Jellyfish-Bot Swims Through the Air

Robots take a lot of forms -- from hulking manufacturing devices to humanoid helpmates. Now there's a design that resembles a jellyfish in flight, if such a thing can be imagined. Because it's able to maintain an upright position while hovering, it could be useful for a wide range of monitoring or surveillance activities, but it will be limited by the weight it can carry.

New York University researchers have designed a flying machine that appears to use the same pulsating motions as a jellyfish.

Leif Ristroph and colleague Stephen Childress wanted to create a small robot that could serve practical purposes such as monitoring traffic. Ristroph presented their creation at the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting on Sunday.

One major challenge in the endeavor was achieving stability. Many devices mimic the motion of insects such as flies. However, flies do a lot of work while motoring through the air, constantly adjusting their movements according to wind or other obstacles. It is difficult to pack that complexity into a tiny robotic device.

"In research in this area, turning to the right kinds of new designs are very important," said Ashutosh Saxena, Microsoft Faculty Fellow in Cornell University's Department of Computer Science.

"You want to be open to new ideas in the design world, but you have to think about what is going to happen when these machines have to fly in different kinds of environments, in tiny spaces and in air turbulence,".

Fly Like a Jellyfish

The device has four wings arranged like flower petals, which pulsate up and down. Though it resembles the motion of the jellyfish in water, it is aerodynamically more similar to the flight of a moth. Its tiny motor is tethered to a power cord. The machine can fly and hover.

The model demonstrates that aerial robotics can move beyond simple wing-flapping designs, the researchers pointed out.

The prototype model weighs about two grams -- equivalent to about two paper clips -- and is about eight centimeters wide. It's small size and simplicity could come in handy as researchers further develop the machine.

It could glide into places and where humans or other clunkier gadgets couldn't, potentially making it useful for surveillance or search-and-rescue operations.

Real World Possibilities

How well researchers can continue to develop the machine to one day take on some of those practical tasks will depend on what the machine is able to carry, said Cornell's Saxena.

"Aerial robotics research has multiple applications, and many applications need a camera or some processors to really do a job," he pointed out. "The design is very interesting, but there are more questions about how it can be used."

There is power in the NYU researchers' simple approach, said Subodh Bhandari, professor in Cal Poly Pomona's Department of Aerospace Engineering.

Other researchers in the field will be eager to look further into how the jellyfish-like robot could function going forward.

"The main challenge is its size and the weight that it can carry," Bhandari told TechNewsWorld. "The miniaturization of sensors and motors will play a key role in the success of this kind of device. The sensors and motor have to be small and light enough for this. That being said, research on this kind of device will continue, and the device will one day see practical applications." 

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A Tale of Two Browsers: Chrome v. Chromium

Is Chrome or Chromium more secure? Numerous security experts place their bets on Chromium, suggested Paul Hill, a senior consultant at Systems Experts. "Chrome's code has to be able to tie into Flash Player, for instance," Hill explained. "So more code is involved to integrate with other third-party products. This all introduces more complexities and more code paths.

If you've ever used Google's free Chrome browser, you may be aware that it's closely related to another, similarly named Google project called "Chromium."

Chrome and Chromium share a heavy portion of their core browser code, but Chrome is a proprietary Google product, while Chromium is open source. Both serve Linux, Windows and Mac OS X platforms, however, and both continue to vie for user share with Mozilla's open source Firefox, their distant cousin.

"Firefox and Chromium-based browsers are likely to continue to leapfrog each other in minor ways," Paul Hill, senior consultant at SystemsExperts, told LinuxInsider. "Each development community is aware of the other and each benefits the other."

Given the apparent duplication between these two projects, it may seem an exercise in redundancy to have both maintained by an overlapping team of developers. Why have both? What are the differences? Which one is better? Read on for a closer look at what sets these two popular browsers apart.

"Chrome was a big bet five years ago and has made browsing the Web simpler, speedier and safer," Avni Shah, product management director for Chrome at Google, told LinuxInsider.

"Chrome adds a small number of features to Chromium such as a built-in PDF viewer and Flash plug-in, and the official Google Chrome branding," Shah added.

Google released a large portion of Chrome's source code as an open source project called Chromium for the Windows platform in September 2008. The intent was to encourage third-party software developers to review its underlying code and contribute to porting the browser to Linux and Mac platforms.

The Chromium project remains viable and valuable to Google because it was mostly started by Google. The whole idea was to use it as a core open source project to set up a public code review, Hill explained.

A Thriving Open Source Community

Google continues to take an extremely active role in the Chromium open source project, but there's also a thriving open source community behind it, with many contributions from other individuals and organizations, Shah said.

The portion of Chromium that contains Google-authored code is released under the permissive BSD license. Other portions of the Chromium source code are subject to a variety of open source licenses.

