WiFi coming to American Airlines flights

Business executives who can’t seem to wean themselves off e-mail, even in a short flight will be pleased to know that American Airlines could be bringing WiFi service to some of their flights in the near future as the airline company will soon roll out WiFi service tests on selected Boeing 767-200s. American Airlines will use Aircell’s Internet broadband connectivity gear in these jets, with the ultimate aim of equipping all 15 of their 767-200s with broadband service before the year is over.

While this development isn’t exactly new (in-flight broadband has been making its rounds for some time already, with Boeing’s Connexion launched at the turn of this century only to shut down a couple of years back due to low uptake. I suspect the price factor had a lot to do with it - $10 for half hour or $30 for the entire flight is just too much to ask, while folks flying economy do not have any power outlets at their seats to keep the passengers’ respective laptops juiced up for the entire flight duration), it is still interesting to see how American Airlines will approach pricing territory in order to achieve a profit. Other airlines that offer in-flight WiFi broadband connection include Jet Blue, German carrier Lufthansa, and Australia’s Qantas.

At press time, plans for the WiFi service will see it being implemented in just a few routes, namely transcontinental US flights. Of course, one will naturally expect some progress from there in the future, which means that the same service could possibly make its way to shorter flights down the road. Each plane will be outfitted with three antennae, where one on the top is for GPS while the other two will remain at the bottom. As for the broadband signal, it will come from Aircell’s 92 cellular towers which are strategically located across the continental 48 states, operating on the 3GHz frequency band. The 802.11b/g signal will be evenly distributed throughout the aircraft cabin via access points located in the ceiling. According to Aircell, the surfing experience will be close to that of using mobile 3G broadband. Word has it that this service will be priced at $10.

Cameraphone to function as a mouse?

Now this is rather weird, but researchers have successfully come up with a way to make your cameraphone function as a mouse - whenever you’re not receiving or making a call, naturally. This software relies on Bluetooth technology to keep it going, and enables the cell phone to interact with public displays. For example, users can obtain product information or purchase tickets simply by using the camera. Unfortunately, this idea still requires a great deal of work before it is ready for a commercial release since the image capture and image processing rate on the cell phone is rather slow, and you have to deal the with the lag.

Unplug from the electricity grid: Solar bags for the eco-minded

November 8, 2007 Adding to a growing selection of solar powered bagsand backpacks on the market, Office Depot has announced the release of a line of Voltaic solar charging bags that feature three lightweight, waterproof solar panels generating up to four watts of power - enough energy to charge nearly any handheld electronic device.

The bags can be used to charge Blackberrys, MP3 players, digital cameras, two-way radios, PDAs and nearly all brands of cell phones, however laptops prove too big a power challenge. Included with each bag is a Li-Ion battery pack, which clips inside the back pocket of the bags and stores any surplus power generated, so it is available when needed - not just when the sun is up. The battery pack can also be charged using an AC travel charger or car charger (both included).

Integrating the solar panels into the back pocket of the bag means there is no need to unpack and setup the panels and they are built into the back of the bag in a way that allows them to articulate, so the bag itself does not feel stiff or restrictive. The solar panels will charge a typical cell phone in 4-6 hours in direct sun. The panels are built on a strong but lightweight aluminum plastic composite, specifically selected to withstand the rigors of outdoor use. Further adding to the bags’ environmentally friendly credentials is the fact that the bags are also made largely from recycled plastic soda bottles.

Office Depot carries three products in the assortment: The Voltaic Converter Solar Charging Bag, which can be used as a standalone daypack, or can be easily attached to another bag by utilizing the included fastek buckles. It is fully padded to carry and protect a notebook computer, includes a lined MP3/sunglasses pouch and features high-density padding in the shoulder straps and back panel, and can be worn as a backpack or a sling bag.

The Voltaic Messenger Solar Charging Bag is aimed at the professional or businessperson traveling to the office and/or going on a short business trip while the Voltaic Solar Charging Backpack has 1,850 cubic inches of storage space, includes multiple pockets and wire channels for electronic devices. It also features high-density padding in the shoulder straps and back panel, a nylon mesh backing for better air flow, an adjustable phone/MP3 pouch on the shoulder strap, a padded laptop sleeve, and a lined pouch inside.

