Nokia 1100 is Still the Biggest Selling Handset in the World

The world’s best selling phone is not the iPhone but something very old and not a smartphone at all? Remember the classic old Nokia 1100, the phone we all perhaps began with? While the iPhone 6 may have sold 71 million units in about three months, the numbers have nothing on the Nokia 1100.

 

The Nokia 1100 was an entry-level handset that came out in 2003. At the time it was perhaps the best thing to ever hit the mobile market. Lets consider this a 2003 post and talk of the specs that makes the phone a true badass. The handset does not come with two cameras, a curved screen or a snapdragon processor. What it does feature is a torch-light, a pair of no-slip grips, dust-proof case, monochrome graphic with, wait for it, 96 x 65 pixels, monophonic ringtones (36 pre-installed, 7 user-made), interchangeable covers, and an unbreakable will (we mean it).

This smooth handset can also store up to 50 contacts and 50 messages (25 sent, 25 received) and gives a whopping 400 hours standby time between charges. But the one thing that really tied this phone together was Snakes II and Space Impact – those 8-bit games that were played by 250 million people around the world.

We say 250 million because that’s how many units of the Nokia 1100 were sold by 2008, becoming not only the world’s best selling phone, but also the best selling consumer electronics device. There are many reasons behind why the 1100 was the craze at the time. For one thing, the phone was highly affordable at about $100 with all the features mentioned above, which were all that one needed at the time.

The phone was discontinued in 2008 because of the next wave of phones that were coming in, However, in 2009, the obsolete device became something of a collectors item as they were being sold for obscene amounts of money – say $32,000 a piece.

But if you thought you had seen the last of the Nokia 1100, think again. There are rumors that the classic handset might come back with a technological makeover. In March this year, the Nokia 1100 was seen in a GeekBench’s database and suggested that the 2016 Nokia 1100 will feature a quad-core 1.3GHz MediaTek MT-6582 processor and will reportedly run on Android 5.0. However, this could all be an elaborate ruse by Nokia to use an old model since under the terms of its deal with Microsoft, Nokia cannot offer a new smartphone under the last quarter of 2016. It would be fun, though, to see what the 1100 would look like fitted with all the new toys today.

How to Block banner popups on any website domain, using AdBlock

 

Recently there has been some news on the net about the morality of adblock software. On one side, ads are required to run a site, as it generates revenue. On the other side, users have had enough of in-your-face huge ads which consume bandwidth and complicate browsing.

Many sites welcome visitors with huge banners taking up the entire front space, pushing the visitor to a hostage like scenario. Extensions like adblock do a good job of blocking ads on the side of the page content, but cannot block (or do not block, I am not sure) these huge banner ads. Adding a simple rule to the adblocker can  fix the problem for you.

For instance, this is what I got when I visited the website of a news paper in India

 

Heres how to block this ad completely in the future on this site.

1: Install AdBlock extension in your browser.

2: On getting this banner ad, right click on the banner itself and choose Adblock->Block this ad.

3: You will now get a popup with a slider on it. Adjust the slider to the right, so that the banner ad and the transparent overlay disappear completely.

 

4: Click on Looks Good. And on the next pop-up, confirm by clicking on the Block It ! Button.

Adblock will not add a rule into the system, so that any HTML DIV where Id = nlpopup is blocked on this domain.

Thats it ! You will never ever get this ad on this domain again..

Well..until they change the ad DIV or decide on more banner ads again.

Cya !

Antikythera Shipwreck Yields New Cache Of Ancient Treasures

 

Over 2,000 years ago, the churning ocean below the cliffs of the Greek island Antikythera swallowed a massive ship loaded with a trove of luxuries—fine glassware, marble statues and, famously, a complex geared device thought to be the earliest computer.

Discovered by Greek sponge divers in 1900, the shipwreck has since yielded some of the most impressive antiquities to date. And while severe weather has hampered recent dives, earlier this month a team of explorers recovered more than 50 stunning new items, including a bone or ivory flute, delicate glassware fragments, ceramics jugs, parts of the ship itself and a bronze armrest from what was possibly a throne.

“Every single dive on the wreck delivers something interesting; something beautiful,” marvels Brendan Foley, a marine archeologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and co-director of the project. “It’s like a tractor-trailer truck wrecked on the way to Christie’s auction house for fine art—it’s just amazing.”

