Mozilla is currently working to develop a ‘reset’ button for Firefox, which would enable users to work around errors in installation or start-up crashes and fix the problem without losing their data, bookmarks, history and more. The feature would be accessible in several ways, around the Firefox browser.

Mozilla Firefox Reset Button

As the Mozilla wiki page about the new feature says, even Firefox encounters some serious issues like not starting, unexpected crashes, lost toolbars and others, and these can be fixed with a new profile. However, the problem with creating a new profile is that the task is not very easy, and also doesn’t solve the problem entirely. Migration of user data to the new profile is always preferred, however not always possible.

Users often start reinstalling the Firefox software when they encounter such errors, but that doesn’t solve the problem, since they also need to delete their profile folders manually provided they know these exist. Users instead require an efficient way by which it would be possible to wipe out all data, add-on settings etc. while still retaining their personal data.

"Many users try to reinstall Firefox to solve these issues but reinstallation doesn't do anything to the profile folder. Providing this option upon reinstallation and, in addition, offering this after consecutive start-up crashes and on the Troubleshooting Information page will make this feature both intuitive and discoverable," Mozilla explains.

To solve the problem, Mozilla is looking to integrate a ‘reset’ button into the Firefox installer, through which on reinstallation, users will get the option to delete all data, except their personal data. A significant limitation however would be that the feature would only work on Windows, and not Mac OS or Linux.

Apart from building it into the installer, a second option would be to build the feature into the Firefox browser. It would be able to detect consecutive startup crashes and after three failed attempts would prompt the user to reset their preferences. A third option would be to make the Reset Firefox button available on the Troubleshooting page.

The company is still developing the concept, and since no clear Firefox version target has been set, one can expect that the feature will take some time to come.

Source

You were reading Mozilla Working On Developing A Reset Button For Firefox Browser - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 28, 2012 - 1:47 am (Indian Standard Time)

Google has announced they are releasing the source code of Google Sky Map to the public. Google Sky Map is an Android app which users the phone's sensors to act as a window into the cosmos. Originally created by some Googlers during their famous 20% time, Sky Map allows users to point their Android device to any direction and see what starts, galaxies etc. are in that direction.

According to the announcement posted on the Google Research Blog, Google has donated the source code of the app to the public and has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University to further the development of the app.

Developers who want to look at the Sky Map source code can find it at http://code.google.com/p/stardroid/

Google Sky Map is still available on the Android Market and if you want to install it, click the link below or scan the QR code with your phone.

Google Sky Map (Android Market)

You were reading Google Open Sources Sky Map - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 23, 2012 - 3:35 am (Indian Standard Time)

UPDATE 2: Daniel Ha, Cofounder of Disqus has updated us with an apology to all Disqus users. The downtime was caused by a minor glitch where a backup system failed to switch over smoothly. Total time to fix this was about 20 minutes.

UPDATE 1: Looks, like the Disqus comment system is now back online. The downtime was close to approximately an hour. Thanks, everyone at Disqus for fixing the issue.

We have been using Disqus comments system for quite some time now and have not faced any issues as such. The comment posting interface is awesome and it gives us a pretty good interface to manage the comments. We started with using Disqus on one of our blogs and eventually moved all our other blogs to the Disqus comments system. Not only us, but many other big blogs around the world have been using Disqus to manage their commenting system.

But, this is for the first time we are facing issues with the commenting system as nothing loads in the comments area of the blogs. So, as of now all our blogs are pretty comment-less and so are other blogs around the world. You can check the Twitter search page for users who have started expressing their concerns about the Disqus commenting system going down:

However, it looks like the folks at Disqus are still unaware of this issue as their Status page shows everything is alright with the Disqus web service. Shown below is another screenshot which shows that the Disqus API endpoint is throwing s 503 service error as seen in the Google Chrome bug inspector:

Given the fact that many WordPress self hosted blogs and other portals use Disqus (a third party service) as their primary commenting system, it is really worrying to see if users / site administrators should actually use a third party comment system or use the default commenting systems of the respective CMS.

You were reading Disqus Commenting System Goes Down; Leaves All Blogs Comment-Less - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 22, 2012 - 6:18 pm (Indian Standard Time)

Microsoft today announced the launch of a new beta Visual Studio Achievements plug-in for Visual Studio developers to help them discover new features of the application, while making the process “playful and pragmatic”. It is a free plug-in which works a lot like Xbox game play, allowing developers to unlock achievements and badges in the same way Xbox users unlock game achievements.