The bags and backpacks range in price from US$179.99 to US$219.99

The world’s cheapest new car – just US$2500

January 11, 2008 If you haven’t heard of India’s Tata Motor Company, rest assured you’ll certainly be hearing a lot more about it very soon. Tata is about to give the world’s automotive manufacturers a landmark lesson in production efficiency with the release of a 100,000 rupee car – that’s US$2500, brand spanking new. Unveiled last night, the Tata ‘NANO’, “the People’s Car” as it is rightfully dubbed, will bring motoring within the reach of millions when it is launched in India later in 2008. Like the four-minute-mile, now we’re aware that it can be done, we suspect that the auto industry is in for another shake-up thanks to the flow-on effects precipitated by this long-time innovative Indian company. Not yet impressed? Then try this for size – Tata Group has been named by Ford as the preferred buyer for its two up-for-sale brands, Jaguar and Land Rover.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony at the 9th Auto Expo in New Delhi, Mr. Ratan N. Tata, chairman of the company that carries his name, said, “I observed families riding on two-wheelers – the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby. It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family. Tata Motors’ engineers and designers gave their all for about four years to realise this goal. Today, we indeed have a People’s Car, which is affordable and yet built to meet safety requirements and emission norms, to be fuel efficient and low on emissions. We are happy to present the People’s Car to India and we hope it brings the joy, pride and utility of owning a car to many families who need personal mobility.”

The People’s Car, designed with a family in mind, has a roomy passenger compartment with generous leg space and head room. It can comfortably seat four persons. Four doors with high seating position make ingress and egress easy.

Yet with a length of 3.1 metres, width of 1.5 metres and height of 1.6 metres, with adequate ground clearance, it can effortlessly manoeuvre on busy roads in cities as well as in rural areas. Its mono-volume design, with wheels at the corners and the powertrain at the rear, enables it to uniquely combine both space and manoeuvrability, which will set a new benchmark among small cars.

When launched, the car will be available in both standard and deluxe versions. Both versions will offer a wide range of body colors, and other accessories so that the car can be customized to an individual’s preferences.

The People’s Car has a rear-wheel drive, all-aluminum, two-cylinder, 623 cc, 33 PS, multi point fuel injection petrol engine. This is the first time that a two-cylinder gasoline engine is being used in a car with single balancer shaft. The lean design strategy has helped minimize weight, which helps maximize performance per unit of energy consumed and delivers high fuel efficiency. Performance is controlled by a specially designed electronic engine management system.

The People’s Car’s safety performance exceeds current regulatory requirements. With an all sheet-metal body, it has a strong passenger compartment, with safety features such as crumple zones, intrusion-resistant doors, seat belts, strong seats and anchorages, and the rear tailgate glass bonded to the body. Tubeless tires further enhance safety.

The People’s Car’s tailpipe emission performance exceeds regulatory requirements. In terms of overall pollutants, it has a lower pollution level than many of the two-wheelers being manufactured in India today. The high fuel efficiency also ensures that the car has low carbon dioxide emissions, thereby providing the twin benefits of an affordable transportation solution with a low carbon footprint.

As for the company’s takeover of luxury car brands Land Rover and Jaguar, Tata said: “A lot of people have been making an issue of whether a car manufacturer that’s in the low end can also integrate with an upper-end luxury car enterprise… that assumes one is going to integrate the enterprise.”

He says the lack of overlap between Jaguar and Land Rover and Tata’s current low-cost vehicle line-up would be an advantage.

Like we said, watch this space.

Gibson's stunning Robot Les Paul tunes itself in seconds

January 10, 2008 Some of the best guitarists have an amazing ability to pick out which of their strings are out of tune and adjust them mid-song – for the rest of us, the tuning process can be an annoying time-waster – particularly on stage. We've written before about Transperformance's bolt-on self-tuning systems, but Gibson has recently become the first company to release a ready-made axe with the ability to adjust itself perfectly to a number of common tunings at the touch of a button. The Gibson Robot Guitar, which just received the NEWSTIPS "Best of Show" award at CES, also makes replacing strings and setting your intonation an absolute breeze. At US$2499, this intelligent Les Paul deserves to be a huge hit.

