IT companies adopt new methods to motivate employees

Companies are adopting new techniques to keep their employees motivated. The idea is to empower employees by creating an environment that contributes to continuous learning and improved performance

Although attrition is at an all time low in the IT industry, companies are adopting new techniques and processes to keep their employees motivated. Increased pressure to deliver more with shrinking timelines is the prime reason attributed to the current state of affairs.

This coupled with moderate increase in salary has resulted in a significant drop in morale.

“The primary strategy of motivating employees through financial perks are giving way to alternate means of morale boosters today,’’ states Manjul Agarwal, an HR professional with a leading IT company in Electronic City. “Buying allegiance has never proved to be an effective motivational strategy.”

The approach being adopted today is aimed more at validation of the contribution on an ongoing basis. And for this the senior management is being provided specific training.

The aim today is more towards empowering employees by creating an environment that contributes to continuous learning, performance improvement and mission accomplishment, while ensuring accountability and fairness for all employees,” Urvashi Dhankar, Chief Knowledge Officer, eVenchurs people management services. “Mid management leaders are being taught the skill of empowerment which means giving up control and letting others make decisions, set goals, accomplish results and receive rewards. It means that other people will probably get credit for success.”

Some of the areas that are being addressed in this program include adequate supply of resources for skill up gradation, training, and redesign of the current evaluation program to motivate employees.

“Motivational processes today include ongoing feedback of an employee’s desire and commitment to perform; and this is evaluated in job-related effort,’’ states Dhankar. “Within 60 days of initiation of such programs, the manager in charge is expected to personally re-visit each team in order to provide feedback opportunities for clarifying expectations, re-modify target plans and gain recognition and trust. On the basis of these activities, the manager himself is evaluated.”

The manager’s job overall is more inclined towards providing support to the work environment, in addition to rewards and validations.

“The more feedback individuals receive about how well their jobs are being performed, the more knowledge of the results they have. This in turn fosters the adage ` involve me, and I’ll make it my own’,’’ observes Agarwal.

Read More

8 questions candidates must ask – Suruchi Maitra, VP-HR, UnitedLex

Suruchi Maitra, VP-HR, UnitedLex advises you on questions to ask at your next job interview! 

Interviews in today’s world are no longer the 3-member panel in a sterile board room environment where a candidate needs to put his best foot forward to secure a coveted position. To my mind, a good interview is a very meaningful conversation and an open assessment for a win-win situation. In today’s world where there is a war for talent, a good interview meeting should leave both parties clear about expectations from the role, what it will take to be successful in the organisation, understanding of the company culture and how it will add value to my skills and hence my career graph.

For any interview to yield positive results which does not necessarily mean “getting the job”, a candidate must prepare well. Some insight into what is known about the organisation is really a quick Google search away. This is not to really tell the interviewer that you did the research but it actually helps in taking a conversation forward for deeper insights.

Before deciding to take up a potential job opportunity, candidates must ask the following questions to the employer:

• What does the organisation stand for? What are its objectives/ goals? – This will help the candidate to understand if he/ she will be able to see his/ her role contributing to the overall company goal and whether he/ she will be able to build alignment. The conversation can also help understand the big milestones already hit and plans for the others.
• What is expected out of me? – It is very important to understand the core expectations from the job. It is always good to check on not only what you would be expected to do but also ask what success in the role would look like so that you know what the end goal is and whether you have the interest or capability to deliver that.
• What is the organisational culture like? – For you to spend a good part of your day in the office, it is very important to be familiar with the “way of life” in the company. Asking for examples around what is great about the company, what is it working on to further improve itself and other such related questions would help you understand if you would enjoy the journey.
• What are the opportunities to learn and grow? – This is further related to the culture and helps you understand about what are the extras you can contribute to or learn from for your own up skilling.
• A few questions on employee related policies would give insight into the orientation of the organisation and its culture. Examples could be around flexibility v/s rigid work timings, telecommuting v/s working in the office, rewards program and many others.
• A candidate can ask questions around Employee Value Proposition of the organisation – this will be helpful in know about the ways in the organisation cares about its employees; more so in a holistic manner that includes compensation and benefits philosophy, wellness for employees, the culture of the organisation, connect with the leaders etc.
• How and by whom will my performance be reviewed? Are there any specific criteria upon which I would be evaluated? – Candidates can also ask about the performance review process during the interview. This will help them align to the process better and in the first place, set expectations right. They can also ask about the frequency of the performance appraisal cycle.
• If I am being hired for a specific vertical and what are the plans around that particular vertical’s business growth? This can also be then linked to the role the candidate is being hired for. Asking about this may give the candidate a clear picture of where he/she would stand in the system and the subsequent role to be played.