The developer, if and when he triggers some event in Visual Studio will receive a pop-up called “achievement unlocked”. Developers can compete with each other on a virtual leader board through this plug-in, and get bragging rights for as many achievements they unlock.

Notifications about your coding achievements

The plug-in has 32 achievements across six categories, and badges for the achievements can be shared on Facebook and Twitter or a personal blog with a javascript widget. Achievements are also named as “Lonely” or “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), lending a humorous streak to the entire concept. The plug-in can be accessed from channel9.msdn.com/achievements/visualstudio.

Share your coding achievements on Facebook

You were reading Microsoft Turns Visual Studio Developers Into Social Gamers With An Xbox-like Plugin - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 22, 2012 - 10:33 am (Indian Standard Time)

A staggering 7 million people signed the online anti-SOPA petition initiated by Google in just 24 hours, confirmed a Google spokeswoman. The petition was available to sign on Wednesday, linked from Google homepage, meant to increase awareness about the SOPA and PIPA acts currently under consideration by the U.S Congress. The Google petition came in consonance with the Wikipedia blackout on January 18.

Google's SOPA Petition signed by 7 Million people

"Members of Congress are trying to do the right thing by going after pirates and counterfeiters but SOPA and PIPA are the wrong way to do it," the petition website says.

The Google logo blacked out on Wednesday, a first for the search engine website which is famous for changing its logo for popular events and holidays. A link below the search field read – “"Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web!". The petition website created by Google encouraged readers to support the movement by adding their names to an expanding list of advocates against the two controversial bills. The website has the slogan “End Piracy, Not Liberty” and according to Google spokesperson Christine Chen, the last number the company released at precisely 4:30 pm ET, was 4.5 million and counting.

The public support garnered by Google, Wikipedia and other websites through the use of the web in intelligent ways has resulted in politicians taking note. In the U.S, both Republicans and Democrats announced that they will either vote against the bills or move for amending them to make them more compatible with the idea of a free Internet space, devoid of piracy and copyright theft.

source

You were reading Google’s Anti-SOPA Petition Garners Support Of 7 Million People - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 22, 2012 - 2:00 am (Indian Standard Time)

Inventus Capital Partners has invested $2 million in a unique start-up called eTechies.in, India’s first doorstep, online and phone support service for all kinds of digital devices such as PCs, laptops, printers, iPads etc. It functions as an “on-call and subscription” based tech support service for consumers and SMBs. It employees highly trained engineers, and provides service, support and repair in an organized way to SMBs who’ve traditionally been dependent on erratic and incomplete support of disorganized service centers.

eTechies is just one of the many start-ups which have been invested in lately. Seeders Venture Capital, although an early-stage investment firm run by two young professionals, has invested in six new start-ups in the past eighteen months. It has put about $50,000 to $100,000 in each - Shopo.in, Azoi, Plivo.org, CarSingh.com, Cropextechnology.com and Eduora.com. This surge in high-risk investment has made the space very busy and also very profitable.

The individuals behind Seeders, Abhishek Rungta and Pallav Nadhani have wide experience in handling data and Internet services, and after their recent investments, “now wish to go easy for a while and mentor these young companies.” The start-ups they’ve decided to back up are also look very promising, providing innovative services in their respective fields.

This is what Rohit Chaudhary, Co-Founder and CEO of eTechies has to say, "Key to our business model has been a passionate drive and commitment to offer the consumers & small businesses with best of the breed technical solutions, with a maniacal focus on meeting their needs around,quality and velocity" of our service delivery model.

The Investment from Inventus, a leading firm with a proven track-record in promoting the entrepreneurial eco-system, will further enable us to rapidly grow the service boundaries, add the right technology and attract the best talent to realize our goals. In particular, we are sure to leverage Kanwal Rekhi’s legendary experience and mentoring approach, to help us scale new heights”. While investment firms are providing these start-ups with essential capital to push their business forward, individuals from these firms are also associating themselves with these start-ups as in the case of John Dougery and Parag Dhol of Inventus Capital joining the eTechies board.

