SatNav GPS Systems to Monitor Rickshaws in New Delhi Soon

Public travel in the three-wheeler i.e. the country's colorful rickshaw, at least when in the capital, is all set to get a much needed facelift. If you’re a frequent rickshaw-rider (for want of a better term) in Delhi, chances that you encountered an unreasonably rude driver must be quite high. Not that it's any different in any other city of course. But in the capital we often also hear about the plight of the female travelers, who fear for their safety when commuting via this mode.

Under the scanner..

A recent report in The Telegraph, has added a shade of optimism to the bleak reality. By the end of this week, as many as 250 rickshaws plying on the streets of New Delhi will have GPS from SatNav installed, a number which by the end of this month will soar to a good 55,000 rickshaws. These GPS devices will further be connected to a government server. Among the many purposes it is expected to serve, the device will track the journeys the rickshaw covers, thereby giving officials a way to check if the drivers are taking the easiest, fastest routes. Also, considering the increasing instances of indecent, rude behavior of the drivers towards the customers, especially female travelers, the monitoring will help the officials nail the guilty.

Appreciatively, the rickshaws will also include a panic button which female passengers can press to raise an alarm, to alert the cops if they sense danger. The move, for now at least has met with stiff resistance from the rickshaw drivers, owing to the high costs of the device. However, the officials have offered them an option of ‘renting’ the SatNav systems. This move comes as an attempt to improve the services of the three-wheelers in the busy metro of New Delhi, which accounts for good manners, professional behavior, personal hygiene, vehicle maintenance, among others.

Although this does seem to be a great move, considering the amount of dependency that metro dwellers have on their services, it remains to be seen if these services reach the other metros too.

China opens world's longest sea bridge

This photo taken Tuesday, June 21, 2011 released by China's Xinhua news agency shows the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. China opened Thursday, June 30, 2011, the world's longest cross-sea bridge, which is 42 kilometers (26 miles) long and links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to an offshore island, Huangdao. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Yan Runbo)

QIngdao Jiaozhou Bay Bridge is seen in Qingdao, Shandong province, in this general view taken June 27, 2011. The world's longest sea bridge spanning Jiaozhou Bay of Qingdao City, Shandong Province, opened on Thursday, June 30. The bridge is 36 km (22 miles) long, Xinhua News Agency reported. Picture taken on June 27, 2011. REUTERS/China Daily

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This photo taken Wednesday, June 29, 2011 released by China's Xinhua news agency shows the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. China opened Thursday, June 30, 2011, the world's longest cross-sea bridge, which is 42 kilometers (26 miles) long and links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to an offshore island, Huangdao. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Yan Runbo)

Mercedes-Benz India Launch Mobile Optimized Website

Stylish automotive manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz unveiled its first mobile optimized website in India. The German automotive manufacturer is the first one to do so. Starting from today, smartphone, Android, and other web enabled mobile device users will be able to access the new, optimized website.

Optimized, for ease..

The website, as mentioned before, has been customized specifically for viewing on the mobile device. Designed to function like a virtual car showroom, the website will bring forth a summary of the brand’s corporate website. The optimized website features details on product highlights, technical data, picture galleries, pricing, and other local service details.

According to Mercedes-Benz India, users with the optimized website can:

• Enter the virtual showroom, or get in touch with the dealers, or ask for brochures and test-drives right from their mobile device.
• Update themselves with all the news and updates, the brand’s TV commercials, wallpapers, among other services.
• The optimized site can be accessed from the main website, too since the latter automatically redirects the user to the former.

To view the website, and get a whiff of the features, you can visit - http://m.mercedes-benz.co.in

Prithvi-II successfully flight-tested

 Nuclear weapons-capable, surface-to-surface Prithvi-II missile on Thursday was successfully flight-tested for its full range of 350 km by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) personnel.

The nine-metre tall Prithvi-II, the first indigenously built surface-to-surface strategic missile, was fired from a mobile launcher from Launch Complex-III at the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Orissa. It achieved a high degree of accuracy and zeroed-in on the pre-designated target in the Bay of Bengal with a CEP (Circular Error Probability) of less than 10 meters.

The flight test met all the mission objectives and was like a text-book launch.

A battery of radars, electro-optical telemetry stations and a naval ship located near the impact point tracked and monitored the entire event, including the missile's trajectory and final splash down.

The missile was picked up randomly from the production lot and the launch operations were carried out by SFC personnel and monitored by scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Capability

The single-stage, liquid-fuelled Prithvi-II that is capable of carrying payloads ranging from 500-1,000 kg had been inducted into the armed forces. It is equipped with a high accuracy inertial navigation system with sophisticated on-board control and guidance. It could be launched from anywhere with its mobile launcher having user-driven features.

Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister V.K. Saraswat, who witnessed the launch, congratulated the armed forces and scientists for the successful flight-test. V.L.N. Rao, programme director, AD, S.K. Ray, Director, Research Centre Imarat and top officials of the SFC and DRDO were present during the mission.

In December last, two Prithvi-II missiles were successfully test-fired for different ranges within a span of one hour.

