Concerns That Al Qaeda is Grooming Indian Militants for Big Attacks

The officials told news agency Reuters that plots they have uncovered included the kidnapping of foreigners and turning India into a "Syria and Iraq where violence is continuously happening".
"The thing we are looking for is how Al Qaeda/ISIS tie up with local groups, especially as the drawdown takes place in Afghanistan," said Sharad Kumar, head of the NIA (National Investigation Agency), the country's main counter-terrorism arm.
As evidence that militant coordination and activity are on the rise, security officials cite the weekend's suicide attack on the Pakistani side of the border crossing at Wagah, and a terror alert on Tuesday at the Kolkata post that forced the navy to withdraw two ships.




Allegiances between Islamist militant groups can be murky and fleeting, and providing concrete proof of operational ties is notoriously difficult.
But Indian security agencies said evidence they have gathered points to growing ties between Al Qaeda and the IM, a home-grown movement which has used relatively crude weapons like pressure cooker bombs but executed several major terror attacks in the last few years.

Google Glass Could Be Risky For Drivers

Wearing Google Glass may partially obstruct peripheral vision, causing blind spots that could interfere with daily tasks such as driving, a new study has found.Peripheral visual field is a main component of vision and essential for daily activities such as driving, pedestrian safety and sports.Conventional spectacle frames can reduce visual field, sometimes causing absolute blind spots, and head- mounted devices have even more pronounced frames, researchers said.

Tsontcho Ianchulev of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues compared performance on visual field tests with a head-mounted device vs regular eyewear to quantify their effect on visual function.Three healthy individuals with 20/20 best-corrected visual acuity and normal baseline visual fields were tested in April 2014.Participants used a wearable device (Google Glass, Google Inc), following manufacturer's instructions, for a 60-minute acclimation period.

Perimetric visual testing (a measurement of the field of vision) was conducted first with the device, followed by a control frame (regular eyewear) of similar colour and temple width.In addition, to assess how the devices are worn by general consumers, photographs of people wearing the product and facing the camera, obtained from an Internet search, were analysed. Photographs were assessed for prism position relative to the pupil.Visual field testing demonstrated significant scotomas (blind spots) in all three participants while wearing the device, creating a clinically meaningful visual field obstruction in the upper right quadrant.

Defects were induced by the Google Glass frame hardware design only and were not related to a distracting effect of software-related interference.An analysis of 132 images indicated that many people wear the device near or overlapping their pupillary axis (a line perpendicular to the surface of the cornea, passing through the center of the pupil), which may induce scotomas and interfere with daily function.The authors noted that the study is limited by the small number of participants, who may not be representative of all users, and that a larger sample is needed to identify factors that influence scotoma size and depth.

"Additional studies are needed to understand the effects of these devices on visual function, particularly as their use becomes increasingly common," the authors concluded in the study published in the journal JAMA.

Maruti Celerio Diesel Might Launch in First Half of 2015

Maruti Suzuki Indiathat launched Celerio in February, this year, is now planning to bring in the diesel engined version of the small hatch in the country. Since the company has already started testing the vehicles on Indian roads, we expect this to be rolled out in the first half of 2015.

For people not in the know, Maruti has been working on a small 800cc diesel engine to power several of its entry level hatches and an LCV. This engine will initially be fitted in the LCV, codenamed as Y9T, which is expected to be rolled out in early 2015. And soon after, we might see the Celerio diesel powering the similar engine.Exact details are not out yet on the small diesel engine, but it is likely to offer as high as 35Km/l of fuel efficiency that will make it the country's most fuel-efficient engine. However, the power output figures will be as low as 50-55bhp. Since the AMT variant of the Celerio is already quite popular, we expect Maruti Suzuki to bring the diesel version in the AMT as well.

Expected to be Rs. 80,000 pricier than the petrol model, the Celerio diesel will take on the likes of Chevrolet Beat diesel and Tata's upcoming small hatchback (replacement of eV2).

New Spaceship Restoring Hope After Virgin Galactic Crash

The hangar that housed Virgin Galactic's ill-fated SpaceShipTwo has an empty space, but at a manufacturing plant just down the road technicians on Wednesday were back at work putting together an identical sister ship.The original rocket-powered space plane, built to take paying passengers on short rides into suborbital space, broke apart over Mojave, California, on Friday during a test flight that killed one pilot and left another seriously injured.

