Thursday, April 28, 2011

Some thoughts on iPhone Location Tracking issues



Recently we are reading lot of news about iPhone location tracking issues.

Apple's iPhone and iPad constantly track users' physical location and store the data in unencrypted files that can be read by anyone with physical access to the device.

Locations are tracked by triangulating near-by cellphone towers. That suggests that the movements are tracked even when an iDevice's GPS features are turned off.

Few Apple Customers filed class action lawsuit against Apple.

"By secretly installing software that records users every moves Apple has accessed Plaintiffs' computers, in the course of interstate commerce or communication, in excess of the authorization provided by Plaintiffs as described in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act," the complaint states.

CNET reports that Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 software also collects data about device location, but does not store that location on the device itself -- instead transmitting it back to Microsoft.

Student researchers at Duke and Penn State  published results of an experiment in which they found that 15 of 30 popular Android apps systematically sent location data to ad networks in a variety of patterns.

Ad networks typically track Internet users’ movements around the Web and serve up ads based on their behaviors.

Note that wireless carriers also have the exact same data but  they won't give it up without a court order.

What do you think about this iPhone location tracking? You can share your comments and you can take the below poll.






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Implemented SEO friendly URLs in TheGreatQuotes.com




Today, we have enhanced our TheGreatQuotes.com website by implementing SEO Friendly URLs using Apache mod_rewrite module.


And, we updated the code to have proper Meta details so as make it more SEO friendly.


As this site is having both regular blog posts and custom changed posts, we faced some difficulties in keeping two different settings for two different types of pages.


After trying various approaches, I updated some page/post details  in the wordpress table itself to solve the issue. Let me know if you still get any error in using this site.


And, we had made some improvements in Sharing the quotes with the friends. You can start using The Great Quotes  for motivating your friends.




And, I welcome your suggestions to improve it further.



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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Questions for the vWorker.com



Few months back, I had published a detailed analysis report about the vWorker.com which is a freelance website.

The vWorker.com has published the arbitration details in their website after removing  some part of the discussion. i-e They published the arbitration partially after removing the important discussions which affect their stand.

i-e vWorker.com is trying to give the partial information to misguide the readers.
So, I am thinking whether I need to post the unedited version of the discussions and arbitration details in this blog. Since they closed my account, I couldn't get the details. But I can get it from my email as vWoker.com used to send copy of discussions to the email id. Anyway, it will take more time for me to collect all those mails and prepare the post. I will do it later when I have time and  if it is really required to do it.

As of now, I have asked below questions to the vWorker.com Founder Ian Ippolito.

1. Why the workers should use Escrow of vworker.com whereas Vworker.com is asking the workers to refund the money released from Escrow?
2. Why both Employees and Employers should waste their time on vWorker.com arbitration which is completely useless for anyone (Refer http://bit.ly/vworkersurvey for the proof gathered from many resources)
3. Why people should pay more fees (15%) whereas other freelance sites are allowing low fees?
4. Why people should waste their time in using affiliate system of vWorker.com which will close the account as the outcome of meaningless and time wasting arbitration?
5. Why people should take unnecessary risks for getting displayed their private conversation on vWorker.com blog publicly?
6. Why you want to have rating system which is unreliable? (For example, I had good ratings for around 100 projects, but still my account got closed. How the employers can believe me based on my vWorker.com ratings ?)
7. Why Employers should waste their time and energy spent on developing their ideas to their competitors, as the frustrated unpaid vworker.com employees will obviously work on similar project for the competitors?


So, ultimately the people (both employers and workers) are NOT having any other benefit from vworker other than just using as market place. Instead, it is creating lot of risks and wasting everyone’s time unnecessarily. So, they can easily use other lot of available good market places (e.g digitalpoint forum, sitepoint forum,) freely with more freedom instead of believing failed escrow system of vWorker.com

We can read the review of vWorker.com.


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Play Station Hackers steal Sony's Reputation and raised questions about safety of online transactions




Sony has confirmed that the personal information of 70 million PlayStation Network members may have been stolen by hackers.

The stolen information include their name, home address, date of birth and credit card number with Expiry Date details.



Sony blog has below information.

We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network

Sony has not released any technical details of how the PlayStation Network was breached.


And, Sony had admitted  this personal information theft only  six days after  the Network was taken down.

This delayed response from Sony have created a negative impression on Sony. And, Sony is trying to give below explanation for its delay in admitting the hacking.

There’s a difference in timing between when we identified there was an intrusion and when we learned of consumers’ data being compromised. We learned there was an intrusion April 19th and subsequently shut the services down. We then brought in outside experts to help us learn how the intrusion occurred and to conduct an investigation to determine the nature and scope of the incident. It was necessary to conduct several days of forensic analysis, and it took our experts until yesterday to understand the scope of the breach. We then shared that information with our consumers and announced it publicly this afternoon.
And, Sony has published FAQ page for giving answers for the common questions about this hacking and play station shutdown.


This hacking affects many people in various ways.

Sony PlayStation was shut-down for many days, So Customers are losing money as they were not able to use the PlayStation for the payment they made. There is a online petition going on for asking Sony to do free credit for compensating hack.

Developers who have games available for download are counting the cost of lost sales.

Someone who uses the same username, password and credit details across sites could find themselves seriously compromised.

The affected People can ask their Credit card company to cancel their existing credit card and can ask them to issue a new one. But still they may face many problems, as the hackers can use their email address for collecting information about their other website uses by sending phishing emails..

Sony's failure to handle this hacking problem effectively,  affects the reputation of the Sony especially it will affect the sales of Sony Tablets

And, this attack has raised questions about safety of online transactions.

