TechnoStudy

PREVIEW WINDOWS 8 ON FEBRUARY 29, 2012

2012-02-20T07:35:00.000-08:00

Microsoft will release the beta version of their latest operating system "Windows 8" for public download on February 29, 2012. So you can download the beta version from their website on Feb, 29 (remember 2012 is a leap year) to preview the same.

The Windows 8 Developer Preview is curently available for Download

Windows 8 promises to deliver superior user experience and power efficiency for applications. "Minimizing the power consumption of your PC while maximizing the responsiveness and utility (making it “fast and fluid”)" is probably the central theme behind the development of Windows 8.

Windows 8 also promises to use sensors to enhance display / screen performance by making it more responsive to "changes in ambient light, motion, human proximity, and location"

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: CHOOSING YOUR BATTLES

2012-02-20T07:32:00.000-08:00

There is such a huge over-emphasis around social media marketing that many people simply jump right in without first formulating their strategies. Social media is not necessarily about signing up for every major social network and adding as many friends or followers as possible. While having numbers may make a company appear more legitimate, it means nothing if your followers do not provide any value to you.

Defining your Goals

Before even signing up for anything, it is necessary to figure out what marketing goals are of priority to your company and which of those goals provide the most value. Do you want to connect with your customers? Do you want to improve your online presence? or do you simply want to increase sales? In many cases, there may be advertising methods that may give companies more leads than any social media marketing method ever could. Social media marketing may not be the answer to everything.

Analysis and Choice of Strategy

For those who are at the primary stages of social media marketing, the most important step in a successful campaign is to analyse the potential of each social network for your business and focus on only the selected few. Most people claim that social media marketing does not cost anything and that one should use as many resources as possible. This is completely wrong. Social media marketing takes up a great deal of time. On several occasions, marketing managers will spread thin across too many platforms limiting the amount of time available for each. The result is a decrease in the quality of connections, posts, and content. A poorly maintained profile page is worse than no page at all.

Re-evaluation

Be sure to continually re-evaluate the impact of your social media marketing campaign, and do not be afraid to alter strategies to accommodate for growth. Patience and quality are the two most important words in social media marketing. Keep both of them in mind and exposure will come naturally.

How Not to Market a Product on Facebook: Lessons Learnt

2012-02-06T08:36:00.000-08:00

Deanna Proach, the author of "Day of Revenge" shares her experiences with us.

Over the last year, since the release of my book "Day of Revenge", I've learnt that Facebook is better used for networking than for marketing. That's why it's called a social networking site. Yet, many business owners--including authors--use Facebook to promote their products.

There is no written rule saying that people can't promote products and services on Facebook; they do it all the time. Although, when it comes to marketing, Facebook is very tricky. If you do one--or two--things wrong, you will offend people. Sometimes, that can lead to heartache. It happened to me last year.

As a new author, I didn't know how to use Facebook as a marketing tool. I posted links to every guest post, review and Internet Radio interview on my wall. At first, people were thrilled to see the cover art and to see that my dream of becoming a published author had finally come true. A few people even purchased a copy of "Day of Revenge". But, after a while people got tired of seeing endless posts on "Day of Revenge"--even though I have over 300 people on my friend list. I didn't mean to brag; that wasn't my intention, but I realized that some people no longer felt my enthusiasm.

That wasn't the worst of it, though. After my second interview on Blog Talk Radio, I messaged people en mass--including those I didn't know--letting them know about my interview. Of course, I posted the link to my interview. Facebook now has an option where people can leave a conversation if they're not interested. But at that time, there was no such option. Two people wrote in the thread, threatening to take action against me if I did not remove them from the thread. All they had to do was unsubscribe so that they wouldn't receive anymore, the emails from Facebook in their inboxes. I had one friend who stood up for me and an argument ensued because they--the people who threatened me--would not give up the fight. Things got really nasty.

It got to the point where I had to delete the entire thread. Although I was thankful for my friend's support, I was incredibly humiliated because other people who I had known and not known were included in that thread. What on earth did they think about me? They probably thought I was some dumb loser. I don't believe any of those people actually thought that way about me. But I do believe those cyber bullies tried to make me feel that way. And they almost succeeded.

Thankfully the bullying ended quickly--my friend and I reported the two individuals--and things went back to normal. But, I learnt a hard lesson. Messaging people en mass a success story with the intention to promote my book is NOT the way to do it. I've come to learn that people don't want to be lumped together with other people they don't know. And some of them think I'm sticking my minor success story in their face--a mark of an amateur.

