Dead not forgotten on Facebook

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook lets people leave their marks online after they have shuffled off their mortal coils, with profiles of the dead remaining as tributes in the global social networking community.
‘When someone leaves us, they don’t leave our memories or our social network,’ Facebook director of security Max Kelly said in a blog post Monday.
‘To reflect that reality, we created the idea of ‘memorialized’ profiles as a place where people can save and share their memories of those who’ve passed.’
Profiles of dead people do not turn up in friend recommendations or general searches at Facebook, according to Kelly. Privacy settings on memorialized accounts only let confirmed friends or family members see them.
No one is allowed to log into memorialized accounts, preventing alteration of profile content, but friends can still post remembrance messages that are displayed on ‘walls’ for visitors to see.
Contact information and status updates are removed from memorialized profile pages.
Only friends or relatives of deceased Facebook members can request profiles be memorialized, and information submitted must include a copy of an obituary, news article or other proof of death.
‘If you have a friend or a family member whose profile should be memorialized, please contact us, so their memory can properly live on among their friends on Facebook,’ Kelly said.
The service is not new to Facebook, but it reminded members of it this week. —AFP

Daredevil flips bike over helicopter in Australia

SYDNEY: An American daredevil backflipped a dirt bike over a hovering 40-metre helicopter in front of Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge Wednesday in a bid to promote extreme sports.

Travis Pastrana, 26, comfortably cleared the revolving chopper blades by about four metres but the 14-time X Games medallist said it was a closer call than he would have liked.

‘That was a little outside of the box. I didn’t know what to expect with the wash and the wind, there was a little bit of turbulence up there I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone,’ Pastrana told national newswire AAP.

‘The wind affects the bike more than the rider as the bike can take a mind of its own up there and if you lose focus then you can land short.’ Pastrana’s stunt was aimed at promoting the MTV extreme sports series Nitro Circus, which will be filming in all of Australia’s state capital cities in May and June 2010.— AFP

NASA’s new rocket lifts off on short test flight

CAPE CANAVERAL: NASA's newest rocket blasted off on a brief test flight Wednesday, taking the first step in a back-to-the-moon program that could be shelved by the White House.
The 327-foot (100-meter) Ares I-X rocket resembled a giant white pencil as it shot into the sky, delayed a day by poor weather.
Nearly twice the height of the spaceship it's supposed to replace, the shuttle, the experimental rocket carried no passengers or payload, only throwaway ballast and hundreds of sensors. The flight cost $445 million.
It was the first time in nearly 30 years that a new rocket took off from Kennedy Space Center. Columbia made the maiden voyage for the shuttle fleet back in 1981.
Liftoff, in fact, occurred 48 years and one day after the first launch of a Saturn rocket, a precursor to what carried astronauts to the moon during the Apollo program. The Saturn V moon rockets were the tallest ever built, an impressive 363 feet.
Wednesday's launch, years in the making, attracted a large crowd. The prototype moon rocket took off from a former shuttle launch pad at 15:30 GMT, three and a half hours late because of bad weather.
Launch controllers had to retest the rocket systems after more than 150 lightning strikes were reported around the pad overnight. Then they had to wait out interfering clouds.
The ballistic flight did not come close to reaching space and, as expected, lasted a mere two minutes. That's how long it took for the first-stage solid-fuel booster to burn out. But it will take months to analyze all the data from the approximately 725 pressure, strain and acceleration sensors.
The maximum altitude of the rocket was not immediately known, but had been expected to be 28 miles. Parachutes popped open to drop the booster into the Atlantic, where recovery ships waited.
The upper portion of the rocket, all fake parts, fell uncontrolled into the ocean. Those pieces were never meant to be retrieved.
Wednesday's launch represented the first step in NASA's effort to return astronauts to the moon. The White House, though, is re-evaluating the human spaceflight program and may dump the Ares I in favor of another type of rocket and possibly another destination.
NASA contends the Ares I will be ready to carry astronauts to the International Space Station in 2015, four to five years after the shuttles are retired. But a panel of experts said in a report to President Barack Obama last week that it will be more like 2017, and stressed that the entire effort is underfunded.
The first Ares moon trip would be years beyond that under the current plan, known as Constellation.No matter what happens, NASA managers said they will learn a lot from this experimental flight, even if it's for another type of rocket.
'A lot of the gold that we had to mine in doing this Ares I-X test flight, we've already realized in the people,' Constellation program manager Jeff Hanley said earlier this week.
'The investment that we've made and the people and the learning is preparing us to do whatever the nation asks this team to do in the months and years ahead.' -AP

AN ARTICLE WROTE BY BMJ!!!

