Authentication Bypass – SQL Injection and magic_quotes
Auth Bypass by J0hn.X3r and novaca!ne
# Date: 30.03.2010
# Author: novaca!ne
# Website: j0hnx3r.org novacaine.biz
# Contact: J0hn.X3r@free-hack.com novacaine@no-trace.cc
1. Introduction
2. What is Auth Bypass
3. How to exploit it
4. Bypass magic_quotes
5. How to fix it
6. Shouts
Introduction
Dear Reader, this Paper is about „Auth Bypass“.
It was written by J0hn.X3r and edited by novaca!ne
(see original version here: http://j0hnx3r.org/?p=55 ).
You can use this simple technique to pentest your own website or when you forgot your own
password.
It was written to share knowledge, knowledge should be free and available for everyone.
What is Auth Bypass
„Auth Bypass“, short form for „Authorization Bypass.“
A Auth Bypass flaw comes up everytime a website doesn’t filter the attackers input.
It deals with Sql command injection.
For example the target website uses this vulnerable, unsecured script:
<?php
$sql = “SELECT * FROM users WHERE username=’” . $_POST['username'] . “‘ AND
password=’” . $POST_['password'] . “‘”;
response = mysql_query($sql);
?>
That means the user’s input is not getting checked.
This is how the MySQL Query looks now:
SELECT * FROM users WHERE user=” AND password=”
How to exploit it:
Let’s take a simple username (mostly admin or administrator) and as a password, we choose
‘ OR ‘a’ = ‘a
This is how the MySQL Query looks now:
SELECT * FROM users WHERE user=’admin’ AND password=” OR ‘a’ = ‘a’
‘a’ = ‘a is a true value, just like 1 = 1 or ‘cats’ = ‘cats
Let’s analyse the situation in words:
Username=’admin’ AND Passwort=” OR ‘a’ = ‘a’
means-> Username admin and Passwort TRUE
This is how the MySQL Query looks now:
SELECT * FROM users WHERE user=’admin’ AND TRUE
That means we’re getting logged in as the administrator, without a password by manipulating the
query!
Bypass magic_quotes
magic_quotes is a php setting (php.ini).
It causes that every ‘ (single-quote), ” (double quote) and \ (backslash)
are escaped with a backslash automatically, a weak but wellknown securing method.
This is how to bypass it:
Use the funktion called „String.fromCharCode()“, you need to translate your MySQL command
into ascII (http://www.asciizeichen.de/tabelle.html) and put it input into the handling.
‘ OR ‘a’ = ‘a equals
String.fromCharCode(8216, 32, 79, 82, 32, 8216, 97, 8217, 32, 61, 32, 8216, 97)
How to fix
One of the method’s to fix and secure such Auth Bypass flaw’s, is to use the php function
mysql_real_escape_string, (http://de3.php.net/mysql_real_escape_string).
It causes that every of this characters:
\x00, \n, \r, \, ‘
get’s replaced with a simple Backslash „/“, so the attackers commands getting useless.
<?php
$username = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST["username"]);
$password = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST["password"]);
$sql = “SELECT * FROM users WHERE username=’” . $username . “‘ AND password=’” .
$password . “‘”;
$response = mysql_query($sql);
?>
Shouts
Greetz fly out to:
-tmh-, ck/cee-kay, Nazrek, bl0b, c1ox, h0yt3r (and his cat <3), soulstoned, Lidloses_Auge, Suicide,
-=Player=-, Montaxx, Lorenz, Easy Lester, Vinzenco, Free-hack.com, NovuSec.com,
HackBase.cc,…
# END OF FILE
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Authentication bypass.
This is an example of a far too common problem. Developers have a tendency to assume that client applications will always act how they were designed to act. This is fine if you're depending on them for functionality, but NOT if you're depending on them for security.
Recently I was asked to take a peek at a content management system currently in developement. A lot of it seemed relatively stable, except for this one short snippet of code. Whenever a protected page is loaded, one that you have to be logged in to view, a function containing this code is called:
It grabs a variable called 'privLvl' registered to the users session. If the user is not logged in, this variable is unset and the browser is redirected to the login page. So then, what is the problem? The problem exists, because our developer is putting his trust in a function that depends on the browsers response. header("Location: login.php"); will force a browser to redirect to login.php, but only because that is how a browser is programmed to react. watch what happens when I load this page in ie, then in netcat:
first, here is the code for admin.php:
Here is an image of what loads in IE:
that form is what is stored in login.php, we've been happily redirected, as intended. And now, in netcat:
Whoops. Netcat has no idea what to do with the Location: header, its not a browser. A secure way to implement this would be as follows:
Here we force exit of the script after redirect, incase the client doesn't listen.
There are plenty of other vulnerabilities based on this same flawed thinking. Using javascript to sanatize input is a common one. As a developer you should always be concious of what your functions depend on, and whether or not those dependencies are under your control.
Recently I was asked to take a peek at a content management system currently in developement. A lot of it seemed relatively stable, except for this one short snippet of code. Whenever a protected page is loaded, one that you have to be logged in to view, a function containing this code is called:
if(!isset($_SESSION['session']["privLvl"])) {
header("Location: login.php");
}It grabs a variable called 'privLvl' registered to the users session. If the user is not logged in, this variable is unset and the browser is redirected to the login page. So then, what is the problem? The problem exists, because our developer is putting his trust in a function that depends on the browsers response. header("Location: login.php"); will force a browser to redirect to login.php, but only because that is how a browser is programmed to react. watch what happens when I load this page in ie, then in netcat:
first, here is the code for admin.php:
<?
if(!isset($_SESSION['session']["privLvl"])) {
header("Location: login.php");
}
echo "BIG SECRET!";
?>Here is an image of what loads in IE:
that form is what is stored in login.php, we've been happily redirected, as intended. And now, in netcat:
Whoops. Netcat has no idea what to do with the Location: header, its not a browser. A secure way to implement this would be as follows:
<?
if(!isset($_SESSION['session']["privLvl"])) {
header("Location: login.php");
exit();
}
echo "BIG SECRET!";
?>Here we force exit of the script after redirect, incase the client doesn't listen.
There are plenty of other vulnerabilities based on this same flawed thinking. Using javascript to sanatize input is a common one. As a developer you should always be concious of what your functions depend on, and whether or not those dependencies are under your control.
Folder without name
| Folder without name |
| Any folder > right click > rename < alt + 0160 press> then created, costimize folder image with blank |
Change the Account's password
| Change the Account's password |
| Go on run ---Type--< control userpasswords2> administration set password |
Creation virus
| Creation virus |
| Open Notped Type---> start virus.bat virus.bat save as--virus.bat on desktop. |
Top iPhone Business Applications
"'The iPhone is a line of Internet- and multimedia-enabled smartphones designed and marketed by Apple Inc. ..'. Many people think that iPhone is just a mobile phone, but it is not just a phone. iPhone is a huge collection of attractive, entertaining, gaming, business etc applications. The iPhone is not just for fun, it’s also a great tool for SMEs. You can keep track of your customers, finances, and projects, and stay connected to the office no matter where you are."
In this article we are going to introduce the latest and very impressive iPhone Business Applications for your iPhones. iPhone brings new features that make the best phone for business even better. Multitasking, FaceTime, enhanced security, new device management capabilities and improved enterprise integration give you more power and flexibility to bring iPhone into your company.
1. Oracle Business Indicators:
Oracle Business Indicators is a business intelligence application that provides real-time, secure access to business performance information on the mobile device.Description:
1. Offers a highly intuitive user interface designed specifically for the mobile business user to browse, search and locate business performance metrics and view metric details in an engaging display.
2. It gives you instant access to all of your personally secured reports, metrics and alerts.
Get here
2. Roambi:
Roambi allows you easily view and interact with up-to-the-minute company information. Analyze and share the latest information of your company on any iPad or iPhone.Description:
1. Roambi interactive mobile dashboards let you tap, turn and swipe to analyze and share your company’s latest information on any iPhone or iPad – keeping you connected to your business, anytime and anywhere.
2. Roambi is an innovative app that quickly transforms your business reports and data – from many popular business applications – into secure, interactive mobile dashboards, instantly delivered to any iPhone or iPad.
3. It lets you easily view and interact with up-to-the-minute company information – giving you the insight you need for on-the-go analysis, impromptu presentations and smart decision-making. Roambi puts the pulse of your business, in the palm of your hand.
Get here
3. Workday:
Do you need to an application which can help you keep important human resource and business management processes moving? That’s the Workday. By using Workday, you can review and approve HR and business management processes.Description:
1. Workday for iPhone helps managers and employees keep important human resource and business management processes moving.
2.Managers can review and approve hires, time-off requests, expense reports, requisitions, and much more.
3. Employees can instantly view the status of business processes they have initiated.
4. Employees can search their global company directory to see where others sit and where they fit in the organization. With a simple touch, employees can call, email, or map their way around the organization.
