PERSONAL/GADGET SPECIAL...The Coming of the Superphone

The Coming of the Superphone

Feted by consumers and reviewers, Samsung’s SIII is not just a great smartphone. It is almost a superphone. It is being called the first of a series of devices that will blow your mind away with their power. What should you be prepared for? And what does it mean for the next iPhone?

    What makes a smartphone a superphone? Not a flying cape. More like, a shot of steroids. The phone then transforms into a sleek efficient monster doing more things than you imagined, faster than you imagined. And if HTC’s One X and Samsung’s latest Galaxy SIII are any indication, we’re on the verge of a “superphone” revolution — an array of pocketable devices that can literally do it all.
The SIII brings many innovative firsts to the table — apart from having (arguably) the best screen and the best specifications in the business. It syncs wirelessly with many other devices. The screen stays on as long as you look at it. Hold it up to your ear and it knows well enough to call the person you were looking at. It can play HD video in a small window while you
continue to do other tasks. Plus it has all
the usuals — voice recognition, an interactive personal assistant, great camera, full HD video and a large battery to power it all. But despite all this, does it have the thing that will out-phone the iPhone?
One More Thing
We’ll have to wait a bit for the result. Meanwhile, the next iPhone (5th generation, if anyone’s counting) expected to launch by this June, may have to buck up. The iPhone 4S wasn’t too different from
the iPhone 4. Will the new one blow everything out of the water? Will it metamorphose into a superphone? Or is it already one?
    The iPhone 5 will probably not be a superphone when it comes to specs, but Apple is great at pulling in customers rather than pushing products out to consumers. Apple’s biggest strength is that it owns both the software and the hardware in the iPhone . That, and the fact that it started the app store revolution, gives Apple the pioneer’s advantage.
    Even if the iPhone 5 doesn’t match up to the Galaxy SIII in a head-to-head specifications comparison (and it probably won’t), it’ll still have long queues of people waiting to buy it. And they’ll sell faster than Apple can make them.
    The other devices, ones which don’t have a magic wand, will load up on power and expertise. Like the SIII, the new crop of superphones will likely have quad core processors, support all possible wireless standards, boast fantastic cameras, loads of storage space, large and pinsharp screens, top-notch materials and build quality.
Many More Features
Needless to say, computing power and storage space will keep increasing. But with it will come more leeway for developers to make computer-like applications. For instance, the upcoming ARM-based ‘Eagle’ chip for smartphones promises to do a few key things — reduce the cost of the device, increase battery life and  improve the performance five times as compared with the current generation of dual-core phones. Phones with this kind of power are expected to be available in the first half of 2013.
The increased performance will enable advanced multi-tasking. For instance, the phone could power console-quality gaming on an external screen and check mail function as a Wi-Fi hotspot and make a call all at the same time. A precursor to this kind of multi-tasking can already be seen on the Samsung Galaxy S3 — it can play HD video in a small window while you continue to do other tasks.
    Other expected features include advancements in screen technology (with full HD screens and/or transparent screens a distinct possibility). Many high-end smartphones can already record full HD video, but with the emerging 4k resolution (4096 x 3112 pixels) and QFHD (Quad full HD or 3840 x 2160 pixels) becoming more popular, it’s only a matter of time before superphones become capable of 4k or QFHD video recording. Finally, cameras will improve further with better lenses, larger sensors and advanced manual controls (manual exposure and shutter speed). Expect all this within the next two years.
    The Specs That Really Matter
All the big talk about hardware specifications aside, these key specs should be considered before making a buying decision
Larger screens are de-rigueur, but if you have smaller hands, one-handed use can be difficult
Higher screen resolution will ultimately make everything look better, but the apps need to be updated to support that resolution
Limited memory and lack of a memory card slot could mean that you run out of storage space, especially if you’re a data hog
Processor and RAM of the device will directly impact the type of apps it can run, speed of multi-tasking and number of apps it can simultaneously run
Battery size (and battery life) can be make or break for a superphone

:: Hitesh Raj Bhagat SET 120513

FINANCE SPECIAL..I.T.RETURN..New Rules of filing Tax Returns

New Rules of filing Tax Returns

Several changes have been made in the tax filing rules since last year. Findout what these mean for you.

