SpaceX's 10-story tall Grasshopper Soars High and Flies Sideways!

If you think that Hyperloop is the only thing that Elon Musk has to talk about, then that’s a mistake. There is something more in the kitty of Elon Musk. It is the futuristic transportation pet project that has been progressing at a great pace. What is it? More realistic than the hypothetical project of Elon Musk, SpaceX’s 10-story tall Grasshopper has been showing different traits. But it appears that the Grasshopper nonplussed everyone recently in its flight. It so happened, that the SpaceX's reusable, vertical landing, Grasshopper, made its way to the sideways and marked a milestone flight. Earlier, the rocket had flown to heights to touch the turf of 1,000 feet. What did it do last night that surprised everybody? Well, it launched straight up roughly 800 feet, and listed 300 feet sideways, or laterally. It stood in the mid-air for some time. Then, the rocket landed on its original position. What is the aim? So, its latest maneuver exhibited the potential of a rocket that final

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NASA’s Kepler ends hunt for alien worlds!

Let’s wish Kepler a good bye folks!! NASA has finally quit on Kepler Spacecraft! The US Space administration has decided to stop making any effort to get it back working and the last attempt made at recovering the reaction wheels of the Kepler Observatory was unsuccessful and could not be fixed according to the NASA officials. Kepler Space Telescope bids a good bye? The hunting days of the gimpy NASA Kepler space telescope seem to be over as the damage to its reaction wheels or its positioning system is irreparable confirm sources from NASA. The Kepler Space observatory had been set up way back in 2009 and was sent out hunting for planets the size of Earth and their parent stars. It was searching for the presence of liquid water on the planets. It was sensitized to sense a dip in the light emitted by a star. This slight dip indicated that a planet was passing by. Almost nothing could escape the line of vision of the telescope and it used to peer steadily on at least 100,000 target s

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NASA News: Final Space Walk Preparation as Cargo Transfers

All’s ready and the astronauts are prepared with their paraphernalia for the final Space walk. But before that, on Friday at 10:40 a.m. EDT, two flight engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin would be venturing out of the docking compartment and start their walk. It’s news for the space buffs!! These two astronauts, who’ve been eyeing at the space, would be spending roughly 6.5 hours rigging cables for the future arrival of a “Nauka” Multipurpose Laboratory Module and also installation of an experiment panel. The Russian Laboratory module would launch a Russian Proton rocket. Its purpose is to substitute Pirs. Preparations!! The duo would be opening the hatch to the Pira docking compartment. Further, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy would be cloistered to Poisk module and their Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft. During the time of the spacewalk, Pavel Vinogradov and Chris Cassidy would be present there. Even the Europe’s Automated Transfer Veh

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Chitter chatter with celebrities through facebooks vip app ?

No more will the celebrities and public figures be out of reach for the common man! Facebook brings a VIP app , a new mobile feature , 'to help public figures interact with their fans'! Exclusive VIP app The statistics confirm that nearly 20 million people access Facebook through their tablets or Smartphones, in the United Kingdom. Now Facebook will have the celebrities march the line! Facebook plans to come out with an exclusive mobile app that is the ideal answer for the “fame hungry” celebrities to interact with their fans actively. At the moment Facebook is testing its novel mobile feature termed as “VIP app”, especially created for its famous users to chat with the fans and check the latest updates. Will that have more celebrity stars using the service? Experts state "The idea: If a star pushed out a status update to fans that caused a rather large amount of chatter — like, say, Kobe Bryant's late-night torrent of scattered thoughts from a few months ago — the new app

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Mobile Phone News:Samsung rolls out W789 dual-screen flip phone

If you want a flip-phone that runs on Android, then Samsung Hennessy is just the gadget you are looking for! The South Korea tech giant has officially launched a flip folder Android based device in China today. Specifications of Samsung W789 The phone which features two screens -- one on the cover and another on the inside, carries no special name and is simply branded with its model number W789. Touted by Samsung as a chic blend of old-school flip phones and the touch screen modern devices, the W789 is a small and narrow device in a light-purple-colored shell. It has a very retro numeric keyboard dialing pad. In terms of features the flip phone's dual touchscreens measure 3.3 inches with 320-by-480 pixel resolutions. The device runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system and is powered by 1.2GHz quad-core processor along with 1GB of RAM memory. Moreover, Samsung W789 packs a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and has 8 gigabytes of storage. The device comes with a microSD slo

