Science/Tech

Man kidnapped 23 years ago finds kin thanks to Google Maps (12:54)
Beijing, May 18 (IANS/EFE) A 28-year-old Chinese man who was kidnapped 23 years ago and sold to a family 1,500 km from his home, has met up with his biological parents again thanks to Google Maps, Hunan TV said Friday.

Mobile apps to monitor clean cookstoves adoption in India (16:56)
New Delhi, May 17 (IANS) Qualcomm Incorporated has developed SootSwap, a mobile application for monitoring the adoption of clean cooking technologies, a company official said here Friday.

Australian firm apologises after customer data leak (13:06)
Sydney, May 17 (IANS) Australian communications provider Telstra apologized Friday for a massive online leak of customer details.

Number of internet, mobile phone users soar in Brazil (13:06)
Rio de Janeiro, May 17 (IANS) The number of internet and mobile phone users in Brazil has significantly increased since 2005 as more people from the middle and low classes have got access to them, official statistics showed.

Remains of soldier who lived 1,400 years ago found in Egypt (11:32)
Cairo, May 17 (IANS/EFE) Archaeologists found the 1,400-year-old remains of a soldier in Aswan, a city in southern Egypt, Minister of State for Antiquities Ahmed Eisa said.

Sun shoots solar flares into space (07:38)
Washington, May 17 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The sun has put on a spectacular light show in recent days, firing off solar flares and coronal mass ejections that have sent particles from the sun hurtling into space at speeds of over 2,000 km per second.

Russia to send 'stress-relief' software to space station (16:06)
Mexico City, May 16 (IANS/RIA Novosti) A flash drive with stress-relief software for crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) will be taken to space by Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin soon.

Mobile phone calls can cause blood pressure spikes (16:04)
Washington, May 16 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Got high blood pressure? Try hanging up your cell phone.
A study released Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hypertension in San Francisco found that talking on a mobile phone causes systolic blood pressure - the higher number in a blood pressure reading and the number doctors pay more attention to as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease - to rise significantly.

Chris Brown launches entertainment app for fans (13:16)
Los Angeles, May 16 (IANS) Singer Chris Brown has launched his own entertainment application so that he can share music and other aspects of his life with his fans.

Mars bombarded by over 200 space rocks per year: NASA (12:56)
Washington, May 16 (IANS) Scientists have estimated that Mars is bombarded by more than 200 small asteroids or bits of comets per year forming craters at least 3.9 meters across, US space agency NASA said.

Now, shoes that generate electricity (12:40)
Houston, May 16 (IANS) Four US students have developed shoes that extract energy with every step to power portable electronics and, perhaps someday, life-preserving medical devices, US media reported.

Prior approval must to arrest under Section 66A: SC (12:14)
New Delhi, May 16 (IANS) The Supreme Court Thursday said no person would be arrested under Section 66A of the IT Act for posting objectionable comments on social networking websites without prior approval from an officer of the Inspector General of Police-rank.

Norway welcomes India as observer in Arctic Circle (12:04)
New Delhi, May 16 (IANS) Norway hopes India will help find a solution to the fast melting ice cover in the northernmost part of the globe, now that it has got an observer status in the Arctic Council.

US museum educates visitors about bugs (11:28)
Los Angeles, May 16 (IANS/EFE) Beetles, centipedes and tarantulas are among the insects that visitors to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, or NHM, can learn about.

India finishes phase I of Sri Lanka railway project (21:36)
New Delhi, May 15 (IANS) The Indian Railways have completed phase I of a 43-km rail link from Medawachchiya to Madhu Road in Sri Lanka at a cost of $81 million, an official statement said Wednesday.

India-Israel to set up centre for fruits in Haryana (21:32)
Chandigarh, May 15 (IANS) Having set up a Centre of Excellence for Vegetables in 2011, India and Israel have now joined hands for setting up a Centre of Excellence for Fruits in Haryana, an official said here Wednesday.

Internet services shut down in Syria (19:38)
Damascus, May 15 (IANS) Internet services in Syria have been off since early Wednesday, which appears to be a second blackout in a week, reported Al-Jazeera and a pro-opposition activist website.

SC to hear plea against Andhra government on Section 66A (15:42)
New Delhi, May 15 (IANS) The Supreme Court will Thursday hear a plea seeking to restrain the Andhra Pradesh government from invoking Section 66A of the Information Technology Act to stifle people for posting allegedly objectionable comments on social network websites.

Patterns Software to train software designers (14:16)
Chennai, May 15 (IANS) Patterns Software Design Institute plans to tie up with software product developers and engineering colleges to train their executives and students in software design architecture, an official said.

Spread innovations, president says (14:06)
Lumani (Nagaland), May 15 (IANS) President Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday called upon students and teachers in Nagaland to spread innovations.

Russia launches rocket with French telecom satellite (04:13)
Moscow, May 15 (IANS/RIA Novosti) A Proton-M rocket carrying a French telecommunications satellite has blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, said a spokesman for Russian space agency Roscosmos.

Further delay in commissioning Kudankulam N-plant (22:26)
Chennai, May 14 (IANS) India's atomic power plant operator, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has shifted the commissioning of the first 1,000 MW unit at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) to June 2013.

Google signs MoU to train engineering students in Andhra (21:04)
Hyderabad, May 14 (IANS) Google India Private Limited Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Andhra Pradesh government to train engineering students of Jawahar Knowledge Centres (JKC) in latest technologies like mobile and cloud computing.

Accenture to help Odisha in mobile governance (20:42)
Bhubaneswar, May 14 (IANS) Accenture Services will develop five mobile governance applications for Odisha, an official said Tuesday.

Kerala-based Telmoco launches Android tablet phone (15:26)
Thiruvananthapuram, May 14 (IANS) Telmoco Development Labs Pvt. Ltd., Kerala's first incubated consumer electronics start-up based in Technopark here, has forayed into the retail segment with Attitude Next 6339 -- a seven-inch Android tablet phone.