DelhiPlanet Weekends : The Beauty Of Money – 2

We’re back with Part -2 of our special feature on the Beauty and Artwork involved in the design and creation of different currencies. If you missed part 1, then you can catch it here.

The Sao Tame And Principe Dobras

Sao Tome and Principe, officially the Democratic Republic of Sao Toma and Principe, is an island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Africa. It consists of two islands: Sao Tome and Principe. It is the second-smallest African country in terms of population. It is also the smallest country in the world that is not a former British overseas territory, a former United States trusteeship, or one of the European microstates and is also the smallest Portuguese-speaking country.

Well, there’s nothing great about the currency note of this place except that it’s one of the least valued currencies in the world with $1 = 14,395 STD (the abbreviation used for this currency). The only two other countries with lower valued currencies are the Vietnam Dong and the Zimbabwean Dollar which has an eye-popping conversion rate, $1 = 236,706,849.48 Zimbabwean Dollars.

The French Pacific Territories Franc

The French Pacific Territories better known as French Polynesia consist broadly of French-administered territories outside of Europe. Known mostly for their paradise like islands such as Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora etc, these territories probably have the most beautiful currency( known as the CFP Franc) in the world.

Try to think about any one world currency that has beautiful females adorning the back and front. Well, if you are still thinking chances are that you have never seen one. There are infact very few world currencies that have faces of women on them. The Comorian Franc is one of them and the CFP Franc is another.

The introduction of the Euro has surely taken away the fun of collecting currencies and although it would be a great idea to have a single currency for the whole world or single currencies for each continent, it would rob the pleasure of “showing off” your currency collection and ofcourse you would have no instant proof that you ever visited a particular place.

The HTC Diamond: Can It Recreate The iPhone Effect

Hot on the heels of Apple tying up with dozens of operators around the world to launch their revolutionary iPhone (Read here) comes news of yet another established player entering the “SuperPhone” segment. This time it’s the Taiwanese Giant High Tech Computers, better known as HTC. HTC is a major player in the Smart Phone, Pocket PC segment selling devices with Windows Mobile as the Operating System. It’s hard to imagine an iPhone kind of device to be powered by a Windows OS which is famously known for it’s “crash” effect, but as it turns out HTC has launched what seems to be a major challenger to the iPhone with the HTC Diamond.

The HTC Diamond is powered by a Qualcomm® MSM7201A™ 528 MHz processor and runs on a Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional with 4 Gb of internal memory and 192 Mb RAM (check here for official specifications). The UI has been completely redone and if it weren’t for the Microsoft “Start” menu at the top it would have been hard to guess the Operating System.

Windows Mobile operated phones have so far been exclusive to Businessmen, Entrepreneurs and other such people who need to carry their office with them wherever they go. The size, weight and cost of these phones was always a deterrent but HTC aims to change all that with the Diamond which weighs only a 110 grams ( with battery) and has a sleek 2.8-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with VGA resolution.

Now the big question is whether the Diamond has what it takes to beat the iPhone. Let’s evaluate:

• The Diamond is just 11.3mm thick, giving it a 0.3mm edge on the iPhone, and has a more responsive screen.
• The Diamond is 3G Ready allowing consumers full benefits of a High Speed Data network.
• It has a 3.2 MegaPixel Camera, a specially designed Opera Web Browser and a customized You Tube Application.
• The Diamond also has inbuilt GPS.

Well, that’s atleast 4 areas in which the Diamond scores over the iPhone which only has a bigger screen and slightly better touch screen navigation as it’s strong points. So there you have it, 4-2 in favor of the Diamond for now, because Apple too is working on the 3G iPhone which would most likely be a major improvement over the first generation iPhone.

The Diamond would be hitting the Asian and European markets next month while the Americas would just have to wait a little longer. It’ll be really interesting to see the effect of these phones in India as Airtel has tied up with both Apple and HTC to launch both the iPhone and the Diamond. While too many details on the iPhone launch are not available, HTC would offer an EDGE-version of the Diamond and it would be priced at Rs 27,500 (Source).

Catch a sneak peek of this gizmo in action below.

Tags: iPhone, HTC, Apple, Diamond, Super, Phone, Handsets, Windows, Mobile, Price, India, Airtel

DelhiPlanet Weekends : The Beauty Of Money – 1

Imagine what the currency of Italy(Lira) would have looked like, had the great Leonardo Da Vinci made the design. What if the Indian Government hired the country’s best painter to re-design the Indian Currency notes, how do you imagine they would turn out to be(Seems like a great idea for an Independence Day contest, is someone from the Times Group reading this).

