Srinivasan is BCCI chief

New Delhi, Sept. 28: Despite being told off by the Supreme Court for holding more than one post in the Indian cricket setup, Mr N. Srinivasan is set to make a smooth transition from board secretary to president-elect at the BCCI’s 81st AGM in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Mr Srinivasan, the de facto owner of Chennai Super Kings, will take over the BCCI’s reins from next year when Mr Shahshank Manohar’s tenure ends. Mr Srinivasan represents South Zone while Mr Manohar was the Central Zone’s nominee.

This will also effectively snap suspended IPL chief Lalit Modi’s last link with cricket, with BCCI finance committee chief Rajiv Shukla replacing him as the board vice-president from Central Zone. West Zone’s incumbent vice-president Chirayu Amin will also be replaced by media committee chief Niranjan Shah. “There will be no place for Modi in any BCCI or IPL committee,” a board source said.

The other office bearers — Arun Jaitley (North), N. Shivlal Yadav (South) and Arindam Ganguly (East) — will retain their seats as they have a year left of their three-year vice-presidential tenure.

Source: http://www.asianage.com/india/srinivasan-bcci-chief-110

iPhone 4 orders exceed 200,000 in China

(Reuters) - Pre-orders for Apple Inc's iPhone 4 in China have exceeded 200,000 units since the handsets went on sale on Saturday, China Unicom said, adding that it has stopped taking online orders because of strong demand.

About 60,000 buyers had received phones through China Unicom so far, the mobile operator said in a statement. By comparison, it took about six weeks to sell 100,000 iPhone 3GS handsets in 2009.

The iPhone 4 is being offered through China Unicom on a two-year mobile subscription contract and also through Apple retail stores in China, the world's largest mobile phone market with more than 800 million subscribers.

China Unicom, which counts China Mobile Ltd and China Telecom Corp Ltd as its competitors, is the sole distributor of Apple's iPhone in the country. Sales for previous generations of the iPhone were slow because of its high price.

(Reporting by Kelvin Soh; Editing by Chris Lewis)

Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE68Q0GH20100927

Dedicated Common Wealth Games traffic lanes spell doom

New Delhi: Delhi commuters should brace themselves for a manic Monday, as the Delhi police have decided that the traffic advisory for Sunday will be effective on Monday as well.

This means, between 8 am and 8 pm on Monday, there will be a dedicated lane for Commonwealth Games athletes and officials.

The roads to be avoided are:

• Games Village to NH-24
• Ring Road up to Barapullah flyover
• 4th Avenue, Lodhi Road
• Safdarjung Road
• Kamal Ata Turk Marg
• Panchsheel Marg

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/commonwealth%20games/dedicated-cwg-traffic-lanes-spell-doom-54986?trendingnow&cp

On Sunday, traffic on some roads which has exclusive Commonwealth Games lanes saw heavy rush as city police enforced restrictions on such stretches for 12 hours during the day.

A large number of traffic personnel were fanned out across the city to facilitate Commonwealth Games-related traffic as athletes are scheduled to visit practice venues spread across the city.

"To give facilitation to Games-related traffic, exclusive Games Lanes were maintained from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm on certain stretches of roads in Delhi," Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satyendra Garg said.

A traffic motorcycle blowing a siren and traffic personnel at intersections will inform people about the movement of Games-related traffic.

At the time of movement, people are expected to give precedence to Games-related traffic even on the roads where an exclusive Games lane is not operational at that time.

Anyone deliberately straying into the lanes while they are operational will attract a fine of Rs. 2,000.

These exclusive lanes were from Games Village to NH-24, turn left Ring Road upto Barapullah flyover, 4th Avenue, Lodhi Road, Safdarjung Road, Kamal Ata Turk Marg and Panchsheel Marg.

"The exclusiveness of Games Lane on this stretch will be maintained from tomorrow up to October 16," Garg said.

In addition to the above stretch, additional routes may also come for operation of exclusive Lane from the dates to be intimated later.

"All road users are expected to maintain the sanctity of the dedicated lane. They should avoid getting into the dedicated lane and if inadvertently they enter the lane, they should immediately come out of it," he said.

