environment

Why Melbourne, Australia Is The World’s Best Place To Live !!!!!

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melbourne australia

In a recent ranking of the world’s “most livable” cities, Melbourne, Australia took the number one spot.

The Economist Intelligence Unit gave the city perfect marks for education, healthcare, and infrastructure.

Melbourne’s total score was 97.5 out of 100, only losing a few spare points for climate, petty crime, and culture.

Australia had five other cities in the top 10, but Melbourne with its Gothic Laneways, music culture, and gorgeous Yarra River was proclaimed the very best.
Why it is Very Best ?…..

Melbourne sits on the gorgeous Yarra River, making it a prime spot for water sports, boating, and scenic views.

It has the largest gambling center in the southern hemisphere, Crown Casino, with a license for 500 table games and an hourly fire show.

The city also hosts Big Day Out, one of the biggest nationwide music festivals where plenty of local and famous international bands come to play.

Melbourne’s residents are surrounded by cutting-edge architecture, like the Digital Harbour Port 1010, the Arts Centre Melbourne spire, and the Melbourne Recital Centre

The city is filled with parks and gardens, including the famous Royal Park which covers 420 acres and is open to the public.

Melbourne is considered a UNESCO City of Literature because of its literary festivals, book stores, publishers, and history of famous, award-winning authors.

Melbourne is considered a UNESCO City of Literature because of its literary festivals, book stores, publishers, and history of famous, award-winning authors.

 

Behind Melbourne’s grid-like streets are quirky little Gothic Laneways which house restaurants, book stores, and unique shops.

Melbourne also has a lot of nightlife options including underground bars, jazz cafés, and dance clubs hidden along the Laneways.

Melbourne hosts the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in March, which becomes a huge city-wide event.

It also hosts the Australian Open, which takes place at the Margaret Court Arena, can hold 6,000 fans, and is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments in the worldMelbourne is never too hot or too cold. In the summer, the city sees temps of high 70s to low 80s, while the winter drops down to only 60 degrees.

Melbourne is a multicultural city with a large Indigenous community known as the Kulin Nation. There are many galleries and museums with an Aboriginal-focus.
It is home to the Best Chef in Australia, Ben Shewry, serving his seafood-centric tasting menu at Melbourne’s Attica restaurant.
Getting around the city is super easy thanks to Melbourne’s tram network, which covers over 150 miles and is one of the best in the world
Getting around the city is super easy thanks to Melbourne's tram network, which covers over 150 miles and is one of the best in the world.
And it has one of Australia’s best and largest open air shopping markets — The Queen Victoria Market from 1878 — where people flock on the weekends.

source::::businessinsider.com

Natarajan

Indian startup aims for the moon – and $30 million Prize Money!!!!

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GOOGLE LUNAR X PRIZE | MOON | SPACE | TEAM INDUS

Rahul Narayan, who describes himself as a serial entrepreneur, is the founder of Team Indus. It is the only Indian team in a race to the moon by privately funded groups competing for the largest international incentive prize of all time – the Google Lunar X Prize.

Google is offering $30 million in prizes to the first privately funded teams to safely land a robot on the Moon, including a grand prize and other bonus prizes.

With a purse of $30 million, the competition will reward the first privately funded team to softland on the moon, travel 500 metres and transmit back to earth, at a distance of nearly 4 lakh km.

With a purse of $30 million, the competition will reward the first privately funded team to softland on the moon, travel 500 metres and transmit back to earth, at a distance of nearly 4 lakh km.!!!!!!

In a conversation with Reuters, Narayan talks about Team Indus’ prospects, timing, his struggle to be taken seriously by investors and why he would not be too disappointed if someone else wins.

Q: What is the biggest challenge in this mission?

A: Everything is a challenge – money, finding advisers, being taken seriously, reaching out to people.

Almost all of it is uncharted territory. Nobody’s done a (privately funded) mission before, definitely not from India.

Q: How was Team Indus formed?

A: I had gotten in touch with them (organizers) saying, if there was an Indian team, please let me know, I’d like to work with them. They got back to me saying there was no Indian team, and if you want to set up a team, we can give you a bit of expert help. That’s when I got out of whatever startups I was doing.

Q: How did you recruit people for this project?

