Elitecore eyes Rs 100 crore acquistion in network security

Samsung I8000 Omnia II Arrives in India

Priced at Rs. 28,990

Samsung has unveiled its latest Windows Mobile powered smartphone, the i8000 Omnia II in India. The Windows Mobile 6.1-powered device will augment the Omnia range in India, which currently includes the Omnia I900, Omnia Pro and the Series 60 Omnia HD.

The Omnia II is a full touchscreen device that has an impressive spec-sheet. The phone boasts of a huge 3.7-inch AMOLED display with a resolution 800x480 and displays 65k colors (thanks to the Windows Mobile limitation). With 8GB of internal memory and support for micro SD cards of upto 32GB, you will almost never fall short of storage space on this one. The Omnia II also features a 5-megapixel camera and high quality video recording with 720x480 resolution at 30fps. This is only slightly below the Omnia HD that can record 720p videos. The phone is a full 3G device with exhaustive network support. Other features include FM radio with RDS, FM Recording and availability of a 3.5mm jack. It is also quite zippy in nature, thanks to a powerful S3C6410 800Mhz processor.

The Omnia II also features a host of motion-enabled features including 3D photo album, video library, music library, browser bookmarks and FM Radio. Samsungs TouchWiz UI runs atop Windows Mobile and users can use widgets for accessing Facebook, Picasa, Flickr and the likes The phone is priced at Rs. 28,990 in the country and is now available across all dealers.

As of now, there is no word if Samsung will come up with a (sensible) Windows Mobile 6.5 update for this one.

Non-English Web Addresses Soon

The Internet has been long limited to its Latinized domain names. This has been the norm ever since the inception of the Internet over 40 years ago. That, however, is about to end if the Internet's regulatory body Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) goes ahead with its plans to bring in web addresses with non-Latin characters.

The initial proposal to bring in other languages into domain names was approved in 2008. However, from what we now know, testing of the system had been underway for quite some time now. The plan then was to include certain Asian and Arabic scripts for web addresses. In its latest announcement ICANN has said that should the plans to implement this is approved, it would start taking applications for the new Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) by the second week of November. In fact, by mid 2010, we might see a fairly large number of websites out there with non-Latin domain names.

With over half of the Internet populace using languages other than English for communication, it kind of made sense to introduce multi linguistic support for web addresses. With this move, it no longer becomes necessary to know English to be able to use the Internet.

Once approved, ICANN will apply "necessary changes" to the Internet's current Domain Name System (DNS) to translate non-English characters to something that the system understands. Essentially, it will be a huge real-time multi language translator at work. It might be interesting to note that "unapproved" workarounds for typing in web addresses in local languages have been tried in the past as well - mainly in countries like China and Korea. However, these were often buggy and were not internationally recognized and had issues working on all computers. The new IDN includes many new languages including Chinese, Hindi, Tamil, Japanese, Korean, Persian and Yiddish

If this proposal eventually gets the nod, it might not be long when your grandparents would be typing away web addresses in their own languages instead of English.

Reliance to Offer Call Manager Service

Reliance Mobile has introduced the call manager service on its GSM network on supporting handsets. This service enables Reliance mobile subscribers a range of call completion service. Offered through a server-less client protocol, the Call Manager service enables allows customers to respond to incoming calls with pre-recorded voice messages. The Call Manager also features SMS based chatting and voice mail on mobile.

It allows one to respond to answer phone calls without any need to talk or type, using an intuitive user interface.

The Voice Message feature enables caller to leave a message once a call is left unanswered. The recorded messages are deposited in the mobile phone's Inbox folder, and can be played, forwarded, replied to or removed. The Voice Message feature can be activated either manually by selecting it from the ringing menu. Reliance allows use to customize its greeting message or the duration after which the voicemail automatically answers a call through the application's settings.

While dialing a number, when the call may ring without an answer, when the phoned party might not notice the call, or may not be able to answer at the moment, the application provides options like Call another number. This will offer you to dial the other available numbers of the same contact. This way, if someone is not available at work, you can try reaching them at home with just a click away. It also enables the caller to start chatting. The Chatting option allows user to start an instant messaging UI-like chat session and communicate conveniently using text messaging.

Reliance Mobile is offering the Call Manager service through a subscription module. It will not charge the user for downloading the application. Moreover, post the installation of the service, the customers can avail a free seven-day offer. The subscription for the service will be activated post the expiry of this free-trial period. Reliance Mobile will charge Rs. 15/month as subscription fee.

Nokia Sues Apple for Patent Infringement

Two years after the arrival of the first generation iPhone, Nokia has suddenly woken up to realize that Cupertino has actually infringed on some of its patents!

The company has sued Apple in the Delaware District Court alleging that Apple's iPhone infringes Nokia patents for GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN (WLAN) standards. There are 10 patents that Nokia says Apple has infringed upon. In a press release announcing it, Nokia states, "The ten patents in suit relate to technologies fundamental to making devices which are compatible with one or more of the GSM, UMTS (3G WCDMA) and wireless LAN standards. The patents cover wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption and are infringed by all Apple iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced in 2007."

Nokia's Legal and IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) vice president Ilkka Rahnasto said, "The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for. Apple is also expected to follow this principle. By refusing to agree appropriate terms for Nokia's intellectual property, Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation."

Apple is yet to respond to the claim by Nokia and it would be interesting to see how this saga ends up.

Radio Nepal gets new head

A veteran broadcaster, Tapa Nath Shukla, has been appointed Executive Director of Radio Nepal.

Shukla, who joins from the Ministry of Information and Communications, is a former head of both Radio Nepal and Nepal Television. His appointment was announced after a cabinet meeting in Kathmandu, according to the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union.

He succeeds Ram Sharan Karki, who has been Radio Nepal’s Executive Director for nearly three years.

Radio Nepal was established in 1951 and broadcasts in shortwave, medium wave and FM, as well as online at www.radionepal.org.

In recent years it has been seeking to move from a state-run station to a public service broadcaster in the face of stiff competition from many commercial radio stations.

Microsoft's MSN is in preliminary talks with MySpace about using the social-networking site's music service, MySpace Music, to help power music offerings on the giant X.

While sources at both companies cautioned that the talks are still early, Microsoft, which has its own music site that it programs with original and partnered content, execs are interested in goosing it.

That's because MSN Music consistently ranks substantially lower than other big online music properties in terms of traffic, while MySpace Music is always near the top.

While MSN and MySpace offer similar music services - both offer music downloads, playback of tunes, information about concert appearances, and commercial music videos - MySpace Music tends to be a bit more interactive. It features highly trafficked user forums for categories such as acoustic and metal, plus a karaoke section that lets Web visitors post videos of their own musical performances. MSN Music, meanwhile, adds content such as music blogs and photo galleries.

MSN trails behind MySpace Music in traffic, too. AOL Music, is the leader in this arena with 27.4 million unique monthly visitors, according to an April report by comScore. MySpace Music came in second in the comScore rankings, while MSN Music trailed behind in sixth place.

