Facebook chief technical officer Bret Taylor quits

Facebook's chief technical officer Bret Taylor on Friday announced he is leaving the world's leading social network to start a new company with a friend.

Taylor revealed the move on his Facebook page less than a month after an initial public offering (IPO) of stock reported to have made millionaires of about a thousand of the California company's employees.

"I've really enjoyed working with Bret and getting to know him as a friend and teammate," Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.

"I'm grateful for all he has done for Facebook and I'm proud of what he and his teams have built."

Taylor cited accomplishments including the "open graph" that lets outside websites or applications synch with the social network and mobile products such as Facebook Camera and integration with Apple gadgets.

"I'm sad to be leaving, but I'm excited to be starting a company with my friend Kevin Gibbs," Taylor said, not indicating what the new enterprise would be.

"While a transition like this is never easy, I'm extremely confident in the teams and leadership we have in place."

He referred to Zuckerberg not only as his boss for three years, but as among his closest friends.

It is common for startup employees made rich by the initial public offering of stock to depart companies to pursue dreams or new endeavors, according to analysts who anticipated that might happen at Facebook.

By far the Internet's dominant social network, Facebook went public on May 18 in a $16 billion share sale, the second largest IPO in the United States ever.

The run-up to the sale was marked by bubbly enthusiasm reminiscent of the dot-com era, to the extent that lead underwriter Morgan Stanley agreed to raise the offering price and increase the number of shares issued.

But the shares barely held above the $38 introductory price on the opening day and have since fallen, delivering real and paper losses in the billions of dollars to the new investors.

Facebook shares rose six percent to close at $30.01 Friday. 
Source:TOI

China puts its first woman astronaut into space

China put its first woman into orbit on Saturday, one of three astronauts to attempt a critical space docking in the latest challenge for the country's ambitious space programme.

A Long March rocket blasted off in the early evening from the remote Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the northwestern Gobi Desert, carrying with it the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft and the three astronauts, including 33-year-old female fighter pilot Liu Yang.

This is China's fourth manned space mission since 2003 when astronaut Yang Liwei became the country's first person in orbit, and comes as the United States has curtailed manned launches over budget concerns and changing priorities.

The launch was carried live on state television, and until moments before blast-off, a camera showed the three astronauts in the cabin occasionally waving. A red placard with the Chinese symbol for good fortune hung behind them.

Within days, the astronauts will try to dock with the orbiting Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) 1 module launched last September, part of a 13-day mission crucial to China's ambition to put a space station in orbit around 2020.

"I believe that we can achieve this goal, because we already have the basic technological capability," Zhou Jianping, the chief designer of China's manned space engineering project, told reporters before the launch.

A successful manned docking mission for China would be the latest show of the country's growing capabilities in space, to match its expanding military and diplomatic clout.

Still, Beijing is playing catch up with the United States and Russia, which, along with other countries, jointly operate the International Space Station some 240 miles (390 km) above Earth.

Rendezvous and docking techniques such as those which China is only testing now were mastered by the United States and the former Soviet Union decades ago, and the 10.5 metre-long Tiangong 1 is a trial module, not a full-fledged space station.

Linking with the unmanned module will be an important hurdle in China's efforts to acquire the technological and logistical skills needed to run a full space lab that can house astronauts for long stretches.

Fears of a space arms race with the United States and other powers mounted after China blew up one of its own weather satellites with a ground-based missile in January 2007, though China has insisted its programme is peaceful.

"China's manned space programme has never been for military purposes. It is mainly to research how mankind can go into space, use space peacefully," He Yu, the general commander of China's manned spacecraft project, said before the launch.

The United States will not test a new rocket to take people into space until 2017, and Russia has said manned missions are no longer a priority.

But NASA has begun investing in US firms to provide commercial spaceflight services and is spending about $3 billion a year on a new rocket and capsule to send astronauts to the moon, asteroids and eventually to Mars.

Chinese scientists have talked of the possibility of sending a man to the moon after 2020, the final step in a three-stage moon plan, which includes the deployment of a moon rover in 2013 and the retrieval of lunar soil and stone samples around 2017.

