Applause....legend proves himself again - Sachin hits first ODI double century

How privileged have we all been to have witnessed one of the best innings in an ODI from 'The Master', who becomes the 1st person on the planet to score a double hundred in an ODI. The 36-year-old was in indomitable form as he bludgeoned 25 fours and three sixes in a stunning 200 off 147 balls. ...

Reservation started for "Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya"...

I did it....booked my tickets for "Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya" movie in Satyam Cinemas. My ticket pic.... FYI, booking is already opened starting from 24th. So, hurry up pals....

GOA....kollywood "Hangover"

Finally i reached Goa(Film) yesterday, another comedy collakal in venkat prabhu group's list. GOA will be liked mainly by youths as it contains stuffs like wine, girls,love, fun without involving much seriousness in it. No serious matters, no sad scenes, awesome music. Well as all youths want to do that thing ( marry a foreign girl) in their age group, so they are in same hunt. Venkat prabhu has also utilized the old emotional actors with their famous acting style. Danny's character is something new but interesting. Premji(Thaiva Magan) as usual with his kalakal accent and dialogue deliveries,timings, expressions. Sneha(casino royale) character is odd for her, but going good along with the storyline. Piaa is simply hot. Yuvan sankar is as usual with his music beat in cock tail styles. All together, good entertainment movie especially to watch out and hang out with friends. At last to say this movie is from the productions hands of Soundarya rajinikanth. GO WATCH GOA, COME OUT CHILL...

Six Friendship Rules to Live By....

1. Be Yourself
It may seem like a no-brainer, but a lot of teens struggle not to lose their identity once they become part of a group of friends. Though who you are is always changing, especially during your teenage years, some aspects of your personality will stay pretty much the same. Figure out what those things are and think hard about who you want to be, then present yourself honestly and genuinely to the people you hang around with.

Sometimes you're going to disagree or not be the most popular member of the group. However, you will always feel you've been true to yourself -- and that you haven't become somebody else's clone.

2. Avoid Gossip
Friends don't spread rumors about other friends -- even within their own group. If you've heard something shocking about someone you're friends with, find a considerate way of asking them about it personally.

If you're not sure how to talk to them about it, seek the advice of one other trusted friend, but don't let the discussion turn into a free-for-all about everything you don't like about the person. You certainly wouldn't be happy if someone did that to you, so set a good example for others -- and for yourself.

3. Defend Your Friends
At some point, somebody you're not tight with is going to question the integrity of one of your friends. It's important to find out both sides of the story in a situation like this, but it's also a good chance to show your friend that you have faith in them by standing up for their reputation. Whenever you can, be respectful of the other person's question or criticism but emphasize that your friend is a good person who deserves the respect of others, even when they make mistakes.

4. Protect Your Friends
When a friend of yours is making not-so-great decisions -- whether it's about drugs, alcohol, studying or dating -- do your best to look out for them. This doesn't mean telling them what to do constantly, but you can offer gentle advice and guidance from time to time.

If you give advice in a caring way that shows you value your friend and respect their feelings and wishes, they're much more likely to pay attention. Chances are, what you think means a lot to them, and you can be a good influence.

5. Be Careful About Boyfriends and Girlfriends
It's a good rule of thumb to stray away from dating the exes of your friends. It's an even better rule of thumb to avoid dating the people your friends have crushes on -- or people who have turned down your friends for dates. Even if your friend gives you the go-ahead, wait a while to get involved with someone who broke their heart or betrayed their confidence.

6. Return the Favor
There are times when a friend will lend you a jacket, a textbook or a shoulder to cry on. A good friend will pick you up when you're stuck in a rainstorm and listen patiently when you share a problem with them. Be sure that you're equally as generous with your time, your emotions and your possessions. People will take notice, and it's something to feel good about.

Good to have different composers: A.R. Rahman

From left): CEO of Sa Re Ga Ma (Entertainment division) Apurv Nagpal, composer A.R.Rahman and film maker Gautham Vasudev Menon at the launch of ‘Couples Retreat’ in Chennai on Monday

“There are some great songs coming out in Tamil film music. There are several passionate compositions being made, not necessarily tune-wise, but production-wise. Good to have different kinds of composers, but I do miss those great melodies,” music composer A. R. Rahman told The Hindu.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of his soundtrack for the Hollywood film ‘Couples Retreat’ organised by Sa Re Ga Ma here on Monday, Rahman says his compositions for upcoming films ‘Enthiran’, ‘Sultan The Warrior’ and ‘Raavan’ would be distinctly different from each other and that of ‘Vinnaithandi Varuvaya’, which was launched recently.

