Are you ready for Virgin Galactic Space Trip!!

Seems that dream of commercial space flight is nearing!!! If everything goes well, we should be able to buy ticket to space trip and have fun and come back to our beloved earth.. Just pay 200K and you will be added to the waitlist of 530 already registered for this flight. I don't know how soon they will be able to clear this waitlist. Passenger capacity is 6.. So theoretically if they take one flight per day they could fly 1800 passengers per year (assuming 300 flight days per year) with just one single Galactic spaceship.

Will they take my airline miles? If not, then either I need to start buying lottery or make some couple of millions fairly quickly.. or my company' stock goes to $100 or may be $500 or so.. $100 still won't cut in ;-)

200K!! Wao.. it is lot of money for few hours of fun trip but then I am sure it will be well worth it..

Branson’s tourist spaceship a step closer

Test pilot breaks sound barrier in rocket motor craft

By W.J. Hennigan and Adolfo Flores

Los Angeles Times

British billionaire Richard Branson’s commercial space venture Virgin Galactic got one step closer to carrying tourists into space Monday when a test pilot cracked the sound barrier over the Mojave desert.

For the first time, the company’s SpaceShipTwo engaged its rocket motor, sped to Mach 1.2 and reached 56,000 feet in altitude.

The flight is the latest — and largest — milestone in Virgin Galactic’s testing of technology it hopes to use to carry scores of paying customers into space multiple times a day.

“The first powered flight of Virgin Spaceship Enterprise was without any doubt our single most important flight test to date,” Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, said in a statement. “Today’s supersonic success opens the way for a rapid expansion of the spaceship’s powered flight envelope, with a very realistic goal of full space flight by the year’s end.”

The test flight took place shortly after sunrise Monday beginning on the desert runway at Mojave Air and Space Port, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. During the test, SpaceShipTwo was taken to about 46,000 feet by a carrier aircraft and dropped like a bomb.

After a short free fall, test pilots Mark Stucky and Mike Alsbury engaged the hybrid rocket motor, powered by nitrous oxide and a rubber compound, for 16 seconds, at which point SpaceShipTwo reached Mach 1.2 speeds.

The idea of Virgin Galactic routinely taking passengers to space this way was developed by retired maverick aerospace engineer Burt Rutan and his Mojave company, Scaled Composites.

Until now, astronauts have reached space packed tight in a capsule or shuttle attached to a high-powered rocket.

Instead, Virgin Galactic will use a WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft that will fly with the reusable Space-ShipTwo rocket plane under its wing to 50,000 feet, where the spaceship will separate and blast off.

When the rocket motor engages, it will power the spaceship to nearly 2,500 mph and take the pilot — and up to six passengers — to the edge of space, or more than 60 miles above the Earth’s surface.

Once they reach that suborbital altitude, passengers will experience weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth. Then they will re-enter the atmosphere and glide back to the runway. The price for the experience: $200,000.

Virgin Galactic, founded by Branson, hopes to make its first passenger flight sometime next year from Spaceport America in New Mexico, where the company plans to conduct routine operations. The company said it has taken about 530 reservations for the ride.

The WhiteKnight-Two carrier aircraft, which resembles a flying catamaran because it has two fuselages, and SpaceShipTwo are still in the midst of a test-flight program that will continue in Mojave until Virgin Galactic believes it can begin commercial operations.

Virgin Galactic’s commercial space launch system is based on Rutan’s SpaceShipOne, the world’s first private manned spaceship, which successfully flew a test pilot to space and back three times during 2004 to win a $10 million X-Prizepurse.

Information age - Consumption Vs. Production

I have been thinking a lot about this issue.. about impact of practically infinite amount of information, content availability at dirt cheap price on the internet.. or I should say primarily on internet as there are still some avenues left to consume information and content outside of internet..

Important thing is that, now a days, kids so young in age start consuming information and content and pleasure and fun from so many indirect / non-human sources that it literally makes them addicted to this consumption pattern of information.. The same tools also gives us opportunity to produce information or content or media.. but the way I see it.. it is mostly becoming one way street...

iPhones/iPads are taking over baby sitter roles and keeps kids (and to some extent adults as well) really busy... It is great.. there is nothing wrong in easy access to content from these new delivery mechanisms.. but.. does it leaves any time for kids to produce something out of their brain? or I should say.. how much time kids day dream and imagine and build some creative games using their own imagination.. I don't know about you.. but I feel that brains have hardly any time left to produce and create content. This content need not go out to the world in some form or other.. first thing is that some content is produced by sheer imagination of individuals.. they themselves should be able to enjoy this original authentic content and grow on it..

