Create a New Leadership Vision

Now is the time to clarify and refine your leadership vision. This requires both articulating your values and reexamining your goals for the future.

Start by identifying the four or five most important episodes in your life - moments that defined who you are today. For each episode, articulate how it shaped your values.

Then draft a statement of your personal leadership vision. This is a compelling image of an achievable future. Describe the kind of leader you want to become and the major contributions you want to make to the world between now and 2025. What will you be doing in 2025, and what impact do you hope to be making ?

Twitter to restrict Tweets in certain Countries

Popular micro-blogging website Twitter announced that it will restrict its users' tweets in certain countries while keeping it available in the rest of the world, following the censorship policies.

As the site has grown internationally, all the countries have different ideas about the freedom of expression and the site will respect the laws of the governments while disseminating the information.

The decision may upset its users, but Twitter thinks the censorship tool as a way to ensure individual messages/tweets/contents remain available to other people while respecting different laws around the world.

Following the path of internet search engine Google, Twitter will post a censorship notice when the content will be removed. It is also planning to share the removal requests received from the governments, companies and users at chillingeffects.org.

The policy is one of the core values to defend and respect each user's voice. "We try to keep content up wherever and whenever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can't. The tweets must continue to flow", Twitter wrote in a blog post on Thursday.

Twitter's decision to begin censoring content came a year after the revolution in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries where the anti-government protesters staged mass demonstrations and the social network played a vital role to spread the protests.

The Midnight's Children

Salman Rushdie’s ‘The Midnight’s Children’ is a famous novel, which fetched him the Booker Prize in 1981. The story has been set in the backdrop of the independence of India and is a magical realism.

The story has been depicted by Saleem Sinai, the central character of the plot. The book begins from a pre-independent India with events leading up to India's Independence and proceeds ahead. The story revolves around Saleem, who takes birth right at the stroke of midnight, August 15, 1947 when India had achieved Independence.

The boy enjoys certain magical supremacy like telepathic powers through which he could contact all the other boys who had also taken birth within 12 to 1 P.M. of 15th August 1947. As all these children are born in the midnight and the plot is about them with Saleem being the protagonist, the name of the novel is ‘Midnight’s children’.

Through Saleem’s depiction to his girlfriend, the novel pass through the Independence struggle, to Nehru’s early buoyant rule, the wars with China and Pakistan, the creation of Bangladesh and the Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi.

Here also Rushdie retains his typical style of narration. It starts off slow and then several layers of fantasy are put one after the other until leading the reader to an anxious state. Right through the novel one will find that so many characters walking in and out of the story.

The story is all about the expectations and dreams of a child, (who can also be compared with the nation), his gradual growth and the ultimate disappointments.

‘Midnight’s Children’ has earned mixed reaction from the readers. When some of them opine that the novel no way deserves to win a Booker award, the regular Rushdie readers seem quiet contented.

Unmistakably, this book is not meant for someone who has insufficient knowledge of Indian history in the last 100 years. A reader of that group is definitely going to miss the enjoyment of many casual sentences or he would think that these were fantasies.

More or less, the theme of the book is identical with the Hollywood Film ‘Forest Gump’ but set in the background of a 70 year back undivided India.

‘The Midnight’s Children’ was awarded the 1981 Booker Prize, the English Speaking Union Literary Award, and the James Tait Prize. It also was granted the ‘Best of the Booker’ prize twice, in 1993 and 2008.

The novel was adapted for the stage by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2003. ‘The Fire’ famed Film Director Deepa Mehta is in the process of making a film of ‘The midnight’s Children’.

In our rating we would like to award four stars out of five to ‘The Midnight’s Children’.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Why did Amazon buy Zappos, the online shoe and apparel store, in 2009?

It wasn't primarily for the shoes; Amazon already owned a shoe site called Endless.com. It wasn't primarily for the existing Zappos Web interface - Endless's interface was at least as attractive - or the cash flow. Zappos was a ten year old company with a loyal following, but it was barely profitable.

The acquisition wasn't really for assets at all. It was for the capabilities and in particular for the contribution Zappos would make to Amazon own capabilities system. Zappos had capabilities in retail interface design and customer-relationship management that, on the surface seemed close to Amazon's own. But Zappos, largely through ingenuity and its own creative culture, had outpaced the larger retailer.

Apple Fails To Get Samsung Tablets Banned In Netherlands, Again

Apple again lost a bid on Tuesday to have Samsung tablet computers banned in the Netherlands in a Dutch appeals case over infringing copyrights of its iPad tablet computer.

Apple, which has been locked in legal battles with Samsung in almost a dozen countries involving smartphones and tablets, had appealed a Dutch ruling, which said last year Galaxy Tab 10.1 models were not a copy of Apple's iPad.

A Dutch appeals court dismissed Apple's appeal, confirming the Dutch lower court's ruling.

Apple and Samsung have been suing one another as the two technology giants jostle for the top spot in the booming smartphone and tablet markets.

India’s top-performing CEOs

A new INSEAD study reveals the emerging nation’s top-performing CEOs. Who made the list and what earned them top marks? 

In 1998, a young MBA graduate takes over an ailing iron mill, adopts a backward integration strategy securing raw materials and steers a remarkable turnaround making Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) the most valuable Indian steel company with annual revenues of US$2.6 billion. Today the 41-year old Naveen Jindal ranks number one among a list of top executives in a new INSEAD study ranking nearly 400 CEOs of Indian publicly-traded companies, published this month in conjunction with India’s Business Today.

“Naveen Jindal exemplifies the profile of a CEO who is most likely to secure a high ranking on our list,” says Balagopal Vissa, lead researcher and an INSEAD associate professor of entrepreneurship. “The perspective we took was that the most objective way to look at the performance of the CEO was to look at shareholder returns the CEO delivers over his or her entire tenure or reign at the helm. Jindal’s turnaround of a sponge iron mill followed deals that secured cheap access to valuable raw materials such as coal and iron ore at a time when competitors were paying much less attention to these inputs. This strategy insulated JSPL from price volatility in commodity markets, thus bringing down production costs and boosting profitability. Between 1998 and 2011, Jindal delivered a staggering total shareholder return of 13,784 percent, increasing JSPL’s market capitalisation by about US$12.1 billion.”

