SIM based NFC gains support from major carriers around the world

Countries like Japan have long been using NFC to help them in their daily lives, and not too long ago carriers in South Korea have announced that they will be offering SIM cards with NFC technology embedded into them. Now it looks like that standard will soon be adopted by some of the largest carriers in the world.

Many companies are interested in NFC as they are hoping to integrate it into our smartphones and create a mobile payment system. For a while it seemed as though NFC integration into our smartphones was largely dependent on the manufacturer, and whether they decide if a certain phone should get NFC capabilities, thus fragmenting the market of NFC users.

NFC embedded SIM cards seems like a more elegant solution of getting NFC technology out to the masses, and some heavy hitters have thrown their support behind this new standard. These include America Movil, AT&T, AVEA, Axiata, AXIS, Bharti Airtel, Bouygues Telecom, CSL, Deutsche Telekom, Elisa Corporation, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC (du), Etisalat, Everything Everywhere, Globe Telecom, KPN, KT Corporation, Maxis, Mobily, MTS, Orange, Proximus, Qtel Group, Rogers Communications, Saudi Telecom Company (STC), SFR, SK Telecom, Smart, SOFTBANK MOBILE, Telecom Italia, Telecom New Zealand, Telecom Slovenije, Telefonica, Telekom Austria Group, Telenor, TeliaSonera, Telus, TMN, Turkcell, Verizon, VimpelCom, VIVA Bahrain and Vodafone Group.

Even ISIS, the group formed by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have announced their support for this new standard. With a standard in place, hopefully adoption will be easier and more widespread, and that new services and features that take advantage of NFC will come to pass.

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Sony Vaio Y-series 11.6inch review

Sony looks to rival MacBook Air with its scaled down ultraportable netbook version. Let’s find out more about this high-performance netbook

Following on from Apple’s release of an 11inch version of the MacBook Air, Sony has announced 11.6inch version of its Vaio Y series. Powered by a new AMD E350 Fusion dual core processor, the Vaio Y feels very snappy and it’s fast enough for working in a multitasking environment.
One area where the E350 processor is superior to an Atom is graphics performance. Its on-board graphics chip, which shares system memory, is far quicker at rendering 3D graphics, managing around 12fps in a 3D game.
Though the Vaio Y supports 4GB of RAM, it only comes with the 32-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium, thereby limiting the available space to only 3.5GB of RAM. This may annoy the user, as the operating system can’t be swapped out for a 64-bit version, or Windows 7 Professional for that matter, when ordering.
As a result, users still have to retain the older apps that aren’t 64-bit compatible. One area where the E350 processor scores over Atom is graphics performance. Its on-board graphics chip, which shares system memory, is far quicker at rendering 3D graphics, managing around 12fps in a 3D game. We wouldn’t want to use it for strenuous work in a GPGPU-accelerated program, but it’s also capable of playing 720p high definition video so it’s not without its uses.
Previous AMD laptop and netbook processors have been power hungry, resulting in short battery life, and produced lots of excess heat. The latter lead to laptops with loud cooling fans fruitlessly attempting to reduce lap-scorching temperatures. Thankfully the underside of the Vaio Y never became uncomfortably warm, even when churning through our demanding benchmarks. The fan is always audible though, but never loud enough to be a nuisance and we soon got used to it.
The Vaio Y is heavier than most netbooks and some other ultraportable laptops at 1.44kg, but it’s still very light and easy to carry around. The plastic chassis is a little creakier than we would like, but it feels sturdy enough. All of this would be for naught if the battery doesn’t last for a long time on a single charge, but it lasted six hours and 45 minutes in our light usage web browsing battery test. This is good for such an inexpensive laptop and long enough to last a transatlantic flight.
If the Vaio Y looks familiar, it’s because it’s essentially a smaller version of the larger 13.3inch Vaio Y series laptop which has now been discontinued. That model used ultra low voltage Intel processors and also had the benefit of an ExpressCard slot and a four-pin FireWire 400 port. This 11.6inch version keeps the three USB2 ports, memory card slots, HDMI and VGA ports, Gigabit Ethernet connection and 320GB hard disk. Most people won’t miss the FireWire port, but the ExpressCard slot would’ve been useful for adding a 3G modem since one isn’t built in.
One area where the 11.6 Vaio Y differs from its larger predecessor is that both its keyboard and touchpad are necessarily smaller. The keyboard is still comfortable to type on though since its responsive keys give plenty of feedback when pressed. Only the cursor and shift keys are smaller than we’d expect. The touchpad is large enough and feels smooth and accurate. The touchpad buttons feel great, giving just the right amount of feedback when pressed.
The 11.6inch screen is very bright with good levels of contrast thanks to its glossy finish. The glossy sheen does mean that the screen reflects overhead lights, such as fluorescent strip lighting, easily leading to glare. This can look distracting, but it’s not as bad as other glossy displays we’ve seen.
The 1,366x768 pixel resolution is the same as that found on most 13.3inch screens. It is much easier to use most programs on this screen than it is on the cramped 1,024x600 resolutions of most 10.1inch netbook screens. However, some may find text hard to read compared to using the same resolution on larger 13.3inch screens.

