Tuesday 18 December 2012

England keep their date with history



India lose a home Test series for the first time in 8 years.

Ian Bell finally rung in the riches for England with an unbeaten century on the final day.

NAGPUR:  England made history at the Jamtha stadium as they completed an epochal away series victory over India on Monday to lift the Anthony de Mello Trophy, the first time they had done so since David Gower’s team won in 1984-85 on the sub continent. Jonathan Trott and Ian Bellcompleted centuries to thwart India on the final day, as India failed to get the early wickets they so desperately needed to enforce a result.

The 2-1 verdict in favour of England was never in doubt once the two had added 208 runs without so much as giving a chance to the home team. Truth be told, there was a chance offered – of Bell on 75, against Chawla and dropped by Virender Sehwag - but it was too little, too late. And were it not for the series at stake, the day would have made for dreadful watching. It did now too, but the sideplots kept up the intrigue partly. India’s only chance was to take a flurry of early wickets. England’s aim was to take the lead beyond an outside chance of a successful Indian chase.  No prizes for guessing which team succeeded.

Play was called off when England declared on 352/4, leading by 356 and with just 15 overs to go in the day’s play. India were able to take just one wicket through two-and-a-half toiling sessions – that of Trott for 143 – but that was all the success they tasted. Bell was unbeaten on 116 in the end, and thus ended India’s eight-year run of being unbeaten in Tests at home. They had last lost to Australia in 2004-05.
Monumental winIt was a monumental series for England. They were deprived of practice against spin by a vengeful BCCI; lost the opening Test at Ahmedabad, and were then promised wickets that would turn square from the first day in the remaining matches. It appeared as if this would be just another whinging  group of from the British Isles who’d get royally walloped like so many earlier touring parties. But Alastair Cook, the series top-scorer, and Kevin Pietersen, the talisman, turned it all around at Mumbai.
At the Wankhede, the captain struck yet another hundred and Pietersen possibly the most attacking century by a visiting batsman in India, as the tables turned radically. Monty Panesar, who had been erroneously omitted from the Ahmedabad match, returned at the Wankheded to roaring success. For the first time in a long time, England were treating India like India had treated touring teams – bat big and spin out the opposition –  and  this despite Cook losing the tosses at Mumbai and Kolkata.

What should also be noted is that England’s dressing room was not the most pleasant spot to be in following Pietersen’s texting scandal during the recent South African series.  The contest against India was supposed to test the strength of the ‘reintegration’ process that Pietersen and the team – Cook especially – were supposed to be going through. It is in this light that the series win is elevated to another level.

Danger signs
Before England start praising themselves to the skies, they’d do well to factor in the quality of the opposition. A team recently shorn of two key Test batsmen, containing another non-performing mammoth, bereft of a pace battery and short on quality spin – India were not quite the gargantuans at home that people have recently branded them to be. It was a series to forget for the hosts. They continued to turn a blind eye on away results and remained hopeful of letting doctored pitches take care of the home series.  It was a policy that cost them dear. Aside from Cheteshwar Pujara, the batting was a failure.
Sehwag got a hundred, Virat Kohli came into the runs in the last Test, as did skipper MS Dhoni, but the kind of patient partnerships that were the hallmark of England’s performance were acutely absent. What was even more alarming was the ineffectiveness of the spinners, even as Panesar and Graeme Swann ran circles around the Indians. Pragyan Ojha took 20 wickets, but R. Ashwin was sporadic, far more experimental than he was threatening and more of a success with the bat than with the ball. Lack of runs on the board forced Dhoni into defensive tactics and it did not help that his captaincy – if not his place in the team itself – was on the line. Added to it all was the case of Sachin Tendulkar, whose degraded returns turned whispers of his retirement into palpable cries for his ouster.

With an ODI and Twenty20 series against Pakistan looming, India will soon return to formats they now seem most comfortable in. After that, England revisit for their ODI leg, and it is only later next year that Australia will drop in for four Test matches. Don't be surprised if success in the shorter games shifts the focus yet again from the grave matters that ail Indian cricket. Some things never change, but we always knew that!

Thursday 13 December 2012

Snow Fall in Dharmsala





                           snowfall in dharmshala (h.p)

