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Some Interesting facts about Jagannath Rath Yatra Odisha

•  As practiced in a few other orthodox Hindu temples, none other than Hindus will be allowed to enter the gates of the Jagannath temple in Puri to view the deities and offer worship. However, the entry is open to anyone irrespective of caste and religion during the Jagannath Rath Yatra. During this festival time, all people can worship the Lord and receive his blessings.
•  The Rath yatra sees the procession of three independent chariots for the three deities of Jagannath, Balarama and Shubadra. Hence this event is also called the festival of chariots. The names of these three chariots are Nandighosha, Taladhwaja and Devadalana.
•  Nandigosha is the chariot of Jagannath that is set on 18 wheels. Taladwaja, the chariot of Balarama runs on 16 wheels and 14 wheels roll the chariot Padmadhwaja in which Shubadra parades.
•  The most astonishing facts about the Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra is that all the three chariots are constructed anew year after year prior to the festival. The construction makes use of newer materials as the years go by. However, the structure, model, design and measurements of the chariot remain the same. In front of each chariot, four wooden horses are fixed.
•  The chariot tops replicate the structure of the temple towers built in the North Indian style. Hundreds of pilgrims and devotees pull the massive sized chariots with sturdy ropes. This creates an awe inspiring sight for the onlookers. For making the canopies of the chariots, about 1200 meters of cloth is used. A team of 15 skilled tailors make the canopies.
•  As per the traditional belief, the king of Puri sweeps the floor with a broom stick before the chariots move forward thus providing a royal procession to the Lord with his accomplices.
•  When the festival begins, Lord Jagannath seems to refuse moving out. Despite the efforts of the crowds, the chariot cannot be moved even an inch forward. After a few hours of mammoth efforts, finally the chariot moves forward to trigger the procession’s onward march.
•  There is an interesting story behind the chariot festival. It is said Lord Jagannath catches high fever year on year prior to the Rath yatra. Hence he is given rest for a period of one week before the chariot festival. The temple doors remain shut for the public and none is allowed to disturb the resting Lord during this period. The chariot procession comes as a change for the Lord to visit his maternal aunt’s house after he recovers from his fever.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.in

SCIENCE-FICTION COME TO LIFE:MICROSOFT HOLOLENS

Microsoft has just revealed its next great innovation: Windows Holographic. It's an augmented reality experience that employs a headset, much like all the VR goggles that are currently rising in popularity, but Microsoft's solution adds holograms to the world around you. The HoloLens headset is described as "the most advanced holographic computer the world has ever seen." It's a self-contained computer, including a CPU, a GPU, and a dedicated holographic processor. The dark visor up front contains a see-through display, there's spatial sound so you can "hear" hologram

s behind you, and HoloLens also integrates a set of motion and environmental sensors. 

NO WIRES OR PC REQUIRED, IT'S A SELF-CONTAINED HOLOGRAM GENERATOR 
Though still early in its development, HoloLens will be made available "in the Windows 10 timeframe" which could mean anything from 12 months to five years  and, according to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, it will be priced "for both enterprise and consumers to use it." Microsoft has already shown HoloLens to at least one games publisher, with Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick describing the experience as "extraordinary."

Barack Obama's visit to India 2015

During his three-day visit starting January 25, US President Barack Obama will have a tight schedule in India. 

Here are 10 important things you should definitely know about Obama's visit to India:-

1. Obama will be the first US President to be the Chief Guest at the Republic Day parade in India. 

2. During his visit to attend the Republic Day celebrations in India, Obama will be accompanied by his wife Michelle Obama and a team of senior officials in his administration.

3. According to the sources

, the following are coming to Delhi from the US:

Six aircrafts, carrying security staff

President's cavalcade, with 30 cars. One of them might be the Cadillac One, among the world's most high tech cars. 

Marine One helicopters

Air Force One, Obama's plane  (equipped to protect Obama even from nuclear attack)

4. During the Day 1 of his three-day visit, the American president and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi are likely to hold comprehensive talks on the entire gamut of bilateral ties and discuss ways to enhance cooperation in key components, including civil nuclear and defence pacts.

The visit is also expected to boost the seven- year-old civil nuclear deal, facilitating the establishment of US-designed nuclear power plants in India.

5. On second day of the visit, Obama will attend the Republic Day parade and later, along with Modi, will reportedly take part in Indo-US CEO roundtable.

