Tech News Stop - Sharing by Wasim Akhtar

::::Infosys wage freeze has to do with high bench they have::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1335579758_temp.png" border="0" align="left" /></div>Viju George, Executive Director, JPMorgan, in a chat shares his views on IT earnings.  All four large companies have declared their numbers. There is a huge disparity between what TCS has guided, whatInfosys has admitted, how Wipro has shared future outlook versus what HCL has guided. That is correct. The results point to a mixed picture as far as the health of near-term demand in the IT sector is concerned. This is not surprising. In terms of industry growth slowing down from 11% to 14%, there will be polarisation in performance within the largecap sector.  So companies like TCS, Cognizant, etc., should go well ahead of 15%. Hence, by definition, other companies would come well below that. In times of slowing growth, polarisation of performance in largecaps is much more than 04-08.  Certain companies are facing structural issues as well; we can particularly highlight Infosys here. They have a fairly ambitious agenda to get things back on track. It is a mix of both these factors at play.  The quarterly performance in the outlook commentary from managements has been a bit confusing. Which side are you on? Is the demand environment bleak as Infosys' management points out or is it showing signs of improvement as TCS is indicating? How would you peg the big four now? The demand environment is better today than three to six months back. Data points in the US are easing. This will transalate the lag into better returns for those focused on winning market share. Infosys has company-specific issues. They are just blaming the environment for the things that are impacting them at the company-specific level.  It goes back to who is winning market share in the current environment. Clearly, if you have to win market share, you are winning it against your peers as opposed to 04 to 08.  I would not say this is the last thing on the matter. Early May, Cognizant will declare its earnings and they should give a sense of the direction the IT sector is going. My sense is things will be alright. Demand is certainly better today than three to six months back, but only some companies are gaining market share at their peers' expense.  What is the pecking order for you considering you have been the first one to point out structural issues faced by Infy? The pecking order would be TCS, Wipro, HCL Tech and Infosys. Let me take you through the upsides we are looking at. We are looking at a barely 10% upside in TCS, considering the stock has moved up. But it is the stock to hold on to. Investors do not have much confidence in Infosys getting its act together. So, TCS remains a stock to go to.  From a differentiated performance, despite not an enthusing Q1 FY13 guidance, we can give the benefit to Wipro. We think it is a one off and the company can gets it act together starting Q2 FY13. Therefore, from an upside potential perspective, Wipro can give you anywhere between 15% and 20% in a year.  HCL has been a good performer. They are winning market share, not just against Indian competitors but also against global counterparts like IBM and Accenture. We should see a 10% to 12% there. The real laggard is Infosys. Unless, it can get its issues back together and resolve them meaningfully, even meeting the 8% to 10% guidance on an organic basis looks difficult.  What are the chances of Infosys getting their mojo back? They have a utilisation rate of 70%. If the demand environment picks up, they could surprise you on the upside because they are still hiring. There are two ways to look at it. Utilisation is low because the company has not been able to generate demand. Since utilisation is low, I am in a position to capitalise on demand when it comes -- this is not a fair argument.  The fact remains that you should be in a position to capitalise on demand. Today, Infosys' ability to generate or capitalise on demand is certainly much weaker than a year ago. In that sense, you are making an error trying to hire and keeping utilisation low.  This limits your ability to give wage increases. So I suspect that Infosys' decision to not give wage increases and to freeze wage hikes has to do with a very high bench that they have. If you are unable to generate demand, low utilisation can be a problem for you.