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HP Mini 110 review

Stay connected with the small and compact HP Mini 110 and explore its true potential with our in-depth review.

The HP Mini 110 poses a sleek design with advanced wireless options and 4.5 hours of battery life. You can take your Mini 110 anywhere, thanks to its small and compact design.
Powered by an Intel Atom N455 processor, the netbook delivers energy-efficient performance. It is a great option if you are not concerned with looks or fancy extras. The touchpad is responsive and predictable and feels comfortable with nicely spaced keys.
The netbook features a 10.1 diagonal LED display, 1GB system memory, 250 GB hard drive, three USB ports, an optional external CD/DVD drive for installing software, an SD/MMC slot with optional Bluetooth connectivity.
The 1,024 x 600 matte display can’t match the best either, and its maximum brightness of 220cd/m2 and contrast ratio of 252:1 mean images look dull. One of its major weaknesses is its 2,550mAh battery, which lasted just 4hours 35mins in our light-use test.
Coupled with the basic graphics, this doesn’t bode well for gaming and video streaming; you can forget all about smooth, full-screen YouTube HD or BBC iPlayer playback.
With that kind of weakness we couldn't recommend the HP Mini 110 outright, it’s perfectly usable netbook that undercuts the competition, so if all you want it for is basic web browsing, it's not such a bad deal at all.
The core specifications are basic, with a single-core 1.66GHz Atom and Intel’s GMA 3150 graphics. This gave it a score of only 0.17 in our real world benchmarks.

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Apple copycat 'hiPhone 5' comes calling in China

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SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The newest version of Apple Inc's popular iPhone has already hit the Chinese market -- the fake market that is. The 'hiPhone 5' is selling for as little as 200 yuan ($31) on China's top e-commerce platform Taobao, which is owned by Alibaba Group.

But one has to pay around 800 yuan for a more "genuine" one, according to some shop clerks at a mobile phone market in Shanghai.

"Look at this. It's not the same as the 300-400 yuan ones," Shanghai-based daily Metro Express quoted a clerk as saying, pointing to one originally priced at 850 yuan.

The 'hiPhone 5' is based on leaked images of the yet-to-be-launched iPhone 5 and is thinner and with less rounded edges than the existing iPhone 4, according to the newspaper. However, it is extremely light, almost like a plastic toy, like most pirated mobile phones, it said.

Western governments have repeatedly criticised China for widespread violation of intellectual property rights, but pirated goods from branded watches, to bags and computer software can be easily found in shops.

Last month, an American blogger set off a media storm after she posted pictures of an elaborate fake Apple Store in Kunming, selling genuine if unauthorized iPhones, Macbooks and other widely popular Apple products.
Reuters also uncovered a look-a-like of the Swedish furniture giant Ikea in the southwestern Chinese city.

Apple, which is expected to roll out the latest version of the iPhone 5 smartphone within a few months, sold a record 20.34 million iPhones during the last quarter, even though its newest model is over a year old.

($1 = 6.431 Chinese Yuan)

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Apple iPhone 4 rivals

The fourth generation iPhone faces tough competition from some other smartphones. IT PRO India takes a look to find out.