The cause of the accident is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is focusing on why co-pilot Mike Alsbury, who died in the crash, unlocked the ship's movable tail section early, before aerodynamic forces were right to keep the structure held in place as designed.About two seconds after the tail was unlocked, it began to swivel outward, likely triggering the vehicle's supersonic breakup and Alsbury's death.

The surviving pilot, Pete Siebold, 43, and Alsbury, 39, had planned to test the so-called feathering tail system as part of SpaceShipTwo's fourth rocket-powered test flight, the first since Virgin Galactic decided to use a new fuel to boost the space plane to higher altitudes.

Infosys to Hire Over 2,100 People in US Recruitment Drive

Country's second-largest software services firm Infosys plans to hire over 2,100 people in the US over the next few months to expand capabilities across domains, including digital, big data, analytics and cloud.

The major recruitment drive in the US will support the growth of Infosys' business and enhance its capabilities, the company said in a statement.

"With this programme, Infosys will bolster its expertise in client relationship management, consulting and technical delivery. The addition of these employees will help Infosys provide its clients local market insights, industry-leading technology expertise, and timely responsiveness to critical issues," the statement said.

While 1,500 professionals will be hired for consulting, sales and delivery during the current financial year, close to 600 Bachelors and Masters graduates will be roped in from US Universities over the next 12 months.

Infosys will also recruit up to 300 management and technology graduates from US universities, who will work across multiple technology domains, including digital, big data, analytics and cloud.

(Also see: Infosys reportedly facing $35 million fine for visa fraud in the US)

Sony Xperia Z3 Compact Review: The Mighty Miniature

When Sony released the Xperia Z1 Compact, a non-outsized phone with specs nearly identical to the flagship Xperia Z1, we hoped it would be the beginning of a new trend. Large screens might be nice, but users who prefer something a little easier handle had been left out of the flagship market altogether. Unlike its "mini" counterparts, the Z1 Compact boasted of a top-end processor and camera, with only the screen really scaling down to suit the smaller body.

Sony didn't refresh the Z1 Compact (Review | Pictures) when the Xperia Z2(Review | Pictures) was released, but thankfully the company hasn't given up on the idea altogether. After skipping a generation, the brand new Z3 Compact is here. It's a little less premium and a lot more expensive than before, which means there isn't much of a gap between it and its full-fat sibling. We're curious about whether the Z3 Compact will carry on the mission its predecessor started, or will find a new niche for itself in the market.

iPhone 6 Review: The Most Appealing iPhone Ever

Apple finally gave the iPhone a much-needed rethink, and the result is a product that is more like its competition than ever before, but also stands out just as well, if not better, in a seriously overcrowded market. The big talking point is its screen size - months of leaks told us nearly everything we needed to know long before the actual launch happened - but there's also plenty more to explore. As always, Apple has managed to deliver more power, better aesthetics, improved cameras, and all-new software.


The iPhone 6 shares a lot with its larger sibling, the iPhone 6 Plus (Review |Photos), which we reviewed a little while ago. They're obviously designed to look similar, but Apple has also made sure they're very similar to use. The iPhone 6 is still just as much of a premium device as ever; not a lower-end version of a new flagship. A lot of what we've said in that exhaustive review of the 6 Plus will apply to the iPhone 6 as well.

Kejriwal vs Modi, This Time in Delhi

(Ashok Malik is a columnist and writer living in Delhi.)

There's a lot riding on the upcoming Delhi assembly election, voting for which is expected in late January or early February. Delhi is a small state, but by virtue of being just so urbanised and the seat of the national capital as well as the national media, it gets disproportionate attention. Correctly or incorrectly, this tends to make the Delhi assembly election a reckoner of the urban mood, at least in north India.

State elections are rarely referenda on the union government. Delhi is a bit of an exception to this. It is the one state where perceptions about the union government do matter, at least to some degree. In the winter of 2013, the unpopularity of the Manmohan Singh government did reflect in the defeat of the Sheila Dikshit government, though it is a fair bet that the Dikshit government  would have lost anyway.