The wreck of the Antikythera ship hides beneath a few feet of sand and scattered shards of ceramic fragments at a depth of about 180 feet. Following an initial excavation funded by the Greek government, explorer Jacques Cousteau returned to the wreck in 1976 to mine the seemingly endless bounty, recovering hundreds of items.

But with even more modern advances in diving and scientific equipment, scientists believed the Antikythera wreckage had more secrets to reveal.

In 2014, an international team of archaeologists, divers, engineers, filmmakers and technicians embarked on the first excavation of this site in 40 years, using detailed and meticulous scientific techniques to not only find new treasures but also to try and reconstruct the ship's history.

The team used autonomous robots to produce hyper-precise maps of the site in partnership with the University of Sydney Australia, says Foley. These maps—accurate down to about a tenth of an inch—were pivotal for both planning dives and mapping discoveries.

The team also carefully scanned the site with metal detectors, mapping out the extent of the wreckage and deciding where to excavate. Using waterproofed iPads, the divers could mark each new artifact on the map in real time.

For the latest round of dives, a ten-person team logged over 40 hours underwater, surfacing with the fresh haul. Analyzing the artifacts should provide the team with a wealth of information, says Foley.

The Antikythera shipwreck is spread across two different sites separated by about the length of a football field, he says. Analytic tools, like comparing the stamps on amphora handles from each site, will help scientists determine whether the wreck represents one or two ships.

If it was two ships, “that opens up a whole series of questions,” says Foley. “Were they sailing together? Did one try to help the other?”

Still, the large size of objects recovered at the primary wreckage site suggests that at least one ship was massive, akin to an ancient grain ship. One such item recently recovered as part of the latest haul was a lead salvage ring about 15.7 inches wide, used to straighten tangled anchor lines. 

image: http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/07/fe/07feeb87-006f-4722-9a41-3c32a2344845/at1.jpg__600x0_q85_upscale.jpg

In their latest expedition, divers recovered over 50 artifacts, which hint at the history of the massive ship. (Brett Seymour EUA/ARGO)

 

The wreck of the Antikythera ship is buried under several feet of sand and scattered shards of ceramic fragments at a depth of about 180 feet. (Brett Seymour EUA/ARGO)

 

An autonomous underwater vehicle surveys the wreck, creating a three-dimensional map of the site. (Phillip Short ARGO)

 

During the latest round of dives, the team logged over 40 hours underwater. (Brett Seymour EUA/ARGO)

 

Divers carefully clear away sand and rubble to recover the often delicate artifacts. (Brett Seymour EUA/ARGO)

image: http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/a7/3a/a73a6107-ab1f-4f85-a6a0-5b52052e46a4/at3.jpg__600x0_q85_upscale.jpg

A diver displays his find. The shipwreck has yielded some of the most impressive antiquities to date. (Brett Seymour EUA/ARGO)

 

Scientists will study each artifact recovered in great detail, with hopes to reconstruct the history of the ship and its precious cargo. (Brett Seymour EUA/ARGO)

Scientists hope to learn more about the origin of the ship—or ships—by analyzing the isotopic composition of lead artifacts similar to this ring, which will yield information about where the vessel itself was made.

For the ceramic artifacts, the team plans to look closely at any residues preserved inside the container walls. “Not only are [the ceramics] beautiful in their own right, but we can extract DNA from them,” says Foley. That could give information about ancient medicines, cosmetics and perfumes.

The team currently has plans to head back out to the site in May, but the future of the project is open-ended. With so much information to glean from the current set of artifacts, Foley says that they could let the site sit for another generation. With the rapid advance of technology, future expeditions may have even better techniques and be able to discover even more about the wreckage.

“What will be available a generation from now, we can’t even guess,” he says.

Why India Won't Get A Permanent Seat At UNSC

India has been actively pursuing its quest for permanent membership of the UN Security Council (UNSC). It has pushed for text based negotiations in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) as a step to move forward the agenda of UNSC reform and expansion stuck fruitlessly in the Open-Ended Working Group all these years. Now that the UNGA has resolved to commence such negotiations in the 70th UNGA session, there is sense of progress. Many would rightly say that the start of text based negotiations does not mean that India is anywhere near obtaining permanent membership. The text in question is not a mature document that could be finalised or significantly progressed during the current UNGA session. In reality, this is the start of a long drawn-out process with no visible closure date. No breakthrough that brings us within striking distance of our aspiration has actually been achieved.