Apple iPhone 4, which witnessed a delayed launch in India, has further heated up the raging smartphone battle. iPhone comes with amazing benefits for business users out of the box and seamlessly integrates with a company's existing infrastructure thanks to built-in support for key enterprise technologies.
We examine its performance efficiency and competitiveness as the smartphone family continues to grow progressively.
HTC Desire HD
This Android 2.3 smartphone supports a 1Ghz processor with 768MB RAM. The HTC Desire HD offers an exhilarating browsing experience and comes with 1.5GB onboard storage expandable via microSD card. Priced at Rs. 25,500, it includes an 8megapixel camera with dual LED flash records videos in 720p HD resolution.
LG Optimus 2X
Powered by a 1 GHz dual core processor, this LG handset runs Android 2.2 (upgradable to 2.3). LG Optimus 2X sports a 4-inch display with a gyro sensor, 8GB storage expandable via microSD cards and a microHDMI out as well. It is priced at about Rs. 26,500 and includes an 8megapixel camera with LED flash capabilities for recording videos in 1080p full HD resolution (24fps only).
Sony Ericsson Arc
This super-slim HD Android touch phone comes with a 1Ghz processor, 512MB RAM, micro HDMI out, 320MB storage (expandable) and is just 8.7mm thick. It sports a 4.2inch display screen that uses Sony’s Mobile BRAVIA engine for vivid colours.
Arc, which comes with a price tag of Rs. 28,000, showcases a beautiful curved design and supports the latest Android 2.3 and the 8MP camera with LED flash for recording videos in 720p HD resolution.
Motorola Atrix
This upcoming smartphone supports 1GB RAM, 16GB storage, a 1Ghz dual core processor and a 5megapixel camera with dual LED and 720p video recording capabilities. This Android 2.2 smartphone (upgradable to 2.3) offers a 4-inch display with 540 x 960 pixel resolution and a fingerprint reader. The killer feature is the ability to dock it with a laptop-like attachment (available separately) for enhanced usability. It is expected to be available at a price tag of Rs. 32,000.
Read our Motorola Atrix preview for more insights.
HTC Sensation
HTC Sensation Android smartphone includes an immersive HTC Sense experience and offers a stunning 4.3inch display with a 540 x 960 pixel resolution. It claims to deliver a blazing performance with a 1.2Ghz dual core processor, 768MB RAM and an all-new HTC Sense UI running on Android 2.3. Priced at Rs. 32,000, this multimedia superphone comes with gyro sensor, proximity sensor and an 8MP camera with dual LED flash that records videos in 1080p full HD.
Samsung Galaxy S II
Samsung Galaxy S II offers a 4.3-inch Super Amoled Plus display and 8.5mm profile endow the phone with undeniable drool factor. It includes NFC and Wi-Fi Direct connectivity and has an 8MP camera that records videos in 1080p HD resolution at 30 FPS. Powered by a 1.2Ghz dual core processor, this mobile device supports 1GB RAM and 16GB storage expandable via microSD cards.

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Top 10 BlackBerry PlayBook business apps

Explore the business side of Blackberry PlayBook as IT PRO India takes a closer look to find the business utility of this enterprise-ready tablet

RIM, which has carved its niche as a reliable business partner, has stepped into a new era of mobile computing, with the release of its PlayBook tablet. BlackBerry claims that the PlayBook delivers high-fidelity web browsing including support for Adobe Flash, as well as spectacular High-Definition multimedia, advanced security features and out-of-the-box enterprise support.
Let’s explore the 10 best business apps, both incoming and available, for the PlayBook.
Documents To Go
This is an essential application for any professional user as it allows you to edit and create Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on your PlayBook. You can work while on the move and without having to carry a laptop too.
The new Premium Edition for PlayBook includes support for PDF file viewing, password protection, desktop synchronisation and advanced character, font and paragraph formatting. In short, it’s the power of Microsoft’s Office suite on your PlayBook.
IdeaPad
IdeaPad takes full advantage of the PlayBook’s touch screen interface by allowing you to scribble notes down quickly and effectively. When an idea strikes you can make a note of it, save it and come back to develop it further at a later point.
IdeaPad comes with six templates – Plain Paper, Tic Tac Toe, Notes, Tablet Device, Smartphone Portrait and Smartphone Landscape – installed, so you’ll be able to perform a variety of tasks from the off, like constructing flow charts, designing new mobile interfaces or simply doodling some minutes from a meeting.
Finished files are saved in PNG format and can be shared via Facebook and Twitter as well as being viewable on your smartphone and PC.
SAP Business Intelligence Apps
SAP has confirmed that it will be releasing a whole host of business intelligence apps in the coming months aimed squarely at enterprise tablet users including the BlackBerry PlayBook.
The releases will to be delivered via its recently acquired enterprise mobility technology, which, according to SAP, allows it to deliver business intelligence solutions to users on any platform.
There are no specific details regarding any of these applications just yet, but SAP has confirmed that it is committed to making its business intelligence software available on all platforms.
Adobe Connect Mobile
Adobe Connect Mobile is one of quite a few Adobe Air applications that’ll be hitting the BlackBerry PlayBook in the coming weeks and months. Connect Mobile, also available on the iPad and Android, enables users to participate in mobile conferencing from the comfort of their PlayBook.
Features of note include two-way video conferencing with the ability to add your own upstream video broadcast. There’s also support for both the PlayBook’s cameras so you can switch to using the higher-resolution rear-facing camera when addressing colleagues.
The UI is slick, it’s simple to use and will be an extremely solid addition to the PlayBook’s growing arsenal of enterprise grade applications.
OANDA Currency Converter
This free application gives you on-the-spot conversion amounts for over 180 currencies and, in case you’re in commodities, four metal groups as well.
This is one of many official applications produced by trusted authorities for the PlayBook and is an indispensable tool for anyone that travels abroad a lot.
Not only does OANDA Currency Converter figure out the exchange rates for hundreds of currencies using the same daily filtered rates used by corporations, tax authorities, auditing firms, and financial institutions, but it also shows you interbank rates for money transactions and will even calculate how much you’ll be charged for using your credit card abroad.
Best of all, it does this for free. OANDA Currency Converter is an essential tool for professionals that do a lot of travelling and are constantly contending with fluctuating currency values and bizarre credit card charges.
Evernote
Many people praise DropBox like it’s the best thing to happen to mobile devices since wireless technology. Evernote is a far superior piece of kit and once you’ve used it, you’ll know exactly what we mean.
The app offers a word processor, the ability to record audio, save web pages and import pictures. You can also create different notebooks if you fancy having one for work, one for ideas, one for interesting websites and so on.
All in all, Evernote makes pretty much everything else look mediocre. And, yes, that includes Google Docs. We love this application and use it every day, so make sure you get it as soon as your PlayBook is booted up.
TimeZones
Frequent travel is commonplace in many professional roles. But operating across a variety of times can be both confusing and disorientating. This shouldn’t be a problem with TimeZones, as the app allows you view up to eight world clocks at once.
Each clock can be custom labelled, so you can assign different ones to different businesses and people so you’ll never be caught out making a 5am phone call again.
Granted, it’s not a cure for jet-lag but it’s certainly a handy tool to have at your disposal to ensure meetings, deadlines and phone calls are made at the correct times when you’re operating in a different time zone.
iSpeech Translator
iSpeech Translator is an app that converts words or phrases into a multitude of different languages. So, if you get an email in German you can simply convert it to English, and vice-versa.
The application also recognises voice input too, so you can say a phrase or read out an email, for example, and iSpeech will convert it into one of its 18 supported languages.
Once you typed or said the phrase, the results will always appear in text format. If you have a client, business partner or colleague based abroad and want to impress them by communicating with them in their native language, you can now do so via iSpeech Translator.
TaskMemo
Using your calendar to organise your day-to-day business is all well and good, but sometimes it’s better to have a bespoke option at hand. This is where TaskMemo comes into play, giving you the ability to store thousands of tasks, dates, meetings, notes and reminders in one easy to access place.
The application will also keep you posted on deadlines, meetings and up-and-coming events.
There are 22 standard categories, ranging from meeting dates to deadlines, and you can also implement your own if it’s not catered for within the presets. This app is designed to be used by serious professionals that plan their work lives out well into the coming weeks and months.
As you complete tasks you get a percentage completion notification telling you how far through your agenda you are, which is always handy – especially if you work on large projects with specific deadlines.
Overall, TaskMemo is a cost effective solution that’ll help you to organise and keep track of your business commitments. It also looks extremely professional and has a multitude of themes to choose from, meaning you can personalise the way the app looks too.
Poynt
Poynt is the perfect application for anyone that does a lot of business travelling. The application uses your GPS position to relay information about surrounding businesses, restaurants, museums, take-aways, galleries, pubs and so on.
If you travel for work a lot and often find yourself in an unfamiliar city, Poynt is a great app to have at your disposal. Not only will it tell you what the best authentic paella eatery is based on your current location, but it also does so in a very intuitive way.

