Caption THIS! 22

A boy swims in knee-high floodwater brought about by continuous rainfall from Typhoon Muifa, along a main street in Maceda, metro Manila. (REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco).
Are you a closet wordsmith?
It has not gone unnoticed that many of our users have wit that is worthy of wordpress.

Google blasts Apple, Microsoft for patent gang-up

LOS ANGELES/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc, fresh off losing a bid to buy thousands of valuable patents from bankrupt Nortel, accused its biggest rivals on Wednesday of banding together to block the Internet giant in the red-hot smartphone arena.
In a rare public outburst, Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond blasted Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and "other companies" for colluding to hamper the increasingly popular Android mobile software by buying up patents, effectively imposing a "tax" on Android cellphones.
Apart from increasing costs for consumers, snapping up the patents will stifle technological innovation, he said.

Katrina joins plantation drive at LoC

Katrina Kaif

Rajouri,August 4 (ANI):Bollywood star Katrina Kaif, on Tuesday participated in a plantation drive with army personnel in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The 27-year-old actor was thrilled to be a part of the eco-friendly campaign and was mesmerized to see the scenic beauty of the place near the line of control.

India's Best Distance Learning Institutes 2011

Just eleven out of the top 32 institutions in the objective ranking list find a place in the perception ranking. Of the 11, seven are in the public sector and only five have substantial web presence. In fact, Sikkim Manipal alone polled about 8% of the total sample size with over 500+ unique IP addresses, showing the substantial reach technology could achieve.
The objective data results have not changed much. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), the leviathan with 500+ programmes and 3 million plus students still retains the pole position in India’s first-ever objective rating of Distance Learning Institutes. But not so surprisingly IMT has improved its ranking in objective criterion.

Sonia flies out for surgery; Rahul to head Congress

The widely unexpected health setback to Congress president Sonia Gandhi has instantly compelled the reluctant son and heir apparent Rahul Gandhi closer to a centrestage role.

She has instructed that a four-member group of A.K. Antony, Rahul Gandhi, Ahmed Patel and Janardan Dwivedi will look after Congress affairs in her absence.

BBC journalist narrates his encounter with UFO in England

 

London, August 04 (ANI): A BBC journalist has claimed that he has seen a UFO when he was just outside the Hertfordshire village of Cottered, England. Sports reporter Mike Sewell told how he "totally freaked out" the moment he saw the disc-shaped craft zoom in front of his car as he drove across the countryside in darkness at 4.15am.

Sewell, who lives in the Midlands, was driving to Stansted Airport to catch a flight to Sweden for Champions League qualifying game between Malmo and Glasgow Rangers, when he saw a UFO with flashing lights in the road.

Kishore-Rafi: The Big Picture

Much has been written about the famous rivalry between Kishore Kumar and Mohammad Rafi, something which is still hugely debated after their deaths. But Mohammad Rafi's son Shahid Rafi reveals that there was no cold war between the two legends. In fact, whenever they met , they were very warm towards each other. On the occasion of Kishore Kumar's birthday, Shahid shares a picture which has been very close to his heart. "I have this picture hanging on our wall at home. It's a very special picture of two legends getting together," he says.

Africa, consumed by hunger

As drought, famine and war ravage the Horn of Africa, nearly 29,000 children aged below five have already died. Even as it battles the worst drought in 60 years, Somalia can barely lick the wounds inflicted by civil strife, which has plagued the beleaguered nation for two decades. Impoverished refugees fleeing the country to aid camps in Kenya have to face the wrath of Al Qaeda-backed Shebab militia on the poorly policed border between the countries. The crisis, which the United Nations declared as more serious than the 1984 Ethiopia famine that claimed nearly a million lives, now threatens to spread to Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.

Yahoo! India News – 21 hours ago

AFP PHOTO/Tony KARUMBA

A Somali father and daughter wait in line at a refugee registration centre at Dagahaley refugee site within the Dadaab complex in Kenya after being displaced from their home in southern Somalia by the famine that is ravaging the Horn of Africa. An estimated 3.7 million people in Somalia -- around a third of the country’s population -- are on the brink of starvation. Aid agencies are stretched in trying to cope with a daily influx of Somalis escaping both the drought and al-Shabab extremists who have taken advantage of the famine to forcefully arrest and recruit men trying to escape.