Last May, I created a Facebook page--separate from my personal page--that is dedicated entirely to my books, mostly to "Day of Revenge" since it's the only book I have published as of now. There, I post all of my ongoing promotional efforts.

I don't think it's a bad thing to post the occasional success story on your wall, but as I've learnt, it's not okay to talk about every single little review, interview and guest article on your wall. It's important to save your time and energy for the big things that do matter.

You can find "Day of Revenge" on Amazon.com. Deanna Proach also writes for discounts.ca, a website that specializes in the sale of online coupons.

Facebook Timeline - Only 8% Say They Like It

2012-02-06T08:31:00.000-08:00

Facebook is all set to make their latest profile layout "Timeline" - compulsory. In the next few weeks all Facebook users will be compulsorily upgraded to the "Timeline" feature - whether they like it or not.

Ever since the introduction of this feature, the social media circles has been abuzz with people debating the suitability or unsuitability of the "Timeline" layout. One aspect emerging from these discussions was that people were concerned that the new feature would interfere with their privacy, as "Timeline" suddenly makes every thing that they ever shared on Fb, including past status updates and photographs visible to the whole world.

In this backdrop security company Sophos conducted a survey where they " asked over 4000 Facebook users what they thought of the new Timeline feature, and the response was overwhelming negative."

This is what the survey revealed:

Only 8% (7.96% to be precise) of the respondents claimed that they liked the "Timeline' feature.
8.4% of the respondents claimed that they would eventually get used to the feature.
An overwhelming 51.3% of the respondents claimed that that were worried about the "Timeline feature"

With Timeline its all about being careful with what you share and with whom you share.

Why The IPO May Not Be The Smartest Thing Facebook Ever Did

2012-02-06T08:26:00.000-08:00

Over the last few weeks, ever since the news of a possible Facebook IPO leaked on the Internet, there have been speculations all around. This Wednesday when Facebook finally filed papers for an Initial Public offering, the speculations died down, but the world was left stunned.

Facebook revenue stood at $3.7 billion last year, and they earned a profit of $1 billion. The company also reported that advertising receipts comprises about 85% of their total revenues. The IPO is expected to raise anything between 5 and 10 billion USD for the company.

In the light of all these astounding figures this article tries to analyze why this IPO may not be the smartest thing Facebook ever did.

1. IPO MEANS DILUTION OF CONTROL

This IPO will not only increase the company's market value but also increase its investor base. A lot of these high-profile investors, would desire greater say over the affairs of the company. Though Mark Zuckerberg would exercise control over key decision making as a result of his control over a majority of (their) voting stock, yet interference from these high profile investors cannot be ruled out, specially in the years of lean profits (although such a situation is unimaginable right now, but profits can tank and even the best of companies can suffer losses.)

2. THE NEED TO ENSURE REGULAR DIVIDENDS

As stated earlier, the IPO would raise between 5 and 10 billion USD for the company. However with such huge public funding, come the obligation of paying dividends to its shareholders. Thus the company will have to drastically increase their profits in order to ensure regular dividends to its shareholders.

With a user base of 845 million members, Facebook is huge and getting huger by the day. However we need to remember that all those who have any access to computers probably already have a Facebook account, more particularly the younger generation, and the growth in user base would not be as dynamic as it had been in the past years.

This probably would put more pressure on Facebook employees to deliver profitable results and the focus of the company might shift. This is what The Wall Street Journal had to say "People familiar with Mr. Zuckerberg's thinking said he has long been fearful of the damage an IPO could do to the company's culture. He wants employees focused on making great products, not the stock price, they said."

3. VENTURING INTO OTHER BUSINESS

The need to deliver consistent results would probably mean that the company may want to venture out into other businesses. They would probably want to do a Google by going an a spree of acquisitions and end up being a Yahoo.

"We don’t build services to make money," Zuckerberg had said. "We make money to build better services." If the company can continue with this motto, there is nothing in the world that can halt their progress.

WOWee ONE VUE pico projector for your iOS devices

2012-02-02T10:03:00.000-08:00

Pico projectors are useful devices, and if you have an iOS device, and you are looking for a pico projector for it, you might be interested in today’s model that comes from WOWee ONE.

WOWee ONE VUE is the latest pocket projector from WOWee ONE, and it comes with HDMI connectivity.This projector has 60Hz refresh rate, over 5000:1 contrast ratio and it can produce up to 200-inch images. Regarding the resolution, WOWee ONE VUE delivers 848×480 resolution widescreen images with 15 lumens brightness.

