Pic of the Day

This Statue of Shiva is Approximately 65 feet tall and is made of concrete and is located at Murugeshpalya at Bangalore. There is a tunnel like structure underneath the statue where different models of Shiva are kept.

Now, developed picture password to online account

Here’s some good news — researchers claim to have developed picture password for your online account, which will also help protect against hacking. Find it difficult to remember your password?

An international team says that it’s actually a new kind of login which relies on the fallibility of human memory to prevent phishing attempts at stealing one’s account details, the New Scientist reported.

The researchers at Stony Brook University in New York have, in fact, come up with a system, called PhorceField, that makes it almost impossible to login without viewing the correct images.

PhorceField asks users to create a graphical password by choosing four images in a particular order from a set of twelve.

PhorceField asks users to create a graphical password by choosing four images in a particular order from a set of twelve — you might choose pictures of a loaf of bread, a candle flame, and two more, for example.

These images are stored in a secret file on computer that only the legitimate website can access. When one logins, one simply remembers which images to click on among a set of others that aren’t part of one’s password.

A phisher who wants to trick you into giving up your PhorceField password knows nothing about the secret images, and so must present one with a huge number of possibilities in the hope of getting the right set of pictures.

This means that one will struggle to identify the correct ones — one might remember that the password includes a loaf of bread, but was it round or oblong?

A close shot, or taken at a distance? Eventually, after a number of failed logins, you will just give up and leave the phishing site without ever having revealed your password, say the researchers.

The researchers tested PhorceField on 23 users and found that 76 percent failed to reveal even a single image from their password during a phishing attempt, and none revealed the entire password — for once, being forgetful pays off.

They will present their work at the Annual Computer Security Applications conference in Orlando, Florida, next month.

No blog post No letter without my sign is valid: Anna

Fresh controversy dogged Team Anna today as Anna Hazare's blogger made public a blog which was kept under wraps to blunt the Gandhian's claim that he had not spoken to him about reorganising his Core team.

Blogger Raju Parulekar, a journalist, also claimed that the Gandhian wanted to remove "undemocratic and fascist" Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan and "their pawns" from his core group.
The fall-out between Hazare and Parulekar came as the former claimed that he never ever spoke to the journalist or met him on the issue of re-structuring of Core Committee and forming a new Pan-Indian organisation with immediate effect.

Parulekar posted his version as well as an unpublished blog by Hazare in Marathi along with its English translation in the Gandhian's blog this morning, claiming that he had not uploaded an order dictated by Hazare after October 30 following a Core Committee meeting asking to hold Core Team.

The blogger had told media that Hazare wanted to reorganise his team and wanted to form a pan-India organisation, a claim denied by the Gandhian. "I am thinking on the lines of restructuring the Core Committee. I am hereby informing all the members of Team Anna," Hazare said in the unpublished blog.
Parulekar said, "I am saying again and again Annaji was fed up with the core team and especially these four members (though he won't say this in public as he is decent enough) wanted to re-structure core team and build Pan-Indian organisation," he claimed.

Parulekar said Hazare "spontaneously" wrote the blog on restructuring the team on October 23 afternoon "when he made up his mind to get away from Kejriwal, Bedi and Bhushan and their pawns in the Core Committee".

"Sureshbhau Pathare (Hazare's close aide) was present there. He tried to stop Annaji but Annaji was unstoppable. Then Sureshbhau requested me not to upload Annaji's this particular blog on his blog at least immediately

Pic of the Day

Demonstrators carry a motor bike with the help of bamboo sticks to protest a price hike in petrol in New Delhi. The placard on the right reads "Stop surrendering oil prices to market (forces)".

Bhupen Hazarika, the ‘bard of Brahmaputra’ Passes Away

Bhupen Hazarika

Bhupen Hazarika, the ‘bard of Brahmaputra’ whose ability to weave magic out of traditional Assamese music gave us songs like Dil hoom hoom kare‘ and O Ganga behti ho, swayed and inspired millions across generations with the power and passion of his voice.

A poet, music composer, singer, actor, journalist, author and filmmaker, the self-proclaimed jajabor (wanderer) took the rich folk heritage of Assam and interpreted it beautifully for the world through his songs.

With his death, the country has lost not only one of its few balladeers but also one of its greatest cultural icons, cherished in Dhaka as much as in Guwahati.

Born in 1926 in Sadiya into a family of teachers, the academically-talented Hazarika completed his basic education from Guwahati in 1942, BA from Banaras Hindu University in 1944 and MA (Pol Sc) in 1946. He did his PhD in Mass Communication from Columbia University. He also received the Lisle Fellowship from Chicago University, US to study the use of educational project development through cinema.

During his stay in the US, he met the legendary black singer Paul Robeson, whose famous number ‘Old man river’ was successfully transformed to the megahit Bistirno parore (O Ganga behti ho in Hindi), a virtual anthem for generations of pro-Left activists.

In an interview to a national daily many years ago, he attributed his singing to tribal music.

“As a child, I grew up listening to tribal music – its rhythm saw me developing an inclination towards singing. Perhaps, I inherited my singing skills from my mother, who sang lullabies to me. In fact, I have used one of my mother’s lullabies in ‘Rudali’,” the Dadasaheb Phalke winner had said.

A poet, music composer, singer, actor, journalist, author and filmmaker, the self-proclaimed jajabor (wanderer) took the rich folk heritage of Assam and interpreted it beautifully for the world through his songs. AFP

He sang his first song Biswa nijoy nojowan (in the second Assamese film Indramalati) in 1939 at the age of 12.

In addition to his native Assamese, Hazarika composed, wrote and sang for numerous Bengali and Hindi films from 1930s to the 1990s besides other songs. He was also one of the leading author-poets of Assam with more than 1,000 lyrics and several books on short stories, essays, travelogues, poems and children’s rhymes.