Get here
4. SiteCatalyst:
Omniture brings the power of SiteCatalyst to your iPhone. Omniture SiteCatalyst® provides marketers with actionable, real-time intelligence about online strategies and marketing initiatives. SiteCatalyst helps marketers quickly identify the most profitable paths through their Web site, determine where visitors are navigating away from their site, and identify critical success metrics for online marketing campaigns. SiteCatalyst is part of the Omniture Online Business Optimization Suite.Description:
1. Native iPhone application for quick, easy, and secure login to SiteCatalyst
2.Simple and intuitive way to browse SiteCatalyst reports on your iPhone
3. Take advantage of SiteCatalyst bookmarks and dashboards directly on your iPhone
4. Take real-time reports with you for marketing on-the-go Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.
Get here
5. Oracle Business Approvals for Managers:
Review key targeted tasks, access relevant business intelligence reports, make informed decisions and take immediate actions easily and securely while on-the-go.Description:
1. Oracle Business Approvals for Managers enables managers and executives to review key targeted tasks, access relevant business intelligence reports, make informed decisions and take immediate actions easily and securely while on-the-go.
2.Offers a highly intuitive user interface built as a native mobile application to conveniently access pending actions related to expenses, purchase requisitions, HR vacancies and job offers.
3. Requires the licensing of Oracle Business Approvals Connector for Managers to leverage Oracle's powerful SOA Suite technologies for secure and scalable integrations with Oracle enterprise applications.
Get here
6. ActiveStrategy Mobile:
ActiveStrategy Enterprise Mobile™ (ASE Mobile) provides mobile access to your ActiveStrategy Enterprise® Scorecards and other strategic performance information and indicators you need to manage your organization effectively.Description:
1. ActiveStrategy Enterprise is the leading Software-as- a-Service (SaaS) application suite for enabling “Enterprise Strategy Execution,” which entails a focus on organization-wide alignment to strategy, systematic achievement of strategic plans, continuous performance improvement, and sustainable results.
2.Because approaches to performance management vary across organizations, ActiveStrategy Enterprise supports a wide-range of frameworks and methodologies, such as Balanced Scorecards, Malcolm Baldrige criteria, Six Sigma, and more. It also enables organizations to effectively align Human Capital to overall strategy via Personal Goal Management and Management-by-Objective.
3. As a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application, ActiveStrategy Enterprise provides a rich, intuitive Web-based user interface, along with ease-of-entry for organizations of all sizes.
4. ASE Mobile synchronization requires that you are an active ActiveStrategy Enterprise customer with a valid user profile. Guest login and sample data is provided for demonstration purposes only. ASE Mobile also requires ActiveStrategy Enterprise Version 7.1 and ActiveStrategy Mobile Synchronization Server Version 1.0.
Get here
7. QlikView:
QlikView, which is the first truly interactive mobile BI application built from the ground up for the iPhone and iPod touch, lets you to quickly and easily explore and analyze your business data.Description:
1. QlikView Business Intelligence software allows you to quickly and easily get answers to business questions.
2.QlikView for the iPhone and iPod touch allows users to access analysis on a QlikView Server. This is the first truly interactive mobile BI application built from the ground up for the iPhone and iPod touch.
3. QlikView for the iPhone and iPod touch requires access to a QlikView Server, which must be licensed separately. We do, however, provide access to our public demo server, demo.qlikview.com, by default on the iPhone and iPod touch client. This allows users who download this client to experience the QlikView solution without having to first buy a QlikView server.
Get here
8. Oracle Business Approvals for Sales Managers:
By using this app, sales executives can easily review key targeted tasks and access relevant business intelligence reports. It may help you to make decisions to help your sales team succeed.Description:
1. Oracle Business Approvals for Sales Managers enables sales executives to review key targeted tasks, access relevant business intelligence reports, make informed decisions and take immediate actions easily and securely while on-the-go.
2.Offers a highly intuitive user interface built as a native mobile application to conveniently access pending actions related to sales quotes.
3. Requires the licensing of Oracle Business Approvals Connector for Sales Managers to leverage Oracle's powerful SOA Suite technologies for secure and scalable integrations with Oracle enterprise applications.
Get here
9. Evernote:
Ask many Windows users who switch to the Mac which application they miss the most and they'll cite OneNote. Microsoft's note organizer and personal database is a stellar product for anyone who lives and breathes data and notes. Since OneNote is not available on either the Mac or the iPhone, alternatives are important, and the best replacement I've found is Evernote.Description:
1. Evernote is another product that has clients available for Macintosh, Windows, and iPhone platforms. With the software installed, you can take notes on any of the three devices and share them with the other two. While the Windows and Mac versions of Evernote have solid tools for creating and storing the notes, the iPhone version builds on those tools with additions like easy voice notes and location awareness for notes made on the iPhone.
2.The standard (free) subscription allows you to upload 25MB of notes each month; a premium subscription ups that to 500MB per month. Either way, Evernote on your iPhone and primary computer will allow you to easily create notes on either and share them between platforms. For those of us constantly looking for information that we know we once knew, it's an essential tool.
Get here
10. TripIt:
TripIt is a useful service for keeping up with my travel, as well as the travel of colleagues and business associates.When it comes to keeping up with flight numbers and times, hotel and rental car reservations, and the like, TripIt on the iPhone is quite sufficient. And because it takes its info from the data you enter on the TripIt Web site, no additional effort is required.Description:
1. TripIt for iPhone only keeps track of your travel -- it doesn't include the "keeping up with my colleagues" information at all
2.Iit gets the basics right, but its inclusion on this list is based, at least a bit, on the hope that it will come closer to the full functionality of the service in future versions.
Get here
Exceptional Features of Google Gadget
Many few people will be aware of Google Gadget, there are some exceptional features of Google Talk, it just a small effort from the Bloggers path team I hope you like it. You won’t be getting rid of new features which have been launched by Google Talk. Google Talk is one of the most common used chat messenger in world wide. Now you can do more in less time with new Google Gadget and say good bye to G talk. Here are some exceptional features."
Many of you are aware of Google Talk and the myriad of gadgets which are available within the Google gadgets section. There are quite a few Gadgets which can be quite functional and the Google Gadget happens to be one of these. Now you can achieve more in lesser time than previously, by incorporating Google Gadget thus: saying Goodbye to G Talk. Read about the exceptional built in features of Google Gadget further...
For more details about Google Gadget you can visit:
http://www.google.com/talk/whatsnew.html
New Emotions:
The Nifty Emotion Picker has been added to the Google Gadget. Now you will find three different animated smilies. Now you can talk with people using newer emoticons. You will find them on the right corner of your Google Gadget tab.No More Annoying Dings & Pings:
Now you can say good bye to G talk message’s ping and ding sounds, which are very annoying when users are listening their favorite songs. Google gadget provides you flicking signs which show that you have new messages from different users. So now enjoy your favorite music without any interruption.Pop Out Support:
Now you can pop out Google gadget as small separate webpage or window. So you can navigate to other websites and web pages without having any troubles. You can also choose Google gadget as your home page, this is simply web based application and doesn’t required any G Talk installation. If you have your own webpage or blog page you can use Google gadget on your web page. So people on your site can use Google gadget. With Google gadget you can give your username so people can add you and start talking with you. Here is the simple script. With the help of that script you can use Google gadget anywhere on you web page.| '< script src="http://talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/button" type="text/javascript"' |
Watch YouTube videos and Picasa Albums:
Enjoy users! With the help of Google gadget you can share & watch your favorite YouTube videos and Picasa albums during conversation. You have to paste the Urls on your chat bar, and you will be able to share & watch videos and pictures while chatting with your friends. Google gadget gives you preview of those videos and pictures right between in your conversations. You can also watch Flickr slide shows in your conversations.Group Chat:
Most impressive and cool feature of Google gadget is Group Chat. Now talk with your nearest and dearest on a single click. When you are chatting with your friend just click on the group chat to invite your friends and start group chatting.Go Invisible:
Sometimes it’s very irritating when you are at work and you don’t want to chat with your friends. Now you do not need to login to G mail or Orkut, in order to go invisible, you can go invisible through Google gadget, so you can remain invisible while you are online. And you can aware who is online with the help of Google Gadget without being online. So go invisible….For more details about Google Gadget you can visit:
http://www.google.com/talk/whatsnew.html
Must Have Firefox Addons for Web Developers
"Happy developers! I know this term is quite rare for developers. The workload of todays developer can be quite over ridden with varying tasks, therefore : looking towards certain apps or Add-ons by which to enhance their workflow and productivity is something which is required. Firefox provides such solutions for developers, some are aware of these but not the most of them. Here, blogger’s path is listing 15 of the most practicable and useful add-ons for web developers, which are compatible for all Mozilla based web browsers and Mozilla Firefox 4 Beta."
