IPL 2009 : Trading Window Rules

The Indian Premier League, concluded a Franchisee meeting in Mumbai to apprise them about the player trading regulations for the 2009 season.


Player regulations

The maximum number of international players in each squad at 10. However, the number of international players in the playing eleven would remain constant at 4. Squads will not be allowed temporary replacements from 2009 onwards to cover partial unavailability of a player during the season. The only temporary replacements allowed will be in the situation where a player is completely unavailable for a whole IPL season.

Salary Cap / Auction Purse

The 2008 Salary Cap will cease to have effect and no unused amount of the 2008 purse can be used in 2009. There will be no cap on Player Fees payable to players acquired by the franchises during the trading window. The trading window is only for players who were part of the IPL in 2008.

Player Trading Window & Auction

The Trading Window will be open from 12 Noon IST December 22nd 2008 to 5 pm IST on January 22nd 2009. Franchises shall have opportunities during the trading window to trade players – either by offering to sell a player via trade or expressing an interest to acquire a player – prior to any trading discussions the player’s consent must be obtained. Negotiations between the two franchises should be only with regard to the Player Fee payable. The other terms of the Player Contract (for example the period of the contract) may not be varied.

If more than one franchise is interested in buying the player, the “selling” franchise shall negotiate with all interested Franchises. The “selling” Franchise shall have the discretion as to which offer to accept. Each Franchise is restricted to purchasing a maximum aggregate of a total of 4 Overseas and Team India Players during the Trading Window – subject always to the IPL squad composition rules. There is no limit on the number of Players that a Franchise can sell.

Player Auction Rules

A Player Auction will be held on Friday, February 6th 2009 for “NEW” players that did not feature in the IPL 2008 season. All Overseas players will however, require an NOC to play in the IPL. Outside the Auction process but subject to the Squad Composition rules with respect to Overseas Players, each Franchise will have the option to purchase any number of Uncapped “NEW” players by a direct agreement.



* An Uncapped overseas player is one who, at the date the Player Contract is signed, neither:
1. Has ever played senior international cricket (Test, ODI, International Twenty20), nor
2. Has a Central contract with his National Association


* Each Franchise will have the sum of USD 2Mn to spend on 2009 Player Fees for players who are acquired either:
o In the Auction
o Through signing uncapped “new” players
o Through re-signing any 2008 temporary replacements

Train PNR Status and many more @ Mobile

Indian Railway in collaboration with Google is now providing a 10 digit mobile number. Just SMS your PNR number on this mobile number and instantaneously you will get your ticket's current status along with all other journey related details.

The number is 9773300000. No need to prefix 0 or +91.


Best of all, you don't pay a premium charge for any of this, just the price of a standard SMS.

You may get some other important information also......check the below link

For more details: http://www.google.co.in/mobile/default/sms/#

What 3G Technology Can do to your Mobile

Third generation or 3G mobile networks are finally here, for MTNL users in parts of Delhi and NCR. Mumbai will follow as soon as the pilots in Delhi are successful.

India has been making do with ancient mobile technology for long now. The current Second generation or 2G networks were designed to carry only voice, which does not require high data transfer speeds. With the advent of new technologies—video streaming, mobile TV and mobile gaming—higher transfer speeds were necessary.

State-owned MTNL and BSNL have a head start over private players when it comes to 3G. As MTNL and BSNL get ready, most private players will be in a position to offer 3G services only towards the end of second quarter of 2009. MTNL is already tying up with service providers to enable different 3G services.

If you've ever used data on our standard networks before, you'll be well aware of the real-world download speed of about 5kbps on a good signal strength and low GSM traffic. That is barely enough to check e-mail, surf a few websites and download a few small files.
With 3G speeds, however, the story is different.

Data transfer speeds in a 3G network are much faster. Simply put, compared to existing networks, you'll get about ten times higher speeds while surfing the Internet on your mobile phone. This opens the door to a richer mobile internet experience: like you have on a broadband connected PC at home. But remember the speed can also vary depending on whether the device is stationary, moving slowly (like a person walking with a phone) or moving fast (like in a moving vehicle).

So what do you need to enjoy 3G?
Well, firstly, you need a 3G-enabled mobile phone. There are many in the market, starting from as low as Rs 8,000 (like the Nokia N70). Most new phones in the market are already 3G-ready. Then you need a 3G subscription from a mobile service provider. Once started, you will get access to bandwidth intensive applications and services that were until now only available for fixed line broadband internet connections. Video conferencing with other 3G users, live TV services, broadband internet (on mobile and for laptops) while on the move, real-time multiplayer gaming on mobile phones and video messaging are just some of the services that can be offered.

For rural India, there is another, bigger reason to celebrate. 3G technology especially heralds benefits to rural or hard-to-reach areas. This can increase broadband internet penetration without the need for expensive cabling.

Downsides? Service providers have spent a lot on buying and setting up the infrastructure. Plus for 3G, the cell towers need to be closer to each other, needing more to cover a city. So all the early adopters will be paying a high premium to use the services and even after that, it's not going to be cheap. Final rates depend on the operator of course, and call rates should remain roughly the same. Analysts suggest that data plans will start at Rs.599 (limited data) and go up to Rs 2,000 for unlimited data plans.