A week may be a long time in politics, but when it comes to filing tax returns, some people may find that even four weeks aren’t enough. As the deadline for filing tax returns approaches, thousands of Indians who have worked abroad will be scrambling to gather the information required to be filled in the new tax forms. This year’s budget had proposed that individuals who have assets abroad must file their tax return and mention details of their foreign assets in the forms. “This new requirement is likely to become a big nuisance. Even if you have $10 in a bank account abroad, it has to be reported in the tax form,” says Amarpal S Chadha, tax partner, Ernst & Young.
    This is just one of the several changes in the tax filing rules this year. Some of these are minor and may not make a material difference. But most of them are significant and will broaden as well as deepen the information that an individual discloses in the tax returns. For the honest taxpayer, who pays his taxes and has nothing to hide, these changes should not matter. However, he will have to be a lot more disciplined in keeping records of financial transactions.
    The new forms are a wake-up call for taxpayers who have not been entirely honest in paying their taxes. Nearly 5% of the respondents in an online survey conducted by ET Wealth last week said that they have under-reported their income quite a few times. Another 10% said they have done so just once or twice. We believe there is also a large community of innocent offenders who don’t even know that they are falling foul of the tax laws.
    These taxpayers must realise that Big Brother is watching. Earlier this year, the IT Department announced that nearly 27.5 lakh taxpayers made cash deposits of over Rs.10 lakh in their bank accounts in 2009-10 and 2010-11. More than 6 lakh people purchased or sold property worth over Rs. 30 lakh. Over 15 lakh cardholders made payments of over Rs.2 lakh in a year on their credit cards. All this information flows to the IT Department from banks, credit card issuers, property registration authorities, mutual funds and brokers. The department has put about 2.22 crore transactions under the scanner.
    To ensure that your tax returns are flawless and you don’t end up on the wrong side of the law, ET Wealth reached out to experts to understand the changes in this year’s tax forms. Here is what they had to say.

E-filing for income over Rs.10 lakh
Any individual or Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) with an annual income of Rs.10 lakh and above will now have to compulsorily e-file the income tax return. Till now, only corporates were required to e-file their returns, whereas individuals and HUFs were free to file manual returns. The new rule might seem like a big change, but it actually affects a very thin creamy layer of taxpayers. Only 5.5% of the total 4.2 crore taxpayers have an income of over Rs.10 lakh, and a vast majority of these taxpayers has already taken the e-filing route.
    The government wants to nudge taxpayers to e-file because it improves tax compliance and reduces its own backoffice workload. It even lessens the chances of mistakes in the tax returns. When returns are filed physically, data entry operators manually feed the information into the system. In the process, they introduce many mistakes in the return, which leads to delays in refunds or, worse, a notice from the tax department.

Declaration of foreign assets
Resident Indians will have to declare foreign assets in their tax returns. The assets covered include bank accounts, immovable property and interest in any company. The taxpayer will have to mention the peak bank balance in his account during the year as well as the total investment in other assets at cost price. Even if you were merely the signing authority for a bank account in a foreign country, it has to be mentioned in the return. The government estimates that Indians have stashed roughly $500 billion in foreign tax havens. By introducing this change, the government intends to track the undisclosed income from these assets.

Details of tax relief claimed
The scrutiny of foreign income does not stop here. If the assessee has claimed relief for taxes paid abroad, he will have to mention details in his return. Till now, a taxpayer merely had to mention the tax relief he was claiming. Now, he will have to mention the name and code of the country visited, income earned, taxes paid, and the tax identification number in the foreign country.
    Tax filing portal Taxspanner estimates that about 10 lakh employees of IT/ITeS companies have been abroad on projectbased assignments during the past 10-15
    years. If these professionals opened
    bank accounts, invested in stocks or bought assets there, these details will have to be mentioned in their returns. What’s more, they have to file their returns even if they don’t come in the tax net. These will have to be filed online.

Ownership pattern of property
The new reporting requirements have also plugged a big loophole in the way income from property is reported. Till now, a taxpayer had to just mention the property and the income received as rent. Now he will have to disclose the ownership details in the tax return. If the property is jointly owned, the percentage share in the property and the details of the co-owner need to be mentioned. “This also means that the rental income will have to be proportionately divided among the joint owners,” says Ankur Sharma, co-founder and managing director of Taxspanner.com.

