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Lemon, a mobile money management startup, launch its new Smarter Wallet app that is designed to replace your physical wallet.

On Wednesday, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will release a list of some 2,000 proposals for new Internet address suffixes. They can represent hobbies, ethnic groups, corporate brand names and more.

Expanding the number of suffixes, the ".com" part of an Internet address, has been one of ICANN's missions since its creation in 1998 to oversee domain names. ICANN had two test rounds, in 2000 and 2004, when it added ".info," ".Asia," ".travel," among others. It's now ready to expand the domain name system more broadly.

Here's how it will work:

The applications: The system opened in January. Applicants had to answer 50 questions covering such things as what a proposed suffix will be used for and what kind of financial backing the company or organisation has. They had until late March to begin the application and until May 30 to finish - the deadline was extended because a technical glitch kept the system offline for more than a month. Each application cost $185,000.

The challenges: After ICANN announces on Wednesday the suffixes that have been proposed, the public will have 60 days to comment on them. That is when someone can claim a trademark violation or argue that a proposed suffix is offensive.

The review: ICANN will review each application to make sure its financial plan is sound and that contingencies exist in case a company goes out of business. Applicants also must pass criminal background checks. If multiple applicants seek the same suffix, ICANN will encourage the parties to work out an agreement. The organization will hold an auction if they cannot. The review is expected to take at least nine months, meaning approval of the first batch won't happen until March 2013 or later. If there are challenges or other problems, ICANN believes the review could take up to 20 months.

The launch: Once a suffix gets approved, the applicant will have to set up procedures for registering names under that suffix and computers to keep track of them. Applicants might have all that already completed in anticipation of an approval. The application pays an annual fee that starts at $25,000. The suffix gets activated and becomes available for use. All that could take days or months.

Fathers who wait until they’re almost 40 to have children may provide a unique benefit to their offspring: longer lives.

Children of older fathers, those in their late 30s to early 50s, inherit longer telomeres, caps at the end of the chromosomes that protect them from degeneration, according to a study today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Longer telomeres seem to promote slower aging and may mean a longer lifespan for these children, the study said.


Previous research has shown that the older a man is when he reproduces, the more likely the children are to carry spontaneously arising mutations, which can produce disorders like autism. Some research has suggested that children of older fathers also have lower intelligence scores than those born to younger men. Today’s study suggests late fatherhood isn’t all risk, said Dan Eisenberg, a study author and doctoral student at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

“Most literature also suggests risks from paternal age and this is intriguing, in part, because it stands in contrast to that,” Eisenberg said in a telephone interview. “We don’t really know, on balance, what the net effect is.”

The longer telomeres may delay sexual development, and direct the body’s energy into maintaining itself and staying healthy, he said. The late fatherhood may serve as a signal that mortality rates are low, Eisenberg said. The benefit was also seen in grandchildren of men who became fathers at later ages.

The correlation held regardless of whether the families were rich or poor, the study said.
Damaged Telomeres

Damaged telomeres cause cells to stop dividing, stem cells to become dormant, organs to atrophy and brain cells to die. As most cells age, the telomeres become shorter and shorter. This isn’t the case for sperm, where telomeres lengthen with age. The men may be passing the longer telomeres to their children, boosting their lifespan.

On average, American men have their first child at the age of 25, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Today’s study looked at 2,023 children in the Philippines. There weren’t differences in telomere length between the boys and girls of the same generation, the authors found. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and Northwestern University.

Hindi, one of the foreign languages gaining popularity in China, will be making its debut in South China as Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in Guangzhou is set to open a Hindi chair to teach the language.

A Memorandum of Understanding for establishing a Hindi Chair at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS), was signed on Monday between the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the University. This is the first Hindi Chair established by the ICCR in South China.

A number of Chinese universities including the prestigious Peking University, the Beijing Foreign Studies University as well colleges in different parts of China are teaching Hindi.

Lecturers say the language is gaining currency in China as many see it as a career-making proposition in view of rapid increase in India-China trade which touched $ 74 billion last year and is expected to cross $ 100 billion by 2015.