1.No Script 2.0.3.5
This add-on is quite popular among developers and it supports all Mozilla based web browsers. It promises the best security in web browser against clickjacks and XSS attacks and makes page loading fast. Giorgio Maone developed it. It has been downloaded more than 75 millions time, and has won “PC World Class Award” in year 2006.Install | More Info
2.IE View 1.4.5.1
I bet, this add-on is likable by the most of the web developers. This enables you to load any web page in Microsoft Internet Explorer from Firefox. You can open any web page in IE while surfing in Firefox. Just right click and open it in IE or you can set option for any page to open in IE only and vice-versa. Now this add-on provides an easy way to switching browsers for web developers.Install | More Info
3.Pearl Crescent Page Saver Basic 2.6.1
This add-on allows you to take screen shots of web browser including flash contents. It can capture the whole page or the visible area of the page depends on your mood. You can also control the output of the page between allowed image formats. Images may be captured using a toolbar button, the browser context menu, or from the command line.Install | More Info
4.URL Fixer 1.7.2
This is for all; developers as well as common web surfer can use this add-on. It will correct your type mistakes done while entering address for web surfing. Such as if you type ‘google.con’ or ‘microsoft,com’, it will automatically correct it and save your time and controls your anger too if you are in hurry.Install | More Info
5.CSS Usage 0.2.2
First you need to install Firebug to use this add-on. This add-on shows you the all CSS rules applied to any website. You need to open a webpage in Firefox in similar fashion then click on the ‘Scan’ button on Firebug ‘CSS Coverage’ tab. It will also open the linked CSS file in other tab for your help.Install | More Info
6.Total Validator 6.7.0
It provides one click go validation for your web page. It supports HTML5 and XHTML5 standards and provides true HTML validation for HTML 2.0 to XHTML 1.1 with DTD rules. In addition, it gives you other checking tools such as: accessibility validation, language checker in 5 languages and takes screenshots using numerous browsers on Windows, Linux, and OS X.Install | More Info
7.Wappalyzer 1.9.4
It gives you the complete details of technology used by the website. It detects CMS, message boards, e-commerce system, JavaScript frameworks, hosting panel, analytical tools and others. Wooo; what else a developer need? Till date, it has detected more then 155 applications; you can see the complete list by clicking here.Install | More Info
8.PHP Developer Toolbar 2.2.4
This add-on will install a toolbar dedicated to PHP developers. It makes access to PHP developer communities and forums over internet. It gives you search option to find out any functions. Here, you can generate HTML forms and classes from native PHP generator.Install | More Info
9.Regular Expressions Tester 3.1.10
As its name suggests, this add-on provides the functionality of testing your Regular Expressions. It gives you the options like sub matching, special character highlighting, case sensitive etc and adjust the display of result.Install | More Info
10.MozMill 1.5.0
You can use it to create test case and simulate a test process for testing your Mozilla applications. It dissembles like a real user. For complete tutorial you can visit here.Install | More Info
11.Mobile toolkit 1.0
This installs a toolbar for mobile web application developers. It provides help to validate your code and check it on many mobile emulators for documentation.Install | More Info
12.Unicode Input Tool/Converter 2.6.8
It lookups Unicode characters, symbol descriptions in charts and outputs it in optional textbox. For full functionality, you need to download Unihan database and place it into Firefox install directory.Install | More Info
13.View Source Chart 3.02
This add-on creates DOM of the webpage source and hierarchy it in lightning speed. It provides better eye solution of page source for developers.Install | More Info
14.FireAtlas 1.2.27
This is another Firebug extension. You can use it for Asp.net Ajax development. It tracks PageRequestManager event requests and partial update inspection within Firebug panel.Install | More Info
15.Page speed
I was really missing Google, so here it comes. Now you can test your webpage speed with this add-on. It calculates the speed of your page and gives the score depending on the test. These tests are run against web server configuration and front end code. Same tool is used by the Google webmaster tool to evaluate the speed score for a webpage.Install | More Info
That's it. I hope these add-ons will help out the developers. I will come back soon with some useful and interesting information. Thank you.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
WePay Drops 600 Pounds Of Ice In Front Of PayPal Conference, Hilarity Ensues
It’s still early in the day, but the block of ice has already led to quite a bit of drama, including a moderate-speed chase involving a palette mover. According to WePay cofounder Rich Aberman, the WePay squad wheeled the ice block over to the Moscone Center on a palette mover and dropped off the cargo without issue. Aberman then quickly dashed away with the mover in tow, which he planned to hide nearby (Moscone security wouldn’t be able to remove the ice block without it).
Aberman made it 2.5 blocks before being chased down by a member of the Moscone security team, who proceeded to grab the palette mover and wheel it back to the block of ice. After getting the ice back onto the mover, he wheeled it off Moscone property. Now Aberman tells me that the WePay team has resorted to wheeling the ice in a circle around the block.
WePay competes with PayPal on the group payments front. The service makes it easy to accept payments from multiple people, which makes it well-suited for everything from event ticketing to splitting your monthly bills with your roommate (without all the lame IOUs).
In some ways, PayPal has this coming — and not just because of its account freeze issues. Back in its earlier days when it was still sparring with eBay, a group of PayPal employees headed to southern California for a major eBay event. The PayPal team then proceeded to offer conference attendees a chance at winning hundreds of dollars — but only if they wore special PayPal-branded T-shirts to the conference the next day. Many of them did, and eBay got to watch its conference get taken over by a competitor. Of course, eBay then went on to acquire PayPal.
Facebook Gets Its First Non-Profit Gift Catalogue
Everyone loves plush animals, everyone loves doing good and pretty much everyone loves Facebook. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has combined all three into Facebook’s first ever non-profit gift center.
Timed for the (always early) start of holiday season, the conservation organization has opened a gift center on its Facebook Page that allows supporters to purchase different packages aimed to look like an “adoption.”
While WWF won’t actually ship a tiger to you, these symbolic adoptions each come with an adoption certificate, color photo and a species description card. Packages range from $25 to $250; all packages more than $50 come with a soft animal plush chosen from a list of 100 different plush animals.
If that sounds a little steep, most of that money is going toward WWF’s on-the-ground conservation work. Depending on what package is purchased, the WWF puts an average of $0.82 from each donated dollar toward the cause.
The WWF has launched gift centers in the past, but the incorporation of Facebook marks a larger turn toward establishing Facebook as a fundraising and community hub in addition to its website. “Shares” and “Likes” will function much like a virtual wish list. Users will soon be able to friend a wide range of species to receive information and updates about WWF’s conservation work related to the species.
The organization will soon be launching an interactive feature called “Find Your Inner Animal.” The app will be similar to Facebook’s omnipresent “What Kind of Disney Princess Are You?” quizzes but with a social good angle. After answering some simple questions, you’ll be presented with your true inner-animal. (I am a sea otter.) You’ll then be given the opportunity to “adopt” your specific animal through a gift center package.
The soon-to-be-launched app is a brilliant tie-in for the gift center, both encouraging users to learn more and to give more. It’s as if Mattel allowed you to purchase your specific Disney doll after the princess quizzes, but with proceeds going to an incredibly good cause.
While the Facebook Page is centered around the Gift Center, there are plans to add more community elements like updates from the field, interviews with specialists, and expanding the list of friendable species, says David Glass, WWF’s director of online marketing.
What do you think? Are gift centers like this a good way to raise money and awareness? Is there a better way to support the cause? Will you “adopt”?
PayPal Apps Launches With Merchants In Mind
PayPal Apps allows developers to embed applications directly on the PayPal website and offer SaaS apps which enhance PayPal’s services. It’s similar in theory to eBay’s apps for Sellers. The new platform, which is launching with a number of pilot partners today, will be released to the public next year.
For example, Shipping and order management startup Shipwire Anywhere has partnered with PayPal to gve developers a complete suite of shipping tools and multi-channel order management to manage their shipping without leaving PayPal.
Other initial apps partners include Bill.com, CreditKarma, Expensify, Freshbooks, and Zuora are already building apps into PayPal.com.
PayPal also launched its new micropayments product this morning, and announced Facebook as an initial partners.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Advantages and Disadvantages of Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillators-OCXOs
The main advantage of an OCXO is its stability, which is unparallel by other crystal oscillator types. The frequency against temperature stability of an OCXO depends on the static and dynamic F vs. T characteristics of the resonator, the design temperature range of the OCXO, the stability of the oven and of the components in the sustaining circuitry, and the accuracy with which the oven is set to the turnover temperature of the resonator. Typical fractional stability can range from ± 20 ppb (±20E-9) to ±100 ppb. This stability can be valid for a temperature range of –40 degree C to + 85 degree C. Improved stability can be obtained over narrow temperature ranges.
The main drawback of an OCXO is power eating, unit size, warm-up time and cost. The amount of oven power required is determined mainly by the quality of insulation used and the temperature differential between the oven and the external environment. Increasing amount of insulation to reduce heat loss requires an increase in size, resulting in a tradeoff between power and size. Warm-up time is the time required for the oven to reach operating temperature and for the frequency to stabilize. It is largely dependent on available power, the thermal mass of the oven, the quality of insulation, and ambient temperature. Typical warm-up times are from 15 seconds to 5 minutes.
The OCXO operating temperature is required several degrees higher than the highest ambient temperature in which OCXO has to operate by which the oven may maintain good control. There are disadvantages associated with high oven temperature operation. First, the crystal’s frequency vs. temperature characteristic is sharper with the higher turnover crystal. Second one is more important, crystal aging degrade with an increasing temperature. That’s why it is important while designing an OCXO. It should be low as practicable, but it must be high to drive good control at the maximum ambient operating temperature.
The main drawback of an OCXO is power eating, unit size, warm-up time and cost. The amount of oven power required is determined mainly by the quality of insulation used and the temperature differential between the oven and the external environment. Increasing amount of insulation to reduce heat loss requires an increase in size, resulting in a tradeoff between power and size. Warm-up time is the time required for the oven to reach operating temperature and for the frequency to stabilize. It is largely dependent on available power, the thermal mass of the oven, the quality of insulation, and ambient temperature. Typical warm-up times are from 15 seconds to 5 minutes.
The OCXO operating temperature is required several degrees higher than the highest ambient temperature in which OCXO has to operate by which the oven may maintain good control. There are disadvantages associated with high oven temperature operation. First, the crystal’s frequency vs. temperature characteristic is sharper with the higher turnover crystal. Second one is more important, crystal aging degrade with an increasing temperature. That’s why it is important while designing an OCXO. It should be low as practicable, but it must be high to drive good control at the maximum ambient operating temperature.
