Silver for India Thanks to Vijay's fabulous performance!

The finals of the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event took place at the Royal Artillery Barracks and Vijay Kumar was aiming to finish as high as possible. Unlike other events, the finals in this event would not have the scores from the previous round added to calculate the final score. So, irrespective of how the shooters did in the qualification stage, everyone started with a clean sheet and whoever performed well in the round would end up the winners.

In the finals, there would be 8 series of shooting. In each series, the shooter has to shoot 5 shots in 4 seconds. The points would be calculated based on the number of hits that he has. After 4 series of such shots have been fired, the shooter that has the lowest score would be eliminated and the remaining shooters would continue with the 5th round of shooting. This would continue till the 8th series of the shooting, where the top 2 will fight for the gold. If there is a tie, then there would be a shoot off to determine the winner.

The competition, as has been the case in the entire Games, was tough with medal favourites being Alexei Klimov, Feng Ding and Leuris Pupo. But Vijay Kumar was in his elements and did not succumb to the pressure. He started off with a brilliant 5/5 and then continued with a consistent 4/5 for the next 2 rounds. He was always at the joint top with Pupo and Fend Ding. At the end of 4 rounds, Klimov got eliminated after a disappointing day for him. Vijay was never in danger of getting eliminated. He kept consistent scores of 4/5 and outclassed Feng Ding to assure himself of a silver medal. On the other hand, Pupo was relentless and kept hitting the targets with his final score of 34 equalling the world record. Vijay finished with a score of 30, with his last round redundant as he would not have been able to beat Pupo anyway.

This was another fabulous day for India as the unheralded Vijay Kumar made the country proud by winning the silver to add to the bronze already won by Gagan Narang. If shooting were given even more support, maybe India would have even more medals. Nonetheless, this is a time to rejoice and the whole country would be proud of Vijay Kumar’s achievement!

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Speakasia's Writ Against RBI : Hearing Update : Hon. Bombay High Court : 30th July 2012

Speakasia's Writ Against RBI : Hearing Update : Hon. Bombay High Court : 30th July 2012

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Burning skies

Resistance Burning Skies

TOPICS

lifestyle and leisuregames

THE NEXT LEVEL Despite its flaws, Resistance on the PS Vita is the first competent handheld FPS

Did the Resistance series ever really take off? It’s had a decent run, with a trilogy of good, if not spectacular games on the PS3 and a PSP outing. The series now returns in the form of Resistance: Burning Skies on Sony’s latest portable for what could be its swansong, with the publisher possibly looking to pull the plug on the franchise. We will probably see it being entirely abandoned (which is a shame considering the premise has potential) or rebooted, but for now, we’ve got one last instalment in the series albeit a portable one, and it’s pretty good. Burning Skies’ story occurs at the start of the Chimera invasion, with you playing as Tom Riley, a New Jersey fire-fighter and future hero of the Resistance. That means you get an axe, but we’ll get to that in a bit. Over the course of Tom’s journey, he is separated from his wife and kid and sees several American lives claimed by the invasion. There’s a conspiracy somewhere in the plot as well. It’s typical fare, and while most of the content that is designed to evoke emotion falls terribly short, the plot fits well into the lore of the series, even if it doesn’t break new ground. And as a result, you’ll see the ending coming from a mile away, but that doesn’t make the ride any less fun. This is all in spite of some average writing, characters that aren’t particularly memorable and long (now ubiquitous) retro-themed cutscenes that can’t be skipped.

