India, Australia sign agreement on biotechnology
New Delhi : India and Australia Tuesday signed an agreement to jointly promote biotechnology in both
countries.
In the first round, priorities have been fixed on areas like biomedical devices and implants, stem cells,
vaccines, medical diagnostics, transgenic crops, and functional foods among others.
India's Department of Biotechnology and Australia's Department of Education Science and Training
signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) here and set up the corpus, consisting of six million
Australian dollars from Australia with a matching Indian grant over five years, to develop and support
collaborative research activities.
A joint committee, comprising senior experts from both sides would oversee the programme.
Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal announced seven new projects and two workshops that
will facilitate and support biotechnology research collaboration between India and Australia.
The workshop on stem cells will be hosted by the Australian Stem Cell Centre in Australia on June 12-13.
Why does Windows get slower over time?
Washington : If you use Windows, you know the story: the months pass, and your once-snappy
computer becomes sluggish, unstable, or unpredictable.
The natural impulse is to blame Windows itself. The phenomenon is so well known and widespread that
some in the industry have even coined a term for it: "Windows rot." The idea is that, for lack of a
specific cause, Windows just performs worse the longer you use it.
The fact is, though, a lot of Windows woes are preventable - if you know how. Windows rot is the
predictable result of actions that users tend to perform without knowing how it will impact their
Windows-based PCs. So what can you do to prevent Windows rot? Here are some solutions.
xxx
Do not install too many fonts
Every font you install in Windows uses memory. If you go through a period of being font crazy and
stuff your Windows system full of every typeface you can find, you'll soon have hundreds of fonts
installed - and a very slow computer.
Too many fonts especially take a toll on Windows startup. Systems with many fonts installed can take
up to five minutes or more just to boot up, and their hard disks will continue thrashing as programs are
loaded and used. Even a Windows computer with one gigabyte of memory (RAM) can easily become
overtaxed when several hundred typefaces are called upon to load each time Windows starts.
You may have a lot of fonts on your Windows computer without your even knowing it. Sometimes
choosing a "full installation" of popular office, desktop publishing, or graphics programs can choke your
computer by installing dozens of typefaces.
To see how many fonts you have installed, open the Windows Control Panel and double-click the Fonts
icon. If you're having concerns about performance and your font list goes on and on, you've found the
culprit. Select fonts you know you don't need, right-click, and choose Delete.
To keep fonts from impacting your system's performance, don't install more than 200 - 500 tops. If you
need more, consider using a font manager that allows you to install fonts in groups and remove them
when you don't need them.
xxx
Do not install and uninstall lots of software
It doesn't seem fair, but the truth is the more software you install and uninstall from Windows, the more
sluggish your computer will get. That's because too many program leave their traces even after they're
removed. Those traces exist in registry entries that aren't removed, program folders that do not get
deleted, and even components of installed applications that are intentionally left behind when the
programs are uninstalled.
And then there are also inevitably uninstallations that go awry, leaving you with programs that were not
successfully removed by the uninstall routine and that can no longer be removed completely because the
program's entry no longer exists in the Add/Remove programs section - or doesn't work.
Bottom line: If you want your Windows PC to remain in top shape, be careful about what you install -
and use only the programs you need.
xxx
Do not install "warez" or pirated software from Internet newsgroups or file sharing services.
Aside from the fact that downloading "warez," pirated software, and copyrighted music for free is illegal,
it's also dangerous - a sure way to get you a Windows computer that's plagued with all sorts of spyware,
malware, and perhaps viruses that will infect your computer and slow it down.
Although you may find pirated software on the Internet that is identical to what you'd buy in the store,
other applications are bound to be vehicles that unscrupulous hackers use to get their nefarious program
code onto your PC. Why take that chance?
xxx
Avoid shady Web sites.
Do you regularly surf the net looking for freebies and great deals? Look at porn or frequent gaming sites?
Watch out. Such sites are notorious hangouts for purveyors of adware and spyware. Some of these
programs can and will infiltrate your computer when you visit these shady sites, and before you know it,
your PC will be moving slower.
If that happens, be sure you use an antispyware tool or run a spyware scanner regularly.
xxx
Do not install games you download from the Internet.