Deduction for donations
The taxpayers who have been generous during the year will now also have to be more careful. If they want to claim tax deduction for donations given to organisations, they must provide full details of the recipient. You are required to give the name and address of the organisation, its PAN, amount of donation and the amount eligible for deduction.

Bank details now mandatory
Till now, a taxpayer was required to mention his bank account details only if there was a tax refund due. In the new forms, you have to mention your bank account details even if there is no refund. Give the bank name, your account number and the MICR code.
    Despite the changes, the basic rules remain the same. If you have some unpaid tax, pay it right away before you file your return. File by the due date to escape penalty. If you miss the 31 July deadline, you can always file by the end of the assessment year. You will, of course, forego some privileges enjoyed by taxpayers who file their returns by due date.
    For instance, you will not be allowed to carry forward short-term and long-term capital losses (except from house property). This provision can be very helpful, especially if you have lost money in stocks. Also, you will not be eligible to file a revised return if you don’t file by the due date.

BABAR ZAIDI ETW120602

ECO SPECIAL...Steel-Strength Plastics -- and Green, Too!

Steel-Strength Plastics -- and Green, Too!

TAU researcher develops durable plastic that may replace metals

As landfills overflow with discarded plastics, scientists have been working to produce a biodegradable alternative that will reduce pollution. Now a Tel Aviv University researcher is giving the quest for environmentally friendly plastics an entirely new dimension — by making them tougher than ever before.
Prof. Moshe Kol of TAU's School of Chemistry is developing a super-strength polypropylene — one of the world's most commonly used plastics — that has the potential to replace steel and other materials used in everyday products. This could have a long-term impact on many industries, including car manufacturing, in which plastic parts could replace metallic car parts.
Durable plastics consume less energy during the production process, explains Prof. Kol. And there are additional benefits as well. If polypropylene car parts replaced traditional steel, cars would be lighter overall and consume less fuel, for example. And because the material is cheap, plastic could provide a much more affordable manufacturing alternative.
His research has been published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

Better building blocks

Although a promising field of research, biodegradable plastics have not yet been able to mimic the durability and resilience of common, non-biodegradable plastics like polypropylene. Prof. Kol believes that the answer could lie in the catalysts, the chemicals that enable their production.
Plastics consist of very long chains called polymers, made of simple building blocks assembled in a repeating pattern. Polymerization catalysts are responsible for connecting these building blocks and create a polymer chain. The better the catalyst, the more orderly and well-defined the chain — leading to a plastic with a higher melting point and greater strength and durability. This is why the catalyst is a crucial part of the plastic production process.
Prof. Kol and his team of researchers have succeeded in developing a new catalyst for the polypropylene production process, ultimately producing the strongest version of the plastic that has been created to date. "Everyone is using the same building blocks, so the key is to use different machinery," he explains. With their catalyst, the researchers have produced the most accurate or "regular" polypropylene ever made, reaching the highest melting point to date.

Using resources more efficiently

By 2020, the consumption of plastics is estimated to reach 200 million tons a year. Prof. Kol says that because traditional plastics aren't considered green, it's important to think creatively to develop this material, which has become a staple of daily life, with the least amount of harm to the environment. Cheaper and more efficient to produce in terms of energy consumption, as well as non-toxic, Prof. Kol's polypropylene is good news for green manufacturing and could revolutionize the industry. The durability of the plastic results in products that require less maintenance — and a much longer life for parts made from the plastic.
Beyond car parts, Prof. Kol envisions a number of uses for this and related plastics, including water pipes, which he says could ultimately conserve water use. Drinking water for the home has been traditionally carried by steel and cement pipes. These pipes are susceptible to leakage, leading to waste and therefore higher water bills. But they are also very heavy, so replacing them can be a major, expensive operation.
"Plastic pipes require far fewer raw materials, weighing ten times less than steel and a hundred times less than cement. Reduced leaking means more efficient water use and better water quality," Prof. Kol explains. The replacement of steel water pipes by those made of plastic is becoming more common, and the production of plastics with even greater strength and durability will make this transition even more environmentally-friendly.
Prof. Kol holds the Bruno Landesberg Chair in Green Chemistry at TAU.

