Indian googler

Google Inc is talking with educational-software companies to help build a marketplace for online learning programs, an industry whose value may approach $5 billion this year.

Games and instructional tools for teachers from companies such as Grockit Inc and Aviary Inc are already offered in the Google Apps Marketplace, an online store that opened in March. Google, the world's largest search engine, seeks to lure more educational developers and is stepping up efforts to generate revenue from the project, company executives say.

Software sales for US schools and colleges this year should surpass the 2009 total of $4.6 billion, according to Parthenon Group LLC. That could provide a new growth stream for Google, which gets most of its sales from search advertising. The company works with schools, providing free word processing, e-mail and spreadsheet programs to students and teachers. Now it wants to help outside developers sell applications to educators.

"If we can provide access to education apps to our 10 million users in thousands of schools, then that would be a win all around," said Obadiah Greenberg, Google's business development manager for education.

Most software makers with products on Google Apps Marketplace now collect all revenue from sales generated through the site. In the coming months, Mountain View, California-based Google plans to begin taking a 20 percent share of sales, Greenberg said.

India has again failed to launch its indigenous GSLV rocket with a communications satellite, the Indian state-run TV channel Doordarshan reported on Saturday.

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle deviated from the designed path several minutes after the liftoff from the Sriharikota space centre in the state of Andhra Pradesh in southeast India, the TV channel said.

The causes and the circumstances of the rocket failure have not been announced. According to preliminary information, there could have been problems with the rocket’s first stage, the TV channel said.

The previous launch in the spring of this year was also unsuccessful after the rocket fell into the Bay of Bengal 304 seconds after liftoff as its cryogenic engine failed to perform. The rocket tumbled, lost altitude and finally splashed down in the sea.

India is seeking to become the sixth country to develop its own cryogenic booster sections, necessary for lifting heavy satellites to geostationary orbit. Until recently, only the United States, Russia, France, Japan and China had the technology.

LG India launched its slimmest LED Monitor in India today, under the codenamed E90. E90 is an ultra slim monitor to date at just 7.2 mm in depth for the Indian market. The LG E90 Monitor produces picture perfect, HD quality in a sleek, aerodynamic design.
With more and more people preferring to watch movies on their desktop monitor, the E90 is a real delight for them as it offers high quality performance. E90 is perfect offering by LG enabling you to watch action movies or sports with a response time of 2 Ms. Such a cool response time allows picture to remain clear and sharp and is great for fast-moving action flicks and sports matches.
Speaking at the launch, Mr. R. Manikandan, Business Head – B2B, LG Electronics India Pvt. Ltd said, “As always we have tried to provide an innovative offering that would meet the need of the consumers through the advanced technology of LG E90. We are positive that the monitor’s great features and design will set new benchmarks in the LED monitor segment. Also recent recognitions at the market place reflect the acceptance that our products enjoy amongst consumers and motivate us further to come up with such new unique offerings.”

LG E90 Monitor
Measuring only 7.2mm thick, LG E90 features a screen size of 21.5-inches and has a native resolution of 1920×1080, providing a compelling experience with its splendid design. To add more delight, the monitor possesses LG’s Image Booster software which enables streaming content from video sites such as YouTube to look terrific on its vivid display.
The connectivity options include D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI. E90 manages to reduce energy consumption as power usage is reduced as much as 40% compared to CCFL LCD monitors. The monitor places the power supply and the socket connecting the monitor with the PC on the back of the stand.
LG E90 Price in India:
The Ultra Slim LG E90 is available in various retail stores and is priced at Rs. 16,900. LG has set new benchmark for style and performance with E90.

Telecom operator Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla Group company, today said it will soon start its third generation (3G) services.
''Nokia Siemens Networks, as a world leader in 3G and as a long-standing partner for our GSM services, is well positioned to build our 3G network. It will allow us to reach our customers with new and innovative services in the shortest time possible and in a cost-efficient manner,'' said Anil Tandan, Chief Technology Officer, Idea Cellular.

The telecom operator has commissioned Nokia Siemens Networks to supply equipment, and build and manage its HSPA networks in four circles--Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), Kerala and Haryana.