That licensing distinction highlights some of the key intellectual property differences. Chrome is the non-public version because Google added features that the Chromium community cannot include in its open source project, noted Hill.

Other distinguishing features include various plug-ins and codecs that have licensing fees associated with them, he said. For instance, the code that Google incorporates into Chrome for MP3 and MP4 files does not appear in Chromium.

Complicating Complexities

As an open source project, Chromium has no licensing fees associated with it. So, anything that has licensing fees for its use is only going to appear in Chrome. That in part is why the two browsers appear as two different projects, Hill said.

On some Chromium installations, a direct connection with the user's Google account is evident. Not so other Chromium installations. This distinction goes far beyond the two-tone blue browser emblem that Chromium sports -- as distinct from Chrome's four-color treatment.

"Chromium is an open source project, and some other organizations may choose to modify it to give their users a tailored experience," said Shah.

Family Ties

One of the main commonalities between Chromium and Chrome is access to the Chrome Web Store. Google introduced this open marketplace for Web apps in 2010.

With this Web app platform, users and software developers have a common tool in both Chrome and Chromium to discover apps and extensions to customize their experience on the Web. Developers can take advantage of convenient distribution to hundreds of millions of users, and they can monetize using the platform as well, noted Shah.

That connected marketing platform stretches across Windows, Linux and OS X operating systems. It is one monetizing feature that is lacking in the development of most other Web browsers.

Chromium users can even log into their Google accounts to have all their Google Services data accessible in the Chromium browser.

Growing Pains

Increasingly, Chromium is being included as the default browser in a growing number of Linux distributions. Chrome, on the other hand, -- because it is not completely open source, although still free -- must be downloaded and installed independently. The same goes for Windows, where the default browser is Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and Mac OS X, whose default browser is Apple's Safari.

In terms of community contributions, Firefox had a head start over Chromium, but "Chromium has outpaced Firefox in both total contributors and growth rate over time," Dave Gruber, director of developer programs at Black Duck Software, told Linux Insider.

The growth curves of Chrome and Firefox, shown as a mirror of their adoption curves.

Community size and growth reflects the momentum and evolution of a project. While the architecture of a project can affect the overall number of contributors, the growth curve of the project over time often mirrors the adoption curve, acting as a bellwether for future uptake, he explained.

Security Differences?

Chrome is viewed by many to have a reputation for security, but a lot of security experts actually take the view that Chromium is superior in this respect, suggested Hill. After all, Chrome is a more complex version of Chromium, so it stands to reason that it it probably is a little bit less secure, at least from a theoretical standpoint.

"Chrome's code has to be able to tie into Flash Player, for instance," Hill explained. "So more code is involved to integrate with other third-party products. This all introduces more complexities and more code paths."

That aspect of Chrome's integration can not be publicly reviewed because those elements are not part of the open source version. So, people just do not know for sure if there are security vulnerabilities that appear in Chrome that are not in Chromium, he said.

"There are a number of security-related plug-ins available for Firefox that provide features that are not yet available for Chromium or Chrome," said Hill.

How They Stack Up

Vulnerability data from the public National Vulnerabilities Database shows considerable variation among Chrome, Chromium and Firefox, Black Duck's Gruber pointed out.

For instance, Firefox has had 1,097 vulnerabilities reported in its all-time history, whereas there have been 845 for Chromium and 1,001 for Chrome, he said.

Over the past 3 months, there have been 48 for Firefox, 51 for Chromium and 52 for Chrome.

Looking back over the past 3 years, Firefox has racked up 471, compared with 708 for Chromium and 775 for Chrome.

Of course, such statistics don't factor in the fact that Firefox has been around longer, noted Gruber, who said he assumes Firefox to be more stable.

More Private, Right?

Another common assumption is that Chromium is not under Google's direct control and so offers better privacy from intrusions such as those recently revealed on the part of the National Security Agency.

"I would say that is still an open-ended question," Hill said. "You are giving developers less information when you are using Chromium. If you go to the Chrome store in Chromium, it is hard to say what additional tracking you are providing."

The bigger risk is if you use Chromium and plug it into Google services like Gmail. If, from within Chromium, you do the sign-in authentication and do your Web browsing, you are probably providing just as much tracking information to Google as if you were running Chrome itself, according to Hill.

"That is where the developers get the majority of information from users," he explained. "It is not necessarily limited to any IP code in the Chrome browser itself."

Chromium Alternatives

Users who really want to avoid as much tracking as possible would be better off using one of the Chromium derivatives or Linux distros that use tweaked versions of the Chromium browser that specifically address that ad-tracking feature and related information-gathering issues, suggested Hill.

Another advantage of this alternative-browser approach is additional security evaluations. For example, with some of these Chromium-based browsers, every time the Chromium community releases a new version, the smaller developer communities actually will evaluate the additional code.

That leads to decisions on whether or not to include the newer releases in these other third-party derivative browsers. This could have an impact on privacy and tracking that might not otherwise arise with either the Chromium core project or Google Chrome.