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Does Indian IT lag sustainability ?

Indian IT companies need to review their business model to become sustainable

Indian IT sector, riding high on the outsourcing wave to expand its global footprint, seems to get stuck with this conventional model. But it is not the endgame rather it shows signs of becoming stagnant.
Once the realization sets in that the market is stagnating, and the existing business model goes "stale", these companies will have to think of what comes next. They will need to rejig their business models to garner growth and brand themselves as sustainable.
A sustainable enterprise is one that through its work, and not through its philanthropy, solves social and environmental problems and makes money while doing this. The idea behind sustainable enterprise is that it is possible that businesses for the 21st Century figure out how to jointly optimize results for all of the stakeholders around the business.
Although examples of such organizations don’t actually exist, most existing enterprises now have business experiments and new initiatives that reflect this new challenge. A sustainable corporation, which works with the base of the pyramid, must reach everyone including those at the base of the income pyramid.
Making cheap and affordable products is not enough anymore, you need to figure out how you embed new businesses with the community, thereby generating income and lifting the base of the pyramid. There is a need to bring about a convergence between the concept of base of the pyramid and clean technology to leapfrog into a sustainable era.
So, if you are a company, which wants to be around for a long time, to not have some commercial focus is like committing suicide. But will Indian businesses, where the dominant logic is still from the industrial world and where economies-of-scale is significant, be interested in such a model? The big growth is likely to come from the base of the pyramid and clean technology.
So, if you are a company, which wants to be around for a long time, to not have some commercial focus is like committing suicide.

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Is Blackberry PlayBook your smart business partner?

