Monday, 20 January 2014

Soon, pay through your tweets using credit cards

1/20/2014 12:27:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Soon, pay through your tweets using credit cards

Twitter is reportedly said to be teaming up with online payments service Stripe that could allow retailers to accept credit cards directly through tweets.

WASHINGTON: Twitter is reportedly said to be teaming up with online payments service Stripe that could allow retailers to accept credit cards directly through tweets.

The tie-up could potentially transform Twitter from a platform retailers use for advertising and marketing and allow for sale of products and receiving payments as well.

According to Cnet, the deal, said to be in its final stages but not complete, would indicate that the microblogging site is serious about making it easier for brands, retailers or manufacturers to sell stuff directly on Twitter.

The move could drive a wide variety of new marketing initiatives directly to Twitter, creating an all-new market for merchants eager to reach consumers where they spend their time.

The report said that Twitter teamed with American Express last year, to make it possible for that card's users to buy things through select retailers simply by tweeting a special hashtag.

Twitter launched its IPO in November last year and the deal with Stripe that allows online merchants to accept payments by credit card without setting up an account of any kind, could help the site move towards profitability and gain back investors' confidence in its shares touted 'too expensive'.

Hi guys If u like this post please leave a comment in comment box... comment box will top right of every post and bottom of every post. its useful for me give a better information.. check top of the blog there is menu bar in that go to comments i replied for u r comments because there is no direct option for reply for u r comments. if u want to give any suggestion in bottom of blog there is contact information option please leave a msgs with u r mail id sure i will get u.

LinkedIn to let you search for volunteer jobs

1/20/2014 12:26:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

LinkedIn to let you search for volunteer jobs

Professional networking site LinkedIn is now letting its users search for volunteer positions in addition to paid jobs.

NEW YORK: Professional networking siteLinkedIn is now letting its users search for volunteer positions in addition to paid jobs.

LinkedIn launched a " volunteer marketplace," which lets users browse volunteer opportunities posted by nonprofit groups. Nonprofits, meanwhile, can reach out to LinkedIn users who have expressed an interest in volunteering.

LinkedIn says it is working with volunteer-matching organizations such as Catchafire, VolunteerMatch and BoardSource to make sure that the volunteer opportunities listed on its site are "high quality."

LinkedIn is the world's largest online professional network with 259 million users as of the end of September.

Its Class A shares rose $1.06 to $217.28 in morning trading. Its shares have risen more than 84 per cent in the past year.

4G: Reliance Jio to offer voice services

1/20/2014 12:18:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

4G: Reliance Jio to offer voice services

Reliance Jio earlier said that it would be offering 10-12 times faster 4G wireless service compared to 3G networks.

MUMBAI: The voice-dominated domestic telecom space is set to liven up further with corporate giant Reliance Industries, the only national licence holder for 4G spectrum, saying it will be offering not just high speed data but voice services as well.

"We will definitely be offering voice ... the fact that we have submitted the application for participating in the forthcoming 2G and 3G spectrum auctions makes it clear that we are going to enter the voice space," Reliance Group Chief Financial Officer Alok Agarwal told reporters here.

He was responding to a question on the much-talked about plan ofReliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL), the Mukesh Ambani-led Group's telecom arm.

Agarwal, who was briefing the media on RIL's Q3 earnings, however, declined to reveal anything more such as capex plans, tariff, launch time-line, saying, "I am not going to speak anything more on this."

This is for the first time the company, which before the Group' division was one of the pioneers in cheaper call rates when it had launched CMDA telephony under Relaince India Mobile brand, has expressed its intention to enter the voice space, which has the cheapest call rates in the world.

Earlier this week, Reliance Jio applied for participation in the spectrum auctions for the 900/1800 Mhz bands, slated for early February.

The government has put 16 blocks of 900 Mhz spectrum for auction each in Delhi and Mumbai and 14 blocks in Kolkata.

Earlier this month, Reliance Jio had told PTI it would be offering 10-12 times faster 4G wireless service compared to 3G networks.

"We are practically achieving a speed of 49 megabit per second downlink (download) and uplink is between 8-9 mbps. Theoretically, the present set up that we have, can achieve speed of 112 mbps downlink," an RJIL official had said.

Reliance Jio is the only Indian company to have nationwide 4G spectrum acquired for over Rs 12,000 crore in the 2010 spectrum auctions.

The company is running trial of products, including phone and TV services that it plans to provide through 4G network. It will provide outdoor customer premise equipment (CPE) that will connect to its mobile towers. (more
)

Sony Xperia Z2 specs, image leaked

1/20/2014 12:14:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Sony Xperia Z2 specs, image leaked

The first image of its upcoming flagship model – codenamed Sirius – has surfaced on the internet, along with leaked specifications.

