Starry, starry night

Explore spectacular photos of the universe taken by the Hubbel space telescope here.

True or false?

The more news there is, the less informed we are. The NY Times believes that the world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano is in deep trouble. But Italy's La Repubblica thinks that the car is on an irresistible growth path Tke your pick.

River to River Film Festival

All about the 10th Indian Film Festival at Florence starting this weekend.

Best views of life

A collection of stunning images of life captured through microscopes from the Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition. Enjoy!

The REAL social network!

The Facebook story has come to celluloid and with rave reviews to boot but then it is virtual. It cannot match the current unfolding story of a closely networked Indian industry and media. Read and listen.

Italy from the cupola of the space station

                                                                    (courtesy: ESA)

We all saw this coming....

Fed up of the multitude of functions on your cell phone and just want to make calls? Here is the phone of your dreams, complete with a paper phone book and a one-page manual.

Two sides

The stark reality of the Rajasthan village which had its 15 minutes of fame during the US President's visit.

The perils of Cut and Paste!

The editor of the newsmagazine, India Today, (no less!) had to own up and apologize after a plagiarism charge. Regardless of the cop-and-paste supply chain that led to this fiasco, why would an Indian periodical even need to look up an American e-journal, Slate, when writing on a 100% pure Indian phenomenon called Rajanikanth?

The Orator

Whatever may or may not be the gains of the US President's trip to India, the stand out performance was the speech to the Indian Parliament (full text). Incorporating the the thoughts of Gandhi, King, Tagore, Ambedkar, Vivekananda, even our favourite Panchatantra tales, its sweep and significance is unmistakable.

The festival of lights - enjoy!

What is this moaning about?

On the one hand, the American President is about to visit India with the single objective of beefing up job creation. On the other hand, look at the sums spent by individuals in the recent elections to Congress in the name of employment. Some things never add up.

Marco Polo in reverse

China’s state-run Cosco shipping company is leasing Piraeus, the port of Athens. In Italy, Cosco is expanding the port of Naples. Another logistics company  is in talks to build a giant air terminal north of Rome for cargo arriving from China. All this and more here.

The dark side of social networking

Virtual communities cannot replace real people, flesh and blood friends. Getting out and about is more important than networking in cyber space.

Always keep your trusted alarm clock handy

Many people who relied on their iPhone were late for work last Friday. The reason: it did not adjust to daylight savings time. Whatever happened to adjusting the time manually and changing the alarm as required?

Slow Food

Possibly the tastiest movement to have come out of Italy. Delicious food and saving the world in the process.

Same ol' story!

Napoli and its perennial garbage crisis. Deja vu.

Good ol' Deccan Chronicle!

Hyderabad's favourite daily comes up with a story of live-in relationships, but what's the photo got to do with it ?

The woman who launched a 1000 tirades

Arundhati Roy's views always cause a furore and if the issue is that of India's northernmost state, emotions are likely to boil over. A sampling from the popular blog Churumuri (1) and news channels (2).

Blackburn Roosters

Possibly the new name for the English Premier league club, Blackburn Rovers, after they have been bought over by Venkateshwara Hatcheries.

Tourism Tip

According to the Times of India, the CM of Karnataka has visited at least 32 temples in the last 15 days seeking blessings to defuse the political crisis in his state. It also obliges with a short list of the temples. That is indeed a useful to plan an itinerary for the next trip to South India.

Walkman retires!

Sony has ceased production of the classic Walkman in Japan.

Living it up

Welcome to Aurangabad - tour the Bibi ka Maqabra, the fabulous Ajanta and Ellora caves and watch 150 Mercs flit by!

Rough patch for Korea's staple dish

Believe it or not, South Korea's most serious problem is not its thorny northern neighbour but the spiralling price of cabbage. As a result, the price of its favourite dish of fermented cabbage, kimchi, has skyrocketed causing a lot of heartburn.

The new map of the world

A social networking map which represents websites and web communities as countries and sized on the basis of their popularity reveals interestng details. For instance, some websites are not as popular as one thinks they are and thankfully, the spoken language still rules.