A deal between MSN and MySpace would have some precedent. MSN's sports site is powered by Fox Sports, which like MySpace is a News Corp. property. In fact, Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal has reported that MSN, FoxSports, and independent blog aggregator Yardbarker have just inked a deal which deepens an existing content syndication and ad sales pact between the three hubs.

In a blog post published in mid-July, Boomtown reported that MSN is looking to attract more users by concentrating on five areas - entertainment, news, sports, finance, and lifestyle - while intertwining more data from its Bing search engine.

A few days back Google and social networking site Facebook has also announced the availability of music on their respective sites indicating a sudden surge in the online availability of music.

Fever FM posts loss of Rs 23.3 mn for Q2 '10

HT Media's radio venture Fever FM has posted a loss of Rs 23.3 million for the quarter ended 30 September 2009.

The losses however were down in this quarter, as the previous quarter had showed losses to the extent of Rs 26.3 million.

Revenues in the second quarter were Rs 97.8 million, up from Rs 88.3 million during Q1.

The radio business of HT Media was demerged from subsidiary company HT Music and Entertainment (HTME) earlier this year. The company has earlier said that high brand building cost, delay in availability of common infrastructure resulting in substantial investment in transmission facilities for Delhi and Mumbai FM Radio stations have set it back, but that it expects the year 2009 -2010 to earn positive results for the radio business.

For the parent company, total revenues increased by 4.15 per cent year on year to Rs 3,481 million from Rs 3,342 million. The company credited Rs 98 million on account of merger of the radio business, effective 1 January 2009. These increases have been offset to the extent of marginal decline in advertisement revenues of the publishing segment to Rs 2,821 million from Rs 2,831 million, said HT Media in a statement.

Radio Mirchi back in the black under tight cost control

Noida gets its first community radio station

The Asian School of Media Studies owned by Marwah Studios head Sandeep Marwah, based in the film city Noida has been given permission to establish, maintain and operate a Community Radio Station. With this, the number of CRs will increase to 59 in the country.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has signed a Grant of Permission Agreement with the School and the Letter of Intent had been issued to the organization after recommendations of the Inter Ministerial Committee and seeking requisite clearances from various Ministries. The Community Radio Station is expected to be operational within three months as per the agreement.

The School has been interacting with not-for-profit organizations in Noida devoted to the welfare of underprivileged section of the local community. The underprivileged section of the society comprises of migrant labour working in the factories, business houses and petty shops as well as domestic help and rickshaw pullers etc. The School intends to lend valuable support to such organizations in their effort to help the deprived section of the society through radio broadcasts. CRS, will help the people in learning about pollution control in their surroundings, literacy programme in their area, general health and hygiene, health care of seniors and elders and traditional health tips.

The Ministry encourages setting up of the Community Radio Stations as CRS promises to provide an opportunity to the local communities to express themselves, and empower women. The main aim of starting the CRS is to provide different and useful information to the people in nearby villages.

Although community radios were allowed since April 2005, the Central Government in December 2006 had liberalized the Policy on Community Radio by bringing in the civil society and voluntary organizations, agricultural universities, ICAR institutions, Krishi Vigyan Kendras etc under its ambit. The policy was liberalized to allow greater participation by the civil society on issues of development and social change. Earlier, only educational institutions were permitted to launch community radio channels.

The Government in late 2007 also announced that existing community radio operators can take advantage of the revised guidelines for new operators and get their broadcast permission extended to five years from three years.

In the new guidelines, limited advertising and announcements relating to local events, local businesses and services and employment opportunities shall be allowed. The maximum duration of such limited advertising will be restricted to Five minutes per hour of broadcast.

CR station to come up at Dharamshala

The Tibetan Children’s Village School at Dharamshala Cantt. Himachal Pradesh has signed the GOPA with the ministry of information and broadcasting for establishing, maintaining and operating a Community Radio Station.

Letter of Intent had been issued to the organization after recommendations of Inter Ministerial Committee and seeking requisite clearances from various Ministries. The Community Radio Station is expected to be operational within three months as per the agreement. With this, the number of CRS will increase to 58 in the country.

The Tibetan Children’s Village School at Lower Dharamshala was established in 1984. Its CRS will focus on programs on developmental, agricultural, health, educational, environmental, social welfare and community development issues.

Google Gives New Look To Its Social networking Site ‘Orkut’

In an effort that Google says would make the Orkut experience a more 'worthful' one for its users, the company has changed its look on Friday.

Not only this, the Social networking site owned by Google has added a host of new features with the intention to recover ground from one of its biggest contender 'Facebook'.

With the latest changes including posting video testimonials, altering the colors of the content boxes and the ability to find friends automatically, video chat integrated with Google Talk, ability to upload pics in bulk, add and view photographs and video recordings in-line.

In its statement, Google said that the novel look has a user interface, or homepage, which is quicker and simpler to use.

Vinay Goel, Google India Head (Products) said, "With the new user interface (UI), the user does not have to visit each page for viewing videos, or say posting scraps.

He gets to see all updates and respond to his friends from the homepage itself."

Mr. Goel added that they have approximately 80-100 million users all through the world.

After Brazil, India is the second developing market for 'Orkut', he further said.

UK broadcaster SIS LIVE gets contract to cover 2010 Commonwealth Games

Public broadcaster Doordarshan has awarded the prestigious contract to cover the Commonwealth Games 2010 to the British company SIS Live.

Europe's largest outside broadcast (OB) and uplink supplier, SIS Live (Satellite Information Service) will provide the production and coverage facilities and services to cover the Commonwealth Games in High Definition TV (HD TV) to ensure better image resolution for the first time in India and for Commonwealth Games.

According to the Director General, Doordarshan, Aruna Sharma, Prasar Bharati, has tied up with SIS Live, after an exhaustive tender process.

Providing the details of the contract, Sharma said SIS Live would provide all production facilities and personnel to cover 17 different sports across 12 venues in Delhi, as well as the Games' opening and closing ceremonies.

In addition, SIS Live provided coverage of the Queen's Baton Relay, which started from Buckingham Palace, London, today, before making a 340-day, 190,000-kilometre journey across all the Commonwealth countries, ending in New Delhi at the start of the Games.

As well as providing the technical infrastructure to cover the Games, SIS Live is providing over 1,000 highly-skilled technical and production staff at the 12 venues. As well as providing the technical infrastructure to cover the Games, SIS LIVE is providing over 12000 highly-skilled technical and production staff at the 12 venues assisted by 300 DD staff. Training for the DD staff will be started soon in New Delhi by foreign technicians.

SIS Live will also provide foreign commentators for the Commonwealth Games, though DD will arrange Hindi and other regional languages commentators for the domestic viewers as well, Sharma added.

Being the host broadcaster, Doordarshan presented its production and coverage preparedness plan for the Commonwealth Games at the just concluded World Broadcasting Meet held in New Delhi from October 3 to 14, 2009 for the Rights Holding Broadcasters (RHBs) from various Commonwealth nations.

Prasar Bharti has made elaborate and comprehensive publicity plans on TV and Radio to generate awareness for the Games. Pre-Game programming components highlighting a range of activities have also been put on Doordarshan from next month as disclosed by Sharma.

