Submit Sitemaps to all Search Engine

I guess you all know what sitemap is ? If not here is a breif description
A site map (or sitemap) is a list of pages of a web site accessible to crawlers or users.

It becomes very important to submit the sitemap so that the search engine crawlers can go thru this sitemap and index your pages. Once the search engine index your pages, it can easily list your website when user does a search and if the content in your site matches to that of the user requirement. So make sure that you have your sitemap submitted.


I had asked this question to many of the bloggers on if they had submitted the sitemap and how did they do it.

Forutnately most of the bloggers were aware of the sitemap and they said they created one and submitted to Google webmaster using the Google webmaster tool. And when I asked what next ? They said its over, they see their pages indexed and see their webpages listed when they did search on the Google.

I asked what about other search engines. Are their webpages getting displayed when they search in other search engines than Google. Most of them answered saying if we submit to one search engine then it will be indexed and other search engines will automaitcally list the websites.

Believe in me that if you are one among the bloggers who are thinking like that, then you are loosing visitors who search using search engines other than google. You can verify it yourself. Assume you have submitted your sitemap to google. Now you do a keywaird search in Google Search Engine and your post gets displayed in the first few search results. Now try the same in another search engine like bing or yahoo. Your post may not be seen even in the first few search result pages. This is because you would have not submitted your sitemap to these search engines.

Eventhough the survey says Google is the best search engine, still there are people who uses Yahoo and bing these days. Make sure you dont miss out those visitors. So add sitemap to those search engines also.

Bing : http://www.bing.com/webmaster
Yahoo : https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/

Please do find out for other popular search engines and update in the comments section.

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Improve your rankings (Alexa & Google)

Alexa ranking and Google page ranks are always a taboo in the internet world. Everyone wants to be there, but not many know how..Even though we are not the top ranked websites to talk about it, I will share what we have learnt over time about these ranking systems.

Traffic:
One of the most important thing to have to any website or blog is traffic. We know it, everyone knows it. We need traffic and more the traffic better your ranking.

Page Links:
If many pages or blogs link to your blog, you are king / queen ! Comments sometime count. Your articles in other websites with reference to your blog counts.

Content:
Original content wins over anything else. Just that!

Meta Tags:
Properly tagging your content makes a lot of difference to the search results.

Contact Information:
If you are planning to list in Alexa, register your website in Alexa and provide information as required. This improves your ranking slightly, if not significantly.

Even in Google, try registering with Google Webmaster tools. This improves Google's view of your site or blog.

Search Engine Submission:
Submit your site to various search engines. There are many website which help you submit to multiple search engines at once.

Social Networking:
Try posting your stuff on your social networking  sites like facebook, orkut, myspace with a link back to your website. You never know, may be you have a greater audience here.

Update Update Update:
Keep posting. Updated websites always fetch a better ranking than old sites.

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BSNL EVDO - Beating all boundaries

BSNL has introduced the new EVDO Rev A Technology in some parts of the Chennai city as a test drive. The possible speed which they promise are upto 3.1 Mbps. Competing head-on with Tata Photon Plus and Reliance Net Connect, BSNL has upgraded its age old WLL towers with the new EVDO (3G CDMA) Technology. BSNL has also published in their website, the speeds which the users can expect in various areas of Tamilnadu.

Even though this is in the initial phase, the outcome and response from customers are quite good. Speeds are reaching almost 1.5 Mbps download and around 1 Mbps upload, and the monthly rental is a mere Rs.550 for an unlimited connection.

The Huawei device provided by BSNL costs Rs.3640/- (including tax) and holds a SIM card with the WLL number. Renting of EVDO card is also available, but due to increasing "buyer" demand, BSNL prefers to sell the device.

Check out BSNL Website

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Honda recalls Jazz and City Cars

Automobile Giant Honda recalls 646,000 Fit/Jazz & City cars worldwide because of its window switch defect which could lead to fire.Yesterday it was Toyota and today its Honda.


Whats the problem ?
Under some severe operating conditions, water or any other liquid may enter the driver's window and reach the master power window switch resulting in impaired function of the switch. If the master power switch is damaged then it may lead to fire and and threat to life. There were three reported cases of fire due to the defect two in America and one in South Africa.