Read More

Cognizant Q2 beat estimates

Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro also reported strong results and better-than-expected outlooks last month.

IT firm Cognizant announced its second quarter results on Tuesday. Its quarterly revenue rose to $2.161 billion, up 7% sequentially and 20.4% from the year-ago quarter. The addition of $141 million in sequential revenue is the second highest incremental revenue addition in Cognizant's history. GAAP net income was $300.4 million, up 5.7% sequentially and 19.2% from the year-ago quarter.

Company saw broad-based growth across geographies, industries and services. In terms of geographies, North America grew 6% sequentially and 17% YoY; Europe grew 11% sequentially and 37% YoY; Rest of the World grew 7% sequentially and 25% YoY.

In terms of business verticals, financial services grew 6.5% sequentially and 23.6% YoY; healthcare grew 6.2% sequentially and 11.8% YoY; manufacturing and retail grew 8.4% sequentially and 28.7% YoY.

"Our 15 year record of revenue and earnings growth is a testament to our long-term strategy of reinvesting in our business to stay relevant to our clients' changing needs and to provide increasing value as we grow each of those trusted relationships. This reinvestment strategy continues to enable Cognizant to excel in our core services while simultaneously investing in multiple horizons of growth, thereby continuing to position us well for the future," said Francisco D'Souza, CEO of Cognizant.

In the third quarter 2013, company has guided to a revenue of at least $2.25 billion, indicating at least 4.1% sequential revenue growth. Fiscal 2013 revenue expected to be at least $8.74 billion, up at least 19% compared to 2012.

Read More

Slowdown: Engineering graduates facing risk of unemployment

As it is, a fifth to a third of engineering graduates run the risk of being unemployed.

BANGALORE/MUMBAI: It isn't intended to crush young dreams. But for over a million engineering students who are stepping into placement season this month, NasscomPresident Som Mittal's confirmation that IT hiring will indeed decline 22% to 1.8 lakh this year does just that.

"Ten years ago, we could hire half the graduating engineering students, but now, there is global uncertainty, automation, non-linear growth," Mittal told ET even as a new engineering placement season gets underway in a rather bleak economic backdrop. "We cannot provide jobs to all."

As it is, a fifth to a third of engineering graduates run the risk of being unemployed. Many others will take jobs well below their technical qualifications, an ET special feature had reported recently.

That's the environment in which hundreds of non-IIT and second-tier colleges are now getting into a placement overdrive. They are roping in newer industries, inviting more companies, settling for salaries that are much lower than the minimum benchmarks, and encouraging more students to entrepreneurship.

"Last year, we had a placement record of 85%, but this time, we would be happy even if we meet 70% of the target," says Guru Venkatesh, V-P (placement and corporate relations) for Dayananda Sagar Institutions. "Up until 2012, there were companies we would not touch...but this year, we are looking at all."
But top-rung institutes, including the Indian Institutes of Technology, remain relatively insulated. "We have no worries. Only 15% of our students join the IT sector and for our 1,200-odd students (all streams included), salaries are expected to go up as well," said an official from the placement office of IIT-Madras. The average salary has gone up from 8.9 lakh for the batch of 2012 to 11.4 lakh for the class of 2013.

Karnataka-based DayanandaSagar Institutions has around a 1,000 students to place. This year, it has decided that companies will have to share slots from day one. Three companies will be allowed to pick students on the same day; only one was allowed earlier.