Prasar Bharti also held a World Broadcaster Meet on Commonwealth Games in the capital between October 26 and 28.

SIS Live, which incorporates the former BBC Outside Broadcast division, has over 70 years experience of covering major sporting vents, and currently provides the facilities and personnel to cover everything from Formula One to Wimbledon to the London arathon. (ANI)

K Radhakrishnan takes over as ISRO chief

Avionics expert K Radhakrishnan today took over as the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from G Madhavan Nair here.

A highly respected scientist with 35 years of experience in ISRO, 60-year-old Radhakrishnan has played a key role in many of the country's space projects, including Chandrayaan-I.

"It is with high hopes and great expectations that I am taking over this responsibility. It is a huge task that has been entrusted on me. I am confident that we will be able to achieve our goals with the dedicated work and support of the entire team of ISRO," he said after assuming charge.

Before his elevation as ISRO chief, Radhakrishnan was the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).

He joined the organisation in 1973 shortly after graduating in Electronic Engineering. He later pursued MBA from IIM Bangalore and a doctorate from IIT, Kharagpur.

JK to take up pre-paid mobile issue with Centre

Jammu and Kashmir government today said it would take up with the the Union Home Ministry the issue of ban on prepaid mobile phones to ensure that genuine users do not suffer and security is also not compromised.

"We will approach MHA and try to work out an arrangement where the genuine user doesn't suffer and security is not also compromised," an official spokesman said, terming the ban effective from tomorrow as not a positive development.

The ban came in the wake of reports that proper verification is not being done while providing such connections by the service providers/vendors raising security concerns.

"It is a decision taken by the union government. We will monitor its impact on genuine users and take appropriate measures accordingly. It is not a positive development.

I-T Dept slaps notice on Vodafone

Alleges tax evasion on $11.2-billion deal
In a setback to telecom major Vodafone Essar, the Income Tax Department on Thursday issued a showcause notice to Vodafone International Holdings, alleging tax evasion in its $11.2-billion deal with Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd in 2007.

In the 531-page notice sent under Section 201(1) and 201(1A) of the IT Act, 1961, it asked Vodafone to explain why it should not be held that “the tax department has competent jurisdiction to proceed against it for the default of non-deduction of tax at source” in the transaction.

“The date fixed for compliance of the notice is November 16, 2009,” the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement. Vodafone, in a statement, confirmed it had received the notice but added that “the development does not affect the strength of its position”.

“Vodafone is confident that no tax is payable on this transaction and all of the taxation and legal advice received remains consistent with this view. Vodafone has cooperated fully with the tax department throughout the process, and will continue to do so,” said the statement.

On May 8, 2007, Vodafone had paid $11.2 billion to Hutchison Telecommunications International for transfer of interest in the Indian company Hutch Essar Ltd. An earlier notice issued in the matter to Vodafone was challenged before the Bombay High Court in a writ petition, which was dismissed on December 3, 2008. Vodafone filed a special leave petition before the Supreme Court against the order of the High Court.

On January 23, 2009, the apex court dismissed its appeal, saying CBDT had jurisdiction over the matter. The court, however, gave it the liberty to “question the decision of the authority on the preliminary issue before the High Court, in the event the same is decided against it”.

Airtel launches triple-play game

India’s largest private sector telecom player Bharti Airtel has launched a triple-play arcade puzzle game Getris on all three services of Airtel — mobile, Internet and direct to home (DTH).
Based on the popular game Tetris, Getris is targeted at the 14-18 age group and was available for a free preview on Diwali for Airtel’s mobile, broadband and DTH customers.

“This is Airtel’s first attempt to launch a game on all three platforms. Anyway, games on DTH is a new phenomenon. An Airtel customer can play the game on any one of the three services and seamlessly continue his experience on the remaining two platforms using a unique code on each occasion. The game will float across the three screens,” said Sugato Banerji, chief marketing officer — DTH, Bharti Airtel

Getris will be available for Airtel’s DTH customers at Rs 25 for every two months and Rs 10 per month for Airtel mobile customers. However, for Airtel broadband customers, it will be available for free.

The Getris game starts with the user arranging falling “pingoos” to create horizontal lines. Once a full horizontal line is filled up with the “pingoos”, the line disappears. After user completes a level of the game and exits, a unique code is generated. This code can be used to play the game, from the level where the user exited, on any platform. There will be a total of 100 levels for the game and the speed will increase with each level up.

Explaining that transporting games to DTH was not easy, Banerji said: “We will not have multiplayer games on the DTH platform. However, going forward, this month we will have racing games and ‘match the following’ games for a younger audience on DTH.”

The company is evaluating 50 games on a six-weekly basis and will do a customer feedback post. “We expect around 1.5 per cent of our customer base to play games on DTH,” added Banerji.

Intel eyes 4G entry in India

In talks with leading telcos for minority stake.
Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, is understood to be in talks with leading Indian telecom companies like Tata Communications (formerly VSNL), Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications that could bid for broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum to be auctioned by the government in January 2010.

Talks are currently centred on Intel offering Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access or WiMAX (which provides for wireless transmission of data and up to 75 Mb/sec speed) technology — one of the popular BWA technologies — to the operator, and the possibility of taking a minority stake through its venture capital arm, Intel Capital.

A global debate is still on, but most experts consider technologies like WiMAX close to fourth generation (4G) services, offering better speeds than 3G on GSM networks. It is constrained by the fact that it does not provide enough mobility currently and experiments are on in some countries to offer full mobile voice and data service on such networks.

Unlike in countries like Sweden and Bangladesh where Intel has bid for spectrum directly to run WiMAX services (with other partners), the model in India will involve partnerships with current telecom players. Intel has, however, made it clear it isn't interested in becoming a service provider to push WiMAX.

A source close to the development says Intel plans to float a new company for its WiMAX foray in the country. “Spectrum farming is not Intel's idea. Rather, it’s spectrum partnership,” adds the source.

Asked about the talks, an Intel India spokesperson declined to comment, as did Bharti Airtel, RComm and Tata Communications.

Intel also plans to follow a consortium approach in India to roll out WiMAX-based broadband services in India, similar to its approach to the US and other markets, including Japan, where it has partnered with the likes of Google and Sprint.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) recently released the information memorandum to auction spectrum for third generation (3G) and BWA services. Under the memorandum, DoT plans to auction two blocks of BWA spectrum at a base price of Rs 1,750 crore for a pan-India licence. The spectrum, which is the radio frequencies that enable mobile communications, will be given in the 2.3 GHz band. Once the defence services vacate more spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band, this will be open for BWA aspirants.

Currently, the country has just around 6.5 million broadband subscribers, much below the estimated 20 million projected by the government by 2010. About 80 per cent of broadband is offered through digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, another 8 per cent through cable and only 1 per cent through wireless.

THE government hopes that by auctioning BWA spectrum, broadband through wireless technology would spur growth.

However, many mobile operators say that GSM 3G services will provide high speed internet data to the masses and is far superior to WiMAX which is still not “established” and its equipment is very expensive.

