Chidambaram renews talks offer

Terming Maoists ‘cowards,' Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram made a fresh offer of talks with the rebels if they abjured violence. He ruled out military action against them.

On his maiden visit to the Maoist-affected region to review the progress of the anti-Maoist operations and assess the situation, he said that while the lack of development was an issue, he requested the people not to extend either material or moral support to the Maoists since “they will only continue killing people.”

“The naxals are cowards. Why are they hiding in the forests? We had invited them for talks…If they really want development…, they are welcome to talk about anything in the world. Just give up violence,” he told journalists after his two-and-half-hour visit.

Mr. Chidambaram also slammed the Maoist-backed Police Santrash Birodhi Janasadharaner Committee (PSBJC) for “directly or indirectly” supporting the Maoists and offered to use his “good offices” to talk to the State government if it had a “genuine problem.”

After his arrival here, Mr. Chidambaram held an hour-long meeting with both security and administrative officials at the Lalgarh thana and then interacted with the locals about their grievances.

Denying that under-development was driving the locals to back the Maoists, he said: “Very poor people live in this part of West Bengal, and nobody supports the naxalites…they are, no doubt, unhappy that development has not come to this area, but they also know that the naxals are not going to bring about any development.”

Acknowledging the grievances over the lack of education, proper ration, electricity and medical care, he said the State government should improve its performance.

Saying that the visit made a “mixed impression” upon him about the security operations, Mr. Chidambaram said that though the positive part was that a “few key naxalites” could be neutralised, the “weak” part was that Maoist killings continued. The Home Secretary and the Director-General of Police were asked to work on the weaknesses.

IPad Likely Beat Estimates, Signaling Tablet Revival

April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. probably sold more than twice as many iPads in its debut weekend as some analysts estimated, an early sign that Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs may succeed at reviving demand for tablet-style computers.

The iPad’s initial sales may have reached 700,000 units, Piper Jaffray & Co.’s Gene Munster said in an interview yesterday. The Minneapolis-based analyst had predicted sales of 200,000 to 300,000, while Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.’s Toni Sacconaghi had projected 300,000 to 400,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Mark Moskowitz estimated 825,000 in the quarter to June.

The device went on sale April 3, drawing crowds to stores across the U.S. and rivaling the frenzy seen when the iPhone was introduced in 2007. Lines at five stores surveyed by Piper Jaffray were longer than expected, yet Apple had iPads available late in the opening day, signaling the company was able to produce enough devices to fulfill initial demand, Munster said.

“Sales held relatively steady during the day,” said Munster, who bought a $499, 16-gigabyte model for himself. “I have high expectations.”

The iPad is Apple’s bid to turn tablet computers into popular consumer devices, something rivals such as Microsoft Corp. have failed to do. The product builds on the success of Apple’s iPhone and iPod, staking out the middle ground between smartphones and laptop computers. Apple is betting the design is enticing enough that consumers are willing to pay a premium over low-cost notebooks. It starts at $499.

‘Unique, Sexier’

“It’s ridiculously expensive, way overpriced,” said Josh Klenert, a 36-year-old graphic designer, who still went ahead and bought one. “You may call it a dumb computer or a smart telephone --it’s in between. It’s a unique, sexier device.”

Klenert, whose one-bedroom apartment in Tribeca has “more Macs than people,” pre-ordered the iPad as soon as it was available and came down to Apple’s SoHo store in New York to be one of the first to buy it. He plans to use it for reading newspapers and magazines.

Hundreds of shoppers lined up to wait for stores to open, though crowds didn’t camp out for days this time, as they did when the iPhone debuted. Many of the buyers identified themselves as early adopters and Apple enthusiasts, making it harder to tell if the iPad will win over mainstream customers.

“I love it,” said Jacob Arentoft, a 37-year-old digital business developer from Copenhagen. After exiting Apple’s Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan, he unpacked the brand-new silver gadget and waved it at the crowd. “The size fits, the design fits, everything fits.”