Samsung Rumoured to Buy Nokia

Just last week, there were rumours on the web that Microsoft was thinking of buying Nokia. These rumours were shot down by Nokia. Nokia is currently working with Microsoft on their upcoming Windows Phone 7 devices. There have been analysts who claim that Nokia should get out of the slump and improve once the WP7 phones arrive, but they won’t be able to take on the might of Android and iPhones. Nokia ended up in a mess after failed attempts to develop customer interest in the Symbian OS. Nokia’s stocks have been dropping, and more similar rumours have started surfacing. The latest one states that Samsung is thinking of buying Nokia. If rumours are true, the deal might be somewhere to the tune of $20 billion. Samsung has refused to comment on the story, since it’s against company policy. While Samsung is doing well and will have little to gain by paying this sizable amount. Microsoft was rumoured to be buying Nokia for an approximate $19 billion. Source: Business Insider

Osama's Secret Computer Drive Stash Found

What can one expect to find in the hidden stash of someone who was once the most feared face of terror on the globe?

The secret stash..

Post the Sunday showdown that killed the Al – Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, soldiers of the US Navy SEAL managed to lay hands on what they nicknamed ‘the mother lode of intelligence’. A bunch of computer drives and disks that were recovered might unlock the mystery on Al – Qaeda’s operations and provide other clinching evidences. However, at the moment this seems to be a far – fetched thought since, the information at hand might just be encrypted. The US officials fear the usage of the AES-256, an encryption method which, if used correctly, would make it potentially impossible to crack any sooner, at least not till the age of the universe. These fears aren’t baseless, and are most likely a possibility.

Last year, in an edition of Al – Qaeda’s magazine, Inspire an article appeared that explained in detail the methodology of using a piece of encryption software known as Asrar al-Mujahideen 2.0, which uses AES-256 along with other encryption methods. Usually, the officials would force the person in question to blurt out the password, but, with Osama having exited the picture completely, the lane of options seems to have grown frighteningly narrower for US in particular, and the world, in general.

A known alternative would be the ‘backdoor’ to the encryption scheme. However, now, its only the NSA that could reveal further.

World's Fastest Bird? Chubby Snipe Snaps Nonstop Record

Great snipes can fly nonstop from Sweden to sub-Saharan Africa in two days.

A plump little shorebird has smashed the record for the fastest long-distance, nonstop flight in the animal kingdom.

In a new study, scientists have discovered that great snipes can complete a transcontinental flight across Europe, from Sweden to sub-Saharan Africa, in only two days without resting. The birds traveled roughly 4,200 miles (6,760 kilometers) at an average speed of 60 miles (97 kilometers) an hour.

To track the birds, biologists captured and tagged ten great snipes with geolocators at their breeding grounds in western Sweden in May 2009. Tracking data for three of the birds was retrieved after their recapture in Sweden a year later.

At first glance, great snipes don't look especially speedy or well equipped for such an arduous journey. Their bodies are small and chubby, not aerodynamic, and in the autumn the birds get so rotund that, when shot, "their skin sometimes ruptures when the shot bird hits the ground," according to one 19th-century account. (See shorebird pictures.)

But it's these ample fat reserves that allow the birds to fly such long distances without stopping, said study leader Raymond Klaassen, a biologist at Sweden's Lund University.

"They almost double their body weight before the flight," Klaassen said. "And all this fat will be burned during the flight, and they will arrive lean and exhausted in Africa."

Fast Flyers a Rarity

It's a rare bird that can fly both far and fast. For example, the Arctic tern racks up as many as 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometers) during its yearly migration from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again. However, the animal spreads the flight out over several months and fishes along the way.

At the other end of the spectrum, peregrine falcons can reach speeds of up to 200 miles (322 kilometers) an hour but only in short bursts to catch prey.

The only other bird that comes close to matching the great snipe's abilities is the godwit, a wading bird. In 2007 scientists recorded a godwit flying more than 7,000 miles (11,500 kilometers), from Alaska to New Zealand, in nine days at an average speed of about 35 miles an hour (56 kilometers an hour).

"[One] difference between the godwits and the snipes is that the godwits travel over the ocean, and thus have no possibilities to stop," Klaassen said. "Hence, their amazing flights are not their choice."

By contrast, snipes have several rest-stop options during their autumn migration to Africa but choose not to take advantage of them. The reasons for that are unclear, especially since the birds make several stops during their return flights to Sweden in the spring.

Bird Migration "Revolution"

As with other migratory birds that fly long distances, it's unclear how great snipes can apparently fly for such long periods with little or no sleep.

"This is one of the unsolved mysteries of long-distance flights," Klaassen said. "We now believe that half of their brain sleeps at [a] time, alternating between the left and the right side. Or they do not sleep at all, but this seems impossible regarding the importance of sleep in general."

Klaassen says so little is known about bird-migration strategies that he wouldn't be surprised if the great snipe's record is broken soon.

"Generally we know rather little about the performances of different species, as many have not yet been tracked," he said.

"I foresee many surprises in the nearby future, due to the recent development of minute tracking devices. The field of bird migration is currently going through a revolution, and these are certainly very exciting times for us."

The research was published recently online in the journal Biology Letters.