Sources: 1, 2

You were reading Investment In Start-ups On The Rise As Inventus Capital Puts $2 Million In eTechies.in - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 22, 2012 - 1:50 am (Indian Standard Time)

The Indian Government’s has announced the m-Governance framework within the new National e-governance plan, which aims to build on the expansive network of mobile connections in the country and use mobile applications to enable easy access to public services to the general public, especially in the rural areas.

The measures laid down within this new framework include – mobile complaint websites of all Government Departments and Agencies; as per Government Policy on Open Standards of e-Governance, there shall be open standards adopted for mobile applications and; uniform or single pre-designated codes to be used for mobile based services.

Under this, all Government Agencies and Departments are required to develop and deploy mobile applications for providing all their services through mobile, and also give service levels for all such services. The government will also develop a Mobile Services Delivery Getaway (MSDG), an essential core and shared infrastructure for enabling availability of mobile services and for implementing the measures in a time-bound manner. The shared infrastructure would be used by all Central and State Government Departments and Agencies.

A set of separate steps would be taken to ensure the effective implementation of this new framework while maintaining levels of security, these would be –

• Taking into account the end user interface which includes different kinds of devices apart from mobile phones, such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, landline phones, PDAs and other wireless devices. Since there are a variety of interfaces to take into account, considerations needs to be given to issues like bandwidth limitations, micro-browser and micro-screen restrictions and even memory and storage capacities.

• Mobile ready content needs to be generated for mobile devices since they have lower bandwidth and smaller screens, meaning that separate content needs to be in place for mobile and wireless devices. To reach out a maximum number of users, applications also needs to be developed in various Indian local languages at an affordable cost. For this purpose, open source software and open standards will used.

• An all new m-apps store will be created to smoothen the process of development and deployment of relevant mobile applications. This app will further be integrated with the MSDG.

• There will be Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for Value Added Service providers will be offered by the MSDG to ensure interoperability and compliance with standards.

• The authentication of users for mobile based public services will; be done through electronic authentication for which the MSDG will bring out appropriate mechanisms, including Aadhaar-based authentications. Privacy of data and transactions is the primary reason this would be taken up.

• A new mobile gateway for payment of public services will be incorporated to enable users to pay for services electronically.

• All Central and State Departments and Agencies would be encouraged to provide their services through the common MSDG, which would prevent a possible duplication of infrastructure.

via

You were reading Indian Government Launches m-Governance Framework - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 22, 2012 - 1:32 am (Indian Standard Time)

A new start-up on the web, Battigul.org has created an online social platform for those concerned about spreading environmental awareness and working to protect it, by providing them with the right resources and communication to share, explore and exchange photos, videos and other kind of information. The website has been started to fulfill the twin aims of engaging people with the problems and have a mass sourcing of solutions for them, but also make people aware of the less known problems about climate change and environment.

Landing Page - Battigul.org

As the founder of the website, Ankit Gupta puts it, the website basically provides one with people and opportunities – having a “a pool of information for fellowships, internships, organizations, team requirements and much more. And the pool comes from you - you’re sharing the opportunities you come across.” It also provides with tools or sharing to reach to a multitude of people at once. One can also use it to promote an event or other initiatives with other like minded people through groups or event pages.

Battigul was born out of “personal experience” says Gupta, and was initially started out as a blog – battigul.in, and gave users innovative ways of presenting and exchanging information about the environment and climate change. The team faced a few challenges in getting the best talents in graphic design and other creative streams who were concerned about the cause as well, But the team has grown since then, including a variety of professionals from all walks of life sharing the common goal of saving the environment through information dissemination.

Friends and contacts listing - Battigul.org

The idea behind Battigul is that content is generated by the people in the community itself, and becoming a self-sustained community of content and information sharing. “For the initial momentum to the community, we with a few interns would be contributing majorly with interesting content, designs, events. Also we’re launching our Battigul Bulletin to engage people off the site too. The content for the news letter would be a compilation of the best content and resource shared by the users coupled with the indigenously written articles,” says Ankit Gupta.

Forums & Discussions - Battigul.org

While the company is not looking to monetize as of now, they aim to generate admin money through workshops, sponsored events and merchandising, Battigul has already collaborated with YouthKiAwaaz, greenmantra.com and minusoneproject.com. The response to the website has been pretty good so far, drawing traffic of 10,000+ people from 28 countries in the first 2 weeks of launch.