His work for ‘Vinnaithandi Varuvaya’, the first Tamil film post his Oscar victory has instantly become a mega-hit, with fans raving about the breezy melodies all over the internet.

Rahman who has been busy giving live shows, says the experience is beautiful. “Seeing all the fans is really wonderful. Without them, it’s like a cemetery. When we usually rehearse the day before our shows, it’s all empty, and the next day it is such a great feeling to see fans turning up in such large number.”

On his work for ‘Couples Retreat’, he says that Vince Vaughn and Peter Billingsley approached him before the Oscars, saying they were moved by his music. “They gave me a lot of freedom and a good budget for my orchestra. This is my first mainstream Hollywood film,” he says.

Interestingly, the sound track of the film has music from different genre, and lyrics, in a host of languages, including Tamil, Hindi and even Sanskrit. “The story gave such scope. In fact, I couldn’t find a lyricist to pen the Tamil song (kuru kuru kann...), and I wrote it myself,” he chuckles.

Another highlight of the sound track is that Rahman’s son has lent his voice for one of the compositions. “He was playing and just humming something and I recorded it on my laptop. Later, when I listened to it, I liked the voice and decided to use it. He is still very young and training.”

How to Deliver a Great Presentation Like Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is probably one of the most polished presenters in the world. He doesn’t use any bullet points in his presentations, his keynote addresses are free of any jargon, there are very few words in the slides but they have photographs and headlines that are hard to forget (everyone still remembers “the world’s thinnest notebook,” a phrase that Steve used to describe Macbook Air).

How to Present like Steve Jobs

If you like to learn some of the techniques and styles that make Steve Jobs such a great presenter, here’s some excellent advice [video + slides] from Businessweek columnist Carmine Gallo, who is also the author of the book -- The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs.

“Steve Jobs may be a hard act to follow. But once you start using his techniques in your own presentations, you’ll be hard to forget.”

US asks 10 banks to raise $75 bn additional capital

Press Trust of India / Washington May 08, 2009, 14:55 IST

The US Federal government has directed the country's 10 leading banks to boost their capital by $75 billion, following the rigorous stress tests.

The much-awaited results of the stress tests on the nation's 19 largest Bank Holding Companies (BHCs) showed that 10 of them need more capital to the tune of $75 billion while the remaining including Goldman Sachs and American Express are well-capitalised.

The stress tests were aimed at determining capital buffers sufficient for the 19 entities to withstand losses and sustain lending -- even if the economic downturn is more severe than is currently anticipated.

Among the entities being asked to boost their capital, Bank of America needs the most of $33.9 billion while Wells Fargo has to raise $13.7 billion, the US Federal Reserve said in a statement late Thursday.

The auto financing arm of General Motors -- GMAC LLC, and Citigroup have to increase their respective capital by $11.5 billion and $5.5 billion, respectively.

According to the Federal Reserve, the losses at the 19 firms could be a whopping $600 billion, if the economy were to become more worse during 2009 and 2010.

Other entities which have been ordered to come up with additional capital are Regional Financial Corp ($2.5 billion), SunTrust Banks ($2.2 billion), Morgan Stanley ($1.8 billion), KeyCorp ($1.8 billion), Fifth Third Bancorp ($1.1 billion) and PNC Financial Services Group ($0.6 billion).

Following the Supervisory Capital Assessment Program (SCAP), better known as stress tests, the 10 companies are required to bolster their capital buffer by November 9, 2009.

Apart from Goldman Sachs and American Express, the stress tests have found that seven more entities does not have to boost their capital. They are US Bancorp, State Street Corp, MetLife, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One Financial Corp, Bank of New York Mellon and BB&T Corporation.

The 19 BHCs together hold two-thirds of assets and more than one-half of the loans in the US banking system.

Commenting about the stress tests, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S Bernanke said that these examinations were not tests of solvency.

"... We knew already that all these institutions meet regulatory capital standards... The examiners found that nearly all the banks that were evaluated have enough Tier 1 capital to absorb the higher losses envisioned under the hypothetical adverse scenario," Bernanke noted.

A detailed plan about raising more capital should be submitted to the Federal authorities by June 8.

"... If the economy were to track the more adverse scenario, losses at the 19 firms during 2009 and 2010 could be USD 600 billion.

"The bulk of the estimated losses --approximately $455 billion -- come from losses on the BHCs' accrual loan portfolios, particularly from residential mortgages and other consumer-related loans," the statement said.

Going by the Federal Reserve, the estimated additional capital buffer would be about $185 billion at the end of 2008. Since then, the concerned companies have begun assets sales and initiated restructuring measures, among others.