Till the intimation, public will be able to use Games Lane on other stretches for their movement except for the time when there is Games-related movement.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/commonwealth%20games/dedicated-cwg-traffic-lanes-spell-doom-54986?trendingnow&cp

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/article/commonwealth%20games/dedicated-cwg-traffic-lanes-spell-doom-54986?trendingnow

Air India to operate special flights for Commonwealth Games

NEW DELHI: Air India, the official carrier for the Commonwealth Games, will be operating two special flights from Auckland and Brisbane to bring in officials and athletes for the Games to be held from October 3 to 14.

The national carrier has deployed a 200-seater Boeing 777 long range for the Kiwi officials and athletes and a 282-seater Boeing 777 extended range for Australians. The special flight (AI-5411) will leave from Auckland on September 27, at 7pm IST and arrive at IGI airport on September 28, at 2.45am, an Air India official said. Similarly, flight AI-5417, will take off from Brisbane on September 29, at 9pm IST and will reach Delhi on September 30, at 4.55am.

Being an official carrier, Air India has kept around 2,500 seats for the athletes and delegates flying on its scheduled flights from various participating countries.

"Air India as the official partner for the 19th Commonwealth Games being held at Delhi, expects nearly 2,500 athletes and delegates to fly into Delhi on the scheduled flights from various commonwealth countries,'' an Air India spokesperson said.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Air-India-to-operate-special-flights-for-Games/articleshow/6627790.cms

Starbucks Raises Prices Following Increase in Coffee Costs

The world’s largest café chain, Starbucks, has announced that it will raise the prices of its beverages in the coming months. Following increases in coffee costs, Starbucks’ chairman, president, and CEO Howard Schultz said that all this time the coffee chain has tried to keep the prices the same by absorbing the costs but will not be able to do so in the future.

The announcement did not include information, however, about which drinks will be priced more and by how much the prices would increase. Starbucks also plans to increase the prices of its packaged coffee, including beans sold in grocery stores. Some of the items on the menu may increase by as much as 33%.

It did say that the labor intensive, hard-to-make drinks would probably be the ones that will cost more. Even extras of anything are said to cost more in the future – an extra shot of espresso went from 55 cents to 70 cents and a shot of syrup to added to a latte rose 33 percent to 40 cents. However, the good news is that the prices of regular drinks are not expected to change much, and may even decrease. The tall, brewed coffee will still cost $1.50.

“This is as a part of our comprehensive approach to providing the value while balancing our business responsibilities,” spokeswoman Valerie O’Neil said at the time. Other coffee sellers have been raising prices, too. Prices for Folgers, Dunkin’ Donuts and Millstone brands made by the J.M. Smucker Co. rose an average of 9 percent last month, the company said.

Bill Gates Tops Forbes List for 17th Consecutive Year

Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, has topped the Forbes 400 Richest Americans List for the 17th year in a row. His net estimate is said to be worth $54 billion. He is said to be up from last year by $4 billion. Chief Executive Officer, Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. comes second with fortunes worth $45 billion. While worth $27 billion dollars, software company Oracle’s co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison is the third richest American.

Bill Gates is also one of the most generous richest people in the world has made donations of about $28 million. Most of his donations have passed through his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which now has a $33 billion endowment, including contributions from billionaire buddy Warren Buffett.
Forbes said the net worth of its rich list climbed 8% this year to $1.4 trillion compared to $1.27 trillion last year. Wealth rose for 217 members in the list, while 85 saw a decline.

Forbes has announced that the Forbes 400 has a brand new look and with the latest version, people can stay in touch with America’s richest people with a new digital publishing platform. With this technology staff and “outside” contributors can add information to create content on Forbes.com.

The new website will enable people to keep track of stories of America’s richest people by following them and signing up for daily or weekly alerts. The new Forbes 400 also includes a completely redesigned Forbes magazine and a soon-to-be-released Forbes People List application for the iPad.

Blockbuster files for bankruptcy

The online video rental chain, Blockbuster has filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. The company’s Chapter 11 petition in federal bankruptcy court lists $1.02 billion in assets and $1.46 billion in debt. Shares of Blockbuster fell 12 cents, or 29%, to 28 cents a share.