Started and marketed through word of mouth and online marketing, Battigul.org is one of the most unique startups which have come up in Indian cyber space, and definitely looks to have a promising future ahead.

via Yourstory.in

You were reading Now, A Social Network For Environment & Climate Change Activism – Battigul.org - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 22, 2012 - 1:31 am (Indian Standard Time)

Bangalore based start-up Moneysights has launched a new Facebook app for tax saving, a move meant to expand what it already is trying to do – change the way people invest in Stocks and Mutual Funds.

Link to app

It is a quick, easy to use app that requires one to fill in some basic details and it generates information regarding which plan would work best to save your money. It just takes a few minutes for the app to list out the best tax saving instruments for a user. Although there are many tax saving calculators online, the Moneysights app seeks to go beyond just being a mere calculator. It starts with the amount one wants to invest and analyses one’s risk profile to generate a few options of Mutual Funds to help one choose.

Facebook Moneysights App - showing how you can diversify your portfolio

The app is interesting as much as useful, making tax saving calculation a fun thing to do. The app neatly helps one compare Mutual Fund options and shows how much one would have saved if they’d invested in a particular plan 3 years ago. Once the calculation is done, the user is redirected to the Moneysights website to complete the transaction.

The app is simple and primarily designed for those with little or no exposure to investment strategy. The website has been generating considerable traffic through facebook and twitter, and the launch of the new app is sure to help the site reach to a wider user base and generate leads for itself.

Coming to the Facebook platform integration of the app, what we liked about it is that the app asks for some basic requirements from your Facebook account such as your basic details and e-mail addresses unlike other spam apps on Facebook which demand a dearth of permissions from your Facebook account.

Permissions required for the Moneysights Facebook app

You were reading Moneysights Facebook App Makes Tax Savings Calculation Easy - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 19, 2012 - 11:25 am (Indian Standard Time)

Software giant Microsoft is all set to launch an all new file system, ReFS with its next operating system Windows 8, in late 2012. ReFS stands for Resilient File System, and has been designed to meet Windows storage needs – having shared storage pools across systems, ability to large volumes and a resilience to corruption. The current file system on Windows, the NTFS or New Technology File System has been in place since Windows NT 3.1 in 1993.

ReFS however, will only be available in Windows Server 8 and Microsoft plans a full test before making it available to Windows 8 client users. Surendra Verma, a member of Microsoft’s Storage and File System team says, “... Windows file systems are accessed by the widest array of application and system software anywhere. ReFS takes that learning and builds on it. We didn’t start from scratch, but reimagined it where it made sense and built on the right parts of NTFS where that made sense. Above all, we are delivering this in a pragmatic manner consistent with the delivery of a major file system—something only Microsoft has done at this scale." Although the new file system has been “designed from the ground up”, Verma does state that the older file code has been used to implement the Windows file system semantics.

Microsoft plans to bring out ReFS in different stages to Windows 8 users – as a storage system for Windows server, as storage for clients and then as a boot volume. A similar approach has been used for previous file systems as well. Storage Spaces and ReFS have been designed such that they are in fact compatible with each other, since Storage Spaces allows users to recover from a crash faster than before.

This compatibility will only make the Windows system more efficient in terms of storage. It would detect disk corruptions faster, enable data striping and also include the copy-on-write model. Microsoft has used COW in SQL servers products and Volume Shadow Copy Service previously.

The only drawbacks of ReFS would be that it cannot be used on removable media, or to boot an operating system. It is strictly for storage as of now. Windows 8 clients would be able to use it only once it is fully supported in client operating systems.

Source theverge, via neowin

You were reading Microsoft To Bring Out A New Filesystem In Windows 8 – ReFS - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 19, 2012 - 11:01 am (Indian Standard Time)

App developers and those looking to start a business are always wondering what they must focus on and there lies not one definitive answer. Some like Steve Poland would tell you to focus on the problems and start with a space you know. Others might suggest an alternative approach involving doing not only a market analysis to see what is working or not working, but also find out the categories which are saturated. Shifting from the popular categories, it is also possible to get involved in other ones.