Source: ibnlive.com

A Blog Post by Singapore 's Youngest Millionaire

A Blog Post by Singapore 's Youngest Millionaire By Adam Khoo In Money Some of you may already know that I travel around the region pretty frequently, having to visit and conduct seminars at my offices in Malaysia , Indonesia , Thailand and Suzhou ( China ). I am in the airport almost every other week so I get to bump into many people who have attended my seminars or have read my books. Recently, someone came up to me on a plane to KL and looked rather shocked. He asked, 'How come a millionaire like you is travelling economy?' My reply was, 'That's why I am a millionaire. ' He still looked pretty confused. This again confirms that greatest lie ever told about wealth (which I wrote about in my latest book 'Secrets of Self Made Millionaires' ). Many people have been brainwashed to think that millionaires have to wear Gucci, Hugo Boss, Rolex, and sit on first class in air travel. This is why so many people never become rich because the moment that earn more money, they think that it is only natural that they spend more, putting them back to square one. The truth is that most self-made millionaires are frugal and only spend on what is necessary and of value. That is why they are able to accumulate and multiply their wealth so much faster. Over the last 7 years, I have saved about 80% of my income while today I save only about 60% (because I have my wife, mother in law, 2 maids, 2 kids, etc. to support). Still, it is way above most people who save 10% of their income (if they are lucky). I refuse to buy a first class ticket or to buy a $300 shirt because I think that it is a complete waste of money. However, I happily pay $1,300 to send my 2-year old daughter to Julia Gabriel Speech and Drama without thinking twice. When I joined the YEO (Young Entrepreneur' s Organization) a few years back (YEO is an exclusive club open to those who are under 40 and make over $1m a year in their own business) I discovered that those who were self-made thought like me. Many of them with net worths well over $5m, travelled economy class and some even drove Toyota 's and Nissans (not Audis, Mercs, BMWs). I noticed that it was only those who never had to work hard to build their own wealth (there were also a few ministers' and tycoons' sons in the club) who spent like there was no tomorrow. Somehow, when you did not have to build everything from scratch, you do not really value money. This is precisely the reason why a family's wealth (no matter how much) rarely lasts past the third generation. Thank God my rich dad (oh no! I sound like Kiyosaki) foresaw this terrible possibility and refused to give me a cent to start my business. Then some people ask me, 'What is the point in making so much money if you don't enjoy it?' The thing is that I don't really find happiness in buying branded clothes, jewellery or sitting first class. Even if buying something makes me happy it is only for a while, it does not last. Material happiness never lasts, it just give you a quick fix. After a while you feel lousy again and have to buy the next thing which you think will make you happy. I always think that if you need material things to make you happy, then you live a pretty sad and unfulfilled life. Instead, what make ME happy is when I see my children laughing and playing and learning so fast. What makes me happy is when I see by companies and trainers reaching more and more people every year in so many more countries. What makes me really happy is when I read all the emails about how my books and seminars have touched and inspired someone's life. What makes me really happy is reading all your wonderful posts about how this BLOG is inspiring you. This happiness makes me feel really good for a long time, much much more than what a Rolex would do for me. I think the point I want to put across is that happiness must come from doing your life's work (be in teaching, building homes, designing, trading, winning tournaments etc.) and the money that comes is only a by-product. If you hate what you are doing and rely on the money you earn to make you happy by buying stuff, then I think that you are living a meaningless life.

Activate Cell Info display on Motorola L7i

I have Motorola L7i cell phone. I was trying to get cell info display(Area locater) on my Home screen. After googling I found out way to activate this.


Go to Messages -> Setup -> Info Srvc Setup

Service : On
Active Channels = 50
Quick View = 50
Save Q.View = NO (If you don't want to receive the messages)
Restart your cell.

Now you should be able to see cell info.

Gateway peace March - Dec 3rd 2008

Not only did thousands of people turned up for the peace March at the Gateway of India yesterday but they were loud and clear of what they wanted ..... "A Change & Action not bashan "


This is what the people of Mumbai felt about our so called babus and netas( local terrorists ) .....

A Report on Afghanistan Heroin Addicts

Journalist Yalda Hakim returns to her native country of Afghanistan. Here she documents the appalling living standards and the ravages caused by heroin addiction. Both shocking and emotional.




‘I’m so fearful. Every day I think, "Will that car in front of me explode?"’ Welcome to Afghanistan’s harsh reality. The Taliban are at the door and insecurity is getting worse. But it’s not the only issue. ‘I became addicted out of misery and frustration’. A man sitting outside a derelict building shows Yalda his amputated thigh. Inside, used needles carpet the floor and hang from the ceilings. ‘Heroin is cheaper than alcohol. You've already destroyed our country. Now we eat the poison, the rich and powerful eat the dollars.’ Later, Yalda visits the only rehab clinic for women and children. ‘When I wasn’t smoking, my body was in pain.’ Gul Pari is only twelve. She’s been addicted for six years. There are many children like her. Despite faint glimmers of hope, their future looks very uncertain.






source: http://journeyman.tv

A LETTER TO India Prime Minister

Dear Mr. Prime minister

I am a typical mouse from Mumbai. In the local train compartment which has capacity of 100 persons, I travel with 500 more mouse. Mouse at least squeak but we don't even do that.

Today I heard your speech. In which you said 'NO BODY WOULD BE SPARED'. I would like to remind you that fourteen years has passed since serial bomb blast in Mumbai took place. Dawood was the main conspirator. Till today he is not caught. All our bolywood actors, our builders, our Gutka king meets him but your Government can not catch him. Reason is simple; all your ministers are hand in glove with him. If any attempt is made to catch him everybody will be exposed. Your statement 'NOBODY WOULD BE SPARED' is nothing but a cruel joke on this unfortunate people of India .

Enough is enough. As such after seeing terrorist attack carried out by about a dozen young boys I realize that if same thing continues days are not away when terrorist will attack by air, destroy our nuclear reactor and there will be one more Hiroshima .

We the people are left with only one mantra. Womb to Bomb to Tomb. You promised Mumbaikar Shanghai what you have given us is Jalianwala Baug.

Today only your home minister resigned. What took you so long to kick out this joker? Only reason was that he was loyal to Gandhi family. Loyalty to Gandhi family is more important than blood of innocent people, isn't it?

I am born and bought up in Mumbai for last fifty eight years. Believe me corruption in Maharashtra is worse than that in Bihar . Look at all the politician, Sharad Pawar, Chagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane, Bal Thackray , Gopinath Munde, Raj Thackray, Vilasrao Deshmukh all are rolling in money. Vilasrao Deshmukh is one of the worst Chief minister I have seen. His only business is to increase the FSI every other day, make money and send it to Delhi so Congress can fight next election. Now the clown has found new way and will increase FSI for fisherman so they can build concrete house right on sea shore. Next time terrorist can comfortably live in those house , enjoy the beauty of sea and then attack the Mumbai at their will.

Recently I had to purchase house in Mumbai. I met about two dozen builders. Everybody wanted about 30% in black. A common person like me knows this and with all your intelligent agency & CBI you and your finance minister are not aware of it.. Where all the black money goes? To the underworld isn't it? Our politicians take help of these goondas to vacate people by force. I myself was victim of it. If you have time please come to me, I will tell you everything.

If this has been land of fools, idiots then I would not have ever cared to write you this letter. Just see the tragedy, on one side we are reaching moon, people are so intelligent and on other side you politician has converted nectar into deadly poison. I am everything Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Schedule caste, OBC, Muslim OBC, Christian Schedule caste, Creamy Schedule caste only what I am not is INDIAN. You politician have raped every part of mother India by your policy of divide and rule.

