World's First Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher

Microsoft has allowed select refurbishers to reload genuine Microsoft Operating systems on refurbished computers (servers, laptops and desktops). The first one is TechTurn from Austin, Texas.

Officially, Microsoft is providing a year of technical support with each such OS. On 8th October 2009, TechTurn loaded the inaugural Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher Server OS license (Windows Server 2003R2) worldwide.

These refurbished servers are custom-configured rebuilt servers that are pre-installed with Windows Server OS. Refurbished servers to customers should mean "as good as new" servers with a saving of two-thirds of the cost of a new server. This move is definitely going to help small businesses, schools, institutions, etc.

Two Indians to Reign Top Ranking U.S. Business Schools

Power is sweet but comes with lot of responsibilities and accountability. This is about two Indian business experts appointed as heads of two prestigious business schools in U.S, is a proud factor for all Indians. Both these business schools are among top 10 U.S. business schools.

University of Chicago has appointed Sunil Kumar as the Dean of Chicago Booth School of Business. Sunil, who will resume his chair in January 2011, is Masters in Computer Science from one of the most premium institute in India. After doing his Masters Degree from IIS (Indian Institute of Science), Sunil did his doctorate degree from University of Illinois. Born and brought up in India, Sunil never looked back after his doctorate degree to his journey of achieving new heights and brining proud for India. Sunil has been acclaimed for his high level of decision making skills by John Huizinga, chairman of the dean search committee of U.S. business schools.

Before the release of this story about Sunil, another Indian, Nitin Nohria, achieved another feather in his cap when he took charge of the Holy Grail of business schools for Indians, as its new Dean in July 2010. Nitin has established himself as an expert in leadership and ethics. Nitin graduated from another prestigious technical institute, IIT (Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai) in India.

That way if we see, Indians are considered to be very intelligent, down to earth and quite talented. India is marking its impression on global front in a big way these days in education field. Few days back a $35 laptop was unveiled in India for students, which is World’s cheapest laptop prototype so far. And now the Indians are grabbing the top level positions in prestigious business schools.

A Banking Dynasty Heir Curbs Plastic Waste Innovatively

David de Rothschild had two points to prove when he decided to build Plastiki, a catamaran made from some 12,000 odd plastic bottles.

The first point was to show the world that plastic, instead of being thrown away as dead waste, can be used in an eco-friendly manner. The second was to demonstrate his outside-of-the-box thinking. David sailed in his catamaran from San Francisco to Sydney, and was welcomed by Sydney people at Darling Harbour.

David has given new meaning to curbing plastic waste by making his voyage successful after facing some turbulence at Queensland. He has proved his point, that harmful waste can be eliminated in many new ways. The message is simple and straightforward: reduce waste, decrease carbon footprints and help nature.

One of the goals of his trip was to meet Sydney’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore and to discuss global waste issues with him. His state-of-the-art boat is on display for one month at ANMM (Australian National Maritime Museum).

This is one of the great initiatives taken by a high profile person to showcase and demonstrate how intuition, innovation and a fire in the belly can tackle any problem, big or small, and can help in fighting any global issue. I am sure his successful venture is going to motivate many others across the globe to try and mitigate the risk of global warming in various innovative ways.

Windows 7 Upgrade – Is It Free? Is it Hassle-Free?

So you are ready to upgrade your PC’s operating system to the newest from Microsoft – Windows 7. But hang on!

Take a note of the following facts before proceeding:



You are eligible for a free upgrade only if you have Vista SP1 or SP2 installed on your PC that you bought after June 26th, 2009.

You can’t cross architecture from 32-bit to 64-bit.
There is also a language issue. You can’t install Windows 7 English version on Vista SP1 (or SP2) Spanish version.
You can’t upgrade from Vista Home to Windows 7 business version. This will shell some dollars out of your pocket, obviously.




Upgrade vs. fresh install You are not eligible to upgrade your Windows installation if you have a non-upgraded Vista or any other Microsoft OS (Windows XP, Windows 2000, etc.). In that case, you have no other choice than to buy it and go for a fresh install. In case of a fresh install, you will have to reinstall all other software installed on your PC.

Should I upgrade? Better judge it yourself. An opinion by Matt Lake give you four reasons to upgrade and four reasons to stay away.

Another post by Greg Keizer warns that an upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 may take 20 hours, as confirmed by Microsoft.

Should I wait a month or upgrade now? I will say - Do it now. Windows 7 has jumped to the top of the software bestseller list at online retailer Amazon.com and accounts for three of the first five spots and five of the top 10.

Don't lose heart as the early enterprise adopters have all praises for Windows 7. They confirm it is efficient in saving power costs and makes users happier by booting the system faster.


And last but not the least - Gartner also confirms not to wait for the patches and to go for Windows 7 right now.