148Apps’ analysis of the number of iOS apps in each category in the Apple App Store yielded some significant but predictable results. The Games, Books and Entertainment categories were the dominant ones, with thousands of apps available. The reason behind Games leading could be because developers operate on demand and supply accordingly, creating games because it’s easy and also because the demand is always high. However, we need to keep in mind that this 148Apps’ analysis relies on collective data since the App Store’s inception, and since 2008 there have been changes in what’s popular.

Yet another startup called BetaBait which connect startups with professional beta testers who can get their products or apps in good shape. These beta testers are important for the app developers as well as founders since they help them sort out the kinks and bugs in their products and also promote them. BetaBait recently submitted data on the kind of apps that are coming to them for testing. Although the sample size is a mere 255 apps that have come to BetaBait, the results have been surprising enough.

Contrary to what 148Apps’ figures show, BetaBait’s data reveals that social networking apps are the most submitted type. This is a surprising statistic since people claim they don’t really want any more social networks. Along with Social, the Lifestyle and Entertainment apps are at the top, like in the App Store. What is intriguing is the second most popular category – that of Business apps, which says Cody Barbierri, co-founder of BetaBait, also receive the most clicks from beta testers. The top 15 apps by clicks are all business oriented apps too.

This trend could perhaps signify that newer startups are now looking to explore B2B, and stay away from the popular apps in the market due to saturation. Being a startup company big among small businesses is increasingly drawing more and more entrepreneurs. The thing about SMBs and startups is that they are an open minded customer base for apps that don’t charge too much. Besides this, B2B apps also do not require too much polish, as long as they’re workable and increase a startup’s efficiency.

Invariably, app developers and founders are increasingly investing in helping startups save time and money and getting a good customer base and revenue out of it.

You were reading Surge in Business Apps – Entrepreneurs & App Developers Go The B2B Way - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 18, 2012 - 1:46 am (Indian Standard Time)

One in three online consumers will buy a tablet by 2014. More than 60% of 25-34 year olds own a smartphone these days. With these facts in place, the connected consumer is truly one of the best subjects for analysis. A recent survey by Zmags uncovers the digital habits of this connected consumer who is always on the go.

What do you prefer - Mobile site or Mobile app?

The survey reveals that only about 4% of these consumers use branded apps, while 87% prefer using websites and mobile sites. This obviously is a good sign for the tablet commerce industry, with users using tablet-optimized sites like Amazon.com on their devices. What is interesting to note is that this connected consumer is not just restricted to the 25-34 years age fold, but extends to individuals in their forties as well.

The dominance of Facebook is also evident, since the survey shows that more than 75% connected consumers are also active on Facebook. However, Facebook is not going to function as a mall, even with 50% consumers logged in on their Facebook accounts while shopping online and are engaged with brands’ fan pages. Social commerce websites like Fab.com are doing well, attracted a more design-oriented audience.

The survey also shows that 87% connected consumers till prefer using their PCs or laptops to browse websites. More and more consumers also use their tablets to shop or visit mobile sites on their smartphones. 43% consumers own a smartphone and 16% own a tablet, yet prefer a regular website to a smartphone app for shopping. Women comprise 52% of connected consumers, with a household income of $63,000 and mean age 40.

Facebook is also a medium to shop for about 34% connected consumers with tablets although the total share of consumers visiting a website from their tablet is just 9%.

Zmags’ survey is based on a small sample size, about 1500 people in the United States, and does not mention their age, gender or location, but the statistics given by Zmags are rather informative and intriguing.

Image

You were reading Consumers Prefer Websites & Mobile Sites Over Mobile Apps – Reveals Survey - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 18, 2012 - 1:45 am (Indian Standard Time)

Using technology to bridge the gap between learning and digital textbooks was something Apple’s co-founder had been working on for a quite a few years, and Apple was slated to launch its unique new tool along with the iPhone 4S, only to be stalled by Jobs’s death. Now, Apple is ready to launch this tool, which could transform the e-book industry and spell destruction for digital publishing.

Now, Garageband coming to e-books on iTunes?

Apple will launch a tool which would function pretty much like a GarageBand for e-books at its special media event on January 19. While speculators were initially hinting at digital textbooks, sources say Apple is going has created a new tool which would enable users to create interactive e-books and is also going to expand its current platform to distribute these to iPad and iPhone users.

Simply put, what Apple is looking to do is create an app to help authors and publishers create standards-compliant e-books, which would make creating e-books as easy as creating a song on GarageBand. Matt MacInnis, CEO of Inkling and former employee at Apple is expecting something like this to come out.

