a2z Information: 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

Apple to Samsung, Keep Galaxy S III Mini Out of the U.S. and We Won t Sue

An interesting bit of maneuvering in the Apple-Samsung patent battle today. Apple has agreed to withdraw patent infringement allegations against the new Galaxy S III Mini following its South Korean rival’s pledge that it will not market the device in the U.S.

“Apple will agree to withdraw without prejudice its request to include the Galaxy S III Mini in this case given Samsung’s representation that it is not making, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing that product into the United States,” Apple said in a filing in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., adding that it would do so only if that withdrawal doesn’t prejudice its “ability later to accuse the Galaxy S III Mini if the factual circumstances change.”

New York Mayor Says iPhone, iPad The Cause For Rising Theft Numbers is a post by Shawn Ingram from Gotta Be Mobile.

The rate of major crimes in New York City was up for 2012, and Mayor Bloomberg blames Apple device theft according to a New York Times report. In 2012 New York City saw an increase of 3,484 major crime incidents throughout all five boroughs. The increase in the number of stolen Apple devices increased by 3,890 incidents throughout the year. Without the increase in Apple device thefts major crime numbers would actually be down from 2011. Mayor Bloomberg specifically

Start-ups in India need to become household names and they should create internet successes on the lines of 'Facebook and Google', Infosys Executive Co-Chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan said.

"We need our own Facebook and Google," he said at a function at the Startup Village here, the country's first telecom incubator, at KINFRA Park at nearby Kalamassery.

Accenture has recently set up an innovation Center for ERP at Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering (MPSTME), NMIMS. Accenture’s set up which will benefit scores of students at MPSTME is also a first for any institute in the western region of the country.

The Center already has trained a batch of 32 top ranking students of MPSTME from Computer and IT engineering departments in Oracle ERP Business Suite. The 5-day training was conducted over a period of 50 hours and included several advanced topics giving an exposure to the Business Suite. The activity will soon be conducted at the Shirpur Campus of NMIMS.

In the lead up to BlackBerry 10‘s January release, there have been plenty of leaks for us to get excited about. Anticipation has been running high, and we’ve seen more than a few quick shots of what’s rumored to be the BlackBerry Z10 handset. While the Z10 is an all touch BlackBerry 10 phone, its sibling the X10 is more like the BlackBerry devices we’re used to seeing, physical QWERTY keyboard and all. The X10 hasn’t popped up quite as often, but today it’s making headlines with a new set of leaked pictures.

To ensure cyber security in the city, Noida police today directed 70 cyber cafe owners to install a new software that will secure their computers from being misused.

Noida police in association with Ideacts Innovations today launched a new software 'iCafe Manager' to be installed in computers to check cyber crimes.

"Cyber cafes in Noida can avail this software free of cost and improve the user experience along with assisting in national security by securing their cafes," Deputy Superintendent of Police (Crime) Triveni Singhsaid.

BEIJING (AP) — China‘s government tightened Internet controls Friday with approval of a law that requires users to register their names after a flood of online complaints about official abuses rattled Communist Party leaders. Authorities say the law will strengthen protections for personal information. But it also is likely to curtail the Internet’s status as a forum to complain about the government or publicize corruption. “Their intention is very clear: It is to take back that bit of space for public opinion, that freedom

I have been an Android user for more than a year now and have seen the ecosystem progress from Eclair to Ice Cream Sandwich. The platform has indeed gotten better with age and now looks like an offering which will give Apple and iOS a lot of headaches in the near future. Like the iPhone, the heart of Android are the apps. Android, however in contrast to iOS is much more customizable thus making it a clear choice for ‘Open ecosystem’ enthusiasts like me.

So let us quickly get into my top 5 Android apps list.

1. Pocket:

Wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Melinda, has said her children are banned from owning Apple products.

Melind Gates, a philanthropist and world health campaigner, said that their two daughters and son had asked for an iPod, but 'they get Windows technology'.

According to the Telegraph, she said that the wealth from our family came from Microsoft so there is no point in buying a competitor's products.