Positive Reviews

Jobs made an opening-day appearance at his hometown store in Palo Alto, California, chatting with shoppers. Apple retail chief Ron Johnson was at the Fifth Avenue store and addressed employees before it opened.

Users can surf the Internet, peruse digital books, watch video and play games on the iPad. What it lacks is a built-in camera or support for Adobe Systems Inc.’s Flash software, which runs much of the video on the Web. The device also doesn’t let users carry out multiple tasks at once.

The iPad’s first wave of reviews praised its ability to deliver digital books and video quickly, saying it measures up well against other devices, including Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle e-book reader. Bloomberg columnist Rich Jaroslovsky said it may change the way people relate to computers, requiring users to learn a “new language” that Apple has made “both elegant and very easy to master.” USA Today’s Edward Baig called the iPad “fun, simple, stunning to look at and blazingly fast.”

TV Shows

Tablets have been available in one form or another since the 1990s, without ever catching on. They account for less than 1 percent of the personal-computer market, according to research firm Gartner Inc.

The iPad’s success will depend partly on the attractiveness of applications that run on it. CBS Corp., the most-watched U.S. TV network, announced plans last week to offer episodes of shows such as “Survivor” and “CSI” on the iPad. Walt Disney Co. will release iPad applications for ABC shows and ESPN games. And Netflix Inc., the movie-rental company, will let subscribers watch programming streamed to the iPad.

Apple, which has more than doubled in the past year, rose 97 cents to close at a record $235.97 April 1 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. U.S. markets were closed April 2 for the Good Friday holiday.

Like the iPhone, the iPad will test Apple’s ability to conquer new markets. Since returning to the company in 1997, Jobs revived the Macintosh computer business, reshaped digital music with the iPod and pushed Apple into the mobile-phone field. Adding those products propelled revenue and profit to record levels.

Sales Estimates

When the iPhone debuted, Apple struggled to keep it in stock. Most of its stores quickly sold out, and resellers on EBay and Craigslist hawked the device to desperate shoppers for as much as $12,000. Apple sold about 270,000 iPhones in its 2007 debut weekend.

Apple may sell about 5 million iPads in the first 12 months, compared with 6.1 million iPhones in its first year on the market, according to Sacconaghi. JPMorgan’s Moskowitz forecast annual sales will reach 4.8 million, the San Francisco-based analyst wrote in a report today. Researcher ISuppli Corp. says full-year sales may reach 7.1 million globally.

Apple declined to comment, said Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for the Cupertino, California-based company.

At the outset, iPads will connect to the Web through localized hot spots that use Wi-Fi technology. Some shoppers may wait for a version with 3G, which lets the iPad connect to mobile-phone networks. It’s due later this month.

Luis Martinez, a 30-year-old from Brooklyn who repairs computers, bought a Wi-Fi iPad on April 3 and already put in an order for the 3G version.

“People who criticize iPad are basically saying it doesn’t fit their lifestyle. It fits mine,” Martinez said. “Overall, I’m sold.”

--With assistance from Amy Thomson in Southern Pines, North Carolina; Mina Kawai, Arik Hesseldahl and Joe Sabo in New York; Katie Hoffmann in St. Louis; Dan Hart in Washington, Harriet Mankoff in Palo Alto, California; Marc Perrier in San Francisco; and Pavel Alpeyev in Tokyo. Editors: Nick Turner, Ville Heiskanen

Benefits of Automated Testing

Reliable: Tests perform precisely the same operations each time they are run, thereby eliminating human error

Repeatable: You can test how the software reacts under repeated execution of the same operations.

Programmable: You can program sophisticated tests that bring out hidden information from the application.

Comprehensive: You can build a suite of tests that covers every feature in your application.

Reusable: You can reuse tests on different versions of an application, even if the user interface changes.

Better Quality Software: Because you can run more tests in less time with fewer resources

Fast: Automated Tools run tests significantly faster than human users.