6. On the final day of the visit, Obama is expected to address a town hall.

7. Before his departure from India, Obama and his wife also have a plan to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra.

8. Ahead of Obama's visit, there is already a flurry of terror threats coming everyday from different parts of the country. 

While the Islamic State (ISIS) has threatened the Mumbai Airport by scribbling notes with threat messages twice, Indian Army has imposed high alert in Jammu and Kashmir with the news of militant insurgency in the state. 

9. After input from Intelligence agencies that bombs could be hidden anywhere, Special Cell and Crime Branch officers have been asked to be vigilant about the flower pots around Rajpath and India Gate, 24/7.

10. To beef up the security systems, high level of planning has been done that will cover both on-ground and air security for Obama.

The American team has put together the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA) of the US. 

While India is putting together the Delhi Police, Central Industrial Security Force, Intelligence Bureau and Air traffic controllers to strengthen the security plan. 

India blocks 32 websites, including Vimeo and Github

The Indian government has blocked access to 32 websites based on the advice of an anti-terrorism team. The blocked URLs (uniform resource locator, an address to any website on the Internet) include files, videos and source code-sharing websites such as dailymotion.com, github.com, vimeo.com and archive.org. In an order, tweeted by Pranesh Prakash, policy director at the Bengaluru-based research organization Centre for Internet and Society on Wednesday, the department of telecom said the 32 URLs had been blocked under Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and under Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009. “The websites that have been blocked were based on an advisory by Anti Terrorism Squad, and were carrying anti-India content from ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria),” Arvind Gupta, head of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s information technology cell, said in a message on Twitter. His tweet came in response to a backlash to the move from Internet users. “The sites that have removed objectionable content and/or cooperated with the ongoing investigations, are being unblocked,” he added. If Internet service providers (ISPs) don’t comply with the demand, they are liable to being penalized, the order said. The rules give the central government powers to block access to information if it is in the interest of the “sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above.” Intermediaries failing to comply with the rules are punishable with fines and prison terms of up to seven years, it notes. “Pastebin is still blocked in India. We are getting many reports about this. The Indian government has blocked us...,” said one of the source code sharing websites, Pastebin.com, in a tweet. This is not the first time the government has cracked down on websites. A recent report by Freedom House, an independent watchdog, said the information ministry received a total of 130 court orders to block Web content between February 2009 and December 2013. In February 2014, the then minister of communication and information technology told Parliament that 62 URLs were blocked in 2013 under Section 69A for hosting objectionable information with the potential to disturb public order. As many as 82 URLs were blocked on 18 September 2013 in addition to 26 blocked a week earlier after violence escalated between Hindu and Muslim communities in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. A total of 362 URLs were blocked in response to communal violence in the northeast, the report said. “The problem isn’t just about the specific sites that are blocked; the prob(lem) always about the bad law...,” tweeted Prakash. “The 69A rules don’t allow for transparency, accountability, time-limits on blocks, etc.

View of an Indian student towards America

Aniruddh Chaturvedi came from Mumbai to Carnegie Melon University in Pittsburgh, Penn., where he is majoring in computer science. This past summer he interned at a tech company in Silicon Valley.

During two years in the US, Chaturvedi has been surprised by various aspects of society, as he explained last year in a post on Quora.

Chaturvedi offered his latest thoughts on America in an email to Business Insider.

The most surprising things about America:

- Nobody talks about grades here.

- Everyone is highly private about their accomplishments and failures. Someone's performance in any field is their performance alone. This is different compared to India where people flaunt their riches and share their accomplishments with everybody else.

- The retail experience is nowhere near as fun/nice as it is in India. Because labor is cheap in India, there is always someone who will act as a "personal shopper" to assist you with holding your clothes, giving suggestions, etc. In America, on the other hand, even if you go to a Nordstrom or Bloomingdales, there is almost nobody to help you out while you're shopping. Shopping in America is more of a commodity/chore than it is a pleasurable activity

- This may be biased/wrong because I was an intern, but at least in the tech world, nobody wants to put you under the bus for something that you didn't do correctly or didn't understand how to do. People will sit with you patiently till you get it. If you aren't able to finish something within the stipulated deadline, a person on your team would graciously offer to take it off your plate.