Twitter Employees Get Google’s 20% Time… For The Entire Next Week
Well this is sort of interesting. Apparently, Twitter has just kicked off something they’re calling their “Hack Week”. But instead of it being a time when various third-party developers get together to hack on things off of Twitter’s APIs, Twitter employees themselves are going to see what crazy cool things they can come up with.
A post on their engineering blog outlines this. “We’ll all be building things that are separate from our normal work and not part of our day-to-day jobs,” the post notes. This sounds a lot like Google’s “20 percent time” — Google employees are encouraged to spend up to 20 percent of their time working on interesting side projects not directly related to their actual work.
A post on their engineering blog outlines this. “We’ll all be building things that are separate from our normal work and not part of our day-to-day jobs,” the post notes. This sounds a lot like Google’s “20 percent time” — Google employees are encouraged to spend up to 20 percent of their time working on interesting side projects not directly related to their actual work.
The Future Of TV Is HTML
The title of this post is both a very old idea and a very new one. With the prevalence of fiber connectivity and pervasive broadband speeds, this year has been a hot one for bringing together the home computer and the living room TV. While companies like Apple and Google battle over share of TV viewers, they have left open and promoted the web for content distributors to control their own experience through HTML (and, especially, HTML5).
To that end, it looks like Apple has one-upped Google by opting to privately pre-arrange distribution deals with traditional studio networks beginning with ABC and FOX, while Google has no deals in place at all, hoping the networks will just “allow” consumers to watch Web videos on their TVs. But Google TV is getting a slap in the face from several networks who pulled the plug, right on the big release day. Just as reviews were rolling out in favor of Google’s new living room effort, ABC, CBS and NBC are exiting stage left.
The interesting thing here is that the networks are not sending Google cease and desist letters, they are just simply blocking this particular device from accessing their otherwise free websites, using a free and open protocol. If you normally like to visit http://abc.com on your computer to watch video content, no problem, but if you want to access the website on your Google TV browser by going to abc.com, currently, you will be blocked.
These tactics by the networks are part of a clear strategy that has been at play for some time, Google could have anticipated this would happen. Remember the Hulu vs. Boxee battle? Boxee pumped Hulu through to the TV, but Hulu blocked Boxee because Hulu is restricting their content to computer screens. So Boxee worked around it to get Hulu to the TV screen. Then Hulu blocked the workaround, so on and so forth. Boxee was confident that they were within the boundaries of the law because they were picking up on signals that Hulu was sending out with a free and open protocol, via the world wide web.
Now the same networks behind Hulu are sending the same message to Google in exactly the same way. They are saying you can watch their content with a browser on your computer, or phone, but when it comes to the Google TV set in particular, just like the Boxee, or any other living room TV set, it’s a no go. They are discriminating by device.
Here is what is going on. If you have a TV now, you are almost certainly paying for TV content with a monthly cable bill and if you start to get your TV content through the web, it will be just a matter of time before you will cut your cable bill. The cable companies know this and they appear to be doing everything they can to force the networks to comply with their demands to block their streaming Web video from appearing on TVs. The networks have their hands tied because almost all of their revenue comes from cable right now and if they break up with cable, and go hard-core internet on their own, they will likely implode overnight. For, as you know, Google TV is not offering them anything, and Apple isn’t offering a good enough deal to exist on. So there you have the problems of the traditional TV networks, once rivals now conspiring to sustain their long held control of a medium that is slipping away.
As for the rest of the world, you can’t stop us. Developers of Web video distribution platforms forge ahead. Apple is offering to lure them in with partnerships, Google is giving them the opportunity to figure it out for free. Neither Apple nor Google, nor anyone else is waiting any longer. The time is now. You can feel it. The rest of the video world marches on, bringing the internet and the TV closer together.
Moving Ahead
For most people, Google TV vs. Apple TV is about something different. They are fighting a war for capturing people at the hardware and operating system levels. Apple is succeeding in selling hardware by locking people in with an integrated operating system, while Google is capturing people on the operating system level, with Android, and then integrating Google services from there. Google is giving Android away for free so they can tag along for the ride.
From Google on the Google TV, October, 2010 :
We are working hard to open source the code for the GoogleTV project, and hope to release the source code next year.
From Apple on the Apple TV, October, 2010:
If you can’t add or play a movie in iTunes or QuickTime Player, then you won’t be able to convert it to play on Apple TV.
When Steve Jobs says, “Open doesn’t always win,” he’s talking directly to Google about this war. But for those in the TV business who wish to distribute their content to both Apple TV and Google TV audiences, it doesn’t really matter.
In the past, with this same closed strategy, Apple may have captured the content of the music industry business but I suspect Apple doesn’t really care about the TV content business too much. The studios are traditionally full of wacky businesses and the pool of valuable TV content is a relatively small one with a profit margin that is expected to shrink. How many hit series are there at any one time anyway? Not that many. And of all the series in the past how many are still in high demand?
No Need For Apps
The world is obsessed with apps right now. An app is just software for your computer, and developers are being forced to recreate the same experience dozens of different ways. It’s a constant re-inventing of the wheel. What a waste of time. Now Microsoft is getting into the game too. While it’s easy for a consumer to ignore by just sticking to their platform of choice, developers and content distributors need to figure out WTF they must do next to make their “app” look the same on Windows or some other new platform, like yep, Apple Lion.
Yes, the diversity in platforms is also needed and welcome. It’s in the best interest of the world overall to have many choices. There are many examples of wants-and-needs not being met by just one development platform. Special tasks require alternate solutions. But for TV content, distributed to the living room, none of this really matters because the place to be is not necessarily on the phone, and its not in an app store, its on the web, via HTML.
HTML5
Apple’s Steve Jobs on HTML5, April 2010:
HTML5, the new web standard that has been adopted by Apple, Google and many others, lets web developers create advanced graphics, typography, animations and transitions without relying on third party browser plug-ins (like Flash). HTML5 is completely open.
Google on HTML5, October 2010:
Your GoogleTV site can look great with the right mix of video, audio, and visual effects. HTML5 provides this kind of rich content and more, and it’s supported in GoogleTV’s Chrome browser. For ideas, tutorials, and guidance, check out HTML5 Rocks.
H.264
Meanwhile, while it may be frustrating that Apple TV doesn’t support Flash, and Google TV doesn’t support Quicktime, they do both support H.264 video playback. Apple says “H.264 is the base format” of it’s Apple TV while Google says the “hardware in the GoogleTV supports…H.264 decoders”
You have to ask yourself, if you are looking for scale, what is the lowest common denominator here?
For TV on the web, it pretty much comes down to H.264 video in HTML5. The future of TV is not your mom’s app, it’s the browser. Unless of course the magnets keep us pinned to the vortex due to the effects of a fragmented market. Right now, all of us are unable to discover what we want, forcing Web video developers (and all others too) to tweak their apps for a hundred different versions of Android, on hundreds of different hardware platforms, plus all the iPhone, iPad, and Mac versions, plus Windows, plus this, and plus that, oh my. Jobs was right, what a mess.
Unless you develop for HTML5 with H.264.
Web First
For a publisher, the idea of charging for apps can certainly lead to a nice revenue stream. But giving away 30-50% of your revenue stream to someone for selling the app is not all that nice. In the long run, I’d rather have you come to my website, and I can just sell it to you there. If Apple has a store, and Android has a bunch of stores, and Nokia has one, and Sony and Windows, and everyone else under the sun has one, your business can have one too, no big deal.
The challenge then shifts from app building and revenue-share issues to discovery of your website. Yet the problem isn’t a new one, it’s a problem you face with apps anyway. As a distributor of TV content, if you want to get your content to the living room TVs, especially the ones on the market right now like the new Sony-Google TV or a nice new Apple TV, and you want to bypass the bureaucracy of others’ stores, and setup costs, and revenue shares, even as you want it to work great for the Apple TV experience and for the Google TV experience, and for any other living room TV integration—Boxee, Roku, you name it—format your website to detect the device and present the right display from your website. It’s that simple. Control the entire situation.
And even though you know you are going to develop apps for various TV platforms and other platforms anyway, especially because it’s a great way to get front and center, make them free and use them as a simple browser to get the apps built quickly and inexpensively. Consider developing for the web first so everyone can gain access and you can remain in control. There is a frenzy of “mobile first, web second” development philosophy in fashion right now, and rightfully so, but the living room TV isn’t mobile. It’s stationary. So when creating your apps, you can keep it simple and just point them to your own website where you can manage your own community, special features, distribution, promotion, advertising and sponsorship through a unique, centralized, cross platform environment called the web.
The beauty of HTML TV is that it’s a fancy protocol which everyone loves, it’s open, and it’s free.
To that end, it looks like Apple has one-upped Google by opting to privately pre-arrange distribution deals with traditional studio networks beginning with ABC and FOX, while Google has no deals in place at all, hoping the networks will just “allow” consumers to watch Web videos on their TVs. But Google TV is getting a slap in the face from several networks who pulled the plug, right on the big release day. Just as reviews were rolling out in favor of Google’s new living room effort, ABC, CBS and NBC are exiting stage left.