Cost Reduction: As the number of resources for regression test are reduced.

Audio of Simha in market

The audio of NBK-Nayanatara starrer - Simha - was directly released into the market.

The film made on United Movies banner. The film also stars Namitha and Sneha Ullal, who shared romantic moments with Balakrishna. Directed by Boyapati Sreenu, the flick is directed by Paruchuri Kireeti.

Kireeti said: “Balakrishna is shown in a handsome manner in this film, coupled with multiple shades in his histrionics. We got tremendous response to his getups from the unit members. Music director Chakri came out with some of the scintillating tunes for the film. We chose to release the audio directly into the market. The shoot of Simha almost came to end and the rerecording works had already started. The film would hit the marquee in April.”

Director Boyapati Seenu said: “I directed the film keeping in view the extensive fan base of the hero. It would entertain both the class and mass audiences.”

Graphical User Interface (GUI) Testing

Many test automation tools provide record and playback features that allow users to interactively record user actions and replay it back any number of times, comparing actual results to those expected. The advantage of this approach is that it requires little or no software development. This approach can be applied to any application that has a graphical user interface. However, reliance on these features poses major reliability and maintainability problems. Relabelling a button or moving it to another part of the window may require the test to be re-recorded. Record and playback also often adds irrelevant activities or incorrectly records some activities.

A variation on this type of tool is for testing of web sites. Here, the "interface" is the web page. This type of tool also requires little or no software development. However, such a framework utilizes entirely different techniques because it is reading html instead of observing window events.

Another variation is scriptless test automation that does not use record and playback, but instead builds a model of the application under test and then enables the tester to create test cases by simply editing in test parameters and conditions. This requires no scripting skills, but has all the power and flexibility of a scripted approach. Test-case maintenance is easy, as there is no code to maintain and as the application under test changes the software objects can simply be re-learned or added. It can be applied to any GUI-based software application.

Mundhinam Parthene – Movie Review

The film goes splendid with slight, charming and refreshingly good love story, though the plot remains clichéd. Debutant Magizh Thirumeni strike starts off well inheriting certain traits from his mentor Gowtham Menon. Say for instance, the technical vistas are delivered with excellence that in times trivializes the drawbacks over narrative aspects.

A feel-good love story centering on a young lad’s expedition of a true love that has a league of unfamiliar faces, yet close to realness.

Sanjay (Sanjay), a tekkie has everything in life – fun, work and money. But that doesn’t make his life complete as he wants his better-half to be a latest fad with traditional prospects. Pooja (Pooja), a boisterously playful girl often bellyached for her acts makes Sanjay fall for her. His heart breaks down after knowing that she’s already engaged to another man. A dance exponent Aarthi (Ektha) living with her independent thoughts indeed draws him to her. When they’re actually in love, certain ambiguities break loose out of hell drifting them apart. The third-fangled girl enters – Pooja (Lizna), his colleague, whom he perceives to be his right match.

But, it’s time to rethink again between his choices and what follows next is a sweet journey of exploring real love.

Newcomers Sanjay, Ektha, Lizna and Pooja are as new to the lens as they seem to be doubtful at few points. Maybe, the miniscule group of audiences may relate themselves over the screens as filmmaker adds realistic touch while delineating these characters. The first hour has lots of fun with the office room dramas of techies. The springy pals of Sanjay do engross us at various parts while the narration slightly drags during second hour. But, with a shorter duration of just 108mins, you can take a chance of watching this film for its kind of presentation.

Thaman’s musical score is good, but he has to improvise on tuning melodies out on various styles as every song seems to correlating with each other. Cinematography is esthetical while Anthony’s editing is hunky-dory of his kind of traits.

With nothing much point on flip sides except amateurish gestures of actors which manifestly gets trivialized, filmmaker Magizh Thirumeni makes a good start in tinsel town.