- The same applies to school. Before I came to the United States, I heard stories about how students at Johns Hopkins were so competitive with each other that they used to tear important pages from books in the library just so other students didn't have access to it. In reality, I experienced the complete opposite. Students were highly collaborative, formed study groups, and studied/did assignments till everyone in the group "got it". I think the reason for this is that the classes are/material is so hard that it makes sense to work collaboratively to the point that students learn from each other.

- Strong ethics — everyone has a lot of integrity. If someone cannot submit their completed assignment in time, they will turn in the assignment incomplete rather than asking for answers at the last minute. People take pride in their hard work and usually do not cheat. This is different from students from India and China as well as back home in India, where everyone collaborates to the extent that it can be categorized as cheating.

- Rich people are thin/well maintained, poor people are fat. This stems from the fact that cheap food is fatty, rich people don't eat cheap food — they tend to eat either home-cooked food which is expensive or eat at expensive/healthy places. Unfortunately, it is expensive to be healthy in America.

- Fat people are not respected much in society. Being fat often has the same connotations as being irresponsible towards your body. If you're thin (and tall, but not as much), people will respect you a lot more and treat you better. You will also receive better customer service if you're well maintained. This extends my previous point which mentioned that if you're thin, you're statistically likely to be rich. Reason why I know this is that I went down from being 210lbs to 148-150lbs. The way people started treating me when I was thin was generally way better than the way I was treated when I was fat. As a small example, the Starbucks baristas were much nicer to me and made me drinks with more care/love.

- Girls are not very promiscuous, contrary to most Hollywood films

- Almost every single person in America has access to basic food, clothing, water and sanitation. I haven't been to states like Louisiana and cities like Detroit, but from what I can tell, nobody is scrambling for the basic necessities required for sustenance.

- Dearth of African Americans in technical fields. This probably stems from the fact that they aren't given enough opportunity, broken families, etc. I'm pretty sure you can extend upon this if you'd like.

- It's expensive to have brick houses in America, contrary to India where brick houses are the norm

- Emphasis on physical fitness/being outdoorsy — this is more of a California thing but I noticed families going on biking trips, boat trips, hiking, camping, barbecuing, etc. Americans take pride in the natural beauty of their surroundings and tend to make the most of it

- Americans waste a lot of food. It is very easy to buy in bulk because it's so much cheaper and as a result a lot of wastage occurs.

Obsession with coffee — Starbucks, Dunkin' etc is crowded with office-goers and students every morning. I don't understand why they can't drink or make coffee before leaving for work. Such a waste of money! ($5/day * 5days/week *52 weeks/year)!

- Split families, not having married parents, etc., is not seen differently than the contrary.

- Support towards the LGBT community — it's fairly normal to be part of the LGBT community; it's not considered a mortal sin if you like someone in your own gender or if you aren't comfortable being male/female/etc. Proof of this is the LGBT Pride Day held in every city etc.

- Smoking weed is seen the same as smoking cigarettes.

And, here are some more things he found surprising about America, excerpted from his post last summer on Quora :

The way that stores price their products makes no apparent economic sense, and is not linear at all.

For example, at a typical store:

- 1 can of coke : $1.00 - 12 cans of coke : $3.00 - 1 Haagen-Dazs ice cream bar : $3.00 - 12 Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars : $7.00

The return policy on almost everything: None of my friends back in India believed me when I told them that you can literally buy anything, including food, and return it within ninety days for a full refund even if you don't have a specific reason for doing so (most stores actually have a "Buyer's Remorse" category under Reason for Return options while returning the product).

The pervasiveness of fast food and the sheer variety of products available: The typical supermarket has at least a hundred varieties of frozen pizza, 50 brands of trail mix, etc. I was just astounded by the different kinds of products available even at small gas station convenience stores.

Soda being cheaper than bottled water: It makes no sense that carbonated and flavored water with HFCS are cheaper than regular water, but hey, that's just how it is.

The fact that there are full service rest stops with decent chain restaurants and big supermarkets every couple of miles on interstate highways

Fruit and vegetable prices, as compared to fast food prices:

- Bag of grapes : $6.00 - Box of strawberries : $5.00 - 1 lb tomatoes : $3.00 - McChicken : $1.00 - [McDouble] : $1.00

Unlimited soda refills:

The first time (and one of the last times...) I visited McDonalds in 2007, the cashier gave me an empty cup when I ordered soda. The concept of virtually unlimited soda refills was alien to me, and I thought there was a catch to it, but apparently not.