China's space programme has come a long way since late leader Mao Zedong, founder of communist China in 1949, lamented that the country could not even launch a potato into space. 

Source:TOI

Bharti Airtel told to pay $125 million for unpaid customs duty

 A tax tribunal has ordered top mobile phone carrier Bharti Airtel to pay more than Rs 7 billion ($125 million) for unpaid customs duty, a report said on Friday.

 A Bharti spokesman told Reuters that the company was yet to receive a copy of the tribunal order.

 Bharti imported mobile telecom equipment by splitting the value of the equipment into hardware and software, the newspaper said, citing case documents seen by it. The case was over "undervaluation of the imported goods and non-inclusion of the value of software in the imported goods", the paper said.

 Authorities had conducted searches at Bharti's Bangalore office in 2004, it said, adding that Bharti has the option to appeal the tribunal's order at the country's Supreme Court.
Source: TOI

Skype introduces ads in free calls

Skype on Wednesday began showing callers on-screen ads while they use the globally popular free Internet telephone service.

 What Skype euphemistically referred to as "Conversation Ads" appear in calling windows of users who don't pay for subscriptions or have credits in accounts at the service.

 "We're excited to introduce Conversation Ads as an opportunity for marketers to reach our hundreds of millions of connected users," Sandhya Venkatachalam said in a post at the official Skype blog.

 "While on a 1:1 audio call, users will see content that could spark additional topics of conversation that are relevant to Skype users and highlight unique and local brand experiences."

 The silent conversation ads are available to marketers where ever Skype is available and will be shown during free Skype-to-Skype calls on computer's powered by Microsoft's Windows software, according to Venkatachalam.

 Microsoft's Skype Internet telephone service hopes to quadruple the number of users to get to one billion, division president Tony Bates said two weeks ago at a prestigious All Things Digital conference in California.

 Bates, who heads the unit that was acquired by Microsoft last year but operates autonomously, said growth will come from mobile users and from partnerships like the one Skype has with Facebook.

 He cited Facebook as a key to growth for Skype, which now has 250 million users.He said Skype can use the reach of Microsoft, the world's biggest software firm, to expand its presence, but without limiting itself to the Windows platform.

 Skype users can make low-cost or free phone calls over the Internet using their computers or smartphones. Skype bypasses the standard telephone network by channeling voice and video calls over the Web.
Source:TOI

Nokia to sell Vertu to private equity group EQT

Mobile handset firm Nokia on Thursday said it will sell its luxury mobile brand Vertu to private equity firm EQT VI for an undisclosed amount.

 The move is a part of Nokia's strategy to dispose of its non-core assets.

 "Nokia has agreed terms for EQT VI, part of the leading private equity group in Northern Europe, to acquire Vertu, the global leader in luxury mobile phones from Nokia," the company said in a statement.

 Nokia said it would retain a minority shareholding of 10 per cent in Vertu.

 However, the company has not disclosed financial details of the transaction but according to media reports the deal size could be around $250 million.

 "This is a logical next step in the evolution of Vertu as the world leader in luxury mobile products," Vertu President Perry Oosting said.

 "Since Vertu began in 1998, our business has grown every year, due to the efforts of our talented workforce and the unique products and services we offer to our customers. We believe that EQT VI will position Vertu to continue to grow and lead in our marketplace," Oosting added.

 Finnish mobile maker, which has been witnessing a tough competition from rivals Samsung and Apple Inc in the smartphone category, said the deal is expected to close during the second half of the year.EQT VI said Vertu fits well the firms investment strategy and plans to develop the brand as a standalone company.

 "With its strong brand, undisputed category leadership and attractive growth outlook, Vertu fits well with EQT VI's investment strategy.

 "EQT VI is excited about the opportunity to develop Vertu as a standalone company and plans to drive the development of the luxury mobile phone category through significant investments in retail expansion, marketing and product development," Investment Advisor to EQT VI Jan Stahlberg said.