Jazz in India wont be hit
Honda spokesperson in India said it wont affect Jazz in India because the hatchback sold in India are next generation model and the defects pertains only to the previous generation models which was not sold to India.

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An Impressive Advertisement

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Apple Ipad

The much awaited Apple Ipad is out and started to be the talk of the world. Is it an iphone or a mac laptop ? Certainly not its in between them. You get the best experience
of web, Email, Photos, Music & Videos through this Ipad.

Then the question arises how different is it from Mac Laptop? You cannot run any softwares in this. May be set of pre defined softwares which are already installed can be used.

Technical Specification
Height:9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
Width:7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
Depth:0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
Weight:1.5 pounds (0.68 kg) Wi-Fi model;
1.6 pounds (0.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model

For full technical specs check out this link


Apple sets the starting model price to $499 which will have 16GB memory extending upto 64 GB equipped with 3g capability around $829.



As we all know Apple started the feature of rotating the content inside the screen to landscape or portrait by just turning the device. So all those features are all available in this Ipad. Also Apple has provided the SDK to the developers to start creating applications for Ipad. Soon this will open up jobs for more developers to build applications.The pictures and the text are all very crisp and vibrant display in the Ipad.

Looks like Apple has release another gadget which will be predominant in the market in another few months.

Is this a competitor to Amazon's Kindle. We are yet to see. But I am sure that there was not this much of talks when Amazon's kindle was released What say ;)

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Oracle acquires Sun

Oracle finally announces the acquisition of Sun. Now along with its other products Oracle now has addition of servers, storage, SPARC processors, the Solaris operating system, Java, and the MySQL database.
Sun Chairman Scott McNealy said "My hat is off to one of the greatest capitalists I have ever met, Larry Ellison,".

Now you can no longer see the Sun's homepage. www.sun.com is redirected to Oracle.com where it says Software Hardware Complete. European Union has been withholding this merge as they were questioning about the future of the open source database MYSQL. But now the deal is all over.

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Hoisting the National Flag

Being a national symbol it is respected by every Indian . There are certain dos and donts laid down for common people regarding Indian flag:

• When the National Flag is raised the saffron color band should be at the top.
  
• No flag or emblem should be placed either above the National Flag or to its right.
• All other flags to be placed to the left of the National Flag if they are hung in a line.
•  When the National Flag is carried in a procession or parade, it shall be on the marching right or in front of the center of the line, if there are other flags in line.
  
• The National Flag or any imitation of it must not be used for purpose of trade, business, or profession.
• The National Flag should always be taken down in the evening at sunset.

According to flag code of India, citizens of India do not have the right to hoist the Indian flag except for some important days like Republic day, Independence day and Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.
A renowned industrialist Naveen Jindal challenged this in the court of law.The court's decision is pending in this regard but a temporary permission has been granted to Indian citizens to hoist the flag on any day but in a respectable manner.

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Backup your online activities for FREE

How will it be if you can backup all your facebook statuses, Emails from Hotmail, blogs from blogger and images from flickr to one single location - Your Hard Disk !!

Yeah, its now true with Backupify!. They are giving away free accounts till the 31st of January 2010. You can also choose to backup to their Amazon S3 account, or your own Amazon S3 account, apart from downloading stuff to your local hard disk.

https://www.backupify.com

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Manage your finances

The most important thing to be done today is to manage your finances. Recession has had its toll on many industries and there are a few who escaped. Be it recession or not, the best thing to do is plan your finances and save some for the rainy day.

Here are list of few websites, which help you manage your financial portfolio:

1. Perfios - Personal Finance
Manage all your personal finance accounts, including savings bank, loans, fixed deposits, insurance online. The more famous online banking, credit card account are linkable.
Perfios gives a snapshot of your personal financial status in one page. Takes time to enter all data, but its worth the effort.
http://www.perfios.com/

2. Artha Money - Money Manager
Almost the same service as Perfios, but from a well known brand. The accounts linking available are still not complete, but the portfolio you can build is very good.
http://www.arthamoney.com

Although the two more which we are listing don't exactly come into the "Financial Portfolio", they help you track your daily expenses, which you can record and review.
The biggest advantage in these two websites apart from the expense tracking, is the way you can record your expenses - Through a simple text message (SMS).