Currently, Idea Cellular, the country's third largest mobile operator by revenue, has over 78 million subscribers.

Speaking on the occasion, Nokia Siemens Networks head of India Region Urs Pennanen said, ''With our compact site solution that occupies minimal floor space, energy-efficient network equipment and local 3G expertise, we will enable Idea Cellular to roll out the 3G network rapidly with minimal total cost of ownership.'' Idea Cellular has entrusted Nokia Siemens Networks to deploy over 40 per cent of its base stations.

Nokia Siemens Networks has global experience in 3G network operations, gained from managing 60 3G managed services contracts across the world.
--UNI

Millions of Skype Internet phone users worldwide couldn't make calls — or were dropped in mid-conversation — because of a network connection failure that began about 9 a.m. Wednesday PST.

It marked the second time this year that the popular, low-cost calling service was hit with a major outage, and this one was more widespread than the two-day disruption in 2007.

"For a communications system this large to go down, it's almost unheard of," said Charles S. Golvin, a Forrester Research analyst. "Usually when phone lines are disrupted, the blackout is confined to a specific geographical area. This is worldwide."

Indeed. In the past, there have been network outages to auction site EBay and social networks Facebook and Twitter, but the impact wasn't as great, Golvin said.

"With those sort of disruptions, people have alternatives or they can wait it out," he said. "But with something like this — and you need to communicate with someone — it's far more significant."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-skype-20101223,0,2778742.story

Salman Khan’s blockbuster film ‘Dabangg’ Bags in five tropies at Big Star Entertainment awards here Tuesday night.

It won best film, best actor, best director, best entertaining song (‘Munni badnaam hui’) and best male singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan for the song ‘Mast mast do nain’.

Salman Khan won the most entertaining film actor award and Dharmendra bagged the Big star entertainer for 50 years of glory.

Many other winners of different categories were also announced and the awards will be aired Dec 31 on Star TV. The announcements were made by bigwigs such as Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Vidya Balan, Karan Johar, Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Tina Ambani and Sushir Mishra, among others.

Source : www.sify.com

Google's closure of its voice search experiment in India, puts a question mark on the viability of search through automated voice responses.

"The experiment was wound up as we did not achieve scale and viability," said Vinay Goel, Google's India products head. "This experiment helped us learn more about user needs and build core technologies."

Analysts say that its cheaper to put a person behind a call in India than a machine. VC firm Canaan Partners India MD Alok Mittal says that it costs about Rs 2-3 per minute to have an agent answer a call. "A sales lead through local search can get you Rs 40-50, which far outweighs the cost of an agent."

Google's experiment was started in 2008 across Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. Users could call at 1-800-4199-9999 and ask for an item to be searched through the interactive voice response system. One could ask for 'Paradise biryani' in Hyderabad and the system would guide you the top options, which are then SMSed.

The charge to the caller was free. However, a delay in response time and poor understanding of the search request, might have led to the failure of the business.

While Google was struggling with its voice search experiment, business for India's local search sites have seen a spurt over the last two years. While niche search websites have cropped up, they provide text search listing. Voice response has still not caught on in the search business, yet.

"We never wanted to be in the call centre hiring kind of model," Goel of Google said, explaining the shutdown.

Google has developed a new browser that maps the human body in detail.
Called Google Body Browser, the hi-tech 3D application, hailed as a breakthrough, lets one explore the human body in much the same way one navigates the world on Google Earth.

It is likely to be the perfect tool for hypochondriacs who like to use Google to find out what is ailing them and who will get a gruesome thrill from analysing every last vein.

The Google Body Browser lets users scroll through different layers of the body, reports the Daily Mail.

Google had been tight-lipped about the application's development before a video appeared on the internet, which provides a sneak peek at how the new tool will work, according to a Google statement.

Google Body Browser also ushers in the introduction of brand new internet technology called WebGL, that will allow complex 3D graphics to be used on normal web pages, without the need for specially adapted browser plug-ins like Flash or Java.

In the video, the browser is used to dissect the human body and identify organs, bones and muscle groups. The body can be turned, manipulated and stripped to the bare bones to show how it functions.