The study showed that youth and education mattered, specifically an MBA degree. “Again Naveen Jindal exemplifies the CEO who's likely to be highly rated on our list,” opines Vissa. “Naveen is young, he came into the job with an MBA, in this case, from UT Dallas, and that's typical of the CEO who does well on our list.”

“Indian companies have only been exposed to serious foreign competition since the economic reforms of 1991 (that favoured free markets, low tariffs and taxes and foreign investment while dismantling entry barriers such as licenses and permits) and that decade saw many of them improve their game significantly to emerge stronger and grow rapidly in the 2000s,” notes Vissa. “The question of what makes for good executive leadership takes on increased importance as these companies face new challenges resulting from this rapid growth, as well as a possible cyclical slow-down in the Indian economy in the next few years.”

The rankings

Vissa’s study builds on previous work in 2010 by INSEAD professors Morten Hansen, Herminia Ibarra and Urs Peyer’s which ranked nearly 2,000 global business leaders - the late Steve Jobs ranked first on their list. The original study was published in the Harvard Business Review. [Click here to read more.] The Indian study similarly entailed an analysis of shareholder returns during the full tenure of lead executives during the period between 1995 and 2011. They selected CEOs from the India-based S&P CNX 500 Index, from companies that had been in the index for at least four consecutive years. The final tally included 374 CEOs representing just over 200 companies.

The ranking combined three measures: country-adjusted returns to eliminate any increases attributable to an upswing in the general stock market; industry-adjusted returns that did the same for increases due to global sector outperformance; and change in market capitalisation during a CEO’s tenure adjusted for inflation. 

“Using three metrics is a balanced approach,” avers Vissa. “While the first two metrics risk being skewed toward smaller companies (it is easier to get large returns if you start from a small base), the third metric is skewed toward larger companies.” 

The data showed the median age when the executives became CEO was 54, and those still in office had an average tenure of 6.7 years. Only 1.3 percent were women and 91 percent were Indian nationals.

Noticeably, CEOs from India’s growth sectors like IT and telecommunications were largely missing from the top 25. Only one - Sunil Mittal of global telecommunications company Bharti Airtel - featured. “Our ranking covers individuals who started their job as CEO during the time period between January 1995 and June 2009.” Vissa clarifies. “That’s one reason you won’t find the usual suspects like Narayana Murthy of Infosys or Azim Premji of Wipro on the list (the two represent India’s leading global IT services companies). They took the helm before 1995, though we suspect they probably would have done well if included.” 

Meanwhile, the explosive growth of India’s mobile subscribers from about 10 million in 2002 to 750 million at the end of 2010 has made telecommunications one of the fastest-growing markets. But it’s an overcrowded 15-player sector. "The fierce competition to gain subscribers by undercutting prices, makes it challenging for the companies and their CEOs to be truly successful,” adds Vissa. 

The young professionals 

Also surprising, young executives were just as likely to succeed as their senior counterparts - a CEO who started his job 10 years younger than the average age improved his ranking by 15 places, the study found. Bhaskar Bhat (#4) became CEO of Titan Industries when he was 47 years old, for instance, while Sunil Duggal (#14) became CEO of Dabur India aged 45. 

“It could be they were high-quality to begin with and rapidly rose through the ranks,” suggests Vissa. “It could also be indicative of a ‘threshold effect’ where some experience is required but doesn’t add value beyond a certain point.” 

But having an MBA degree proved to add value improving placement in the ranking by 15 spots. “For companies in India that are growing very fast, the key challenge is to take functional managers that have an expertise in specific areas such as sales and marketing and to transform them into business leaders,” says Vissa. “The prevalence of professional managers armed with MBA degrees suggests that the ‘visible hand’ of managerial capitalism may be playing an increasingly important role in the Indian economy.” 

Organisational types

There were two very interesting sets of results in the type of organisation the CEO came from. One was that the study found no significant difference in the performance of CEOs of domestic private enterprises or Indian subsidiaries of foreign multi-national companies. “It’s a good thing,” reflects Vissa, “it tells us that home-grown private enterprises such as large family-run business houses have evolved a milieu where competent people are able to thrive at the top. It also tells us that Indian leaders’ ability to deliver appears to have less to do with their firms’ origins and more to do with the fundamentals of how they lead their business.” 

On the other hand, CEOs of leading state-owned enterprises (SOE) were systematically ranked worse, the study revealed. Other things being equal, leading an SOE led to a drop of 35 places in the ranking, which is substantial, says Vissa, given that the list has fewer than 400 CEOs. “The Indian state needs to provide a milieu at the top so competent people can thrive and drive shareholder value. That’s a huge challenge and a big political issue in India.” 

State-owned enterprises represent about a fifth of the Mumbai market’s capitalisation. “Outright privatisation hasn’t been done in a while but many state-owned enterprises are getting listed on the stock market,” observes Vissa. “Hopefully that could impose some discipline but there’s still a long way to go.” 

Founder/entrepreneur phenomenon

How did entrepreneurs perform? The Indian business landscape is dotted with vibrant new business ventures yet only 5 percent of the CEOs evaluated were founders. Sunil Mittal of Bharti Airtel and Nimmagadda Prasad of Matrix Laboratories are the only founder-entrepreneurs among the top 25. “Over the last 15 years, India has seen an explosion of entrepreneurial start-ups and it also now has a good ecosystem for entrepreneurship,” explains Vissa. However, entrepreneurs don’t appear to make it to the top seat very often. One reason for this is due to significant trade sale activity within the Indian business landscape - small startups become big and get acquired by other incumbents thereby not even making the initial public offering (IPO) stage. In instances when they make an IPO, founders sometimes hire CEOs and professionals to take over management and day-to-day operations – similar to the development of such Silicon Valley giants as Yahoo in their nascent stages. 