A: Almost our entire team right now is people who came to our website and said they wanted to work.

Q: When is your planned launch date?

A: We plan to launch sometime in 2015.

Q: How much have you spent so far? What is the projected total cost?

A: We’ve spent about one crore rupees (10 million rupees, or about $185,200), including for registration, a little bit of prototype being done, operational expenses and salaries. It’s a design effort and we are not doing any hardware yet. Total spend, we expect it to be $15 million.

Q: Where do you see yourself among the 23 active teams?

A: We believe we are in the top five. We believe the moment we sign up with ISRO, we will be in the top two. Signing up with ISRO is the one big event that changes a lot of things for us. It has not happened yet, but we’ve started talking to them. (The Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO, is the primary space agency of the Indian government. Team Indus plans to use ISRO’s PSLV satellite launch vehicle for its moon mission)

Q: The competition rules state that the project must be 90 percent privately funded. So how are you managing?

A: Right now it is founder-funded. We’ve divided the cost into three different parts. One is cost of design, second is the cost of building it and the third is the cost of launching it. We have separate strategies for each one of them. For designing, we will be looking for investments. Building it is where we are looking at partnerships (aerospace companies, IITs or government agencies). We are looking at these people to partner with us and potentially contribute, if not money, then equipment. The last part, we are going to do crowdfunding.

Q: Why would investors be interested?

A: I started by saying we are an aerospace company. So we see this as a company which is doing a project, and it will continue doing other aerospace projects or derived technologies or IPR, or licensing rights from what we’re going to do here (moon mission).

We are a for-profit company. It’s not just this mission, we will continue building beyond it.

Q: What if somebody else beats you to the prizes?

A: We’re definitely aiming for the first prize. We’ve got one bonus prize built into it. But, if all the prizes go away in 2014 and I’ve booked my launch with ISRO, that doesn’t mean I stop. I have to go because I’ve already done my engineering, I’ve already spent the money and probably just a residual amount is left. So you’d see that differently as then maybe it converts from a Google Lunar X Prize mission to simply a India’s mission. It’s a people mission, people have contributed to it, people have worked in it, and people have a part in it.

Q: What would losing mean for your team?

A: Even if we lose, we’ll still accomplish a fantastic engineering feat. Prize money is just one component of it, so I’m talking about a company which is going to continue after the prize money….

source:::: David Lalmalsawma  in Reuters US

Natarajan

You can follow the David on Twitter @confusedat30

உத்தவ கீதை யின் முத்துக்கள் சில உங்கள் பார்வைக்கு !!!!

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 உத்தவ கீதை
பகவான் கிருஷ்ணனின் குழந்தைப் பருவம் முதலே, அவருக்குப் பணிவிடைகள் செய்து, தேரோட்டி, பல்வேறு சேவைகள் புரிந்தவர், உத்தவர். இவர் தனது வாழ்நாளில், தனக்கென நன்மைகளோ வரங்களோ கண்ணனிடம் கேட்டதில்லை. துவாபர யுகத்தில், தமது அவதாரப் பணியை முடித்துவிட்ட நிலையில், உத்தவரிடம் ஸ்ரீகிருஷ்ணர், உத்தவரே, இந்த அவதாரத்தில் பலர் என்னிடம் பல வரங்களும், நன்மைகளும் பெற்றிருக்கின்றனர். ஆனால், நீங்கள் எதுவுமே கேட்டதில்லை. ஏதாவது கேளுங்கள், தருகிறேன். உங்களுக்கும் ஏதாவது நன்மைகள் செய்துவிட்டே, எனது அவதாரப் பணியை முடிக்க நினைக்கிறேன் என்றார். தனக்கென எதையும் கேட்காவிட்டாலும், சிறு வயது முதலே கண்ணனின் செயல்களைக் கவனித்து வந்த உத்தவருக்கு… சொல் ஒன்றும், செயல் ஒன்றுமாக இருந்த கண்ணனின் லீலைகள், புரியாத புதிராக இருந்தன. அவற்றுக்கான காரண, காரியங்களைத் தெரிந்துகொள்ள விரும்பினார். பெருமானே! நீ வாழச் சொன்ன வழி வேறு; நீ வாழ்ந்து காட்டிய வழி வேறு! நீ நடத்திய மகாபாரத நாடகத்தில்… நீ ஏற்ற பாத்திரத்தில், நீ புரிந்த செயல்களில், எனக்குப் புரியாத விஷயங்கள் பல உண்டு. அவற்றுக்கெல்லாம் காரணங்களை அறிய ஆவலாக இருக்கிறேன் நிறைவேற்றுவாயா? என்றார் உத்தவர்.

