Cyclone Phyan threatens India's west coast

Mumbai, Nov 11 (IANS) The cyclone over the Arabian Sea Wednesday was 'likely to intensify further' and cross the Indian coast between north Maharashtra and south Gujarat in the early hours of Thursday, says the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Now named Phyan, the cyclone was about 250 km directly west of Goa at 2.30 a.m. Thursday, the IMD said on its website, even as it it issued an 'orange' alert. That is one step below the red alert put out for a really severe cyclone.

At that hour, Phyan was 420 km south-southwest of Mumbai and 670 km south-southwest of Surat in south Gujarat.

'The system is likely to intensify further and move north-northeastwards and cross south Gujarat and north Maharashtra coast between Mahuva and Dahanu by early hours of Nov 12,' the website reported.

Fishermen have already been asked not to go out to sea, and oil rigs in Bombay High were battening down, according to local media reports.

The IMD expects that maximum sustained surface wind speed under the influence of Cyclone Phyan will be 70-80 kmph around 11.30 p.m. Wednesday, gusting up to 90 kmph.

The weatherman said Wednesday morning that the cyclone will lead to 'rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places and isolated extremely heavy fall (over or equal to 25 cm) over Konkan and Goa and Madhya Maharashtra during next 36 hours'.

'Rainfall at many places with heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places is likely over coastal Karnataka during next 24 hours. Rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places and isolated extremely heavy falls (over or equal to 25 cm) is likely to commence over south Gujarat from today (Wednesday) afternoon.

'Squally winds with speed reaching 55-65 kmph gusting to 75 kmph are likely along and off Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra coasts during next 36 hours. Sea condition will be very rough over along and off Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra coasts. Squally wind speed reaching 55-65 gusting to 75 kmph is likely to commence along and off south Gujarat coast from today afternoon.'

10 failed doomsday prophecies

Washington, November 9 (ANI): Scientists have listed ten failed doomsday prophecies, which undermines the seriousness of the 2012 end of the world prediction by the ancient Mayans.

According to National geographic News, the first failed domsday prophecy was when some ancient Romans saw the A.D. 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius as a sign of a coming apocalypse, which never came.

Then, there is the case of many Christian Europeans entering the year 1666 with trepidation, as the Bible describes 666 as the ominous Number of the Beast.

A prolonged plague that had wiped out much of London's populace in 1665 didn't help assuage fears, and when the Great Fire of London occurred, many believed their time had come.

The appearance of Halley's comet in 1910 stirred apocalyptic hysteria among Europeans and Americans, many of whom believed that the comet's tail contained a gas "that would impregnate the atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet," according to French astronomer Camille Flammarion, as quoted in the book Apocalypses.

Since its founding in the 1870s, the Jehovah's Witnesses, a Christian offshoot, had prophesied that the world would end in 1914.

Though nothing of the sort happened in 1914, ever since then, the religion's followers have been predicting that the world will end "shortly."

Author Richard Noone predicted that on May 5, 2000, the planets would perfectly align and end life as we know it by sending melting ice barreling toward Earth's Equator.

Television evangelist Pat Robertson preached that sometime in the 1980s, Jesus would return to Earth, after the biblical doomsday event known as the Rapture.

Doom and gloom can also spark scientific innovation, as occurred in 1774 in Friesland, Germany. A vicar hoping to boost his congregation circulated a "little book of doom" that said the solar system would be demolished during an upcoming conjunction.

The extremely bright comet Hale-Bopp, discovered in 1995, last buzzed Earth in March 1997, when out of frenzy, thirty-nine people, part of a religious group called Heaven's Gate, committed suicide, believing that a UFO riding the comet's wake would rescue them from a doomed Earth.

Then, there was the case of the Y2K bug at the end of the 20th century. It was predicted that a bug caused by a calculation error would cripple computers and other machines and lead to mass chaos, none of which actually happened.

When the Large Hadron Collider fired up in September 2009, some critics speculated that the world's biggest atom smasher could spawn a black hole that would devour Earth, which was proven to be incorrect when the machine was actually started. (ANI)

Acer goes 3-D

3D Laptop

Close on the heels of the first Android laptop, Acer has announced a full-size laptop that displays 3-D content. Just put on a pair of those strange wraparound glasses, a pair of which is packed with the computer.

It is a novelty, and one that we expect will run out of gas sooner or later. But innovation is the name of the game here, and the $780 Acer 5738DG hits that mark with its TriDef 3D package, which includes the specially coated 15-inch screen and software. The TriDef app also enables 2-D to 3-D conversion in games and applications supporting DirectX 9 and above. And, yes, it comes with Windows 7.

The thinnest one

Sony claims its latest VAIO X is the world's lightest and thinnest laptop. At 655 gm and just about a half-inch thin, it is anyway setting a new benchmark in notebook technology. Despite its slender looks, the durable carbon fiber body ensures the X Series absorbs the bumps and knocks of daily use and travel.

For reinforced durability, the X features a solid state drive with no moving parts, seamless aluminium keyboard panel for structural rigidity and an 11.1" scratch-resistant widescreen display.

It has a multi-touch pad which can help zoom in and out, flip through pictures, rotate items and scroll vertically and horizontally without even touching a mouse. The X series is loaded with Windows 7 but comes at a fat price of Rs 64,990 plus.

Perfect photo scanner

Epson's latest Perfection V600 Photo Scanner has been designed for the demanding photo enthusiasts. It features a class-leading optical resolution of 6400 x 9600 dpi that provides unbeatable image quality as well as Epson's proprietary Digital ICE (Image Correction Engine) Technology that uses both hardware and software processes to remove dust and scratch marks from film and photo scans. Equipped with ReadyScan LED Technology, the scanner's LED lamp requires no warm up time. The V600 is priced at an affordable Rs 16,999 for the features it sports.

Light without power

Appliance maker Jaipan has something for power-cut hit rural, and urban, India - a bulb with a power backup. Jaipan's Magic Bulb can illuminate without power for about five hours using backup power saved in its battery. The bulb consumes only 1.6 watt and gives out illumination of 9 watt. The Magic Bulb is priced Rs 350.