Some of you will argue that all these new delivery mechanisms and tool sets are the reason all this content is coming out in exponential proportions.. so there is definitely up-tick in more content production.. However, this content usually is coming out of adults.. commercial companies usually for profit organizations.. Content production facility inside human brain, in particular inside kids brain has come to almost halt.. How this is going to impact in future is yet to be seen.. I am sure ultimately we will continue to become more creative and our content product will continue to grow.. but this content production is coming really from very few and these "very few" will become  more and more extinct..

It could be just my perception looking around my own personal life and circle.. don't know.. but after observing all this I started trying question... rather than simply absorb "gyan" (knowledge) from others and many times stopped following others "gyan" and started trying to think about issues with independent (whatever independence I can exert) mind.. I still find results of this new approach more or less mixed.. or same as earlier.. actually to be honest, slightly better than before as I started getting satisfaction of testing my own hypothesis and enjoying results.. irrespective of good or bad results..

Now a days.. I feel that I am going towards other side of the spectrum.. I don't know.. either way.. one thing is sure.. if something gives happiness to me... then I simply don't care about rest of the world.. as long as no one else gets physically or mentally hurt by my actions..

and that is one purpose of this blog.. I am expressing my own views on the any kind of information I come across... if I get time to think about it and come up with my views.. I document it whenever possible .. and lot of time I hear back from you all.. some times praises but mostly I hear back when people have different views than mine or when they don't like it.. which is good.. I think it helps me further.. so please keep letting me know your views and feedback.. 

Einstein is proved right... yet again..

This article beautifully explains Einstein's General Theory of Relativity along-with explanation of another extreme test to test this theory.. So far Prof. Einstein is proving right..

Though, I still wonder, there has to be some fundamental explanation of Gravity itself.. and there has to be more explanation of relationship between time, space, energy and gravity etc....

Definitely recommend reading this article. Hopefully WSJ won't remove this link..

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324743704578444913060125542.html?mod=djemTEW_h


Here is another link which is slightly more technical..

http://www.tgdaily.com/space-features/71221-einsteins-theory-of-relativity-highlighted-by-pulsar-and-white-dwarf

This is one Crappy Old law which only creates monopoly and generates inefficiency

I was listening on somewhat similar issue in NPR as well. Most of the states have these type of laws on car dealership. Once upon a time long long ago these laws were needed to protect dealerships when Cars were hot commodity and Car manufacturers dictated really harsh terms and conditions on dealers. Now a days, these type of laws and rules are just archaic laws which just gives dealer association huge amount of leeway in close association with local politicians.

I think it is time to revisit such laws and change them to reflect new level playing field for both Manufacturers and Dealers..

Virginia says no to Tesla dealership

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — Virginia officials have rejected a request from Palo Alto-based electric carmaker Tesla Motors to operate its own dealership at a Tysons Corner mall.

State law requires manufacturers to sell cars through a dealer, unless the manufacturer can show that no dealer is available.

Tesla sought an exception, saying its unique model for selling cars would not be attractive to a traditional dealer. The showroom would be more of a “design studio” where customers would use touchscreens to customize options. No inventory would be on hand, and customers would wait up to six months to receive the vehicle. There would not be a service department.

The Virginia Automobile Dealers Association objected to Tesla’s request.

In a ruling Monday, Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Richard Holcomb said he was unable to say definitively that no dealer could meet Tesla’s needs.

Holcomb ruled against Tesla even though a DMV hearing officer had twice recommended that Virginia grant the company’s request .

Tesla has the opportunity to appeal Holcomb’s ruling in state court or resubmit its request with evidence that no dealer is available to operate the franchise in a manner that would benefit the public interest.

Tesla is waging similar campaigns in other states.

