Oracle sues Google over Java usage in Android

 Oracle has filed a lawsuit against Google, charging that its Android phone software infringes Oracle patents and copyrights related to Java, Oracle said Thursday.

"In developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle's Java-related intellectual property. This lawsuit seeks appropriate remedies for their infringement," Oracle spokeswoman Karen Tillman said in a statement.

The suit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco and seeks a jury trial.

Google could not immediately be reached for comment on the lawsuit.

Wipro signs pact to implement Messaging service with Arcelor

Wipro Technologies has signed a five-year agreement with steel company ArcelorMittal to implement messaging service for Arcelor. Under the agreement, Wipro will consolidate and migrate Arcelor's messaging systems to the Microsoft Exchange 2010 messaging platform.

As per the engagement, ArcelorMittal's global messaging system will be secured by Wipro using anti-virus, anti-spam and archival solutions. It will host the new global messaging system on its hardware, hosted at six ArcelorMittal data-centres, spanning across North America, Latin America, East and West Europe and Asia.

This engagement will help transform ArcelorMittal's messaging environment and curtail their global messaging spending. Wipro will use its Next Generation Global Command Center for rendering the global messaging management services.

Maruti launches CNG version of its top selling models

 Maruti Suzuki Friday launched eco-friendly compressed natural gas (CNG) versions of five of its top selling cars and gain market share.

The country's largest car manufacturer unveiled here the new variants of its Alto, Wagon R, Estilo, SX4 and Eeco with CNG engine kits.

'This is the first instance when a car manufacturer has developed and launched factory-fitted technologically superior CNG engines in India. CNG is environmentally friendly and also reduces the country's dependence on imported fuel,' said Shinzo Nakanishi, chief executive, Maruti Suzuki.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who was present at the event as chief guest, said: 'This is a bold step by Maruti to bring in this technology. By providing supply first, they will create automatic demand.'

Rotting food grains in Govt Godowns

Even as tonnes of foodgrains are rotting in Food Corporation of India (FCI) warehouses across the country, little has been done by the union agriculture ministry to address the issue, an RTI activist said Friday.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had last year promised the Lok Sabha that his ministry would set up a panel to probe the issue and take corrective action, according to a Right to Information (RTI) finding.

Between 1997 and 2007, 1.83 lakh tonnes of wheat, 6.33 lakh tonnes of rice, 2.20 lakh tonnes of paddy and 111 lakh tonnes of maize were damaged in various FCI warehouses, revealed Dev Ashish Bhattacharya, who filed the RTI query on the issue.

We`ll provide access to Indian security agency - RIM

Research In Motion, the maker of BlackBerry smartphones, will provide technical solutions next week, that will help Indian security agencies access its encrypted data, a government source said on Friday.

"They have assured that they will come with some technical solution for messenger and enterprise mail next week. Our technical team will evaluate if it works," the source said.

India has given RIM until August 31 to comply with a request to gain access to encrypted corporate email and messaging services or those services will be shut.

Alto k10 to be more fuel efficient than Alto

Armed with the new K-series engine, the Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 is ready to offer ever more to entry level buyers in terms of performance and fuel efficiency, and take them further upmarket.

The Suzuki Alto has had a long and generations panning innings in India, ever since the first iteration for India was launched as the 800 way back in the mid-1980 s.

However, this liking for Suzuki's best known name plate the world over truly ticked into overdrive when the present generation Alto appeared on Indian roads in the year 2000. After a slow start the Alto leapfrogged all else, even in Maruti Suzuki's line-up to go top of the heap.

Essar shipping & logistics de-merged as separate entities

The Ruias-promoted Essar Shipping and Logistics has demerged its shipping, logistics and oil fields business into a separate entity, a top official said.

The newly created entity will be called Essar Shipping Limited while the existing entity will also undergo a change in nomenclature and will be called Essar Port Limited, Group Chief Executive, Prashant Ruia, said here.

The new company — Essar Shipping — will be listed on the bourses soon, he added.

Tata motors to expand commercial vehicle biz globally

Home-grown auto major, Tata Motors, said that it plans to expand its commercial vehicles business globally and contemplating to set up a new plant for small trucks in India.

"We are a dominant player in the Indian market and we now want to be a big player at the international level," Tata Motors Groupmanaging director and CEO, Carl-Peter Forster, told reporters here.

"Our aim is to tap the global market in the commercial vehicle segment," he said, adding the company might set up a plant in India to manufacture small trucks.

