The Taj Mahal is a best Nice Place in India

The Taj Mahal is a best Nice Place in India

By Unknown → Friday, December 13, 2013

The Taj Mahal is the India's most famous monument, which is in the running to be voted as one of the seven new Wonders of the World, flanks a stinking, garbage-infested river and is almost always enveloped by dust and smog from belching smokestacks and vehicles.

India's most famous monument, which is in the running to be voted as one of the seven new Wonders of the World, flanks a stinking, garbage-infested river and is almost always enveloped by dust and smog from belching smokestacks and vehicles.

Millions of Indians hope the majestic white marble mausoleum, which took 17 years and 20,000 workers to build, will feature on the Wonders list, but conservationists and environmentalists are urging people to pay attention to its darker side.

"If things continue like this, the Taj Mahal's age will decrease, like that of a diseased man," said K.S. Rana, a leading campaigner for saving the Taj, located in Agra, a four-hour drive from New Delhi.

"Because of the pollution, there will be a corrosion effect, a deterioration of sorts in the stones."

Earlier this year, a parliamentary committee said airborne particles were being deposited on the poignant 17th century monument's white marble, giving it a yellow tinge.

But the committee said while air pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide gases were generally within permissible limits, "suspended particulate matter" had been recorded at high levels except during the rainy season.

Environmentalists and historians worry the soot and fumes would eventually dull the gleaming white monument.

The New York City Busy Street in USA

The New York City Busy Street in USA

By Unknown →

When Seema Shrikhande goes to work, she drives. When she takes her son to school, they drive. And when she goes shopping, to the bank or to visit friends, she gets into her car, buckles up and hits the road.

Driving is a way of life for Americans but researchers say the national habit of driving everywhere is bad for health.

The more you drive, the less you walk. Walking provides exercise without really trying.

Ideally, people should take 10,000 steps a day to maintain wellness, according to James Hill, professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado.

But for those who only walk from their home to the car and from their car to an office and back again, that figure can sink to only 1,000 steps.

A car culture forces people to make time to exercise and driving long distances reduces the time available to work out.

"If it (Atlanta) was a city where I walked more I would automatically get a lot of the exercise I need. Now I have to ... schedule it into my life. Sometimes it's very difficult because I'm busy," said Shrikhande, a professor of communications at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.

Obesity and heart disease are two of many problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle.

Car dependence makes it harder to get the 75 minutes of intense weekly exercise or the 150 minutes of moderate exercise the government recommends, said Dr. Dianna Densmore of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Lawrence Frank of the University of British Columbia has even quantified the link between the distance people drive each day and their body weight.

"Every additional 30 minutes spent in a car each day translates into a 3 percent greater chance of being obese," he said. "People who live in neighborhoods with a mix of shops and businesses within easy walking distance are 7 percent less likely to be obese."

Mobile Apps In The Enterprise: 7 Essentials For The New Ecosystem

Mobile Apps In The Enterprise: 7 Essentials For The New Ecosystem

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At some Macy's outlets this holiday season, shoppers who download the retailer’s app will be able to use their smart phones to guide them through the store to products they’re seeking.

At JCPenney, customers will be able to take a snapshot of, for example, boots worn by a person passing by and quickly find out if the store has similar ones in stock.

And Staples is testing an app that will allow sales clerks to let customers know how the store’s prices match up against Amazon and other rivals.

Hoping to claw back market share from online rivals - and tired of watching customers use their phones to find better deals than those offered in stores - brick and mortar retailers are trying to give shoppers different reasons to use their phones while doing holiday shopping.

The new apps will allow customers to easily order out-of-stock items for home delivery, to check store prices and even to summon a clerk.

But the retailers’ efforts will face two significant challenges in the looming holiday season: getting customers to embrace the new technology, which is still sometimes glitchy and dependent on in-store systems, and getting them to trust that stores can match the Web’s prices and convenience.

