Archive for November, 2008

Terror attack in Mumbai: NSE, BSE closed today

Thursday, November 27th, 2008

The Indian stock exchanges, BSE, NSE will remain closed today on account of terror attack in Mumbai. It is learned that normal trade will resume tomorrow. The capital market regulator, SEBI confirmed no trading on BSE, NSE today. November expiry is also postponed till Friday. This decision comes in the wake of terror attack in Mumbai since last night, in which 80 people were killed and over 250 are injured.

On Wednesday evening, terrorists seized five-star hotels of the city- Taj and Oberoi Grand and also took over CST and three hospitals in the vicinity. Groups of terrorists launched coordinated attacks on at least 10 landmarks in Mumbai. The terrorists started firing indiscriminately and blasted their way through Taj and Oberoi hotels, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Cama Hospital.

A night long terror attack took place in several places in Mumbai. Death toll has reached 87 and almost 200 people are reported injured. First instance of shooting took place near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Station and near Cafe Leopold in Colaba

Attacks also took place at three five-stars hotels, namely the Taj Mahal Hotel, The Oberoi and at Ramada Hotel in Juhu. There was also a bomb blast at a petrol pump in Colaba. Terrorists also opened fire at the VT station and the Cama hospital. Boat with explosives was also found near the Gateway of India.

In the shootouts, two terrorists were killed in the Taj Hotel and two suspected terrorists were killed in Girgaum. Whereas, almost eleven police officers are reported dead in the attacks. Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte was shot dead in the shootout. ATS Chief Hemant Karkare died in shooting near VT station. Mumbai police’s encounter specialist Vijay Saluskar was also shot dead.

The attacks began at about 9.30 pm with firing at Cafe Leopold, a popular restaurant in the Colaba area of South Mumbai. This is a place frequented by foreigners. Shortly after, at least two men armed with AK-47 opened fire in the passenger hall of CST railway station.

Meanwhile, at least 4-5 people are killed at Cama hospital, situated close to CST. Some patients are also taken hostage. The hospital continues to be under seige. A major gunbattle also broke out near the Metro Cinema, near CST just down the road. Terrorists hijacked a police van and fired indiscriminately, injuring several people. Several hotels also came under the attack. Armed men entered the Taj Mahal hotel and took hostages. A series of loud explosions were also heard. Three members of Parliament and at least 100 tourists are also stranded inside.

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Customize your google search result

Friday, November 21st, 2008

Disagree with Google’s search results? or you want a page appear on the first result page whenever you search for the same query, You’ll be able to do something about it with a change the company released on Thursday.

Google’s SearchWiki is a feature that lets people elevate, delete, add, and annotate search results. Google remembers the changes a person made to search results, so repeat searches will show the same customizations and notes.

This is a search feature that gets a user more control over their search results,” said Cedric Dupont, Google’s SearchWiki product manager.

There’s also a collaborative element: people can see how many customazation done by others, by clicking a “See all notes for this SearchWiki” link at the bottom of each search results page. That shows notes and how people have promoted or deleted pages in aggregate.

Customaze google result image

Google will use people’s voting behavior as an input to the regular search algorithm that determines the order of search results. Google already employs human judgment in its algorithm by virtue of its PageRank technique, which judges a Web site’s merit in part on how many other Web sites link to it, but people promoting or deleting specific Web addresses could be another signal.

Gmail New! Colors and themes

Friday, November 21st, 2008

Today when i open my gmail account i got this message…

New! Colors and themes
Check out the Themes tab in Settings to personalize the look and feel of your inbox or return to the classic look.

November 19, 2008 Gmail launched the themes to personalize your inbox. There are 30 themes launched today. To customize your inbox, go to the Themes tab under Settings. They will be rolling out themes to everyone over the next couple of days, so if you don’t see them yet, check back soon.

Gmail theme skins image

In some of the theme gmail modified its logo also to make sync with the theme. Those who doesn’t like the logo can use them.

Guns N Roses New album debut on MySpace - Listen free

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

After 17 years of long waiting Guns N’ roses fans are getting rewarded to listen their new album free on the web before its sell to the music store.

GUNS N' ROSES lineup

Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy will make its debut on the band’s MySpace page starting Thursday, according to a Reuters report Wednesday. Myspace users will be able to stream Guns N’ Roses’ long-awaited album for free before it goes on sale Sunday in an exclusive deal with Best Buy. However, listeners will not be able to download tracks from the site.

MySpace Music is a joint venture with Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group. Giving fans an early crack at the albums could be a big win for MySpace, which launched a music joint venture with several record labels this year to challenge Apple Inc’s iTunes online music store.

“Chinese Democracy” has aroused interest because of its notoriety; it is the first album of new Guns N’ Roses material in more than 17 years, and has taken nearly as long to finish.

The band built its reputation on its hit debut “Appetite for Destruction” and “Use Your Illusion I” and “Use Your Illusion II,” but tension among members led to all of the original members but Rose, 46, leaving.

Citibank plans to layoff 53000 employee

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Citibank LogoCitigroup Inc., the US bank with the most employees, plans to layoff 53,000 employees and cut expenses by 20%. This is the biggest cut so far by a financial institution since the economic crisis began and the biggest layoffs in the US since the automobile industry laid off almost 80,000 workers in 1980.

CEO Vikram Pandit intends to reduce headcount by about 14% to 300,000 in the ‘‘near term’’, a presentation on the firm’s website said on Monday. Pandit has already cut 23,000 jobs, leaving the New York-based bank with 352,000 employees as of September 30.

About 100,000 jobs have already been lost at the largest banks and brokerages. In the last month, Goldman Sachs Group Inc began cutting 3,200 jobs, while Morgan Stanley said it would cut 10% of the jobs in the unit housing its investment banking operations.

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