Did They Find Jane Doe?

Someone in New York has no memory of her name or family. She is 18. Is she Kacie Aleece Peterson of Hansville (as reported by Paul Browne, deputy commissioner of the NYPD) or Jane Doe (as aired on CNN first)? Nobody is sure of it as yet.

The police have investigated and dug out her details by now. According to Browne, Kacie’s mother is not alive and her father is searching for her. Kacie is from Colville, Washington – reported by CNN affiliate TV network KOMO, was living with a friend in Hansville and attending Kingston High School.

How she has reached thousands of miles away and knows nothing about her is still a mystery. She had been missing since October 1, 2009 when her father went to the police station for their assistance in finding her.

"I just want to know who I am and what happened to me," was what this young woman said in a statement.


I have a mixed feeling to this story. It could be a gimmick played by the teenage girl. As her father reported, this is not the first time that the ‘memory loss’ is happening to her. The same has happened to her earlier. But on the other hand amnesia is a serious disease where one loses every bit of memory about oneself.

I really sympathize with her condition as it is very painful for a person when all of a sudden she becomes totally blank about her own details.

Read more: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/family/article/did-they-find-jane-doe/#ixzz0uo6oiTn5

India Unveils World’s Cheapest Laptop @$35

Keeping India’s economy in mind, where average middle-class students can’t afford to buy a good configuration laptop that costs them around $500 to $1000, India HRD Minister Kapil Sibal has unveiled a low-cost affordable laptop for the student community.

It's the world’s cheapest fully functional laptop, with a price tag of just $35, making it much cheaper than the currently existing laptops in the market and easily be purchased by most of the students belonging to middle and low-income family segments.

The fully functional prototype includes motherboard, processor, RAM, internet connection facility, memory, display and touch screen capability. The base model will also include PDF reader, internet browsers and video conferencing facilities, and the prototype model comes with modular expansion capabilities to allow students to easily upgrade it with enhanced capabilities. The HRD ministry is in the process of talking to laptop manufacturers about mass production for the Indian market.

The operating system for these laptops will be open source Linux that can be installed free of cost. With very optimistic plans by the HRD minister, the laptop will be commercially launched for higher education institutions in India by 2011.

The ministry is also proposing that the cost ultimately is reduced first to $20 and then to just $10. The product has been researched under the sponsorship of HRD Ministry, with technical assistance from India’s two premier technology institutes – IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) and IIS (Indian Institute of Science).

When all is said and done, on one hand it is a big boost to the student community in my opinion. It is really a technical revolution to deliver a full-fledged working laptop at such low cost.

But on the other hand, the limitations of the laptop have not been disclosed so far. A vision of bringing down the cost of this model to just $10 seems to be over-optimistic. Let’s see which global player comes forward to deliver this model for mass production. Also unspecified is a control mechanism to keep the product from being misused by the commercial non-student community.

Overall, if this project succeeds, it is going to get a huge and warm welcome from the whole student community of India.

Read more: http://technorati.com/technology/it/article/india-unveils-worlds-cheapest-laptop-35/#ixzz0uo5LtvQO

Birth of Windows 7 Means Corporate Death of Windows XP

It has been predicted in a recent report published by research firm Forrester that Microsoft will officially stop all its support for Windows XP by the end of April 2014. The operating system is already under extended support.

A large number of corporate organizations reacted positively when approached by Forrester for their views on upgrading to Windows 7. Though their timeframe for this upgrade varying widely, most of them clearly showed their intentions to upgrade to Windows 7.

Around 80% of all commercial PCs worldwide today are loaded with Windows XP, which gradually will start declining once Microsoft launches its new operating system Windows 7 today.

Apple’s Upgraded iMac and MacBook Announced

Apple announced yesterday its upgraded version of iMac computers and low-end portable MacBook computers. This strategic announcement on 20th October 2 days prior to Microsoft’s official launch of Windows 7 on 22nd October seems to be a move to retain their existing customers and attract new customer by showing them a spark of new features in the upgraded versions of iMac and MacBook.

The release includes the first-ever multi-touch mouse (called Magic Mouse) that will allow Mac users to scroll at the speed of a finger stroke. It will also allow them to skip through open web pages with a two-fingered swipe.

Prices are quite competitive (starting from $999 for the MacBook).

Apple Sweetens Quarterly Results

Apple posted an increase in sales and net profit for the fourth quarter of 2009 the day before announcing new Christmas hardware. This has happened even when there was a marginal decline in year over year decline in iPod sales. Analysts at Thomson Reuters have assured that EPS (earning per share) will be beyond expectations.

Analysts also are expecting further increase in sales and profits in coming quarters. The posted revenue for the last quarter was well beyond the expected figures given earlier by the analysts.