The War of Next Big thing Between Apple and Samsung

As per this article on WSJ.. nothing extra ordinary.. WSJ Author/reviewer in-fact urges customers to check out HTC-one instead defaulting to S4!!! That is biggest slap in a way for S4.. especially from my perspective.. couple of months back I had written off HTC as a company all-together.. Now.. it seems that HTC is emerging back.. So far I have heard great reviews about HTC One.. yet to read any single bad or below average review about HTC One..

In fact HTC was one of the first good, cheap smartphone manufacturer.. even before the launch of iPhone.. iPhone really spoiled their market.. But it seems that they are going back to their roots and building great phones and capturing some market back from both Samsung and Apple. I think even their alliance with FB is also helping them.. I am definitely going to test it.. one of my very good friend has bought HTC One recently and I would definitely borrow it for few hours... I am sure many of my friends will also get S4 as well :-)

Good news is that, this smartphone market pie is so big that there is room for many players at the same time and they can satisfy different type of customers with varied needs.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323735604578440824138699526.html

However, USA Today's review seems to be much more favorable.. Author/reviewer liked in particular Dual Action camera mode.. Capturing your own reaction for the event happening and also some drama mode where you can focus and follow one particular person..

Seems that they have fixed Display issue.Apparently, S3 had little bit dimmer screen.. This time S4's display has all the great reviews..

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/baig/2013/04/24/samsung-galaxy-s4-review/2104959/

Both the authors complain that S4 has lot of features and it seems overly complex and confusing. I think in a race to compete with iPhone, Samsung is injecting all kinds of features into their flagship phone.. Which may be true and applicable to many customers.. especially in Asia.. which is still solid stronghold of Samsung. They have really made it big screen and I would love to use it more as iPad mini kind of.. If I go with S4 or its equivalent, my primary reason would be screen size which I can use it as my iPad mini replacement.. So far I am okay..

However, in race to prove themselves better than iPhone.. they miss the whole point of iPhone's popularity.. it is simple and whatever feature they put in there.. it works and it works beautifully.. and most of the customers (including your truly!!) love it.. I am sure there must be many other customers who like all kinds of features offered by Samsung and HTC.

So far, I am still iPhone fan and have no plans to go back to Samsung or Android for that matter. However, I am really happy to see great phones from iPhone's competitors.. as it definitely raises bar for iPhone 5S and I hope to see super great iPhone 5S in near future..

Height of Social Network Data Mining!!!

This is typical example of relying too much on Social Media Data Mining and let Computers and Algorithms act on their own without human intervention.

In case you haven't caught up.. yesterday Dow lost almost 250 points in matter of few minutes wiping out almost 200 billion USD worth Market Cap. For some reasons, there wasn't enough liquidity in market (I can't understand this.. please review link from WSJ below) so it couldn't go further down. Otherwise, it could have easily triggered chain reaction and invoked all Computer Algorithms supposedly designed to safeguard respective portfolios.

The tweet responsible for this came from hacked twitter account of AP. As per tweet, there were some 2 bomb blasts in white house and President Obama was hurt.. Just one fake.. fraud tweet can clean up $200B!!!

I think, given the relative immaturity of Social Media Mining and associated Business Intelligence.. it was bound to happen.. However, it will be matter of time when algorithms will become even more mature and resilient to such actions.. at the same time hackers will also.. so this cat-mouse game is going to continue forever..  Only new angle we need to be aware is that this new area of reliance on Social Media for news and security breach.

All this may not effect your inbox or add new fraud credit card charges but it may impact you in your retirement accounts or brokerage accounts.. The added cost of securing and building defense against such attacks is definitely going to impact you in some form or other for sure..

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323735604578441201605193488.html

Love focus of this Company

I am yet to see LinkedIn doing something else than their core business. Simply, one pony trick but they are doing it well. As long as our technology or intellectual property based jobs are there, LinkedIn will be there. Yet to see any other better business model..

Biggest threat to LinkedIn is still gorilla's of Social side which are FB and Google++. But for them to come into this area which is more or less niche will be tough.. Moreover, trust is really low on these guys (FB & Google++) when it comes sharing or accessing your personal information for commercial advantage.. LinkedIn has still maintained that trust level with their customers.

