Felipe Massa set the pace ahead of Sebastian Vettel in Friday's second practice in India, which saw the top six separated by a second.

The Brazilian posted a 1:25.706 to edge Vettel, the 2011 World Champ, by a mere 0.088s.
It proved to be a good afternoon's running for Ferrari with Fernando Alonso taking third place ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who was quickest in FP1.
Mark Webber and Jenson Button completed the top six ahead of Adrian Sutil and Bruno Senna.
Report: The track temperature was sitting at 39'C as Practice Two got underway with the big names waiting in their garages for the backmarkers to clean up the dust. Jerome D'Ambrosio was the first to answer the call. He posted a 1:37.004 but within minutes was down in 11th place on the timesheets with Adrian Sutil and Sebastien Buemi leading the way.
It was all change as Sebastian Vettel came out and immediately hit the front with a 1:28.014. Michael Schumacher was the first spinner of the afternoon, losing control of his W02 at Turn 3. But it was worse for Pastor Maldonado who lost it through Turn 8 and 9. He went sidewards over the astroturf and finished up beached in the gravel.
Buemi overhauled button by 0.146s but his time at the top was short-lived as Lewis Hamilton, who has a three-place grid-slot for Sunday's race, went quickest with a 1:27.261. Bruno Senna joined the list of those testing the limits of the track. Vettel leapfrogged Hamilton by 0.126s with Mark Webber third ahead of Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, Vitaly Petrov and Fernando Alonso.
With drivers swapping to the softer rubber, Sergio Perez moved up to ninth, Massa to third before being dropped by Button, Alonso climbed to fifth and Massa moved up to second, 0.269s behind Vettel.
Session over for D'Ambrosio, who, with 40 minutes remaining, lost control of his Virgin racer, slid across the track and crashed heavily into the barriers. Significant damage to the rear right of the car and red flags. D'Ambrosio is okay.
The action resumed five minutes later with everyone but D'Ambrosio putting in the laps. Adrian Sutil improved to seventh place ahead of Senna, Paul di Resta and Buemi. Kamui Kobayashi was the latest to run off the track and bump over the grass. Alonso put in two fastest sectors to take second place, 0.422s behind Vettel. But while Alonso could not do it, Massa could, overhauling Vettel with a 1:25.706.
Schumacher and Sutil almost crashed into Vettel as the German exited the pits. This is something that will need to be looked into as this is not the first time this session that has almost happened.
Practice Two ended with Massa in the P1 slot ahead of Vettel and Alonso.
Times
1. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m25.706s 33 laps
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m25.794s + 0.088 34 laps
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m25.930s + 0.224 34 laps
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m26.454s + 0.748 26 laps
5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m26.500s + 0.794 30 laps
6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m26.714s + 1.008 28 laps
7. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m27.316s + 1.610 34 laps
8. Bruno Senna Renault 1m27.498s + 1.792 36 laps
9. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m27.853s + 2.147 35 laps
10. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.868s + 2.162 35 laps
11. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m27.890s + 2.184 37 laps
12. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.050s + 2.344 34 laps
13. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.289s + 2.583 36 laps
14. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m28.552s + 2.846 31 laps
15. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m28.691s + 2.985 29 laps
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m28.708s + 3.002 24 laps
17. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m29.332s + 3.626 39 laps
18. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m30.241s + 4.535 41 laps
19. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m31.098s + 5.392 38 laps
20. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m31.469s + 5.763 32 laps
21. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m31.804s + 6.098 28 laps
22. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m32.593s + 6.887 12 laps
23. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m32.768s + 7.062 33 laps
24. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1m32.824s + 7.118 33 laps

Sahara India Pariwar becomes co-owner of the Force India F1 Team

Saharasri Subrata Roy Sahara and Dr. Vijay Mallya now co-own Force India as Sahara India Pariwar pumps in USD 100 million into the team

The Indian Grand Prix is just around the corner and there’s good news for India’s only Formula 1 team – Force India. In an announcement in New Delhi today, Dr. Vijay Mallya revealed that the Sahara India Pariwar has invested USD 100 million in the team and as a result has bought over a 42.5 percent stake in the team. The move now means that Sahara India Pariwar now co-owns the team with an identical stake owned by Dr. Mallya himself while the Mol family holds 15 percent. Saharasri Subrata Roy Sahara, Managing Worker and Chairman of the Sahara India Pariwar is also now the Chairman of Sahara Force India.

