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In India MTS Launches 3 Smart Phones

2010-09-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

MTS, the mobile telephony services brand of Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL), has launched new Internet enabled smartphones - the Buzz, Alive & Ivory.
MTS said that the new smartphones features CDMA2000 technology platform, supports voice and net enabled data services, and offers Internet connectivity with speeds up to 3.1 Mbps.
The new phones also provides direct access to around 15 social networking sites including facebook, twitter, windows live messenger, yahoo and Google search to its subscribers.
The Buzz is a dual mode (CDMA/GSM) messaging and social networking handset, with QWERTY keypad and offers stereo FM Radio with MP3 player, a 1.3MP camera and expandable memory up to 4GB.
Alive is a 3G-CDMA touch screen phone which offers an in-built Opera mini browser, expandable memory up to 8GB, multi-format music player, 1.3 MP camera with video recording and Bluetooth with A2DP.
The new Ivory features a 3.2" WQVGA full touch screen, mobile TV, Microsoft exchange push mail, Wi-FI, 2 MP camera, Bluetooth and expandable memory up to 4GB.
SSTL president and CEO Vsevolod Rozanov said that MTS smart phones are among the fully loaded devices with the 3G capabilities, and will take smart phone services in India to a new level ensuring further expansion of subscribers in India.

Cloud Security service Is Offered By Novell

2010-09-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

Novell has recently announced the availability of its cloud security service. The service is a multi-tenant identity and access management solution that is designed to provide just-in-time provisioning, authentication, authorization and support for compliance.
The application can be either hosted by a cloud service provider or via a Novell hosting partner.
A user can log on directly or via the enterprise identity system. The service first verifies the identity and, if successful, will generate an identity token in the format needed by the SaaS provider. The user is now authenticated to the SaaS service. Once inside the application, the application connectors that are provided with the service capture deep page-level user activity and provide the audit stream for compliance purposes.
With the Cloud Security Service, the company claims that enterprises will be able to quickly and easily extend their identity infrastructure to any public cloud. Any changes that are made to their users or permissions will be immediately replicated in the cloud environment, thus ensuring a single consistent identity and security framework for the enterprise, regardless of where the computing is actually taking place.

Test Your Hard Drive for Impending Problems

2010-09-04T23:45:00.000-07:00

Hard Disk Problem Is Very Crucial thing If It occures Then follow The The Steps To Get a Solutions Quickly

Check your hard disk for errorsAll recent versions of Windows include a utility called Chkdsk.exe that can check your hard disk for any bad sectors.
You may either run Chkdsk from the command line (see details) or launch Windows Explorer, right click the drive that you wish to examine and choose Properties. Switch to the Tools tab and click the “Check Now” button under Error checking. Select “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors” to perform a thorough disk check.

Understand the sounds of your disk

Do you sometimes hear strange sounds coming out of the CPU box? Well, if the hard drive is making those sounds, it could be an alarming situation and your best bet would be that you turn off the computer before any further damage is done to the disk.
But how do you distinguish between sounds coming from a hard disk with noise that’s made by the fans or the power supply? Here’s a useful page where you can listen to recorded sounds of various hard drives that have lead to a crash. If your disk is making a similar sound, get a replacement quickly.

Catch errors before they happen

Disk Checkup is a free hard disk monitoring utility that displays tons of diagnostic data about your disk. While the level of detail it provides may easily confuse even tech-savvy users, just ignore the numbers and keep the utility running in the background.
It monitors your disk’s temperature, read and write error rate, etc. and will alert you when the values of any of these parameters approach dangerous levels. These may be signs of an impending disk failure. Disk Checkup is free for personal use.

Thoroughly test your Hard Disk

SeaTools is free diagnostic tool that can completely test your hard drive regardless of the OS installed on it. The tool is provided by Seagate but it works with non-Seagate disk drives as well.
To get started, you need to download the ISO image of SeaTools for DOS and create a bootable CD. Now boot the computer with the CD in the drive, accept the license agreement and run a long test (the full scan). If any defects are found, a list will be offered at the end or after aborting the disk scan.
Other computer vendors /disk manufactures including Samsung, Hitachi, Toshiba (Fujitsu), Western Digital, Lenovo, Dell, etc. too offer diagnostic tools that work only with their own brand of hard drives. If you are having frequent computer problems (like system hangs or fails to boot up), you may run these tools to confirm if the problems are hard drive related.
Important: While these tools can help you diagnose your hard drive’s health, they are still no good substitute for regular backups.
Tips By mahesh

Using Your Gmail Account To Get Extra Email Addresses

2010-09-04T23:33:00.000-07:00

There are quite a few ways by which you can create multiple email addresses inside Gmail.
For instance, if your email address is hello@gmail.com , any email that’s addressed to either he.ll.o@gmail.com or hello+world@gmail.com will also be delivered to your main inbox since Gmail ignores dots and anything that’s after the plus symbol in email usernames.
Therefore, theoretically speaking, you get an unlimited number of email addresses with one Gmail account. This gets even more interesting if you are using Gmail with Google Apps.

Email Aliases in Gmail for Google Apps

In the case of Google Apps, you can assign nicknames to your email account and messages that are addressed to the nickname (or alias) are also delivered to you.
For instance, if you run a website at example.com, you can have one mail email address and then setup aliases like tips@example.com (for blog tips), advertise@example.com (for potential advertisers) and so on. Thus you have to deal with only one inbox.
To setup an email alias in Google Apps, log in to google.com/a/example.com as an admin (replace example.com with your domain name) and click the “Users and groups” option.
Select the email username for which you wish to setup aliases and then click “Add a nickname” to associate another email username with this user. You may associate up to 30 different nicknames per user in Google Apps.

When you reply to an email that’s addressed to one of your nicknames, the “From” address may still have your main email address. You can however change that quite easily.
Open your Gmail Inbox –> Settings –> Accounts and click “add another email address you own” under “send mail as.” Type your new email alias here, verify the code and you’ll now have an option to decide which of your email addresses should show up in the “From” field.
Thus, if you ever want a new email address, you don’t have to create another user in Google Apps – just add a new nickname to your existing email address.

Automatically Cleanup Your Gmail Inbox

2010-09-03T22:35:00.000-07:00

Gmail has always had an excellent spam filter that keeps junk messages out of your Inbox. Then, earlier this week, Google added a reverse feature that is quite unique to Gmail – it’s called the Priority Inbox. Priority Inbox is like having a personal secretary whose job is to sort your incoming mail based on importance. She knows about your friends, your colleagues and other people with whom you interact regularly and can therefore categorize your email accordingly.
Priority Inbox is something similar – it’s an intelligent, self-learning filter that automatically puts your most important email messages at the top of your Inbox so that you may deal with them first. The feature is now live for both Gmail and Google Apps email accounts.