Retail purchases by mobile phone have increased by 34 percent in the last year, according to IBM, which estimates that more than 40 percent of the online traffic and about 20 percent of sales this Thanksgiving weekend will come from smart phones.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll of more than 3,000 respondents this month found that about half of those surveyed said they would use their mobile phones while shopping in stores this holiday season, for such things as making price comparisons, taking photos or researching products.

Last year, only about 42% of respondents said they would use their phones while shopping.

Companies that don’t make mobile work are playing a "very dangerous" game, said Jay Henderson, head of IBM’s cloud-based marketing platform.

"Retailers that can’t deliver a more personalized experience on mobile devices will start losing customers to businesses that can," he said.

In addition to its pilot programme guiding customers to products within stores, and a photo programme similar to JCPenney's, Macy's has taken inspiration from dating app Tinder, recommending products to customers online who swipe one way to like an item and the other to reject it.

JCPenney's app can be used to scan barcodes to pull up product information or order out of stock items, and it saves digital coupons - two increasingly common offerings in retailer apps.

“We look at using phones in stores as an enhancement to shopping,” said Kate Coultas, a representative with JCPenney which is heavily focused on mobile this year.

Service with a tap

Stores are trying to make customer service easier, too.

Best Buy's app now lets shoppers call, text or email a representative while in stores.

Target Corp is testing an in-store "digital service ambassador" in 25 Los Angeles stores to help customers use Target apps.

Ulta Beauty is testing an app that will allow clerks to access customer information and point them to products they might like.

Faisal Masud, executive vice president of global e-commerce at Staples, said his company knows that it must satisfy the desires of its customers to find low prices.

The company, like many others, will match online and in-store prices of competitors, including Amazon, Best Buy and Office Depot.

Customers “have a phone that is basically a super computer, and they will find it somewhere else” for less if they can, he said.

Companies offering web apps and in-store technologies will also have to grapple with keeping the new apps and systems working and up to date. That means ensuring that WiFi in stores works, and that terminals function.

Recent visits to a Staples store in New York City found that a kiosk set up to allow people to order online wasn’t functioning, and at a JCPenney store in the city, the Wifi didn’t work.

Both companies said the problems encountered were unusual and that they have backup systems in place.

"Poorly executed plans can be worse than no mobile strategy at all," said Perry Kramer, vice president at Boston Retail Partners. "The dangers are losing those customers for the rest of the year or for a long time."

Why Android Takes Forever to Get Cool Apps

Why Android Takes Forever to Get Cool Apps

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Some phonemakers are quietly exploring alternatives to the Android operating system implicated in the Samsung-Apple ruling, industry watchers say, despite their public pronouncements they are sticking with the technology.

Some phonemakers are quietly exploring alternatives to the Android operating system implicated in the Samsung-Apple ruling, industry watchers say, despite their public pronouncements they are sticking with the technology.

Last week, a US court ruled Samsung's Android devices were violating Apple patents - a major blow to the leading mobile software platform because it could lead to sales bans and high licensing fees.

The impact could also hit smaller vendors that use Android like HTC, ZTE, and Sony. Android is used in more than two thirds of smart phones.

Huawei, Sony, Lenovo and ZTE - which all use Android extensively - told Reuters they were continuing to bet on the Google's platform despite the ruling.

"(The ruling) is not relevant to what we are doing," said Chris Edwards, chief of ZTE's business development in Europe.

But as the mobile market matures and more patent cases look likely, some makers are looking at the alternatives.

Samsung, which has used a number of platforms but now mostly uses Android, announced a new phone running on Microsoft's new Windows Phone 8 software at a consumer technology conference on Wednesday, sneaking ahead of a hotly-anticipated launch of a Nokia-Windows phone due next week.

Shares in Nokia, which has partnered with Windows and is its main user, jumped after the Samsung ruling on expectations it might be a safer legal bet than Android makers.