"IT companies, which used to be the large recruiters, will hire fewer people, so we are trying to get more firms to make up for the numbers," says Venkatesh.

"In 2012, around 100 companies came. This time, we will try for 200, which includes startups," he adds.

Call them all
Colleges are compromising on salaries too. "Last year, we had few companies offering 3-lakh plus salaries. This year, we are open to more companies with salaries of 3 lakh or so," says an official from the placement team of VIT University, based in Tamil Nadu.

The campus has started its placements with companies like DE Shaw, Flipkart and Ebay.

IT companies, which constitute about 70% of hires, usually come later in the year, around September onwards.

Campus placements for engineering colleges start from mid-July and continue for the next eight months. Initially, those from core engineering industries, R&D and sectors like auto, manufacturing take their pick.

The IT mammoths, which hire in large numbers, come only in September but have said their hiring will be muted. "The overall industry will see muted hiring from campus this year," says Pratik Kumar, executive vice-president for HR at Wipro.

Compared with the 2,30,000 IT jobs created in 2012, only 1,80,000 will be generated this year, according to Nasscom. This year, IT giants will hire in September during campus placements and again in May-June, to bulk up their off-campus placements, Mittal adds.

Alternate avenues
Bangalore-based RV College of Engineering is advocating entrepreneurship for its students. It is looking to garner Rs 25 crore in two years for its entrepreneurship cell. In the past 50 years, 12% of its alumni became entrepreneurs and the college hopes more will follow suit. It wants the 1,000-odd engineers graduating every year to apply for more patents and research projects so that they are picked up by core engineering firms and do not have to bank upon just the IT sector.

Delhi Technological University (DTU) will follow a similar strategy. "We have added 15% new recruiters only for computer science and IT students, keeping in mind that hiring numbers per company may take a hit," says NeerajNimwal, training & placement officer for DTU. "Colleges need to look at other sectors like manufacturing, pharma, biotech as recruiters. In fact, I am more worried about those graduating four years later," says Nasscom'sMittal.
Some have done so without delay.

Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) has around 500 students, roughly 180 are from streams like IT, computer science, electronics and electrical engineering. MK Sanyal, professor & head, department of HR Management, says placing all these students is getting more challenging as the scenario gets increasingly competitive. Earlier, if 30 companies used to approach the institute for placements, the first 5-6 would absorb all the students, and the others had to be sent back.

"Last year, we felt the heat when several more companies were required to take on all the students. This year, we will have to accommodate even more companies," he says
.

Read More

Why Infosys, HCL are shying away from government projects

IT comapanies are shying away from government-backed information technology contracts.

BANGALORE: Software companies are shying away from government-backed information technology contracts, frustrated by delays in payments and lack of clarity about project milestones. 

While earlier they would throw their hats in the ring for virtually every government project, even the largest IT companies are becoming choosy about the type of contracts they want to be part of. Infosys, for example, did not bid for a Rs 200-crore project to computerise the Debt Recovery Tribunal, India business head C N Raghupati said, because the company was seeking a clearer investment and execution roadmap. 

Another project by the telecom department to set up a facility to test equipment for security vulnerabilities and spyware did not take off due to lack of clarity in the funding model and milestones. Many such government projects, including the DRTs, lack a clear process roadmap that defines milestones. As payments are typically linked to milestones, this results in delays in payments. "Major IT players have become more circumspect and are participating only in projects that are well-funded and have clear vision and can pay," said, Rohtin Bhattacharya, executive vice president who for corporate strategy at HCL Infosystems. "We have faced delay in payment from government entities and are trying to get our money." 

The company, which gets a lion's share of its business from the government, saw its revenue declining from to Rs 10,856 crore in fiscal 2012-13 from Rs 11,548 crore a year ago. From next to nothing from the private sector two years ago, the company gets about Rs 171 crore now. "As a part of the strategy we are focusing on the non-government customers and expanding our portfolio to private sector but we still have government orders worth roughly a $1 billion." Gartner estimates the government technology market in India to be worth about Rs 37,000 crore (including IT products and services) in 2013, with Tata Consultancy Services, and IBM having a dominant share. With general election due in early 2014, industry experts said that most large projects are stalled or are progressing at snail's pace. 