Sort your Existing Emails Automatically

Other Inbox scans your mailbox for less-important emails and sorts them into relevant categories. For instance, email alerts from from CNN, BBC, Google News, etc. would go into the News folder while messages from Amazon, iTunes, etc. will find their place in the Shopping folder.
You just have to authorize Other Inbox to access your Gmail account once and it does the rest automatically. Other Inbox is reasonably good at categorizing your emails but you also have the option to choose your own labels (see next screenshot).

Depending up the size of your inbox, it might take anywhere between 5-10 minutes for the whole process to complete.
I have used this service with my Gmail and Google Apps mail accounts and the results have been fairly impressive. Now if I ever want to clear my inbox of all notifications from Twitter and Facebook, I can simply open the “Social Media” label and empty it with a click.
That said, a lot of us will obviously not feel very happy sharing our mailboxes with a third-party. Now they do have a privacy policy in place and you can always manually revoke access to sites that are authorized to access your Gmail and Google Account.

2010-09-03T22:26:00.000-07:00

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRt8kdjf2dQpiMI3XMonpY788kcLaZbhrJUD4WdFDTQzz0MAI4&t=1&usg=__BAmd2KW1Wij6lGlI3MiA65uHDDo=Gmail has always had an excellent spam filter that keeps junk messages out of your Inbox. Then, earlier this week, Google added a reverse feature that is quite unique to Gmail – it’s called the Priority Inbox. Priority Inbox is like having a personal secretary whose job is to sort your incoming mail based on importance. She knows about your friends, your colleagues and other people with whom you interact regularly and can therefore categorize your email accordingly.
Priority Inbox is something similar – it’s an intelligent, self-learning filter that automatically puts your most important email messages at the top of your Inbox so that you may deal with them first. The feature is now live for both Gmail and Google Apps email accounts.

Sort your Existing Emails Automatically

Priority Inbox has one limitation – it works with incoming emails only and doesn’t really care about the hundreds and thousands of messages that are lying in your Inbox unattended.
I have been testing an impressive web app called Other Inbox that brings much need order to your existing Gmail Inbox and looks like a perfect compliment to Google’s Priority Inbox.

Other Inbox scans your mailbox for less-important emails and sorts them into relevant categories. For instance, email alerts from from CNN, BBC, Google News, etc. would go into the News folder while messages from Amazon, iTunes, etc. will find their place in the Shopping folder.
You just have to authorize Other Inbox to access your Gmail account once and it does the rest automatically. Other Inbox is reasonably good at categorizing your emails but you also have the option to choose your own labels (see next screenshot).

Depending up the size of your inbox, it might take anywhere between 5-10 minutes for the whole process to complete.
I have used this service with my Gmail and Google Apps mail accounts and the results have been fairly impressive. Now if I ever want to clear my inbox of all notifications from Twitter and Facebook, I can simply open the “Social Media” label and empty it with a click.
That said, a lot of us will obviously not feel very happy sharing our mailboxes with a third-party. Now they do have a privacy policy in place and you can always manually revoke access to sites that are authorized to access your Gmail and Google Account.

To Unveil Ipod Upgrades |Apple Accepted

2010-09-03T04:41:00.000-07:00

SAN JOSE -- Apple's iPod may live in the shadow of its splashier sibling devices -- the iPhone and iPad -- but the digital music player, expected to get upgrades today, is a key reason the Cupertino company got back its chic aura.

Steve Jobs, expected to be on stage for the 10 a.m. event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, may announce a front-facing camera on the iPod Touch, some analysts say, allowing use of Apple's new FaceTime video chat technology that comes with the iPhone 4.
Jobs also may unveil a Wi-Fi-equipped iPod Nano, which would enable users to stream music. Apple is completing a $1 billion data center in North Carolina, and last year acquired streaming music site Lala.com, fueling speculation that it is preparing to launch a cloud-based service.
While many observers say Apple is likely to focus just on its iPod line, some speculate it will reveal new features for Apple TV, the company's contribution to the revolution in living-room entertainment. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Apple will announce a new $99 set-top box that includes a Netflix subscription movie service.
There also are rumors Jobs will announce a 7-inch iPad tablet, though many analysts say any additions to the iPad line, which was introduced earlier this year, will likely come in the spring, following the company's recent pattern of refreshing products annually.
Wednesday.The iPod, and the iconic TV ads of silhouettes of dancers that came with it, rebranded Apple as the king of tech cool a few years after Jobs returned to the company to help it recapture its role as a leading innovator long after it helped launch the personal computer industry.
The pocket music players drew crowds of shoppers into Apple retail stores, where many consumers were re-introduced to the company's sleek and easy-to-use Macintosh computers, triggering a surge of new sales.
"It's very hard to overplay the iPod in the resurgence of Apple," said Gartner analyst Mike McGuire.
The iPod, launched nearly nine years ago, is no longer the poster device for Apple, whose iPhone 4 and new iPad tablet have triggered demand that has outpaced supply, forcing consumers to wait days or weeks to get the gadgets.
Apple sold 9.41 million iPods during the third quarter ended June 26, an 8 percent drop from the year-ago quarter. But many analysts attribute the drop in popularity of the iPod to the extraordinary sales of the iPhone; Apple has long said it expected the iPhone to cut into iPod sales.
"They are following the old rule of cannibalizing your own product before someone else does," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for the NPD Group.
Analysts, though, say the iPod remains more than an after-thought for Apple, which for years has devoted a special event to reveal new versions of the device, which includes the hard-drive based iPod Classic, the iPhone-like iPod Touch, the thumb-sized Shuffle and the Nano, which has a video camera. Apple's online iTunes store, which sells digital music and videos, pulled in more than a billion dollars during the third quarter.
For the first seven months of 2010, Apple's iPod claimed 77 percent of the MP3 player market in the United States, according to the research company NPD. ITunes now controls 70 percent of the legal digital download market and 28 percent of the total music market in the United States.
Creative Strategies President Tim Bajarin said any talk of the iPod's demise is premature. In fact, many consumers still buy and use the music players even if they own iPhones because playing music and video can drain the iPhone's battery, potentially leaving them without a mobile phone to use, he said.
"You'll see more people buy a dedicated device for their entertainment," Bajarin said. "I don't believe the iPod is anywhere near the end of its life and Apple will emphasize it again, especially when they start rolling out their cloud-based services."
While sales of iPods are sure to gradually decline, they still represent a good chunk of Apple's business. During the third quarter, iPod sales pulled in $1.5 billion.