Eyeing a huge opportunity globally in the trucks business, Tata Motors is exploring synergies with its joint venture partner, the Italian auto giant, Fiat, Forster said.

Taj Hotel to reopen on I-Day after 2008 terror attack

Taj Palace in Night

Holding balloons and flowers, employees pledged on Thursday to re-dedicate themselves to Mumbai's Taj Mahal hotel when it reopens at the weekend after the 2008 militant attacks in which guests and staff members died.

The hotel, which suffered extensive damage from a siege laid by four heavily armed gunmen, was one of several Mumbai landmarks attacked by Pakistan-based militants. The November strikes, which lasted over 60 hours, killed 166 people.

Standing on the grand cantilever stairway, staff members cheered and tossed rose petals in the air after chairmanRatan Tata garlanded a bust of the founder of the Tata Group, India's oldest conglomerate, which also owns the luxury Taj hotels.

Tata DoCoMo launches Pay-per- Site plan

Telecom service provider, Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Limited (TTML), on Tuesday launched a new service 'pay per site', under its Tata DOCOMO brand, which would allow customers to pay only for the websites they use.

The pay per site service offers pay-for-what-you-use Internet browsing model, a press release issued here stated.

The service offers two combination packs--for those only interested in single websites could pay Rs 10 per site, while those with multiple site browsing could opt for a combo pack at just Rs 25 per month.

DoT to bar Telecos if MNP is not implemented

Cracking down on operators for delaying the implementation of mobile number portability (MNP) in the country, department of telecom (DoT) on Wednesday barred existing as well as new service providers from launching any new commercial services after September 1, if their network is not MNP ready.

This implies that operators including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular as well as new operators such as MTS, Uninor and Tata DoCoMo will be unable to launch new services in case they fail to implement MNP by the specified deadline. MNP will allow mobile users to switch their operator while retaining their number, but operators have missed the deadline to implement it four times since last year. Last month, the government extended the deadline to October 31, after service providers failed to implement it by June 30. The telecom department, in a note released on Wednesday, said that the operators must ensure that all inter-operator tests for porting the numbers from one service provider to another are completed before September 1, 2010.

VENTO available from Sept in Indian market; Price starts 6.99lacs

German auto major Volkswagen says it will start selling its midsized sedan Vento priced between Rs 6.99-Rs 9.23 lakh in the Indian market from September this year.

The new Vento, which has been introduced in 1.6-litre petrol and diesel variants will hit the Indian roads from September 6, 2010 and will be available through all Volkswagen dealers, the company said in a statement yesterday.

The much awaited car, which is the company's seventh model in India will be available at prices ranging between Rs 6.99-Rs 9.23 lakh at ex-showroom prices in Delhi. The petrol variant starts from Rs 6.99 lakh while the starting price for the diesel variant is Rs 7.99 lakh, the company added.

"The new Vento is an extension of our commitment towards the Indian consumers of providing the best quality products at competitive prices. Designed for the Indian market, it will be a strong addition to our product portfolio", VW Group Sales India Member of Board Neeraj Garg said.

BENQ launches portable projector GP1 in India

Benq's GP1 projector

BenQ has pronounced the latest version of its PC-less, lamp-free GP1 Mini Projector in Indian markets. The projector, runs on 3LED technology, has USB video reader and weighs just 640 grams, making it the ultra-light device to be carried along.

The GP1 Mini supports 120% NTSC, 100 ANSI lumens that are backed by digital LED lighting, Wall Color Correction and comes with a default 2W speaker. Considered to be a many at once solutions provider, it comes in handy as a portable home projector easy to be carried around.

It is known to offer a back-up of over 20,000+ hours of light life and comes with an iPod/iPhone dock or via a USB drive.

BenQ states it to be a superior offering than an average 55%-80% NTSC of most projectors. It works wonders especially for photographers, interior designers, realtors, and all those who seek for color precision and brilliance.

The device is priced at Rs. 36,600 (MOP) and is available across all stores.

Samsung launches Champ & OmniaLite in India

Samsung has announced two touchscreen handsets, the Champ C330 and the Omnia Lite B7300 for the Indian customers.

The Samsung Champ boasts of a 2.4 inch QVGA touch screen display along with Touchwiz Lite 2.0 UI and the Stylus Pen. The set incorporates 30MB internal memory, microSD support up to 8GB, social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace Twitter and Photo sharing sites like Flickr, Photobucket.

Apart from that, the Champ is integrated with Sound Alive 3D effects and FM Radio listening without antenna. The Champ is the smallest and cheapest touchscreen handset in India.

