Two rare vulture species sighted in Rajasthan

Baran: In a good news for environmentalists, two rare species of vulture were reportedly sighted in Rajasthan's Baran district.

"Two rare vulture species -- white rumped and long billed -- were sighted in large numbers on the banks of Villasi river in Kishangang and Kraye river in Shabad respectively," SDM Muktanand Agrawal said here today.

According to environmentalist Vittal Sanadhaya, vulture population has diminished rapidly across the country in the last decade.

The species is on the verge of extinction and in Rajasthan it is found in small number in some areas in Kota and Bundi districts, he said.

"The recently found colonies of vultures in Baran is a good news and there is a need to develop a new vulture hub in the region for their conservation," Sanadhaya said.

About five species of vultures were found in Hadautti region previously but most of them have disappeared from the forests in the last decade, he said.

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Intel launches chip for tablet computers

SAN FRANCISCO — Intel Corp. has launched a new chip for tablet computers, as the world's most powerful semiconductor company aims to become a contender in the market for mobile chips.

Intel's chips are in 80 per cent of laptops and desktop PCs, but it's had less success getting its chips into smaller devices such as cellphones and tablets. Known for pushing the processing speeds of its chips to the limit, energy efficiency has now become critical for Intel as gadgets and their batteries get smaller, testing the limits of engineering in a different way. And with more consumers starting to opt to buy tablets instead of upgrading their PCs, Intel is looking to diversify its revenue sources.

Intel's chips have been maligned as too power-hungry for the smallest of mobile devices, a criticism Intel is hoping its new chips address. Intel is trying to elbow in to a mobile market dominated by lower-power processors from companies such as Qualcomm Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. Apple Inc. designs its own chip for the iPad.

Intel also faces a challenge in that mobile chips are generally built around a different chip design, from a company called ARM Holdings Inc., than the so-called x86 design that Intel uses. Intel said Monday that more than 35 tablet and "hybrid" computers are being built on its newest chip, which is part of the Atom family of chips.

As for smartphones, Intel says a processor for that market is scheduled for release later this year. Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., has not announced specifications for those chips.

Intel has a history of dabbling in, and retreating from, the wireless business, so the company's success in this market is not a foregone conclusion.

It sold its mobile-chip business in 2006, then last year bought the wireless-chip division of Germany's Infineon Technologies AG for $1.4 billion. With that deal, Intel bought its way back in to a booming market, but only got a bit player. The Infineon division, while notching some high-profile wins such as Apple's iPhone, only owned about 5 percent of the total market for processors and other communications chips for mobile phones, according to Gartner Inc.

Analysts are split about Intel's prospects. Some say Intel is too late to the game to score any major market share. Others caution that Intel, with $11.7 billion in net income last year on $43.6 billion in revenue, has plenty of money to pour into making its mobile division a winner.

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Sony Xperia Play Review

Sony Ericsson's long-awaited PlayStation Phone finally becomes a reality - we go hands-on to see if it can live up to the hype, and if it's a viable challenger to the iPhone's overwhelming dominance.

PlayStation Phone. Those words just roll off the tongue, don't they? The idea of fusing one of the world's most iconic gaming brands with mobile connectivity is practically a no-brainer, which makes it all the more puzzling that Sony Ericsson has waited this long to fulfil the tantalising promise. Sure, we've had devices that have alluded to the notion -- the PS3-linked Aino, for example -- but the Xperia Play is the real deal, even if it doesn't actually bear the PlayStation name anywhere on its glossy black casing.

Xperia Play as a phone

Despite the gaming focus and the vast amount of cash being spent on promoting the Xperia Play's unique controls, Sony Ericsson is keen to stress that it's a telecommunications device first and foremost, with the entertainment element being a large, juicy bonus.

The problem with this approach is that when compared to other Android-based handsets hitting store shelves right now, the Xperia Play is merely good rather than great. It's running Android 2.3 (AKA Gingerbread) so it's up to date at least, but it lacks several key features that are becoming commonplace in other Google Phones. There's no dual-core processor, HDMI-out or 720p video recording, and the 4-inch LED backlit screen is markedly inferior to the gorgeous Super AMOLED effort sported by the Nexus S and Samsung Galaxy S II.

The Xperia Play is also quite a dumpy little beast, with a girth of 16mm at its thickest point. It sags in the pocket thanks to its 175 gram weightb -- making it nearly 40 grams more dense than the already-weighty iPhone 4.

Xperia Play as a gaming device

The first thing you're likely to think of when you slide open the Xperia Play's gaming controls is 'PSPgo'. Sony's download-dependant hardware experiment from 2009 may have been beset by a multitude of faults, but its interface wasn't one of them. The same ultra-responsive D-pad and button configuration is replicated here, with the added bonus of twin touch-senstive pads which pay homage to the dual shock setup seen on Sony's home consoles.

Only the L and R shoulder triggers spoil the good impression, being too flimsy to offer truly instinctive control. Their position on the side of the phone also makes me slightly uneasy -- one accidental drop is likely to be all that's required to separate them from their housings.

Still, you need only hold the Xperia Play in your hands for a few seconds to realise that Sony Ericsson has totally nailed the control interface. This is certainly no Nokia N-Gage -- with the exception of the shoulder triggers, everything about the phone's gaming controls is fantastic. It's genuinely amazing to have such a precise and responsive degree of command on what is essentially a mobile phone, and you'll wonder how you ever managed to play Snake on a cramped alphanumeric keypad all those years ago.

The games

Of course, interface is just one part of the equation -- without solid software to play, such refined controls are about as much use as a chocolate teapot. Here, the picture is slightly less clear, but that's not to say that the Xperia Play hasn't gotten off to a positive start.