Ahead of its official unveiling, Google has released a version available on WebGL-supported browsers or beta versions of Firefox and Google Chrome, which can be downloaded from the Google Body Browser site (http://bodybrowser.googlelabs.com).
--IANS

A good night’s sleep could be the key to an improved memory and what’s more – it could help you imagine the future too.

The REM (rapid eye movement) sleep stage — where people”s dreams are most vivid – is also important for people’s memory systems, said University of California researcher Sara C. Mednick and her colleagues.

Study participants were shown multiple groups of three words (e.g., cookie, heart, sixteen) and asked to find another word that can be associated with all three words.

In this case, the answer would have been “sweet.”

Participants were tested once in the morning and again in the afternoon, either after a nap with REM sleep, one without REM sleep or a quiet rest period.

Results showed that the REM sleep group improved by almost 40 percent over their morning performances.

“REM sleep is important for pulling together all the information we process on a daily basis and turning it into memories we can use later,” said Mednick.

“This helps us to understand more about the benefits of sleep and to help people maximize their sleep schedules for optimal productivity and memory retrieval,” she added.

Brain imaging research suggests that the ability to remember past events may be crucially involved in people”s ability to imagine events that have not happened yet and even simulate these “future” occurrences, according to researcher Daniel L. Schacter from Harvard.

Tagged as: health, memory, rapid eye movement, REM, Sara C. Mednick, Sleep, University of California researcher, University of California researcher Sara C. Mednick

Social networking site MySpace and Google Inc have reached a multiyear search and advertising agreement, ending months of uncertainty surrounding the partnership.

Under the new deal, Google will power MySpace search results and search advertising as well as provide additional display ad services.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Under a 2006 deal, Google had guaranteed $900 million to News Corp for the right to sell advertisements related to user searches on MySpace and some other small News Corp websites over three years.

That deal expired in June but was temporarily extended as News Corp and Google continued talks. It was not expected that News Corp would be able to sign an agreement as lucrative as the original deal.

News Corp also reached out to Microsoft Corp and Yahoo about powering search advertising on MySpace.

The controversial dress made out of real red meat worn by popstar Lady Gaga at the MTV awards has been lauded by Time magazine as the number one fashion statement of 2010.

The outlandish singer's outfit beat other headline grabbing ensembles worn by rapper M.I.A., tennis superstar Venus Williams and popstar Rihanna.

The "Poker Face" hitmaker shocked at the September event when she donned a dress made from hide and cuts of meat, complete with a matching head piece and purse and the ensemble has been branded "haute cutlet" by the magazine.

"If making fashion statements is your primary raison d'etre (reason for existence), it's easy to get bored. Exploding bra? Flamed out. Dress made of bubbles? Please. Using your hair as a bow? Not again. But a dress made of meat, with shoes, hat and purse to match, well, that's fresh," said the editors of the magazine about Gaga's sartorial choices.

"The carnivorous ensemble raised many questions: What does it mean? How was it made? Does she want sauce with it? GaGa's explanation of the flank frock, that if we didn't stand up for our rights, we'd be nothing but meat on our bones, seemed disappointing. We prefer to think of it as haute cutlet," read the article dedicated to the singer's choice of clothes.

Srilanka-born rapper M.I.A, real name Maya Arulpragasam, who had performed at the 2009 Grammys while nine months pregnant, came second in the list with her printed burqa. Venus Williams' combination of back lace and flesh coloured underwear, helped her grab the third spot in the list. Popstars Prince and Rihanna rounded off the top five

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2010.

At 26, Zuckerberg is the youngest "Person of the Year" since the first one chosen, Charles Lindbergh; he was 25 when he was named in 1927, Time said Wednesday. Zuckerberg beat out Britain's Queen Elizabeth II by just two weeks: She was 26 when she was named in 1952.

Incidentally, Queen Elizabeth II has recently joined Zuckerberg's social networking behemoth.

Zuckerberg has put himself on the map not only as one of the world's youngest billionaires, but also as a prominent newcomer to the world of philanthropy.

Earlier this year, he pledged $100 million over five years to the Newark, New Jersey, school system. Now, he's in the company of media titans Carl Icahn, 74, Barry Diller, 68, and others who have joined Giving Pledge, an effort led by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett to commit the country's wealthiest people to step up their charitable donations.