Though there was an eight percent decline in sales from the previous year in iPods, the increase in sales of Mac computers and iPhone is accounted for this increase in sales and net profits.

Google Diversifies To Produce Green Electricity Commercially

Google inc. headquartered in Mountain View, California, has finalized a 20-year deal with NextEra Energy, located in Story County, Iowa, to procure 114 megawatts of electrical power generation through wind energy. This is the first major deal Google has done after acquiring approval from the US government to trade in the commercial electricity business. Google achieved this feat after a couple of years of their interest and investments in many of the solar, wind and geothermal projects in US.

This has definitely given a boost to Google, by giving them the ability to check and control future increases in power prices by other players in the market. By doing so, Google can protect their investments by using their in-house electricity for their huge data centers spread across the various locations. Though so far Google has never declared how much power their data centers consume, or even how many or where they are, they have claimed to have the most efficient ones in the industry.

Whether Google consumes all of the electricity produced by their new venture, or sells some of it on the market is unclear as of now. But the largest search engine giant has certainly indicated their desire to "go green" and reduce their carbon footprint. They may also opt for more clean energy or eco-friendly energy projects in the coming years.

Another good question: will Google be able to beat other regional energy suppliers in terms of price if they plan to supply power to local energy grids, thereby prompting a price war?

Overall, this is a good move by Google that supports the trend of thinking and going green.



Read more: http://technorati.com/technology/article/google-diversifies-to-produce-green-electricity/#ixzz0uPHicrSa

Twenty Six Hours Flight By Solar Powered Aircraft Marks New Heights

The solar plane project that started in 2003, a brainchild of Bertrand Piccard, the first person who completed a non-stop balloon flight around the world, succeeded in its first day and night flight.

The aircraft spent 26 hours in the air over Switzerland reaching a height of around 28,000 feet before landing at Paverne, Switzerland. It was powered by 12000 solar cells plus the solar powered lithium batteries. The batteries kept charging during the day, which helped provide the power to the aircraft during the night.

After completing the 26-hour test journey on non-fossil fuels, the long winged aircraft, Named Solar Impulse, has given a certain boost to the alternative energy supporting community. As per the statement released by Piccard, the tremendous success of this effort will definitely help the world in reducing its dependency on fossil fuels.

Piloted by a former Swiss air force fighter pilot and flying at a top speed of 78 miles per hour, it was the longest test flight ever of a piloted, solar powered aircraft, and a project team member stated that they proved more than they had hoped with this successful flight.

In my opinion great people like Bertrand Piccard never sit on their laurels; they keep exploring the strength of technology and brain to achieve newer heights, one after the other. Otherwise, he would have sat idle after getting worldwide acclamations for his successful non-stop balloon flight.



Read more: http://technorati.com/technology/article/twenty-six-hours-flight-by-solar/#ixzz0uE0d1kDN

Man Charged For Sexually Assaulting Unconscious Girlfriend

A 51-year-old man in San Luis Obispo is being prosecuted for the shameful act he performed with his girlfriend in early 2009. The lady was at a later stage of cancer and nearing her death. The man, James Wayne Leach, was arrested by San Luis Obispo police and charged with the sexual assault of his girlfriend when she was unconscious. Leach will be tried for sex abuse as well as several other serious charges, including taking photographs of children and toddlers taking showers at public beaches.

Leach, who will be prosecuted on July 28th, was the sole caregiver for his ailing girlfriend when he had sex with her while she was unconscious, testified San Luis Obispo police detective Sue Mickel. But Leach didn't stop there: he also took photographs of the act. His girlfriend died in June 2009.

I wonder how a man at such an age, acting as a caregiver to someone whom he claims to love, can perform such a hateful crime that no person, society or group in any nation of the world would accept. Can it be termed love in any manner? Does this man deserve the smallest bit of respect after doing this?




Read more: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/family/article/man-charged-for-sexually-assaulting-unconscious/#ixzz0uDz6G8xg

Discovery Channel's Strange Sex Explores Unusual Sexual Encounters

Strange Sex is a new six-part series on the Discovery Channel. The first two episodes have already aired, back-to-back on Sunday July 18 at 10 and 10:30 pm ET/PT.

The series explores sex, with a focus on sexual encounters happening across the globe, with an emphasis on strange or fetishistic behaviors.

The program promises to explore the mysterious arenas of sex, unusual fetishes and the science behind sexual attractions while taking viewers to an unexplored area in this field. Some of the cases to be aired will include a man with a balloon fetish, a woman trying to have an orgasm during childbirth and a couple who invites another man into their home — and their marital and sexual life.

One episode features former Skid Row drummer and recent sex-addict rehab graduate, Phil Varone starting anew with his new girlfriend. Other episodes will include an Iraq war veteran who experiences pain during intercourse, a former Broadway star and sex educator sharing her experiences about having thought-induced orgasms. The real life experiences will be analyzed by medical professionals’ through their expert opinions.

