App by Indians top iPad grosser in Asia

App by Indians top iPad grosser in Asia

Bangalore: Magzter,an online magazine store developed by two Chennai-based entrepreneurs Girish Ramdas and Vijayakumar Radhakrishnan,has become the top grosser on the Apple iPads app stores across much of Asia.
Since last Thursday,Magzter has overtaken international favourites and long standing grossers like Angry Birds,Clash of Clans,NY Times,Frontline Commando,FIFA 13,Need for Speed and Quick Office Pro HD.On Tuesday,Clash of Clans had briefly recovered its No 1 spot,but when TOI last looked at the list of top grossers (those making the most money ) on the iPad,Magzter was back at the top.The iPad has over 700,000 apps.Even in the number of daily downloads,Magzter has crossed other reading apps like Flipboard,Pulse and Zite, Ramdas,CEO of Magzter,said.The newsstand,which was launched just 17 months ago,already has 4.5 million users globally.
India-made apps have previously seen success on the downloading side.Rohit Singals NightStand alarm clock app for the iPhone was downloaded three million times in a few days in 2007.But these have been primarily free apps.Magzter is perhaps the first Indian app to feature in the top grosser list across many app stores.The majority of Magzters users are in the US,the market that the company is most focused on.New York is the worlds biggest publishing hub.So that is where we have registered our headquarters, Ramdas said.
But Ramdas has never worked in the US.He grew up and has worked throughout in Chennai.He graduated from the College of Engineering,Guindy,in Chennai.In 2000,he founded an IT services company called Dot Com Infoway in the city and later started a magazine called Galatta focused on the south Indian film industry.In 2009,he created an iPhone app for the magazine and followed it up with an iPad app.These apps later inspired him to create the global online magazine newsstand.
Magzter has more than 1,500 magazines in its store.About 400 of them are Indian magazines.We have readers from all over the world who buy magazine subscriptions every day.Cross border selling is helping the digital magazine industry by generating more global readers, Radhakrishnan,president of Magzter said.Radhakrishnan did a Bachelor's degree in computer science from Madras University and a Master's degree in management from BITS,Pilani.He later worked with Ramdas in Dot Com Infoway.
Magzter has received massive traction over the past 45 days thanks to the addition of some Facebook sharing features.Sales have risen by 80% in November,compared to October.
Magzters popularity is also because of the ease with which publishers can use it to publish replica versions of physical magazines or even to create highly interactive magazines.We give complete control to publishers and they get to decide what they want to give to their readers, Radhakrishnan said.Magazine prices are also heavily discounted,by as much as 50% in many cases,because of the cost effectiveness of the online medium.Magzter,compared to some of its other online newsstand competitors,has another big advantage.It allows you to buy a magazine on one platform,say Apples iOS,and read it on another one of your devices that runs on,say,the Android or Windows 8 platform.Magzter is now trying to quickly build on its success.

MAG MAGIC

Magzter,developed by Girish Ramdas (left) and Vijayakumar Radhakrishnan,has more than 1,500 magazines in its store The majority of Magzter users are in the US Magazine prices are discounted by as much as 50%

Mechanism behind origin of life on Earth found

Washington: Researchers have found that a molecular network with self-perpetuating capability may have triggered a possible mechanism by which life got a foothold on the early Earth.It sheds light on a possible mechanism by which life may have gotten a foothold in the chemical soup that existed on early Earth.
Researchers have proposed several theories for how life on Earth could have gotten its start,even before the first genes or living cells came to be.One theme all theories have in common is a network of molecules that have the ability to work together to jumpstart and speed up their own replication two necessary ingredients for life.
However,many researchers find it hard to imagine how such a molecular network could have formed spontaneously from the chemical env ronment of early Earth.
Some say its equivalent to a tornado blowing through a junkyard and assembling the random pieces of metal into a Boeing 747, said co-author Wim Hordijk from the National Evolutionary Synthesis Centre in Durham,North Carolina.If you look at the structure of the networks of molecules,very often theyre composed of smaller subsets of molecules with the same self-perpetuating capabilities, he said.PTI

Too much or too little activity bad for knees: study

Press Trust of India / Washington November 26, 2012, 16:25

Both very high and very low levels of physical activity can accelerate the degeneration of knee cartilage in middle-aged adults, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) previously had found an association between physical activity and cartilage degeneration. For the new study, the UCSF researchers looked at changes in knee cartilage among a group of middle-aged adults over a four-year period. They used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based T2 relaxation times to track the evolution of early degenerative cartilage changes in the knee.

T2 relaxation times generated from MR images allow for analysis of the biochemical and molecular composition of cartilage," said researcher Wilson Lin.

"There is increased water mobility in damaged cartilage, and increased water mobility results in increased T2 relaxation time," Lin said.

The researchers analysed 205 patients, age 45 to 60, from the UCSF-based Osteoarthritis Initiative, a nationwide study.

Participants used a questionnaire to record their physical activity. The researchers measured T2 values of cartilage at the patella, femur and tibia of the right knee joint at baseline and at two- and four-year visits.

According to the results of the study, participating frequently in high-impact activities, such as running, appears associated with more degenerated cartilage and potentially a higher risk for development of osteoarthritis.

"When we compared the scores among groups, we found an accelerated progression of T2 relaxation times in those who were the most physically active," said Thomas M Link, professor of radiology and chief of musculoskeletal imaging at UCSF.

"Those who had very low levels of activity also had accelerated progression of T2 values. This suggests that there may be an optimal level of physical activity to preserve the cartilage," Link said in a statement.

The study also highlighted the potential of T2 relaxation times as an early indicator of cartilage degeneration.

"Standard MRI shows cartilage defects that are irreversible. The exciting thing about the new cartilage T2 measurements is that they give us information on a biochemical level, thus potentially detecting changes at an earlier stage when they may still be reversible," Link added.

Link noted that people who have a higher risk for osteoarthritis (such as family history of total joint replacement, obesity, history of knee injury or surgery) can reduce their risk for cartilage degeneration by maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding strenuous, high-impact exercise.

"Lower impact sports, such as walking or swimming, are likely more beneficial than higher impact sports, such as running or tennis, in individuals at risk for osteoarthritis," he said.

The study was presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).