(NOTE : READ IT !! BUT DONT TAKE IT PERSONAL , ITS JUST AN ARTICLE !!! PERSONALY NOTHING HARSH RELATED TO IT !!! DO TELL ME MY MISTAKES & ALSO TELL ME DO YOU LIKE IT OR NOT??? )

Elm ek taqaat hay ya kamxori???
Bachpan se mujhey yehi mere papa nay sikhaya hay key elm ek taqaat hay.baray buzurgh b yehi kehtey hain k sona, chandi , herey , moti ko koi b chora sakta hai ; yahan tak k apki taqat ko koi b nidhal karsakta hai; magar elm ek aisi taqat hai jisko koi mayi ka lala apsey cheen nai sakta.
Yeh sari jhooti baatien hain !!! mein nahi maanti !!!
Taqreeban 19 saal sey mein in baton ko sach samajhti rahi ; magar 24th oct 2009 mein howay “IIU attack” ney meri ankhon par se is jhoot k parday ko haat diya. Is wajah se mein inkar karti hoon in sab baray buzurgon ki baton ko manay se!!!!
Dehshat gardoon ney humsey yah taqaat b cheen li ; aur humari hukumat k nomainday hath pe hath dahray tamasha dekhtey rehgaye!!!
Aisa lagta hay k siyasat danoon ney churiyan pehn li hain; aisa lagta hai jaisa unka kch lena dena hi nai hai Pakistan ki education condition se ; unhon ney koi khaas security intezamaat nai kiye ; humaray siyasat danoon ki is nahili ki wajah se kya kch nai howa ; IIU par attack howa , kitne talib-e-elm shaheed hogaye , balochistan k education minister par attack howa , educational institutions puray haftay k liye bandh hogaye woh b examz k near , kch taleemi idaray abhi tak bandh hain aur jo khul gaye hain un mein koi security ka khaas intezam nai hai!! Yeh humaray mulk aur quam k liye bht khatarnaak baat hai!!! Magar humaray sadar sahib ko koi fikar hi nai parta !! woh kabi kisi k saath lunch karahay hain tyou kisi k sath dinner !!! eur humari awam bhooki maar rahi hai!!!
Waise zardari shaab ko kyun dukh hoga unkay bachay thori na shaheed howay hain ! unkay bachay thori yahan hain k itne khatar naak halat mein school , college ya phr university jatay hain!!! Itni critical condition mein b zardari shab ki batisi chamak rahi hai!!! Mein kehti hoon k bolao ASFA , BAKHTAWAR aur BILAWAL ko!! Behjo unko school, college & university; itni khowfnak sorat-e-haal mei ; mein dekhna chahti hoon k zardari sahib ki batisi kitni dair tak chamakti hai !!
Aisi sorat-e-haal mei bachon ka school college &university jana kitna mushkil hai ; unkay walidein par kya guzarti hogi jab unkay bachay laut kar nai atay??? Chotay se chota bacha khowf zada hai !!! magar humaray siyasat danoon ko kuch farak nai parta !!!!!!!!!!

Ek kahawat hai :
Parhogaye likhogaye, banogaye nawab;
Khilogaye kudogaye, hojaogaye kharab;
Kaise parhain? Kahan parhain? Tamam taleemi idaray tou bandh karwa diye hain!!! Aur jo khulaye howay hain un mein security ka koi khaas intezam nahi… mujhey koi gurantee desakta hai k hum sab students mahfooz raheingaye is security mein??kya koi yeh yaqeen dila sakta hai k ab koi taleemi idarah dehshat gardon ka nishana nai banaye ga ?? kya koi hai jo humari jaanon ki hifazat karay ga??? Yeh sawal har student pochna chahta hai apnay politicianz se!!!!
Agar humaray Pakistan k yehi halaat rahey tou hum apna mustakbil kaise banaingaye?? Humara Pakistan kaise taraki karay ga???
Hum apni aney wali naslon ko kya seekhaingaye??
Mein ilteja karti hoon siyasat danoon se k humaray is Pakistan aur elm ki taqat ko mehfooz karien!!!!!

Pakistan zindabad!!!

Wasim Akram's wife passes away

CHENNAI: Huma Wasim, wife of former Pakistani cricketer Wasim Akram, died at the Apollo Hospital in Chennai, India Sunday morning after being in criticial condition for the past five days. According to hospital officials, Huma breathed her last around 9.45 a.m.