Hard reality

Some believe that an unjustified sense of achievement is being projected officially, or, worse, that official India is being hopelessly naive in ignoring the hard reality that UNSC expansion remains a remote proposition. To think that our professionals have been hypnotised by their success in terms of better structuring the process would be unwarranted. They understand that the process now begun does not guarantee success on substance within any predictable time-frame. The negotiating text is a 25 page document that contains the views of diverse groups of countries, whether the L69, the G-4 or the African group, on five identified parameters, namely, the size of the expansion in the permanent and non-permanent categories, regional distribution, the working methods of the Security Council, its relationship with the UNGA, and veto powers. These are complex issues on which negotiations could drag on for ages. To expect concrete results from the 70th UNGA session would be to harbour illusions.

Nevertheless, to view the introduction of a negotiating text as a futile exercise would not be justified either. That China, Russia and the Uniting for Consensus (UFC) countries (comprising countries like Pakistan, Italy, Mexico, Egypt, South Korea etc) have rejected the text and strongly opposed its introduction suggests that they see this step as a breach in their strategy to continue stalling the process of reform and expansion through open-ended discussions without any working text. They have made demarches with member states to change their position, but without success. China, Russia and US have effectively boycotted the process by refusing to provide any inputs to the negotiating text. The UFC countries too have not provided any input but have asked the UNGA president to attach their letter to the text. France and UK have, on the contrary, provided inputs. Russia’s negative position has been particularly noted in India. We expect China to block our bid for permanent membership as much as possible.

Highly restrictive

We know the highly restrictive US position on expansion, including its ambivalent phraseology on our claim for permanent membership. Russia has supported our candidature for years now, which is why its heavy-duty opposition to a negotiating text has come as a surprise. This suggests that they along with China actually do not want UNSC expansion. In discussions with us the Russians apparently claim that they have no issue with India’s membership and that of Brazil, but are strongly against that of Japan and Germany. The UN Charter requires a two-third majority for amendments, but Russia wants the expansion and reform issue to be decided by a larger majority, a “near consensus” as they say.

Current challenge

Russia otherwise insists on the supremacy of the Charter, but, inconsistently, not in this case. Their other argument that the vote will be “divisive” is not convincing because the last expansion was decided not only by a two-third majority, but was divisive, as two permanent members abstained. While we are of the view that reform and expansion will improve the functioning of the UNSC, the Russians are concerned about disintegration and fragmentation of the UN as a result. We would prefer Russia to be less rejectionist on the issue.

The immediate challenge is to ensure that the next UNGA chair picks up the baton from his predecessor and sees that Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) on the negotiating text begin in November. Beyond that, if no consensus is reached on a text which can be put to a vote- which one can safely assume would be the case — other choices are available. It can be a member driven or chair driven process. A broader coalition, which would include India, can take the initiative to present their own text for vote. The ING chair at some stage can present a text-a “zero draft” for further negotiations, emulating the process followed with the adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda by world leaders this month in New York. If ever a decision gets taken with no P-5 veto in the UNSC (politically difficult if the UNGA delivers a two-third majority on the issue), all member countries will have to ratify the agreement.

If cynics are right in doubting whether the P-5 will easily agree to share power with would-be aspirants, the more hopeful may not be wrong in believing that circumstances will force a change. The crisis we see today reflect the failure of the UNSC as presently constituted to ensure global peace and security.

Gold Schemes Are Impractical And Unworkable.

 

The government has announced the Gold Bond and Gold Monetization schemes with great fanfare. The aim is to utilize the approximately 25000 Tonnes of gold in the country and channel them into financial savings or instruments so that annual gold imports of 800-1000 Tonnes come down. However, as is the case with most of the Government schemes, the actual rules, regulations, KYC requirements, capital gains, low rates of interest of 2.5% etc. are likely to make these schemes unworkable.