Slightly digressing, I've noticed that the typical fountain machine has a huge selection, including Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Sprite, Sprite Zero, Hi-C, Powerade, Lemonade, Raspberry Lemonade (and/or their coca-cola counterparts)... The list goes on. This may not seem like much, but it is actually a lot more compared to the 3-4 options (coca-cola, sprite, fanta, limca) that most Indian soda fountain machines have.

Serving Sizes: American serving sizes are HUGE! I've noticed that entree sizes are huge as well. I am by no means a small eater, but it usually takes me at least 1.5 meals to finish the entree.

US Flag displayed everywhere: I was surprised to see that the US flag is displayed in schools, on rooftops of houses, etc. India has very strict rules governing the display and use of the national flag. Also, something that struck out to me was how it was completely normal to wear the US flag or a US flag-like pattern as a bikini.

Over-commercialization of festivals: I'm not denying that festivals like Diwali and Eid aren't extremely commercialized in India, but America takes it to a whole new level. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, etc., and an almost year-round sale of Christmas, Halloween, Easter, etc. items.

An almost-classless society: I've noticed that most Americans roughly have the same standard of living. Everybody has access to ample food, everybody shops at the same supermarkets, malls, stores, etc. I've seen plumbers, construction workers and janitors driving their own sedans, which was quite difficult for me to digest at first since I came from a country where construction workers and plumbers lived hand to mouth.

Also, (almost) all sections of society are roughly equal. You'll see service professionals owning iPhones, etc. as well. This may be wrong but part of it has to do with the fact that obtaining credit in this country is extremely easy. Anybody can buy anything, for the most part, except for something like a Maserati, obviously. As a result, most monetary possessions aren't really status symbols. I believe that the only status symbol in America is your job, and possibly your educational qualifications.

Chaturvedi ended his post with a link to a video of "America F--- Yeah" from the movie "Team America."

Now we have a screen on the side of the mobile

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge has a screen on the side! The new smartphone has a small display that runs along the right edge of the body and can show items independent of the main display. For example, this strip can display time and date, stock quotes, messages and notifications etc. Samsung has even designed a game customized for this small display panel.

$749 iPhone 6 Plus Costs Apple Just $215.60 to Make: IHS

Apple's largest iPhone is selling for $100 more than its other new model, but an outside research firm estimated Tuesday that it costs Apple only $15.50 more to make the more expensive version.
Apple said it sold more than 10 million of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models in their first three days on sale. Both have larger screens than earlier iPhone models, and analysts say consumers like the new, bigger sizes. The Plus has a 5.5-inch screen, as measured diagonally, while the regular iPhone 6 is at 4.7 inches

Apple will make more profit on the Plus version, according to a report from research firm IHS Technology. The full, no-contract price for the 16-gigabyte iPhone 6 is $649. IHS estimates it costs Apple $200.10 for materials and manufacturing. The iPhone 6 Plus retails for $749 without a contract, but IHS says it costs Apple $215.60.

With a two-year service contract with a wireless carrier, a 16-gigabyte iPhone 6 costs consumers $200. An iPhone 6 Plus costs $300 with a contract.

The Plus model also has a bigger battery and a slightly more expensive camera than the regular iPhone 6, according to IHS.

Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. The Cupertino, California, company usually doesn't disclose details of its manufacturing costs.

India's mars mission a big hit

NEW DELHI  — India celebrated putting a spacecraft into orbit around Mars on Wednesday, hoping the rare feat will show the world it is open for business in space exploration and inspire a new generation of homegrown scientists to help drive growth.

Those motivations help explain why India, a poor country of 1.2 billion, even invests in a space program when so many of its people lack access to proper toilets, electricity and health care.

For one, boosting its space business has always been a key selling point of the country's program.

More than half of the world's missions to Mars so far have failed. In proving it can pull off a complex space mission, India becomes one of the world's few reliable ferrymen to the stars. That can attract investors, commercial launch orders and customers to hire Indian rockets and satellites for their scientific research.

But the program also is a source of pride and motivation for the country's burgeoning ranks of young professionals. India's robust scientific and technical education system has already produced millions of software programmers, engineers and doctors who have helped grow the country's growing middle class.

"Mars, of course, captures the imagination of the world. What better goal is there to reach for, to prove we can accomplish our goals?" said B.N. Raghunandan, the engineering dean at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India's tech hub.