The California jury said Samsung infringed six of seven Apple patents in the case, including technology that recognizes whether one or two fingers are on the screen, the front surface of the phone and the design of screen icons, which is a clear reference to Google's technology.

After the verdict, Google said that most of the patents involved "don't relate to the core Android operating system."

Android was used in 68 percent of all smartphones sold last quarter, with Samsung making almost half of them, while Microsoft had 3 percent market share.

The balance of power is unlikely to shift quickly as this season's new phones were all made before the ruling.

Sony launched three Android phones this week at IFA, Europe's largest consumer electronics fair. Chinese phone maker Huawei launched four.

Internet, Keep Your Damn Hands Off My Rom Coms

Internet, Keep Your Damn Hands Off My Rom Coms

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The government policymakers sought to allay fears, saying they were coming up with a raft of measures to better secure the users online.

The ‘Dialogue on Safer Internet' was held at the Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel in Dhaka on Saturday.

Toufique Imrose Khalidi, bdnews24.com’s Editor-in-Chief, moderated the brainstorming session, and at the outset, he raised the sensitive issue of personal safety on the internet.

The senior journalist brought up the shocking episode where cricketer Nasir Hossain shared a photo of his sister on his Facebook fan page, which was littered with vulgar comments.

Toufique Imrose Khalidi

Nova Ahmed

He told the panellists and audience about blogger and writer Avijit Roy’s wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya’s write-up drawing a torrent of indecent remarks.

Nova Ahmed, assistant professor of computer science at North South University, touched on the personal safety issue at the beginning of the discussion.

Ahmed, who researched on the issue, said in some cases, a girl’s photo was uploaded on the web with a price tag on her, leaving the girl feeling terrible.

“Again, someone is signing up for a Facebook account using the photo of a girl and the acquaintances of that girl are adding her, believing that account to be hers. And then those acquaintances are told indecent stuff.”

The main problem was, Ahmed said, the female victims were not willing to talk about the harassment. “They don’t know how they should take up the issue and with whom. So, they go silent.”

But, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State Minister for Information and Communication Technology, claimed telecoms regulator and law-enforcing agencies were alert to the cyber harassment.

The government’s cyber security call centre received 12,000 calls in the past one year and those harassed on the internet were being given legal and other aid.

He said, when asked by the moderator, they were successful in 80 percent of the cases.

Tarana Halim

Zunaid Ahmed Palak

“We are not worried about making investments to make the internet a safer place. We are drafting digital cyber security law and will install a digital forensic lab.”

“If we want to catch cyber criminals, we can track them down by going to the digital forensic lab and see what device was used and when the crime was done.”

However, State Minister for Post and Telecommunications Tarana Halim believed politics and militancy fuelled personal attacks in cyber society.

To back her assertion, she cited the instance of Hifazat-e Islam running a ‘propaganda campaign’ with ‘fake’ photos to claim scores were killed in the drive to flush out its violent activists in Motijheel’s Shapla intersection.

The MP also referred to the destruction of Buddhist temples in Cox's Bazar's Ramu by spreading lies.

Halim said militant outfits ran countless Facebook accounts and they could take down only a handful before commenting that “there was no alternative to adopting effective measures”.

Benazir Ahmed

Md Emdad ul Bari

The state minister said the government was procuring Internet Safety Solutions (ISS) to ease the problem.

BTRC Director General (System and Service) Brig Gen Md Emdad ul Bari highlighted internet security issues.

He said the problem was that they can track only the real IP addresses in the country, not beyond.

But RAB Director General Benazir Ahmed said those who launched personal attack on Facebook or ran propaganda were not primary users, but “super users”.

State Minister Palak urged conscious and progressive-minded people to get active in the social media to tackle the menace.

Tarana Halim said no individual could resist alone; different organisations and agencies needed to make joint efforts and a social resistance built up.