 In a separate announcement, Nokia today announced slashing of 10,000 jobs worldwide by end of 2013. Besides, it also made changes in senior management following the resignation of three officials including Chief Marketing Officer Jerri DeVard.
Source:TOI

Indians own Rs 12,740cr in Swiss banks, Swiss National Bank says

Switzerland today said the quantum of money held by Indians in Swiss banks stood about Rs 12,740 crore at the end of 2011 — rising for the first time in the past five years.

The total funds held by Indian individuals and entities include 2.025 billion Swiss francs held directly by them and 158 million held through 'fiduciaries' or wealth managers, shows the latest data disclosed by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) in its annual handbook on Swiss banks published today.

The funds, described by SNB as 'liabilities' of Swiss banks towards their clients from India, are the official figures disclosed by the Swiss authorities and do not indicate towards the quantum of the much-debated alleged black money held by Indians in the safe havens of Switzerland.

Also, SNB's official figures do not include the money that Indians or other nationals might have in Swiss banks in the names of others. While there is no official estimate for such unaccounted funds, but some estimates put it as high as 20-25 billion dollars.

As per the data from SNB, Switzerland's central bank, the quantum of funds held by Indians in Swiss banks had last increased in 2006 by about one billion Swiss francs to 6.5 billion Swiss francs (over Rs 40,000 crore), but fell to less than one-third by the end of 2010. It rose by about Rs 3,500 crore in 2011.

 In a White Paper on black money tabled in Parliament last month, the Indian government had also mentioned that the total liabilities of Swiss banks towards Indians have been coming down since 2006 and fell by more than Rs 14,000 crore during the 2006-2010 period.

The liabilities stood at Rs 9,295 crore at the end of 2010, compared to Rs 23,373 crore in 2006.
Source:TOI

Facebook camera app vs Instagram

 Facebook's new camera app makes sharing photos on the social media site a breeze. It's an improvement on posting photos using its main mobile app. 

But other camera apps such as Instagram and Hipstamatic still reign supreme. Facebook Camera doesn't have the same level of addictiveness or the range of tools for sprucing up images. 

Many people were perplexed when Facebook released its own camera app late last month, just weeks after snapping up the popular Instagram photo-sharing app for $1 billion. 

The two apps, both free, have some similar features. Both have a scrollable feed of photos posted by your friends and other people you choose to follow. They also have a set of tools, or filters, which let you adjust contrast, color and other attributes. 

But they are different enough that Facebook's camera app is more of a complement to the main Facebook app than a challenge to Instagram. Facebook's camera app is only available for Apple devices, while Instagram recently came out with a version that works on Android phones and tablet computers. 

The app is easy to use with intuitive taps and swipes. 

When you open it, you see a scroll of your friend's photos - the ones you would see if you clicked the photo tab in the Facebook app or on Facebook's website for regular computers. Tap on a photo to see a larger version, optimized on your phone. Above that is a bar that shows you the most recent pictures in your device's camera library - all the photos you have stored on the iPhone or iPad. You can swipe down the feed of your friends' Facebook photos to see more of your own pictures, which you can then choose to post on Facebook. 

You can comment, tag and 'like' photos, just as you can with the main app or website. You simply tap icons that hover over the photos. Change your mind? Just swipe away the comment box, and it disappears.

It is kind of a shock to suddenly see your whole photo library within a Facebook app. Before I got comfortable with the navigation, I was slightly paranoid I would accidently post a photo on Facebook without meaning to. But once I got used to the easy navigation within the app, that was less of a worry.

Once you select a photo from your library (or take one within the app by tapping the camera icon), Facebook Camera gives you much better editing options than the main site or app. You can crop the photo to any dimension, or straighten it slightly - something I almost always need to do. You can tweak images with 14 filters that have such names as "Cool" "Light" and "Rouge."

For people used to the dramatic filters of Instagram and the wacky lenses and film-like options of Hipstamatic, the filters on the Facebook Camera are underwhelming. They didn't make a dramatic difference on photos I used them on, and I doubt I would use them before using Facebook Camera to post a photo.