Zuckerberg owns about a quarter of Facebook's shares. Zuckerberg has built Facebook into an international phenomenon by stretching the lines of social convention and embracing a new and far more permeable definition of community. In this new world, users are able to construct a social network well beyond what would ever be possible face-to-face.

"I'm trying to make the world a more open place," Zuckerberg says in the "bio" line of his own Facebook page.

Hard rock band Bon Jovi has topped Billboard’s annual tours chart once again, making it twice in three years.

Billboard magazine revealed they were the most successful live act of the year earning up to 146.5 million dollars from 1,591,154 tickets sold in 69 gigs as part of their The Circle tour between November 2009 and November 2010.

Bon Jovi was also the highest-grossing live act of 2008, having taken 210 million dollars on its Lost Highway tour.

They have now become the only third act to top Billboard’s annual tours chart twice in three years.

Jon Bon Jovi, 48, said he was “very proud” of the band’s achievement and said Irish band U2 – beaten to second place in the chart – must be “paying attention”.

“It doesn’t mean anything to the public. But in the industry, all your peers are going to look at it,” the BBC quoted him as saying. (ANI)

The father of the bride, Lionel Richie, hosted the wedding at his 28-room Los Angeles estate as Nicole Richie, 29, and musician Joel Madden, 31, got married after four years and two kids together.

Guests included the groom's twin brother, Benji Madden (Joel's Good Charlotte bandmate), as well as one very unexpected guest: Before the ceremony, as People.com reports, a trained elephant was seen being led onto the grounds -- where large white tents had been set up amid the estate's gardens. There's been no word yet on how exactly the pachyderm participated in the nuptials.

The weather was warm, the guest list was around 130, and the bride reportedly went with a Marchesa gown and Neil Lane ring. "They wanted an Old Hollywood, glamorous feel to their wedding," says an inside source. "Nicole wanted a memorable, elegant affair for only their closest friends and family on their special day."

The couple have been together since 2006, and are raising two children together: daughter Harlow, 2, and son Sparrow, 1. "Nicole and Joel are the perfect example of the kind of parent I want to be one day," doting uncle Benji Madden told PopEater earlier this year.

The newlyweds announced back in February that they were engaged, and the bride celebrated a bachelorette party with friends (including Sam Ronson and Christina Aguilera) in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in September.

Facebook, a social networking website is set to launch a new tradition “Hackers Cup” for its users. Hacking being the new flavour of the season, facebook will kickstart the tradition on January 2011.

Intended for software genius around the world to show their skill, ability and courage in social networking, Facebook is taking its all-night "hackathons" to the next level with an  international coding competition. The winners will get a cash prize, fame and free trip to California to visit Facebook's headquarters. 

Facebook will shortlist the top 25 contestants from online rounds, who will be later flown to California for the final round of competition.

The preliminary online rounds will start in January next year, with the final rounds finishing by March that is scheduled to be held at Facebook's campus in the Silicon Valley city of Palo Alto. The details of which are available at Hackers Cup page on Facebook.

The victor in the contest will walk away with a cool 5000 dollars as cash prize and a probable career opportunity in Facebook.

German luxury car maker BMW India has launched the new BMW 5-series priced at Rs 36.9 lakh (ex-showroom all India).
The new BMW 520d comes with a two-litre four cylinder turbo diesel engine with an eight-speed automatic transmission.
Customers can order the new variant produced as completely knocked down unit from its Chennai plant. It would be available in all its dealerships across the country, BMW India said in a statement.
"The 5-series is the core model in our product portfolio. The new BMW 5 Series sedan, since its launch in April 2010, has successfully emerged as a leader in the luxury sedan segment in India.", BMW India President Andreas Schaaf said.
The auto maker said the vehicle would deliver an economy of 18.4 km per litre as tested by the Automotive Research Association of India.
The engine delivers a maximum output of 184 hp and reaches 0-100 km per hour in 8.1 seconds, it said.