Now let’s get back to Tom’s axe. A simple finger’s tap of the ‘axe’ icon will see Tom swing it with considerable venom at whatever is in the centre of your Vita screen, often with gory results. Grenades can be tossed with a simple drag-and-drop, while targets can be ‘tagged’ so that your Bullseye assault rifle’s secondary fire can home-in on targets, raining bullets down on it; the touchscreen controls are nifty, to say the least. And they’re greatly complemented by the Vita’s dual analog sticks. While the dual sticks aren’t as accurate as their console counterparts, they definitely work, making Resistance: Burning Skies very playable both offline and online. One great example of great use of touch and dual stick controls is Burning Skies’ new shotgun/crossbow hybrid weapon, the ‘Mule’, which can be switched into crossbow mode by a diagonal swipe of the screen that results in an explosive arrow being loaded. The gun can also be used as a regular sawed-off shotgun. Admittedly the touchscreen controls can be annoying at times, particularly since you need to abandon one of the analog sticks to use them, and then there’s the risk of wasting precious secondary ammo with inaccurate screen taps, but that’s something you can learn to live with — unlike the game’s choppy frame rate, blocky textures and poor character models, which are the real culprits when it comes to adversely affecting the overall gameplay experience. It’s amazing that the Vita has a game that looks as impressive as Uncharted: Golden Abyss and one that looks like Resistance: Burning Skies. Apart from the issues mentioned previously, the special effects are particularly disappointing — it doesn’t look like the development team leveraged the PS Vita’s hardware effectively.

But despite its flaws, Resistance: Burning Skies can claim to be the first FPS to actually work well on a handheld platform thanks to well implemented controls. Fans will want to play it, but might leave disappointed if they set their expectations too high. On the other hand, if you own a Vita and want an FPS to play, it might seem like you don’t have a choice, but Burning Skies is competent enough to warrant a purchase.

~The Hindu 

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Over 19,000 may lose net connectivity on Monday

Over 19,000 may lose net connectivity on Monday

As the cyber world awaits Monday, when the FBI will shut down servers affected by the DNS Changer malware, a list of affected countries shows India in the third spot. 

Domain Name System (DNS) is part of the internet that links up a website name (like example.com) to its numerical Internet Protocol equivalent (like 123.456.789.098). 

According to the DNS Changer Working Group, as of July 4, there are 19,642 IP addresses infected in India. At the top of the table is the US with 45,619, and next is Italy with 21,831. The DNS Changer Working Group monitors DNS servers as part of efforts to undo the worldwide damage done by the malware. 

The DNS Changer malware hit the headlines last year, after the FBI and Estonian police arrested many criminals who had floated a company called Rove Digital and spread viruses under various names. These viruses altered the DNS settings of computers, leading users to fraudulent websites rather than the real ones. 

Under a US court order that expires on Monday, the Internet Systems Consortium had mounted an operation to clean up the servers. When the FBI shuts down the rogue servers on Monday, users whose network has been infected will not be able to log on to the internet. 

Vinoo Thomas, product manager, McAfee Labs, says it is difficult to determine the exact number of infected computers in India which might go down on Monday. "If your system has been hit, then it means your IP address points to the infected server. Since these servers will be shut down on Monday, you will not be able to access internet. To set it right, you will have to contact your internet service provider, like BSNL and Airtel, to reset the IP addresses." 

Is your system infected? 

There is still a day to check if the system has been affected. Various cyber security firms have offered free solutions. For example, users can go to www.mcafee.com/dnscheck to check if their computer is infected. Symantec customers whose computer has been hit are being notified through their product. Users can also go to the DNS Changer Check-Up page (http://www.dcwg.org/detect), maintained by the DNS Changer Working Group, to determine whether their computer has been compromised or not. 


Source : Times of India 

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www.onlinespeakasia.net is fake

Dear Speakasians,

It has been brought to our notice that there is a fake website by the name of www.onlinespeakasia.net  has been circulating on the web space and asking consumers for their details like Name, Address, Phone numbers etc.

This website  has no connection with SAOL and we request all Speakasians not to give out any details as it could be used for wrong purposes.

Warm Regards,

SpeakAsia Corporate Marketing Team 

so don't give your information to anyone until our legal site will be open

-YIC 

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HP launches Ultrabook, Sleekbook

Hewlett Packard sees no impact of tablets and latest mobile gadgets on the PC/notebook segment as the latter are critical for productivity.

