'Scratch' to make net 100 times faster

Scientists have developed what they claim is a small scratch on a piece of glass, which could make the internet nearly 100 times faster and give users unlimited, error-free access anywhere in the world.

"This is a critical building block and a fundamental advance on what is already out there. We are talking about networks that are potentially up to 100 times faster without costing the consumer any more.

"The scratched glass we have developed is actually a Photonic Integrated Circuit. This circuit uses the ’scratch’ as a guide or a switching path for information - kind of like when trains are switched from one track to another - except this switch takes only one picoseconds to change tracks.

"This means that in one second the switch is turning on and off about one million times. We are talking about photonic technology that has terabit per second capacity," lead researcher Ben Eggleton at the University of Sydney said.

Though the initial demonstration has shown that it is possible to achieve speeds 60 times faster than many current networks, with further development, the process is likely to produce even faster results, according to the researchers.

"Currently we use electronics for our switching and that has been OK but as we move toward a more tech-savvy future there’s demand for instant web gratification. Photonic technology delivers what’s needed and, importantly, what is wanted," he said.

The University of Sydney has developed the scratch in collaboration with the Technical University of Denmark and financial support from Australian Research Council.

Researchers had reported some time back that the internet could soon be made obsolete by "the grid". The lightning-fast replacement will be capable of downloading entire feature films within seconds. It will have speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection.

The latest spin-off from Cern, the particle physics centre that created the web, could also provide the kind of power needed to transmit holographic images; allow instant online gaming with hundreds of thousands of players, and offer high-definition video telephony for the price of a local call.

David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes grid technologies "could revolutionize society".

"With this kind of computing power, future generations can collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine," he said.

India's diamond traders move house and dream big

The ambitions of Mumbai’s diamond traders are grand, even if their offices are not.They nurse dreams of rivalling Belgium’s Antwerp as the world’s diamond trading capital while sitting in ageing tower blocks that are about as grimy as a cut diamond is sparkly.

Corridors are splattered bloody red with decades’ worth of spat-out chewing tobacco. Lift doors must be yanked shut by hand. Toilets must be entered gingerly. Traders’ offices, though somewhat cleaner than the public spaces, tend to be cramped.

But, barring any last-minute bureaucratic spanners, the bulk of the trade should soon shift across the city to a new home more befitting one of India’s biggest export earners.

India already polishes about nine in every ten diamonds, mostly tiny, cheaper stones less than a carat. Faced with growing global competition, India hopes to cling on to its position in polishing by spreading into an area in which it has lagged: the trade of rough diamonds.

"We’re trying to make India the largest trading centre and manufacturing centre for diamonds," said Sanjay Kothari, the chairman of India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). "Why should we go to Antwerp?"

A bullish confidence is common among Indian businessmen these days. Nonetheless, even if few see Antwerp being eclipsed any time soon, the ambition of Kothari and his colleagues is giving pause to at least some Antwerp traders.

SPREADING OUT

In 2006-2007, India imported $8.8bn of rough diamonds and exported $10.9bn of polished gems, much of which is sent to Hong Kong and the United States to be set in jewellery.

But its dominance is under threat. Consultancy firm KPMG said in a 2006 report that India’s share of diamond polishing by value would drop to 49 percent by 2015, from 57 per cent today, as the global diamond industry spreads into new corners of the globe.

China is investing heavily in polishing mid-sized stones. Angola, Namibia and Botswana are increasingly determined to process locally some of the stones chipped from their mines, which once would have been promptly whisked off to the London clearing house of De Beers, the dominant player in rough trade.

To keep their foothold, India intends to spread out along the chain between mines and ring fingers. Indians’ success in cutting diamonds has given them advantages elsewhere: about 40 percent of the trade in Antwerp is controlled by Indians, according to the GJEPC’s Kothari, while Indians make up about half of De Beers’ elite customer list (much of the rest are Hasidic Jews).

The new Bharat Diamond Bourse -- Bharat being the Hindi name for India -- will house India’s first international diamond trading hall, and is intended to bring the trade back to the land where diamonds are said to have been first mined a millennia ago.

"Finally!" exclaimed Louise Prior, a spokeswoman for the De Beers’ marketing arm the Diamond Trading Company (DTC), when told by a reporter the bourse’s opening may be imminent. "It’s been under construction for a seriously long time."

In fact it has been about 15 years, a few years less than it took to build the Taj Mahal, and its blue, glassy, cliff-sized facade already looks a little dated.

Disputes with contractors, local authorities and even its own members, who were increasingly reluctant to pay their dues as time dragged on, have all stalled the 9.5bn-rupee project.