3. Paisagate
Expense tracking to a very good extent, detects the categories almost automatically, all you have to do is send an SMS to their number and it reflects in your account. You can add tracking accounts (credit cards, bank accounts) and also shared expenses can be tracked
http://www.paisagate.com

4. Trackspends
Similar website to paisagate, but slightly simpler. Shared expenses can be tracked. They also have a J2ME application which can be downloaded for your mobile. This software sends a text message and doesn't need GPRS (You need GPRS only for downloading the client).
http://www.trackspends.com

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Faster Train Ticket Booking - IRCTC Beta

A simpler interface for a faster ticketing was always what I was looking for. Now its here. Welcome to the New Beta Version of IRCTC Lite Booking.
Its lite and so its fast.
Train availability is on-the-fly and booking is blazing fast.

Very useful to tatkal bookings when the whole website is stuck till all the tickets are booked!http://www.irctc.co.in/cgi-bin/beta.dll/irctc/services/home.do

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Google Docs - Upload any file format

Now you can upload documents of any file types in google docs. Google claims that the file size can be upto 250 MB. Previously google docs converts the documents you upload to the Google docs format which helps you to edit the documents online. Now its up to you to decide whether you need the documents to be converted or not. You can save the document in the format you like just by deselecting the option provided while uploading the document.

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White Out Movie Review

Its very rare that one gets to see Antarctica except for the few documentaries that gets telecast on National Geographic Channel or Discovery Channel where the thrill of being in the coldest place in the earth somehow gets unnoticed. Warner Bros along with Dark Castle Entertainment decided to make a film that takes place in Antarctica from beginning to finish and thus "White Out" a thriller was made.

The theme of White Out is no different from the previous movies which you normally see taking place in the snow capped mountains. The minor difference in this movie is that a U.S Marshall who had the experience of a failed drug mafia encounter decides to shift her place of work and ends up in the South Pole to investigate a murder.

Stecko (Kate Beckinsale) plays the U.S Marshall who smartly discovers the motive behind the murder with her partner from UN Robert Pryce (Gabriel Macht) within three days of their landing in the snow filled region which does not have permanent residents and where temperatures touch -65'c during non-winter season.

Winter fast approaching they had a task in hand to accomplish which unfortunately they couldn't courtesy the secret behind a missing cargo plane which had valuable cargo in it. Stecko and Pryce labor hard only to find out that the man behind the crime is one who happens to be very close to them.

The stunning feature of this movie is the scenic beauty of Antarctica replicated exactly in the studios. Though there are few errors like people running in their birthday suits in one scene and in another unable to speak because they did not have their jerkins on. Kate Beckinsale never looks pale due to the snow which is quite amusing.

"White Out" with few errors it takes you on a roller-coaster ride to Antarctica.

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Wrong Turn At Tahoe Movie Review

Cuba Gooding Jr. after spate of flops on the big screen decided to do direct to dvd movies which are normally less expensive to make and the returns were decent enough to keep the ball rolling and he had been quite successful in that market. The biggest hindrance that came in the way for Cuba Gooding Jr. was that he needed to be better than his previous movie which somehow did not happen and what we were treated was in the end nothing more than mediocre stuff.

Wrong Turn At Tahoe is one such mediocre movie from Cuba Gooding Jr.'s career point of view. The story is the same that has been repeated number of times and normally actions speak louder than words which unfortunately is redundant in this action flick. However the surprise element in this movie is actor Miguel Ferrer who in the character of Vincent is a treat to watch. Its high time Gooding Jr. takes note of his fellow actors and improve his standards accordingly.

The story is very simple and predictable. Vincent who is a mafia don kills a small time drug dealer Frankie Tahoe (Noel Gugliemi) who incidentally happens to be the right hand of the biggest don Nino (Harvey Keitel). Nino spurned by the killing takes revenge on Vincent by eliminating his lady love Tiff (Genevieve Alexandra).

The movie ends with Vincent retaliating his loss by killing Nino and his men. The screenplay looks dull complimented by the mediocre acting. Director Frank Khalfoun looks like he had embarked on a journey in which he was not too convinced about. Except for the brilliance of Miguel Ferrer there is absolutely nothing in this action thriller.

