Apple stops iPhone 5C production at Foxconn: Report

NEW DELHI: Here's more evidence that Apple's budget phone bet may not have exactly paid. According to a report, the company is reportedly completely stopping the production of iPhone 5Cat Foxconn's factory.

The report on Korean technology website DigiTimes says that Foxconn will stop manufacturing iPhone 5C at its factory in Zhengzhou, northern China, citing industry sources. This plant will now be used for manufacturing iPhone 5S, which has been in short supply since the two models launched.

Apple assembler Pegatron recently reported a lower-than-expected third-quarter net profit of $84.29 million as order cutbacks for the cheaper iPhone 5C hurt the Taipei-based contract manufacturer's bottom line.

Initially, 70% of iPhone 5C manufacturing was contracted to Pegatron, while Foxconn was given the rest of the share. However, Apple reduced the iPhone 5C volumes at Pegatron by 20% and Foxconn by 30%, according to the report.

Apple has seen its best iPhone launch this year, even though iPhone 5S has been responsible for the bulk of sales. While the higher priced model has been a huge hit, iPhone 5C has not seen much traction.

Even in India, consumers purchased iPhone 5C on the first weekend only because the iPhone 5S was sold out. Apple is reportedly planning to announce a buyback plan for the iPhone 5C and iPhone 4S, much like it did for iPhone 4 earlier this year.

Bioinformatics

              Humans have been carrying unwanted viral gene segments since many years and reports suggests that approximately 3-8 % of the human genome has been comprised of viral DNA. In this point of view, various viral sequences were downloaded from NCBI Tax Browser and scanned against complete genome of Homo sapiens for the presence of possible viral inserts in human genome. The results from the computational analysis revealed that viruses resulted in viral segments inserted in the intron and exon regions of human genome. Which shows that the alignments the residues greater than 25 to 30%, identifies between 90 to 100% and the sequences located in the regions were considered. Predicting the antigenic regions of a protein is of prime importance in assessing the states of a polypeptide chain as exposed or buried regions. Hydrophilicity plot of Hoop-Woods scale amino acid sequence of a protein on its x-axis, and degree of hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity on its y-axis using python language as architecture by utilizing various functional attributes such as scipy, matplot and numpy modules were reported.

The work can identified  to know the possible viral inserts of known &unknown viruses. The work needs huge data and stringent algorithms to carry out the task. However, a manageable construction of sequential procedures both computational and experimental analysis would find feasibility in analyzing almost all viral sequence inserts in various eukaryotes. This would certainly help in developing tools or procedures to combat diseases that may be dreadful due to virus attacks and also would contribute greatly in the area of Drug Discovery.

·         The main objective of this project is to identify viral segments in every human gene.

·         This Project will identify known & unknown viruses are present in Human Genome.

·         At least try to identify minimum 10 known & unknown viruses which are present in Human Genome before completing this project.

·         This project Deals with the subjects Bio-informatics, computational Biology, And Genetic algorithms which are electives for pre-final year, final year of B.Tech and 1^st and 2^nd Semesters of M.Tech. So this project is useful for both undergraduate and post graduate students for their regular academic activity.

·         The project   also uses large scale of Computational analysis using two programming languages perl and python for matching the human genome and viral segments.

·         Protein sequence databases are categorized as primary, composite or secondary. Primary databases contain more than 300,000 protein sequences and function as a repository for the raw data. Some more common repositories, such as SWISS-PROT and PIR International, annotate the sequences as well as describe the proteins’ functions, its domain structure and post-translational modifications.

·         Composite databases such as OWL and the NRDB compile and filter sequence data from different primary databases to produce combined non-redundant sets that are more complete than the individual databases and also include protein sequence data from the translated coding regions in DNA sequence databases.

