Tech News Stop - Sharing by Wasim Akhtar

::::5 apps to help you save money::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337277911_temp.jpg" border="0" align="left" /></div> Your smartphone occupies a considerable space in your life today. From the moment you wake up to the minute you go to sleep, your smartphone is your one stop shop for all your needs like email, news, navigation and of course, making the occasional call and sending a text message.Social networking, reading news, uploading pictures or just managing your routine affairs, you smartphone is not only consuming your time and battery, but your money as well.So here are 5 apps that will help you save money while taking care of routine work on your smartphone. Skype:<img src="http://www.thinkdigit.com/FCKeditor/uploads/skype.jpg" border="0" width="522" height="255" />Making calls costs money, making video calls, even more. If you are someone who needs to talk over the phone a lot, then Skype on your smartphone is one of the best options to reduce call cost. The app works over Wi-Fi as well as 3G networks. So what’s unique? Well, users can make free Skype-to-Skype video calls, and call phones at Skype rates on the move. Users can also make free voice and video calls to anyone else on Skype, whether they’re on an Android, iPhone, Mac or PC, as well as IMs to your friends and family. WhatsApp Messenger<img src="http://www.thinkdigit.com/FCKeditor/uploads/whatsapp.jpg" border="0" width="522" height="255" />If you are an SMS junkie, then there is no reason for you not to look at this app. WhatsApp Messenger is a smartphone messenger available for all operating systems including Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Phone and Nokia phones. WhatsApp uses 3G connectivity or WiFi (when available) to message friends and family. The app lets you send and receive messages, pictures, audio notes, and video messages. The app is free for the first year that you download it but after that you need to pay $0.99 (Rs. 53) per annum. The app however is not free for iOS users. 3G Data Monitoring<img src="http://www.thinkdigit.com/FCKeditor/uploads/3g%20monitor.jpg" border="0" width="522" height="255" />If you are someone who needs to be connected to the Internet all the time on the go, then you need an app that will monitor you 3G data consumption. We have seen instances where people have gotten hefty bills for their data usage. Not a pretty site! Hence, we present to you data monitoring apps. These apps monitor your data consumptions and warn you when you are about reach or cross your limit. You can also restrict the use of data on your device with these apps. There are many apps in this field but we are going to recommend one app per platform for you to check out!Tax Calculator<img src="http://www.thinkdigit.com/FCKeditor/uploads/tax%20saving%20app.jpg" border="0" width="522" height="255" />There are two things certain in life – death and taxes, the former may be unavoidable but we can certainly monitor the amount of tax we pay and do our best to reduce the amount of money that flows from our hands to the government. One disadvantage is that a lot of people are unclear about the taxable amount and the calculation methods. Luckily, there is an app for that. The taxation apps help users determine their tax liability and well, once you know how much tax you are going to pay, you may as well find a nice CA to save you! Account tracker<img src="http://www.thinkdigit.com/FCKeditor/uploads/account%20tracker.jpg" border="0" width="522" height="255" />You check the cash balance in your bank account and all you can think is, “Where did all my money go?” Well if you are a spendthrift or just want to monitor your spending’s, there is an app for that. These apps help you keep track of you expenditures and earnings and manage your money more effectively.  

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::::Samsung launches smart TV at Rs 37,700 in India::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337277187_temp.jpg" border="0" align="left" /></div>South Korean consumer electronics major Samsung is bullish on the flat panel TVbusiness in India, and is eyeing a 35 per cent market share in the segment that is expected to touch 50 lakh units in the current year. The company which is present in India through its wholly- owned subsidiary, Samsung India Electronics, has a market share of around 30 per cent of the 38 lakh units of flat panel televisions in the country. "We have over 30 per cent share in the business, which is more than the industry growth, and this year it should increase by five percentage points to 35 per cent," Samsung India Audio Video Business Vice-President Raj Kumar Rishi told reporters here. The firm is also betting big on the LED TVs and expects to garner a market share of close to 40 per cent this year from 34 per cent in 2011. "Consumers are showing a strong adoption of LED TVs. It has better technology, lower energy consumption and the better picture performance. We will also launch new products in LED and drive the transition from LCD to LED," Rishi said. "Samsung's contribution to LED TVs is expected to grow to 70 per cent this year compared to 25 per cent sale of flat TVs in 2011," he added. The company today launched its interactive smart TV priced at Rs 37,700 to Rs 2,73,000. With the new launch, the company is targeting a market share of 65 per cent in this category. Samsung also plans to sell 1.5 lakh units of smart TV units as their market is projected to reach 2.5 lakh units in 2012 as compared to over 1.1 lakh units in 2011.