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AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

Aden Salaad, 2, is bathed by his mother at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Dagahaley Camp in Kenya, where he is being treated for malnutrition. UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres said Sunday that drought-ridden Somalia is the "worst humanitarian disaster" in the world.

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AFP PHOTO/SIMON MAINA

Primary schoolchildren wait for food to be distributed. Relief groups have appealed for more funds to assist 12 million people facing starvation after the UN declared famine in two southern Somalia regions.

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Oli Scarff/Getty Images

A young boy rests at Dagahaley refugee camp, which is part of the giant Dadaab refugee settlement in Dadaab, Kenya. The camp, located close to the Kenyan border with Somalia, was originally designed in the early 1990s to accommodate 90,000 people but the UN estimates over four times as many reside there. The ongoing civil war in Somalia and the worst drought to affect the Horn of Africa in six decades threatens the lives of an estimated 12 million people.

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Oli Scarff/Getty Images

A refugee child drinks from a water container at the Ifo refugee camp, which is part of the Dadaab refugee settlement.

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Oli Scarff/Getty Images

A refugee child stands on the outskirts of the Dagahaley refugee camp. The United States has pledged $459 million in aid and has called for global intervention to mitigate the massive humanitarian crisis.

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AFP PHOTO/SIMON MAINA

Newly arrived Somali refugees stand before makeshift homes at the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya. Thousands of Somalis have fled into neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia in recent weeks and many have died of starvation while fleeing the region's worst drought in decades.

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AFP PHOTO/Abdurashid ABDULLE

Displaced Somali families receive food aid at an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camp in Mogadishu. The United Nations on Monday urged "massive" action to save millions of people in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa region, as France announced donor countries would meet in Nairobi this week. "The catastrophic situation demands massive and urgent international aid," said Jacques Diouf, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which hosted Monday's emergency meeting of UN aid agencies and charities in Rome. "It is imperative to stop the famine," said Diouf, after the United Nations this month declared a famine in two insurgent-held areas of southern Somalia.

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Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Somali refugee Kadija Ibrahim Yousef, 67, at her makeshift hut on the edge of the Hagadera refugee camp, part of Kenya’s Dadaab refugee settlement. The starving refugees are struggling to observe the traditional dawn-to-dusk fast required of devout Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.

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REUTERS/Katherine Bundra Roux/IFRC/Handout

Women in Djibouti gather to discuss their needs with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Djibouti Red Crescent assessment team in a drought-affected area near Dikhil, southern Djibouti. Some 12.4 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti are already in dire need of help due to the worst drought in 60 years.

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Oli Scarff/Getty Images

A Somalian refugee collects sand for building material on the edge of the Dagahaley refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya. One aid group says the number of refugees is so high there is a backlog of 16,000 people who have to live in the bush outside the refugee camps.

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Oli Scarff/Getty Images

A Somalian refugee digs a latrine outside the IFO refugee camp, part of the Dadaab refugee settlement.

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Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Somalian refugees wait to be registered with the Dagahaley refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya.

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Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Somalian refugees return from collecting water at the edge of the Dagahaley refugee camp.

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REUTERS/Jakob Dall/Danish Red Cross/Handout

A man leads a donkey transporting water in Barmil. The drought in Somalia threatens to spread to a wide swathe of eastern Africa including Kenya and Ethiopia. The United Nations says two regions of southern Somalia are suffering the worst famine in 20 years, with 3.7 million people facing starvation.

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Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Somalian refugees wait for a bus to transport them from the IFO camp registration centre to the Dagahaley refugee camp.

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REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Newly-arrived refugees escape a cloud of dust at the Dagahaley refugee camp. Britain's Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell on Saturday visited Dadaab refugee camps, where he met displaced families forced to leave their homes in Somalia in order to survive.