The new BMW 520d would be available in a range of 10 colours including alpine white, black sapphire, cashmere silver, deep sea blue, havanna, milano beige, space grey, titanium silver, imperial blue brilliant effect and sophisto grey brilliant effect, the statement added.

Sonakshi Sinha Maxim India Scans

Sri Krishnadevaraya University (SKU) TDegree Revaluation Results 2010

Sri Krishnadevaraya University had its beginning as the Post Graduate centre of Sri Venkateswara University in the year 1968. It has gained autonomy in the year 1976. Fulfilling the desires of the people of the region, the Autonomous Post Graduate centre was given the status of the University in the Year 1981. Initially, Sri Krishndevaraya University functioned as a unitary residential University. It was conferred the status of an affiliating University in the year 1987. Presently, it is catering to the higher educational needs of the revenue districts of Anantapur and Kurnool. The Post Graduate centre at Kurnool was brought under the jurisdiction of the University in the year 1993.

Sri Krishnadevaraya University (SKU), Anantapur declared the following results on August 08, 2010.

Degree Revaluation Results 2010

Google has launched the Chrome Web Store and unveiled further information regarding the Chrome OS project at an event in San Francisco.

Declaring that the Chrome Web Store is ‘open for business’, Google said that developers had already begun uploading applications and that more were expected over time. While the Chrome Web Store is only official living in the US, at least as far as buying applications, there’s already a number of free applications which can be ‘installed’ outside of the US.

The Internet giant expressed satisfaction that users of the firm’s Chrome web browser had grown from 40 million to 120 million this year.  Having recently launched Chrome OS 8, Web Store apps appear as large icons on new tabs within the browser.

Media outlets such as the New York Times, USA Today and Salon have already launched web applications but there are also some applications which provide a preview of more advanced functionality available in Chrome Web Apps such as Google’s own Picnik Photo editor.

Games are also well represented with the general theme of applications being on the rather simple side, similar to applications on smartphones.

Google also used the occasion to shed some light on the situation with the Chrome OS which had originally been scheduled to ship this year. However Google said that the OS was only “at the stage where we need feedback from real users.”

To that end Google announced a pilot program for Chrome OS which involves Google providing a free Chrome 12-inch Notebook called the Cr-48. Equipped with Wi-Fi and 3G, the Cr-48 about 1.7Kg and sports a full-size keyboard and “oversized touchpad” while also being good for eight hours of use and a week of standby.

Google also addressed concerns with the new cloud-based OS, demonstrating Google Docs operating in an offline mode with changes synced up to the cloud when a network connection becomes available. The company also talked up Google Cloud Print which enables printing to the user’s home printer from anywhere.

As expected, the Chrome OS will auto update regularly with security updates and new features. Vendors Samsung and Acer were confirmed as lining up Chrome OS-based netbooks around the middle of next year, presumably after the pilot program concludes and Chrome OS goes ‘RTM’.

“Chrome OS is designed to work across a wide range of screen sizes and form factors, enabling our partners to deliver computing devices beyond notebooks,” said Google engineering veep Linus Upson.

“We’re excited to get Chrome notebooks into the hands of users. The data from our test pilots is key to building something wonderful. We look forward to working together to make computers better.”

The Chrome Web Store is here.

Users in the US can apply for the Chrome Netbook Pilot program here.

Reliance Communications today said its R-World, will be powered by mobile data services and solutions provider, Motricity, which will deliver complete mobile Internet and data services.

The mobile data services portal has been developed on Motricity's mCore platform which powers 3G mobile portals of many leading global 3G service providers, RComm said in a statement.

"Reliance is aggressively rolling out 3G services in India and we believe our partnership with Motricity will allow us to deliver a richer, more personalised, mobile Internet experience to our customers," Reliance Communications CEO - Wireless Business - Syed Safawi said.

The portal developed for the upcoming 3G services will deliver end-to-end mobile Internet and data services to 120 million Reliance mobile subscribers.

Motricity is a leading mobile data services and solutions provider serving some of the world's largest mobile operators including AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless.

It's mCore and Mobile as a Service (MaaS) delivery platform will enable Reliance Mobile Customers to access highly personalised mobile data experiences throughout India.