Let’s hope his upcoming films are yet more finely exquisite catering for universal audiences unlike ‘Mundhinam Parthene’ that favors just the multiplex audiences.

ORTIVA WIRELESS SELECTS ITEST FOR AUTOMATED TESTING

Fanfare, delivering innovative testing solutions to service providers (SPs), network equipment manufacturers (NEMs), and enterprises, today announced that Ortiva Wireless has selected Fanfare's iTest®, the company's flagship test automation software, to automate the company's end-to-end testing process.

Ortiva Wireless develops advanced commercial solutions for the proactive management of mobile video. The company's mobile Video Optimization Gateway (mVOG) reduces bandwidth, increases network efficiency, and improves video coverage density for mobile operators. Ortiva Wireless will move to iTest as its automation platform, mitigating the need to build an in-house system and drastically reducing the reliance on a manual test process. As a result, test cases can be reused and referenced at any point during a product's testing cycle to speed time to market while increasing quality.

"iTest has had a dramatic impact in the short time it's been deployed. In the first three months alone, we've been able to generate hundreds of test suites - a feat simply not possible with the patchwork of internally built software and manual testing practices previously used," said Faisal Mushtaq, vice president of engineering for Ortiva Wireless. "We now have a fully automated suite of tests we can leverage for future products. Not only does this enable us to get our products to our customers more quickly, but it ensures the product and quality are optimized to in turn provide the video optimization services our customers and their subscribers expect."

More complex and powerful devices need a new way to test the extensive feature set without losing market advantages based on long testing cycles. Using iTest, Ortiva Wireless will eliminate the use of scripting languages such as Tcl and Perl. This will boost testing and productivity allowing product testing to keep pace with product development. Furthermore, new graduates no longer have formal training in these areas.

iTest is the leading commercially developed test automation software solution enabling testers and developers to define and execute tests verifying the functionality, performance, and behavior of a device or group of devices. These tests can then be used to find, reproduce, and resolve defects more quickly and enable an automated regression system. iTest customers experience greater testing coverage, earlier defect detection, faster testing cycles, and reduction of testing backlogs, resulting in faster time to market, improved profit margins, and enhanced customer service.

In addition, iTest's Virtual Testbed feature delivers considerable value to testing organizations by enabling testers to build test cases before devices even exist, beginning the quality process months earlier than before.

"The addition of Ortiva Wireless to our customer roster provides a snapshot into the wireless ecosystem that exists today," said Tom Ryan, president and CEO of Fanfare. "Optimization at all levels of the supply chain - from the beginning of the product lifecycle through to the carrier's ability to deliver quality services to its subscribers - demonstrates the increasing need for collaboration between vendors. A strategic approach to testing, particularly with the rollout of complex 4G networks and services, will provide significant market advantages for our customers."

About Fanfare

Fanfare provides automated testing solutions that enable service providers, network equipment manufacturers, and enterprises to enhance productivity throughout the quality workflow by streamlining system and device testing, reducing product cycles, and lowering costs. Using Fanfare, quality assurance teams and developers can leverage a common testing platform to deliver quality services and products to market faster and more efficiently. For more information, please visit www.fanfaresoftware.com.

About Ortiva Wireless

Ortiva Wireless offers the industry's most advanced commercial solution for proactive management of mobile video, allowing service providers to dramatically improve control, quality, and efficiency of rich media content delivery. Ortiva's mobile Video Optimization Gateway (mVOG) extends service reach, increases network efficiency, and improves video coverage density for mobile operators, while dynamically shaping the content to give subscribers the smoothest video and clearest audio experience possible - all regardless of fluctuating and hostile wireless network conditions. To learn more about how Ortiva is accelerating mobile video delivery, visit www.ortivawireless.com. Ortiva Wireless - Amazing Video Wherever You Go(TM)

NOTE: Ortiva is a trademark of Ortiva Wireless, Inc. All other registered or unregistered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners

Source: Fanfare