Last December, state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, had invited bids from potential franchisees to provide mobile WiMAX to its customers in 16 circles last December.

Around 28 companies, including majors like Intel Technology India, Alacatel-Lucent India, Motorola India, Moser Baer Industrial Infrastructure, Huawei, HCL Infosystems, Larsen & Toubro Infotech and TCIL, figured among those who bought the tender documents.

BSNL may roll out 3G in city in November

State-run telecom operator BSNL is eyeing November as the date for the launch of 3G mobile services in Bangalore. The company is testing the technology and expects sizeable subscriber base from the city. Post its launch, the company plans to start with a capacity of 200,000 3G users.
With the availability of 3G spectrum, about 275 million Indian subscribers will use 3G-enabled services, and the number of 3G-enabled handsets will reach close to 395 million by 2013-end, estimates the latest report by Evalueserve, a provider of knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) services.

BSNL has a subscriber base of 2.5 million in Karnataka for GSM customers, 420,000 for CDMA and around 480,000 broadband customers. The company has already launched 3G services in cities in the northern and eastern region, and plans are afoot to expand it to other states.

Kuldeep Goyal, chairman and managing director, BSNL, said the company is looking at new business segments for the upcoming fiscal like sharing the tower infrastructure with other private telecom players and looking at business opportunities in Africa.. “We have identified some companies in the African region and will look at the bidding process,” said Goyal. He added that the due-diligence into Zain Telecom for which BSNL and MTNL are looking at picking up a 46 per cent stake will start soon.

BSNL has launched its first pre-paid broadband and high speed internet (24 Mbps) services in Bangalore. A pre-requisite for customers wanting to subscribe to prepaid broadband services is to have a BSNL landline connection. A customer can opt for either an unlimited or a limited download pre-paid account.

BSNL started broadband services on DSL lines in 2005 from Bangalore and has 4.3 million customers nationally. The company has already installed broadband capacity on DSL lines of 8.5 million of which 1.5 million ports are in rural areas.

Vodafone ties up with Jayam Movies

Cellular services provider Vodafone has entered into an exclusive tie-up with Telugu film production house Jayam Movies to host a talent hunt.
The selected candidates will star in a forthcoming movie by Telugu director and producer, Teja, known for his movies like Chitram, Jayam and Nuvu Nenu.

Registration for the contest can be done only through Vodafone numbers in Andhra Pradesh.

Aspiring candidates need to simply use their Vodafone AP number to register through voice, SMS or on WAP page. The registrations are open till October 30, 2009.

“This initiative will help up reach out to aspiring youth and provide them an avenue to realise their ambitions,” S Murali, chief operating officer, Vodafone Essar (Andhra Pradesh), stated in a press release on Monday.

Psychic computer shows your thoughts on screen

Scientists have discovered how to “read” minds by scanning brain activity and reproducing images of what people are seeing — or even remembering.

Researchers have been able to convert into crude video footage the brain activity stimulated by what a person is watching or recalling.

The breakthrough raises the prospect of significant benefits, such as allowing people who are unable to move or speak to communicate via visualisation of their thoughts; recording people’s dreams; or allowing police to identify criminals by recalling the memories of a witness.

However, it could also herald a new Big Brother era, similar to that envisaged in the Hollywood film Minority Report, in which an individual’s private thoughts can be readily accessed by the authorities.

Jack Gallant and Shinji Nishimoto, two neurologists from the University of California, Berkeley, last year managed to correlate activity in the brain’s visual cortex with static images seen by the person. Last week they went one step further by revealing that it is possible to “decode” signals generated in the brain by moving scenes.

In an experiment which has yet to be peer reviewed, Gallant and Nishimoto, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology, scanned the brains of two patients as they watched videos.

A computer programme was used to search for links between the configuration of shapes, colours and movements in the videos, and patterns of activity in the patients’ visual cortex.

It was later fed more than 200 days’ worth of YouTube internet clips and asked to predict which areas of the brain the clips would stimulate if people were watching them.

Finally, the software was used to monitor the two patients’ brains as they watched a new film and to reproduce what they were seeing based on their neural activity alone.

Remarkably, the computer programme was able to display continuous footage of the films they were watching — albeit with blurred images.

In one scene which featured the actor Steve Martin wearing a white shirt, the software recreated his rough shape and white torso but missed other details, such as his facial features.

Another scene, showing a plane flying towards the camera against a city skyline, was less successfully reproduced. The computer recreated the image of the skyline but omitted the plane altogether.

“Some scenes decode better than others,” said Gallant. “We can decode talking heads really well. But a camera panning quickly across a scene confuses the algorithm.

“You can use a device like this to do some pretty cool things. At the moment when you see something and want to describe it to someone you have to use words or draw it and it doesn’t work very well.

“You could use this technology to transmit the image to someone. It might be useful for artists or to allow you to recover an eyewitness’s memory of a crime.”

Such technology may not be confined to the here and now. Scientists at University College London have conducted separate tests that detect, with an accuracy of about 50%, memories recalled by patients.

The discoveries come amid a flurry of developments in the field of brain science. Researchers have also used scanning technology to measure academic ability, detect early signs of Alzheimer’s and other degenerative conditions, and even predict the decision a person is about to make before they are conscious of making it.

Such developments may have controversial ramifications. In Britain, fMRI scanning technology has been sold to multinational companies, such as Unilever and McDonald’s, enabling them to see how we subconsciously react to brands.

In America, security agencies are researching the use of brain scanners for interrogating prisoners, and Lockheed Martin, the US defence contractor, is reported to have studied the possibility of scanning brains at a distance.

This would allow an individual’s thoughts and anxieties to be examined without their knowledge in sensitive locations such as airports.

Russell Foster, a neuroscientist at Oxford University, said rapid advances in the field were throwing up ethical dilemmas.

“It’s absolutely critical for scientists to inform the public about what we are doing so they can engage in the debate about how this knowledge should be used,” he said.

“It’s the age-old problem: knowledge is power and it can be used for both good and evil.”

Rediff.com backs location-sensing tech company

Rediff.com has taken a minority interest in location-enabling technologies company, Imere

Imere Technologies Pvt. Ltd., a Bangalore based company has got backing from India's leading online portal, Rediff.com India Ltd, both in terms of capital and as a platform.

Imere brings location-awareness to applications and provides a host of comprehensive geospatial features for cutting-edge mobile and Internet location-based services.

The company's technologies work without the need for GPS on mobile phones, said a press release. On the Internet, Imere endeavors to bring high levels of user location accuracy without entirely being dependant on IP addresses.

Ajit Balakrishnan, Chairman and CEO, Rediff.com said "Location-awareness in applications is critical for hyper-local search and local advertising besides many evolving social networking and enterprise applications. Imere's technology is very cost effective in delivering location awareness."

"The investment from Rediff will not only help us achieve our goals, but also is strategically very important for the company" said Anil Mathews, founder of Imere.

"Imere's location technologies will enable the creation of innovative and enhanced user experiences as the market adopts the power of location," he added.