The company’s market capitalization now totals about $34 million, or just a fraction of its fourth-quarter revenue of $1 billion. The company reported an operating loss of $394 million in the period. During the Chapter 11 process, Blockbuster will continue to operate as normal. Once the dominant name in the movie rental business, the company is reeling from mounting losses, rising debt and competitors that have better catered to Americans’ changed media habits. Blockbuster faces tough competition from Redbox, which operates movie-rental kiosks in stores, and Netflix, which mails movies to subscribers and also provides digital streaming.

It is also struggling against the likes of Apple, which also rents out movies via its iTunes service. Blockbuster, which currently employs about 25,000 people, has been closing stores to keep up with the competition and plans to cut expenses by more than $200 million.

“After a careful and thorough analysis, we determined that the process announced today provides the optimal path for recapitalizing our balance sheet and positioning Blockbuster for the future as we continue to transform our business model to meet the evolving preferences of our customers,” Jim Keyes, Blockbuster’s chief executive, said in a statement.

The company has hired Rothschild, the law firm Weil, Gotshal&Manges and the consulting firm Alvarez&Marsal as advisers. Last month, Movie Gallery Inc., which also owns Hollywood Video, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It is liquidating at least 760 stores.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to donate $100 million to Newark Public Schools

The founder and CEO of the world’s largest social networking site, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg plans to announce that he will donate $100 million to the public school system in Newark, New Jersey.

He scheduled to make the announcement on Friday and will coincide with the release of the movie, The Social Network, by David Fincher that documents the meteoric rise and the short history of the number #1 social networking site in the world. The site that has over 500 million users and is valued at more than $20 billion was founded at Harvard University by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and launched in February 2004. There has been controversy in the past, however, that Mark had stolen the ideas from his friends. Mark is estimated to be worth around $6.9 billion by Forbes and is the thirty fifth richest man in the US even higher than Apple’s Steve Jobs.

The generous donation was made on the Oprah Winfrey show which will aired soon, and Mark was accompanied by by Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on the show as well. Newark has had a particularly tough time when it comes to education, with the city spending $22,000 per year on each of the city’s 40,000 students, less than 50 percent of whom graduate, and only 20 percent of which further their education at a four-year college.

Zuckerberg is reportedly creating a foundation with its chief goal being to enhance America’s education system and some of the donation could go to that as well.

Britney Spears’ “I Love Rock n Roll” Voted Worst Song

Britney’s cover version of Joan Jett’s track “I Love Rock n Roll” has been voted as the worst song ever. The once-upon-a-time pop princess released the song in 2002 to coincide with the rlease of her debut movie, Crossroads which incidentally bombed at the box office.

Boyzone star Ronan Keating’s ‘Fairytale of New York’ by The Pogues came second in the survey, while Celine Dion’s version of AC DC’s ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ was named the third worst cover. 15,000 readers of the music website NME.com have voted for their least favorite cover in an online poll and the Toxic singer’s version came top of the worst-ever covers.

The 28-year-old’s attempt at American singer Joan Jett’s 1981 classic sold just 51,000 copies. Spears started her career with “….Baby One More Time” and “Ooops….I did it Again” which became international #1 hits. She has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling music artists.

However, the recent years have been on the downhill for the troubled star and the pop star has not released any songs since her 2008 album Circus. She suffered from a very public meltdown in 2007 that resulted in her being hospitalized in January 2008. Britney has two sons, Sean Preston, five, and four-year-old Jayden James, with ex-husband Kevin Federline.

The R&B singer and ‘OMG’ hitmaker, Usher has revealed he wants to work on the troubled singer’s new album and hopes to enlist the help of other stars to make her comeback record a success.

PLX Technology buys Teranetics for $35.8 million

Data networking equipment maker PLX Technology Inc. reached an agreement to buy Teranetics, Inc., a privately held semiconductor company for about $35.8 million in a stock and cash deal.