http://www.aftau.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=16757

PERSONAL/GADGET SPECIAL..New App Allows Sharing of Mobile Internet Access

New App Allows Sharing of Mobile Internet Access

Travelling and looking for Internet access? A new smartphone app allows users to share mobile Web access for free with other people nearby who have the same app.
Called Open Garden, the app forms a mesh network that enables each person connected to it to relay it to other users.
“Every smartphone is a computer and a router, so we thought it was the right time to interconnect all of these devices together to make general access more ubiquitous,” said Micha Benoliel, co-founder and CEO of the San Francisco-based company Open Garden.
“As long as the devices are in proximity they recognise themselves seamlessly. If one device in the mesh has access to the Internet, then the other device can benefit from it,” Benoliel added. If a smartphone user with Open Garden is in a cafe or hotel and does not have access to Wi-Fi, but someone else does, the user can piggyback on the other person's connection.
Benoliel said the functionality could be especially useful for travelers eager to avoid hefty roaming charges. “You can be travelling and arrive at an airport and instead of paying expensive roaming charges, you can just connect to someone in the airport who has Open Garden,” he said.
When there is no direct Internet connection in the network, the app accesses the Web through links to other devices such as laptops or mobile phones. If the person whose connection is being shared leaves the network, the app automatically connects to the next best connection. The app is available for Android devices, Windows and Mac. It works as a mesh network only if it has been installed by other people nearby to form the peer-to-peer connections. Benoliel said the app can also be used to interconnect different devices, such as an iPhone and tablets, for free using the plan.
The company is working on features to help users limit who shares their Internet and data connections and how much data they want to allocate to the app.
In future versions, the company said users will be able to connect to social networks to specify desired network sharers.
Despite criticism from mobile carriers concerned about losing revenue, Benoliel said the app could benefit them by helping to decongest crowded 3G and 4G networks by offloading them to WiFi, where there is more capacity.

REUTERS TORONTO ET120612

PERSONAL/ BODY BUILDER SPECIAL..DUMBBELLS ON DAL

DUMBBELLS ON DAL

If you thought that Mr Indias have to bulk up those muscles on a diet loaded with meat protein, chew on this: Varinder Singh Ghuman managed to do it on just dairy and dal