For those who like a lot of editing control, Facebook Camera lacks the full-featured photo-adjustment capabilities available in PhotoToaster or Snapseed (which is usually $4.99 in the app store but is free until Friday, so snap it up!).

But I was pleased with the ease with which I could post photos to Facebook with its camera app. I will probably use it whenever I post a photo to the site now. Unlike the regular app, Facebook Camera makes posting multiple photos easy as well, although there's no ability to create albums on Facebook without going to the main site.

Still, it's not going to replace Instagram for me. I follow an assortment of people on Instagram based solely on the quality of their photos, ranging from gorgeous landscapes to gritty street scenes. I'm always excited to check out new pics.

I friend people on Facebook for different reasons - and it's not because of the quality of their photos. As a result, the stream on the Facebook Camera app has a random feel.

It also has a bit of a dilutive quality when I check the main Facebook app at work (ahem, not that I ever do that) or at home. Since I've already seen most of the photos, the main Facebook news stream feels less "new."

So think of Facebook Camera less as competition for other camera apps, and more of a complement - like Facebook's other standalone apps, for messaging and for managing business brand pages - to the main Facebook site.

Source:TOI

Google, Apple using 'spy planes' to create maps

With competition heating up between Google and Apple to take powerful satellite images, the tech giant Google and Apple have now deployed military grade 'spy planes' that could even photograph sunbathers in their back gardens. 

The companies are racing to produce aerial maps so detailed they can show up objects just four inches wide. 

Google admits it has already sent planes over cities while Apple has acquired a firm using spy-in-the-sky technology that has been tested on at least 20 locations, The Daily Mail reports. 

According to the paper, Apple's military-grade cameras are believed to be so powerful they could potentially see into homes through skylights and windows. 

The technology is similar to that used by intelligence agencies in identifying terrorist targets inAfghanistan. 

Google will use its spy planes to help create 3D maps with much more detail than its satellite-derived Google Earth images. 

Meanwhile, the move has outraged campaigners, who say the technology is a sinister development that brings the surveillance society a step closer. 

The paper quoted Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, as saying that privacy is at a risk of being sacrificed in a commercial 'race to the bottom'. "The next generation of maps is taking us over the garden fence," Pickles said. 

"You won't be able to sunbathe in your garden without worrying about an Apple or Google plane buzzing overhead taking pictures," he added.

Source:TOI

Delhi court asks Home ministry to serve summons to Google, Facebook

The Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) was asked by a Delhi court to get its summonses served to various foreign-based social networking websites, including Facebook and Google, accused of promoting class enmity and undermining the national integrity. 

The court asked MHA that the summonses issued against the websites should be returnable by September 22. 

"Let the accused (social networking websites) be summoned through the assistance of the MHA, Government of India. The summonses shall be returnable on September 22," Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja said. 

These websites named in the complaint filed by Vinay Rai includes -- Facebook, Orkut,YouTube, Yahoo, Blogspot, Google and Microsoft. 

Besides this, the court discharged two accused websites, Shyni Blog and Exbii after the complainant's counsel S P M Tripathi told the court that they do not want to proceed with the complaint against the two websites as their addresses have not been found despite all efforts. 

"In view of the statement made by the advocate for the complainant, the complaint is dismissed against accused Exbii and Shyni Blog," the magistrate said. 

The court, on the last date of hearing, had told Rai to come out with the modalities of serving the summonses to the foreign-based websites. 

As the day's proceedings began, advocate Tripathi said they could send the summonses served to the websites through courier service.
Source:TOI

Facebook, Microsoft looking for office space in Manhattan

Facebook and Microsoft are shopping for more office space in Manhattan, sources say, underscoring New York's stature as a must-have location for top tech companies who need to be "book-ended" on both the west and east coasts. 

Facebook, based in Menlo Park, California, has browsed several locations in the city including the former New York Times Building at 229 West 43rd Street, two people familiar with the search said. 

The social-networking company's New York staff is primarily in sales, although there are also some marketing and engineering personnel in the city. Last year, Facebook said it planned to hire more engineers in New York. 