"Wrong Turn At Tahoe" a misfit in the action genre.

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Sherlock Holmes

Let me be straight about certain things before going into the movie part ,

• Sherlock Holmes is a legendary fictitious detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is also famous for his another work namely "The Lost World" which was the inspiration for many movie & tv series of the same name.
  
• Seldom have i read or seen any work related to Sherlock Holmes until this movie.

PLOT : " Sherlock Holmes & his partner Watson are on the trail of Lord Blackwood ,a notorious criminal who is on the verge of bringing about a new world order with his diabolical plans. "



Well first things first ,whenever is see a kick-ass movie i usually keep expecting more from it but sadly most Hollywood flicks have a runtime only about 90 mins or so but this film more than satisfied me with a runtime of about 120 mins.

120mins of pure adrenaline pumping action ,comedy & ofcourse the versatile characterizations of history's most famous detective & his trusted partner.

Guy Ritchie has directed the movie with panache ,right from the start the film moves at a rapid pace keeping the viewer engrossed with it.The director must recieve loads of accolades for providing a clean entertainer with the right dosage of facts & logics.

Equal appreciation must also be given to the writers of the film who have provided an excellent screenplay that caters the needs of many genres of this film ,be it action ,comedy or mystery.The film scores in all these aspects.

Casting couldn't have been better ,Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes was a treat to watch with his terrific body language that evokes laughter at the right times.Jude Law as Watson has more than done justice to his part as the trusted partner ,the presence of these two characters is dynamite onscreen.

Mark Strong was a convincing villan with his dark attired costumes ,Rachael McAdams was gorgeous as Irene Adler & Eddie Marsan as Inspector Lestrade was perfect.

The art direction is really commendable with real life sets of London transporting the viewer to 19th century England.Costumes were also a perfect sync ,creating the perfect backdrop.

Where the movie really works is with its characters ,each & every character in the film is etched out really well with a touch of realism.Robert Downey Jr has brought to life the legendary detective ,furthermore was his sense of comedy at which he excelled throughout the film.

I dunno how ardent fans of Sherlock Holmes would react to this portrayal but i loved it to the core.The way how a detective works & the speed at which the clues are unravelled are sketched out neatly.

The plot was a bit confusing at first which kept building up right upto the penultimate scene during which every question & logic is answered at a breakneck speed.

Music by multi-oscar winner Hans Zimmer was riveting and at the sametime added the extra gloss to the film.He has delievered a soundtrack that goes hand in hand with every scene.

If you have plans to see a top class entertainer anytime then look nowehere ,this a scorcher of a movie that traverses through the world of crime & mystery with history's legendary detective Sherlock Holmes.

• Director : Guy Ritchie

• Writers : Michael Robert Johnson , Anthony Peckham , Simon Kinberg , Lionel Wigram

• Cast : Robert Downey Jr , Jude Law , Mark Strong , Rachel McAdams , Eddie Marsen

• Rating : "PG" for some scenes of violence.

P.S : " Colin Farrell was in talks to play Watson before Jude Law was cast.The set for Sherlock Holmes's home in this film was previously used as Sirius Black's home in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007). "

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56th National Award List - India

56th National Award List has come out where Bollywood films bags as much as 13 awards. Bengali movie Antaheen got the best feature film & Ace Director Bala gets the Best director for his Tamil movie Nan Kadavul. The list follows ..


Whats your comments abt the awards?If you know abt the movie do post your comments.

Best Feature Film - Antaheen (Bengali)

Best Direction - Naan Kadavul (Tamil)

Best Actor - Upendra Limaye for Jogva (Marathi)

Best Actress - Priyanka Chopra for Fashion (Hindi)

Best Supporting Actor - Arjun Rampal for Rock On! (Hindi)

Best Supporting Actress - Kangana Ranaut for Fashion (Hindi)

Best Child Artist - Shams Patel for Thanks Maa (Hindi)

Best Male Playback Singer – Hariharan for Jogva (Marathi)

Best Female Playback Singer - Shreya Ghoshal for Antaheen (Bengali)