Business-oriented RIM ushers in its PlayBook tablet to take over its rival Apple

Blackberry PlayBook, which RIM codes as a Blackberry Amplifier and enterprise-ready tablet, is all set to compete with brand majors such as Apple and Samsung in the much-heated tablet segment.
BlackBerry’s popularity in business may incline business types to ignore its competitors and look closely at the PlayBook. Let’s look at some simple concerns, which are significant from a business standpoint.
Security RIM holds an enviable reputation for secure communications and PlayBook is just another smart step to empower its large set of business users. Features built into BlackBerry devices allow IT administrators to control how the gadgets are used and even to wipe data remotely from lost or stolen ones, thereby adding to the security aspect. The PlayBook exhibits similar capabilities.
But in the immediate future, the PlayBook makes a security virtue out of a shortcoming: The tablet must be tethered to a BlackBerry for e-mail and some other functions. This means that if you lose the PlayBook, you haven’t lost your data – it’s on your BlackBerry. The PlayBook is essentially just a bigger screen to access the phone.
Flash PlayBook comes with Flash support, which may enthrall small business users who browse the web often. For example, online real-estate listings often use Flash. So support would be important for agents who want to use their tablets to show listings to clients in the field. Support for Adobe® Flash 10.2 and HTML5 means you get all the Internet has to offer.
Multitasking powerhouse Powered by a blazingly fast 1 GHz dual core processor, a high resolution 7inchmulti-touch display and up to 10 hours of battery life, the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet can handle even the most demanding of tasks. And with the new BlackBerry® Tablet OS, you get true multitasking and mission critical reliability you can count on.
Portability Weighing less than a pound and at less than half an inch thick, it’s designed to go anywhere and everywhere. It delivers uncompromised performance in an ultra portable design.
Apple enthusiasts may argue that a bigger screen is an advantage, but only for presentations requiring large screen displays. Otherwise, the 7inch screen seems to enjoy the support of business users.
Powerful apps BlackBerry® Bridge lets you view the email, BBM™ (Blackberry Messenger), calendar and address book on your BlackBerry® smartphone on the larger BlackBerry PlayBook display. Check an email while you’re watching a movie, send a picture over BBM or browse your corporate Intranet, all without missing a beat.
For more information on apps, read our Blackberry App feature.
Now, lets look at the darker side of it, which may add to our disappointment.
No Email, No Way One of the largest and most significant criticisms facing the PlayBook so far is that the device lacks many of the most essential features available in other tablets. While most smartphones and tablets feature their own native email, calendar, and contacts client, the PlayBook does not. Instead, RIM offers PlayBook owners the ability to link the tablets to their BlackBerry phones to utilize the functionality. The company also recommends that users access their email accounts via the PlayBook's built-in web browser, a partial and mostly unhelpful solution.
No 3G A 3G version of the PlayBook will be released this summer, making it yet another feature not included in the original PlayBook that really should have been. The only way to connect to a 3G network is to connect the PlayBook to your phone -- a solution, certainly, but not a very convenient one.
BlackBerry dependency The PlayBook can access e-mail only when tethered, via a Bluetooth wireless connection, to a BlackBerry. RIM’s BlackBerry Bridge software gives the PlayBook access to e-mail, contacts, calendar, memo pad and tasks on the phone.
This shortcoming – for it is certainly a shortcoming, notwithstanding the possible security benefit mentioned earlier – is due to be remedied with the next release of the PlayBook, probably this summer. In the meantime, it will prove a roadblock for the PlayBook. If you don’t have a BlackBerry already, you’re out of luck with e-mail, the absolutely essential mobile app.

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Google buys more than 1,000 IBM patents

New York: Google, which last month failed to grab a huge portfolio of Nortel patents, has bought more than 1,000 patents from IBM. The new purchase boosts Google's intellectual property portfolio which currently has just 700 patents.

The loss of Nortel patents was a big blow to Google as the search engine was willing to pay any price to beef up its bank of patents - which is the smallest among major wireless players. Since Nortel-patented technology is also used in Google Android smart phones, the Apple-led consortium have not only got the rights to license this technology to secure royalties but also gain market influence vis-a-vis Google in the multi-trillion-dollar technology field.
As Google is involved in more than 45 patent lawsuits - the biggest against any major player - it is consolidating its patent bank to avoid future litigations. Google has refused to confirm the price it has paid for IBM patents. "Like many tech companies, at times we'll acquire patents that are relevant to our business needs. Bad software patent litigation is a wasteful war that no one will win," a Google spokesperson was quoted as saying by the LA Times Friday. Google' popular Android smart phone operating system is the target of legal challenges. Oracle is seeking billions in damages from Google claiming that Android infringes its Java patents. Facing so many patent-related lawsuits, Google has urged the US Federal Trade Commission to curb this practice.

"Like many tech companies, at times we'll acquire patents that are relevant to our business needs. Bad software patent litigation is a wasteful war that no one will win," the Google spokesperson was quoted a saying.