Huma was suffering from sepsis (an inflammation of several tissues, including blood leading to kidney failure) and was admitted to Apollo Hospital Tuesday after developing complications mid-air while on her way to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore from Pakistan.

At Apollo Hospital, she was in the intensive care unit (ICU) since then and died Sunday without regaining consciousness.

Akram was married to Huma for 14 years and the couple have two sons, Taimur and Akbar.
A trained medical practitioner herself, Huma had a stint with some of the leading hospitals in Pakistan as a psychologist and a hypnotherapist.
Arrangements are being made to take her body back to Pakistan, sources said. -Agencies

Thirty-five illegal foreigners arrested

Police said they have arrested 20 Afghan nationals including seven women who were traveling from Islamabad to Quetta, according to a DawnNews report.
Earlier on Sunday morning, 15 more foreign nationals including one woman were arrested by Rangers from the same area. The men have been shifted to sub-jail Kashmore while the women have been taken to the Larkana women police station.
In the past one week more than 160 foreigners have been arrested by Rangers and police along the Sindh-Punjab-Balochistan border.

More Internet users sharing status updates

WASHINGTON: Sharing status updates on online services such as Twitter or Facebook is becoming increasingly popular among Americans, according to a survey released on Wednesday.
Nineteen per cent of Internet users surveyed in August and September said they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said.
That was a significant increase from previous surveys in December 2008 and April 2009 when 11 per cent of Internet users said they post status updates, according to the Washington-based organization.
Pew said 35 per cent of Internet users who already use a social network site such as MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn are likely to also use Twitter compared to six per cent of Internet users who do not use such sites.
The Pew survey also found a relationship between the number of devices a person owns and their likelihood to “tweet.”
Thirty-nine per cent of Internet users with four or more Web-connected devices, such as a laptop, a cell phone, a game console, or a Kindle, use Twitter, compared to 28 per cent with three devices, 19 per cent with two devices, and 10 per cent with one device.
Thirty-seven per cent of Internet users aged 18 to 24 use Twitter or another service, up from 19 per cent in December 2008, the study found, while the median age of a Twitter user is 31.
The Pew survey found that the median age for an Internet user is 41 years old, the median age for wireless Internet users is 37 and the median age for a social network site user is 34.
The median age for MySpace is 26, down from 27 in May 2008, and the median age for LinkedIn is 39, down from 40, while the median age for Facebook has gone up to 33 from 26 in May 2008, Pew said.
The survey of 2,253 adults aged 18 and older was conducted between August 18 and September 14 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 per centage points. —AFP

Eyes to the skies for the ‘Galilean Nights’

PARIS: Astronomers around the world are gearing up for three days of intense sky-watching in honour of Galileo, whose observations 400 years ago revolutionised our understanding of the cosmos.
The 'Galilean Nights' promoted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) aim at giving hundreds of thousands of people the thrill of looking through a space telescope for the first time.
More than 1,000 public events in over 70 countries are being staged on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
In October 1609 Galileo Galilei began observations with a two-lens telescope that eventually led him to discover the four main satellites of Jupiter and realise that Earth's Moon was pitted with craters and not a perfect sphere.
These and other discoveries led Galileo to conclude, like Nicolaus Copernicus, that Earth revolved around the Sun and not the other way around.
He was persecuted for heresy by the Vatican and forced to recant. The last ten years of his life were spent under house arrest. -AFP

Mobile phone giant Nokia sues Apple over patents

HELSINKI: Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, took on the iconic iPhone on Tuesday by suing US rival Apple for infringing 10 Nokia patents on mobile phone technology.
'The patents cover wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption and are infringed by all Apple iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced in 2007,' Nokia said in a statement.
Nokia said it had filed the complaint against Apple on Thursday with the Federal District Court in Delaware in the United States.
'By refusing to agree appropriate terms for Nokia's intellectual property, Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation,' Ilkka Rahnasto, deputy head of Nokia's legal department, said in the statement.
The company stressed that it had spent 40 billion euros (60 billion dollars) in research and development over the past two decades.
'The ten patents in suit relate to technologies fundamental to making devices which are compatible with one or more of the GSM, UMTS (3G WCDMA) and wireless LAN standards,' Nokia said.
Nokia earlier this month posted its first quarterly loss in a decade amid falling sales. Analysts said the poor results were partly due to the growing popularity of Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry over Nokia models. -AFP