Imere uses Cell-ID, Wi-Fi, GPS, IP Addresses and proprietary algorithms in its technologies, bringing location accuracy for both mobile and Internet applications. Imere would be initially focusing on the emerging domestic market before going global, added the release.

Modern space complex to come up in Kerala's Ponmudi hills

A modern space science complex of international standards is to be set up by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in the Ponmudi hills, 1000 meters above sea level in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

The complex to come up by 2011 would house a state-of-the-art observatory with sophisticated telescopes, planetarium, space museum, special wings and the laboratories attached to the Indian Institute of Space Technology (IIST), the ISRO set up last year in Thiruvananthapuram near its Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC). The complex will also include residential wings for visiting scientists and other VIPs.

The space complex's foundation stone was laid by TKA Nair, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister on November 1 in the 20 acres of land provided by the state government in the picturesque Ponmudi hills, 60 km from Thiruvananthapuram. The function was attended by G Madhavan Nair, ISRO's outgoing chairman, K Radhakrishnan who took over as the new chairman , PS Veeraraghavan, the newly appointed director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, M Chandradathan, Director, Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikotta, MKG Nair, Director, LPSC among others.

Both Madhavan Nair and Radhakrishnan said that ISRO's roadmap until 2025 was ready for execution. The future programmes include launching of GSLV-Mark III, Chadrayan II and also human mission to space. SDSC's Dathan said the development of infrastructure for human space flight has begun at SDSC.

Cell phone waste, the next big threat to environment

Sporting a new mobile phone may be fashionable in these well-connected times, but the discarded old handsets could poison the environment, as a whopping 8,000 tonnes of cell phone waste is estimated to burden the earth by 2012.

As per a whitepaper by global consultancy Deloitte, there is a growing need to better manage the rising cell phone waste, as it is posing a threat to the environment.

Replacement sales predict that more cell phones would be retired every year with rapid changes in technology and product designs discouraging mobile repairs and increasing demand for new mobiles and disposal of old ones.

"With the absence of a proper recycle and reuse program, about 8,000 tonnes of toxic cell phone components are estimated to be dumped in landfills by 2012. The resulting contamination will have far reaching consequences for the environment and all living beings," Deloitte Consulting India Regional Managing Director Parag Saigaonkar told PTI.

The problem begins when retired handsets end up in landfill sites or if they are dumped illegally, leading to toxic substances seeping into the groundwater, making disposal of old cells a problem for the world, the report revealed.

"As India is one of the fastest growing markets in the world in terms of mobile phone subscribers, we need to be more aware of the threat, which these gadgets pose to the environment and strict government guidelines should be created to deal with it," Saigaonkar added.

Comedy Calling Harsh

Harsh Chhaya is gearing up for something different now. The actor will be seen in a completely different avatar as a standup comedian in Comedy Harsh
Circus.And through his long career, this would actually be the first time he would be trying his hand at slapstick comedy. In the show he’s teamed up with Jimmy Moses and Tina Dutta.

Of course Harsh has done some comedy roles too, but he’s always more associated with his serious characters on TV. So this is something new he’s venturing into.

The actor thought that this genre would be the easiest of all, but he was proven wrong when he sat with the team to prepare for it. It wasn’t a cakewalk, he realised. “Yes, after I sat with the team, I started having my doubts. But I love to push myself so I decided on giving it my best shot. At the end of it I wont be upset even if it’s not appreciated,” he said. Let’s watch out for Harsh..

Sony Ericsson launches 3 smartphones

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson launched three new smartphones in the Indian market, priced between Rs16,950 and Rs35,950.

The phones, "Satio", "Aino" and "Yari", will set the trend for the new age smartphones, said Anil Sethi, president of Sony Ericsson Mobile India.

He said the company would focus on the smartphone category for the next two-three years to boost sales.

"Once the 3G spectrum allocation happens, we can roll out more features with better network," Sethi said.

Built on Sony Ericsson's strengths in music, imaging, gaming, applications and content services, the new phones bring alive entertainment on the go for consumers, the company said.

The Satio, priced at Rs 35,950, comes with a 3.5-inch screen and offers a 16:9 widescreen format with 12.1 megapixel camera.

The Aino offers services to access content stored on a PlayStation 3 from anywhere in the world through a Wi-Fi connection.

It also gives remote play access to videos, television shows and photos. The mobile has an eight megapixel camera and is priced at Rs 28,950.

Yari debuts Gesture gaming that enables users to make the moves in front of the screen and play games without even touching the phone. The Phone comes with a five megapixel camera and is priced at Rs 16,950.

Nokia to close gaming service N-Gage

Nokia will close its battered gaming service N-Gage next year, acknowledging failure in its first major services offering.

The handset maker's mobile gaming push has encountered major challenges over the years, with consumers first shunning its dedicated gaming phones.

The online gaming service, opened last year, never moved beyond a niche audience.

Nokia has started to look for new revenues from online services as its traditional handset market is maturing, with games and music being the first focus areas of the cell phone maker.

"We will no longer publish new games for the N-Gage platform," Nokia said on its N-Gage blog.

It said the games from its first major services offering can be purchased until the end of September 2010, and the community site will remain in operation throughout 2010.

After closing the N-Gage service it will continue to sell mobile games at its Ovi Store, a smaller rival to Apple's popular App Store.

Shares in Nokia were 2.6 per cent lower at 8.62 euros at 1620 GMT.

IBM gives voice to browsers

IBM researchers have created technology, initially developed for visually-impaired users, that makes it simpler for Webmasters to make the
ir Web sites more readable on the small screens of mobile devices, reducing burdensome scrolling through out-of-order text and graphics.

The Web has turned consumers into do-it-yourself travel agents, data entry clerks and librarians. With the rise of blogs and social media, they have also been turned into syndicated columnists. As such, many have also been forced to become amateur Webmasters, faced with the challenge of cramming content into a format readable on mobile devices, including cellphones – an increasingly common way to access the Internet.

To help Webmasters of all skill levels, IBM researchers in Tokyo have developed a visual editor technology that enables Webmasters to arrange their Web site content reading flow in a logically-ordered sequence -- without changing the existing content -- that can be easily read on the small screens of mobile devices. The editing tool can also improve the browsing experience for visually impaired Web surfers who use voice browsers to read Web content.

The visual editor uses smoothly connecting arrows to show in what order voice browsers would present content. To edit the reading flow, Webmasters need only drag, drop and re-arrange the arrows. This is an improvement over more cumbersome methods, such as using voice browsers to check reading flow line by line, and requiring Webmasters to copy and paste large amounts of content to a memopad to check reading flow.

In addition to Web pages, the tool can be applied to electronic presentations, PDF documents and Flash content to improve their contextual reading flow.

Tax claim notice issued to Vodafone

India's tax department said on Friday it had issued a show-cause notice to Vodafone for default of non-deduction of tax related to its
$11.2 billion stake purchase of Hutchison Telecom's Indian operations in 2007.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes, part of the finance ministry, said in a statement Vodafone had to comply with the notice by Nov 16.