Still, every year or so, for the last decade, newspapers have confidently run stories saying the bourse is nearly ready. But this time they really mean it, says Anoop Mehta, the president of the bourse, which will house about 2,400 traders.

An onsite electronic customs office will replace the present need for export forms requiring 35 signatures. There will be around 100 food outlets, none of which will serve meat or eggs, in keeping with the sensibilities of the Hindus and Jains from Gujarat state that have long dominated the trade. Musical fountains are planned for the garden.

Officially, Antwerp is unfazed.

"We’re not really afraid of the ambition of others," said Philip Claes, spokesman for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, which represents the city’s trade.

"We hear every day the diamond dealers say they like Antwerp, they do not intend to leave Antwerp, it’s nice living in Antwerp."

Prior, the DTC spokeswoman, says India’s trading aspirations will "take some time" to be realised.

But some individual traders admit to feeling worried.

"I don’t see why they wouldn’t be able to take a big place in rough trading," said Christophe de Borrekens, a sales director for the Antwerp-based diamond company IGC Group. "Since India became a very big manufacturing country, it’s a logical move ... It will take some part of the trade from Antwerp."

CHANGE

The planned move comes at a tumultuous time in the diamond trade. For much of the 20th century, De Beers ran a cartel controlling the trade of the bulk of the world’s rough diamonds from its mines in southern Africa.

In the last decade, De Beers has buckled under scrutiny by anti-trust regulators while its mining rivals have found diamond deposits in Russia, Australia and elsewhere, hobbling the giant’s monopoly.

India thinks it can take advantage of this fragmentation, and its government has begun negotiating with mining countries, including Russia, to buy rough stones directly. This became all the more necessary after De Beers reduced the amount of rough diamonds it sells to India in January.

Last year, India reduced the 5 percent levies on the import of polished diamonds to zero to help the trade.

But doubters still feel India is moving too sluggishly. Dubai built its own bourse in a fraction of the time it has taken India, and has offered far more generous tax incentives.

Nor is it a particularly happy time for the Indian industry: polishers are increasingly disgruntled about being among the lowest-paid diamond workers in the world, and have organised sometimes violent demonstrations, while a bitter global economy has dampened jewellery sales in India’s main markets.

"The problem with that bourse is it was planned 15 years ago," said Raj Mehta, a senior vice president at diamond giant Rosy Blue and a contented Antwerp resident. He thinks India lacks Antwerp’s handy geography and better infrastructure.

Even some of the more superstitious members of the bourse have grumbled.

"People were saying it’s marshy there, you’ll sink instead of being on firm ground," said Mehta, the bourse president. "But all of Bombay is on marshy land, and Bombay seems to be doing pretty well."

Pepsi dumped Sachin for overpricing?

The seniors vs youngsters debate has sparked off once again. And it’s not the cricketing fraternity that’s caught in the middle of it. After news of a cola major Pepsi deciding to end their innings with Sachin Tendulkar, this debate has gained an all new momentum. Seems like ’youngistaan’ is after all the mantra that’s being followed, literally . While the divorce was made public, the junta kept wondering if Brand Tendulkar is actually past his prime to sell products he has been associated with for years.

While T20 seems to be the flavour of the season, industry insiders believe that this decision was waiting to happen. Recurring injuries have kept the Little Master off the field for a long time. This ensured that his younger counterparts were seen playing a lot more. And when the young Team India brought the T20 World Cup home sans the veterans, it created new heroes overnight. Latika Khaneja, director, Collage Sports Management, is of the view that the industry functions according to the flavour of the season. "In this industry, it’s all about topicality. Today, Dhoni is the flavour of the country as he won the T20 World Cup and is also the captain of the ODI team. He looks good and is certainly an option instead of Sachin," says Khaneja.

But the age factor too cannot be ruled out here. Many believe that it’s Sachin’s age that’s going against him. "It’s all about ’brand fit’," says Jeet Banerjee, managing director, Gameplan. "While signing an ambassador, the brand has to keep in mind if the person’s image fits the product they are marketing right now." Hence, it was only a matter of time before Pepsi chose someone younger to fit the anthem, ’yeh hai youngistaan’ . But here is where adman Prahlad Kakar begs to differ. "It depends on how the company portrays its ambassador. Write a good script and I’m sure Sachin will be able to pull off a naughty and mischievous character as well. He has done so in the past in the ad with Shah Rukh Khan," affirms Kakar.
That’s for the future to decide. But one has to admit that it’s also the monetary aspect that plays a huge role in the signing of new brand ambassadors . While Sachin’s star was high up in the sky, his brand equity too skyrocketed. Even today, he commands a higher remuneration than any other sportsperson in India. And when a brand can get two or more stars at the cost of one, it’s a jackpot.