Tablets constitute a niche market, and they come with some handicaps, particularly infrastructure-related, but notebooks can be used on the move if they have built-in features such as adequate battery life, HP India Senior Director Vinay Chandra Awasthi said. “There is talk about convergence, but we should not forget the mobility factor, staying connected everywhere,” he said.

Mr. Awasthi was here on Wednesday in connection with the launch of HP’s latest Ultrabook and Sleekbook. Most of the tablet users needed to install Wi-Fi equipment in their house to secure connectivity, but a notebook could be used anywhere if a dongle was attached to it.

The market share of tablets was less than 5 per cent as the first computer could never be a tablet.

“Most probably, it has to be a notebook,” he said. The notebook market was growing between 10 per cent and 15 per cent every year with close to 11 million units being sold.

In view of the requirement from different categories, HP launched the Ultrabook, priced at Rs.57,990, and the Sleekbook with latest Intel core processors at Rs.41,990.

Source : The Hindu 

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Pyan is Back in Max Pyan 3

Remember the turn of the millennium? Or more specifically, around this time in the year 2001 when you had just bought yourself one of those new Pentium 4s and a fancy GeForce 3 series graphics card? Remember the time you installed Max Payne and played the hell out of it for nearly a year? Well, there wasn't a serious gamer in the country at the time who hadn't played Max Payne — in fact, the game still sells a healthy number of copies today. So saying that Rockstar Games' Max Payne 3 has “a lot to live up to” is an understatement. But everyone knows that Rockstar is incapable of making a bad game — however, even a great game is a failure by its incredibly high standards. So is Max Payne 3 Rockstar-great, or just “plain old” great?

We're introduced to the new Max Payne in Brazil, working security for a rich businessman named Rodrigo Branco. Max's pal Raul Passos was responsible for getting him this gig — it was supposed to be easy money. But everyone knows trouble finds Max Payne, and as a result, Max's skills are immediately required when Branco's wife is kidnapped during a party. Within a span of ten minutes, Rockstar Games introduces you to all the gameplay and storytelling elements that have been changed or introduced. The comic book narrative has been replaced with a more cinematic style and there's a cover system, destructible environments and a tonne of insane visual effects. The “bullet time” mechanic, the series' staple is back, and needs to be called into service immediately during the introductory level. Other minor gameplay tweaks primarily revolve around this mechanic such as “last man standing”, which sees the game revive Max if he shoots whoever shot him last. The gunplay feels as solid as ever, greatly complemented by a variety of real-world firearms that behave very differently from one another. Max can now dual wield two different single-handed weapons if he needs something with a bit of punch (say, a revolver, perhaps) and a rapid-fire weapon (like an Uzi). Max Payne 3 thrusts the player into one intense firefight after another. However, while combat requires strategy and skill, it is made occasionally monotonous and repetitive by poor checkpoint placement.

The writing is as self-indulgent as ever and we wouldn't have it any other way in a Max Payne title. Max's monologues are filled with cynicism and self-loathing, yet fuel his drive to go out and get the job done. Dan Houser (supported by Rupert Humphries and Michael Unsworth) has done an excellent job taking over from Sam Lake (the original's writer), showing that he can do ‘gritty and serious' just as well as ‘funny and clever'. The writers are often the unsung heroes of a game, but it's difficult to ignore them here. Disappointingly, however, Max remains the only truly interesting character in the game — the other bit part players contribute nothing to the story. There's no Mona Sax here.

In the end, we're left with a solid linear shooter which, despite no innovations, looks and plays well majority of the time. The single player is exactly what you would expect from the third instalment, with Brazil serving as an excellent setting for the game's many bloodbaths. Poorly placed checkpoints and bullet-time overdose aside, Max Payne 3's story mode is good, if not spectacular. The narrative's overhaul involves comic book-style cutscenes being replaced by Tarantino-inspired cinematics, but fortunately, despite this Hollywoodisation, the game retains the tone of Payne's previous two outings. The multiplayer is easy to get into, but fails to remain interesting for long periods, which unfortunately is a problem because a lot of the unlocks require a fair amount of time investment. Overall, despite a few hiccups, this is a shooter that looks and plays great, offering enough violent entertainment to keep players interested. Max Payne 3 is available on PC, PS3 and X360.

