The First Ever Indian Sports Car AVANTI BY DC

   The DC Avanti is a big deal for India considering that this is the first sports car to be made by an Indian firm. The news gets even better when it was confirmed that the DC Avanti is not just a concept but a road worthy prototype that has been confirmed for production. The production run for the Avanti will begin in 2013.

    The DC Avanti is not a car cobbled together with bits from old cars just to make an attempt at being the first Indian sports car. The Avanti will be powered by Ford’s revolutionary EcoBoost engine technology. The unit is a 2.0 litre DOHC four cylinder featuring Direct Injection, four valves per cylinder with Variable Valve Timing (VVT) and turbo charging. Power output has been rated at 243PS with 366Nm of torque. The engine meets Euro5 norms and an ECU remap can make it comply with Euro6 legislations as well, DC is eyeing the export market as well. 

   Avanti seems like an Indian word from sanskrit (which seem to have all the cool-sounding words), is actually an Italian word. It means “Moving Forward”. Initially it will go on sale with a mid-mounted, Ford-sourced, 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine producing 261 bhp. A V6 version with 394 bhp will go on sale at a later date. Both engines are linked to a six-speed dual clutch transmission.The Avanti weighs 1560 kg, and features extensive use of aluminium. Its claimed that the base model will hit 62 mph in less than seven seconds. The car will be released somewhere around 2013. The manufacturer wants to build 200 cars a year at first, but plans to churn out up to 2000 cars a year longer term.

   “The Indian market for high-end automobiles is on a steep uphill curve as witnessed year-on-year and our focus is on the top end of the rarefied niche. We intend to set up an all new facility at Talegaon, near Pune to build this vehicle. 300 – 400 units of the Avanti will be produced between 2013 and 2014. Based on demand production capacity could be ramped up to four digit figures per annum for the Avanti.”

                                                                

                                                            

                                                        WATCH OUT THIS VIDEO

                                          

Quad-core Smartphones Review

   Get ready for quad-core smartphones, mobile cameras with 8 or more megapixels, a multitude of devices running Android Ice Cream Sandwich, and mainstream adoption of LTE 4G and NFC technology at this year’s edition of the GSMA Mobile World Congress (MWC).

     The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has finished for 2012 but mobile device makers are getting ready to showcase their latest achievements at the GSMA Mobile World Congress — a four-day event dedicated to cutting-edge mobile technology.MWC is accompanied by a string of high-profile mobile device announcements and as such is the most closely followed event in the mobile industry.

   Rumours suggest that smartphones including the quad-core HTC Edge, the HTC Ville, the Samsung Galaxy S III, the Asus Padfone, a quad-core Android device from Fujitsu, an improved Lumia 900 with 12MP camera, and new Sony Xperia smartphones will be on the menu along with the first devices running the Linux-based Tizen open source mobile operating system, the launch of BlackBerry 10 OS, and an overload of handsets and tablets running the Ice Cream Sandwich build of Google’s Android mobile operating system.

 
                                              

   A long, hard look at the iOS 5.1 beta 2 shows that Apple is getting ready for quad-core processing in its mobile devices.

The A5 chip in the latest iPhone and iPad models supports dual-core processing only.

Quad-core A6 chips are rumored to be in the works and may land in consumers’ hands as soon as this year.

   By looking at the most recent iOS beta’s code, as 9to5mac already has, we see the operating system supports up to four cores, numbered core.0 to core.3 (developers always start counting with the number 0; don’t ask us why, that’s just how it is).

Quad-core mobile devices aren’t unheard of in these parts. Back in May, Nvidia started singing the praises of its new Tegra 3 quad-core mobile processor. Code-named Project Kal-El (Superboy’s given name, for all you non-nerds), the chip was designed to give mobile phones and tablets performance capabilities on par with those of laptops and other personal computers.

Just last fall, we saw Nvidia demonstrate a quad-core Windows 8 tablet, but the Tegra 3 chip came to market first on Asus’ legally beleaguered Transformer Prime Android tablet, a quad-core beast.

In order to keep the iPad competitive, Apple has to start thinking about quad-core processing power. And quad-core processing would be an awfully nice advantage for gaming and other heavy-duty software.