A senior executive at IBM, who requested not to be identified, said that payment delays have become acute as bureaucrats fear greater scrutiny by auditors and vigilance agencies in the wake of several recent corruption scandals. "With payments getting stuck, chief financial officers are pulling up India-business heads at most of the large IT companies asking them not to bid forgovernment projects as they are seen as being too risky from a cash-flow perspective." 

In the June quarter, TCS reported that its India business shrank by about 5% from three months before. For the $12 billion company, the domestic market contributes about 8% to sales. Similarly, Wipro's revenue from India and the Middle East fell by 7%. TCS and Wipro did not reply to questions for this story. 

The spokesman for the Department of Electronics and IT did not make himself available for comment. However, a senior official in the department said on condition of anonymity that, typically, payment delays are on account of "milestones not being achieved." 

Sanjay Dhawan, who heads the technology practice at PwC, said he does not foresee a quick turnaround in the state of government projects. "Macroeconomic factors, uncertain rupee-dollar fluctuation and the political sentiments with election coming up are making vendors go cautious with government projects.
"

Read More

'A' tour to South Africa gives fringe men chance to impress

The 16-member squad, led by Cheteshwar Pujara, will also take on the hosts in a couple of unofficial Tests later. (TOI Photo)

MUMBAI: The India 'A' team's tour of South Africa begins in Pretoria on Thursday when they play Australia 'A' in the second game of the triangular series. The 16-member squad, led by Cheteshwar Pujara, will also take on the hosts in a couple of unofficial Tests later. 

India's selectors have picked a strong batting order and a relatively inexperienced bowling attack for the tour, with the aim of giving the young batsmen a feel of the conditions that they will come across when MS Dhoni's men take on Graeme Smith & Co in a full series later this year. The quality of cricket is expected to be top-notch in both formats given the class of the players involved and that is what makes this tour so special. 

From a broader perspective, this tour will give fans and selectors a sense of where Indian cricket is heading. How will the likes of Pujara, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay perform in testing conditions against the screaming pace of Kyle Abbott and Marchant de Lange? 

Will Rohit Sharma finally stake a claim in the Test squad, seven years after making his T20 and ODI debut? Will Suresh Raina stand up against the barrage of short-pitched deliveries that are waiting to greet him and finally get the monkey off his back? There are questions aplenty and the onus is clearly on the young cricketers to answer them.

In the past, the 'A' tours were hardly given any importance. The BCCI sent teams as a formality, often without thinking of the future or even understanding the significance of such outings. The players focused on their individual performances, hoping that they could somehow graduate to the next level. The selectors rarely counted these runs or wickets, unless someone performed spectacularly well. 

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, however, feels the time has come to change the mindset and get into the winning habit. "It is a positive move to send a team to South Africa ahead of the Test series. 

Obviously you want them to win as many games as possible. I know it will be tough but that is what you expect from this team," Ganguly told TOI on Tuesday. "The conditions now will be completely different when India go there in November-December. With the winter on, the conditions will be difficult now. 

The wickets will do a lot more and, I am sure, it will be a good learning curve for the players. It will prepare them well for the series ahead," he added. The Board, too, has done its bit by sending a former Railway's wicketkeeper-batsman Abhay Sharma as the fielding coach, along with head coach Lalchand Rajput. 

"It is the first time that the BCCI has sent a fielding coach on an 'A' tour and that is because we are playing a couple of four-day games. It will also continue the process of raising the fielding standards," said Prof Ratnakar Shetty, BCCI's game development officer. The BCCI, however, has chosen not to send a bowling coach and Ganguly is fine with that. 

"There's too much of spoon feeding these days. I think players at this level should to be left to figure out their own way, and that goes for, both, the batsmen and bowlers. In any case, not many bowlers from this attack will make it into the team for the South Africa series," he said. 

Squad : Cheteshwar Pujara (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Parvez Rasool, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mohammed Shami, Stuart Binny, Ishwar Pandey, Jaidev Unadkat, Siddharth Kaul 

'A' tour that matters... 