“I see this as a good sign,” says Vissa. “In the past, a Narayana Murthy had to learn new skills all the way from starting up from nothing to running a billion-dollar enterprise. It’s very difficult for most people to learn and adapt along the way. It’s very important to have an ecosystem where entrepreneurs build a company from zero to US$100 or US$200 million, exit the company and have somebody more experienced take it to the next stage.” 

Runway effect

The study also evaluated the company’s health when a new CEO took over. Vissa’s data set which had 122 pairs of predecessors and successors found that it was easier to score better when following in the footsteps of a poorly-performing CEO. “There is a ‘runway effect’ at play,” says Vissa, “where taking over from a low base provided a greater opportunity for success.” This finding also matched results from the list of global CEOs. 

“The overall image that emerges from our data is one of hope and optimism,” concludes Vissa. “A crop of relatively young CEOs armed with MBAs, often from top Indian business schools, are delivering shareholder value in an economy where it is a challenge to sustain competitive advantage. Executives have had to step up to innovate, grow and stay ahead of the competition and a number of these high-quality CEOs are able to perform extraordinarily well in any type of private enterprise – firms linked to Indian business houses or to foreign multinationals. It suggests that traditional Indian business houses are successfully professionalising their upper echelons.”

India celebrates 'Girl Child Day' Today

Since 2009, January 24th is being celebrated as the National Girl Child Day in India to focus on the issues related to adolescent girl children and their safety and wellbeing.

Among the issues of the girl children in India, female foeticide, domestic violence and malnutrition are major. Hence the purpose of this day is to take a stand on these issues and raise awareness about gender equality among the people.

The little girls in our country face discrimination even before they are born. The boy child is treated as a superior breed that is preferred for food, clothes, medicine and education, allowing the Girl Child to grow up in utter negligence.

The present ratio of gender in India is 927 women to 1000 men. In India, there are 8.3 crore girls in the age group of 11 to 18 years which constitute 17% of the total female population of 49.65 crores.

Again, the female literacy rate is only 53.87%. Also almost one third of the adolescent girls are undernourished. About 56.2% women in the reproductive age group 15-49, are anemic as reflected in NFHS-3 survey.

Hence, this vulnerable group needs support in terms of education, health and nutrition. In other words, it becomes vital to adopt a multi-pronged come up to provide a favorable environment for their optimum development and realization of full potential.

Early marriage is also a major issue in our country. 45% of the girls get married before the age of 18 as per the NFHS-3 data. This often results in early and multiple pregnancies, low birth weight babies and problems of health and nutrition.

To mark the occasion Govt. of India observes the day with certain events. Speaking on this occasion the Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development said that the theme is aptly chosen as ‘Adolescent Girls: Issues and Challenges’ to celebrate this year’s National Girl Child Day. She also highlighted about some schemes of the government like ‘SABLA’ and ‘Dhanalaxmi’, to support the adolescent girls.

Ironically, the country, which worships God in the woman incarnations, also has a majority of men who prefer to torture the women. Let's take a pledge today to stop the atrocities on girl children and allow them to live with proper care and dignity.

Nitin Gadkari projects Narendra Modi as PM

While BJP is trying its best to gain the power in five poll-bound states, party President Nitin Gadkari hinted at the prime ministerial candidate for the forthcoming elections backing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Gadkari dismissed the speculation that he ever wants to be a candidate for the top post. Rather, he favoured Modi promising to back him as the next party President and PM candidate.

Gadkari's term as the BJP chief will come to an end in December this year. He said that he will not extend his tenure and will prefer to work as an ordinary party worker. He hinted that he will support Narendra Modi as PM candidate.

Replying to media who will be the PM candidate for the forthcoming general elections, Gadkari said that the party will decide the post for PM at appropriate time. As far as Modi is concerned, he has very good potential to be both BJP President and PM, he added.

The saffron party chief defended fielding firebrand Uma Bharti for elections in Uttar Pradesh. He said that Uma is a natinal leader and head been in frontline in the state for many campaigns and issues including the Ram Janambhhopmi movement. Questing on the nationality of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, he said if a woman from Italy can contest the polls in Amethi, question should not arise on Uma's participation in elections.

The party faced criticism when Uma was announced to contest the polls in UP being an outsider CM of Madhya Pradesh. Gadkari also defended the induction of tainted BSP leader Babu Singh Kushwaha into the party saying no FIR was lodged against him and he was not given ticket to contest the polls too. He made it clear that the decision to induct him in the party was taken after consulting national and state party leaders.

However, no senior party leaders like L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley had officially protested against the decision, he said.

Riteish Deshmukh to marry Genelia D'Souza on Feb 3

Love is always in air in Bollywood and it is the time for beautiful pair Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D'Souza to tie the knot to keep lifetime commitment. The couple will begin a new innings of life with wedding bell on February 3.

The adorable pair Riteish and Genelia was first highlighted for their best performance in "Tujhe Meri Kasam". They had been hiding their relationship in the past stating that they were just good friends. Now the reel life pair will appear as the real life couple soon.

This time Riteish spoke about his love life. The two will be seen together on screen in "Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya", which will go on floors on Feb 24, after seven years of their debut. Genelia, who always seems in jolly mood, will be seen keeping him on his toes in the film.

When asked about their wedding, Ritesh said that they had known each other for a long time and now they will tie the knot as they both believe in the institution of marriage.

On the making of the film, he said that Genelia always keeps him on his toes. Every day he feels that he can do better than her but she kicks his ass. However, he is sure that marriage will not take away his freedom. He said that working professionally with a person who you know is wonderful and challenging. He admitted that Genelia is a better actor than him.