We’ll see if Apple launches new iPad (and perhaps iPhone) versions featuring quad-core processing in the next few months, but we’d be shocked if the company lets Android manufacturers sneak ahead of it in innovation for very long.

                                                                MWC 2012 Pic

   The rumored HTC Edge will supposedly be the world’s first quad-core smartphone, running the Tegra 3 chip. Mobile news site PocketNow claims to have exclusive images as well as a spec sheet. We take such rumors with a grain of salt, however. The mobile world is prone to shake-ups and surprises, and news of phones from so-called “reliable sources” don’t always come to fruition.

     Nvidia was the first to bring dual-core processing to mobile with the LG Optimus 2X, which debuted at the beginning of this year with the Tegra 2 chip. Nvidia is blazing the multicore trail again with the release of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201 tablet. The Transformer Prime is the first device to ship with Nvidia's 1.3-GHz Tegra 3 quad-core processor. For now, it’s the only quad-core device on the market. The Transformer earned high praise from us for its stunning graphics and zippy performance.

   Qualcomm stated last month that its quad-core Snapdragon chip, the APQ064, will join its S4 line of products. Based on ARM architecture, the S4 chips will run at clock speeds between 1.5GHz and 2.5GHz. Qualcomm’s Vice President of Product Management Raj Talluri, confirmed that the first phones with quad-core Snapdragon chips will ship around the holiday season next year.Unlike Nvidia and Qualcomm, chipset manufacturer TI isn’t putting a number on its OMAP processor. Rather than calling them dual-core or quad-core, TI refers to them as “multicore.” My colleague, Melissa Perenson, visited TI last week at its headquarters in Dallas, Texas, where the company showed off its latest system-on-a-chip, the OMAP 5. The company didn’t give any exact benchmarks, but maintains that the OMAP 5 produces speeds competitive with Nvidia’s quad-core processor.

Windows 8 Review

   You can customise both the image you see on the Windows 8 Lock screen and the details of unread emails and missed instant messages that it shows. And you can pin desktop apps such as Office or Task Manager, and even a link to the desktop, to the Lock screen.You can group tiles together - giving groups a name or leaving them blank - and make any tile single or double width. Just swipe the tile up a little to get the option to change the size, unpin the app or uninstall it completely.

You'll be able to do that for pre-installed Metro software too (which is what Microsoft is encouraging OEMs to bundle on new Windows 8 PCs).
As well as moving a tile to a new location by dragging it, you can also drag it up to the top of the screen with one finger and hold it there while you swipe across the screen to get to where you want to drop it - a much easier way of dealing with a long list of tiles.
Future builds of Windows 8 will also enable you to pinch to zoom out so you can see all the tiles on screen at once, and rearrange groups at the same time.

   Once you launch apps, you can use gestures to arrange them. Swiping from the left switches to the next app, but you can also swipe and drag to put two apps on a screen side by side - and one of those can be the Windows desktop.

There are only three window sizes for apps arranged like this (counting full screen), so that developers don't have to worry about making an infinite number of layouts look good. One app is a thin QVGA 'snap' view on either side of the screen, and the other is a larger VGA full view - which is why this only works on 1366-resolution widescreen PCs.

   But if the Windows 8 desktop is in full view you can still use Aero Snap to arrange two windows, and if it's in snap view you get thumbnails for all the running desktop apps that you can tap to open.This is a good combination of enabling you to use two apps at once on a tablet. This is something only the occasional dual-screen Android tablets enable you to do, and then only for a limited number of apps. It also makes it easy to switch from Metro apps to desktop apps and back.

   Swipe in from the right of the screen and you get what Microsoft is calling the Windows 8 "charms": search and share, which work across different apps; devices and settings; plus a button for switching between the Start menu and the desktop. 

   The Settings charm gives you the settings for the current Metro application plus options for volume, brightness, notifications, networking, switching language and choosing to sleep, shut down or restart.

It's great to have one place to do that in every application. It's also a logical place for commands such as Restart that used to be on the Start menu, because there was nowhere else to put them. We kept looking in there for a link to the Control Panel, which is currently just a tile on the Start screen.