Under the terms of the deal, PLX will acquire Teranetics, based in San Jose, Calif., in exchange for 7.4 million PLX shares -- worth $27.6 billion based on Friday's closing price -- as well as $1.3 million in cash and two promissory notes aggregating approximately $6.9 million. The first note will be for $5.4 million due one year from closing of the deal and the second will be for approximately $1.5 million due three years from closing.

PLX will also assume about $18 million of Teranetics' corporate obligations, including debt, transaction expenses incurred by Teranetics and cash bonuses payable to Teranetics employees.

The deal is expected to close in early October.

Shares of PLX technology, based in Sunnyvale Calif., rose 4 cents to close at $3.77 Friday, and added 3 cents in after-hours trading.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9IEH8RG1.htm

HP and Oracle Kiss and Make up: Settlement costs former CEO Hurd $13 Million

Hewlett-Packard settled its lawsuit against is former CEO Mark Hurd and the settlement resulted in Hurd losing $13.6 million in the form of 330,177 forgone stock options that HP had given him in 2008. The filed the suit after its former CEO, who was fired in August following a sexual harassment case filed by marketing contractor Jodie Fisher, joined HP’s competitor Oracle only a month later in early September.

Oracle hired Hurd as President resulting in HP filing a suit to block Hurd’s move stating compromise of trade secrets as primary reason. According to a joint statement today from both companies, HP and Hurd have settled, and the statement said: HP and Oracle Corp. today reaffirmed their long-term strategic partnership and the resolution of litigation regarding Mark V. Hurd’s employment at Oracle.

While the terms of the settlement are confidential, Mr. Hurd will adhere to his obligations to protect HP’s confidential information while fulfilling his responsibilities at Oracle. The agreement also reaffirms HP and Oracle’s commitment to delivering the best products and solutions to their more than 140,000 shared customers.

Although all has not been rosy between the two rivals-cum-partners, HP affirms that everything between them is alright. From the time that Oracle has acquired Sun Microsystems, it has aspired to dominate the software and hardware markets while HP aims to do the same. However, Chief Financial Officer and interim chief Cathie Lesjak said that both the companies “have been important partners for more than 20 years” and will continue to work together.

1A tribute to The Boss George Steinbrenner from the Yankees

The Yankees have extended their lead to one and a half games against the Tampa Bay Rays. The pre-game started with emotional moments for the Yankees when their previous boss George Steinbrenner’s monument was unveiled. George Steinbrenner was the principal club owner and managing director of the Yankee’s for a record 37 years till his death a couple of months ago.

He died after suffering a heart attack in his Tampa home on the morning of July 13, 2010, the day of the 81st All-Star Game. During his ownership, the Yankees earned 7 World Series titles and 11 pennants. The first year Yankee Curtis Granderson made the game a perfect tribute to ‘The Boss’ by scoring 5 runs in a very close game with final score 8-6.

Granderson who never had a chance to meet Steinbrenner now had the opportunity to give the perfect ending to the game with two home runs, which pulled of the game from the hands of the Rays – something that would have made George very happy.

It was the second time that the Yankees were paying tribute to their former boss. “We should do ceremonies like this every day,” said Nick Swisher. We were 2-0 for him, he added. The rookie pitcher Nova had a mixed day in the game though he did very well with a cruising start. “I was pitching good the first five innings, and then one inning, boom, it was gone.” Nova said after conceding 3 runs in hits in the 6^th innings.

Nick Jonas Celebrates 18th Birthday with Ex-Girl Miley Cyrus

Nick Jonas celebrated his 18th with friends and family at a late-night bowling event in a low-key birthday event, which was just what Nick wanted because he felt an extravagant party was just too “ridiculous.”

The former couple also had the company of another former couple, Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato. His ex-girlfriend teenage singing sensation, Miley Cyrus was at hand to help him celebrate. The trio was accompanied by a number of other individuals including Robert Kardashian. All of them looked happy and relaxed and looked like they were having fun.

Rumours are rife that Miley and Nick may be seeing each other again. Miley and Nick called it quits in December of 2007 after dating for almost a year and a half. Since then Miley has been said to have gone out with singer-model Justin Gaston and Australian actor Liam Hemsworth. There has always been news about an on-again and off-again relationship between them and Miley has admitted that she enjoys hanging out with him and calls Nick her “best friend.”

