Microsoft Windows 8 to dominate at Computex

Microsoft's much-anticipated Windows 8 operating system is set to take pride of place as tens of thousands of people head to Asia's leading IT fair opening in Taiwan on Tuesday. 

The five-day Computex, an annual tech extravaganza in Taipei now in its 32nd year, will provide one of the most comprehensive glimpses yet of the next version of the world's dominant software. 

"It's only a few months before the official release of Microsoft's Windows 8 software," said Chang Li, deputy secretary general of the Taipei Computer Association, which co-sponsors Computex. 

"So this year's Computex will offer a great occasion to have a look at some of the hardware applications from Taiwan companies." 

Windows 8 is touted as Microsoft's long-awaited riposte to the rise of Apple and mobile devices powered by Google's Android operating system. There is no official release date but reports have predicted an October launch. 

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer says that Windows 8 will support a wider range of devices including touch-and stylus-based smartphones and tablet PCs, as well as desktops and laptops. 

Computex will reflect this with dozens of exhibitors displaying notebooks and tablets running Windows 8, according to organisers. 

South Korea's Samsung along with Taiwanese computer makers Acer and Asus will reportedly launch new tablets and notebooks running on the new Microsoft platform. "The theme of this year's Computex is clear. Visitors can expect a broad range of products related to Windows 8," said Joanne Chien, a senior analyst at a research centre attached to Taipei-based trade publication DigiTimes. 

The latest bout of global economic jitters have not affected the trade show with more than 1,800 exhibitors registering 5,400 booths, up two percent from a year ago. 

The organisers estimate that the IT fair will draw 36,000 foreign buyers who may place bulk orders worth up to $28 billion. 

Computer makers hope that fresh momentum will come from the so-called "ultrabook", a higher-end product that aims to be smaller and lighter than traditional notebooks without reducing performance or battery life. 

Ultrabooks made their debut at Computex 2011, but the relatively high price -- around $1,000 apiece -- has hampered the sector's growth. 

"If the prices go down a bit, ultrabook is likely to attract lots of users," said David Liu, also from the Taipei Computer Association. 

And there is still room for the humble laptop even as tablets take off, experts at the association said, because users still need a portable workhorse in addition to an entertainment device such as the iPad. 

Analysts predicted that ultrabook sales will pick up during the Christmas season, aided by the release of Windows 8 and the advent of " cloud computing", which requires smaller hard drives as users store more of their data online. 

Apple, a pioneer of the cloud approach, does not take part in trade fairs like Computex or theConsumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, preferring to organise its own high-octane events to showcase new products.  In contrast, Samsung is pulling out the stops at Computex with its IT products arrayed over some 30 booths. 

In line with China's new economic might, IT companies from the mainland such as telecoms equipment maker Huawei will play a bigger role at Computex than ever before. 

A total of 312 Chinese exhibitors will use 617 booths to showcase their products, compared with 252 firms taking 527 booths a year ago, according to the organisers. 

"It's not clear how many orders they may get from the show, but at least they can use the platform to boost their exposure to possible clients," Chien said.

Source:TOI.

Hosni Mubarak refuses food, medicine in prison

Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has declined food and medicine since being taken to a prison after a court sentenced him to life behind bars for his role in the death of protestors last year.

In Cairo's Tora prison, Mubarak's mood has been bad "to the point of not even responding to those who greet him", said the el-Fagr newspaper. Ever since the trial began in August, the 84-year-old Mubarak was detained in the International Medical Center, a facility run by the military near Cairo.

Mubarak and his former security chief Habib al-Adly were both convicted for the killings of around 900 protestors. They received life sentences. Once the helicopter transporting Mubarak arrived at Tora prison, the ousted leader refused to leave the aircraft.

Security officials said he "suffered from a surprise health crisis" before they finally convinced him to go into the prison. Mubarak was president for almost 30 years. He stepped down in February 2011 amid mass nationwide protests.
Source:TOI

Aakash 2 misses May-end deadline

India has missed yet another deadline for the launch of much-hyped world's cheapest tablet PC - Aakash 2 - the dream project of human resource development minister Kapil Sibal, even as the wait continues for the country's 220 million students. 

In March, Sibal had made a commitment that the device would be ready by end of May. Priced at about Rs 2,276, Sibal had positioned the new and improved version of Aakash as an educational aid for Indian students. He had also reiterated in the Lok Sabha that the government is working on an improved tablet after the first one proved to be a damp squib due to low battery life and slow processor speed. 

