Failed strategy

Hydrogen-Powered Cars

Hydrogen cars got a boost with the $1.2 billion Hydrogen Fuel Initiative in 2003, leading to a flurry of research. The appeal of hydrogen lies in its only emission being water vapor. While hydrogen still relies on natural gas for production, there are possible alternatives, such as coaxing it from bacteria and sunlight. But forget theory for a minute. The Honda FCX Clarity is one of the few real-world hydrogen cars and only 18 states have any hydrogen refueling stations, with California the only state to have in excess of 10. Meanwhile, hybrid cars have been hitting the road for 14 years, with the Toyota Prius pulling ahead with over two million vehicles sold since its introduction in 1997. First-mover advantage isn't the only reason for the hybrid's domination over hydrogen, though. The 2010 Obama administration budget request bet against the technology, favoring and funding hybrids and attempting to cut the amount going to the Department of Energy's hydrogen fuel-cell program. While Congress restored the majority of the funding, the proposed 2012 budget is looking once again to slash financial support for the program.

Microsoft Zune(to compete with ipod)

The Microsoft Zune proved the maxim that looks are everything. Coming across more like an iPod prototype than a sleek, fully realized product, the Zune 30 arrived in 2006 in black, white, and brown. Its Microsoft software was widely praised, but with two notable missteps: it wasn't Mac-compatible and couldn't sync with iTunes (something even Palm managed). Consumers were already five years and several models in to the iPod and their iTunes libraries. A more attractive package could certainly have helped, and Microsoft did gussy up the Zune in its subsequent incarnations but to no avail. The last Zune was produced in April 2010. Microsoft says that it's the final standalone unit, with the technology being merged into Windows Phone 7 devices.


MeeGo

MeeGo's name foretold its own exit. The Nokia and Intel-developed mobile OS was killed by Stephen Elop, the company's president and CEO, just as the first and only phone to use it was announced. Elop dropped MeeGo to make way for Windows Phone 7-based devices. Yet the Nokia N9, the first and now only phone on the platform, garnered rave reviews for features such as NFC, an 8-megapixel camera, and a swipe gesture to replace the home key. But that wasn't enough for a stay of execution. MeeGo's downfall had nothing to do with it but rather it's because it came too late for the company. Nokia is struggling to regain its former prominence, and partnering with Microsoft on a dozen-plus forthcoming phones is the path it has chosen to take. Intel thinks MeeGo is down and not out and plans to try to revive it in the tablet space.

USB 3.0

The latest USB standard—with its SuperSpeed bus that has a fourth transfer mode at 5 Gbps—arrived at the beginning of 2010 with a certified consumer product rollout. However, that rollout has been limited, partly because Intel has been dragging its feet on supporting the standard. The answer why arrived with a thunderclap, or a Thunderbolt, rather. Intel brought its own Thunderbolt technology to market with Apple. Thunderbolt has twice the transfer speed, supports daisy-chaining, and benefits from Intel and Apple's backing. The writing seems to be on the wall with this one.

Bluetooth 4.0

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) said on Wednesday that version 4.0 of the wireless specification may be incorporated into devices by the end of the year. The new spec will bring Bluetooth to a whole new set of gadgets including watches, pedometers, and all other low-power devices that run on coin-cell batteries.
This is a huge step considering that Bluetooth only resided in devices that used triple-A or larger capacity batteries. Michael Foley, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG, said that 4.0 combines both the high-speed data transfer capabilities provided by Bluetooth 3.0 with the new ability to transmit small bursts of data over short ranges.

India grants petty patents

India's spirit of jugaad is finally going to get legal backing. Innovators who have for long been dismissed as copycats or blamed for piracy would soon get intellectual property rights, at par with patents, with the industry department going to move a bill.

The move to grant 'petty patents' or 'innovation patents', also called utility models, follows a near strong support to a proposal floated by the department of industrial policy and promotion, at least from domestic players. The idea was to give intellectual property rights to the small scale industry's innovations that lead to inventions which do not strictly conform with patent laws.

Under the Patents Act, protection is granted if there is novelty, inventive step and industrial application. It is denied in case there is a mere discovery of new forms of known substances, rearrangement or duplication of devices and inventions due to traditional knowledge.

Agencies such as Defence Research & Development Organisation ( DRDO) have told the department that development of weapons systems and platforms for services, with dual use applications, stand to benefit.

Similarly, the science and technology department has supported the move and suggested that the proposed protection be made available for 8-10 years.

The biotech department has argued that petty patents should be granted to mechanical devices, including those for patient care, some chemicals and industrial designs.

But global giants such as Intel have opposed the move and have argued that if at all protection is provided, it should be limited to mechanical devices and not for high-tech devices. "No, there is no overwhelming need/ empirical data to support the position that India today needs a utility model law," said Matrix Labs, a subsidiary of Mylan Inc, which is one of the world's largest player in the bulk drugs space.

Japanese companies, which have submitted a joint feedback to the government, have argued that protection against potential misuse should be built in.

While officials said that work on preparing the draft legislation was starting, the details would be thrashed out after further consultations. What is, however, certain is that industries such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology would be kept out as the government does not want additional protection to affect public health. The science and technology ministry has said that only biomedical and pharma industry should get patent protection as large sums are pumped in for research and development.

By enacting a law that would boost protection of creeping and incremental innovations, India will join the league of over 50 countries ranging from Japan and Germany, which have had utility models for long, as well as China and the Netherlands that provided protection later.