Iodised salt intake dips to 17 per cent

ISLAMABAD: As the international community prepared to mark Iodine Deficiency Disorder Day on Friday with significant advances and campaigns to ensure good health, Pakistan has progressively lagged behind its South Asian neighbours in salt iodisation policy.
The Network for Consumer Protection said on Thursday that in Pakistan iodised salt intake had dipped to 17 per cent from a high of 90 per cent during vigorous campaigns back in the 90s, it had increased to nearly 80 per cent both in Bangladesh and Nepal.
Iodine deficiency was the world’s most prevalent, yet easily preventable, cause of brain damage. This micronutrient deficiency disorder was most commonly seen among poor, pregnant women and pre-school children.
The whole spectrum of health consequences linked were birth defects, increased neonatal mortality, brain damage, goitre and thyroid, impaired physical and mental growth and diminished school performances besides decreased fertility, spontaneous abortions and still-births in pregnant women.Pakistan ranked 6th amongst the countries where iodine deficiency was a serious public health problem, despite efforts over the past several decades there has been little improvement in the situation.
According to the most recent National Nutrition Survey of Pakistan in 2001-02, more than 50 per cent population of the country was at risk of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDDs). The survey said that nearly 30 per cent of school children and 36.5 per cent of mothers of children under 5 years of age were severely deficient in iodine.
The 1990 World Summit for Children set the goal of eliminating iodine deficiencies by 2000 and Pakistan government planned to eliminate IDD by the year 2000. The national goal of Universal Salt Iodisation (USI) was modified to 2010 and elimination of iodine deficiency was to be achieved by 2013.
Executive Coordinator of The Network for Consumer Protection, Dr Arif Azad, said that IDD global days provided an opportunity to take stock of slippage from health targets on USI campaign. It was troubling that Pakistan had fallen behind Bangladesh and Nepal. Steady investment and a strong political government could improve public health goals of mother and child health by fully signing up to the USI campaign.
'By promoting awareness and consumer demand for iodised salt we can prevent a whole generation from falling into diminished mental and physical health,' he said.

Japanese university plans huge ‘manga’ library

TOKYO: In a move to promote serious study of Japanese manga, a university in Tokyo plans to open a library with two million comic books, animation drawings, video games and other cartoon industry artifacts.

Tentatively named the Tokyo International Manga Library, it would open by early 2015 on the campus of the private Meiji University, and be available to researchers and fans from Japan and abroad.

‘Manga has been taken lightly in the past and there has been no solid archive for serious study,’ said Susumi Shibao, a library official at the university told AFP by telephone.

‘We want to help academic studies on manga as part of Japanese culture.’To give an early taste of its collection, the university will open the Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library of Manga and Subculture this October 31, featuring the late manga critic’s collection of 140,000 comic books.

Some of the books date back to before World War II.

Japan, which grew rich on exporting cars and high-tech goods, has stepped up an official campaign to promote its cultural offerings, from Tokyo city wear to video games and award-winning animation films.

Japanese manga, ranging from classic Astro Boy and the Doraemon robot cat to the latest smash hit Naruto, a tale of a ninja boy, has charmed children and adults worldwide.

The former conservative government of Taro Aso, which was ousted in August elections, had earmarked 11.7 billion yen (128 million dollars) for a museum on Japanese cartoon art and pop culture to be built in Tokyo.

But the plan, part of wider stimulus measures, was axed by the new centre-left government, which criticised the construction as a ‘state-run manga cafe’ that has nothing to do with boosting the economy.— AFP

