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When plans are laid by the rulers for the uplift of the people and for training the children of the land, I want that the ancient wisdom of Bharath, still preserved and practised by scholars, be consulted. That will keep the keel of the ship straight. I want that the knowledge embodied in the Upanishads should be handed down to everyone. Bhakthi or devotion-directed education must take precedence over the Bhukthi or enjoyment-directed learning that prevails today in most countries of the world. Bhakthi is the yearning which goads you onto the spiritual discipline which will endow you with the Supreme Wisdom. Have both – faith and steadiness – in this pursuit, and you will win.
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Education
Indian startup aims for the moon – and $30 million Prize Money!!!!
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.!!!!!!
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
Meet Sundar Pichai….Google Android”s New Spearhead !!!!!
Another name that India’s illustrious education brand – IIT Kharagpur can boast of is Sundar Pichai. In a much unexpected move that led Andy Rubin to step down from the executive in charge of Google’s Android operating system and Sundar Pichai to come in as the replacement, who was in charge of Google’s Chrome Web browser and operating system for lightweight laptop computers, has made Indians across the globe give a standing ovation.
The Rise of Sundar Pichai
Born in 1972, Pichai hails from the Southern state of Tamil Nadu. He studied metallurgical and materials engineering from IIT Kharagpur and graduated in the year 1993. Pichai was known to be one of the most obedient and enthusiastic students at the institution.
IIT Kharagpur is always famous for its prodigies that include Arun Sarin, the former chief executive of Vodafone Group, and Vinod Gupta, chairman of U.S.-based venture capital and private equity firm Everest Group LLC.
Masters in engineering and materials science at Stanford University in the U.S. Later on he also got a Masters in business administration from the Wharton School of Business, where he was named a Siebel Scholar and a Palmer Scholar.
After his graduation, Pichai started working with the engineering and product management divisions of semiconductor maker Applied Materials and as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co.
Pichai at the Helm of Google
It wasn’t long before Pichai’s name started coming up with Google. In 2004, Pichai joined Google as the vice president of product management, where his duties involved leading the innovation team for Google’s Chrome and Chrome OS.
Pichai’s growth at Google was uncompromisingly fast. Pichai spearheaded other Google search products, like Google Toolbar, Chrome, Desktop Search, Gadgets, Google Pack, Google Gears, Firefox extensions, apps such as Gmail and Google Maps and Mac products.
In September 2008, Pichai was promoted as the VP of product development and he was ready to introduce the Chrome browser to an impatient world. A few weeks after Google came up with another ground breaking announcement and this time it was the Android 1.0 SDK.
But Pichai wasn’t done yet, as less than a year later, in July 2009, Pichai surprised the whole world by announcing the new Chrome OS.
The launch of both Chrome and Chrome OS propelled the search giant to a whole new space and the prominence of Pichai and his visions powered into a new public-facing role at Google. Later on Pichai presided over Google’s major announcements like the first Chromebook prototype, the launch of Chrome for Android and iOS, the revelation of Google Drive, and the recent introduction of the Chromebook Pixel.
And now there is Android! Pichai’s additional responsibility comes in at a crucial time for Google and Android, as a stint of anxiety on Samsung’s dominance over Google’s OS flaunts over the company.
This is what CEO Larry Page said about Pichai’s new role:
“Sundar has a talent for creating products that are technically excellent yet easy to use — and he loves a big bet. Take Chrome, for example. In 2008, people asked whether the world really needed another browser. Today Chrome has hundreds of millions of happy users and is growing fast thanks to its speed, simplicity and security.”
“So while Andy’s a really hard act to follow, I know Sundar will do a tremendous job doubling down on Android as we work to push the ecosystem forward,” Page said in a company blog post.
source:::::siliconindianet
Natarajan
Famous Indians In Silicon Valley…Part 2… Sundar Pichai….An Indian To Head Google”s Android Division !!!
In continuation of my earlier blog post on the ” Famous Indians In Silicon valley ” published on Dec 12 2012 wherein Mr. Sundar Pichai “s profile appeared, i am delighted to publish Part 2 of that Blog covering Mr. Sundar Pichai”s yet another successful milestone in his career . We are all very proud of you Mr. Sundar Pichai…
Natarajan
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Andy Rubin, the architect of Android, the world’s top-selling mobile operating system, has decided to step down as Google Inc combines mobile software divisions under one roof, the company said on Wednesday.