Guitars, like other stringed instruments, are quite organic and individual machines. Humidity, heat, setup and hard playing can cause subtle changes to the length and tension of their strings, so you've got to keep making small adjustments to keep the strings perfectly in tune. And there's few things more aggravating to even an average ear than a guitar that's just not quite tuned.

While this hasn't posed too much of a problem for a legion of electric guitar heroes over the last 70 years, it's always been a thorn in the side of beginners, and mid-set tune-ups on stage are an annoying and occasionally vibe-killing necessity for gigging musos who don't have guitar techs waiting offstage to hand them freshly strung and tuned axes after each song.

The Gibson Robot Guitar is built on the foundation of the Les Paul Standard, one of the most popular and iconic rock guitars ever. The intelligent upgrades include the Powerhead lockable motorized tuning pegs, a data transmitting tailpiece and tuning control unit, a Master Control Knob for the system and a neck-mounted electronic CPU brain.

Operating the Robot's auto-tuning system is very simple; pull out the control knob, select which one of the available tunings you want to use (Open E, Drop D, DADGAD, Open G, Hendrix tuning, Double Dropped D or one of your custom tuning presets), then let go with your left hand and strum the open strings. The servo-operated tuning pegs simultaneously bring all six strings into perfect tune within a couple of seconds. Quick, accurate and simple. You're then free to tune the strings manually as you play if you need to.

Re-stringing the guitar is exceptionally quick – just attach the string and engage the re-string mode – and the Robot even makes it a breeze to set your intonation, so each string will stay perfectly in tune with itself up and down the fretboard. Intonation mode does this by measuring the pitch of the open string against the pitch at the 12th fret, and indicating to you exactly how many half-turns clockwise or anticlockwise you need to turn that string's bridge screw. A normally difficult and confusing task made exceptionally simple.

The system is integrated beautifully with the guitar, and there's virtually no weight penalty - in fact the servo-operated Powerhead tuning pegs are actually lighter than the standard items.

In today's sad age of tiny attention spans, where kids are more interested in the "press the colored button" world of Guitar Hero than learning the intricacies of the real instrument, Gibson should be applauded for knocking down one more barrier to entry with this clever guitar. The Robot Guitar's pricing at USD$2499 is outstanding, considering the standard Les Paul retails for around US$1700, and the original Transperformance aftermarket bolt-on system went for up to US$3,000. Nice work Gibson!

Mitsubishi launches LaserTV and creates a new display category

anuary 10, 2008 This week in Las Vegas, Mitsubishi announced the world premiere of its new laser television and created a new television category into the bargain. The 65 inch sets on show at the Palms Casino launch looked incredibly good but with no traditional technologies to compare with, we’ll need to wait a bit longer before we can attempt to verify the company’s claim that it produces 80 percent of the color spectrum that the eye can see compared to the “less than 40% today's HDTVs” can display. There’s no info yet on pricing and availability is “later this year” but it’s definitely an exciting new development in home entertainment.

Mitsubishi has focussed its leadership in precision laser technology to produce the first-ever laser-powered television which uses laser beams to provide what it claims to be the widest range of rich, complex colors, along with the most clarity and depth of field.

The LaserTV category introduction represents a significant milestone in Mitsubishi's strategy to lead the large-format, high-definition television space. Mitsubishi has long been at the forefront of large-format and high-definition television innovation with its introduction of the big screen category in 1978 and, subsequently, the world's first 50-inch rear projection TV, first 35-inch color TV, and first 1080p DLP HDTV.

Mitsubishi’s LaserTVs are also capable of delivering a true 3D viewing experience, which was demonstrated at the launch in conjunction with leading 3D digital technology provider REAL D.

The Mitsubishi large-format LaserTVs provide the highest performance in HDTV, and they do so with low power consumption. While today's flat panel HDTVs consume significantly more energy than the analog TVs that they replace, LaserTVs are energy efficient, consuming less power than comparably sized flat-panel sets.