Microsoft launches Windows 7

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft’s much-heralded Windows seven went on sale around the world Thursday as the US software giant seeks to reboot after the disappointment of its previous generation operating system Vista.
Windows seven made its global debut to generally good reviews with most technology analysts and users who tested a demo version praising it as a significant improvement on the much-maligned Vista.
‘We think our customers will enjoy the new capabilities, the speed, the performance,’ Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said at a Windows seven launch event in New York. ‘There’s more you can do with this system.
‘The range and diversity of the application software is unsurpassed.’
By the time the day was a minute old, Microsoft workers were handing out Windows seven software as gifts at a party the US technology giant held at a San Francisco night club to coincide with a Web 2.0 Summit here.
‘Now we see if real people love Windows,’ said Brian Hall, general manager of Microsoft’s Windows Live business group.
Feedback from the millions of test users has Microsoft confident they have hit the mark with the new-generation operating system, which reportedly logged more pre-orders in Britain than did the final Harry Potter book.
‘This is the most customer excitement we’ve had in a long time for a Windows release,’ Hall said.
Microsoft is also celebrating the availability of Windows seven with parties and by opening its first retail shop, in the US city of Scottsdale, Arizona.
The shop features netbooks, laptops, desktop computers, Zune players, Xbox 360 videogame consoles, and mobile phones running on Microsoft software.
A second Microsoft store will open in northern California next week.
Microsoft on Thursday also began selling Windows-powered PCs from companies such as Sony, Dell, and Lenovo in its online store.
Microsoft hired David Porter, a retail industry veteran, in February to open retail stores that challenge the successful chain of Apple Stores operated by the maker of iPhones, iPods, and Macintosh computers.
The launch of Windows seven is expected to open the flood gates for low-priced, feature-rich personal computers based on the operating system. ‘We have great PCs coming out for Windows 7,’ Hall said.
An upgrade from Vista or the previous operating system Windows XP to the most basic version of Windows seven costs 120 dollars in the United States.
Analyst Rob Enderle of Silicon Valley’s Enderle Group said the Windows seven launch is a ‘big deal for Microsoft.’
‘Windows Vista was a train wreck,’ he said.
While computer users may not give much thought to the operating systems that serve as the brains of their machines, they are at the heart of Microsoft’s global software empire and run more than 90 per cent of the world’s computers.
Microsoft apparently learned a lesson from Vista and worked closely with computer makers, users and software developers while crafting Windows 7.
More than eight million people have dabbled with Windows seven since Microsoft began a beta test phase in January, according to Parri Munsell, director of consumer product management for the Windows client group.
Among the new features in Windows seven is a redesigned taskbar for launching programs and switching windows, enhanced ability to share files with other PCs, improved photo and video editing software and the ability to stream digital music or video to other devices.
Windows seven also features Microsoft’s latest Web browser, Internet Explorer 8.
Microsoft shares gained 0.04 per cent on Wall Street on Thursday to close at 26.59 dollars. —AFP

Hydropower industry braces for glacier-free future

BERN: Standing on the glacier at the source of the Rhone river, glaciologist Andreas Bauder poses next to a 3-metre high pole sticking out of the ice, and gestures above his head.

‘This is about the melt of one month,’ he says, as fellow scientists drill into the ice. ‘I’m about two metres tall.’

From the Himalayas to the Andes, faster-melting glaciers spell short-term opportunities — and long-term risks — for hydroelectric power and the engineering and construction industries it drives.

The most widely used form of renewable energy globally, hydro meets more than half Switzerland’s energy needs. As summers dry and glaciers that help drive turbines with meltwater recede, that share may eventually fall.

A study by Lausanne’s EPFL technical university forecast a decline to 46 per cent by 2035 for hydro from around 60 per cent now as precipitation declines and total energy use increases.

In the same way as the Himalayas are ‘Asia’s water-tower,’ Switzerland is the source of Europe’s biggest rivers, supporting agriculture and waterways, and cooling nuclear power stations.

Water trickles down white-blue crevasses and ice cracks and creaks as Bauder, who for Zurich technical university spends about 20 to 30 days a year working on Swiss glaciers, explains that most of the mighty Rhone glacier will be gone by the end of the century.

‘Nature can adjust to the circumstances,’ he said. ‘It’s just people who are much more fragile about living conditions.’

More than a billion people worldwide live in river basins fed by glacier or snow-melt.

Glaciers have been retreating dramatically since the end of the Little Ice Age in the 19th century, particularly in the Himalayas where they feed rivers including the Mekong and Yangtze and ensure water and power for fast-growing economies.

A lack of water for hydropower is already ‘critical’ in Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which also sees risks to water supplies to southern California from the loss of the Sierra Nevada and Colorado River basin snowpack.

In Europe, 20 per cent of electricity comes from hydro — generating potential that is projected to decrease by the 2070s, falling sharpest in the Mediterranean.

Bauder pointed to an area of stony ground and small lakes beyond the end of Rhone glacier ice field: ‘When I was a kid, I remember that the glacier was much larger.

The glacier tongue was still reaching over this rocky area.’

Winners and losers

The Swiss hydroelectric industry is part-funding Bauder’s research, to help it take a long view on new projects in an industry where licenses often run for up to a century.

Other risks researchers have identified include sudden floods from swollen glacial lakes. Demand for more pumping technology and dams is one response in countries which can afford them.