Qualcomm to launch Rs 10K PC

Mobile chip maker Qualcomm Inc said it hopes to launch its Rs 10,000 (around $210) personal computer alternative 'Kayak' in India in the s
econd half of next year.

The San-Diego-based wireless technology provider is in talks with major Indian telecom service providers like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications to bring the product in India.

"Early next year we will start the trial and we hope we should be able to commercialise it in the second half," Qualcomm Inc Senior Vice-President Kanwalinder Singh said.

"We are talking to telecom operators like Airtel, Tata Teleservices and Reliance to bring this alternative (Kayak) to India," he said.

Last year, the company had said it would launch a 3G-enabled Internet access platform Kayak in the emerging markets to provide both connectivity and computing.

"We believe we can build a device consisting of display, keyboard and mouse for less than Rs 10,000. It will make Internet access simple, affordable and run for 9-10 hours. The device would also allow users to make calls," he said.

"We aim to bridge the digital divide in India. In urban India PC penetration is higher than in rural India. We want to provide access to new technology to rural people to change there lives," Singh said.

The competition in cheap PC market is hotting up as major chip maker Intel has introduced $400 Classmate PC.

The Indian government has also announced launching a cheap PC alternative for Rs 500 to provide educational solutions in around 18,000 colleges of 400 universities in India.

New WiFi for phones coming soon

Starting in 2010, new versions of gadgets like cameras, cell phones and PCs will be able to talk to each other using WiFi without connect
ing to a network first.

The WiFi Alliance, an industry group announced that it’s nearly finished putting together a WiFi Direct specification, a set of “rules” that guide companies to add the new capability.

Kelly Davis-Felner, the WiFi Alliance’s marketing director, said WiFi Direct will make it easier to liberate the gigabytes of digital family photos that are trapped in cameras, phones or PCs. Now those gadgets will be able to connect directly to digital photo frames, TVs or printers.

In creating the specification, the Alliance is moving into the territory of Bluetooth, a wireless technology that already handles direct gadget-to-gadget connections.

Bluetooth uses less power but has much shorter range and a lower transfer speed. To tackle the latter problem, the industry group behind Bluetooth announced last year that it would co-opt WiFi technology to make it possible to send videos and other large files around the house, much as Wi-Fi Direct promises to do.

Only one of the gadgets need have the new WiFi Direct technology to make a two-way connection work. In one scenario, you could connect a smartphone with WiFi Direct to a laptop and piggyback on its wired Internet connection for a quick email check without tapping your phone’s data plan.

Radio Sarang launches legal show

Mangalore based community radio station by St. Aloysius College- Radio Sarang 107.8 has introduced a new dimension to their programming by airing a phone-in program this month.

Known as “Kaanoonu Kacheri" (Legal Cell), it is currently a weekly phone-in program in collaboration with a local law college and practising advocates. Explains St Aloysius head of department of Mass Communication and Journalism and Sarang director Dr Richard Rego, “We introduced the slot to create awareness about the legal procedure and educate masses on legal problems. We have a weekly half an hour broadcast every Wednesday at 6pm and plan to increase it.” The show is currently broadcasted in Kannada and would include Tulu and Konkani shortly.

The principal of the law college moderates the discussion where callers can call in with their law related queries. “We have new issues every week, so far we had discussions on Dowry Prohibition Act, Right to information, termination of medical pregnancy, women harassment etc,” adds Rego.

Radioandmusic.com has earlier mentioned that Radio Sarang 107.8 MHz had approached the Wireless planning and coordination (WPC) wing of the Ministry of Communications for rectifying technical issues in their frequency. “Although we have referred the issue to the I&B, we have not received any acknowledgement from the ministry. We are still facing transmission issues with interference in our broadcast and would prefer change in frequency as our current frequency is in the end of the spectrum.”

Music industry impressed by Apple's latest

Software giant Apple showcased the upgraded versions of the latest Pro studio series - Logic Studio and Final Cut Studio in Mumbai on 30 October, 2009. Guitarist and Apple Computer Specialist Paul Goodyear demonstrated some of the key features that were awaited by many industry sound professionals.

Apple's Mumbai showcase was attended by well known names like K J Singh (A R Rahman’s sound engineer), Bollywood music composers Salim- Sulaiman, Musician Dhruv Ghanekar (of Drona fame), Eric Pillai (Pritam's sound engineer) and industry veteran Kerci Lord.

With more than 100 new features, the new Final Cut Studio advances the art and technology of filmmaking with innovations that help you work faster, collaborate more efficiently and finish brilliantly. Adding Final Cut Server frees up even more time for creative work, with new features that make it exceptionally flexible and easy to use.

Music composer Salim Merchant was visibly impressed by a feature on the new Final Cut Studio that helped him to convert whatever he recorded in sheet music. "I am really kicked by this feature, as it allows me to convert whatever I play into notations," he said. Salim also demonstrated how those notations were further customized to be used for string sections. With the availability of this tool, it’s not essential for the composer to know notations since the software ably converts whatever the musician plays into sheets.

One of the interesting features of the Final Cut Studio that left every one in awe was the Flex Time tool that allowed the user to edit a music piece with precision and manipulate the timing and tempo of the recording for the tightest performance possible. So, next time if you hear one thing on record and something else when performed live – you know what was used!

The new Logic Studio on the other hand includes over 200 new features that let you write, record, edit, mix and perform your music. It also comes with the largest collection of software instruments, effect plug-ins and Apple Loops ever packed into a single box. However, more than anything, its an haven for guitarists as it includes an integrated Amp Designer, Pedalboard plug-ins that make sit easy to re-create realistic versions of the most iconic guitar tones at the same time lets you sound as good when a musician performs live.

Mumbai CR station Jago Mumbai to air from Jan '10

'Jago Mumbai' 107.8 FM, the community radio venture initiated by the Union Park Residents Association, Mumbai is hopeful of hitting the airwaves in January next year.Having signed the GOPA (Grant of Permission Agreement) in September 2009 with the Information and Broadcasting ministry, the NGO is on the lookout for sponsors to fund the project.

The Khar based Union Park Residents Association has been involved in ALM (Advance locality management) from the past few years and have been working in the areas of environment, conservation of electricity, water harvesting etc. Explaining the objective behind setting up a community radio station, chairman of the radio project Naveen Chandra states, "We want to expand our activities by reaching out to the masses and educating them about to curtail the exploitation of the environment."

"We are awaiting the issue of operating license and frequency from the ministry and would be initiating our broadcast within three months as per the regulations of GOPA."

The community radio would have a reach of 10 kms and reach out areas of Mahim, Juhu, Andheri, Carter road, Bandra, Versova and cover a pollution of two million in the area. "At the radio station, we would concentrate on civic issues like conservation of energy and water, garbage management, cleanliness, health, sanitation. It is intended to empower, unearth and showcase that community radio station can provide a network for social interface resulting in self - development."

Jago Mumbai would be the second community radio station in Mumbai after Mumbai University run 'Must FM' started in February 2008. Both the stations would have the same frequency of 107.8 FM; Must FM and Jago Mumbai would operate from central and western suburbs respectively. "We would be exchanging some content with Must FM on civic issues."