Facebook, which currently occupies about 40,000 square feet of office space at 335 Madison Avenue near Grand Central Station, is shopping for 100,000 square feet to 150,000 square feet of office space, one source familiar with the matter said. 

Microsoft, also has looked at the former Times building and at a new building at 51 Astor Place, two sources said. Microsoft is looking for about 200,000 square feet, the source said. It currently occupies 174,000 square feet at 1290 Avenue of the Americas near 52nd Street, another source said. Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, based in Redmond, Washington, declined to comment, as did Facebook. 

It is unclear how far along either company is to committing to a new location and they could opt to stay at their current New York offices.

Facebook is still sending out requests for proposals. It signed a 15-year lease at 335 Madison in December 2010.

Microsoft's lease expires in 2014, two sources said. New York, chiefly Manhattan, is a growing incubator for technology. In the fourth quarter of 2011 it ranked No. 2 behind California as the top destination for technology venture capital funding, according to CB Insights data.

In the last five years, information technology jobs in the city have increased nearly 29 per cent to 52,900, according to a report issued last month by the Center for an Urban Future. The report identified 486 digital startups created in New York since 2007 that have received angel, VC or other outside funding.

Many of those companies are located south of 34th Street in Manhattan's Midtown South office market, the New York home of internet search and advertising powerhouse Google.

Source:TOI

Online retailer US LuxeYard enters Indian market

US-based e-commerce site LuxeYard, best known for flash sales or heavy discounts for limited periods of time, is entering the booming Indian e-commerce market. The company has tied up with serial entrepreneur Sashi Chimala who will launch a local venture that LuxeYard plans to buy after two years. 

"This reverse-acquisition model eliminates the risk and uncertainty of expansion into a new market ," said Steve Beauregard, chief operating officer, LuxeYard. 

"This model has been tried by traditional retailers, but we are the first e-commerce company to try this," he said. Chimala, who has a strong track record of launching new ventures, will develop the business in India for two years by selling fashion, home furnishings and decor via the flash sale model. 

"We will raise $1 million in the first round and $5 million in six-seven months to scale up the business," he said. In two years, Chimala will sell back the business to LuxeYard, which he says, will also provide an exit route to investors. 

Chimala earlier founded beverages chain Qwiky's Coffee and was also a part of the founding teams of technology start-ups Covansys and Indigo Technologies in the US. He has prior experience in retailing in India having helped set up two retail start-ups PayPod.com, an ad server and ad network solution targeted towards ethnic online consumers, and Knibble.com, aggregators of online casual games. LuxeYard, which offers heavy discounts of as much as 70% on products in the US, works on membership basis. The company will adopt the same model in India. "Since a flash sale lasts just a few days, items get sold out very fast. This is how our brand partners are able to offer deep discounts and yet, make their margins," Beauregard said. 

According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India, non-travel e-commerce , which is 30% of the total industry now, is estimated to grow ten- fold to about $6 billion by 2015. "As the prices offered are up to 70% of list prices, we feel this would be very attractive to the Indian market," said Beauregard.

He declined to disclose the specific terms of the deal, but said the model involves pre-agreed performance metrics including targets for revenue, member registrations and acquisition of new vendors or brand partners. "By partnering with Sashi's team, we get to eliminate the learning curve and enter the market immediately ," he said.

Source:TOI

Apple-Google patent trial pushed

A federal judge canceled a scheduled June 11 trial between Apple and Google's Motorola Mobility unit over patents related to mobile phones and tablet computers, and expects to dismiss the case because neither can prove damages. 

In a "tentative" order, US Circuit Judge Richard Posner in Chicago on Thursday said each company's case should be dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought up again. 

He said neither Apple nor Motorola Mobility had enough admissible evidence of damages to withstand dismissal. 

Posner also said to grant injunctions against infringements "would impose costs disproportionate to the harm to the patentee and the benefit of the alleged infringement to the alleged infringer and would be contrary to the public interest." 

