This instance will certainly help the Indian hackers community to be looked upon with some credibility from other hacking communities from around the world, again, not sure how good that is.

It is said that one of the Indian hackers managed the bypass the security system and install a trojan on the machine which recorded the login information and sent it to the hackers back in India. Hackers used this compromised login information to steal 8 million records from the system which includes home addresses, phone numbers, place of employment and credit card details.

This information was supposedly sold on an underground Russian Mafia network.

Authorities at Western Hotel stated that the matter is under investigation and a team based in North America was working on the details as they have total control of the system.

Such instances remind us of how insecure the online world is, yet, such occurrences might not stop majority of us from using online services because of sheer convenience.

Read more here and here

Also, read Top Spyware Blockers and Top Free Antivirus Softwares to protect your own computer from such attacks.

What is DVB-T?
Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial is a technology which transmits wireless signals from one antenna to another, from signal blaster to home receiver.

The usual Television Broadcasting Signals such as DishTV or TataSky signals reach the user through the transmitting station to Satellite to Home users. DVB-T in a nutshell works more or less like our regular mobile phone networks which transmit signals from one antenna to another.

This little gadget lets you plug it into any PC or Laptop and starts showing TV channels which can be recorded and watched later. Asus My Cimena-U3100Mini supports receiving and recording of MPEG2 and H.264 TV programs, this USB digital TV receiver also utilizes LEDs and ASUS’ TSSI Technology for quick TV signal strength recognition – allowing users to easily find the best spot for watching TV programs. It also provides a versatile set of PVR functions such as TV viewing, TimeShift and schedule records so users will never miss their favorite TV shows again.

Price and release date of the product is not announced yet, however, we have contacted ASUS PR to get more information on the product.

Similar Products available in the market:
Freecom Digital TV DVB-T USB Stick Freeview  priced close to $55
Pinnacle PCTV DVB-T STICK Nano priced close to $60 (I love the way this one looks)

For our Indian readers who are wondering if this gadget will be of any use in India, the answer is.. Yes! but so far only 5 Doordarshan channels are available on this medium. In another development Nokia has tied up with DD to provide DD channels on its handsets using DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting – Handheld) technology. For latest on DVB India click here.

Mr. G Madhavan Nair, chairman of ISRO after the launch said, "The mission was perfect," he added, "It is a historic moment for us because it is the first time that we had launched 10 satellites in a single mission".

In its twelve consecutively successful flights so far, PSLV has repeatedly proved itself as a reliable and versatile workhorse launch vehicle. It has demonstrated multiple satellite launch capability having launched a total of sixteen satellites for international customers besides thirteen Indian payloads which are for remote sensing, amateur radio communications and Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1). PSLV was used to launch ISRO’s exclusive meteorological satellite, KALPANA-1, into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) in September 2002 and thus proved its versatility. The same vehicle will be used to launch Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, India’s first mission to Moon during this year.

Click here to see PSLV-C9 Satellite Image Gallery

Click here to check the whois information of the domain. It was registered in 1998.

Airtel use to operate under the name TouchTel until 2004, that is when it started providing mobile services, landline and broadband services under one name which is AirTel.

Don’t you think if you don’t have a .COM for your business then there is something missing. I am sure there are thousands like me who visit Airtel.com to see AirTel and not Vodafone right?

This probably doesn’t even bother AirTel in any way, but I thought it was interesting enough to share.

Click here to visit Deccan site and buy tickets or call 080 – 3900 8888

I logged into Orkut after a LONG time and noticed an announcement about the applications which said "India Dekha" and said "Add applications and customize your profile"

The concept of applications on social networking platform is not new, Facebook introduced this concept about a year ago. I think applications on Orkut will be more extensively used when compared to Facebook applications because of its huge user base and its target audience.

Orkut has become favorite pass time for college going and other individual in the same age group which is why these applications will have more users than applications on Facebook. if you are an Indian company then this is the right time to create your application to use the power of social media to your advantage.

