Bangalore whizkid wins YouTube science contest

Eighteen-year-old engineering student Sachin Kukke of Bangalore is the only Indian to win the global YouTube Space Lab science competition from the Asia-Pacific region, the world’s leading online video portal said Wednesday.
“Sachin of BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore, is the regional winner from India in the 17-18 year-old category for his experiment, which aims to measure the thermal conductivity of ferrofluids in microgravity,” the US-based YouTube, a subsidiary of global search engine Google, said in a statement here.

The contest for 14-18 year-olds was to design a science experiment that can be performed in space.

Sachin’s experiment was short-listed with that of nine other Indian students in the top 60 who participated from 80 countries in the contest, conducted in October 2011 by YouTube in partnership with global PC maker Lenovo and the Vienna-based Space Adventures, which organised flights for the world's first private space explorers.

Sachin will join five other winners from different geographical regions in Washington DC March 22 to take the zero gravity flight and participate in a series of events, including a special tour of the Udvar-Hazy air and space museum at Dulles and an awards ceremony at the Newseum.

“This is like a dream come true. I never ever imagined that I would get to experience zero gravity in my life. I had hopes of making it to the final six but I was not so sure. I am very excited to win this and I am looking forward to meeting the other finalists and experiencing the zero gravity flight,” Sachin told reporters after Google India facilitated him in this tech hub.

In honour of his achievement, Lenovo will present the Bangalore lad its IdeaPad Ultrabook at the awards ceremony.

Of the five other winning finalists, two in Sachin’s category (17-18 year-olds) are Amr Mohamed from Egypt and Emerald Bresnahan from the US. The remaining three in 14-16 year-olds category are Patrick Zeng and Derek Chan from New Zealand, Laura Calvo and Maria Vilas from Spain and Dorothy and Sara Ma from the US.

“An India finalist in such a global science contest indicates the zest with which Indians foster their passion for science. We believe competitions like this provide students with an opportunity to consider science as a career aspiration,” Lenovo India marketing director Shailendra Katyal said on the occasion.

The six winners were selected by about 150,000 YouTube users worldwide by voting for their favourite experiment.

Of the six finalists, two global winners (one team from each of the two age groups) will be announced at the awards ceremony and will, later this year, have their experiments performed onboard the International Space Station (ISS) 250 miles above earth and streamed live on YouTube as a global event to celebrate science and space.

“The two global winners will get to choose a unique space experience: a trip to Japan to watch their experiment blast off in a rocket bound for the ISS, or once they are 18-years old, a one-of-a-kind astronaut training experience in Star City, Russia, the training centre for Russian cosmonauts,” Google India country marketing head Nikhil Rungta said. (IANS)

Google Currents Is a Aggregator Turning Web Into Magazines

Google's got a news aggregator app that's new and out and its called Google Currents. Their latest app for iOS and Android is pretty much a Flipboard clone that turns web content into a slick digital magazine.

The app is able to take content available on websites you already go to and reformat it into content that's more digestible and easy on the eyes. If you like reading on the tablet or the phone, you'll find that the normal webpage style doesn't quite suit it. And if you're familiar with Flipboard, Google Currents pretty much have the same idea - transforming web content into magazine style readable formats.
To add more content to Google Currents you can even add RSS, video and photo feeds, Google Reader subscriptions and Google+ streams

Tamanna Hot Photos from "100% Love" Movie

Tamanna Hot Photos from "100% Love" Movie

Southern Railway to run special trains in connection with Diwali

he Southern Railway (SR) today announced special trains to clear the extra rush of passengers in connection with the Diwali festival.
Tiruchchirappalli-Chennai Central-Tiruchchirappalli Superfast Specials (via Karur, Erode, Jolarpettai): T No 06802 Tiruchchirappalli-Chennai Central Superfast Special will leave Tiruchchirappalli at 1800 hrs on October 24 and arrive Chennai Central at 0330 hrs, the next day, a statement from Railways said.

T No 06801 Chennai Central-Tiruchchirappalli Superfast Special will leave Chennai Central at 1815 hrs on October 27 and arrive Tiruchchirappalli at 0330 hrs, the next day.

Chennai Central-Coimbatore-Chennai Central Superfast Specials: T No 06803 Chennai Central-Coimbatore Superfast Special will leave Chennai Central at 2230 hrs on October 25 and arrive Coimbatore at 0650 hrs, the next day.

