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Archive for April, 2010
Five foods every woman must eat
Apr 29th
Leafy vegetables
It is not possible to meet your nutritional needs without having leafy vegetables in your diet. Spinach, legumes, asparagus, lettuce, fenugreek leaves, broccoli are available in abundance and are huge sources of fibre, Vitamin C and K, folic acid. It is also a vision protector and provides four essential minerals, i.e. calcium, magnesium, iron and potassium. Try to have it daily in your diet and darker the better.
Whole grains
Whole grains have up to 96 per cent more fibre and essential nutrients and vitamins than refined grains. Advises diet expert Honey Shah, “I advise my clients to have whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, and brown rice as they are high in essential nutrients and do not contribute to weight gain. You can start your day with whole wheat cereal or a whole wheat bread toast.”
Nuts
Make nuts an essential ingredient in your diet. Sprinkle it on salads or breakfast cereals or stir them into yoghurt because they are an excellent source of protein, magnesium and B & E vitamins. They are useful in fighting heart disease and cancer. Nuts are high in fat calories, but their fat is the heart-healthy kind. You can also eat them as an evening snack. But make sure you don’t overdo them. About a quarter cup or about 15-20 almonds, cashews, walnuts are good enough a week.
Yoghurt
Low fat or plain yoghurt is a great source of vitamins, protein and calcium. It also has healthy bacteria which can fight diseases. “Three to four cups a week is good enough for your diet. But make sure you don’t add sugar to it. Instead choose plain yoghurt and add fruits or berries to it,” suggests famous dietitian.
Berries
Ever wondered why most of the diet fibre products have berries in them? Reason being berries are high in fill-you-up fibre and also helps curb weight. Berries have more protective plant antioxidants than almost any other food. These antioxidants not only lower your disease risks, but also help prevent memory loss. You can have a bowl full of them thrice a week. It could be fresh or frozen, benefits stay!
Rediff shopping is Bad bad bad
Apr 26th
I’ve purchased Battery Operated Stylish Toy Car from the bloody website and it has not been delivered !
The have used Aramex courier service and that sucks ! My order has never been delivered. Never ever do shopping from that website. Their customer service never picks up the phone neither they reply to your mail inquiries.
http://commerce.rediff.com/commerce/tracklogistic.jsp?logistic=7&airwaybill=6369038012 This is the order I have placed so many days ago and never been delivered.
On Rediff.com, my order details are
Order No: 5855372
Date:2010-04-08
Order Status :Approved
The bloody darn shopping site.
56 Indian companies among Forbes’ Global 2000 list
Apr 22nd
NEW YORK: As many as 56 Indian companies, including Reliance Industries and State Bank of India, have been named among the world’s 2,000 most powerful listed companies, according to US magazine Forbes.
The ‘Global 2000′ list of the biggest and most powerful companies worldwide has been topped by US banking giant JPMorgan Chase and is followed by General Electric, Bank of America and ExxonMobil.
Among Indian high performers, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries leads the pack and has been ranked at the 126th place in the global list.
Other Indian companies named in the list include State Bank of India (130), ONGC (155), ICICI Bank (282), Indian Oil (313), NTPC (341), Tata Steel (345), Bharti Airtel (471), Steel Authority of India (502), Larsen & Toubro (548) and HDFC Bank (632).
The global rankings span 62 countries, with the US (515 members) and Japan (210 members) dominating the list as usual, although the number of companies from developing nations in the Global 2000 is fast increasing.
This year, the countries that gained the most ground are mainland China (113 members), India (56 members) and Canada (62 members), the magazine said.
Forbes’ ranking of the world’s biggest companies used an equal weighting of sales, profits, assets and market value to rank companies according to size and this year’s list reveals the dynamism of global business.
“In total, the Global 2000 companies now account for USD 30 trillion in revenues, USD 1.4 trillion in profits, USD 124 trillion in assets and USD 31 trillion in market value. All metrics are down from last year, except for market value, which rose 61 per cent,” Forbes said.
