Toyota Etios to Lock Horns with Maruti Swift

Maruti Swift, probably the hottest car in India, has been facing tough competition this year in the Indian market. Since the 2010 Auto Expo in January, the small car segment has witnessed a phenomenal growth with international players like Nissan, Ford, Chevrolet and Volkswagen entering the fray.

Now, Toyota is also set to enter the mass market with its super hatchback, Etios, along with its sedan variant. However, Toyota has not revealed yet which edition would go on sale first in the Indian market. Compounding Maruti’s woes, Toyota-Kirloskar MD Hiroshi Nakagawa announced that the main competition for Etios would be Swift and Swift Dzire in both hatchback and sedan segment, respectively.

Toyota is already one of the most loved and admired brands worldwide as well as in India and Etios is sure to generate many more happy customers, thus making Toyota a major player in the country.

Toyota Etios has been developed on a new platform and has a completely new engine which is not present in any Toyota car so far. Etios means Spirit and Principle which Toyota intends to give to its customers in India. The car will be first launched in India and then will be sold in the global market unlike other entrants which are first introduced in the overseas markets and then developed in India.

“Etios will be launched by December or January in Indian market and after it meets its expected target of sale, it will be exported,” Nakagawa said .  However, he did not shed light on the car’s price.

Besides a highly fuel-efficient petrol variant, a diesel possibility for Etios is also being worked out.

Sachin has uncanny ability to inspire team mates: Duminy

Captain Sachin Tendulkar has an uncanny ability to inspire his team-mates to perform several notches up and that will make a huge impact on Mumbai Indians' campaign in next month's Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa, feels batsman Jean-Pual Duminy.

Duminy believes that if Tendulkar continues with his menacing form of this year's Indian Premier League, MI will go all the way through.

"He (Tendulkar) obviously leads from the front and that lifts his team-mates. He is very inspiring and exceptional captain. If he fires, others also perform better by another 20 per cent.

"He has been in fine form in the IPL and for India. Hope he does the same for us to win this tournament," Duminy said on the sidelines of the launch of Champions League T20 in Johannesburg.

"Sachin helps everybody out and he tries to engage every player. I get along with him very well and had discussions on batting and other cricketing things," said the 26-year-old batsman, who was the inaugural CLT20's top scorer for Cape Cobras but will play for Mumbai Indians this time.

Duminy conceded that the two South African sides - Warriors and Highveld Lions - will have a bit of edge in the tournament as they are playing at home condition.

"I think, they (South African sides) will have a bit of edge. They practice at home ground and prepare according to what they want. IPL teams are in a bit of disadvantage in that they have only four foreigners and they are not playing at home. But in Twenty20 you cannot pick favourites and all the teams here are champion sides of their countries," he said.

"We have a very balanced side with Tendulkar leading from the front followed by the likes of Kieron Pollard and myself. In bowling we have Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, all big players," he added.

He said the response of the crowd in South Africa will be huge as the top players of the cricketing world are playing in the multi-million dollar tournament.

"For sure, the crowd will fill up the stadiums. They would want to see the likes of Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan and other big cricketers playing together," he said.

Asked how the crowd would receive him as he is playing for a non-South African side this time, he said, "It will be very interesting to see how the crowd supports me. I don't know what sort of support we are going to get. Unfortunately, I am not playing for my province Cape Town."

How to Find the Best Used Car

so here are ten commandments on examining a pre-owned car.