An email query to the minister's office on status of Aakash 2 remained unanswered. But officials working on the project told ET on the condition of anonymity that the tablets and associated apps are being tested at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai. 

Amidst much fanfare, Sibal had first talked about the tablet in 2010. The plan then was to make a cheap laptop available to schools by January 2011, but that was not to be as HCL Infosystems, the firm that had been contracted to manufacture, backed out. Subsequently, in February, the government selected Canada-based Datawind for the $35-tablet project. 

Indian Institute for Technology, Rajasthan, was mandated to design the features and procure the tablets, which were to be assembled in India by Datawind. For its part, Datawind launched a commercial version of the product called Ubislate-I in 2011, and then failed to supply Aakash on time, causing much concern. 

"Many people confuse Ubislate with Aakash, as it carries the same specifications and is made by the same vendor. It is giving a bad name to the government's project as customers of the commercial similar product are complaining of non delivery," said a senior government official on condition of anonymity. Datawind ended the relationship with Hyderabad-based Quad Electronics, its Indian manufacturing partner, causing delays in the supply of tablets. Datawind was supposed to supply 1,00,000 tablets to IIT-Rajasthan. 

Since then, Datawind has contracted Hyderabad-based VMC Systems to supply the tablets. About 50 people have reportedly been poached by VMC Systems from Quad Electronics who were earlier working on the Aakash assembly line. 

But VMC Systems vehemently denied it saying it employs about 800 people, and can redeploy them anytime. "We do not need to employ people from outside," said a VMC official. "We are unnecessarily being dragged. The quarrel is between Quad and Datawind," he added. 

Aggrieved consumers are already posting messages in online forums complaining about non-delivery of Ubislate and asking for refunds. But Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO of Datawind, alleged that rivals are posting such messages. "We have started delivering thousands daily," he said.

Source:TOI

‘Likes’ become ads on Facebook

On Valentine's Day, Nick Bergus came across a link to an odd product on Amazon.com: a 55-gallon barrel of ... personal lubricant. 

He found it irresistibly funny and, as one does in this age of instant sharing, he posted the link on Facebook, adding a comment: "For Valentine's Day. And every day. For the rest of your life." 

Within days, friends of Bergus started seeing his post among the ads on Facebook pages, with his name and smiling mug shot. Facebook - or rather, one of its algorithms - had seen his post as an endorsement and transformed it into an advertisement, paid for by Amazon. 

In Facebook parlance, it was a sponsored story, a potentially lucrative tool that turns a Facebook user's affinity for something into an ad delivered to his friends. 

Amazon is one of many companies that pay Facebook to generate these automated ads when a user clicks to "like" their brands or references them in some other way. Facebook users agree to participate in the ads halfway through the site's 4,000-word terms of service, which they consent to when they sign up. 

With heightened pressure to step up profits and live up to the promise of its gigantic public offering, Facebook is increasingly banking on this approach to generate more ad revenue. The company said it does not break down how much revenue comes from such ads. Its early stock market performance - down 22 per cent from its offering price - is likely to increase the urgency. 

But this new twist on advertising has already proved to be tricky. Users do not always realize that the links and "likes" they post on Facebook can be deployed for marketing purposes. And Facebook has already agreed in principle to settle out of court a class-action lawsuit over the practice in California. 

Not least, its algorithms lack a sense of humor, which can lead to surprises, as in the case of Bergus. 

"I was mildly annoyed, though not to the point of deleting my Facebook account or throwing a hissy fit," said Bergus, 32, a multimedia producer in Iowa City, who wrote about the glitch on his blog. "I know the costs of using Facebook. It does not cost me money. It uses lots of my personal information." 

Wall Street is watching closely to see exactly how Facebook plans to use the information offered every day by its more than 900 million users. The company brought in $1 billion in revenue in the first quarter, the vast majority of it from advertising, but it has not disclosed what portion of that is from sponsored stories. 

Facebook recently began to show sponsored stories in the site's main news feed and in its mobile apps, where they appear a lot less like traditional ads, though they do bear a "Sponsored" label. It has told investors that consumers were 50 per cent more likely to recall an ad if it came with a plug from a Facebook friend. And it has made clear to users that while they can change a privacy setting so their "likes" do not appear under ads in the most prominent advertising zone on Facebook pages, they cannot turn off other kinds of endorsements that show up elsewhere. "Because sponsored stories are just stories from the news feed, you cannot opt out of them," Facebook explains in its help center. 