Well, it is a well known fact that money talks and rules this planet and there are very few experiences and desires that cannot be fulfilled by the power of money. However that is the only aspect of money or currency that is appreciated, it’s ability to purchase. It is only the coin and currency collectors who appreciate the beauty and history associated in the design of money/currency.

But whether you like to spend, save or just collect the fact is that everyone is always eager to see what the currency of another nation looks like, even if the value in terms of your currency is very low. Money sometimes can also be very beautiful and creating it is an art, whether it’s the engraving that makes up the bills or the bas-relief sculpture on the coins. There are long histories in both as art mediums.

This week we’ve decided to give you a glimpse of 4 of the most beautiful and intriguing currencies of the world, starting with 2 in the first part of this article. So sit back, relax and enjoy the beauty of money.

The Hong Kong Dollar

This particular $10 note is quite different from other currencies of the world. Issued in 2007 to mark the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to it’s motherland, these notes are plastic notes which have been printed on polymer material instead of paper, have better security features and are more durable lasting about four times as long as paper notes.

Such unique plastic banknotes are issued only by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government. So the beauty of this note lies in it’s futuristic design and well, the artwork isn’t that bad either.

The Cook Islands Dollar

The Cook Islands are a self-governing parliamentary democracy in free association with New Zealand. The fifteen small islands in this South Pacific Ocean country have a total land area of 240 square kilometres. The Cook Island Dollar is pegged at par with the New Zealand Dollar (which is about Rs. 33.6).

So although India is a country with a population of more than 1 billion people, a unit of it’s currency is just 0.03 times the Cook Island Dollar. That’s some fact isn’t it, although these days you’ll rarely find these notes in circulation as the islands mostly use the New Zealand dollar now. The Cook Island currency notes are quite beautiful with each note depicting different aspects of their community. For example this note illustrates the rich and varied sea life of the islands.

(Note: Catch the next part of this series next week. )

Spread The Word Around, SocialSpark Is In Town

It’s a social networking site with a difference, it’s a site to which you can stay hooked and no one would mind cause not only would you be networking but you’ll also be making money in the process. We’re talking about Socialspark a new kind of Social Networking site which aims to bring the citizens of the blogosphere closer to where the money is, the advertisers.

Socialspark, is the new avatar of IZEA’s PayPerPost concept and is cool way for new and moderately established bloggers to make some money off their blogs. So how does it all work, well the process is quite simple although it takes about a week before one can start to browse for opportunities to make some dough. Here’s how it works :

• A blogger creates his account with SocialSpark and then goes on to create his profile.
• One can add as many blogs as one desires to a single socialspark account. The management panel is quite well organized and it is easy to edit your personal information and information about one’s blogs.
• Each blog needs to be first claimed and verified before one can start looking for opportunities. Socialspark provides a simple line of code, that needs to be inserted at a certain point in the blog code. This is just a check performed to ensure that the creator of the socialspark account actually owns the blog. Once the blog has been verified, the line of code can be removed.
• The next step involves verification of the blog to ensure that it meets the minimum requirements. Usually a blogger just needs to make sure that his blog has 20 posts recorded in the last 90 days to get past the verification.

Well, that’s about it and you’re all set to mint some dollars. For best results and to ensure eligibility for maximum offers, it is advisable to embed a line of tracking code in your blog. This allows SocialSpark to track the traffic on your website and accordingly rank your blog. The higher your rank the greater your eligibilty to take part in opportunities.

There are essentially 2 ways to make money on SocialSpark: write sponsered posts or get a sponser for your blog. So if you have a really great blog and have been trying to get a sponser for the same, then try logging onto SocialSpark, it’ll save you the headache of mailing a bunch of people who are just too ignorant to realise the potential of your work.

The SocialSpark marketplace, as they call it, usually looks like this :

Apart from opportunities to make money, the site also has a strong code of ethics policy, which includes the following:

1. 100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
2. 100% Transparency
3. 100% Real Opinions
4. 100% Search Engine Friendly

Looks tempting, well it’s actually quite easy to start earning by blogging. So what are you waiting for, join today and discover a new world.

Tags: socialspark, blogging, money, dollars, izea, payperpost, market

This post has been sponsered by SocialSpark.