The interesting thing here is that the networks are not sending Google cease and desist letters, they are just simply blocking this particular device from accessing their otherwise free websites, using a free and open protocol. If you normally like to visit http://abc.com on your computer to watch video content, no problem, but if you want to access the website on your Google TV browser by going to abc.com, currently, you will be blocked.
These tactics by the networks are part of a clear strategy that has been at play for some time, Google could have anticipated this would happen. Remember the Hulu vs. Boxee battle? Boxee pumped Hulu through to the TV, but Hulu blocked Boxee because Hulu is restricting their content to computer screens. So Boxee worked around it to get Hulu to the TV screen. Then Hulu blocked the workaround, so on and so forth. Boxee was confident that they were within the boundaries of the law because they were picking up on signals that Hulu was sending out with a free and open protocol, via the world wide web.
Now the same networks behind Hulu are sending the same message to Google in exactly the same way. They are saying you can watch their content with a browser on your computer, or phone, but when it comes to the Google TV set in particular, just like the Boxee, or any other living room TV set, it’s a no go. They are discriminating by device.
Here is what is going on. If you have a TV now, you are almost certainly paying for TV content with a monthly cable bill and if you start to get your TV content through the web, it will be just a matter of time before you will cut your cable bill. The cable companies know this and they appear to be doing everything they can to force the networks to comply with their demands to block their streaming Web video from appearing on TVs. The networks have their hands tied because almost all of their revenue comes from cable right now and if they break up with cable, and go hard-core internet on their own, they will likely implode overnight. For, as you know, Google TV is not offering them anything, and Apple isn’t offering a good enough deal to exist on. So there you have the problems of the traditional TV networks, once rivals now conspiring to sustain their long held control of a medium that is slipping away.
As for the rest of the world, you can’t stop us. Developers of Web video distribution platforms forge ahead. Apple is offering to lure them in with partnerships, Google is giving them the opportunity to figure it out for free. Neither Apple nor Google, nor anyone else is waiting any longer. The time is now. You can feel it. The rest of the video world marches on, bringing the internet and the TV closer together.
Moving Ahead
For most people, Google TV vs. Apple TV is about something different. They are fighting a war for capturing people at the hardware and operating system levels. Apple is succeeding in selling hardware by locking people in with an integrated operating system, while Google is capturing people on the operating system level, with Android, and then integrating Google services from there. Google is giving Android away for free so they can tag along for the ride.
From Google on the Google TV, October, 2010 :
We are working hard to open source the code for the GoogleTV project, and hope to release the source code next year.
From Apple on the Apple TV, October, 2010:
If you can’t add or play a movie in iTunes or QuickTime Player, then you won’t be able to convert it to play on Apple TV.
When Steve Jobs says, “Open doesn’t always win,” he’s talking directly to Google about this war. But for those in the TV business who wish to distribute their content to both Apple TV and Google TV audiences, it doesn’t really matter.
In the past, with this same closed strategy, Apple may have captured the content of the music industry business but I suspect Apple doesn’t really care about the TV content business too much. The studios are traditionally full of wacky businesses and the pool of valuable TV content is a relatively small one with a profit margin that is expected to shrink. How many hit series are there at any one time anyway? Not that many. And of all the series in the past how many are still in high demand?
No Need For Apps
The world is obsessed with apps right now. An app is just software for your computer, and developers are being forced to recreate the same experience dozens of different ways. It’s a constant re-inventing of the wheel. What a waste of time. Now Microsoft is getting into the game too. While it’s easy for a consumer to ignore by just sticking to their platform of choice, developers and content distributors need to figure out WTF they must do next to make their “app” look the same on Windows or some other new platform, like yep, Apple Lion.
Yes, the diversity in platforms is also needed and welcome. It’s in the best interest of the world overall to have many choices. There are many examples of wants-and-needs not being met by just one development platform. Special tasks require alternate solutions. But for TV content, distributed to the living room, none of this really matters because the place to be is not necessarily on the phone, and its not in an app store, its on the web, via HTML.
HTML5
Apple’s Steve Jobs on HTML5, April 2010:
HTML5, the new web standard that has been adopted by Apple, Google and many others, lets web developers create advanced graphics, typography, animations and transitions without relying on third party browser plug-ins (like Flash). HTML5 is completely open.
Google on HTML5, October 2010:
Your GoogleTV site can look great with the right mix of video, audio, and visual effects. HTML5 provides this kind of rich content and more, and it’s supported in GoogleTV’s Chrome browser. For ideas, tutorials, and guidance, check out HTML5 Rocks.
H.264
Meanwhile, while it may be frustrating that Apple TV doesn’t support Flash, and Google TV doesn’t support Quicktime, they do both support H.264 video playback. Apple says “H.264 is the base format” of it’s Apple TV while Google says the “hardware in the GoogleTV supports…H.264 decoders”
You have to ask yourself, if you are looking for scale, what is the lowest common denominator here?
For TV on the web, it pretty much comes down to H.264 video in HTML5. The future of TV is not your mom’s app, it’s the browser. Unless of course the magnets keep us pinned to the vortex due to the effects of a fragmented market. Right now, all of us are unable to discover what we want, forcing Web video developers (and all others too) to tweak their apps for a hundred different versions of Android, on hundreds of different hardware platforms, plus all the iPhone, iPad, and Mac versions, plus Windows, plus this, and plus that, oh my. Jobs was right, what a mess.
Unless you develop for HTML5 with H.264.
Web First
For a publisher, the idea of charging for apps can certainly lead to a nice revenue stream. But giving away 30-50% of your revenue stream to someone for selling the app is not all that nice. In the long run, I’d rather have you come to my website, and I can just sell it to you there. If Apple has a store, and Android has a bunch of stores, and Nokia has one, and Sony and Windows, and everyone else under the sun has one, your business can have one too, no big deal.
The challenge then shifts from app building and revenue-share issues to discovery of your website. Yet the problem isn’t a new one, it’s a problem you face with apps anyway. As a distributor of TV content, if you want to get your content to the living room TVs, especially the ones on the market right now like the new Sony-Google TV or a nice new Apple TV, and you want to bypass the bureaucracy of others’ stores, and setup costs, and revenue shares, even as you want it to work great for the Apple TV experience and for the Google TV experience, and for any other living room TV integration—Boxee, Roku, you name it—format your website to detect the device and present the right display from your website. It’s that simple. Control the entire situation.
And even though you know you are going to develop apps for various TV platforms and other platforms anyway, especially because it’s a great way to get front and center, make them free and use them as a simple browser to get the apps built quickly and inexpensively. Consider developing for the web first so everyone can gain access and you can remain in control. There is a frenzy of “mobile first, web second” development philosophy in fashion right now, and rightfully so, but the living room TV isn’t mobile. It’s stationary. So when creating your apps, you can keep it simple and just point them to your own website where you can manage your own community, special features, distribution, promotion, advertising and sponsorship through a unique, centralized, cross platform environment called the web.
The beauty of HTML TV is that it’s a fancy protocol which everyone loves, it’s open, and it’s free.
Just Because Google Exists Doesn’t Mean You Should Stop Asking People Things
If you spend any amount of time online you’re probably very familiar with the above website, “Let Me Google That For You.” LMGTFY is a super smug and hilarious site built for those sick of “all those people that find it more convenient to bother you with their question rather than google it for themselves.“
As all of us know, it is super annoying when your co-worker or worse boss sends you an email (!) asking an easily google-able question, therefore making you google the answer to send back and wasting your and their precious time. Granted.
The issue is, just like cell phones have made it easier to forget phone numbers, “google” as verb is now a replacement for the word and action “think.” The search engine has become such a stand-in repository for human knowledge that it has, among other things, compromised the entire genre of games based on trivia.
Consider the example of how Google put an end to the “Phone A Friend” lifeline on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”;
“Because of Google,” Mecurio said. “Everyone would call their friend and the friend would start Googling to get the answer. The contestant would be like, ‘Hey Joe, aspirin. A-S-P-I-R-I-N.’ We could hear them typing on their keyboard!”
Google has basically become an extension of our brain, the epitome of Steve Jobs’ “bicycle for our minds.” Twice this week I have asked questions that would be better suited to a human rather than an search engine algorithm and both times I’ve been met with a “just Google it”-esque response.
One of those inquiries was about directions to a local restaurant and the Google Maps walking directions and the directions I needed to get there safely while walking and biking were two very different things (yes, I know about Google Biking directions, still unavailable on the iPhone). I ended up getting lost in the rain because in the mist I couldn’t see the very narrow bridge across the 101 freeway that the Google Maps directions indicated.
Google is not omniscient. It doesn’t understand that the shouting coming from next door is probably a faster and more importantly more viscerally satisfying indicator of whether the SF Giants just won the NL Championship Series than any keywords I could search. There are countless examples of “Google fail” (available, yes, through Google) that are constant reminders of how the service cannot account for all the intricacies and subtleties of the human experience.
And while it’s great to have access to an index of the largest compilation of information humanity has ever seen at my literal fingertips, I’m going to continue to ask people things like, “What’s the best place to get pizza in San Francisco?” or “How do you complete this function on Excel?,” even if it is on forums like Quora.
How do you think Google got all that information in the first place?
As all of us know, it is super annoying when your co-worker or worse boss sends you an email (!) asking an easily google-able question, therefore making you google the answer to send back and wasting your and their precious time. Granted.