Best Cinematography - Avik Mukhopadhyay for Antaheen (Bengali)

Best Screenplay - Sachin Kundalkar for Gandha (Marathi)

Best Editing - A. Sreekar Prasad for Firaaq (Hindi)

Best Art Direction - Gautam Sen for Firaaq (Hindi)

Best Costume Designer - Neeta Lulla for Jodhaa Akbar (Hindi)

Best Make-Up Artist - Moorthy V. for Naan Kadavul (Tamil)

Best Music Direction - Ajay And Atul for Jogva (Marathi)

Best Lyrics - Anindya Bannerjee & Chandranil Bhattacharya for Antaheen (Bengali)

Indira Gandhi Award For Best First Film Of A Director - A Wednesday (Hindi)

Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment - Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye (Hindi)

Nargis Dutt Award For Best Feature Film On National Integration - Aai Kot Nai (Assamese)

Best Film On Family Values - Little Zizou (English, Gujarati)

Best Film On Social Issues Such As Prohibition, Women And Child Welfare, Anti-Dowry, Drug Abuse, Welfare Of The Handicapped Etc. - Jogva (Marathi)

Best Film On Environment Conservation/ Preservation - Jianta Bhoota (Oriya)

Best Children’s Film - Gubbachigalu (Kannada)

Best Animation Film - Roadside Romeo (Hindi)

Special Jury Award for Bioscope (Malayalam)

Best Special Effects - Govardhan (Tata Elxsi) for Mumbai Meri Jaan (Hindi)

Best Choreography - Chinni Prakash & Rekha Prakash Jodhaa Akbar (Hindi)

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Aayirathil Oruvan

The wait is finally over !!!!

Selvaraghavan's long due project hit the screens today ,today was the day i was been waiting for a looooong time.

Was the wait for the movie worth it ????

PLOT : " An epic adventure undertaken by a group to people to trace the Last Chola King & his heir "

The plot of the movie is just a mere understatement ,i was just expecting another Indiana Jones type of movie after seeing the trailer of the this film but beware there's more to it.



Director Selvaraghavan has scripted another beautiful masterpiece which he can be damn proud of ,the director's work is on par with any international movie when it comes to the story and screenplay for this film.

Originality was the keyword in this movie ,every scene had originality to it with not even an hint of being lifted from any other epic movie.

The cast of the film mainly comprises of Reemma Sen ,Parthiban ,Karthik & Andrea.Everyone's work is really appreciable.Reema Sen has given the best performance of her career ,awards for her role might not come as a surprise ,she is main pillar of the movie around which the entire story revolves.

Parthiban was another pillar with his versatile acting & body language ,Karthik has done a role similar to his prevoius film "Paruthiveeran" but here his comic sense is more so profound ,he really comes to life during the latter part of the film.

Andrea has done her part ,pity that her role was overshadowed by the performances of the other cast.Her acting too was very well brought out as so we can expect from a Selvaraghavan movie.

Technical wise the film scores really well with the visual effects coming of its own in Tamil Cinema.The film crew's hardwork is evident throughout the film ,more so is the work of the make-up department & the supporting junior artists.

The strength of the film is its script which requires avid attention from the audience ,if you walk in to the theatre expecting every detail to be thrown at you then am sorry then this film will not work out for those kind.

In a period where Masala Films have been grinded out at regular intervals from the Tamil Industry ,Aayirathil Oruvan comes as a rare glimpse of hope that all is not lost.

Periodic films have become a rare genre these days.I dunno why people are hestitating to produce such films in India which is rich in its culture and tradition ,the film also brings back the good old Tamil from ancient days that was very pleasant at the sametime warranted great amount of attention to understand.

The first half of the film is very much an adventure ride with great comical scenes with an extra dosage of reality whereas the second part traverses the side of lost civilizations ,impeccable acting and some irrefutable facts of how people have a destiny to fullfill.

Spiritual aspects play a vitol role in the film ,the main concept of the film is how people each have a destiny.

Was the wait for the movie worth it ????

Oh YES !!!!
The film was worth the hype and wait ,expecting the film to be a run of the mill adventure flick i was pleasantly astounded as the film unraveled itself.