A company spokesman said that users can choose not to click the "like" button next to something if they don't want to be associated with it, and in general they can use the privacy settings to control who sees what they do. 

Amit Shah, a marketing executive with 1-800-Flowers, said sponsored stories had been remarkably effective in drawing new eyes to the company's Facebook page, especially on lucrative occasions like Mother's Day. He said the company did not need to obtain permission from its fans to run such ads. 

"The person has given their consent because they're engaging with your brand page, and you're boosting that engagement," he said. "Our experience is that people love hearing stories of other customers."
For marketers, sponsored stories save money. No creative work is involved. All they are doing is leveraging one user's stated preference - whether for a lubricant or a political candidate - and spreading the word to that user's friends. The most frequently used trigger for such ads in sponsored stories now is the vague, broad "like" button. 

But people "like" things for different reasons. Sometimes it's to cash in on goodies. "'Like us' on Facebook to enter to win a gift bag worth about $450," read one recent promotion from the clothing chain Brooklyn Industries. 

Bergus, a roller derby fan, "likes" a store called Sin City Skates, mainly to get updates on new products in his Facebook news feed. Peter Zaback, 32, a friend who originally alerted him to the ad in which Bergus appeared, "likes" President Barack Obama's page because he wants information from the campaign. Zaback said he did not know whether his endorsement had been used as a political ad. 

Eric Goldman, an associate professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law, took aim at Facebook for, as he put it in a blog post, putting words in its users' mouths. Facebook, he wrote, interprets a "like" as a statement of a user's attitude and a "green light" to create an ad. 

"So Sponsored Stories creates a zero-sum game," Goldman wrote. "I as a user probably don't get any value from the public presentation of my implicit endorsement (if anything, it might hurt my position with my friends), but Facebook and its advertisers benefit from it." 

Sponsored stories resulted in what initially seemed like a potentially damaging class-action lawsuit in California, though last month the company announced its intention to settle out of court. 

In filing the case, in US District Court, lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that the company had been unfair and deceptive in deploying users' names and pictures in advertising without consent. In its defense, Facebook took a press-freedom approach, saying it did not need consent because sponsored stories were actually "news," because all Facebook users were public figures to their friends. Details of the proposed settlement were not disclosed. 

Angel Fraley, a Seattle costume designer who was the lead plaintiff in the case, said that she recalled clicking the "like" button for an online French course offered by Rosetta Stone. At the time, she said, she was considering moving to Paris, and she hoped that a "like" on Facebook might get her a discount on the course. It did not. Instead, several months later, she showed up in an ad for Rosetta Stone on her friends' Facebook pages. 

Fraley, 39, still "likes" many things on Facebook. But she said she resented being used for advertising. "When I signed up, that was not part of the deal," she said. 

In Ames, Iowa, Zaback came across a plug from another friend the other day. Steven Good's name and face popped up on his news feed, with the announcement that Good "likes" American Airlines. 

Good, 30, was not surprised. It would be naive, he said, to count on an entirely free deal from Facebook. As the social media manager for Phi Delta Theta, a Christian college fraternity, he was experimenting with sponsored stories himself, hoping to leverage "likes." 

If you use the site, Good argued, you should be prepared to be used. "It's the nature of the beast that is Facebook," he said.
Source: TOI.IT

Microsoft launches Windows 8 release preview

Microsoft is nearly done with a much-anticipated overhaul of its Windows operating system.The software maker signaled the makeover is nearly complete with Thursday's release of the final test version of Windows 8.

Windows 8 is considered to be the biggest change in decades to Microsoft's widely used operating system. The software displays applications in a mosaic of tiles and has been designed so it can run desktop, laptop and tablet computers.

PC sales have slowed in the US as consumers delay replacements and instead buy mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. The versatility of Windows 8 is expected to spawn a new generation of computers that are part laptop, part tablet. The latest test version of Windows 8 is available in 14 languages and includes several improvements from a less-refined version released three months ago. The upgrades include more ways to connect to other Microsoft services, more security controls and more touch-screen features.

Microsoft Corp hasn't announced when Windows 8 will go on sale yet. Most industry analysts expect the software will be available in September or October. With Windows 8 looming, more prospective computer buyers may delay their purchases until the new operating system is available.

Microsoft is trying to discourage procrastination with a special promotion that begins Saturday in the US, Canada and more than 120 other markets. The program allows buyers of computer running on Windows 7 to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro, when it's available, for $14.99. Microsoft hasn't announced other prices.

