Daily News (In Short)-25-June-2015

#* Lalit Modi scandal: PM Modi can pull up Sushma, but can't act against Vasundhara

Much nuance, even commonsense, is being sacrificed in the way Narendra Modi's political opponents and even the media are dealing with the fallout of the Lalit Modi affair. As things stand now, Lalit is a fugitive and all those who helped him can be said to have aided someone whom the law enforcement agencies are probing.That Lalit Modi is linked to politicians in every major party is something no one wants to discuss - since it does not help put the BJP and Narendra Modi is the dock. The unstated goal is to use Lalit Modi to embarrass the PM, and this is why no one wants to talk about all of Lalit Modi's other linkages. The simple fact that no help was sought from Interpol for his arrest and extradition should put us out of any doubt. The only thing the UPA actually did was to warn the UK government that helping Lalit Modi would be seen as an unfriendly act.This may merely mean that the BCCI bosses who ousted Lalit from the IPL were in cahoots with the Congress so that their control of the world's most cash-rich cricket club can be consolidated by keeping Lalit's hands out of the cookie jar. The chances are the UPA merely wanted Lalit out of India, and not back here to face the music since it would incriminate many others. It is worth noting that the current IPL boss is the Congress' Rajiv Shukla.

#* Confirmed: Shah Rukh Khan – Salman Khan to battle it out on Eid 2016 

Salman Khan, who usually has his films released on Eid, will continue the trend this year with much-anticipated ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ and next year with ‘Sultan’ under Yash Raj Films banner.But, looks like Salman Khan will have some competition at the box office next Eid from none other than frenemy Shah Rukh Khan whose film, ‘Raees’ is confirmed to release on Eid 2016.
Due to much speculation about the film’s release date, producer Ritesh Sidhwani took to Twitter to clarify the same. The ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ producer confirmed that ‘Raees’ would release as per schedule – Eid 2016.

#* How To Turn Off Gmail's Sucky Hangouts And Get The Old Chat

After two years of gently suggesting that users switch from the classic Gchat UI to the newer Hangouts platform, Google surprised Gmail users around the world this week by automatically switching everyone over. Luckily, there's an easy way to get the old Gchat back. Which is a good thing, because Hangouts in Gmail just sucks compared to Gchat.Why the Hangouts hate? There's a reason that online professionals love Gchat. In a world of instant message clients that feel like a Tokyo Pop fever dream, Gchat was proudly text-based. Putting functionality first, it co-existed with Gmail without ever trying to overpower it. When you weren't messaging anyone, Gchat lived as text-based list of your contacts by name nested in the lower left corner of your inbox. When you clicked on a name to message someone, you could send them text, and later initiate a video conference, but that's it. No emoji, no avatars, no candy-colored chat bubbles, no stickers, no animated GIFs, nothing. It was for sending text messages in real time, and that was it. It was proudly, even defiantly no frills, but it still had some beautiful, understated touches: for example, the lovely way a type-based smiley would straighten itself into an upright position after you typed it.

#* KPIT Technologies shares plunge further, hit 52-week low

Shares of KPIT Technologies continues to face selling pressure and hit a fresh 52-week low of Rs 85.05 on Thursday. The mid-tier IT company shares saw a spurt in volume with 17.05 lakh shares traded on the BSE in the morning trade as compared to a 2-week average of 1.26 lakh. Since the announcement of bleak fourth quarterly numbers on April 28, the share price of the company tanked 36 per cent to Rs 99.15 on June 24 from Rs 155.05 on April 28.At 11 am, the share price of the company was trading 6.61 per cent lower at Rs 92.60 against its previous close. Meanwhile, it opened at Rs 97 and has touched an intra-day high and low of Rs 97 and 85.05 in trade, so far.The BSE Sensex was  up 0.16 per cent at 27,774.For the quarter ended March 2015, the company registered consolidated net profit of Rs 50.31 crore, down 17.93 per cent, against Rs 61.30 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Post the announcement of Q4 results, there were rumours that promoters are looking to sell their stake in the company. However, promoters denied selling any stake, according to the latest media reports.

#* Facebook teams up with Kaspersky Labs to rid malicious software

Facebook announced on Tuesday it has been using a new security tool to help detect and remove malicious software for users of the world’s biggest social network.Facebook said it was working with Kaspersky Lab, bolstering a program implemented with other online security firms including ESET, F-Secure and Trend Micro.“Thanks to the collaboration with these companies, in the past three months we have helped clean up more than two million people’s computers that we detected were infected with malware when they connected to Facebook,” said Trevor Pottinger, a Facebook security engineer.“In these cases, we present a cleanup tool that runs in the background while you continue using Facebook, and you get a notification when the scan is done to show you what it found.”Pottinger said the program uses “a combination of signals to help find infections and get the malware off of your computer for good, even if the malware isn’t actively spreading spam or harmful links.”

#* Office for Android is here: Now work while on the move

If you are someone who types a lot on Word, scrolls through numbers on an Excel spreadsheet or create presentations on PowerPoint, Microsoft just made it easy for you to continue working with Microsoft Office for Android.Last year, Microsoft issued a statement saying it “took the next step to bring the productivity of Office to everyone with new Office apps and experiences for the iPhone and iPad, a preview of Office apps for Android tablets, and the ability for customers using these devices to create and edit Office content without a subscription.”

#* Facebook Messenger loses account requirement

New users of Facebook's Messenger app can sign up without an account on the social network's social network.Rolling out in the US and Canada, Peru and Venezuela before arriving in other territories, the accountless system asks only for a phone number and a first and last name -- so, just like February 2014 acquisition WhatsApp.Users will still be able to connect with existing friends by letting the app sift through their contacts, matching them up with identical phone numbers already associated with Facebook profiles.Thus it can place an accountless Messenger user on Facebook's Social Graph, deduces TechCrunch, while at the same time allowing them to search among Facebook profiles for people they might know.

#* Black hole with mass of 140 million Suns found 

NEW YORK: A massive black hole at the centre of a distant galaxy has the mass of 140 million Suns, scientists have found. The black hole is in the heart of galaxy NGC 1097, which is 47 million light-years away from Earth. The distance is too far for scientists to determine the mass of the black hole by the movement of the stars around it. But by tracking the movements of two types of molecular gases around the galaxy's centre.

#* Revealed: The secret to how parrots talk

Scientists have discovered how parrots talk, as they believe it's down to the wiring in their brains.And the same brain region controls movement which may explain why some parrots "dance" to music.Scientists found key structural differences in the brains of parrots that may explain the birds' unparalleled ability to imitate sounds and human speech.The findings could lend insight into the neural mechanisms of human speech too.
• British parrot missing for four years returns speaking Spanish
• Parrots teach man to speak again
Dr Mukta Chakraborty of Duke University said: "This finding opens up a huge avenue of research in parrots, in trying to understand how parrots are processing the information necessary to copy novel sounds and what are the mechanisms that underlie imitation of human speech sounds."Parrots are one of the few animals considered 'vocal learners' meaning they can imitate sounds.

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