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New ‘safe harbour’ rules to curb transfer pricing disputes

As a part of the draft safe harbor rules announced Wednesday, the Indian government gave conditional exemption to multinational corporation’s transactions with their Indian setups from being quizzed on concealment of tax. The new strictures come in the wake of rising instances of taxation related disputes with MNCs. The draft rules are likely to reduce such litigation with foreign companies. Aim to Reduce Litigation 'Safe Harbour' refers to instances where the income-tax authorities will agree to the transfer price declared by the assessee and will not get into further investigations. "These rules will provider certainty...The idea is to ensure there is less litigation," said revenue secretary Sumit Bose. In recent times, companies like Shell and Vodafone were slapped legal notices by taxation authorities. The authorities alleged that these multinationals undervalued the sale of shares in cross-border transactions. The issue of transfer pricing has hogged the limelight ever since. M

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NASA sending a 3-D printer into outer space

NASA plans to send a 3-D printer to the International Space Station (ISS) next year to help astronauts recreate replacement parts and tools while in orbit. A model of the proposed 3-D printer designed by private company Made In Space recently passed tests of determine its ability to manufacture plastic objects in low gravity at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Aaron Kemmer, CEO of Made in Space stated on the company's website, "The 3D printing experiment with NASA is a step towards the future. The ability to 3D print parts and tools on-demand greatly increases the reliability and safety of space missions while also dropping the cost by orders of magnitude. "The first printers will start by building test coupons, and will then build a broad range of parts, such as tools and science equipment.” 3-D printer to be sent to ISS in June2014 Engineers at the agency are optimistic the zero-G-ready 3D printer will be ready to be sent into space in June 2014, when th

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Cisco to Cut 4000 Jobs despite Profitable 4th Quarter

With the objective of cutting costs, network equipment manufacturer Cisco Systems is shedding 5 percent of its workforce. The Silicon Valley giant stated that as a result of this decision as many as 4,000 jobs would be cut. This exercise will however enable the company to refocus on growth areas even as it faces uncertain demand for its networking equipment. "The environment in terms of our business is improving slightly but nowhere near the pace that we want," said Chief Executive John Chambers. 18 percent jump in profits The announcement followed the fourth fiscal quarter results. Cisco, the world's biggest network equipment maker, reported a jump of 18 percent in profits in the said quarter. While the business in terms of orders grew 5 percent in Americas in the fourth quarter, it slumped by 3 percent in Asia. The Chinese business also registered a fall of 6 percent. "It's just not growing at the speed we want. We have to very quickly reallocate the resources," clarified Chambers.

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Facebook captivates the Canadian audiences!

Do I see a broad grin on Facebook? Well folks its creditable, Facebook is the favorite of almost 19 million Canadians who religiously log on to it once a month. Can you believe it this is almost half the total population of the country? Another whopper for you, almost 14 million Canadians check news feed daily. Facebook statistics The social network highlighted a batch of new statistics that show that Facebook the networking giant is quite a favorite with the Canadian people. The statistics show that nearly 19 million use it once a month and 14 million are hooked on to it daily. Furthermore 13 million access the social networking website once a month from their mobile devices and 9.4 million are actively interacting with their contacts through their tablets or phones. Even if the desktop users take the “Facebook cake” and outnumber the mobile fraternity but the mobile users are fully into the Facebook game. Jordan Banks, managing director of Facebook Canada exuberantly commented "

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NASA News: After 11 Years get Ready for Solar Polarity Flip!

It’s after a gap of 11 years again!!! The Sun’s magnetic field will be witnessing a shift and a reversal in its magnetic field. So, the ripples across the complete solar system are expected very soon. Solar Max Our nearest star, the Sun, is about to swap its north and south poles. This switch is naturally a part of “Solar Max”. It’s dubbed as a period of peak activity when it makes a once-in-11 year’s move. NASA has explained that the sun would be following the suit and it would be for the fourth time after 1976 when the scientists would place their eyes on 180-degree pole flip. According to a solar physicist Todd Hoeksema of Stanford University, "It looks like we're no more than 3 to 4 months away from a complete field reversal. This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system.” Reversal Significance Reversal of magnetic field is the mid-point or even a focal point of solar max. It is a gradual process where the sun’s magnetic field comes across a shif