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::::Mahindra Satyam posts Rs 534.21 cr profit for Q4::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337276889_temp.jpg" border="0" align="left" /></div> IT firm Mahindra Satyam on Thursday reported a net profit of Rs 534.21 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2012.  The city-based company had posted a net loss of Rs 327 crore in the January-March period of 2011.  The company's income from operations during the quarter stood at Rs 1,666 crore as compared to Rs 1,375 crore for the same period last fiscal.  For the full year ended March 31, 2012, Mahindra Satyam has registered a net profit of Rs 1,306 crore as against a loss of Rs 1,472 crore in 2010-11.  The company's total headcount as on March 31, stood at 33,353, making a net addition of 4,087 year-on year.  The attrition level improved to 15 per cent in the January-March quarter, 2012 as compared to 22 per cent in the corresponding period last fiscal.  "We continued to make steady progress in our transformation journey. Our results in the past three years and the current quarter are a vindication of our growth strategy and fighting spirit of the team Mahindra Satyam despite uncertainties in the global market," Mahindra Satyam Chairman Vineet Nayyar said.  "Our team has proved its mettle to sustain volume growth, improve margin , key client addition and creation of innovative platform...," he added.

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::::Silicon Valley 2.0 is here!::::

<img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337276744_temp.jpg" border="0" alt="Image" align="left" /> The Big Apple may not have California's weather, but tech fans at New YorkInternet Week say that in every other way the city is on course to become Silicon Valley 2.0.  The sense of an east coast rising raged in Manhattan this week, where some 45,000 people are expected to attend the festival through next Monday.  As David Karp, the 25-year-old, New York-raised founder of internet phenomenon Tumblr, said Wednesday: "I couldn't imagine doing this anywhere else."  New York already has 25,000 tech jobs and prides itself as the new hot spot for start-ups, whether Tumblr or Etsy, Foursquare, Gilt, OMGPOP, Boxee or Codecademy -- a sector that attracted almost $500 million in venture capital last year.  "New York City is the place to be if you're growing a tech start-up," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Tuesday.  The mayor, the multi-billion dollar founder of the high-tech Bloomberg media and data company, unveiled a website MappedinNY.com to show the location of city tech companies and those with job openings.  "Our tech companies are looking for talent and we want to make sure that everyone -- no matter where they live today -- knows about these jobs and is able to apply for them," he said.  And with the announcement last December of plans to build a brand new science research college with Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology on an island in Manhattan's East River, the city is backing up the big talk with big projects.  Tumblr's Karp says the advantage of New York over northern California is twofold.  First, when it comes to recruiting ambitious, hard-living young staff, New York is cooler than Palo Alto, Karp said, prompting cheers from an audience gathered in a huge loft space in the trendy Manhattan neighborhood of SoHo.  "We can say, 'Hey, come over for a weekend,'" he explained. "We've had a fair bit of luck just bringing them to hang out here."  The business side to the equation is just as important. With web presence becoming ever more integrated in other industries, it does no harm to run your tech product just down the block from eventual clients. That's certainly true for Tumblr, which has forged close links with media giants like the New York Times and with the fashion industry, which, like publishing, has a major presence in the city.  Yes, the west coast is the unrivalled stronghold for geeks, but New York has variety and that "keeps us closer" to the public, said Karp, wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt, sneakers and jeans. "Being in a city that's at the heart of the creative world is wonderful."  Another New York start-up, Buddy Media, has gone from its husband and wife founders to a staff of 300 today with a headquarters in SoHo.  Focused on software to build social networks for another Big Apple mainstay -- the advertising and PR industry -- Buddy Media is thriving in New York.  "All our partners like Facebook and Twitter are here, they all have offices here. Our clients are here in New York, our investors are here," said Alexandra Rolnik, a spokeswoman for the company told AFP at Internet Week.  Although Buddy Media has now expanded to Singapore, London and San Francisco, "New York has everything you really need to grow a business. We have a great client base," she said. "We don't really need to be anywhere else."

