Tag: news

Yatra.com Site Down As Company Forgets To Renew Domain Name

In an interesting online story of brand mismanagement, travel website Yatra.com seems to have forgotten to renew its domain name. The name had apparently been registered on August 9, 2000, and expired on August 9, 2013.

This was first spotted when surfers trying to access Yatra.com found themselves being redirected to a domain handler page. (like GoDaddy.com). Online reports indicated that the domain registration was later updated, but only for a year till August 11, 2014. Although the site still remained unavailable which might have lost considerable business for Yatra.com.

Yatra.com message to public

A Yatra.com statement on social networking sites said, “We are facing some technical difficulties with our DNS servers on account of which some of you are unable to access our site. We are working on this and hope to have it resolved in the next couple of hours. For any urgent cancellations or rescheduling, call us at 1860-5000-500”.

However, the website is up and running now. This could be a typical case of the company gone too big to handle ownership of such small areas. But, before blaming them for laziness,we should know that even Google forgot to renew its domain name in 2007.

[via]

August 12, 2013
Aston Martin, AMG Announce Technical Partnership

Reports from a little over 2 months ago spoke of talks between Daimler and Aston Martin, about “supply and technical-cooperation agreements.” Now, Aston Martin has announced that it has signed a Letter of Intent which looks “towards a technical partnership” with Mercedes-AMG GmbH. The two companies aim to have definitive agreements done by year’s end.

The proposed deal will allow Aston Martin access to AMG’s resources for the development of bespoke V8 powertrains for the next generation of the British marque’s models. AMG, which is owned by Daimler, will also assist Aston Martin with electronic architectures. In return for the technical assistance, Daimler will get a non-voting stake of up to five percent of Aston Martin and will join existing shareholders including Investment DAR and Investindustrial.

Aston Martin sources cutting-edge technology from key suppliers around the globe and the opportunity to include content from Mercedes-AMG GmbH in our next-generation sports cars is, clearly, good news. Working with Mercedes-AMG in this way while, of course, remaining independent and preserving the unique character and style of Aston Martin that has been the mainstay of the company throughout its 100-year history, points to a very bright future for the company as it starts its second century in business.

– Ian Minards, Director, Product Development, Aston Martin

Even though part of the deal ensures a supply agreement between AMG, Daimler and Aston Martin, the British automaker will continue to manufacture all of its sports cars at its Gaydon facility.

We are proud to work with Aston Martin and provide them with powertrain and electric/electronic components for their forthcoming sports cars. This is proof of AMG’s technological and performance expertise and a real win-win situation for both sides.

– Ola Källenius, CEO, AMG

July 26, 2013
Rumour : Facebook RSS Reader Set For June 20 Launch

Facebook sent out press invitations via snail mail for a launch event, possibly for a Facebook RSS Feed or news reader, at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California on June 20.

The Facebook launch event invitation postcards request that reporters come and see the “big idea” that their “small team” has been working on, Mashable’s Emily Price reported.

The dead-tree invitation features a printed coffee cup stain ring and the words “A small team has been working on a big idea. Join us for coffee and learn about a new product.”

With Facebook having launched hashtags, which is still technically in its early trial-and-error phase, this new product might have something to do with that new feature. But what we’re guessing is that the product announcement just might have to do with the discovery of an Facebook RSS reader hidden inside of Facebook’s Graph API code. Facebook hasn’t commented on the bit of code alluding to an RSS reader that was found, and come July 1, Google Reader will officially be killed off. The timing lines up pretty well.

If Facebook does have a new Facebook RSS reader, the move would fit in with the company’s strategy of trying to become the go-to place for internet users looking to know what is going on in the world, a strategy Mark Zuckerberg pointed to at the March launch of Facebook’s revamped news feed.

June 15, 2013
Twitter maps track which cities are friendly and which ones are impolite

Buffalo, New York, is one of the rudest places in America and residents of New York City are far friendlier than folks in the Midwest and the South, according to a series of maps compiled using Twitter comments.

The head-scratching revelations are the result of studying the prevalence of two simple phrases — ‘good morning’ and ‘f*** you’ — over the course of several days in June and early July.

Vertaline, a company that tracks works and phrases on Twitter for paying clients, conducted the study across 462 cities.

Naughty: Buffalo, New York, is bright red, showing an explosion of the use of ‘f*** you’ among tweeters in the city

Nice: Lubbock, Texas, and Philadelphia wants to wish the world a good morning, as shown on this map

The maps are patterned in the form of heat intensity images, with lighter colors meaning the term is less frequent and darker colors inferring a greater use of the term.

The results vary hour-to-hour and day-to-day as the maps unfold, though some conclusions are clear.