Nick Jonas is part of a pop-rock boy band that he formed with brothers Joe and Kevin. Cyrus is currently in her last season of “Hannah Montana” and is looking to get away from the image the Disney crafted for her and continue working on a career of her own. Cyrus released her first solo album, Breakout (2008), which was commercially successful and has begun to create an adult image of herself through The Time of Our Lives (2009), an extended play and by filming The Last Song (2010), a coming-of-age drama film.

Saints Prevailed over the 49ers but lose their ACE running back Bush

It was a day of mixed feelings for the Super Bowl defending champions. After winning the opening game of the season against the Vikings, the New Orleans Saints didn’t show any signs of pressure as they took on yesterday. Although Alex Smith and the 49ers performed better than in their first game and made the Saints fight for their victory, the result was the same. Saints pulled off a thrilling finish after the time expired with a 37 yards field goal from promising Hartley with the final score at 25-22.

It was a bad game for Alex Smith who threw 2 interceptions and a touchdown with 275 passing yards. The game was equally poised until the last quarter with a lead less than a field goal for the saints. It was Hartley’s show in the last quarter; the Saints completed 3/3 field goal chances they got including the match winning 37 yarder after the clock expired.

Previously, Brees dominated the game finishing 28 of the 38 passes, throwing 254 yards with 2 touch downs, which gave an early lead for the Saints. But the Saints fan will miss Reggie Bush for the next six games. Bush was carted out in the last quarter with a broken right leg. Earlier Bush received a 6 yard pass from Brees to give the first touchdown to the Saints. “It’s been a pretty touch week” said the 25 year old Bush referring to controversial Heisman Trophy, which returned last Tuesday to end the controversy. I was hoping for the best, that’s all I can do,” he added. He finished the game with a net of 34 yards and a touchdown.

Edwards doing no better off the field also, arrested by the NYPD for DUI

From the beginning of the career, Braylon Edwards has not had a good track record off the field. The season has just started and Edwards is already in trouble with the law over a couple of incidents.

Even after being penalized for dancing in front of the defensive back in the last game against New England, it seems Braylon Edwards has not learnt his lesson. Now he is in the spot light a second time for all the wrong reasons after being arrested by the New York police yesterday. He was arrested with a charge of driving with excessive blood alcohol levels around 5:15 Monday morning.

He went to attend a Monday night event in support of Cotchery’s Nonprofit Foundation benefiting underprivileged youth in Manhattan, which ended around 9:30pm and it was not known where he had been from that time to the time he was caught. “We are very disappointed in Braylon’s actions this morning,” Jets general manager Tannenbaum said. His story doesn’t end with the arrest and the Jets are ready to take disciplinary actions against him after reviewing the information.

There is talk that he might be suspended for his misdemeanor. His match winning capabilities might not be enough to save him this time round. Previously he had played a major role in the Jets’ win over New England in the last game with 45 receiving yards with a touchdown and 2 point conversion throw from Sanchez. This is not a new thing to Braylon Edwards though.

The former 1^st round 3^rd pick from Michigan was traded by the Cleveland Browns last season after punching a man outside the night club. This is the last season for him with the Jets, his $6.1 million will end this season and he will be a free agent after this.

The Review of the Past Weekend Release, The Town

The past weekend release The Town marks Ben Affleck’s second directorial venture. The movie is based in a one-mile stretch of neighbourhood, Charlestown in Boston which is home to professional robbers and criminals. One of them is the protagonist, Doug MacRay, who is a mastermind and a cut above the rest – he is the leader of a crew of ruthless bank robbers.

This is the only family he has and the closest person in the world is Jem, who is as close as a brother to him. In one of their bank robbery heists, Jem takes a hostage, Claire Keesey and McRay concerned about what Jem might do to her, proceeds to take charge. Keesey is taken in by the charming stranger and a passionate romance blossoms between them. Doug soon wants to put an end to his way of life in Charlestown and move out and move on.