1. Carefully examine the body, look for fresh paint jobs or different colors of paint on the body panels. Open the bonnet and look at the paintwork so that you can make out if the car has been repainted or not.
2. Under the bonnet, look for oil leaks and use the dipstick to check the amount of oil. If the level is low, the car hasn’t been looked after properly. Examine the surroundings of the oil filler cap, if you find a white substance it is an indication of a damaged head gasket, replacing which is going to be darn expensive.
3. Check the tyres and the spare tyre to ensure they’re in good condition with plenty of tread. If the tyres are bald, you can bargain up to  Rs 1000 per tyre. Worn tyre edges indicate problems with the wheel alignment.
4. Check for acid wear and tear around the battery areas.  If the battery is not new, there is another chance of decreasing the price of the car by Rs 2,500.
5. Another very important thing to assess is the suspension. Push down on top of the wing each side just once and release, the vehicle should go down and come back up once and stay put. If the car bounces up and down and appears soft, the shock absorbers are faulty. While test driving the car, listen for any ‘thud’ sound coming from the shock absorbers. Replacing them is going to be incredibly expensive, so what I would suggest is, try another car if the suspension is defective.
6. Get inside, check the kilometre reading of the car and calculate with the year of manufacture. There is always a possibility of Odometer tampering irrespective of the meter being mechanical or electronic.
7. Personally speaking, clutch is the most challenging part of a used car. Because, if the car has done more than 50,000 kms, you don’t know when the car is going to break down in the middle of the road due to clutch failure. Unfortunately, there’s probably no practical way to measure the degree of clutch wear. Yet, you can refer this link to get an idea on How to Diagnose a Slipping Clutch.
8. Check ALL electrical components, lightings, dippers, cabin lights, indicators and tail lamps, stereo, windshield washer and wiper and especially, Air Conditioner.
9. Start the engine. It should start at the first attempt without any hiccups. The engine should idle seamlessly without clattering or metallic sounds. With the engine idling, turn the steering wheel right and left and ensure there’s no play in the wheel before the tyres start to turn.
10. Test drive is the most important part of examining a used-car. Drive it for 4-5 kilometers in different road conditions, paying attention to the synchronization of the steering wheel, brake pedals, clutch, and the gear shifts. Drive with AC on/off while climbing a slope, there shouldn’t be an abnormal drop in power when the AC is on.

Fast facts about fasting

It could be an impending wedding or a dream holiday, but all of us think of losing weight just to fit into that one dream suit or dress. A drastic, unhealthy trend has caught the fancy of those desperate to lose weight anyhow. Most people resort to fasting without proper guidance. While fasting for small amounts of time does help cleanse the body of toxins, people have begun to fast for longer time periods. And the immediate effect might be impressive, but is it safe on a long term basis?Forms of fasting

Water fasting: This involves intake of only water and no food. It is very stringent and may lead to multi-nutrient deficiencies.

Juice fasting: Here, you simply take fruit and vegetable juices for detoxification. This involves rapid cleansing and may cause weakness.

Selective food fasting: Certain cereals, fruits and vegetables are permitted but no animal foods are allowed. This is the healthiest form of fasting and can be adhered to for a longer time span.

Many health practitioners are against the idea of fasting. But there are health benefits to it too: Periodic fasting accompanied with healthy eating improves insulin responsiveness, lowers blood cholesterol and prolongs life span. It helps improve the mental stability of people suffering from anxiety and depression. It detoxifies the body, cleanses the blood and improves the functioning of kidneys and liver.

The side effects Fasting involving sole dependence on water and juices has its own side effects, which may not show immediately but will affect you later on. What may seem to you as fat loss is actually plain water loss. Excessive weight loss is often accompanied with vitamins and mineral deficiencies. Fasting for more than 10 days causes the following problems: It leads to hormonal fluctuations which lead to mood swings, irritation and fluctuations in the menstrual cycle. Blood pressure drops and you feel dizzy especially when changing body positions. Muscle weakness and cramps occur due to mineral deficiencies. The drop in blood sugar level makes you lose concentration. You become susceptible to infections. The kidney and liver become weak and their ability to regulate metabolism is compromised.

The right time It is advisable to fast when: You're leading a life of excesses. You're overcoming an emotional attachment to food.

Beetroot wonder

Beetroot is a good source of folic acid, vitamin C, B1, B2, B3, and A. It is also rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and sodium.

* It helps improve the quality of blood. It lowers blood pressure and prevents cardiovascular problems.

* The water in which beetroot is boiled is effective in treating pimples and boils.

* It's best to eat beetroot raw as many of its nutrients are lost when it is cooked.

* Beetroot is good for pregnant women because it lowers the risk of neural tube defects in infants. (Text: Hindustan Times)

Five hidden dangers of Facebooking

 An expert in online privacy has drawn attention to the five dangers of sharing information on social networking site Facebook.

Joan Goodchild, senior editor of CSO (Chief Security Officer) Online, claims marketing efforts by the company often results in a compromise on account holders' privacy, reports CBS News.

Goodchild noted five risks of using Facebook on 'The Early Show on Saturday Morning.' They are:

1.Your information is being shared with third parties

2. Privacy settings revert to a less safe default mode after each redesign

3. Facebook ads may contain malware

4. Your real friends unknowingly make you vulnerable

5. Scammers are creating fake profiles

Earlier this week, 15 privacy and consumer protection organizations filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, alleging that the site manipulates privacy settings to make users' personal information available for commercial use. (ANI)

Take care of your ears

Do you hear a buzzing sound often? Do you find it hard listening to faint sounds? If you are used to listening to loud music, it is likely that you may have these problems.