Experts stress that forecasts so far ahead are highly uncertain, particularly in predicting precipitation, and note that some regions may even benefit.

‘With climate change there will be some areas in the world with more precipitation year round,’ said Petra Doell, a professor of hydrology at the University of Frankfurt and a member of the UN climate panel.

‘That will mean more hydropower generation even if glaciers melt.’

For example Norway, which generates almost 100 per cent of its power from hydroelectricity, is likely to get more rain and snow because of climate change even as glaciers retreat.

But if glaciers do disappear, one main impact will be lower river flows in dry seasons — when irrigation is often needed for crops. That would particularly threaten people in the world’s biggest rice-growers, China and India.

Nations with high power demand in dry seasons could suffer from lower flows, but Doell said hydropower reservoirs could be used to mute the overall impacts of melting glaciers downstream.

‘A reservoir helps to broaden the availability of water throughout the year,’ she said. ‘But there are few dams in south-east Asia, where the impacts of melting glaciers will be most severe.’

Ways to store water

From the Swiss perspective, the Lausanne study forecasts run-off from the Swiss Alps will fall by seven per cent to 2049, as glaciers recede and precipitation rises by six per cent in winter and drops by eight per cent in summer.

These wetter winters and drier summers may force changes in the way Switzerland stores and moves water.

In the past, the country used to make sure its storage lakes were full in September to provide hydropower for heating as energy demand peaked in winter, while they were empty in April, ready to be replenished by melting snow and ice.

‘Since the electricity market was liberalised and listed companies involved, which are more oriented to earning money and delivering energy at the best price, it has been more difficult to fill the lakes in the winter,’ said Bruno Schaedler, a hydrologist from Bern University.— Reuters

Chinese group says Google violating copyrights

SHANGHAI: A Chinese group is accusing search engine powerhouse Google of illegally copying Chinese-language works for its digital library, adding to disquiet about a project to scan millions of books.
The China Written Works Copyright Society, based in Beijing, posted a notice on its Web site urging authors to 'bravely stand up and adamantly defend their legal rights.'
It also urged authors to check if their works are in a list of books that's part of a tentative legal settlement between Google and US authors and publishers.
Google's project to scan and post online snippets from millions of out-of-print but copyrighted books has raised objections from many quarters. The company has called the project, which also scans public domain works, an invaluable chance for books to receive increased exposure.
Chen Cun, a novelist based in Shanghai, said he found material from 38 of his works in Google's digital library, including 12 novels and three other books.
'Google never bothered to notify me or Chinese authorities. They should have let me know my works would be put online,' Chen said.
The government-affiliated Chinese group was set up a year ago to represent various associations of writers, who face rampant and blatant infringements of copyright in their home market, as do foreign authors.
But it is now taking US critics to task for protesting Chinese copyright violations while Google is copying works without prior authorization and posting them online.
'Google's digital library scanned those copyright-protected works without permission. This violates American copyright laws and international treaties,' Zhang Hongbo, deputy director-general of the group, told The Associated Press.
'This also violates the basic principle that they should ask permission from the authors first, pay to use then and then use them,' he said.
The proposed settlement between Mountain View, Calif-based Google and US authors and publishers applies only to the United States, Google said in an emailed statement.
'Of course, we listen carefully to all concerns and will work hard to address them,' said the statement by an unnamed Google spokesperson.
'We are actively encouraging authors, publishers, and rightsholders around the world to register for the settlement,' it said.
Parties involved in the settlement are revising the agreement to meet Justice Department concerns over antitrust and copyright issues, with a US court due to rule on its validity early next month.
Under the Google Print Library Project, snippets from millions of out-of-print but copyrighted books have been scanned and indexed online by libraries.
Google also works with publishers that choose to partner with it to include parts of their copyrighted materials.
Copyright holders can opt out of the project if they choose to do so, Google says. 'Control over the works remains firmly in the hands of the rightsholders, they can leave their works in the program and decide on all the toggles for access, or even pull their books out,' the Google statement said.
A China Daily report said the Chinese Written Works Copyright Society had found nearly 18,000 books by 570 Chinese authors had been scanned by Google and included in its digital library, most of them without any notification or payment to the writers. -AP

British scientists develop 'brain to brain communication'