Wall Street Journal has written as,

The hackers who have penetrated Sony Corp.'s online PlayStation videogame service and possibly collected credit-card data from millions of users delivered a blow to the company's long-pursued but elusive goal of linking its consumer electronic devices to an online network of movies, music and videogames.


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Which is your Favorite Quotes in TheGreatQuotes.com?




In my previous post, I had mentioned about our TheGreatQuotes.com website for sharing inspiring Quotes with your friends.

Previously, we were showing the Quotes based on the order in which they were entered.

Now, we have updated our code to have an option for ordering the Quotes in specific Order.

So, I would like to know the highly inspiring Quotes so that I can keep them at top of the Quotes list.

You see our image quotes and text quotes.

And, mention your favorite Quotes (in both Text Quotes and Image quotes) thro' the comment section.

I will modify the order of the Quotes based on majority of the users' wish.

And, If you like the current order itself, you can mention it thro' the comments or convey it by clicking Facebook like.

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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Sony plans to launch two Tablets this year, and targeting No.2 position as Tablet Maker.


Sony Inc. has announced that it will release two Tablets this year. They are code named as S1 and S2. So, the number of iPad competitors is increasing steadily.

The S1 is a slate-style tablet computer with a 9.4-inch touchscreen display that is thick on one end and tapers.

The S2 is a shell-shaped device that opens and closes, with two 5.5-inch touch-screen displays.

These devices will be launched at different times in different markets.

And, these two devices will also come with wireless connectivity through Wi-Fi or 3G/4G services. Sony did not specify which mobile carriers it plans to work with, and offered no details on pricing.


Tokyo-based Sony said it will run the Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" operating system, which was created specifically for tablet computers. The company showed how the tablet would enable fast web browsing and would be capable of playing PlayStation-quality videogames.

Both devices will run Nvidia Inc.'s Tegra 2 processors.

"'Sony Tablet' delivers an entertainment experience where users can enjoy cloud-based services on-the-go at any time. We’re aiming to create a new lifestyle by integrating consumer hardware, including ‘Sony Tablet’ with content and network,” said Kunimasa Suzuki, Corporate Executive, SVP, and Deputy President of Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony.

Sony faces an uphill climb in the tablet computer market, already dominated by Apple's iPad. Sony has said it aims to establish itself as the No. 2 tablet maker after Apple by 2012.

'Sony Tablet' features

Designed for portability and intuitive gripping

With its off-center of gravity form factor, the 9.4-inch S1 offers stability and a sense of lightness, offering comfortable use for hours.
The dual screen S2 comes with two 5.5-inch displays which can be used together as one large screen to browse websites and more. They can also be used for different functions as users can watch a video on one screen and input commands on the other, or check email on one screen and use the other as a soft keyboard.

Seamless Usability and Performance

Through Sony’s knowhow for combining hardware and software, “Sony Tablet” realizes optimal usability and performance. Because of Sony’s rapid response technologies, users can perform smooth, quick touch-screen operations and enjoy fast and efficient website loading. The keyboard arrangement is also optimized for the large screen, making email and SNS communication a breeze.

Rich entertainment experiences through various network services

Through Qriocity(Network platform of Sony) music and video services, users can enjoy rich video and music content. Also, through PlayStation®Suite, users can immerse themselves in high quality first generation PlayStation® titles. Additionally, users can easily download ebook content from Reader™Store2 and use both tablets as digital reading devices. The integration with various services allows users to take their entertainment experiences on-the-go. Furthermore, “Sony Tablet” is equipped with functionality that organizes content for easy access.

Remote access functionality with AV devices

Through “Sony Tablet”, users can control home entertainment devices as well as enjoy content in new ways. S1 uses infrared technology and works as universal remote controls for a variety of AV devices starting with <bravia>. Users can perform functions like turning on their TVs, changing the channel and adjusting the volume. Also, through DLNA functionality on “Sony Tablet”, users can “throw” personal content to large screen televisions or music to wireless speakers.

Check out the video on the two new Sony tablets here below.












Sony is last among the world’s top 10 laptop makers to unveil tablet plans, aiming to capitalize on surging demand for a product category that expects growth of $49 billion by 2015. The late entry of Sony may undermine the company’s ability to challenge Samsung’s Galaxy Tab or the iPad.

Apple had launched its first version of the industry-leading iPad in April 2010 itself. i-e One year back itself.

BBC says,
The strength of the Sony name will likely help the electronics giant to gain some traction in the fragmented tablet market.
Faced with scores of similar devices running the same Android software, recognised brands have become an important way of differentiating quality.
And, BBC is highlighted that Sony Tablet is announced as pure Sony instead of Sony Ericson.

Anyway, as Sony is going to use Google Android, we can expect fast growth for Sony Tablets.

What do you think about it? You can share your thoughts thro' the comments and you can take this poll.
















And, how you are seeing this competition?
As a competition between Apple and Sony?
Or, as a competition between Japan company and US company?
Or, as a competition between Apple iOS and Google Android?
Or, as a competition between Apple and Google ?
Or, as a Competition between beginner and late entry?
Or, as a Competition between Open Source and Proprietary mobile OS?

You can share your thoughts thro' the comments.

Find below the research firm Gartner's forecast.

Global sales of tablet devices are expected to quadruple to about 294 million units between 2011 and 2015, with almost half of that Android-based.

Yahoo Finance has reported about Sony as,

Sony, once a symbol of Japan's high-tech might, has seen its share price slide in the past decade as it struggled to keep up with rivals. Helped by its success in TVs and other products, Samsung's market capitalisation of some $134 billion dwarfs Sony's $30 billion market value.