He produced and directed, composed music and sang for Assamese films like Era Batar Sur, Shakuntala, Loti ghoti, Pratidhwani, Chick Mick Bijuli, Swikarokti and Siraj. His most famous Hindi films include his long-time companion Kalpana Lajmi’s Rudaali, Ek Pal, Darmiyaan,Daman and Kyon, Sai Paranjpe’s Papiha and Saaz, Mil Gayee Manzil Mujhe and M F Husain’s Gajagamini.

“You paint through your songs. But I can’t sing with my paintbrush. It’s up to you to fill this lacuna in my artistry. That’s why I’ve taken you,” Husain apparently told Hazarika after choosing him for the music score of Gajagamini.

Last year, Hazarika featured in his first music video — Our Northeast, Our Star with music and lyrics by 3 Idiots duo Shantanu Moitra and Swanand Kirkire. He also lent his voice to this year’s film Gandhi To Hitler, where he sang Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan Vaishnav jan.

He came to Mumbai to work in the Indian People’s Theatre Movement (IPTA) with Salil Chowdhury, Balraj Sahni and other Marxist intellectuals.

He soon made the city his second home. “The generous city and its people have welcomed me, accepted me, and given me my second home since so many years. I admire its people for its willingness to allow people from the rest of India to earn a living and prosper, irrespective of caste, creed or colour,” he once said about his life in Mumbai.

He received the National Award for Best Music Director in 1976 for Chameli Memsaab and President’s medal for his films Shakuntala (1960), Pratidhwani (1964) and Lotighoti (1967). He was a member of the Assam Legislative Assembly from 1967-72 and was awarded the Padmashri in 1977 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987. He was the chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi from 1999-2004.

He was also a member of Assam Film Development Council and the Central Board of Film Certification. In 2003, he was appointed member of the Prasar Bharati Board.

Launch One-man flying space hopper in Jermany

* 80kg machine can take off vertically like a jump jet
* Powered by Lithium Ion batteries
* Inventor claims the 16-rotor machine will make helicopters 'obsolete
* Could be used for 'air sports' - or even as a flying car

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

It might look like as space hopper could become the 'air car' of the future surrounded by model helicopters, but the 16-rotor E-Volo is an entirely new kind of helicopter - which can hover motionless in the air without input from the pilot
Its bold engineer, Thomas Senkel, took the machine on its first manned flight this week - lasting 1 minute 30 seconds.
It's not the first electric helicopter flight - but this is a new kind of machine, steered simply by joystick, with the pilot sitting above the rotors. Senkel says it could revolutionise transport.
The three inventors claim their flying machine could be used for inspecting pipelines, as an air ambulance or for taking aerial photographs - as well as just for fun.

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

Once they have solved the problem of how to keep it in the air for longer - and support more people - Senkel hopes it might replace helicopters for good.
It's far easier to fly than ordinary helicopters - it's steered by rotor speed, which is computer-controlled, so the pilot just needs to use a joystick as if playing a videogame, rather than controlling multiple complex contorols at once.
Senkel describes the easy-to-use machine as 'good-natured' and potentially capable of replacing the helicopter in many situations.
He added: 'Without any steering input it would just hover there on the spot.'
The multicopter is currently only able to fly for around 20 minutes because it runs on lithium-ion batteries.
But E-volo hope rapidly developing technology will mean they can complete hour-long flights in the near future.
A hybrid drive, in which a conventional internal combustion engine generates the electrical power, would already show an hour-long flight time.
A one-hour flight would cost around six euros in electricity. The machine has few parts, which could wear out, meaning the aircraft needs little maintenance.
E-volo say their aircraft is special because of the 'simplicity of its engineered construction without complicated mechanics, and redundant engines.'
In an emergency, it can land even if four of its 16 rotors fail. And since the propellers sit below the pilot, a safety parachute can also be deployed.
The controls could be integrated with GPS software, the three friends claim, and the machine could even automatically avoid obstacles and direct itself to pre-determined locations. E-Volo have already completed several successful 'drone' flights with the vehicle, controlled remotely from the ground.

Watch the Video

Keenan-Reuben case to be fast tracked: Patil

The Maharashtra government on Friday took special note of the killing of Mumbai bravehearts Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandes and promised a fast track trial.

Prompted by the outrage sparked by the brutal killing of Keenan and Reuben, state Home Minister R R Patil assured that the case would be tried in a fast track court.

"The trial will be conducted in a fast track court. The family will get whichever lawyer they ask for," said Patil.

In further relief to the family and friends of the victims, a metropolitan court remanded the four main accused to judicial custody till November 18. The family hopes that the accused will not be shown any mercy.
"It is very disturbing that these people get bail after such crimes," said Keenan’s father Valerian Santos.

Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandes were attacked by a bunch of goons outside a popular eatery in Amboli on October 20 and died of multiple stab injuries after they tried to fight away eve-teasers. The two tried to shield their female friends from a group of eve-teasers after they came out following dinner at the eatery in Andheri (West). The eve-teasers retreated, only to return with over a dozen others and launch a brutal assault on Keenan and Reuben.

What's sparked outrage is the claim by friends of the deceased that a crowd of people watched as the two were being attacked but nobody helped.

Keenan's 19-year-old friend has said she could see a large crowd of eyewitnesses who just stood around unmoved despite cries for help while Keenan and Reuben were being attacked.  She has also accused the police of failing to respond to her calls for help when she dialed 100.

The victims' families and friends have been fighting for justice and groups on social networking sites have come out with strong demands for firm action against the guilty. Relatives of the victims have also expressed apprehensions about their own safety.