Samsung Champ C330 is available for Rs 4,000 - 4,500/- in India.

Hindustan motors to relaunch All New Ambassdor in 2011

The King of Indian Roads, HM Ambassador is undergoing heart surgery along with make ups and is getting ready for a 2011 relaunch. Ambassador has been almost 70 years old and still running on Indian soil. HM plans to bring the new Ambassador, besides delivering its current Ambassador variants for Taxi segment. And the new Ambassador will be the bread-earner for the company in a few more years after the launch, HM hopes.


HM chairman C K Brila has stated that the new Amby will have a retro design and sport cutting-edge engineering to compete on comfort and value for money. Overseas experts have been roped in for the metamorphosis. He also added that the new version will be ready by January-February 2011 for test trials and is expected to undergo validation by May so that commercial production can begin in July 2011.

European auto experts have been roped in for a renovate Ambassador such that the platform and overall dimensions remain the same. According to MD Manoj Jha, the new car will be a sibling of the Ambassador but the change will be so holistic that it will be a completely different vehicle. Apart from the new-look retro exterior, the interiors will be revamped. It will be powered by BS IV-complaint and BS V-ready 1.5 litre and 2 litre diesel as well as petrol engines that are powerful and fuel-efficient. He also added that , overseas technology firms are processing each aspect of the car to ensure the new Amby is on par with contemporary vehicles on Indian roads in terms of built quality and reliability.

India ranks second in Beer production

India's beer production surged by 12.3 per cent last year, second only to Vietnam among Asian countries, even as the continent overtook Europe for the first time as the world's biggest beer-producing area since 1974.

Asia beat Europe amid its economic growth with 58.67 million kilolitres of beer produced, up 5.5 per cent from the previous year, a Kirin Holdings Co research arm said yesterday.

Among Asian beer producers, Vietnam saw a 24.3 per cent surge during the period, followed by India at 12.3 per cent and China at 7.0 per cent. But production in Japan dropped by 2.2 per cent.

Asia took the top slot in the ranking list for the first time since 1974, the Kirin Institute of Food & Lifestyle has said.

China accuses imported milk powder for latest scandal

The latest milk powder scandal in China has taken a new turn with the concerned Chinese dairy saying it was distributing products imported from New Zealand. The New Zealand supplier has claimed its products were “100% safe”.

Synutra International, the Chinese dairy, made the statement after the government ordered a probe into accusations that babies had developed breasts after consuming milk powder sold by it.

Hormonal levels in at least three babies in Hubei province and one in Beijing have risen to the levels of adult women after consuming the milk products, sources said. The Chinese health ministry on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the allegations.

AETN, Network 18 JV to launch History in India

AETN and Network18 have reached an agreement to form a joint venture, AETN-18 India on Wednesday which will now launch History, BIO and other popular AETN channels in the Indian market.

AETN is the fastest growing pay television company in the United States operating two of the top five Pay TV networks - History and A&E, and the number one women's network Lifetime. In addition, History is the number one factual channel in the US since 2009.

The joint venture between Network18 Group with a share of 51 per cent and AETN holding 49 per cent will be based in Mumbai. This venture will be owned by AETN and 'New TV18' eventually. Timelines for the launch of various channels will be announced shortly and all new business operations are subject to regulatory approval. BMR Advisers acted as transaction advisers to Network18 Group.

Bharti to buy Telecom Seychelles

Continuing its acquisition spree in the international market, Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said the company will acquire 100 per cent stake in Telecom Seychelles for USD 62 million (about Rs 288 crore).

The acquisition comes on heels of Bharti acquiring Zain Telecom's Africa assets for USD 10.7 billion, for which the deal was closed in June.

"The Board of Directors has approved the acquisition deal on Wednesday morning," said Bharti Airtel CEO (International) and Joint MD Manoj Kohli.

US Govt review finds glitch in electronics of Toyota cars

The government’s investigation into complaints of sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles has found no evidence of flawed electronics in 58 of the vehicles that crashed, federal regulators said Tuesday.

An examination of the crashes also found only one instance in which an accelerator pedal became trapped under a floor mat, and none in which a pedal became stuck or sprang back too slowly, according to a preliminary report to Congress.

Toyota has recalled nearly nine million Toyota and Lexus vehicles worldwide to correct problems involving floor mats and sticky pedals, and lawmakers and some drivers have long suggested that a malfunction in the electronic throttle control system of the vehicles might explain some of the reports of sudden acceleration.