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Apple Releases iOS 4.3.4, Prevents Hacking & Jailbreaking

Monday, July 18, 2011 at 11:10 PM Article by Unknown 0 Comments

Apple has released a software update iOS version 4.3.4 for iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad 2, 1, and Pod touch.


The main objective of this version is to prevent the hacking in Apple iOS devices which occurs through malicious pdf file. Another objective is to prevent the jailbreaking which occurs as a consequence of the previous effect.
In previous versions, the iOS devices are easily vulnerable to attacks which happens because of mishandling of fonts embedded in pdf file. It is quite common to download a pdf file through e-mail or web pages. Sometimes the downloaded file may be malicious and there is possibility that the file could inject malware into the iOS device — that gives a chance for the hackers to access the hardware.
Again the previous problem leads to jailbreaking of iOS. (Jailbreaking is the process of hacking the iOS and as a consequence it allows the user to install non-Apple approved software in the Apple device — which makes it less secure.)
Both the problems have been solved by this updated version.
The download will take roughly around 25 minutes. This is due to the fact Apple wants its user to download the entire OS file rather than just the updated one. Once the upgrade has been done, your device will free from any malicious file.
Apple has made many updates in its iOS but this version of iOS will leave a huge impact in the minds of the user. Be risk-free and secure by updating the your iPhone, iPad or iPod to iOS 4.3.4.
Official Direct Download Links for iOS 4.3.4
Update: We can confirm that only untethered jailbreak (Using JailbreakMe 3.0) doesn’t work with this update. However, 4.3.4 has already been jail-breaked using RedsnOw and PwnageTool.

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Eight Simple Ways to Plan your Taxes

Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 1:24 PM Article by Unknown 0 Comments

Eight Simple Ways to Plan your Taxes.

You have got only a few more months to complete this financial year. Very soon you will get a call from your company to submit the proofs for tax saving investments. So why don’t you spend some time on organising your tax plan?

1)     Proper Allocation of Annual compensation
Restructuring your salary with some additional components can reduce your tax liability. This restructuring doesn’t require any additional cash outflow. The following components can be efficiently used to reduce your income tax liability.

v  Transport allowance to the extend of Rs.800 is exempt
v  Medical expenses which are reimbursed by the employer are exempt to the tune of Rs.15000
v  Food coupons like sodexo or ticket restaurant are exempt from tax up to Rs.60000
v  Individuals who are all living in a rented accommodation can include House Rent Allowance ( HRA ) as a part of their salary
v  Leave Travel Allowance (LTA) can be part of your salary as this can be claimed twice in a block of 4 years.

2)     Effective Utilization of Tax Exemption
As far as possible utilize the maximum exemptions available under section 80 C, 80 CCF and 80 D. The maximum exemption available under section 80 C is Rs. 100000.

Under this section Rs.100000 investment or contribution can be made in PPF, NSC, Life insurance premium, 5 year FD with banks and Post offices, Mutual Fund ELSS, Principal Repayment of housing loan, and the tuition fees paid for children’s education.

Under Section 80 CCF, you can invest up to Rs.20000 in infrastructure bonds.

Under Sec 80 D, the premium paid towards the mediclaim policies are exempt. The maximum limit of exemption is Rs.15000 and for senior citizens the limit is Rs.20000 and for covering senior citizen parents there is an additional exemption to the extend of Rs.15000.


3)     Properly Structure your Housing Loan
The Principal repayment of a housing loan is eligible for a deduction up to Rs.100000. The interest paid on a housing loan is eligible for a deduction up to Rs.150000. If the housing loan is for a sizeable amount, then it is possible that the principal repayment and interest may exceed the specified tax exemption limit. To utilise the maximum tax benefit, an individual can consider going for a joint home loan with his/her spouse or parent or sibling. This will make sure that both the co-owners can claim tax deductions in the proportion of their holding in the loan.