JK Lakshmi Cement, A Risk Free Pick In Uncertain Times

JK Lakshmi Cement in it’s 25th year can be compared to a beautiful young bride whom everyone would like to bring home. It’s cement capacity has grown to 5 million tonnes from the existing 3.5 million tonnes. The company has also invested Rs 11,000 crores to set up a 2.7 million tonne Green Field plant at Chhatisgarh. The Company has posted excellent results for FY-08.

Scrip Code : 500380 Company Name : JK Lakshmi Cement Ltd

Type Audited Audited Audited Audited Period Ending 31 Mar 08 31 Mar 07 31 Mar 06 31 Mar 05 No Of Months 12 12 12 12 Description Value(Rs. million) Net Sales / Interest Earned / Operating Income 11,076.60 8,438.30 5,824.80 4,867.80 Other Income 67.10 32.80 79.00 97.70 Total Income 11,143.70 8,471.10 5,903.80 4,965.50 Expenditure -7,773.80 -5,878.20 -4,615.70 -4,191.50 Operating Profit 3,369.90 2,592.90 1,288.10 774.00 Interest -278.50 -361.40 -194.90 -44.00 Profit Before Depreciation and Tax 3,091.40 2,231.50 1,093.20 730.00 Depreciation -585.40 -443.30 -530.70 -489.50 Profit before Tax 2,506.00 1,788.20 562.50 240.50 Tax -269.30 -7.10 -8.00 4.30 Profit after Tax 2,236.70 1,781.10 554.50 244.80 Extraordinary Items - - - 15.70 Net Profit 2,236.70 1,781.10 554.50 260.50 Equity Capital 611.90 570.90 497.70 552.90 Reserves 5,734.90 3,319.80 1,297.60 1,060.60 Basic And Diluted EPS after Extraordinary item - 32.34 11.14 4.71 Basic EPS after Extraordinary items 38.72 - - - Diluted EPS after Extraordinary items 37.72 - - - Nos. of Shares – Public 32,770,783.00 32,865,914.00 29,912,905.00 33,434,996.00 Percent of Shares-Public 53.57 57.58 60.12 60.45 Operating Profit Margin 30.42 30.73 22.11 15.90 Net Profit Margin 20.19 21.11 9.52 5.35 Cash EPS 46.12 - - - Detailed

Financials reproduced from BSEINDIA

Recently the company also released its expansion plans .

JK’s market capitalisation at a CMP of Rs. 111 is Rs. 680 crores, which gives an enterprise value of a 5 million tonne plant at just Rs. 182 crore/million tonne or US $ 46 per tonne of cement capacity vs. US $ 102 per tonne as envisaged in the Green field project. The share is available at P/E of less than 3 and is a value BUY at CMP.

This report has been prepared solely for information purposes and the information contained herein may not be deemed to be an investment advice. Such information is impersonal and not tailored to the investment needs of any specific person. The information contained herein is not a complete analysis of every material fact representing any company, industry or security. The views expressed may change. While the information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, no responsibility (or liability) is accepted for the accuracy of its contents. Investors are advised to satisfy themselves before making any investments and should consult with and rely upon their own advisors whether and how to use such information in making any investment decision.

Paanchvi Paas – SRK’s Chance To Leave A Legacy

Aamir, ShahRukh, Big B – India Gets Big On Celeb Blogging

It’s been more than a decade since the blog was invented (or maybe more, check here for the argument) and in all these years it’s mostly been the common man who has made the maximum use of this medium. In many cases normal people who otherwise would never have had a taste of fame became highly well known and super rich, just by blogging and giving people the online content they desired (All of you know about Paris Hilton, but there’s someone else known as Perez Hilton, who’s famous for her coverage of hollywood celebs).

Till now the blogosphere has been the place where the common man can become popular, well-known and rich. So it comes as a surprise when film-stars, celebrities and other already famous people start hogging the limelight with their blogs, because the blog was never meant for these people.

Some really smart and responsible celebrities like Aamir Khan however (checkout his blog here) have been using this medium to give the people an insight into their life and work. Aamir uses his blog to reach out to his fans and his posts are mostly candid and frank. So unlike Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan who blog only when they are paid obscene amounts for the same, Aamir does it because he likes it (Checkout Big B’s blog here, rumour has it that he was paid a sum of Rs 115 crore to start blogging. He denies this fact in his latest post, but the big question is why did he choose Big Adda, owned by pal Anil Ambani to start his blog).