The performance of all the 16 players in the 'A' team - which will play two 'tests' and a triangular in South Africa - will be followed closely by selectors. TOI lists five batsmen who will be in the spotlight... 

Murali Vijay 
The Tamil Nadu opener received a surprise call-up for the series against Australia at home and made full use of that opportunity by scoring 430 runs in four Tests@61.42, including two hundreds. It was a performance that was instrumental in India's clean sweep of Australia. Admirably, Vijay toned down his usual aggressive style and was willing to dig in and play a big knock. Questions, however, still remain about the 29-year-old's ability to cope with pace and bounce in overseas conditions. Success on this tour will give him immense confidence ahead of the SA tour. 

Cheteshwar Pujara 
There is no doubt that on the evidence of what we have seen so far, Pujara is currently India's best Test batsman. A statutory warning, though, must be issued to those who label him as the 'next Rahul Dravid': He is yet to be tested against quality attacks outside India. Pujara has also shown a penchant for falling to the hook shot repeatedly. The 25-year-old now gets a wonderful opportunity to get used to the rising ball. If this class act comes out with flying colours on this trip, the Indian Test side will breathe easier. 

Rohit Sharma 
If this gifted batsman wants to break into the Test side, this tour could be his golden chance. The 26-year-old is yet to make his Test debut, despite having played 102 ODIs. Throwing his wicket away when in complete control has been this Mumbai batsman's biggest bane and he has rightly been criticised for it. Many, in fact, think he is just a T20 or 'IPL specialist.' Recently, however, he seems to have turned the corner, having found success as an ODI opener. His experience of playing two new balls should help Rohit prepare better for Test cricket. This tour will tell us if he is cut out for the five-day format. 

Suresh Raina 
This man has proved to be an integral part of the Indian T20 and ODI side, but still has a long way to go before he re-establishes himself in Test cricket. Raina's biggest problem is his inability to deal with the short ball. While lack of technique is an issue, Raina appears to also have a mental block against it. If the southpaw can conquer his demons, he can transform into a quality Test batsman. He can take a cue from former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, who overcame a similar problem successfully. 

Ajinkya Rahane 
He has waited on the sidelines for far too long, but like Rohit, has suffered due to lack of opportunities in the Test side. He is no more a contender for the opening slot in the longer format and that has affected his confidence. The Mumbai youngster endured a miserable debut against Australia on a treacherous pitch in Delhi. Before that, he failed against the English seamers in ODIs at home and was dropped. A good show on this tour will help him stay on the radar.
 

Read More

'Sir' Jadeja's meteoric rise silences critics

Jadeja became only the fourth-ever Indian bowler and the first since Anil Kumble to top the ICC bowlers' rankings. 

MUMBAI: The verified Twitter account of Ravindrasinh Jadeja - @iamjadeja - introduces him as Indian 'cricketer', 'biker' and 'horse-rider' from Jamnagar.

The profile picture is a huge white compound wall of his new home that has initials 'RJ' inscribed on it. He's Jadduboy on Instagram. His tweets normally end with a patriotic 'Jai Hind'. And for many, he's the Rajnikanth of Team India: nothing is impossible for him.

The 24-year-old all-rounder - who became only the fourth-ever Indian bowler and the first sinceAnil Kumble in 1996 to top the ICC bowlers' rankings in ODIs - is on a high.

"Bahut bada first class cricketer hai." (He is a very big first class cricketer). It's a moniker that thousands who follow the vast domestic circuit across India, where hundreds play first-class cricket for decades and retire, can identify with. There are a few others who are a little more talented but somehow just can't break through. There are alsoexceptional cricketers who end up earning an India cap as soon as they arrive.

And then, there are those like Jadeja who keep rising like the proverbial phoenix, leaving connoisseurs baffled. How else would you describe a player who critics and experts forever felt was overrated?

Larger-than-life tattoos, untimely pub-brawls, an IPL ban, running cricketers out and leaving his skipper MS Dhoni out in the cold for promoting him in the order in the 2009 World T20 would condemn most players to the sidelines. Jadeja, though, has rewritten his story many times until it began to read like a success story.

