Sehajpal.com
No path is too difficult. No destination is too far !
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.
Indians better than British students, even in English
Mar 29th
LONDON: It’s official. Indian students are better than their British counterparts in schools, even in subjects like English.
Government figures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families have revealed Indian and Chinese students get top grades than British children in every school subject at the secondary examination.
Thirtyone per cent of Indian students and 55 per cent of Chinese pupils who took General Certificate of School Education exams last year achieved an A, according to the new figures released.
Among white British pupils the figure was 16 per cent. For black African pupils it was 14 per cent, for Pakistani 13 per cent and black Caribbean 8 per cent, leading newspaper the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.
The figures also show that, as well as forging ahead in maths, Indian and Chinese pupils outperform white British pupils in English.
The Chinese pupils were most likely to get As, with 29 per cent getting the top mark in English, compared with 21 per cent of Indians, 15 per cent of white British, 11 per cent of black Africans and 9 per cent of Pakistanis.
Significant differences in achievement are also seen in geography, history, chemistry, biology, physics, French and religious education, the statistics have revealed.
Bristol University researchers suggested the attainment differences were down to contrasting attitudes to education between ethnic minority and white communities.
Dr Deborah Wilson pointed to high aspirations among immigrant communities, who “almost by definition” are “keen to get on in life”. “With qualifications linked to social progress, it makes sense to focus particular effort at that point,” she said.
[Original story published here]
Babies dumped at birth in Pretoria
Mar 16th
Three babies a week are found dead on Pretoria’s Onderstepoort rubbish dump by waste recyclers, who are confronted by the sight of the bones of many other infants, crushed by waste-compacting machines.
Police and non-government organisations report an alarming increase in the numbers of illegal, late-term abortions, concealments of birth, and even the murder of babies in poor areas around Pretoria North.
The police believe that the dead babies come from areas including the suburb of Wolmer, the informal settlement of De Klerk’s Oord, and the townships of Mabopane, Soshanguve, and Mamelodi.
Neville Manjiama, a member of a community project who sifts through the landfill site for recyclable material, which he sells, says the sight is horrific.
“The recyclers often find bits of broken bones. And we find at least two to three babies here a week,” he said.
When asked where the newborn babies are found, he points to black refuse bags that have been through rubbish crushers but have not been compacted into the landfill site. [Read Full Story]
Mukesh Ambani, Mittal among world’s richest
Mar 11th
WASHINGTON: Indians Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal figured among world’s top ten billionaires as Mexican tycoon Carlo Slim Helu beat Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the wealthiest person on earth.
Besides fourth ranked Reliance Industries chairman Ambani and fifth placed steel czar Mittal, four other Indians were among top 50 in 2010 Forbes list of the World’s Billionaires released Wednesday with as many 49 Indians joining company with the planet’s 1,011 richest people.
With his fortune swelling to an estimated $53.5 billion, up $18.5 billion in 12 months, Slim surged ahead of Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, who had held the title of world’s richest 14 of the past 15 years, the US business magazine noted.
Gates, now worth $53 billion, is ranked second in the world. He is up $13 billion from a year ago as shares of Microsoft rose 50 percent in 12 months. Buffett’s fortune jumped $10 billion to $47 billion on rising shares of Berkshire Hathaway. He ranks third.
Eleven countries have at least double the number of billionaires they had a year ago, including China, India, Turkey and South Korea.
Fourth placed Mukesh Ambani with a fortune of $29 billion has global ambitions, Forbes said. So has his younger brother Anil Ambani ranked 36 with a $13.7 billion fortune.
Fifth ranked Lakshmi Mittal with a fortune of $28.7 billion is “looking to expand in his native India; wants to build steel mills in Jharkhad and Orissa but has not received government approval,” Forbes noted describing him as “London’s richest resident” who oversees ArcelorMittal, world’s largest steel maker
Azim Premji with a fortune of $17.0 billion was ranked 28. “Software czar chairs $5.5 billion (revenues) Wipro, country’s third-largest software exporter. Reported jump in net profits in last 2 quarters, signaling a rebound for US-dependent outsourcing giant.”