Even when Sony which is inventor of Walkman has good Brad name, many people are saying that Sony Tablet will fail as Apple may sue Sony for using its idea.

And, recent shut down of Sony Play Station due to hacking attach also gives some negative impression for the Sony.

Anyway, Sony has emphasised the need to differentiate its tablet from rivals, even if that takes time for getting released.

S1 or S2?

You can take this poll.















According to TechCruch S2 will be forced behind the S1. I has reported as,
Even less is known about the S2; it didn’t even get its own picture. It has to hide there behind big brother S1. The two 1,024 x 480 screens “can be used together as one large screen to browse websites and more. They can also be used for different functions as users can watch a video on one screen and input commands on the other, or check email on one screen and use the other as a soft keyboard.” Sounds all right on paper, but we’ll have to wait until a hands-on before we can say whether it’s a spiritual successor to the (potentially) beloved Courier, or just a gimmick. Unfortunately, two small screens probably aren’t cheaper than one big one
SONY S1 SPECSSONY S2 SPECS
Android 3.0 HoneycombAndroid 3.0 Honeycomb
9.4-inch screenTwo 5.5-inch screens
1280 x 800 resolutionTwo 1024 x 480 pixel displays
512MB RAMRAM unknown
32GB memoryMemory unknown
NVIDIA Tegra 2 processorNVIDIA Tegra 2 processor
Front and rear camerasBook-style layout
WiFi and 3G/4G compatibleWiFi and 3G/4G compatible
Work as remote control on Sony products-
Price and release date unknownPrice and release date unknown


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Our Free Classifieds becomes SEO friendly.


In my previous post, I had explained about the Free Classifieds for buying or selling iPhone and iphone related products.

We use AWPCP Wordpress plug-in for showing and managing the free classified ads. This plug-in is having an option to use SEO friendly URLs.

Initially it showed error when I enabled SEO mode in this plug-in. This error appeared continuously even when I tried various settings available in the plug-in

So, turned off of the SEO mode.

Today, we solved this error by changing the value for "Home" in the wp_options table. I couldn't understand the relation between this change and the plug-in behaviour. Anyway, after removing the "index.php" in the Home value, the error in SEO mode of AWCP plug-in disappeared. So, now I turned on the SEO mode.

So, I believe many people will start seeing the classifieds Ads by searching from various search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing.

You can start using this Free Classifieds. Read this article "Overview of Classfied Ads" if you want details about this free classifieds.

Even you can promote your blog or website related to iphone related stuff using this free classifieds site.

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Sunday, April 24, 2011

Permalink tweaking in FeedWordPress plug-in based wordpress sites


We are using FeedWordPress plug-in for showing latest news in some of our websites (rilbp.info, VerizonIphoneGuide.info

Till today, the FeedWordpress plug-in setting was done so as to have the original source url as the permalink of the post.

This setting won't allow our visitors to share our posts with their social bookmarking sites. So, I wanted to change the permalink. When I do the change in the plug-in settings for taking the local permalink, there was no way for the users to go to the original source page.

So, I have made small change in the single.php of the template.

I replaced "<?php the_content();?> with below piece of code.


<?php //For showing original source link
$originalurl=trim(get_syndication_permalink($post->ID));
$readmorelink="<a href='".$originalurl."'>Read from Source</a>";
the_content();
$pagetitlelink=trim(get_permalink());

if ($originalurl!="")
{
echo "<h3>".$readmorelink."</h3>";
}
?>


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Friday, April 22, 2011

Share the Great Quotes with your Friends Easily.


We days back, I had written about developing our Great Quotes websites.

We have completed initial version of this site, and working on to add more Quotes.

We included sharing options to share the favorite quotes to your friends easily thro' email, Twitter and Facebook.

You can search your favorite Quotes, and browse the Quotes based on Author and Category.

You can start using the Great Quotes to inspire and motivate your friends.

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Implemented AdSense "Section Targetting" for this blog


Since this blog has started getting lot of Search traffic, I am in the process of monetizing the traffic.

Few days back I had done some changes in AdSense Ad placements.

The ad placement changes improved the CTR significantly and therefore AdSense earnings also will be increased.

Now, I am doing further optimizations.

I am using this blog for writing posts about different topics. And, recently I had modified the blog to show Recent posts, popular posts and random posts in each and every blog post.

So, adSense bot may not find the appropriate keywords for any particular post as it will be surrounded with summary of other posts also.

And therefore, visitors will be seeing irrelevant Ads. It will reduce the adSense CTR.

So, I have implemented "Section Targeting" for this blog.

You can read about Section Targeting here

"Section Targeting" is just telling the AdSense bots about which part of the blog should be considered for taking keywords to show ads, and which part should not be considered.

We can use &tl;!-- google_ad_section_start --> and &tl;!-- google_ad_section_end --> to emphasize a page section.

I referred this article to implement the "Section Targeting" for this Blogger blog.

It seems Google AdSense will take some time to start using this "Section Targeting".

Let us see whether it increases the CTR further. Anyone tried "Section Targeting"?


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Thursday, April 21, 2011

Google Shows an excellent animated Doodle for Earth Day, and freebies for Earth Day.




Today Google is showing  an excellent animated Doodle for celebrating 41st anniversary of Earth Day.



Earth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment.

Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970.

Guardian has described this Doodle as below.