உத்தவரே! அன்று குரு÷க்ஷத்திரப் போரில் அர்ஜுனனுக்காக நான் சொன்னது, பகவத் கீதை. இன்று உங்களுக்குத் தரும் பதில்கள், உத்தவ கீதை. அதற்காகவே உங்களுக்கு இந்தச் சந்தர்ப்பத்தைத் தந்தேன். தயங்காமல் கேளுங்கள் என்றான் பரந்தாமன்

 
 உத்தவர் கேட்க ஆரம்பித்தார்; கண்ணா! முதலில் எனக்கு ஒரு விளக்கம் வேண்டும். உண்மையான நண்பன் யார்? நண்பனுக்கு ஏற்படும் துயரத்தைத் தீர்க்க, உடனே அழைப்பு இல்லாமலேயே வந்து உதவி செய்பவனே உற்ற நண்பன் என்றான் கண்ணன். கிருஷ்ணா! நீ பாண்டவர்களின் உற்ற நண்பன். உன்னை அவர்கள் ஆபத்பாந்தவனாக, பரிபூரணமாக நம்பினார்கள். நடப்பதை மட்டுமல்ல; நடக்கப் போவதையும் நன்கறிந்த ஞானியான நீ… உற்ற நண்பன் யார் என்பதற்கு நீ அளித்த விளக்கத்தின்படி… முன்னதாகவே சென்று, தருமா! வேண்டாம் இந்தச் சூதாட்டம் என்று தடுத்திருக்கலாம் ஏன் அப்படிச் செய்யவில்லை? போகட்டும். விளையாட ஆரம்பித்ததும், தருமன் பக்கம் அதிர்ஷ்டம் இருக்கும்படி செய்து, வஞ்சகர்களுக்கு நீதி புகட்டியிருக்கலாம். அதையும் நீ செய்யவில்லை. தருமன் செல்வத்தை இழந்தான்; நாட்டை இழந்தான்; தன்னையும் இழந்தான். சூதாடியதற்குத் தண்டனையாக, அதோடு அவனை விட்டிருக்கலாம். தம்பிகளை அவன் பயணம் வைத்த போதாவது, நீ சபைக்குள் நுழைந்து தடுத்திருக்கலாம். அதையும் நீ செய்யவில்லை. திரௌபதி அதிர்ஷ்டம் மிக்கவள். அவளைப் பணயம் வைத்து ஆடு. இழந்தது அனைத்தையும் திருப்பித் தருகிறேன் என்று சவால் விட்டான் துரியோதனன். அப்போதாவது, உனது தெய்வீக சக்தியால், அந்தப் பொய்யான பகடைக் காய்கள் தருமனுக்குச் சாதகமாக விழும்படி செய்திருக்கலாம். அதையும் செய்யவில்லை.

