Tech News Stop - Sharing by Wasim Akhtar

::::Can software help Infosys out of financial rut?::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1335407413_temp.jpg" border="0" width="300" height="180" align="left" /></div>Infosys derives only about 6 percent of its almost USD 7 billion in annual revenue from proprietary software products. Its goal is to pump that up to one third of its revenue. The move comes as Infosys's traditional IT services business faces slower growth. To understand how Infosys hopes to get to this new future in software, look at its new software product in one of the industry’s hottest markets: digital marketing. Infosys is selling an online, subscription software product called BrandEdge, aimed at helping companies conduct digital marketing campaigns and measure the results. Inofsys is pitching the software to chief marketing officers, whose tech budgets are rising as their work moves increasingly to websites, email, mobile apps, and social networks, and as CMOs do more analytics to measure performance. Gartner analyst Laura McClellan caused a stir early this year by predicting CMOs at high-tech firms would control more tech budget than CIOs by 2017. Infosys is selling the BrandEdge software service in partnership with WPP, one of the world's largest advertising and marketing firms, whose Fabric subsidiary provides marketing management software that's part of this suite. Infosys is selling the software as an online subscription, and it also sells

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::::Google launches Google Drive; upgrades Gmail to 10 GB for all users::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1335407326_temp.png" border="0" align="left" /></div>Google has launched Google Drive, a cloud storage service where users can upload and access all of their files, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and beyond. The service is offering new users 5GB of storage for free with upgrades starting at 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month or even 1TB for $49.99/month. Google also increased the free storage in Gmail from the existing 7.5 GB to 10 GB to all users.“Drive is built to work seamlessly with your overall Google experience. You can attach photos from Drive to posts in Google+, and soon you’ll be able to attach stuff from Drive directly to emails in Gmail. Drive is also an open platform, so we’re working with many third-party developers so you can do things like send faxes, edit videos and create website mockups directly from Drive. To install these apps, visit the Chrome Web Store—and look out for even more useful apps in the future,” Sundar Pichai, SVP, Chrome and Apps, Google has said in a blogpost. 

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::::Yahoo India, DataWind enter strategic partnership for pre-loaded Yahoo apps on UbiSlate7+::::

<img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1335407706_temp.jpg" border="0" align="left" /><div class="custm_img_blk">Yahoo India has entered a strategic partnership with DataWind to enable Yahoo services on its soon to be launched tablet Ubislate7+. As a result of this partnership, the tablet will come preloaded with Yahoo Cricket as the exclusive cricket application along with the popular Yahoo Mail app. The Yahoo India Homepage will be the default browser landing page for Ubislate7+.</div>Ubislate 7+ is an Android based tablet device offering anytime and anywhere internet access via GPRS and WiFi. Priced at an MRP of Rs. 2999, the tablet is the only Android device in the Indian market to offer DataWind’s patented UbiSurfer browser. Datawind will also enable data plans for less than Rs.100 for anytime anywhere internet access bringing in a new segment of users who have been left out of the internet age.Arun Tadanki, Managing Director, India and Southeast Asia, Yahoo, said, “The launch of Ubislate7+ will see a new wave of new-to-net users, using Internet for the very first time. Through this partnership, we will have the opportunity to bring Yahoo!’s premium content and communication experience to new internet users in a simple and intuitive way.”Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO, DataWind, said, “Yahoo is a leading global digital media brand with market-leading content and communication services. Through this partnership we look forward to facilitating the use of Yahoo’s popular online content by people who have not been touched by the Internet revolution so far.”

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::::HomeShop18 to raise $100 million through US listing::::

<img src="http://www.indiadigitalreview.com/sites/default/files/homeshop18.com-logo.jpg?1335358382" border="0" alt="Image" width="320" height="160" align="left" />HomeShop18, the ecommerce and TV shopping brand from Network18, is planning to get listed in the US and raise about $100 million, reports Reuters. The group is in talks with institutional investors, including private equity firms for pre-IPO placement and to take up shares as part of the listing plan.HomeShop18 has a current revenue of Rs 750 crore ($142.13 million) and sells everything from mobile phones, laptops and televisions sets to apparel and lifestyle products. It plans to set up warehouses with a size of 1 million square feet and is in the process of carrying out internal evaluations.“We have ambitions to get listed and are open to it but it is premature to talk about it now. We cannot give any timeframe on that at the moment,” Sundeep Malhotra, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, HomeShop18 has said.Between 2007 and 2008, HomeShop18 raised $26 million from private equity fund SAIF Partners in two tranches and in 2009 it raised $18.5 million from South Korean home shopping retailer GS Home Shopping. “We will focus on investments in technology and operational capabilities like a strong and efficient backend…We are hoping our business will be three times the current size in the very next year,” Malhotra said. 