Take example of former president Abdul Kalam. Such a intelligent person, such a fine human being. You politician didn't even spare him. Your party along with opposition joined the hands, because politician feels they are supreme and there is no place for good person.

Dear Mr Prime minister you are one of the most intelligent person, most learned person. Just wake up, be a real SARDAR. First and foremost expose all selfish politician. Ask Swiss bank to give name of all Indian account holder. Give reins of CBI to independent agency. Let them find wolf among us.. There will be political upheaval but that will better than dance of death which we are witnessing every day. Just give us ambient where we can work honestly and without fear. Let there be rule of law. Everything else will be taken care of.

Choice is yours Mr. Prime Minister. Do you want to be lead by one person or you want to lead the nation of 100 Crore people?






Source: Editor Mumbai (Times of India)

Diwali Meaning & Significance

On Diwali night, little clay lamps are lit in homes, but now a day's colored electric lamps are also used. What is the significance of lighting a lamp? There is a logical answer to this question. It is through the light that the beauty of this world is revealed or experienced. Most civilizations of the world recognize the importance of light as a gift of God. It has always been a symbol of whatever is positive in our world of experience.

Darkness represents ignorance, and light is a metaphor for knowledge. Therefore, lighting a lamp symbolizes the destruction, through knowledge, of all negative forces- wickedness, violence, lust, anger, envy, greed, bigotry, fear, injustice, oppression and suffering, etc.



Diwali Puja Process

Diwali is the festival of Laxmi, the Goddess of prosperity and wealth. It is believed that Goddess Laxmi visit everyone during Diwali and brings peace and prosperity to all. On the night of Diwali "Lakshmi-Puja" is performed in the evenings. A traditional Pujan is performed after sunset in all the homes.

Lakshmi Pooja on Diwali

The third day of the festival of Diwali is the most important day of Lakshmi-puja and is entirely devoted to the propitiation of Goddess Lakshmi. On this very day sun enters his second course and passes Libra which is represented by the balance or scale. Hence, this design of Libra is believed to have suggested the balancing of account books and their closing. Despite the fact that this day falls on an amavasya day it is regarded as the most auspicious.


Lakshmi Pooja, or the worship of the goddess of wealth, is the main event on Diwali in North and West India. It is extremely important to keep the house spotlessly clean and pure on Diwali. Goddess Lakshmi likes cleanliness, and she will visit the cleanest house first. This is also the reason why the broom is worshiped on this day with offerings of haldi and kumkum (turmeric and vermilion). Lamps are lit in the evening to welcome the goddess. They are believed to light up Her path.

Lakshmi Puja consists of a combined puja of five deities: Ganesha is worshiped at the beginning of every auspicious act as Vighnaharta; Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped in her three forms - Mahalakshmi (the goddess of wealth and money), Mahasaraswati (the goddess of books and learning), and Mahakali; Kuber (the treasurer of the gods) is also worshiped.



The fifth day of Deepavali or Diwali is celebrated as Bhaiya Dooj, popularly know as Bhai Dooj. The name itself denotes the day of the festival i.e it falls on Dooj, the second day after the new moon. This day Yamaraj went to his sister's house who put an auspicious mark on his forehead for his welfare. Thus, on this day sisters perform puja for their brothers safety and well being. Brothers in return give gifts to their sisters as a token of love.


Why do we Celebrate Diwali

1.Goddess Lakshmi's Birthday: The Goddess of wealth, Lakshmi incarnated on the new moon day (amaavasyaa) of the Kartik month during the churning of the ocean (samudra-manthan), hence the association of Diwali with Lakshmi.

2. Vishnu Rescued Lakshmi: On this very day (Diwali day), Lord Vishnu in his fifth incarnation as Vaman-avtaara rescued Lakshmi from the prison of King Bali and this is another reason of worshipping Ma Larkshmi on Diwali.

3. Krishna Killed Narakaasur: On the day preceding Diwali, Lord Krishna killed the demon king Narakaasur and rescued 16,000 women from his captivity. The celebration of this freedom went on for two days including the Diwali day as a victory festival.

4. The Return of the Pandavas: According to the great epic 'Mahabharata', it was 'Kartik Amavashya' when the Pandavas appeared from their 12 years of banishment as a result of their defeat in the hands of the Kauravas at the game of dice (gambling). The subjects who loved the Pandavas celebrated the day by lighting the earthen lamps.

5. The Victory of Rama: According to the epic 'Ramayana', it was the new moon day of Kartik when Lord Ram, Ma Sita and Lakshman returned to Ayodhya after vanquishing Ravana and conquering Lanka. The citizens of Ayodhya decorated the entire city with the earthen lamps and illuminated it like never before.

A Decade Journey by Google

Google has come far away from the day it has started. Google is celebrating its 10th year since it started in 1998.

Here is journey of Google in last 10 years.











In Pic: Google's homepage in 1998









Also see Blog on The Next Internet..

Marc Faber’s Comment On USA Economy!!

Dr. Marc Faber concluded his monthly bulletin with the following:

The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate.
If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China.
If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer it will go to India.
If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.
If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany.
If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy. The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in US. I’ve been doing my part.’


Link to Original Post : http://wiredbeats.com/2008/07/marc-fabers-comment-on-usa/

MTV Roadies 6.0 Audition in Bangalore

MTV Roadies 6.0 Audition will happen in Bangalore on 21st September 2008, Sunday.


Date : 21st September 2008, Sunday.
Address :
Jnana Jyoti Convention Hall, Central College Building,
KR Circle, Bangalore - 560001.

You can find the location here.





Also you can search the path in http://wikimapia.org and in search tab type "Jnana Jyothi Auditorium, Central College" you will get the exact location.



All The Very Best :)

Google Launches Chrome, Enters Browser War

Google has launched new browser called Chrome. It can be downloaded in this link http://www.google.com/chrome

I have downloaded and using it from a day. Its very simple and fast. :) Still I have not found flaws or bugs in it.

Google Chrome is a free and open source web browser developed by Google. Primary goals in new browser were improvements in security, speed and stability compared to existing browsers.

Security features in Chrome:
Chrome periodically downloads updates of two blacklists (one for phishing and one for malware) and warns users when they attempt to visit a harmful site. This service is also made available for use by others via a free public API called "Google Safe Browsing API". In the process of maintaining these blacklists, Google also notifies the owners of listed sites who may not be aware of the presence of the harmful software.