·         Next we look at databases of macromolecular structures. The Protein Data Bank, PDB, provides a primary archive of all 3D structures for macromolecules such as proteins, RNA, DNA and various complexes. As the information provided in individual PDB entries can be difficult to extract, PDBsum  provides a separate Web page for every structure in the PDB displaying detailed structural analyses, schematic diagrams and data on interactions between different molecules in a given entry.

·         Three major databases classify proteins by structure in order to identify structural and evolutionary relationships: CATH, SCOP, and FSSP databases. All comprise hierarchical structural taxonomy where groups of proteins increase in similarity at lower levels of the classification tree. In addition, numerous databases focus on particular types of macromolecules. These include the Nucleic Acids Database, NDB, for structures related to nucleic acids, the HIV protease database for HIV-1, HIV-2 and SIV protease structures and their complexes, and ReLiBase  for receptor-ligand complexes.

BlackBerry losing ground in India

NEW DELHI: Smartphone maker BlackBerry is losing ground fast in India. The struggling Canadian company, which is working out a revival strategy amid deep losses, has seen sales in India — one of its few bright spots — go down sharply to less than 70,000 units in the third quarter of this year.

According to wholesale numbers tabulated by IDC, BlackBerry sold a little over 68,000 units in the July-September '13 quarter, which is 55% lower than 1.5 lakh units it sold in the preceding quarter. The decline was near-similar on a year-on-year basis as the company had sold 1.52 lakh units in the same quarter last year.

The numbers — which are the units sold by the company to its channel partners — should be alarming for BlackBerry, which counts India among the few markets where it still holds some sway over phone buyers. The company has been bringing in its latest devices (Q and Z series), running on its latest BB10 operating system and has even cut down prices of its Z10 phone sharply in late September from Rs 43,490 to Rs 29,990. However, this does not seem to have worked.

When contacted, IDC refused to confirm the numbers, saying it would give third quarter estimates only on Thursday as part of a larger industry report.

BlackBerry, on the other hand, refused to divulge the volumes, but said retail volumes (sold by dealers in the market) are higher than IDC-discovered wholesale numbers. "This data is factually incorrect. BlackBerry does not break our overall sales numbers by country, but we can confirm that our sell-out was significantly higher than the number quoted by you. IDC captures sell-in numbers only, and is not a true reflection of actual sales-out to end customers," Varghese M Thomas, corporate communications director for India & Saarc region, said. "Furthermore, in Q3, we had only two BlackBerry 10 products in market namely Z10 and Q10, both of which were in the plus Rs 40,000 price category. Our Q5 and BlackBerry 9720 launches took place later in that quarter and hence is not an accurate measure of sales figures through a complete quarter."

The rapid growth in sales of devices running on the Google Android operating system as well as Apple's iPhone have gradually eaten into the market share of BlackBerry India which came tumbling down to a poor single-digit against the high 16% just a few years back.

While refusing to speak on the numbers, Manasi Yadav, senior market analyst at IDC, did comment on the recent performance of BlackBerry in India. "BlackBerry went wrong with the pricing of their new launches. Also, they were lagging behind in terms of aggressiveness and the marketing push required in this dynamic market," Yadav said.

Yadav said the company may still have a chance to come back, but this should be backed by a "strong and focussed strategy". "We have to wait and watch as to how Blackberry gets itself back in this game. Although it has lost considerable ground, I would not want to completely write it off already."

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 vs Sony Xperia Z1 vs LG G2

When it comes to these monster phones, there's no denying that each of these flagship handsets pack state-of-the-art hardware that's more than capable of handling the most demanding computing tasks: multitasking, Full HD videos, and even 3D gaming. We run these smartphones through the paces to find those little features that differentiate one handset from the other.

LG G2
The G2 boasts a 5.2-inch screen with wide viewing angles; its display is capable of rendering crisp text and accurate colours. Besides, top-notch brightness levels ensure legibility even in direct sunlight. The handset ticks all the right boxes when it comes to its shooter. It records sharply-focussed videos - and photos look good with true colours, and just the right amount of contrast. In less than optimum light, it tends to smooth over details, and low-light images suffer from some noise. The G2 is equipped with an infrared sensor and a 'remote' app, which can be configured to control TVs, set-top boxes, etc.

