Author: Deep

Home is where one starts from.” – TS Eliot, American poet Before you can call a place home, you have to tread a long road that involves detailed planning and years of savings. A good real estate agent is all it takes to make the journey smooth. For this, it is important that the selection is done carefully. “Consumers tend to trust the advice of brokers at face value and subsequently realise that they have been misinformed. Consumers’ choice about service and price options is restricted by informal anti-competitive practices that brokers indulge in,” says Sachin Sandhir, managing director, RICS…

The economic slowdown, increase in interest rates, rising debt burden and piling up of unsold buildings is putting pressure on real estate projects in the National Capital Region (NCR) and experts say prices may tumble by up to 20 per cent in coming months. According to PropEquity, a real estate intelligence company, absorption of realty projects has gone down by about 60 per cent in NCR in the first quarter compared to the same quarter last year. “There will be strong pressure on many micro-markets and we expect the inventory to increase, and absorption could continue to slow down,” Samir…

Microsoft’s Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 were some of the sleekest new devices of 2015, but they still suffered from some limitations that give power users pause. Namely, the initial Surface configurations offered limited storage and memory options, with no opportunity to crank every aspect of the systems to 11. Good news, deep-pocketed PC enthusiasts: On Friday, Microsoft rolled out potent new Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 configurations with all the firepower you could ask for. The high-end Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 options both come equipped with an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and…

ay you’re a Windows user who prefers Google’s Chrome browser—it is, after all, easily one of the best browsers today, and far superior to Internet Explorer. Still, you’ve probably been frustrated at times by Chrome’s built-in Google bias, particularly if you use Microsoft services such as Office Online. A Chrome extension from Microsoft, aptly dubbed Office Online, has you covered. The Office Online extension imbues Chrome with an Office-first mandate and gives you one-click access to your Office documents. [“source-businesstoday”]

A weakening rupee has made four Indian cities, including New Delhi and Mumbai cheaper for expatriates to live in, even as many Asian cities have turned expensive. Global HR services firm Mercer’s survey of 214 cities worldwide has ranked Tokyo as the most expensive, while Karachi is the least costly place for expatriates. In the Mercer ‘Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2012’, New Delhi has slipped to 113th position (from 85 last year), while Mumbai is at 114th place (from 95). Bangalore and Kolkata dropped to 187th and 208th spots, respectively. These two cities were at 180th and 203rd positions,…

Apple has lured a top virtual reality researcher away from Virginia Tech, according to the Financial Times. The move could give Apple a chance to catch up with rivals Samsung Electronics, Microsoft, Google and Facebook, which have all made plays in the virtual reality field. The researcher, Doug Bowman, had been a professor of computer science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and director of its Center for Human-Computer Interaction. He recently joined Apple after a short sabbatical, the Financial Times reported. Bowman worked on three-dimensional user interface design in academia, looking at the benefits of immersion in virtual…

A company that makes video conferencing products replaced one serious security vulnerability with another, despite being warned of the dangers. AMX Harman, which makes a variety of audio-visual and building control equipment, has patched the problem. But on Thursday SEC Consult, an information security firm in Vienna, revealed what it says is the back story. Last March, SEC Consult warned AMX that it had found a secret account in certain versions of the NX-1200, an appliance for controlling audio-visual systems. The hidden account used the username Black Widow, and SEC Consult said it found the password as well by studying…

Did the Budget announcements on tax deduction at source (TDS) on sale of property and gold jewellery leave you tense? You can breathe easy now. The government has rolled back the proposed TDS levy on sale of immovable properties (other than agricultural land). According to the proposal, buyers making payment for a property had to deduct tax at 1 per cent of the amount and deposit it with the tax authorities. The TDS was applicable for all properties valued above Rs 50 lakh in urban areas and over Rs 20 lakh in other areas. The proposal was slated for implementation…

See larger image Pixel-pushing, PC-melting graphical firepower So you built yourself a brand new gaming rig, you’ve slotted your sweet new graphics card into the PCIe slot, you’ve sealed up the case, and you’ve heard it all POST—congrats! Now it’s time to throw games at your brand new build until it breaks, then cry when you realize if you’d spent just two hundred dollars moreyou could’ve run the game in 4K instead of mere 1080p! Don’t know what to play? No old favorites? Well, allow us to point you in the right direction when it comes to handing your…

Even as industrialists worry over the slow pace of reforms hitting industrial resurgence in West Bengal, one business is growing by leaps and bounds in the state — real estate. Experts say realty today is one the fastest growing sectors in Bengal’s otherwise gloomy economy. ALSO READ: Reforms in Bengal slow, investors unhappy One example is Best Western, the world’s largest hotel chain, which is upbeat about the state’s real estate outlook. “We expect the hotel business to grow by 10-15 per cent pan-India this year and eastern India is expected to post a faster growth,” Sudhir Sinha, India president…