As we already mentioned, this pocket projector has HDMI connectivity, so it is compatible with HDMI devices, but it can also work with your iPhone, iPod and iPad, using the included Apple direct connect component cable.

In addition, you can pair up WOWee ONE VUE with a VGA source, but in order to do that, you’ll need optional SHOWWX VGA Dock Adapter. In regards to battery, this projector comes with replaceable lithium-ion battery that can provide you up to four hours of projection.

WOWee ONE VUE is a perfect pico projector, if you are an owner of iOS or HDMI device, and in regards to availability, this projector should be available in late February for $369.99.

The Most Popular Facebook Games in 2011

2012-01-15T06:57:00.000-08:00

Social Media Giant Facebook has released the official list of the most popular games played on Facebook in 2011. According to a post on the Facebook blog, “the average game player on Facebook played more than three different gaming titles each month and played more than half the days they visited the site”.

Topping the list is the “Garden of Time” by Playdom, followed by “The Sims Social” by EA Inc. Its interesting to note that as many as 4 Zynga games have made it to the top ten list.

So here are the most popular Facebook games in 2011. The list is based on user recommendations

Gardens of Time (By Playdom)
The Sims Social (By EA)
Cityville (By Zynga)
DoubleDown Casino (By DoubleDown Interactive)
Indiana Jones Adventure World (By Zynga)
Words With Friends (By Zynga)
Bingo Blitz (By Buffalo Studios)
Empires & Allies (By Zynga)
Slotomania-Slot Machines (By Playtika)
Diamond Dash (By Wooga)

Google's New Feature - 'Search, plus Your World'

2012-01-15T06:54:00.000-08:00

Team Google are constantly working out on ways to improve the 'search experience' for their users. In the past, they did so with several additions like +1, social search, among other things. Doing all this, they tried to bring the function more closer to the user.

Now, through an official blog post, Google has introduced - Search, plus Your World feature to its users. With this, Google confirms that they are looking at integrating their primary function - Search, with their social site, Google+. Result? A more personalized, more relevant stream of search links. Simply put, the next time you try to make a search query on Google, you will notice that the search stream will include a lot of posts, content in general from the people you know, and have shared with on Google+, instead of public posts. The personalized content on the results page will be visible to the user alone, thus leaving no room for safety hazards.

In this latest update to its search function, Google has rolled out 3 features: Personal Results, Profiles in Search and People and Pages. Personal Results will see Google, like mentioned above deliver more personalized results, in the form of text, images, among others making it more meaningful to the user and not just any random collection of links. Via Profiles in Search, users will be able to locate their contacts, or those whom they would like to follow right from their search page. With introducing People and Pages feature, Google will throw in people profiles and Google+ pages during searches that match to the user's area of interest.

Briefly describing the latest from Google, the post states, "We named our company after the mathematical number googol as an aspiration toward indexing the countless answers on webpages, but that’s only part of the picture. The other part is people, and that’s what Search plus Your World is all about."

Users can choose to view personalized content on their search pages, or continue to have their searches in the same way as they always did by managing their preferences on a prominent new toggle on the upper right hand side of the results. Google will begin rolling out Search, plus Your World in a few days from now, and it will be available to those who're signed in and are searching https://www.google.com in English.

From : Google Blog

Why Your Industry Needs to Get More Social

2012-01-10T04:02:00.000-08:00

It’s hard to miss the huge impact social media has had on our lives. People connect with their friends on Facebook, share their thoughts on Twitter and reach out to professionals on LinkedIn. And let’s not forget YouTube, where 75% of the internet populations watch online videos.

As individuals, social media plays a huge part in most of our lives – but it’s also becoming increasingly more important for businesses. In fact, a recent article from CBS News highlighted 5 industry sectors that are using social media the most to keep their customers happy.

They include:

• Retail

• Telecoms

• Travel and Hospitality

• Cable

• Banks

What about the rest? Well, the industry sectors that seem reluctant to adopt social media include:

• Healthcare

• Government Services

• Financial Services

• Manufacturing

• Construction

• Human Resources

Hate to break it to these industries, but you especially can benefit from being “social.” For example, HR professionals can use Twitter to get the word out to a larger audience during the hiring process. Construction manufacturers like Bobcat forklifts can learn what people are saying about their products if they create a Facebook page.

Perhaps one of the main reasons these sectors aren’t using social media is that they don’t see the benefit it could add to their businesses; it could seem like an additional investment of time and money, with little or no tangible return.

However, when used well, social media can benefit businesses in a number of ways:

• It allows them to build their brand.

• It lets them tell more people about their business.

• It can get other people promoting their business for them.