"Pepsi can’t afford to pay Sachin as his price keeps increasing," says Kakar, adding, "They can get other stars who could fit their current marketing strategy at the cost of one." Khaneja too voices the same opinion, saying, "It’s a case of price-performance issue. The brand looks to see how much it’s getting in return of the money invested in the player.

Sachin is very expensive and the priority is on the financials rather than anything else." Adman Ram Ray says that one cannot after all dismiss the investment angle all together. "It’s more about investment than anything else. They believe that Dhoni and the other youngsters are a better investment option today. In the long run, they’ll get better returns from the youngsters." But according to industry insiders, touting Sachin to be the most expensive player right now, cannot be all together accurate. It’s believed that while Sachin charges around Rs 3 to 4 crore per endorsement, Dhoni’s remuneration is anything between Rs 4 and 5 crore. Yudhajit, managing director, Mindscape Maestros, who has recently signed Dhoni, says that MSD right now is the biggest sporting brand in the country. "I always believed in working with the biggest brand and who better than Dhoni?"

Recurring injuries and ’getting old’ will be discussed for sometime now. But all said and done, it’s now left to see how Sachin works on his image management. After TVS, Airtel, Fiat and Pepsi ending their association with the Little Master, Sachin is now working with Canon and AVIVA Life Insurance. Out goes the Master Blaster image, and in comes the family man who cares for his children and their future. "Brand managers need to have a definite career management plan for the star.

The utmost aim is to get maximum returns," says marketing consultant Sunil Kalra. Khaneja who also manages Gautam Gambhir is now thinking of giving the star a completely new makeover. "After the T20 World Cup and IPL, Gambhir has become hot property. He is well-spoken but has his limitations which needs to be delt with. And that’s top priority."

It’s also interesting to notice how Sachin can now be spotted at various other high profile sporting events like Wimbeldon and F1, which has a much niche audience. Sachin and Pepsi may have parted ways. His image as a father and uncle may not appeal to the youth any more. But the more mature brands have now found a great ambassador. While for the youth the fizz may be out of Sachin, for the mature brands, it’s time to bring out the champagne for the older and much wiser Master Blaster.

PM, govt top guns may broker Ambani peace deal

When it comes to getting the prime minister to intervene in a corporate battle, there is no better name than Ambani to do it. The stakes are rising for Mukesh and Anil Ambani, among the top 10 richest men in the world, and sensing the dangers of getting caught up in the corporate battlefield, the government is expected to intervene at the top level to work out a truce between the two feuding brothers.

The decision to step in comes on the backdrop of the two brothers taking their recently renewed rivalry over the MTN deal to a new level — national politics.

The development, which coincides with the new power play in the Capital, is symbolic of the government’s anxiety to insulate itself from the consequences of the fratricidal corporate war. There is acknowledgement in the government that a truce, at least a temporary one, was possible only if the top two of the ruling arrangement — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Sonia Gandhi — prepare the groundwork for negotiations between the two brothers.

The prime minister, who has been discussing the charges and counter-charges levelled by the two sides with oil minister Murli Deora during the past one week, is conscious that the minister does not have the wherewithal to bring about a truce. Anil feels the oil minister is closer to big brother Mukesh, while Mukesh is said to be wary of finance minister P Chidambaram’s alleged proximity to his younger brother. Both are, thus, effectively ruled out as negotiators.

The nitty-gritty can be worked out by leaders like SP’s Amar Singh and Congress president’s political secretary Ahmed Patel. But it can only happen after the big two enter the frame,” said a leader familiar with the patch-up efforts. He was confident that the issue will remain on the “must do” list of the prime minister till the two brothers reach the negotiating table. South Block is learnt to have already broached the issue with the brothers.

The government’s jitters over the on-going feud is understandable. Ever since Amar Singh proved that impossible is nothing by negotiating a deal with the Congress with whom his SP was daggers drawn, there have been whispers that the entry of the SP, with whom Anil has close relations, would trigger the escalation of the six-year-old feud within the family.

The rumours gathered momentum as the day after the SP announced its support to the UPA, Mukesh was served with a show-cause notice by the Customs department for under-invoicing the purchase of an Airbus, which he had bought as a gift for his wife Nita on her birthday last year. The impression of the government, getting mired in the sibling warfare, got credence when Amar Singh placed his charter of demands that looked inimical to Mukesh’s interests. Amar Singh refutes charges that he is acting at the behest of his friend, the younger Ambani, saying “my closeness with Anil does not prevent me from taking up matters of public interest.”