The system, developed by a team at the University of Southampton, is said to be the first technology that would allow people to send thoughts, words and images directly to the minds of others, particularly people with a disability.
It has also been hailed as the future of the internet, which would provide a new way to communicate without the need for keyboards and telephones.
“This could be useful for those people who are locked into their bodies, who can’t speak, can’t even blink,” said the lead scientist Dr Christopher James.
The scientists claimed the research proved it could eventually be possible to create a system where people sent messages through their thoughts alone, although they conceded it was many years away.
Scientists used “brain-computer interfacing”, a technique that allows computers to analyse brain signals, that enabled them to send messages formed by a person’s brain signals though an internet connection to another person’s brain miles away.
According to Dr James, during transmission two people were connected to electrodes that measure activity in specific parts of the brain.
The first person generated a series of zeros and ones, where they imagined moving their left arm for zero and right arm for one.
After the first person’s computer recognises the binary thoughts, it sends them to the internet and then to the other person’s PC.
A lamp is then flashed at two different frequencies for one and zero, the Times reported.
The second person’s brain signals are analysed after staring at this lamp and the number sequence is picked up by a computer.
“It’s not telepathy,” Dr James told the paper.
“There’s no conscious thought forming in one person’s head and another conscious thought appearing in another person’s mind.
“The next experiments are to get that second person to be aware of the information that is being sent to them. For that, I need to get my thinking cap on, so to speak.”

Acer showcases a netbook and a smartphone

ACER HAS SHOWCASED its latest products including a smartphone and a netbook, both running Google's Android platform. The firm also hinted at its future strategy, saying that it expects to grab a double-digit share of the smartphone market, and to be the top global supplier of laptops by 2012.
Acer's annual international press conference in London saw the unveiling of its Liquid smartphone, the first to market with version 1.6 of Android, according to the firm.
Due in December, the Liquid boasts a wide VGA (WVGA) screen and a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, two aspects that make the device well-suited to mobile web use, according to Acer senior vice president Jim Wong.
"It offers a full Internet experience. WVGA really enables you to browse properly, and Snapdragon delivers high performance for a responsive device," he said.
The Liquid has a 3.5in touch-screen and supports HSPA for Internet access, geo-tagging, a Spinlets application for streaming music and video, and integration with Facebook, Twitter and other services in its address book.
Acer claimed that it already has one European carrier signed up to offer its smartphones, but declined to detail which one.
The company also announced a netbook that can run both Android and Windows in a dual-boot arrangement, allowing users to choose Android for quick access to the web, or Windows for productivity.
Android thus replaces the quick-boot environments such as Splashtop, many of which were based on Linux. However, these did not prove popular, according to Wong.
"Android is the way for mobile Internet. You can boot in seconds and get the web at your fingertips, but you need Windows for productivity tools, and you get better browsing with Internet Explorer," said Wong.
The new model is based on Acer's existing Aspire One D250, and has an Atom N280 processor, 1GB memory and 160GB hard drive. It is set to ship later this month for £299 with Windows 7 Starter edition, or £279 with Windows XP.
Other products on show at the conference included the T230H monitor with multi-touch support for Windows 7, and the Aspire 5738, a laptop also featuring multi-touch support.
Acer chief executive Gianfranco Lanci said at the event that he expected the firm to soon overtake Dell and become the second largest PC maker in the global market, behind HP.
Lanci also boasted that Acer aims to be the largest supplier of laptops by 2012, and to capture a significant share of the smartphone market in the future.
"There's no reason why we cannot reach a double-digit share. We want [smartphones] to be in the same place as the rest of the business today, but it will take some time, as it took four or five years to grow our share of the PC market," he explained. µ

Wi-Fi Direct could spell the end for Bluetooth

A new Wi-Fi specification will allow wireless devices to discover and connect to one another without a router.
The spec, called Wi-Fi Direct, was announced on Wednesday by the Wi-Fi Alliance, the industry group that promotes the technology. By making it much easier for devices to connect directly to each other using Wi-Fi, the new spec could pose a challenge to wireless technologies such as Bluetooth.
Wi-Fi Direct works by allowing Wi-Fi-enabled devices — such as phones, cameras, printers, computers, keyboards and headphones — to connect to other Wi-Fi devices individually or to multiple devices at once. The spec will support standard Wi-Fi data rates, and the devices will be able to connect to one another within about 100m. This would allow just about any device with built-in Wi-Fi to use wireless broadband instead of Bluetooth. It could even eliminate the need for Wi-Fi routers in some places.
For more on this story, see New Wi-Fi spec challenges Bluetooth on CNET News.