The issue is, just like cell phones have made it easier to forget phone numbers, “google” as verb is now a replacement for the word and action “think.” The search engine has become such a stand-in repository for human knowledge that it has, among other things, compromised the entire genre of games based on trivia.
Consider the example of how Google put an end to the “Phone A Friend” lifeline on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”;
“Because of Google,” Mecurio said. “Everyone would call their friend and the friend would start Googling to get the answer. The contestant would be like, ‘Hey Joe, aspirin. A-S-P-I-R-I-N.’ We could hear them typing on their keyboard!”
Google has basically become an extension of our brain, the epitome of Steve Jobs’ “bicycle for our minds.” Twice this week I have asked questions that would be better suited to a human rather than an search engine algorithm and both times I’ve been met with a “just Google it”-esque response.
One of those inquiries was about directions to a local restaurant and the Google Maps walking directions and the directions I needed to get there safely while walking and biking were two very different things (yes, I know about Google Biking directions, still unavailable on the iPhone). I ended up getting lost in the rain because in the mist I couldn’t see the very narrow bridge across the 101 freeway that the Google Maps directions indicated.
Google is not omniscient. It doesn’t understand that the shouting coming from next door is probably a faster and more importantly more viscerally satisfying indicator of whether the SF Giants just won the NL Championship Series than any keywords I could search. There are countless examples of “Google fail” (available, yes, through Google) that are constant reminders of how the service cannot account for all the intricacies and subtleties of the human experience.
And while it’s great to have access to an index of the largest compilation of information humanity has ever seen at my literal fingertips, I’m going to continue to ask people things like, “What’s the best place to get pizza in San Francisco?” or “How do you complete this function on Excel?,” even if it is on forums like Quora.
How do you think Google got all that information in the first place?
ndia's IMF rank up 3 notches
India will improve its rank by three notches to the 8th position in IMF, as the group of 20 nations (G-20) decided to increase the quota of emerging markets in the multi-lateral lending agency by over six per cent.
"Agreement on IMF reforms has been reached. There will be a shift in quota shares to dynamic EMDCs (emerging market developing countries) and to underrepresented countries of over 6 per cent while protecting the voting share of the poorest," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.
With this, India's rank in International Monetary Fund (IMF) will improve to the 8th position from the current 11th in terms of quota, he told reporters after a meeting of Finance Ministers of G-20 nations.
"What we have achieved is significant. The quota share (of India in IMF) will improve to about 2.75 per cent (from the present level of 2.44 per cent)," Mukherjee added.
Similarly, China will see an improvement in its ranking to the third position from the present sixth.
Quota represents the relative position of members of IMF.
It is based on various parameters like country's GDP, openness, forex reserves etc.
The Finance Minister said the quota reforms will give legitimacy to the IMF in the new world economic order.
India and other emerging market economies have been demanding reforms in IMF to give more powers to them in line with their share in the global economy.
Emerging market economies contribute around 47.5 per cent to the global economy in terms of purchasing power parity, but have only 39.5 per cent share in the IMF.
Their share will now increase to over 45.5 per cent in the 187-nation body IMF.
Also, Europe will give up two of the eight or nine seats it controls at any given time on the IMF's Executive Board, which will continue to have 24 members, as per the agreement.
Now next phase of reforms will start in 2013.
"Agreement on IMF reforms has been reached. There will be a shift in quota shares to dynamic EMDCs (emerging market developing countries) and to underrepresented countries of over 6 per cent while protecting the voting share of the poorest," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.
With this, India's rank in International Monetary Fund (IMF) will improve to the 8th position from the current 11th in terms of quota, he told reporters after a meeting of Finance Ministers of G-20 nations.
"What we have achieved is significant. The quota share (of India in IMF) will improve to about 2.75 per cent (from the present level of 2.44 per cent)," Mukherjee added.
Similarly, China will see an improvement in its ranking to the third position from the present sixth.
Quota represents the relative position of members of IMF.
It is based on various parameters like country's GDP, openness, forex reserves etc.
The Finance Minister said the quota reforms will give legitimacy to the IMF in the new world economic order.
India and other emerging market economies have been demanding reforms in IMF to give more powers to them in line with their share in the global economy.
Emerging market economies contribute around 47.5 per cent to the global economy in terms of purchasing power parity, but have only 39.5 per cent share in the IMF.
Their share will now increase to over 45.5 per cent in the 187-nation body IMF.
Also, Europe will give up two of the eight or nine seats it controls at any given time on the IMF's Executive Board, which will continue to have 24 members, as per the agreement.
Now next phase of reforms will start in 2013.
Sarkozy visit to boost Indo-French trade
The bilateral trade between India and France is poised to touch $12 billion by 2012 against $8 billion in 2009, said Pierre Fournier, French consul general, Puducherry. French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to India in December, will further strengthen relationship between the two countries, Fournier said on Saturday at a seminar on investment opportunities in France organised by CII.
R Prabhakaran, executive director, group marketing & business development, Amalgamations group, said, "France is India's fifth largest trading partner in the European Union." Around 600 French companies are present in India and 90 Indian companies have their operations in France. Food processing sector has scope for greater cooperation, added Prabhakaran. "The bilateral trade between India and France has exceeded the $8 billion mark in 2009, registering a phenomenal growth of our two-way trade in the last few years," said Guillaume Page, inward investment officer, Invest in France Agency.
"In order to attract more investment, a new financial incentive scheme has been introduced by the French government to support companies for financing their investment projects in France," said Page.
Life sciences industry, chemicals, IT, automotive industry, metalworking industry, renewable energies, logistics are some sectors where it is looking for investments from India. For a company of up to 5,000 employees targeting to invest with a minimum of euro 5 million in France, will have the opportunity to apply for a zero % interest rate loan to finance a part of its project, he said.
Lionel Petit , legal expert, Karl Waheed, Paris, spoke on the recent regulation in favour of intra-group transfer, so called 'employees on assignment 'mission facilitating professional mobility to France with issuance of a three years contributed work and residency permit. Lionel Petit also presented the recent social security agreement between France and India that should come into effect early 2011 and resulting in the possibility for Indian employees to be exempted from around 20% of French social taxes.
R Prabhakaran, executive director, group marketing & business development, Amalgamations group, said, "France is India's fifth largest trading partner in the European Union." Around 600 French companies are present in India and 90 Indian companies have their operations in France. Food processing sector has scope for greater cooperation, added Prabhakaran. "The bilateral trade between India and France has exceeded the $8 billion mark in 2009, registering a phenomenal growth of our two-way trade in the last few years," said Guillaume Page, inward investment officer, Invest in France Agency.
"In order to attract more investment, a new financial incentive scheme has been introduced by the French government to support companies for financing their investment projects in France," said Page.
Life sciences industry, chemicals, IT, automotive industry, metalworking industry, renewable energies, logistics are some sectors where it is looking for investments from India. For a company of up to 5,000 employees targeting to invest with a minimum of euro 5 million in France, will have the opportunity to apply for a zero % interest rate loan to finance a part of its project, he said.
Lionel Petit , legal expert, Karl Waheed, Paris, spoke on the recent regulation in favour of intra-group transfer, so called 'employees on assignment 'mission facilitating professional mobility to France with issuance of a three years contributed work and residency permit. Lionel Petit also presented the recent social security agreement between France and India that should come into effect early 2011 and resulting in the possibility for Indian employees to be exempted from around 20% of French social taxes.
Emerging economies gain clout as IMF doubles quotas
GYEONGJU, South Korea (Reuters) - Fast-growing emerging economies will get more clout at the International Monetary Fund under a landmark agreement clinched on Saturday that reflects a shift in global power from industrial countries.
Under the deal, more than 6 percent of voting shares at the Fund will shift to dynamic developing countries such as China, which will become the third-biggest member of the 187-strong Washington-based lender.
Europe will give up two of the eight or nine seats it controls at any given time on the IMF's Executive Board, which will continue to have 24 members, according to a statement issued after a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 leading economies.
As part of a wide-ranging package, the G20 also agreed to double the IMF's quotas, which determine how much each country contributes to the IMF and how much it may borrow from it.
The quotas currently total about $340 billion. The IMF staff had argued for a doubling, which it said would put the fund "in a strong position to forestall or cope with potential crises in the coming years".
The G20 said the reforms would make the Washington-based lender "more effective, credible and legitimate".
The governance reforms amount to an overhaul of the global economic order established when the Fund was set up after World War Two, prompting IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn to describe the agreement as historic.
"This makes for the biggest reform ever in the governance of the institution," he told reporters.
The reduction in Europe's representation is less than the United States was seeking.
However, Washington, which has a 17.67 percent share of IMF quotas will retain its veto on the Fund's most important decisions. These will continue to require a super-majority vote of 85 percent, according to IMF officials.
HORSE-TRADING
The G20 agreed a year ago to transfer at least 5 percent of voting rights to developing countries such as India and Brazil whose clout within the Fund has not kept pace with their emergence as major engines of global growth.
"It was a long-expected reform that is really shifting the balance of power and making space for all economies, including emerging markets," said French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.
China will leapfrog Germany, France and Britain in the Fund's power rankings, with its quota share rising to 6.19 percent from 3.65 percent. India will be in 8th spot, Russia in 9th and Brazil in 10th, according to the Russian finance ministry.
Together, the four -- known by the acronym BRICs -- will have 14.18 percent of IMF quotas.
Emerging markets as a whole will have a 42.29 percent share, which the G20 said was likely to rise further following a comprehensive review of the quota formula due by January 2013.