4)     Tax Plan in Sync with Overall Financial Plan

You should not do your tax plan in isolation. You need to do it in sync with your overall financial plan. So a tax plan is not only to just save taxes and also it should assist you in achieving your other financial goals like children’s higher education, buying a home or retirement.


5)     Avoid Last Minute Rush

In fact the right time to do the tax plan is the beginning of the financial year. If you postpone your tax planning even now and do it in the last minute, then you will not be able to choose the right investment. In the last minute rush, you will be forced to choose a scheme which gives the proof immediately. Is the investment sound and profitable? Is there any other better options? You will not be able to choose the best scheme and you may settle with a mediocre one.

6)     Invest Some Quality Time
Before investing your money, you need to invest your time. You need to take some quality time to understand the various tax saving options and compare their benefits and limitations.


7)     Check for Future Commitments
Some tax saving options like NSC or ELSS need only onetime investment. Some other tax saving options like PPF, Ulips need periodical investments year after year. You need to be careful in choosing a tax saving scheme where you need to commit for periodical future payments. You need to check on a few things like; do you need such a future commitment? Will you be able to meet the future commitments at ease? The law may change and you may not get any tax exemption for your future payments. Would you consider the scheme irrespective of tax benefit for the future payments?

8)     Changed Your Job; Redo your Tax Plan
Did you switch your job in the middle of the financial year? Then you need to redo your tax plan with consolidating the income from both the companies. It is advisable to inform the new company about the income during the particular financial year from the old company. So that your new company will deduct the right amount of TDS. Otherwise you may need to pay extra tax at the end of the financial year.

Whenever you change your job, you need to have a sitting with your financial planner or tax advisor. So that the required changes in your tax plan can be done proactively.


With proper tax planning you can reduce your tax liability; save more; invest better and become wealthier.

The author is Ramalingam K, an MBA (Finance) and Certified Financial Planner. He is the Founder and Director of Holistic Investment Planners (www.holisticinvestment.in) a firm that offers Financial Planning and Wealth Management. He can be reached at ramalingam@holisticinvestment.in.


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A Personal Finance Checklist for Newlyweds

Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 7:00 PM Article by Unknown 0 Comments



Getting married is one of the most important events in your life. There is so much to consider—the flowers, the jewel, the dress, the venue, the photography—the list goes on. Once you are back from the honeymoon, the daily life of marriage begins and also begins the challenges of managing the finances of a new household with your spouse.

In recent studies, many couples ranked financial matters as one of the most essential factors when it comes to happiness in a marriage. It is one of the key factors causing marital stress.

Money Compatibility

First thing to do is to check how compatible you and your spouse in money management. You may be conservative and your spouse may be aggressive. You may think that the best place to invest is stock market and your spouse may think bank FDs.

You should communicate your money management style to your spouse as well as you need to understand the money management style of your spouse.  Both of you need to analyse the merits and demerits of money management style of each other and their own. Then you need to create a mutually agreed combined money management style.

This will be vital to you both throughout your married life to help minimise stress from disagreements about money.

Update Your Records

  • Change of Address: You could have shifted to your in law’s place or both of you could have shifted to a new place. So you need to make necessary change of address requests to your bank accounts, demat accounts, mutual fund accounts and so on.
  • Change of Name: Generally the women change their initial or the last name after their marriage. This need to be updated in all the accounts.
  • Change of Nominee/Beneficiary: You may like to change the nominee to your spouse for the investments, accounts, insurance policies which you have taken before marriage.
  • Changes in Will: You also need to create a will if you have not created one so far. If you have already a will, then you need to revisit your will now.

Assign Financial Responsibilities

You need to decide, who is going to take care of day to day money management i.e. paying bills, monitoring investments and the like.

Develop a Family Budget

You need to create a workable budget for your family that gives extra money and life. This budget should take into account both of your income, the individual expenses and family expenses.

Create an Emergency Fund

You need to accrue savings for some surprise situations like loss of job, break in job or sudden expenses like a major repair to your car or house. Generally the emergency fund need to be in the range of 3 to 6 month of family expenses.