LinkedIn thriving by being less social 

Revenue, profit, share price surge as others struggle

By Brandon Bailey

bbailey@mercurynews.com 

MOUNTAIN VIEW — One of the most successful social networking companies in Silicon Valley saw tremendous growth last year, primarily because it’s not a place for posting vacation photos, rating restaurants or playing online games with friends.

While Facebook and other “social” companies struggled with uneven stock performance and other challenges in 2012, LinkedIn saw its revenue, profit and share price surge by 80 percent, thanks to its membership of 200 million professionals and the prospective employers who pay to reach them.

LinkedIn’s “main product is selling access to talent,” explained Michael Pachter, an Internet business analyst at Wedbush Securities.

And by doing so, experts say, the networking site has turned the world of recruiting and hiring on its head. As more people post their resumes on LinkedIn, corporate headhunters are increasingly using the site to identify potential employment candidates — including people who aren’t actively looking to change jobs — rather than wait for them to submit an application. 

“It has absolutely changed the way that we do everything,” said Martin Millington, senior vice president for human resources at Quantros, a Milpitas-based health care technology company. Instead of just posting openings and hoping for a response, he said, recruiters use LinkedIn to search for prospects who meet their criteria, view their professional connections and even contact them discretely. 

Went public in 2011 

LinkedIn, which started 10 years ago and went public in 2011, promotes itself as an online network for people who want to post their resumes and maintain professional contacts in a more business-oriented format than Facebook or other social sites. 

The company makes some of its money from showing ads and selling premium features to members. But more than half its nearly $1 billion in annual revenue comes from employers and recruiters who pay for what LinkedIn calls its “Talent Solutions,” including job listings, corporate pages and online software that can perform sophisticated searches of LinkedIn’s member database. 

LinkedIn recently upgraded that software, adding algorithms that “recommend” potential job candidates — based on such factors as experience, recent promotions and even where they have lived — and other tools to help hiring executives keep tabs on prospects they may want to recruit in the future. 

Those changes won’t be apparent to most LinkedIn members, who are more likely to notice the recent redesign of individual profile pages and new features that let members “follow” well-known business leaders and other public figures. But the recruiting tools are a key to the company’s future. 

“Talent Solutions is our largest and fastest-growing business,” according to Parker Barrile, a LinkedIn senior product director, who said more than 16,000 companies currently use the tools. While declining to discuss growth targets, he added, “We think we have a tremendous amount of headroom to reinvent the way people hire.” 

Added 1,340 workers 

LinkedIn did some hiring of its own last year: The Mountain View company added 1,340 workers, bringing its payroll to 3,458. Along with a planned second campus in Sunnyvale, CEO Jeff Weiner recently told analysts the company is expanding in Hong Kong, Brazil and Europe. 

Weiner, a former Yahoo executive recruited in 2008 by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, has also pushed the company into new lines of business and beefed up its service for smartphones and tablets. 

LinkedIn recently began offering additional content to members, including business news and expert blogs. It’s experimenting with a subscription service to help salespeople find customers through their contacts at other companies. LinkedIn is introducing that service slowly to make sure it doesn’t come across as too “spammy” or annoying to members, according to Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia. 

That’s been a concern with another new program that aggressively encourages LinkedIn members to endorse each other’s skills. While it spurs activity on the network, said Macquarie Securities analyst Tom White, the program risks diluting credibility by encouraging people to give endorsements too freely. 

LinkedIn had some growing pains in June when it confronted a data breach and theft of 6.5 million member passwords. The company said it contained the breach and increased security before members suffered any major harm. 

Analysts say the biggest threat to LinkedIn’s future is the prospect of a larger company, such as Facebook or Google, launching a competing service. But as LinkedIn continues to grow, White said rivals may face difficulty convincing people to move their resumes and contacts onto a new platform. 

Unlike Facebook or Twitter, many people don’t see a need to visit LinkedIn every day, Pachter noted. But in a world where no job is guaranteed forever, he added, “a lot of us value being on LinkedIn, just in case we need to be.” Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022; follow him at Twitter.com/BrandonBailey 

“ Talent Solutions is our largest and fastest-growing business. We think we have a tremendous amount of headroom to reinvent the way people hire.” 