The judge said he expects to more fully explain his reasoning in a written opinion within one week. Posner normally handles appeals, rather than cases in trial court. 

"We are pleased by the Illinois trial court's tentative ruling today dismissing Apple's patent claims and look forward to receiving the full decision," Google said in a statement. Apple declined to comment. 

The trial, which would have been before a jury, would have been the first between the companies since Google last month bought Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.

It is one of many lawsuits worldwide pitting Apple, whose iPhone is the world's most popular smartphone, against Motorola Mobility, whose parent produces the Android operating system.

In 2012, the iPhone is expected to capture more than 20 per cent of the global smartphone market, while 61 per cent of smartphones will use the Android system, International Data Corp said on Wednesday.

Apple had sued Motorola Mobility for alleged infringements of four patents, but a May 22 ruling by Posner scuttled its damages claims on two of those patents. Motorola Mobility had sued over one patent.

Apple is based in Cupertino, California, and Google is based in Mountain View, California.

The case is Apple et al vs Motorola et al, US District Court, Northern District of Illinois, No. 11-08540.

Source:TOI

Apple may block Samsung Galaxy SIII sales in US

An Apple lawyer said the iPhone and iPad maker may seek a legal order stopping the launch of Samsung Electronics's Galaxy S III phone in the United States later this month. 

At a hearing on Thursday in a San Jose,California federal court, Apple attorney Josh Krevitt said the company could file for a temporary restraining order against Samsung as early as Friday. 

"Once sales are made, the harm is irreparable," Krevitt said. 

However, US District Judge Lucy Koh said she has many other cases. If Apple decides to seek a restraining order, it would likely delay a July trial date over different Samsung phones, as well as the Galaxy Tab 10.1. 

"I cannot be an Apple v. Samsung judge," Koh said. 

Apple sued Samsung for patent infringement last year, accusing the South Korean electronics maker of "slavishly" copying the iPhone and iPad. Samsung denies the claims and countersued. 

Apple's comments on Thursday came a day after Samsung Electronics, the world's largestsmartphone vendor, expanded its CEO's role to include oversight of corporate strategy across the entire Samsung Group - a conglomerate of more than 80 companies. 

Choi Gee-sung, 61, spearheaded Samsung's ascension to smartphone and TV leadership and his elevation signals that the storied South Korean conglomerate is grooming its next leader. Apple filed papers this week seeking to ban Samsung's new Galaxy S III, along with the Galaxy Nexus. Samsung has already booked over 9 million preorders of the Galaxy S III, which is set to be sold by carriers in the United States on June 21, Apple said in its court filing. 

Samsung, however, argued that Apple should not be allowed to seek such a fast injunction against the Galaxy S III. 

Samsung attorney William Price also said the technology covered by Apple's patents - such as auto-correcting typed text - are not responsible for sales of Galaxy phones. 

"There is no advertising or marketing on these features at all" by Apple, Price said. 

Samsung's Galaxy products run on the Android operating system, developed by Google. In addition to Samsung's legal team, several Google attorneys attended the hearing before Koh on Thursday. 

Apple has also accused Google's Motorola Mobility unit of infringing its iPhone patents. However, a Chicago-based federal judge on Thursday tentatively scrapped a trial between those two that had been scheduled to begin next week. 

"Neither party can establish a right to relief," Judge Richard Posner wrote. 

In California, Koh did not rule from the bench on Thursday on Apple's request for an injunction on the Nexus. 

The Samsung case in US District Court, Northern District of California is Apple vs Samsung Electronics et al, 12-cv-630.

Source:TOI

HTC first dual-SIM smartphone, Desire V

HTC has announced a new dual-SIM smartphone, HTC Desire V. HTC Desire V runs on Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. 

The two SIM card slots on the Desire V each support GSM/GPRS and HSPA respectively. The device sports a 4-inch WVGA resolution display, it has a 5 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, no front facing camera and includes Beats Audio technology. 

Desire V is powered by a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. The storage can be further expanded up to 32GB via a microSD card. 

For connectivity, it supports Wi-Fi and 3G. 