Anil Ambani, who was in the Capital earlier this week, had met external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday. The meeting, sources claimed, was to brief him about his side of the MTN story.

The feud escalated last month after Anil stepped in with a $60-billion offer for South Africa’s MTN which would have then made the combined entity the world’s seventh-largest telecom operator. But the Mukesh group, which handed over RCOM to Anil on a truce worked out by their mother, claims that under the family settlement arrived at in 2005, if there is any sale of majority stake in any company (RCOM was formed after demerger of Reliance Industries), Mukesh Ambani group has the right of first refusal. In the MTN deal, RCOM is considering a reverse merger; i.e. MTN will buy RCOM in a particular ratio, though technically it is the sale of RCOM to MTN, but Anil Ambani will be the largest shareholder in combined company formed after the merger of MTN and RCOM.

It is this clause that pressed the alarm buttons in the Mukesh camp. But ADAG claims that there is no such clause in the family settlement, and before the demerger of RCOM, some board members of RCOM, who were on Mukesh’s side, had signed this agreement. ADAG claims that it was a forged settlement and Bombay High Court, in one case, had set aside this agreement under which Mukesh Ambani is claming the right of first refusal.

In another case, ADAG claims that under the family settlement, RIL was supposed to supply gas from KG basin at an agreed price of $1.65 to $2.25 mmbtu to RNRL and for the Dadri power project of Reliance Energy in Uttar Pradesh. But RIL now maintains that it will not supply gas at this price. It will supply either at $4.45 mmbtu (decided by a committee formed by the government) or at $6.65 mmbtu (current international price). Dadri project can be made financially viable only if gas is supplied at price less than $2 mmbtu. ADAG claims that under family settlement, gas has to be supplied first to his company and only the surplus can be supplied to the third party. Mukesh Ambani contests this claim and wants to sell it to third party at international prices.

With both sides remaining diffident, the government seems caught between a rock and a hard place. But with the stakes being what they are, the government is expected to trying its hands at bringing the curtains down on this long-running business soap opera.

Obese men run the risk of being childless

Obese males are less likely to father children if they don’t cut down on their weight, warned medical experts on the basis of a wide ranging study.

Aberdeen University (AU) researchers have shown how fatter men with higher body mass index (BMI) had lower quantity of semen and a higher proportion of abnormal sperm.

Ghiyath Shayeb and colleagues of AU examined seminal fluid analysis of 5,316 men attending Aberdeen Fertility Centre with their partners for difficulties in conceiving.

More than 2,035 of them had complete data on their BMIs. "We felt that it was possible that male overweight might contribute to fertility problems," he said, "particularly since it is a known risk factor for problems in conceiving among women."

The scientists divided the men into four groups according to their BMI, from being underweight to being considerably overweight.

Taking into account characteristics that could confound the analysis like smoking, alcohol intake, age, social deprivation and periodic abstinence from sex, prior to producing semen samples, they looked for a relationship between BMI and semen quality.

The analysis showed that the men in Group B, who had an optimal BMI (20-25, as classified by WHO), had higher levels of normal sperm than those in the other groups. They also had higher semen volume. There was no significant difference between the four BMI groups in sperm concentration or motility.

The researchers did not look at DNA damage in the sperm, preferring to look at the parameters of the routine semen analysis, which all men attending the fertility centre will have at least once.

"Other studies have suggested an association between male obesity and increased DNA damage in the sperm, which can be associated with reduced fertility as well," said Shayeb.

"Our findings were quite independent of any other factors," he said, "and seem to suggest that men who are trying for a baby with their partners, should first try to achieve an ideal body weight. This is in addition to the benefit of a healthy BMI for their general well being.

"Adopting a healthy lifestyle, a balanced diet and regular exercise will, in the vast majority of cases, lead to a normal BMI. We are pleased to be able to add improved semen quality to the long list of benefits that we know are the result of an optimal body weight."

The team intends to follow up their research by comparing male BMI in fertile and infertile couples to see if the poorer semen quality correlates with reduced fertility

Oil hits record above $147 on Iran, Nigeria

Oil prices jumped $5 to a record high above $147 a barrel on Friday amid growing worries about threats to supplies from Iran and Nigeria and a strike by Brazilian oil workers next week.

Analysts said oil’s rally could run further if problems with U.S. mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac feed into the commodities boom by reducing the chances of an interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The troubles with the mortgage giants -- which control $5 trillion in debt -- helped pare crude’s gains after it hit new highs as dealers focused on U.S. economic turmoil that has already slowed oil consumption in the world’s top energy user.

U.S. crude settled at $145.08 a barrel, up $3.43, after climbing as high as $147.27 earlier in the day and adding to gains of $5.60 from Thursday. London Brent crude settled at $144.49 a barrel, up $2.46.

