Tech Tools used by President Barack Obama

Source : SiliconIndia, Tuesday, 04 October 2011, 15:29 IST 


Fremont: The President of the U.S. Barack Obama is creating news for being the most tech savvy President ever. 


The trend that he started with his Presidential campaigns way back in 2008, is garnering him followers from all over the world.




 On a mission to change the way the White House uses technology, Obama used technology to make his presidency the most open and connected in the history. Here is a take at few of the technologies used by the 44th President of the U.S. 


Social Networking Sites

From being one of the most popular celebrities to being "friends" with the public, Obama did everything possible to be in touch with the masses.

 Having more than 23 million people, Obama's campaign sends out daily messages to the followers' walls, apart from the feature of selecting the letter of the week. 

Facebook the pulse of the youth has helped Obama to be the "in-President", with masses hoping that his ideologies would also be at par with his urge to be connected with them.

Obama has more than 10 million followers, over 1500 tweets, and is not leaving any stone unturned to be with the masses. During his Presidential campaign, there were tweets galore, and his presence, still on the social site provides the followers with regular updates on his whereabouts, and rallies streamed live over the internet.

Becoming the highest profile for the location-based social networking website, Obama brought The White House on Foursquare. 

The initiative intends to post tips from the President's visits around the world, create check-in locations (which will be updated after he leaves from the venues due to security reasons), and more. 

Using it as a cue for the 2012 Presidential elections, the move expects more users on the site, on a hope to track the President in tune with the re-elections. 

Technology, Innovation and Government Reform Team (TIGR)

One of the most significant ideas to come out of the new a 

dministration was TIGR, which hopes to use technology to reduce the costs of the government, improve the delivery of government services, and stress on a transparent government.

 The initiative hopes to blend the public with the happenings on The White House. 

YouTube

Thanks to the modern technology, people can view all the major events from the Presidential campaigns to th 

e on -going tours on YouTube.

 The speech given by him during the Presidential campaigns has a viewership of more than five million, which is more than that on the television. 

Gadgets

Being labeled a tech-savvy President, Obama is said to be addicted to his BlackBerry, which he got 

inside The White House, inspite of being forced by the U.S. Secret Service to give up the device, a 8830 World Edition BlackBerry having GPS. For security reasons, he is allowed to exchange emails with about 10 people. 

The President is also said to carry an iPod and uses an Apple Mac laptop. But the cream of the cake is his limousine, also known as "The Beast" which is built on industrial standards, and is equipped with advanced communication devices--wifi accessibility, a satellite phone, and direct hot line to the U.S. Vice President, and a built-in music entertainment system. 

Tara Jewels To Launch IPO Soon To Raise Rs.200 Cr.

Source:RTTNews - 10/7/2011 2:16 AM ET

The Mumbai-based jewellery exporter Tara Jewels said it had obtained approval from the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India or SEBI to launch its Initial Public Offer or IPO.

Chairman and Managing Director Revin Sheth said the company was planning to raise up to Rs.200 crore through the share sale.


Tara is a leading jewel export company with a turnover of Rs.1,000 crore. It has 30 showrooms in India and will soon open 20 more in various parts of the country, he added


The company has three more jewellery outlets in Gujarat based at Ahmedabad, Baroda and Surat. It has now opened a showroom in Rajkot on Wednesday.


Founded in 2001, the Tara Jewels is an integrated player that dabbles in manufacturing, retailing with manufacturing facility and distribution with offices in China, United States and India.

Insurance Regulator Fines HDFC Standard Life for Claims Delay

Source : IANS, Friday, 07 October 2011, 09:19 IST  


Chennai: India's insurance regulator Wednesday imposed a fine of 500,000 on Mumbai-based private life insurer HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Ltd for not having in place effective procedures to comply with regulations and delaying settlement of a death claim.


The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) also directed HDFC Standard Life to "...put in place effective claim settlement procedures and take all such measures that deem fit for both pro-active and timely settlement of all types of claims".


HDFC Standard Life has to confirm to IRDA within 15 days the action taken to comply with the IRDA (Protection of Policyholders' Interests) Regulations.


The IRDA order came on a complaint lodged by Kunti Devi against HDFC Standard Life with IRDA for non-settlement of claim April 14, 2009.


IRDA, in turn, forwarded the complaint to the company July 29, 2009.


Nearly six months later, HDFC Standard Life informed about the repudiation of the claim on the grounds of concealing material facts.