   It would be more logical to put a link here for more settings, in the same way that the friendly Control Panel interface organises the most common options clearly, with a link to the desktop control panel for other settings (and you can still search for specific control panels just like searching for an app or file).

   Open an app that needs the Windows desktop and you get the familiar desktop view with Recycle Bin, task bar and Start button.

 

   But the Start button opens the Start screen again - the Start menu is gone in Windows 8.The look of the desktop and desktop apps will change before the Windows 8 release date. We're expecting the new-look Task Manager to be a clue to the final interface style, but the ribbon makes an appearance in Explorer. This is always controversial, but we think it works well for organising options and tools together. 

                                       10 key features  

• Support for both x86 PCs and ARM tablet
• Touch-centric, Tiles-based User Interface (UI)
• CharmsSnap Multi-tasking
• WiWeb Navigation by Touchndows 8 Control Panel
• ‘ENative USB 3.0 Supportnhanced Copy Experience’ 
• Better Support for Multiple Monitors
• Better Support for Multiple Monitors

Discover the 10 Main Benefits of Aloe Vera

   For centuries Aloe Vera has been used as a healing agent. More recently, natural healthadvocates have discovered not only new uses, but also new ways to introduce Aloe Vera
into your body.

Aloe Barbadensis Miller. It’s a mouthful, but it’s a name worth knowing.

There are around 400 species of aloe plants. They are all succulents found in arid regions throughout the world. They’re each beneficial in their own ways, but there is only one species that has been recognized for millenia for its magically soothing abilities—Aloe Barbadensis Miller.

Records of this plant exist on Sumerian clay tablets from as early as 2200 BC. Aloe’s cosmetic and medical benefits were prized the by ancient civilizations of Egypt, China, Greece, Rome, India, and Arabia. Just like these ancient civilizations, Forever Living reveres aloe for its soothing, nurturing properties.

Here are ten of the most important benefits of this wonder plant:-

                                                                                  1. Digestive Benefits

Aloe Vera plays an important role in digestive health. It has been used to treat or soothe the harsh impacts of colitis, irritable bowel syndrome and ulcers. Even if you don’t suffer from any of these ailments, Aloe Vera can play a role in keeping you digestive system healthy.

 2. Promotes Healthy  Skin

Aloe Vera has been used as a skin treatment for hundreds of years. Of all the Aloe Vera benefits we know about today, skin care is one of the most popular and sought afterremedies. Aloe hydrates cracked, dry skin and helps restore softness in a remarkably gentle and non-abrasive way. It has been nature’s anti-aging lotion for centuries.

                                                       3. Acne Treatment

Your skin can experience remarkable Aloe Vera benefits if you suffer from acne. Its anti-inflammatory properties provide immediate relief to painful swelling and redness.The key is in making Aloe Vera part of a daily routine. Aloe gel can be used for spot treatment while washing your entire face with Aloe Vera soap will keep skin hydrated and swelling down.

4. Weight Control

With all the weight loss products on the market today, its had not to wonder exactly what companies are dumping into these supplements. That’s why natural solutions are becoming more sought after every day. Of the many Aloe Vera benefits, its ability to promote a sense of well being will help increase your energy and metabolism.

                                                     5. Promotes Immune System

Aloe Vera has natural immune system enhancing properties, which help keep your body strong and able to fight off sickness. Aloe Vera Juice can help you immune system stay healthy.

6. Burn Treatment

One of the most amazing Aloe Vera benefits is its ability to soothe burns and help alleviate pain. People use aloe to treat minor burns as well as sunburn. The natural compounds in aloe cream or gel can

                                                      help kin regenerate and ward off infection.

                      7. Source of Vitamins

Another one of Aloe Vera’s benefits is the sheer amount of vitamins contained in its juice. Aloe Vera juice provides vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C, and E. The juice is also a great source of Folic Acid and Niacin.