Poor states ‘increase spending on science’

Spending on science in the developing world grew three times than the rate of richer countries between 2002 and 2007. This was stated in figures of Unesco Institute for Statistics (UIS) released by the London-based Science and Development Network. It is also interesting to note that the number of researchers in developing countries jumped from 1.8 million to 2.7 million in the same period.The third UIS survey on statistics of science and technology indicated, on several counts, that the gap in investment rates in science between the developed and developing worlds is closing. While spending on research and development (R&D) by developed countries grew by about one third (32 per cent) during the period, developing countries more than doubled their spending (103%), from $135 to $274 billion.The surge in researcher numbers means that the developing world employed 30 per cent of researchers in 2002 but 38 per cent by 2007. The survey, which is conducted every two years, focuses on human resources devoted to, and expenditure on, R&D.The results showed that R&D investment also increased in developing countries. Total spending on R&D by developing countries accounted for one per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) in 2007, up from 0.8 per cent in 2002, said the data. This compares with 2.3 per cent for the developed world.The figures, however, concealed big differences between the more advanced developing nations and the least developed countries. China, for example, increased its R&D spending to 1.5 per cent of GDP by 2007, and accounts for over half (53%) of researchers in developing countries. Only six countries other than China are spending one per cent or more of GDP on research.While developing nations as a whole more than doubled their R&D expenditure, this figure fell to a less than three quarters increase (73 per cent) once China and India were removed from the calculation. But even in the 50 least developed countries (defined according to the standard UN classification), there was an average 20 per cent increase in researchers. There was also a slight increase — from 40 to 43 — in the number of researchers per million inhabitants. However, these countries still only have 0.5 per cent of the world’s researchers.In South Africa, the number of researchers grew by nearly a third (31 per cent) over the five-year period. This also represents an 18 per cent increase in the number of researchers per million inhabitants (from 51 to 60), a key figure used by economists as an indicator of a country’s commitment to science. In the rest of Africa, there was an overall higher increase of 34 per cent in the number of researchers, from 32,000 to 43,000.Peter Tindemans, former head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Global Science Forum, observed that it is unlikely that the United States will spend much more than its current figure of about 2.75 per cent of GDP [on R&D], but it is very likely that China will grow from its present 1.6 per cent or so to above two per cent.

Nokia Siemens Networks appoints new chief

KARACHI: Jorg Erlemeier has been appointed to lead Nokia Siemens Networks’ business in Middle East and Africa effective October 1, 2009. Erlemeier is currently head of the company’s services business in its APAC (Asia-Pacific) region. Erlemeier replaces the current head, Jan Cron. “For the past three years, Jorg has been responsible for growing services business in APAC, including India,” said Bosco Novak, chief of market operations, Nokia Siemens Networks. In the Middle East and Africa, a region of 68 countries and 1.3 billion people, Nokia Siemens Networks supports more than 130 fixed and mobile operator customers. staff report

New iPhone 3GS May Be Jailbreak-Proof

The cat-and-mouse game between Apple and a cadre of hackers continues as Apple is reportedly now shipping iPhone 3GS units that are jailbreak-proof. Several hackers specializing in iPhone 3GS jailbreaks are saying that the well-known 24kpwn exploit is no longer viable, because Apple is now shipping iPhone 3GS' with a new bootrom that can resist the hacking technique, according to iClarified.
If you think that last sentence sounded like a bunch of technical nonsense, you're not alone. So let's break this jailbreaking jargon down:

Female lawyer throws empty bottle at citizen

Lawyers thrash man in LHC for indecent language

LAHORE: A group of lawyers manhandled a citizen, Iftikhar Hussain, on the premises of the Lahore High Court (LHC), a private TV channel reported on Tuesday. According to the channel, a female lawyer identified as Najma threw a bottle at Iftikhar from the ladies’ bar room while he was walking in the corridor. The bottle fell in his feet. Separately, it was reported that the man used indecent language when the bottle hit him. When Iftikhar protested, Najma and her colleagues reached the spot and thrashed the citizen, who was in court for a case, the channel reported. The channel reported that human rights activist and lawyer Asma Jahangir and other senior lawyers tried to stop the angry lawyers, but they did not stop and continued beating Iftikhar. The channel quoted Iftikhar as saying he had only told the lawyer that she should have thrown the bottle carefully. daily times monitor/staff report

DAWN.COM | Sci-Tech | ?Space clown? declares trip a success

DAWN.COM | Sci-Tech | ?Space clown? declares trip a success

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