Google Advantage

Unlike other third-party software distributed through different repository systems in Linux, Google maintains a direct path to avoid updating delays. Chrome has an auto-update feature, while Chromium does not. That remains an advantage for using Chrome rather than Chromium on Windows and Mac platforms as well.

Chrome is supported directly in a number of cases, according to Google's Shah. For instance, Google maintains package repositories for popular Linux distros to keep Chrome in Linux up-to-date.

"However, we have found that some Linux distribution maintainers prefer open-source software that they have built themselves," he added. "It is possible for maintainers to build Chromium and modify it (if necessary) to work in supported releases of their distro."

Chrome or Chromium?

So, bottom line: Is Chrome or Chromium better? There's even a list of feature comparisons to help you decide.

In general, though, people should choose Chrome or Chromium based on their use case, Shah advised. Since Chrome includes a few additional add-ons such as built-in Flash and a PDF viewer, most people find that it works well for them.

"However, open-source developers may prefer Chromium," he concluded, "if they are often tinkering with source code or modifying their own distribution."

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Nokia Mobile Application Development LWUIT Components and Syntax

LWUIT Components and their syntax:

Form:

To create a Form

Form f1=new Form("Music Player");

To add a component to form

f1,addComponent(new Label("Hai This is a lable"));

To add a command to form

f1,addCommand(new Command("back"));

To Display a form

f1,show();

Label:

To Create a Label

Label a=new Label("Hai i am a label");

To Change Alignment of Label

a.getStyle().setAlignment(Label.CENTER);

BUTTON:

To Create a Button

Button b= new Button("Button_Name to be displayed");

e.g

Button b=new Button("Calculate");

To Create action Listener for Button

b.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

 public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)

{

  <---------------Action to be Performed byButtton Event--------------->

}

});

RADIO BUTTON:

To Create a RadioButton

RadioButton rb =new RadioButton("I am Radio Button !");

SLIDER:

To create a Slider

Slider a=new Slider();

a,setInfinite(true);

TABS:

To create Tabs

Tabs t=new Tabs();

To add components to Tabs

t.addTab("Tab 1",new Form("Form_Title"));

t.addTab("Tab 2",new Label("I am a Label in Form 2"));

TEXT AREA:

To add components to TextArea

TextArea a=new TextArea("This is a TextArea Component");

To set Number of Rows and Columns

TextArea a=new TextArea("This is a TextArea with Component" ,20,4);

To Change Editable property of TextArea

a.setEditable(false);

a.setGrowByContent(true);

TextField:

To Create TextField

TextField a = new TextField(“This is a text field”);

This is a Courtesy help form digitalnativedev.

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Interesting Stories and Facts about Sachin

Here are some interesting stories for all the god’s fan….

1.Sachin was given a pair of pads by his cricket hero Sunil Gavaskar when he was a schoolboy – and he made his Test debut for India against Pakistan aged just 16-years old in 1989 wearing those very pads…..

2.Like loads of other cricketers, Sachin is pretty superstitious – he’ll always put on his left pad before his right whenever he’s getting padded up……

3.“He hasn’t spent Diwali at home since we got married. But it really doesn’t matter that it’s Diwali… any time he spends at home is great!” – Anjali, his wife, told once…
Once in a BBC interview when asked about his dream women, Sachin answered ‘my wife’ without batting an eyelid.

4.”He scored a fantastic 148 in Shane Warne’s debut Test in Sydney and then followed it up with another century at Perth, one of the toughest pitches in the world, where Indians have traditionally struggled. The value of his hundred increased because all the other Indian batsmen struggled.
His weakness is the fact that he is so talented. His adrenaline pumps strongly when he walks out to bat with the noise of the crowds. You can’t hear yourself think with that noise.
I would pay $1000 to watch Sachin bat.
To score a 148 at Sydney – and that too when you are 18 — was out of the ordinary though the wicket was a lot like the ones you encounter in India, flat with lots of runs for the taking…….”
The above facts are told by Allan Border.

5.The entire cricket world is convinced of one thing : Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is the world’s best batsman. Not just for his extraordinary skill, not just for his ability to tear even the most formidable of bowling attacks to shreds; but also for a rare never-say-die spirit, an insatiable hunger for runs and victory, a desire to dominate the opponent ; commitment, dedication …

These are what the little champion has built his reputation on. ..

6.Tendulkar was a person who would never show any disrespect to the national flag..He respects the national flag most and had even sought permission to use the tricolour on his helmet……
It’s not the riches or the records but the love for the game that keeps the world’s richest cricketer going day after day. It is his hard work, determination, temperament & dedication for the country that keeps him charged….

7.Tendulkar, now in his eighteenth year in international cricket says, ”I still play… because I still love the game.” ”I would like to clarify this. It’s not about records. It’s all about loving the game and enjoying being out there in the middle. That is extremely special to me and far bigger than breaking records or creating new ones.”