Much has changed since that previous assembly election, where the BJP finished the single-largest party but could not get a majority, and the Aam Aadmi Party, by winning 28 seats in a house of 70, performed stunningly. In that election, the Congress had been crippled. Of its traditional voters, it had retained only Muslims. Five of the eight seats the party won were in minority-dominated areas. It had lost the middle classes to the BJP and AAP, and had to share the urban poor with AAP.
 

Two Questioned in Jharkhand For Wearing ISIS T-shirts

DHANBAD:  Two people were detained for questioning in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district after they were found wearing T-shirts that had 'ISIS Pakistan' written over it. ISIS, now known as Islamic State is the hardline Sunni Muslim group that has gained control over large parts of Iraq and Syria.
The men, reportedly in their 20s, were spotted wearing the T-shirts at a procession during Muharram. Police took the trio into custody after their photos were published in the media.



A man who painted the logo and the Pakistani flag on the T-shirts was also questioned, Superintendent of Police Hemant Toppo said, adding there were no terror links found during the interrogation.

No FIR has been filed so far, he said.
In August, two young men were arrested in Ramanthapuram district of Tamil Nadu after a photograph of a group of people posing in T-shirts with the emblem of ISIS went viral on social media.

But friends of the duo insisted they had no links with the ISIS. They claimed that the T-shirts were ordered only to celebrate the safe release of 46 Indian nurses held by the militant group in the conflict zone in Iraq in July.

A former Google employee in Hyderabad was questioned last month by the police who suspect he was trying to travel to Saudi Arabia and eventually join the Islamic State. Police alleged that they found his conversations on social media "suspect" and he may have been influenced by online propaganda.

Sachin Tendulkar Walked at Night, Practised in Room at 2.30 at Night: Sourav Ganguly

Sachin Tendulkar's autobiography -- Playing It My Way -- was launched in Mumbai on Wednesday in the presence of former greats and the Little Master's teammates. Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Ravi Shastri remembered the growth of a 15-year-old who went on to become the greatest batsman on earth.

Tendulkar's teammates Rahul Dravid, Sourav 'dada' Ganguly and VVS Laxman also shared their experience on the master blaster. Ganguly shared some interesting exchanges on 'roommate' Tendulkar and revealed how he did batting practice at 2:30 AM. (Went to Sachin's House Disguised as a Journalist: Anjali)

There were friendly banters and some serious talks, especially on the Greg Chappell era. Tendulkar's book has made headlines with revelations on the Aussie coach who was in charge of India from 2005-2007. (Highlights of Launch).

Following are 10 top quotes from the event:

1. In his first innings, Sachin looked like a fish out of water. A month later, he was like a big white shark who knew the seas belonged to him: Former Indian all-rounder Ravi Shastri

2. I sent him 34 bottles of champagne when Sachin equalled by record number of Test centuries: Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar

3. To be part of a quartet that had Sachin Tendulkar was special, we challenged each other: Former Indian captain Rahul Dravid

4. Sachin used to practice at 2.30 in the night. How could one sleep with all lights on? Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly

5. Not many hit Shane Warne against the spin like VVS Laxman did: Sachin Tendulkar

6. In 16 years together with Sachin Tendulkar, there will be moments when you agree to disagree: Rahul Dravid

7. Sachin's wicket of Moin Khan in Multan Test was more important than his double ton. Joy of winning was greater: Dravid

8. Environment in 2006 (under coach Greg Chappell) was unhealthy: Sachin Tendulkar

9. My sister bought me my first bat, it was a tennis-ball bat: Sachin Tendulkar

10. Wanted him to go on and on. That's why we didn't celebrate centuries: Sachin's elder brother Ajit

PM Modi to Meet President Amid Talk of Cabinet Expansion

  

PM Modi will visit the presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhawan today for "Gurbani" or Sikh prayers to mark the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.
Reports suggest the prime minister could bring in cabinet changes as soon as Sunday.
There are currently 22 cabinet members and another 22 ministers of state, including 10 with independent charge. Many party heavyweights like Nitin Gadkari lead multiple ministries. Arun Jaitley doubles up as Finance and Defence Minister. 

Manohar Parrikar, the Chief Minister of Goa, has declined to comment on speculation that he will soon become the country's Defence Minister. After meeting PM Modi yesterday, he told reporters, "I came here to discuss Goa issues.He did not say anything about that (becoming a union minister)...you should ask him."