His own company currently offers thousands of interactive digital textbooks through an iPad app, and with this tool, it would be very easy for him and others to create e-books which run across platforms and standards. What this means is that slowly, but steadily, Apple is trying to destroy the textbook publishing business, and selling tens of thousands of iPads in K-12 institutions. As with music and movies, one must not expect Apple to publish content, rather it will provide a platform content- production to a large audience.

"Publishing something to ePub is very similar to publishing web content. Remember iWeb? That iWeb code didn't just get flushed down the toilet—I think you'll see some of [that code] repurposed.” said MacInnis.

According to a recent study, 82% of students pursuing higher education carry a smartphone. Now is the right time to provide these students with the tools to make use of this connectivity and utilize it for their educational needs. Also, according to Walter Issacson's biography, Jobs believed that textbook publishing was an "$8 billion a year industry ripe for digital destruction." For Dr. William Rankin, tools that can enable social interaction among textbook users can expand the use of digital books.

As Director of Educational Innovation of Abilene Christian University, Rankin has also co-authored a white paper about digital learning. In this paper, what Rankin and others visualized as an always-on, always-networked device soon came along in the form of Apple’s iPad, giving access to information anytime, anywhere. But what students need on such a device is a different kind of book. Digital texts which allow students to interact in visual ways be it audio, 3D models, graphs and video. The idea is to help students share these with other students and colleagues.

"What we really believe is important is the role of social networking in a converged learning environment," said Rankin. "We're already seeing that in Inkling's platform, and Kno's journaling feature. Future digital texts should allow students to layer all kind of other data, such as pictures, and notes, and then share that with the class or, ideally, anyone."

The print publishing industry cannot ignore this new development which could threaten its very existence, but the digital publishing industry hopes to gain a lot from this new tool by Apple.

You were reading Apple to launch Steve Jobs’s pet project – a “GarageBand” for e-books - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 18, 2012 - 1:38 am (Indian Standard Time)

CyanogenMod developer, Andrew Neal, has announced a new music player which is likely to replace the current music that comes with CyanogenMod 9. The music player - known as CyangenMod 9 Music player for now - does not officially have a name yet. However, it is one of the most feature rich and best looking music players for Android.

Some of the coolest features of the app are the Shake and Flip features. You can customize the music player to perform specific function on shaking it - like change to the next track. The Flip action allows you to quickly pause the music by putting the phone face down. You can play it again by putting it face up.

The app uses the Google Music theme and already looks very good. However, it comes with a theme engine which will allow users/designers to completely change the looks of the app.

The social media junkies will also like the fact that the app has social media integration. You can can tweet or share on Facebook the songs you are listening to.

As the current name might suggest, the music player works only in Ice Cream Sandwich. However, Andrew Neal has mentioned on Reddit that he might port it to earlier versions on Android too.

I have been using this music player for almost a day and so far it has been fantastic and very stable. However one thing I miss in this app is Google Music. The CM9 Music player has no Google Music integration. This is no fault of the app since Google has not released API for third-party apps to use the service. However for those who have been using Google Music, this can be a deal breaker.

Here are some screenshots of the app:

The CyanogenMod 9 Music player is a fantastic app and if you want to try it, the download links are given below.

Music app - http://goo.gl/CckWp
Google Music Theme - http://goo.gl/DQC5u
Music Theme Template - http://goo.gl/eYx7F

You were reading CyanogenMod 9 Music Player Announced – Download It Now - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 17, 2012 - 8:10 pm (Indian Standard Time)

Christmas Day of 2011 saw the highest number of mobile device activations and app downloads in the year, with the New Year ‘power week’ being the more profitable than the run up to Christmas itself for applications makers. What’s more, according to the recent report by Flurry, the last week of 2011 saw the highest number of device activations and app downloads in iOS and Android history.

Apple iOS (iPhone & iPad) Max Activations in 2011 / 2012

The Flurry report’s data-set comes from over 140,000 apps running on a majority of iOS and Android devices. Flurry has an excellent application penetration allowing it to detect over 90% of new device activations each day. And, with its analytics service in over 20% of the applications downloaded from the App Store and Android Market, it can estimate the number of downloads.