8. Aloe as an Elixir

Aloe Vera juice is used as an elixir in many cultures based on its antioxidant properties, which is believed to help prevent the signs of aging. Antioxidants are your body’s natural defense against free radicals, which can damage cells and lead to a number of health issues, including heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

9. Aloe as a Nutritional Supplement

Aloe Vera benefits go beyond vitamin content and antioxidants. Calcium, iron, potassium and zinc are all found in Aloe Vera gel and juice. Such important minerals are an often-overlooked part of our diet, but a simple daily regimen of aloe can help ensure you are getting your essential minerals.

10. Aloe as an Anti-Inflammatory

Aloe Vera is also a natural anti-inflammatory that helps relieve inflammation without any adverse side effects. Aloe lotion and gel is used by arthritis sufferers looking for a natural way to soothe inflammation and help ease pressure and pain.

Part Time Business Owner Tips

   Many articles abound with much advice given to full-time small business owners, but less is written and provided for part-time business owners – those that are attempting to get a business up and running while working a full-time job.

I came across this piece titled, “7 Tips for Part-Time Business Owners” that provides some of that much needed advice. Here’s an important tip mentioned in the article:

“Be ready to give up personal time. You won’t have much time for TV, reading or hobbies you used to enjoy. Be sure the sacrifice is worth it, or both your job and your business will suffer.”

I would imagine that many people in the position of attempting to get a startup off the ground while working a full-time job are aware that sacrificing personal time will be necessary . . . but just how much of that personal time were you thinking would be sacrificed? Because it’s a lot, as many small business owners will tell you. And, most times, many that are operating new startups are surprised at just how time consuming this can be and are caught off guard once the ball is rolling.

So take heed of the advice offered here – you won’t have much free time at all, but as stated, in the end, the sacrifice will have been worth it.

And here’s another tip from the article that may seem like a “no-brainer,” but is one that you may be guilty of without even realizing it:

“Don’t overstep your boundaries. Making calls on company time or using your employer’s supplies or equipment for your own business purposes is a big no-no.”

Have you taken a call regarding your business during company time? Just for a couple of minutes, maybe? Or possibly used the company fax machine once or twice? It’s easy enough to do and may seem harmless at times, but be mindful of the boundaries you may be crossing and the fact that you may possibly be putting your full-time employment position at risk.

As a rule, set your personal business hours to evening and weekend hours.  Make clients and others aware of this and when those calls and emails are coming through, as hard as it may be, do not answer them or respond to them until your personal business hours begin. If you listen to messages or read the emails, you’ll be tempted to respond. At the very least, if you don’t respond, it may be on your mind the rest of the day which could distract you from your full-time employment.

Save yourself some grief. Set those hours and stick to them.

And here’s another tip that I’d like to add, and it’s a fairly simple one:

Just hang in there! Nothing happens overnight and Rome wasn’t built in a day. It will take lots of sacrifice and hard work to reach your ultimate goal. But once you do, I can guarantee you that you will find no greater feeling of accomplishment. You will have ups and downs. At times, things may even begin to look bleak. Expect this and plan in advance for ways to calm yourself, stay focused and ride out the rough times. The sun does shine again and these ups and downs will give you some great experience handling challenges.

As Epictetus once said, “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”

Have What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur?

   Many studies have been done in efforts to pin point what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. And many of these studies have found that entrepreneurs have certain traits in common. And one that I’ve found most insightful is an entrepreneurs ability to view a failure as opportunity.

   A “glass is half full” approach to life and business is obviously best. But when it comes to actually applying that to your personal life and business matters, it can prove quite difficult at times. But alas, in order to be a successful entrepreneur, this mentality appears to be a must have.
As Henry Ford once said:
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”
The point is that learning from your mistakes enables you to never repeat them again. As well, failure proves to be a great discovery tool for what didn’t work – what can be done better.
Another recent exploration of this topic has revealed the top 3 traits of the world’s best entrepreneurs. I think everyone would agree that another valuable trait of a successful entrepreneur is the willingness to take a risk. Be it a business risk, a personal risk, a personality risk. A willingness to live with uncertainty while being truly authentic – a trait that creates trust:
“The best entrepreneurs are not afraid to be themselves. They are “characters,” whether that means they are funny or loud or shy or gay or whatever. They are who they are and are not afraid to be who they are. They have character. Values are important to them. Integrity counts.”
Character and authenticity count. As a matter of fact, combined, it’s at the top of the list. Check out the top 3 traits of the world’s best entrepreneurs. And then come back here and share with us other traits that you’ve noticed successful entrepreneurs have. We’d love to hear from you.