Each tab in Chrome is sandboxed into its own process to "prevent malware from installing itself" or "using what happens in one tab to affect what happens in another". Following the principle of least privilege, each process is stripped of its rights and can compute but can not write files or read from sensitive areas (e.g. documents, desktop)—this is similar to "Protected Mode" that is used by Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista. The Sandbox Team is said to have "taken this existing process boundary and made it into a jail";[11] for example malicious software running in one tab is unable to sniff credit card numbers, interact with the mouse or tell "Windows to run an executable on start-up" and will be terminated when the tab is closed. This enforces a simple computer security model whereby there are two levels of multilevel security (user and sandbox) and the sandbox can only respond to communication requests initiated by the user.

Stability:
A separate process is allocated to each task (tabs, plugins, etc.), as is the case with modern operating systems. This prevents tasks from interfering with each other, which is good for both security and stability; an attacker successfully gaining access to one application does not gain access to all, and failure in one application results in a Sad Tab screen of death.

User interface:
The main user interface includes back, forward, refresh, bookmark, go and cancel options. Tabs are the primary component of Chrome's user interface and as such have been moved to the top of the window rather than below the controls (similar to Opera).

By default, there is no status bar displayed unlike other browsers which display one at the bottom of the screen. However, when the mouse cursor is moved over a link, the address of the link is displayed at the bottom left of the screen.
When the window is not maximized, the tab bar appears directly under the standard Windows title bar. When maximized, the title bar disappears and instead the tab bar is shown at the very top of the screen. Unlike other browsers such as Internet Explorer or Firefox which also have a full-screen mode that hides the operating system's interface completely, Chrome can only be maximized like a standard Windows applications. Therefore, the Windows task bar, system tray and start menu link still take space at all times unless they have been configured to always hide.












Learn more about http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/try-gmail-in-google-chrome.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/google-chrome-now-live.html

Flexible Gmail calender reminder..

Recently I noticed small change in gmail calender reminder notification. Before we did not have flexible calender reminder. Now it can be edited and you can set to any flexible time.




Also I have set iGoogle to my google home page. This reminds me all upcoming events in my Gmail calender.


More recent features of Gmail calender

Keep the Spark Alive: A talk by Chetan Bhagat

Keep the Spark Alive

Inaugural Speech for the new batch at the Symbiosis BBA program, Pune - 23rd June, 2008

By Chetan Bhagat

Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you.

This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few days in human life when one is truly elated. The first day in college is one of them. When you were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates - there is so much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.

Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party – several months in advance – just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.

I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost. So, how to save the spark?

Imagine the spark to be a lamp's flame. The first aspect is nurturing - to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against storms.

To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn't any external measure - a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.

Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement. But it isn't the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr. Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won't be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday? They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good. If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.

Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature's design. Are you? Goals will help you do that.

I must add, don't just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

You must have read some quotes - Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school, where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marbles. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said - don't be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It's ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

I've told you three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are Disappointment, Frustration, Unfairness and Loneliness of purpose.

Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return, if things don't go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? Is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades – how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you. But it's life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember - if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that's where you want to be.

Disappointment's cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India. >From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don't know if you chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release. Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved – movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result – at least I was learning how to write scripts, having a side plan – I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life - friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.

Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it – not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you. In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty damm lucky by Indian standards. Let's be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don't. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don't get literary praise. It's ok. I don't look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her. It's ok. Don't let unfairness kill your spark.

Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is Isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.

There you go. I've told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, your eyes will shine the same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history.

And there is something cool about saying - I come from the land of a billion sparks.

Thank You!

Randy Pausch, Inspiring Professor, author of The Last Lecture, dies

Randy Pausch, the charismatic young college professor who fought his battle with pancreatic cancer in a remarkable speech widely-known as the "Last Lecture," has died at the age of 47 on Friday Jul 25th 2008. Pausch is survived by his wife, three children, his mother and his sister.

In addition to being recognized as a pioneer in virtual reality research, he became widely known as a gifted teacher and a mentor to many. Millions of people saw his inspiring "Last Lecture". The video went viral and has been downloaded by over 10 million people.

But Pausch's message was mostly one of hope. Even while dying, he encouraged people to embrace their lives and enjoy the time that they have.

In the two years since he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the Carnegie Mellon University professor became the public face of the illness and developed an affiliation with the El Segundo-based Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, the only such advocacy group in the country.

Also Google source says that Randy was quite close to many of the people who were working at Google. Also Google condolences to Randy and his family.











Source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/goodbye-to-randy-pausch-great-teacher.html

Getting secured with https...

Most of the users who uses internet are hopefully aware about the protocol "http". This is very standard protocol used for the internet communication. Sometimes you might have even seen webpages which starts with "https". Why do we need https, when we already have http?

HTTP stands for HyperText Transport Protocol, which is just a fancy way of saying it's a protocol for information to be passed back and forth between web servers and clients. If you visit a website or webpage, and look at the address in the web browser, it will likely begin with the following: http://. This means that the website is talking to your browser using the regular 'unsecure' language. In other words, it is possible for someone to "eavesdrop" on your computer's conversation with the website. If you fill out a form on the website, someone might see the information you send to that site.

This is the reason why never ever give credit card or Net banking login information in http website. You never know when you may get hooked if you use "http" website.

But if the web address begins with https://, that basically means your computer is talking to the website in a secure code that no one can eavesdrop on. HTTPS utilizes tcp/udp port 443 for encrypted web surfing via SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) or the more recent TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocols. HTTPS provides for reasonably secure bi-directional encrypted communication on the Internet.

Almost all the mail services use https protocol. Eg: gmail, yahoo.. But "https" is little slower than "http" protocol. The reason is that it has to decrypt all the data.

Google Ranking & How Google works..

In one of my previous blogs I had given few tips about How Google works?
Every person wants to know how Google Ranks pages... But exactly nobody is able to crack the secrets. But my suggestion for blogger is that keep writing unique and interesting topics.

I found some links which gives very useful information about Google Ranking and how Google works...


http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/introduction-to-google-ranking.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/technologies-behind-google-ranking.html

Yahoo! India News Story - Yahoo-Google deal comes under fire - Yahoo! India News

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Beware of fake websites!

BANGALORE:Police Commissioner ShankarBidari on Tuesday warned the public not tofall prey to a fake website, 'Beijingticketing.com' that promises Olympic tickets for a price of Rs 2.5 lakh.