However, with the FBI on his tracks, giving up now would only endanger Keesey and make him face the wrath of Jem who begins to suspect his loyalty to the gang and to him. McRay is torn between his friendship to Jem and his love for Claire and he knows he has to make a difficult choice and risk losing one of them. This thriller seems to have it all – drama, romance, betrayal, and escaping your past.

Affleck both directs and stars in the lead role in his second directorial venture and this movie promises to be a second follow up success to his debut, Gone Baby Gone, that pleasantly surprised critics and gave Affleck a promising career start. The Town is an adaptation of author Chuck Hogan’s Hammett Prize-winning novel.

General Motors: Bailout Repayment Could Take Years

GM’s new CEO, Daniel Akerson, said that it might the automobile manufacturing company at least two years to repay tax payers the money it had borrowed to bail itself out of bankruptcy during the recession period, and added that it was the goal of the company to have full intentions of making the repayment.

Akersonreplaced former CEO Ed Whitacre, on September 1st, who said in August that that he expected the stock to be sold all at once, but Akerson remains skeptical. Akerson was a former telecommunications industry executive and GM board member since July 2009, and GM’s fourth CEO in less than two years.

He however, emphasized that he does not expect much change in the management in the near future and expected considerable stability. The CEO said he knew that it would take consistent earnings from GM and several stock sales before the money is returned. GM received about $50 billion in all from the government.

It has repaid $6.7 billion of the money that the government put up to save the Detroit automaker and get it through its Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year.The remaining $43 billion was converted to a 61 percent ownership stake, according to the Associated Press reports.

GM made $2.2 billion in the first half of the year, a strong sign to investors that it is much leaner and healthier than it was before bankruptcy. It has also recalled 400 laid off factory workers for its Spring Hill, Tenn., manufacturing plant.

Nokia Joins the Smartphone Bandwagon with the Launch of the N8, E7, C7 and C6

It’s finally Nokia’s turn to join the race for building the smartest smartphone with the launch of four Nokia smartphones this month. The Finnish company, one of the world’s largest handset makers, unveiled its four latest smartphones at a star-studded event in London.

All phones run on the Symbian software and feature wide screens. The latest Symbian version comes with an additional 250+ features and the Ovi Store will contribute to a more user-friendly popular apps, such as Angry Birds, Need for Speed, and Real Golf 2011, as well as unique and appealing ones like Audiotube and Tesco.

The phones also feature the latest beta versions of Ovi Maps including pedestrian and motorist features. The E7 comes with a 4-inch touchscreen, and is touted to be a business phone offering a slide out Qwerty keyboard and ClearBlack Tech for improved outdoor visibility.

The C7 and C6 are both sleek stylish handsets and feature a 3.5 inch and 3.2 inch AMOLED touchscreens respectively. With C7, you can receive live updates from social and networking sites and user can integrate their Yahoo! and Gmail accounts on the homescreen.

The C6 also fetures ClearBlack Tech and has access to music and downloads of tracks and apps from the Ovi Store. You can be sure that Nokia is back in the Smartphone game with this family of phones that enriches the Ovi experience and may silence critics who feel that Nokia is losing out to Apple and RIM in the smartphone segment. The handsets are expected to start shipping around the holiday season later this year

Fiat Obtains Approval to Start Non-Car Ventures

Fiat, the Italian automobile manufacturers, has finally obtained approval from shareholders on Thursday to separate its industrial units from its automotive units.

Earlier this year, in April, the Fiat Group had announced that they were planning to split the industrial unit that manufactured the Iveco trucks, and agricultural and marine equipment from its automobile ventures which include the Fiat, Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati car brands, as well as Magneti Marelli and Teksid auto parts, Comau robotics and FPT Powertrain Technologies.

The Group hoped that investors would see the split as a positive outcome that would put the company at a strategic advantage and resolve issues that had been troubling the company for some time now. The industrial business is viewed as more profitable by the market because it involves low costs of research and development and high margin profits.