The interactive scene features two pandas, one of which shocks the other with a sneeze when you place your mouse on it, a nod to this YouTube video. Other animated features include a fish swimming up a waterfall, only to be snatched up in the jaws of a bear, a koala climbing up and down a eucalyptus tree and a penguin leaping off an iceberg

Many companies and organizations are giving freebies to raise public awareness about the Earth Day.

StarBucks is giving free coffee or Tea today in United States and Canada for the people who bring reusable Mug or Tumbler.

Caribou Coffee is also giving away a free cup of their coffee to visitors who bring their on mug to participating locations

Disney Store locations are giving away a free reusable Mickey Mouse tote bag to customers in exchange for five plastic shopping bags.

Admission to all 394 U.S. national parks is 100 percent FREE on Earth Day!
Anthropologie is offering free Earth Day craft workshops for kids.

EVOS is offering customers free organic milkshakes to honor Earth Day.

If you know  any other Earth Day offers, you can share it thro' the comments.

Find below some Earth Day Slogans. If you know any good slogan you can share it thro' the comments section.

It’s the only Earth we got
Join the race to make the world a better place
Protect our earth today for our children’s tomorrow
May the Forest be with you
Keep your Earth Clean and Green
Nurture Nature
It’s our world, take care of it
What on Earth are you doing for Earth Day?
A good planet is hard to find
Dare to be a force of Nature
Save energy to save our planet

Think green
Earth Day is a reminder about the importance of environmental protection and sustainability. Most importantly, it reminds us that we can a make a difference when it comes to our planet.

The Earth Day Network reports more than 1 billion people participate annually in Earth Day activities, making it the largest civic observance in the world. The Earth Day Network works with over 22,000 partners in 192 countries to spread its green message.

This year’s theme is “A Billion Acts of Green” and the goal is to generate a billion acts of environmental service and advocacy before the global Earth Summit 2012 in Rio. Submit your act of green at act.earthday.org and you can pledge any others Acts.





Solar power takes important role is creating Green Energy while providing clean environment.

And, Google is investing more in Solar related projects,as it believes there will be a bright future for Solar power.

And, Kalam-NSS initiative is taken to get electric power from Space Solar power also.

Watch below the inspiring video about Earth Day.




Find below the presidential proclamation from US president Barack Obama.
For over 40 years, our Nation has come together on Earth Day to appreciate and raise awareness about our environment, natural heritage, and the resources upon which generations of Americans have depended.

Healthy land and clean water and air are essential to the health of our communities and wildlife. Earth Day is an opportunity to renew America's commitment to preserving and protecting the state of our environment through community service and responsible stewardship.

From the purity of the air we breathe and the water we drink to the condition of the land where we live, work, and play, the vitality of our natural resources has a profound influence on the well-being of our families and the strength of our economy.

Our Nation has a proud conservation tradition, which includes countless individuals who have worked to safeguard our natural legacy and ensure our children can benefit from these resources. Looking to the future of our planet, American leadership will continue to be pivotal as we confront the environmental challenges that threaten the health of both our country and the globe.

Today, our world faces the major global environmental challenge of a changing climate. Our entire planet must address this problem because no nation, however large or small, wealthy or poor, can escape the impact of climate change.

The United States can be a leader in reducing the dangerous pollution that causes global warming and can propel these advances by investing in the clean energy technologies, markets, and practices that will empower us to win the future.

While our changing climate requires international leadership, global action on clean energy and climate change must be joined with local action. Every American deserves the cleanest air, the safest water, and unpolluted land, and each person can take steps to protect those precious resources.

When we reduce environmental hazards, especially in our most overburdened and polluted cities and neighborhoods, we prioritize the health of our families, and move towards building the clean energy economy of the 21st century.

To meet this responsibility, Federal and local programs will continue to ensure our Nation's clean air and water laws are effective, that our communities are protected from contaminated sites and other pollution, and that our children are safe from chemicals, toxins, and other environmental threats.

Partnerships and community-driven strategies, like those highlighted by the America's Great Outdoors Initiative, are vital to building a future where children have access to outdoor places close to their homes; where our efforts to leave rural working lands and waters are conserved and restored; and our parks, forests, waters, and other natural areas are protected for future generations.

On Earth Day, we recognize the role that each of us can play in preserving our natural heritage. To protect our environment, keep our communities healthy, and help develop the economy of the future, I encourage all Americans to visit www.WhiteHouse.Gov/EarthDay to learn ways to protect and preserve our environment for centuries to come.






Updates

I have just noticed that Google is showing this animated Doodle by combining many images. Find below some of them.

And, I had recorded as video also so that it can be viewed by people who are not able to see it in Google Home page.









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Future of Solar Power as seen by GE [InfoGraphics]


Few months back I had discussed about Future of Solar power.

GE which is major player in Solar energy,  has released an InfoGraphics explaining the Future of Solar power.

Click on the Image to enlarge it



This data is sourced from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) Solar Industry Year in Review 2009

GE describes this Infographics as below,

The U.S. Government has recently set ambitious goals for renewable energy. Here, we take a look at the energy landscape over the past 60 years and the role of solar energy in achieving those goals.

More Articles...
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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Free Classifieds Ads for buying and selling iPhone related products.





Few months back, we have launched a website VerizonIphoneGuide.info for showing latest news about smart phones especially about Verizon iphones.


Surprisingly, this site started getting lot of visitors from search engines especially from Google.


Google Analytics shows that everyone is coming to this site by searching something related to iPhone.


So, I thought of effectively utilizing this Targeted Traffic. And therefore, we added classifieds feature to this site.

You can see more details about using this Classifieds here. You can freely show the Ads for 10 days. If you want to show it for 30 days, you can choose paid option.