Monday 10 December 2012

Apple and Samsung: A defining rivalry




SymbolPriceChange
AAPL533.25
MSFT26.455
GOOG684.21

JAKARTA/SEOUL (Reuters) - What a difference three months can make. At the end of August, Apple Inc (NSQ:AAPL - News) seemed on top of the world. Fresh off a resounding $1.05 billion U.S. legal victory over arch-foe Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930.KS>, the company was gearing up to launch the fifth iteration of its iconic iPhone. Just a week prior, its market value had surpassed Microsoft Corp's (NSQ:MSFT - News) and it became the most valuable technology company in history.
That was then. Since winning a landmark U.S. patent infringement case in August, its stock has dived 18 percent, wiping $108 billion from its value. But the shares of defeated party Samsung have surged, rising 16 percent.
The dramatic reversal has sparked raging market speculation.
Some pundits say concerns are growing about the seemingly inexorable advance of Google Inc's (NSQ:GOOG - News) Android, the rival software championed by Samsung. Others say fears about higher capital gains taxes have prompted investors made rich by Apple's stock-price growth to sell.
But it is the Apple-Samsung rivalry that defines a global mobile device industry with a growing list of struggling players. Together, the two mobile juggernauts account for more than 1 in 2 smartphones sold globally.
Analysts say Samsung is beginning to shed its aura as a "fast follower" and becoming a serious innovator, while Apple has failed to deliver on a truly seminal product in years - the oft-rumored Apple TV remains a well-honed rumour.
"Apple's actions have started to appear as if innovation is slowing and they're defending turf with a zero-sum market view rather than continuing to innovate as a world-beating leader," said Tony Nash, managing director at IHS, a business information provider.
The clash of the gadget titans underscores a broader battle between Apple and Google's increasingly popular Android mobile software, now installed on about two out of every three smartphones sold.
But some Asian analysts also point to Samsung's very different business model as helping it get a leg up on Apple.
The iPad maker's outsourcing structure provides fatter margins, but cedes some control to an army of suppliers, while Samsung's competitiveness is driven by keeping most of its manufacturing in-house.
And while Apple focuses on a few high-end mobile devices, Samsung's product breadth helps it scoop up new, less affluent users who can then be driven towards higher-margin devices, such as the phone-tablet combo Galaxy Note.
"In Asia, Samsung is still in the stronger growth position when it comes to smartphones - bringing large-screen models to the masses, re-introducing the pen with its Galaxy Note series and also, at the lower-end, with its entry-level Galaxy Y devices driving emerging markets like Indonesia and India," said Melissa Chau, Singapore-based research manager at IDC.
SAMSUNG SHIFT
No one is writing off Apple, still the world's most valuable listed company and expected to chalk up 27 percent revenue growth to almost $200 billion in fiscal 2013 - about level with Samsung.
"There have certainly been missteps at Apple ... but if we look at what's been achieved in the year since (co-founder Steve) Job's death, there are things that keep their competitors quaking in their boots," said Rachel Lashford, Managing Director, Mobile and APAC, at consultancy Canalys in Singapore.
Among its strengths, she cited unprecedented demand around new launches, the expansion of content on iTunes and the Apps Store, a possible move to product updates twice a year, efforts to improve parts supply and manufacturing, the dogged legal pursuit of Samsung and cash reserves of more than $120 billion.
Its gross margins of above 40 percent are double Samsung's.
But the South Korean company is now beginning to generate some buzz with recent improvements in its line-up. This week, news emerged that it is likely accelerating the launch of its next-generation flagship Galaxy smartphone - which sports an unbreakable screen.
Codenamed "Project J," the Galaxy S IV could be released as early as March or April, according to leading industry analysts and tech blogs. With smartphones increasingly looking alike, an unbreakable screen could be a big selling point for the Galaxy over the iPhone.
"Samsung's richer product line-up and vertically integrated supply structure are among its strongest advantages over Apple's simpler product range and strength in software," said Kim Young-chan, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp in Seoul.
Samsung is estimated to have shipped close to 56 million smartphones in July-September, more than double the number of iPhones, and analysts expect it to sell around 30 million more smartphones than Apple this quarter.
The South Korean firm's shift comes as its Cupertino, California-based rival suffered from some missteps in its iPhone 5 mapping app, supply constraints that have prompted delivery delays and allegations of employee abuse at supplier plants in China.
Charles Moon, Singapore-based principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, a research consultancy, sees these as a sign Apple is adjusting to maturing markets.
"A completely offensive strategy with uncontested gains are a thing of the past," he said. "Apple is not positioned well at the moment following a couple of disappointing quarters and continued negative news flow.
"Regardless of what happens (in the court ruling), Samsung and Android are winning where it counts - outside the courtroom - and this is likely to go on unless Apple can continue to reinvent itself. Very difficult, considering how far they've come, but not impossible. They've done it before," he added.
APPLE MISSTEPS
In the key battleground of China - the world's No. 1 cellphone market - Samsung and Android devices in general appear to be making headway against pricier Apple gadgets.
Third-quarter data shows Apple slid to sixth place in China, its largest market after the United States. Samsung kept top slot, according to research firm IDC, which estimated the Chinese smartphone market at a record of more than 60 million in July-September.
IDC analysts forecast a rebound for Apple with this month's iPhone 5 launch there, but it has so far failed to crack the country's largest carrier by far, China Mobile Ltd <0941.HK>.
Apple's "loss of market share and of opportunities like a stalled China Mobile agreement are notable and, potentially, show some strengths of an integrated hardware-led model of players like Samsung against the comprehensive hardware-software ecosystem model of Apple," said Nash at IHS.
"This competition is far from over and my hope is that it forces very strong and continued innovation from Apple, Samsung and others." (Reporting by Miyoung Kim in SEOUL and Jeremy Wagstaff in JAKARTA; Writing by Ian Geoghegan; Editing by Dean Yates, Edwin Chan and Andre Grenon)