Sundar Pichai speaks during Google I/O Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California June 28, 2012.
Google appointed Sundar Pichai, the executive overseeing its Chrome web browser and applications like Google Drive and Gmail, to take over Rubin’s responsibilities, hinting at how the company with the dominant Internet search engine intends to address the rise of mobile devices.
In a blog post, Larry Page, Google’s chief executive and co-founder, credited Rubin for evangelizing Android several years ago and building it into a free, open-source platform that runs on nearly three-quarters of the world’s smartphones and is used by the world’s largest handset manufacturers, from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to HTC Corp .
“Having exceeded even the crazy ambitious goals we dreamed of for Android – and with a really strong leadership team in place – Andy’s decided it’s time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google,” Page wrote. “Andy, more moonshots please!
The merger of the Chrome and Android divisions helps resolve a longstanding tension in the Mountain View, California-based company’s corporate strategy, and reflects a convergence of mobile and desktop software.
When Google poured resources into launching the Chrome web browser five years ago, the company laid out a vision of the Internet and an ecosystem of Google apps based on the Web. But the Android operating system, acquired by Google in 2005, has also been a runaway success, enabling third-party handset makers like Samsung to overtake Apple Inc while also spawning a massive economy of third-party apps that are only loosely affiliated with Google.
Under Pichai’s direction, Google has released several netbook computers using the Chrome operating system. Last month, when Pichai unveiled the Chromebook Pixel, the first Chrome-based laptop with a touch-screen interface, analysts noted that Chrome and Android appeared to be on converging paths.
“You had this Chrome OS and this Android Group that were building in many overlapping products,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Gartner.
Gartenberg argued that despite Android’s overwhelming popularity, it is Chrome that remains at the core of Google’s strategy.
“For Google, it’s not about the platform, but the ecosystem,” Gartenberg said. “They’re more concerned long-term about Google Docs, Google Voice, Google Books, and less about helping Samsung sell more phones.”
Chrome, Gartenberg added, “is the purest expression of Google’s philosophy.”
“Sundar has a talent for creating products that are technically excellent yet easy to use – and he loves a big bet,” Page wrote. “So while Andy’s a really hard act to follow, I know Sundar will do a tremendous job doubling down on Android as we work to push the ecosystem forward.”
Android is now installed on roughly two-thirds of the world’s smartphones, supplanting Apple Inc at the pinnacle of the fast-moving mobile arena.
Android tablets are also expected to overtake Apple’s iPad in terms of shipments in 2013, IT research house IDC predicted on Tuesday.
But Android’s explosive growth – and the companies it has boosted – have also concerned Google’s leadership. Rubin himself has warned other Google executives that Samsung could use its heft to renegotiate its ad revenue-sharing deals with Google, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.
LEADING VOICE
The re-shuffle reinforces Pichai, a senior vice president, as one of the leading voices within Google.
Trained as an engineer at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, before moving to the United States, Pichai holds degrees from Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He joined Google in 2004.
In 2008, Pichai aggressively pushed Google’s Chrome browser, when Microsoft Corp’s Explorer lorded over the market. Chrome now commands a roughly 35 percent market share according to Web traffic analyzers StatCounter.
He is also credited with the development of some of the company’s most successful cloud-based apps, such as Calendar and Gmail, and has also steered Google Drive.
“Today we’re living in a new computing environment,” Page wrote. “People are really excited about technology and spending a lot of money on devices.”
source:::: yahoo news
With Samsung Galaxy S4 launching, it wouldnt have been a better time for Sundar Pichai to take the reins of Android.
Natarajan
Indian American Elected To Royal Society of Canada …
Ponisseril Somasundaran, an Indian American member of the faculty of Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been chosen as the sole foreign fellow of the prestigious Royal Society of Canada.
The only one from outside Canada to be elected this year, Somasundaran, who has been at Columbia since 1970 will be inducted in a ceremony on Nov 17 at the Ottawa Convention Centre in Ottawa with 70 other fellows.
“Somasundaran is recognized for his ground-breaking contributions towards unraveling complex nano-scale structures and energetics of surfactant self-assemblies and polymer-surfactant hybrids at interfaces,” according to the citation announcing his election.