And according to its recent report, a staggering 6.8 million iOS and Android devices were activated on Christmas Day, with 242 million app downloads. In the week between Christmas and New Year, 20 million device activations took place, with 1.2 billion app downloads from the App Store and Android.

Max Android Activations in 2011 / 2012

In the two weeks between Dec 4 and Dec 17, there were 0.75 billion new iOS and Android app downloads, being surprisingly even. Following that there was a 60% increase in the New Year ‘power week’.

A country wise analysis by Flurry reveals the largest share of those 1.2 billion downloads was taken by the United States, with 509 million downloads (42.3%). China, the second largest app market in the world came next with 99 million downloads. The celebration of Christmas also has a significant role to play in the number of downloads.

While Christmas is celebrated in the US, there are only about 3 - 4% Christians in China. India occupied the 17th positions with 10 million downloads, which could partly be due the fact that Christmas is not a huge religious celebration in India. The top positions were all taken by Western countries including the United Kingdom, France and Canada. However, non-Christian countries such as South Korea and Japan were also in significant positions.

Flurry expects breaking the one billion download mark per week to be a common place phenomenon for 2012. A statement from the Flurry website sums up the position for the future - “While iOS and Android growth continues to amaze, the market is still by all measures relatively nascent. We look forward to continuing to chart the unprecedented adoption of mobile computing devices, usage of applications and the way in which this technology is changing consumer behaviour worldwide.”

You were reading New Year Week Sees Maximum iOS And Android Device Activations Of 2011 - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 17, 2012 - 3:10 am (Indian Standard Time)

A new method of making your online transactions safer has been launched by Ideacts, a company that has developed software for cybercafés in India. It is an e-money platform called Erupee, which allows customers to shop online using cash without having to reveal their credit card/debit card or netbanking details on the merchant site.

Erupee - Make payments online

Cash vouchers powered by Erupee are issued by Erupee partners can be purchased at an erupee point and can be used to make cash payments online. One simply needs to walk into an erupee point, which is nothing but an outlet that partners with Erupee to provide products and services. These outlets sell cash vouchers and also offer other services such Flight Ticket Booking, DTH Recharge and Mobile Recharges.

You can purchase a cash voucher from such an outlet, make the payment in cash and the voucher is immediately delivered to your phone via SMS as well as mail.

Erupee cash vouchers can be generated for an amount ranging from Rs. 100 – Rs. 50,000. Ideacts has brought an interesting service, although similar models are used by Facebook Credits in India and Zynga has launched its game cards in India as well. As of now, Erupee has partnered with Infibeam, redBus, Zapak+, rechargeitnow etc.

Apart from this recent launch, Ideacts has rebranded its flagship product for cybercafés, CLINCK desktop to iCafeManager. It has a presence in 17,390 cafes, serving 2.1 crore users per month, about 70,000 live terminals.

You were reading Erupee By Ideacts – A New Method Of Making Your Online Transactions Safer - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 17, 2012 - 3:04 am (Indian Standard Time)

For a city like Mumbai, it is impossible to stop. Its vibrant night life, numerous call centers, late working hours and businesses all need an essential late night food delivery service in place to keep going. Now, a new start-up called MadOrders brings a true to its name crazy concept of food delivery to Mumbai.

MadOrders - Order Online, Late Night Online Food Delivery Mumbai with Phone Number

This unique start-up delivers freshly cooked food between 11 in the night to 7 in the morning, offering a wide range of items in the menu – fast food, pizzas, appetizers and beverages as well such as hot coffee. All one needs to do is book your order via the website or call +91 8080204041 to place the order.

This video shows a brief demo of how MadOrders works:

The venture also has a special corporate service for companies whose employees have late working hours, such as BPOs. It would be interesting to watch out for this ‘mad’ concept catering to the late night culinary needs of Mumbai.

For the ones who are interested in calling MadOrders, can take a look at the menu and various dishes on the offering.

You were reading MadOrders – A Late Night “Order Online, Food Delivery” Service For Mumbai - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 17, 2012 - 1:13 am (Indian Standard Time)

With the raise of smartphones, QR codes are becoming quite ubiquitous now a days. We see them everywhere - on newspaper ads, on packaging of food items etc. However most of the usage of QR codes remains the same - to share a web link that users can scan with their phone and visit.

