"Unfortunately, the word 'addiction' has become overused," he said, and should not be trivialized. Addictions to illegal drugs, alcohol and prescription medication are grimly somber matters. But, he said, the idea of an addiction to digital devices is genuine and is not something that should be greeted with a sardonic wink.

"One definition of 'addiction' is when other people and other activities in your life begin to suffer because of something you know you should cut back on, but don't," he said.

Some of his examples are things that many people will instantly recognize:

-- The urge to pull out a cellphone even when someone you're with is in the midst of a conversation with you.

-- Texting even while your child is telling you about his or her day at school, and realizing later that you can't remember the details of what your son or daughter has said to you.

-- Having the vague feeling that something hasn't really happened until you post it to Facebook or Twitter.

-- Feeling isolated and anxious if you are offline for an extended period of time.

-- Noticing that even when your family is all together in one room at home, each person is gazing at his or her own screen and tapping at a miniature keyboard.

And he has a piece of advice for all of us, regardless of how deep we feel we're sinking into that digital quicksand:

Like him, we should consider locking all of those devices in another room at night. He promises that it makes a difference

Sony buys the Sony Ericsson

Sony has agreed to buy 50% of the firm for 1.1bn euros ($1.5bn; £964m), making the mobile handset business a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony.

Ericsson said that the "synergies" between telecoms equipment and mobile phones were decreasing.

The transaction also includes a patent deal.

Sony will get the five sets of patents that are essential to making the phones and a licensing agreement on any other intellectual property.

Many observers expected this deal because Sony wanted to integrate its phone division with its mobile games machine and tablet computer units.

"This acquisition makes sense for Sony and Ericsson, and it will make the difference for consumers, who want to connect with content wherever they are, whenever they want," said Sony's chairman Sir Howard Stringer.

Earlier this month, Sony Ericsson broke even in its third quarter and announced it would focus on smartphones from 2012.

The company said its Xperia smartphones accounted for 80% of its sales. The handsets run Google's Android operating system.

Analysts said Sony had proved resistant to sharing its brands and other assets with the joint venture, explaining why it took until this year for PlayStation games to be offered on any of its handsets.

Samsung On High

Research from Strategy Analytics showed that Samsung shipped 27.8 million smartphones in the three-month period, compared with 17.1 million from Apple and 16.8 million from Nokia.

The consultancy said Apple's growth was hindered by customers waiting for the launch of the new iPhone 4S.

Apple's number four slot in total handsets was taken by China's ZTE.

Nokia was the top handset shipper with a 27.3% market share, followed by Samsung with 22.6% and LG with 5.4%.

ZTE took 4.7%, pushing Apple into fifth place with 4.4%.

The report came shortly after the release of Samsung's third-quarter results, which showed profits falling 23% as strong growth in its mobile phone business was overshadowed by a poor performance in the memory chip arm.

Global smartphone shipments Q3 2011
Company	Shipments (millions)	Market share
SOURCE: STRATEGY ANALYTICS
Samsung	27.8	23.8%
Apple	17.1	14.6%
Nokia	16.8	14.4%
Others	55.3	47.3%

Handset profits more than doubled to 2.52tn won ($2.3bn; £1.4bn) on strong sales from its Galaxy smartphones.

"Samsung's rise has been driven by a blend of elegant hardware designs, popular Android services, memorable sub-brands and extensive global distribution," said Alex Spektor from Strategy Analytics.

"Samsung has demonstrated that it is possible, at least in the short term, to differentiate and grow by using the Android ecosystem."

A total of 117 million smartphones were shipped in the third quarter, up 44% from the same period last year.

Nokia's market share for smartphones fell from 33% in the third quarter of 2010 to to 14% this time round.

"The transition from Symbian to Microsoft as Nokia's main smartphone platform has clearly been a very challenging process this year," said Tom Kang from Strategy Analytics.

Corruption

Corruption is both a major cause and a result of poverty around the world. It occurs at all levels of society, from local and national governments, civil society, judiciary functions, large and small businesses, military and other services and so on.Corruption affects the poorest the most, in rich or poor nations, though all elements of society are affected in some way as corruption undermines political development, democracy, economic development, the environment, people’s health and more.

But it isn’t just in governments that corruption is found; it can permeate through society.

The issue of corruption is very much inter-related with other issues. At a global level, the “international” (Washington Consensus-influenced) economic system that has shaped the current form of globalization in the past decades requires further scrutiny for it has also created conditions whereby corruption can flourish and exacerbate the conditions of people around the world who already have little say about their own destiny. At a national level, people’s effective participation and representation in society can be undermined by corruption, while at local levels, corruption can make day to day lives more painful for all affected.

Poverty in India

 recent Indian government committee constituted to estimate poverty, nearly 38% of India’s population (380 million) is poor. This report is based on new methodology and the figure is 10% higher than the present poverty estimate of 28.5%.

Since 1972 poverty has been defined on basis of the money required to buy food worth 2100 calories in urban areas and 2400 calories in rural areas. In June this year a government committee headed by NC Saxena committee estimated 50% Indians were poor as against Planning Commission’s 2006 figure of 28.5%.

Poverty is one of the main problems which have attracted attention of sociologists and economists. It indicates a condition in which a person fails to maintain a living standard adequate for his physical and mental efficiency. It is a situation people want to escape. It gives rise to a feeling of a discrepancy between what one has and what one should have. The term poverty is a relative concept. It is very difficult to draw a demarcation line between affluence and poverty. According to Adam Smith - Man is rich or poor according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, the conveniences and the amusements of human life.

Even after more than 50 years of Independence India still has the world's largest number of poor people in a single country. Of its nearly 1 billion inhabitants, an estimated 260.3 million are below the poverty line, of which 193.2 million are in the rural areas and 67.1 million are in urban areas. More than 75% of poor people reside in villages. Poverty level is not uniform across India. The poverty level is below 10% in states like Delhi, Goa, and Punjab etc whereas it is below 50% in Bihar (43) and Orissa (47). It is between 30-40% in Northeastern states of Assam, Tripura, and Mehgalaya and in Southern states of TamilNadu and Uttar Pradesh.