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Labelled as competition to apple's iphone, which ie priced at Rs 31,000 for the 8GB model, the HTC G1 model priced cheaper to maintain an edge in India

Taiwanese handset major High Tech Computer (HTC) is planning to launch the Android platform-powered phone (popularly referred to as the Google phone) in India this December.

The price, however, will be higher than the US debut tag of around Rs 8,200 ($179).

Ajay Sharma, country manager, HTC (India), told Business Standard: "We would prefer a mobile operator tie-up to introduce the Google phone in India in December."

HTC's G1 (the Google phone model) will cost more since "the Indian market does not work on the handset subsidy model".

Android is a Linux-based operating system for mobile devices that was announced in November last year and developed by the Open Handset Alliance -- a group comprising players like Google, HTC, Intel, Motorola and Samsung.

Research firm Strategy Analytics has predicted that the G1 could sell 400,000 units by the end of 2008, accounting for 4 per cent of the smart-phone market.

To spur the growth of third-party applications, Google recently announced the Android Market, similar to Apple's App Store, where consumers can buy and download content for its mobile platform.

Labelled as competition to Apple's iPhone, which is priced at Rs 31,000 for the 8GB model, the HTC G1 could be priced cheaper to maintain an edge in India. Currently, HTC has smart-phones in the Indian market priced between Rs 10,000 and Rs 35,000. Google India officials were unavailable for comment.

HTC's device is a 3G phone with a touch-screen, slider keyboard, GPS and Wi-Fi.

HTC India, which has an exclusive partnership with Airtel, is also open to selling the G1 phone through independent retail channels. "We will decide the business model soon," said Sharma.

He believes that Google's software platform and operating system for mobile devices has the benefit of leveraging on more than 100 million online web users as well as its open source development platform and advertising-oriented business model.

Although India does not have 3G yet, Sharma said applications like maps and search could find takers. "We expect to build volumes in India and the Android-based phone should make HTC a bigger player in the wireless handset market," he said.

HTC India hopes to sell 600,000 mobile devices in 2009, having doubled sales this year from 100,000 in 2007.

His first stint as a blogger lasted all of three months.

Prasad blogged on a range of issues--the Gujjar community's agitation in Rajasthan, inflation, the Indo-US nuclear deal--but found that irrespective of his subject matter, the debate he sought to start would inevitably end up in complaints about the Indian Railways or the government.

"Dear Laluji, sadar pranam (salutations)!" read a comment on his post on the Gujjar agitation. "My husband Baba Sidhaye, (an) ex-western railway employee, is the first and only deaf and dumb by birth international cricketer in the world from India among 110 crore of Indian population. I would like to know: What your railway ministry has done to recognize his exemplary services to the nation and Indian Railways? I think that he is eligible for all the awards of government of India..." On 25 July, Prasad wryly remarked, "I would like to thank all those who have posted their comments on my blog. It has come to my notice that most of the comments are related to the functioning of railways, where people have pointed out various deficiencies in the services. We are studying all the suggestions and will try to implement them." He has not written since, though he may return to blogging later.

Prasad's blog is a case in point about why Indian politicians and political parties are reluctant to tap the growing number of Indian Internet users to further their agenda. As of September 2007, India had 49 million Internet users, according to a study by the eTechnology Group of IMRB International, a South Asian market research firm.

Access to a politician lies at the root of this reluctance, says Sanjay Sharma, managing director of QuBitTechnologies Pvt. Ltd, which has been running the official website of Indian Olympic Association president and Congress politician Suresh Kalmadi (www.skalmadi.org), the unofficial website of minister of state for information technology and communications Jyotiraditya Scindia (www.jyotiraditya.com) and an unofficial Congress party website, www.congress4india.com.

"The problem comes up when there is a flood of small and big requests. When you open up access to a politician, this happens and it is difficult to manage. Politicians have a group of handlers who restrict access and act as filters," Sharma says. "But when access is opened up, the equations get topsy-turvy and there is a fundamental conflict. The politician just wants to say things and find a way to filter access to him." Congress party's computer department chairman Vishvjit P. Singh, agrees. "The problem with interactivity is not only the bandwidth requirement but also that anyone can say anything they want." `Intolerant people'?

Qubrex recommends "Raheja Srishti" as a Good investment.

Qubrex has launched a new website Raheja Sristhi - www.srishti109.com to provide details and discussion about the new project called Raheja Srishti, located in sector 109, Gurgaon.

In addition to proximity to the 150m Dwarka Expressway, along which the Metro is slated to run, the site is one of the closest to Delhi border. Qubrex recommends this as a good investment with a time-horizon of 2 years and more.

Zillow's offering will target advertising from real estate agents and industries looking to serve new homeowners. That could include telecommunications companies wanting to pitch new phone and Internet services and retailers wishing to sell new furniture.

Display ads can appear at Web sites run by Zillow or one of the participating newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle and Denver Post. Publishing chains working with Zillow include Hearst Corp., MediaNews Group Inc., Lee Enterprises Inc. and The E.W. Scripps Co.

Newspapers hope they can charge more for online ads by connecting advertisers with the visitors most likely to buy their products. By forming networks, they are giving advertisers the type of one-stop service that is the specialty of Google and other Internet companies.