NEW DELHI: Japanese manufacturer Sonystarted the Consumer Electronics Show this year with an iPhone-sized top-end smartphone, but it seems to have a few more tricks up its sleeves. The first image of its upcoming flagship model - codenamed Sirius - has surfaced on the internet, along with leaked specifications.

The leak comes courtesy Chinese website Digi-wo, where a user has posted the image of the back panel of the Xperia Z2 sourced from Sony's R&D department. The image suggests that the manufacturer is doing away with the glass back panel that its top models have sported since early 2013 and will instead use a carbon fibre or metallic body.

In terms of hardware specifications, the Xperia Z2 is said to have a 5.3-inch display and 23MP rear camera. This camera will be an upgrade from the 20.7MP module used in the Xperia Z1 and Z1 Compact, which is already higher than the current industry standard of 13MP.

The post also says that the model will be launched in five colours and will be unveiled next month. It is expected that Sony will showcase the Xperia Z2 at the Mobile World Congress expo in Barcelona, scheduled from Feb 24 to Feb 27. However, the launch date of the model is not yet known.

HTC One successor’s specs, launch date leaked

1/20/2014 12:13:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

HTC One successor’s specs, launch date leaked

The successor of HTC One will get an upgraded processor, camera and screen size, according to a report by Bloomberg.

NEW DELHI: The successor of HTC One will get an upgraded processor, camera and screen size, according to a report by Bloomberg. It also says that the model will hit the shelves in March, around the same that the HTC One hit the market last year.

As per the report, the successor of HTC One, rumoured to be named One+ or One Two, will have screen size of at least 5-inch. Earlier leaks have also pegged the same display size, with resolution of 1140x2560p (higher than the current standard of 1080x1920p).

The Taiwanese manufacturer will use a later generation Qualcomm Snapdragon processor in the device. The current top HTC model runs on Snapdragon 600; the current chipsets in this lineup include Snapdragon 800 and 805.

About the camera of the smartphone, the report says, "Twin sensors on the rear of the new handset will provide better focus, depth of field and image quality. An improved version of HTC's Ultrapixel camera will be featured in the device, the person said."

In terms of design and look, the upcoming model will not deviate much from HTC One.

Leaked images of the successor of HTC One, codenamed M8, have already hit the internet. It is said that the model will have 3GB RAM and the manufacturer's Sense 6.0 user interface.

India not centre of world for Wipro: T K Kurien

1/20/2014 12:06:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

India not centre of world for Wipro: T K Kurien

BANGALORE: Wipro has had two successive quarters of good growth, suggesting that the $7-billion IT services company, which for over two years had underperformed the industry, is finally turning around. CEO T K Kurien talks to TOI about the elements contributing to the turnaround and about some fundamental changes happening within the company.

You've had two quarters of good growth. What are the top reasons?

We are executing better. We have done well in healthcare and life sciences; energy & utilities continues to grow. Three years ago, energy & utilities was $400 million, we will end this year at more than a $1 billion. We are the third largest player in energy & utilities after IBM and Accenture. The gap between them and us is just $1 billion. In one area called sub-surface, we are the leaders in the world. What we are doing in energy & utilities we are now doing in retail banking. We are picking up spots and saying that in this particular area we will be best in the world. But to be world-beaters, we have to culturally reorient ourselves. One of the things we have done is completely decentralize the way we run. We are telling business unit heads, you have a budget and you will be measured on four parameters — market share gain, topline, bottom line and customer satisfaction. If customer satisfaction drops, it's the end of your career. The other three parameters, as long as you are trending in the right direction, it's okay. My job is simple, I have to hold the business unit heads' feet to the fire.

How do you pick the spots you want to excel in?

Based on current customer base, based on where we see market discontinuities. You can never gain market share in an environment that is stable. It has to be a market discontinuity where competitors are so embedded to the past that they can't see the future. If you go to a customer with the future, you will be able to take the competitor out of the contract.

With the fundamental changes in technology that are emerging, do you think the company will have to structurally change?

We are in the midst of a huge trend change where customers increasingly don't want to buy their IT, they want it as a service. So we have to create a new business around this. At some point, the new business will become more important than the old business. But till then we will have to run both and we have to drive them independently. We can't do it in the same structure. Yet the old business has to access the new business, which means the cultural aspect of collaboration becomes important.

What are the structures that will emerge?

'As-a-service' may be a separate company. We haven't thought through that. Leadership will have to collaborate a lot more. Most large companies fail because of the egos of senior management. It's my shop, let me run it my way, don't interfere with it. You can't have that kind of mindset. So people now don't get rewarded only for performance; they get rewarded for values. It's a big change.

You want to get to a sequential 4-4.5% growth. How?