Google has recently introduced a very interesting application of QR codes that takes it beyond just a simple link sharing means. By using QR codes, they have eliminated the need to enter password and username, as long as you have a smartphone, in case you are on a public computer.

Using a public computer is always fraught with risks - you can never know if there is a key-logger installed. With this system that Google has introduced that is no longer an issue. Here is how it works:

• Instead of logging in using username and password, the user goes to https://accounts.google.com/sesame
• On that screen a QR code is displayed. The QR code expires after some time.
• The user scans the QR code on the computer screen with his smartphone and opens the link on the phone's browser.
• If the user is not logged into Google with the phone's browser, it will ask him to login.
• After logging in, it will give you a warning and gives you the option to open Gmail or iGoogle.
• If the user picks either Gmail or iGoogle, he will be logged in to Google and the page with the QR code will be redirected to his choice. If the user does not pick any and backs out, nothing happens.

Of course this is much more complicated than simply entering the password. But the advantage of this is that you enter your username and password on a device you trust (your phone) not on a public machine.

via: Walter Chang

You were reading Use Your Smartphone To Login To Google On A Public Computer - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 16, 2012 - 9:49 pm (Indian Standard Time)

Reliance Entertainment Digital, the digital arm of the Reliance Group announced today the launch of India’s first movie-on-demand service with an online catalogue of over 500 movies to choose from. The service allows users to stream and download HD quality content for a subscription fee of Rs. 249 per month. The subscription charges are applicable across devices such as PCs, mobiles and tablets.

Bigflixplus - Netflix India

BIGFLIX+ (Plus) serves as a user’s personal blockbuster theatre, and all one needs to do is simply log on to www.bigflixplus.com. Movie buffs across the country are provided with a high quality movie experience at their convenience across all their devices including desktops, smartphones, tablets and connected TVs. One does not need to worry about timings and advertisements with BIGFLIX+.

The service has a large library of High Definition movies in Hindi, English and several regional languages. Subscribers can stream and download critically acclaimed movies from different genres be it drama, comedy or pure masala films such as Dabangg at a click of button from the convenience of their preferred location.

BIGFLIX+ wants to transform the Indian movie buff’s movie watching experience by becoming the one destination for good quality movies in India.

“BIGFlix plus is the 1stmovies on demand subscription service ,which offers a vast choice of HD Quality movies to the net savvy Movie Buffs in India, at their convenience, across all internet connected devices. We are looking at replicating a ‘NetFlix’ in India, In order to provide this world class experience, Reliance entertainment has hugely invested in developing the movies on demand ecosystem spanning across product, distribution and content.”, said Manish Agarwal, COO, Digital Business, Reliance Entertainment.

To make its service more useful for the on-the-go user, BIGFLIX+ is now available on iOS, Android and other wireless devices as well, so that a user can have complete freedom when it comes to watching his favorite films. A single login id will give subscribers access to the service from across devices, enhancing the experience.

You were reading Reliance Launches BIGFLIX Plus: Netflix For India? - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 13, 2012 - 7:34 pm (Indian Standard Time)

The Indian Government has launched the Intranet Pahari Project today at the CGO Complex, New Delhi; a project that will enable all BSF Jawans posted in 237 locations to access their personal data from wherever they are posted. The project was launched by the Union Home Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram.

BSF Logo Intra / Internet Pahari Project

To extend this sort of network connectivity right upto the Battalion level, about Rs. 229 crores were spent, and state of the art Data Centres for data storage have been set up, apart from the Main Data Centre, a Disaster Recovery Data Centre (in a different seismic zone) and Mini Data Centres at Frontier HQrs. Attention has been paid to network security and data loss prevention by establishing sufficient cyber security measures for the network.

The Intranet Pahari Project (IPP) is a step forward is developing a support system that helps in robust and quick decision making, and is fully automated and integarated with all major processes such as finance, inventory management, operations and personnel information. The project can significantly reduce paperwork and provide a consolidated view of data for higher echelons and for analyses.

“This is a major benefit from the Intranet Prahari Project apart from efficient office management which will help in quick decision making,” said Chidambaram. About 20,000 BSF personnel posted in 237 locations will now be able to access all their personal data from wherever they are posted.

You were reading Indian Government Extends Internet Connectivity For BSF Jawans - originally published on Digitizor.com on January 13, 2012 - 7:28 pm (Indian Standard Time)