Addressing reporters here, Bidari said,"With the Olympics fast approaching,many fake websites have cropped up with the intention of cheating gullible persons. Based on a complaint lodged by a person who was cheated to the tune of Rs 2.5 lakh, the police have issued warnings," he said. Bidari added that such websites usually have a global presence and asked the people to purchase their tickets only through reputed travel agents and not fall prey to fake websites that promise tickets.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Gopal B Hosur said, investigations had revealed that the said website issues a message thanking its customers who have made an online payment for purchase of tickets and has a UK-based telephone number that is non-existent.

Source: http://deccanheraldepaper.com

Doctors pull screws, nails from metal-eating man

LIMA (Reuters) - Doctors in a coastal town in northwestern Peru have rescued the innards of a 38-year-old man by removing 17 metal objects -- among them nails, a watch clasp and a knife -- that he ate.

Luis Zarate was taken to the regional hospital of Trujillo earlier this week by his family after complaining of sharp stomach pains. Doctors took X-rays of his chest that showed his insides littered with screws.

"There were 17 strange objects found at the level of his stomach and colon," said Dr. Julio Acevedo, one of the surgeons who operated on Zarate.

The black-and-white scans showed Zarate's skeleton interlaced with things like bolts, barbed-wire and pens.

"The objects had caused the stomach to expand," said Acevedo.

Doctors said Zarate was mentally ill but it was not clear why he ate the metal.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN1138346620080711

Official Gmail Blog: How to find any email with Gmail search

Official Gmail Blog: How to find any email with Gmail search

Track your remote Gmail Open Session

Your mail account may contain very important mails to very personal secret information/mail. But what if you forgot sign out from public computer. The result can be very cruel if somebody misuses your personal information. To fix this problem, here is great news from Google...

Google has come with a great security feature tracking open sessions. If you are logged in to your gmail account from more than one computer/PC and forgot to sign out, you'll be able to see the locations from where you have not signed out and you can also sign yourself out remotely.

At the bottom of your inbox, you'll see information about the time of the last activity on your account and whether it's still open in another location:



Using the above example, a quick glance at the footer while I'm at work shows that my account is indeed open in one other location. But I recognize the IP address - it's my computer at home. Turns out today I left my Gmail account open when I left home in a hurry.

If you click on "Details" in Gmail's footer, you'll find a lot of interesting information about your sessions. "The top table, under Concurrent session information, indicates all open sessions, along with IP address and access type -- which refers to how email was retrieved, for example, through iGoogle, POP3 or a mobile phone. The bottom table, under Recent activity, contains my most recent history along with times of access. I can also view my current IP address at the very bottom of this window, where it says This computer is using IP address...".



Gmail's blog mentions that this feature is currently being rolled out in the new version of Gmail, so you may not see it right now.

Gmail secrets... (Tips and Tricks)

I know some secrets about gmail account and I am very happy to share with all of you. If you know any better tips or tricks please leave a comment.

• Single mail box but different domains: If you have mail account with gmail, then you can associate gmail account with "googlemail" domain also.Lets say you have gmail account with name "xyz@gmail.com" it is same as "xyz@googlemail.com".
  
  Ex:

• Append a plus (”+”) sign and any combination of words or numbers after your email address. For example, if your name was "xyz@gmail.com", you can send mail to xyz+friends@gmail.com or xyz+list@gmail.com or even xyz+myfriend@googlemail.com
• Insert one or several dots (”.”) anywhere in your email address. Gmail doesn’t recognize periods as characters in addresses — it just ignore them. For example, you can tell people your address like, xyz@gmail.com, xy.z@gmail.com or x.y.z@gmail.com or x.y.z@googlemail.com

You can also find same tips here

An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

Sometimes, software isn't so magical. Even for Bill Gates.

Read on past the jump for one of the gems that turned up, showing Gates in the role of chief rabble-rouser. (Original document: PDF, 5 pages.) It shows that even the Microsoft co-founder -- who champions the "magic of software" -- isn't immune to the frustrations of everyday computer users.

Here is the mail by Bill Gates.

---- Original Message ----

From: Bill Gates
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 10:05 AM
To: Jim Allchin
Cc: Chris Jones (WINDOWS); Bharat Shah (NT); Joe Peterson; Will Poole; Brian Valentine; Anoop Gupta (RESEARCH)
Subject: Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame

I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues.

Let me give you my experience from yesterday.

I decided to download (Moviemaker) and buy the Digital Plus pack ... so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a download place so I went there.

The first 5 times I used the site it timed out while trying to bring up the download page. Then after an 8 second delay I got it to come up.

This site is so slow it is unusable.

It wasn't in the top 5 so I expanded the other 45.

These 45 names are totally confusing. These names make stuff like: C:\Documents and Settings\billg\My Documents\My Pictures seem clear.

They are not filtered by the system ... and so many of the things are strange.

I tried scoping to Media stuff. Still no moviemaker. I typed in movie. Nothing. I typed in movie maker. Nothing.

So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist?

So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.

They told me to go to the main page search button and type movie maker (not moviemaker!).

I tried that. The site was pathetically slow but after 6 seconds of waiting up it came.

I thought for sure now I would see a button to just go do the download.

In fact it is more like a puzzle that you get to solve. It told me to go to Windows Update and do a bunch of incantations.

This struck me as completely odd. Why should I have to go somewhere else and do a scan to download moviemaker?

So I went to Windows update. Windows Update decides I need to download a bunch of controls. (Not) just once but multiple times where I get to see weird dialog boxes.

Doesn't Windows update know some key to talk to Windows?

Then I did the scan. This took quite some time and I was told it was critical for me to download 17megs of stuff.

This is after I was told we were doing delta patches to things but instead just to get 6 things that are labeled in the SCARIEST possible way I had to download 17meg.

So I did the download. That part was fast. Then it wanted to do an install. This took 6 minutes and the machine was so slow I couldn't use it for anything else during this time.

What the heck is going on during those 6 minutes? That is crazy. This is after the download was finished.

Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night -- why should I reboot at that time?

So I did the reboot because it INSISTED on it. Of course that meant completely getting rid of all my Outlook state.

So I got back up and running and went to Windows Update again. I forgot why I was in Windows Update at all since all I wanted was to get Moviemaker.

So I went back to Microsoft.com and looked at the instructions. I have to click on a folder called WindowsXP. Why should I do that? Windows Update knows I am on Windows XP.

What does it mean to have to click on that folder? So I get a bunch of confusing stuff but sure enough one of them is Moviemaker.