"It is compliant with global intellectual property rights norms so we do not see any problem," government sources said.

In a discussion paper released in May, the department had listed several innovations ranging from clay refrigerator or Mitticool that does not use electricity, to gas stove switch, where the stove is switched off after a predetermined number of pressure cooker steam release whistles are sounded.

Since 2000, the National Innovation Foundation has built a database of over one lakh ideas, innovations and traditional knowledge practices from across the country and has filed for close to 200 patents in India and the US. Out of these, 33 patents have been granted to grassroots innovations in India and four in US.

The bill will provide a legal framework that offers quick, cheap, simple and non-demanding registration.

Indian own london

Wealthy Indians are keeping the family bonhomie alive in the heart of London, buying not one but a cluster of houses or apartments for themselves, their children and small teams of personal staff. Tony areas like Kensington, Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Belgravia are some of the popular destinations for such clusters.

The homes typically are a network of residential properties on a street or an apartment block. The central idea behind such purchases is that it will give the children a sense of independence, staying just a few houses away from their parents, with support staff being just a buzz away.

High networth individuals from India and the Middle East are the main cluster buyers in London. In fact, there has been a marked increase in the number of Asian buyers. "Asians are our biggest single group of purchasers now, accounting for 44% of sales in 2010. Of this, 17% were Indians. In 2008, only 7% of the purchases were made by Asians," Shirley Humphrey, sales and marketing director of Harrods Estates, a property broking firm, said. According to her, a weak British pound and low interest rates have contributed to the appeal of cluster buying in prime residential areas.


The buyers are typically industrialists and entrepreneurs, and the expenditure could be anywhere between £1 and £10 million ( Rs 7-72 crore) for a cluster. According to Harrods Estates, the average prices at Knightsbridge is £3,000 per sq ft (around Rs 2.16 lakh). Similarly, capital values in Mayfair are anywhere between £2,000 per sq ft and £3,000 per sq ft (Rs 1.44 lakh-2.16 lakh), while those in Kensington sell on an average of £1,193 per sq ft (Rs 85,896).

Jaideep Singh, head of real estate consultancy Knight Frank's India desk in London, says Indian families are increasingly looking to buy multiple properties within a short radius.

"We have a client whose explicit instruction was to find him a place close to his sister's house so the children could spend time there," he said.

Noel de Keyzer, director at property brokerage Savills' central London office, says Indians are looking for the best addresses or the finest garden squares for their cluster homes. Grosvenor Square, Upper Grosvenor Gardens, Upper Brook Street are such popular addresses in London. Second tier locations include parts of Montagu Square and Bryanston Square. According to Keyzer, many are buying large traditional central London houses, often with a separate mews house at the rear that affords additional privacy and a separate space for guests and staff. But apartments are also preferred for reasons of security and the concierge services available in them. Usually, smaller apartments within a block are purchased for the staff.


"Cluster buyers typically own properties around the world and are in London only for a few months every year, prompting the question of whether to leave the staff behind or travel with an entourage. To get around the issue of leaving behind skeletal staff, buyers often favour a primary residence in a building with security and concierge service," Humphrey said. 

Designer counterfeit is good

 
Designer handbag companies like Louis Vuitton and Prada have been battling against those who make counterfeit copies of their designs for decades.
But a new study suggests they should give up the fight.
A Northwestern University economist has found that sales of designer bags actually rise when sales of fake versions are also increasing.
Yi Qian disputes the theory that every fake handbag that is bought means one less handbag sold by luxury designers.
He argues that counterfeits can act as free advertisement for the real thing, boosting popularity and creating what MIT marketing professor Renee Richardson Gosline has described as a 'gateway' product.
Gosline's theory is that women who buy cheap versions, that quickly fall apart, begin to yearn for the real thing.
She found that within a couple of years, more than half of the middle-class women women she spoke to - many of who would never have considered buying an £800 bag before - actually swapped their counterfeits for authentic items.
In the early 1990s, quality-control problems among food, medicine, and oil-tank producers in China - where most fake bags are manufactured - made headlines around the world. These big stories led to the Chinese authorities cutting back their policing of fake luxury products in favour of sorting out the urgent problems with food and medicine that were making people ill.
 
With policing curtailed, counterfeiting took off in 1995—Qian estimates there was a nearly 100 per cent increase in the production of fakes in just two years.
Sales of mid-range bags fell over the same period but, counterintuitively, their luxury equivalents actually saw an increase in sales as people sought higher quality items.
The link between buying a fake handbag and craving an outrageously-priced real one should be worrying enough for women to avoid purchasing counterfeits altogether.
But there is another, much stronger, argument against  buying cheap versions - they are often made by children in horrible sweatshops.
So if you can't afford LV, it is always best to stick to the High Street.

World food production / World each year is wasted

An average 30-year old who's eaten three meals a day since birth has consumed more than 30,000 meals to date.  Even if you've only eaten half that much you have to admit this: you've let some of that breakfast, lunch or dinner go to waste.
And it turns out we're all to blame for this gut-wrenching fact: 30% of all food produced in the world each year is wasted or lost.  That's about 1.3 billion tons, according to a new report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
That's the weight of more than 8.6 million full-grown blue whales, the largest creatures on earth.  That's the weight of more than 2.3 million Airbus A380s, the largest commercial planes in existence.  That's as if each person in China, the world's most populous country with more than 1.3 billion people, had a one ton mass of food they could just throw into the trashcan.
It's almost unfathomable isn't it?
Breaking apart that big number, we find the people with the most money are the ones who waste the most.Per capita, Europeans and North Americans waste between 95 and 115 kilograms of food. Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia waste much, much less – between 6 and 11 kilograms per person.  The takeaway? The developed world wastes 10 times more food than the developing one.