Pantech dual-LCD sliding phone with OLED touch screen keypad offering tactile feedback

May 9, 2007 Korean handset manufacturer Pantech will launch its new IM-R200 dual-LCD sliding phone onto the Korean market this month. The IM-R200 comes equipped with two screens – a 2 inch 260K QVGA TFT main display and a 1.6 inch 260K OLED touch-sensitive screen which replaces the standard keypad. When the phone is opened, the virtual keypad shows up on the touch-sensitive 1.6” 260K OLED LCD, allowing users to dial numbers and view contacts with the stroke of a finger. The advantage is that the touch screen keypad offers a fun and easy way to use its multimedia applications with separate and virtual interfaces for each function. For example, the touch sensitive LCD displays various lists of songs when the phone is used as a music player, while it shows camera functions when used as a camera. The capacitive touch screen vibrates when pressed, offering tactile feedback to give the feel of real buttons.

The dual camera – a 2 MPX camera and a VGA camera - mounted on the IM-R200 features face recognition function; it can recognize the shape of a face and automatically adjust exposure when shooting.

Other highlights include an MP3 player, 128 polyphonic ringtones, document viewer functionality, PictBridge and an electronic dictionary.

The IM-R200 will be launched in Korea this month under the SKY brand and will be supplied to SK Telecom and KTF, two of the top three wireless operators in Korea.

IM-R200 features include: CDMA 1x EV-DO Touch screen keypad with tactile feedback Size: 102.7 x 46.5 x 16.9 mm Weight: 104g

Sony OLED XEL-1 television hits the U.S. market

January 8, 2008 Following on from an appearance at CEATEC last year and a Japanese release in December, Sony has announced the availability of the industry’s first Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) television in the United States.

The world’s first commercially available OLED screen, the 11-inch XEL-1 is about 3 millimeters thin and offers picture quality with extremely high contrast (1,000,000:1 contrast ratio), outstanding brightness, exceptional color reproduction, rapid response time and low-power consumption.

The OLED display panel uses extremely low power levels since the light-emitting structure of the panel eliminates the need for a separate light source. As a result, OLED panels can be up to 40 percent more efficient per panel inch compared with a conventional 20-inch LCD panel.

Sony’s new OLED TV features the latest connectivity options, including two HDMI inputs and a Memory Stick® slot for viewing high-resolution photos.

The XEL-1 OLED TV is available from this month for about USD$2,500.

Sony breaks the $200 mark with new Blu-ray drive

I’ve tried to stay out of the hi-def format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD. If I had to pick a side it would actually be HD DVD. My reasoning behind this decision is quite simple; you can get HD DVD players a lot cheaper than you can get a Blu-ray player. Sure, the choices of the major movie studios should be taken into consideration, but I think the real deciding factor will be a player that the average Joe can buy without breaking the bank. While standalone HD DVD players broke the $200 price barrier in time for the holiday season, Sony has announced the release of their first player to do the same.

Unfortunately as you might have noticed from the picture, this isn’t a standalone unit. You’re going to need a full computer with a free SATA port to take advantage of this. The new drive will ship with a copy of CyberLink PowerDVD BD Edition, which you’ll need to watch your favorite Blu-ray titles.

Sure, you need to have an HTPC, or at least a computer that you can hook up to your TV to really take advantage of the drive, but it’s good to see that Sony has managed to break that all-important $200 mark. The drive is available for pre-order for $199, and should ship by the end of the month.

Market may advance further

Stocks across sectors along with heavyweights may gyrate sharply. Overnight weakness in the US indices and mixed Asian markets in mornings trades may further dampen the investors' sentiment. On the technical side, the Nifty has a stiff resistance at 6300 and the downside cap at 6193, while the Sensex could test higher levels of 21000 and has a likely support at 20438.

US indices ended mixed on Monday, with the Dow Jones closing below at 12827, 27 points up. The Nasdaq lost 5 points at 2499.

All the Indian floats had a field day on the US bourses. ICICI Bank jumped 9.81%, HDFC Bank surged 6.53% and Tata Motors moved up by 3.26% while Satyam, Wipro, Infosys and Dr Reddy's gained around 1-3% each. However Rediff lost 2.42% followed by Patni Computers by 2.23%.

Crude oil prices in the US market slipped on Monday, with the Nymex light crude oil for February delivery falling by $2.82 to close at $95.09 a barrel and in the commodity space, the Comex gold for February series also lost $3.70to settle at $862 a troy ounce.