Source : The Hindu

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Window based laptop soon Available @ unbeatable price of Rs. 5000

Low cost Laptops range

Allied Computer International (Asia) Limited, is now all set to launched super low-cost laptop for Indian @ 4,999 Rupees only .  
"We are launching India's super low cost laptop at Rs 4,999 in mid-June. It will be real fully functional, windows compatible working laptop at a lowest price tag in the country," Allied Computers managing director Hirji Patel said. 


London-based missile scientist turned entrepreneur, Hirji Patel established Allied Computers International (Asia) Limited under the ACi brand in May 2002. 


ACi India offers laptops and PCs in the Indian market with innovative design. 


Talking about the viability of the project, Patel said, the company will import the product from China and depend on volume growth and will have thin profit margin. 


Patel is all set to unveil to market few third generation models of laptops including Rs 4,999 windows compatible with 10" screen. Among other low-cost models, laptop PC for lower-mid class segment for Rs 9,999 and latest 3rd generation model housing Intel i3 CPU for Rs 19,999 will be launched shortly. 

Low cost Laptops range

The company is also launching latest 3rd generation model housing Intel i7 with 32GB RAM - fastest gaming laptop ever built - first laptop in India with RAM exceeding 8GB for Rs 49,999, Patel said. 


"We will never compromise on quality with price. The range we will be offering are carefully designed and developed just like majority of our models launched both in UK and India," Patel said. 


In the recent times, we have seen much hype and heard much hoopla around so-called low-cost computing devices, which created enough buzz, but failed to live up to their expectations purely because they could never deliver computing, Patel said. 


Patel pointed out that although, India today enjoys a volume sales of around 2.5 million laptops per annum, it is still barely 10 per cent of what western countries like UK and other leading European countries are churning out into the market. 


Laptop cost-to-earning factor is still rather high in India and in lower middle class to the poor it is still considered beyond reach. 


Introducing such low-cost computing devices becomes more significant in the wake of various state governments like Tamil Nadu, UP and others announcing to provide laptops for students. The company is looking at offering the low cost laptops to these state governments, Patel added.

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Venus Solar Transit

From the U.S. to South Korea, people around the world turned their attention to the daytime sky on Tuesday and early Wednesday in Asia to make sure they caught the once-in-a-lifetime sight of the transit of Venus.

For some astronomers, it wasn’t just a rare planetary spectacle as it won’t be seen for another 105 years. They hoped the passage of Venus between the Earth and the sun would spark curiosity about the universe and our place in it.

Sul Ah Chim, a researcher at the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute in South Korea, said he hoped people see life from a larger perspective, and “not get caught up in their small, everyday problems.”

“When you think about it from the context of the universe, 105 years is a very short period of time and the Earth is only a small, pale blue spot,” he said.

While astronomers used the latest technology to document the transit, American astronaut Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station was planning to take photos of the event and post them online.

In Mexico, at least 100 people lined up two hours early to view the event through telescopes or one of the 150 special viewing glasses on hand, officials said. Observation points were also set up at a dozen locations.

Venus, which is extremely hot, is one of Earth’s two neighbours and is so close in size to our planet that scientists at times call them near-twins. During the transit, it will appear as a small dot.

The transit is happening during a 6-hour, 40-minute span that began just after 2200 GMT. What you can see and for how long depends on what the sun’s doing in your region during that exact window, and the weather.

Those in most areas of North and Central America will see the start of the transit until the sun sets, while those in western Asia, the eastern half of Africa and most of Europe will catch the transit’s end once the sun comes up.

In Hawaii, astronomers planned viewings at Waikiki Beach, Pearl Harbor and Ko Olina. At Waikiki, officials planned to show webcasts as seen from telescopes from volcanoes Mauna Kea on the Big Island and Haleakala on Maui.