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REUTERS/Barry Malone

An aid worker using an iPad films the rotting carcass of a cow in Wajir near the Kenya-Somalia border. Since drought gripped the Horn of Africa, and especially since famine was declared in parts of Somalia, the international aid industry has swept in and out of refugee camps and remote hamlets in branded planes and snaking lines of white 4x4s. This humanitarian, diplomatic and media circus is necessary every time people go hungry in Africa, analysts say, because governments -- both African and foreign -- rarely respond early enough to looming catastrophes. Combine that with an often simplistic explanation of the causes of famine, and a growing band of aid critics say parts of Africa are doomed to a never-ending cycle of ignored early warnings, media appeals and emergency UN feeding -- rather than a transition to lasting self-sufficiency.

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REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Another day comes to an end at the Ifo extension refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border. The whole of drought- and conflict-wracked southern Somalia is heading into famine as the Horn of Africa food crisis deepens, the United Nations said.

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Top 10 Bond Girls of All Time

Russian actress Margarita Levieva is making news all around on being tipped as the latest Bond Girl in the next 007 movie.
If she succeeds in making the cut, she will go down in history as a part of the most revered franchise, the James Bond series. An integral part of every James Bond movie, a Bond girl is said to be beautiful, confident and mysterious. She is the ultimate object of desire for every man as they are projected as symbols of glamour and sophistication.
While some Bond girls are mere eye-candy, some of them play pivotal roles in shaping the success of the movie.

Here's how heaven looks like!

Washington, August 4 (ANI): What happens when you die? It is most certainly one of life's biggest questions.

Several near-death survivors have come forward to narrate what they had a glimpse of when they were in heaven.

Now, Don Piper, an ordained Baptist minister, who was once pronounced dead following a car accident, has shared his intriguing story.

9 things you should never say to your hubby

Atlanta, August 2 (ANI): Do you fake an orgasm when you actually didn't? Or find faults with the your husband's way of handling the kids, or pester him to find a new job? If yes, you may be making irreparable damages to your relationship.
Following is a list of nine statements compiled by Judy Ford, psychotherapist and author of 'Every Day Love' that you should never utter to your significant other, reports the Mother Nature Network.
First comes: "Yes, I had an orgasm."

Sonia Gandhi in US for surgery, Rahul takes charge

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Congress President Sonia Gandhi has gone to the United States, to undergo surgery for a medical condition, which the party did not disclose. Making a bare announcement, Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi, told reporters in Parliament House that the 64-year-old leader was recently diagnosed with a medical condition and has been advised surgery.

Lokpal Bill: BJP opposes exclusion of PM

The Hindu Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, interacting with media on Lokpal Bill at Parliament House on Thursday. Photo Rajeev Bhatt

The Lokpal Bill, which excludes the office of the Prime Minister, higher judiciary and conduct of MPs inside Parliament from the purview of the anti-corruption watchdog, was introduced in Lok Sabha on Thursday amid objections by BJP and its NDA partners.

Team Hazare burns copies of Lokpal bill

PTI Civil society members burning copies of the draft Lokpal Bill that was introduced in Parliament, in Lucknow on Thursday.

As government introduced the Lokpal Bill in Parliament, Anna Hazare and his team members on Thursday burnt copies of the Bill with the Gandhian asserting that he would go ahead with his fast beginning August 16 till a strong law is brought in.

Review : Nokia E6

Introduction :

Nokia has had a long legacy of business-centric smartphones, the latest avatar of which is the E6. Armed with the new Symbian Anna OS, the E6 could be a prospective BlackBerry killer. Could be - but will it? Read on for details.

Packaging and Content:

Nokia has pulled its regular stellar job with packaging and content. We get a pair of decent headphones, a charger, USB cables and a very plush leather case apart from the phone itself. Nokia usually does a solid job with packaging and the same holds true for the E6.

 

Alleged LulzSec teenage hacker released on bail

A teenager accused of acting as a spokesman for computer hacking groups that targeted Sony, Rupert Murdoch-owned newspapers and a British crime agency was freed on bail Monday as he awaits trial.

Jake Davis, who was arrested last week at home on Scotland's remote Shetland Islands by the police e-crime unit, is accused of mounting a cyberattack on Britain's Serious Organized Crime Agency and other offenses linked to the Luz Security and Anonymous hacking collectives.

