by Peeyush Agnihotri

THIS year, Mr. Sekhon, Dr Bhardwaj and Ms Manchanda are all awaiting April 1. No, they are neither too eager to play April Fool’s Day pranks (they are well beyond that age) nor are they looking forward for new investments during the next financial year. In fact, they have nothing in common except for the facts that they all are law-abiding citizens, they live in Punjab, their sons are settled abroad and they have computers at home.

USA makes China dumping ground by Vincenzo Pelosi WHEN the inhabitants of Guiyu were told seven years ago that their poor rice-growing village in southeast China was to become part of the booming US technology sector, they couldn’t believe their luck. A woman at a market in Beilin village near Guiyu in China's southern Guangdong province cleans a computer circuit board to retrieve components, creating an acrid stench in the air.

Hard disk needs proper alignment
Vipul Verma
THE most common problem related to hardware is of bad sectors in the hard disk. The bad sectors represent the damaged part of the tracks and clusters, on which the data can be written and any present data cannot be accessed. This is a risky situation as it can bring down your PC to standstill and can cause extensive damage to your hard disk in terms of loss of data.

Computer experts have insured career
Sumesh Raizada
WITH the government relaxing the restrictions imposed on various service industries, a whole new market place is getting created in banking, finance and insurance sector. The recent opening up of insurance services for private and multinational companies has led to the fierce competition among the service providers.

European Union’s nod to Galileo
Robin McKie
A revolutionary satellite navigation system that will monitor lorry fleets on the road, help blind people move round cities and guide planes in flight, was given the go-ahead last week.

E-mails affecting pigeon service
Sugita Katyal
FOR more than half a century, the Police Pigeon Service has been the pride of the force in poverty-stricken Orissa state in eastern India.

Bio-IT surges ahead
While other IT sectors are struggling to keep their heads above water, the bio-IT sector is gaining rapid momentum. According to analysis from International Data Corporation's (IDC's) research and advisory service, bio-IT infrastructure, the bio-IT market will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24 per cent to nearly $ 38 billion by 2006.

Priests, police officer in FBI net
James Vicini
CATHOLIC priests, a police officer, a nurse, a teacher's aide and a school bus driver were among those charged in a 14-month nationwide crackdown known as "Operation Candyman" that targeted child pornography on the Internet, the FBI said last week.

IGNOU convocation through teleconferencing mode
HIGH technology is fast making inroads into universities too. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) organised its 13th convocation recently at ITI Building, Bulepur, Khanna.