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New OS Lion makes a subtle appearance on latest iPad 2 ad

Apple's recently released OS Mac X 10.7 Lion sneaks in the latest iPad 2 ad

Apple's recently released OS Mac X 10.7 Lion sneaked in the iPad 2 ad recently setting internet abuzz with its possible reference to the second generation tablet.
The new advertisement, “We’ll always” is one of the usual feel good, almost lyrical ad from the Apple stable that talks about how certain things don't change in our life like "we will never stop sharing our memories or getting lost in a good book, we will always cooks dinner, cheer for our friends, go for meeting- but how we do all this will never be the same". Courtesy the iPad 2.
However the interesting bit in the ad comes at 0:23 just before the iPad2 pops up on the screen. A little boy in the ad is shown learning how to write the word “lion” next to the beast on the iPad with a voice over focusing on "learning new things".
While this could be just a pure coincidence, many Apple fans and insiders speculate that this could be a reference to the Mac OS X Lion. We know how particular the company is about its information and not to mention the tight control that they maintain over their product information - look at the iPhone 5, iPad 3, iPad 2 Plus news, which are all based on rumors and speculations.
While the iPad exceeded Apple's expectation selling 9.25 million units in the last quarter. The second generation sensation is not doing bad either. The thinner, lighter and powerful predecessor of Apple iPad, is bringing in more new and improved features like a better processor, better graphics, two cameras and up to 10 hours of battery life, that will surely give Apple a upper hand among all its competitors.
Apple has taken features from the iOS and the iPad and featured them in the Mac through the Lion. The recently introduced Mac OS X 10.7 Lion witnessed more than one million downloads. The Lion definitely has seen quite a few takers and we are sure the list will grow longer.
Check out the ad which was posted on the iPad 2 page official site and YouTube.

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Google Plus now has over 20 million users

The social network has managed to reach the landmark with the invite only process

The Google Plus social network was launched less than a month ago with an invite only process. And now the network has grown so large that almost every person you know is on the network, with the exception of a few who didn’t get invited.
Since June 28th, the Google Plus social network has had over 20 million connections, making it one of the fastest growing social networks. The numbers were calculated by ComScore which is a well-known firm when it comes to crunching stats and other analytical info.
It must however be noted that Google Plus poses no threat to the likes of Facebook and Twitter, but if Google Plus maintains this run and also opens the social network for everyone, the prominent social networks might have something to worry about. There’s a long way till G+ would reach Facebook’s number which has around 750 million users. It would be too early to say that users from Facebook and Twitter are switching to G+ since this is still in its initial stages. And of course, the number of users in a social network tells only half of the story.
ComScore merely tells the number of activations on Google Plus and doesn’t shed light on the active users on the social network. Facebook takes the cake with that one, since most users on the network are actively engaging themselves in conversations, chats and other activities with their friends. Facebook has also introduced video chat which will raise the stakes considerably, though Google Hangouts will let users have video chats with up to 10 people simultaneously.
Google Plus is slowly catching up in India, but the general feeling is that it would take some time until people could actually migrate from Facebook or Twitter. But it could be even better if people maintain their profiles on all three social networks i.e. Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. That’s what most users are doing now.

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Dell gears up for smartphone challenge

PC maker Dell plays hard to establish smartphone presence

Personal computer giant Dell, a leader in the Indian PC market, is somewhat struggling to bolster its presence in the smartphone space being occupied by well-trenched players like Apple, Samsung, RIM, Nokia and HTC.
Dell had earlier launched a marketing campaign around Christmas last year and a roadblock was used in the television ad campaign for Dell Streak. A roadblock is the term used when all the other advertising is halted and only a single brand is visible through ads for a specified duration.
The PC giant had launched two smart devices for its Indian consumers in November. The first combines features of a tablet PC and smartphone, called the Dell Streak. The second is an Android phone, called the XCD28, which is specifically designed for the Indian market.
Being a late entrant, Dell has been restructuring its marketing plans to build a new distribution channel for smartphones. Dell has also signed partnerships with telecom service providers for promoting its product portfolio.
Around 130 million handsets are sold in India annually and smartphones comprise 7-10 per cent of that market. According to IDC, the smartphone market is expected to grow 55 per cent year over year in 2011. IDC expects vendors to ship 472 million handsets in 2011, which is expected to nearly double to 982 million until 2015.
Dell eyes big opportunity in the smartphone space and believes in keeping its products affordable and on open platforms. To accelerate smartphone distribution, Dell India has tied up with phone distributors across 40 cities. The distributors, in turn, take care of redistribution to tier-II cities. The target audience is the mobile professional and Gen i.

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Security expert warns of way to attack SAP systems

 A software security expert warned that flaws in the design of business management software from SAP AG can allow hackers to easily break into corporate computer systems via the Internet.

Alexander Polyakov, chief technology officer of software security firm ERPScan, unveiled the vulnerabilities on Thursday at the Black Hat hacking conference in Las Vegas.

He said the flaws affect systems that corporate workers use to access their software systems over the Internet.

Polyakov was one of dozens of hacking experts to make presentations at the annual gathering, which is attended by security professionals who want to learn about the latest security vulnerabilities.

He said in an interview that he can set up a query using Google Inc's search engine that would identify systems that are vulnerable to attack.