மாறாக, திரவுபதியின் துகிலை உரித்து, அவளின் மானம் பறிபோகும் நிலை ஏற்பட்ட போதுதான் சென்று, துகில் தந்தேன். திரவுபதி மானம் காத்தேன் என்று மார்தட்டிக் கொண்டாய். மாற்றான் ஒருவன், குலமகள் சிகையைக் பிடித்து இழுத்து வந்து, சூதர் சபையில் பலர் முன்னிலையில், அவள் ஆடையில் கை வைத்த பிறகு, எஞ்சிய மானம் என்ன இருக்கிறது? எதனைக் காத்ததாக நீ பெருமைப்படுகிறாய்? ஆபத்தில் உதவுபவன்தானே ஆபத்பாந்தவன்? இந்த நிலையில் உதவாத நீயா ஆபத்பாந்தவன்? நீ செய்தது தருமமா? என்று கண்ணீர் மல்கக் கேட்டார் உத்தவர். இது உத்தவரின் உள்ளக் குமுறல் மட்டுமன்று; மகாபாரதம் படித்துவிட்டு நாம் அனைவருமே கேட்கும் கேள்விகளே இவை. நமக்காக இவற்றை அன்றே கண்ணனிடம் கேட்டிருக்கிறார் உத்தவர். பகவான் சிரித்தார். உத்தவரே… விவேகம் உள்ளவனே ஜெயிக்க வேண்டும் என்பது தர்ம நியதி. துரியோதனனுக்கு இருந்த விவேகம் தருமனுக்கு இல்லை. அதனால்தான் தருமன் தோற்றான் என்றான் கண்ணன். உத்தவர் ஏதும் புரியாது திகைத்து நிற்க, கண்ணன் தொடர்ந்தான். துரியோதனனுக்கு சூதாடத் தெரியாது. ஆனால், பணயம் வைக்க அவனிடம் பணமும், ஏராளமான ஆஸ்தியும் இருந்தது. பணயம் நான் வைக்கிறேன். என் மாமா சகுனி, பகடையை உருட்டிச் சூதாடுவார் என்றார் துரியோதனன். அது விவேகம். தருமனும் அதுபோலவே விவேகத்துடன் செயல்பட்டு, நானும் பணயம் வைக்கிறேன். ஆனால், என் சார்பாக என் மைத்துனன் ஸ்ரீகிருஷ்ணன் பகடைக்காயை உருட்டுவான் என்று சொல்லியிருக்கலாமே?

சகுனியும் நானும் சூதாடியிருந்தால், யார் ஜெயித்திருப்பார்கள்? நான் கேட்கும் எண்ணிக்கைகளைச் சகுனியால் பகடைக் காய்களில் போடத்தான் முடியுமா? அல்லது, அவன் கேட்கும் எண்ணிக்கைகளை என்னால்தான் போட முடியாதா? போகட்டும். தருமன் என்னை ஆட்டத்தில் சேர்த்துக் கொள்ள மறந்துவிட்டான் என்பதையாவது மன்னித்து விடலாம். ஆனால், அவன் விவேகமில்லாமல் மற்றொரு மாபெரும் தவற்றையும் செய்தான். ஐயோ…. விதிவசத்தால் சூதாட ஒப்புக்கொண்டேனே! ஆனால், இந்த விஷயம் ஸ்ரீகிருஷ்ணனுக்கு மட்டும் தெரியவே கூடாது. கடவுளே! அவன் மட்டும் சூதாட்ட மண்டபத்துக்கு வராமல் இருக்க வேண்டும் என்று வேண்டிக் கொண்டான்; என்னை மண்டபத்துக்குள் வர முடியாதவாறு, அவனே கட்டிப் போட்டுவிட்டான். நான் அங்கு வரக்கூடாதென என்னிடமே வேண்டிக்கொண்டான். யாராவது தனது பிரார்த்தனையால் என்னைக் கூப்பிடமாட்டார்களா என்று மண்டபத்துக்கு வெளியில் காத்துக்கொண்டு நின்றேன். பீமனையும், அர்ஜுனனையும், நகுல சகாதேவர்களையும் வைத்து இழந்தபோது, அவர்களும் துரியோதனனைத் திட்டிக் கொண்டும், தங்கள் கதியை எண்ணி நொந்து கொண்டும் இருந்தார்களே தவிர, என்னைக் கூப்பிட மறந்துவிட்டார்களே! அண்ணன் ஆணையை நிறைவேற்ற துச்சாதனன் சென்று, திரவுபதியின் சிகையைப் பிடித்தபோது, அவளாவது என்னைக் கூப்பிட்டாளா? இல்லை. அவளும் தனது பலத்தையே நம்பி, சபையில் வந்து, வாதங்கள் செய்து கொண்டிருந்தாளே ஒழிய, என்னைக் கூப்பிடவில்லை! நல்லவேளை… துச்சாதனன் துகிலுரித்தபோதும் தனது பலத்தால் போராடாமல், ஹரி…. ஹரி… அபயம் கிருஷ்ணா… அபயம் எனக் குரல் கொடுத்தாள் பாஞ்சாலி. அவளுடைய மானத்தைக் காப்பாற்ற அப்போதுதான் எனக்குச் சந்தர்ப்பம் கிடைத்தது. அழைத்ததும் சென்றேன். அவள் மானத்தைக் காக்க வழி செய்தேன். இந்தச் சம்பவத்தில் என் மீது என்ன தவறு? என்று பதிலளித்தான் கண்ணன்.