Step Into social media From Apple

2010-09-02T06:54:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple jumped into the social networking business on Wednesday, introducing Ping, a service built into iTunes that is intended to help users discover new music and, presumably, buy more songs from Apple.
Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chief executive, showcased Ping at an event here along with a string of other new products. They included updates to Apple's iPod line of music players and new software that allows wireless printing from iPads and iPhones.
Mr. Jobs also introduced a much-anticipated upgrade of its Apple TV set-top box that is smaller and, at $99, significantly cheaper than its predecessor, which did not sell well. It allows users to rent television shows from Fox and ABC for 99 cents, and like many other devices, it can also stream movies from Netflix.
Mr. Jobs said the changes to the iPod lineup, which include new versions of the Shuffle, Nano and Touch models, were the most significant since Apple introduced its first music player in 2001.
"This year we've gone wild," Mr. Jobs said. Sales of iPods have declined this year, but revenue from them has continued to grow as more buyers choose the higher-priced Touch model.
An unexpected announcement from Mr. Jobs was the introduction of Ping. With it, users will be able to follow friends and see what music they have bought or enjoyed, what concerts they plan to attend and what music they have reviewed. They will also be able to follow bands and get updates on their new releases, concert tours and other events.
Many other online music services like Pandora and Zune Social from Microsoft already have features that allow friends to share information about music.
While other social networks have struggled in the shadow of Facebook, some analysts said that Apple had a chance to turn Ping into a success. The service will be instantly available to 160 million iTunes users, as long as they download the latest version of the software, which Apple released on Wednesday.
"Apple wants to create even tighter links with iTunes users and keep them a click away from buying a song," said Mike McGuire, a vice president with Gartner. "Ping will give people more reasons to spend frequently and rapidly."
While Ping may put Apple in competition with Facebook, its impact on the struggling MySpace may be more pronounced, analysts said. MySpace has emphasized music over the last few years.
"This isn't about reconnecting with your girlfriend from eighth grade," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with the Altimeter Group. "This is about talking to people about music."
A spokeswoman for MySpace declined to comment.
Mr. Jobs said Ping would have simple privacy controls. Anyone will be able to follow bands and receive their updates, and users will be able to say whether they want to be followed by anyone or only by people they approve.
The new iPod Touch is thinner than the previous model and comes equipped with front- and rear-facing cameras, as well as Apple's FaceTime video chatting software. It also has the same high-resolution retina display that Apple first showcased on the iPhone 4 earlier this year.
The Touch comes in three versions; the cheapest has 8 gigabytes of storage and costs $229.
Apple shrank the iPod Nano by replacing its wheel interface with a touch screen. It costs $149 for an 8-gigabyte version and $179 for 16 gigabytes.
In introducing the new version of Apple TV, Mr. Jobs acknowledged that the set-top box had not been as successful as he had hoped. The new version replaces the download-to-own model with a rental service that has shows from Fox and ABC for 99 cents. Mr. Jobs said the other networks had yet to agree to Apple's pricing.
"We think the rest of the studios will see the light and get on board with us," he said.
But that is far from guaranteed. All television studios are wary of distributing their shows in new ways on the Internet for fear of harming their existing businesses, which rely on cable and satellite subscriptions.
Fox and ABC agreed to Apple's pricing model only after lengthy negotiations and heated internal discussions, especially at Fox's parent, the News Corporation.
ABC's participation is not surprising, given that Mr. Jobs is the largest shareholder and a board member of its parent, the Walt Disney Company.
For its part, Fox suggested that its agreement with Apple was something of an experiment. In a statement, Jim Gianopulos, the chairman and chief executive of Fox Filmed Entertainment, said the studio was excited to work with Apple over the next several months to "explore this innovative offering."
Other networks, like CBS and NBC, are pointedly not participating in the rentals program. "Episodic television is not a pay-per-view business," said Keith J. Cocozza, a spokesman for Time Warner, which owns HBO, TNT and other channels. Companies like Time Warner are instead supporting the existing subscription TV model, which is being gradually extended to the Web.
Analysts said that the new Apple TV was likely to be more of a hit than its $299 predecessor, in part because of its low price, but also because of software that allows users to stream content from their iPhones and iPads to their TVs through the set-top box. But they said Apple's challenges in securing more content underscored the continuing difficulties that technology companies faced in cracking the TV market.
"Apple has not yet made a significant play for control of the TV," James L. McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester, wrote on his blog.

This article originally appeared in

Google to Relieve Email Overload

2010-08-31T22:24:00.000-07:00

Called priority inbox it automatically grades e-mail into four categories: important, important and unread, starred items and everything else.
Experts believe less time sifting through e-mail will make people more productive.
Google said the product acts like your "personal assistant helping you focus on the messages that matter".
"There are a lot of signals in any message that indicate importance," Keith Coleman, Gmail director told BBC News.
"Basic indicators include if this message is from someone you write to a lot or reply to a lot. Another category is terms - if the word Viagra is in the message, it is indicative of junk mail. And a third factor is something known as static features. That is if the message has been sent to you directly or to you and other people or a list of people."
Google said the feature "gets smarter" the more a user uses it as it learns what is important to an individual. There is a plus or minus tool within the feature to boost or reduce the priority status of a message. This allows the product to learn which electronic communications matter more than others.
"Our hope is that people can regain time and attention and not feel the need to constantly check e-mail in the middle of meetings," said Mr Coleman.
"We want people to walk away from e-mail and focus on what they are doing at that moment like thinking or reading, spending time with the family or taking part in a meeting. We hope this gives people a little more sanity and physical time in their day."
Information overload Various studies have shown that people are being weighed down by the number of e-mails flowing into their inboxes.
The Radicati Group has said that in 2010, 294 billion e-mails are sent each day with the typical corporate user sending and receiving about 110 messages a day.

The new priority inbox is optional

Hi-tech giant Intel estimated back in 2007 that the impact of information overload at up to eight hours a week.
Douglas Merrill understands the problem all too well.
The former chief information officer at Google is the author of "Getting organised in the Google Era" and lectures on the topics of organisation, innovation and information technology.
"E-mail is a great tool, but also a key contributor to overload. There are about 1.5 billion mail users worldwide, and almost 1 million (non-spam) e-mails sent each second. That works out at roughly 250Gb of mail per second, which is the equivalent of 2,000 hardcover books.
"That's a lot of mail. You can't possibly read or process it all. You will stress your brain beyond capacity," Mr Merrill told the BBC.
Google worked onthe product internally for about 18 months and tested it on its own employees in a process known as "dog fooding". Early results were encouraging said Google's Mr Coleman.
"We have seen people who use priority inbox spend 13% less time reading unimportant e-mail. That adds up to a week a year. Even with that rough measurement people are gaining back a significant amount of time in the day which was being lost trawling through e-mail.
"One of the biggest changes we have seen is people walking away and leaving their inbox and just not worrying about it as much because everything is marked and it's easy to see the important stuff," said Mr Coleman.
Google is not alone in trying to solve this problem. Microsoft has updated its Hotmail e-mail system to help people organise messages better. Also stand-alone products such as Xobni and Liaise take a similar approach to that adopted by Google.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11133576

iPhone App Accounts for 58M ,Facebook at 150 mobile users

2010-08-30T08:15:00.000-07:00

Now, that's not to say that the 150 million users hitting up Facebook on their mobile devices do just that. There's no crossover statistic for how many of those are also logging into the service via the convention desktop PC or laptop route. However, it's interesting to note that—of these 150 million users—a significant chunk comes from those running the Facebook application via Apple's App Store.

