Bangladesh slips in IT competitiveness global ranking

Bangladesh is losing ground compared to other countries in information technology, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) reported in its publication of 2011 edition of the Economist Intelligence Unit's IT Industry Competitiveness index.

Updated for the fourth time since 2007, the Index benchmarks 66 countries on a series of indicators covering the critical foundation areas for IT innovation: overall business environment, IT infrastructure, human capital, research and development (R&D), legal environment, and public support for industry development.

Topping the overall rankings for 2011 are the United States, Finland, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Bangladesh slipped 1 spot, ranking 63rd in the worldwide rankings due to a poor showing on indicators of overall business environment, the report said.

This year's Index finds that countries traditionally strong in IT are maintaining their positions of leadership in part because 'advantage begets advantage' they have built up solid foundations for technology innovation through years of investment and they are continuing to reap the benefits. But the global field of competition is becoming more crowded as new challengers, especially in developing economies, raise their games to meet the standards the leaders have set.

“It is abundantly clear from this year's IT Industry Competitiveness Index that investing in the fundamentals of technology innovation will pay huge dividends over the long term,” said BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman.

“Bangladesh has slipped in this year's rankings because of its performance in the overall business environment,” said Roger Somerville, BSA senior director - Policy, Asia-Pacific. “In the years ahead, policymakers in Bangladesh have an opportunity to improve in that area. We know from global experience it will be worth the effort.”
"FROM www.thedailystar.net"

We will miss you Steve

This is not the story we had in mind to publish today. In fact last night I was writing a piece on Apple's latest iPhone that debuted on October 4. Little did I know that the man who co-founded that company and changed the world with the touch of technology just passed away. We'll probably run that story next week.

I received an SMS early morning from my colleague saying, “Steve Jobs no more.” Like many others, I was very shocked.

We all knew that Jobs had been battling an unusual form of pancreatic cancer, and had received a liver transplant in 2009, but never thought he would leave us so early at the age of 56.

When Jobs stepped down as the CEO of Apple in August, he wrote in his letter of resignation: "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come."

We knew he was ill, maybe he knew he wasn't going to live long, so he decided to put the company in the safer hands of Tim Cook, the present CEO of Apple.

Jobs is survived by his wife, Laurene, and four children.

On October 4, CNN aired a documentary on Jobs; I learnt a lot from that show.

Jobs, one of the pioneers of Silicon Valley, who grew up there with his foster parents had founded Apple with his childhood friend Steve Wozniak. The two marketed what was considered the world's first personal computer, the Apple II.

He left the company in 1985 and went on to buy Pixar, the company behind some of the biggest animated hits in cinema history including Toy Story, Cars and Finding Nemo.

He returned to Apple 11 years later -- at a time when it was being written off by rivals. What followed was one of the most remarkable comebacks in business history.

Starting off with the colourful iMacs, Jobs transformed the personal computing experience. Then came the iPod, which revolutionised the music industry. Not to mention the iPhone that changed the way we think about phones and of course, last but not the least, the iPad.

"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives … The world is immeasurably better because of Steve," a statement paying tribute to Jobs from Apple said.

Industry leaders also echoed the same, not to forget the tsunami of tweets and facebook statuses.

Bill Gates, former CEO of Microsoft, tweeted, “For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honour. I will miss Steve immensely.”

In a statement Gates also said, "The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.”

US President Barak Obama said, Jobs was “brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world... talented enough to do it.”

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg said, “Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend … for showing that what you build can change the world.”

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop tweeted, “Steve's passion for simplicity and elegance leaves a legacy that will endure.”

Millions of Apple fans around the globe are also paying tribute to Jobs. Some are posting Facebook status with his quotes, some posting his photos on iPhones or iPads with candles.

From a company going bankrupt, Jobs brought Apple where it stands today. Apple was briefly the most valuable company in the world earlier this year. The company produces $65.2 billion a year in revenue, compared to $7.1 billion in its business year ending September 1997.

According to Guardian, Jobs leaves an estimated $8.3 billion, but he often dismissed others' interest in his wealth. "Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful … that's what matters to me."

Steve Jobs revolutionsed computing and changed the world, there aren't many who can do that. The world will miss him a lot.