The NGO would be buying its transmitter from Tata Elxsi and is looking out for sponsors to bear the cost of setting up the infrastructure. "As it is a NGO funded station, we are partially funding the radio project and are on a lookout for sponsors to rope in for the community radio."

Radio One announces positive results for Q2 FY10 and H1 2009

Radio One 94.3, the joint venture between Mid-Day Multimedia and BBC Worldwide, has announced its quarter and first half financial results for 2009. Net revenue for H1 was stood at Rs 15.16 crore, a growth of 3 per cent over the corresponding period last year, which stood at Rs 14.66 crore. At the quarter level, the figures for H1 last year and this year were identical at Rs 8.02 crore.

EBIDTA (Earnings before interest Depreciation Tax and Amortization) was up 2 per cent over H1 last year despite adding a full station cost of Kolkata. Company sources revealed that this was an encouraging performance given that the radio industry had dipped in revenues by 6.5 per cent all India, and by over 13 per cent in the seven cities that Radio One operates.

In a release issued, Vineet Singh Hukmani, Managing Director, Radio One, said, “We have achieved our stable financial performance based on a ‘sound sales strategy’ and excellent cost management. Apart from growing in net revenues in a difficult time, we have been declared the No. 1 radio brand and No. 7 media brand from a list of 125 brands in the media space (Pitch magazine survey on media planners and buyers) on the strength of our innovative idea solutions for clients and agencies.”

He further said, “We are the only radio player to start an education revenue stream in partnership with Symbiosis International University, which includes a radio management course to be extended to three cities soon. We are the only focused ‘music leader’ in the FM market where we average 34 per cent more songs per hour than any competitor, allowing our ‘maximum music fataafat’ proposition to be tangible to our listeners.”

“For the radio business to grow, it is imperative that the Government extend the license fee period from 10 years to 15 years, given that no player has or is likely to break even in the first five years. This extension of license fee period will make the industry lucrative for investment both with Indian and foreign investors. It is this simple step that will allow Phase III to be an attractive investment opportunity. Allowing an FDI limit of 49 per cent is really crucial as there are many foreign media entertainment brands interested in the Indian radio metro markets. We need a quick solution to very high music costs that are preventing radio companies from making healthy profits,” Hukmani noted.

Radio One operates in seven cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune.

MTNL to offer 3G connections for Rs 109 in Mumbai

State-run telecom operator Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) on Monday said it will offer new 3G prepaid connections for Rs 109 in its
Mumbai circle.

New subscribers can avail new '3G Tariff', with local voice and video call charges at 20 paise per minute on own local network and 50 paise per minute for other local networks across Mumbai telecom circle with lifetime validity, MTNL said in a statement.

Third generation or 3G technology offers high speed internet access and download of contents like songs, movie clips and data.

MTNL, which operates in Delhi and Mumbai, offers 3G service under 'Jadoo' brand.

The new connection comes loaded with 25 minutes of free video call, 25 MB of free data usage as well as talk time of Rs 25, it said.

STD voice and video calls would be charged at 75 paise, it added.

TCS, Infosys and Wipro bet big on non-linear growth

It's become the 'holy grail' that every top Indian tech firm is chasing and talking about. After over a decade of growing their revenues at 20-30% every year, TCS, Infosys and Wipro are scrambling to arrest their linear, people-led growth by exploring different ways to ensure that they do not have to hire more in order to serve additional customers, and handle higher volumes of projects.

Together, the country's top three tech firms already employ over 3,00,000 staff between them, and pursuing non-linear growth is on top of their agenda. For Wipro, India's third biggest software exporter, the non-linear journey started some two years ago in an abandoned computer making unit, owned by the company's hardware division at Mysore, which has now evolved as its global services management centre. The centre caters to over 85 customers with around 1,000 staff.

While rivals TCS and Infosys are also pursuing non-linearity as part of their long term agenda, experts say Wipro may have done better in arresting people-led growth by pursuing an 'on demand hiring' strategy.

"To some extent, only Wipro has tried to break the one-to-one correlation between revenue growth and employee addition as it so demonstrated through FY09 – an effort initiated before the crisis intensified in September 2008 with the collapse of Lehman Brothers,” said Edelweiss analysts Viju George, Kunal Sangoi and Pratik Gandhi.
When Suresh Vaswani, Wipro's joint chief executive, was looking for service lines to start a pilot for testing non-linearity, the company's growing hardware management business or infrastructure outsourcing, appeared to be a safe bet. By moving management of desktops, servers, end user devices and communication infrastructure to a remote location, Wipro wanted to see if non-linearity could be applied to other businesses as well. "Managed infrastructure services offered tremendous opportunity for automation, remote delivery and utilisation of different required tools,” Vaswani said. "Having seen early results, we are now committed to make this a big movement for us, internally.”

Over the past two years, Wipro has grown its revenues from infrastructure outsourcing business at over 40% and has increased its work force delivering such services by less than 10%. Overall, Wipro added around 845 employees during the year ended March 2009 and grew its technology services revenues by over 20%. While TCS added around 32,000 employees during 2008-09 and grew revenues by 18%, country's second biggest software exporter Infosys increased its yearly revenues by 11.7% and added 13,663 employees during the same period.

Increased automation and use of same platform for delivering services to multiple customers can help the companies bring down additional number of staff required by over 40%, Vaswani added.

Indian service providers are also being helped by the economic crisis when it comes to practising non-linearity. In a normal year, large customers such as GE, Citibank and many others would like to have dedicated offshore teams working for them exclusively. However, a worsening economic crisis has made these customers seek more cost effective ways. And hardware management is not the only area where vendors can become non-linear.

IT sector may absorb 80,000 graduates by March 2010

Is the IT industry witnessing a silent revival of sorts? Well, the signals seem to clearly suggest as much. Take, for instance, the latest forecast from Nasscom, the apex software industry body. Nasscom expects at least 70,000-80,000 engineering grads who passed out in June 2009 and were offered jobs in their 5th and 6th semesters by TCS, Infosys and Accenture, among others, to get absorbed by March 2010. Not too long ago, there were apprehensions that the appointments of these tech grads could get deferred till 2011 in the aftermath of the global slowdown. That perception appears to have changed.

Speaking to ET, Nasscom vice-president Sangeeta Gupta said: “There’s some amount of pick-up in IT spending and clients have become active in the decision-making process. This augurs well for the IT industry and is likely to result in hiring by IT companies. Companies like TCS, Infosys and Accenture, among others, are expected to start honouring the offers they made. As a result, at least 70k-80k engineering graduates, who were issued offer letters, are expected to get absorbed by March 2010.”

For instance, the country’s biggest software firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) had made some 24,000 offers in 2008-09, according to its Q2 analyst call. During the concall, the company had indicated it would honour these offers this fiscal. In Q3, TCS is expected to absorb about 8,000-odd, and the balance, in the following quarter. Till Q2, the company had absorbed some 1,800 people.