— Parker Barrile, LinkedIn 

Boston Marathon Bombing

I am still not able to understand rationale or logic of these bombings. I think lot of answers are yet to come, but still why will anyone from Chechnya will support or sponsor this operation.. is beyond my comprehension. Two suspects of Chechen origin are/were good kids with more or less flawless record. Don't know how they got into this mess. It has to be extremely powerful brainwash to recruit these kids.

Moreover, Why will any Chechen rebel group support this? They already have big and strong enemy in Kremlin. why will they create another powerful enemy who is known to be ruthless when it comes to protecting themselves. Politically it doesn't make any sense.

I can understand Al-Qaida's support behind this operation.. If somehow, they get Chechen rebels involved into this mess or their mess.. and US goes behind Chechen rebels as well.. it will give or rather gift Chechen rebels to Al-Qaida.. But for Chechen rebels.. it is loose loose situation..

Either I am too naive to see the bigger picture here..or there is something wrong with entire story so far.. I simply can't understand logic for Chechen support behind these bombings.. I am sure there is someone else behind this who wants either Chechen Rebels to work with Al Qaida or simply want Chechen rebels to be finished.. there has to be more on this.. I strongly feel that these guys were used as front to do such heinous act.

Lastly, let us say if these two brothers didn't had any support from any terrorist organization and they pulled this entire thing on their own.. then there is fundamentally something wrong with system out here.

If two kids can create such big scare and following events like complete shut down of a city like Boston.. then Congress needs to act and clean up this mess they have created.. If this is the case, then this is even bigger event than Connecticut school shooting incidence couple of months ago. That had more sentimental value but this has even bigger strategic value in terms of scare and terrorism any one can create with available guns and ammunition.. If Congress/Senate failed to pass any gun measure and can ignore the Connecticut School shooting incidence, they definitely can't ignore this event. I hope that they are getting this message loud and clear..

Twitter Music - Interesting Use Case

Seems interesting app from Twitter.. finally looks good use case for monetization of such a great service. I am personally not a great music fan and read about this app in newspaper only. Out of curiosity downloaded it. First glace really liked it.. It is quite easy interface and lets you play lot of popular music. I think it can be used easily used as DJ type of application. If you have Spotify and Rdio then complete song otherwise just preview of song from iTunes store..

However, some of the pages were more or less blank for me as I wasn't following any singer yet.. and worse case was that none of my followers or people whom I was following were following any singer.. so it was total blank.. I hope that this service will bootstrap this singer followup more and more and will ultimately result in even better following on twitter..

Good job Twitter!!

#NOWPLAYING

Twitter launches music service

Social net work ’s app on iTunes with plans for Android

By Heather Somerville

hsomerville@bayareanewsgroup.com 

Twitter’s new #music service made its public debut Thursday when the app appeared on iTunes and the company pulled back the curtains on music.twitter.com.

The service, the latest offering from Twitter that aims to give its 200 million active users a more engaged multimedia experience, uses Twitter activity to highlight popular tracks, introduce new songs and emerging artists, and connect fans with their favorite musicians. According to a company blog post, users can tweet songs directly from the app and view suggestions for new tunes. A #NowPlaying feature lets users view and listen to the same songs their friends are tweeting about.

The official launch ends a week of speculation after Twitter released the service “by invite only” and posted a static #music Web page April 11. A select group of celebrity Twitter users got first access to build hype, and “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest did his part by promptly tweeting that he had used the app to start a dance party. 

The free service is now available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. While the app is currently only for the iPhone, Twitter said it has plans to bring it to Android as well. 

The service was welcomed by musicians, who get another platform to promote their work. 

Other big winners are music services Spotify and Rdio, which Twitter has integrated with for the musicplaying portion of the service. Users have the option to play either a few-seconds clip of a song on iTunes, or to use the service with Spotify or Rdio to play the full track and an entire playlist. 

Anthony Mullen, an analyst with Forrester Research, said the new service is “an astute move” and will appeal across the board to music newbies, DJs and performing artists. 

“Twitter’s ability to personalize has always been there, but with the music recommendation service they can really begin to get going,” Mullen wrote. “Twitter has the big data skills to do something good here.” 

But Russ Crupnick of The NPD Group cautions that the music service landscape is already pretty crowded. From Pandora to Grooveshark and Rhapsody, consumers have plenty of options, and Twitter may have a battle to pull ahead of the competition. 