How to Start Investing in Stocks with Only $100 in Your Pocket

How to Start Investing in Stocks with Only $100 in Your Pocket

By Unknown →

As stocks soar, everybody wants in. Bourses are on a roll, indices have hit new highs drawing in new investors. But the price of many issues rising far beyond their fundamentals has led the Securities and Exchange Commission to voice concern recently on the "abnormal" state of the stock market. As economic indicators show signs of sluggishness in countrywide business and investment, the stock market's remarkable buoyancy would appear to oppose rational behaviour. Analysts say the market is behaving in apparent opposition, however, precisely because excess liquidity is being diverted to the stock market. A lack of business and investment opportunities has resulted in idle funds, which have been pouring into stocks.

But the price of many issues rising far beyond their fundamentals has led the Securities and Exchange Commission to voice concern recently on the "abnormal" state of the stock market.

As economic indicators show signs of sluggishness in countrywide business and investment, the stock market's remarkable buoyancy would appear to oppose rational behaviour.

Analysts say the market is behaving in apparent opposition, however, precisely because excess liquidity is being diverted to the stock market.

A lack of business and investment opportunities has resulted in idle funds, which have been pouring into stocks.

"The share market usually rises if there are signs of hopes in the economy. [At present] pessimism prevails in the economy while optimism prevails in the stock market. It is contradictory," said Abu Ahmed, who teaches economics at Dhaka University.

"Bangladesh's share market is proving the existing economic theories wrong simply because the economy is slowing down while the market is getting overheated," he said.

Official statistics shows that business and industry performances, as evidenced by exports and investments, are not healthy.

Overall earnings from exports declined 21.08 percent to $902.33 million in July, from the same month a year ago, depressed by a 24 percent fall in export earnings from garment, the main foreign exchange earner.

Local and foreign investment proposals with the Board of Investment also dropped substantially, although banks are sitting with over Tk 142 billion in excess liquidity.

By contrast, the stock market except for price corrections—and occasional shocks on fears of anticorruption and anti-tax evasion drives—has been heating up since January as investors regained confidence after fears of a political fallout.

The market's buoyancy may not bring any positive impact on economic growth in the short-run, say analysts, but could be a future avenue for raising capital for industrialisation after the economy passes a correction phase.

10 Actionable Trends For Mobile Marketers In 2013

10 Actionable Trends For Mobile Marketers In 2013

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Now one of Asia's top 10 mobile phone markets in terms of adding net subscribers, according to the chairman of GSM Asia Pacific, an alliance of GSM mobile operators. Mehboob Chowdhury spoke exclusively to bdnews24.com Technology Editor Abu Saeed Khan.

Besides, the country has added 8.945 million GSM mobile users in a single year -- from July 2005 to June 2006, according to the latest figure of GSM Association.
"It has put Bangladesh in the top tenth position among the worldwide mobile markets," Chowdhury says.

In an exclusive interview with the bdnews24.com, Chowdhury discloses that Bangladesh now ranks eighth among the top 10 Asian mobile markets in terms of adding net subscribers during January to March, 2006.

Citing the data of Informa Telecoms & Media, a London-based research firm, he says Bangladesh has had 1.265 million new users during the first quarter of 2006. The figure is slightly lower than the net addition of Thailand and Philippines combined, and marginally lower than seventh-ranked Malaysia's first quarter intake.

Vietnam, fifth on the list, has added more than two million mobile subscribers during this period, but its total clientele was smaller than what Bangladesh had in the first quarter of 2006.

The chairman of GSM Asia Pacific credits the cellular mobile operators with this achievement while being critical of the government's "pounding the industry with disruptive policies."

"When the operators made new connections affordable and started slashing the call charges; the government came up with this disastrous tax last year. It was a bolt from the blue (for the operators) that slowed down the market for a while."

The operators, however, turned things around by subsidising this "mindless tax" to revive the growth. The new 8.945 million GSM mobile users that have put Bangladesh in the global map is the result of the operators' continuous subsidy, Chowdhury points out.