”Creating records happens after you’ve gone on the cricket field, but you’ve got to find a reason to go on the cricket field, and for me the reason is very clear.”

”From the age of three I’ve loved this sport and I’ve never thought about scoring the most number of centuries or runs in international cricket. Everyone enjoys breaking records, I’m enjoying it too, but that is not the reason for playing cricket.”

“Whatever level you reach, getting better never stops”-Sachin.
Tendulkar said ”When I started playing, I always wanted to be regarded as one of the best and the idea was that when I stopped playing, people would remember my name. Being regarded as one of the best players is always a good feeling, and that drives you, it refuels you completely. You want to be on top of your game all the time and push yourself harder and harder. There’s a huge responsibility and it is a great challenge. I love that,” he added…..

8.Some quotes by GOD himself……
My big sister gave it to me after returning from a trip to Kashmir, which is known for its high-quality willows. It wasn’t the best bat, but it was like a piece of gold to me. I used to imagine myself batting for India, hitting fours and sixes, the people cheering.
I used that bat until it broke ..

I was the only one supporting John McEnroe — everyone used to call me “Mac” because I styled myself on him. I made my father buy me the same headbands and sweatbands and even grew my hair long. You wouldn’t believe the pictures of me from that time. I was also extremely naughty. Very, very difficult to handle. …I had a nanny who used to run after me virtually 24 hours a day, because I never wanted to go home

My father, who died in 1999, was never a cricket fan, not at all. He was a writer and a poet: he taught Marathi, my mother tongue, at the local university. But he understood exactly how to get the best out of me. He always encouraged me and told my mother that he had full faith in me. It was probably reverse psychology, but as I got older I felt like I could not misuse that trust. He warned me against taking short cuts and told me to just keep playing, despite the ups and downs. My parents taught me that it is important to live every day of your life with grace and honour.When it came to choosing between cricket and going to university, he said: “You can play cricket, I know that is your first love, so go for it.”
Of course, my parents were extremely happy when I became the youngest player to play for India, at 16. ..

Cricket is something very, very special to me. It has never been about owning this or that car and the other things that come with this life.. An obsession with money or worldly matters was always thumbed down. My only dream was to wear the Indian cap and the Indian colours. In that respect, my childhood dreams have come true…..

Having children brings back all my old childhood memories, wonderful years. Now, every minute is measured and calculated. I still dream — without dreams, life is flat, you stagnate. I don’t go to the temple every morning, but I do pray. I thank God for everything he has given me, because life has been very good to me.

9.Chappell should remember how Tendulkar has achieved his greatness and carried the weight of expectations of a billion people since the age of 16, Jadeja said. He added “When tendulkar enters the field, the crowd says-SACHIN! SACHIN! This is something what every cricketer wants”..

Sachin Tendulkar, the brightest star in the world of cricket has achieved his greatest prices with his intellectual and skilful cricketing brains..
SACHIN dreamt a world of superstars and great triumph and he achieved it..

At the age of 10 he walked to the field at 6 am with a cricket bag bigger than him for the practice. At the age of 11 he moved with his paternal uncle to get trained in cricket by the most renowned coach Ramakanth Achrekar. ..

10.Billions of hearts weep…..on the day when Sachin (GOD) retire.
Indians wish that day never comes. It would be one of the most disappointing days of our life. Ever since Indians started watching cricket, it was Sachin, Sachin & only Sachin who made them feel cricket so special. Sachin is only responsible for making cricket a religion in India. They haven’t experienced watching cricket without Sachin. Whether he was injured/rested, there was always a ray of hope that he comes back to team soon. But after retirement, he will never be backing………..If anyone wants to achieve anything in life, Sachin is the best example for them.
I feel most people find it hard to digest that Sachin will no more be a part of Indian cricket…….on that day, isn’t it?
JUST imagine that day, when Sachin plays his last game. He comes to bat for the last time, and everybody in the stadium claps & the chants of SACHIN!!! came for the last time after he gets out, while walking back to the pavilion, the entire crowd gives him a stand awaition. Many of them will be in tears, millions of eyes wet watching their hero play for the last time. An era ends. The end of a legend came……..The bond between every generation breaks. Would you miss Sachin a lot? I think most of people would say “YES”. The saddest day of Indian cricket- when genius retires…LOVE YOU SACHIN!!!

11.From the early 90s to the early years of the new millennium represented the decade of Brian Lara, Richardson, Martin Crowe, Steve and Mark Waugh, Mathew Hayden, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Gary Kirsten and Rahul Dravid. But there can be any doubt that the No.1 batsman in the world for a decade now has been Master Blaster, Sachin Tendulkar. .
But figures, however important they may be, are something that Tendulkar’s achievement should not be measured by. He should be judged by the manner of his batting & that is what Bradman did.