And just how many is this? According to the official Facebook for iPhone page (on Facebook), there are 58 million monthly iPhone users at the time of this article's writing. This number is, itself, a bit less than 58 percent of the total devices running iOS on the market today—CEO Steve Jobs predicted that the 100 millionth device would be sold during June of this year.

"The Facebook application is by far the most important application on both the iPhone and the iPad," said David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World, in an interview with The Motley Fool.

"It's the single most widely used application. It's so heavily used compared to other apps that I have been told by someone who thought he knew the data -- this is highly secret data and I don't know the actual numbers -- that more than half of all usage of the iPhone of apps, other than those provided by the phone itself like telephony and email, is coming from Facebook," he added.

As for Android-based mobile phones—which outsold Apple's iPhone in the first half of 2010, according to figures by Nielsen released earlier this month—4.3 million active users were recorded as using the Facebook for Android application within the past month. Facebook's Blackberry client attracted 29.4 million mobile users, the Facebook for Palm WebOS app is barely at one million users, and the Facebook for the T-Mobile Sidekick application isn't even half that.

Just to keep these numbers in perspective, however, the "Facebook for [phone]" statistics aren't correlated with the number of people that have actually downloaded the application onto any mobile device—it's just count those who have used the app to log into a Facebook account in the past 30 days. As well, there's no statistic yet released as to how many users log into the mobile version of Facebook via the Web, bypassing any apps altogether.

Facebook's last significant mobile milestone was announced in February of this year, in which the company detailed that 100 million users—of 400 million total—were accessing the site via mobile devices.

Microsoft Displays Adaptive Prototype Keyboard

2010-08-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

Bangalore: The engineers at Microsoft have showcased a new impression of keyboard for the desktop computers. The Adaptive Keyboard incorporates a touch screen LCD above the top row of keys, which displays information such as shortcut icons or document previews.

The key characters can, however, change to show separate functions based on the software that is being used.

Hakon Strande, Program Manager, Microsoft said, "We created a concept prototype in the Adaptive Keyboard that suggests that the display capabilities of high efficiency input devices such as keyboards and mice should be as dynamic and relevant to user context as the UI on the PC screen."

The team of engineers at Microsoft looks to improvise the learning curve of software by enhancing many of the basic functions. With this concept keyboard, users can swiftly access complex functions based on visual recognition, rather than recalling a memorized shortcut layout.

The Adaptive Keyboard concept is included in the Student Innovation Contest at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology. Strande clarified that any of the function examples have yet to be officially planned for future software updates.

Android Smart Phone In India|Huawei To Launch

2010-08-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

Huawei, a company providing next-generation telecommunication network solutions for operators around the world, will launch an Android smartphone on July 29 in India.

According to sources, the smartphone is slated to be entry level in design, with a 2.8 inch touchscreen, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) 3G connectivity.

Huawei had some time back showcased the HSPA smartphone powered by Android at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. U8800, the smartphone, will be commercially available in the third quarter of 2010, and will be able to support high speed internet access, and will be faster than existing 3G smartphones.

In the recent past, Huawei has been encountering some rough weather. Equipment orders placed by Indian mobile phone operators with the Chinese equipment manufacturer have not been cleared by the Indian government for the past six months due to security issues, and most recently, Motorola has accused Huawei of stealing its technology.

2010-08-23T06:20:00.000-07:00

Nokia is ready with its dual SIM phones for India. The Finnish giant is preparing to launch its C1 and C2 models of entry-level dual SIM phones in two-three months. Both models would be launched simultaneously in India, following its global launch in the third quarter of the current fiscal year.
The phones would sport features like FM radio, a 1,000 entries-address books, LED torch, VGA camera.

Although the company is yet to divulge price details, it is expected to be within the tag of R2,500. Both models would be integrated with Nokia Life Tools service (for information on healthcare, education and entertainment) as well as Ovi Mail.

V. Ramnath, director, operator channel, Nokia India, said the company was yet to decide whether the new phones would be manufactured at Nokia's Chennai facility now or at a later stage when the numbers pick up.

Samsung had launched its dual SIM phones in the country about two years ago. It currently has five dual SIM models in India with price tags ranging from R3,200 to R9,600.

paperless for IPHONE

2010-08-20T06:44:00.000-07:00

The app is focused on helping you create and manage lists, and without prejudice: You can create to-do lists, shopping lists, bucket lists, or any other kind of list. Each screen within Paperless reflects some subtly clever design decision to make using the app more satisfying.

The main screen in Paperless includes all of your current lists. The cleverness on this screen is twofold: First, you can assign each list you create an icon, and the app offers more than 200 to choose from. That makes it easy for me to identify my grocery list or Macworld assignments quickly (by spotting the carrot or iPhone icon) as my list of lists gets longer. Secondly, each list on the main screen wisely reflects its first several items. That means you don't necessarily need to tap into each list when you're gauging your top priorities for the day. The saved tap is a nice touch.

When you create a new list, you can customize precisely how that list will work. In addition to setting the list's name, you can make it a checklist, where you cross tasks off upon completion. You can also decide whether new list entries should appear at the top of the list or the bottom. And, as I referenced earlier, you can attach an icon to your list. With so many icons to choose from, Paperless smartly lets you search the images by typing; typing "birthday" finds icons labeled "gift," which is helpful.

Adding entries to your newly-created list is straightforward, but it's the one place where Paperless falls a bit short. The process gets a little tap-heavy if you want to add multiple list items at once; support for more efficiently doing so would be much appreciated.

Each list item sports an extra field for notes, where you add in as much detail as you can tap out on the iPhone's keyboard.

If you choose to e-mail your list, Paperless formats it very cleanly to send on, without needing to exit the app. The app almost makes it easy to resort your list alphabetically, or to reorder the items manually. And if your current list would make a great starting point for a new one, you can duplicate it with the tap of a button. It's also easy to move items between lists.

Two other clever elements of the app are worth noting: You can customize which of your lists (and their unfinished items) should contribute to the app's icon badge--if, say, you want your unfinished chores to count but not your grocery list. Additionally, the app comes preloaded with several lists, including one that serves as an excellent tutorial for getting acquainted with much of the app's feature-set.

It's not easy to manage your life's many to-do lists, and there's sadly still no app where the auto-complete feature actually does your chores for you. But Paperless makes a great replacement for lost Post-It Notes, and makes certain repetitive lists far easier to manage. The free Paperless Lite limits you to 15 list items across all your lists, but should do just fine at convincing you that Paperless deserves a spot on your iPhone.