Every time India launches another rocket, he said he is bombarded by students asking how they can get into the school's aerospace engineering program.

India's credibility also gets a huge boost, he said. "These kinds of successes put India in a better bargaining position, reassuring investors that we can perform."

India joined an elite club when it successfully guided its Mars Orbiter Mission, affectionately called MOM, into orbit around the red planet Wednesday morning. Only the U.S., former Soviet Union and European Space Agency have been able to do that before.

In scenes broadcast live on TV, scientists at the Indian Space and Research Organisation's command center in Bangalore erupted into cheers as orbiter's engines completed 24 minutes of burn time to maneuver the spacecraft into place. MOM had traveled some 666 million kilometers (414 million miles) and more than 300 days since breaking from Earth's gravitational pull.

India was particularly proud that MOM was developed with homegrown technology and for a bargain price of about $75 million — a cost that Modi quipped was lower than many Hollywood movie budgets. NASA's much larger Maven mission, whose satellite went into orbit around Mars on Sunday, cost nearly 10 times as much, at $671 million.

The country's business sector applauded the mission, with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry saying "it will encourage Indian industry to invest in the research and innovation."

India's success shows the world that "they are now a force of capability ... that can be taken very seriously," said space expert Roger Franzen, the technical program manager at the Australian National University's Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

"India has an extremely well-developed space industry that manufactures everything from the components to the spacecraft to the instrumentation to the launch vessels," he said.

In the realm of scientific space research, India also could soon join in collaborative missions with NASA or ESA, he suggested.

But the focus for the space agency, which operates on an annual budget of $1.1 billion, will remain on developing technologies for commercial and navigational satellite applications, the agency's chief K. Radhakrishnan said Tuesday. Those services could bring in significant revenues from companies or governments seeking to place their own satellites or research equipment in space.

"If we're going to earn money, we're going to do it on that," said D. Raghunandan of the Delhi Science Forum, a group that promotes the study of science. "India's portfolio is likely to be somewhat limited because we can't afford to spend that much money in pure science exploration and in an exercise of the imagination."

MOM will circle the planet for at least six months, with solar-powered instruments gathering scientific data that may shed light on Martian weather systems as well as what happened to the water that is believed to have existed once on Mars.

It also will search Mars for methane, a key chemical in life processes on Earth that could also come from geological processes. Experts hope data gathered will help them better understand how planets form and what conditions might make life possible.

"Mars is gradually unveiling its secrets to science and humanity and the Indian mission is yet another means of unveiling this enigma that Mars presents," said Franzen.

Even though India wrestles with many problems from poverty to hunger, that shouldn't stop the country from forging ahead in science and space, said B.N. Raghunandan, of the Indian Institute of Science.

"I don't think we can afford to lag behind. We can't sacrifice frontier research for the sake of solving old-world problems," he said. "These technological advances have their own spinoffs and benefits."

For 12-year-old Mansha Khanna, who was visiting the Nehru Planetarium in New Delhi for Mars-themed learning activities and games, the mission's success gave her something to dream about — becoming scientist

"I am proud to be born in a country that can do anything and succeed," he said.

Android far advanced than ios

These frogs are true smartphones fan

In the video above, a small army of frogs-turned-couch-potatoes watch enrapt as a video of worms plays on the screen of an iPhone placed in the dirt. A few of the frogs even take a leap at the phone, in hopes the worms could be dinner.

Facebook settings you must change

If you missed the news, Facebook was recently valued at $201.6 billion. That's enough to slip it in at number 22 on the list of the largest companies in the world.

Most of that value comes from ads, and to attract advertisers, Facebook sells them your information. It also adds features that annoy you, but play well with the ad companies. If you hear people insisting Facebook doesn't care about your privacy or experience, that's why.

In defense of Facebook, some features are ones you'd actually want to use. Plus, it does give you the option to tip the balance of privacy back in your favor, if you know where to look.

Here are five features you want to change.

1. Autoplaying videos

Scrolling through your Facebook news feed is starting to feel a little too "helpful." Instead of having to click on a video, Facebook now automatically plays them hoping to attract your attention. Well I, for one, prefer to actually click on the thing that I want to watch.

Luckily, turning this feature off isn't as hard as you'd think. First, click the arrow on the far-right of the screen. Then click the "Settings" button.