“He pioneered the use of spectroscopic methods for probing surfactant self-assemblies. His work forms the backbone of many of the current practices in ultra-lean ores beneficiation, hazardous materials/waste water treatment and personal care industry,” it said.
“His seminal work continues to be vital for meeting today’s environmental and sustainability needs,” the citation added.
Founded in 1882, the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) comprises the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada. Election to its academies is considered one of the highest honours a scholar can achieve in the Arts, Humanities and
Sciences.
Somasundaran was named La von Duddleson Krumb Professor in 1983 and was the chairman of the Henry Krumb School from 1988 to 1992 and of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Material Science and Mining from 1992 to 1997.
Somasundaran is currently Director of the National Science Foundation Centre for Advanced Studies in Novel Surfactants and Langmuir Centre for Colloids and Interfaces.
He was one of the youngest members to be elected in 1985 to the National Academy of Engineering, the highest possible distinction then in engineering in the US.
Somasundaran was also elected to the Chinese Academy of Engineering (1998), Indian National Academy of Engineering (1999) and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (2000) and Balkan academy of science/Mineral Technology.
He was honoured as the only 1989 Distinguished Alumnus and the first Brahm Prakash Chair in 1990 from the Indian Institute of Science.
Elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2009, he was awarded Padma Shri civilian honour by the Indian Government in 2010.
source::::::siliconindianet
Natarajan
Two Indian Americans among ‘Intel Science Talent Search’ Finalists…
The recent high school research competition that was conducted by the Intel Science Talent Search has proved the capability of the young in the field of innovation these days. Indians too have a reason to celebrate here with the ninth and tenth place among the finalists being bagged by two Indians namely Akshay Padmanambha and Sahana Vasudevan. Let’s proceed to know more about them here.
Akshay Padmanambha, the son of Poombady Padmanambha and Asha Padmanambha was one of the finalists at the Intel Science Search this year. Originally from Karnataka, the young talent of sixteen years resides in Collierville.
His project mainly addressed the topic of bioengineering. A Vagus Nerve stimulator ( VNS ) can now be used in the treatment of those patients with seizure disorders, especially those with a resistance for surgery or drugs. The treatment helps in delivering to the brain, a signal which is constant and of low voltage.
However, this is not free from its side effects namely a risk of heart disease and sleep apnea. However this can be avoided by the activation of the VNS with the use of an algorithm at the onset of the seizures. This has been developed by Akshay through the analysis of epileptic EEGs. The algorithm can get the oncoming seizures detected. The use of this algorithm has thus been simulated by Akshay into the triggering system of the VNS.
Akshay’s other hobbies involve playing the jazz and electric bassoon. He also served in Germantown’s Houston High School Band where he was the principle bassoonist. A player of the Ultimate Frisbee, he serves as the captain and founder of the Math Bowl team. He also leads the Horizon where the interactions between students with general needs and those with special needs are promoted.
Having entered the mathematics project at the Intel Science Talent Search the sixteen year old Sahana Vasudevan from Palo Alto is another among the finalists at the event. The “carry” is an important aspect in arithmetic. It is usually handled by a carry bit in computing. She has here contributed a good result to “groups”, some mathematical structures. In this way she has proved a certain necessary condition
Originally from Tamil Nadu, Sahana now resides in Palo Alto in the U.S. She is also a violinist and a classical vocalist having won an award for her performance. Her singing began at the age of four and the playing of the violin at the age of seven. The daughter of Jayaraman Vasudevan and Vanaja Narayanaswamy, she was homeschooled at the Gnynam Academy.
source:::::siliconindia net
Natarajan
12 Year Old Indian Girl Has Higher IQ Than Einstein !!!!
A 12-year-old Indian-origin girl in UK has stunned everyone after she scored an incredible 162 on her IQ test – even higher than Einstein and Stephen Hawkin.
Neha Ramu, daughter of an Indian doctor couple, achieved a score of 162 on a Mensa IQ test – the highest score possible for her age.
The score puts her in the top one per cent of brightest people in the UK and means she is more intelligent than physicist Hawking, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and scientist Albert Einstein, who are all thought to have an IQ of 160.
“Neha scored 162 on the Cattell IIIB test, putting her within the top one per cent of people in the country,” a spokesman for British Mensa said.
Neha’s parents lived in India before moving to Britain when their daughter was seven, ‘The Telegraph’ reported.
Neha had always performed well at school, but it was only when she took an entrance exam for her school, achieving a perfect score of 280/280, that they realised her potential.