Hindi Day, being organised by the Indian Embassy in Beijing every year, attracts large number of Chinese Hindi enthusiasts from all over China.

Also, Indian expats in Beijing had set up a Sunday school called Gurukul to teach Hindi and Indian culture.

Headed by Lata Iyer, the school has four teachers which included Priya Sunderrajan, Manisha Bhakre, Krishna Dasgupta and Deepa Tulsidas.

The MoU, was signed by Indra Mani Pandey, Consul-General of India in Guangzhou and Zhong Weihe, President of GDUFS, an Indian embassy press release here said.

The ICCR has already established five chairs in China devoted to Hindi and spread of Indian culture including three chairs in Jinan University, Shenzhen University and Yunnan University in various fields of studies.

Nupur Mehta

The International Cricket Council's (ICC) anti-corruption officer Alan Peacock was in Mumbai on Monday to question small-time Bollywood actress Nupur Mehta, whose name has figured in the recent match and spot-fixing allegations. The questioning took place at a suburban hotel in Mumbai, following which Mehta told TOI that she has been "given a clean chit by the ICC". However, sources in the sport's world governing body told TOI that they were not aware of any "clean chit" to Mehta yet.

Mehta's name first surfaced in March this year when a UK daily carried out a sting operation on a Delhi bookie. The sting was done to investigate allegations of match-fixing during the 2011 ICC World Cup held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The sting raised suspicions about Mehta being used by bookies to lure players. Although her name was not mentioned by the paper, a blurred image of Mehta was carried along with the story.

"I was quizzed for two-and-a-half hours by the ICC official and they are satisfied with the answers I have provided," Mehta told TOI on Monday. She added that the ICC asked her for names of cricketers who she claims are her social friends, and she provided them.

"I have many friends who are cricketers and with whom I socialize -- Yuvraj (Singh), Parthiv (Patel), Ishant (Sharma). I also know a lot of international players," said Nupur. In the past she has also claimed to have dated Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan.

When asked about her photograph published in the UK daily, she said she wasn't aware of any bookie nexus and was of the opinion that the daily must have used her photograph to cite her familiarity with international cricketers. "I don't know any bookie and I have no connections with anybody," said Mehta.

The actress, who has only one Bollywood movie (Jo Bole So Nihal) to her credit, said the ICC official kept asking her about how she came to be in touch with the cricketers. "I met them (cricketers) through my event management company and have accompanied them to parties where I kept getting introduced to more players," she said, adding that one player bumped into her in a pub.

"This player was sitting a few feet away and I did not know who he was. After some time he walked up to me to introduce himself. That's how we became friends," Mehta said. She claimed that he then introduced her to other players.

ICC sources, meanwhile, have rubbished Mehta's claims. While they confirm that Peacock did meet Mehta in Mumbai, they said it was for routine questioning. "She's not the only one. From time to time, we have been questioning people -- from cricketers to sponsors. We don't have anything to say on this (Mehta's comments)," said an official in the know of developments.

Pax e-cigarette

What is Pax?
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LinkedIn Disables Compromised Passwords, FBI Joins Chase
The FBI has joined the chase to trace the roots of LinkedIn's massive password leak last week. In the meanwhile, director Vicente Silveira has been keeping users updated via the LinkedIn blog. As of Saturday, LinkedIin has disabled any compromised passwords, and informed users, though, as far as LinkedIn is aware, accounts themselves have not been attacked. If your password still works, Silveira explains, LinkedIn doesn't consider your account threatened (but change your password anyway).

ASUS-made Google Tablet May Be Ready For June I/O 
Google's new Nexus 7-inch tablet, expected to be manufactured by ASUS, could be ready by the end of June after all--in time for Google's I/O conference. Android Authority has heard from an ASUS employee that the device will cost somewhere between $150 and $250. The tablet will run a quad-core processor made by Nvidia, but opinion is divided over whether the tablet will host Android 4.0 or its newer version, Jellybean. With advanced Google OS specs and at that price, the tablet could challenge both the iPad and e-readers of all stripes.

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