Symbolized by Sir Bradman naming him in his dream team of all time. The team in which Tendulkar is the only Indian player.
He has scored runs on slow pitches of the subcontinent, fast tracks of West Indies, bouncy wickets in Australia and South Africa and in whirling conditions in New Zealand and England.

The thought of having Tendulkar as an opponent gives bowlers bad dreams. No batsman has inflicted such psychological damage to bowlers at any time in the world like Tendulkar did to Shane Warne!!!(Warne said Tendulkar is my nightmare).
His technique is so well organized that he is able to encounter any delivery with ease and comfort, giving the impression of having all the time in the world to play the stroke, the hallmark of the greatest of batsmen.

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Time for some Tendulkar stats!

# The only player to have appeared in 300 innings (329).

# Holds a record for registering most centuries (51).

# Holds a record for recording most fifties (68).

# Holds a record for posting most innings of fifty-plus – 119 Centuries 51 + fifties 68.

# Holds a record for the highest run-aggregate (15,921 at an average of 53.78 in 200 matches).

# With 20 innings of 150-plus, he holds a world record. With eleven innings of 150-plus overseas, he holds a world record.

# Both his aggregate – 1995 runs at an average of 60.45 in 25 Tests and nine hundreds are records against Sri Lanka.

# Only batsman to aggregate 1,000 runs against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka – 1155 at an average of 67.94 in twelve Tests.

# Holds a record for most runs overseas – 8705 (ave.54.74) in 106 Tests.

# Recorded six innings of 200 or more, sharing an Indian record with Virender Sehwag.

# Figures in 72 Tests in a winning cause – the most by a player from the subcontinent. (including the Wankhede Test vs West Indies)

# Managed 5946 runs (ave.61.93) in 72 Tests – the most by a player from the subcontinent in a winning cause. (including the Wankhede Test vs West Indies)

# Completed a hundred with a six (6 times) – a world record.

# Registered seven hundreds in a calendar year (2010) – an Indian record.

# Six times in a calendar year, he has completed 1000 runs – a record.

# Recorded eleven hundreds against Australia – the most by a player from the sub-continent.

# Managed 3630 runs (ave.55.00) in 39 Tests against Australia – the most by a player from the sub-continent.

# Scored 495 runs in three innings before being dismissed – a world record – his sequence of scores being 241 not out & 60 not out vs Australia at Sydney in January 2004 and 194 not out vs Pakistan at Multan in March 2004.

# With ten innings of 90 or more, he shares an unwanted Test record with Rahul Dravid and Steve Waugh.

# Shares 20 century stands with Rahul Dravid – a world record for most century partnerships by any pair.

# Aggregated 6920 at an average of 50.51 in 143 innings, including 20 partnerships of 100-plus and 29 between 50 and 99 – a world record.

# Shares 18 double century stands (200 or more) – an Indian record and the second highest overall, next only to Kallis (20).

# With 14 Man of the Match awards, he possesses an Indian record.

# With five Man of the series awards, he shares an Indian record with Virender Sehwag.

# Shares a record for reaching 10,000 runs in least number of innings (195) with Brian Lara and Kumar Sangakkara.

# Shares a record for reaching 12,000 runs in least number of innings (247) with Ricky Ponting.

# Holds a record for reaching 13,000 runs in least number of innings (266).

# The only player to have recorded 2000 fours (2058) apart from 69 sixes.

# Only Indian player to amass 50,000 runs in all formats of the game i.e., first-class, List A and Twenty20.

# Holds a record for most international centuries (100) – 51 in Tests and 49 in One Day Internationals – 29 more than Ricky Ponting (71).

# Only player to have amassed more than 30,000 international runs – 34,357 at an average of 48.52.

(courtesy: rediff)

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History repeated itself on Friday with Sachin Tendulkar's son, Arjun, being a ball boy 26 years after his father was one at the same venue.

Twenty six years before Sachin Tendulkar was a ball boy at the Wankhede Stadium, his son Arjun was Friday seen at the same ground taking on the same role in the legendary batsman's farewell Test here.

14-year-old Arjun, who was part of Mumbai's under-14 squad last year, was at the ground when the cricket legend was batting in his landmark 200th Test and also when he was caught at slips by Darren Sammy off Narsingh Deonarine. But, unlike on the first day, he wasn't sitting comfortably with his family in the President's Box, but near the boundary line.

Arjun Tendulkar (right) is a ball boy during Sachin Tendulkar's final Test at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium on Friday. PIC/ SURESH K.K.

Sachin Tendulkar scored 74 off 118 balls, in what could probably be his last innings for India.

Interestingly, Tendulkar had been a ball boy at the age of 14 during the India vs Zimbabwe match in the 1987 World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium.

Tendulkar's farewell Test attracted a number of celebrities to the stadium, who wanted to have one last glimpse at the Master Blaster's batting.