On the wedding plan, he said that it will be a private ceremony. The reception will be held on Feb 4 at the Grand Hyatt in Santa Cruz and a lot of celebrities from Bollywood are likely to attend the occasion. "Aur jaisa jaise hoti rahegi, aap waise waise breaking news dete rahenge", he told the reporters.

We Breaking News Online Team wishing Ritesh and Genelia a happy married life in advance!

Datawind seeks 'Made in India' Aakash Tablets

The UK-based major Datawind, the maker of World's cheapest Tablet Aakash will request the government seeking the inclusion of 'Made in India' clause in the proposed tender for the device.

Datawind CEO Sunit Singh Tuli said that that company will request the Human Resource Development Ministry to include 'Made in India' clause and encourage the production of the tablet as most of the parts including chips and software are being designed in India and even the tablet has been manufactured in India.

Since the tablet is made in India, it should come with the clause of 'Made in India', he added. Datawind has successfully brought the $49.48 tablet Aakash in India despite various pressures. The next tender will be issued in two or three weeks.

The HRD ministry had said that the cheapest tablet would be available in the name of project Aakash. However, the Assam government in its tender has included Made in India clause. Even the IIT Rajasthan is likely to consider the clause.

The tablet has been developed by Datawind under 'The National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technologies (NME-ICT) of the Ministry of Human Resource Development programme.

The company had faced a heat from the government, even the launch of the upgraded version of Aakash was uncertain after the HRD ministry raised a question on the performance of the tablet on the reports from the IIT Rajasthan over the quality of the tablet.

Datawind has delivered 30,000 pieces of tablets so far and the remaining 70,000 units would be delivered after the issue gets resolved.

Igniting the Fire within a Woman

Every woman has a fire inside her and igniting the fire inside is not as complex as it gives the impression. The fire of anger, the fire of deep love, the sensuous fire, everything is inside every woman.

The fire of love is to be ignited by men in women. Women notice many things in men. Women like men who are confident in his abilities and can take care of himself. They want their men to listen to them when they want to say everything in their heart.

They also appreciate an array of skills in men ranging from complex ones that show off masculinity to the emotional ones which indicate a guy's softer side.

The five ways to ignite fire within a woman are mention below:

Make her feel Special

For women, showing love and care is very important. A man can make his woman feel special by greeting her with a smile, giving her red rose etc.

Giving her Surprises

Women love bolt from the blues, to make her happy, keep surprising her occasionally, whether it is with tickets of latest movies, live concerts, candle light dinner or a long drive.

Keep your eyes for her only

It is very important for a man while dating his woman that he should not stare or look at other women especially when a man is out with his lady. If man says a word of admiration for any other woman, it will not ignite the fire inside woman but can make serious blunder.

Body Language

Almost every women judge men by the way they move and position themselves. Body language plays a vital role in impressing women and ignites the fire within them. It is a part of the superior communication skills to know what a man is thinking or feeling based on men’s body language.

Physical Propensity

It's often said that women go for tall men, and if you're a little height deficient the bad news is that it is, to some extent, true. That's probably because women love those men who give them the healthiest, strongest children, and chiseled jaws and hard bodies signify youth, health and vivacity.

An attractive person is simply one that evolutionary instincts tell us is likely to produce strong, resilient children, and be around to look after them.

Loyalty Test Winner: Man or Woman?

Nobody is perfect, neither men nor women. A relationship based on trust and mutual respect is the superlative thing to have. Loyalty and constancy are two sides of the same coin.

If one side is missing, the relationship is incomplete. Trepidation and suspicion can prove distressing for relationships. Having said this it is equally important to know that your partner is faithful to you and will not cheat on you.

Neither gender is more loyal at anything than the other. This is because they are both just as proficient of not being loyal as they are to being loyal. Every person has different perceptive either men or women, we can’t judge if a person is loyal or not.

A loyalty test is a simple way to see if your partner is cheating on you in the wake of your back. It’s a benchmark to test how true your bond is.

The man and woman - there is a pair, but it is impossible to live in synchronization with a person who is not your half. By taking this test and answering as honestly as possible to the questions as a couple, you will find out your compatibility level.

According to a statistics, from the age of 17-21, at least 70 percent of boys cheat. In the same category, 30 percent girls have cheating hearts. In the age group of 21-36, at least 75 percent men, despite being in steady relationships, indulge in affairs; women in this age group account for 35 percent of illegitimate relationships.

This static shows the neither of the genders are fully trustworthy in their relationships. Basically there is no couple without conflicts (bigger or smaller). But still if the comparison has to be made, men are less loyal as compare to women according to the statistics.

Experts see tough road for Kodak to reinvent self

Even in bankruptcy, Kodak boasts some enviable strengths: a golden brand, technology firepower that includes a rich collection of photo patents, and more than $4 billion in annual sales of digital cameras, printers, and inks. 

But all that may not be enough to revive its declining fortunes in a Chapter 11 overhaul. Kodak is at a crossroads: It could go the way of fallen Montgomery Ward and Circuit City, two corporate names that never recovered from long declines. Or Kodak could prosper after bankruptcy like General Motors. 

Of the many restructuring experts interviewed by The Associated Press on Thursday, none are optimistic that Kodak can make a strong comeback. 

Selling select business lines and patents and making the right bets on a limited number of new technology products could allow the Eastman Kodak Co. to survive, several experts said. But none see a path back to anything close to the glory days of the former photography titan. 

"You can pick your metaphor: 'Stick a fork in them,' 'They're over the cliff' - they're done," said Bill Brandt, chief executive of turnaround consultant Development Specialists Inc. in Chicago. "The Kodak as we know it is done, unequivocally." 

The company's only hope, Brandt said, is to reinvent itself as an intellectual property company. But first it will have to put its patent portfolio up for sale and determine whether it wants to sell them based on what's offered, he said, or retain them and try to remake the company over a period of years. 