Lubbock seems an awfully friendly place. Without fail, ‘good morning’ blooms around the north Texas city every day of the study.

About 350 miles southeast in Dallas, Twitter users are significantly less polite and are shown piling on the ‘f*** yous’ more days than not.

Angels and Demons: Southern California was home to a host of both friendly and furious tweeters

Los Angles seems to be both the city of angels and of demons. Users in southern California offer plenty of polite greetings, but also dish out a tremendous amount of curses.

It still doesn’t compare to Buffalo. The city in western New York state is surprisingly upset.

It’s more vulgar than Philadelphia. Angrier than New York City. More miserable than Detroit and less content than Chicago.

That is, if the output of the town’s Twitter users is to be believed.

New York City, on the other hand, for all its hard reputation, seems to have a higher prevalence of ‘good mornings’ than any part of the South or the Midwest — both regions known for their hospitality.

[Daily Mail]

August 22, 2012
Nokia to stick with Windows

Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop promised to unveil a new smartphone using Microsoft’s latest Windows 8 software soon, raising the prospect it will be launched in early September before rival Apple promotes its new iPhone.

The Finnish company, which is fighting for survival after losing out to rivals in the lucrative smartphone business, is due to hold a trade show in Helsinki on September 5-6, just before an Apple event on September 12 where the U.S. competitor could announce a redesigned iPhone.

Nokia, the world’s second-largest cellphone maker, has not commented on what it will announce at the Nokia World event, but business magazines have said it will unveil the new Windows 8 smartphones.

Elop, in Oslo for a meeting with Telenor Chief Executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas, did not deny a September launch but would only say Windows 8 smartphones would be released “relatively near term.”

August 15, 2012
Google to cut 4000 jobs at Motorola

Motorola Mobility will cut approximately 4,000 jobs as well as close about one-third of its production facilities and streamline its mobile lineup, the firm confirmed Monday.

The reductions represent about 20 percent of Motorola Mobility’s 20,000 employees, and 7 percent of Google’s overall work force. Two-third of the job cuts will take place outside of the U.S., Google said.

The job eliminations come three months after Google bought the once-dominant U.S. cellphone maker for $12.5 billion, chiefly with a view to using its large patent portfolio to bolster its legal defenses.

Motorola will also close or consolidate about one-third of its 90 facilities and “simplify” its lineup of mobile products in order to focus on “more innovative and profitable devices” rather than feature phones. Severance payments will cost Google about $275 million, which will largely be recognized in the current quarter. The company also expects to book an unspecified amount in restructuring charges, mostly in the quarter.

August 13, 2012
Bharti Airtel crosses 200 Million customers in India

Bharti Airtel has crossed 200 million customers in India. The 200 million customers include Airtel 2G, 3G, 4G, fixed line. DSL broadband. IPTV and DTH customers. Airtel started operations in India in 1995 and 2009 after 14 years it managed to reach the 100 million customer mark. Three years post the 100 Million mark Airtel has crossed 200 Million.

Airtel became the first Indian telecom operator in India to start 4G operations. With infrastructure of basic networks still struggling, Airtel still remains as the preferred service provider.

187.3 million are mobile customers which makes Bharti Airtel the largest wireless operator in India. Additionally, Airtel has 5.1 million active 3G customers of which 3.7 million are active 3G data customers.

August 10, 2012
Google Tests Showing Gmail Messages in Search Results

Google is creating an information bridge between its influential Internet search engine and its widely used Gmail service in its latest attempt to deliver more personal responses more quickly.

The experimental feature unveiled Wednesday will enable Google’s search engine to mine the correspondence stored within a user’s Gmail account for any data tied to a search request. For example, a query containing the word “Amazon” would pull emails with shipping information sent by the online retailer.

Such Gmail results will typically be shown to the right of the main results, though in some instances, the top of the search page will highlight an answer extracted directly from an email. For example, the request “my flight” will show specific airline information imported from Gmail. Something similar could eventually happen when searching for a restaurant reservation or tickets to a concert.

Although Google has a commanding lead in Internet search, it remains worried about the threat posed by social networking services such as Facebook Inc. As social networks have made it easier to share information online, the Web is starting to revolve more around people than the keywords and links that Google’s search engine.

Google has been trying to adapt by building more personal services and plugging them into its search engine.

Blending email information into general search results could raise privacy worries. Google is trying to mitigate that by showing Gmail results in a collapsed format that users must open to see the details. For now, users must sign up to participate.