You should see a variety of options. Click the "Videos" link in the left column. From there, click the drop-down next to "Auto-Play Videos" and set it to "Off."

Now sit back, relax and enjoy a news feed without nearly as much video clutter.

2. Clear searches

How much searching do you do looking up old flames, classmates, business associates and long lost relatives on Facebook? Whatever it is, I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that Facebook saves all your searches. Anyone who gets access to your account can see them.

Fortunately, Facebook lets you clear your search history. Getting there is going to take a little bit of work, though, so stick with me.

First, in your profile click the down arrow in the upper right corner and then the "Settings" option to navigate to your settings page.

Now, click the "Privacy" tab on the left-hand menu. Finally, under "Who can see my stuff?" click "Use Activity Log" to get to where Facebook hides all of the data that it's been tracking since day one.

When you first open your activity log, the "Search" option should be hidden. There should be a "More" option somewhere under the tab listings that start with "Photos." Click that, and you'll see all of your options.

From there, click "Search" and you should see every single Facebook search that you've ever made. From there, simply click the "Clear Searches" link at the top of your screen and your search history will be gone permanently.

You may also want to look around your activity log in general for any other information you don't want to be sitting around in your Facebook account forever.

3. Privacy settings

When you post something to Facebook, you probably don't want all 1 billion users to see it. That means you need to get your post privacy settings right the first time.

First, navigate to your settings page again by clicking the upside-down triangle in the upper-right corner of your profile and then the "Settings" button.

Now click the "Privacy" tab on the left, and you should see a bunch of options. Clicking the "Edit" button will give you a drop-down menu where you can select the options which best suit your needs. In most cases, you'll want to change the settings to Friends or turn it off.

4. Unwanted notifications

If you're hearing more notification sounds than ever before, that's because Facebook has added more things to notify you about. 

If you don't want to hear certain notifications anymore, then read on.

Get on over to the settings screen again by clicking the upside-down triangle in the upper-right corner of the screen and then the "Settings" button.

From there, click the "Notifications" tab on the left and you should see a list of every possible notification you could be receiving. Start by choosing how you get notified. Turning off sounds is a good start.

For what events trigger notifications, I'd recommend turning off "Tags" and also any groups that you don't care about. Every time anyone tags you in a post, you'll be notified and that can get annoying.

You might want to turn on the "Birthdays" option if you want to keep up to date on who needs some well-wishes.

Not every Facebook feature is annoying. In fact, some are downright useful, if you know they're there.

5. "Social" advertising

Facebook's stock value is based heavily on the fact that advertisers can show you what your friends are buying. You might be surprised to know that Facebook lets you opt out of these posts. Back to the settings page!

You know the drill. In your profile, click the upside-down triangle in the upper-right corner and then the "Settings" button.

Click on the "Ads" tab. The two options here are easy to switch and very powerful. For each one, click the "Edit" button and then "No one" instead of "Friends."

That's not hard, but before I sign off let me just give you a quick explanation of what "Ads and Friends" is really about. Facebook claims that it "doesn't sell your information to advertisers," but what it does do is put you in a group that the advertiser can browse.

If you and a friend share a hobby, then Facebook will take note of that. If you mention a product or company advertising on Facebook, it will probably put it next to an advertisement that your friend will see. It's basically a testimonial, but not one you might want to make.

India's cheapest smartphone at just Rs 1999 or $33

Feature phone maker Jivi on Thursday launched its first smartphone, which is 'extremely affordable' at Rs. 1,999, aimed at the masses.

The New Delhi-based firm, which expects to sell about 200,000 units of the device, claims this is the cheapest Android-based smartphone available in the country.

"The intent was clear. We want to make available a good quality smartphone at an extremely affordable price, we are doing this on very thin margins," Jivi Mobiles CEO Pankaj Anand told PTI.

He added that the firm will bring newer devices in the coming weeks powered by the latest Android KitKat operating system.

Earlier this week, another domestic firm Intex had launched an Android 4.4 KitKat powered smartphone, the Aqua T2. for Rs. 2,699 via Flipkart, claiming it was the cheapest KitKat-based smartphone in the country.

The dual-SIM Jivi JSP 20, which will be sold exclusively through e-commerce firm Amazon.in, features a 3.5-inch (320x480 pixel) display, 1GHz processor and Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread OS.