T No 06804 Coimbatore-Chennai Central Superfast Special will leave Coimbatore at 2345 hrs on October 26 and arrive Chennai Central at 0745 hrs, the next day.

Chennai Central-Nagercoil-Chennai Central Superfast Specials (via Jolarpettai, Erode, Karur, Dindigul, Madurai): T No 06001 Chennai Central-Nagercoil Superfast Special will leave Chennai Central at 2330 hrs on October 23 and arrive Nagercoil at 1400 hrs, the next day.
--UNI

Bangalore Metro Service from Oct 20

Over eight km stretch between Byappanahalli and M G Road on elevated track is part of the first phase of the Rs 11,609 crore project having north-south and east west corridor and covering a distance of 42 km expected to be completed by 2013.

It would also include a nine km underground rail system.

Taken up as a joint initiative of Centre and state governments, the Bangalore Metro Road Transport Corporation Limited (BMRTCL) is executing the project with already Rs 4,800 crore spent as the cost of first phase.

BMRTCL Managing Director M Shivasailam told reporters that Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath will flag off the first service on October 20 and from the same day it will be open for public.

BMRTCL has also planned second phase extending the track upto White Field on one end and Electronic city on the other.

The project would be submitted to the Central Government very soon, he added.

Mr Shivashailam said when compared to the Delhi Metro the track would have sharp curves with angle of the curve being 120 degree as against 200 of Delhi Metro.

The electric traction would be on the third rail and thus giving an aesthitic look to the service.

He said the first train would run in about four and half years time since work started in 2007, much faster than the Delhi Metro which took five years.

He denied there was any delay in executing the project and 'Namma Metro' was one of the most modern rail transport system with automatic control close circuit television and communication facilities that could enable passengers to communicate with the driver in case of any emergency.
--UNI

Vijay to face off with Surya at Box Office

This Diwali will not restrict the fireworks to the streets. Indeed, our stars are taking it to the Box Office. Well, Ilayathalapathy Vijay and Surya are heading for a biggest battle of their lives. The superstars are clashing at the BO with their forthcoming movies, Velayudham and 7aam Arivu.
Vijay's Velayudham banks on action quotient
Vijay's recent years have not been fruitful for him. Out of five movies, he managed to deliver a single average hit. His last movie Kaavalan was the only movie, which did decent business at the Box Office. However, the actor seems to have recovered from his series of flops after the moderate success for his last movie and signed Velayudham. As the trailer says, it is a heroism flick and it is undoubtedly the highlight of the film,which will surely pull the audience to the theatres. He is banking on the action quotient of the forthcoming film.
Surya starrer 7aam Arivu: Strength lies in the story
Surya, who made his debut in Nerrukku Ner which also featured Vijay, has not seen flops in the recent years, which has really given him a lot of confidence in him. Like Velayduham, 7aam Arivu has also generated a huge hype because it is coming together of AR Murugadoss and Surya, who delivered blockbuster Ghajini in 2005. Though, the movie is not a regular genre film, yet it has all the masala ingredients like love, action and romance. The major highlight of the movie is that it is a superhero film, which also shows the Tamil connection with China. The actor's chiseled body and new avatar of a monk are the other interesting parts of the movie, which will surely give a tough competition to Vijay's movie.

Apple to unveil new iPhone

Apple Inc looks set to introduce its iPhone 5 at a special event next week.The invitation-only event will be held Oct 4 at Apple campus in Cupertino, California, Xinhua reported Tuesday.This could be the first big product launch by the newly installed chief executive officer Tim Cook after he took over the reins of Apple from Steve Jobs in August.

According to US media reports, the iPhone 5 is expected to have a larger screen, a higher resolution camera and a faster dual-core A5 chip on which the iPad 2 runs.

Apple is also reported to release a low-cost and contract- free iPhone model bundled with its cloud computing service iCloud.

Flydubai to start flights to Belgrade

Flydubai Monday announced the launch of flights to Belgrade from November.

Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO of flydubai, said: "We are committed to opening up routes previously underserved by direct UAE air links and are proud to become the first airline to operate direct services into Belgrade from Dubai."
The Serbian capital hosts a number of international festivals, including film, theatre and music festivals, and the Belgrade Book Fair.
"Serbia has taken numerous steps to develop its travel and tourism potential in recent years, including visa liberalisation and open skies policies," Al Ghaith added.

--IANS