    There is a scene in the recent Punjabi film Kabaddi Once Again in which the hero, overcome by love, pushes the heroine away before quickly pulling her back toward himself. When Varinder Singh Ghuman executed this scripted impulse for the first time, he ended up pushing actress Sudeepa Singh out of the frame altogether.
    Even when the camera isn’t rolling, Ghuman’s mere presence is enough to make Sudeepa feel nudged out of the picture. During press conferences, the actress often accuses him of grabbing attention. “Everyone only looks at you,” she complains. To this, the six-foot-three-inches tall, 130 kg-heavy Punjabi bodybuilder, also known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger of India, flashes a boyish, dimpled smile in apology.
    The Jalandhar-based father of two, who plays the captain of a national kabaddi team in the film, is, in fact, the captain of the Indian bodybuilding team. An IFBB (International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness) pro champ and former Mr India, Ghuman was spotted by director Sukhminder Dhanjal at a bodybuilding championship in Punjab in 2010. Here, as he does on various local and international platforms, Ghuman stood in silky underwear, his long brown hair punished into a tight pony tail and oil-laden muscles flexing so that his web-like network of arteries and veins surface. His body was now a road map. “As most major Punjabi actors are actually singers, they could not do justice to the role in terms of physique. So, I was chosen to play the character,” says the beefy 28-year-old with 21-inch biceps.
    Many find it hard to believe that Ghuman, who has also participated in Arnold Classic, a bodybuilding tournament held by Arnold Schwarzenegger in Ohio, is a vegetarian. Or that his biceps owe nothing to animal protein and egg white. After all bodybuilding is perceived to be the prerogative of vein-popping men thriving off meat and artificial enhancements. “Everyone had asked me to eat eggs and meat in order to gain muscle mass, but as I am a vegetarian for religious reasons, I decided to stick to my diet and rely on hard work instead,” recalls Ghuman, a Gurusikh whose staple diet consists of yellow dal, chapattis, green salad, curd and lassi.
    Though he does not discount the role of genetics in the sculpting of his broad, moviescreen-wide body, he believes his rippling body owes a lot to his intensive research on vegetarian nutritional sources.
    The belief that skinless chicken breasts and egg whites are central ingredients for building mass is widespread in the world of bodybuilding. But this is a myth, argues Ghuman who, has built quite a reputations, as the first Indian vegetarian bodybuilder.
    Ghuman says he learnt during his research that colostrum, the milk produced by mammals in late pregnancy and early lactation, is a good source of protein, growth hormones and antibodies. Since Ghuman’s father owns a large dairy farm, access to colostrum was easy. That along with whey protein shakes and small meals through the day helped him sculpt his body.
    While bodybuilding isn’t known for its herbivores, there are enough examples, both internationally and closer home, who prove the notion wrong. Hiralal Dhillan, a head constable in the Punjab police force who won the Mr Universe crown last year in Mumbai, says he owes his 18-inch biceps and a fit 65-kg body weight exclusively to the pious platter of soya beans, dal, lassi and dahi. “The trick is to eat eight small meals a day instead of three big ones,” says 34-year-old Dhillan, who interestingly wasn’t always a vegetarian. It was in 1997 that he decided to shun meat for spiritual reasons. “I lost fat and my weight improved. I gained 10 kgs,” recalls Dhillan.
    “That you need meat to build body mass is a misconception,” says Dr Randhir Hastir, who is a trainer at the National School of Bodybuilding and Fitness and has coached, besides Ghuman, many greats such as Prem Chand, Hira Lal, Dalip Khali, Jagjit Singh, Manjit Singh, Nawal Kapoor. “Each individual only needs 1.5 grams of protein per kg of body weight and this is easily available in a vegetarian diet,” he says, adding that lassi, nuts, chana, dalia and khichdi are good sources of protein for vegetarians. “Most vegetarian animals you will notice are bigger in size,” he says.
    Derek Tresize, an international vegan bodybuilder, used a similar argument in his piece for the website One Green Planet: “If plants have no protein and you need protein to grow big and strong, how on earth do animals like elephants, gorillas and oxen get so big and strong eating only plants?”
    While these success stories have inspired many budding talents to follow the green route, foreign visits can sometimes turn out to be excruciating. In countries where plant-based food is not always easy to come by, they feel lost. Two years ago, during the Mr Asia championship in Dubai, Dhillan, for instance, survived on a uniform platter of rice (“which smelled like chicken”) and potatoes for six days. Daljit Singh, who is a Commonwealth silver medalist and ranks no 4 in the world, on the other hand, found that nobody comprehended vegetarianism in Hong Kong. “As we are used to combining a liquid diet with solid meals during the course of the day, it was especially tough. In the end, they had to arrange for a special vegetarian meal just for me,” says the 44-year-old Singh.
    But vegetarianism has paid off in other ways too. Ghuman will soon be seen endorsing a line of food supplements launched by none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Besides, he has also landed a host of Bollywood offers. This will, in all probability, involve more dancing as well as dumbbells.

SHARMILA GANESAN-RAM TCR120623

ENTREPRENEUR/STARTUP SPECIAL...LESSON NO.4 FROM REAL EXAMPLES

KP RANJAN
Founder & director, Waterlife India Satiating Rural Thirst
The number of patients suffering gastroenteritis has reduced sharply in Mandavgan Pharata, a small village in Pune district. This transformation in public health happened after villagers started drinking clean water provided by a small firm, Waterlife India. The Hyderabad-basedfirm has installed water purification systems in more than 1,700 villages and urban areas covering 2.5 million people. “We have developed cost-effective water treatment technologies, that can address complex combinations of water contamination,” said KP Ranjan, one of the co-founders and director at Waterlife. “This enables us to sell 20 litres of drinking water for Rs 5- 7,” he added. The company’s business model partners with local government, health workers and citizen groups who drive the awareness for clean drinking water. “Last week, Waterlife was among 15 winners of the G20 challenge on inclusive business innovation, at the G20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico,” said Sudesh Menon, CEO and co-founder, Waterlife India. Initially, the company had limited resources to scale up. It received Rs 1 crore from social venture fund Aavishkaar and working capital from the apex rural lender, Nabard. Seeing the success of the business model, the US based venture capital firm Matrix Partner injected Rs 22 crore in December last year. Waterlife aims to reach to 25 million customers in India and South Asia over the next three years.