And, placing you classifieds Ads is very simple and you can easily edit it at any time using access key.

You can use the "General" category to advertise your blogs and other products also.

Since I am planning to advertise this classifieds feature in all our websites and blogs, I think it will get some more traffic also.

So, you can start placing your Ads freely here



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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

ISRO has launched PSLV C16 Successfully.



India has launched PSLV C16  Successfully today.

ISRO  has announced as "PSLV-C16 successfully launches RESOURCESAT-2, YOUTHSAT & X-SAT"


It was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, India.

It is the 17th successful launch of the PSLV




This Success  is very important for the ISRO as it was facing some difficulties recently.

  • Last year saw the dramatic back-to-back failures of two of the larger rockets, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, that plunged down into the Bay of Bengal
  • Four ISRO made satellites failed one after the other.
  • The organisation was singed by the S-band corruption scandal when the ISRO-Devas deal was annulled by the government.

Find below the video of PSLV C16 launch as viewed from South Chennai.








It puts below 3 satellites.
  • RESOURCESAT-2 built by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) - the primary satellite is an advanced remote sensing satellite weighing 1206 kg for facilitating the study and management of natural resources.
  • YOUTHSAT weighing 92 kg is a joint Indo-Russian satellite for stellar and atmospheric studies.
  • X-SAT weighing 106 kg is a microsatellite for imaging applications built by Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore
 PSLV can launch IRS (Indian Remote Sensing) Satellites into sun synchronous orbits, and it can also launch small size satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). The PSLV has four stages using solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately


Among the key launches undertaken by the PSLV are India's maiden moon mission Chandrayaan-I in October 2008, four Cartosats and Resourcesat-1.
The Chandrayaan-I has helped NASA to find Water on the Moon.

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Indian Students win Space Settlement Design Contest





Team of seven high school students from Punjab, India won the Grand Prize for the 2011 NASA/NSS Space Settlement Contest.

They had done a double-torus space settlement design called Hyperion. The winning design was selected from 355 submissions from 14 countries.

The Hyperion Space Settlement has a diameter of 1.8 kilometers and would provide a safe and pleasant living and working environment for 18,000 full time residents and an additional population (not to exceed 2,000) of business and official visitors, guests of residents, and vacationers.

The settlement would be constructed primarily from lunar materials and be located at the Earth-Moon L4 libration point. You can download the complete details as pdf file from here.

They have given the below explanation to explain why they choose "Hyperion"


Light, as we know, is the ultimate source of energy. It forms the basis for all life
forms on earth; everything in nature sprouts towards light.  Just as light creates
conditions on Earth for us to dwell, in a similar manner our settlement will
provide  an  environment for human beings to nourish and thrive in space,
thereby exploring new spheres of life. In Greek mythology, Hyperion (Hyperiôn)
was the Titan of Light (Sun). Hyperion is also referred to in Greek mythology as
“God of Watchfulness and Wisdom” and was responsible for providing light to
the Earth.
Find below the high lights from their report.

Vision behind Hyperion:

- Using the  advantage of living in space in best possible way and attain best structural support and stability.
- Providing large surface area for living so as to occupy large number of people in a single settlement.
- Building a thriving economy by Leading Trade Hub with earth and supporting our
ambitions to go and search outer space especially Mars and whole Solar System.

Features of Hyperion:
- Hyperion’s structure is the best model showing strength, stability and large surface area for living. The structure has some splendid features such as a non-rotating torus which provides the thrill and excitement of full space-life experience to the residents and tourist.
- Ultimate arrays of technologies and robots have been added to give life a new height. An astounding docking section has been built which provides a bi-transit system having different docks for import - export and residents - transient population.
- A New well designed Community Layout has been provided giving a chance to choose
between a variety of housing plans and lifestyle. Personal Rapid Transport, called POD,is installed in both the residential tori for easy and fast movement of the residents.

Besides providing ambient living conditions, Hyperion space settlement  would also have an
economic base. Like any other human settlement (cities, countries, etc.) it will also follow trade
practices. The settlement would support multilateral trade.

The settlement shall trade with Earth as it will have a leading advantage of being in space. In
turn, we shall buy goods for its needs from Earth, if required.
Advantage of setting industries in micro gravity: Weightlessness provides unique conditions for
scientific, application-oriented and industrial research. On Earth, if a substance is heated,
melted, solidified, crystallized, mixed, sprayed or burnt, then gravity has a strong influence over
what will happen. Moreover, the industries would be easy to handle due to weightlessness in
micro ‘g’.

 Types of Trades
There shall be four main industries in Hyperion involved in trade which are:
1. Electricity industry
2. Pharmaceutical industry
3. Glass industry
4. Ceramic industry
These four industries shall play an important role in Hyperion’s economy

Download the entire report from here.

Congratulations for the below winning students.
  • Gaurav Kumar
  • Deepak Talwar
  • Harman Jot Singh Walia
  • Mahiyal B. Singh
  • Kaenat Seth
  • Ishaan Mehta
  • Navdeep Singh Makkar. 

If you are planning to attend ISDC 2011,  see the ISDC Space Settlement Students Web Site.

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Monday, April 18, 2011

Launching TimeSheetScript.Com for giving all details about our TimeSheet Script.






We have developed a new website TimeSheetScript.Com for giving all details about our timesheet script.



We have provided all the details about our timesheet script. It includes details such as features of our timesheet, who can buy our timesheet, how to buy our timesheet, how to install our timesheet, how to use our free online timesheet, etc.