NASA planned a watch party at its Goddard Visitor Centre in Maryland with solar telescopes, “Hubble-quality” images from its Solar Dynamics Observatory Mission and expert commentary and presentations.

Experts from Hong Kong’s Space Museum and local astronomical groups were organising a viewing on Wednesday outside the museum’s building on the Kowloon waterfront overlooking the southern Chinese city’s famed Victoria Harbour.

This will be the seventh transit visible since German astronomer Johannes Kepler first predicted the phenomenon in the 17th century. Because of the shape and speed of Venus’ orbit around the sun and its relationship to Earth’s annual trip, transits occur in pairs separated by more than a century.

It’s nowhere near as dramatic and awe-inspiring as a total solar eclipse, which sweeps a shadow across the Earth, but there will be six more of those this decade.

Source : The Hindu

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SBI GK PAPER held on 27-05-2012 EVENING SESSION BASED ON MEMORY

1. Which actress won National Award for Best actress ?
Ans . Vidhya Balan 

2.Who among the following person mention below is a singer a awardee of Padama Shree Award ?
Ans : Anoop Jalota 

3. In 2011, the 3 rd BIRCSsummit held at ?
Ans : Sanya(China)

4.G-8 Meeting was recently held at which place ?
Ans: USA

5. The recently elected Railway Minister Mukul Roy is from Which political party ?
Ans Trinamul Congress

6. one question related to NABARD is regulated by
Ans : RBI

7. Loans given to Self-help group (SHG) is called ?
Ans: Micro Credit

8. Who is the Present Election Commissioner of India ?
Ans :S.Y Qureshi .

9. what dose "C" represent in "ECB" ?
Ans: Commercial

10. Who among the following is a Chief Minister of ____
Ans Prem Kumar Dhumal.

11. Which among the following books is Written By Vikram Seth.
Ans. The golden Gate.

12. Who among the following represent India in the recently held India-russia meet?
Ans . Dr. Manmohan Singh.

14. Waht is Current Bank Rate as Fixed by RBI?
Ans : 9 Percent.

15. World Population day is celebrated every year on ?
Ans 11th July.

16. Which Among the following terms is not associated with the game of Cricket ?
Ans : Jockey

17. Which Among the following terms in not associated with Banking sector?
Ans : Amplitude

18. Who Won Australian Open 2012?
Ans : Novak Djokovic

19. What is maximum of members of Rajya Sabha?
Ans : 6 Years

20: What is the measurement of unit "work" ?
Ans: Joule


21) Gross Domestic Product divided by National Income is equal to ?
Ans. Per Capita Income

22) The instrument used for measuring Earth quake is ?
Ans. Seismograph/ seismometer 

23) Nobel Prize for Peace was recently won by ?
Ans. Tawakul Karman 

24) Kamla Prasad Bissessar is the Prime Minister of which country ?
Ans. Trinidad and Tobago

25) Which among the following terms is related to economics ?
Ans. arbitrage 

26) India was recently declared free from which epidemic disease ?
Ans. Polio

27) Business correspondent is related to which term ?
Ans.Financial inclusion

28) Which country had recently ordered the fighter jets "Rafael" ?
Ans. India

29) A Questions was asked on Country's and Capitals ?
Ans. ____

30) Who represented India in the recently held India - Russia summit ?
Ans.  Man Mohan Singh

31) Gavaskar-Border Trophy is associated with which game ?
Ans. Cricket

32) Which country had founded the Nuclear Treaty Pact ?
Ans. USA

33) Who among the following is the recipient of Padma Bhushan Award ?
Ans. Homi K. Bhaba

34) Which among the following is true as related Union Budget 2012-13 ?
Ans. Increasing tax limit marginally

35) Which among the following is not a function of RBI

36) Who among the following is the winner of Shooting Championship ?

37) One Question is asked on NATO ?

38) New Frame work for Minor and Small Banks

39) Ranbir Kapoor won the Best Actor Award for which film ?
Ans. Rock Star

40) Savings Account With Insurance Benefits is called as ?
Ans.value added services


Please Cross Check All answer as it was based on memory .,

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