The past week saw some high action in the Indian Blogosphere thanks mainly to news about Big B’s blog and Aamir’s controversial post where he talks about “shahrukh khan licking his feet” . Well, the media and some film jounalists have surely played up this matter with some of them even going to the extent of saying that “what aamir has done is in bad taste” (Source). Well, if you really wanna know the truth on this matter, better checkout the original post by aamir and judge it for yourself. One wonders what problem the media has with aamir’s post, given the fact that SRK himself didn’t mind it. “I have never bothered about it because I also say a lot of things in fun and I think I am also may be stressing somebody else out. I don’t get stressed when friends pass comments like this. Actually I enjoyed it,” Shah Rukh said.

Well, it seems that battle of the stars is going to keep the Indian Blogosphere really hot for sometime to come. Especially with news that SRK’s going to join the party soon (Read here). And past experience tells us that when SRK does something, he does it in the most glamourous and outrageous fashion.

Tags: aamir, srk, big b, ambani, reliance, adda, bollywood, rumors

It’s Coming Soon: To A City Near You

It’s been more than a year since it was launched and people still can’t seem to get enough of it. This piece of electronic equipment was voted as the best invention of the year 2007(check here) but it still hasn’t seen the light of day in lots of countries around the world. Well, you must have certainly guessed what we are talking about here. It’s the ultra-stylish and super-rich phone, the Apple iPhone.

Much to the delight of the consumers in India, Italy, Singapore, Australia and 6 other countries, the iPhone would soon be hitting their shores so that people can buy them legally. Last week, Apple inked a 10-country deal with Vodafone for the sale of their revolutionary gadget. Optus, SingTel, Bharti Airtel, Telecom Italia and Globe have all signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Australia, Singapore, India and the Philippines respectively later this year. No further information was released, leaving questions on the appearance of a 3G iPhone still hanging.

But it does look as if Apple has had to rethink its business model for certain markets. Along with the deal struck with Vodafone and TIM earlier this month, multiple carriers will now be selling the device in Australia and India(Vodafone and Bharti Airtel) as well as Italy. This is presumably because these markets also have such a high proportion of prepaid mobile users that selling the device on a subscription only basis and through one carrier would be unviable.

In related news stocks of the existing 8GB and 16GB iPhone have also dried up at the Apple stores in both the US and UK as well as at the operator shops, although T-Mobile and Orange are still selling the device in Germany and France. This is leading to renewed speculation that Apple might be releasing a new version of the device imminently rather than waiting for the big summer Apple event next month (Source).

It’ll be interesting the see the response of the Indian masses to the introduction of the iPhone. One certainly expects a huge initial reaction which would also lead to highly increased sales for the carriers and ofcourse one would certainly expect Apple ad’s like these to appear on Indian television soon (this one is kinda interesting cause Facebook is slowly catching the imagination of the Indian youth, who are moving on from the rather crappy Orkut).

Tags: apple, iphone, gadget, technology, steve, ipod

Sleeping Your Way To Fitness

“Weight Loss“, is a scary two letter word that is almost always on the minds of young women and very often leads to a multitude of issues in both men and women. Excercise, Dieting, Avoiding fatty food etc are the most common terms that come to mind on hearing these words. Well, as we have talked about before (check here), weight-loss or maintaing the right weight is more about having the proper kind of lifestyle rather than crash-dieting and trying out ways to lose weight fast.

The very vital ingredient of a healthy lifestyle that is often ignored the most is one’s sleep. Most people don’t pay too much attention to their sleep and tend to either over-sleep or sleep-less. Well, recent studies show that people who sleep fewer than six hours a night or more than nine are more likely to be obese, according to a new government study that is one of the largest to show a link between irregular sleep and big bellies. The study also linked light sleepers to higher smoking rates, less physical activity and more alcohol use.The study released Wednesday is based on door-to-door surveys of 87,000 U.S. adults from 2004 through 2006 conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.(Source)

Smoking was highest for people who got under six hours of sleep, with 31 percent saying they were current smokers. Those who got nine or more hours also were big puffers, with 26 percent smoking.

It is a little known fact that one loses calories while sleeping as well. A 160-pound person who sleeps eight hours a day will lose roughly 549 calories in the process, that’s the reason why we often feel hungry after a nice long sleep. Other easy ways to reduce weight include sitting while talking on the phone for eight hours (it can burn upto 914 calories, no wonder girls are always on the phone). Driving a car for eight hours will knock off around 1,219 calories while standing in a casino for eight hours will burn about 1,402 calories.

Ofcourse nothing beats the old fashioned rule to stay fit – eat right, sleep tight and get some kind of exercise.

Tags: calories, food, weight, diet, girls, smoking, talking, sleep

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