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Sunday, April 17, 2011

PSLV C16 is getting ready to be launched with 3 satellites (RESOURCESAT-2, YOUTHSAT and X-SAT) on April 20






The Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) for PSLV-C16/RESOURCESAT-2 mission met on April 16, 2011 at Satish Dhawan Space Centre - SHAR, Sriharikota. And, LAB has cleared the launch of PSLV-C16 at 10:12 hrs (IST) on Wednesday, April 20, 2011.

LAB reviewed the readiness of the launch vehicle, spacecraft systems and ground stations and has authorised the commencement of the 54 hour Count Down today.



During the Count Down, propellant-filling operations of the liquid propellant second stage (PS2) and fourth stage (PS4) of the launch vehicle will be carried out.


PSLV-C16 on Launch Pad.  Photo Source- isro.org




























Mandatory checks on the launch vehicle and spacecraft - including charging of batteries and pressurisation of propellant tanks will be performed. Readiness of launch infrastructure such as tracking radar systems and communication networks will also be checked.

PSLV-C16 will launch RESOURCESAT-2, YOUTHSAT and X-SAT satellites.

PSLV-C16 seen from Mobile Tower
  • RESOURCESAT-2 built by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) - the primary satellite is an advanced remote sensing satellite weighing 1206 kg for facilitating the study and management of natural resources.
  • YOUTHSAT weighing 92 kg is a joint Indo-Russian satellite for stellar and atmospheric studies.
  • X-SAT weighing 106 kg is a microsatellite for imaging applications built by Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore
The PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) has launched 41 satellites (19 Indian and 22 from other countries) into a variety of orbits till date. PSLV can launch IRS (Indian Remote Sensing) Satellites into sun synchronous orbits, and it can also launch small size satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). The PSLV has four stages using solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately.

ResourceSat-2 is a data continuity mission of ISRO with improved spectral bands of the IRS-P6/ResourceSat-1. Each ResourceSat satellite carries three electrooptical cameras as its payload: LISS-3, LISS-4 and AWiFS. All the three imagers are multispectral pushbroom scanners with linear array CCDs as detectors. The ResourceSat data find their application in several areas like agricultural crop discrimination and monitoring, crop acreage/yield estimation, precision farming, water resources, forest mapping, rural infrastructure development, disaster management etc. ResourceSat-2 provides continuity and increases the observation timeliness (repetivity) in tandem with ResourceSat-1. Read more details about ResourceSat-2 here.

YouthSat was initially proposed by Dr. ABJ Kalam during his visit to Russia during 2005. It is the second satellite in the micro satellite series being launched by ISRO. The objective of this project is to provide hands-on experience to student in space experiments and data-processing, and to create a common platform for aerospace students across the world to jointly conduct experiments in space for the benefit of future generations and humanity as a whole.

The Russian party - M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University - provides the development of the scientific equipment SolRad for the studies of the solar activity, its delivery to India, and transfer of the necessary technical documentation and testing equipment. The experimental equipment SolRad is intended for registration of hard X-ray radiation within the energy ranges of 10-100 keV. Read more details about YouthSat here.


Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore is doing the XSAT Micro-Satellite Project which is the developmental project undertaken by CREST (Centre For Research in Satellite Technologies) with partners such as CRISP (Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing, NUS). Read more details about X-SAT here.





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Twitter suspends QualityPoint Application also. Trouble @Twitter?



Twitter is the fast growing social media company.

Twitter is providing an API for creating third-party applications by accessing Twitter data.

Thousands of  (Around 750,000) third-party Twitter applications/clients are available. Even some applications are more popular than Twitter's own web interface.

Even if these third-party applications helped Twitter to grow fast, Twitter had decided to ban these third-party applications.

Twitter had started this third-party clients ban starting from Ubermedia clients such as UberTwitter and Twidroyd.

And, Twitter had asked the Developers to stop building clients. Engadget has mentioned that Twitter is implementing these restriction to start monetize its services. Engadget has given title as "Twitter to developers: we want to own the pipes, water, and faucets, but feel free to make soap" for this news.

We also developed many useful Twitter applications, and currently we use it internally.  And, we had lot of plans to improve our Twitter Clients further.

But yesterday, I got an email from Twitter saying that "This is a notice that your OAuth token for QualityPoint has been suspended from interacting with the Twitter API."


Since all our Twitter clients use this application, nothing is working now.

As Twitter starts hating third-party Twitter applications, I am planning to reduce our focus on developing Twitter clients/applications. Instead, I am planning to focus more on developing our jobsite. We already introduced Resume Posting service, and working on to release lot of new features including meta job search engines for regular jobs and freelance jobs. Since the Social media sites get revenue from job advertisements, I think running job site is wiser than working with other social media sites such as Twitter which won't hesitate to ban any developers to monetize their services..
 
If anyone wants to start their own Resume posting service, you can contact me.

As the Twitter is the good source for getting huge traffic easily, I am analyzing the all the possibilities of using Twitter effectively even after they suspended our application.  I will publish my detailed plans soon. And, if anyone wants to buy our  Twitter applications, you can contact me. (As of now, the demo won't work as Twitter has suspended our application. You can test it after updating with your application credentials)

And, I can give our Twitter scripts with 80% discount for the buyer who is willing to share his twitter application  to bring up our Demo immediately. (Update- The demo is up and running now using new twitter API keys)

Apart from our Twitter application, few of our Twitter accounts also got suspended.

But I didn't get any mail from Twitter about this account suspension. So, I had sent below message to twitter support "suspended@twitter.com".

Today I have noticed that my twitter account rilBp got suspended. I have
gone thro' twitter rules. I couldn't see any violation in my account. Can
you solve this issue as soon as possible?