Rcom said its subscribers will have access to the high speed mobile Internet with download speeds up to 21 Mbps, high-definition Mobile TV and a host of advanced features, across a wide range of mobile devices.

The newest version of the operating system that powers iPhones, iPads and the iPod touch - iOS 4.2 - is ready for installation.
IPad users will notice the biggest changes, since this is the first ever update for that machine's operating system. It will allow multitasking on the tablet computer, so multiple applications can run at once with the possibility of transferring data between them.

IPad users have also missed out on the themed folders for sorting apps that iPhone users have been able to enjoy for a while.

The new Mail software can aggregate several accounts into one inbox, while a Game Center offers a sampling of simple online games.

But there is something new for the iPhone - AirPrint, which allows printing via a wireless connection. Initially, the function will be supported by multiple HP printers. To download and install the system updates, the devices have to be hooked up to a computer running the iTunes programme.
--IANS

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1’ reigned the box office for two weeks but has been now shoved aside by ‘Tangled’ which raked in 21.5 million dollars. The Disney-produced 3-D take on Rapunzel is just the second film this year, after ‘How to Train Your Dragon’, to go No. 1 after starting out of the top spot, reports Eonline.com.

The latest Harry Potter earned 16.7 million dollars at the second spot, while Cher-Christina Aguilera flick ‘Burlesque’ and ‘Unstoppable’ were tied in for the third spot with 6.1 million dollars each.

The top ten:

1. Tangled, 21.5 million dollars
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, 16.7 million dollars
3. Burlesque, 6.1 million (tie) dollars
3. Unstoppable, 6.1 million (tie) dollars
5. Love and Other Drugs, 5.7 million dollars
6. Megamind, 5 million dollars
7. Due Date, 4.2 million dollars
8. Faster, 3.8 million dollars
9. The Warrior's Way, 3.1 million dollars
10. The Next Three Days, 2.7 million dollars

Google has announced that its popular Doodles will soon be available on phones running Android 2.0 and above, and on iPhones with at least iOS 3.0.
Google put up its first Doodle in 1998 when the search company's founders wanted to show that they were at the Burning Man festival, held in the Nevada desert in celebration of the arts. A few Google Doodles in the past have featured on mobiles and the first such was for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Google also started a Doodle designing contest in India a few years back. The Doodle 4 Google contest invites school children to design the Google logo based on different themes.

Google introduced a feature that lets you make VoIP phone calls to landlines and mobile phones from within your Gmail account (and iGoogle). The calling service, which is available to U.S. Gmail users, integrates with the Google Talk chat app that you can find on the left-hand sidebar in Gmail.com.

Google’s “Call Phone” feature has so far made a splash, inspiring 1 million calls in its first day–even before all Gmail users received the notification that they could activate the feature.

A favorable response is good news for Google, whose last opt-out Gmail feature, Google Buzz, only incited ire and demands to make it easier to disable Google Buzz. In addition to staying in consumers’ good graces, Google’s VoIP service in Google Talk is a potential moneymaker for the company. It’s currently free to make calls inside the U.S. and Canada; however, to make inexpensive international calls you must buy credit through Google Checkout.

Google’s Gmail call feature is undoubtedly a dangling carrot that can boost Google’s formidable bottom line and reinforce some of its other services. If it’s heavily adopted, as we suspect its convenient placement in the in-box will warrant, the company’s dominance as a trusted, go-to brand will surely continue to grow.

Watch the video below for a step-by-step tutorial on how to make calls from Gmail to get started.

Micromax unveils its first Android phone—Micromax Andro A60- Recent mobile manufacturer Micromax has unveiled its first Android phone—the Micromax Andro A60 to hit the Indian market.

 

This handset is preloaded with manifold features and specifications. These features include 2.8” full touch screen, 600MHz CPU, 320×240 pixel resolution, dual-band GSM support, 3G ready, 7.2 Mbps speed via HSUPA, and Wi-Fi wireless connectivity.

Its specifications also comprise of 150MB internal memory, 32GB memory card, 3.2 MP camera with Auto-focus, video recording, accelerometer, and gravity sensor.

This handset offers 4 hours talk time and will be available in the Indian market at a price tag of less than Rs 8000.