Buying gold has been a tradition in India not for decades but centuries. Wearing gold jewelry and gifting during marriages is a part of Indian tradition. Over the last 10-15 years, there has also been a huge increase in buying of gold in the form of coins and bars for two reasons. The first is that these are being accumulated for future use as parents use their current cash flows to accumulate gold for their children’s marriages.
The second has been the investment buying which has been a result of the secular uptrend in the value of gold over the last decade where gold prices went up despite the crash in equities, real estate etc. till 3 years back after which gold has fallen or stagnated. The total value of gold at the current prices will be in a range of $ 800 billion to $ 1 Trillion.

Why the current scheme is unworkable:

1. The government and its officials have gone at length to explain that this is not an amnesty scheme and as such anyone disclosing their gold run the risk of getting the infamous tax department after them.
2. Secondly, while most of us staying in cities and saving money in banks might still think that possibly making 2-2.5% on idle gold makes sense, for a majority of Indians as well as the informal sector, the cost of borrowings varies between 12-24% per annum depending on the place, need or vocation. As such this rate of interest is unlikely to attract anyone.
3. As far as gold in the form of jewelry or even coins goes, the making charges are in the range of 2-10% as such it makes no sense for people to surrender gold in this form to the RBI or the Government.Such monetization will be an absolute no starter.
4. The only target segments that are likely to oblige the government could be some large temple trusts like Tirupati etc. A lot depends on how the large temple trusts respond.
5. It is estimated that around 20-30% of the total annual demand is for investments. Now the government and those positive on the Gold Bond Scheme might assume that some part of this might get into Gold Bonds.
   There are two issues with this. First, a lot of it again would be cash purchases & second when the RBI issues Gold Bonds, who takes on the price risk of Gold? Will it not have to go and hedge by buying gold and in turn make the entire exercise futile?
6. I am not aware of the statistics, however it will be interesting to see how much capital gains the government actually gets out of purchase and sale of Gold. My view is that it will be negligible except for those holding ETF’s. As such, why would these people come out and invest in an instrument where Capital Gains tax is applicable.

The Government is not clear about what the purpose is. If the purpose is to lower imports, control CAD, get money into financial savings etc. then the route is different.

Why a gold amnesty scheme would work better:

There is a huge amount of gold which is there with Indians that has either been bought in cash or is there as ancestral holding which has not been declared as official holding. Gold and Land have been the two main assets that have been used to deploy unaccounted cash in India.
As such a majority of gold where the source cannot be proved cannot form a part of the above plans of the government. In my view a one-time amnesty scheme makes more sense.

Unlike a normal amnesty scheme, where the undeclared income is converted into white by just paying tax on it the gold amnesty scheme will have to run differently as no one will like to pay upfront tax on the value of the asset that they are declaring.

I believe that the best way to run this scheme will be as follows

• As the first step, the gold will be declared by the holders to the government and the government will, in turn, issue 10-year zero coupon bonds to the people who declare the gold. The yield on these bonds will be in the region of 3-4% and on redemption the amount that is paid will not be taxed in the hands of the holder. The post-tax yield on ordinary 10-year bonds are in the region of 6% and as such the 1-2% gap will take care of the tax that the declarer has not paid on the black money used to buy gold.
• At the second step, the government will have to decide what to do with the gold that it has got. One option would be to sell it to the RBI which will then add this gold to the foreign exchange reserves and in turn given the equivalent money in INR to the government.
• The other option will be for the RBI to sell this gold in the international market, realize the money in USD and provide the equivalent INR amount to the government.
• The last option will be for the Government to open up the gold so bought for purchase by the Indian Public. This will cut down imports of gold significantly.

Any of these options will boost the Foreign Exchange reserves, stabilize the rupee and build Foreign Exchange Reserves. Now the question is how much gold will the government need to get to make a meaningful impact. At current prices one ton of gold will be approximately $ 40 million. As such 25 tons will be required for $ 1 billion. As such the government needs to target a quantity of 1000 tons for an amount of $ 40 billion. This is 4% of the current holding of gold in India.

Given that the government will be able to realize around Rest 2,50,000 Cr in 10-year money it will also remove crowding out from the economy. This will give a significant leeway for the Indian Economy till the time till the government takes steps to resolve that Current Account Deficit problem in a more sustainable manner.