Ace tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi, Bollywood stars like Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Riteish Deshmukh, Genelia D'Souza were present to see the veteran batsman in action. Even Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was also present at the stadium on the second day of the second Test against West Indies. 

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Sachin Tendulkar retires: Famous quotes on the master

Sachin Tendulkar, regarded as the greatest batsman in cricket, today called it quits from Test cricket, announcing his retirement after his 200th match against the West Indies next month, bringing the curtains down on an extraordinary career spanning a marathon 24 years.

Here are few quotes by some famous cricketers on him:

Time magazine's quote on Sachin Tendulkar in 2011: "When Sachin Tendulkar travelled to Pakistan to face one of the finest bowling attacks ever assembled in cricket, Michael Schumacher was yet to race a F1 car, Lance Armstrong had never been to the Tour de France, Diego Maradona was still the captain of a world champion Argentina team, Pete Sampras had never won a Grand Slam. When Tendulkar embarked on a glorious career taming Imran and company, Roger Federer was a name unheard of; Lionel Messi was in his nappies, Usain Bolt was an unknown kid in the Jamaican backwaters. The Berlin Wall was still intact, USSR was one big, big country, Dr Manmohan Singh was yet to "open" the Nehruvian economy. It seems while Time was having his toll on every individual on the face of this planet, he excused one man. Time stands frozen in front of Sachin Tendulkar. We have had champions, we have had legends, but we have never had another Sachin Tendulkar and we never will."

  

"Nothing bad can happen to us if we're on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it", said Hashim Amla once.

BBC: "Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives- BBC Sports, on Sachin Tendulkar."

Peter Roebuck: "On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt at one of the stations. The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing a century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. This genius can stop time in India!"

Sir Donald Bradman: "I saw him (Sachin) playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two...his compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel"

Matthew Hayden: "I have seen God, he bats at no. 4 for India"

Hashim Amla: "Nothing bad can happen to us if we're on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it"

Andy Flower: "There are two kinds of batsmen in the world. One, Sachin Tendulkar. Two, all the others"

Brian Lara: "The only batsman I would love to see by paying for the tickets and sitting in the stand just to watch him is none other than Sachin Tendulkar" and "Sachin is a genius. I'm a mere mortal"

Mark Taylor: "We did not lose to a team called India, we lost to a man called Sachin (after the two famous innings in Sharjah in 1998)"

A placard at the Sydney Cricket Ground: "Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed because even the Lord is watching"

Dennis Lillee: "If I've to bowl to Sachin, I'll bowl with my helmet on. He hits the ball so hard"

Andrew Flintoff: "When you bowl at him you are not just trying to get him out, you are trying to impress him. 'I want him to walk off thinking 'that Flintoff, he's all right isn't he? I feel privileged to have played against him"

Abdul Qadir: "I was fielding in the covers when Tendulkar came out to bat in his debut Test at Karachi. I still remember Waqar Younis was in peak form at that time. Tendulkar tried to drive Waqar through the covers off his very first ball in Test cricket but was beaten all ends up. But I walked to captain Imran Khan and told him 'this kid looks very good' and Imran agreed with me."

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Snapchat declines $3 bn offer from Facebook

Feeling the pulse of teenagers' inactivity on its social network,Facebook has dangled more than $3 billion in cash to woo Snapchat, the popular photo-messaging start-up used by younger audiences. 

However, the Los Angeles-based messaging app company, founded by 23-year-old Evan Spiegel, recently turned down the offer because it's currently being courted by multiple investors, according to a source familiar with the matter. 

The two-year-old Snapchat has been approached with offers including an investment from China's Tencent Holdings that would value the start-up at $4 billion. 

Snapchat's mobile app allows people to send text and photos that disappear in what has been hailed as all the rage in a next wave of private social sharing. According to various media reports, Facebook made an offer of $3 billion or more, but Snapchat cofounder Evan Spiegel is opting to wait until 2014 in hopes of a better valuation for the company. 

In October, Wall Street Journal put out a similar report, claiming that Facebook had offered to acquire Snapchat for $1 billion. 

Still another report in October indicated that Snapchat was looking to raise a round of funding that would value the company at roughly $3.5 billion. 

Snapchat has joined the list of tech companies such as Tumblr and Instagram with no money coming in but multiple sky-high takeover offers. So far, Snapchats leaders have balked at the offers in the hope of landing an even more lucrative deal. 

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Gogo rolling out new text and call options for in-flight Wi-Fi service

In-flight wireless provider Gogo is in the process of rolling out a new set of features that will allow users to send and receive text messages and phone calls while flying the friendly skies. Known as the Talk & Text service, said texts and calls are routed through the company’s iOS app (Android app coming soon) although all communications will still be coming from your phone number as not to confuse friends and family.