Despite a Full HD screen, the G2's battery lasts for 15 to 16 hours when used with a 3G connection. The G2's shell is fabricated out of glossy plastic, which neither looks premium nor feels good to hold. No expandable memory so you're limited by just the internal 16/32GB storage. The device's volume and power buttons are placed on its back cover, which aren't as intuitive to use. Volume during calls is also on the lower side. When used with a good pair of earphones, however, the G2 works on par with a good MP3 player.

Except for its placement of buttons and glossy plastic build, the LG G2 gets most things right. If you're looking for a feature-packed, compact smartphone that does not seem too large in your hands, this one could be it. 

Samsung: More than just a dream job for South Koreans

BUSAN: In a cram school in the South Korean port city of Busan, 70 college students packed into a classroom, chanting "We can do it!" as they studied for an exam they hope will guarantee them a job for life with SamsungGroup. 

The promise of Samsung, whose sprawling business empire spans consumer electronics to ships, offers not only a good salary and benefits but also holds the key to a good marriage in this Asian country where Confucian traditions run deep. 

The twice-a-year recruitment rounds by the "chaebol", conglomerates such as Samsung and Hyundai, have spawned a cottage industry worth millions of dollars as young Koreans do what they have done from the age of 5 - cram to get ahead. 

"I came here at 10 this morning and will be preparing for the interview until 8pm," said 25-year-old Shin Seong-hwan, whose father is a Samsung employee near Busan. 

Shin has already passed the company's aptitude test and now faces gruelling interviews that end late in November. 

In its current recruitment round, Samsung will hire 5,500 young people from more than 1,00,000 applicants, adding to the pressure cooker environment. 

"Jobs at conglomerates can save face for you and your parents," said Hur Jai-joon, a senior researcher at the Korea Labor Institute, a government-funded research body. 

It is an impossible dream for most to achieve as the top 30 conglomerates employ just 6.8% of the total workforce, the Federation of Korean Industries says. 

Samsung has not always used such rigorous tests. Thirty years ago, according to former employees, a fortune teller who specialized in reading faces sat in on the interviews. 

Now, spots at the top conglomerate are so coveted that students spend heavily on cram schools, workbooks and online lectures. The phrase " Samsung Gosi" describes the arduous process, borrowing from the term "gosi" that refers to public service exams that South Koreans study for years to pass. 

"If you don't come here, you won't have the right information," said Im Chan-soo, head of LCS Communication, which runs private classes for Samsung job interviews in Busan. 

'Social and financial costs'
Aptitude test workbooks cost around $20 each and figure prominently in every bookstore in South Korea. Private tutoring costs can run into thousands of dollars. 

"I had doubts about going to cram school. It wasn't cheap but they are professional and I am learning a lot," said Han Nam-gyu, a 27-year-old engineering graduate who paid 2,80,000 won ($260) to LCS Communication. 

Critics of the system say it adds yet another layer of misery for graduates, who have crammed from pre-school all the way through high school to try to get into a top university. 

In South Korea, 65% of those in the 25 to 34 age group went to university, the highest rate among the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's 34 member states. 

That is a huge shift in a generation. Just 13% of people in the 55 to 64 age group went to university. 

Samsung appears to recognize that the super-competitive process may not be healthy for the country's young people, warning recently of rising "social and financial costs" of the recruitment system. Still, it did not identify a solution. 

For many students like Han the engineer, "Plan B" is to come back again next year for another shot at Samsung. 

"My mother cried after I passed the second stage. She was really happy," said Han, who applied to Samsung C&T, the group firm that handles engineering, construction, trading and investment. 

"I want to get into Samsung so my mother will be able to boast about her son."