Contact Heather Somerville at 925977-8418. Follow her at Twitter.com/ heathersomervil. 

RIP Margaret Thatcher

In my view, the best way to remember her is by this Wish:

"We desperately need you Mrs. Thatcher here in California!!" or rather.. someone like you.. Who can handle growing menace of all kinds of unions in California.. Be it Teachers Union..  or Police or Firemen or any damn union..

I wanted to write about Mrs. Thatcher for some time..  but was busy with other things.. well that is not excuse..  However, after reading this news on WSJ about her funeral service:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324493704578427961176489542.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth

I simply couldn't stop writing on her.. It was shocking and really disturbing that there are still some people (or better.. morons) in Britain who are opposed to her policy.. In my view, I think what ever is left of Britain today is because of her.. If it were not her policies, Britain would have been third world country by now.. Nothing more can be said..

This is Innovation!! even though it is forced one..

Even though it seems crude old way of watching over the air streams of TV on your iPhone or any other smart phone.. it is decent option and if improvised, it could result in great alternate viewing experience.

Aereo is real great innovation on it's own. But the path looks tough as they are going to get hard time from broadcasters who are feeling tricked and left out. Aereo's service is real killer when it comes to process innovation and providing great service at the expense of broadcasters.. Broadcasters are in kind of soup I feel.. slowly, they are loosing their bargaining power. If and IF.. Aereo is validated by Supreme Court, where it will go sooner or later.. Then only alternate for these guys will be to move most of the good content to paid Cable Channels forcing people to dump over the air altogether. Don't know how it will pan out in future.. Here are some of the pics of Aereo antenna which clearly explains concept.. Third image is screen shot from Aereo's web site for future plans. Right now they are limiting to NYC area only.

Coming back to these Dongles.. they may be quite a good alternative to watch these shows.. However, if they just stick to live broadcast then they will have very limited usability. If somehow, they can leverage iPhone or iPad's local storage to automatically record over the air content and then allow app on iPhone/iPad to watch it later with skipping ads etc.. that would be killer deal.. In this case, I would not take a second to switch to Android devices where I can plug in my SD card and store and play as  much content on my mobile/tablet device. May be it is already there.. I need to check detailed specs of these dongles..

Yeah.. it is there.. They have DVR type of feature.. though there are some issues on quality of video and also specs are not clearly outlined on their sites.. Most of the local channels over the air have HD quality.. though it depends on your location and type of antenna.. I don't know how well these miniature antennas will perform for these HD signal.. It is matter of time before they will also mature..

It could be ideal if Apple or Google can include this antenna in iPad/iPod/Nexus 7 as built in feature.. just like 3G/4G/LTE  mobile radio this could be another option.. As these external dongles have two minor issues.. #1 you have to carry yet another device.. #2 and this is more important.. you can't charge your iPad/iPhone while watching this over the air video, unless these guys comes up with plug in option for their device and use that power and even pass it on to iPad/iPhone..

Interesting.. Though, I will still go for Aereo type service.. where I not only get my own antenna in cloud but also cool DVR. Which is independent of my location. I guess, internet access is going to be ubiquitous and won't be any problem in very near future..







‘Dongles’ battle video service

TV broadcasters back device in fight with upstart Aereo

By Ryan Nakashima

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — The key weapon in TV broadcasters’ fight with Internet video upstart Aereo is something inelegantly known as a dongle.

The miniature TV antenna picks up free, mobile broadcast signals. It attaches to iPhone and iPad power ports and extends about 7 inches, allowing users to view live local TV channels at not-quite-highdefinition quality.

The device scans the airwaves for signals with the help of an app. The antenna doesn’t sap a user’s data plan or rely on Wi-Fi signals, but it does need to be recharged. “If you’re at a ball game or a Starbucks and everyone’s trying to access the news, you’re not going to get (video stoppages),” says Karen McCall, a marketing representative with Dyle Mobile TV, the venture backing the devices.

The dongles are on display at the annual gathering of broadcasters, the NAB Show, taking place this week at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Dyle says it plans to release units for Android devices soon.

Dyle is actually a coalition of 12 major broadcasters including Fox and NBC. Those networks, along with ABC and CBS, are waging a legal fight against Aereo, a service that pulls down broadcast station signals with thousands of tiny antennas and sends the signal to mobile devices or computers over the Internet. Aereo users don’t require a dongle, just a wireless Internet or cellphone connection.