Source:TOI.IT

Nokia: Android phones have major patent issues

Nokia struck back at Google over its accusation that the cellphone maker was colluding with Microsoft to make money out of their patents. 

"Though we have not yet seen the complaint, Google's suggestion that Nokia and Microsoft are colluding on intellectual property rights is wrong," Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant said on Friday. 

"Both companies have their own intellectual property rights portfolios and strategies and operate independently." 

He also said that some Android devices had "significant (intellectual property) infringement issues" relating to Nokia's patents. 

Google, in a formal complaint to the European Commission, said Microsoft and Nokia had transferred 1,200 patents to MOSAID, a so-called "patent troll" which makes money by taking legal action over patent infringements. 

Nokia and Microsoft cooperate on smartphones that compete with Google's Android devices. The Finnish phone maker shifted from its own Symbian software in favor of Microsoft Windows in February 2011. 

Google's accusations highlight current cut-throat competition in the mobile phone business where companies, including Nokia, are fighting to assert intellectual property rights over wireless technologies. 

Nokia's patents have become valuable and stable assets for the company, particularly at a time when falling handset sales and a loss of market share threaten its future. Nokia has already sued Android device makers HTC and ViewSonic for infringing its patents and is expected to go after others. 

Nokia already earns 500 million euros ($618.22 million) a year from its patent royalties in key areas of mobile telephony and some analysts have said a more determined application of its patent rights could boost its income by hundreds more millions of euros a year. 

Microsoft said earlier that Google's complaint about antitrust in the smartphone industry was a "desperate tactic" from a company that controls more than 95 per cent of mobile search and advertising.

Source: TOI.IT

Google to 'warn' users on search in China

Google has fired a new salvo in a censorship battle with Beijing by adding a feature that warns users in China who enter search keywords that might produce blocked results and suggests they try other terms.

Google's announcement describes the change as a technical improvement and made no mention of Beijing's extensive Internet controls. But it comes after filters were tightened so severely in recent weeks that searches fail for some restaurants, universities or tourist information. Authorities were trying to stamp out talk about an embarrassing scandal over the fall of a rising Communist Party star.

Google Inc closed its China-based search engine in 2010 to avoid cooperating with government censorship. Mainland users can see its Chinese-language site in Hong Kong but the connection breaks if they search for sensitive terms.The new feature will alert users if they enter a search term that "may temporarily break your connection to Google," said a blog post by a Google senior vice president, Alan Eustace. He said it will suggest they "try other search terms."

"By prompting people to revise their queries, we hope to reduce these disruptions and improve our user experience from mainland China," Eustace wrote.

Google cited as an example the Chinese character "jiang," or river, without mentioning it is the name of former President Jiang Zemin, the possible reason results are blocked. It says the site will recommend removing the character.Google could anger Beijing by pointing out individual terms that might produce blocked results. Chinese regulators do not disclose which terms are banned. They try to hide censorship by returning the same error message as for a technical failure, possibly to avoid drawing attention to unwanted topics.

A Google spokesman declined to comment on whether the company was concerned about Chinese government retaliation.

Google was allowed to keep a network of advertising sales offices in China that might be vulnerable if the communist government tries to punish the company.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, had 16.6 percent of China's search market in the first quarter based on use of its global and Hong Kong sites, according to Analysys 

International, a Beijing research firm. It was in second place behind local rival Baidu Inc, which 78.5 percent, but ahead of other Chinese competitors.

Google is also promoting its Android mobile phone operating system for use by Chinese manufacturers. Beijing approved Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a wireless device maker, last month on condition Android remains available to Chinese companies and others at no cost for five years.

Tensions over censorship highlight Beijing's complicated relations with global technology companies. The communist government wants to boost incomes by promoting high-tech industry but insists on controlling access to information.

Beijing promotes Internet use for education and business and has the world's biggest population of Internet users, with 513 million people online as of December, but tries to block politically sensitive material.

The latest tightening of controls was prompted by a flurry of rumors online about the downfall of Bo Xilai, a prominent politician who was party secretary of the major city of Chongqing in the southwest.

In addition to Bo's name, blocked terms include Chongqing and Yangtze River, which flows past the city. That means searches for universities, hotels, restaurants or other businesses that use those names also fail.

China's two most popular microblog services stopped allowing new postings for three days in early April to erase what they said were illegal or harmful postings.

Google's engineers reviewed the 350,000 most popular search queries in China in an effort to find "disruptive queries," the company said.

Google gave no indication when development of the latest feature started but said it received reports of unreliable searches "over the past couple of years."

Source:TOI.IT