• It allows them to be seen as ‘thought leaders’ in their industry.

• It lets them know what others are saying about their business – in real time.

• It can tell them what their customers want, and how to give it to them.

• It’s where more and more of their peers, contacts and clients are gathering.

All industries and businesses need to be more social. The industry your business is a part of, however, does change your social strategy – but not the fact that you need to be social. Businesses need to look at social media as a way to engage with their audience, build relationships and eventually earn their trust. If you want to gain more business you have to go where the people go – and now everyone is on social sites.

Facebook, One of the Major Causes of Divorce in UK

2012-01-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

Facebook plays a big role in people’s lives nowadays including the lives of married couples. A recent survey conducted last December 2011 by a UK Divorce website, Divorce Online found that there is an alarming growth of Facebook related divorces. It has been said that 33% of the behavior petitions were related to Facebook.

Compared to their survey last 2009 wherein there are only 20% of Facebook related divorces were found; now it has already grown by 13%. The said website stated three major reasons:

1. Inappropriate messages to the members of the opposite sex
2. Separated spouses posting nasty comments about each other
3. Facebook friends reporting spouse’s behavior

According to the spokesman for Divorce Online, Mark Keenan, “If someone wants to have an affair or flirt with the opposite sex then Facebook is the easiest place to do it. Also the use of Facebook to make comments about ex partners to friends has become extremely common with both sides using Facebook to vent their grievances against each other.”

After the conducted survey above, do you think Facebook should add “Divorced” as a new relationship status?

6 Steps to Increase your Google Page Rank.

2012-01-04T18:32:00.000-08:00

Google Page rank is based on back links. Back links are Links pointing to your website from another website. The more back links you have the higher your PR will be.

1. Join forums, forums are a great way to achieve links to your website. In most forums you are allowed to have a signature and in your signature you can put a link to your website. But another important note to look on is making sure the forum is somewhat related to your website. You will still get credit if it’s not, but if it’s related to your website than you will be accomplishing two tasks at once.

You will be advertising for your website (bringing in targeted traffic) You will also be building your websites presence.

2. Submit to search engine directories. Search engine directories are a good way to get a free link to your website. They also increase your chances at being listed higher on popular search engines like Google, and overture.

Most search engine directories allow you to submit to their website for free. This will allow you to increase your web presence by being listed on another search engine, and it will also be a free link.

Remember the more links you have the higher your PR will be

3. Creating and publishing articles. Articles are an easy source of generating new traffic. You can include your signature in your article. This will bring in more traffic from article submission directories.

Your signature usually consists of 4 to 8 lines. Usually the first line would be the title of the website that you are trying to advertise. The last line would be the link to the website and the lines in between these would be a sales pitch to draw your viewers into your website.

4. Links from related websites. Gaining links from related websites can be one of the most frustrating tasks you can attempt.

They are very easy to find, but can be somewhat difficult to obtain links from.

To find related websites, all you have to do is go to a search engine… say Google… and type in your subject. Maybe your website is based on ford mustangs.

5. Start a Blog : This is kind of an obvious one, but I felt compelled to mention it anyway. A huge part of Improving Your Page Rank and SEO in general is content. The more pages of content you have on your website. The more authority you have with Google. A blog makes it much easier to constantly, add fresh content to your website, thus increasing the number of daily visits, subscribers and organic traffic.

6. Create An RSS Feed : RSS will help you Improve Your Page Rank by allowing Google to index your site faster and easier. RSS or XML feeds allow your content to get syndicated to RSS directories-thus increasing the speed at which your content spreads around the web.

11 Reasons Why Galaxy Nexus Is Better Than iPhone 4S

2012-01-03T22:15:00.000-08:00

The war between Samsung and Apple is not new. But with the entry of Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, the war reached a new level altogether. Samsung changed it flagship device and brought something which was absolutely path-breaking in terms of technology. The device was launched at a time when iPhone 4S, Apple’s latest smartphone, was enjoying a great time. One could visibly notice the change in consumers' preferences from iPhone 4S to Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Apart from Samsung’s classy technology, Galaxy Nexus got Google’s new Android Ice Cream Sandwich. Ice Cream Sandwich, again, was something that the world needed. The new Android platform carved a niche for itself and the Galaxy Nexus too.

Comparisons between Galaxy Nexus and iPhone 4S are obvious but there are reasons why you should prefer Galaxy Nexus over iPhone 4S. We list here a few of those reasons for you...