Facebook, apps losing to online video services on SmartTVs

Consumers are ignoring the smart features of their TVs and simply want access to online video services, researchers say.

Although manufacturers have given their latest sets the ability to tweet, view websites and even download apps, research firm NPD says all consumers really watch to do on their TV is watch TV.

One of Samsung's flagship smartTVs offers apps and access to Twitter and Facebook, but research now claims most consumers simply use it to watch TV, the Daily Mail reported.

Instagram has revealed the top 10 most popular places that users have uploaded pictures of on their website.

An airport in Thailand, Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport grabbed the number one spot, the New York Daily News reported.

According to a company blog post, almost 100,000 photos were shot, filtered and shared there last year.

Five Most Affordable Music Streaming Apps

Five Most Affordable Music Streaming Apps is a post by Troy Frommer from Gotta Be Mobile.

The way users listen to music has changed. And with advancements in mobile technology, streaming music has become particularly more commonplace. Streaming music can be cheaper for listeners than buying music from iTunes, and also offer more variety. With an audio stream the user can change what they are listening to, as opposed sticking to only what’s on their device, where their options are limited.

With an increasing number of tasks to be performed and with little time to do them in, the office-goer is usually at a loss. But there is a quickfix. ET picks a list of ten apps to lighten your load:

1) Paper by FiftyThree

Free for iPAD

Paper acts like a personal journal where you can sketch, draw or note down your ideas in a easy-to-use interface. You get the basic drawing tools for free with the app.

Technology firm iberry has launched two new models of tablets equipped with third generation (3G) subscriber identification module (SIM) slots for making phone calls and internet browsing.

One model is equipped with a dual-core processor, while the other one is having quad-core processor.

"When the current Indian tablet PC market is flooded with price-driven tablet PCs, we take immense pleasure and pride to announce the launch of India's 1st dual-core CPU and quad-core CPU based tablet PCs, both with inbuilt 3G SIM slot for calls and Internet," iberry said in a statement.

At the workplace, our productivity hinges on how well we can use a computer and how well it functions for us. ET offers some easy ways to solve common issues that plague a workplace PC and a few accessories that can help improve efficiency.

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

APP LAUNCHERS

Theodore F. Schroeder of New Jersey has filed a lawsuit against Pinterest, claiming that the website was originally his idea. The lawsuit is also against one of Pinterest’s early investors, Brian Cohen, who Schroeder worked with on a project. Says Schroeder, after having a falling out, Cohen gave Schroeder’s ideas away, and they were later implemented in Pinterest.

Software maker Synchronoss Technologies said it bought NewBay, the cloud services unit ofResearch In Motion, for $55.5 million in cash.

NewBay's software allows users to store, share and access digital content across any device connected to the internet. Synchronoss helps companies manage the activation, synchronization and management of connected devices.

2013, Gadgets to go slimmer, sexier

iPhone 5, iPad Mini, Nexus 7 and Galaxy SIII rocked the devices market in 2012, but as gadgets get slimmer, sexier and more powerful, similar to those seen in 007 Bond flicks, gadget enthusiasts are in for a treat in 2013.

2012 saw users transitioning from feature phones to smartphones as they moved from just talking and texting to tweeting, networking socially and shopping with increasing mobileinternet penetration and lower data tariffs.

It would appear that the real impact of the Instagram Privacy Policy update (and subsequent revolt on the part of its users) has come to light – a relatively massive 25% decrease in daily users – but there’s a catch. While the statistics given by AppData could very well be due in part to Christmas and the holidays in general, a decrease of over 3 million daily users is nothing to scoff at for one of the most-used apps on the market. According to AppData the amount of daily users Instagram is working with fell from 16.4 million to 12.4 million between the week the Privacy Policy changes occurred and now… on Facebook. Meanwhile the app has taken off in popularity in its original iPhone and Android form.

iPhone 6, iPad 5 May Use Thinner, Higher Resolution Screens Says Rumor is a post by Josh Smith from Gotta Be Mobile.