The Group’s president, John Elkann, was appreciative of the shareholder’s support in making the split happen. The Fiat Group was started by Giovanni Agnelli, Elkann’s grandfather, in 1899. Today, it is the world’s sixth largest carmaker and Italy’s largest carmaker and private employer. Last year, the group bought a 20 percent stake in the American automaker, Chrysler, when the latter was filing bankruptcy. It gives Fiat the right to raise its stake by 51 percent which is subject to it meeting its performance standards. Sergio Marchionne, the CEO, is confident of Fiat making its fray into the global automobile market and said that it was an opportune time for car makers.

South Australia into the Semis of ACLT20

South Australia, with an excellent performance from Michael Klinger, booked themselves a place in the semifinals of the Champions League T20 series in Durban, South Africa on Friday.

The Redbacks beat the Bangalore Royal Challengers by 8 wickets with 9 balls to spare. Klinger, who was unbeaten at 69 led his team to victory and did a fantastic job as the skipper as well. This is his third match winning fifty in three games and his latest one against the Challengers earned him a Player of the Match award as well.

He shared a 124-run partnership with opener Daniel Harris who was run out at 57. Christian’s 4 wicket haul and Shaun Tait’s 2-23 ensured South Australia that the opposing team were restricted to a total of 154.

The Australians made a sensible, steady chase and the Challenger’s bowling line up soon became loose and a couple of misfields ensured them of a comfortable finish. Despite the two relatively early wickets that the Australians lost, Klinger and Ferguson led the team to victory with 9 balls to spare. This is the third straight win for the Redbacks.

Previously, they had beaten the Lions and Mumbai Indians and are currently the highest in the points tally in Group B. At the moment, it still cannot be said with certainty who they will face in the semis, but they will play against the team with the second highest points from Team A in Centurion on September 25.

Motorola to launch Tablet by 2011

Motorola has announced that it has pushed the release of its Tablet to next year.

Initially, the Android Tablet was slated for a late fall release but there have been changes in the plan apparently. Co-CEO, Sanjay Jha had initially expressed concerns over customization of the OS and that is probably a reason for the delayed launch.

Motorola sees the Tablet as a move away from the iPad, which according to
Motorola officials is simply an extension of the iPhone. Speaking at a Deutsche bank Technology Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, Jha would make a tablet when it was found to be “sufficiently compelling” and hinted at a next year release.

Also, because the latest mobile software, meaning the Android 2.2 is not optimized for use on Tablets, it is probably waiting for Google’s Android 3.0 (“Gingerbread”) which Google has announced is compatible for a tablet experience and would be launched next year. Recently, Dell launched it five-inch Tablet while Samsung Electronics unveiled its seven-inch tablet called the Galaxy tab in the market.

Motorola’s Android tablet is rumored to have a 10-inch screen, integration with FIOS TV service and a dual-core processor. It would support Flash videos, a feature that the iPad lacks, and will have 3G connectivity supported by Verizon. The tablet is touted by Jha, in a recent statement, as an “augmentation to the TV experience.” The partnership between Motorola and Verizon is mutually beneficial since both parties are heavily invested in developing the Android platform.

Boeing to Send Tourists into Space Soon

Boeing to Send Tourists into Space Soon

Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company and a leading manufacturer of commercial jets and defense systems, is now all set to enter into a yet-to-be fully explored arena – space tourism. Its recent announcement said that flights into space could be launched as early as 2015 and effort are on to finalize prices, market seats and talk to prospective customers. Boeing is in partnership with Space Adventure, the space tourism company based in Virginia, to market the seats.

This undertaking will help facilitate the Obama government’s efforts to transform the image of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from a rocket building factory to one that is more supportive and nurturing of the space industry.

Based on NASA’s rules, four space station crew members have to travel in the Boeing capsule, called the CST-100, leaving room for three other non-astronaut space tourists. This plan comes at a time when the future of NASA rests on the verdict of the Bill as passed by the Congress. One version that was written by the House Science and technology Committee calls for the building of a government-owned rocket — probably the Ares I to transport astronauts into space. The opposing view expressed by the Obama administration focuses on tying up with private companies that want to start space shuttles that are the equivalent of airlines so that NASA could buy tickets on the ride for its astronauts to the International Space Station. The competition would definitely keep the prices down, as the companies are eager to have prices that compete with Russia’s private shuttle service, the Soyuz.