Here's another statistic: all the food that the world's richest countries waste is about equal to all the food that sub-Saharan Africa produces. The numbers: 222 million tons and 230 million tons, respectively. Basically, the waste of the rich could feed much of the African continent.
And these numbers come as we've just been reporting about soaring food prices around the world in the past week.
China reported 11.5% April food inflation year on year earlier this week.
India reported 8.5% April food inflation earlier this month.
South Africa and the U.S. have yet to report their April numbers but year-end forecasts say the former could see up to 15% inflation, the latter could see up to 6% inflation.
A major change of mindset is what is needed.

The U.N. says one of the biggest challenges is helping people get over the perception of food perfection.  Perhaps it's instinctual to rummage through that pile of Red Delicious apples at the market looking for those few, unbruised perfect specimens.  But beauty is only peel deep.  And a fresh fruit that has a bump on it is actually still edible and probably tastes just as good.
The U.N. also suggests that charities work together with markets to collect food that's unsold and about to pass its expiry date.  It can be redistributed or cooked up at food kitchens for the needy and homeless.
A third suggestion: simply don't buy more food than you need.  You're more likely to not finish it, you'll end up throwing it away and you'll have wasted your money.
And my own personal tip: if I eat at a restaurant and can't finish it all, I ask for a doggie bag. I used to be a waiter years ago and will never forget the amounts of food I saw left on the table after the bill was paid.
There's no reason to waste food.  It's up to all of us to use our common sense to eat and shop just a bit wiser. Remember, we've got 1.3 billion tons of food on our plate to clean up – each year and counting.

Emiratis and expatriates TEDx platform

Noted figures including Emiratis and expatriates gathered yesterday on the TEDx platform in Al Ain to exchange ideas and successes and tell their inspiring stories.
The TED, which stands for technology, entertainment, design, was founded in California by architect Richard Saul Wurman and his partners with the mission to spread worthy ideas.
It is also designed to encourage people and communities to engage in dialogue at local and international levels.
Caterina Lo Mascolo was one of the speakers at the conference. She is the founder and partner of Univers K — an art design life performance company creating bespoke projects tailored for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
She said nature and biodiversity must be appreciated, and people should make efforts towards a better tomorrow.
"The UAE, a signatory of many international conventions, is a leader in the conservation of environment at the local and international level," she said.
Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan led the way in this direction and people should continue to follow his vision, Lo Mascolo added. "If we fail our children will lose a big portion of their heritage and culture," she said.

Lo Mascolo said she was a keen observer of the nature, leading her to set up a company with the help of leading artists to promote culture, environment and biodiversity.

"When I was in the UAE, I had slept on a blanket in the desert," she said. "I plunged my hand in the desert sand and felt calm."
She said her company has used art successfully as a tool for conservation and promotion of biodiversity.
Other speakers included Mohammad Al Fahim, Ross Bradley, Christopher Payne, Wasel Safwan, Mohammad Al Niyadi, Dr Nikolaos Mavridis, Haif Zamzam, Martin Grunburg, Iman Ben Chaibah, and Aidha Al Bu Saidi.
A large number of people attended the event at Al Ain Municipality Theatre, and it was also streamed live on the internet. The curator of the TEDx Al Ain is Sajjad Kamal.

BMW in plans to a joint-venture with India’s Hero group

The premium bike market in India is very small and an attractive segment. BMW is in plans to make a joint-venture with India'a Hero group in order to enter the high-end motorcycle segment in the market. BMW launched its F650 model in collaboration with Hero earlier and was not much successful.

BMW is analysing India's high-end and premium bike market. The company has plans to introduce its Motorrad range of super bikes in India. BMW Motorcycle is having a look at the market. As soon as it sees potential for a viable market entry for sustainable growth, the company would come into India. The bikes of the Motorrad range may cost above Rs 10 lakh in India. BMW Motorrad is a German brand for motorcycles, which are in production since 1923.

A BMW motorbike

The premium bike market in India is very small and an attractive segment. BMW is in plans to make a joint-venture with India'a Hero group in order to enter the high-end motorcycle segment in the market. BMW launched its F650 model in collaboration with Hero earlier and was not much successful.

BMW is analysing India's high-end and premium bike market. The company has plans to introduce its Motorrad range of super bikes in India. BMW Motorcycle is having a look at the market. As soon as it sees potential for a viable market entry for sustainable growth, the company would come into India. The bikes of the Motorrad range may cost above Rs 10 lakh in India. BMW Motorrad is a German brand for motorcycles, which are in production since 1923.

 

BMW K1600GT Adaptive Lights

With BMW motorcycles being epitome of motorcycle technology with features like quickshifters, traction control and integrated ABS, its no stranger of them being the first in the world to put an adaptive headlight feature on their bike.

Adaptive headlight or the headlights that turn according to the lean angle or the road curve is not new in the automotive world, with many car makers already featuring similar technology in their cars.

The problem with bikes is – to have a road-legal headlight, the top half of the beam has to be cut off using a suitable reflector so the oncoming drivers don't get blinded with the glare, giving a flat lighting horizon when the bike is vertical. But when bike is taken around corner and is leaned over, the lit-up area tilts with the bike and the rider is unable to see through the corner.

average work hours / the average work-hour for Indians

Indians work for 8.1 hours every day, more than the average figure for the entire developed world and individual countries like the UK, Australia, France, Italy and Germany.