"This does not complete the reform process," Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said. "The position of the emerging market countries is that this work should be continued."
Thrashing out which smaller European countries will give up their board seats is likely to take a year or more. The G20 set a final deadline of October 2012. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland are among the possible losers.
The fund's current five biggest members -- the United States, Japan, Germany, France and Britain -- have their own seats on the IMF board and are allowed to appoint their executive directors.
Under Saturday's deal, these directors will now have to be elected by the full board.
China, Russia and Saudi Arabia also have their own seats. The rest of the membership is divided into constituencies, which elect an executive director to vote for the group as a whole.
Officials said the Gyeongju Accord could lead to more multi-member constituencies, and a shake-up of existing ones, depending on how Europe reduces its representation.
"What that essentially means is that all of these multi-country seats will have to be reshuffled, so there will be jockeying and coalition-forming," said Hyun Song Shin, the top G20 adviser to South Korea's president.
There are no set rules governing how countries group together. Individual countries can switch constituencies in search of more influence within a group or to form a more coherent regional alliance.
Under the deal, more than 6 percent of voting shares at the Fund will shift to dynamic developing countries such as China, which will become the third-biggest member of the 187-strong Washington-based lender.
Europe will give up two of the eight or nine seats it controls at any given time on the IMF's Executive Board, which will continue to have 24 members, according to a statement issued after a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 leading economies.
As part of a wide-ranging package, the G20 also agreed to double the IMF's quotas, which determine how much each country contributes to the IMF and how much it may borrow from it.
The quotas currently total about $340 billion. The IMF staff had argued for a doubling, which it said would put the fund "in a strong position to forestall or cope with potential crises in the coming years".
The G20 said the reforms would make the Washington-based lender "more effective, credible and legitimate".
The governance reforms amount to an overhaul of the global economic order established when the Fund was set up after World War Two, prompting IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn to describe the agreement as historic.
"This makes for the biggest reform ever in the governance of the institution," he told reporters.
The reduction in Europe's representation is less than the United States was seeking.
However, Washington, which has a 17.67 percent share of IMF quotas will retain its veto on the Fund's most important decisions. These will continue to require a super-majority vote of 85 percent, according to IMF officials.
HORSE-TRADING
The G20 agreed a year ago to transfer at least 5 percent of voting rights to developing countries such as India and Brazil whose clout within the Fund has not kept pace with their emergence as major engines of global growth.
"It was a long-expected reform that is really shifting the balance of power and making space for all economies, including emerging markets," said French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.
China will leapfrog Germany, France and Britain in the Fund's power rankings, with its quota share rising to 6.19 percent from 3.65 percent. India will be in 8th spot, Russia in 9th and Brazil in 10th, according to the Russian finance ministry.
Together, the four -- known by the acronym BRICs -- will have 14.18 percent of IMF quotas.
Emerging markets as a whole will have a 42.29 percent share, which the G20 said was likely to rise further following a comprehensive review of the quota formula due by January 2013.
"This does not complete the reform process," Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said. "The position of the emerging market countries is that this work should be continued."
Thrashing out which smaller European countries will give up their board seats is likely to take a year or more. The G20 set a final deadline of October 2012. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland are among the possible losers.
The fund's current five biggest members -- the United States, Japan, Germany, France and Britain -- have their own seats on the IMF board and are allowed to appoint their executive directors.
Under Saturday's deal, these directors will now have to be elected by the full board.
China, Russia and Saudi Arabia also have their own seats. The rest of the membership is divided into constituencies, which elect an executive director to vote for the group as a whole.
Officials said the Gyeongju Accord could lead to more multi-member constituencies, and a shake-up of existing ones, depending on how Europe reduces its representation.
"What that essentially means is that all of these multi-country seats will have to be reshuffled, so there will be jockeying and coalition-forming," said Hyun Song Shin, the top G20 adviser to South Korea's president.
There are no set rules governing how countries group together. Individual countries can switch constituencies in search of more influence within a group or to form a more coherent regional alliance.
Not a fine balance
Oh, for a Roger Binny or a Madan Lal. Or an Anil Kumble. Without someone emulating their feats next February and March, Indian dreams of World Cup glory are likely to get a cold-water reality check long before the final on April 2. If history has taught us anything, it's that the team with the best bowlers wins the competition. It may have evolved from a two-week sprint in 1975 to a six-week marathon these days, but the formula for success has changed little. Teams that bowl the opposition out win trophies. Those that bowl waist-high full tosses and concede 84 runs in the final five overs, as India did during the victory in Vishakapatnam, usually end up watching the final stages on television.
Back in '75, not one West Indian batsman made more than 200 runs. But with Bernard Julien and Keith Boyce taking 10 wickets and Andy Roberts eight, the men from the Caribbean weren't handicapped by the inconsistency of the batsmen. It was a slightly different story four years later, with Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards topping the run charts, but once again the quick bowlers brooked no opposition. Michael Holding, Colin Croft and Joel Garner all took eight wickets, while Roberts had seven. Not one of them conceded more than 3.77 an over and the 'worst' average (21.5) was Garner's, despite the trophy-winning 5 for 38 at Lord's.
Though they lost the final in 1983, the trend continued, with Indian success primarily the handiwork of their unheralded medium-pacers. Kapil Dev was fifth on the run charts with 303, but no other Indian featured in the top 10. It was a different story with the ball, as Binny took 18 wickets and Madan Lal just one less. Kapil finished on 12 (at a measly economy rate of 2.91), the same as Marshall and Holding, the last man out in that memorable final.
India's failure to defend the title four years later can be attributed to the fact that only Maninder Singh (14 wickets) made a significant impact with the ball. Once Graham Gooch started to sweep at will in the semi-final, India had no one else to turn to. Australia's success owed much to David Boon and Geoff Marsh [second and third on the run chart, behind Gooch], but the game-breaker in the semi-final against a formidable Pakistani side was Craig McDermott, the highest wicket-taker with 18. Steve Waugh's composure at the death also contributed 11 wickets.
When Imran Khan finally got what he wanted in Australia four years later, he was indebted to Javed Miandad, Rameez Raja and Aamer Sohail, each of whom finished with more than 300 runs. But the real catalysts for the triumph could be seen right at the top of the bowling tree. 
Wasim Akram's beguiling left-arm pace accounted for 18 wickets, while Mushtaq Ahmed's leg spin took 16. There was also the parsimonious Aaqib Javed, who bottled up one end and took 11 wickets.
When Pakistan were thrashed in the final eight years later, they again had some of the competition's finest bowlers. Saqlain Mushtaq took 17 wickets, Shoaib Akhtar 16 and Wasim 15. Unfortunately, they were up against even more irresistible forces. Shane Warne had 20 and Glenn McGrath 18, while Damien Fleming's sterling support fetched him 14.
When Australia swept all before them on their way to retaining their title in South Africa, both Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist made more than 400 runs, but were still well behind India's opening combination of Sachin Tendulkar (673) and Sourav Ganguly (465). The cutting edge came from the bowlers, with Brett Lee taking 22 wickets and McGrath 21. 
The under-rated Andy Bichel took 16. India beat every other team that they faced, with Zaheer Khan taking 18 wickets, Javagal Srinath 16 and Ashish Nehra 15. They had one bad day, in the final, and that was that.
The Australian dominance was even more overpowering in 2007, with Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting scoring nearly 1200 runs between them. The performances of Shaun Tait (23 wickets) and Brad Hogg (21) meant that the injured Brett Lee was hardly missed, but once again it was the incomparable McGrath that led the pack, with 26 wickets at 13.73.
So, with a bowling line-up that leaks runs so badly in the climactic stages of an innings, does India have any hope? Yes, assuming they can do what Sri Lanka did in 1996. 
Back then, Arjuna Ranatunga's side didn't have one bowler among the top 15 wicket-takers. Muttiah Muralitharan was their top man, but seven wickets in six games was nothing to write home about in a competition where Kumble took 15 and Warne 12.
What Sri Lanka did have was a dynamic batting order, superbly anchored by Asanka Gurusinha (307 runs at 51.16). Aravinda de Silva produced batting masterclasses in the semi and final on his way to finishing third on the run chart, while Arjuna Ranatunga and Sanath Jayasuriya also scored at well over a run a ball. No matter what the opposition scored, Sri Lanka backed themselves to get it, with batsmanship that was both classical and innovative.
As Wednesday's game showed, there's little wrong with India's batting reserves. But with just three months to go for the World Cup, it's hard to escape the feeling that all the golden eggs are in the batting basket. A cursory look at bowling figures from the past year would fill a fan with dread, not confidence, especially since the matches have been played in the conditions the team will face during the World Cup.
Nehra is India's top wicket-taker since last October, with 36 wickets from 26 games, but an economy rate of 6.06 reveals how he too has struggled with bowling at the death. Zaheer Khan (16 wickets at 38.56 from 13 games) and Ishant Sharma (14 at 29.14 from 10 games) have played intermittantly, but economy rates of 5.63 and 5.98 are hardly what World Cup wins are made of.
Praveen Kumar has taken 23 wickets in 20 games while giving away 5.4 an over, but once the ball stops swinging, he's likely to be treated to the Cameron White method. The alternatives? There really aren't any. Vinay Kumar lacks pace, Irfan Pathan and RP Singh struggle to get wickets at domestic level and Sreesanth has an economy rate of 7.28 from his eight appearances this year.