அருமையான விளக்கம் கண்ணா! அசந்துவிட்டேன். ஆனால் ஏமாறவில்லை. உன்னை இன்னொரு கேள்வி கேட்கிறேன் என்றார் உத்தவர். கேள் என்றான் கண்ணன். அப்படியானால், கூப்பிட்டால்தான் நீ வருவாயா? நீயாக, நீதியை நிலை நாட்ட, ஆபத்துகளில் உன் அடியவர்களுக்கு உதவ வரமாட்டாயா? புன்னகைத்தான் கண்ணன். உத்தவா, மனித வாழ்க்கை அவரவர் கர்ம வினைப்படி அமைகிறது. நான் அதை நடத்துவதும் இல்லை. அதில் குறுக்கிடுவதும் இல்லை. நான் வெறும் சாட்சி பூதம். நடப்பதையெல்லாம் அருகில் நின்று பார்த்துக்கொண்டு நிற்பவனே! அதுதான் தெய்வ தர்மம் என்றான். நன்றாயிருக்கிறது கிருஷ்ணா! அப்படியானால், நீ அருகில் நின்று, நாங்கள் செய்யும் தீமைகளையெல்லாம் பார்த்துக் கொண்டிருப்பாய். நாங்கள் தவறுகளைத் தொடர்ந்து செய்து கொண்டேயிருந்து பாவங்களைக் குவித்து, துன்பங்களை அனுபவித்துக் கொண்டே இருக்க வேண்டும். அப்படித்தானே? என்றார் உத்தவர். உத்தவரே! நான் சொன்ன வாசகங்களின் உட்பொருளை நன்றாக உணர்ந்து பாருங்கள்.


நான் சாட்சி பூதமாக அருகில் நிற்பதை நீங்கள் உணரும் போது, உங்களால் தவறுகளையோ தீவினைகளையோ நிச்சயமாகச் செய்ய முடியாது. அதை நீங்கள் மறந்துவிடும்போதுதான், எனக்குத் தெரியாமல் செயல்களைச் செய்துவிடலாம் என்று எண்ணுகிறீர்கள்.

 

 SOURCE:::: input from a friend of mine
Natarajan

Message For The Day…You Are Essentially a Bliss!!!

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Believe Me, your nature is Sath-Chith-Ananda (Existence, Consciousness and Absolute Bliss). That is why you behave in the way you do. You desire to exist for ever; you enjoy life and avoid all talk of your own death. That is enough evidence to conclude that you are Reality in essence (Sath-swarupa). Then, again, you are filled with wonder and curiosity and a desire to know the world around you. You ask continuously what, why, how and when, about all and sundry. This is the prompting that is given by the Consciousness (Chith). Lastly, you are always seeking joy and try to avoid grief. It is your nature to do so, for you are essentially Bliss. When someone asks you, “How do you do?” and you answer, “Quite well, thank you,” they do not stop to enquire why you are well. It is only when you answer that you are ill, you are further questioned anxiously. “Well-ness” is natural; “illness” unnatural. Anxiety is caused only by the unnatural. So, in essence you are happiness.

 Sathya Sai Baba

Message For The Day…Move From Karmakshetra to Dharmakshetra With The Help Of Guru…

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You are all pilgrims, moving along this land of action (Karmakshethra) to the goal – the land of righteousness (Dharmakshethra). The literary men, the poets and teachers who address you are all guides who help you along; but, the road has to be trodden by you, every inch of it. “Kavim Puranaam Anusaasitharam” – scriptures declare that a kavi (a poet or the learned one) places the rules of right conduct before people and warns them when they go astray. These individuals should also be very careful that they themselves do not stray, while professing the right path. The learned are those that have a noble vision, whose role is to interpret God for the benefit of one and all. They should not indulge in meaningless talk or writing about less significant topic.

source:::: Swami Sathya Sai in one of His Discourses

Natarajan

Highest and Largest Infinity Pool in the World …at Singapore !!!