The iPhone 6 and iPad 5 could feature a thinner, lower power, higher resolution IGZO display from Sharp according to new rumors. IGZO displays from Sharp were first rumored to appear in the iPad mini in October, but that did not come to life. Now, DigiTimes reports that Apple is in talks with Sharp to use IGZO displays in the next generation of mobile Apple

iPad continues to lead the tablet market in web traffic

The competition against the Apple iPad is constantly growing. There are a number of popular Android tablets on the market, particularly the Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD. While the competition is improving, the Apple iPad is still by far the most popular tablet on the market overall.

Advertising and analytics company Chitika has released its metrics update for the December 2012 tablet market. The company found that while competition is increasing, the iPad is still by far the dominant tablet on the market. According to the firm for every 100 page impressions made from an iPad, other tablets in the market produce only 14.75 combined.

samsung_galaxy_s_III_review_sg_7-580x431121

We’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about Samsung‘s next flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S IV, and we don’t expect it die down anytime soon. The latest rumor fresh out of South Korea is that Samsung is preparing the Galaxy S IV for an April 2013 launch, and it’s said that the new handset will come with S Pen functionality right out of the box.

A few details have been leaked by an anonymous tipster as to what the next-generation DROID RAZR M will be, building on the greatness of the already fabulous palm-sized beast. We had our first look at the original DROID RAZR M earlier this year in NYC, the reveal event also playing host to one of the first public showings of a newly minted Google-owned Motorola, complete with Google-minded software choices for Android – like on-screen buttons, for example. Here we’re seeing the logical next step for the DROID RAZR M with an “HD” name addition, but the specifications we’re seeing aren’t quite as solid as we’d hope – not logically, that is.

Rishad Premji may join the board of Wipro Enterprises. Rishad, 35, is considered a logical choice for the newly-formed, unlisted entity which comprises the non-IT businesses of Wipro.

Rishad, the older son of promoter Azim Premji, is currently on the board of Wipro GE Medical Systems Limited, a joint venture with American conglomerate GE. At Wipro, he works as the chief strategy officer. Rishad is also in charge ofmergers and acquisitions for India's third-largest software services exporter.

In a dismal real estate market, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has signed an agreement with Neptune Developers to lease the largest IT office space in the city.

TCS will take over 3.5 lakh sq ft space in Neptune Element, an 11-storey IT buildingconstructed by the developers in Thane's Wagle Industrial Estate. The two parties are learnt to have negotiated the deal for a lease amount of Rs 35 to Rs 40 per sq ft per month, which works out to an annual rent of close to Rs 16 crore. A formal agreement is expected to be sealed in a few weeks.

Tech giant Apple is working with Intelto manufacture a 'smart watch', a Chinese gadget blog has claimed.

According to the report, the Bluetooth watch would debut sometime in the first half of 2013.

Consumers have previously used the sixth-generation iPod Nano as a watch, with third parties producing wristbands for the product, News.com.au reports.

IT indices once again failed to earn return in 2012 largely on account of dull show by sector stalwarts, Infosys and Wipro and tepid return by Tata Consultancy Services. Following a sharp fall of 18% in 2011, the ET Infotech index lost 0.3% in 2012. With relatively lower valuations and expectation of sustained traction in outsourcing due to the need to control costs across Western economies and stable trend in billing rates, 2013 may very well be a comeback year for the index.

Videocon has launched two budget Android smartphones in India, named A20 and A30. With these two devices, the Indian manufacturer takes on phones by rivals like Micromax and Samsung. Interestingly, Videocon's flagship device shares the name with Karbonn's smartphone with a 5.9-inch screen, which was officially launched today.

The all-new Videocon A30 features a 4-inch screen and is powered by Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The device runs on a dual-core 1GHz processor with 512MB RAM and comes with 4GB internal memory and support for 32GB microSD card. This smartphone is compatible with 3G, 2G and Wi-Fi networks and can transfer files via Bluetooth 3.0.

Technology major Apple Inc has been fined $165,908 by a court here for allegedly selling unlicensed electronic versions of books online.