Yahoo also has helped newspapers form an advertising consortium; initially it involved help-wanted ads, but it is now broader. Some newspapers, magazines and broadcasters also belong to graphical ad networks targeting parenting, lifestyles, finances and other topics, but those tend to either be smaller or involve partnerships with independent blogs.

National brands that spend tens of millions of dollars "traditionally wouldn't be in a position to want to call 282 papers," explained Greg Schwartz, Zillow's vice president of advertising sales.

Schwartz also said that with the weak economy, targeting ads is increasingly important because "marketers need to be more precise in how they spend ad dollars."

Zillow will use targeting technology so that real-estate and related ads can appear anywhere on a newspaper's site, not just with the real-estate section.

Zillow identifies an Internet user as a likely home buyer based on visits to its site, Schwartz said. At Zillow, Web surfers can list a home for sale or see what it might sell for. Once a home is off the market, traffic to that listing tends to come mostly from its new owner, letting Zillow flag the visiting computer as belonging to a recent home buyer.

Late last year, Zillow launched a revenue-sharing partnership with the 282 newspapers that allows them to sell classified real-estate ads on Zillow's site. The expansion extends the opportunities to graphical ads and lets Zillow place ads on newspapers' sites, too.

Methanol is nasty stuff. Careless distillation in many a backwoods still has caused it to blind the imbibers of "alternative" alcoholic drinks. Yet it has its uses, and one of them may be to restore fuel cells to their oft-vaunted role as the power packs of the future--but with a twist. The main role that has been discussed for fuel cells over the past few decades is as replacements for the internal-combustion engine. Their actual use may turn out to be to provide power for portable electronic devices.

That idea has not gone very far, either. But it has provoked another thought. What if it were possible to decompose the methanol without steam, and within the fuel cell itself? And that has, indeed, turned out to be possible. The resulting cells are nowhere near powerful enough to run cars, but they are plenty powerful enough to stand in for small batteries. What is more, they last far longer than batteries and when they do need recharging, it is the work of a moment.

Proton power
In a direct-methanol fuel cell (DMFC) the methanol is oxidised at the anode in the presence of liquid water. The reaction, which requires a catalyst, turns the methanol and water into protons and electrons (in other words, dissociated hydrogen atoms) and carbon dioxide. While the electrons pass along an external circuit as an electric current, the protons diffuse through a membrane to the cathode, where they recombine with the incoming electrons to form hydrogen atoms that react instantly with oxygen to make water. With pleasing symmetry the water is then channelled back to mix with the incoming methanol. Even though DMFCs produce carbon dioxide, the amount is small enough for the cells to count as a much greener technology than batteries. Some companies also think the new cells could be safer than batteries, which can burst into flame if short-circuited.

The efficiency of a DMFC is determined by its membrane. One of the most commonly used sorts is made of Nafion, a polymer developed by DuPont from a variation of Teflon. Nafion, however, can be expensive and it allows some methanol to seep through, which wastes fuel. Researchers are therefore trying to come up with more efficient membranes--and one group, led by Paula Hammond of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), appears to have done so.

Advani, Congress "heir-apparent" Rahul Gandhi and the entire GenNext brigade of younger politicians have all launched their websites to make friends and influence people.

Younger MPs who have launched their own websites include Priya Dutt, Omar Abdullah, Milind Deora, Mehbooba Mufti, Deepender Hooda, M.K.

Stalin and Madhu Goud Yakshi from Andhra Pradesh.

Even a politician who has largely steered clear of the media, finance minister P. Chidambaram, has decided to step into this world of virtual reality and launch his own website.

Taking a leaf out of the diary of popular filmstars, including Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan, all of whom have become regular bloggers and who do not hesitate to divulge details about themselves, many of the younger leaders are also providing insights about how they operate.

National Conference president Omar Abdullah's opening introductory remarks about himself reflected a certain amount of queasiness.

It is true that blogs have earned a bad name and we are constantly bombarded with shocking `people-fired-for-blogging' stories. But compared to the colossal number of people blogging, the damaging instances are few and far between.

The lesser-known fact is that more people are actually getting jobs thanks to their blogs!

Come to think of it, a text resume provides just a brief outline of a candidate's qualifications, skills, accomplishments and experience, nothing more. The vague bulleted list of flat, static information does not shed light on the person's personality, perspective or even actual contributions.

Comparatively, your blog conveys your voice to the world - to people who do not know anything about you. It represents who you really are and helps you get noticed, get hired, get promoted!

In fact, Adam Darowski, an ardent blogger goes as far as to suggest that, "The blog is the new resume".

After all, both employers and recruiters are actively `googling' candidates for background and discovery. They read blog posts to get an insight into what work a person has really done - how he used his skills to accomplish a certain task, what role he played in a project or how he transitioned in his career history.

All that anyone needs to know is out there. Employers can judge what a person is like - how he thinks, communicates and even handles disagreements (by the nature of his responses to negative blog comments). The choice of blogging topics also reflects on his opinions, passions and values.

Presented with a candidate's true essence, they can judge everything from his thought processes, judgement and achievements to even his team spirit, ability to innovate or whether he can actually fit into the organisational culture.

As one recruiter says, "We have hired two people, fresh out of college in the past four months that we found through their blogs - one didn't even have a formal resume.

Frankly, he didn't need one. A blog trumps a resume every single time!"

Blogging is serious business