The device was announced in Ukraine, however, it is expected to eventually become available in the Indian market.
Source: TOI

Facebook to launch App Center

There's more to Facebook apps than "Angry Birds" and Pinterest, but many users wouldn't know that because there hasn't been a good, central way to find them. 

Facebook is trying to change that. On Thursday, Facebook is beginning to roll out its App Center to its nearly 1 billion users, so they can find games and other applications with social components more easily. 

The App Center, available on Facebook's website and on Apple and Android mobile devices, will recommend apps to users based on their interests, the types of apps their friends like, or the apps they have liked in the past. 

Many people are introduced to Facebook apps in the form of sometimes-annoying requests from their friends for poker partners, Scrabble buddies or neighbors on virtual farms. Those requests haven't necessarily matched a user's specific interests. 

The new App Center will initially feature about 600 Facebook apps, mostly games, reviewed by the company to meet its quality standards. Games, such as Zynga's "CityVille" and Electronic Arts' "The Sims," are the most popular types of apps on Facebook. 

But the company is betting that by personalizing recommendations to users, people will find new types of applications beyond games, along with games that are more interesting to them. There are all sorts of social apps that use Facebook, from music-listening services such as Spotify to what-you-just-ate tools such as Foodspotting. 

"We spend all day, every day building a platform (so that) great social games and apps can exist," said Matt Wyndowe, product manager for apps and games at Facebook. But a common question has long been where to find them. "Up until now, we haven't had a great answer to that question.'' 

Facebook said that on mobile devices, the App Center won't compete with other app stores, such as Apple's or Google's. Rather, the App Center will send users to those other stores to download the programs. People can also get mobile apps from their regular computers by using a feature called "send to mobile." 

Among the roughly 600 applications included in the App Center at launch will be the Nike Plus GPS running app, which lets users track their runs and broadcast it to their Facebook feed. Ricky Engelberg, whose title at Nike is experience director at digital sport, said having a place where apps are showcased will "let more people be part of the Nike Plus community." 

The App Center, which Facebook announced last month, will be rolled out to US users beginning Thursday night and to everyone else over the coming weeks. 
Source:TOI

Google warns users of 'state-sponsored attacks'

Google has begun to warn its users if their accounts may be compromised by state-sponsored cyber attacks, to help people protect personal data. 

"We are constantly on the lookout for malicious activity on our systems, in particular attempts by third parties to log into users' accounts unauthorized," Google engineering security vice-president Eric Grosse said in a blog post on Tuesday. 

"When we have specific intelligence -- either directly from users or from our own monitoring efforts -- we show clear warning signs and put in place extra roadblocks to thwart these bad actors." 

Grosse said the new step includes a specific warning -- with a pink message bar and blue letters -- to be issued in cases where users might be targeted. 

"You might ask how we know this activity is state-sponsored," he said. "We can't go into the details without giving away information that would be helpful to these bad actors, but our detailed analysis -- as well as victim reports -- strongly suggest the involvement of states or groups that are state-sponsored." 

The warnings do not necessarily mean that the account has been hijacked, but indicates that it may be a target, of phishing or malware. The move comes amid growing concerns about malware from the so-called Flame virus which has been spreading in the Middle East, and indications of cyber warfare involving the United States and other countries. 

Google said users who receive the warning should create "a unique password that has a good mix of capital and lowercase letters, as well punctuation marks and numbers" and take other measures including two-step verification as additional security. 

"Attackers often send links to fake sign-in pages to try to steal your password, so be careful about where you sign in to Google," he said. 

"We believe it is our duty to be proactive in notifying users about attacks or potential attacks so that they can take action to protect their information," Grosse said. "And we will continue to update these notifications based on the latest information." 

Source:TOI

Facebook pays interns more than Google

The world's most popular social networking site Facebook pays its interns nearly $74,000 (Rs 40.7 lakh) a year in a bid to attract young talent, according to a report. 

According to a report by Business Insider,Facebook pays comparatively more than most other tech companies, so that young talented people that may not choose a more established company like Google. Software engineering interns, for example, earn $74,700 (Rs 41.1 lakh) a year, reports a newspaper. 

