BlackBerry launches Curve 9220 in India

Blackberry Curve 9220

Smartphone manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM) today launched its youth-oriented Curve 9220 in India.

This latest new version of the Curve is an affordable low-end smartphone targeted at young consumers as it is priced at Rs 10,999. Other high end devices from RIM are targetted at the enterprise BlackBerry consumers.

This low-end phone was launched today in India by RIM's brand ambassador Katrina Kaif. New BlackBerry Curve 9220 has a dedicated key for accessing BlackBerry Messenger and FM radio and has a long battery life compared to high-end phones.

Heavy users may get disappointed by this new device, especially youth, as there are a number of feature-rich Android smartphones available in the market. More features and application installation options in Android phones have attracted yuppies in recent years in India.

Company officials who released a public statement today are confident about the performance of the phone and it's new user interface, BBM advantage and longer battery life. RIM people think that these factors are going to attract the youth to this model.

BlackBerry Curve 9220 features:

• 2.44-inch (320x240 pixels) TFT display 
• QWERTY keypad
• 2 megapixel camera 
• FM radio
• WiFi connectivity
• Expandable memory up to 32GB using a microSD card
• 2.44-inch QVGA display

Second Test, Day 2 at Eden Gardens

Rahul Dravid

India is in the driver's seat after two centuries by Dravid and Laxman in the on going second test match between India and West Indies. On the day two at lunch time score was 433/6 in 107 overs with Laxman and Dhoni still batting.

India is already leading in the series 1-0 after winning the first Test match at Delhi between November 6-9, 2011. Once again Kolkata proved lucky for India and after winning the toss Indian skipper decided to bat first.

After a solid start by opening pair Sehwag and Gambhir, India lost the first wicket at the score of 66 in form of Sehwag. Indian openers scored relatively fast and reached the score of 100 in just 20.4 overs. Batsmen in the middle order consolidated very well after the good start and put India into solid position at the end of day one with the score of 346/5 in 87.3 overs.

Poor light conditions in Kolkata stopped the play few overs earlier on the day one of the second test and Indian Batsmen were happy not to continue in poor light conditions just after new ball was taken by West Indies in 87th over of the innings.

Dravid's century put him closer to the 1000 calender runs in year 2011 with one Test match to go against West Indies between Nov. 22-26, 2011 in Mumbai. He may well have retired in the ODI cricket but it seems he is as solid as he was 10 years back in the longer format of the game.

Laxman also is in good form and is not out at 106 from 168 balls and is timing the ball very well. Dhoni is also playing well as India is closing towards the target of 500 runs before Tea today, so that they can put West Indies in bat during the last season of the game today.

In the latest developments there is mild rain and drizzling at Eden Gardens in Kolkata and batsmen are still indoors as Pitch is covered at the ground and light conditions are also not good. Both teams are waiting for the umpire's decision about the beginning of the play in second session of day 2 of the second test between on going test series between India and West Indies.

Match details so far are as under:

India won the toss and elected to bat first at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

South Africa survives Yusuf Pathan blitz

5 match ODI series in South Africa was full of ups and downs and India's chances of winning this series was much better than any other touring team in the past who visited South Africa in the past. But Dhoni and company disappointed Indian Cricket fans a bit, especially the top order batsmen didn't perform well.

Indians played really well in the second and third One day international after disastrous start in the opener at Durban. South Africa convincingly defeated India by 135 runs in the first ODI but Indians bounced back in the second and third winning both and taking 2-1 lead in the series.

It was the first time a touring team from India were leading an ODI series in South Africa and they had the superb chance before they spoiled it in the final one day match at Centurion.

Rain interrupted play and match was reduced to 46 overs in South African innings applying D/L method to calculate runs. India required 267 to win from alloted 46 overs and were all out for only 234.

After 119/8 it was really hopeless for India but than Yusuf Pathan's blitz innings of 105 in just 70 balls turned the tables for India and South African Captain was once in doubt about the sure victory. 

Along with Zaheer khan they both scored 100 run partnership for 9th wicket, a record against South Africa in SA. But after Yusuf's departure it was very clear that India is going to lose the match.

By fat this was India's most successful tour to South Africa in history and they also won one off T20 encounter also. With Yusuf Pathan's innings one thing became very clear that India is now the strongest contender for the World cup 2011 as he may prove even more deadlier on flatter Indian wickets.

Vishwanathan Anand leads at Wijk-aan-Zee after round 5

Vishwanathan Anand

Current World chess champion and grand master from India Vishwanathan Anand is leading Tata Steel Chess at Wijk-aan-Zee after 5 rounds of play with a half point lead from no.2 player in the tournament American Grand master Nakamura.

After a rest day Anand came strong in the fifth round of the tournament with a spectacular win against Dutchman Smeets who blundered on move 57 to secure Anand's second win with the black pieces in the tournament.

At first it seemed like a draw for the Dutchman who played fairly well in the Breyer Ruy Lopez opening securing a drawable position in the middle game. However Anand had some vague chances after exchange sacrifice that dramatically worked well for him.

In another very exciting encounter from the fifth round of the tournament another Dutchman Erwin L’Ami also become the victim of the blunder in the late endgame when he made a mistake of move 93 after a long fought battle to lose against World no.1 ranked Magnus Carlsen of Denmark.

There was an easy draw for him with a game of Rook v/s Rook and Knight in the end game with both kings in the center, but crumbled and made a mistake most probably due to the time pressure.

In another game with a result in the round five Wang Hao won against Grand master Alexander Grishuk to secure one full point for him.

All other games in the Grand master group A were ended in draws with the point table as follows at the end of the fifth round:

1.	V. Anand	4
2.	H. Nakamura	3½
3.	L. Aronian A. Giri M. Vachier-Lagrave	3
6.	M. Carlsen V. Kramnik I. Nepomniachtchi R. Ponomariov	2½
10.	W. Hao E. l'Ami J. Smeets	2
13.	A. Grischuk	1½
14.	A. Shirov	1

Games are shown below in the PGN viewer for the readers reference:

Rs 2.54 price hike in petrol from today

Petrol        source

This is the second time price of the petrol is raised by central government with in one month of time. Last time it was the price hike of Rs. 3 and now it is Rs. 2.54 effective from today. It is price hike of more than Rs. 5 in just one month and opposition parties strongly opposed this move by government.

It is the price rise in Onion, Tomatoes and green vegetables that has contributed a lot to rising inflation in recent times now Petrol is also going to add some percentage by becoming more dearer by Rs. 2.54.

This is the sixth time price hike by the petroleum companies since government removed the control over them in June last year. There is no price hike in Diesel though.

Company-wise price hike effective from Saturday midnight:

The Indian Oil Corp Ltd (largest fuel retailer in India) - Rs2.50 per litre
Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) - Rs2.54 per litre
Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) - Rs2.53 per litre with effect from midnight tonight.

State run oil companies were expected a price hike in Diesel but due to fool inflation government is not considering it seriously and to avoid or narrow revenue loss they have decided to go for another price hike in petrol.