So I do the download. The download is fast but the Install takes many minutes. Amazing how slow this thing is.

At some point I get told I need to go get Windows Media Series 9 to download.

So I decide I will go do that. This time I get dialogs saying things like "Open" or "Save". No guidance in the instructions which to do. I have no clue which to do.

The download is fast and the install takes 7 minutes for this thing.

So now I think I am going to have Moviemaker. I go to my add/remove programs place to make sure it is there.

It is not there.

What is there? The following garbage is there. Microsoft Autoupdate Exclusive test package, Microsoft Autoupdate Reboot test package, Microsoft Autoupdate testpackage1. Microsoft AUtoupdate testpackage2, Microsoft Autoupdate Test package3.

Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up.

But that is just the start of the crap. Later I have listed things like Windows XP Hotfix see Q329048 for more information. What is Q329048? Why are these series of patches listed here? Some of the patches just things like Q810655 instead of saying see Q329048 for more information.

What an absolute mess.

Moviemaker is just not there at all.

So I give up on Moviemaker and decide to download the Digital Plus Package.

I get told I need to go enter a bunch of information about myself.

I enter it all in and because it decides I have mistyped something I have to try again. Of course it has cleared out most of what I typed.

I try (typing) the right stuff in 5 times and it just keeps clearing things out for me to type them in again.

So after more than an hour of craziness and making my programs list garbage and being scared and seeing that Microsoft.com is a terrible website I haven't run Moviemaker and I haven't got the plus package.

The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind. I thought we had reached a low with Windows Network places or the messages I get when I try to use 802.11. (don't you just love that root certificate message?)

When I really get to use the stuff I am sure I will have more feedback.

Fight for Search..(Microsoft/Google/Yahoo)

Microsoft is trying hard to get Yahoo. Even tried for $46 billion…Let’s forget that and talk about the technology search engines uses…

“Semantic Web” is the technology that brings up results based on an understanding of a word's meaning and the context of its use. That's in contrast to the method used by the major search engines, which work primarily by matching words in queries to those on Web pages. http://www.powerset.com/ is the company who works on Semantic Web technology and Microsoft has shown interest to go for it (as they didn’t get Yahoo or it’s still uncertain). The interesting thing is that several search engines have expressed interest in the powerset. If the deal were to go through, Microsoft could get a big leg up in efforts to catch Google.

Semantic search wouldn't be easy for Google to replicate. Large search engines, such as Google and Microsoft, have already scanned and indexed many of the pages on the Web. So their machines can concentrate efforts on analyzing the several million new Web sites created every year and adding them to their records. Adopting semantic search technology would require the big guys, in essence, to start from the beginning—rescanning every Web page according to the technology's fundamentally different method of analyzing and classifying Web pages.

http://www.hakia.com/
http://www.powerset.com/

Above 2 engines use Semantic Web search technologies. And reality is, Microsoft desperately wants to buy someone to fight with Google.

But anyone who fights with Google must know below 2 things minimum:

1. Even if someone place the infrastructure semantic search needs, it will still face two challenges it has been trying to surmount for years. One concerns multimedia. Semantic search does not offer a great solution for recognizing videos and images. It can scan the words people use to describe a video or an image. But it can't yet analyze the soundtrack or images in a video to determine whether those descriptions are accurate. Google is working on better technology.
2. Power of Google's brand. The company's name has become synonymous with search and its users are loyal. To take share, semantic search will need to develop a reputation for providing better, more relevant results than Google.

Technologies behind Google Ranking..

Source: Via Email

Aamir Khan's way to release stress..

Aamir Khan really get stressed when his movie is about to release. So how does he release the stress? He kisses cigarate to release the stress. Hmmm Aamir's way to release the stress is by "Smoking".

In his blog he has written "

I’ve begun smoking again.

I know you guys are going to kick the shit out of me, my family is already doing that. In fact that’s one of the reasons I haven’t posted for so long, I mean because of my smoking. I didn’t know how to face all of you. I’d want to write about something interesting, but I’d broken my promise to y’all so I’d not know how to get around that, and then I’d just shut my comp.

So I thought let me start by coming clean, and expose my human frailties. I don’t smoke in front of kids, and I don’t smoke in the presence of people who get disturbed with it. Small mercies, I know. But what to do? I get really stressed when any of my films is about to release. I know the music is doing really well and most of you will tell me there is nothing to worry about but it doesn’t work like that. Bear with me folks, I’ll give up once Jaane Tu releases."

Please visit http://www.aamirkhan.com/blog.htm for Aamir blogs.

Things may be right from our perspective until we know the truth!!

The train has started moving. It is packed with people of all ages, mostly with the working men and women and young college guys and gals. Near the window, seated a old man with his 30 year old son. As the train moves by, the son is overwhelmed with joy as he was thrilled with the scenery outside..

" See dad, the scenery of green trees moving away is very beautiful"

This behavior from a thirty year old son made the other people feel strange about him. Every one started murmuring something or other about this son."This guy seems to be a crack.." newly married Anup whispered to his wife.

Suddenly it started raining... Rain drops fell on the travelers through the opened window. The Thirty year old son , filled with joy " see dad, how beautiful the rain is .."

Anup's wife got irritated with the rain drops spoiling her new suit.

Anup ," cant you see its raining, you old man, if ur son is not feeling well get him soon to a mental asylum. and don’t disturb public henceforth"

The old man hesitated first and then in a low tone replied " we are on the way back from hospital, my son got discharged today morning , he was a blind by birth, he got his vision last week.. Rain and nature are new to his eyes.. Please forgive us for the inconvenience..."


The things we see may be right from our prospective until we know the truth. But when we know the truth our reaction to that will hurt even us. So try to understand the problem better before taking a harsh action.

Hybrid Arrives in India

Finally hybrid car has been launched in India with Honda rolling out a petrol-electric version of its Civic sedan. The car will be more environmentally friendly and fuel efficient for its class than any other in the current market. But this car will remain too far from common man. The Civic hybrid has come with a price tag of Rs 21.5 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), twice the price of the petrol Civic. The price includes accumulated duties, including customs of 104%.

Government has to influence people to use environment friendly vehicle. This is the one way to decrease the pollution. To influence people high price tag has to be decreased. In some countries government is giving subsidy to hybrid vehicles. So why cant Indian government will completely slash the tax + custom duties on hybrid cars? This will influence people to use environment friendly vehicles.