He even shares space with the likes of Don Bradman, Brian Lara, Bill Ponsford, Walter Hammond, WG Grace, Graeme Hick and Mike Hussey, having scored three first-class triple centuries, the first Indian to do so.

But it had become a trend to mock at his cricketing ability. Even when he began picking wickets against Australia in the Test series early this year, tweets popped up saying 'what's worse than India not getting a wicket? Jadeja getting a wicket.'

The tweeter could still be eating his words, digesting how the man with such 'ordinary talent' could manage 24 scalps in the series and get Michael Clarke out five out of six times.

Sarcasm did not end even when Jadeja - famously tagged 'Sir' by Dhoni and teammates - set the Champions Trophy on fire in the UK recently. Whether it was about getting his skipper that one crucial breakthrough or contributing with a timely cameo, or affecting a sublime run-out, Jadeja did it all.

If there were only Gujaratis running for his autograph when he landed at Heathrow, there was quite a pan-Indian crowd bidding him goodbye when he left.

Conventional wisdom suggests that Jadeja's success is the result of his captain's faith in his abilities, the comfort of playing in a team where his role is defined to the 'T', not experimenting too much and sticking to a line-and-length approach, and understanding one's limitations.

"It's been the case with most Indian cricketers who've excelled for India in the last decade," says former India bowler Paras Mhambrey. "Captains like Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni have brought the best out of players just by keeping the faith and pursuing with them," he adds
.

Read More

Microsoft cuts Surface Pro tablet prices by $100

Discounts come just days after the tech titan reveals that marketing the tablets has cost more than the revenue they have brought in.

The Surface Pro.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft reduced the price of its Surface Pro tablet this weekend by $100, a few days after revealing that it has spent more money on marketing the in-house tablet than it has generated in revenue.

The reductions, which were first reported by The Verge, cuts the price of Microsoft's 64GB and 128GB tablets to $799 and $899, respectively. The discounts come three weeks after Microsoftcut the price of its Surface RT tablets by 30 percent.

Even though Microsoft revealed its revenue from the Surface tablets, it did not release the number of units sold or specify the individual revenue from either the Surface RT or the Surface Pro. In March, Bloomberg reported that Microsoft likely sold around 1.5 million Surface tablets to date. Though 1 million of those sales were for the RT version, that number was about half of what Microsoft initially expected, according to Bloomberg.Sales of Surface RT tablets, which debuted last October, have been seen as tepid. The tech titan revealed on Tuesday that it hasearned $853 million in revenue from its Surface tablets since their debut last fall. However, that is less than the $900 million the company had to pay for Surface RT inventory adjustments and also less than the $898 million Microsoft paid for Windows 8 and Surface advertising.

In comparison, Apple reported last month that it sold 14.6 million iPads in the last quarter alone.

Read More

Facebook hires first marketing chief from Motorola Mobility

Gary Briggs formerly served as Motorola's CMO after Google completed its $12.5 billion acquisition last year.

More than a year after going public, Facebook apparently believes it's time to hire the social network's first-ever chief marketing officer.

Gary Briggs, who was formerly the marketing chief at Motorola Mobility, has been hired by the social-networking giant to lead the company's marketing efforts, according to AdAge. Briggs replaced vice president of product marketing Eric Antonow, who has supervised Facebook's marketing efforts for the past three years.

Briggs said in a statement to AdAge that he was excited by the new challenge.Upon Google's completion of its $12.5 billion takeover of Motorola Mobility a year ago, Briggs was appointed Motorola's CMO after serving as vice president of consumer marketing at the Web giant.

"Facebook isn't just a company. For more than a billion people, it's their connection to the friends and things they care about most," Briggs said. "Telling the story of such an important and still very young brand is an incredible opportunity, and I cannot wait to get started."

After six-year stints in consumer marketing at eBay and Pepsico, Briggs most recently served as an adviser to Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside and its new CMO, Bill Morgan.