Similarly, Infosys, in its Q2 earnings call, indicated that it would add 20,000 people instead of 18,000 indicated earlier. The additional 2,000 would be partly in BPO while the rest would make up laterals at Infosys Technologies.
Incidentally, Nasscom has urged member companies to recruit those who’ve completed their eighth semester to ensure that hiring is closer to the need of companies. For this fiscal, Nasscom has projected a mere 4-7% export growth. It is likely, that with IT sector showing signs of recovery, Nasscom will review the export target. “We can review the export target by end- December,” she added.

Incidentally, McKinsey in its report titled ‘Perspectives in the IT industry by 2020’, has noted that with the current pace of reforms and expected constraints in talent and infrastructure supply, the exports component of the Indian IT industry is slated to reach $175 billion in revenues by 2020. The domestic component will contribute $50 billion in revenues by 2020, which is larger than the total export revenues for India now.

Google launches search by voice for Nokia S60 phone users

Have you ever been in a hurry and really needed to find an answer to something, but there was no one to ask? Like what is the latest cricket score update, where is the closest restaurant, pharmacy? Now you can just speak your query. Google India announces the launch of a downloadable Google Mobile App for Nokia S60 (most N and E series models e.g. N 86, E- 63) users. This will enable easier and faster access to Google Search.
Google Mobile App is equipped with speech recognition technology designed to understand Indian accents. Search by voice on mobile will now trigger a Google Search as soon as you speak your search query and give you the required results with a high accuracy rate.
So the next time you need to order a pizza, enquire about a taxi service, call up a florist or in case you want to access the plethora of information available on the internet while you are on the road just use search by voice on GMA on your Nokia S 60 phones to initiate a Google Search on your mobile. The free-to-use application helps users to search for updates on cricket and local business listings. The application automatically detects your location. So now as soon as you enter a pizza or pharmacy query and it will return results closest to your current location.
In addition to this, Google Mobile App for Nokia S60 also has a smart suggest feature which suggests search terms query, thus minimizing typing in case you are using the cumbersome mobile key board and this result in faster completion of your query term.
Announcing the launch Vinay Goel, Head of Products, Google India said “There's no denying the importance of search by voice in India, and the extension of Google’s search by voice feature to more mobile handsets is a natural next step for our mobile strategy. Speech is one of our key innovations in the mobile space out of the India engineering center. With millions of new mobile users being added every month Google Mobile App’s will provide them with a quick and easy way to get the required information whenever and wherever they need it. With the launch of this service for Nokia S60 handsets we would be catering to a larger segment of mobile users, as a significant number of Nokia phone users are on the S60"

Indian PC market declines by 7%

When King Khan said Kal tumhara hai in one of the Compaq commercials, little did he realise that it may be Kal ho na ho for the megastar!
Saif Ali Khan, featuring in a Lenovo ad saying ‘make your face your password,’ could have never thought that he would no longer be the face of the brand!

Hit hard by global slowdown and falling sales, country’s personal computer makers decided to change the hardware configuration of their promotion strategy with bollywood celebrities.

Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan have failed to renew their endorsement contracts with HP Compaq and Lenovo. While Shahrukh Khan charges about Rs 5-6 crore per endorsement, Saif Ali Khan reportedly charges Rs 2 crore. The ad contract with Lenovo of Saif with sister Soha is pegged at around Rs 2-3 crore, though Lenovo denied to confirm the same.

Lenovo’s country manager for marketing in India K Ramakrishnan says that the association of Lenovo with Saif and Soha ended in April this year. “We do not have any immediate plans to introduce new brand ambassadors. However, we are on track to deliver a compelling brand experience to our customers through our product, retail and services strategy.”

In India, PC sales declined by 7% in the first half of this fiscal year. IT hardware association MAIT expects PC sales to rebound back to positive by March 2010. The total PC sales between April 2008 and March 2009, with desktop computers, notebooks and netbooks taken together, were 6.79 million (67.9 lakh) units, registering a decline of 7% over the previous year.

Similarly, HP India’s director for mobility business unit, Personal Systems Group, Rajiev Grover says that the company has still not taken a decision to renew contract with Shahrukh Khan, as yet. “The contract expired early this year. We have had a great relationship with Shahrukh Khan. But the company has not taken a decision on celebrity endorsement going forward. We have not discussed the issue as yet.”

Meanwhile, not all PC makers in India are cancelling ad contracts with celebrities. For instance, Acer, which has beaten Dell to become the second largest PC in the world this year, has renewed its contract with Hrithik Roshan.
“We renewed our annual contract with Hrithik Roshan, in June this year. It’s a yearly contract and we have value our association with Hrithik since 2006,” said an Acer India spokesman.

Canon India has also reinforced its relationship with cricket star Sachin Tendulkar, even as IT peripherals market in India is expected to end in positive. But Gartner expects annual PC sales in India to decline 3.7% year-on-year to 8.98 million units, this year.

Global PC sales are expected to decline by 4% this year, due to a sharp dip in early part of the year. The third quarter saw global PC sales at flattish 0.8% growth compared to last year, even as the US has emerged out of recession.

Soon, web addresses in Hindi, other non-Latin scripts

The regulator for online domain names has approved the use of non-Latin scripts such as Hindi and Hebrew in web addresses, a move
that is likely to transform the Internet landscape.

Currently, Internet addresses are limited to Latin characters from "A to Z".

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICAAN), a non-profit body which is responsible for assigning web addresses to users, today approved the proposal to use non-Latin script.

"The coming introduction of non-Latin characters represents the biggest technical change to the Internet since it was created four decades ago.

"Right now, Internet address endings are limited to Latin characters - A to Z. But the Fast Track Process is the first step in bringing the 100,000 characters of the languages of the world online for domain names," ICANN Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush said in a statement.

The Fast Track Process to begin the use of non-Latin scripts would begin on November 16 and would usher in web addresses in scripts like Hindi, Arabic and Hebrew.

Experts believe that ICANN's decision would make the Internet more inclusive as people can be familiar with their own languages online.

The regulator said the process would allow nations and territories to apply for "Internet extensions reflecting their name - and made up of characters from their national language," the statement noted.

"This is only the first step, but it is an incredibly big one and an historic move toward the internationalization of the Internet," ICANN President and CEO Rod Beckstrom.

"The first countries that participate will not only be providing valuable information of the operation of IDNs (international domain names) in the domain name system, they are also going to help to bring the first of billions more people online - people who never use Roman characters in their daily lives." Beckstrom added.

ICANN said that if the applications (for web addresses in non-Latin script) satisfy criteria including government and community support and a stability evaluation, the applicants would be approved to start accepting registrations.

The proposal to use non-Latin scripts was approved by the ICANN's board during their annual meeting in Seoul.

Commenting on the use of non-Latin scripts, Diptarup Chakraborti, who is a Principal Research Analyst at research firm Gartner said, "Internet is predominantly a English medium and it is likely that there would not be much change (with the use of non-Latin scripts) in the near term.

"However, the kind of people using Internet is changing. In such a scenario, users could look at non-Latin scripts for using the Internet," he noted.