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Godrej Industries strikes deal, buys Rs. 103 crore Godrej Consumer shares

Godrej Consumer Products' promoter, Godrej Industries Tuesday purchased 12 lakh shares of the FMCG major for Rs 103 crore from other promoter entities. According to the deal information available with BSE, the shares of Godrej Consumer Products were purchased from nine promoters. The names of the nine promoters are: • Nadir Godrej, • Navroze Godrej, • Nyrika Vijay Crishna, • Nisaba Adi Godrej, • Pirojsha Adi Godrej, • Freyan Crishna, • Rishad Kaikhushru Naoroji, • RaikaJamshyd Godrej • Tanya Arvind Dubas. With each share acquired at Rs 862 apiece, the total deal value stands at an estimated Rs 103.44 crore. As of quarter ending June 30, 2013, Godrej Industries held 7.36 crore shares of Godrej Consumer Products, amounting to a 21.64 percent stake in the company. The net profit of Godrej Consumer Products for the first quarter ending June 30, 2013 stood at Rs. 107.08 crore, a total increase of 16.46 percent. On Tuesday, shares of Godrej Consumer Products closed at Rs.8

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P. Chidambaram Speaks: Shielding Rupee by Controlling Gold, Electronic Goods Imports!

Third set of measures to contain draining of Indian currency has been plugged in. P. Chidambaram has announced protection of rupee by controlling gold and electronic goods import. What’s the new target of India for Current Account Deficit? The Indian Government has announced a current account deficit of 3.75% for 2013-2014. This is much lower than the last year’s CAD of 4.8%. As the Indian rupee has been found plummeting and has touched the low turf of 61, the government has chalked down a multitude of ways of luring capital inflows. This update was done was the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. These changes were brought yesterday. And it seems that even they could not aid in the growth of rupee as the currency has been trading low even today. It is nearing a record low of 61.66. What’s the look now? It seems the government is revamping the golden arena and electronic goods for the time being. Earlier, it had increased customs duty on gold to contain imports. The basic thought b

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The Hyperloop: A jaunt from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes?

Fancy taking a jaunt from Los Angeles to San Francisco in speed faster than sound! Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Monday unveiled a high-speed transportation concept that will blast passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco — a distance of more than 300 miles, in just half hour. Musk proposed his idea for a super fast mass transit system called the Hyperloop to connect cities. According to him, the project, if it materializes will be faster, cheaper and safer alternative to the high speed rail line planned between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Musk stated, "How could it be that the home of Silicon Valley and JPL … would build a bullet train that is both one of the most expensive per mile and one of the slowest in the world? It would be great to have an alternative to flying or driving, but obviously only if it is actually better than flying or driving." Hyperloop powered by electrical motors, solar panels and kinetic energy The solar powered elevated transport system wo

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SBI turns nasty! Degrades educational loan defaulters!

SBI lashes back at loan defaulters! Many poor young graduates had approached State Bank Of India in Bodinayakanur at Tamil Nadu. When the students did not render their dues on time, an angry SBI flashed the photographs of the students who had turned defaulters. The Bank didn’t even spare the parents!! SBI gets angry It was a humiliating experience for young graduates who had availed SBI’s educational loan from the State Bank of India situated at Bodinayakanur in Theni district in Tamil Nadu. When the students had failed to clear the Bank’s amount, the SBI branch had put the students and their parents’ photographs on show. The Bank believed that this open exhibition of the photographs of the defaulters would shame the students to shell out the money. The outstanding loans handed out to the defaulting students’, ranges from Rs.40, 000 to Rs. 5 lakh. Defaulters brought to task Was this State Bank of India’s way of shaming the families of the defaulters? We think so!! They are

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Spectacular light streaks from Perseid Meteor shower!