How Hybrid vehicle works?

Creative Advertisements

Title:Chewing tobacco causes mouth cancer



Title: Drive safely



Title: Protect children from online pornography
Headline: Is this what your child surfs on the Internet?



Title: Save girl child



Title: Feed the Children
Headline: The next time you waste food, think



Title: Encourage Adoption
Headline: Adopt. You never know who you'll bring home



Title: Parenting is by example
Headline: Children learn fast. Don't fight at home.

Title: Stop Racism
Headline: Defend human rights against racial discrimination

Apple releases iphone 3G

Finally curtain has gone up, it's been a long wait for iPhone 3G. Yes, iphone 3G will be released on July 11th on 22 countries. But India is not lucky among those 22 countries. iphone will be released later this year (may be end of the year) in India. Indians are excitingly waiting for the release of iphone in india. But what made Apple not to release iphone in India on July? I think, slightly Apple has ignored Asian telecommunication industry. Also there is rumor that Chineese mobile's killed Apple's interest in iphone's release in Asia.

See complete list of iphone 3G features and working details of about iphone

Watch release of Apple's iphone-3G

4 Years Old Landlord

Nice video of a 4 years old Landlord asking for rent :)

Thanks Google.. Google made our life easy

If you are a user of internet, can you imagine life without Google? It is very difficult to spend a day without Google services. Google has become part of our tech life.

What made Google Search so special?

The beauty of Google Search Engine is that it understands your requirement. It has got excellent knowledge of your bad grammar's, spell mistakes or human error's.

For ex: If you type "sylicon valley" by mistake, then it will ask "Did you mean: silicon valley". Google has got vast collection of information. Also suppose you want to convert dollars to INR(Indian Rupee). You can just type like this "1 USD in INR".
Here is the complete list of Google search features.

How Google works?

But how exactly does Google manage to find the right results for every query so quickly? The heart of Google's search technology is PigeonRank. PigeonRank is a system for ranking web pages. This is the system which do the PageRank.

Google runs on a distributed network of thousands of low-cost computers and can therefore carry out fast parallel processing. Parallel processing is a method of computation in which many calculations can be performed simultaneously, significantly speeding up data processing. Google has three distinct parts:

• Googlebot, a web crawler that finds and fetches web pages.
• The indexer that sorts every word on every page and stores the resulting index of words in a huge database.
• The query processor, which compares your search query to the index and recommends the documents that it considers most relevant.

More info on how Google works

How to add your site to Google search?

Googlebot is Google’s web crawling robot, which finds and retrieves pages on the web and hands them off to the Google indexer. This is done automtically by bot. Also you can manually add your website here http://www.google.com/addurl.html

The IPL business model

Indian Premier League(IPL) has thrown new model to cricket. The franchise owners have invested huge money to own the team. So where is all this money comes from and where will it go? What’s the ‘business model’ of the IPL? Is there any way the franchisees who have bid millions of dollars a year can make money? Read on…

To get a fix on the answers to these questions, let's start from the source. The IPL /BCCI - has four major sources of revenue. The first is the sale of media rights for the matches, which will fetch the board $1 billion over a 10-year period. The second includes things like title sponsorship of the tournament, licensed merchandise and so on. Put together, these form what the IPL calls "central revenues".

From the sale of media rights, IPL will keep 20% for itself, give out 8% as prize money for the tournament and distribute the remaining 72% evenly between the 8 franchisees. These proportions are valid till 2012, after which IPL’s share goes up in two stages by 2018, with the shares of both prize money and franchisees declining.

The second stream - other central revenues - will be shared between IPL, franchisees and prize money in the ratio 40:54:6 up to 2017 after which IPL’s share will increase to 50%, the franchisees’ share will drop to 45% and the remaining 5% will go for prize money. The third major source is, of course, the amounts bid by the franchisees. The fourth stream comes from the revenues generated by the franchisee rights, of which 20% will be given to IPL.

From the franchisees’ perspective, while the share in central revenues will be a given, they can raise money on their own by a variety of means. These include selling advertising space in the stadium for home matches, licensing products for their team like T-shirts, getting sponsorship for the team uniform, advertising on tickets and so on, apart from the gate money. As already mentioned, 20% of all of this will then go to IPL. What do the players make? Apart from the annual fee contracted with the franchisee, they get a daily allowance of $100 through the IPL season, which lasts about a month-and-a-half. The total amount spent on player fees for an IPL team cannot be less than $3.3 million each year and is actually expected to be significantly higher. In other words, players will earn about Rs 80 lakh or more per season on average, though the amount would vary from one member of the team to another.

Players could also get bonuses from the team owners and perhaps even the prize money that the team wins by virtue of where it finishes in the tournament. But it is for each franchisee to decide whether these payments are made to the players or not. Even in the case of the annual fee negotiated between a player and the franchisee, not all of the negotiated amount may actually go into the player’s pocket.

This is because the IPL is reaching two different kinds of agreements with players when it gets them on board. Under one arrangement — called the "firm agreement", the IPL commits a certain fee to the player. If a franchisee bids more for that player in the auction between franchisees for different players, the IPL gets to keep the excess. Under the other - the "basic agreement" – the player gets whatever is bid for him. Not surprisingly, most players so far have opted for the "basic agreement".

Now that we have the broad structure of the flow of money in place, how does this translate into actual numbers? The bottom line, acknowledge BCCI officials as well as franchisees, will depend on whether the IPL as a concept takes off and captures audiences.

Sources say IPL is guaranteeing $7 million per franchisee from central revenues. But what will come from the local level is anybody’s guess. Even with the right to market just about everything connected with their teams, the industry is not expecting to raise more than $2 million per franchisee each year. BCCI expects the franchisees to earn $1.5 million from gate money in every IPL match, but insiders say the figure is "exaggerated" and that the franchisee will be fortunate to get $1.5 million from 7 home matches at home. In fact, highly charged India-Pakistan one-day matches make around $3 to $4million.

Assuming the gate money is around $2 million for all seven home matches, this means the franchisee in the first year can look forward to total income of about $10 million after paying 20% of local revenues to IPL.

Over this the franchisee has to pay players who are available even if they are on the bench. Players have a three-year contract with the franchise that bought them but they can be traded at the end of the first year between the franchisees.

What can change in this equation to make the business financially rewarding for the franchisee? If local revenues really rise, things could get better. It all boils down to whether the IPL teams can make their cities identify with them.