Kodak said only that it has appointed a chief restructuring officer to head the effort: Dominic DiNapoli, vice president of FTI Consulting. It expects to complete its US-based restructuring next year. 

Whatever the company does now is likely to be too little, too late, said Gary Adelson, managing director of turnaround firm NHB Advisors in Los Angeles. 

"I can't imagine a big future for Kodak," said Adelson, who thinks the company should just sell its assets. "I think it's going to be another one of those companies that didn't make the transition to the future." 

Some experts think the company can get by once it cuts debt by reducing pension and employee benefit costs in bankruptcy, then disposes of its least valuable products. 

Only a much leaner, more focused Kodak can survive, said Haresh Sapra, an accounting professor and bankruptcy specialist at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. "They probably should go back to basics and focus on one or two of those business lines that are self-sustaining," he said. 

The primary hope lies in digital businesses that generated some $4.5 billion in revenue last year, an amount Kodak said accounted for about 75 percent of total sales. That includes consumer devices such as self-service photo kiosks, printers and high-volume document scanners. 

"If they can take their existing products and improve them and make them much cheaper, I see no reason why the company can't emerge with a healthier balance sheet," said Edward Neiger, a partner at New York bankruptcy law firm Neiger LLP. "It's going to be a shell of what the old company was, but I don't think they need to liquidate." 

In a statement accompanying the Chapter 11 filing on Thursday, the company touted its "pioneering investments in digital and materials deposition technologies" in recent years. 

The best-case scenario for Kodak in the long run may be to end up like Polaroid, suggested Eli Lehrer, who heads the nonprofit Heartland Institute's Center on Finance, Insurance and Real Estate in Washington. The company long known for its instant-film cameras stopped making them and filed for bankruptcy in 2008. The Polaroid name, however, lives on under private ownership, albeit as a much smaller firm. 

Kodak has a better brand name, Lehrer said, although "That doesn't necessarily translate to people keeping their jobs, or stockholders keeping anything."

President Obama launches first TV ad of 2012 race

President Obama’s campaign launched its first ad of his re-election effort on Wednesday night with a commercial that touts his successes on energy and ethics.

“Secretive oil billionaires attacking President Obama with ads fact checkers say are not tethered to facts,” says the ad’s narrator. The ad goes on to note that Obama’s ethics record is “unprecedented” and notes that the nation’s clean energy industry has added 2.7 million jobs.

The commercial is a response to an ad launched on Tuesday by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group funded by two Kansas billionaires named David and Charles Koch, that slams Obama for his ties to the failed energy company Solyndra.

“We will not respond every time a super PAC attacks the President,” said a campaign official. “The Republican candidates, Karl Rove and the Koch brothers spent more than $30 million on TV attacking the President last year, yet President Obama are competitive ahead of Mitt Romney or neck and neck with him in every single battleground state across the map, before any education has been done about Mitt Romney’s record.”

The ad will run in Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. The ad buy is “significant”, according to the source.

President George W. Bush launched his first ads of the 2004 re-election campaign in early March, roughly a month after it became clear that Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry was going to be the Democratic presidential nominee.

Can We imagine a World without Internet?

The Internet has narrowed the "communication gap" across the world. From banking sector to Journalism and from entertainment world to advertisement zone, Internet has become an unavoidable necessity.

The debate for the existence of internet has cropped up from the recent issue of SOPA and PIPA in USA. Internet provides the fastest, worldwide and two way communication facilities. Somewhere, there is a fear that people may get united and stand against the injustice with the help of internet.

People at the highest level are trying to deal with the issue with an iron hand. And, this is the case elsewhere in the world. They think it's possible to avoid the Internet. But the truth is that – yes, we can live without Internet , but this step will throw us to the old stone age; or if not to the old stone age, at least a century back.

Thanks to Microsoft that presented us Windows, thanks to Google, which sent us to a world of multi-tasking in surfing like emails, search and News and thanks to Facebook, which provided the best and most popular social networking on the Web and last but not least, Wikipedia, which offered us abundant free, online knowledge for reference purpose.

We availed the benefit of Internet in the last part of the twentieth Century, which actually flourished to its zenith in the present century. With the kind of rapid growth of Internet we see today, it is expected that people will depend more and more on Web in the coming days.

For the students and Media persons who vividly depend on internet, they have prescribed to re-enter to the world of books and library of encyclopedia. But our point here is that – does that hard copy bunch of books also have a facility of search engine?

Search engine provides the fastest and the most convenient way to reach to the point what exactly we need. It saves abundant time and effort. So, opting for the Internet version in the system is far better than wasting time in hard copies.

In this world, everybody has an excuse for his deed or you can say misdeed. A killer advocates his killing taking the excuse of revenge, some people want the excuse exhibiting the phrase, and ‘everything is fair in war and love’.

Thus, people will also provide logical answers supporting the view that we can live without Internet, but hard truth is that we cannot imagine a world without Internet and still if we think so, then we are just fooling ourselves.

49% FDI in Airlines: A Good Step?

The proposed move to allow 49% FDI in Airlines sector in India is a welcome step. When most of the Indian air carriers are moving through an awful financial condition, this is the best available alternative.

Earlier, this figure was bouncing around 24% and 26% when 26% was expected to be the upper limit of the cap. However, the safety audit performed by the DGCA earlier this month convinced the government to go for the maximum FDI.

The airline industry witnessed a slump after Kingfisher Airlines CEO Vijay Mallya cancelled a large number of flights because of heavy losses in most routes. If that was not enough the debt-ridden Indian Airlines saw its pilots playing hide and seek game with the management.

While many people may term this step as surrendering before the foreign powers, but this is the need of the hour and the best possible step to bail out the ailing airline sector in the country.

Wikipedia, Reddit to shut down for 24 Hours Today

Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia and social media site Reddit will shut down today for 24 hours to join the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) protest against the US online piracy legislation.

The most popular websites will go dark in protest against the piracy bill. The SOPA will expand the ability of US law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods.