Loud music can damage your ears in the long run. “Even daily sounds can damage your hearing in a way that you will only realise much later,” says ENT specialist Dr Akash Bannerjee.

Overexposure to loud noise can make your eardrums thin, eventually breaking them and making you deaf. Dr Bannerjee says the highest sound you should expose your ears to is 125 decibels.

Busy traffic

During maddening traffic, honking increases, tempers rise and noise levels eventually go up. “The noise in traffic can go up to 115 decibels during rush hour. Overexposure to this amount of sound will slowly, but surely impair your ear,” says Dr Deepak Vora, an ENT specialist.

Prolonged mobile phone usage

Keeping your phone volume loud can expose your ear to 100 decibels of noise. Limit phone calls to two minutes. Use the silent mode as much as possible.

Watching movies in theatres

You may think that fancy sound systems in theatres make your movie-going experience better! In reality, most movie theatres create 120 decibels of noise. You may not feel so while watching the movie; but you will feel the effects later.

Music concerts

If you have ever been to a rock concert, you will know what we mean. The noise levels at rock concerts can reach 150 decibels. “Your hearing can be damaged for up to two weeks,” says Dr Bannerjee.

Pubs/discotheques

Noise levels in these places can shoot up to 130 decibels. It could take anywhere between 20-30 minutes to feel a difference in your hearing. The damage is slow, but loud music can also cause the death of hair follicles.

Using earphones

“They can cause maximum damage to your ears. When your ears are closed because of earphones, you are encouraging the growth of bacteria,” says Dr.Vora. This can damage your hearing; starting slowly from the internal parts of your ear.

It is important that you take care to protect your hearing every day. “Wear earmuffs, especially if you are exposed to road repairs,” says Dr Bannerjee. Alternatively, you could use cotton in your ears to rest them periodically. That sure ‘sounds’ good…

Exercise ‘forestalls osteoporosis’

Physical activity can help forestall osteoporosis, according to Medical College of Georgia researchers. 

Declining estrogen levels have long been linked to osteoporosis, but bone density starts to decline years before these levels drop, according to Dr. Joseph Cannon, Kellet Chair in Allied Health Sciences and principal investigator of the National Institute of Aging-funded study. It's during that time that levels of follicle-stimulating hormone, released by the pituitary gland to help regulate ovarian function, actually increase.

Cannon theorizes that higher levels of FSH decrease bone mineral density by increasing cytokines, regulatory proteins produced by white blood cells. One cytokine in particular, interleukin-1, signals certain cells to transform into osteoclasts, which break down and resorb bone.

"We hypothesize that the higher levels of FSH decrease bone mineral density by influencing the production of cytokines," said Cannon, who presents his team's research at the American Physiological Society's Experimental Biology 2010 conference in Anaheim, Calif. April 24-28.

After measuring FSH and bone mineral density in 36 women between the ages of 20 to 50, the researchers correlated higher FSH levels with lower bone mineral density.

When they incubated FSH with white blood cells isolated from the women, it stimulated production of interleukin-1. Moreover, higher circulating levels of IL-1 correlated with lower bone mineral density, if the levels of interleukin-1 inhibitory factors were taken into account.

Additionally, they found that study participants who exercised more than 180 minutes a week retained greater bone density.

"Our work provides more evidence that physical activity is important for maintaining bone density. It's a case of ’use it or lose it," Cannon said, citing his team’s findings that exercise seemed to promote inhibitory factors that help keep interleukin-1 and bone breakdown under control. 

Want to lose weight? Keep a journal

Motivation and keeping a journal of what you eat are key components for shedding excess weight, according to new research.Scientists at the University of Kentucky and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that the type of motivation for dieting and techniques to boost it when it dips could mean the difference between success and failure.

"Motivation has an impact on weight loss but the impact is really mediated by adherence to self-monitoring," said Kelly H. Webber, an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky. "If you are going to self-monitor your diet and exercise every day you are going to lose more weight.Webber, who along with her colleagues reported the findings in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, said the best way to self-monitor is to keep a journal of everything you eat and how much you exercise.

The researchers studied two types of motivation, autonomous and controlled, during a 16-week weight-loss program involving 66 overweight women. Autonomous motivation is driven by personal reasons, while controlled motivation is based more on pressure from others and feelings of guilt.They found that dieters who were self motivated and who kept a journal tended to be more successful.