Google Inc. ran into trouble over privacy in 2010 when it tapped the personal contact information within Gmail accounts to build a social networking service called Buzz. Google set up Buzz in a way that caused many users to inadvertently expose personal data from Gmail. An uproar culminated in a Federal Trade Commission settlement requiring the company to improve its privacy controls and undergo audits for 20 years.

Google is treading carefully as it hooks Gmail up to its Internet search engine. The new feature initially will be available to 1 million Gmail users who sign up at HTTP://G.CO/SEARCHTRIAL . That’s a small fraction of the more than 425 million Gmail accounts that have been set up since Google launched its free email service eight years ago to compete against the offerings from Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

After getting feedback from the test participants, Google hopes to give all Gmail users the option of plugging their accounts into the main search engine, according to Amit Singhal, a senior vice president for the company.

Singhal said Google is also willing to display information from other email service in its main search results. The gesture could avoid spurring additional complaints about Google abusing its position as the Internet’s search leader to favor its other services. That issue is the focal point of an antitrust investigation by antitrust regulators in the U.S. and Europe.

Microsoft said it has no plans to make information in its competing Web mail service available to Google’s search engine. Yahoo, which operates another Gmail rival, had no comment.

August 9, 2012
Amazon selling more Kindle ebooks than print books

The UK’s biggest book retailer Amazon now sells more ebooks than hardbacks and paperbacks combined, the company has said. For every 100 print books sold through the site, Amazon said it sold 114 titles for its Kindle e-reader device.

It added that the average Kindle owner bought up to four times more books than they did before owning the device.

The strong figures have been boosted by titles such as multi-million selling erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey. The book has sold more than 31 million copies worldwide, with two million ebooks of the title selling in less than four months.

The figures do not take into account ebook sales on other platforms, such as Apple’s iBooks or the website for bookseller Waterstones.

Amazon’s figures have also been boosted by a surge in popularity for self-publishing. The company said there had been a 400% increase in authors using Kindle Direct Publishing since summer 2011.

Among them were some of the site’s bestsellers. British author Kerry Wilkinson is one of the world’s most successful self-published authors. He has sold more than 300,000 copies of his work in the past year.

With print sales, however, Amazon faces competition from many big, established retailers.

“To really judge the state of the ebook market, we need proper sales data so that we can compare across the board,” he wrote.

Jonathan Ruppin, web editor for bookseller Foyles, said it is a trend the book industry must adapt to deal with.

“The proportion of sales that are taken up by ebooks will continue to increase,” he told the BBC.

The figures were released as Amazon marked the two-year anniversary of the Kindle’s release in the UK.

“Customers in the UK are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books, even as our print business continues to grow,” said Jorrit Van der Meulen, vice-president of Kindle in Europe.

“As a result of the success of Kindle, we’re selling more books than ever before on behalf of authors and publishers.

“And thanks to Kindle Direct Publishing, thousands of self-published authors have also been given an outlet to share their work with the millions of Kindle readers worldwide.”

However, despite the e-reader’s popularity, the company is still yet to announce plans to sell the Kindle Fire – a tablet computer – in the UK, despite it being on sale for over eight months.

August 6, 2012
TRAI to ask for import ban on phones with fake IMEI

Telecom regulator TRAI is planning to approach the Commerce and Industry Ministry to ban imports of mobile phones carrying inauthentic unique IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers, which help the authorities track users.

[quote]“TRAI will soon write to the Commerce Ministry to ban such phones. Import of only those cell phones should be allowed which are certified by GSMA-and TIA-authorised bodies for GSM [Global System for Mobile] and CDMA handsets respectively,” an official told PTI.[/quote]

The GSM Association and Telecommunications Industry Association are global bodies that provide unique numbers to mobile handset companies.

The move aims to check proliferation of mobile handsets with duplicate or cloned IMEI numbers, which are dangerous for national security.

An IMEI comprises 15-digit codes assigned to a handset and it appears on the operator’s network whenever a call is made. Concerns had been raised over their usage after terror attacks in India.

Cloning issues in the case of CDMA handsets are negligible but rampant in the case of GSM handsets, the official said.

The government has banned services on mobile handsets with fake IMEI numbers after November 30, 2009.

However, according to informed sources, during a test conducted in a telecom service area, government officials were surprised to see over 18,000 mobile handsets using the same IMEI number.

“The idea is to ask importers of handsets to provide a certificate issued by a GSMA or TIA authorised body for entry of his consignment in the country,” the official said.

Mobile phones without the unique security code are making inroads into the grey market by cloning the IMEI numbers of genuine sets. Through cloning, the IMEIs of bona fide mobile sets can be used by antisocial elements.

August 6, 2012
Weekly Tech Focus Ep 4. was a Blast! Did You Miss it?

We had a lot of fun this time at WTF.