IPL: A great success story of cricket

Finally curtain has come down for the first successful Indian Premiere League (IPL) and Rajasthan Royals have lifted first IPL trophy. Royals have started as underdog's in the tournament but played splendid all round cricket through out the series. I think they deserve first IPL cup.

The inaugural DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) has provided plenty of drama, action and entertainment. The credit of IPL should go to Mr. Lalit Modi, Chairman and Commissioner of the Indian Premier league, President of Rajasthan Cricket Association. IPL has really provided good platform for several players a chance to make a name for themselves among the big guns. But there have been many players who have failed to make a mark in the prestigious Twenty20 tournament and have let their teams down.

There are quite a lot of talents, which came to light in this IPL. Players like Yusuf pathan, Asnodkar, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar, Ojha, Abhishek Nayar, Laxmi Rathan Shukla, Manpreet Gony have utilized their talents in IPL.

They say T-20 is the game for the young bloods, but there were some golden oldies who made the stage their own. The likes of Shaun Pollock, Sanath Jayasuriya, Glenn McGrath, Mathew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist showed why age should not be a concern. I feel age is matter when you are not playing well or not getting tuned to T-20.

There was lot of controversies, which happened in this IPL. Controversies and matches going parallel through out the IPL series. First the cheerleaders, Harbhajan-Sreesanth slap gate and later Mallya said Charu sharma and Dravid did not select team of his choice. Then SRK sitting in the player’s dugout area.

Anyways first successful IPL has come to an end and I believe that IPL in a lot of ways changed cricket forever. National boundaries were broken during the IPL and it has proved that all barriers can be broken by the game of cricket.

Lets hope for the better IPL series in forthcoming years. :) But being fan of cricket I will miss IPL for few months.

MTV Roadies 5.0 uncensored video

Actually this video was some how stripped from Roadies show. Watch it!!

The 3 Mistakes of My Life: A Book by Chetan Bhagat

Chetan Bhagat, the Indian author, who has two bestsellers under his belt- 'One night @ the call center' and 'Five point someone – What not to do at IIT', is back in the limelight with his latest novel, 'The Three Mistakes of My Life'..

His third book three mistakes of my life is out on the stands, its like a bollywood masala film which has romance, action, drama , tragedy all packed in one to make it interesting and since the author Chetan Bhagat is well hyped and the book is smartly priced, no doubt the publishers will sell a lot of copies but is it a good read? Read on ...

The book starts in dramatic way as Chetan receives an email from Govind the hero of the book, who feels he has reached a dead end in his life and hence has consumed many sleeping pills. Bhagat tracks him down flies down to Gujarat and then starts the story of the three mistakes in govinds life.

The story focuses on the life of three friends as they turn entrepreneurs. Govind is business-oriented, Ishan sleeps and breathes only cricket. And Omi, is is ready to join his friends for almost everything that they are game for. So after wasting enough time, in their lives they reach the stage where they have to have a lakshya. A solution that works for all three of them is to start a sports shop..In the course of running a business, their lives take dramatic turns. And of course there are plots and sub plots going side by side.. one of them is Govinds love affair with Vidya , his best friend ish's sister.

Now with all the tragedy and unfortunate events in their lives, and with a lot of blood and death over religion and politics the story reaches its end. Ishan finds out about his sister Vidya and his best friend Govinds love affair that was on behind his back for which he will never forgive the two. And thus Govind takes sleeping pills and decides to write to Chetan Bhagat out of all the people in the world!

Just 17 and mother to two sets of triplets

Mother of All Records!!

A teenage girl from Argentina has given birth to female triplets - for the second time.

Named only as Pamela, the girl had her first set of female triplets aged just 15, giving birth to the second set a year later.

As she gave birth to a son when she was just 14, that means young Pamela is now a mother seven times over, all before her seventeenth birthday. All seven children were born prematurely but without any kind of fertility treatment.

While doctors say the three newborns and their mother are well, the case has sparked debate across Argentina, the BBC has reported.

In bars, cafes, and newspapers, there has been widespread criticism of Pamela's alleged promiscuity.

Her family already receives help from the provincial authorities, which donated land and built them a house when the first set of triplets was born.

But some Argentines are arguing that perhaps what Pamela needs is not financial help but more advice on contraception.

Pamela's mother, who cleans houses to support her daughter, says they will now seek more assistance from the government.

The teenager - who is 17 - comes from the remote town of Leones in the central Argentine province of Cordoba.

Source: http://www.ibnlive.com/photogallery/832-4.html

Cannes 2008 photos

Tamanna new cute and hot actress

Tamanna Bhatia is a south Indian model/actress who started her film career through her debut film in Hindi called 'Chand Sa Roshan Chehra' at the age of 13 years and made her Tamil debut film Kedi which did not do well at the box office. The former model has also signed for her debut film in Telugu called Sri in which she played the leading female role amongst actor Manoj Kumar. And she is a rising heroine in both Tollywood and Kollywood industries.

Tamanna was born on 21st December 1989. She can speak Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and English. Tamanna has done many advertisements in Tamil for big companies such as Shakti Masala, Saravana Stores, RMKV and she also did few music albums before she entered the film industry.

Love Story 2050: The tech tale

Love Story 2050! As the name of this Bollywood flick hits our eardrums, most of us feel the adrenaline rushing through our bodies. Though we all may have a different reason for it.

May it is the new heartthrob Harman Baweja for some or the charming Priyanka Chopra for the others. But there are also many who are excited about the film’s futuristic and sci-fi promise. So, for those who are waiting to know what this film has got to satiate their tech appetite, here’s something.

Going by the promos, the film promises to take viewers beyond the hottest sci-fi Krissh and every other special effect they saw in an Indian movie. The movie is loaded with special effects and animation graphics.

Touted as the most expensive Bollywood film made till date, the movie teasers hint at a futuristic Mumbai skyline, full of androids, flying cars, robots, laser guns, CGI and course the usual Bollywood spice.

To fulfill the demand for a futuristic backdrop, the movie uses everything from video graphics to SFX. Many of these cost as much as Rs 60 lakhs for a five minute shot.

The film’s opening shot takes viewers into a hi-tech lab where a scientist is shown working on a gadget, Time Machine, which forms a critical part of the film.

Mumbai appears like never before, with Gateway of India getting a swanky new look and skyscrapers that make Manhattan look small. An array of what appears to be robots fill the frame, with a background that carries a surreal appeal.





Source: http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3038756.cms