Internet archivist seeks 1 of every book written

Tucked away in a small warehouse on a dead-end street, an Internet pioneer is building a bunker to protect an endangered species: the printed word.

Brewster Kahle, 50, founded the nonprofit Internet Archive in 1996 to save a copy of every Web page ever posted. Now the MIT-trained computer scientist and entrepreneur is expanding his effort to safeguard and share knowledge by trying to preserve a physical copy of every book ever published.

Review: Infinity Blade

Available on: iOS
Reviewed on: iPad
Price: $5.99

Introduction:

Infinity Blade has been touted as the most graphically advanced game on the iOS platform. The moment the iPad 2 was launched, id Software (of Doom fame), the developers of Infinity Blade, released a new update for the game optimizing it for Apple's shiny new hardware. Its graphical prowess is so well recognized that many technology blogs have used Infinity Blade as a benchmark to test the graphical performance of the iPad. But here we want check if Infinity Blade is only about infinite graphical opportunities or if it's more than a test bed for tech geeks.

 

Scientists design robots that walk on water

An aquatic microrobot can walk or run on water, mimicking the amazing abilities of the 'water strider',a long legged insect that effortlessly skims across pond and lakes surfaces.

The bionic bot is a vast improvement over previous devices of this kind that position it as a prime candidate for military spy missions, water pollution monitoring and other applications, the scientists say.

Even though the microrobot weighs as much as 390 water striders, it does not sink when placed on water, but stands, walks and runs effortlessly on its surface, the journal Applied Materials & Interfaces reports.

Google Chrome is third most popular browser

Google Chrome is now the world's third most popular web browser with one in five users preferring it.

Google Chrome has also emerged as Britain's second most popular web browser, edging Mozilla's Firefox and nibbling at Microsoft's Internet Explorer, the current leader.

Chrome accounted for 22 percent of the British web market, compared to 45 percent of users preferring Internet Explorer. Apple's Safari stood at the fourth place with nine percent share.

Ladies' Special: The Dior App

Available on: iOS
Reviewed on: iPad
Price: Free

Introduction:

All the fashionistas rejoice, you have booked yourself a front row seat to the shows of one of the finest brands of the world, Christian Dior. Straight from the runway to your fingertips, the Dior iPhone app brings the latest and the best ranging from runway shows, make up items, perfumes, skincare products, ready to wear collection, watches and also very beautiful wallpapers. Read on to find out more about Dior on the iPhone.

Usability:

Dior welcomes us to the app first with language selection giving us the option of English and French. The app has six home screens which gives us the newest and latest information of the current season. It has a 'Discover' tab which when you click gives you a write up, video and screenshots.

Review: Evernote

Available on: iOS, Android, Palm OS, and Windows Phone 7
Reviewed on: iPad
Price: Free

Introduction:

Are you a working journalist or an on the go professional? Do you have a penchant for jotting down everything you hear? Don't fret, just get Evernote. Evernote is touted as the ultimate note-taking application and is available on 13 different platforms (iOS and Android to begin with). You'll never use a pen again.

Usability:

When the iPhone came in, Evernote already had a reputation to protect. It made its name on the basis of its Windows and Mac apps, which have been ably supplemented by its web-based service. Now, Evernote has an app on almost each and every platform barring Nokia's aged Symbian OS.
 

Google strikes deal to acquire daily deal service

Google Inc.'s latest deal aims to help people find the best daily deals on the Web.

In its latest acquisition of talent and technology, Google has bought Dealmap. It's a 15-month-old startup that compiles discount offers from local merchants scattered in markets across the nation.

Financial terms of the acquisition announced Tuesday weren't disclosed. It's the latest in a flurry of acquisitions that Google has made to expand its Internet empire into promising new markets. Since the end of 2009, Google has spent more than $2.7 billion buying more than 70 companies.

AOL launches personalized magazine app for iPad

Internet company AOL is trying to snatch a larger portion of the tablet computer audience by launching free iPad software that presents a customized, daily e-magazine that draws in content from all over the Web.