"People who actually write down everything they eat and drink during the weight loss program are going to do better. And that is probably why commercial programs like Weight Watchers are very successful," said Webber.All of the dieters were given questionnaires and asked to describe their motivation. Their weight loss and motivation were measured every four weeks during the program. They also measured their own progress with a online self-monitoring program.

"The importance of motivation is that it gets you to self motivate, which is the behavior that matters in weight loss," Webber explained.Sustaining motivation was also essential because once it began to drop, usually between weeks four to eight, successful dieters who dropped 5 percent of their body weight were those who managed to keep the motivation going.Webber suggested that if motivation starts to fall after about four weeks it would be a good time to boost it with initiatives. "We think that contact with a counsellor is always helpful with motivation and contact with other people trying to lose weight," she said. "Seek support. I think we need support to keep continually motivated. Some people are successful on their own but most of us need support."

Your Diet In 2020

Just checked out with the grocery cart of the future? Here's your digital receipt scoring the nutrient richness of your trip. Heading home for dinner? Your smart fridge has scanned all the food in your kitchen, compiled a menu of the healthiest meal combinations (tailored to your food preferences and allergies, of course) and has started preheating your oven.

In 2020, all the things we've always been told to do--eat better, exercise, get some sleep, see your doctor--will not only be easier, we'll do them in spite of our best efforts not to. Making healthy choices will be done for us.

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Take nutrition. Imagine if today's nutrition labels--with their user-friendliness of tax forms and the informational consistency of a Madoff prospectus--were replaced by a universal icon that ranked all food with a brilliantly simple combination of a color and a 1-to-5 rating based on a database of nutritional information. Making a healthy choice becomes as simple as picking a color and the highest number rating you can find.

Video: 2020 Medicine

For the last several months my colleagues and I tagged along with strangers on their grocery trips and even invited ourselves to their family dinners, all in the name of understanding how Americans decide what to eat. What we learned is that people unwittingly develop basic principles or philosophies about what to eat, based on a buffet of often conflicting sources: morning shows, celebrity nutritionists, cereal boxes, a best friend and (at best) five minutes of conversation with their doctor. The result is an incomplete and often inaccurate understanding of nutrition that leads to unhealthy food choices and, ultimately, poor health.

When it comes to food, our research found that all 300 million Americans typically fit into just four distinct types of eaters: Convenient, Comfortable, Confused and Convinced. A person's "Food Personality" is based on how heavily influenced they are by a particular situation, and whether they have a defined or undefined approach to nutrition.

To help Americans eat better, we must create a universal nutrition information system that is both intuitive and easily adopted. This is no small task. The USDA, FDA, Food Standards Agency, supermarket chains and food producers have made attempts at standardizing and simplifying consumer choice, yet none have improved America's eating habits. Why? We found that no approach takes into account the entire user experience. Package labeling--the predominant focus of most systems--is only one consumer touch point.

In 2020 we'll be able to leverage interconnected devices that go beyond a fire hose of nutritional information. We'll be able to collect and aggregate food choices and their nutritional impact over time, ultimately driving behavioral change through integrated experiences. Digital interconnectivity will link together every food decision--imagine having an instantly updated nutritional rating that is omnipresent in your life. Purchase a salad for lunch, watch your rating go up. Eat those buffalo wings, watch it plunge.

A universal icon will be the core to realizing a universal understanding of nutrition. By creating one intuitive system, we can help everyone effortlessly identify and track the nutrient richness of what they eat. With this vision in mind, we have proposed an icon combining a number score and color value that is easy enough for even a 5-year-old to grasp.

In our future vision, a simple choice of a 3-value loaf of multigrain bread over a 2-value roll sparks the urge to reach a 4-value shopping trip. The icon is definitive enough to score every food combination from a single vegetable to a month of meals. It's flexible enough to help every Food Personality regardless of the decision before them: salad vs. fries, pretzels from brand X vs. brand Y, or spaghetti dinner vs. mac-n-cheese. And, ultimately it encourages consumers--and food manufacturers--to make decisions on the basis of health first.

The alternative is a technology-fueled, convenience-charged world of overmarketed, indulge-now-take-a-vitamin-pill-later foodlike products, each less healthy than the next.

But if we start today with a universal system for making food choices, by 2020 we'll have a world where nutritional value defines the competitive food marketplace. The tastiest benefit? We'll change the world whether the average consumer realizes it or not.

Dan Kraemer is a principal at IA Collaborative, a creative enterprise specializing in branding, graphic and interface design, product development and strategic research. His work focuses on connecting observed human behaviors with design innovation.