GK Updates - 3 April | Banking Quiz

ISRO set to launch IRNSS 1B tomorrow

1.As part of its aspirations to build a regional navigational system equivalent to Global Positioning System of the US, ISRO is set to send its second satellite from Sriharikota tomorrow, which would help put in place the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System.

2.The second of the seven planned satellites for the system, IRNSS 1B, would be launched at 5.14 p.m. from the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, where the countdown for the launch is currently proceeding smoothly, ISRO officials said.

3.The 1,432 kg weighing satellite is being sent on board an XL version of ISRO’s workhorse PSLV, as it was done during the IRNSS 1A launch. This is the sixth time, ISRO is using the XL version of the 44.4 metre-tall PSLV.

4.IRNSS 1B has a mission life of 10 years from the date of launch.

5.ISRO needs to launch at least four of the seven satellites to start the operations of the IRNSS. The national space agency had already launched IRNSS 1A, its first satellite on July 1 last year, and it is presently in orbit.

Nokia to launch 1st dual SIM Lumia phone in India next month

1.Nokia will launch four Lumia smartphones in India starting with its first dual SIM handset Lumia 630 in May for around Rs 10,000 excluding taxes.

2.It will also start selling a low cost 4G smartphone Lumia 635 for about Rs 11,300 plus taxes in July.

3.“The Nokia Lumia 630 is expected to roll out in May, beginning with Asia, India/Middle East, South America and Europe, at $159 for the single SIM variant, and $169 for the dual SIM variant before taxes and subsidies,” Nokia said in a statement.

4.Both the variants of Lumia 630 support 3G SIM, built on latest Windows platform, and have 4.5 inch screen, 5 megapixel auto focus camera, 8 GB internal memory and support for up to 128 GB external storage.

5.The configuration of Lumia 635 is almost similar to that of Lumia 630 except being a 4G phone. It will support mobile internet speed of up to 100 megabit per second.

6.Nokia will also start selling another 4G smartphone Lumia 930 from June in India for about Rs 36,000 plus taxes.

7.Most of the telecom operators — Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone, Idea and Videocon are gearing up to provide 4G services in country.

New portal for doctor appointments launched

1.Finding a doctor and fixing an appointment for consultation in Hyderabad is made easy, thanks to a new portal, Drappointment.in by Just In Nexus E Solutions Pvt Ltd.

2.Announcing the launch of the Web site which provides this service free-of-cost here on Thursday, Just In Nexus Founder and Chief Executive Officer Nikhil Deshneni said the portal would help the patients manage all the appointment needs with the click of a button.

3.After registering yourself with the Web site, you need to select the locality and specialisation.

4.After selecting the doctor and seeking confirmed appointment, an email/SMS confirming your appointment, details and also the address would be sent to the registered user.

Microsoft to offer Windows for free on small devices

1.In an attempt to increase Windows’ market share on mobile devices, Microsoft has announced to make the operating system available free of cost for smart phones and tablets that have screen size smaller than 9 inches.

2.Microsoft’s move, considered as a big change in its business model, is targeted to give a tough competition to other major operating systems available in the market including iOS of Apple and Google’s Android.

3.The software giant, so far, had been charging anything between USD5 and USD15 from phone and tablet makers to use its Windows system. It had been charging higher process from manufacturers of personal computers.

4.At its annual developers conference in San Francisco, Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s executive vice president of Operating Systems, announced that Windows will be free for ’Internet of Things’ devices, the small gadgets that will have ability to connect to the web and process information.

5.“We want to get this platform out there. We want to remove all friction. To drive adoption of your applications, on phones and tablets less than 9—inches, we are making Windows available for zero dollars,” he said.

6.The announcement was welcomed by the IT sector and developers, who described it as a bold move.

7.“In my view, this is one of the boldest moves Microsoft has made in recent memory” Al Gillen, an analyst with IDC, was quoted by IT magazine Computer World as saying.

8.“This is a very big deal. It’s a change at how they look at their cash cow, looking at the bigger picture now and what they need to do to win the mobile story, if you like,” Carolina Milanesi, strategic insight director of Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, said.

Amazon launches new device for streaming video

1.Amazon yesterday unveiled a new media streaming device, ramping up its challenge for the living room against rivals such as Netflix.

2.The Amazon Fire TV device, which fits in one’s hand and connects to television sets, aims to boost the US online giant’s efforts to capture viewers for its Prime Video service.

3.“It’s a tiny box with huge specs,” said Amazon Kindle Vice-President Peter Larsen at a New York event unveiling the device.

4.The box along with a remote control device also allows users to listen to music or to play games with a separate controller device.

5.Larsen said that existing devices “make streaming today too frustrating” and that Fire TV would simplify the experience.

6.One of the features highlighted by Amazon is voice search, allowing consumers to avoid the tedious task of searching for films or videos by punching letters into a remote control device.

Microsoft to release update of Windows 8.1

1.Software giant Microsoft has announced a release date for the update of its operating system Windows 8.1, including the smart phone version, to give its users a more familiar and convenient browsing experience.

2.The update, to be freely available to Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 customers on April 8th, brings back the Start button and brings improvements for business customers, besides accelerating opportunity for developers and enabling device makers to offer lower cost devices.

3.It would bring a large set of customer-driven improvements including the return of the Start button, tutorials, more personalisation options, the ability to boot to desktop, improvements to multi-tasking, according to the company.

4.“Today marks the next step as we release a new update for your Windows experience,” Senior Marketing Communications Manager, Brandon LeBlanc told the company’s annual developer’s conference here yesterday.