We have to gain share versus competition. We are clearly not there yet. Second, we have to get our cost structure such that we are so competitive that nobody can touch us - we have to do that with automation, simplification, reallocation of people. Third is post sales experiences. We are in a people's business. Our brand is dictated by the people we have. And those people have to be empowered, charged up in front of the customers. Having all these people in India doesn't make a difference.

Is this why we see management commentary on ramping up onsite hiring?

There is a different reason behind it. We are an Indian company in our mindset, yet our customers are global. So we have to globalize our management base. From this year on, every year we plan to recruit 100 kids from colleges in UK, US, Germany, France, the Nordics, South Africa. This Global 100 will be recruited after an intense psychometric process and their compensation will be the same wherever they are hired from. They will spend six months working in a village, then they will work in different functions. They will work a couple of years in India, a couple of years in some other country, then their home country. They will keep rotating, and when they do that, they become global citizens. They become citizens of Wipro and not citizens of a particular country. They will be able to connect and create linkages across the world. When they are in trouble for a particular thing, they can collaborate with each other. India is not the centre of the world for us.

With this, you are also creating a leadership pool?

Yes. Wipro of the future has to be different. We can't live with traditional management structures. About 37% of Wipro's population is women, but how many women do we have in senior management? About 88% of our business is outside of India, but how many senior people do you see of different nationalities? In a services company, culture is very important. So leadership has to come from within and we need to have a succession plan very early in the cycle. If you get someone from outside, they make the cardinal mistake of believing that what made them successful in the past will make them successful in the future. It doesn't work.

Apple VP unfollows Nest CEO on Twitter after Google buyout

1/20/2014 12:00:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Apple VP unfollows Nest CEO on Twitter after Google buyout

Apple senior VP Phil Schiller has unfollowed Nest CEO Tony Fadell on Twitter following Google's purchase of Nest for $3.2 billion.

WASHINGTON: Apple senior vice president of global marketing Phil Schiller has unfollowed Nest CEO Tony Fadell on Twitter, following news of Google having purchased Nest for a whopping $3.2 billion.

Schiller, evidently unhappy with the development, unfollowed both Nest and its CEO days after the news broke out.

Taking a dig at Samsung during its release of Samsung Galaxy S4, the marketing chief had called Android a "cheap replacement for a feature phone" and dropped his Instagram account after the app was made available for Android users, The Verge reported.

Meanwhile, Schiller's displeasure seems to have no effect on the relationship of Apple and Nest with Nest still enjoying a suitable position in the Apple Online Store.

6 awesome things you can do with your gmail ID

1/20/2014 11:58:00 am TECHNOLOGY No comments

6 awesome things you can do with your gmail ID

Everyone has a Google account, and most of us tend to use it only for e-mails. A few others might probably be active on Google+ and YouTube... perhaps, even use the Google Drive service. But did you know that this single ID could be put to other amazing uses? Ashutosh Desai tells you about...

Turn Google Drive into your jukebox

Google Drive is a great cloud service to store all your documents, presentations and spreadsheets. But I bet you didn't know that you can also use it - in conjunction with a few third-party tools - to create your own virtual jukebox that lets you stream your songs to wherever you are as long as you have an internet connection.

For PCs...

To listen to the music you've uploaded to Drive, visitwww.drivetunes.org (preferably using the Chrome browser) and sign in with your Google account.

Allow Drivetunes to access your Google Drive by clicking Accept. The website automatically detects and lists all MP3 and M4A files, letting you play your tunes from any web-enabled computer.

For Smartphones...

You can install apps like CloudBeats Lite or GDrive (for iOS) or CloudAround (for Android devices).

Make your own maps

So you've moved to a new home, or you're probably hosting your birthday party at this new pub. One of the problems you're faced with is giving detailed directions to get to the venue. Guess what? You can use Google Maps. The service lets you create custom maps, add waypoint symbols and colours; you can also annotate it with text; add snapshots for visual aids, and more...

Sign in to Google Maps, click My Places > Create Map.

Something called Maps Engine Lite will open in a new tab.

You can now use this interface to plot your route. There are four tools - to select items, add markers, draw lines, and add directions. The elements you add are represented as layers (just like in photo-editing software). This makes it easier to mask out certain annotations or routes. The map editor also includes a handy undo-redo option.

Once you are done, click the Share button to send it via e-mail, Google+, Facebook or Twitter.

Print from anywhere

The wonders of technology. Do you know you can now use the Chrome browser and yourGoogle account to send a printout to your home printer from anywhere in the world?

To set up on your home computer...

First, make sure your printer is ON.

In the Chrome browser, click the menu button and select Settings.

Click the Show advanced settings... link.

Scroll down to the Google Cloud Print section and sign in to enable the service.

Select your printer in the list, click Add Printers, and you're ready to go.