Two companies from the Anil Ambani Group, Reliance Communications (742) and Reliance Infrastructure (1,702), have also made it on the list.
Other Indian companies named on the list include state-owned Punjab National Bank (695), Tata Consultancy Services (741), HDFC (783), Infosys (807), DLF (923) and Hero Honda Motors (1,571).
Microsoft launching ‘Kin’ mobile phones with Sharp
Apr 13th
Software giant Microsoft Corp too has joined the mobile phone fray. The Redmond-based company has introduced a new line of mobile phones called Kin One and Kin Two. The phones to be made by Japanese company Sharp Corp will hit the US market in May and in a few months in other parts of the world
Both Kin phones have touch screens. Kin One is a short, square-shaped handset. While Kin Two is a longer, more rectangular shaped phone. The phones’ home screen is called Loop
The music player will be based on Microsoft’s Zune software, which also will be incorporated into the Windows Phone 7 handsets that multiple manufacturers will be able to use. Microsoft first announced the Zune software at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, in February.
The Kin handsets will not be branded as Microsoft products. They will sport a sizable “Kin” logo on the back and, in smaller type, an indication that they are Windows phones from Sharp.
Both Kin phones are black with screens that respond to multiple finger gestures, similar to the `multitouch’ technology on the iPhone. While Kin One has a full QWERTY keyboard that slides out from the bottom, Kin Two has a full QWERTY keyboard that comes out from its side.
Both Kin phones include Wi-Fi access and cameras capable of taking higher-resolution photos than most handsets. The Kin One will include a 5-megapixel camera, while the Kin Two will have a 8-megapixel camera. The Kin Two will also be capable of shooting HD-quality video.
Neither of the Kin phones have a memory card slot; instead, the phones will upload content such as photos and videos to a Kin online storage service to free up memory.
Unlike Windows phones, Kin 1 and 2 will run on a special version of the Windows Phone OS.Kin has a cloud-based OS. Almost everything on the phone will be stored by Microsoft in remote servers and accessible via the Internet from any Web browser via an online application called Kin Studio.
The phones’ Web browser too is an upgraded version of the one found on Windows Mobile 6.5 phones. The browser on Kin phones has support for pinch and zoom navigation, among other features. Search — local, Web, and on the device — is built-in and has its own dedicated button.
Square-shaped Kin 1 will come with 4GB of built-in memory. Kin 2 will pack 8GB of built-in memory.
Vijay Mallya-led UB Group says it’s world’s second largest liquor maker now
Apr 7th
BANGALORE: Vijay Mallya-led UB Group said it has become the world’s second largest liquor maker after Diageo with sales of over 100 million cases in the last 12 months and is certain to be the number one by next fiscal.
In the process, group firm United Spirits has overtaken France’s Pernod Ricard, Mallya told reporters here, adding the company has set its eyes on the number one spot.
“We are now clearly the second largest spirits company in the world and we have outperformed our global competitors,” he said, adding the firm has done “extremely well despite the economic slowdown”.
United Spirits Ltd (USL) in the last 25 years sold over 740 million cases of spirits products making a total of 26 billion bottles of alcohol beverages of different pack sizes, he added.
“We are certain that our additional sales in the next financial year will take us to the number one position globally,” he said.
Mallya said it took USL 12 years to cross the first 100 million cases, another five years for the next 100 million cases and four years for the third 100 million cases.
It took three years for the company to cross the fourth, fifth and sixth million cases and “finally we achieved 100 million cases sales in just 12 months”.
“Our three years compounded annual growth rate is 15 per cent plus. If you take the two other large spirits companies in the world — Diageo and Pernord Ricard, they have achieved only single digits,” he said.
The company today announced that it has achieved a sale of over 100 million cases of nine litres each in last 12 months, thus replacing Pernod Ricard as the second largest spirits firm globally while its another firm engaged in beer manufacturing has also achieved a sale of 100 million cases in the financial year ended on March 31, 2010.
The retail sales value of the spirits portfolio sales of United Spirits for the 100 million cases sold is over Rs 36,000 crore, USL said.