Engineers Build Smart Petri Dish: Device Can Be Used for Medical Diagnostics, Imaging Cell Growth Continuously

ScienceDaily (Oct. 3, 2011) — The cameras in our cell phones have dramatically changed the way we share the special moments in our lives, making photographs instantly available to friends and family. Now, the imaging sensor chips that form the heart of these built-in cameras are helping engineers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) transform the way cell cultures are imaged by serving as the platform for a "smart" petri dish.Dubbed ePetri, the device is described in a paper that appears online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

First Images from ALMA Telescope: Hidden Star-Formation in Antennae Galaxies Revealed

ScienceDaily (Oct. 3, 2011) — In celebration of the start of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array's (ALMA) Early Science observations, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has released an image of a merging pair of galaxies as seen by the growing ALMA telescope. The detailed views of star-formation in the Antennae Galaxies confirm that this new telescope, while far from completed, and with only a fraction of its ultimate imaging capability, will surpass all others of its kind.The image gives but a hint of ALMA's promise to make unprecedented contributions to understanding the once-hidden activities of the early Universe."We chose the impressive interacting system called the Antennae galaxies as a test subject," said Dr. Alison Peck, an astronomer from the NRAO who is serving in Chile as ALMA Deputy Project Scientist during its years of careful construction and rigorous testing, "because it is in the process of undergoing the type of spectacular, violent merger that many galaxies may have undergone since their formation, but that we can rarely catch in action."

Fashion Careers

Do you have an eye for style? If so, a fashion career may be the right path for you? Explore all the different career options in fashion design production, fashion marketing and advertising, fashion media and productions and more.

Samsung reveals Series 4 400B2B Samsung has recently reveal their latest Series 4 400B2B. This little notebook is aimed at the ultra mobile user who needs something compact and easy to take with them on the road, but with enough power to actually run business class apps. The operating system is Windows 7 Pro, and the not

Samsung reveals Series 4 400B2B
Samsung has recently reveal their latest Series 4 400B2B. This little notebook is aimed at the ultra mobile user who needs something compact and easy to take with them on the road, but with enough power to actually run business class apps. The operating system is Windows 7 Pro, and the not

Varied uses of a flute The innovative Rethey Tudu

Rethey Tudu, an octogenarian Santal of Dinajpur, has developed a new technique to put his six-holed bamboo stick to good use. The invention is now an inseparable part of his life -- as a flute, a walking stick and more.

“Sometime I use the stick for hunting too,” asserts the elderly man who lives in Maniyabhita Adibashipara of Biral upazila, Dinajpur. His tiny hut is his only worldly possession.

“I used to earn Tk 70-100 a day about a few years back by playing the flute, but now I'm at the end of my tether since my earnings have reduced to a trickle as more modern instruments have taken over,” says Tudu.

Locals who have heard the melodious tunes of his flute told The Daily Star that his flute used to touch the hearts of people even in distant villages. However, now he cannot make a living out of playing the flute because of his age, say the locals.

“My four-foot long flute now helps me to walk as well,” says Tudu, who at one time used to walk 10-15 km everyday to make a living.

“It's not an ordinary bamboo stick,” adds Tudu with pride, pointing out that it is also a means of self-defence at night.

At the age of 80 he still plays the flute twice a day to secure two square meals. “Please arrange an old age allowance card for me,” he appeals.

Apple expected to unveil new iPhone next week

Apple Inc looks set next week to unveil its much-awaited new iPhone, which analysts say will have a bigger screen and work better with remote computing services.

Apple on Tuesday invited media to a "special event" called "Let's talk iPhone" on October 4 at its Cupertino, California headquarters, an unusual location for a company that typically introduces major products at larger venues in San Francisco.

The invitation did not have any other details, and an Apple spokesman would not provide further information.

"This is the iPhone 5," ThinkEquity analyst Mark McKechnie said of the event.

The new iPhone would be the first major product launch under Tim Cook, who took over full-time as chief executive after co-founder Steve Jobs resigned last month.

It was unclear if Jobs, who is now chairman, will take the stage at the event.

Though a good product, the current iPhone 4 could use some improvements, McKechnie said. "We talked about it having a bigger screen, a dual core processor, and probably integrates pretty well with the iCloud."

The iPhone -- introduced in 2007 with the touchscreen template now adopted by its rivals -- remains the gold standard in the booming smartphone market.

