Author: Deep

Housing prices have risen by up to 10.5 per cent in 16 major cities of the country in the April-June period, while only three towns have witnessed a marginal fall, according to National Housing Bank (NHB) data. NHB ‘RESIDEX’ tracks the movement in prices of residential properties on a quarterly basis since 2007. The NHB RESIDEX now covers 20 cities. “Residential housing prices in 16 cities have shown rise in prices in this quarter ended June, 2012 over the previous quarter ended March, 2012,” NHB said in a statement. The maximum increase in housing prices was observed in Pune (10.5…

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The eastern U.S. is no stranger to brutal winter storms such as the one expected to pummel the region this weekend, but coping with such weather is a far cry today from what it once was. Not only has weather prediction evolved considerably over the years, giving affected areas more advance warning, but predictive analytics and other advances in geographic information systems (GIS) are helping governments, communities and businesses prepare to respond in real-time as needs arise. “In the case of an impending snowstorm, what the technology provides is a real-time view of the jurisdictional areas affected — whether state,…

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Developers, particularly in the Delhi-National Capital Region, advertise retail spaces or shops in malls as great investment. Many also provide assurances of guaranteed income of 10-12 per cent over a period. So, how is the retail commercial space segment performing in India? Should you go shopping for retail space ? RETAIL INDUSTRY The fate of the retail realty segment is intertwined with that of the retail industry. The Indian retail sector is estimated to have annual sales of $450 billion (Rs 25 lakh crore). Though organised retail comprises less than 10 per cent of the segment, it is expanding at…

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Apple ditched Google Maps for its own native app in 2012, but the company is sticking with Google for the iPhone’s default search engine because Google pays Apple a ton of money for the privilege: $1 billion, to be exact. That closely guarded sum was spilled in court transcripts from Java software maker Oracle’s lawsuit against Google, according to a Friday Bloomberg report. Oracle claims Google used Java to build its Android operating system without paying, and has been fighting the company for damages since 2010. Now Oracle is airing all of Google’s business for the world to see. ADVERTISING…

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When Netflix went global earlier in January it promised to crack down on tools that allowed users to get around region blocking. Providers of those tools vowed to fight back against the clamp down. Now the battle has begun. Australian VPN service uFlix, which built its entire business on accessing non-Australian Netflix and services such as BBC’s iPlayer, recently reported that some of its users were seeing messages asking them to turn off their proxies while trying to access Netflix. “You seem to be using an unblocker or proxy. Please turn off any of these services and try again,” the…

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What do you do when you go to the dreamland promised by your developerand see no signs of what was to be your home? Delays in construction of residential projects are common in India. Developers include a grace period, generally six months, in their agreement with buyers. Most homebuyers take a delay of 6-12 months as granted. Sometimes, possession is delayed even beyond the expected tenure. ALSO READ:How to win a good property deal BUYERS’ WOES Amit Aggarwal, a Delhi-based surgeon, is one among lakhs of buyers who are left in quandary due to snail-pace construction of property projects. Hoping…

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Home is where one starts from. – T.S. Eliot, American poet You need to plan carefully and save for years to buy a home. While doing so, however, it is also vital to choose a good real estate agent, who will make the actual buying process smooth. “Consumers tend to take the advice of brokers at face value and later realise they have been misinformed,” says Sachin Sandhir, Managing Director, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, (RICS) South Asia, a self-regulatory body of real estate professionals. “Consumers’ choices relating to service and price options are restricted by the informal anti-competitive practices…

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Network security vendor Fortinet has identified an authentication issue that could give remote attackers administrative control over some of its products. The issue, which was described as a FortiGuard SSH (Secure Shell) backdoor, wasoriginally disclosed earlier this month by an anonymous researcher, who also published exploit code for it. Last week, Fortinet said that the problem was not an intentional backdoor, but the result of a management feature which relied on an undocumented account with a hard-coded password. Additionally the company noted that the issue was fixed in FortiOS back in July 2014, after being identified as a security risk…

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Are you one of those who often forget to switch off the lights while stepping out of home and wish for a magic wand that can do it for you? Do you want your apartment to have a swimming pool? It’s now easier than ever to make these dreams come true. Modern homes nowadays pack a lot of features to meet the growing aspirations of people who want their houses to reflect their social and financial standing. “Over the last few years, a number of projects in the premium and luxury residential segment have been conceptualised and successfully marketed. These…

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Skype is adding a new default security feature primarily to protect gamers from their overheated rivals. The Microsoft-owned service recently announced it would start hiding users’ IP addresses by default in the latest update to Skype. Previously, a Skype user’s IP address was not hidden, meaning hackers who knew what to look for could easilyobtain your IP address and thus target your computer. Why this matters: Online gaming is serious business. So serious that people who lose major online battles or matches can sometimes seek revenge. One easy way to do that is to launch a distributed denial of service attack…

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