Autodesk launches 2010 slate of post production software

Autodesk has announced the India launch of 2010 editions of Autodesk Flame, Inferno, Smoke and Flint software for editorial finishing and visual effects systems. It also launched Autodesk Flare software as the creative companion to Flame and Inferno.
"This year, we're especially excited about two developments," said Pankaj Kedia, Regional Manager, Systems - Gr. China, India & South East Asia, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. "First, we are launching Flare, which will be a great creativity and productivity booster for customers of our flagship visual effects software. Second, we have expanded our RED workflow capability to provide extremely fast and flexible import options. Both are already huge hits with our beta customers. In this economic climate, our software gives entertainment customers a real creative and competitive edge."
Autodesk's visual effects systems have been used to create numerous blockbuster films, including all three of this year's Academy Award-nominated movies for Best visual effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight and Iron Man.
The 2010 releases of Flame, Flare, Flint, Inferno and Smoke are now available. Autodesk Lustre 2009 Extension 1 and Autodesk Incinerator 2009 Extension 1 are also available to Autodesk Subscription customers.

Six persons test negative for swine flu in Delhi

New Delhi Six persons, who had arrived in New Delhi from abroad in the last few days and were suspected to be suffering from swine flu, have tested negative for the virus while one person is under observation. 

All the seven persons were tested for H1N1 virus after they showed flu-like symptoms. 

The samples were sent to National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) for testing. Six of the samples have tested negative, said Director NICD Shivlal. 

"The samples were put through a rapid test for ‘influenza A’ virus for which they tested negative. Further tests for H1N1 flu were not required as only ‘influenza A’ virus can lead to swine flu," he said. 

While six samples were sent from the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, one was that of a person from Hyderabad who had reported symptoms last week. 

Five persons were discharged from the hospital while a London-based NRI is still admitted to the RML as his test results have not come yet. 

Five persons were brought to RML in the past 24 hours while one person from Ghaziabad, who has recently returned from Texas, voluntarily came to the hospital after he saw media coverage of the flu. 

While the 35-year-old London-based NRI was brought to hospital directly from the Indira Gandhi International Airport this morning, the 25-year-old who came from Texas got himself admitted to the RML last evening. 

"Both of them are under observation in isolation ward. We have done all tests and samples have been sent to NICD," N K Chaturvedi, Medical Superintendent of RML, told reporters. 

The London-based NRI, who hails from Delhi, developed flu symptoms during his flight to the capital from London and was referred to the hospital after a screening at the airport. 

"He has a running nose, sore throat and cold but has no fever. He will be kept under observation for the next three days," Chaturvedi said. 

The Texas-based youth, who landed in Delhi on April 19 and had fever for two days on April 24, turned up at the hospital last evening, Chaturvedi said adding the man, who hails from adjoining Ghaziabad, later became asymptomatic. 

Vineet Chaudhary, Joint Secretary in Health Ministry, said there was no case of H1N1 flu in the country and all precautions have been taken. 

Chaturvedi said two others were brought to the hospital suspecting that they could be carriers of flu but it later turned out that they have liver problems. He said RML is fully equipped to handle cases of H1N1 flu.

The eloquent silence of Sourav Ganguly

On the way to Durban's Sun Coast Cinema, the taxi driver asked me what I was doing in South Africa.
"I'm here for the cricket."
"Oh," she said. "The Bollywood league?"
"That's the one," I said.
Yesterday the Bollywood league's most Bollywood team, Kolkata Knight Riders, appropriately staged a Q&A session in a room usually reserved for cinema-goers. Members of the press and public sank into their chunky seats while 13 of Kolkata's finest trotted on stage as part of a surreal exercise presumably aimed at tightening the franchise's iron grip on the PR league. Ten of them need not have bothered.
For Brendon McCullum, John Buchanan - who, as captain and coach, or maybe just by complete coincidence, sat in the two comfy seats in the middle - and Sourav Ganguly, perched next to Ishant Sharma at one end, it was another day at the office. Chris Gayle did answer a question, it's true, belatedly breaking the tension by telling Buchanan he should have picked more West Indians. But this was very much the Brendon, John and Sourav show. And although Sourav said the least, there was no doubt he conveyed the most.
There may come a point when Kolkata aficionados stop regarding Ganguly's reported resentment over the decision to make McCullum captain as news, but that point is not about to be reached anytime soon. On this evidence it was hardly surprising, because Ganguly's body language told a tale of such theatrical misery that it was as if someone had shouted "lights, camera, action".
When Buchanan was inevitably asked if McCullum's run of low scores meant Ganguly would soon be opening the batting, Ganguly closed his eyes and breathed a weary sigh. His mood was hardly helped when Buchanan pointed out that Brad Hodge might also come into the frame but that, in any case, he couldn't "see any immediate changes".
Ganguly's answers were as terse as his folded arms. A couple of photographers, sensing the mood, got busy from a few feet away, but they were the only ones doing any snapping. Ganguly wasn't snapping out of anything. The picture of sullenness was clearly one he was happy to see in the cuttings books.
Then, the killer blow. Ganguly was asked whether he would have done anything differently had he been captain. Here was his chance to support McCullum, to show the world (or at least Room 6 of the Sun Coast Cinema) that the Kolkata Knight Riders are as happy as their owner, Shah Rukh Khan, always seems to be. Instead, Ganguly deadpanned: "I don't think I'll be able to answer that question."
McCullum handled the moment well. For the splittest of seconds, he looked as if he couldn't quite believe that his team-mate - the Prince of Kolkata, no less! - had fobbed off a golden opportunity to back him up. Then, maybe, he remembered how these things work.
McCullum, nobly, says he will stand down as Kolkata captain if the team fails to make the semi-finals. There may have been one person in Room 6 who viewed that news with a certain ambivalence.