The report also revealed that other staff members at Facebook get paid pretty well, with at least 10 roles commanding six figure salaries . According to the report, senior software engineers are commanding the most coin at Facebook, getting a salary of $132,503 (Rs 72.9 lakh). 

Software engineers, also called coders, are the most valuable workers because they turn the ideas fired at them by Mark Zuckerberg and his executive team into reality.
Source:TOI

Cisco web-traffic forecast points to slowing growth

Good data on internet traffic is hard to come by. Service providers such as AT&T and Verizonguard their information, and third parties have limited visibility. That's what makes the annual traffic forecasts by Cisco Systems, the world's biggest maker of networking gear, eagerly awaited. 

This year's Visual Networking Index report, released today, contained some surprises. 

As expected, the internet continues to grow, as my colleagues pointed out in their coverage. The internet will swell to four times its current size by 2016, growing to 1.3 zettabytes of traffic per year flowing across the world's networks, and nearly half the world's population will have access to some kind of Internet access, according to Cisco. 

Growth in tablets, smartphones and faster broadband speeds and more video are behind those trends. That's good for companies like Cisco, Juniper Networks and Alcatel-Lucent, which make the routers and other networking technology. 

But at least one analyst, Nikos Theodosopoulos with UBS Securities, sees in the numbers a reason for concern.The growth rate of traffic is slowing, suggesting that some customers are being more selective: they aren't using their home Internet connections as heavily, and when they're on the road, they're scaling back on the amount of data consumed on their mobile phones as unlimited data plans vanish. 

Traffic was 31 exabytes per month in 2011, expected to grow to 110 exabytes per month by 2016, according to Cisco. Cisco forecasts the annual growth rate tapering from 42 per cent this year, to 34 per cent in 2013, and 31 per cent in 2014.


Theodosopoulos said those trends are squeezing the networking industry, particularly in sales of routers to internet-service providers.


"While the forecast continues to show solid IP traffic growth, the forecast growth rate continues to decelerate, which we believe supports our view that the service provider router growth rate will remain sub-10% in the future," Theodosopoulos wrote today in an analyst note.


The signs aren't all troubling, though, says Matthew Robison, an analyst at Wunderlich Securities. He noted that Cisco's estimates for all traffic types and regions have increased from last year, highlighting strong expansion in Europe and Asia in particular.


--By Jordan Robertson

Source:TOI

Google buys startup Meebo

Google is buying Silicon Valley startup Meebo to help expand its social networking service. 

The acquisition announced will bring more tools to Google+, an alternative to Facebook's popular online hangout. Meebo started as a system for connecting people by instant message but has since built other communication features used by an audience of about 100 million web people in the US. 

Both companies are based in Mountain View, Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. 

"We are always looking for better ways to help users share content and connect with others across the Web, just as they do in real life," Google said in a statement. "With the Meebo team's expertise in social publisher tools, we believe they will be a great fit with the Google+ team." 

Since its debut nearly a year ago, Google+ has attracted more than 170 million users. Despite that impressive growth, Google so far has had trouble persuading people to visit its social networking website as regularly as Facebook's more than 900 million users frequent its website. 

Meebo works with publishers and advertisers to help them connect with web surfers for longer periods. 

"Together with Google, we're super jazzed to roll up our sleeves and get cracking on even bigger and better ways to help users and website owners alike," Meebo wrote in a Monday blog post. 

Meebo has raised $70 million in venture capital since it was founded in 2005 by Seth Sternberg, Elaine Wherry and Sandy Jen. Sternberg, who formerly helped IBM identify acquisition targets, served as Meebo's CEO. Google has spent more than $16 billion buying 140 companies since the end of 2009. That includes the biggest deal in Google's 14-year history, a just-completed $12.5 billion acquisition of cellphone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings. 

Google shares fell 59 cents after hours to $578. They ended regular trading up $7.61 at $578.59 before the deal was announced.

Source:TOI