See who is trying to be Bharat!

Want a chance to be in the next WTF ?

News
iPhone 5 http://bit.ly/NH4u8o
TRAI Standard Benchmarks : http://bit.ly/PScp6SYahoo Accounts Hacked : http://bit.ly/NMTzdt / http://bit.ly/NH4tl8
HTC Vertex Leaked : http://bit.ly/SluOGO
Honda Civic : http://bit.ly/Nhxa7A
Micromax A90 Superfone Leak : http://bit.ly/ShBp4R

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July 18, 2012
Microsoft Touts Office 2013 Integration With Skype, Yammer, Cloud

At a press event in San Francisco, Microsoft has unveiled the new Office suite, sporting a new look in line with Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.

One of the key features of the new Office is cloud integration using SkyDrive. Users will be able to sync key settings across multiple devices after logging in to SkyDrive. You can continue working on the same document using a different device, as well as share it with others.

Microsoft also showed off how users can collaborate on Office through social network integration. For example, you can see if your Skype contacts are available from any application in the new Office suite and make Skype calls directly from within Outlook. There’s also the ability to collaborate on documents through Microsoft’s Lync application.

Good news for tablet users: A Microsoft RT version of Office for ARM-based tablets will be included for free on RT devices, including the Surface.

The new Office will have touchscreen capabilities, where users can use taps, swipes, and other gestures to create presentations. You can also draw on your presentations using a stylus.

Meanwhile, the subscription-based Office 365 will now come with three tiers–Office 365 Home Premium, Office 365 Small Business Premium and Office 365 ProPlus–with pricing information to be announced later.

Microsoft also unveiled a new version of its notetaking app, OneNote, which will have touch, pen and keyboard input.

Although Office is currently being used by more than one billion people, it faces stiff competition from cheaper alternatives, such as Google’s suite of Web-based office applications.

July 17, 2012
Digg sold for a mere $500,000

Digg, the “social news” site which was once the poster child for Web 2.0 and valued at up to $175m, has been sold to San Francisco incubator Betaworks for just $500,000 (£324,000) in cash plus equity.

The sale of the seven-year-old site marks a colossal loss for its former venture capital backers, who put in a total of $45m during its life as an independent.

Digg reportedly still gets more than 16 million monthly unique visitors – but it has lost its ability to drive the direction of the net’s interest as it once did.

Having once looked as though it could be the biggest driver of such social news, the site stumbled multiple times in trying to remake the way that users could vote stories up or down its front page – and lost its advantage over rivals sites such as Slashdot and Reddit.

[quote]

In a statement on its site, Betaworks said: “Digg is one of the great internet brands, and it has meant a great deal to millions of users over the years. It was a pioneer in community-driven news.

“We are turning Digg back into a startup. Low budget, small team, fast cycles. How? We have spent the last 18 months building News.me as a mobile-first social news experience. The News.me team will take Digg back to its essence: the best place to find, read and share the stories the internet is talking about. Right now.”

[/quote]

None of Digg’s remaining employees will join Betaworks as part of the acquisition. Chief Executive Matt Williams will join venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz as an entrepreneur-in-residence.

Betaworks CEO John Borthwick will become Digg’s new chief.

July 13, 2012
iGyaanTV WTF Episode 2 – Nexus 7, Nexus Q, Jelly Bean and lots more

iGyaanTV Weekly Tech Focus http://iGyaanTV.com
Stories:
Google Nexus 7 : http://bit.ly/Oxkqw0
Google Nexus Q :http://bit.ly/N5MXTs
Android Jelly Bean : http://bit.ly/MCXdnZ
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HTC EVO 3D ICS : http://bit.ly/KOlFpo
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July 3, 2012
RIM to set up Asia’s first Blackberry Innovation Zone in Kerala

Research In Motion(RIM), manufacturer of BlackBerry, is all set to open it’s first innovation zone for the Asia Pacific region in Kerala. It will do so in collaboration with Startup technologies and will be located at Rubus Labs in Kerala-based Startup Village, the Innovation Zone will be the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, and will showcase the latest in BlackBerry technologies.

Alec Saunders, vice-president of Developer Relations and Ecosystems Development, Research In Motion, said they will provide Rubus Labs access to the latest BlackBerry products and technical information.

The innovation zones would encourage young minds to learn and innovate by giving access to RIM's technology.

The release added that the labs would host regular developer activities such as BlackBerry Hackathons and Bar Camps and that training sessions will be conducted across the 126 engineering colleges in Kerala under the BlackBerry BASE (BlackBerry Apps by Student Entrepreneurs) programme by using the outreach of Startup Village.

June 4, 2012