Go with an open mind to enjoy the movie ,some people might find it hard to understand the plot of the movie but i dont blame them because we audience are being fed only worthless masala movies most of the time.

Aayirathil Oruvan has broken many barriers in Tamil Cinema with ease.
Make sure you dont miss it !!!

• Director : Selvaraghavan

• Writer : Selvaraghavan

• Cast : Reemma Sen , Parthiban , Karthik , Andrea

• Rating : "A" for strong language & some nudity.

P.S : " The film starts with a disclaimer message that this movie is just fictional and the content is in no way connected with the CHOLA kingdom."

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Aayirathil Oruvan Movie Review - A Shocker from Selvaraghavan

"Aayirathil Oruvan" (One in a thousand) the most awaited film this pongal which was in the making for over three years has finally hit the screens much to the relief of the producer and for the anxious fans who were waiting to watch it post an impressive trailer that was released a few days back. The movie which was touted as a never seen before experience in Tamil cinema has not failed the audience in terms of the visual extravaganza on screen but in the end as a movie it turns out to be a disaster for the viewers.

From the trailer it was quite evident that the story is going to be loosely based on a treasure hunt revolving around the three characters played by karthik Sivakumar, Reema Sen and Andrea. Few ideas of the treasure hunt portions are borrowed from the western classic "Mackenna's Gold" and the balance portions is all to do with the imagination of the director Selvaraghavan.

The movie begins with a time travel to late 12th century where there is war at full swing with the Chola Dynasty. The Chola King sure of loosing the battle sends his son and his men to a distant land with an order that they should not return to home soil until they receive orders from him. In the present day Chandra Mouli (Prathap Pothen) and Archeologist finds the habitation which was used by the Chola people and suddenly he disappears.

Back home Lavanya (Andrea) who happens to be the daughter of Chandra Mouli meets up with Anitha (Reema Sen) and they both along with a group of men decide to travel to the place where Chandra Mouli disappeared. Muthu (karthik Sivakumar) who does menial jobs for livelihood also joins them as they need few men to carry out hardcore menial jobs.

On their way to their destination they wither out all dangers be it man-made or natural till they attain their goal. As soon as they reach their desired destination there takes place a small twist in the script with the entry of Chola King (Parthiban). What happens from now on and whether has the group come for only taking the treasure back or is there any other hidden agenda in their minds forms the rest of the movie.

On the acting front both Karthik Sivakumar and Reema Sen have done a commendable job. Andrea could have acted better as in the limited screen space allotted to her there were lot of opportunities to capitalize on. Parthiban however happens to be the odd man out as he is no where in the league when it comes to acting.

The huge disappointment in this movie is the shocking script written by Selvaraghavan. How on earth did he think that such a movie will appeal to the audience and especially the gruesome murders and blood splatters on the screen are too much to watch and most horrible was certain scenes which were too gross for anyone's liking.

G V Prakash Kumar sounds ok with the background music and its a pity that the melodious number "Malai Neram" sung by Andrea doesn't figure in the movie. The only bright aspect in this movie is the cinematography and art direction which are too good to believe.

"Aayirathil Oruvan" - Absolute shocker from Selvaraghavan.

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Know your bar code

The bar code of each country is represented by the first three digits. If a product is manufactured in India it would have 890.

You can refer the list below to see where a good was manufactured, even if it doesn't have the "Made In" printed.