3 TIPS TO RAISE MONEY
Dream big and pursue that dream with perseverance

Have a great team, who are aligned with the promoter’s dream

As a promoter, consider employee as your partner

Peerzada Abrar  ET120625

NATION SPECIAL..IS AMERICA STILL A LAND OF OPPORTUNITY AND EQUALITY FOR ALL

The Price of Inequality

    America likes to think of itself as a land of opportunity and others view it in much the same light. But while we can all think of examples of Americans who rose to the top on their own, what really matters are the statistics: to what extent do an individual’s life chances depend on the income and education of his or her parents? Nowadays, these numbers show that the American dream is a myth. There is less equality of opportunity in the US today than there is in Europe, or indeed, in any advanced industrial country for which there are data.
This is one of the reasons that the US has the highest level of inequality of any of the advanced countries, and its gap with the rest has been widening. In the ‘recovery’ of 2009-10, the top 1% of US income-earners captured 93% of the income growth. Other inequality indicators are as bad or even worse. The trend is one of concentration of income at the top, the hollowing out of the middle and increasing poverty at the bottom.
It would be one thing if the high incomes of those at the top were the result of greater contributions to society, but the Great Recession showed otherwise: bankers who had led the global economy to the brink of ruin received outsize bonuses.
A closer look at those at the top reveals a disproportionate role for rent-seeking: some have obtained their wealth by exercising monopoly power; others are CEOs who have taken advantage of deficiencies in corporate governance to extract for themselves an excessive share of corporate earnings; and still others have used political connections to benefit from government munificence: either excessively high prices for what the government buys (drugs), or excessively low prices for what the government sells (mineral rights).
So, part of the wealth of those in finance comes from exploiting the poor, through predatory lending and abusive credit-card practices. Those at the top are enriched at the expense of those at the bottom. It might not be so bad if there were even a grain of truth to trickle-down economics, the quaint notion that everyone benefits from enriching those at the top. But most Americans today are worse off, with lower real incomes, than they were in 1997, a decade and a half ago. All of the benefits of growth have gone to the top. Defenders of US’ inequality argue that the poor and those in the middle shouldn’t complain. While they may be getting a smaller share of the pie than they did in the past, the pie is growing so much, thanks to the contributions of the rich and super-rich, that the size of their slice is actually larger. The evidence contradicts this. Indeed, the US grew far faster in the decades after World War II, when it was growing together, than it has since 1980, when it began growing apart.
Rent-seeking distorts the economy. Market forces, of course, play a role, too, but markets are shaped by politics; and, in the US, with its quasi-corrupt system of campaign finance and its revolving doors between government and industry, politics is shaped by money.
For example, a bankruptcy law that privileges derivatives over all else, but does not allow the discharge of student debt, no matter how inadequate the education provided, enriches bankers and impoverishes many at the bottom. Where money trumps democracy, such legislation has become predictably frequent. But growing inequality is not inevitable. There are market economies that are doing better, both in terms of GDP growth and rising living standards. Some are even reducing inequalities.
America is paying a high price for continuing in the opposite direction. Inequality leads to lower growth and less efficiency. Lack of opportunity means that its most valuable asset, its people is not being fully used. Many at the bottom, or even in the middle, are not living up to their potential, because the rich, needing few public services and worried that a strong government might redistribute income, use their political influence to cut taxes and curtail government spending. This leads to underinvestment in infrastructure, education and technology, impeding the engines of growth. The Great Recession has exacerbated inequality, with cutbacks in basic social expenditures and with high unemployment putting downward pressure on wages. Moreover, inequality leads to economic instability.
But, most importantly, US’ inequality is undermining its values and identity. With inequality reaching such extremes, it is not surprising that its effects are manifest in every public decision. America has become a country not ‘with justice for all’, but rather with favouritism for the rich and justice for those who can afford it.
(The author is professor of economics at Columbia University) © Project Syndicate, 2012