However, the average work-hour for Indians is less than the same for people in countries like the US, China and Japan, while those in Mexico are the busiest in the world, a new global survey has found.

"Mexicans work longer days than anyone else in OECD countries, devoting 10 hours to paid and unpaid work, such as cleaning or cooking at home," found the survey by Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, an international grouping of the world's top developed nations.

The average for the OECD nations is 8 hours a day, slightly below the figure for Indians at 8.1 hours (486 minutes).


Mexico is followed by Japan (9 hours) as the second longest day of paid and non-paid work, while Belgium has been ranked lowest (7.1 hours).

In terms of unpaid work only, Mexicans again do the most (more than 3 hours per day), while Koreans the least at 1 hour and 19 minutes.

Indians spend 191 minutes (nearly 3.2 hours) on unpaid work and little below five hours on paid work every day.

Much of the unpaid work globally is spent cooking, and Americans spend the least time cooking each day (30 minutes) and Turks the most (74 minutes).

Most people spend around 50 minutes a day cooking, the survey found.

Besides cooking, shopping also makes up a big part of unpaid work. Most people in OECD countries spend 23 minutes a day shopping, with the French spending the most (32 minutes) and the Koreans the least (13 minutes).

The total work-time has been pegged at 594 minutes for Mexico, 540 minutes for Japan, 504 minutes for China, 498 minutes in New Zealand and 496 minutes for the US.

Among the countries ranked below India, those in Korea work for 484 minutes, 481 minutes in Australia, 474 minutes in Italy, 473 minutes in the UK, 451 minutes in Finland, 448 minutes in France, 445 minutes in Germany and 427 minutes in Belgium.

The OECD report also found that the value of unpaid work is considerable, equivalent to about one-third of GDP in OECD countries, ranging from a low of 19 per cent in Korea to a high of 53 per cent in Portugal.

In terms of paid work only, Japanese worked the most (6.3 hours a day), while those in Denmark worked the least (3.75 hours per day).

Dubai mumbai realestate

Dubai has been the traditional second home Mecca for affluent Indian investors. Now, that trend is accelerating with Dubai offering some great bargains following the real estate slump in the region. The political unrest in the Middle East has dented buyer sentiment to some extent, but many foreign investors, including Indians, are striking great deals in the distressed realty market.

Compared to Mumbai and Delhi, Dubai real estate now is 30-50% cheaper. According to research by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, capital values in Cuffe Parade in Mumbai is around Rs 40,000-60,000 per sq ft, whereas capital values in Palm Jumeirah is just Rs 15,000 per sq ft.


Sanjay Dutt, CEO-business in real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle India, says the interest in Dubai "is equally distributed among investors responding to rationalized property rates in Dubai and those hoping to cash in on an improved market later."

Niall McLoughlin, senior VP in DAMAC Properties, a residential and commercial developer in Dubai, says that at an average price of $264 per sq ft in Dubai, "property prices are now about 60% less expensive than in central Mumbai, where the price is $664 per sq ft". Other factors like the proposed Strata law are also favouring homeowners in Dubai. The law, proposed by Real Estate Regulatory Authority of Dubai, gives the home owners more control over their property.

Home owners had also been crying foul over steep property management fees paid to firms maintaining their buildings. The Strata law seeks to resolve the issues between home owners and property management firms by monitoring the cost and quality of services offered.


Pre-recession, real estate prices in Dubai were steep, making it unaffordable. "The markets were speculative then. They are more mature now," says Richard Stokes, sales manager at Smith & Ken Real Estate. His firm has sold 250-300 properties in the last year and Indians have bought 30% of those. Analysts say the supply glut in the market is shadowing realty recovery in the region. "Dubai is likely to see in excess of 45,000 residential units being added over the next 24 months," says Dutt. In contrast, Mumbai's real estate market has seen a sharp escalation after the lull in 2009. Property prices have risen by 40-50%. But this is now adding to the negative sentiment.

"Mumbai real estate market is overheated. The buying has slowed down," said Kaustuv Roy, executive director of Cushman & Wakefield India. But it would still take a long time for Dubai realty prices to come anywhere close to Mumbai's.

Koenigsegg will be in India soon

Swedish supercar maker, Koenigsegg will be in India soon. The company that came into being in the 1990s and managed to survive despite the presence of old-time big corporates in the business has now set its sights on India.

The car, that will come to India is the Agera. Unveiled last year in Europe, the Agera will come to India through Interglobe Enterprises. If the name sounds familiar, these are the guys behind Indigo Airlines. With eyes set on the Indian luxury automotive market, they have tied up with a number of Automotive brands including Koenigsegg.

