56% of LinkedIn’s users are outside of the United States. LinkedIn is experiencing its fastest growth internationally.
 
LinkedIn’s fastest-growing country is Brazil, with 428% growth year-over-year. Brazil is followed by Mexico, India and France.
 
The height of LinkedIn activity happens during the workday, peaking at around noon. Mobile usage, on the other hand, typically peaks around 8:00 p.m.
 
There are almost 1 million teachers on LinkedIn; 20% of the site’s users work in the service sector, while 9% work in finance and another 9% are in the high-tech industry.
 
For most of its 7-plus years of existence, LinkedIn has dominated its niche of social business users. The result is a valuation nearing $3 billion and 5.5 billion monthly pageviews.  LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman’s has a reason to smile !

Interesting Infographic:

Courtesy: Linkedin

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is an Android-based compact tablet computer produced by Samsung that debuted on the 2nd of September at the 2010 IFA in Berlin.

It features a 7-inch (180 mm) TFT-LCD touchscreen, Wi-Fi capability, a 1.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 (“Hummingbird”) processor, and the Swype input system. It is equipped with a 3.2 MP rear-facing camera and a 1.3 MP front facing camera for video calls.

Lets see how it looks while comparing to its rival ‘Apple iPad‘

courtesy: PCWorld

The Galaxy Tab, at release, was equipped with Android 2.2.  Let the fight begin… in the Tab arena. Wait and watch before you buy…

In our jet-set daily life, Fastfood is always there as part of our daily life. May be we are not always aware of the side effects and other alarming facts of these fastfoods. We sometimes term them as Junk foods in the sense of the effect that they cause to us. Read on for some quick facts and figures on Fast Foods:

credit: onlineschools.org

enjoy… remember before you order your next burger and french fries !!

Research In Motion (RIM) announced its Tablet PC, called the BlackBerry Playbook. the device is a a “Flash-loving,” “device-pairing,” “enterprise-ready” tablet with an “uncompromised browsing experience” on a 7-inch screen. It is 9.7 millimeters thick and features a high-res wide screen display that supports 1080p with HDMI and USB ports.

The technical details from the release:

• 7″ LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
• BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• 1 GB RAM
• Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
• Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
• HDMI video output
• Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Connectors: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
• Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
• Ultra thin and portable:
• Measures 5.1″x7.6″x0.4″ (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
• Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)
• Additional features and specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook will be shared on or before the date this product is launched in retail outlets.
• RIM intends to also offer 3G and 4G models in the future.

Can it give a challenge to Apple iPad ………… stay tuned !

Check out the cool Infographic, that displays the colour-ful brand presence under the WWW. You will notice how some colours are dominating the arena with their specific branding with corporate houses.

credit: compete.com

Enjoy !

Neuro Productions’ Flash-based Twitter browser is a cool way to view your connections on Twitter, something that is nearly impossible on the site itself. Start with any Twitter user’s name and the app will load up a circle of contacts, their thumbnail pic and latest tweet. You can click on a contact in that circle and it will do the same, endlessly creating visual connections that people have made across the social networking site as long as you keep clicking. Have fun !

The result is like this …

http://www.neuroproductions.be/twitter_friends_network_browser/

Try it and have fun !

Another one is also quite funny,  from a Japanese firm @  http://isparade.jp/

The Parade sound is kind of disturbing though…

Have fun !

As the world moving very fast towards the Cloud Computing and SaaS areas, it’s worth just to have an idea how we can summarize it in a very high level way, as below:

Apple, earlier we used to refer this fruit as a symbol of health which keeps docs away and then we learnt the relationship of this fruit with Newton, but this generation is crazy about Apple…. oops, the fruit of Steve Jobs. So here are some quick and interesting things that we probably don’t know about the creator of Apple, Steve Jobs. Enjoy reading !

credit:onlineschools.org

Want to watch a 3D movie? The first thought that comes in mind is to go to a 3D theatre. This is soon going to be a history. Come 2010 and we will see 3D televisions making its way in many of our households.  As we see, IFA 2009 in Berlin conclude on 9-Sept-09, it brought with it, the promise of a new beginning in the home entertainment in the form of 3DTV.  Big players like Sony and Panasonic have declared that most likely by next year end they will launch 3D television. 

Yoshiiku Miyata, Vice President, Panasonic declared that Panasonic will take the lead in launching the first 3D TV in market using a technology called HD frame sequential. This technology uses two image views in frame sequence managed by active shutters. 

Sony’s plan to launch 3D TV by 2010 was announced by their CEO Sir Howard Stringer and as speculated Sony might opt for “active shutter” technology with electronic glasses that have tiny shutters that flicker in accord with the on-screen image to produce 3D effect. 

