Mobile call rates likely to go up by 30p,min

Disappointed with Cabinet decision on fixing minimum or base price at Rs 14,000 crore for spectrum, the telecom industry today said the recommendations will prove to be "regressive" for the sector's growth and that operators would be forced to raise tariffs for consumers.

GSM operators body COAI, which countsBharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellularamong its members, said the move will impact tariffs by 30 paise per minute on an average.

"It will continue to have an impact on the tariffs to the extent of about 30 paisa per minute. The effect on finances is that an amount of Rs 3,20,000 crore of additional debt that will have to be laid on the industry," COAI said.

President s website goes interactive

President Pranab Mukherjee's official website has been redesigned to make it more interactive for the people, a Rashtrapati Bhavan release said on Friday.

The redesigned website was launched by the president's secretary Omita Paul, who expresssed the hope that it would be a step forward to bring the president closer to the people.

She also said efforts would be made to ensure that the website is in line with the best global practices, the release said.

It said while historical perspectives from the earlier website have been retained, the redesigned website has some new features, which include direct connectivity from the website to social networking media such as Facebook and YouTube.

Budget tablets gaining popularity in India

 The Tablet PC market in India is dominated by the likes of global IT giants Apple and Samsung. However, homegrown tablet makers from Noida are creating waves with their affordable products grabbing their share in the pie bit by bit. 

Prominent tablet makers based out of Noida include Zync Global, Pantel Technologies, HCL Infosystems, Datawind and Spice. All of them have successfully launched their affordable versions of low-cost Tablets in the range of Rs 3,000 to 12,000 at the cost of a mobile phone. 

Trai, Forward SMS to punish telemarketers

Tired of pesky text messages? Forwarding it to a designated number is all it will take to initiate action against the telemarketer, according to a proposal by the telecom regulator on Friday, which included a hefty penalty on unregistered telemarketers as well. 

In a consultation paper, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has suggested that unregistered telemarketers sending unsolicited commercial communication be charged Rs 500 per message. After 10 such instances, the marketer's phone connection will be disconnected. 

Zynga copied Sims game, Electronic Arts

Video game publisherElectronic Arts sued Zynga on Friday, accusing the social gaming company of copying key elements of EA's "The Sims Social" game for Zynga's own title, "The Ville." 

EA's lawsuit is the latest in a series of copycat accusations leveled against Zynga, a company that has shrugged off similar litigation in the past as it grew into the dominant publisher of games on Facebook. 

In a 40-page filing, the Redwood City, California-based game publisher pointed out numerous game elements it claimed Zynga mimicked in "The Ville," from personality traits to avatars' actions, such as conversing and dancing.