In some cases, he said, he could set up fictional accounts to access those systems, granting those users wide access to secret corporate data. He could also delete some valuable data by overwriting databases with "trash," he said.

Officials with SAP could not be reached for comment.

Polyakov said that the software maker has told him it expects to release a program to fix the security vulnerability within about a week.

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Emoticons For Gmail

I’ve been used Gmail for quite some time and there are many features added since the first time I used it. Today, Google added another functionality to Gmail – The Emoticons.

I hope Google also add this functionality to Google Talk soon!

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Yahoo Stopped Yahoo Messenger For Vista Development

I’ve reviewed the Yahoo Messenger for Vista (Beta Version). However, as announced in Yahoo Messenger Blog today (Yahoo! Messenger for Vista version is no longer available), Yahoo has discontinued the 

development of it as they prefer to focus on deliver and optimize an application program that can runs on all Windows user computers - not only for Windows Vista.
All Yahoo Messenger for Vista users can still use this application. But, Yahoo won’t provide any further updates.
Yahoo also stated that they will continue the experiment of Windows Presentation Foundation(WPF), the graphic layer that powered Windows Vista user interface.

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Google Extends Search Appliance Capability

Google has extends the capability of their Search Appliance and prepared other enhancements that enable people search their company documents.

Matthew Glotzbach (Google’s director of product management for enterprise), says that the newer model of the device could handle until 10 millions document. This is major improvement as the earlier version of the device only can store 3 million documents. Additional changes include the capability to show search results based on vivid metadata related with documents and the capability for administrators to tailor search results for different categories of staff, he said.

• Watch: GSA overview video
• Watch: GSA New Features
• Watch: How much is a billion?

Google makes the main source of its profit and income by selling text ads (Adwords) that show on their search engine or Adsense publishers, but the Search Appliance is one of a handful of extra areas where the company is enthusiastically trying to make money.

The price for the hardware starts at $30,000 for entry-level model (500,000 documents), which including supports for hardware problem for two years. However, Google does not reveal the cost for the higher-level models, which include the ability for one machine to take over for another that fails because of unexpected situation or disaster.
The Search Appliances display its results based on many criteria, which factors more than 100 criteria for each query. They can also use the connectors to access files archived by using document management system (e.g. EMC Documentum). Besides that, they can pull out structured data stored in databases and software for customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning.
For more information about Google Search Appliance, please visithttp://www.google.com/enterprise/gsa/

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Google Responds To Microsoft’s “Gotcha”: They’re Diverting Attention With A Trick That Failed

This back and forth between Google and Microsoft is getting good.

Yesterday, Google wrote a post calling out Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, and others for using “bogus” patents to try to kill Android. Some of the patents Google’s Chief Legal Officer David Drummond mentioned included the ones Microsoft acquired from Novell (not to be confused with Nortel, which happened later). When Microsoft saw this, two senior officials took to Twitter to effectively pants Google. You see, Microsoft had tried to get Google to partner with them to buy the Novell patents — Google turned them down. And Microsoft had the email to prove it.

But there was an obvious reason for this rejection, which Microsoft conveniently left out, Google now says.

Drummond has addressed the pantsing incident in an update to his original blog post from yesterday. He kicks the update off with:

It’s not surprising that Microsoft would want to divert attention by pushing a false “gotcha!” while failing to address the substance of the issues we raised.

But then comes the substance:

If you think about it, it’s obvious why we turned down Microsoft’s offer. Microsoft’s objective has been to keep from Google and Android device-makers any patents that might be used to defend against their attacks. A joint acquisition of the Novell patents that gave all parties a license would have eliminated any protection these patents could offer to Android against attacks from Microsoft and its bidding partners. Making sure that we would be unable to assert these patents to defend Android — and having us pay for the privilege — must have seemed like an ingenious strategy to them. We didn’t fall for it.

So what Drummond is saying is that Microsoft’s offer to team up with Google to buy the Novell patents was more or less a trick. By teaming up on the Novell patents, Google would have them, but they wouldn’t have been able to have been used to protect Android, because Microsoft would have had them too.

Should Google have just gone along with that anyway, since ultimately Microsoft did get them (along with Apple, Oracle, and EMC)? You could argue that. But fortunately for Google, the courts intervened in that deal and made Microsoft sell off the patents they bought and made the others in the group license the rest, Drummond notes.

This may go a bit deeper too. It’s conceivable that Microsoft knew Google would never go for this joint-acquisition plan, but offered it anyway so that when the DoJ did look into the deal, Microsoft would point to the offer sent Google’s way. These companies are very smart and calculating, don’t put something like this past either of them.

In his original post, Drummond said that the DoJ was also looking into the more recent Nortel patent acquisition by Microsoft, Apple, RIM, and others. Clearly, Google hopes the same type of thing will happen here, but that’s still being decided. While Apple was cleared by the DoJ to buy the patents ahead of the auction, Microsoft could face a similar ruling as the Novell situation since they already had a licensing agreement on the patents, just as they had on the Novell patents before they tried to buy them. We’ll see.