Security Software Market To Be Growing

2010-08-19T07:22:00.000-07:00

The security software market is poised to grow 10% from 2009 to 2014, according to Gartner's analysis of the worldwide market for the second quarter of 2010.

In its analysis, Gartner says though the economic downturn pushed growth rates down to 7% in 2009, the security software market is expected to recover to post double digits in 2010. Companies have indicated an intention to give priority to security budgets.

According to the forecast, the worldwide estimate for security software revenue for 2010 is $16.5 billion, reflecting a positive 11.3% annual growth rate (AGR) from the $14.8 billion actual revenue for 2009.

Presenting their analysis, Gartner analysts Ruggero Contu and Matthew Cheung say: “This new AGR forecast has been lowered from 13.5% to 11.3% for 2010 and lowered slightly in the next four years due primarily to the lingering effects of the euro crisis in Western Europe”.

They add that security software markets will maintain healthy growth during the long term. “However, security vendors will continue to face tough product life cycle decisions and short-term pressure on price and margins”.

The analysts attribute cloud computing and the changes in how software technology is being deployed, accessed and used as problems to be faced by security software vendors.

The threat landscape, which is becoming more complex, as well as compliance demands will also help to spur the security software market. Says Gartner: “The security software market continues to benefit from prioritisation and demands related to compliance requirements, as well as the need to keep up with ever-increasing sophistication and volume in the threat landscape”.

Furthermore, the analysts say improvement in the global economy will also boost the security software market. “The global economic growth outlook continues to improve incrementally. In this environment, company financials are stable and meeting expectations in general, which is improving business confidence,” say the analysts.

Though the security software market has been impacted by the recession, Gartner says the effects were not as dramatic as those for other IT markets.

As far as regional performance is concerned, Gartner says all geographies felt the impact of a slowdown in security software spending in 2009. “Most mature regions felt the greatest impact, with emerging regions showing significantly slower growth rates than in previous years.”

According to Gartner, the most sought-after security software products this year will be suite-based options in enterprise endpoint security, identity and access management, and Web security. They add that identity and enterprise management comprises about 8% of enterprise security budgets to date and that segment overall will grow to more than $12 billion by 2014.

The analysts note that key faster-growing segments within the security software market include e-mail security boundary, security information and event management.

The 2010 Gartner Symposium/ITxpo Africa, themed 'Innovation: The key to the future', will take place from 30 August to 1 September at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

India Has Postponed Some BlackBerry Services

2010-08-18T08:02:00.000-07:00

A technical team from Research In Motion began discussions with India's telecommunications ministry and intelligence agencies on Tuesday, the source said, seeking to address security worries over some of BlackBerry's services.

"Discussions have started today. They will continue this week and whole of next week. Discussions are on both the services," said the source on condition of anonymity.

The government expects some sort of technical solution from RIM to emerge during the discussions, he said.

When asked if BlackBerry would be allowed to operate after August 31, he said: "BlackBerry services, including phone, SMS and Messenger will run, not sure about enterprise mail."

Research In Motion has assured India of manual access to BlackBerry instant messages by September 1, and automated access by year-end. They are yet to get assurances for its more secure corporate email, sources said.

Also on Tuesday, at least three mobile operators confirmed they received letters from the Department of Telecommunications giving them a deadline to put in place monitoring capability for BlackBerry Messenger and secured Enterprise email services.

"We have received a letter ... asking us to ensure that legal intervention capability is put in place for BlackBerry services by 31 August 2010," a statement from operator Tata Teleservices said.

New Delhi says it will shut down BlackBerry services if RIM does not allow access to its messaging or secured email, threatening its future in the world's fastest-growing telecoms market.

SUITABLE INTERCEPTION

India is one of a number of countries putting pressure on RIM, which has built the reputation of the BlackBerry, popular with business professionals and politicians, around confidentiality.

Governments such as Saudi Arabia's fear it could become a tool for militants to plan attacks or for those breaking Islamic laws.

A shutdown would affect about 1 million users in India out of a total 41 million BlackBerry users worldwide, allowing them to use the devices only for calls and Internet browsing.

"The onus is on service providers to ensure that they have some sort of interception mechanism in place before the deadline ends," a senior Interior security official told Reuters.

"It is binding upon them and the DoT (Department of Telecommunications), which is the nodal agency, will ensure that it is followed strictly, in the interest of national security."

A source at one of India's biggest telecom operators said the government wanted a "suitable interception and monitoring" solution in readable format for the law enforcement agencies.

According to a government source, RIM has already assured India of limited access to BlackBerry instant messages by September 1.

RIM has lost more than 11 percent of market capitalization since the beginning of August, when governments in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said they would also consider a ban.

Top Ten Telecom Providers In India

2010-08-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

India is the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world. The booming telecom industry has been attracting large amount of investments in the country.

The number of telephone subscriber base in the country reached 671.69 million as on June 30, 2010 from 653.92 million in May 2010, as per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

According to the latest survey conducted by Voice and Data, CyberMedia group journal, Bharti Airtel emerges as India's top mobile phone operator in 2009-10.

Let's take a look at India's top 10 telecom service providers in India in terms of revenue.

1. Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel retained its leading position among telecom service providers and posted a growth of five per cent to end 2009-10 fiscal with revenues of Rs 38,800 crore (Rs 388 billion).

The company is structured into four strategic business units -- mobile, telemedia, enterprise and digital TV.

The company has with operations in 18 countries with a footprint covering 1.8 billion people. Sunil Bharti Mittal is the chairman and managing director of the company.

In March 2010, Bharti Airtel bought the African operations of Kuwait-based Zain Telecom for $10.7 billion.

Recently, it has joined a consortium of global telecom operators to announce the launch of the EASSy cable system -- the 10,000 km undersea cable connecting Africa to Europe.

2. BSNL

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited saw a drop in its revenue for the second consecutive year to post Rs 30,240 crore (Rs 302.4 billion), a drop of 14 per cent, even though it retained the number two position among telecom players.

BSNL offers both fixed line and mobile services with broadband connections.

With over 71.68 million subscribers, BSNL currently is the largest wireline service provider in India.

The company has reported around 6 crore (600 million) 2G connections and 9,73,378 3G connections since February 2010. All major towns and cities are covered through BSNL network.

Gopal Das is the new chairman and managing director of BSNL.

3. Vodafone Essar

The Indian subsidiary of Vodafone Group, Vodafone Essar recorded 13.7 per cent growth to emerge as the third largest player with revenue of Rs 23,200 crore (Rs 232 billion).

The company commenced operations in 1994 when its predecessor Hutchison Telecom acquired the cellular license for Mumbai.

It has operations across the country with over 106.34 million customers.

It is the world's leading international mobile communications group with approximately 347 million proportionate customers as on 30 June 2010 and has around 40 partner networks worldwide.