Don’t get too excited (or pissed off) just yet, however, as the new features aren’t available as of writing. What’s more, the Talk & Text plans are only initially launching with a select few business partners. Gogo plans to change that as they are in negotiations with commercial airliners to get the service up and running for the masses. No word on how long that might take, unfortunately.

Gogo's chief marketing officer, Ash ElDifrawi, said they see this as more of a text messaging product for commercial airlines in the US although the phone functionality is something that some international air carriers and business aviation customers have been asking for.

As The Verge points out, it should be relatively easy for Gogo to expand the service to commercial flights since there isn’t a need to install any new equipment. Furthermore, the company said the features could be bundled with their traditional Wi-Fi offering but the wording used gives the impression that pricing will be dictated by each airline.

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Freegate 7.41

Developer: Dynamic Internet Technology Last updated: November 7, 2013 License: Freeware OS Support: Windows (all) File Size: 2.8 MB Downloads: 38,831 ∟ Last week: 13,918 User Rating:     (117 votes)

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Freegate is an anti-censorship software for secure and fast Internet access. It was developed and maintained by Dynamic Internet Technology Inc. (DIT), a pioneer in censorship-circumvention operation.

Features:

• users access web sites overseas as fast as their local ones;
• requires no installation or change in system setting;
• a single executable file on a Windows platform.

Freegate works by tapping into an anti-censorship backbone, DynaWeb, DIT's P2P-like proxy network system.

Freegate's anti-censorship capability is further enhanced by a new, unique encryption and compression algorithm in the versions of 6.33 and above.



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How to develop cool apps for NOKIA

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கண்ணீரும் உன்னை காதலிக்கும் !

                                  

                                    உன் கண்ணுக்குள் விழுந்த என் காதலை ,

கண்ணீரால் வெளியேற்றி பார் பெண்ணே !
அந்த கண்ணீரும் உன்னை காதலிக்கும் !

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தழும்புகளுக்கு கிடைத்த வெற்றி

   

 

முயற்சிக்கு கிடைத்த வெற்றி,தோல்விகளின் அனுபவங்கள் !
தோல்விக்கு கிடைத்த வெற்றி,அனுபவங்களின் தழும்புகள் !
"தழும்புகளுக்கு கிடைத்த வெற்றி",வெற்றியின் இனிய நினைவுகள் !

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12 Back-to-School Cyber-Security Tips

Having a personal computer is no longer a luxury for college students—it's become a necessity. Most students choose laptops, so they can take notes in class or study outside under the trees. And most of those laptops aren't protected nearly as well as they should be.
In addition, the student life poses some unique challenges. I feel fairly sure no stranger is going to wander into my home office, but a student is immediately saddled with one or more wildcards in the form of roommates. Those roommates, their friends, and just about anybody else, may wander in and out of your dorm room; it's far from ideal for security.
If your school PC is lost or stolen, you won't just lose your lecture notes from Parapsychology 101. You've almost certainly stored personal information as well, data that a thief could use against you. Here are a dozen tips to help you stay secure at school.

1. Lock It Down.Many laptops and other small electronic devices include a slot designed to accept a special cable lock. Wrap the cable around something massive, insert the lock into the device, and turn the key or spin the combination. A determined thief could probably wrest the device loose, but only at the expense of seriously damaging the case. There are also locks that attach to a common port such as the video output or parallel port.

2. Password-Protect It. Yes, it's awfully convenient to just turn on your computer and have it boot straight to the desktop—convenient, but not safe. You absolutely must password-protect your user account, and disable the Guest account if it's not already disabled. Also, dig into the Power settings in Control Panel and set your computer to require a password when it wakes up from the sleep state. If you have to step away from your computer, press Windows+L to lock it.

3. Protect Your Email. Many schools issue all students a school-specific email address, usually a standard POP3 account. It's a snap to set your email client so it logs in automatically, without requesting the password each time. However, if you ever leave your computer turned on but unattended, anyone could log in and read your email, or send scandalous messages. You'll be safer if you set your email client to require the password every time.

4. Manage Your Passwords. Like anyone else, students connect with many, many secure sites, each of which demands a password. The only reasonable way to use a unique, strong password for each site is to engage the help of a password manager utility. Install it, check and change any weak passwords, and set it to automatically log out after a short period of inactivity.

5. Don't Over-Share, Part 1. A friend asks, "Hey, can I use your password to log in and look something up?" Requests like this are all too common, and the correct response is very simple—just say no. Don't share your login credentials with anybody. If you want to be nice, offer to log in yourself and look up whatever your friend was seeking.

6. Don't Over-Share, Part 2. Configure your social media accounts so that only your friends can see your posts, and limit the amount of personal profile information that's publicly visible. Oh, and those pictures from the frat's keg party? Do yourself a favor and just don't post those at all. If someone else does so, untag yourself at the very least. You'll thank yourself years later when you've graduated and started looking for a job.