The spin situation isn't as dire. Harbhajan Singh has 23 wickets from 17 games (economy rate of 4.7) while the much maligned Ravindra Jadeja has been almost as economical (4.78) while taking 29 wickets from 29 innings. R Ashwin will get a few opportunities to show that he can reproduce his Twenty20 form in the 50-over arena, but India are much more likely to pack the side with seven batsmen and squeeze a few overs out of Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh.
Could such an ill-balanced team carry off the big prize? As Sri Lanka showed in '96, it's not impossible. But unless Zaheer, Ishant and the rest improve dramatically over the coming months, the pressure on the batsmen will be huge. One bad game, like South Africa had against West Indies in '96, and the cherished dream will become a grisly nightmare.
Mallika: HISSS is bolder than MURDER
If you are in dilemma whether to watch HISSS or not, here's a piece of news that might help you decide.Mallika Sherawat claims that her latest film HISSS crosses all boundaries of oomph when compared to her films in the past. She even claims that the film has more of her trademark oomph than the audiences have seen in MURDER or even KHWAHISH.
Mallika says, "The audiences can expect more from HISSS. It surpasses MURDER and KHWAHISH in terms of oomph. The audiences won't be disappointed watching HISSS. Though films of this kind have been made earlier too, but by all means watching HISSS should be a visual treat for the audiences."
Well, hope the dilemma is sorted now. The facts that Mallika has shed not only her skin but also her clothes yet again is an added reason to catch HISSS this week.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
The horror behind the Games
New Delhi: It's not just scams that are coming out like a can of worms, now horror stories are emerging of what went on behind the Games.NDTV has accessed minutes of several Organising Committee (OC) meetings which reveal the daily record of complaints and objections filed by chefs de mission of different contingents participating in the Games.
* Solomon Islands complained on Sept 26 that police were found making fun of delegates, they denounced it as offensive.
* Scotland said on September 26 that cleaners were found sleeping in the beds that were setup and watching TV.
* Drivers were a major concern for the contingents who were being taken to different venues, the OC got complaints that drivers were rash which caused athletes to worry about their safety. What made matters worse was that the drivers could not speak English and many of them did not know the routes.
* Canada complained on September 27 that Kitchen door left open by workers, let in a lot of mosquitoes. Canada then decided to send athletes to a hotel. Both Canada and India complained that mosquito repellents should have been allowed by security.
* Malta said on October 2 that technicians came to install tech items but a lot of the equipment was missing.
* On September 27, Scotland lodged a complaint that a large number of medical items were missing.
* On September 29 England said their para athletes were left on the plane for an hour and no wheelchairs were made available.
* Botswana lodged a complaint that said: Please be honourable and do not give us timelines that you cannot deliver.
* There were repeated complaints of the Wi-Fi not working or inadequate/insufficient coverage.
* On one occasion, the electricity went out at 7 pm, wasn't resolved until later that night.
* Scotland complained on September 29 that exchange rates inside the Village were very high compared to outside.
* New Zealand said that the opening ceremony was delayed by 35-45 minutes. Should they assume the same delay for the closing?
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
BSE ties up with Google
NEW DELHI: The next time you log on to the Bombay Stock Exchange website, be prepared for advertisements staring at you alongside stock quotes.Asia’s oldest stock exchange has tied up with the Internet world’s current darling, Google, for cashing in on the latest advertisement garnering tool – that is through website ads related to the content on the page.
This means that ads could be of financial products when quotes are searched for banking stocks and of mobile phones for telecom stock pages.
“BSE has tied up with Google for a couple of months initially on a trial basis for posting non-broker advertisements on its website,” sources with direct knowledge of the issue said.
The BSE is experimenting with this revenue model after similar steps taken by global exchanges like the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, the source added.
The website of the Bombay Stock Exchange is the most popular stock exchange website, according to data compiled by web information company Alexa.
“The site is being visited by 1 million people in a day and the page is opened 100 million times,” the study added.
The Bombay Stock Exchange is facing stiff competition from its peer, the National Stock Exchange, while another player, MCX-SX, is also vying to enter the space.
Both the BSE and NSE have been embracing new Internet- based technologies in the recent past through steps like offering quotes on micro-blogging sites like Twitter.
In order to increase its membership base, the BSE in April this year had reduced the deposit amount for new members by 90 per cent to Rs 10 lakh from the existing Rs 100 lakh.
The exchange sold a 4 per cent stake on Friday to billionaire investor George Soros for about USD 35 million (over Rs 160 crore).
Currently, foreign investors hold a 30 per cent stake in BSE, lower than the permissible limit of 49 per cent.
Atif Aslam dies of throat Cancer?
Rumors are doing the round that the Bollywood singing sensation, Atif Aslam, is dead due to throat cancer.His fans are repeatedly searching for the authenticity of this new and it is creating waves online.
Pakistani pop, Atif Aslam is doing well and is sound in health.
There are sites, which in order to garner maximum eye balls, spread such baseless news.
Rumors regarding the celebrity are common to attract readers. Few months back there were rumors regarding another singing sensation, Justine Bieber.
There was rumor about the comedy king Charlie Chaplins death when he was fine.
Earlier as well there was a rumor that Atif Aslam has broken his back and is undergoing treatment.
If we go in to the roots of this rumour, In 2006, a user in a forum called PakStop.com has started thread saying Breaking New: Atif Aslam Found Dead in His Hotel Room.
And theres no official news about throat cancer from Atif Aslams side.
Atif Aslam will soon be seen with famous band Guns N Roses
In case if you dont who Atif Aslam is then to remind you he has sung many superhit songs and album.
The well know songs by Atif Aslam are Tere Bin, Tera Hone Laga Hoon and Tu Jaane Na from œAjab prem ki ghajab kahani. Pehli Nazar Mein Race; Bakhuda Tumhi Ho Kismat Konnection. Tere Liye (Prince).
China raises key rate for first time since crisis
China raised its key lending rate on Tuesday for the first time since emerging from the global crisis as Beijing tries to cool inflation and guide rapid growth to a more sustainable level.
The rate hike, China's first since 2007, bucked a regional trend as other Asian economies try to stoke growth amid signs the global recovery is faltering. It reflected China's unusually strong expansion and official concern about controlling a credit boom and keeping growth from surging out of control.
The timing of the hike might have been triggered by a surge in September bank lending despite government efforts to control credit, said economist Mark Williams of Capital Economics in London.
"The most likely explanation is that the bank is worried about the pace of lending," said Williams. "I suspect the People's Bank feels it needs to give a strong signal to banks that this has to stop."
The interest rate on a one-year loan was raised by 0.25 percentage points to 5.56 per cent effective from Wednesday, said the People's Bank of China, the central bank. The one-year rate paid on deposits was raised, also by 0.25 percentage points, to 2.5 per cent.
Communist leaders are trying to guide China's economy back to a more sustainable growth rate after it expanded by 10.3 per cent in the second quarter.
The country's state-owned banking industry was ordered to step up lending in support of Beijing's stimulus, which helped China rebound quickly from the global crisis. But regulators tightened controls early this year after the credit boom fueled a surge in stock and real estate prices.
News reports said major banks were ordered last week to increase reserves in a move to shrink the pool of money for lending.
At the time, analysts said that the move suggested the central bank faced opposition to a rate increase from Chinese leaders who worried it might derail growth. Authorities have warned that despite a robust expansion at home, global markets are still uncertain.
Inflation has steadily crept up this year, hitting 3.5 per cent in August over a year earlier — above the official annual target of 3 per cent. Analysts believe September inflation, due to be reported Thursday, rose still further.
"The fact that inflation has been rising does provide some cover for the People's Bank to raise rates if they thought they were too low," Williams said. "It's easier to raise rates when inflation is rising than when it is falling."
China's rate hike came despite mounting caution by some other governments in the region.
Australia's central bank raised interest rates six times beginning in October but more recently has held rates steady, citing Europe's debt crisis. South Korea also was expected to consider a hike but has held its key rate steady.
Higher interest rates in China might attract more inflows of speculative "hot money" that regulators worry might be fueling a dangerous bubble in stock and real estate prices. Beijing has tried to block such flows, and analysts suggested earlier that might have been a reason for delaying a rate increase.
SBI hikes interest rates, EMIs to increase
Country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) today increased base rate or the minimum lending rate for new borrowers by 0.10 per cent to 7.6 per cent. The bank has also increased its benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) by 0.25 per cent to 12.5 per cent. The new rates will be effective from Thursday.The hike will impact existing customers more than new ones because the hike in BPLR (which is applicable to existing customers) is more than the hike in the base rate (for new customers). This means that EMIs or installments for all types of loans including car, home and consumer durables will increase.
The bank has hiked the base rate by a smaller amount to lure new customers in the festive season, analysts said.
This is the first review of the base rate since it was introduced in July this year. As per the RBI guideline, banks have to review their base rate every quarter.
The revision in base rate follows the RBI's move to raise short-term lending (repo) and borrowing (reverse repo) rates in its September monetary review. After RBI raised its policy rates, the cost of funds for banks have incresed. However, SBI's rates are competitive as compared to other banks because it has access to a large base of low cost deposits called the current account savings account deposits or CASA.
Earlier this month, SBI hiked fixed deposit rates by up to 0.75 per cent. The bank raised deposit rates from 0.25-0.75 per cent across various maturities.
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