00-13: USA & Canada	20-29: In-Store Functions	30-37: France
40-44: Germany	45: Japan (also 49)	46: Russian Federation
471: Taiwan	474: Estonia	475: Latvia
477: Lithuania	479: Sri Lanka	480: Philippines
482: Ukraine	484: Moldova	485: Armenia
486: Georgia	487: Kazakhstan	489: Hong Kong
49: Japan (JAN-13)	50: United Kingdom	520: Greece
528: Lebanon	529: Cyprus	531: Macedonia
535: Malta	539: Ireland	54: Belgium & Luxembourg
560: Portugal	569: Iceland	57: Denmark
590: Poland	594: Romania	599: Hungary
600 & 601: South Africa	609: Mauritius	611: Morocco
613: Algeria	619: Tunisia	622: Egypt
625: Jordan	626: Iran	64: Finland
690-692: China	70: Norway	729: Israel
73: Sweden	740: Guatemala	741: El Salvador
742: Honduras	743: Nicaragua	744: Costa Rica
746: Dominican Republic	750: Mexico	759: Venezuela
76: Switzerland	770: Colombia	773: Uruguay
775: Peru	777: Bolivia	779: Argentina
780: Chile	784: Paraguay	785: Peru
786: Ecuador	789: Brazil	80 - 83: Italy
84: Spain	850: Cuba	858: Slovakia
859: Czech Republic	860: Yugoslavia	869: Turkey
87: Netherlands	880: South Korea	885: Thailand
888: Singapore	890: India	893: Vietnam
899: Indonesia	90 & 91: Austria	93: Australia
94: New Zealand	955: Malaysia	977: International Standard Serial Number for Periodicals (ISSN)
978: International Standard Book Numbering (ISBN)	979: International Standard Music Number (ISMN)	980: Refund receipts
981 & 982: Common Currency Coupons	99: Coupons

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Beware of 1000 Rupees Notes -

RBI has instructed to avoid accepting Rs.1000 notes of series : 2AQ and 8AC.


In a report from RBI to Kotak Bank, it states that these series notes are duplicated by terrorists and looks almost original, but will not be accepted by money checking machines. 

As these are Rs.1000 notes you can still be careful, whether this news is true or not.

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Five Financial Resolutions for 2010

by Satish

1. Clear off debts

Start with the most expensive debt -- credit cards, followed by personal loans, auto loans and some part of the home loan, if possible. And exactly in this order.

The stress to clear home loans, though it is the biggest one, should be minimum because the rate of interest is the lowest. Also, there are tax benefits under section 80C (up to Rs 100,000) on principle and section 24 on interest payouts (up to Rs.150,000). Importantly, lenders are assured of collateral.

Similarly, borrowers are assured of a vehicle as collateral, in case of a car loan. In addition, there are depreciation benefits.

The other two, credit cards and personal loans, are uncollateralised. Lenders, therefore, charge astronomical rates. In the former, it can be as high as 40-50 per cent whereas in case of the latter, it is still quite high as 15-25 per cent.

As a result, your finances can get completely dwindled. Ensure that you allocate a large part of your salary, post expenses, to pay these loans off. In fact, if the loans are too big, reduce your expenses to repay.


2. Get adequate insurance

Both life and health insurance are important. "Hedging your health hazards should be one of the top priorities," said Kartik Jhaveri, director, Transcend India.

Of course, evaluating the exact amount for both life and health covers is difficult. But for young salary earners with no dependents, a life insurance policy of 5-10 times the annual gross salary would be adequate. For senior with dependents, this multiple could be as high as 20 times the yearly gross salary. And use the term policy route because it is the cheapest form of insurance


3. Don't time the market

Wealth making in 2009 was quite easy. Investing in stock markets, even through index funds would have given over 100 per cent returns.

However, it is not always so easy to double your money within a year. It makes sense to follow a disciplined approach by investing through systematic investment plans (SIP's) of mutual funds.

Getting on the bandwagon, when the market has already shot up 40-50 per cent, is inviting trouble. Instead put in money in a rising as well as a falling market. Investing in a falling market ensures more units of the scheme. These additional units help reap rich returns when markets turn around.  


4. Don't get lured by insurance-cum-investment products

The most common folly. Insurance agents aggressively push unit-linked insurance plans (ULIP's) that provide both insurance and investment. But most of these products neither give adequate insurance nor enough returns.

Though things have improved on the cost front after the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) capped charges at 3 per cent. Earlier, insurers used to charge anywhere between 1.8 to 4 per cent for an ULIP. However, IRDA had also hiked the lock-in period, from three to four, for these products.

For a common person, it is best to keep his investment and insurance needs separate


5. Go for proper asset allocation

The phrase 'don't put all your eggs in the same basket' holds true. Go for proper asset allocation, which includes equity, debt, gold and property. And review and realign the portfolio once or twice during the year to maintain the asset allocation.

"Proper asset allocation and rebalancing the portfolio periodically ensures that you are not overexposed to a single asset class," said Anil Rego, chief executive office, Right Horizons.

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