2012 Changes Impacting Small Business

   It’s no secret that these days, times they are a changing – and quick. Just think back to five or ten years ago. Eight years ago, Facebook was but a dream. Four years ago, Group on wasn’t around. And ten years ago, Linked In was just launching. My, how times have changed.

So what changes can we expect to develop in 2012? Chances are, you can expect sites like Group on to be making some changes. As much as consumers enjoy daily deal sites, the businesses themselves may feel a bit differently. Many found they were unable to keep up with demand while they simultaneously watched their profits decrease from the heavy discounts offered.

One trend that we started to see in 2011 appears as if it’s going to continue into 2012 as well. And that would be the continued rise of entrepreneurial endeavors, many of which we can speculate grew out of necessity due to the economic climate. And speaking of the economic climate, there’s a ray of light there. Unemployment appears to be falling while the recent Holiday season found consumer spending on the rise. Could things be looking up in 2012?

And, of course, we can’t forget about the fast moving mobile industry. It appears smart phones are here to stay:

“It’s clear that the age of the smart phone is upon us. Indeed, Search Engine Land says more than 20 percent of all searches are now done on a mobile device. For the small-business owner, this is a huge opportunity. People are relying on their smart phones for everything from searching to shopping to preventing boredom.”

These changes impacting small business in 2012 and more are covered in a piece titled, “What Does 2012 Have in Store for Small Biz?” They also touch on “election year entanglement.” Check it out and tell us what you think about these changes and any additional changes you see on the immediate horizon that you feel will have an impact on small business in 2012.

Samsung Beam Review

   Samsung is one of the leading companies that is continuously bringing very remarkable changes in the forms and facilities of mobile handsets. The Samsung Beam i8520, is the latest model of the company, and it is a real gem that is loaded with fantastic facilities. Altogether, the Beam from Samsung is a remarkable mobile phone.

   Some of its very special and powerful features include outstanding AMOLED display, long-playing battery that can provide backup for more than 30 hours. It is loaded with features like 8.0 Mega-pixel camera that can take quality still and movie pictures. The outstanding finish of the body isextraordinarily attractive, and it can make anybody fall in love with it in the very first sight. This phone has become extremely popular even before its release in the market.

    The Samsung Beam i8520 is highly loaded with network and connectivity capacity. You can use this mobile phone, whether you have 2G or 3G supportive carrier. The handset is supportive of the quad band GSM 850/ 900/ 1800/ 1900 for the 2G and dual band HSDPA 900 and 2100 for 3G. The speed of the browser is good, and it can help you browse at an amazing speed of 32-48 kbps.

    Samsung Beam i8520 is very popular because of its sparkling looks. The big and complete touch screen is very attractive. It is true that the looks of the mobile phone make no sense if it cannot perform well. It displays all the images with resolution of 480x800 pixels with 16 million colours. The TFT touch screen is an added feature to this mobile phone, which makes very special for the customers. This touch screen allows the owners of the mobile phone to customize the icons on the screen. At 3.7 inches, the display screen is huge, and it also brings in other vital features such as multi touch support, scratch resistant surface, Projector UI and accelerometer sensor for auto rotate. 

    The 8-mega pixel camera is a fantastic as well as a powerful feature of Samsung Beam i8520 mobile phone. It can capture wonderful still and video photos. Some vital features of the camera include auto focus, LED flash, face detection, and smile and blink detection. Taking snaps or making recordings is also very simple and anyone can operate it. However, most surprisingly, you can also find a secondary VGA camera in the front.  For Samsung Beam deals visit  

    The Samsung Beam i8520 is provided with music player and video playback features. The handset is a wonderful tool for complete entertainment as it plays MP3, MP4 and also records movies. The stereo FM radio is provided with magnificent sound quality as well.