My Maruti Suzuki Ritz

The Ford Figo will be on sale in India very soon…

Part of a US$500 million investment at the Maraimalai Nagar site near Chennai, Ford’s new engine plant has a capacity of 250,000 engines a year. ‘This engine plant was made with a ‘best of the best’ approach. We benchmarked against other competitive facilities globally, as well as current volume manufacturers in India for quality and production efficiency,’ says Michael Boneham, President and MD, Ford India.

To start with, the plant will focus on the assembly of 1.4-litre common-rail diesel and 1.2-litre petrol engines, both of which will be fitted to the new Ford Figo hatchback. This car is expected to go on sale in India in the next few weeks.

The 1.2-litre petrol engine, which is now in production at the Chennai plant, has been designed to run on low octane (88 RON, widely available in India) fuel and meet Bharat IV and Euro 4 emissions norms. While this engine will be used in the India-spec Figo, it will also be exported to various markets in Africa and the Asia Pacific regions, from 2011.

Here we go again. The BMW 3-series is getting another award, garnering still more praise, waltzing across the stage one more time. Are you tired of it already? We know how you feel. Believe it - no one here likes seeing the same winners over and over. So we didn’t set out hoping to give the 3-series another All-Star award (its thirteenth!). But then we got in the car and started driving. And, just like always, it was excellent, very excellent. The hills, crests, dips, curves, lumps, and bumps of our rural route through southeast Ohio make an environment that would bring most cars to their knees, but the 3-series just reveled in it. After each leg of our daylong drive, another driver would get out and deliver some variation of the same verdict: This one’s on my list. Again.

Despite BMW’s recent missteps (iDrive, active steering, misshapen styling), the company still does chassis tuning like no other carmaker. That’s particularly right of the 3-series, which is incredibly smooth and fluid. It’s a car that instantly makes any mope who slides behind its wheel a better driver.

This year, we had a 335i on hand, with the turbocharged version of BMW’s awesome straight six. Two turbos bump the power output up to a hale and hearty 300 hp - a figure that provides nearly M-car thrust without exhibiting the Dean-Martin-on-a-bender drinking habit that afflicts so many performance cars. The 335i achieves an EPA-estimated 26 mpg on the highway (its nonturbocharged sibling manages an even more abstemious 28 mpg). Better still, BMW offers 3-series sweetness in four different flavors - coupe, sedan, wagon, and hardtop convertible - the better to ensure its ubiquity.

You may be sick of reading it. We may be sick of writing it. But there’s no denying it: the BMW 3-series is an All-Star. Again.

The hot and raunchy sex siren Sanjana is one girl who may not have many movie offers.
Sanjana credit or success at the box office but she sure seems to be one of the most sought after girls in one sector the party circuit. Here is the reason for that observation.

Lately, it is being observed that some of the finest and most happening parties in the Hyderabad city tend to have Sanjana among the list of premium guests. The pretty starlet is seen literally in every other party and the fascinating part is, these are completely non-filmy parties organized by hi-fi men.

Those who have seen Sanjana in such events say that her presence adds a lot of glamour to the evening and given her free and friendly nature, things get even better. Let us hope that Sanjana’s fan following builds up in the Tollywood circuit as well and she can manage few offers.

Amitabh, Kareena bag top honours at Stardust awards  By Dibyojyoti Baksi 
Mumbai, Jan 18 (IANS) Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has bagged the Reader’s Choice best actor award for the movie “Paa” while Kareena Kapoor was adjudged best actress for “Kurbaan” at the seventh Stardust Awards here.Rajkumar ….

Perfectionist Aamir Khan’s father Tahir Hussain, who was a well-known filmmaker and writer of his times, passed away here on Tuesday morning around 6 am due to sudden heart attack. Hussain is known for producing hits like HUM HAIN RAHI PYAR KE that starred son Aamir, DULHA BIKTA HAI, ZAKHMEE, ANAMIKA and CARAVAN. In 1990, he also made his directorial debut with TUM MERE HO starring Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla. It is being said that the veteran filmmaker, who was not keeping

Zylog Systems Ltd (ZSL), a Chennai-based technology integrator and business solution provider, has bought Canadian firm Brainhunter Inc, an IT consulting and engineering staffing services company. Zylog has spent C$35 million (around $32.76 million) for the acquisition, which will help to expand its footprint in Canada.
Private equity firm UTI Ventures has a 7% stake in Zylog Systems. Shares of the company were traded at Rs 336, up by Rs 6.9 or 2.1% at 11:30 am in the BSE.
Brainhunter is engaged in consulting and engineering services in Canada with major presence in government, telecom, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), and oil and pipeline verticals, said a Zylog statement. The acquisition came through a bidding process for Brainhunter under the Canadian Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) inwhich Zylog place in the winning bid.
The acquisition will bring in Zylog’s fold Brainhunter’s ready access to a large talent pool, over 1,400 contractors and more than 400 customers. The deal will also help Zylog save costs on account of offshoring contracts, sourcing of contractors from India for nongovernment businesses and further reduction in non-billable staff, added the statement.
Speaking on the development, Sudarshan Venkatraman, Chairman and CEO, Zylog states that around 30% of the Brainhunter services rendered are to various agencies and departments of the Federal Government of Canada, and the company sees huge opportunity in the space. “Zylog has been looking to enter Canada for its operations and this acquisition would provide us with the appropriate platform. The target caters togovernment departments, BFSI, telecom which are the key focus segments for Zylog, and hence, there is high potential for cross-sell,” added Venkatraman.
Zylog offers a range of IT products and services to its global customers across multiple verticals like banking, insurance, telecom, etc. Its clientele includes SBI, American Express, Standard Chartered Bank, Allahabad Bank, ING Vysya among others.
Its earlier acquisitions include PEQ Consulting, an infrastructure management company in Ohio and Fairfax Consulting, a content management services firm in the US. Prior to that, it bought Dubai-based Ducont FZ LLC, a leading application provider in internetand wireless applications space.
Zylog reported net profit of Rs 85 crore for the year finished March 31, 2009 as compared to Rs 82 crore a year ago. Revenue for the last financial year stood at Rs 735 crore as against Rs 606 crore.

Jagran Prakashan Net Profit Down 20.9% QoQ

Jagran Prakashan Limited, publishers of Dainik Jagran, has invested in Event and Outdoor businesses to diversify and broad-base their growth. During the quarter, it launched three more editions of City Plus at Navi Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune. Recently in January, City Plus was launched at Hyderbad also. City Plus [...]

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Google has plotted to launch a store to sell online business software to incorporate the company’s Web service to compete against Microsoft Corporation.The people who are involved in this project said that the store will be a business place to sell software that are designed by outside developers to incorporate with the Google Apps to improve its feature like importing contacts and security, and they also provide web-based email, word-processing and spreadsheet functions.

Looking for something new this VALENTINE, something different in cinemas? Watch out for PYAAR KAA FUNDAA this February 2010. Sai Ambe films is in the process of releasing, PYAAR KAA FUNDAA with Yugbodh Garewal, Surbhi Shukla and Kashi Tiwari. Set to be released this February 2010. The movie is a romantic and friendship tale of young hearts set up on the background of adventure sports. The film consists of 5 versatile songs sung by Mahalaxmi Iyer, Shaan and Neeraj (Bombay kings).