Shashi & Ravi Ruia brothers took the 40th spot with a fortune of $13.0 billion. Their “$15 billion (revenues) Essar Group has weathered downturn and embarked on an expansion drive in all its businesses, including steel, oil and power.”
Last among the Indians in top 50 was Savitri Jindal, ranked 44th, with a fortune of $12.2 billion. She took over as head of OP Jindal Group after her husband died in a helicopter crash in 2005.
Among other Indians on the billionaires list were Kushal Pal Singh (74), Kumar Birla (86), Sunil Mittal (87), Anil Agarwal (113), Adi Godrej & family (148), Shiv Nadar (201), N.R. Narayana Murthy & family (616), Rahul Bajaj (880) and Vijay Mallya (937).
Original article – Times Of India
.NET MEGA Walkin interviews and on spot offers at Birlasoft Noida
Mar 4th
Headquartered at Noida, India, Birlasoft has 4,000+ employees across US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Malaysia, Australia, Singapore and India. The Noida centers of the company have been recently assessed at PCMM Level 3 for its HR practices.
If your profile is matching to the skills mentioned below, kindly come for an in person discussion with Birlasoft on Saturday 6th March 2010 at the following venue:
Birlasoft India Ltd.
H 9, Sector 63
Noida. (India)
Assessment timings is between 9.30 AM (IST) till 5.30 PM (IST), do carry a copy of your resume, also drop a confirmation mail regarding the same.
.Net Job Description:
- 2-8 years of experience
- Experience in .net 2.0 and 3.5 (C#, ASP.net, VB.Net) . Minimum resource should have experience in .net 2.0
- Experience in WCF, WPF, XML, JavaScript, WebServices
- Database: SQL Server or Oracle
- Good Communication Skills
Desirables:
- Exposure to Silverlight or Cloud Computing a big plus
- Sharepoint
- Biztalk server
Would request you to send your detailed profile at abhinav.prakash@birlasoft.com along with the following details:
- Total IT Experience
- Current Company
- Current Salary
- Expected Salary
- Joining Time
- Contact Number
How to pass InitParameters to Silverlight in HTML object control
Mar 3rd
There are three different ways in which we can pass parameters to Silverlight from the HTML side:
1. Pass parameters using the HTML object control.
This may be the case using pure HTML page to call silverlight control in it or may be the simple ASp.Net page as usual.
<object width=”100%” height=”100%”>
<param name=”source” value=”ClientBin/SomethingFunny.xap” />
<!– you can pass InitParameters to it. Pass anything like EndPointURI, EndPointName or Even StartPage –>
<param name=”InitParameters” value=”startPage=UnRegisteredLandingPage, EndPointURI=http://www.sehajpal.com/testservice.svc” />
</object>
2. Using ASP.Net page to call silverlight control in it, we can easily pass parameters to it in anyway. One of the old tricks is to have an asp-literal control on the HTML side i.e. MarkUp side, and set its text to the desired HTML output fom code behind.
In the markup:
<asp:Literal ID=”litParam” runat=”server” />In the code behind:
this.litParam.Text = String.Format(“<param name=\”ParamInitParameters\” value=\”{0}\” />”, sInitParms);
3. Using asp-silverlight control to host Silverlight application in an ASP.net website as usual. This is pretty neat approach in terms of playing around with parameters and properties of control hosting the Silverlight app.
In the markup:
<asp:Silverlight ID=”SLControl” runat=”server” Width=”100%” Height=”100%” />
In the code behind:
SLControl.InitParameters = “EndPointURI=” + endPointURI + “,EndPointName=commonservice, UserCredentials=” + CredentialString;
Hope it works for you in different scenarios.
Thanks Sachin!
Feb 24th
You being the God of Indian Cricket made us proud once again hitting a voluptous 200. Just grant one world cup to us. That’s it.