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The Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore opened its doors in 2010, to the tune of a whopping $5.7 billion.That amount paid for the massive 2,561-room hotel, a museum, casino, restaurants, bars, a swanky shopping mall, and the pièce de résistance: the SkyPark, an insane rooftop pleasure dome with a 150-meter (492 ft.) infinity pool.Click here to see photos >

Located on the 57th floor, this pool offers stunning views of Singapore’s financial district, Marina Bay, and beyond. It’s the largest and highest infinity pool in the world, according to the hotel, and if you swim up to the pool’s edge, it feels like you’re about to fall off the top of the world !!!!!

source::::: businessinsider.com 

Natarajan

 

Here’s what Marina Bay Sands looks like from the outside. The SkyPark, which connects the hotel’s three towers, looks a bit like a cruise ship perched in the air.

For context, here's what Marina Bay Sands looks like from the outside. The SkyPark, which connects the hotel's three towers, looks a bit like a cruise ship perched in the air.

The pool is just as stunning as you might think.
It really does look like you're about to fall off the edge of the pool.

There are incredible views of Singapore's financial district.

Biggest Name in Android Rolls Out its 2013 Flagship…Samsung Galaxy S4 !!!

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Samsung’s Unpacked events are nothing if not spectacles, and tonight at Radio City Music Hall in New York City the company used the time to introduce its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4. The S4 succeeds the wildly popular Galaxy S III, and brings with it a litany of new features and tweaks — though at first glance, you might not even notice it’s different.

The GS4 looks a lot like the Galaxy S III or the Galaxy Note 8. A lot. The phone’s nearly the same size as its predecessor, despite having a larger 5-inch, 1080p Super AMOLED screen that is the first of its kind in a smartphone. The GS4 is taller but thinner (just 7.9mm) than the GSIII, and is lighter as well. Samsung’s basic design ID hasn’t changed, which is unfortunate: the GS4 is plasticky and feels much cheaper than a device like theHTC One, though Samsung at least squared the edges slightly and added just enough texture that it doesn’t feel slick or slimy like the GS3 does. But from the colors – “white frost” and “black mist,” or just white and black if you’re a human — to the ports and buttons to the way it feels in your hand, Samsung hasn’t changed the way it thinks a phone should look.

Samsung’s consistently on the bleeding edge of smartphone horsepower, and that continues here: the Galaxy S4 is built to fly. It’ll be sold with either a Samsung Exynos 5 or Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, depending on region, and every model will come with 2GB of RAM, a big 2,600mAh battery, and 16, 32, or 64GB of storage (plus a microSD slot if you want to add more). The 5-inch display is the belle of the ball, of course, and it looks great — we don’t love the PenTile subpixel arrangement, but on such a high-res display it didn’t seem to cause any problems. Viewing angles are great, colors pop on the Super AMOLED display, and the bezels on the device have been slimmed to the point where the screen feels even larger and more immersive.

These are mostly small improvements, though, and in some ways the Galaxy S4 feels like an upgrade designed less for people who own the previous generation and more for those looking for a first smartphone, or upgrading from a two-year-old device. (Call it the Galaxy S IIIS.) One aspect did get a significant upgrade, though: the GS4’s new 13-megapixel rear-facing camera comes with both upgraded hardware and some new software flourishes. For starters, Samsung adopted some of the menus and options from the Galaxy Camera, like the on-screen mode dial and a few of the scene modes. The Eraser mode is one of our favorites: it takes a series of quick pictures, then automatically detects motion in the background and lets you seamlessly remove it. Goodbye, photo bombers.

In classic Samsung form, there are countless different ways to take a picture. DualShot lets you take a picture with both front and rear cameras at once, using pre-made templates that embed one within the other. Drama Shot takes a burst of shots and overlaps them — Samsung’s demo showed a guy jumping off a rock, and it had automatically layered every stage of his jump into one shot. Cinema Photo is probably the most fun, allowing you to take a series of shots, and pick one part of the photo to move while the others stay still; it’s basically Cinemagram for your GS4, and lets you make goofy GIFs in the time it takes to shoot five photos. The camera is fast and usable even while doing such complex things — it’s clear there’s processing power to spare on the GS 4.