Called Editions, the software is similar to news-aggregating mobile apps such as Flipboard and Pulse, but more focused on bringing users a finite, tailored amount of content that updates once per day. AOL's app is being released Wednesday.

Amazon starts AmazonLocal online deals site

Online retailer Amazon.com is trying to become a bigger player in the mushrooming market for online deals with the launch of a website that offers large discounts on local goods and services.

AmazonLocal deals, which launched in Boise, Idaho, in June, is now also available in 14 different places, including Chicago and several parts of southern California and Washington (naturally, Amazon.com Inc.'s hometown of Seattle made the cut).

Facebook buys digital publishing company

Social networking giant Facebook has bought a digital publishing company Push Pop Press that develops technology to help make interactive books optimised for iPad and other Apple devices.

"We're thrilled to confirm that we've acquired Push Pop Press, a startup whose groundbreaking software changes the way people publish and consume digital content," Xinhua quoted Facebook as saying in a statement.

Push Pop Press was co-founded by Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris - both former Apple employees.

Ganesha, Hanuman on an island - only in Facebook's Karma Kingdom

Lord Ganesha directs you to Lord Hanuman who tells you about the need to have good relationships with friends and neighbours. No, this is not an excerpt from a book nor is it a movie script. It's the new Facebook game Karma Kingdom that combines contemporary lessons with Indian mythological characters.

"We looked at the market and, as a start up, we had to cut through the noise and the only way to cut through the noise was to be technologically superior, business- wise savvy and cost-wise most cost effective," Ashok Desai, founder and CEO of Asvathaa Pvt Ltd, told IANS.

SKorea fines Apple over iPhone data collection

South Korea's communications regulator fined Apple's local operation 3 million won ($2,830) for what it says is the illegal collection of iPhone user location information.

The Korea Communications Commission announced Wednesday in a statement it has ordered Apple Korea to pay the fine for violating the country's location information laws.

The amount is insignificant for Apple - the Cupertino, California-based tech giant earned $7.31 billion in its fiscal third quarter - but South Korea's decision to impose the fine might influence regulators elsewhere.

New touch-screen BlackBerrys being launched

Research In Motion Ltd. on Wednesday unveiled five new BlackBerry phones with touch screens, as it hopes to revive the line's dwindling appeal in the face of competition from the iPhone and Android smartphones.

The new phones had been expected earlier this year, but were delayed. Though the company is profitable and seeing growing sales, it is increasingly seen as a has-been that missed the chance to parlay the BlackBerry's popularity as a corporate email device into mass-market dominance.

Hulu jumps into original programming with Spurlock

Hulu, the online video service that primarily shows reruns from major broadcasters, is getting into the business of original programming.

In the first of several projects, the company teamed up with Morgan Spurlock, the documentary maker who criticized McDonald's and fast-food lifestyles in "Super Size Me." They are creating "A Day in the Life" - six half-hour episodes where filmmakers follow around famous people such as billionaire Richard Branson.

Activision Blizzard 2Q earnings rise 53 percent

Video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc. said Wednesday that its second-quarter net income grew 53 percent, boosted by strong demand for digital offerings such as downloadable content for its popular "Call of Duty" games.

Activision earned $335 million, or 29 cents per share, in the April-June period. That's up 53 percent from $219 million, or 17 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue climbed 19 percent to $1.15 billion from $967 million.

Is India's elusive $35 laptop at hand?

The Indian government promised the world a $35 laptop a year ago. In a few weeks it will deliver, said Kapil Sibal, minister for human resource development.

"All the naysayers will be unpleasantly surprised," Mr. Sibal said during an interview in his New Delhi office. He said he already has a version of the dirt-cheap laptop.

What's it look like?

Review: Acer media-center PC has built-in touchpad

Flat-panel TVs and PCs go great together - the PC gets a giant screen, and the TV gets access to tons of online video.

But getting the two together in an elegant way has been difficult. PC makers haven't shown much interest in making computers that work really well when controlled from the couch.

So it's good to see Acer Inc. take a serious stab at the problem with its new Revo RL100. The Windows PC is designed from the ground up to fit into an entertainment center. It's smaller than most DVD players and very quiet.