5.Making a presentation of the update, LeBlanc said on the Start screen, on select devices, one will now find Power and Search buttons at the upper-right corner next to the account picture.

6.“You can now more quickly shut down your PC if you need to and do a search right from the Start screen,” he noted.

7.“If you like using the desktop, you will be happy to know that select devices will now boot to desktop as the default setting. And on your taskbar, you can now pin both desktop apps and apps from the Windows Store as well as your favourite websites,” he said.

Former Australia test batsman Marcus North retires

1.Ex-Australia test batsman Marcus North says he will retire from first-class cricket to pursue wine industry business interests in Britain and to play limited stints in English county cricket.

2.North scored 886 runs at an average of 63.28 this season to lead his Western Australia side to its first domestic first-class final in 15 years, losing to New South Wales.

3.The 34-year-old North on Thursday said he plans to honour the final year of his contract with Big Bash Twenty20 side the Sydney Sixers. North says he hopes eventually to coach at the county level in England.

4.The left-hander scored five centuries in 21 tests for Australia, but was dumped from the test side after a sequence of low scores in series against Pakistan, India and England in 2010.

TN govt declares April 24 as public holiday

1.The Tamil Nadu Government has declared a public holiday on April 24 when the state goes for Lok Sabha polls.

2.“The holiday has been declared under the Negotiable Instruments Act according to notification issued by the State Government”, a PIB release here said.

Subrata’s bail: Rs. 10,000 cr deposit is not a punishment or bail bond, says Supreme Court

1.The Supreme Court on Thursday made it clear that its March 26 order directing Sahara group to deposit Rs. 10,000 crore as a condition for the release of Subrata Roy and two other Directors was not an order of punishment but enforcement of part repayment to depositors.

2.A bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and J.S. Khehar refuted the suggestion that the amount of Rs. 10,000 was a bail bond for the release of the contemnors. Justice Khehar observed, “We are not on punishment at all at this stage. We are only on enforcement of our orders. We will deal with the punishment for contempt of court when we conclude the hearing. Any suggestion that Mr. Roy and two other directors were jailed under contempt charges was irrelevant at this stage.”

3.Justice Khehar said, “The total amount repayable was Rs. 37,000 crores with interest. What we said at least 50 per cent of the principal amount of Rs. 20,000 should be repaid.”

4.Earlier senior counsel Aryama Sundaram submitted a fresh proposal that Sahara had no money to deposit Rs. 10,000 crores as directed by the court for the release of Mr. Roy and others from Delhi’s Tihar jail. He said Rs. 2,500 crores would be deposited immediately and another Rs. 2500 crores within 21 days soon after the release of Mr. Roy and others. He suggested that the court should hear the fresh proposals on Friday so that Mr. Roy could get bail on affordable conditions.

New President for Computer Society

1.HR Mohan has taken over as the President of Computer Society of India from April 1.

2.Mohan, Associate Vice-President (Systems), The Hindu, has been with the Society for over four decades.

3.The Computer Society is the largest association of IT professionals in India with over 90,000 members and 73 chapters.

Credit card base grows 4% in FY'14

1.Credit card base in the country grew 4 per cent in FY'14 to 20.3 million cards, according to the Worldline India Card Payment Report 2014.

2.A second consecutive year of growth is encouraging although the growth rate is likely to be slow as card industry players focus more on profitability, the report said.

3.Private sector banks had a larger share of the pie with 54 per cent of cards being issued by them, whereas public sector banks issued 20 per cent and foreign banks issued 26 per cent of the cards.

4.HDFC Bank with 5.1 million cards topped the list with a 27 per cent share, while ICICI Bank with 3.1 million and SBI with 2.8 million cards had a market share of 17 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.

5.According to the report, the average number of credit card transactions per card per year were around 25, while the average spends were Rs 2,900.

6.Overall card spends grew 17 per cent from Rs 122.9 crore in FY 2013 to Rs 144.3 crore in FY 2014. The main items on which spends were made were retail fashion (30 per cent), department stores (12 per cent), supermarkets (10 per cent) and hotels (10 per cent).

Pune-Bilaspur superfast premium train

1.The railway administration will run a superfast premium express train between Pune and Bilaspur (and vice-versa) via Nagpur to clear the extra rush of summer, a press release said.

2.Train number 8296 will depart from Pune on April 8 (Tuesday) and April 12 (Saturday) at 7.30 p.m. and reach Bilaspur at 3 p.m. It will pass via Nagpur at 8.20 a.m. next day (Wednesday and Sunday), a press release from Nagpur division of Central Railway said.

3.Similarly, train number 8295 will leave Bilaspur at 9.15 p.m. on April 7 and 11 (Monday and Friday) and will arrive at Pune the next day at 4.45 p.m. It will pass via Nagpur at 3.45 p.m. (Tuesday and Saturday).

4.The train will stop at Kopargaon, Manmad, Bhusaval, Nagpur, Gondia, Durg and Raipur in both directions. It will have 20 coaches, including three 2AC, five 3AC and 10 sleeper coaches.

IDFC, Bandhan get bank licences, corporate houses left out

1.Ending days of suspense, the Reserve Bank on Wednesday granted banking licences to infrastructure financing firm IDFC and microfinance institution Bandhan from among 25 applicants that included corporate heavyweights ADAG Group, Aditya Birla Group and Bajaj Group.

2.The RBI agreed to consider the application of India Post in consultation with the government and advised other applicants to apply afresh after the central bank comes out with new guidelines on granting licences 'on tap'.