Suresh Gopi’s brother injured in plane crash

Actor Suresh Gopi’s brother Sanil Gopi and another person injured in a small plane crash near Teterboro , New Jersey on Saturday morning. The small aircraft crashed just after 3 a.m. while trying to land, police said. The twin-engine Beechcraft baron ended up in a field near the parking lot of a warehouse. Both the injured men were taken to St. Barnabas Medical Centre. The pilot, identified as George Maddox is in critical condition. Sanil Gopi was the co-pilot of the air craft. He has suffered burn injuries in his cheeks and legs.

Robert Gretz, National Transportation Safety Board investigator  said the pilot aborted the landing for some reason and was attempting do to a go-around and try it again when he clipped some trees, sending the plane into the parking lot of a nearby warehouse, where it crashed and burst into flames. The rescuers found them conscious sitting at the curb at the bus stop. Both of them were alert and conscious and answering questions.

Teterboro is the same airport where a plane collided earlier this month with a sightseeing helicopter over the Hudson River. Nine people were killed aboard the two aircrafts in that accident.

Nehru Trophy Boat Race Winners

Champakkulam Chundan emerged as the winners of the 57th Nehru Trophy Boat Race Alappuzha, Kerala. Captain of Chamakkulam Chundan is  Jiji Jacob of JesusBoat Club, Kollam. Last year also JesusBoat Club, Kollam won the Nehru Trophy  in Karichal Chundan.

Nehru Trophy Results:
1st Place: Champakkulam Chundan
2nd Place: Payippad
3rd Place: Cheruthana
4th Place: Sree Ganesh

Earlier, Congress president Sonia Gandhi inaugurated the 57th Nehru Trophy Boat Race in Alappuzha. 17 Chundans participated In this years fiercely fought competition.

Nehru Trophy Boat Race Alappuzha

Famous Nehru Trophy Boat race will be held at Alappuzha Punnamada lake this afternoon (8th August 2009). Nehru Trophy boat race is the most popular boat race in Kerala. Known as Nehru Trophy Vallam Kali in Malayalam, this event attracts lots of tourists from India and abroad. Legend of Nehru Trophy Boat race begins from 1952 when the late prime minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru visited Alappuzha.

A speciality of this years boat race is that famous Malayalam film actor Kalabhavan Mani is the captain of one of the boats Karichal Chundan.He has joined the team of Town Boat Club, Kollam. Chief guest of 2009 Nehru Trophy Boat race is Sonia Gandhi, president of Indian National Congress party.

Apart from competition of Snake Boats known as Chundan Vallam, there are other competitions for Veppu, Churulan, Iruttukuthi and Thekkanodi. Tickets for the boat race are available from various Govt. Offices of Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Kottayam Districts and from the Office of the District Tourism Promotion Council

Review of DTH services in India

Now a days DTH services are gaining popularity in India. Unlike conventional cable TV, in DTH satellite signals from the TV channels are directly fed to the TV receivers of customers. Advantage of this modern technology is superior video and sound quality for the programmes. Main components of DTH system are a small dish antenna, set top box (STB) and pre activated viewer card. DTH operates in digital technology.

There are 6 prominent brands offering DTH services in India. They are DD Direct+, Sun Direct, Tata Sky, Dish TV, Big TV and Airtel Digital TV

DD Direct+

DD Direct+ is the DTH service offered by Door Darshan. Advantage of DD Direct+ is that the monthly subscription is free. Apart from the initial installation costs, there are no other recurring charges in this service. Disadvantage of DD Direct+ is that there is only a limited number of channels available.

Sun Direct

Sun Direct is the DTH offering from the Chennai based Sun group. Majority of customers for Sun Direct are from south India. There are multiple packages to choose from Sun Direct. Sun Direct is the lower cost DTH service mostly focusing on south Indian channels. The flip side of Sun Direct is that their customer service is not up to the mark. Problems with recharge are reported by many customers.

Tata Sky

Tata Sky is a joint venture of Tata group and STAR group. Tata Sky started service from 2006. Video and sound quality of Tata Sky is excellent. They offer better customer care compared to other DTH service providers.

Dish TV

Dish TV is promoted by Zee group. Dish TV started the first DTH service in India. Dish TV acquired lots of customers initially being the first player in the Indian DTH market. Dish TV offers 240 channels. Customer service of Dish TV is not up to the mark.

Big TV

Big TV is promoted by Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group. Big TV is aimed to the masses. One of the issues with Big TV is the poor quality of their STB. It takes longer to change channels in Big TV. It looks like poor customer service is a phenomenon of most of the DTH service providers

Airtel Digital TV

Airtel Digital TV is part of Bharti Airtel. It is the 6th DTH player in India. One of the plus points of Airtel digital TV is the universal remote. You can control TV as well as the set top box with a single remote. There have been lots of issues with their customer service.

Windows 7 released on Microsoft Technet and MSDN

Latest Windows client offering from Microsoft, Windows 7 is now available for download for Microsoft Technet and MSDN subscribers. You need to have valid subscription to enter either sites. The current status of Windows 7 available for download is RTM (Release To Manufacturing).  Versions of Windows 7 available are Home, Premium, Professional, and Ultimate edition in either 32bit or 64bit. The final release of Windows 7 will be available in stores as of October 22, 2009. Consumers who do not want to wait can register for a Technet or a MSDN account to get their hands on Windows 7.