Broadcasters contend that Aereo illegally steals signals from the air without paying for the rights before reselling them to customers. Aereo has prevailed so far. It won a preliminary ruling in an appeals court last week that allowed it to continue offering its service in the New York City area. It plans to expand to Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington and 18 other U.S. markets this spring.

Dyle began selling its dongles, made by companies such as Elgato and Escort, late last year on Amazon. com.

Elgato’s EyeTV Mobile sells for $83.98 or more, while Escort’s Mobile Digital TV lists for $119.99.Compared to the $8-amonth streaming service by Aereo, the price seems high, but the dongles have the backing of major broadcasters.

The Elgato and Escort devices were designed before Apple reduced the size of the power ports on its newer iPhones and iPads. As a result, people who use the latest iPad and iPhone 5 will need to employ an adapter, which can make the contraption extend somewhat precariously.

The gadgets receive signals only from stations that specifically broadcast to mobile devices. So far, the dongles will work for the signals from 116 stations in 39 markets including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Signals come from affiliates of NBC, CBS, Fox, Univision and Telemundo among others.

This is very slippery slope..

Honestly, I feel sorry and ashamed about this decision.. I am sure there will be thousands of good reason or so called humane reasons for this decision. But this is simple and pure theft. What is wrong is wrong.. no good humane reasons can justify it..

If I had any capacity to do so.. I would have retaliated by quick and fast penalty on all the companies who will be benefitting from this total cheating and theft of intellectual capital. If you care so much about life then you will bloody figure out ways to pay for it.. rather than simply stealing from someone else's hard work.

I would totally support US governments imposition of penalty on all the exports from such countries who don't respect the very basic foundational laws which create better life and hence better world for everyone..

India rejects Novartis patent

Drugmakers find upgrading medicines problematic in many emerging markets

By Linda A. Johnson

Associated Press

The India Supreme Court’s rejection of a patent for an improved version of a costly cancer drug by Novartis could have big implications for the world’s largest drugmakers. The ruling, which was handed down on Monday, signals the latest shift in the world of drug development in emerging markets such as India and Brazil, where drugmakers have been looking for growth. Western governments routinely grant patents for slightly improved versions of medicines whose patents are about to expire. That enables drugmakers to get many patients to upgrade to their new, generally more expensive versions rather than the cheaper, generic knockoffs even though some doctors and patients argue that the improvements don’t justify the high cost.

But India, Indonesia and some other developing countries have been bucking that trend. They’ve been shooting down Western patents and licensing local pharmaceutical companies to make cheap generic versions of medicines that most of their residents otherwise could not afford.

Major drugmakers such as Pfizer and Bayer on Monday declined to say what they might do regarding the ruling and other recent decisions by poor countries to let local drugmakers sell cheap generic versions for medicines that have monopolies under patents in Western countries. But some industry insiders — including a Novartis executive — predict that multinational drugmakers will decide against doing drug development in India.

“Novartis will not invest in drug research in India. Not only Novartis, I don’t think any global company is planning to research in India,” Ranjit Shahani, the vice chairman and managing director of Novartis India, said after the ruling.

Erik Gordon, a professor and analyst at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, agrees. He said the ruling means that there’s “no reason to do research and development in India” because of its “national policy of hostility toward medicine patents.”

One thing is clear, though: Emerging markets are not the gold mine that optimistic pharmaceutical executives have been making them out to be.

India’s move casts significant doubt on the companies’ predictions that within a few years, emerging markets will generate one-quarter or even onethird of their global revenue. They’ve been counting on governments and a rising middle class in emerging markets to spend more on their brand-name medicines rather than the locally made drugs that are more likely to be counterfeit.

“Less patent protection in huge, developing markets means less revenue, and growth stories that are going to look like fantasies,” Gordon said.

Recently, India has overturned patents for several cancer drugs, including Bayer’s Nexavar, AstraZeneca’s Iressa, Pfizer’s Sutent and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Sprycel, according to Mark Grayson, spokesman for the big drugmakers’ trade group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

“Certainly companies will take this into account in deciding ... whether India’s a good market,” he said.