1. Display:
Samsung Galaxy Nexus comes with a gigantic 11.8-cm (4.6-inch) capacity HD wide screen as compared to Apple iPhone 4S which adorns a 8.9-cm (3.5-inch) display with 640 x 960 pixels resolution. Galaxy Nexus comes with the Super AMOLED HD display and delivers superior colour, enhanced readability and reduces power consumption. Samsung has shared this capability with the recently launched Galaxy Note only. The 720P HD resolution enhances the experience of viewing HD videos, playing games, browsing the Web, reading e-mail and reading e-books. Users don't need to scroll constantly because they get higher resolution as unlike in Apple's iPhone 4S.

2. Screen:
When it comes to the screen sizes, layout and customisation, Android smartphones are a step ahead of iPhone. Samsung has given Galaxy Nexus a reconfigurable Widget Size which allows the users to put all the folders to the main toolbar. Apart from the built-in Gmail and Calendar widgets, users are allowed to customise the layout of most widgets simply by dragging and dropping to to fit them the way they want the home screen to look.

3. Size and weight:
Even with bigger dimensions and screen, Galaxy Nexus is 5gms lighter and 0.5mm thinner than iPhone 4S.

4. Free Navigation Software:
Galaxy Nexus offers its users free navigation software. This software comes along with free map data and updates, which is not the case with iPhone 4S. That's not all, the operating system of Galaxy Nexus, Android 4.0 also supports turn-by-turn voice navigation for driving directions. This feature can help users in replacing the in-car dash or GPS navigator and save money.

5. 4G LTE:
This is surely a major advantage of Galaxy Nexus. The 4G LTE support gives the device 10 times faster speed than that of iPhone 4S that supports 3G. This allows users to download huge files and apps with much ease. The personal hotspot feature of Galaxy Nexus enables users to work almost anywhere.

6. NFC Support:
The Near Field Communication (NFC) technology of Galaxy Nexus is a another boon which makes the device a futuristic one. NFC helps in facilitating monetary transactions and exchange of digital content. iPhone 4S does not have this feature.

7. Better Web browsing:
As far as Web browsing is concerned, both the handsets perform good in their class. But Samsung Galaxy Nexus scores in the way that it comes with Flash support and many of modern day's websites rely on flash.

8. Memory:
Galaxy Nexus is a winner in this one too. It comes with 1 GB RAM capacity which enables high level of multi-tasking while iPhone 4S offers 512 MB RAM.

9. Processor:
The processor of Galaxy Nexus has considerably faster CPU clock speed. It is estimated to be 1.5x faster than iPhone 4S.

10. Multi-tasking:
Both the smartphones are capable of multi-tasking in their own right but Galaxy Nexus gains because of the Android advantage. Android apps give a PC-like experience when it comes to multi-tasking. Apps in Android are allowed to do whatever they want to on Android platform. However, iOS force suspends all the apps currently not in use unless they use one of the specific background functions that Apple allows.

11. Open Source advantage:
Galaxy Nexus clearly has the advantage of Android being open source. Android is publicly available which means that anyone can copy, modify and redistribute the source code without paying royalties or fees. If at all any weakness is found in the platform, it is quickly fixed by the community. There is no cap on how much users can tweak their Android experience. Users can unlock Galaxy Nexus, root the device and customise it with a new ROM and the user experience completely. iPhone 4S does not provide such freedom to its users.

iPhone 5 coming this fall, says analyst

2012-01-03T21:37:00.000-08:00

A research note from an investment bank today sees an iPhone 5 coming this fall and sees strong growth for Apple's popular phone in the coming quarter.

The iPhone will comprise roughly 50 percent of Apple's total revenue in the next reported quarter, wrote Tavis McCourt of Morgan Keegan.

"We expect iPhone revenues to represent 47.5% of Apple's total revenues in [the December quarter], up from 38.8% in the Sep. quarter, and up from 39.1% in the year ago period," he wrote.

And he is upping his iPhone shipment estimate for the quarter to 29 million from the previous estimate of 27 million.

The iPhone 5 and Apple TV will be significant growth drivers later in the year. "We expect iPhone 5 in fall 2012 to be a significant revenue and earnings growth driver, and a potential Apple TV as upside to our model if it comes to fruition this year," he wrote.

What else can we expect on the iPhone 5 front? Instead of going through a litany of rumors, suffice to cite one of the most recent rumors about its physical construction. A combination of aluminum on the back and a "rubber or plastic material" along the sides that will bridge the front and back of the device.

ASUS Eee Pad

2012-01-03T09:14:00.000-08:00

The new ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime is a 10.1-inch touchscreen display tablet loaded with the latest Android OS and powered by the latest and the most powerful tablet processor – the NVIDIA Tegra 3 . It is the world’s first Quad core processor powered tablet .

