Srinivas Padma: Personal Musings on Life, Growth, and Connections

Jimmy Wales, the founder of the popular Wikipedia, is now planning to barge into the terrain of search engines. He told a conference of software developers the other day that his company Wikia Inc was planning to launch a community based search service. Wikia has acquired web crawler Grub to power the search service. But the real power will rest on millions of anonymous users, who will use their spare time to index and collate searches. Like Wikipedia, the search service will depend on humans and not on algorithms which are used by Google and other popular search engines. "We (will) collectively work to free the judgment of information from invisible rules inside an algorithmic black box," said Wales. He added that the new service may change the balance of power in the search terrain. We can take him at his word. YouTube to clean up The free for all in YouTube may soon come to end. The popular website has decided to introduce recognition technology from September

Tuesday, July 31, 2007 (Mumbai): Actor Sanjay Dutt has been sentenced to six years in prison for illegal possession of arms in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts case . In his observation on Sanjay Dutt the judge said that acquisition of guns showed scant respect for law. The judge cancelled Dutt's bail and he will be taken into custody right away. He has been fined a sum of Rs 25,000. However, Dutt's lawyers said that they will appeal in the Supreme Court. Soon after the verdict was pronounced Dutt asked the judge to be allowed to call his daughter and also pleaded for few days to surrender. Earlier, the judge had refused the probation report of Dutt and other accused Yusuf Nullwala and Kersi Adajania. He also said that Dutt committed the offence and also made others do so. He further observed that Dutt made Nullwala an offender by making him destroy the weapon. Nullwala has been sentenced to five years in prison while Kersi gets two years in jail. One of the aides of San

Ford India launched the diesel version of its premium hatchback Fusion in an attempt to build a robust diesel portfolio. "Strengthening our diesel plat form is a key strategy for us and we are hopeful that with the launch of the diesel variant of Fusion we will be able to attract more customers," said Arvind Matthew, president of Ford India, while unveiling the car. The car is being offered in only one variant and is priced at Rs 6,59,000 ($16,300). It will be available in six colours, paprika red, moon dust silver, diamond white, panther black, brush steel and mystic wine . "With the prices of petrol going up, diesel is always a viable option. Fusion diesel is a practical mix of international design, spacious and comfortable interiors with Ford's world renowned Duratorq TDCi diesel engine ," said Matthew. The diesel version of Fusion is packed with a 1.4 litre Duratorq TDCi (turbo diesel common rail injection) engine. The engine is made of aluminium all

Silicon Valley: Indians are markedly happier and optimistic today than five years ago, a recent survey on global opinions has said. The survey, conducted by the Pew Global Attitudes Project in about 47 nations, shows that increasing contentment in India as well as some other developing nations, including China, is clearly correlated with sizeable increases in per capita Gross Domestic product that has far outpaced the rate of growth prior to 2002. Over the last five years, the per capita GDP in India rose by 38 per cent and the percentage of people in the country expressing life satisfaction has grown from 29 per cent to 41 per cent, the survey found. Perhaps reflecting their country's tremendous economic growth in recent years. In contrast, levels of personal contentment and satisfaction with annual incomes have been much more stable in North America, Western Europe and Japan, where income growth has been less impressive.

Despite several inequities and challenges, Chennai is emerging as a seedbed for the animation industry with great success stories. Mr Muralidharan, chief technology officer, Accel Animation Studios , says, "The current scenario is very encouraging with the increasing demand in domestic as well as outsourced service work from leading producers. It indicates the indu-stry is growing at a very fast pace in Chennai ." Accel Animation is currently working on 3D animated episodes for preschool children Raju the Autorickshaw for a Canadian producer Kahani World. The company has just completed a 40 minute visual effect and 3D character animation for a Hindi feature film Friends For Ever which is expected to hit the screens by September 2007. Mr Muralidharan added that the company is also working on a 3D animated movie South India Fables based on Thirukkural for a global audience. The first one-hour show of 12 hours will be ready for distribution by October 2007. According

After the success of Aap Ka Surroor , singer-actor Himesh Reshammiya has been approached by Adlabs for a film deal (for an unheard price) which has him as a lead actor as well as the music director-singer. The singer had announced that henceforth he would only be doing those film projects that star him as a lead actor. Sources say that Adlabs has offered Himesh a package deal which gives him total freedom to choose his script, director and lead actress. This film will be totally fresh project and not the sequel to Aap Kaa Surroor. Himesh has also given his nod for the same. The source adds, "Adlabs had the distribution rights of Aap Ka Surroor and now that they are assured of his box office standing as a lead actor in films, they have decided to go ahead with the next venture." One of his friends revealed that Himesh has been flooded with acting offers right from the day Aap Ka Surroor took a fantastic opening at the box office . The source says, "He has g

Shilpa Shetty is not fighting off the men. She's single and ready to mingle," said her publicist and spokesper son Dale Bhagwagar, replying to the rumours of her impending mar riage to NRI business man Raj Kundra. "Mr Kundra is her friend and has helped her in the launch of her per fume S2 in the UK. But let me insist that the marriage rumours are speculato ry," he says. "Let her get the right guy and she will surely settle down. But right now, there isn't one," he adds. Do such stories upset Shilpa? "Yes, she does get a little upset at times, but I guess she is now coming to terms with the fact that such rumours are part and parcel of being an international celebrity," Bhagwagar observes. "Shilpa is a great human being and all the recent success and international stardom hasn't changed her nature at all. She remains the smiling, loving and affectionate down-to-earth girl," he remarks. When asked if h