The Jivi JSP 20 sports 128MB of RAM, 256MB inbuilt storage that's expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB), a 2-megapixel rear camera with flash, and a 1350mAh battery.

"This is an entry-level device for those looking to upgrade. This is in sync with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India initiative," he said.

Asked how the company intends to reach users, who may not have access to Internet to purchase online, Anand said the firm will conduct on ground activities to help them.

"We will have people on ground, across colleges and other places to help people purchase the phone. Also, we will launch newer devices offline as well, this is just the beginning," he added.

The Indian smartphone market is witnessing intense competition, especially in the affordable category.

Touted as the fastest growing smartphone market globally, over 44 million smartphones were sold in the country last year, buoyed by affordable devices made by local firms such as Micromax and Karbonn.

According to research firm IDC, 18.42 million smartphones were shipped in India in Q2 2014 with Samsung as the leader with a 29 percent market share, Micromax (18 percent), Karbonn (8 percent) and Lava (6 percent).

Bend: An Apple iPhone 6 story

Reports have emerged that suggest Apple's supersize iPhone 6 Plus handset is prone to bending in pockets.

Irate customers have taken to the MacRumors forum to voice concerns over the fact that the handsets are being damaged under normal use.

The first to kick off the Bend-gate furore was a user called 'hanzoh', who posted an image of a clearly warped iPhone 6 Plus handset.

"Yesterday, I left at 10am with the iPhone in my left front pocket of my suit pants," wrote Hanzoh, in his post. "I drove 4 hours to a wedding, which also involved a lot of sitting during dinner, but also 2-3 hours of dancing."

"As I lay it on the coffee table and sat down on the couch to relax from the drive, I saw the reflection of the window in the iPhones slightly distorted. Now I lay it flat with the display side on the table, take a look."

It's important to note that this isn't an issue of the protruding camera causing a wobble effect - the images posted are display-side down.

Since Hanzoh's revelation, many other iPhone users have spoken out about similar issues with their own handsets, launching fierce discussions across Twitter and Reddit.

Some argue that users should be more careful with their handsets, and make sure not to sit on them.

Others suggest that keeping a phone in a front pocket is considered normal usage, and the iPhone should have been designed to withstand minimal pressures.

The reason for the bending issue is pretty clear at this point - Apple's iPhone 6 Plus is made of aluminium, is very large and, most importantly, very thin (at 7.1mm). This makes it incredibly susceptible to warping compared to other handsets.

Apple's yet to comment on the #bendgate debacle, but it's probably wise to use your iPhone 6 Plus with care for the time being.

If there is in fact an issue with smartphone warping then this is a huge design oversight on Apple's part, especially considering the phone's are under a week old.

Is your iPhone 6 Plus driving you round the bend? Let us know in the comments...

Samsung going to launch a new smartphone in China before Apple

Seoul Samsung Electronics Co said today its latest Galaxy Note 4 smartphone will go on sale in China and South Korea later this week as its flagging mobile business tries to defend sales from Apple’s new iPhones.

Samsung said all three Chinese mobile carriers and all three South Korean mobile operators will begin Galaxy Note 4 sales on Friday.

Samsung’s announcement marks the first time the Korean company has released a flagship smartphone in China before other markets.

Apple’s iPhone 6 has yet to arrive in China, the world’s most populous country. But Apple Inc still chalked up 10 million sales of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models in the first three days after the phones went on sale.

Apple’s new iPhone 6 with its larger screen than previous models eliminates at key advantage for Samsung that lured buyers with the big screens of its Galaxy phones.

The 4.7-inch screen of the iPhone 5 has been increased to 5.5-inches for the iPhone 6 Plus.

The Galaxy Note 4’s display measures 5.7 inches diagonally, slightly larger than the biggest iPhone. The Note series comes with a stylus that Samsung calls “S Pen” for note taking and drawing.

Samsung moved forward its launch schedule for the new Note phone from October after Apple announced the iPhone 6 with a bigger screen.

US sales of the Galaxy Note 4 will start on Oct 17.

Samsung said the Galaxy Note Edge, which has a curved side screen that serves as a second screen to display weather information, clocks and menu buttons, will start going on sale in late October.

PM Narendra Modi Visit to US

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have breakfast with heads of top global companies including Google and PepsiCo on his upcoming visit to the United States, in a bid to fetch investments for Asia's third-largest economy. 