Market may extend gains

The market may extend gains amid steady-to-firm Asian markets. Market men expect stepping up of buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs). With the beginning of the new calendar year, FIIs are expected to make fresh fund allocations. FIIs pumped in Rs 71486.50 crore or $17.23 billion in Indian equities in calendar year 2007.

FIIs bought shares worth a net Rs 508.80 crore on Friday, 4 January 2008. But as per provisional data, FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 1543.44 crore on Monday, 7 January 2008. Domestic funds bought shares worth a net Rs 327.64 crore on that day.

FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 728.98 crore in the futures & options segment on Monday. According to data released by the NSE, FIIs were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 716.51 crore and bought index options worth Rs 348.08 crore. They were net sellers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 1,762.35 crore and sold stock options worth Rs 31.22 crore.

The market has hit a record high at the onset of the New Year on expectations of FII inflows and also on expectations of good Q3 December 2007 results. Stock-specific activity may rule the roost in the near term based on expectations of results of individual firms. Earnings surprises hold the key for the market in the near term.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 125.76 points or 0.61% to 20,812.65, a record closing high, on Monday, 7 January 2008. Gains in index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank led the upmove.

Telecom sector is expected to continue to post strong earnings growth in Q3 December 2007 on the back of rising new subscriber additions whereas healthy order book will ensure that capital goods firms such as Larsen & Toubro and Bharat Heavy Electricals will turn out good performance for yet another quarter.

Media sector, too, is expected to post decent to strong growth on the back of higher advertisement rates. On the other hand, the IT sector is likely to be hit by the appreciation of the rupee against the dollar.

Steel sector is expected to show strong growth on the back of volume growth and higher price realizations. The performance of the auto sector is expected to be sluggish due to sluggish sales and pressure on margins on account of higher input costs. The banking sector is expected see increase in margins due to cut in deposit rates, and higher fee based income. Increase in costs and dismal volume growth is expected to weight on the performance of the cement sector.

IT bellwether Infosys Technologies kickstarts the reporting season on Friday, 11 January 2008.

Meanwhile, Reliance Power, a 50% subsidiary of Reliance Energy (REL) will raise over Rs 11000 crore from India's biggest ever IPO scheduled to open for subscription next week.

Asian markets edged higher on Tuesday, 8 January 2008, recovering from Monday (7 January 2008)’s fall caused by fears that the US economy may be headed into a recession. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were up by between 0.18% to 1.5%.

The Dow industrials and the S&P 500 rose on Monday, 7 January 2008, led by health-care and consumer staple shares, as investors snapped up stock in companies seen able to withstand any economic slowdown following dismal employment data last Friday. But the Nasdaq finished lower, as technology shares with global exposure fell on concerns a US slowdown could damage the global economy. The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 27.31 points, or 0.21%, at 12,827.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 4.55 points, or 0.32%, at 1,416.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 5.19 points, or 0.21%, to close at 2,499.46.

Recent economic data has raised concerns that the US economy may be headed towards a recession. A US recession may not impact India’s economic growth in a big way given that domestic demand is a key driver of the Indian economy. India's economy is expected to post strong growth for a long period due to favourable demographics. Economists also reckon that a healthy investment cycle will continue to support growth through a self-perpetuating cycle of income creation, savings and investment.

Though the Indian economy may be relatively insulated from the US recession, any risk aversion globally causing setback in global markets, may cast its shadow on the Indian bourses.

Morning Call - Jan 8 2008

Market Grape Wine :

In House :

Intra Day: Buy Airdeccan above 297 with a TGT of 310 and a SL of 292.50

Buy Arvindmill above 87.50 with a TGT of 93 and a SL of 85.50

Delivery buy: DCMShriramconsolidated, Mcleodrussel,JCT

F&O: Buy REL above 2620 with a TGT of 2670 and a SL of 2590

Buy Unitech above 539 with a TGT of 554 and a SL of 530



Out House :

Markets at a support of 20454 & 20591 levels with resistance at 20898 & 20989 levels .