Software

The Galaxy S4 runs Android 4.2.2, for now the most current version of Google’s operating system, but Samsung spent most of its time touting what it’s added on top of the OS. These features vary wildly, from the simple utility — S Translator, which translates messages and emails to and from any language — to what amounts to a complete re-imagining of how we use a smartphone. “Air Gestures” let you scroll through pictures or scroll a webpage by literally swiping with your hand, without touching the screen — you just sweep from left to right over top of the phone, and it responds. It looksridiculous, but it works. “Air View” gives your finger the power to hover over an email or date and see the information hidden behind, which previously only the Note and S Pen combination could handle. Those both work surprisingly well, though they’re certainly as much gimmick as game-changer. From our limited testing, “Smart Pause” and “Smart Scroll” skew more toward gimmick — they’re supposed to detect your eyes, and either pause your movie when you look away or scroll when you reach the bottom of a page, but neither worked much at all in our time with the GS4.

The most ambitious of Samsung’s new features is S Health, which Samsung has made vastly more powerful — it now amounts to Samsung putting a Fitbit or Jawbone Up into your phone. The GS4 has a pedometer built in, plus temperature and humidity sensors, which can automatically detect your surroundings and your exercise levels. You can input how much you eat and sleep, too, and get all the data you’d expect from an external device right on your phone. There’s even a companion wristband, the S Band, that syncs via Bluetooth to your phone for those moments you’re walking around without your phone in your pocket.

Somehow packed into the small phone along with all those sensors is an IR blaster, which pairs with Samsung’s WatchOn app to serve as a combination universal remote and visual TV Guide — just point your phone at your TV. It’s the same Peel-based system we’ve seen on a handful of Samsung tablets, and it makes perfect sense on a phone as well.

Samsung loves to talk about how its devices work together, and the newest feature for GS4 owners is Group Play — it lets you cue up a song or a picture, and quickly share it in sync with any other GS4 owner nearby. You can even use it to play local multiplayer games, so long as the app supports it; Asphalt 7 and Gun Bros 2 are the two launch partners, but other games should support the feature soon. NFC remains the key connection point, and unless all your friends buy GS4’s we’re betting Group Play is a better demo than it is a practical feature.

Befitting its global spectacle of a launch event, the Galaxy S4 is going to be available around the world, and Samsung’s continuing the scorched-earth strategy that worked so well with the GSIII. The device will be available on all four major US carriers, plus Cricket and US Cellular. It’ll be out in the second quarter of this year, and Samsung wouldn’t comment on price except to say it will have a “premium Samsung smartphone price.”

At first blush, the Galaxy S4 doesn’t feel revolutionary, but given the continued success of its predecessor maybe a revolution wasn’t called for. It’s a faster phone with a better screen, a better camera, and some cool new software features, and for the company that’s nearly synonymous with the word “Android,” that may be enough to ensure another huge success.

source:::: The Verge

Natarajan

An Indian Village Where 60 Millionaires Live !!!!!

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India is a leadership driven society—it suffices to look at Popatrao Pawar, the village head of Hiware Bazar in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. In the span of twenty years, he transformed his drought-struck poverty-ridden village into one of the best models India has seen.

Before he took over the reins, the village suffered many problems: there was hardly any agriculture in the village from a lack of water, causing villagers to migrate elsewhere as daily wage labourers; the school was non-functional; domestic violence and village fights punctuated lives as alcoholism was rampant; and the surrounding eco-system was seriously degraded.

So how does one actually make a village rise against such problems?
The first thing Pawar did was get rid of the 22 illicit liquor dens, ban consumption of liquor all together, and ban tobacco and gutka.

Then he inspired the villagers to pitch in to build dams and dig ponds to trap the little rain that came in. This new water management system helped immensely as the wells soon filled, allowing farming to begin anew with fields becoming lush and green.

Not wanting to take change for granted, Pawar got water audits done so that there was a close check on water availability. Water was never wasted, as selfless villagers built 52 earthen bunds, two percolation tanks, 32 stone bunds and nine check dams—All through the use of the same government funds available to any other village.

Before 1995, there were 90 open wells with water at 80-125 feet, whereas today, there are 294 open wells with water at 15-40 feet. To put this into context, other villages in the Ahmednagar district have to drill nearly 200 feet to reach water.