The Beijing No.2 intermediate people's court ordered Apple to pay a total of 1.03 million yuan ($165,908) to eight Chinese writers and two companies for violating their copyrights.

Amazon.com remained the best website for shopping online, while JC Penney suffered the largest drop in customer satisfaction of any major online retailer this holiday season, according to a survey released on Thursday.

Flash sale sites Gilt.com and RueLaLa.com were among the worst performers in online shopping satisfaction this season, according to ForeSee's Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index.

A woman I haven't spoken to in six years is pregnant with her second son. Another college acquaintance reads the Bible a lot. A high school classmate likes to rant about politics. A college dormmate thinks he works too much.

On Facebook, I'm connected to a lot of people who are not my friends. Over the years, as my Facebook friend list grows, it's made me increasingly uncomfortable that I seem to know so much about people that I don't actually know.

Colleges offering students tools to clean online profiles

Samantha Grossman wasn't always thrilled with the impression that emerged when people Googled her name.

"It wasn't anything too horrible," she said. "I just have a common name. There would be pictures, college partying pictures, that weren't of me, things I wouldn't want associated with me."

So before she graduated from Syracuse University last spring, the school provided her with a tool that allowed her to put her best web foot forward. Now when people Google her, they go straight to a positive image - professional photo, cum laude degree and credentials - that she credits with helping her land a digital advertising job in New York.

Percept said it has inked a three-year association pact with global video sharing giant YouTube for live streaming of the media and communications firm's annual dance music festival 'Sunburn'.

"The association which includes all Sunburn properties- Sunburn Goa, Sunburn Mumbai and Sunburn Noida - will have the events live streamed to a global audience in more than 100 countries worldwide," Percept Ltd said in a statement.

Apple is reportedly in continued talks with Japanese manufacturer Sharp for its Igzo (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) display panels for the next-generation iPhone, iPad and iPad mini.

A Digitimes report has cited sources as saying that Apple is, however, concerned over the number of panels that Sharp can manufacture during 2013 to meet its requirements.

The report also said Apple is assessing if AU Optronics' L5C line can manufacture the required number of displays for its mobile devices for 2013. Sharp has licensed its Igzo manufacturing technology to Innolux Corp as well, which may emerge as the third supplier for this display panel for Apple, sources say.

There are 2.2 billion internet usersworldwide. Google is now focusing its efforts to get the next one billion users online by 2015. Half of these users, Google says, will come from the emerging markets.

"And a quarter of the next billion coming online will be from India," says Julian Persaud, MD of Google Southeast Asia. He says new users will access the internet for the first time on a mobile device and not on a desktop. Persaud says India has more mobile-based internet traffic than desktop traffic.

Information Technology services and pharmaceuticals are likely to drive hiring growthin 2013, to fill mid and senior positions, said HeadHonchos.com, a leading job search and career management portal.

"The data in 'Management Hiring: Perspective report 2012', indicate that IT or software services and pharmaceuticals or life sciences could potentially drive the hiring growth in 2013," HeadHonchos said in a release.

South Korean company Samsung Electronics said it has sold more than 10 millionGalaxy devices in the Indian market since the launch of the first Galaxy device, 'Galaxy S', in June 2010.

"Innovative devices like the Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy SII and SIII, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy Y have caught the imagination of customers and helped us democratise the smartphone experience in the Indian market," Samsung VP (Mobile) Asim Warsi told PTI.

Getit partners with Yahoo for local search

Digital marketing company Getit announced its association with Yahoo wherein Getit will power results under Yahoo Local. Getit's databases of over three million business listings will be accessible to Yahoo users on Yahoo Local. Any search conducted on Yahoo Local will land on a co-branded section, powered by Getit, according to a release.

This association will help Yahoo which has 40 million unique users to create brand awareness of Getit. Further, for searches conducted on Yahoo! web search which correspond to a local need, Yahoo! users will have the benefit of the listings powered by Getit, depending upon relevance, location and keywords.