The new model, which some have dubbed the iPhone 5, will have a bigger touch screen, better antenna and an 8-megapixel camera, one source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters in August.

Hon Hai Precision Industries Co Ltd and Pegatron Corp of Taiwan will make the new phone, and have been told to gear up capacity for up to 45 million units in total, the source said.

NEW VOICE FEATURES?
Apple launched the iPhone 4 in June 2010 in black 16 gigabyte and 32 gigabyte versions, and added white ones in April. The company typically refreshes its iPhone lineup during its developer event in June, but delayed the new model this year.

Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones in the third quarter ended June 25, which analysts say helped it vault past Nokia and Samsung Electronics to become the world's biggest smartphone maker.

Some analysts are expecting another version of the iPhone 4 to be launched along with the next model.

"The new (iPhone) 4 will tackle the prepaid market and the (iPhone) 5 will have the A5 chip that's in the iPad and be faster, thinner and possibly with a bigger screen," Colin Gillis, analyst with BGC Partners said. He cited possible voice-recognition features as well.

Shares of Apple rose 0.6 percent to $405.66 on Nasdaq early Tuesday afternoon.

Windows Phone 7.5 Will Mango be the gamechanger?

With over 500 features for the smartphone lovers to delve into, will 'Mango' prove to be a threat for its contenders, Android and iOS?

Although not too popular, O2 Pocket PC, Windows Mobile 2003 SE, Windows Mobile 6.5.5, all testify Microsoft's decade long existence in the field of mobile phones, besides computers. Although the company planned to continue the Windows Mobile line, however, Microsoft decided to create a new mobile operating system platform. Hence, Windows Phone (WP), the upgraded mobile operating system was brought to the limelight in 2010.

Although the reception was generally positive, the product however lacked some of the common features that we have come to enjoy in other smartphone operating systems, like in Android and iOS.

Realising today's consumers' demands and the aftermath of its shortcomings, WP addressed these limitations in an update Windows Phone 7.5 codenamed 'Mango'. The roll out held on September 27, 2011, Mango is a major software update for Windows Phone, to get the major wrinkles of the shortcomings ironed out.

Features that do make an impact on our everyday smartphone experience-- multitasking, social network integration, email and exchange, will finally be incorporated. In short, WP7.5 is precisely what we wish Windows Phone would've been from the beginning -- a platform that's capable of handling all of our needs, no matter how crazy they may be.

A gigantic improvement and one of the favourite features in WP7.5 is its email and messaging feature. It has a linked email inbox that combines multiple email accounts into one consolidated tile, making the system convenient and time saving. With WP7.5 one doesn't have to hunt through hundreds of other messages to find each segment of a conversation, as the full correspondence is grouped together-- an absolute must-have feature in this day and age.

In today's busy life, it's all about 'Glance and Go'. We tend to communicate with our co-workers, friends and family on any social network and trying to keep in touch amidst the busyness. WP7.5's ability to integrate social network content with many of the platform's other key features is sure to be near the top of the list.

The phone is now littered with plenty of ways to communicate via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Tweets that mention your name are dropped into notifications, and you're given the option of replying to it. WP7.5 also gives you the ability to organise your contacts into 'groups', which by showing live tiles for individual members, notifications and pictures make interaction all the more easier and simultaneous.

It is immensely frustrating when say, we are streaming internet radio and aren't able to keep the music going as we surf the web or perform other tasks on our phones. In WP7.5, this frustration, along with others is rectified. The functionality is all built in so a simple long-press of the button pulls up your most recently opened apps.

For the corporate kiddos who use tasks or to-do lists, embedding our tasks within the WP7.5 calendar might as well prove to be worth its weight in gold. To-dos, included as its own pivot screen inside the app, are fully integrated with your agenda, making each deadline appear as its own event.

As mentioned before, every programme in WP has been enhanced to be more customisable and increase the user's experience, and the camera app is no different. People can now be tagged in pictures by tapping on their face and picking a contact from a list.

Sometimes it's the little things that drive us completely batty. Any person who used an iPhone for the first couple years can relate to the frustration of only having a few ringtones to choose from. With the new WP7.5, one can make a customised ringtone by just changing the song's genre to 'ringtone'.