She took the test for Mensa, a society for people with high IQs, two years later, and achieved the maximum possible score for someone aged under 18.
“At first I did not really realise what she was capable of as she wasn’t being stretched at school and when she joined primary school in the UK. We didn’t really understand the system,” her mother Jayashree said.
“I am so proud of her. Although she’s being doing well at these kind of tests for sometime now. This is just marvellous.
I can’t express the feeling,” she said.
Neha plans to follow her parents’ footsteps into a career in medicine. She has already set her sight on a place at Harvard after taking her SATs – the American equivalent of A-levels – and achieved a score of 740 out of 800 in a test designed for 18-year-olds.
A devoted Harry Potter fan and keen swimmer, Neha admitted to have found the Mensa test “quite hard”.
“I’m really, really happy because I found the test quite hard and I wasn’t really holding out much hope that I’d be a member of Mensa,” she said.
“We might have a little party or something sometime soon to celebrate. I haven’t told my friends yet but I’ve told some of my family and they are all very happy for me,” said Neha.
Einstein never took an IQ test as none of the modern intelligence tests existed when he was alive, but experts believe he had an IQ of around 160.
Source: silicon india net
Natarajan
Indian Wonder Boy Gets into MENSA With IQ 132…..At The Age Of 3 !!!
Bangalore: Arnav Dasyam is probably the youngest kid of Indian/South Asian descent to join the Mensa Club. Arnav, son of Anil and Navya Dasyam, an Indian couple and residents of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, U.S. has become a member of the Mensa club at the age of 3 years and 2 months, reported TNN.
Mensa is an international society for bright people, and its members require possessing a high IQ. Candidates for Mensa must attain a score at or above the 98th percentile on a standard test of intelligence.
Arnav learnt the English alphabets by the time he was 18 months and 10 months later he could easily read a story book. This wonder boy was solving a 68 piece world map puzzle at a very young age.
As per the Mensa International website there are about 1.1 lakh Mensans in over 40 countries on every continent except Antarctica. Further, there are 2 to 100-year-old Mensans, but the majority belong to the age group of 20 to 60.
Anil was quoted by TNN, saying, “When Arnav was 2 years and 10 months old, we had him tested by a certified school psychologist on October 23, 2012. Arnav was found to have an overall IQ of 132.”
Anil got Arnav’s IQ score in the second week of January this year and submitted it to Mensa International a week later. He added that “We got the acceptance letter in the first week of February, 2013. Arnav’s age then was 3 years and 2 months.”
Anil said “It was in the late summer/early fall of 2012 when I saw some news reports of young children in the age group 3-4 years getting into Mensa. A common theme in them was that the kids could read early. Since Arnav could read sentences even before turning 2 and half years, we felt he was special and could take a shot at Mensa. We then started exposing Arnav to things that other Mensa kids were doing and he was easily grasping everything,” as reported by TNN.
Anil moved to the U.S. a decade ago after he did his MBBS from Hyderabad, while his wife Navya too is a doctor. The couple also has a 9-month-old son Nirmay. Anil talking of Arnav’s future, said “We have no fixed professions. We will ensure that he works hard to achieve what he wants to become.”
source:::::silicon india net
Natarajan
Message For The Day…. Pilgrimage Should Strengthen Your Spiritual Inclination….
When on a pilgrimage, without adequate mental preparation, you may not be able to receive the Grace of God! During pilgrimage, do not act like a postal parcel, which moves from place to place, collecting impressions on the outer wrapper, but not on the core being. Your purpose for a pilgrimage is to strengthen your spiritual inclinations and let the holiness of the place settle in your mind. As a result, your habits must change for the better and your outlook must widen. Your inward vision must become deeper and steadier. You must realize the Omnipresence of God and the oneness of Humanity. You must learn tolerance, patience, charity and service. After the pilgrimage is over, sitting in your own home and ruminating over your experiences you must determine to seek. Aspire to get higher, richer and more real experience of God realization.
Swami Sathya Sai in one of HIS discourses…
Natarajan
Message For The Day….Repeated Reading Makes You Understand its Worth…
![[image]](https://i0.wp.com/i1066.photobucket.com/albums/u405/Sumi1971/Periva%20Posters/Template-163_zps56ebfc8a.jpg)
Take off with Natarajan 