Buy : RIL & REL

Buy : Kohinoor & Adhunik

Buy : NTPC & Jphydro

Buy : Kotak Bank & IciciBank

Buy : TataMotor

Buy : IBUllsreal & IBullsFin

Buy : ITC & HLL bullet

Buy : SBIN

Buy : RNRL & RPL

Dark Horse : REL , RPL , Kohinooor , Jphydro , RNRL , IBullReal , Aban , RIL & SBIN

Pre Open Market Commentary

The Indian market today is likely to have a positive opening due to mixed cues from the global markets. Yesterday, the Indian market closed in the positive territory after struggling a lot throughout the trading session. The market opened on a negative note tracking the weak global cues but managed to recover from the fall on the back of heavy buying at the lower levels. BSE Bankex, Realty and Capital Goods remained the centre of attraction as most buying is seen from these baskets. The BSE Sensex closed higher by 125.76 points at 20,812.65 and NSE Nifty closed up by 4.8 points at 6,279.10. We expect that the market may gain some grounds during the trading session.

On Monday, the US market closed mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed higher by 27.31 points at 12,827.49 and S&P 500 index closed up by 4.55 points at 1416.18 while Nasdaq fell by 5.99 points at 2,499.46.

Indian ADRS closed in green. In technology sector, Infosys grew by (2.09%) along with Satyam by (1.62%) and Wipro by (0.81%). In banking sector, ICICI bank and HDFC bank inched up by (9.81%) and (6.53%) respectively.

The major stock markets in Asia are trading mixed. Hang Seng is trading higher by 345.75 points at 27,525.24. Taiwan Weighted is trading up by 117.69 points to trade at 8,001.06 while Japan''s Nikkei is trading lower by 41.81 points at 14,458.74. Singapore Strait Times is trading at 3,368.56 up by 15.50 points.

On Monday the FIIs stood as net buyer both in equity and debt. The gross equity purchased was Rs4,549.40 Crore and the gross debt purchased was Rs730.80 Crore while the gross equity sold stood at Rs4,040.60 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs209.80 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity reported was Rs508.80 Crore and net debt was Rs521Crore.

Today, Nifty has support at 6,213 and resistance at 6,374 and BSE Sensex has support at 20,634 and resistance at 21,102.

A late rally at US Markets

Market ends mixed after whipsaw trading as Nasdaq continues to be in the red

US stock market witnessed volatile trading today and all the three indices were about to finish in the red, if not for the last fifteen minutes of trading. In the last few minutes, Dow and S&P 500 were pushed into the green. Nasdaq continued with its losing streak and the index ended in the red for the seventh consecutive day. Investors seemed to remain confused about the country’s current economic outlook.

IBM weighed heavily on the technology stocks after UBS Securities downgraded the stock citing that the company’s hardware and services sales could be pressured because IBM has the largest financial services exposure in the sector.

The Dow Jones industrial Average ended the day with a gain of 27.3 points at 12,827.5. The Nasdaq Composite Index, finished lower by 5.19 points at 2,499. S&P 500 finished higher by 4.55 points at 1,416.18.

Twenty-one out of thirty Dow stocks ended in the green today. Altria and Mc Donalds led the team of Dow winners while IBM and Alcoa led the team of Dow laggards.

Stocks today opened modestly higher today though there was no specific economic news for the day. But at the end, Technology, Industrials, Energy, and Materials - all sectors posted losses.

Mc Donalds shares closed up 1.7%, following a report that the fast-food chain would compete with Starbucks by opening coffee bars offering cappuccinos and lattes. Starbucks shares too ended almost 2% higher.

ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank ADRs end considerably higher

Among other major events of the day, President Bush today spoke about the economy. He noted that the housing slump and high energy prices are among today's challenges. He also said he is determined to make sure taxes stay low. His comments did not have any dramatic effects on the stock market.

Indian ADRs ended mixed today. But ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank ADRs ended very strong today. Both ADRs closed higher by 9.8% and 6.5% respectively. They were followed by Tata Motors whose ADr closed by higher by 3.5%.

Crude prices continued to be affected by recession fears. Crude prices dropped more than $2 today after a US report came up with much below-expected job data on last Friday. The same raised concern of a recession that would curb energy demand. Forecasts of higher-than-normal temperatures through 20 January in the Northeast part of USA also pressured prices.

Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for February delivery closed at $95.89/barrel (lower by $2.82/barrel or 2.9%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, the contract hit an intraday low of $94.55. Prices are 69% higher on a yearly basis.

More than 1.7 billion shares traded hands on the New York Stock Exchange, where advancing stocks outpaced those declining 9 to 7. On the Nasdaq, volume neared 2.6 billion, and declining stocks edged just ahead of those advancing.

Tomorrow will be another day when investors will focuss on the economic reports to set the tone of trading. The monthly reading of Pending Home Sales will be announced by the National Association of Realtors in the morning providing market with the latest gauge in housing demand. In the afternoon, November's consumer credit data is scheduled for release which is indicative of consumer finances and consumer health.

SatNav launches World Class PND at Rs 12000/-

SatNav Technologies, a Hyderabad based IT Products Company; the pioneers of GPS Technology in India since 2002, today announced the launch of Personal Navigation Device (PND) for the Indian market at a remarkably low price of Rs. 12,000 /- only. The PND is a dedicated navigation device that guides users to their destination with SatNav’s very own SatGuide map software and maps.



For the PND Hardware, SatNav Technologies has partnered with Mio Technology which is a world leader in personal GPS devices that develops the most advanced personal navigation products available in the market today. The device offers a touch screen interface with simple intuitive software. It also has a built in MP3 player and a built in Photo Viewer. It runs on WinCE 5.0 which is the latest in the market, sports a 64MB Flash with 512MB RAM which allows a much higher performance of all applications. A USB charging facility coupled with both a car charger and a room charger ensures that the unit will never run out of power!



This device has sophisticated navigation functions with clear maps, turn-by-turn guidance and voice instructions. The device is extremely user friendly. The SatGuide software also comes with a demo on ‘how to use’ instructions. For people who need technical support, SatNav Technologies provides customer support from 6:30 am to 11:30 pm everyday of the working week and from 9am to 5pm on Sundays and National Holidays.



The PND is the perfect device to help the users reach their destinations with great ease. The PND device with SatGuide now has more maps, has more Points of Interests (POIs), better dependability and is about Rs.10,000 cheaper than its nearest competitor. SatNav Technologies focuses on providing the best end product at all the best price and does not bring in outdated technology into the country.



SatNav Technologies has also been pioneer in map development in India. After having spent nearly a decade on map research, SatNav Technologies came out with the first version of its map in 2005. They have now been able to bring 85% precision to their maps of India and its major cities. And, as a continued commitment to provide the best maps to its customers, the company offers updated maps every quarter. SatGuide currently covers detailed maps for 30+ cities and an All India Map to facilitate your traveling from city to city. After the maps have been surveyed over and over again and have been tried and tested by their 10300+ users, version 6 has now been launched.



For the software component, SatNav Technologies has partnered with Destinator Technologies, which is a global company that provides innovative and flexible navigation software. Through consistent innovation and with one of world’s largest research and development teams in the industry, Destinator creates the most compelling navigation experiences for the end user.

iPhone Update 1.1.3 Details Leaked

Information on Apple Computer's upcoming 1.1.3 iPhone update has leaked on to the Internet.

While the date of release of the update is not known, there are some exciting features expected including: the ability to send SMS to multiple people; Google Maps cell tower triangulation feature, 'My Location'; ability of Google Maps to display the Hybrid map view; ability to rearrange and drag-and-drop icons on the home screen; ability of home screen to support pagination; and ability to add Web bookmarks to the home screen.
There's always a cat-n-mouse game going on between Apple and the hacker community, with each side trying to play catch-up whenever a new update is released by the company.

As of now, hackers cannot touch newly bought iPhones that have version 1.1.2 pre-installed unless they use a hacked SIM card like TurboSIM. Even that will change with the release of version 1.1.3 because new hardware access key will be required to hack 1.1.2 just bought iPhones.

In case of those iPhones with 1.1.2 that have been unlocked, applying the 1.1.3 update to them will make them stop working with the AT&T SIM card. Which means you can't use even an AT&T SIM card with an unlocked phone post applying the upcoming (1.1.3) iPhone update.