In addition, the "pre provision" net revenues of many of these firms have exceeded nearly $20 billion, considering the adverse economic scenario.

"The effects of these transactions and revenues rendered the additional capital needed to establish the SCAP buffer equal to $75 billion," the statement noted.

The stress tests were conducted by the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Review: Internet Explorer 8 is new and improved -- is it back on top?

 Internet Explorer 8 has shipped in its final version and is ready to take on its rivals. This latest version of Microsoft's browser leapfrogs its closest competition, Firefox 3, for basic browsing and productivity features -- it has better tab handling, a niftier search bar, a more useful address bar, and new tools that deliver information directly from other Web pages and services. IE8 has also been tweaked for security and includes a so-called "porn mode," new anti-malware protection, and better ways to protect your privacy.

This final version differs little from last January's RC1 release, aside from some speed improvements and bug fixes. What follows is a comprehensive review of all the ways that IE8 differs from IE7. If you've abandoned Microsoft's browser for a rival, you may -- or may not -- want to return.

Improved tabs and address bar

For basic browsing, the biggest improvement in IE is its tab handling, which is exemplary. It's the kind of feature you may not notice much at first, but it's one that goes a long way toward making your browsing life far easier.

If you commonly use multiple tabs, you'll particularly welcome the way IE handles them. When you open a new tab from an existing page, the new one opens directly to the right of the originating one, and both tabs are given the same color. That way, all related tabs are automatically grouped and color-coded. If you open a new tab from a page that is already part of a group, it will open at the far right of the group, rather than just to the right of the originating tab. It will also be color-coded.

This subtle change in tab behavior may have a major effect on your productivity. For example, if you write a blog and need to preview it before posting, the preview page typically opens in a new tab. Previously, and with other browsers, the tab opened all the way on the right -- often several tabs away from the originating tab -- and switching between the two was often confusing. With color-coding and grouping, it's far easier to switch between related tabs.

It's easy to move a tab between groups -- just drag it, and it becomes part of the new group, taking on its color. Right-click on any tab to control its entire group -- that includes closing the group, closing all tabs except for those in the group, and ungrouping the chosen tab from the group. You can also perform actions on any individual tab from the right-click menu. It would have been nice to be able to reopen an entire tab group, but that feature isn't here.

Also welcome is the new (for IE) ability to reopen tabs. To reopen the last tab you've closed, you press Ctrl-Shift-T. To see a list of recently closed tabs and choose which to open, you right-click any tab, select Recently Closed Tabs, and pick the one you want to open

In IE8, you can perform actions on an entire group or individual tabs, such as closing a group or reopening closed tabs.

New tabs open showing multiple links (allowing you to open pages you've recently closed), an InPrivate Browsing session (more commonly called "porn mode") and an "Accelerator" that lets you grab content from a Web page (more on this later). You can also perform certain tasks, such as sending e-mail with a Web-based service, or do a search.

Opening a new tab brings you a page that lets you reopen closed tabs, browse in InPrivate mode, or use the "Accelerator."

Each tab is isolated from the others, so if one tab crashes, the entire browser doesn't go down. You can then restore the crashed tab, and when you do, it reloads with the information that had been in it when it crashed, such as a partially written e-mail. And if you were watching a video, the video will start playing at the point the tab crashed, not at the beginning of the video.

For more info here is the link http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Networking+and+Internet&articleId=9129906&taxonomyId=16&pageNumber=1

Software testing standard gets its first approved consultants

The organisation responsible for the Testing Maturity Model (TMMi) industry-standard software testing methodology, has accredited its first UK consultancy.

The TMMi foundation has awarded Experimentus assessor accreditation. The UK based joins Dutch firm, ImproveQS, as the only companies in the world that can provide accredited consultancy to firms using the TMMi methodology.

This could help promote a method of testing software quality that helps firms set benchmarks and easily repeat the process.

TMMi is a method that helps firms avoid the problems associated with software failures in live environments. It allows them to benchmark software development, to make it possible to repeat the process.

The methodology takes into account other stages of the development process such as preparation, requirement specification, design and coding.

HBOS is using TMMi for its software development. It employed Experimentus in 2006.

The bank rolled out TMM across three of its four major IT departments in a programme designed to reduce the number of errors in thousands of applications it builds every year. Ovum said interruptions in service can cost thousands of dollars per minute in industries that rely on financial dealing systems.

The TMMi Foundation, said the accreditations represent a milestone for the standard.

Geoff Thompson, consultancy director Experimentus, said, "whatever your approach to testing and quality, be it structured or agile, the systematic and disciplined structure of the method means that irrespective of who conducts the TMMi assessment the service will be identical."

William Shakespear's best poem

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.