More importantly, this battle is not going to end anytime soon. Novell was part one, then things intensified significantly with the Nortel auction, part 2. But part 3 should be the most intense yet, as both Google and Apple are going after the InterDigital patents. The Nortel patent purse had over 6,000 patents, but InterDigital has over 8,800. If the winning bid on Nortel was $4.5 billion, InterDigital should be well north of $5 billion.

Hang on to your butts.

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Google Announces Plans To Bake Android-Like Web Intents Into Chrome

There’s a lot of innovation going on in the browser wars these days, with huge strides in features and performance from all the top vendors. And there’s a new feature on the horizon that’s going to make web apps even more powerful and flexible: Web Intents, which will allow web apps to communicate with each other.

Today, Google has announced that it’s planning to integrate Web Intents into Chrome. The news comes on the heels of Mozilla’s announcement last month that it is also working on the project (Google’s post seems to indicate that the two projects used to be distinct, but that they’re now being unified under a single API).

So what exactly are Web Intents? The name and the purpose are both similar to the Intents system that’s present in Google’s Android platform. In short, Intents allow two separate applications to communicate with each other, without either of them having to actually know what the other one is. Instead, they offer and listen for generic hooks.

On Android this means that if you install a new image editing application, the default Gallery app doesn’t have to integrate any special APIs in order to send a photo to that editing app. Likewise in the case of a web app, this means that a new photo hosting site could easily integrate editing functionality from something like Aviary or Picnik, without either of those services needing to implement a special API unique to that photo hosting site.

Yes, it’s slightly confusing, but it’s a good thing, and it means web apps will be able to operate more like native applications.

Here’s a quote from Google’s blog post:

We are hard at work designing an analogous system for the web: Web Intents. This web platform API will provide the same benefits of Android Intents, but better suited for web applications. When designing the system, we have first and foremost been interested in creating a simple, easy-to-use API. With Web Intents, you will be able to connect your web app to a service with as little as two lines of code! Chrome will perform the heavy lifting for you. As with Android, Web Intents documents an initial set of intent actions (edit, view, share, etc.) that likely cover the majority of use cases on the web today; however, as the web grows and sites provide more functionality, new intent actions will be added by services that document these intents, some more popular than others. To foster development and use of intents, we plan to create a site to browse existing intents and add new intents.

There’s also an examples page live here.

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Google Threw A Punch, Microsoft Fires Back With A Missile

Earlier today, Google came out swinging. Seemingly sick of being continuously slapped in the face by the patent issue, Google’s SVP and Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, wrote a blog post calling out several of Google’s rivals for attempting to use “bogus patents” to destroy Android. Chief among the rivals called out was Microsoft.

 Drummond noted that the software giant had been getting in bed with other rivals to hurt Google.

Among the accusations was that Microsoft teamed up with Apple to buy Novell’s old patents, implying that they did so in order to keep them away from Google.

Microsoft didn’t take too kindly to that remark.

“Google says we bought Novell patents to keep them from Google. Really? We asked them to bid jointly with us. They said no,” Brad Smith, Microsoft General Counsel tweeted out in response.

Damn. Shit just got real.

Just in case that wasn’t enough, Frank Shaw, Microsoft Head of Communications, followed up with the real heat-seeker. “Free advice for David Drummond – next time check with Kent Walker before you blog.  ,” Shaw tweeted, referring to another Google SVP and General Counsel. Attached to that tweet was the picture of an email Walker apparently sent to Smith on October 28, 2010. It reads as follows:

Brad –

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you — I came down with a 24-hour bug on the way back from San Antonio. After talking with people here, it sounds as though for various reasons a joint bid wouldn’t be advisable for us on this one. But I appreciate your flagging it, and we’re open to discussing other similar opportunities in the future.

I hope the rest of your travels go well, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

– Kent

While it’s only one instance, this really does undercut Google’s entire argument. Google was attempting to set up a pattern of Microsoft teaming up with other Google rivals to damage them. But the first instance listed was actually the result of Google turning Microsoft down, as the email shows. That does not look good for Google.

Does that mean Google’s totally wrong and Microsoft is totally right? Of course not. But it sure makes Google look pretty stupid. And it reinforces something that many observers think about Google’s position here: that they simply weren’t taking the patent situation too seriously until recently, and now they’re all up in arms about it.

God I love it when Google and Microsoft take these fights to the streets.

@BradSmi
Brad Smith

Google says we bought Novell patents to keep them from Google. Really? We asked them to bid jointly with us. They said no.

August 3, 2011 4:44 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@fxshaw
Frank X. Shaw

Free advice for David Drummond – next time check with Kent Walker before you blog.  http://t.co/PfKle9H

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