Modi is scheduled to have breakfast in New York September 29 with CEOs including Google's Eric Schmidt and PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi, and meet six others including the heads of Boeing, IBM and Goldman Sachs. 

Modi kicks off his maiden US visit on September 26, addressing the UN General Assembly on Saturday before attending a rally of Indian-Americans. He is due to fly on to Washington late September 29 to meet President Barack Obama. 

"There will be a breakfast meeting with eleven major CEOs of various companies on Monday, the 29th of September. There would be the chairman of Google, there would PepsiCo and there would be several others," foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told a press conference in New Delhi. 

"Following which (the) prime minister will have one-to-one meetings with six other individual CEOs, all of major US companies and investment institutions." 

Modi's own breakfast will consist of no more than lemonade or tea — he is expected to restrict himself to a liquid diet during the trip to observe a nine-day Hindu religious fast.

Modi, known as a zealous moderniser when chief minister of the prosperous Gujarat state, is set to launch his pet 'Make in India' project at home a day before heading off to the US with an aim to boost the manufacturing sector. 

Modi is expected to pitch the 'Make in India' project on the four-day trip to the US, encouraging global business leaders to set up shop in India, an initiative he announced in his Independence Day speech last month.

ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

An Indian space probe has successfully entered Mars' orbit, marking the first interplanetary mission for the country.

Scientists broke into wild cheers Wednesday morning local time as the orbiter's engines completed 24 minutes of burn time and maneuvered into its designated place around the red planet.

The success of India's Mars Orbiter Mission, affectionately nicknamed MOM, brings India into an elite club of Martian explorers that includes United States, the European Space Agency and the former Soviet Union.

The Indian Space and Research Organisation described the mission as flawless.

"We have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise and innovation," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, standing alongside ISRO scientists at the command center in the southern tech hub of Bangalore. "We have navigated our craft through a route known to very few."

India is the first country to reach Mars’ orbit on a maiden venture and the first Asian country to launch a successful Mars mission, all with a much cheaper price tag than any Mars mission before it.

NASA congratulated the ISRO for the successful mission on Twitter(https://twitter.com/NASA/status/514606971450712064/photo/1).

And the ISRO amplified its moment in the spotlight with a little humor, referencing NASA's own historic Mars-related feat in a tweet after getting a welcome message from Curiosity's Twitter handle.

Highest point on top of the bulge on Earth :Mount Chimborazo

1. The winner of the hightest point of Earth is Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador. Mount Chimborazo, in the Andes, is a 20,000-plus-foot peak sitting on top of a bulge on the Earth. Mount Everest is a 29,000-plus-foot peak sitting lower down on that same bulge.

Love story that plays on 14 apple devices

Mysterious Bermuda Triangle

• Located in the Atlantic Ocean, the Bermuda Triangle falls between Bermuda, Puerto Rico and Florida.
• The Bermuda Triangle has long been believed to be the site where a number of mysterious plane and boat incidents have occurred.
• While it has become part of popular culture to link the Bermuda Triangle to paranormal activity, most investigations indicate bad weather and human error are the more likely culprits.
• Research has suggested that many original reports of strange incidents in the Bermuda Triangle were exaggerated and that the actual number of incidents in the area is similar to that of other parts of the ocean.
• While its reputation may scare some people, the Bermuda Triangle is actually part of a regularly sailed shipping lane with cruise ships and other boats also frequently sailing through the area.
• Aircraft are also common in the Bermuda Triangle with both private and commercial planes commonly flying through the air space.
• Stories of unexplained disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle started to reach public awareness around 1950 and have been consistently reported since then.
• Unverified supernatural explanations for Bermuda Triangle incidents have included references to UFO’s and even the mythical lost continent of Atlantis.
• Other explanations have included magnetic anomalies, pirates, deliberate sinkings, hurricanes, gas deposits, rough weather, huge waves and human error.
• Some famous reported incidents involving the Bermuda Triangle include:
• The USS Cyclops and its crew of 309 that went missing after leaving Barbados in 1918.
• The TBM Avenger bombers that went missing in 1945 during a training flight over the Atlantic.
• A Douglas DC-3 aircraft containing 32 people that went missing in 1958, no trace of the aircraft was ever found.
• A yacht was found in 1955 that had survived three hurricanes but was missing all its crew.