Insurance Coverage

So far, you may not be having any dependents or less number of dependents. You could not have considered life insurance or take for a less coverage. This is the time to look at life insurance seriously. When I say life insurance, I am talking about only term insurance and not the ULIPs. Ulips have been rejected by the market for its heavy front loaded charges.

Debt Payoff Plan

Suppose, if you are already on debt, you need to create a debt payoff plan. This plan will help you in getting out of debt and staying out of debt.

Spend Smarter and Save More

Spending habits will be different from individual to individual. Both of you need to align your spending pattern and learn how to spend smarter and save more.

When both are working and not having kids yet is the stage you have more income, especially more disposable income. Couples need to be careful and avoid overspending and save as much as possible during this stage. This will ease you out when you have more expenses at the later stage of your life.

Set Combined Financial Goals

Both of you need to spend some quality time discussing about the financial goals like buying a home, international vacation and the like. This is the right time to plan your retirement.

Chalk out a Financial Plan

Once you have set the combined financial goals, then you need to chalk out a financial plan to achieve these goals. You need to take into account growth rate of your income, inflation on your expenses, time set to achieve various goals, rate of return expected from various investment options.

This is slightly a complicated procedure and this plan need to be review periodically. That is why it is better to outsource it. You may seek assistance from a professional financial planner.

To financially succeed, it needs teamwork from both the partners. As a newly married couple, you have enough time and plenty of opportunity. I am sure that with this checklist and the guidance from financial planner, you will reach your life goals together.

The author is Ramalingam K, an MBA (Finance) and Certified Financial Planner. He is the Founder and Director of Holistic Investment Planners (www.holisticinvestment.in) a firm that offers Financial Planning and Wealth Management. He can be reached at ramalingam@holisticinvestment.in.

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Facebook Gets Video Calling and Group Chat

Wednesday, July 06, 2011 at 11:53 PM Article by Unknown 0 Comments

As a kind of reaction to Google+, Facebook just rolled out two features today: group text chat and integrated video chat courtesy of Skype.
The video chat is interesting, because you don't need to download a Skype client—all you do is log in to your Facebook account and start a video chat with anyone on your friends list. It's unclear whether or not you can call an actual Skype user, even though the underlying technology is Skype.
Although they say that there's no client you have to install, like Skype, there actually is a plugin setup process that's, well, essentially like downloading and installing a client, albeit a browser plugin client. The videos pop up in a separate window you can move around your desktop, and you can select the active microphone in the video window without having to restart the call.
To try it now, do this:
  1. Go to the video calling page and enable video chat
  2. Pick a friend to video chat with and open the chat window
  3. Click the video call icon on the top right of the chat window
  4. Wait while the plugin installs
  5. Chat!
Facebook also said that while mobile video chat isn't working now, it will come in the future.
Group chat is basically just how group chats work on any other platform. You start a chat, then start adding additional people to the chat. It takes place in the same Facebook IM window that you've been using for a while.

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A step by step guide to first financial plan