Interestingly, the Agera was voted as Hypercar of the Year by our Brit counterparts in the annual TopGear Awards 2010 Issue last December. We'll keep you posted on the more Koenigsegg Agera details including its price (hint: it's not cheap), and some very interesting bikes, as soon as possible.The Koenigsegg Agera has been officially priced at Rs. 12.5 crores.

indian economy growth / size of indian economy

Rapidly growing Indian economy and the strides taken by Indian firms to go global have thrown up the need for "globalisation of Indian accountants" to tap into growing opportunities, the President of the Indian Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) said today.
"India is growing at a rapid pace, a lot of FDI is flowing into the country, Indian companies are setting offices abroad, acquiring firms and merging it to grow bigger and global.
In the light of these developments, it is important that Indian accountants also globalise," ICAI President G Ramaswamy said on sidelines of the Branch Audit meeet organised by the Bangalore chapter of the Southern India Regional Council (SIRC) of the ICAI.
In order to achieve this, ICAI has tied up with many accounting institutes and it recently signed an MoU with the Canadian Institute for Chartered Accountants, he said.
"We are also working with the New Zealand Institute of Chartered accountants," Ramaswamy said.
Talking about the growing opportunities for CAs, he said, "The IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) is expected to throw ample opportunities for CAs in India."
The Institute has already trained around 2,607 members through a 100 hour intensive training programme that prepares CAs for adoption of the IFRS to meet the future requirement, he said.
Explaining the attractive remuneration on offer, he said the average entry level salary of Rs nine lakh per annum is expected to scale up to Rs 20 lakh in the next five years.
"Last year during a campus recruitement programme organised by the Institute, three candidates barely in their early twenties were offered Rs 21 lakh per annum for an international posting. For domestic posting, the best offer received was Rs 15 lakh per annum", he said.

The ICAI has also set up an IFRS Implementation committee, which envisages involvement of a number of CAs in the implementation of IFRS across the countries, he said.
"CAs are in huge demand, not only in the financial sector but also in BPOs, KPOs and software firms", Ramaswamy said.
Going forward with the implementation of the IFRS, a huge amount of outsourcing work is expected to come to India.
The ICAI has already entered into an agreement with the IFRS council of Japan for ousourcing of accounting work, he said, adding one of India''s software majors is estimated to have hired 800 CAs in its BPO and around 2,000 overall.
Talking about various initiatives of ICAI, he said it had written to the Central Government to empower it to act against erring firms after suitably amending the relevant Act, to avert big coporate frauds like the Satyam scam.

India and New Zealand economy

India and New Zealand have seen a steady growth in bilateral trade, mostly in the tourism and education sectors, with business between the two countries reaching nearly $870 million in the past two years.
India is now New Zealand's 10th largest market, with exports worth 902.3 million New Zealand dollars for the year ending January 2011, while imports from India were valued at 366 million New Zealand dollars for the same period, according to the New Zealand ministry of foreign affairs and trade.
Coal has led the list of trade items with India in recent years and dairy products and fruit have recently become significant business items.
Sunny Kaushal, director of ANZ Wine Limited, said there has been an increase in interest in the Indian market among New Zealand's companies.
'India is a fast growing economy of more than 1.1 billion people. There are great opportunities for growth in trade between two countries and so an FTA (free trade agreement) would be a valuable platform to build that trade,' he said.
Richard Howard, former chairman of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment, said: 'I am sure part of the increase in trade between New Zealand and India can be directly attributed to the personal and professional relationships, which have developed from the significant increase in education, tourism and migration that New Zealand has experienced from India especially in the past five years.'

K. R. Sridhar next abdhul kalam

K. R. Sridhar born . 1960  is the founder and CEO of Bloom Energy. Sridhar earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the National Institute of Technology at Tiruchirappalli, India in 1982.He moved to the United States in the 1980s and got a M.S. in nuclear engineering and a PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Sridhar was the director of the Space Technologies Laboratory at the University of Arizona, which was asked by NASA to come up with ways to make life sustainable on Mars. The team then made a device to use solar power and Mars water to power a reactor cell that made oxygen to breathe and hydrogen to power vehicles. Sridhar led a project that built a Mars oxygen production cell using a yttria-stabilized zirconia solid-electrolyte ionic conductor to electrolyse carbon dioxide into oxygen and carbon monoxide. The oxygen production unit was to fly as part of the MIP ("Mars ISPP Precursor") experiment package.

On 24 February 2010, Bloom Energy launched a new energy-efficient and environmentally friendly fuel cell known as the Bloom Box. Natural gas (or any other fuel) and oxygen are run through a stack of cells, producing electricity. The energy was clean and inexpensive, but development and production of this fuel cell required a large initial investment ($100 million). Sridhar was able to obtain funding for the project from investors such as John Doerr (who was an early investor in companies such as Amazon and Google as well).

Sridhar predicts that a $3000 box could be in every home within the next five to ten years. Companies such as Adobe Systems, Ebay, Google, FedEx, and Wal-Mart have already purchased larger sized boxes.

Dr. Sridhar has served on many technical committees, panels and Advisory Boards.  He has over fifty publications, and has performed pioneering work in the areas of Space Technology, Microsensors and Devices, Multiphase Flow, and Solid Oxide Electrolysis and Systems, the last of which is the basis of the technology being used at Bloom Energy.

The Bloom Electrons service allows customers to lock in their electricity rates for 10 years,delivering fixed predictable costs and significant savings versus the grid. Bloom manages and maintains the systems on the customers' sites and the customers pay only for the electricity consumed. This allows immediate cost savings with no initial investment, making onsite clean, reliable, affordable energy more accessible.

"Bloom Electrons is about providing universal access to clean, reliable, affordable energy. Empowering our customers to buy energy on their terms is another significant step on our journey to change the way energy is generated and consumed in the world," said KR Sridhar, principal co-founder and CEO of Bloom Energy. "We are thrilled to welcome new customers and take special pride in our repeat  customers."

