Monday, April 23, 2001		Lens on IT

Workers adjust a model of a mobile phone in front of a showroom in Kolkata. Mobile phone sales in Kolkata has been growing 40 per cent a year since 1999. Cellphone companies in Kolkata expect a big jump in sales in the next few weeks as politicians feel a greater need to stay connected before provincial polls on May 10.

Shoes and jewels worn by the pop singer Madonna on her album cover for the record "Like a Virgin" during the early part of her career that is being auctioned by the sports-memorabelia giant Leland's in an online Auction at (lelands.com) through April 20. Among the star attractions at the auction of more than 931 entertainment collectibles will be seven lots of Madonna memorabelia.

Internet media giant Yahoo! Inc. said last week it named show business executive Terry Semel as its chairman and chief executive officer effective May 1, replacing longtime CEO Tim Koogle who stepped down from his post on March 7. Semel, shown posing in front of the company logo in this undated photograph, is noted for his role as chairman and co-chief executive at Warner Bros.

A South Korean promoter poses beside a computer which translates a leading article of a Japanese newspaper into Korean using a software called 'ezTrans' by ChangshinSoft, a local software maker, in Seoul last week. According to a committee of four Japanese professors, the software completed the translation in 3.1 seconds, while translators (R) needed more than 26 minutes. The Korean-Japanese translation software, which is priced at US $220, was launched on the local market last week.

Kalpa Shah, 34-year-old chief operating officer of NetGalactic Internet Solutions Pvt Ltd, sits in her office in Bangalore. NetGalactic, a company that blends various softwares to offer client specific solutions, posted 100 per cent growth in sales revenues annually during the past four years and this year aims to achieve about 50 to 60 per cent growth by adapting fast.

— Reuters photos