The protest began after the SOPA was introduced in the US House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar Smith and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors.

The protesters said that the bill would affect social networking sites like YouTube, Facebook as well as Wikipedia. It will seek to hold the sites responsible for any illegal copyright content uploaded by the users.

However, some major companies like Viacom and Walt Disney support the bill saying the internet piracy is a form of digital theft, which needs to be stopped.

Confusion over the Fate of 'Aakash' Tablet

The grand launch of Android tablet computer ‘The Aakash’ in New Delhi on October 5, 2011, has turned out to be cropper, as confusion over its fate has marred the hype and joy.

When some argue that it is a complete failure, the Communications and Information Technology Ministry seems satisfied and plans to launch its upgraded version.

Akash tablet was developed as part of the country's aim to link 25,000 colleges and 400 universities in an e-learning program and to improve the system of education in India.

It has been jointly developed by the London-based company DataWind and the Indian Institute of Technology, Rajasthan.

The tablet features an overall size of 190.5 x 118.5 x 15.7mm with a 7 inches resistive touchscreen, a weight of 350 grams and using the Android 2.2 operating system with access to the proprietary marketplace Getjar developed by DataWind.

The processor runs at 366 MHz; there is a graphics accelerator and HD video coprocessor. The tablet has 256 MB RAM, a micro SD slot with a 2 GB Micro SD card (expandable to 32 GB), two USB ports, a 3.5 mm audio output and input jack, a 2100 mAh battery, Wi-Fi capability, a browser developed by DataWind, and an internal cellular and Subscriber Identity Module modem. Power consumption is 2 watts, and there is a solar charging option.

The Aakash domar is designed to support various document (DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, ODT, ODP, PDF), image (PNG, JPG, BMP and GIF), audio (MP3, AAC, AC3, WAV, WMA) and video (MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, FLV) file formats and includes an application for access to YouTube video content also.

Reception of the tablet was very poor. Problems such as low memory, frequent system freezes, poor sound quality, absence of support for all formats and inability to install free software available online were cited by the users to be its flaws.

Many users opine that the processor is a self killer, touchscreen is too much resistive, the tablet is heating up quickly, it has no Bluetooth, no support for a USB dongle, no Android Market, no app installation and its Hardware would not support upgrades.

But the doubts about ‘Aakash’ were also dismissed in a television program "Gadget Guru" aired on NDTV in August 2010 when it was shown to have 256 MB RAM and 2 GB of internal flash-memory storage and demonstrated running the Android operating system featuring video playback, internal Wi-Fi and cellular data via an external 3G modem.

Again, inspired by the feedback of the tablet from over 500 users from IITs and other institutions, DataWind announced the next iteration, a substantially upgraded second-generation model called UbiSlate 7+ tablet.

Hence, despite the technical flaws, it is expected that Aakash will continue to make a buzz in the Indian market for a long period.

Why Older Men fall for Younger Women?

Older men date younger women for many reasons. It does not depends on age most of the time as much as depend on Passion, love and attitude, while they live together.

According to new findings by researchers at Stanford and the University of California-Santa Barbara, “It turns out those older men chasing younger women contribute to human longevity and the survival of the species.”

The researchers claimed that if the couples made of older man-younger woman had more children, this would point to a genetic innate assortment that turn women more attracted to older men and vice-versa.

When an older man searches for a younger woman it's usually because he is looking for that younger woman to make him feel better about himself. Many older men don't want to look at the women of their age as those women remind them that they are growing older with age.

They would rather look at younger women and make them feel young again. There is no doubt that the younger woman always makes her partner feel younger.

Older men pursue younger women because they have a distorted view of women and relationships. Many of these men have tended to believe that all women in that age demographic are the same. Older men prefer young women in part because they tend to be healthier than older women. They are looking for sex and possibly a life partner who is much younger than them.

Younger women are healthier and more prolific and fertile than old women; they have an easier time conceiving a child and do so at earlier ages because they have larger amounts of essential reproductive hormones.

Another reason of older men fall for younger women is because they are definitely more enviable and desirable in her chief but mentally are not on the same page as the older man in life's priorities.

Older men find younger women full of liveliness and sparkle, with a sense of venture that an older woman, who tends to be more set in her ways, lacks. They are more eager to become accustomed and are suppler, which many older men fall for.

Extra-Marital: Unethical or Personal Choice?

Extramarital affairs have been prevalent in our society for a long time. The only difference is that now they are being talked about more candidly and bluntly.

The reasons of extra-marital could be diversified such as incompatibility, financial issues, insecurity, abusing, tangentially opposite backgrounds, age differences, etc.

Extra-marital affairs are not just restricted to physical involvement, as a number of men and women are known to resort to other means such as cyber affairs or emotional affairs. The extra marital affairs can occur both in arranged marriages and love marriages.

Happiness in the marital life is depending both on mentally and physically side of the couple. If one of the both sides is missing, the relationship is not complete. This is just because they haven’t understood each other before and after the marriage.

Cheating your partner is wrong in every ways, but if there is no mutual understanding, faith and trust, and love does not exist, then choosing another partner who listens to you, care for you is not unethical.

For some people it is unethical, but many times it is a personal choice of an individual. An affair can be very exciting and provide you with many things that are lacking from your current love life, but this is where the danger and risk can start. The definite fact is that it is the temperament of human being that many married people wants an extramarital affair may be in conscious way or unconscious way.

In many cases, there is remarkable harm done to the sense of trust between the partners that may never be recovered. Further, the individuals involved have compromised their personal integrity and must live with that very serious blemish for the rest of their lives. This is a heavy personal burden knowing they have acted deceitfully and are now untrustworthy when trust matters most.

Justifying Extra-marital is not easy for anyone, as different people have diverse perceptions about it. Where many consider it as a personal choice, many believe that it is unethical. After all it is a personal choice of every individual to spend their life according to their desire and will.