"Bloom Energy enables Caltech to more effectively carry out its core mission of research and education by providing cleaner, more economical and predictable power which ultimately helps us achieve our strategic infrastructure and sustainability goals"

"We are very pleased to have the opportunity to partner with Bloom Energy to structure Bloom Electrons, a unique service to secure baseload electricity. Bloom Energy has developed a technology that can transform the energy landscape and we look forward to supporting Bloom throughout its growth,"

To date, the Bloom Energy fleet has provided customers over 40 million kilowatt-hours and eliminated approximately 45 million pounds of CO2 emissions. Today's announcement of Bloom Electrons and the 200 new systems that will initially be deployed, represent the next step on the path to deliver clean, reliable and affordable energy to everyone in the world.

His plan is to generate energy locally through the use of solid-oxide fuel cells - a concept that people have been fiddling around with since the 19th century but that is now becoming practical with advances in the ceramics needed to build them. In addition, his vital role in developing a device for NASA to turn carbon dioxide into oxygen on Mars spearheaded the expedition to develop technologies to sustain life there.

With strategic alliances with venture capitalists KPCB, which has among many other notables, people of the stature of Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore- a man widely regarded as an authority on green energy and US Statesman Colin Powell, here is a person the world watches on with bated breath.

new brand identity for hero group.

Fresh from the split with Honda Motors, the Hero Group is looking to reinvent itself with a new brand identity and has kicked off a rebranding exercise. London-based Wolff Olins, part of the Omnicom group, is working on the new brand identity, including the brand architecture, brand name, brand logo and brand positioning.

The country's leading two-wheeler company wants a new brand name after the two joint venture partners of the Hero Honda Motors (HHML)-the Hero Group of India and Honda Motor Co of Japan-signed an agreement recently. The Hero Group has just concluded a buyout of Honda's stake in the company.

"Our country is undergoing phenomenal socio-economic change and is emerging as one of the epicenters of global business. The new buzzwords at Hero Honda are Creation, Renewal and Re-energizing," said Pawan Munjal, MD-CEO of Hero Honda. "The world today is looking at India not just for its sustained GDP growth or the spending power of its strong middle-class, but also for its intellectual capital, enterprise and entrepreneurship. Brand India keeps getting stronger."

The new brand image of the Munjals' flagship could represent the "Indianess" of the company. "This rebranding has come at a crucial time, given the disengagement with Honda. The route that brands normally take would be to take any mnemonic that resonates with their identity and build on that. Like the colour red with Airtel," said Ramanujam Sridhar, CEO of BrandComm. "Hero could build on the Indianess of their brand and their knowledge of Indian conditions for their new identity."

Others believe that the Hero could don the 'desi' tag strongly in its new avatar. "While Indianess should be celebrated, a desi branding imagery is a bullet that not too many are willing to bite into just yet," Harish Bijoor, branding expert said.

"Hero Honda without Honda is a kind of a vacuum point since entire generations have grown up on Hero Honda. But the split is reasonably cathartic and this is an opportunity for Hero to reinvent and resonate with the zing and buzz of the youth. For them a motorcycle is not just a vehicle, but a symbol of empowerment."

Retail banking in dubai

Customers may soon find it easier - and cheaper - to move between banks following new retail banking regulations announced by the UAE Central Bank, but limits on personal loans will be ineffective without the full credit history of customers, said industry officials.
With early settlement fees for loans now pegged at a maximum of one per cent - instead of the five per cent charged by many banks - industry experts said it may precipitate a "race to the bottom" with more personal loan buyouts happening as customers go for the best rates and lowest charges.
"For sure, people who are thinking of moving banks will be encouraged to do it," said Zaid Al Kamhawi, Chief Business Officer for Dubai-based Emcredit, the UAE's first credit bureau.
Cap on personal loan
On February 23 the UAE Central Bank published regulation No. 29/2011, setting limits for fees and commissions charged on customers. The new rules also set limits on personal loans to 20 times a borrower's salary and caps loan payments at 50 per cent of his/her monthly income.
Problem loans in the UAE surged 36 per cent in December 2010 from a year earlier to Dh44.3 billion, according to a Bloomberg report, quoting Central Bank data.
A loan agent for a local bank who requested anonymity said the new rules will be a "game-changer" as fees are standardised and banks compete on interest rates and service.
Meanwhile, banks such as Emirates NBD are making an 11th-hour effort to woo customers with a "nil downpayment" on car loans, which will be a thing of the past under the new rules.
The regulations - which, according to sources, will come into effect on March 15 - require car buyers to raise 20 per cent of the price tag.
A car dealer said retail sales may be affected in the short term: Up to 80 per cent of about 230,000 cars sold each year are done through financing.
Felix Welch, Director of Sales and Marketing at Arabian Automobiles, dealers of Nissan, Renault and Infinity, said that on the flipside, lenders will be forced to offer more creative financing options.
"It will be more of a challenge [to buy a car] for a lot of people with a lot less cash available," said Welch, adding: "With charges now more transparent, it will lead to more competition and customers will be the biggest winners."
Chris de Bruin, Head of Consumer Banking at Standard Chartered-UAE, said the new regulations will have a minimal impact on them, as most of the policies and pricing in place already comply with the rules.
"It will enforce responsible lending," said Bruin, adding the new rules will boost demand for financial services as trust between banks and individuals improves.
But caps on lending may be ineffective without credit history, said Al Kamhawi.
"Regulations limiting personal loan amounts, if not supported by full credit reporting, might push borrowers to apply and borrow from multiple banks in order to raise the required funds," said Al Kamhawi. He said credit history in the UAE covers only up to 30 per cent of banks and borrowers.
"If this happens, borrowers will face the difficulty of managing multiple lending relationships. This regulation makes it clear that there is a rising need for credit reporting if lenders hope to comply with these regulations."