Vittorio Colao is Vodafone chief executive, and Marten Pieters is managing director and CEO, Vodafone Essar.

4. Reliance Communications

Reliance ADA Group's flagship company, Reliance Communications reported a negative growth of 3.5 per cent with revenue of Rs 22,130 crore (Rs 221.3 billion).

It is India's largest private sector information and communications company, with over 100 million subscribers.

It has established a pan-India, high-capacity, integrated (wireless and wireline), convergent (voice, data and video) digital network, to offer services spanning the entire infocomm value chain.

Anil D Ambani is the chairman of the company.

5. Idea Cellular

Idea Cellular is part of the Aditya Birla Group and has bagged fifth position with a revenue of Rs 11,390 crore (Rs 113.9 billion).

It is a leading GSM mobile services operator in India with 67 million subscribers. Idea offers both prepaid and post paid services.

It is a pan-India operator with services being made available in all parts of the country.

Idea was the first cellular service provider to launch General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) in the country.

Kumar Mangalam Birla is the chairman of the group.

6. Tata Communications

Tata Communications reported revenue of Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion).

The company holds leadership position in emerging markets.

Tata Communications leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across its global and pan-India network to deliver managed solutions to multi-national enterprises, service providers and Indian consumers.

The Tata Global Network includes one of the most advanced and largest submarine cable networks, a Tier-1 IP network, with connectivity to more than 200 countries across 400 PoPs, and nearly 1 million square feet of data center and collocation space worldwide.

Srinath Narasimhan is the managing director and CEO of Tata Communications.

7. Tata Teleservices

Tata Teleservices spearheads the Tata Group's presence in the telecom sector. It has posted revenue of Rs 6,900 crore (Rs 69 billion).

Established in 1996, Tata Teleservices, one of the 96 companies of Tata Group, has its network in 20 circles. It is the first company to launch CDMA mobile services in India.

It launched mobile operations in January 2005 under the brand name Tata Indicom. It enjoys a pan-India presence through existing operations in all of India's 22 telecom circles.

Tata Teleservices operates under five different brands -- Tata Indicom (CDMA services), Tata DOCOMO (GSM services), Virgin Mobile, Tata Walky (which is the brand for fixed wireless phones), Tata Photon (the company's brand that provides a variety of options for wireless mobile broadband access) and T24.

Tata Teleservices Ltd, along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd, serves nearly 70 million customers in more than 450,000 towns and villages across the country.

Anil Sardana is the managing director of Tata Teleservices.

8. Aircel

Aircel recorded the highest growth of 37.2 per cent among operators in 2009-10.

The company posted a revenue of Rs 4,700 crore (Rs 47 billion) to move to the number eight slot.

It is a joint venture between Maxis Communications Berhad of Malaysia and Sindya Securities Investments Private Limited, whose current shareholders are the Reddy family of Apollo Hospitals Group of India.

Aircel commenced operations in 1999 and became the leading mobile operator in Tamil Nadu.

It emerged a market leader in Assam and in the North Eastern provinces within 18 months of operations.

Today, the company has a foothold in 21 circles including Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Assam, North East, Orissa, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Kolkata, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, UP(West), UP(East), Maharashtra & Goa , Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.

It has over 43 million customers in the country.

MTNL

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL)'s revenue dropped nearly by a fifth highest among the top 10 players -- to Rs 3,650 crore (Rs 36.5 billion).

The company has achieved a customer base of 8.06 million in the two metro cities of Delhi and Mumbai. The government currently holds 56.25 per cent stake in the company.

Today it has more than 9,00,000 GSM mobile connections.

The company was in the forefront of technology induction by converting 100 per cent of its telephone exchange network into the state-of-the-art digital mode.

Kuldip Singh is chairman & managing director of MTNL.

TTML

The third Tata group company i nthis arena, Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Limited (TTML) is ranked number 10, among the top ten telecom players in India, with revenues of Rs 2,300 crore (23 billion. This helped the group's earning go past the Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) mark.

TTML leads the Tata group's presence in the telephony sector in the telecom circles of Maharashtra and Goa, including Mumbai.

TTML commenced landline operations in 1998 and has the largest wireline base in Mumbai and Maharashtra amongst all private operators.

The company has over 600,000 subscribers.

Kishor Chaukar is the chairman of TTML.

Android Software Oracle Sues Google Over

2010-08-14T02:13:00.000-07:00

Oracle has filed a lawsuit against Google, charging that its Android phone software infringes Oracle patents and copyrights related to Java, Oracle said Thursday.

"In developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle's Java-related intellectual property. This lawsuit seeks appropriate remedies for their infringement," Oracle spokeswoman Karen Tillman said in a statement.

The suit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco and seeks a jury trial.

Google could not immediately be reached for comment on the lawsuit.

Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems' Java technology when it bought the company earlier this year. Java is a software environment that allows applications written in Java to run on virtually any computer so long as it has a Java virtual machine installed.

When Google developed Android, it included a Java compatible technology called Dalvik with the phone OS. Dalvik was developed as a "clean room" version of Java, meaning Google built it from the ground up without using any Sun technology or intellectual property, said Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney.

"You can't just take a Java application from a Sun environment, where it's licensed, and run it on Android. You have to recompile it to Dalvik," Dulaney said.

Oracle says Dalvik is a competitor to Java and infringes several of its patents, which it lists in the complaint, and its Java copyright.

It was unclear Thursday whether Oracle approached Google to discuss its concerns before it filed the lawsuit.

Oracle's motivation was probably Android's recent success in the smartphone market, Dulaney said. "They own Sun now and they want to collect the royalties on the language," he said.

Oracle alleges that Google was aware of its patents and "willfully and deliberately" infringed them. It also says Google hired some of Sun's Java engineers. It wants the court to block the alleged infringement and award it damages.

Dulaney said Oracle's case could be "hard to prove" and that a legal battle could take a long time. "What they'll have to argue about is whether Google did a purely clean-room Java or if they have someone with inside knowledge of the code," he said.

Dalvik is one option for writing Android applications; developers can also use HTML 5 and the C language. But Dalvik is used for some of the core Android applications, such as email, Dulaney said.

Multiple Ways To Backup Your Home Computer

2010-08-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

There are a couple of ways by which you can backup your documents, photos, emails and other important files that on your home computer. For instance, you may:

1. Use an external drive – You can attach an external hard disk to your PC or Mac through the USB port and use the built-in software to backup all your important files and folders automatically. These devices are sleek, portable and some even have FireWire ports so the data transfer happens at a much faster rate.

2. Clone the computer – You can use disk imaging tools like Acronis True Image or DriveImage XML (free for personal use) to create an exact mirror image of your hard-drive. The tools will even backup your system files and program settings so you can easily restore the computer to a working state in case your hard-drive crashes.