India Dekha – Add Applications and Customize Your Profile

I have a list of 10 Indian web designing and portfolio management companies who have been excelling in what they do. These companies have big names and some amazing designs on their Showcase/Portfolio which stand as testimonials of the quality of work and the creativity they deliver.

Top Indian Web Designing and Portfolio Management Companies:

1. www.bcwebwise.com/
2. www.oliveglobal.com (Portfolio)
3. www.designmechanics.in (Portfolio)
4. www.blueappleonline.com (Portfolio)
5. www.cgalive.com (Portfolio)
6. www.pulsetemple.com/ (Portfolio)
7. www.megasoftwares.com (Portfolio)
8. www.fatbit.com/ (Portfolio)
9. www.sirez.com/
10. www.techshastra.com (Portfolio)

I hope this list helps everyone who is looking for some creative talent in the field of Web Development, Designing and Portfolio management.

Note: I have selected these sites based on the quality of their work and the sites on their portfolio. These sites are not sorted in any order and are best in my personal opinion.

"Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hai?" is not an original concept (I thought it was, dumb huh?). Yea, deal with it, it’s not an original concept. If that was not enough, take this.. India is not even one of the first few countries to replicate the concept.

Are you smarter than a 5th grader? has been reproduced in more than 38 countries by now and this year it is being aired in 5 countries including India, Canada, South Africa, Greece and Chile. The concept is originally from United States and dates back to 1960’s, read more here.

I hope and wish India comes up with some smart concepts which are copied by other over the years. If you know of any such concepts which are being copied by other countries do leave a comment. In fact if you have any creative concepts do leave a comment and let us know, you never know who is reading the blog.

Anyway click here to read more about Are you smarter than a 5th grader? and here to read about Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hai?.

Anyway, Chinese government is use to of such accusations by now. WashingtonPost released a article in 2005 "Hackers Attack Via Chinese Web Sites" which accused Chinese government of being involved in such attacks against US, USATODAY reported another one in 2006 "Chinese hackers seek U.S. access" which stated

"China is also using more traditional hacking methods, such as computer viruses and worms, but in sophisticated ways, says Alan Paller, director of the security research organisation SANS Institute."

"Hackers are directly breaking into military and government computers, and exploiting the side doors of private networks connected to them, Paller says."

CNN published an article recently "Chinese hackers: No site is safe". The site stated that during the investigation they met with a group of hackers who are in their "20 something", they look harmless but are hardcore hackers. This group of hackers claimed to have accessed the most secure severs in the world including Pentagon.

"On camera, Xiao Chen denies knowing anyone who has targeted U.S. government Web sites. But off-camera, in conversations over three days, he claims two of his colleagues — not the ones with him in the room — hacked into the Pentagon and downloaded information, although he wouldn’t specify what was gleaned. CNN has no way to confirm if his claim is true."

These hackers also mentioned that the Chinese government pays them for hacking into security networks. Following video on the CNN site show the conversations they had with the hackers in China, Click here to watch the video.

I guess Chinese Government found new interesting ways of communicating with other countries which are not only secretive but fascinating in a way.

Where does a common man come face to face with this so called “technology”?  Innovation that we have seen so far in India is a result of competition among bigwigs in different industries.

You see innovation in cars because one car company wants to outsell the other or innovation in mobile industry because one mobile company wants to have a bigger user base than the other. Innovation and advancement in good no matter how it happens, but it should also happen based on common man’s need and not only based on the competition.

So how does population (Population: 1,129,866,154 (July 2007 est.)) beat innovation and technology in countries like ours? 100 applicants for one job bring the value of the job down triggering exploitation of Labor resulting in low pays and long hours. I am certainly not talking about the tech industry in India, I am talking about sectors other than tech industry such as retail, etc..

We haven’t seen innovation in the way a kirana/banya shop works or how a gas station functions because of the availability of cheap labour. The cost of automation is higher than the cost of labour but the advantages and benefits of automation in the long run are being ignored.

Does this mean that these sectors will never see innovation? No, it means that the innovation will be slow but eventually they will “have to” innovate as most of the people from poor class and lower middle class is moving to job in tech industry or call centers, this does not leave them with any option.

What do you think?