According to Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, swapping a platform used by millions with something youthful and fresh isn't going to earn customers and praise overnight, especially when it's a brand new ecosystem that has to start from scratch. But with 'Mango', Microsoft has caught up with Android and iOS in nearly every way, with its feature-laden, user-friendly features. Despite a few criticisms in the beginning, the bright future of Windows Phone is worth wearing shades for!

Physics of Medicine

Dr. Hasin Anupama AzhariMedical physics is the application of physical methods and concepts in diagnosis (examination), therapy (treatment) and prevention of human disease and disability which is associated with the practice of medicine. The traditional areas of medical physics have been obviously shown? in radiotherapy, radio- diagnostic, nuclear medicine and in health physics, but with the recent rapid translation of new physical techniques into medical sciences, the work of physicists is getting essential in many clinical areas, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound, measurement of the body's electric and magnetic fields, positron emission tomography, pulmonary, physiology, cardiology, neurology, ophthalmology and biomedical sensors and implants.

A medical physicist shall have a degree in a discipline of physical science or MBBS with additional M.Sc. degree in medical physics from a recognized university. The responsibilities of a medical physicist usually include clinical service and consultation, research development and teaching. In a survey (2002) done by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) it was observed that the majority portion (76%) of medical physicists works in radiotherapy, 15% in imaging physics, 3% in nuclear medicine, 4% in health physics, 1% in engineering and 1% in administration. The primary responsibility of medical physicist is clinical (78%), academic (8%), research (5%), administrative (3%), in regulatory (4%) and in product development (2%).

Cancer can be treated in three ways: surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Surgery is the art, practice or work of treating tumor by operative procedures. Chemotherapy is the treatment with drugs that kill cancer cells or make them less active. Radiotherapy is the use of high energy radiation to treat cancer. Out of these three techniques radiotherapy is the cheapest and most curative and palliative ways for various types of cancer. Usually combined therapy is mostly implemented in certain types and stages of cancer.

In clinical radiotherapy practice, medical physics deals with the therapeutic applications of x-ray, gamma ray, neutron, electron, charged-particle beams and radiation from sealed radionuclide sources on the human body. It is also involved with the associated equipment responsible for their production, use, measurement and evaluation. Another important subject in this field is the image quality in the diagnostic area with its entire production methodology and radiation source. Medical physicists are the partners of radiation oncologists or radiologists in cancer treatment or examination respectively.

The main aim of radiotherapy (RT) is to deliver doses of radiation to eradicate a tumor, while nearby tissues or normal structures should be spared as far as possible. Usually, radiotherapy is based on delivering a uniform radiation doses to all target volumes (Tumor). The uniform dose approach describes the best possible tumor control for the case in which all regions of the tumor have exactly the same biological characteristics and sensitivity to radiation. In the radiotherapy technique a team consisting of a radiation oncologist, a medical physicist, a radiotherapy technician and a medical dosimetrist work together for the treatment of cancer. Out of this team, the main jobs of a medical physicist are planning the calculation and treatment of the prescribed patient dose, planning of the high specialized treatment procedure and maintaining the overall quality assurance for patients and the staff.

Comparing all disciplines of medical physics between other countries and Bangladesh, medical physicists are working mainly in radiation oncology physics and diagnostic imaging physics. Medical physicists hold professional appointments in radiotherapy and diagnostic departments in hospitals and medical centers.

The number of cancer patients is growing day by day worldwide as well as in Bangladesh. The complexity in the radiation therapy treatment of this disease requires more qualified medical physicists. So for a better future for the cancer treatment in Bangladesh, we have to put more emphasis on this subject as soon as possible. We hope that the number of medical physicists will increase in the near future as well as the professional level of competence within the coming 5-10 years.

In Bangladesh the number of cancer patients equals 2000 out of 1,000,000 inhabitants per year. That number of cancer cases needs up to 2 teletherapy machines (e.g. a linear accelerator Linac per 1 million people).According to WHO for 160 million Bangladeshi inhabitants we need approx. 320 megavoltage teletherapy machines, 160 radiotherapy facilities are needed to cover an optimal standard in radiotherapy treatment. This means a minimum of 500 qualified medical physicists are required in the future to satisfy the demand of the country. Until now Gono University has been the only university offering B.Sc and M.Sc courses in Medical Physics and in Biomedical Engineering in Bangladesh.