Archive | 2:28 pm

Ruchi Soya introduces new campaign to market mustard oil brand

12 Feb

Ruchi Soya Industries’ brand Nutrela inked pact with six major city fish markets to promote its mustard oil brand. Under the campaign the company has identified five or six fish-sellers in each of these six markets. A complimentary pack of mustard oil branded Nutrela Kachi Ghani will be given following a purchase of one kg of fish.

The entity has taken this initiative keeping in mind the Bengali sentiments and the need for mustard oil as a cooking medium. It is looking for tie-ups in other markets. It will be carried out simultaneously in Bengal and Assam. Bengal alone accounts for over a third around Rs 110 crore of the Rs 300-crore mustard oil market in the country.

Source: http://www.indian-commodity.com/corporate/ruchi-soya-introduces-new-campaign-to-market-mustard-oil-brand.aspx

50% of smartphone users in India are under 25 yrs: Nielsen

12 Feb

Indians are increasingly taking to smartphones and the number of such devices in the country touched 40 million last year with almost half of the users younger than 25, says a survey.

The dramatic growth in the usage of smartphones is driven by a desire among users to stay connected and have instant access to social networking sites, according to the survey by research firm Nielsen.

“Decreasing device and data costs, coupled with a wide range of features that today’s smartphones offer, readily encourage consumers to trade in their traditional cell phones for handsets with much more functionality,” the survey said.

According to the Indian smartphone user study – conducted in September and October 2012 across 46 cities – people overwhelmingly prefer mobile devices that operate on the Android operating system.

While Symbian usage is also high in India, Windows, BlackBerry and iOS devices each only have single-digit market shares, said Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights that polled more than 10,000 smartphone owners.

Moreover, tablet ownership among Indians is set to spike as consumer interest in tablets is also on the rise.

While only 3 per cent of respondents who participated in the study in the last quarter of 2012 said they owned a tablet, 11 per cent said they intended to purchase one.

Voice calls and texting accounted for only 25 per cent of smartphone usage; multimedia, games, apps and Internet browsing made up the rest.

Among apps, consumers prefer games, particularly with respect to paid apps. Games were the most popular category among paid apps, with nearly three out of five users (58 per cent) paying for games.

Other popular paid app categories among smartphone users include chat and instant messaging (53 per cent) and streaming music (45 per cent).

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/50–of-smartphone-users-in-india-are-under-25-yrs-nielsen/1073123/0

Six months WorldSpace subscription free with EAFT tablets

12 Feb

EAFT Technologies, a Bangalore based company, has launched two new tablets. These are Destiny D90T and D70P. The company has tied up with on-demand music service WorldSpace and buyers will get a free subscription for six months. Users can listen to DRM-protected music from 12 channels for free.

The D90T has a 9.7-inch IPS screen and runs on Android 4.0. D90T utilises can play full HD 1080p content, and has an HDMI port that lets you connect it to big screens. Powered by 1.6 GHz dual core Cortex A9 processor, EAFT says the tablet has a battery life of 8 hours on continuous video playback. The battery is rated at 8,000 mAh battery.

The D70P is a 7-inch tablet with built-in 3G (data+voice) for connectivity. It also has an IPS panel on the display, with a resolution of 1024×600 pixels. The device is powered by a 1GHz Cortex A9 processor. The D70P comes with connectivity options like HDMI, USB, memory card slot, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. The battery is rated at 4,000 mAh.

Both tablets come with Smart Office, an application that lets you read and edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

Jithendhar GS, president and CEO, EAFT Technologies, said “We are excited to bring WorldSpace into the hands of music lovers once. Having consolidated our presence in the enterprise segment offering highly customised solutions in the entertainment and education verticals, we are now committed to offer unique propositions and best-in-class devices to retail customers.”

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/six-months-worldspace-subscription-free-with-eaft-tablets/1073079/

Now, charge your phone powered by a hot cup of coffee or a cold beer

12 Feb

Researchers have developed a mobile phone charger that can be powered by either a cold beer or a hot coffee.

The Epiphany One Puck, which doubles as a drinks coaster, connects to a phone with a USB cable. It has two sides, one red, one blue, the Daily Mail reported.

Owners use the red side as a drinks coaster to place a hot drink on it, and the blue side as for a cooling drink such as a beer.

It uses something called a Stirling engine to turn heat into energy.

US company Epiphany Labs, based in New Castle, Pennsylvania, has built a working prototype and hopes to have it on the market early in 2014.

The company is still vague on just how long it takes for the device to charge up a phone because there are a lot of variables at play, including how hot or cold the source is.

Any source of heat that can fit on the Puck will work.

It works best with something that’s very warm like a steaming cup of tea or coffee, or very cold like a well chilled beer or soft drink.

Epiphany is aiming to raise 63,000 pounds on fund raising website Kickstarter to turn the prototype into a gadget that can be mass-manufactured.

By Feb 8, more than 25,000 pounds had been raised, and early birds can still get in for a 62-pound pledge price.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/now-charge-your-phone-powered-by-a-hot-cup-of-coffee-or-a-cold-beer/1073078/

Light bulb shining after an incredible 130 years

12 Feb

While most modern light bulbs barely last a year, a bulb in UK is still glowing after an amazing 130 years, making it one of the oldest in the world.

The bulb, dating from 1883, was clearly built to last with six internal filaments which wobble when in use.

It continued to give good service throughout two world wars, shining well into the new millennium, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.

The bulb first belonged to the late Florence Crook who once took it to school to dazzle her classmates. It then passed down to her son Kenneth, in Morecambe, Lancshire and is still in use by his widow Beth, 79, at their home.

“It’s a real talking point. There is no substitute for craftsmanship. The new eco bulbs take all week to warm up and hardly give off any light,” Beth told the ‘Daily Express’.

The bulb, marked EDISWAN, has the number 200-32:B.56 on the glass. The UK’s previously oldest working bulb surfaced after 113 years continuous use in Margate, Kent, in 2008.

Ediswan was a collaboration between the British Physicist Sir Joseph Swan and US scientist Thomas Alva Edison, both of whom are independently credited with the invention of the light bulb in 1879.

Swan’s break through was to use a vacuum which meant there was very little oxygen inside the bulb so the filament to glow white-hot without catching fire.

It rolled of the production line as Queen Victoria was beginning her 64th year on the throne and William Gladstone was the UK Prime Minister, the report said.

According to the Guinness Book of Records the world’s oldest light bulb in continuous use has been burning for 109 years and holds pride of place in Fire Station 6, in Livermore, northern California.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/light-bulb-shining-after-an-incredible-130-years/1073013/0