Mr Parrikar also met BJP president Amit Shah yesterday, after which he said, "I will speak only after meeting the Prime Minister."
 

Apple Watch to Launch February 14; Gold Edition to Cost $4,000

While Apple did not mention anything but a starting price of $349 (roughly Rs. 21,400) for its Apple Watch at its keynote event in September, a new report from a French website has detailed some information on the smartwatch's pricing.

The Apple Watch, according to the sources close to Apple's plans, will arrive with a starting price of $500 (roughly Rs. 30,700) for its stainless steel and glass variant - which will be called the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch Sport, which will feature an aluminium and glass build, will start at $349 (roughly Rs. 21,400), while the Apple Watch Edition, which will feature an 18-karat gold build and is expected to bear sapphire glass, is said to be priced between $4,000 (roughly Rs. 2,45,600) and $5,000 (roughly Rs. 3,07,000).

The iGen.fr report (via MacRumors) interestingly mentioned that the Apple Watch would launch on Valentine's Day (February 14). This date however contradicts a report on Sunday that cited purported communication by Angela Ahrendts, Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores at Apple, to company employees, to state a Spring launch date, which could be any time from March to June.

Windows 10 is great – but it won’t stop the PC from dying and taking Microsoft with it

I’ve now been using Windows 10 for a month, and though it’s still just an early version with lots of rough edges, I’m convinced that it’s going to be a solid desktop operating system for the world’s billion-odd mouse-and-keyboard users — when they finally decide to upgrade from Windows 7 or XP, anyway. It has been slowly dawning on me, however, that Windows 10 is a lost cause; even in a best-case scenario where Microsoft delivers the finest desktop OS to ever grace humankind, there’s no getting around the found that Windows 10 is an attempt to revivify a slowly dying beast.



 While there’s always a chance that Windows 10 triggers some kind of renaissance, it’s far more likely that it will be squished into ignominious oblivion by the stumbling, apathetic, and commoditized beast that the desktop PC has become.

Analyzing the iMac 5K Retina display: How do you get 5K @ 60Hz from a last-gen GPU? (updated)

Last week, Apple announced a new 27-inch iMac that packs an impressive 5K Retina display. Aswe’ve already detailed, these new 5K displays are thinner, cheaper, draw less power thanks to a more-efficient LED backlight, and, perhaps most importantly, Apple is selling the whole 27-inch iMac system at a mind-blowing price of $2500. That’s the same price tag on Dell’s 5K monitor.

Updated November 4: Sadly, it’s time for a mea culpa. On October 24 we mistakenly identified the iMac with 5K Retina display as having a 30Hz panel. The 27-inch iMac does indeed output 5K @ 60Hz — and to hit those kinds of frequencies, Apple used its own customized timing controller, rather than DisplayPort 1.2 (which can’t drive 5K @ 60Hz). More on that can be found further down the story.

Motorola Moto Maxx Leaked in Pictures Ahead of Expected Wednesday Launch

Motorola's Driod Turo(exclusive to Verizon in the US) smartphone, which is anticipated to debut globally as Moto Maxx on Wednesday at an event in Sao Paulo,Brazil, has now been leaked in pictures.

The purported images of the Motorola-branded Moto Maxx were posted by a Google+ user (via Android Police) from Sao Paulo on Monday, but were later taken down. The post was captioned in Portuguese, which on translating to English reads, "Testing the monster."

Last week, a Portuguese publication had posted an invite from Motorola suggesting that the company is hosting an event on November 5 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where it will unveil the unlocked global variant of the Motorola Droid Turbo as the Moto Maxx. The invite did not include a device name but was accompanied by an image featuring the unique Ballistic Nylon build of the Droid Turbo.

Best Smartphones Under Rs. 8,000: November 2014

Several new phone launches in the last three months mean that the sub-Rs. 8,000 category has a lot more good options to choose from. We have put together a list of our favourite phones that cost up to Rs. 8,000, and in our list you'll find phones that have great performance, good cameras or battery life, along with some choices that promise to get you the latest software updates quickly. Take a look.