And, I got below reply from Twitter Support Team.

Hello Rilbp!

We understand that you're contesting an account suspension. Please be sure to read
this entire email; you will need to take further action in order to reopen your
ticket and trigger a review of your account.

Twitter suspends accounts for a variety of reasons:

• If your account was suspended for aggressive following behavior, you should have
received an email notification to the address associated with your Twitter account.
You'll need to confirm that you've removed all prohibited following automation from
your account, and will stop any manual aggressive following behavior. To expedite
your appeal process, please review our Best Practices page if you haven't already
(http://support.twitter.com/entries/68916), and then reply to this ticket with a
confirmation that you understand our policies and will not engage in any prohibited
following behavior.

• If you didn't receive an email indicating why your account was suspended, please
take a minute to review the Twitter Rules (http://www.twitter.com/rules). If you
suspect you've been suspended for another reason, please reply to this email with a
short explanation.

• While we strive to avoid mistakes, it's also possible that your account was
suspended in error. If after reviewing the Rules, you have no idea why your account
was suspended, just reply to this email indicating as much, and we'll take another
look at your case. Our apologies if the error turns out to be ours.

Thanks,
Twitter Trust & Safety

Since I didn't find any appropriate reason from the links provided by the Twitter Support Team, I sent below reply.
I have gone thro' your links.
But, I couldn't understand why it got suspended. So, I think there may be
a technical issue from Twitter side.
Can you solve it as soon as possible?

And, I got below reply from Twitter support team.

Hello,

Your account was suspended because it appears you may be managing a number of
Twitter accounts. Creating serial or bulk accounts with overlapping uses is a
violation of the Twitter Rules; as a result, all of the accounts created have been
suspended pending more information being provided.

Please respond with the following information:

a) a list of the accounts that you have created and which of these you would like to
have reinstated, and
b) your planned use for the accounts.

The Twitter Rules can be found here: http://support.twitter.com/articles/18311

Thanks,

artie

I sent below reply, and this time I put cc to biz@twitter.com and ev@twitter.com

Artie,

Thanks for your reply.

Actually, I represent a Software/Web development company "QualityPoint
Technologies". We are developing websites and selling them. And, we
develop many scripts also.

Mostly we use Twitter accounts to use for our new sites. For example this
account @rilBp is created to use with http://rilbp.info/

And, we have created few Twitter accounts for tweeting News/jobs collected
from various RSS sources using Yahoo pipes and Google feedburner socialize
option.

I had set-up a Team to manage these things. Our Team has searched lot of
RSS feeds and created mash-ups, they were ready to feed them to related
Twitter accounts once after testing it.

Since almost all our Twitter accounts are suspended now, I feel that our
Time/effort spent on creating the Feeds are useless now. Even our team has
started creating images/logos required for twitter accounts.

Please note that I had started this project and set-up the Team only after
going thro' the Twitter Terms/rules and I had asked our Team to follow it
strictly.

I never wanted to spam Twitter or any other system, as I know spamming
won't give any benefit to anyone. And, we create accounts manually only.
Since many people are there in our Team, they might have created similar
account. Anyway, they will be having their own set of RSS feeds. So, I
don't think that we are violating any Twitter Terms/rules.

Anyway, I hesitate to continue this project as I realized the Risk of
depending on the Twitter for our business.

And, it is really very difficult to give lists asked by you.
Because some accounts are created by our Team for our users/customers. i-e
our team assist our users to create/manage Twitter accounts as they are
not technically strong enough to handle twitter accounts. I can not take
ownership for those accounts even if we need to manage them.

If possible, you can reinstate all or most of our suspended accounts.
Anyway, it is not much important, because I realized the risk of depending
on Twitter for our business and I realized the loss. Again, I don't want
to spend more effort/time on Twitter to meet another loss. Instead, I am
planning to concentrate on our other projects such as job search engine
developments.

If I have violated any Twitter rule/terms, I can confidently continue
using Twitter once it is un-suspended. But, based on my understanding, I
haven't violated Twitter Rules, but facing difficulties with Twitter. So,
I am hesitating to put my time/effort or our team time on Twitter related
tasks in future.

Thanks,
Raj

I got below reply.

Hi,

The following behaviors are violations of the Twitter Rules:

• Creating serial and/or multiple accounts with overlapping use cases
• Cross-posting Tweets or links across accounts

As such, these accounts will remain suspended.

Please review our Twitter Rules (http://support.twitter.com/articles/18311),
Automation Rules and Guidelines (http://support.twitter.com/entries/76915) and the
Following Limits & Best Practices (http://support.twitter.com/entries/68916).

Thanks,
mattsparrow

It seems Twitter support is very active and they they are sending reply quickly.

And a notable point is, our application "qualitypoint" got suspended after I had done these communications with Twitter about our Twitter Account suspension. I am NOT sure whether there is any relation between them. If you know more details, you can share your comments.

It looks like Twitter is in Trouble. Fortune magazine has done a detailed analysis about Twitter and published an article Trouble @Twitter.

It says that Boardroom power plays, disgruntled founders, and CEO switcheroos are clipping the wings of this tech high flier.

And, It says,

Just two years ago Twitter was the hottest thing on the web. But in the past year U.S. traffic at Twitter.com, the site users visit to read and broadcast 140-character messages, has leveled off. Nearly half the people who have Twitter accounts are no longer active on the network, according to an ExactTarget report from January 2011

And, Biz Stone has tried to answer for the Fortune Magazine article.