On paper at least, the launch has been a success. Sixty titles are available that support the Xperia Play's control system, and in terms of raw numbers that makes this one of the most well-stocked hardware launches in gaming history. However, further examination reveals that the stats are slightly misleading. The overwhelming majority of those games are already available on Android's app store, and have merely been optimised for use on Sony Ericsson's new device.

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Indiatimes Partners with Google to Stream Indian Premier League on YouTube

Good news for Cricket fans. Indiatimes has announced its partnership with Google’s YouTube. All 74 matches of the Indian Premier League (IPL) games will be streamed on Indiatimes’s YouTube channel and microsite.

“Users all over the world will be able to enjoy the entire season both on Indiatimes.com as well as the Indiatimes’ channel on YouTube ( youtube.com/indiatimes ) with a 5 minutes delay in India, match-length delay in US and live webcast for Rest of The World. Match highlights and other catch-up clips will be made available after the matches,” the statement explained.

The partnership with Google is made possible as Indiatimes is the rights’ partner for IPL’s internet, mobile and audio content. The partnership also means that Google will be a non-exclusive partner for two years as both brands seek to monetize the IPL content.

Ads would likely be the revenue model but nothing on the business side was explained. The most important news, however, is that cricket fans around the world can get to watch the games online. It’s a good content distribution strategy as IPL seeks to gain more traction across the world. Making it available for “free” would boost viewership. Of course, viewers would have to “pay” by viewing ads.

The recent Cricket World Cup in India took the world by storm, especially when India won the final at home soil. The world (not just India or the Cricket nations) celebrated India’s victory on Facebook and Twitter. Nike also broadcasted a victory-cry commercial to celebrate the unique relationship between Cricket and the people of India.

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Sensex on a downslide, opens 161 points down

Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex continued its decline for the sixth day on Wednesday, opening 161 points down on sustained selling in line with weak global trends and sober domestic market sentiment on the back of low industrial output.

The 30-share barometer, which had lost 440 points in the last five sessions, slumped by another 160.91 points, or 0.83 per cent to 19,101.63 level during the first few minutes of trade today, with realty, consumer durables and metal stocks remaining under pressure.

In a similar fashion, the wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index slid by 50.15 points, or 0.86 per cent to 5,735.55 points.

Brokers said a weakening Asian trend followed by lower closing in the US market influenced the trading sentiments.

Further, a dip in the industrial production for the month of February to 3.7 per cent from 3.9 per cent in January also dampened the market expectations.

Meanwhile, of other major Asian indices, the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped by 0.13 per cent, while the Japan’s Nikkei was 0.22 per cent up in the early trade this morning.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.95 per cent lower in the previous session on Tuesday.

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Japan starts removing highly radioactive water at plant

The operator of a troubled nuclear power plant in north-eastern Japan started to transfer highly radioactive water to a nearby storage vessel, news reports said on Wednesday.

A series of strong temblors on Monday and Tuesday caused a delay in the pumping operation, but Tokyo Electric Power Co, which runs the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, started at 7:30 pm (10:30 GMT) Tuesday to pump out of a reactor building, where the radiation-contaminated water has hindered workers’ efforts to contain the crisis.

Some 700 tons are to be moved into a condenser where, in normal operations, steam created from the reactor is cooled down. The pumping is expected to take 40 hours, Kyodo News reported.

The operations require considerable time as workers need to transfer some 60,000 tons of contaminated water, collected in the basements of the turbine buildings of reactors 1, 2 and 3, as well as the trenches linked to them.

The Japanese government decided Tuesday to raise the severity of the ongoing nuclear crisis from level 5 to level 7, the worst on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES).

While both the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the Fukushima nuclear accident are now both rated at the highest level of the 7-step INES scale, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the Japanese accident is far less severe than the Soviet nuclear disaster.

Japan’s Jiji Press reported that Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said the plant was not yet stable.

“We don’t see significant changes on a day-to-day basis with the reactors” of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Jaczko told a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “It is not yet, however, what we believe to be stable.” Referring to the fact that external power sources to water pumps at reactors were lost about 50 minutes after a strong quake on Monday, Jaczko said, “What we want to see is to move into a situation in which that kind of situation would be dealt with in a more predictable manner and with less possibility for the loss of the cooling system.” Jaczko warned that if the ability to cool the reactor cores is lost, Japan will have to face the possibility of “a further degradation in the fuel, which could lead to possibly a greater release (of radioactive substances) than what’s going on.”

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Indian PM Manmohan Singh heads to China for talks

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is travelling to China, as the two countries look to boost economic ties.

In December, the two countries agreed to increase bilateral trade to $100bn (£66bn) by 2015, up from $60bn in 2010.

Mr Singh will also attend a summit in China that will include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

China is India's largest trading partner. However, the two countries still share a very unbalanced trade relationship.

"India's import dependence on China has gone up significantly on critical items," said Samiran Chakraborty, regional head of research for India at Standard Chartered Bank.

"Whereas if you look at exports, India's primary export to China is only iron ore."

Mr Chakraborty says this issue could come up during the visit.

"One of the demands is to open up the Chinese markets to India. Otherwise the trade balance is very much in favour of China and working against India," he adds.
'Complementary relationship'

When China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited India in December, the two sides agreed to take measures to promote Indian exports in China, in an effort to reduce India's trade deficit.

About 400 business leaders came with Mr Wen to India and business deals worth $16bn were signed.

The two countries also agreed to expand co-operation in infrastructure, environment, information technology, telecommunications, and investment and finance.

Mr Chakraborty says it is in each sides interest to continue to deepen ties.

"If these two have to stay side by side sharing borders and trying to grow at high growth rates, it has to be a complementary relationship rather then a tense relationship," Mr Chakraborty said.

"Otherwise it will impact the investment climate in both countries".

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