The skies are dazzling again! Astronaut buffs and the star gazers must be rubbing their hands in glee as they view the annual firework display created by the Perseid meteor shower. This is the most brilliant and spectacular exhibit of “shooting stars” according to the astronomers The shooting stars These shooting stars or meteors are small material particles that vaporize and result in light flashes as they rush and strike the Earth’s upper atmosphere at a momentum of almost 36 miles per second. Perseids meteor shower The Meteor shower is at its best brilliance every year from 17 July and 24 August when the Earth’s orbit rushes it through a brilliant stream of comet debris. The shower gets active during the Earth’s migration around the Sun. This happens when the Earth’s orbit passes through the cosmic material and fragments that had been left behind by the trail of Comet Swift-Tuttle that passed near the Earth way back in 1992. These fragments create spectacular light stre

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Two Ex-Employees of JP Morgan Face Arrest

Two former employees of JP Morgan; Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout, are likely to be arrested by the federal authorities on alleged involvement in the ‘London Whale’ case that rocked the bank last year. While none of these two employees were expected to be charged in the case, authorities are suspicious that Javier and Grout played a key role in concealing the amount that that JP Morgan had incurred on account of the scandal. Arrests in London The arrests are likely to happen in London in the coming days. Javier Martin-Artajo was a manager at the bank and was responsible for the trading strategy while Julien Grout was a trader in London. Both of them are likely to be extradited under an agreement with British authorities. The Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as the federal prosecutors has been investigating the case. The decision of arrest comes after more than a year of investigation and collection of evidence. About the Scandal JPMorgan, the largest bank in the Unit

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RBI not in favor of high inflation to propel growth

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) categorically stated Thursday that it is not in favor of allowing high inflation in order to promote growth in the country. The central bank asserted that a policy of tolerating inflation will not yield the desired results. “While lower real interest rates can stimulate growth and investment, the central bank cannot adopt a policy of higher inflation tolerance as the means to lower real rates because beyond a threshold, the negative impact of inflation on growth outweighs its positive impact,” the RBI said in an issued statement. Inflation Dampens Consumption Demand The central bank of India cited a recent study to justify its stance. The said study has been conducted in the wake of increasing criticism that the bank is following an anti-inflationary monetary policy which in turn is hindering growth. As a policy matter, the RBI the RBI has attempted to rein in inflation since July 2011. The bank has kept the repo rate above 8 per cent for 18 months

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President Obama to initiate reforms in Surveillance Programs

President Barack Obama stated in unambiguous terms that he would not stop the U.S. government’s surveillance programs that have come under fire both from national and international quarters. The president however admitted that the United States "can and must be more transparent" with regard to such shadowing campaigns. Recognizing the need for striking a balance between security and civil liberties, the president promised to improve oversight of surveillance. Law Being Followed In a news conference at the White Hose Obama acknowledged that these recent leaks by a former spy had tarnished the country’s image. As a response, the president promised to incorporate “appropriate reforms” in such programs and restore public trust. "I am comfortable that the program currently is not being abused. I am comfortable that if the American people examined exactly what was taking place, how it was being used, what the safeguards were, that they would say, `You know what? These folks are foll

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Verdict after Clash of Technologies: All’s well with Ebullient Apple Inc. after US Trade Panel Judgment

Long-running battle of patents between World's number one and two smartphone companies come across a verdict. Finally! The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled for Apple Inc. in a long-running dispute. Under a high-profile patent infringement case, a verdict from a US trade panel caressed Apple Inc.’s furs and ruffled the furs of Samsung. All smiles for Apple, as the verdict came as a relief with a multitude of consequences on the floor. Now does the South Korean enterprise, SamsungElectronics Co. mobile devices face a sales and import prohibition in the United States? Passions may fuel from South Korea towards the judgment as the long-treaded dispute has met its fate. Though, it’s still ambiguous about the real repercussions of the ruling and also magnitude of the ban. But as of now verdict says that Samsung is banned from importing, selling and distributing devices in the United States that trespasses on some entitlements on the patents. Earlier in mid-2011, Apple had filed

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Gold, the worst investment of 2013, prices dip 8%

Investment in gold this year has turned out to be a shoddy asset across various markets. The precious metal has recently faltered relative to equities and yielded double the losses in the current stock rally. The yellow metal is now down more than 8.5 percent since the start of 2013 whereas the stock market benchmark Sensex has dipped by about 4 per cent. Gold vs equities As gold prices continue to fall, investors are mulling over whether to allocate more money to equities in place of gold. The yellow metal has been in the Bull Run from last 10 years. Gold has not only held a positive correlation with equities but outperformed them over the last decade. Statistics indicate, gold prices have appreciated by an average of 20 per cent over the last 10 years as opposed to about 18 per cent for equities. This is one major reason why gold was a preferred asset class and the apple of eye for investors. The government tried to dissuade people from boarding the gold train and encouraged investi

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