled down, had Kohli and Gambhir not staged the comeback. Neither batsmen needed to take the aerial route. The only element of risk was Kohli's moving across the stumps, but his bat kept coming down at the right time.

Debutant Thissara Perera went for 28 in his four overs, and was replaced by Lasith Malinga, who helped in opening the floodgates. Kohli flicked him for two boundaries on the leg side, and crashed him through the off side for two more, off consecutive deliveries in his first over. After nine overs, India had galloped along to 70, and Kohli to 26 off 22.

Lakmal continued to get the odd ball to rise awkwardly, but he lacked support from the other end. And once India's run-rate went above the required rate, both the batsmen settled down into milking mode and waited for the loose balls, which Malinga kept providing India with.

With spin came signs that the dew would have an effect on the remainder of the match. In his second over, Suraj Randiv bowled a lob down the leg side, and Kohli took advantage. The boundary again took India ahead of the required rate, and in the next couple of overs both the batsmen reached their fifties.

They cruised towards their centuries, but not before Kohli presented Sri Lanka with the only glimpse of opportunity. He had reached 88, and India 207 for 2 in 33 overs, when he nicked the first ball from Tillakaratne Dilshan. Sangakkara, though, couldn't hold on to a tough chance. The two batsmen then reached their respective centuries mirroring each other - moving from 99 to 100 in consecutive deliveries. In what was the definitive tale of the innings, both got those singles with only four fielders inside the circle.

The century attained, Kohli holed out to long-on, trying to finish off the game early, but Gambhir made sure there were no further mishaps, scoring 47 off the 70 remaining runs.

Tharanga was made to work harder for his seventh century earlier in the day. For the first time in the series, India came out with an effective plan to keep Tharanga and Dilshan quiet in the opening overs. Both Zaheer and Nehra kept two men on the leg-side boundary for Dilshan, the third man was left vacant, but no room was given and neither was he offered anything to drive.

As a result, India managed their first maiden of the series - bowled by Nehra - and not one boundary was conceded in the first five overs. In the first three matches, Sri Lanka reached their 50 in 3.4 overs, 6.3 overs, and 7.2 overs. At those various stages, Sri Lanka had scored 6 for 0, 23 for 0 and 24 for 0 today.

Dilshan fell into the trap and pulled Nehra low to Kohli at fine leg, but in one swift act of acceleration, and solid consolidation thereafter, Tharanga almost single-handedly undid India's improved effort.

India's fielding was a huge improvement over their earlier efforts, but they still dropped Tharanga and Kumar Sangakkara. That cost them 171 runs, and left them chasing 300-plus - a total that did scant justice to the efforts of Zaheer and Nehra who took 4 for 117 between them.

Like Malinga with Kohli later in the match, Ishant Sharma provided Tharanga with the release and the momentum in the 12th over. Ishant provided him driving length, and also width, and was punished with five boundaries in his first over. All of a sudden, Tharanga was 45 off 43 balls.

A period of consolidation followed, and Tharanga and Sangakkara added 126 runs in 23.4 overs without any concern. After Sangakkara's dismissal, and Tharanga's soon after, Perera stunned India with 31 off 14 balls, but Zaheer and Nehra came back well to ensure the damage done was not beyond repair.