Blog of Tushar Phadke

A new social networking Web site, “Go Yaar.com,” has been launched globally, with its focus mainly being India and its citizens residing in different parts of the globe.

The founder and CEO of Go Yaar, Phalgun Raju, a 29-year old former McKinsey and Company Consultant holding Master’s degrees from the likes of MIT and the Harvard Business School, describes the new Web site as an exciting and easy-to-use tool to connect to and interact with friends, batch mates, and colleagues online.

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Microsoft has disclosed the time of launch of its eagerly-awaited Xbox 360 video game console, both for India and Africa. The company has also announced the time of launch and pricing for its external high-definition (HD) DVD player for the Xbox 360 in Japan. Making the announcement in Tokyo in Japan, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Peter Moore, revealed that Xbox 360 would be launched in India this week, and in Africa the following week. The external HD DVD player is designed as an add-on for the Xbox 360, and will be launched in Japan in November 2006. It will ship for around 19,800 Yen, which is approximately Rs 7,740, together with a universal media remote. Microsoft believes the HD DVD player will appeal to both, existing as well as new owners of the Xbox 360. Besides, existing Xbox owners will be able to purchase the HD DVD player for just $168 (Rs 7,691). According to reports, the new HD DVD player qualifies as the cheapest one on the market so far, the catch being it can be used only with Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Specially for the Japanese market, the company intends to ship around 50 exclusive game titles, including the two new role playing games, Trusty Bell from Namco Bandai, and Infinite Discovery from the Tri-Ace stable that have already been announced. Additionally, Microsoft has revealed that the Autumn software update for Xbox 360 will enable the console to output game and movie content in nearly 1080p resolution.

On 22 July 2006, the DLR-operated High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA’s Mars Express obtained images of the Cydonia region, site of the famous “Face on Mars.” The HRSC images include some of the most spectacular views of the Red Planet ever seen.

The HRSC obtained image data in orbit 3253 with a ground resolution of approximately 13.7 metres per pixel. The data were acquired at a latitude of approximately 40.75 degrees North and about 350.54 East longitude.

Triggered by a photo of the Cydonia region taken on 25 July 1976 by the American Viking 1 Orbiter, one of the visible remnant massifs has become famous during the last 30 years as the “Face on Mars”. It was first publicly labelled as “resembling a human head” in the NASA press release on 31 July 1976. Even then, NASA scientists interpreted the formation as an optical illusion caused by the illumination angle of the Sun and the surface morphology, with the resulting shadows giving the impression of eyes, nose and mouth.

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NINTENDO will start selling its new Wii video game console in the US on November 19 for about $US250 ($330), as it girds for a three-way Christmas showdown with Microsoft and Sony.

The third-ranked console maker faces stiff competition in the $US30 billion interactive game industry. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has been available since November and Sony’s PlayStation 3 is slated for a November 17 North American release at two price levels: $US500 and $US600.

The PlayStation 3 will appear in Australian in March.

The Wii’s launch will be the first time Nintendo has debuted a console in the United States rather than at home in Japan. Wii, about the size of a hardcover book, will hit stores in Japan on December 2 in Japan and cost ¥25,000 ($282).

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It is no breaking news now that Sony postponed the previously established launch date in Europe for PS3. But this new disaster is just the tip of the iceberg.

Let’s turn back in time and remember what caused the previous delays. First, PS3 was meant to conquer the world and smash its opponents back in 2005. No. It didn’t happen. Microsoft on the other hand managed to release Xbox 360 and it now has a very strong momentum on the market compared to PS3 and even Wii. Moreover, Microsoft reports impressive numbers concerning Xbox: more than 50 million downloads were made from Xbox Live on September 1st;

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In a joint project, Memory-Tech and Toshiba today announced that the two firms have developed a one-side, three-layer disc for both DVD and HD DVD formats. The new technology will pave the way to higher capacity hybrid storage on a single disc. The new disc is an addition to Toshiba’s existing DVD TWIN format, which support both DVD and HD DVD storage types. The three-layer discs will allow for either two HD DVD layers and one DVD layer, or two DVD layers and one HD DVD.

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