BlackBerry refuses to share Memogate Data

Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has refused to share the records of phone calls and text messages between Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz and former Pakistan Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani.

The investigating team probing the memogate scandal, which rocked the country, had asked the government to direct the RIM to obtain the records of conversation exchanged between two.

The government had asked the Canadian major for the release of undisclosed data. However, the RIM denied saying the customer's data to any other party without the customer's consent cannot be provided.

Time itself - or the passing of it - can also be one of your most valuable negotiating allies. Anxiety and desire to get a deal done breed hyper-kinetic behavior. There is a natural tendency to speed up the negotiation process rather than to slow it down. Force yourself to resist this urge, and take advantage of it in others.

પ્રજાના પૈસે લીલા લહેર - ભારતની ઇન્ડિયન એરલાઇન્સ શા માટે ખોટમાં જાય છે?

નુકસાનીમાં ચાલી રહેલી સરકારી એરલાઇન્સ કંપની ઇન્ડિયન એરલાઇન્સની ભારતના દિગ્ગજ નેતાઓ પાસેથી ખાસ્સી મોટી રકમ વસુલવાની બાકી છે. રસપ્રદ વાત તો એ છે કે તેમાં સૌથી વધારે ઉધાર ચુકવણી ભારતના પ્રધાનમંત્રીએ કરવાની છે અને તેમના પછી નંબર આવે છે ઉપરાષ્ટ્રપતિનો.

એક આરટીઆઈ પ્રમાણે માત્ર પ્રધાનમંત્રીની કંપનીને 55.81 કરોડ રૂપિયાની બાકી ચુકવણી સામે આવી છે. આ રકમ તેમની થાઇલેન્ડ, ભૂતાન, જાપાન, વિયતનામ, મેલશિયા, ઉત્તર કોરિયા, બેલ્ઝિયમ અને જર્મનીની યાત્રાઓ અંગેની બાકી છે.

- આ યાત્રાઓ ઉપર ગયા પછી તેનુ બીલ ચુકવવામાં આવ્યું નથી

- મુસાફરીની દેખરેખ સુરક્ષા મંત્રાલય કરે છે અને બિલ ચુકવવા માટે પણ તેઓ જ જવાબદાર છે
- રાષ્ટ્રપતિ જેમની મુસાફરીના 19 કરોડ રૂપિયાનુ બિલ હજુ સુધી નથી ચુકવવામાં આવ્યું.

- ઉપરાષ્ટ્રપતિની યાત્રાઓનુ બીલ 35.79 કરોડ રૂપિયા છે અને તેઓ પણ પાંચ વિદેશી સ્થળોની યાત્રાએ ગયા હતા

આ યાત્રાઓ ઉપર ગયા પછી તેનુ બીલ ચુકવવામાં આવ્યું નથી. પ્રધાનમંત્રીની હવાઈ મુસાફરીની દેખરેખ સુરક્ષા મંત્રાલય કરે છે અને બિલ ચુકવવા માટે પણ તેઓ જ જવાબદાર છે. આ તમામ બિલો તેમની પાસે જ છે અને ખાસ્સા જુના છે.

ઉધાર ખાતામાં ત્રીજા નંબરે છે રાષ્ટ્રપતિ જેમની મુસાફરીના 19 કરોડ રૂપિયાનુ બિલ હજુ સુધી નથી ચુકવવામાં આવ્યું. તેઓએ નવેમ્બર 2010માં અબુ ધાબી, દુબઈ, દમસ્કસ અને અલેપ્પોની મુસાફરી કરી હતી. આજ પ્રમાણે તેઓએ ભૂતાનની મુસાફરી પણ કરી હતી. આ તમામનું બિલ 18.95 કરોડ રૂપિયા થયુ, જે હજુ સુધી ચુકવવામાં આવ્યું નથી.

ઉપરાષ્ટ્રપતિની યાત્રાઓનુ બીલ 35.79 કરોડ રૂપિયા છે અને તેઓ પણ પાંચ વિદેશી સ્થળોની યાત્રાએ ગયા હતા. તેમનુ એક બિલતો વર્ષ 2008નુ બાકી છે જે 2.77 કરોડ રૂપિયા આસપાસ બેસે છે. તેમના બિલની ચુકવણી કરવાની જવાબદારી વિદેશ મંત્રાલયની છે.

વીવીઆઈપી યાત્રાઓ ઉપર કુલ બાકી બિલ 110 કરોડ રૂપિયાથી પણ વધારે બેસે છે. સિવિલ એવિએશન મંત્રાલયએ આ બાબતે સંબંધિત મંત્રાલયોને પત્ર પણ લખ્યો છે, પરંતુ હજુ સુધી તેની કોઈ ચુકવણી કરવામાં આવી નથી. 

જણાવાઈ રહ્યું છે કે આ મંત્રાવયો આ નાણાકીય વર્ષોમાં આ ઉધારીના બિલો નહીં ચુકવી શકે કારણ કે તેમની પાસે પુરતુ ફંડ ઉપલબ્ધ નથી. હવે તેઓ એપ્રિલ પછી આ બાકી બિલોની ચુકવણી કરી શકે છે.

Source: Divya Bhaskar

Photo Journalist Homai Vyarawalla died at 98

An era in photo-journalism in India came to an end with the death of India's first woman photo-journalist Homai Vyarawalla at the age of 98.

Homai Vyarawalla breathed her last at a private hospital in Vadodara on Sunday morning. Her husband Maneckshaw Vyarawall died in 1970.

Homai was born on December 9, 1913 to a Parsi family. She was brought up in Mumbai and later moved to Delhi in 1942. She not only worked with the British Information Services, but also played a key role in taking photo journalism to the next level in independent India.

Homai Vyarawalla was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in January 2011.