An Interesting point worth noting is that the first 3D channel will be broadcasted by sky. 

But there exists a few debatable issues like one should wear glasses with polarised lenses or use the glasses that are based on active shutter technologies? Will it actually be feasible to where a glass at home every time you want to see something on TV? Has the market matured enough to accept it as a household commodity? 

With so many ifs and buts around, it will be worth keeping an eye on to see how does 3D TV become a part of our day to day life.

Keep watching for more!

Nomophobia the new Mania !

Is the network coverage not there or is it that the mobile is out of charge? This is the panic that keeps gripping each individual in this tech savvy 21^st century. Earlier, the stress was to get a job, to get married or to reach one’s workplace in time or even anxiety of a broken home. But in this cutting edge technology driven frantic pace of life, have redefined stress and anxiety. Today, it is most closely associated with the fear of being out of contact. This affliction has been given a new name and is known as nomophobia as millions of people suffer from no mobile phobia and hence the term is coined.

People today are wedded with the mobile phone and the reason that they give is to be in touch with their family and friends constantly. Losing mobile contact with children, parents, colleagues and even customers can be worrying and stressful experience for many.  But is it only this or there is some emotional stress behind the veil of being in touch constantly. There are people who do not switch off their mobile phones.. The question is why? Experts believe that if the mobile phone stops working, the mobile addicts feel restless and they feel insecure, as if they are being cut off from this rat race and being panicky is a 24/7 culture for these kinds of people.

But if you are one and are stressful if your mobile is out of charge or credit, then you are not alone. The mania is catching up and to avoid nomophobia keep your mobile credits topped up and ensure that you carry your charger wherever you go such that it does not run out of battery. You can also carry a pre-paid phonecard to make emergency calls if your mobile is lost, stolen or broken. Additionally, keep the contact numbers of your immediate family members in record, as your handset might get lost or stolen.

Above all, try keeping your mobile phone switched off for some time so that you can liberate yourself from the shackles of nomophobia. 

See how the evolution really happened with YouTube through the graphical representation.

Credit: Onlineschools.org

We have seen some of the finest Journalists in TV journalism in the recent times. They have given a different look and feel to the once very monotonous news reading and news channels. Lets have a brief overview of professional and personal journey of some of our star journalists.

credit: indiantelevision.com

Dr. Prannoy Roy:

The 60 year old prominent journalist founded the largest private television production house, New Delhi Television (NDTV) in 1988. The president of NDTV is also the Director on board of NDTV Media Limited, NDTV News Limited , NDTV Imagine Limited, NDTV Lifestyle Limited, NDTV Convergence Limited, NDTV Labs Limited, NDTV Investments Private Limited, RRPR Holding Private Limited, Metronation Chennai Television Private Limited, Alliance Lumiere Limited and NGEN Media Services Private Limited. Also, he is a Member of the Shareholder’s Investors Grievance Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company.

Born on October 15, 1949, to a Bengali Father and an English mother, he spent his childhood in Kolkata and Dehradun, studying in La Martiniere Calcutta and then in The Doon School, Dehradun. He then received a scholarship to study at the Haileybury, a renowned public school in England. He graduated in economics from The Queen Mary College, The University of London in 1973. He completed his doctorate from the prestigious Delhi School of Economics. He worked as chartered accountant for sometime and then for 2 years (1985-1987) he was with the Ministry of Finance, Government of India working as Economic Advisor.

Prannoy Roy, who also is famous writer Arundhati Roy’s cousin, got married to Radhika Roy (Director NDTV, a speech therapist and Brinda Karat’s sister) in 1973 and is father of two children.

One of his most noteworthy contribution is his election analysis, that he does with Vinod Dua.  Dua-Roy duo has analyzed every election since 1984. Amongst the myriad of awards he has been acknowledged with, a few are: the B. D. Goenka Award for excellence in Journalism in 1994 and 1995, Ernst & Young – Entrepreneur of the year award (Media), the Screen Videocon Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1998 and the Limca Book of Records -Person of the Year award in 1998. 

credit: indiantelevision.com

Vinod Dua:

Vinod Dua, the anchor, the election analyst, the political commentator, he is one of the most famous and influential personalities Indian Journalism has witnessed. He was born on March 11, 1954. He is from a very humble background with his early days spent in refugee camp in Delhi, but his achievements are not as humble. He graduated in English Literature from Hans Raj College, University of Delhi. He completed his Masters in literature from the same university.