To print from a remote computer...

Ensure that your printer and the PC that it is connected to are switched ON.

Sign in with your Google account in Chrome.

Click on the menu button, and select the Print... option.

In the Print panel that appears, under Destination, click on Change... to select your remote printer. Hit Print.

It should be noted that you can only print the contents of your browser window using this method. If you want to print a.doc file, for instance, you will need to open it in a cloud service like Google Drive.

Android and iOS apps like Google Print and PrintCentral Pro can also be used to send prints using Google's cloud print service.

Manage your phone contacts

Changing your smartphone can be a chore, especially when you have to copy all your contacts from one handset to the other. Hah! You wouldn't have to go through this pain; not if you had stored all your contacts on your Gmail account...

In your inbox, click the drop-down labelled Gmail (top-left corner under 'Google' ).

Select Contacts, and in a one-time effort, manually update phone numbers, e-mail IDs, et al - for all the people in your address book. Alternatively, if you have an existing backup in the CSV or vCard format, click on More > Import.

Now, whenever you switch handsets - whether Android, BlackBerry, iOS or Windows Phone - all you need to do is add this Google account and set it to sync Contacts.

Also, whenever you add a new number on your smartphone, make sure it is synced to this Google account.

Run your own show on YouTube

So you've always believed you have what it takes to be a video jockey or a TV show host. Sadly, you've never had the opportunity to show off your skills. Not true. With your Google account, a webcam, and a good microphone, you can start your own channel on YouTube. Who knows, you might just

How to check what's occupying your storage space on Google

Every Google user gets 15GB of storage space. This is shared between Gmail, Google+ and Google Drive. To find out how much is being consumed by each service...

Sign in to your Gmail account and in your inbox, scroll down to the last e-mail.

Below, on the left-hand side, you will see how much space is being used. For example, '5.79GB (38%) of 15GB used'. Click on the 'Manage' link under this line.

Google will display your usage in a pie chart with a break up of how much storage each of the three services are using. catch the eye of some big-time producer.
To create a video...

Log in to YouTube with your Google ID; click on your account name at the top right-hand corner, and click My Channels to create one.

Click the Upload button at the top of the page. Then, in the Privacy drop-down list, select Private (you can change this later from Video Manager).

Now click the Record button under Webcam capture to start rolling. Once done, stop the recording and click Play to preview.

Click Publish to finalise your recording or Start Over to do a retake.

Never run out of space for your photos and videos

Regardless of how much storage space we have at our disposal, the many photographs and videos we shoot tend to occupy huge chunks of memory on our devices. Well, did you know, you could use your Google+ account to back these up? Install the Google+ app for your Android or iOS smartphone.

After installation, in the app, click on the Settings icon and enable Auto Backup.

Make sure you set the auto-backup to initiate only over a Wi-Fi connection (using your mobile network will incur extra charges).

Additionally, to backup the pictures and videos on your PC, use the latest version of Picasa (v3.9).

Having all of your stuff backed up to your Google+ account means you can visit those memories any time you choose, even after you have deleted them from your phone or computer. And don't worry; all your stuff is marked private by default. You can, however, choose to share whatever you want with friends from within the app itself
.

Apple iPhone 4 8GB to relaunch at Rs 22,000: Report

1/20/2014 11:57:00 am TECHNOLOGY No comments

Apple iPhone 4 8GB to relaunch at Rs 22,000: Report

The Cupertino giant is planning to price the phone at Rs 22,000 if a new report is to be believed.

In a bid to increase its market share in India, Apple is reportedly set to relaunch the 8GB version of its old iPhone, the iPhone 4, in the Indian market.

The Cupertino giant is planning to price the phone at Rs 22,000 if a new report by TechCrunch is to be believed.

Just a few days back, the Economic Times reported that the iPhone 4 8GB version is likely to be priced around Rs 15,000 through buyback and EMI schemes.

However, the new report cites reliable sources as saying that Apple is unlikely to sell the iPhone at that low a price.

It cites the same source to report that Apple is planning to sell the 8GB iPhone 4 models in India for around Rs 22,000. The phone was previously priced at Rs 26,500, when it was launched.

It is worth pointing out that the TechCrunch report also mentions that Apple India could offer a cheaper price for the iPhone 4 through buybacks and EMI schemes. So it is possible that the smartphone's starting price reaches the Rs 15,000 point after that.

The iPhone 4 was launched in 2010 and sports a 3.5-inch Retina display. It is powered by the Apple A4 chip and is capable of running iOS 7, though it doesn't support all its features.

"TAKE NO AS A QUESTION "

TECHNOLOGY

STOCK EXCHANGE

ENTERTAINMENT

SOCIAL NETWORKS

CRICKET

Monday, 20 January 2014