Mid-sized software exporter Mindtree has a simple philosophy to survive in India's competitive $100-billion IT services industry: Get back to the 'basics of doing business'. And, that's what the Bangalore-based company did when profits started to decline and then-chairman Ashok Soota decided to walk out two years ago.

"We cleaned up our act and we did it decisively," says Subroto Bagchi, who co-founded Mindtree with 10 others, including Soota, a former vice-chairman of Wipro.

In the week after the optimistic management commentary, the TCS stock has gained 5%, beating the sector index BSE IT, which earned a little less than 3%. Following the management's iteration of stable billing rates and sustained demand scenario right through the next few quarters, some of the analysts have reaffirmed their buy rating on the stock.

Considering its strong presence in the global outsourcing business, the company is expected to outperform the benchmarks and sector indices in the coming year as it did in 2012. In a recent analyst call, TCS's management said that it has so far not witnessed major project cancellations. A report from the equity research wing of Barclays noted that the management has cited a strong pipeline, rise in deal wins and positive client discussions on discretionary spending.

Why apps that read out, reply to SMSs, email are dangerous

Smartphone apps that read out and respond to text messages while people are driving, are a dangerous distraction and should not be used, according to police.

Text Star, available for Australian Androidphones in early 2013, automatically replies to all texts and emails with a preset message of people's choice, whenever it detects that people are travelling faster than 16km/h.

Another free android app DriveSafe.ly, uses text-to-speech technology to automatically read out loud text messages and emails the instant they are received, so that people can keep their hands on the wheel and avoid a heavy fine and demerit points.

It has taken years, but Google seems to be cutting into Microsoft's stronghold - businesses.

Google's software for businesses, Google Apps, consists of applications for document writing, collaboration, and text and video communications - all cloud-based, so that none of the software is on an office worker's computer. Google has been promoting the idea for more than six years, and it seemed that it was going to appeal mostly to small businesses and tech startups.

Legal hassles, poor 3G coverage and patchy broadband haven't stopped the rapid growth of social media across India— both for people at home and for businesses looking to build digital campaigns to reach increasingly networked consumers.

If Facebook has crossed some 65 million users in India, others such as LinkedIn and Twitter, with more than 15 million and between 10 and 33 million users (depending on whom you ask), respectively, and newer sites such as Pinterest and Quora too have grown sharply in the past 12 months.

Samsung seems to have silently launched Galaxy Music Duos smartphone in the Indian market. The company had unveiled it internationally in October 2012 and begun taking pre-orders in India in the first week of December. The official cost of the device in India is Rs 9,199, though the street price is Rs 8,990.
The all-new Galaxy Music Duos is a dual-sim smartphone aimed at music lovers and comes with two speakers in the front, a dedicated music key and audio technologies like Sound Alive and SRS. This device has a 3-inch LCD touchscreen with 240x320-pixel resolution and runs on an 850MHz processor with 512MB RAM. It has 4GB internal memory and supports 32GB microSD cards for expansion.

Bharti Airtel, the country's largest mobile phone company by customers and sales, has sought government's approval for testing voice services on its fourth generation networks.

The move is significant as Reliance Industries-owned Infotel Broadband, the only company that has pan-India 4G airwaves, is set to get the telecom department's (DoT's) approval for testing voice services on this technology platform.

ET recently reported that the DoT committee looking into RIL's demand had recommended that the company be allowed to test 10,000 connections (for 4G voice services) and that it also be allotted these many mobile numbers.

Netflix blames Amazon for Christmas Eve outage

An outage at one of Amazon's web service centers hit users of Netflix Inc's streaming video service on Christmas Eve and was not fully resolved until Christmas Day, a spokesman for the movie rental company said on Tuesday.

The outage impacted Netflix subscribers across Canada, Latin America and the United States, and affected various devices that enable users to stream movies and television shows from home, Netflix spokesman Joris Evers said. Such devices range from gaming consoles like the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 to Blu-ray DVD players.

Netflix, which is based in Los Gatos, California, has 30 million streaming subscribers worldwide, of which more than 27 million are in the Americas region that was exposed to the outage and could have potentially been affected, Evers said.