"I’m seeing profit-taking here after the run-up to a new record, but we are going into a weekend and with all these things being reported on Iran, you wouldn’t want to go short," said Daniel Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading.

In addition, Iraq’s Defense Ministry said on Friday that it had no knowledge of Israeli air force drills in its airspace, contrary to a media report carried on the Jerusalem Post website that sparked crude early Friday. An Israeli security source also said the report was wrong.

"As martial rumors are denied, participants are reverting their gaze on the deteriorating global economy," said Mike Fitzpatrick, vice president at MF Global in New York.

Missile tests this week by Iran, against a backdrop of rising tensions with Israel and the United States, has left the oil markets worried about a potential supply disruption from the world’s No. 4 exporter.

Iran has threatened to strike back at Tel Aviv and U.S. interests in a key oil shipping route if it is attacked over its nuclear program, which Israel and the West fear is aimed at making weapons.

Support also came from supply threats in Nigeria and Brazil. The main militant group in OPEC nation Nigeria’s oil-producing region said it was abandoning a cease-fire to protest against a British offer to help tackle lawlessness.

Workers at Brazil’s Petrobras plan to launch a five-day strike on Monday that would affect all 42 Campos basin offshore platforms, which pump than 80 percent of the nation’s 1.8 million bpd of output.

Oil prices have risen seven-fold since 2002 amid surging demand from China and other emerging markets, and jumped 50 percent this year alone, battering the economies of consumer nation’s already hit hard by the global credit crunch.

Concern in the United States that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could run short of capital added to inflation worries. Analysts said the U.S. Federal Reserve could be hindered in any efforts to raise interest rates by the problems.

"Mounting anxiety about the health of Fannie and Fred now effectively guarantees the Fed will remain on the sidelines for the next few months -- whatever happens to inflation," said John Kemp, commodities analyst at RBS Sempra in London.

Investors also have flocked to oil and other commodities this year as a hedge against inflation and a weak dollar.

Is she losing interest in sex?

A study has revealed that women are fast losing interest in sex.And this has been revealed by a number of 40-something men. Loss of libido in women, or low sexual desire, is the most common sexual problem for members of the fair sex and the major reason why they seek sex therapy. It affects upto 33 per cent to 67 per cent of women, depending on how sexual desire is defined and reported. And men aren’t beyond this too. But since it only affects about half as many men as women, it is nowhere close to men’s top sex problems.

Loss of Libido

Sexual desire is one of the most difficult factors to define for the simple reason that it is more psychological than physiological. Loss of libido refers to a lack of interest in sex for a prolonged period. Most women are conscious of this feeling. And unfortunately, many of these ladies don’t like the idea of confessing it to their husbands.

Normal in women?

It is important to understand that the loss of libido is not a disorder. How can it be a dysfunction if one-third of all women, no matter what their age, report that they lose interest in sex? Low sexual desire is an understandable result of an imbalance in your life. It may root to your relationship, your stress, or simply, changes in your body.

Secondly, just because loss of libido in women is common, it doesn’t mean you can’t fix it.

Even worse, losing interest in sex can mean you miss out on a lot more than simply one of life’s few non-fattening pleasures. It can begin to drain the passion out of the rest of your life, as well.

Causes of loss of libido

Biology: Sex can have serious consequences for women – a baby for starters, to take care of for the next twenty years. Not surprising that females seem hard-wired to approach sex with slightly less abandon than males do.

Social conditioning: The messages women get from society with its double standards and attitudes towards sex, have a big affect on their sexual desire. Even with adult women who’ve been exposed to the Sex And The City culture, there is still a social conditioning prevalent that men are ‘studs’ if they are sexual, while women are ‘sluts’.

Quality of relationship: For women, desire is strongly elicited to the relationship. “If we don’t talk and connect, we don’t have sex,” they often say. It’s not what happens in the bedroom – their desire arises when they are interacting with their partner. If the quality of those intimate but non-sexual contacts aren’t being attended to, most women just won’t feel “in the mood.”
Hormones: Hormonal fluctuations with pregnancy, breast-feeding, and then with menopause a little later in life all can lessen desire to some extent.

Medications: Depression and the anti-depressants used to treat it can also inhibit desire. So also can certain blood pressure-lowering drugs. Conditions such as endometriosis, fibroids and thyroid disorders can also be a cause.

Life stages: Life changes – especially the birth of a child – can cause a loss of libido in women. It often occurs to women in their 20s with a child under five or six – their lack of interest doubles and triples. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out – physical stress and fatigue are also considered big factors.