He made his debut in Indian television on 27th November 1974,  appearing in Yuv Manch, a youth program on Doordarshan. Subsequently he anchored a series of youth programs like Yuv Jan( for Satellite Instructional Television Experiment), Jawan Tarang ( for Amritsar TV).  Co-anchoring the election analysis programs on Doordarshan with Dr. Prannoy Roy gave him the well deserved breakthrough in his career. He hosted a program called Janvani, which was the first program in the history of Indian television to have allowed direct questions from common man to the politician. He ventured into direction and production business with the current affairs magazine Newsline(first one to be produced and sponsered privately), anchored by eminent journalist M.J. Akbar, and promoted by Ananda Bazar group. In 1987, after working as chief producer in T.V. Today, he started his own production company ‘The Communication Group’ to produce and anchor current affairs programs, budget analyses and documentary films.

Chakravyuha on Zee T.V, Parakh, on Doordarshan, Tasveer-e-Hind on DD3, Chunav Chunauti on Sony Entertainment Television, election analysis on Zee News, Pratidin and Parakh on Sahara T.V. and Kaun Banega Mukhyamantri on Star News have been some of the memorable programs with Vinod Dua’s involvement. As of now he is associated with NDTV,  for daily news analysis, election and budget analysis. He also produces a weekly show Zaika India Ka for food enthusiasts.

Vinod Dua was awarded esteemed BD Goenka Award for excellence in journalism in 1996. Dua has been honored with the Padma Shri  for Journalism in 2008.

Rajdeep Sardesai:

Rajdeep Sardesai, the editor-in-chief of CNN-IBN was born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on 24 may,1965. His father, Dilip Sardesai is a former Indian Test cricketer and mother, Nalini Sardesai, former Head of the Department of sociology, St. Xavier’s college, Mumbai. He did his schooling from Cathedral and John Connon School, Campion School in Mumbai.  He holds multiple degrees like Bachelor’s in Economics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai,  Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and Bachelor of Civil Law from University College, Oxford.

He started his Television journalism career as Political Editor in NDTV in 1994 and then later he became the Managing editor of NDTV 24/7 and NDTV India. He came into limelight because of the super hit show ‘The Big Fight’ that he hosted. Later in his career he quit NDTV on April 17, 2007 and founded Global Broadcast News (GBN) in collaboration with CNN and Raghav Bahl’s TV18.  Then the channel named CNN-IBN with Rajdeep Sardesai as Editor-in-Chief went live on air. CNN-IBN overtook Channel 7, buying 46 percent stake in the channel. Since then Channel 7 is known by the name of IBN-7. He was conferred with prestigious Padma Shri award in 2008 for his contribution to journalism.

Rajdeep married his colleague, senior editor and anchor at CNN-IBN, Sagarika Ghose in 1994. They met in Oxford University. They are blessed with two children, son Ishan (14) and daughter Tarini (12). His out of domain interest includes cricket and has played for the Oxford University team as a right-hand batsman and a right-arm offbreak bowler.

Check out the next one:  popular-faces-of-indian-journalism-2

On 23^rd Sept 2009, Intel, in its Intel Developer Forum (IDF) unveiled a new high speed optical cable technology devised to connect electronic devices to each other, the technology being code named as ‘Light Peak’. Bundles of copper wires to connect your computer to peripherals, disk drives, displays, workstations etc will soon be a matter of past. Let’s find out:

Why is Light Peak necessary?

As of now we only use electrical cable technology in most of the computing devices, but due to electro-magnetic interference and various other issues this technology is reaching its limits in terms of speed and length.  This limiting factor (EMI) is overcome with the use of optical fibres, which uses light to transfer data instead of electricity.

Technology Behind Light Peak:

From the little that has been revealed about the technology: All the devices and platforms supporting light peak will consist of a controller chip and an optical module. The optical module, using miniature lasers and photo detectors, converts electricity to light and vice versa.

Why is Light Peak considered as a revolution in device connectivity?

• Its bandwidth start with 10 Gbps and can be scaled up to 100 Gbps
• It can run multiple protocols simultaneously over one cable. This feature makes it possible to connect multiple devices through one port.
• It provides thinner, longer and more flexible cables.
• Intel is working on bundling the optical cables with copper wires so that Light Peak can be used to power devices plugged into PC.
• In near future, it is seen as a replacement to USB, Firewire and HDMI.

Light Peak in is expected to make its way to the market by 2010. Its pricing is still to be decided. There still exists a massive task to standardize this method of device communication and to have ports in devices that support this technology.

Light peak is going to redefine the way we connect to devices, definitely until Intel comes up with something solid from the research it has taken up on Ultra Wideband Technology (UWB) that will enable wireless communication between various devices.

More to come on this technology area … keep reading & commenting!