• PERSONAL LOANS:   MAXIMUM RATE

Processing fees : 1% of loan amount, Min. Dh500; Max Dh2,500
Credit life insurance: At banks' discretion
Delayed payment penal interest charges : 2% of delayed amount. Min Dh50; Max Dh200
Loan top-up : 1% of the top-up amount; Min. Dh500; Max, 2,500
Deferment of installment : Dh100 per deferment
Early settlement from same bank loans : 1% of remaining balance
Early settlement from other bank loans : 1% of remaining balance
Final settlement from other sources/end of service benefits (EOSB) : 1% of remaining balance
Partial payment from all sources, including EOSB : 1% of the partial payment amount
Loan rescheduling fee : Dh250
Revolving overdrafts fees: Dh200
Loan cancellation fee : Dh100
Relationship fee : Without fees

• CAR LOANS: MAXIMUM RATE

Processing fees : 1% of loan amount; min Dh500; Max 2,500
Early settlement for car loan : 1% of remaining balance
NOC to traffic department : Without fees
Replacement of existing post-dated cheques with new post-dated cheques : Without fees
Advance payment of installment : 1% of the advanced payment
Change of due date on standing instructions : Dh25
Installment deferment charges : Dh100 per deferment
Loan rescheduling fee : Dh250
Late payment penal interest charges : 2% over agreed rate, Min.Dh50 Max. Dh200
All other items not mentioned above : Without fees

the world's largest economy

 
In view of its continuing robust growth, India is expected to be the world's largest economy by 2050, surpassing China and the US, a Citi report said.

"China should overtake the US to become the largest economy in the world by 2020, then be overtaken by India by 2050," financial services group Citi said in the report.

The estimates are based on purchasing power parity (PPP), an economic growth indicator that takes into account the purchasing power of each country's currency, instead of the prevailing exchange rate conversion.

Indian economy is expected to be nearly USD 85.97 trillion on PPP basis by 2050 from USD 3.92 trillion in 2010, Citi said.

Going by the report, India would surpass the US -- currently the world's largest economy -- to become the second largest by 2040.

"We expect India to overtake Japan to become the third largest economy in the world by 2015," it noted.

In terms of PPP, Indian economy -- valued at USD 3.78 trillion -- was at the fourth place in 2009. The country was behind the US, China and Japan, according to the World Bank.

Citi pointed out that North America and Western Europe's share of world's real GDP (in terms of USD calculated on PPP basis) is expected to fall from 41 per cent in 2010 to just 18 per cent in 2050.

During the same period, developing Asia's share is predicted to rise from 27 per cent to 49 per cent in 2050.

Citi emphasised that a number of major changes within a relative short time are required for India to meet future challenges.

Noting that India's infrastructure has to be improved, Citi said the country needs to relax its "hostile attitude towards FDI", if it is to reap the benefits of rapid cross-border technology transfer that China has benefited from so greatly.

"...a further round of serious deregulation of the domestic economy and further trade liberalisation are required," it noted.

The report said India's population of working age is expected to grow by 40.7 per cent between 2010 and 2050.

India has successfully raised its aggregate savings rate to levels that would allow sustained high levels of domestic capital formation (the domestic saving rate averaged 34.4 percent over 2006-2009 and the gross domestic investment rate 32.4 percent), the report added.

India 500 million smartphone users

 
the smartphone money is on India.  There are currently nearly 500 million smartphone owners worldwide (with this figure predicted to go up to 1 billion by 2013). According to comScore, a mere 10 percent of these people are in the US, yet when you read most of the technology press, you'd think North Americans were the only ones lucky enough to get their hands on cutting edge devices.
There's no doubt that the US is an important market, but in the coming years it won't be the most important. It looks more and more likely that the accolade will go to India, and here's why.
 
Currently only 81 million Indians or 7% of the population regularly use the internet. But a whopping 507 million own mobile phones. Mobile operators are currently signing up around 20 million new subscribers a month. The trend of there being many more mobile phones than internet connections is why the Boston Consulting Group predicts that the world's next 1.2 billion internet users will be connecting via their phone. And early next year, when 3G services arrive in India, masses of people previously unconnected will start surfing via the connection in their pocket.

 
Indians are no strangers to mobiles phones. This year Nokia celebrated its 15th year operating in the country. Although in the first six years, there were only 5 million subscribers, it's now predicted that by 2013 the number will rise to almost 1 billion. For a company that made its first phone with a Hindi menu in 2000 and has for the last three years been voted India's most trusted brand, that's great news. But it's even better news for Indians who will finally have a chance to make the most of smartphone technology.

 
According to a report in the Economist, the growth rate of the Indian economy will overtake China's in 2013, if not before. Some economists predict that it will grow faster than that of any other large country over the next 25 years. It cites India's democracy as one reason, the other being demographics. India is blessed with a young and growing workforce. The dependency ratio (the proportion of children and old people to working-age adults) is one of the best in the world and will remain so for a generation. This younger, wealthier generation will be eager to get their hands on the latest smartphone technology. And with a population of 1.2 billion, that's a lot of hands.

fabrics to interact with their environment

Research scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are singing a new tune with a new type of interactive fiber that has the ability to detect and create sound. For associate professor Yoel Fink and his team at MIT's Research Lab of Electronics, the threads used in textiles and even optical fibers are too passive to be truly useful. It may have taken a decade, but the researchers have finally developed a far more sophisticated version, one that enables fabrics to interact with their environment.
SOUND OFF

Featured in the August issue of Nature, the acoustic fibers have innumerable potential applications, from microphone-like clothes that capture speech or monitor bodily functions to microscopic filaments that can measure blood flow or brain pressure.
The fibers could be used to create microphone-like clothes that capture speech or monitor bodily functions.