Business Insider has described this as "The Truth About Twitter's Troubles" .
The story touches on Twitter's lack of revenues, its management discord, its relatively small user-base, and its refusal to accept huge multi-billion dollar offers from the likes of Google and Facebook.
The truth about these troubles is that the company, operating under new CEO and a re-constituted board since last fall, knows it has them, and is re-organizing the entire company around fixing them.
So, it seems Twitter is facing high pressure from media to improve the quality of tweets. That may be the reason Twitter suspending third-party applications and twitter accounts rigorously. But I think, this unplanned and inappropriate suspensions will do more harm to Twitter than doing any help. What do you say?
Twitter's board of directors, March 2009. From Left to Right: Peter Fenton, Fred Wilson, Evan Williams, Bijan Sabat, Ted Wang, Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone. PHOTO Source: Fortune.cnn.com

Updates on May 05th

Till now I didn't get any reply from Twitter regarding reactivating our Twitter application. So, I have decided to choose web based access than using API.
Our Team is good in creating web based scripts. For example, we have created a script which will automatically post resume to around 60 job sites.
So, We have started creating scripts for sending tweets without using API. Currently we are testing it. I will give more details once after completing it.
Updates on May 07th
We have resolved the issue by registering new twitter application. Anyway, we are ready with script for the web based also.

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Friday, April 15, 2011

Random Post


This post is getting displayed by selecting a post randomly from this blog. You can refresh the page if you want to see another Random Post.
And, you can get the latest posts in your email inbox itself.

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Google Announces First Quarter 2011 Results . Sharp rise in earnings, but fails to meet expectations



Google has announced first quarter 2011 results


Google reported revenues of $8.58 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, an increase of 27% compared to the first quarter 2010  revenues of $6.77 billion

 Google-owned sites generated revenues of $5.88 billion, or 69% of total revenues, in the first quarter of 2011.

On a worldwide basis, Google employed 26,316 full-time employees as of March 31, 2011, up from 24,400 full-time employees as of December 31, 2010.

And, it has been engaged in a huge intake of staff, looking to employ more than 6,000 employees this year

Google has about a 65% share of the US search engine market and about 90% in Europe.

Patrick Pichette, Google chief finance officer(CFO), said: “These results demonstrate the value of search and search ads to our users and customers.”


The latest figures show that the number of times people click on Google ads that are sponsored by advertisers rose by 18%.


Even if the Google shows sharp rise in the earnings, Price of Google Shares went down, as  this earning report didn't meet the expectations of the investors.

Google co-founder Larry Page, who replaced Eric Schmidt as CEO after the quarter ended, has indicated he plans to keep investing in long-term opportunities that may take years to pay off, even if that affects the short-term results. Forbes describes Larry Page as Wartime CEO.

Recently Google had invested $168 Million in Solar Power Tower project.

Investors are hungry for details about Larry Page's management plans and strategy as the search giant faces sharp competition from Facebook and Apple Inc, and intensifying regulatory scrutiny.

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Thursday, April 14, 2011

Google shows Charlie Chaplin Video on Home Page.


Google is creatively showing home page Doodle in various ways. Today it has taken one more step by showing video.


Today Google is showing Charlie Chaplin related video in Home Page to celebrate 122nd birthday of Charlie Chaplin.
He was an English comic actor, film director and composer best-known for his work during the silent film era.

You can see the video below.



Google's video has the words "google" at background of the charlie chaplin scenes.

Anyone has predicted about display of Video in Google home page?



 
Charlie Chaplin had said many interesting and useful Quotes. Find below some of them.









A day without laughter is a day wasted
Laughter is the tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain

Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot

The basic essential of a great actor is that he loves himself in acting

Nothing is permanent in this wicked world – not even our troubles

You’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down

In the light of our egos, we are all dethroned monarchs


You can see complete list of Quotes here.

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AdSense Optimization for this blog








This blog qualitypoint.blogspot.com is getting lot of traffic and it is getting increased daily.. Most of the traffic is coming from Search Engines especially from Google.

Even if this blog gets Good amount of traffic, AdSense revenue is low as the CTR is very less. Normally CTR will be low if the traffic is a non-targetted traffic from social media sites. But this site is getting targeted traffic from search engines.

And, CPC of  adSense in this blog is in satisfactory level. So, the only way to increase the eCPM is to increase the CTR.

So, I thought of optimizing  the ad placement of adSense Ads so as to increase the CTR.

Last few days I am doing detailed analysis about adSense optimization.  I have gone thro' various sites which are successful with adSense revenue. And, I referred the sites which are sold at good rate in various website marketing places such as digitalpoint Forum and Flippa.

It seems everyone is using different approach. It seems the ad placement which works for few sites may not work for other few sites.

We need find the best ad placement only by doing trial and error approach. So, I had rearranged the Ads differently in this blog and continuously monitoring the CTR, CPC and eCPM to find the optimized ad placement.

The current ad placement looks good for me as it increases visibility of AdSense ads without irritating the users. Anyway, I am not going to finalize the ad placement without getting good metrics from the AdSense Report. Let us see how the test results are coming up.

You may add your comments about this ad placement.

If you are interested to show advertisements in this blog using Google AdWords you can refer the Google Adplanner Reports.


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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Developing a website for showing Great Motivational Quotes


We are working on to develop a website for showing great Motivational and Inspirational Quotes.

You can see it at TheGreatQuotes.com

We are planning to add lot of text Quotes and Image Quotes.

Our Team has developed an Admin panel for easily adding and managing the Quotes.

And, we plan to develop it continuously. If you have any suggestions, you can share it thro' the comments.


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