India Inc is expected to dole out an average pay hike of 11.2 per cent across job roles in 2013, lower than 12 per cent increase witnessed this year, says Hay Group. Global management consultancy Hay Group said pay for performance is the new mantra.

Noting that salary increases are projected to be 11.2 per cent next year, Hay Group said the "amount represents a slight reduction against an actual average salary increase of 12 per cent across India Inc in 2012".

Too much Internet use may leave kids brain dead, Expert

A 'Google generation' which relies on the Internet for everything is in danger of becoming 'brain-dead', a leading UK inventor has warned.

Trevor Baylis, who invented the wind-up radio, said children are losing creativity and practical skills because they spend too much time in front of screens.

The 75-year-old from Twickenham, south-west London, said he fears that the next generation of inventors is being lost, with young people often unable to make anything with their hands, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

Top priority for technology providers and practitioners will be to drive business transformation using technology solutions. Given that the business environment is expected to remain volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, businesses will be under pressure to reinvent the way they work. IT service providers and practitioners will be expected to drive business transformation initiatives which help organisations optimize cost and increase productivity. IT will consider business transformation initiatives like: a) Workshifting: IT will drive programs like work from home or move work to a more optimized location and cutreal estate cost and delight employees, b) Executive Mobility: IT will enable employees to work with people, apps and data from any device and any location thus increasing the productivity of employees.

Recently, rumours about a Nokia tablet made quite a buzz, but details have been scarce. Now, sources close to the Finnish manufacturer have started dishing out leaks and one says Nokia's upcoming tablet will be powered by two batteries - one standard and the other in the keyboard cover.

According to a report in technology news website The Verge, the keyboard cover that will come with the device will have a battery and work as a kickstand, much like the one in Microsoft Surface. Users will be able to switch the keyboard-based battery in when the tablet's battery runs low.

Microsoft is eyeing Indian start ups that have the potential to influence life of lakhs of consumers and groom them so that they are fit to stand out in the digitial arena. The IT giant has embarked on a mission to support and counsel start ups to get them visibility on the digital platform.

So be it Focaloid, the homegrown social networking platform for photographers, or Tookitaki, a social recommendation platform for businesses to discover their target audience, or ToCha, which develops mobile applications in the edutainment and travel space orPlaypower, which is about educational games for PCs and mobile devices, Microsoft is handholding and mentoring these startups under the Microsoft BizSparkprogramme.

Industrial sites in Iran under cyber attack

An internet virus attacked computers at industrial sites in southern Iran, in an apparent extension of a covert cyber war that initially targeted the country's nuclear facilities, an Iranian official said.

Iran, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, has tightened online security since its uranium enrichment centrifuges were hit in 2010 by the Stuxnet computer worm, which Tehran believes was planted by arch-adversaries Israel or the United States.

The brave new world for US retailers can be found in small cities like Martinsburg, West Virginia.

That's where department store chain Macy's Inc recently opened a facility the size of 43 football fields -- big enough to stock 1 million pairs of shoes -- just to fulfill orders made online.

The $150 million building, its third one dedicated primarily to supporting macys.com, has already been handling 60,000 orders on a busy day this holiday season. Macy's expects that figure to triple in two years.

New images apparently showing upcoming Blackberry smartphone have been leaked online.

If genuine, the images show a straight keyboard similar to the one seen on the Torch model.

The photos were first revealed by CrackBerry.com, via Chinese site CNBeta.

According to the Daily Mail, the site reported that the latest image shows the BlackBerry 10 N-Series, which is rumored to debut with a touchscreen L-Series phone next month.

Whether it is improving health or managing finances better, about 87 per cent of Americans will make resolutions for 2013 and there are plenty of apps to help them achieve their goals.

Nearly half of New Year's resolutions are about setting health-related goals, which is the most popular category, according to a recent survey by online broker TD Ameritrade.

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Monday, December 31, 2012

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Friday, December 28, 2012

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Wednesday, December 26, 2012