The new NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor will clock 1.3GHz when all four cores are active and will clock @ 1.4GHz when only core is active .Its name “Transformer” comes from its form changing feature . It comes with an optional mobile keyboard dock with which it becomes a standard laptop . Another unique feature in it is its Super IPS+ display screen which is 1.5x brighter than existing tablets display and supports wide 178 degree viewing angle . It comes with ASUS SonicMaster technology with superior sound quality experience . It sports 6% larger speakers with crystal clear sound and high sound fidelity .It comes with dual camera with one at front and rear each . The rear camera is a powerful 8MP sensor with LED flash . There is no 3G connectivity option . It is an ultra-thin tablet with a mere 8.3mm thickness . There is a free ASUS cloud storage option with the new ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet .

ASUS Transformer Prime tablet specifications :

Display : 10.1-inch multi-touch Super IPS+ LCD , 1280 x 800 pixels resolution,
Corning Gorilla Glash for high durability
Sensors : Gravity , Light , Gyroscope , e-compass , GPS
Others : Flash support , Multi-tasking
Processor : 1.3GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 Quad Core
Memory : 1GB DDR2
Dimensions : 263×180.8×8.3 mm
Weight : 586 gram , mobile dock weight 537gm
Operating System : Android OS v3.2 (upgradeable to v4.0 ICS)
Storage : 32GB/64GB + ASUS web storage
Wireless LAN WiFi n
Bluetooth v2.1
Camera :
Front : 1.2 mega-pixel
Rear : 8 mega-pixel , auto-focus , LED flash , back-illuminated CMOS sensor
Ports :
micro HDMI
microSD card slot
3.5mm audio jack
40-pin connector port for connecting the keyboard dock
Ports on the keyboard dock :
USB v2.0 port
SD card slot
Others : multi-touchpad
Battery : 22Wh , up to 12 hours backup , up to 18 hours with dock

ASUS Transformer Prime Price in India

ASUS Transformer Prime 32GB Price – Rs.25,000
ASUS Transformer Prime 64GB Price – Rs.30,000
ASUS Transformer Prime mobile dock Price – Rs.7,500

The technology behind Google's great results

2012-01-03T08:22:00.000-08:00

As a Google user, you're familiar with the speed and accuracy of a Google search. How exactly does Google manage to find the right results for every query as quickly as it does? The heart of Google's search technology is PigeonRank™, a system for ranking web pages developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University.

Building upon the breakthrough work of B.F.Skinner, Page and Brin reasoned that low cost pigeon clusters (PCs) could be used to compute the relative value of w

eb pages faster than human editors or machine-based algorithms. And while Google has dozens of engineers working to improve every aspect of our service on a daily basis, PigeonRank continues to provide the basis for all of our web search tools.

Why Google's patented PigeonRank™ works so well

PigeonRank's success relies primarily on the superior trainability of the domestic pigeon (Columba livia) and its unique capacity to recognize objects regardless of spatial oriantation. The common gray pigeon can easily distinguish among items displaying only the minutest differences, an ability that enables it to select relevant web sites from among thousands of similar pages.
By collecting flocks of pigeons in dense clusters, Google is able to process search queries at speeds superior to traditional search engines, which typically rely on birds of prey, brooding hens or slow-moving waterfowl to do their relevance rankings.
When a search query is submitted to Google, it is routed to a data coop where monitors flash result pages at blazing speeds. When a relevant result is observed by one of the pigeons in the cluster, it strikes a rubber-coated steel bar with its beak, which assigns the page a PigeonRank value of one. For each peck, the PigeonRank increases. Those pages receiving the most pecks, are returned at the top of the user's results page with the other results displayed in pecking order.
Where does Google get its pigeons? Some special breeding lab?
Google uses only low-cost, off-the-street pigeons for its clusters. Gathered from city parks and plazas by Google's pack of more than 50 Phds (Pigeon-harvesting dogs), the pigeons are given a quick orientation on web site relevance and assigned to an appropriate data coop.
Isn't it cruel to keep pigeons penned up in tiny data coops?
Google exceeds all international standards for the ethical treatment of its pigeon personnel. Not only are they given free range of the coop and its window ledges, special break rooms have been set up for their convenience. These rooms are stocked with an assortment of delectable seeds and grains and feature the finest in European statuary for roosting.
What's the future of pigeon computing?
Google continues to explore new applications for PigeonRank and affiliated technologies. One of the most promising projects in development involves harnessing millions of pigeons worldwide to work on complex scientific challenges.