In my opinion, the objective of Strange Sex is to represent the unusual and 'off-the-beaten-track' forms of real-life sexual encounters. Exploration of sex and what attracts and stimulates different people seems too broad a subject to be covered by only six episodes, however, this should be an interesting series.



Read more: http://technorati.com/entertainment/tv/article/discovery-channels-strange-sex-explores-unusual/#ixzz0uDxyNR2H

Chronic Sufferers Find Support From Social Networks

The Internet has proven to be an invaluable and vital tool for many thousands of people suffering from chronic illnesses worldwide. As well as being a wealth of information to those searching about specific illnesses, many networking sites provide contact with fellow sufferers, enabling them to compare tips on making life easier and giving them a network of friends who can empathize. Many of these sites were started by patients who found that health professionals cannot provide the type of advice found through personal experience.

Read more: http://technorati.com/blogging/article/chronic-sufferers-find-support-from-social/#ixzz0tFZTwI5b

Girl Has Half Her Brain Removed and Recovers

A young American girl is a walking reminder that miracles can happen, with the help of the advances in medical surgery. She has made a full recovery following surgery three years ago to remove half of her brain.

Read more: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/family/article/girl-has-half-her-brain-removed/#ixzz0tFMe229A

Flying Car Becoming A Reality Soon

World's first flying car has been cleared off by US aviation authorities and will soon be available commercially. The transformation from car to winged aircraft, as per report, will take 30 seconds.

Read more: http://technorati.com/technology/article/flying-car-becoming-a-reality-soon/#ixzz0tFM0jBvT

Corruption Arrests In New York Reach All Time High, Break All Records

822 arrests made by the Department of Investigation of New York City in the last 12 months have broken a 137-year record. There is a 12% increase this year as compared to the last fiscal year. The corruption probe includes officials at the highest levels, which involved a sitting councilman’s indictment. In other probes it was found that many low-level employees engaged in various schemes. 13,500 complaints were recorded officially calling for around 2,200 investigations in the last year.

But as per the statement given by Rose Gill Hearn who is heading the department since 2002, it does not prove that the city government employees have gone more corrupt than in previous years. She stated that smarter ways of investigating leading to more depth caused more arrests. She thinks there is no increase in corruption. Out of around 7,000 arrests made in the last 20 years, more than 4,000 have happened during the tenure of Ms. Hearn.

The department focused more on publicly funded nonprofit organizations in recent years that lead to the exposure of insiders and public officials involved in frauds. For this purpose, a new unit was formed in 2007 within the department named “not-for-profit vendor fraud unit.” An interesting fraud case that was cracked in February this year was that of Councilman Larry Seabrook. He was charged with passing on huge amount of taxpayer funds to his relatives by irregular means. In December 2009, former Councilman Miguel Martinez was booked on federal corruption charges amounting to around USD 100,000.

Whatever is the real cause, in my opinion, if corruption has not increased and the increase in arrests is merely based on improved investigation procedures, it indicates that for the first time in New York, the department has learned better ways to curb corruption. And so far in the last 137 years it was just favoring the corruption to go on and grow!

Read more: http://technorati.com/politics/article/corruption-arrests-in-new-york-reach/#ixzz0tFKzzyFA

Twenty Six Hours Flight By Solar Powered Aircraft Marks New Heights

The solar plane project that started in 2003, a brainchild of Bertrand Piccard, the first person who completed a non-stop balloon flight around the world, succeeded in its first day and night flight.

The aircraft spent 26 hours in the air over Switzerland reaching a height of around 28,000 feet before landing at Paverne, Switzerland. It was powered by 12000 solar cells plus the solar powered lithium batteries. The batteries kept charging during the day that helped providing the power to the aircraft during the night.

After completing 26-hour test journey on non-fossil fuels, the long winged aircraft, Named Solar Impulse, has given a certain boost to alternative energy supporting community. As per the statement released by Piccard, the tremendous success of this effort will definitely help the world in reducing its dependency on fossil fuels.

Piloted by a former Swiss air force fighter pilot and flying at a top speed of 78 miles per hour, it was the longest test flight ever of a piloted, solar powered aircraft, and a project team member stated that they proved more than they had hoped with this successful flight.

In my opinion great people like Bertrand Piccard never sit on their laurels and keep exploring the strength of technology and brain to achieve newer heights, one after the other. Otherwise he would have sat idle after getting worldwide acclamations for his successful non-stop balloon flight.

Read more: http://technorati.com/technology/article/twenty-six-hours-flight-by-solar/#ixzz0tFJXfkS3

Three Basic Ingredients For Becoming A Good Vendor

http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/quality-assurance/three-basic-ingredients-for-becoming-a-good-vendor/