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::::Apple launches iPad in India at Rs 30,500::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1335579601_temp.png" border="0" width="200" height="105" align="left" /></div>Apple's new iPad, with a price tag of Rs 30,500-Rs 50,900, hit the Indian market Friday.  The tablet features a new retina display, Apple's new A5X chip with quad-core graphics and a 5 megapixel iSight camera and 1080pHD video.  The PC maker said it had slashed by almost 20 per cent the price of iPad 2, which was launched in India last year, to Rs 24,500.  The new iPads are available in black and white colours. While the 16GB model wi-fi models are available for Rs 30,500, the 32GB model costs Rs 36,500 and 64GB model Rs 42,500, the company said in a statement.  The iPad Wi-Fi, 4G tablets are available for Rs 38,900 for the 16GB model, Rs 44,900 for the 32GB model and Rs 50,900 for the 64GB model.  iPad 2 whose prices have been slashed are available for Rs.24,500 for the 16 GB Wi-Fi model instead of Rs 29,500 and Rs 32,900 for the 16 GB Wi-Fi + 3G model instead of earlier pricing of Rs 34,500.

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::::Google offers 15,000 3D 'photo tours'::::

<img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1335580079_temp.png" border="0" alt="Image" align="left" /> Google has created 15,000 free 'photo tours' of world landmarks, which create a '3D' scene from tourist photographs.  Google has 'built' 3D panoramas of each scene by using public photographs from its Picasa's photo-sharing website.  The application enables the user Landmarks to 'fly around' Rome's Trevi Fountain, Half Dome in America's Yosemite and St Mark's Basilica in Venice.  "Every year, millions of people pack their bags and head to far-off places to enjoy sites and cultures different from their own. With today's introduction of photo tours, a feature of Google Maps that guides you through a 3D photo scene, we're all one step closer," The Daily Mail quoted a Google statement, as saying.  The 15,000 tours can be accessed directly from Google's Map service  "They can be initiated from Google Maps in two ways. First, when you search for a place, such as Trevi Fountain, the results in the left panel will indicate if there is a photo tour available: click either the thumbnail image or the link to start the tour. Alternatively, if you're browsing the map and click on the label for a particular landmark, the info window that appears will indicate if a photo tour is available," a company statement added.  The tours use Google Maps with WebGL, a software that only works in browsers such as Firefox, Chrome and Safari.

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::::Intel India to mentor 7,000 girls::::

<img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1335579877_temp.png" border="0" alt="Image" align="left" />Intel India will mentor up to 7,000 girls through its Technology and Entrepreneurship Program launched recently in the Capital, says Shelly Esque, vice president at Intel, global director of the company's corporate affairs group and president, Intel Foundation.  The programme will be conducted across 50 schools in and around Delhi.  "We felt girls and women were under-represented in technology careers and usage, which is why we initiated this programme," she says. The children would benefit from the programme by discovering their entrepreneurial potential, enhancing the spirit of innovation, creativity and decision-making.  It will also help develop financial and economic literacy and help create an independent identity for the girls, she adds.  Intel India has already received around 15 business plans from about 35-40 girl children so far.  The company has also started an Easy Steps programme, aimed at providing technological literacy to adults and youth across the country. It has tied up with organisations such as Pratham, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan and the Ministry of Youth for this programme, though which nearly 75,000 people have already been trained.  Intel invests about $100 million globally in corporate social responsibility programmes focused on areas such as education, environmental sustainability, community and global relations efforts.

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::::Pre-launch Windows 8 usage doubles that of OS X Mountain Lion::::

<img src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Windows_chart.jpg" border="0" alt="Windows_chart" width="420" height="267" align="left" />Since Microsoft released its Windows 8 Consumer Preview in February, millions of users have downloaded the software giant’s latest operating system, which looks to carefully blend its existing mobile and desktop experiences into one. According to research from ad network Chitika, the Windows 8 CP adoption rate in the U.S. and Canada has doubled that of OS X Mountain Lion, Apple’s upcoming operating system. Of course Microsoft’s Windows 8 preview is publicly available for free while Apple’s Mountain Lion preview is available only to those with paid developer accounts. Chitika’s research was conducted from April 13th to April 19th and it analyzed hundreds of millions of impressions across the Chitika ad network. The Consumer Preview makes up .1% of all Windows traffic and exhibits traffic levels more than three times the peak level that the Windows 8 Developer Preview produced. The increased level of activity is a good sign for Microsoft, which will reportedly complete work on Windows 8 this summer. According to rumors, the first wave of PCs and tablets powered by the new platform are slated to launch in October.