Monday 3 December 2012

Body Building Techniques


Steps to Maximize Your Workout

Dont just work out. Optimise that work out to maximise the results! Here's how.

yippeee 10 storey in 48 hours - 10 storey building in Punjab



A Punjab entrepreneur kept his promise and in just 48 hours a 10 storey building witha red and grey facade,was standing on an industrial plot in Mohali, 10 km from Chandigarh.Two days after Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal laid its foundation stone.






http://in.screen.yahoo.com/10-storey-building-completed-48-064000294.html

Free eBooks Online!

Though Internet has brought in some of the most significant changes in the world today, and has surely brought in a revolution in the world, in almost every field and every sector. This revolution has surely benefited us a lot in every single possible thing, but at the same time has made us suffer some losses as well.
 


Internet, is also a part of this revolution. We all surely get benefited in a lot of ways by it but surely it does has replaced some of the things that were once considered really important. One such thing includes the book reading habit, which is for sure is the most important thing in ones life in every possible way. Internet has given much alternatives to book reading which has made youth and everyindividual away from books.


Book reading is the most appropriate and the best source of getting knowledge. As book is considered as best friend of a human. But Internet has replaced this and now if you observe, the young youth of today has almost no knowledge, just because of quitting the habit of book reading. Not all but some individuals are still out there practising this healthy habit. My today's includes interesting material for such book lovers, the best websites where you can find and download ebooks from, absolutely free!
 

Top Websites!

 

Here are some of the best websites for our book lovers from which they can benefit and download ebooks of their taste and type free of cost.

1) Free Tech Books. Com

 


This is the best source as far as obtaining help material regarding computer science, engineering and programming fields are concerned.Not only the books, it also provides you with notes and lectures that can help you more. On this website you can get the material that is legal and freely available on the Internet.

2) Memo Ware. Com

 


This website has the best classifications and the most extensive content o every field and topic. With books it also provides you with maps, technical supports, lectures and other helping material that can help you. The best part about this website is that it has the most easily compatible formats for the material present so that they can easily be downloaded on your gadgets like tablets, palm tops etc.

3) Globusz. Com



This is yet another really good and extensive site where you can get ebooks pretty easily on every possible topic you want to read for. Not only this, they have a star rating formula that makes your work more easy and helps in the promotion of young authors who wish to establish themselves as authors in the on line community.

4) eBook Lobby. Com

 


http://www.ebooklobby.com

This website has the best division and categories of the ebooks present and cover fields and topics on business, art , computing etc. Your work is surely made much easy at this website as you get access to your desired books pretty easily by their classification and categories, with some of the best material on topics of your interest.


5) Free Book Spot. Es



This website has the largest collection of ebooks on every single topic related to the fields of engineering, medical, sciences, fiction etc and is being used and operated in a number of countries. With this, it is the most easy to use website from which you can easily get your desired content. Can benefit you a lot folks do check this out.
 

  •  


6) Know Free. Net

 


This is more than just an ebook library as it provides you with a platform where you can interact with people of your interest and share with them content material like lectures, help books, video training etc for the sake of self training and education. Pretty interesting website this is folks.

7) Book Yards. Com



 


This is yet again the sort of website that gives you more options then just an ebook library. This website provides you with the platform where you can share your content with other people too, helping them also. The best part about this website is that everyone who has an Internet connection can simply visit this site and get benefited from it. Not really a complex type of website this is.

8) Scribd. Com



 


A multi option website this is which is more than just an ebook library. This website gives you the provision of sharing content with others and is compatible with a number of formats like power point, excel, word, pdf etc. Not only this, through this you can download and embed a document is your blog and web page. A much helpful web site this is to get benefit from.

9) 4e Books. Org



 


If you have interest in books related to computer science and computer technology, then this is the best website as it serves the purpose really well. On this you have the most extensive library of ebook, easily download able and be put into use. So, for computer programming ebooks, this is the best website.



10) Baen. Com




 


This website is the best one for those who have a taste of reading science fiction novels as it has within the most extensive library of ebooks related to the topics of science fiction. You can easily download ebooks related to the topics of science fiction according to your desire and taste.

So guys these were some of the best and top websites from which you can download ebooks really easily and get benefit according to your taste of book reading. Do check these websites out and update us with your positive feedback.