Farming flourished as Pawar got farmers to invest in milch cattle, making milk the new gold of the village. While milk production was only 150 litres per day in 1995, today, it has crossed the 4,000 litre threshold! All this helped reverse migration see over 60 families return with the desire of becoming farmers once again to live life with dignity.

Now there are decent-looking houses all over and villagers look content, glowing with happiness. The monthly per capital income has crossed Rs. 30,000, and in a village of 235 families and 1,250 individuals, there are 60 millionaires!

Today there are only three families who live below the poverty line, but the village is now working to help them improve their income with hopes that in another year, no villager be poor. All this is more amazing when taking into account that in 1995, there were 168 BPL families in the village.

But Pawar has not only tackled the economic needs of the village. With regards to the waning ecosystem, he facilitated the planting of over ten lakh trees to fuel languishing bio-diversity; even Babool trees that were earlier cut for fuel are now cared for, as villagers began harvesting its gum that sells for Rs. 2,000 a kilo.

One would think that these accomplishments already make Pawar one of the great leaders of India, but on top of everything, Hiware Bazar is spotlessly clean—all without sweepers; villagers take pride in keeping their home clean, and defecation or urination in public is unheard of. Best of all, now that cleanliness has overtaken the village there is a crucial benefit for the villagers: widespread disease has become a thing of the past.

In addition, to get children to learn the benefits of good governance, Pawar began a children’s parliament giving them specific roles to work under. The “Education Minister” for example, goes from house to house inquiring if the school is functioning well. Even the teachers themselves learn from their students and respect this monitoring to incorporate the childrens’ advice into their work!

But how did Pawar address caste and communal conflicts that often divide society into sparring aggressive groups? It was very simple: he relentlessly stressed that change could not be brought about without communal amity, and his efforts were so beautifully embodied when the village Hindu community built a mosque for the only Muslim family in the village for them to not have to pray in the open.

And how has Hiware Bazar brought a new respect to women in the face of strong gender inequality in India? First of all, Pawar has got the gram panchayat to take care of the education and marriage expenses of the second daughter of any family, but also, out of the seven-member panchayat, three are now women. In addition, Pawar has stepped down from the village headman’s position (remaining as deputy sarpanch) to allow a woman to replace him.

Finally, to bring in holistic change, Pawar is now motivating villagers to adopt family planning. A lot of stress is being put on health and hygiene as it is crucial for the future of the village. In fact, Hiware Bazar is also the first village in India to persuade couples take an HIV test before marriage.

Interestingly, none of Pawar’s suggestions or schemes are opposed as the village has full confidence in him as he goes about trying to better their lives.

Hiware Bazar has shown that stimulating change is easy.  All it requires is good leadership and the political will to empower others in rising to a better future.

source:::::yahoo news

Natarajan

Crazy Things Happening in China Now !!!!!…..Part 2

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Buildings fall over sideways and are sometimes intact.

One construction worker was killed when this 13-floor building collapsed almost intact. There are constant fears that safety comes second to speed.

Cities with no occupants pop up all over the country.

Cities with no occupants pop up all over the country…China’s infrastructure-investment-driven growth has caused ghost cities and ghost malls to pop up all across the country.

26-mile bridges get built to nowhere.

26-mile bridges get built to nowhere.

The 8-lane Qingdao bridge is the world’s longest bridge and cost 14.8 billion yuan to build, but sees a fraction of the traffic that was expected, according to the Financial Times.

Cute kids get replaced by cuter kids.

Cute kids get replaced by cuter kids.

China lied about the little girl who sang “Ode to the motherland” at the Beijing Olympics. Yang Peiyi, the real singer, wasn’t considered cute enough and Lin Miaoke was brought in to lip sync the song. The music director Chen Qigang told the AP: “The audience will understand that it’s in the national interes

 

Entire APPLE Stores Get Faked !!!

Entire Apple stores get counterfeited.

As Chinese cities develop across the country fake stores have become increasingly prevalent. Arguably the most famous fake store was the fake Apple store in Kunming,

Southern China.

Rivers TURN  RED !!!!!

Environmental pollution and chemical spills have caused rivers in China to turn red.

Rivers turn red.

source:::: businessinsider.com
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