[*] If you are using Windows 7, you don’t really need any of these tools as the OS itself has a backup tool that will let you create system images at any point of time. You can store these snapshots on another partition of the same hard-disk or you may use an external drive.

3. Backup to another computer – If you have two or more computers connected through a home network, you can use the hard disk of one computer to store the data of another computer and vice-versa.

Microsoft Sync Toy is an excellent program that can help you keep folders across computers in sync with each other and thus can be used an indirect backup tool.

Alternatively, you may consider using desktop based backup software programs like FBackup or GFI Backup that are free for personal use and allow you to easily backup your files to any other computer on the home network (LAN). You can even schedule backups so that they run automatically at pre-defined intervals.

While FBackup has a more clean interface, GFI Backup offers both differential and incremental backups which are naturally faster than full backups. Both software programs can compress files on the fly so that your backups occupy less space on the network drive.

4. Create a Virtual Machine – Microsoft offers a free utility called Disk2vhd to help you create a virtual machine of your Windows PC.

You can copy the virtual machine file to another computer and access programs, documents and other files using Microsoft Virtual PC or any of the free virtualization software.

5. Use Offsite Backup – All the options discussed above make data backup easy but they obviously are not hands-free. You may therefore consider storing your data in the cloud use an online backup service.

Gadgets for Exif Data of Images

2010-08-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

The information that is recorded by the camera into the photograph may include details about the camera model itself, the lens that was used, shutter speed, aperture, focal length and so on. Some modern digital cameras and camera phones are GPS enabled and they can therefore save even the location co-ordinates (latitude and longitude) with the photographs.

All this “metadata” is embedded into photographs using the standard Exif format that can easily be read by most image editing programs as well as online photo sharing websites like Flickr and Picasa Web Albums.

1. How to View Exif Data of Images

If you are impressed by a photograph and would like to know more about the camera make and the lens settings that were used when capturing that picture, here’s what you can do do.

Go to Jeffrey’s Exif Viewer and upload the photograph (or if you found the picture on the web, simply copy-paste the image URL). The tool will create a nice summary of all the meta data stored in that photograph along with the location information (see example).

Alternatively, you may use Google’s Picasa, Windows Live Photo Gallery, or any other photo viewer programs to display Exif data from photographs on your desktop.

2. How to Edit Exif Data in Photographs

Why would anyone want to modify the Exif data of photographs? Well, there can be several genuine reasons.

For instance, the internal date of your camera was incorrect and therefore all the pictures were captured with a wrong timestamp. Or you want to add your name to the photograph’s metadata so that people immediately know who the owner is. WIth an Exif editor, you can also geo-tag your photographs manually even if your camera doesn’t have GPS.

You may be a bit surprised but Windows Explorer is actually a wonderful Exif editor. Just right click any image file, choose Properties and click the Details tab. You can now edit a wide range of metadata associated with that image from the camera model to the shooting date to copyright information and more.

Windows Explorer won’t let you edit GPS related information of photographs but Google’s Picasa software is a good choice for doing that.

Finally, if you want to change the Exif data in tons of photographs, you can edit them all in one go using a dedicated Exif editors like Geosetter or Microsoft Pro Photo. Geosetter can pull Exif tags from one photograph and apply them to all your other photos while Pro Photo is more suited for geo-tagging pictures.

Similar stuff can also be done with the help of command like utilities like jHead and ExifTool – these are very powerful tools but implementation is obviously a bit geeky.

3. How to Remove Metadata from Photographs

Sometimes the Exif data of your photographs may reveal more than what you would expect. It may therefore sometimes sense to strip your images of all the meta information before uploading them to the web.

To remove all the metadata from a photograph, just right-click the files inside Windows Explorer and choose Properties. Now click the Details tab and select the option that says “Remove Properties and Personal Information.”

Choose “Remove the follow properties from this file” followed by “Select All” and click OK. All the private metadata tags are now erased from the photograph. Simple!

Blackberry for Last Call

2010-08-10T23:57:00.000-07:00

India would spell out a firm deadline to mobile phone operators this Thursday to ensure access of security agencies to encrypted BlackBerry messages or disconnect the two BlackBerry services that violate their licence conditions. The government has been negotiating with the Canadian firm that
operates BlackBerry services, Research in Motion, for nearly two years. Officials believe that a clear deadline — to be delivered at its meeting on Thursday — would persuade RIM to take India's security concerns more seriously.

A similar decision to pull the plug had convinced the company to consider setting up a server to address similar concerns. The decision — unless RIM acts on the government's security concerns — could result in deactivation of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Messenger.

Thursday's meeting, convened by the home ministry, would be attended by representatives of the Department of Telecom and phone companies such as Airtel, Vodafone, RCom, Tata Teleservices and the government-run BSNL and MTNL.

"We will tell the mobile service providers in categorical terms that the government will allow them to offer only those services which could be intercepted by the security agencies. If any service cannot be intercepted, we will not allow them to run such services in,” a government source said.

As per to Indian law, it is phone companies' responsibility to put monitoring services in place for lawful interception of voice and data handled by them.

Tends In Cloud Computing

2010-08-10T04:35:00.000-07:00

This Is Is the cloud computing trends and we know more about this

By 2012, 20 percent of businesses will own no IT assets. Several interrelated trends are driving the movement toward decreased IT hardware assets, such as virtualization, cloud-enabled services, and employees running personal desktops and notebook systems on corporate networks,� says Gartner.

Of long, organizations have been stockpiling technology, with the infrastructure revealing problems of under-utilization and existence of too many silos. Information multiplying every single day is making things increasingly challenging for the enterprises to manage them. IDC says that during the coming ten years, data stored in various storage systems will increase by 44 times, with the current rate of data growth. But it won't be possible for enterprises to increase their IT budgets and scale up their IT infrastructure in tandem with the information explosion that's happening.

Another point is the time to market, which has become significant for businesses and they are looking at ways and means to minimize it. For eg , if an enterprise wants to set up a collaboration service internally or develop social networking capability, they would plan about the hardware, software, service requirements, etc which might take a long time to market. But now with the available cloud services, the same roll out is possible within much shorter time.

Microsoft Working On Better Tablets

2010-07-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said Microsoft Corp. needs to do better in the market for tablet computers that Apple Inc. has found success in with the iPad.

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"We've got to make things happen" with Windows on such devices, Mr. Ballmer said at a conference for investors on the company's Redmond, Wash., campus. "We're in the process of doing that right now."

Mr. Ballmer said Microsoft is working closely with hardware partners to improve the quality of tablet devices that run Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system. The software giant, which currently has four retail stores, is also planning to open three more, he said

Tablet or slate devices—thin, keyboard-free computers with touchscreens—running Windows 7 haven't caught on yet, as computer makers struggle to create products with the responsiveness and ease of use of the iPad.

Apple has done an "interesting job" with the iPad, Mr. Ballmer said, adding "they've certainly sold more than I'd like them to sell."