Read More

Apps inch up toward iTunes users' favorite activity

Listening to music files is still tops, but that's slowly but surely heading toward becoming the second-most-popular iTunes activity.

Here are the results of NPD's research into how iTunes users spend their time and money. Note that the results do not add up to 100 percent because most people use iTunes for more than one type of activity.

(Credit: NPD)

Apple's iTunes platform may have started with music in mind, but over the last couple years, a rival for people's attention has arisen from within, according to new research.

Although 54 percent of U.S.-based iTunes users in 2010 headed to the software to listen to music, that figure dropped to 41 percent of users in 2013, according to new data from research firm NPD.

At the same time, the amount of people downloading apps has jumped. For free apps, the figure has grown from 24 percent in 2010 to 35 percent in 2013. For paid apps, the figure has shifted from 12 percent in 2010 to 18 percent in 2013.

Just to be clear, the figures don't add up to 100 percent because NPD didn't make it an either-or inquiry.

Although it appears apps might eventually win out over music, both activities are extremely popular and iTunes itself continues to grow. According to NPD, iTunes now has 67 million users in the United States, up from 50 million in 2010.

Free apps, however, are becoming more and more significant.Apple's iTunes platform was originally designed as a way for users to manage tracks and listen to songs. Over time, however, the platform has grown into a full-fledged marketplace, offering everything from games and movies to e-books and podcasts.

According to NPD, 95 percent of iOS users download free apps and, on average, have 35 free downloads on their devices. Paid app downloads have declined from 72 percent of users in 2012 to 69 percent this year, according to NPD.

Not surprisingly, games are the most popular apps, with 81 percent of iOS users downloading free titles. Social-networking applications come in second with 70 percent usage.

One other interesting tidbit on the state of music downloads: just 9 percent of iTunes users download a full digital album, compared with 29 percent who download individual songs.

Read More

Google brings touch features to Chrome Canary

The browser update includes the ability to scroll backward or forward with the slide of a hand.

(Credit: Google)

Google's Chrome Canary -- a browser version that's available, but still under development -- is adding touch-friendly features to the software,according to The Verge.

The browser now includes a slide-to-navigate option that will allow users to swipe across the display to either go forward or back. Like mobile operating systems, swiping to the left in Chrome Canary takes users to the next page, while swiping to the right will take them to a previous page.

In addition, the browser comes with an "enable pinch scale" option that lets users pinch their fingers together on the screen to zoom in and out.

Though Chrome Canary is available for download, Google cautions that only early adopters and developers should try it because it's still unstable and could crash without warning.

Read More

YouTube extends live streaming to all channels with 100 or more subscribers

YouTube has announced that all channels with a least a 100 subscribers will now be able to offer live streams.

Making the announcement on the YouTube Creators blog, the Google-owned video streaming service said that the feature was being rolled out to all channels in good standing, within the next few weeks. Channel owners will be able to enable the feature through their Account Features page.

Google had extended live streaming functionality to channels with over 1,000 subscribers, in May. 

Previously, the service was available only to select YouTube partners. It had started trials for the live streaming platform in September 2010, though it was streaming select events including the Indian Premier League, prior to that. The move democratises live broadcasts and makes it more mainstream.

YouTube offers channel owners real-time transcoding in the cloud, which essentially means that they only need to send their highest quality stream to YouTube and Google will make it available in all resolutions and device formats. Video producers can show multiple camera angles, add closed captions, and insert ads and slates to their live streams.

Viewers can watch the live stream from any device, with the video quality constantly adjusting to their Internet connection, and can rewind and forward in the live stream.

Google also offers Hangouts On Air on its social networking service Google+ that lets users take part in virtual roundtable style video chats broadcast for anyone to see, live. It also puts recordings of such broadcasts on YouTube after the end of these hangouts. This functionality was extended in May.

During the same time, YouTube had informed that over 100 hours of video were being uploaded every minute to the world's most popular video-sharing site.  YouTube had also launched paid channels, in a move that had placed it in direct competition with services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. The company had released a list of some 50 channels which will be part of the program. Subscription rates go as high as $7.99 per month.

Read More