Aakash bookings soar; 14 lakh units in 2 weeks

2012-01-03T07:22:00.000-08:00

India's maiden attempt at low-cost computing, Aakash, has proved yet again that not only is it all set to create a niche market for itself, but also to make a winner out of it. TOI reports that the humble tablet is becoming such a favorite among masses that in just about 14 days of It being put online for sale, over 14,00,000 units of the tablet have been booked, already.

Manufacturer Datawind are now trying their best to accodomate for more bookings. In fact, Datawind is feeling the pressure of this climbing popularity, so much that it has decided to set up three new factories in the country at Cochin, Noida and Hyderabad, in addition to the one it already has in Hyderabad. In these factories, which will be functional by April, this year, Datawind will begin assembling the tablet.

Revealing more about their projected plan, Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO, Datawind, was quoted as saying, "We never expected such a high response from both corporate and individual buyers. We plan to supply 70,000-75,000 units per day once the factories are in place by April." Aakash tablet is touching newer heights and seems promising with its endeavours to deliver quality education to that section of the masses, who otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford it.

'Vodafone Smart' 3G Android phone launched in India

2012-01-03T07:08:00.000-08:00

Vodafone India has launched a new 3G phone - Vodafone Smart, which runs Android 2.2.1 operating system. Weighing 104g, the phone has a 2.8-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen and a 2 mega pixel camera.

Powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon S1 processor, the phone has 130 MB of storage space. Its memory can be expoandable up to 32 GB. Reportedly, users will get a 2GB memory card free when buying the handset. The phone costs Rs 4,995.
Other features include Google Search, Maps, Gmail, Google Talk, Vodafone music, digital compass, video recording and MP4/3GP playback.

Nokia 700

2012-01-03T00:24:00.000-08:00

The Nokia 700 has a license to chill. Unburdened with high expectations, this phone is getting ready to surprise you. Not in it for the win, it has too much class to lose.

Scorching hot body and super crisp ClearBlack AMOLED screen, the Nokia 700 is stepping on its 1GHz processor to the delight of those who like their Symbian shaken (Belle) not stirred.

Small phone ready for big things. That's how we summed the Nokia 700 up in our preview. Time we guess for it to take its first big test.

While the typical thin smartphone keeps fit by spreading the innards out under a huge slab of a 4+ inch screen, the Nokia 700 is compact in every dimension. That includes weight too - the nice metal touches that give the 700 its solid hand feel haven't pushed the weight over 100g.

The 3.2" nHD screen is a perfect fit in this petite smartphone. The AMOLED unit uses Nokia's ClearBlack technology, which has repeatedly demonstrated its great image quality and near-perfect sunlight legibility.

The Nokia 700 has a lot going for it, but it’s not without downsides either. Here go our traditional lists:

Key features

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
Penta-band 3G with 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support
Slim 9.7mm body
3.2" 16M-color nHD ClearBlack AMOLED capacitive touchscreen (220 ppi); Gorilla glass
5 megapixel fixed-focus camera with LED flash; geo-tagging, face detection, smart zoom in video
720p video @ 30fps recording, stereo sound
Symbian Belle OS
1GHz CPU and 512 MB RAM
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
2GB of inbuilt storage, microSD expandable
Active noise cancellation via a dedicated mic
DivX, XviD, H.264 video support
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Stereo FM Radio with RDS
microUSB port with USB On-the-go support
Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
GPS receiver with A-GPS support and free lifetime voice-guided navigation; Digital compass
Flash Lite support in the web browser
Smart dialing and voice commands
NFC support
Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
TV-out functionality (SD)

Main disadvantages

Small screen, too narrow for comfortable typing
5MP fixed-focus isn't particularly impressive
No video-call camera
Browser lacks full Flash support
Relatively limited 3rd party software
No office document editing (unless you buy an upgrade)
Non-hot-swappable microSD card
No HD TV-Out

The Year on the Web

2012-01-02T19:51:00.001-08:00

Social networking grew up in 2011, becoming more of a fundamental underpinning of the Web.

We've been living in the age of social media for a long time, but 2011 was the year that all the information we share online began to accrete into something greater than the sum of its parts. It is creating a layer of intelligence that anyone can mine in Web searches and that content creators can use to hone their services.