Saturday, July 02, 2011 at 11:10 PM Article by Unknown 0 Comments



Prabu was a college student till yesterday. Today he has got a job. He has changed his costume from T-shirt and jeans to a formal wear with a tie. When he got his first pay cheque, his father advised him to save, his girl friend asked him to take her out on a date, and his friends wanted a party. Prabu was totally confused what to do with his first salary. What are all his actual priorities? Let us help him by laying out a step by step initial financial plan for him.
Get a PAN Card:
PAN Card is an ID card issued by income tax department.  This card is useful in filing your Income Tax returns. Apart from this, the PAN card is very much useful in opening a bank a\c, demat a\c, investing in mutual funds and the like. The required documents for getting a PAN card is a passport size photo, address proof and an identification proof. You need to apply with either UTI or NSDL. They are the two approved agencies by income tax department for issuing PAN card.
Personal Accident and Disability Insurance:
Almost every day you can find a news column about road accident. It may be your colleague, your distant relative, your neighbor, your friend, your classmate. The stories of such incidents give us a reminder that the accidents can happen to anyone. The impact of these accidents on ones working life could be huge. Some accidents could reduce our employability temporarily or permanently. Personal accident and disability insurance policies will cover the financial losses arising out of accident and disability. 
You need to decide the coverage amount of this policy based on the estimated loss you may suffer because of accident. That is how much loss you may incur from employment temporarily or permanently because of the accident. This will cost you approximately Rs.1500 p.a for a coverage of Rs.10 lakhs.
Health Insurance:
Most people don’t think about health insurance very often.  But it comes to mind first when a loved one is sick.  Under health insurance, the insurance company pays the medical bills if the insured person becomes sick and hospitalized. Health insurance can protect a family from financial damage in case of severe and serious illness.
If you have a health insurance from your employer, that may not be sufficient. Employer may cover the employee and not his family members. And moreover these policies are not portable and cannot be individualized if you leave the job. Employer provided policies cannot be transferred to another employer in case you switch your job. Also employer provided policies will give you coverage as long as you are employed. Once you retire you may not be having coverage. It is really unfortunate that only after your retirement you need health insurance at the most. If you plan to take a fresh policy after retirement, insurance company will not cover the pre-existing diseases at that point in time. Though your employer provides a health insurance policy it is better for you to take a separate health insurance policy at least with a small amount of coverage.
The coverage amount of the health insurance policy need to be decided based on your health consciousness, your family health history, and the class of hospital you choose for treatments.
Term Insurance:
Generally as a beginner, there will not be any requirement for any life insurance. But if your parents are financially depending on you, then you need to cover yourself with life insurance. As a breadwinner, today you are there for your family to provide a lifestyle. In case of any mishappening to you, your family members should not compromise on their lifestyle. That is why it is advisable to cover yourself with life insurance if you have dependents.
But don’t fall prey for ulips. Go for a pure term insurance policy. These policies give you a high coverage with low premium. The premium for a sum assured of Rs.10 lakhs will cost a 25 year old only Rs.2500 p.a. approximately.
Emergency Reserve:
Once you have completed the above obligations, you need to build an emergency reserve or contingency fund. One aspect of financial planning involves planning for situations where there could be a temporary break in one’s professional income. This could happen, amongst other reasons, due to ill health or could even be self opted. Such planning requires creation of contingency fund. The size of a contingency fund is linked to one’s estimate of what could be the maximum duration of such a break. For instance some people plan for the possibility of a 3 months break, others for 6 months.
This emergency fund gives a psychological security to you. In case you need to quit you r present job and need to search a new one, you can do that comfortably and confidently as you have an emergency fund for the intermediate period. You need not panic. If you have created a contingency fund, in the event of any emergency you need not pre-close your other investments and hence you avoid paying penalty or booking losses.
Tax Planning:
You can save under section 80 C up to Rs.120000. Out of this Rs.20000 need to be invested in the infrastructure bonds and the balance Rs.100000 can be invested in NSC, PPF, insurance premium, and ELSS mutual funds., You can give maximum allocation to ELSS mutual funds, as you are so young and in the beginning of your career.
Other goals:
You may have other goals like buying a laptop, higher studies, and vacation. You need to plan for all these goals. You need to keep in mind two things before deciding an investment. They are your risk tolerance and time horizon. How much risk you are afford to take and psychologically comfortable in taking? When do you need this money back? Based on the answers to these questions you need to choose the right kind of investment plan.
Plan out your work and work out your plan. Normally we don’t plan to fail, but we fail to plan.If you work on your financial plan, when your friends are partying and taking their girlfriends out, you will be definitely going to be retired richer than your friends.

The author is Ramalingam K, an MBA (Finance) and Certified Financial Planner. He is the Founder and Director of Holistic Investment Planners (www.holisticinvestment.in) a firm that offers Financial Planning and Wealth Management. He can be reached at ramalingam@holisticinvestment.in.


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