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::::Google revamps U.S. search::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337258262_temp.jpg" border="0" width="300" height="200" align="left" /></div>Google is revamping the way it handles searches in the United States to give users quick access to answers without leaving the page, the company said.The new search process is based on what Google calls the "knowledge graph" -- meaning that it tries to pinpoint faster the context surrounding its users' keyword searches."Over the years, as search has improved, people expect more," said Amit Singhal, vice president of engineering at Google and the head of search, in an interview. "We see this as the next big improvement in search relevance."The redesign, which for now affects only U.S.-based English language users, is gradually being rolled starting Wednesday on desktop, mobile and tablet platforms. Google plans to eventually expand the new search features outside the U.S., Singhal said, without specifying when.Many of the results will carry more graphical elements, compared to standard lists of search results, such as maps and pictures of related results, often in separate pop-ups. The idea is to let users easily discover what related material interests them and click through to it, Singhal said.The offering is the latest example of search companies moving away from offering a list of text-based links as search results. Last week, Microsoft's (MSFT.O) Bing unveiled a redesign that includes a "snapshot" column. Last year, Yahoo (YHOO.O) rolled out its "search direct box."Google is by far the leader in search, with 66 percent of the U.S. market, according to comScore. But it sees other sites such as Facebook (FB.O) as competition, as users there can poll their friends and acquaintances for information on various topics without leaving the Facebook ecosystem.Under Google's existing algorithm, a search for "kings" might pull up results for the ice hockey team, the basketball team, and the TV series, all on the first results page.On the revamped Google, a box will pop up in the top right-hand corner of the screen, giving users the option right away to limit their search to the desired meaning of "kings."For some searches, such as on prominent people, Google will automatically pull up a summary box with key information on that topic. The summary box will also appear on the top right of the page.A search for architect Frank Lloyd Wright, for example, pulls up the first line of his Wikipedia entry, plus dates of birth and death, thumbnail pictures of his best-known buildings, and thumbnail pictures of other architects people commonly search for.The upshot is that many users will end their Internet search without leaving Google's pages, when in the past they might have continued to a site such as Wikipedia, which is collaborating with Google on the new search features.Google said it could actually drive more traffic to Wikipedia, which will be prominently linked to in the summary boxes. A Wikipedia spokesman said Google is using Wikipedia information in an appropriate way.The new techniques are based in large part on work done at online data collection Freebase, Singhal said. Freebase was developed by Metaweb, a company Google acquired in 2010.Google is also working on being able to better answer more complex questions such as "What are the ten deepest lakes in Africa?" that require its algorithms to factor in several different criteria.But it may never be able to crack some users' toughest questions, such as "Does my hairstyle make me look fat?" which Singhal said was a real user query."We are not magicians," he said. "We are just computer science geeks."

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::::Samsung & Apple take half of global smartphone market, Android & iOS hit 80 percent::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337219593_temp.png" border="0" width="300" height="200" align="left" /></div>Research firm Gartner released its numbers today for “Worldwide Mobile Device Sales” during Q1 2012. There are not many surprises in the report when it comes to Apple, but Gartner estimated Samsung sold 38 smartphones during the quarter, which is less than the 42.2 million estimated by IDC earlier this month and more than the 32 million by IHS iSuppli. With Apple confirming 35.1 million iPhones sold during the quarter, Gartner’s numbers put Samsung as the both the No. 1 smartphone and overall mobile device vendor. The report also noted Samsung and Apple together accounted for 49.3-percent of the global smartphone sales, which is up from just 29.3 percent in Q1 of last year:“The continued roll-out of third generation (3G)-based smartphones by local and regional manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Yulong and TCL Communication should help spur demand in China. In addition, the arrival of new products in mature markets based on new versions of the Android and Windows Phone operating systems (OSs), and the launch of the Apple iPhone 5 will help drive a stronger second half in Western Europe and North America. However, as we are starting to update our market forecast we feel a downward adjustment to our 2012 figures, in the range of 20 million units, is unavoidable.”On the platform side, Gartner’s report estimated both Android and iOS accounted for 79 percent of global smartphone sales—up from just 53.3-percent in Q1 2011. Of that 80 percent, Android grabbed 56.1-percent, which is slightly higher than the 51 percent of the United States market, according to estimates from comScore earlier this month. Apple took in the remaining 22.9-percent, which is less than the 30.7-percent comScore estimated for the U.S. market:Gartner analysts said the smartphone market has become highly commoditized and differentiation is becoming a challenge for manufacturers. “At the high end, hardware features coupled with applications and services are helping differentiation, but this is restricted to major players with intellectual property assets. However, in the mid to low-end segment, price is increasingly becoming the sole differentiator. This will only worsen with the entry of new players and the dominance of Chinese manufacturers, leading to increased competition, low profitability and scattered market share.”

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::::Airtel nears deal to buy Qualcommâ€˜s 4G licences; RIL eyes 2012-end::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337194519_temp.jpg" border="0" align="left" /></div>Bharti Airtel is reportedly in advanced discussions with U.S.-based chipmaker Qualcomm to buy its 4G licences in India – a deal that will help the telecom giant to launch fourth generation services in major markets of Delhi and Mumbai. According to reports, Qualcomm has sought Rs. 50 billion ($928 million) for its Indian units, while the deal is likely to be closed in the next two weeks.Qualcomm had got 4G licences for Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala circles through June 2010 auction. Qualcomm's application for an Internet Service Provider ( ISP) licence was initially turned down due to late submission. Qualcomm later moved telecom tribunal TDSAT, which directed theDoT to grant licence and allocate spectrum to the company. However, the DoT has reduced the licence tenure from 20 years to 18.5 years.Bharti Airtel, meanwhile, has become the first telecom operator to launch 4G services in India. Last month, Airtel announced the launch of fourth generation mobile services in Kolkata. Earlier this month, Airtel launched 4G in Bengaluru and is likely to announce Kolkata, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra very soon.Acquisition of Qualcomm's 4G licences is likely to help Airtel strengthen its position in the market where it already dominates.Meanwhile, Reliance Industries (RIL) is reportedly planning to launch its 4G services by end of this year. RIL, say sources, was planning to launch 4G services by early 2012 but plans were delayed due to business plan rejig. Also, RIL is still undecided on the technology for its 4G services.

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