Breaking tradition to queue up for a cause

April 30: Bijendra Pradhan and his three brothers would have never stepped out of their Haridashatta house in Darjeeling if the election had not been fought on the Gorkhaland plank.
Having lost their mother on April 26, the brothers — according to the Nepali religious practice — have to keep themselves confined to the house for 13 days till the shradh is over. Yet, at 9.21am today, they turned up at St Teresa’s Higher Secondary School to cast their votes.
“It is time to show our unity and this vote is for a cause we believe in strongly,” said the 57-year-old Bijendra, a member of the 28-member family that had turned up to vote. The Pradhans’ decision to break tradition for the election reflects the sentiments of the hill people. Many, who would not have otherwise bothered to stand in the queue, made an exception this time.
In fact, Bijendra, who is in the tourism industry, said: “This is the first time I am casting my vote in the parliamentary election. I had exercised my franchise only at the municipality level as it directly affects us.” In previous elections, Bijendra had been in the USA. “For me, elections do not hold much interest as I was often in the US during those periods. But this time, despite our religious beliefs, I made it a point to come out of the self-imposed confinement and vote.”
Bijendra is not alone. A group of travel guides was seen heading towards Gangtok around 8am. Asked whether they had voted, they said they had come in a hired vehicle last night from Sikkim, covering a distance of 120km, only to cast their votes. “We have tourists waiting for us in Gangtok. This afternoon we have to take them for sight seeing. So, we are on our way back,” one of them said.
The half-an-hour rain in the morning could do little to dampen the spirit. Even the ballot figures spoke on the same lines. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the total votes polled in the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong were 69 per cent. According to figures available with the election media cell till late tonight, Kalimpong had polled 79.27 per cent votes, Kurseong 82.5 per cent and Darjeeling 77.32 per cent.
The plains, which always records a higher percentage, was trailing behind till 3pm. But there were long queues later and voting continued even after 8pm at some places. Figures available two hours later showed Siliguri had polled 77.9 per cent, Matigara-Naxalbari 79.65 per cent, Phansidewa 83 per cent and Chopra polled 82 per cent. Last time the total votes polled in the plains was 72 per cent. The figures may change tomorrow when reports come in from the far-flung booths.
The high polling percentage in the hills has not come as a surprise given the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s call to treat the election as a “referendum” on Gorkhaland. Many voters used their thumb impression instead of signing the voter’s register. “Signing takes a lot of time. So it is better to go for the thumb impression,” said a voter who did not want to be named.
The polling agents of the BJP, which has fielded Jaswant Singh in the Darjeeling seat, were mostly women. Morcha president Bimal Gurung had wanted women to play a proactive role as he felt their contribution to the statehood cause was significant. The Morcha is now the dominant party in the hills and is backing Singh whose rivals are sitting MP Dawa Narbula of the Congress and the Left Front’s Jibesh Sarkar.
Gurung, who voted at Subash Primary School at Bara Pattabong, seemed satisfied. “I am very happy that many people who were working outside the region also turned up to cast their votes. This is an important election for us,” he said. As for Singh, he was happy that the polling in the hills was brisk and of high percentage. “Do not ask me about the plains in particular as I am the candidate for the entire constituency. I do not believe in this divide. However, I have never been ambiguous about my stand on the demand of the hill people,” Singh said here. He will leave Darjeeling tomorrow to campaign in Rajasthan where the polls are due on May 7. He will return to Darjeeling on May 10.
Surendra Gupta, the district magistrate of Darjeeling, said no major problems were reported. “At Sukhiapokhri, a woman who looked mentally challenged threw away the EVM. However it was immediately replaced.” No votes were cast in two booths at Phansidewa and four in Naxalbari because of a boycott call by the Dooars-Terai faction of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad.
CPM leaders from the plains said they wanted repolling in three hill subdivisions. “There is specific information of rigging in the hills by the BJP and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. Our party could not depute agents in more than 80 per cent of the booths. The BSNL lines were blocked after 2pm to stop communication. The deployment of paramilitary forces was also not up to the mark. The chief electoral officer will be told about all this. We want repolling in all three hill subdivisions,” district Left Front convener and state urban development minister Asok Bhattacharjee said in Siliguri.
Congress leader, too, levelled similar allegations, but against the CPM. “In the booths in the plains, the CPM engaged government employees owing allegiance to the party. They tried to slow down the poll process so that after sundown they could indulge in illegal activities,” said Shankar Malakar, the Darjeeling district Congress president.

Peaceful note to latest India polls

India ended the third phase of parliamentary polls on a peaceful note, barring a lone attack by Maoist rebels.
The fate of several political heavyweights will be decided by the ballots as states including Maharashtra, Sikkim, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal experienced moderate voter turnout.
But Mumbai, the target of last year's deadly terror attacks, had a low turnout of about 13% at one point as many voters failed to turn up at election booths.
Maoist rebels triggered a landmine near a polling booth in Purulia district, in West Bengal, leaving two security personnel injured.
Another security official was shot dead while trying to pull down a Maoist poster from a wall in the same district.
Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi, opposition leader L K Advani, and BJP president Rajnath Singh were among those whose constituencies went to the polls on Thursday.
The first two phases on April 16 and 20 were marred by the Maoist violence. At least 20 people have been killed across the country.
A total of 1,567 candidates are fighting for 107 parliamentary seats during the latest voting.
Elections are being held in five phases for the 543 seats over a month.
Votes will be counted on May 16.