Gaming sites - especially those that promise lots of free downloads are tremendously popular - and
sometimes tremendously dangerous. As with porn sites, some of these gaming venues harbor spyware
and malware - software that will infect your system, run in the background without your knowledge,
track your usage of the Internet, and bring your system to a crawl.
xxx
Be suspicious of freeware and shareware.
Most freeware and shareware does not contain spyware or other malicious code. But freeware and
shareware applications tend to be produced on a budget - or with no budget at all.
Consequently, testing of applications is sparse or nonexistent, and plenty of free programs are so poorly
written that they can negatively impact your PC's performance. So be careful about what you install. Try
to read reviews of freeware before you turn your PC over to it.
In general, Henry David Thoreau's golden rule of life - "simplify, simplify" - applies to computer users as
much as it does to philosophers. If you can slim reduce what you need on your Windows computer to
the bare essentials - and forego the untested and unproven - you'll end up with a computer that works as
well on the third year that you have it as well as it did on the third day.
Apple sells its 100 millionth iPod
San Francisco : Apple has sold its 100 millionth iPod, making the iPod the fastest selling music player in
history.
The first iPod appeared in November 2001, and together with iTunes and the iTunes online music store,
it has transformed the world of digital music.
It currently dominates over 75 percent of the market for portable digital media players and has spawned
an unprecedented system of over 4,000 accessories made specifically for the iPod that range from
fashionable cases to speaker systems.
According to the company, more than 70 percent of new US automobiles currently offer iPod
connectivity.
Numerous companies, including giants like Sony and Microsoft, have tried but so far failed to challenge
the iPod.
The latest effort is a joint initiative by Yahoo and SanDisk, which Monday announced the launch of the
Wi-Fi-enabled Sansa Connect, offering computer-free connection to Yahoo music and download
services.
The device offers a 2.2-inch (5.58-centimetre) LCD screen and a 8GB flash hard drive and is priced at
$250 in the US.
Over its five-year history there have been dozens of iPod models. Fans of the music and video player are
now eagerly awaiting Apple's iPhone, which combines the functionality and design of the iPod with a cell
phone.
AT&T's Cingular Wireless is set to begin exclusively selling the iPhone in the US for $500 and up in June.
Google used rival's database 'inadvertently'
-- After evading the question for four days, Google Inc. folded on Monday and admitted in a blog post
that developers at Google China had copied part of a software tool from rival Chinese Internet company
Sohu.com Inc. for one of its own products. But Google later said the database was used unintentionally.
Google has yet to explain exactly how portions of a dictionary of Chinese words and names developed
by Sohu -- which had not been made public or licensed for use outside Sohu -- ended up inside its
Google Pinyin Input Method Editor (IME), saying only that it was an accident and the Sohu database
was used to develop Google's product.
"Shortly after the product was released, we learned that content from a non-Google database had been
inadvertently integrated into our dictionary," Google said Monday in an e-mail response to questions. The
statement offered no further details of how the dictionary became integrated with Google's software.
On the surface, using part of a rival's copyrighted software in this way appears to violate Google's Code
of Conduct.
"We respect our competitors and, above all else, believe in fair play in all circumstances; we would no
sooner use a competitor's confidential information to our advantage than we would wish them to use
ours," the Code says. "If an opportunity arises to take advantage of competitors' confidential information,
remember: don't be evil. We compete, but we don't cheat."
While Google employees found to violate the Code "will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and
including termination of employment," the company has not said whether such steps have been taken in
this case.
On Sunday, Google released an updated version of its Pinyin IME with a new dictionary. That revision
and an apology issued on Monday may have headed off a legal showdown with Sohu, but the damage to
Google's reputation among Chinese Internet users was already done.
"Their image of innovation and 'don't be evil' was almost destroyed," said Jason Yin, managing director
of market research firm In-Stat China, calling the events that unfolded over the weekend a "PR disaster"
for Google China.
Pinyin IMEs are widely used in China as a way to type Chinese characters using their Pinyin
romanization equivalents. Each IME draws on a built-in dictionary of Chinese words and names to
suggest possible matches for users as they type Pinyin. These dictionaries take time and effort to
compile, and ultimately determine the difference between a good IME and a bad one.
In the case of Sohu, two engineers spent more than a year compiling its dictionary, drawing on a
database of popular search queries from the company's Sogou search engine.
Juan Carlos Perez, in Miami, contributed to this report.