Perusing the records, IRDA said the claim was repudiated 12 months after it was lodged and on investigation, the regulator found the timeline followed by HDFC Standard Life to decide on death claim is on the higher side.


The regulator also found during its investigation that HDFC Standard Life has been sitting on the admissibility of individual death claims for more than six months and in the case of a group insurance policy, one claim is outstanding for more than a year.


During a personal hearing, HDFC Standard Life's CEO Amitabh Chaudhary submitted to IRDA that the company has reduced the turnaround time for death claims from 34 days in 2009-10 to 26 days in 2010-11 and 86.35 percent of the investigated claims are settled within that time.


According to IRDA, life insurers have to initiate and complete claims investigation within six months from the date of lodging of a claim.


The insurer should pay or dispute the claim, giving reasons within 30 days of getting relevant papers and clarifications, it said. 

The Man who Redefined the term "Apple"

Source :SiliconIndia, Thursday, 06 October 2011, 23:23 Hrs 

Fremont: An idol of innovation has left the world. Even his rivals are acknowledging him. Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates acknowledged his "profound impact". Such was the man of Apple, "Steve Jobs". Different people see him differently. Innovators see him as an innovator, designers see him as designer, and entrepreneurs see him as mentor and visionary. 

When we look back and try to find out the reason behind the man creating different meanings to different people, Jobs created this with simplicity with which he did what he did. His works will impact not only the present but most importantly the future. No one knew that this man will create a history by redefining Apple when he was chucked out of Apple by John Sculley at the end of May 1985 when the sales of Apple went down. Even Jobs said that being fired from Apple was the best thing that could happen to him. He started as a beginner again that freed him to enter one of the most creative periods of his life.

A man being chucked out the company that he founded, it is really a tragedy that could break any one. But, Jobs was not one of these kinds. After leaving Apple, he founded NeXT Computer in 1985 with $7 million. He re-created the second-generation NeXT cube and touted it as the first "interpersonal" computer that would replace the personal computer. With NeXT becoming his obsession for aesthetic perfection, this put considerable strain on NeXT's hardware division. Later, in 1993, NeXT was transitioned fully to software development with the release of NeXTSTEP/Intel. And under his guidance, the company reported a profit of $1.03 million in just a year.

Later when Apple bought NeXT in 1996, Jobs was back to the company that he co-founded. He became the CEO of the company after the-then CEO Gil Amelio was ousted. Apple was still running in loss and Jobs concentrated on Apple's efforts on returning to profitability. For this, he terminated a number of projects, such as Newton, Cyberdog and OpenDoc. He also changed the Macintosh clones licensing program making it too costly for the manufacturers to continue making machines. He had different vision for his Apple. He never followed what others did and did not become the "Me Too" typo. Rather, he trusted his thoughts and visions and followed them. Accordingly, he tweaked his business based upon the target market segment that he focused upon.

With what he created in NeXT, all found its way to Apple after its acquisition. And under Jobs guidance, the company increased the sales significantly with the introduction of the iMac and other few products. He had several innovative ideas, which he knew was much ahead of time. SO, he decided to either wait till the world was ready to accept it or change the perception of the world through which it sees his technology. He took the second approach and made his innovation a necessity for people. He made his technologies so handy that today it is one of the most important elements of our life.

He adapted appealing designs and powerful branding that worked for Apple. After that, the company subsequently branched out, introducing and improving upon other digital appliances. With the introduction of iPod, he changed the way the world used to view Apple. Further, the introduction of iTunes digital music software and the iTunes Store, the company forayed into consumer electronics and music distribution. Now, it became the part of every man's life.

He not only emphasized on innovation part of a product, but also always reminded his employees that real artistic ship, i.e., by delivering working products on time is as important as innovation and attractive design. Under his leadership, Apple entered the cellular phone business with the introduction of the iPhone that included the features of and iPod and had its own mobile browsing scene.

In August 2011, Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple due to ill health, but remained at the company as chairman of the board. But, he did not give up and strived hard to work on the success of Apple till two months before his death. He had great thoughts about the success of his company and so before leaving the company, he appointed the next CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, to take forward the company to the next level of success. A few hours after the announcement of his resignation, the shares of Apple dropped and also of The Walt Disney Company where he served as director. But, on 6th October, 2011, this great innovator adieu the world bewildering about the future of Apple and technology.