પરફોર્મન્સ નો લાગ્યો પેચ. આકાશની પતંગ કપાણી

દુનિયાનું સૌથી સસ્તું ટેબલેટ 'આકાશ' સંકટમાં પડી ગયું છે. ભારત સરકારના માનવ સંસાધન મંત્રાલયે 70 હજાર આકાશના ઓર્ડર રોકી દીધા છે.

મીડિયામાં આવી રહેલા સમાચાર પ્રમાણે ખરાબ ક્વોલિટીના લીધે સરકારે 'આકાશ'નો ઓર્ડર રોક્યો છે. આ મુદ્દા પર સરકાર અને 'આકાશ' બનાવનાર કંપની ડેટાવિંડની વચ્ચે વિવાદના સમાચાર છે. સરકારે સ્કૂલના બાળકોને વહેંચવા માટે એક લાખ 'આકાશ'નો ઓર્ડર આપ્યો હતો. કંપની 30,000 ટેબલેટની સપ્લાય કરી ચૂક્યું છે. પરંતુ તેના પરફોર્મન્સને ળઇને સતત ફરિયાદો મળ્યા બાદ ઓર્ડર રોકી દેવામાં આવ્યા. મોટાભાગની ફરિયાદો ઓછી બેટરી લાઇફ અને સ્લો પ્રોસેસરની આવી.

જણાવામાં આવી રહ્યું છે કે સરકાર 'આકાશ' માટે નવા માપદંડ બનાવી રહ્યું છે. સાથો સાથ અન્ય વેંડરોની તપાસ પણ શરૂ કરી રહ્યું છે.

આકાશનું આ શ્રેષ્ઠ વર્ઝન જાન્યુઆરીમાં મળવાનું હતું, પરંતુ હવે લાગે છે કે તે એપ્રિલ પહેલાં મળવું શક્ય નહીં હોય. જો કે કંપની હજુ સુધી તેના માટે લોકો પાસેથી ઓર્ડર લઇ રહ્યું છે. એપ્પલ આઈ પેડ જિંદાબાદ

Courtesy: Divya Bhaskar

What to Do With Your Hands When Speaking

The most frequently asked question of presentation coaches is "What do I do with my hands?" In past writings, I have cautioned against choreography; I've seen far too many presenters attempt to illustrate their narrative with specific gestures and wind up tying themselves into pretzel knots. Instead, use your hands and arms as you do naturally, to illustrate what you are saying. However, I do recommend one gesture: to extend your hand and arm periodically, bridging the gap between you and your audience (as AT&T used to say, "Reach Out"), with your hand in handshake position.

Ronald Reagan provides an alternative point of view. Throughout his career, The Great Communicator rarely used any gestures. A DVD called Ronald Reagan: The Great Communicator contains clips from more than 100 public appearances during his eight years as president. In all the clips, he made an expansive gesture with his hands and arms only once.

Reagan had followed this style since his formative years as a presenter. Between the twilight of his days as an actor and the start of his political career as the Governor of California, he spent eight years as a spokesman for General Electric Corporation, which gave him opportunities to present in many venues. One of them was as the host of GE Theater, an anthology series of television dramas. In one 1954 episode I recently watched, he delivered his introduction standing, framed by stage lights, in front a blank wall of a movie studio. Attired in a smartly tailored tweed coat sprouting a natty pocket kerchief, he had his right arm propped on a stage light and his left hand in his trouser pocket. During the entire introduction, neither arm ever budged.

You might call this the "Look, Ma, no hands!" approach. The style worked — wonders — for Reagan. Would it work for you? The answer, as always, is to do what comes naturally to you.

An unnatural approach is to treat gesturing as performing, which is what speakers who consciously choose the Reagan approach — or any other — are doing. One (wrong) way to look at it is as a choice between "Anchorperson" or "Weatherperson." (Thanks to my friend Jeff Paine for sharing this concept.) As we all know from television news programs, Anchorpersons sit stock still at a desk, rarely using their hands; while Weatherpersons wave their hands and arms about broadly to indicate weather patterns on a map. This division parallels the Ronald Reagan no-hands style vis-à-vis the gesture-to-illustrate style, but it does so in the context of performance.

If you are reading this post, it is highly unlikely that you are a performer or that you were auditioned for your position or that you were hired because of your acting skills. You were hired on the basis of the personality you presented during your interview and vetting process; and that personality was your natural style.

Women talk: How to handle your BOSS at workplace

Dealing with your boss at workplace is not as difficult as it seems. Nothing is more disparaging in the workplace than difficult bosses. Women at workplace have to struggle a lot to handle their bosses.

A difficult boss is an all-too-common phenomenon in the workplace. Establishing a healthy professional relationship with such a person can be a real challenge. Most common complaints women face in their workplace are poor communication; unrealistic demands; bad listening skills and lack of support.

In worst cases, combinations of all of these factors make it difficult for employer especially women to work under such bosses.  Every employee has a series of bosses over their working career. Hopefully, most of the bosses are competent, kind, and even, worthy of your trust and respect.

Women can stay in the good books and handle her boss by following few tips, mentioned below:

• If you are not agreeing with your boss, don’t start arguing or keep silent. Start your disagreement with politeness so that your boss will understand the issue clearly.

• If your boss has a difficult management style, you don't have to let their bad behavior go. You can respond just remember to stay professional.

• Finish a task before your boss asks for that. Your boss will love it if you are able to deliver work without him having to ask for it again and again.

• Women can also coddle in healthy jokes but it should be in limits. As it shows it is a clear sign that you are enjoying and giving your best.

• Women are sometimes less insistent than men and more soft-spoken at work. On many occasions, the bosses overload them with work as they know they will not reject. At that situation, a woman employee must learn to say ‘NO’ to their bosses if necessary.

The healthiest way to handle the boss is direct conversation. You should try to understand the reasons for your boss's difficult behavior. Discuss the points which you think are affecting you and your work because of his behavior and conduct. We just need few endeavors and efforts to make our boss, “THE PERFECT BOSS.”