The duo also unveiled the new logo for the team which incorporates the Sahara logo with the Force India logo in perfect synergy emphasizing the tricolour of the Indian flag. Speaking on the occasion, Subrata Roy said, “India is reaching new heights in all spheres, including sports. Formula One car racing has always remained a bastion of the western world. The advent of India in this exciting sport has remained a matter of pride for all our countrymen. I feel doubly proud that Sahara is the co-owner of India’s only F1 team and I am sure that through the Sahara Force India F1 Team, we will together bring pride and laurels to our beloved nation.”

Speaking about the partnership with the Sahara Group, Dr. Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director of the Force India Formula One Team said, “I am delighted to welcome Saharasri Subrata Roy Sahara as Chairman of Sahara Force India. It has indeed been a matter of pride for me to put India on the F1 map with Force India and raise the performance of the team to its current levels. The Sahara Group has played a very important role in the development of sport in the country and is an ideal partner to take the Force India F1 Team to greater success in the Formula One World Championship".

Going into the Korean Grand Prix this weekend, Force India is currently on sixth position in the Constructors’ Championship having established itself as a leading mid-field team and growing ever-stronger with every race. The added investment by the Sahara India Pariwar will enable the team to further develop technology and components to improve upon their results in Formula 1. Research and development forms a key share of the expenditure in F1 and with the new partnership just ahead of the Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit at the end of October, it is great timing for not only the Force India F1 Team but also for the Sahara India Pariwar that is a leading patron of Indian motorsports.

Dennis Ritchie, pioneer of C programming language and Unix, reported dead at age 70

  

Pioneering computer scientist Dennis Ritchie has died after a long illness.

Mr Ritchie was one of the creators of the hugely influential Unix operating system and the equally pioneering C programming language.
A vast number of modern technologies depend on the work he and fellow programmers did on Unix and C in the early days of the computer revolution.
Those paying respects said he was a "titan" of the industry whose influence was largely unknown.
The first news of Mr Ritchie's death came via Rob Pike, a former colleague who worked with him at Bell Labs. Mr Ritchie's passing was then confirmed in a statement from Alcatel Lucent which now owns Bell Labs.
Jeong Kim, president of Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, said Mr Ritchie would be "greatly missed".
"He was truly an inspiration to all of us, not just for his many accomplishments, but because of who he was as a friend, an inventor, and a humble and gracious man," said Mr Kim.
Along with Ken Thompson, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna, Mr Ritchie was one of the key creators of the Unix operating system at Bell Labs during the 1960s and 70s.
Unix's influence has been felt in many ways. It established many software engineering principles that persist until today; it was the OS of choice for the internet; it kicked off the open source movement and has been translated to run on many different types of hardware.
It was also at Bell that Mr Ritchie created C, one of the most widely used programming languages in the world. It is familiar to almost every modern-day developer.
In 1999, Mr Ritchie's influence and accomplishments won official notice when he was awarded the US National Medal of Technology - the highest honour America can bestow on a technologist.
Mr Pike said that with his passing, the world had lost a "truly great mind."
Paying tribute on his blog, Google programmer Tim Bray said it was impossible to overstate the debt his profession owed to Dennis Ritchie.
"I've been living in a world he helped invent for over thirty years," he wrote.
On Twitter, developer James Grimmelman said: "Ritchie's influence rivals Jobs's; it's just less visible."

World's cheapest tablet launched at Rs 2250 

 NEW DELHI: The HRD ministry distributed its low-cost tablet to 500 college students from all over the country on Wednesday. The device that took six years to develop and was once subject to widespread ridicule comes dirt-cheap at Rs 2,250.