On Thursday Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said Apple has sold more iPads than he would have liked, and discussed Microsoft's plans to improve the quality of tablet devices that run Windows 7 OS. WSJ's Marcelo Prince and MarketWatch's Rex Crum join Simon Constable on the Digits show to discuss Microsoft's strategy. Plus: Emily Maltby reports on affordable 3-D software for small businesses.

Microsoft will "get a boost" early next year when Intel Corp. comes out with a new microprocessor known as Oak Trail designed to work better within the thin confines of a slate device, Mr. Ballmer said. The processor will allow devices without fans to cool them and with better battery life.

Mr. Ballmer said there will be a "lot of cacophony" in the tablet market as hardware companies use other operating systems for their products than Windows. Mr. Ballmer didn't mention those competing operating systems, but a number of its PC partners are planning tablets running Google Inc.'s operating system.

Hewlett-Packard Co. is also expected to make similar devices that run WebOS, an operating system made by Palm Inc., which H-P acquired this year.

Mobile Appication Development

2010-07-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

Accessing your favorite sites from your smart phone or other web-enabled mobile device is more popular than ever. Statistics suggest smart phones will be nearly 1/3 of the entire mobile market before the middle of the decade, and as a result, developers are rushing to ensure their applications are not only popular, but create a level of lasting usefulness as well. As a result, a number of trends in the mobile application market have begun to appear.

The Financials

Few individuals take the time to physically write a check these days. Paying online almost always involves simply accessing your credit or debit card or bank account from a service like PayPal that’s designed for web usage. This trend hasn’t escaped mobile web designers either. Because it’s difficult to go through screen after screen of the typical online purchase process from your smart phone, many designers are creating new payment interfaces from everything to downloading new applications and music to your mobile device to making small charitable contributions with a few clicks. Western Union recently announced a pilot project involving mobile bill pay, and the cell phone companies themselves almost all have a feature where customers can pay the mobile bill directly from the phone. As traditional banks begin reinventing the security protocol that will be necessarily involved with the process, it’s likely they’ll play a role as well.

Application Buying Diversity

Apple has certainly cornered the initial market share on application development and sales, and their ad campaigns don’t hesitate to let you know, but there are some real drawbacks. Not only is it more difficult for developers to get an app to iTunes these days for purchase, but with the market increasing for other brands, the idea that Apple will remain king of the market isn’t likely to last forever.
What’s more, though, is the real lack of organization iTunes presents. Most iPhone users know they can download an app that will allow them to make various fart noises or make a virtual stapler staple every time you touch it, but with so many applications on the market today, it’s difficult for business professionals to sort through the ones that may actually help them more effectively work with clients or accomplish tasks. As a result, niche app markets, and the associated stores, are increasingly appearing to help with promotion. Because today’s most popular app stores don’t offer professionals a way to sort out virtual staplers from those that may offer you the best project management help, compiling them in this format is essential to individuals who simply don’t care if one of their apps allows them to get exclusive messages from Britney Spears.

The World of Advertising

Along with the newfound diversity in purchasing apps from other stores and for other devices besides the iPhone comes application advertising that just wasn’t a possibility a few years ago. These days, however, there are sites and networks that are entirely dedicated to covering the thousands of applications that are released each week, and that’s going to be essential as the market gets bigger and bigger. One study suggested that over the next five years, ad revenue for apps will increase to nearly $1.5 billion, and as a result, the very rudimentary promotional strategies many app developers are using to encourage mobile users to download their app over another one aren’t going to stand the test of time. Applications for every smart phone on the market are being released at a fast pace, and when you add that to the development of apps over the past several years, any smart phone user has to have the advertising just to make sense of the mountain of virtual products that are now available.

The Ever Present Social Media

Sure, social media marketing was the zeitgeist of the last decade, but it’s not going anywhere in the near future unless it’s headed to your smart phone. People already tweet or update a Facebook page from their mobile devices, so it’s little surprise that mobile development as a whole is headed in this direction as well. When you add the GPS capabilities to today’s most popular social sites, you have an entirely new animal that may redefine social media as it struggles to find its place in this emerging market.

Most Useful WordPress Plug-Ins

2010-07-17T14:26:00.000-07:00

1. Google XML Sitemaps – Since you want Google and other search engines to know about each and every page of your WordPress website, you should have an XML sitemap and this plug-in makes it a one-click process.

2. All in One SEO Pack – While WordPress software now includes the rel=canonical directive by default, if you wish to write search friendly titles that are different from the heading of the page, get this plug-in.

3. Automatic WordPress Backup – I host the static JS and CSS files of this blog on Amazon S3 and this plug-in helps me create a backup of all the essential WordPress files (like themes and plugins) and the MySQL databases to the same S3 account.

4. Hyper Cache – This is a nice caching plug-in for WordPress that helps in reducing the load on your web server. I was initially on the more popular WP Super Cache plug-in but had to switch to Hyper Cache as the former was not quite compatible with my web host.

5. Redirection – If an external site is linking to a non-existent or a 404 page on my site, I use the redirection plug-in to forward all the incoming traffic to the right pages.

6. Bing 404 – If someone lands on a 404 page on my site for which redirection is not yet enabled, this plug-in will display links to relevant article on the error page. For example, a 404 pages like labnol.org/flickr has links to my Flickr related stories.

7. WordPress.com Stats – Google Analytics is obviously the best solution for tracking visitors but if you want something quick and simple, WP Stats is something nice-to-have alongside Google Analytics. The advantage – it will display the traffic charts right inside your WordPress dashboard.

8. Akismet – I generally close comments on my stories after a couple of days while Akismet helps me filter out spam comments on fresh posts.

9. SlideShare – This helps me easily embed SlideShare presentations in any of my stories using short codes. It saves time and the embedded presentation automatically fits the width of the site – see example.

10. WordPress PDA – If you ever had a chance to visit @labnol on your mobile phone, you may have noticed that the layout is completely different. Earlier, the mobile version of the site was done through Google Reader but now its the PDA plug-in that handles the mobile traffic based on the browser’s user agent.

11. WP-Paginate – If you scroll to the bottom of any archives page (like this one), you may see some numbered boxes – they are done through the Paginate plug-in.

12. Debug Queries – This is another awesome plug-in that helps me debug which of the MySQL queries are taking time to execute and thus slowing down the blog.

13. YARRP – The related posts plug-in adds links to old stories that may be contextually related to the content of the current story. It also helps you expose your archived content to search bots.

14. Smart YouTube – Like the SlideShare plug-in, Smart YouTube helps me easily embed videos from YouTube into my site. Here, I just have to copy-paste the URL of a YouTube video and the plug-in will automatically convert it into an embed code.

15. WP-Associatizer – This plug-in will automatically rewrite any Amazon URLs in your posts to use your Amazon Associates ID.