Indian made e-reader to take on Kindle

[Source: http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Indian_made_ereader_to_take_on_Kindle-nid-64961.html?utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Subscriber]

 

Indian made e-reader to take on Kindle

Thursday,28 January 2010, 15:43 hrs

 

New Delhi: After two years of hard work, Vishal Mehta, an ex employee of Amazon.com, launched the Infibeam Pi, an e-reader that looks like the Amazon Kindle. It has the same e-Ink screen that the Kindle sports, reports Sruthijith KK of The Economic Times.

Mehta, who is having an engineering degree from Cornell and an MBA from MIT-Sloan, worked in Amozon.com for five years and was a Senior Manager at the company in 2007. To start his own online retail venture, Mehta quit his job, sold his house and his car.

The Infibeam Pi, which is priced at Rs.10,000, can be ordered online now and is likely to be shipped in February, is priced at Rs. 10,000. The Amazon Kindle, when shipped to India, costs about Rs.18,000. The Pi supports 13 Indian languages. Infibeam.com, an online retailer that sells everything from flowers to jewellery to books to electronic goods, has more than one lakh ebooks.

Mehta said, "It's pointless in India, there is no 3G. When we have wireless connectivity, we probably won't restrict what users can browse. Our essential philosophy is to be as open as possible."

The Pi has also a micro USB port to connect to a PC. Users will just be needed to create an account with Infibeam.com, register the device and then download the ebooks. The ebooks can be read on the PC as well as on the Pi. The ebooks typically cost 5-20 percent less than the hard copy versions, but in some cases, especially with bestsellers, digital rights are expensive and it's cheaper to buy the physical books. With the help of Pi, users will be able to read any documents documents (word or pdf, for instance). "A test prep firm can load their proprietary content on this device and give it to students, without worrying that the material will get passed around," said Mehta.

The company plans to sell about 10,000 devices in the first few months. The company has started accepting pre-orders on the website and is motivated by the initial response.

Once a billionaire, Raju declared pauper

[Source: http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/US_court_declares_Ramalinga_Raju_a_pauper-nid-64937.html?utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Subscriber]

Once a billionaire, Raju declared pauper

Thursday,28 January 2010, 07:28 hrs

New York: Ramalinga Raju, Former Chairman of Satyam Computers, who had confessed about inflating his company's assets by over $1 billion, has been declared a 'pauper' by New York judge Barabara S Jones. With this declaration, Raju has been exempted from paying court costs.

The court also approved 'pauper' status for Ramalinga's brother Rama Raju, Satyam's former chief executive officer, and Srinivas Vadlamani. The defendants had filed an "in forma pauperis" and for the appointment for a pro bono counsel in October 2009, reports PTI.

According to the documents submitted in the court, the accused said that they are unable to engage an attorney in the U.S. to defend (themselves) in the class action litigation and to pay any court fees or to meet any financial obligations which might be imposed by this court. U.S. District Judge Jones said, "The court finds that defendants have adequately demonstrated that they are unable to pay costs as described in the federal law."

However, the court denied the request for a pro bono counsel as the defendants are incarcerated in a foreign country and it would be unusually difficult for the appointed counsel to meet and otherwise competently represent Defendants under the circumstances.