The government would pick up 50% of the cost and a student will be able to buy it for Rs 1,125.

Indian government hopes the device could herald a paradigm shift in making technology accessible to marginal sections of society and bridge the digital divide. It is likely to undergo intense scrutiny by the highly-competitive tablet market.

Christened Aakash or the Low-Cost Access Device, the tablet developed by IIT, Rajasthan and other leading institutions, packs all common features found in Android tablets. It comes as a counter to MIT academic Nicholas Negroponte`s One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC) project that the Indian government was considering at one point.

Sporting a 7-inch touchscreen, Aakash runs on Android 2.2 operating software. According to specifications, it has a high-definition video co-processor for good multimedia experience.

The device comes with Wi-Fi connectivity and has support for optional 3G modems. Two full-size USB ports are integrated into the unit. Aakash can be used as an ebook reader. A student will be able to access online streaming of course material and web-based research.

A BTech student of IIT, Delhi developed the first cut of the design. His father, Prem Kalra, later became director of IIT, Rajasthan and took the project to the logical conclusion.

N K Sinha, additional secretary, HRD ministry and the man behind the low-cost tablet, said considering the huge demand, the price would come down further. Sinha, the first person who conceived that a low-cost tablet could be produced in India, was once ridiculed for taking the nation for a ride.

On Wednesday HRD minister Kapil Sibal complimented him: "You took the nation on a pleasant ride." The man Sibal and others completely forgot was late Sudeep Banerjee, secretary, education who resisted imposition of OLPC and gave Sinha a free hand.

Early this year, the project nearly got derailed as the company that was asked to produce the low-cost tablet was taken over by an IT major. Later, that deal fell through and the project was started all over again.

Produced by Datawind, 100,000 tablets would be given out to students over the next year. Currently, the company is producing 700 tablets daily at its Hyderabad facility. Datawind has set up a manufacturing facility only for Aakash.

The company has been given the order for 100,000 tablets that would be delivered by November-end. The next order of 10 lakh tablets would go through a tendering process. HRD ministry officials said, "Considering the widespread interest in the product, many companies might independently produce these tablets with competing prices. We do not have a closed mind in terms of innovation of technology and price. All are invited."

One jarring point about Aakash remains. The tablet won`t be available to school students immediately. The cost is being borne by the National Mission on Education through Information & Communication Technology. This deals exclusively with higher education, reason Aakash cannot be given to school students. This goes against the original idea of providing laptops to school children and coming up with a project to counter OLPC. The HRD ministry is likely to move another cabinet note for making it accessible to school students.

Places to visit in and around Mahad:

                                           CHAVDAR TALE

                                         PALA CAVES, GANDHAR PALE

                                         RAIGAD FORT

                                          PRATAPGAD FORT

                                          MAHABALESHWAR

About

Mahad (Marathi: महाड) is a city and a municipal council in Raigad district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is situated about 175 km to the south of Mumbai (erstwhile Bombay). It has become the center of attraction because of its beautiful surroundings and pleasant climate. Mahad has a personality of its own due to its mythological, historical, social and cultural importance. The city, vibrant and active on the industrial, political, social and cultural fronts, has influenced the lives of some great personalities. Mahad is considered as Land of Freedom Fighters and many revolutionary freedom moments of India are occurred here. It is famous for the Drinking Water Satyagraha of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar for the Dalits at Chavdar Tale. It is also a holy place for Buddhist clan.
Apart from this, it had a glorious history during the rule of the great Maratha King Shivaji. It was part of Birwadi Subha (Tehsil) and was ruled by Birwadi Subhedar's Kadams (Mahamunkars). Apart from this, Mahad was the central market for people of Poladpur, Raigad village and the Cool Hill Station Mahabaleshwar. It has a very huge market in the part. As per mythological story, The ancient Pandav Lene is the sculptured houses built in one night by the Pandavas.