This is happening more readily because sharing our opinions and photos and status updates online isn't just a stand-alone application anymore—it's now an activity embedded into other things. If you're reading an article online and want to recommend it, you don't have to click over to Facebook to tell your friends you liked it; now that more and more sites are connecting themselves to Facebook's "Open Graph," you can register your approval on Facebook directly from the article's page. This means that your friends can be guided to it when they show up at the same site. Google launched something similar this year, so that you might see certain search results higher if they've been recommended by friends. That was just part of Google's efforts to improve its grasp on social networking this year. After failing last year to gain traction with a Twitter-like network called Buzz, the search giant rolled out Google+, a service that embeds information sharing into many of Google's services.

At the same time, the data we generate with our sharing continues to make it easier for advertisers to target product pitches more directly. In some cases, this is leading to new business models, in which intelligence gleaned from social-media chatter is gathered and brokered by companies such as Bluefin Labs. It also is turbocharging Facebook's existing ad model, setting the company up for the largest Web IPO of 2012.

The stock market was receptive enough to Web companies in 2011 that several had IPOs, including Zynga, Groupon, Pandora, Zillow, LinkedIn, and Renren, a Chinese version of Facebook. However, they quickly ran into skepticism about the sustainability of their growth rates, keeping their stock prices in check.

On the political front, 2011 brought intriguing and important developments as well. We saw the powerful ways social media can amplify dissent and free expression. That challenges authoritarian regimes—and anyone with secrets they'd rather keep. Because of government pressure, several payment providers stopped facilitating donations to WikiLeaks, which made for a rocky year for the organization.

Future applications on the Web were enabled this year by the continuing advancement of HTML5, an emerging set of standards that will make websites faster and more elegant. Researchers also made important progress at improving the security of cloud computing services.

But all the while, our growing reliance on the Web is animating a debate about the potentially catastrophic effects of a cyberwar—an attack, or series of attacks, meant to disable consumer or military resources online. A top computer scientist recently suggested that the U.S. consider striking first against enemies who would be hard to pin down if they struck first. It's a reminder of the limits of social networking: even as companies like Facebook map more and more of the online world, some sectors will remain in the shadows.

Google Docs (Android)

2012-01-02T10:45:00.000-08:00

Many apps have already come out trying to provide sync and edit functions for Google Docs. However, nothing integrates as nicely as a native Google Docs app direct from the service provider. Text documents, spreadsheets, and PDFs all open quickly and render nicely..

Pros:
* Integrates well with Google Android
* OCR can fetch text from photos you take

Cons:
* Document editing has usability issues
* Third-party productivity software may be preferable

Google Docs works well enough in the mobile browser, and many apps have already come out trying to provide sync and edit functions. However, nothing integrates as nicely as a native Google Docs app direct from the service provider.

Create, edit, upload and share your documents with the Google Docs app.
* Designed for Android to save you time finding your docs
* Edits to your documents appear to collaborators in seconds
* Make quick changes to spreadsheets
* View your documents, PDFs, presentations and more
* Upload and convert files to the Google Docs format
* Take a photo of printed text and convert it to a Google document
* Share docs with your device’s contacts
* Optimized experience to take advantage of larger screens for tablet users, Honeycomb (Android 3.0+)

Nokia Ditches Symbian Name, Next Version Just Called Nokia Belle

2012-01-02T10:09:00.000-08:00

Since Nokia made the decision to go with Microsoft's Windows Phone, the company has made a number of Symbian-related announcements. Symbian is important to Nokia because the company is dependent on the sales of Symbian-based smartphones until it ships larger volumes of Windows Phones, which won't be until next year.

"The announcement underlines the difficulties Nokia is having when trying to convince consumers to buy Symbian-based phones, and that the company thinks Nokia is a stronger brand" said Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight.

Consumers bought 19.5 million Symbian-based smartphones during the third quarter, giving the OS a 17 percent market share. That compares to 29.5 million units and a 36.3 percent market share during the same period in 2010, according to market research company Gartner.

That still makes it the second largest smartphone OS, after Android. Smartphones based on Symbian are still popular in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Gartner said.

The blog post doesn't elaborate on why Nokia made the change, and the company didn't reply to questions concerning the thinking behind the move.

Earlier this year, Nokia also decided to abandon its Ovi mobile services brand.

Upgraded versions of the phone models N8, C7 and C6-01 have now started their journey from the factories to the shops with Nokia Belle preinstalled, arriving first in China, then around the world, according to the blog post.

Starting in February 2012, Nokia will release the software update to existing customers, it said.

Belle was announced in August, and includes more home screens, which have been increased from three to six, and a pull-down menu to access notifications.

Widgets for email, music, favorite contacts and the calendar have also been redesigned and now come in five different sizes. The lock screen will tell users about missed calls, inbox messages and other information. Nokia has also improved the user interface for multitasking