Xiaomi Redmi 1S

The Redmi 1S (Review | Pictures) possibly has the best performance in its category, along with a good display and great battery life. The camera on the phone isn't too great, and the design of the handset leaves something to be desired , but aside from these minor quibbles, the phone is a great buy - when it's available anyway.

Google Nexus 6 India Price and Launch Details, Hands On

Google is hosting a press event in Taipei for media where, amongst other things, the company showcased the recently announced Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 devices. We got a chance to spend some hands-on time with the smartphone and also got an update on the Nexus 6 price in India and the expected launch date.

NDTV Gadgets has learnt that the Google Nexus 6 will be launched in India within the price range of Rs. 44,000 and Rs. 50,000, with the 32GB model being priced at the lower end of that range and the 64GB becoming available around the top end. The Google Nexus 6, which is being manufactured by Motorola, will be available in India before December 10, with the launch date within this month also a possibility.

Take a Nano Pill and Call Google in the Morning?

Google is in the early stages of developing a nanoparticle-covered pill to detect cancer and other serious health problems such as heart disease, according to Andrew Conrad, head of the life sciences team at Google X, who revealed the project last week at The Wall Street Journal's WSJDLive conference.

The pill would work in tandem with a wearable magnetic device worn by the patient; the device would guide the pill to different parts of the body and collect data that could reveal the person's potential for developing a variety of health problems.

"The idea is to functionalize these nanoparticles to make them do what we want," Conrad said.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 launches with support for Docker containers

Red Hat has launched the seventh iteration of its Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) operating system, announcing support for emerging technologies such as Docker containers.

Now on general availability, RHEL 7 adds a number of new features to upgrade the operating system, including file system improvements, access to Microsoft Active Directory and a partnership with Docker to simplify the use of container technology in the enterprise. 

It also offers the potential to be deployed across bare metal systems, virtual machines, and public and private clouds.

Xiaomi maintains its lead over Samsung in China's smartphone market

The fast-rising Xiaomi has extended its hold over China's smartphone market, and continues to lead as the country's biggest vendor, with Samsung Electronics lagging in second place for the second quarter in a row.

During the third quarter, Xiaomi shipped about 17 million smartphones to the Chinese market, about 2 million more than its Korean rival, according to new data from research firm Canalys.

It's a big shift for Beijing-based Xiaomi, which only began selling phones three years ago, but has quickly become one of China's hottest tech companies. Globally, Xiaomi became the world's third-largest smartphone vendor, almost solely on product sales in China, according to Canalys.

Facebook reports a 24 percent rise in government requests for user data

Facebook received nearly 35,000 requests for user data from governments around the world during the first half of 2014, up 24 percent from roughly 28,000 requests made during 2013's second half.
The uptick indicates the value governments place on the personal information Facebook has on file for its 1.35 billion users who log in at least monthly. The majority of these requests, Facebook said Tuesday, relate to criminal cases like robberies or kidnappings, targeting data like subscriber information as well as IP address logs and actual content.



The U.S. dominated in the number of requests, with 15,433 queries targeting 23,667 people, or well less than 1 percent of Facebook's total users, according to the company's third report on such requests. India clocked in second with 4,559 requests, with France, Germany and the U.K. each having more than 2,000 requests.

Google updates cloud with new virtual technologies and price cuts

Continuing to keep pace with chief cloud rivals Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, Google has made a number of improvements to its Google Cloud Platform services.

In the realm of virtualization, the company has devised a way to make it easy to use Docker containers, a new lightweight virtualization technology. The company has devised the Google Container Engine service for building and running Docker containers

A series of announcements made during a webcast Tuesday show the company embracing the newest virtual technologies, such as Docker containers and the Firebase platform to aid mobile developers, as it continues to cut prices of its services.

Popular messaging apps fail EFF's security review

Some of the most widely used messaging apps in the world, including Google Hangouts, Facebook chat, Yahoo Messenger and Snapchat, flunked a best-practices security test by advocacy group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

The EFF did not perform vulnerability assessments or in-depth technical analyses of the encryption implementations in the reviewed products. Instead it judged them based on principles and features it felt are necessary to protect communications from widespread Internet surveillance by governments, which includes data collection in transit or from online service providers.

The organization evaluated 39 messaging products based on seven criteria it believes such tools should meet in order to ensure the privacy and security of digital communications.