Unlike regular optical fibers, which are made from a "preform" (a large cylinder, comprising a single material, that is heated up, stretched, then cooled), the fibers in Fink's lab are composed of several different materials, all of which must maintain their integrity through the heating and stretching process.

PIEZOELECTRIC BOOGALOO

At the core of the fibers is a plastic commonly found in microphones. Fink and company tinkered with the plastic's fluorine content to create an asymmetric distribution of fluorine molecules on one end and hydrogen molecules on the other. The imbalance is what makes the plastic "piezoelectric," which means that it changes shape when exposed to an electric field or conversely, generates electricity when under mechanical strain.
It can emit and detect sound, measure pressure and flow, and even generate electricity when stretched.

"You can actually hear them, these fibers," says Noémie Chocat, a graduate student in the materials science department. "If you connected them to a power supply and applied a sinusoidal current, then it would vibrate. And if you make it vibrate at audible frequencies and put it close to your ear, you could actually hear different notes or sounds coming out of it."

So far, the researchers have determined that the nanofiber can emit and detect sound, measure pressure and flow, and even generate electricity when stretched. Fink's team is perfecting the process to manufacture kilometers of the material at a time. Spanning large distances, the fibers can be used as loose nets that monitor the flow of water in the ocean or as sonar imaging systems with the equivalent of millions of tiny acoustic sensors.

Ministry of Mines is not ready to handle Afghan mineral deposits

The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.

An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the "Saudi Arabia of lithium," a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys.

The vast scale of Afghanistan's mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said.

While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war.

"There is stunning potential here," Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. "There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant."

The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan's existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. Afghanistan's gross domestic product is only about $12 billion.

"This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy," said Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines.

American and Afghan officials agreed to discuss the mineral discoveries at a difficult moment in the war in Afghanistan. The American-led offensive in Marja in southern Afghanistan has achieved only limited gains. Meanwhile, charges of corruption and favoritism continue to plague the Karzai government, and Mr. Karzai seems increasingly embittered toward the White House.

So the Obama administration is hungry for some positive news to come out of Afghanistan. Yet the American officials also recognize that the mineral discoveries will almost certainly have a double-edged impact.

Instead of bringing peace, the newfound mineral wealth could lead the Taliban to battle even more fiercely to regain control of the country.

The corruption that is already rampant in the Karzai government could also be amplified by the new wealth, particularly if a handful of well-connected oligarchs, some with personal ties to the president, gain control of the resources. Just last year, Afghanistan's minister of mines was accused by American officials of accepting a $30 million bribe to award China the rights to develop its copper mine. The minister has since been replaced.

Endless fights could erupt between the central government in Kabul and provincial and tribal leaders in mineral-rich districts. Afghanistan has a national mining law, written with the help of advisers from the World Bank, but it has never faced a serious challenge.

"No one has tested that law; no one knows how it will stand up in a fight between the central government and the provinces," observed Paul A. Brinkley, deputy undersecretary of defense for business and leader of the Pentagon team that discovered the deposits.

At the same time, American officials fear resource-hungry China will try to dominate the development of Afghanistan's mineral wealth, which could upset the United States, given its heavy investment in the region. After winning the bid for its Aynak copper mine in Logar Province, China clearly wants more, American officials said.

Another complication is that because Afghanistan has never had much heavy industry before, it has little or no history of environmental protection either. "The big question is, can this be developed in a responsible way, in a way that is environmentally and socially responsible?" Mr. Brinkley said. "No one knows how this will work."

With virtually no mining industry or infrastructure in place today, it will take decades for Afghanistan to exploit its mineral wealth fully. "This is a country that has no mining culture," said Jack Medlin, a geologist in the United States Geological Survey's international affairs program. "They've had some small artisanal mines, but now there could be some very, very large mines that will require more than just a gold pan."

The mineral deposits are scattered throughout the country, including in the southern and eastern regions along the border with Pakistan that have had some of the most intense combat in the American-led war against the Taliban insurgency.

The Pentagon task force has already started trying to help the Afghans set up a system to deal with mineral development. International accounting firms that have expertise in mining contracts have been hired to consult with the Afghan Ministry of Mines, and technical data is being prepared to turn over to multinational mining companies and other potential foreign investors. The Pentagon is helping Afghan officials arrange to start seeking bids on mineral rights by next fall, officials said.

"The Ministry of Mines is not ready to handle this," Mr. Brinkley said. "We are trying to help them get ready."

Like much of the recent history of the country, the story of the discovery of Afghanistan's mineral wealth is one of missed opportunities and the distractions of war.

In 2004, American geologists, sent to Afghanistan as part of a broader reconstruction effort, stumbled across an intriguing series of old charts and data at the library of the Afghan Geological Survey in Kabul that hinted at major mineral deposits in the country. They soon learned that the data had been collected by Soviet mining experts during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, but cast aside when the Soviets withdrew in 1989.