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::::Apple is 10 years behind Microsoft on security, expert says::::

<img src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/apple-logo-sign-virus-mac.jpg" border="0" alt="apple-logo-sign-virus-mac" width="200" height="105" align="left" />Apple may be the most valuable company in the world, but when it comes to security, the Cupertino-based company doesn’t hold a candle to Microsoft.Kaspersky Lab co-founder and chief executive Eugene Kaspersky on Wednesday told CBR that Apple is a decade behind Microsoft in terms of computer security. ”I think they are ten years behind Microsoft in terms of security,” Kaspersky said. “For many years I’ve been saying that from a security point of view there is no big difference between Mac and Windows. It’s always been possible to develop Mac malware, but [Flashback] was a bit different. For example it was asking questions about being installed on the system and, using vulnerabilities, it was able to get to the user mode without any alarms.” More than 600,000 Macs were infected by the Flashback trojan virus before it was discovered earlier this month and the exploit it used to infect OS X PCs was patched. “Apple will understand very soon that they have the same problems Microsoft had ten or 12 years ago,” Kaspersky said. ”They will have to make changes in terms of the cycle of updates and so on and will be forced to invest more into their security audits for the software.”

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::::StumbleUpon Hits 25 Million Users - And is Gaining 1 Million a Month::::

<img src="http://6.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/stumbleupon.jpg" border="0" alt="stumbleupon" width="275" height="171" align="left" />StumbleUpon passed the 25 million user mark earlier this week — that’s about one million users every month since it announced it had reached 20 million users in October.  The discovery service has existed in some form since 2001. It accepted its first round of funding in 2006, was purchased by eBay in 2007 and became independent again in 2009. At that point, it had about 5.5 million registered users. It’s been growing at a lightning rate since, nearly quadrupling its userbase in three years. “For all intents and purposes this is a new company since the spin out from eBay,” StumbleUpon VP of Business Development and Marketing Marc Leibowitz tells Mashable. “Virtually all of the 120 employees we have today have joined since then [when there were about 30 employees].” Leibowitz also cites the launch of a web-based service and mobile apps as contributing to StumbleUpon’s post-eBay growth. Previously, StumbleUpon had been available solely through a browser extension, and it didn’t launch its Android and iOS apps until August 2010 — fairly late in the mobile game. Today, about 20% of the 1.2 billion Stumbles made per month are made on mobile phones. StumbleUpon is not yet a mainstream social network. Its 25 million users pale in comparison to Twitter’s 140 million accounts, Facebook’s 901 million users or Tumblr’s 53 million blogs. BranchOut, a startup that builds a LinkedIn-style social network on Facebook, recently reached as many users in about two years as StumbleUpon has in 11 years. But at its current growth rate, StumbleUpon could be on its way to some major mainstream recognition. The recommendation engine, by one StatCounter study’s measure, is already responsible for referring more traffic to websites than any other social network in the U.S. It has more than 75,000 advertisers. And its users are active — according to Leibowitz, on average they spend about seven hours every month hitting the Stumble button. Meanwhile, StumbleUpon has been busy building features that already come with mainstream social networks. A redesign in December added brand channels, which are somewhat equivalent to Facebook brand pages in that they create a profile for marketers separate from personal profiles. About 250 organizations have launched free channels since. StumbleUpon also plans to launch an API that helps power third-party products’ recommendation features. The company also wants to create international versions of its own discovery engine (only 15% of Stumblers are currently based outside of North America). Meanwhile, you can expect to see more social features. “I think StumbleUpon is often the source of content that goes viral on other social networks,” Leibowitz says. “But I don’t think we’ve done a great job of creating a viral loop. “Content is launched into other social networks, but we don’t do a particularly good job of capturing the content around that into StumbleUpon.”

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