7. Keep Malware Out. The archetypical starving student doesn't have any cash to spare. Downloading pirated software and tunes is one way to save money, but doing so can expose you to malware. In fact, you can run into malicious code even on perfectly legitimate sites, through "poisoned" advertising links. The best free antivirus tools are better than many of their commercial competitors, so there's no excuse for going without antivirus protection. PCMag's Editors' Choice products for free antivirus are AVG Anti-Virus FREE 2013 and Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+ 10.5.

8. Don't Be Fooled. Got a text or email message promising quick bucks for working at home? Or an offer to share in a big reward, for a small initial investment? Don't believe everything you read, especially in your Inbox. Some scammers see students as easy marks; it's your job to prove them wrong. Watch out for phishing messages pretending to come from your bank, or even from your university. If you're not sure whether a message is valid, navigate to the site yourself and check it out, or phone the relevant department; don't click any links.

9. Beware Insecure Networks. Your school likely doesn't have a big IT budget, and what they do have is probably devoted to fixing outages. Security? They haven't had time to think about it. Whether you're using the school's network, or free WiFi in a coffeeshop, your connection could possibly be open to snooping by other users. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) utility will both protect your connection and let you surf anonymously. There are plenty of good free VPN clients to choose from.

10. Get It Back. It just takes an instant of inattention to leave your laptop in a lecture hall. You may be careful to lock your dorm room door, but if your roommate is a flake, a thief could easily make off with your PC while you're both out. Consider investing in a little protection, in the form of anti-theft software. Our Editors' Choice in this category is LoJack for Laptops by Absolute Software, which can still function even if the thief formats or swaps out the hard drive. Note, too, that security mega-suite Bitdefender Total Security (2014) has an anti-theft component built in, along with just about every other security feature you can imagine.

11. Secure Your Phone. That smartphone you carry around in your pocket is a more powerful computer than early-generation PCs, and it's just crammed with contacts, photos, and other personal data. You absolutely must set up a lock screen using a PIN, swipe code, facial recognition, or whatever your particular phone supports. Other security measures such as password management, VPN connection, and anti-theft are just as important for your phone as for a laptop.

12. Cut Your Losses. I learned a handy trick from a friend of mine who just adored the club scene. Before she headed out to party, she'd lock away her smartphone and bring a cheap burner phone instead. If the phone took a dive while a friend was holding her hair, it wouldn't be a great loss. For those who like to party hearty after a week of grueling study, this tip can be a lifesaver.

Whether you're a student or not, a good dose of common sense will definitely help you stay secure. Keep your programs up to date, run security software, don't click suspicious links, and don't believe offers that are too good to be true. Before you know it, you'll be finished with school and into the not-very-different world of work. Good luck!

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Create a bootable CD or DVD with or without floppy

With the CD-ROM available on almost every computer nowaday, floppy drives become a history. However, for those who find computers a hobby, might run into a situation when they need to create a bootable CD that works just like the old floppy disk. Unfortunately, to do this, you still need a floppy drive to read your bootup floppy disk. Wait, the good news is, you can just down load a bootable ISO image and burn it to a CD. And even better.
The information on this article will guide you step-by-step how to create a bootable CD/DVD, either using a bootup floppy disk or a boot image file. You will end up having a bootable CD or DVD, with CD-ROM driver supported, that could startup your PC and bring up the command prompt. This is going to be a good starting point, then you can run other utilities such as hard drive ghost, etc..
Many current CD/DVD burning software support the bootable feature. If you already have your favorite burning software, look around to find the bootable option. For this article, I will use the steps and sample screen-shots with the burning tool called Nero.
 This boot image is Windows-98 based, which means it uses the Windows 98 bootup sequence, which should do what we need. You can also download different boot disk images from the internet. I've found bootdisk.com has a very good collection.
I assume that you already have Nero installed. Also, it is highly recommended to use a rewritable disc so you can redo the process if you have to.

1. Launch Nero Burning ROM
2. At the New Compilation Window, select "CD" from the drop-down menu and select "CD-ROM (Boot)" for CD, (or select "DVD" and "DVD-ROM (Boot)" for DVD)
   
   
   
   
   
3. If you use a bootup floppy disk, insert the floppy disk and select "Bootable logical drive..."
   
   
   
4. If you use an image file, select "Image File" then click "Browse" to browse to the image.
   
   At the "Open" Window, browse to the location where you saved the boot image and choose the image you wish to use and click "Open" (you might need to change the "Files of type" to "All Files" in order to see files with different extensions.)
   
   
   
5. Click "New" at the New Compilation Window.
6. Nero New Compilation Window disappears and Nero brings up its main screen where you can add more files to the CD/DVD if you wish. For example, adding a "ghost" folder with the file "ghost.exe" as follows.
   Once you're done adding all the files you wish to, click on the "Burn" icon.
   
   
   
   
7. At the "Burn Compilation" Window, select "Burn"!

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