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::::Facebook claims to have 901m users::::

<img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1335407618_temp.png" border="0" alt="Image" align="left" />Facebook has said it has 901 million users and is likely that it'll pass the one billion user mark well before the end of this year. The company, which displayed the statistics in its amended S-1 filing , also said that its network receives 3.2 billion comments per day and 300 million new photos daily.  The site also claims 125 billion friendships are forged daily. Of the 901 million users, 526 million were described as daily active users in March. Some 488 million people also usedFacebook mobile products that month, according to the filing.  Facebook, meanwhile, said its first-quarter profit fell 12% as operating costs almost doubled. Net income fell to $205 million in the three months through March this year, the Menlo Park, California-based Facebook said in a regulatory filing. Sales climbed 45%to $1.06 billion, a slowdown from 55% in the December period.  Expenses surged to $677 million, reflecting higher costs of helping marketers reach Facebook's growing user base. The company may struggle to reach EMarketer's projection for 2012 sales of $6.1 billion as it awaits the full impact of new tools aimed at wringing more money from advertisers, said Debra Aho Williamson, who helped construct the researcher's estimate.  "Facebook has a pretty steep hill to climb to meet the expectations that we set out," Williamson said.

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::::Apple announces dates of developer conference::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1335408143_temp.png" border="0" align="left" /></div>Apple on Wednesday announced that it will hold its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) between June 11 - June 15 in San Francisco. This will be the first year when WWDC will not have Apple's iconic founder Steve Jobs' presence. Jobs had made an unexpected appearance at last year's WWDC when he announced the launch of Lion operating system. He passed away on October 5 last year, a day after the current CEO Tim Cook launched iPhone 4S.  The delay in announcing WWDC dates this year had led to some unease among the developer and analyst circles.  At this year's five-day conference, the focus for developers will be on the future of iOS and OS X, allowing them to build new apps. WWDC will also feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers as well as the popular Apple Design Awards, a showcase of the bestapps from the past year.  "We have a great WWDC planned this year and can't wait to share the latest news about iOS and OS X Mountain Lion with developers," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "The iOS platform has created an entirely new industry with fantastic opportunities for developers across the country and around the world."  Developers will be able to explore the latest innovations, features and capabilities of iOS and OS X Mountain Lion and learn how to greatly enhance the functionality, performance, quality and design of their apps. Developers can even bring their code to the labs and work with Apple engineers, applying development techniques and best-practices to enhance their apps.

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::::5,000 Dangerous Android Apps Says Trend Micro Report::::

<img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1335320608_temp.jpg" border="0" alt="Image" align="left" />Did you know there are 5,000 new Android apps that can harm your device or steal your data - including extreme cases, such as a Russian fake version of Google Play that would add charges to your mobile bill? Those nuggets are included in the latest quarterly security roundup from Trend Micro's Labs. The report, released last week, breaks little new ground but makes information on the latest threats accessible in a very concise and attractive format. Another scheme in Japan resulted in the police there arresting six individuals involving a one-click billing scheme. Typically, as shown in the diagram to the right, a user would visit a compromised site, click on a link to play a video, and end up with an infected device. The Japanese scheme netted some $150,000. Another nasty piece of business is what is called 'Ransomware,' which is a set of malware that infects a user's machine and holds his or her files hostage. Sometimes, the software will encrypt part of your hard drive, demanding money before allowing you to decrypt the files. In one case, users saw a splash screen that demanded they pay a 100 euro fine for viewing porn or other questionable material on the computer. Ransomware is now branching out to other countries in Europe, and has a big footprint in the U.S., as you can see here: <img src="http://www.readwriteweb.com/files/files/enterprise/assets_c/2012/04/ransomware-thumb-600x245-40597.jpg" border="0" /> Part of the problem is that installing a mobile app is so easy, many users do it almost unconsciously, so it often doesn't get the same kind of due diligence that desktop applications get. Combined with the willingness of many Gen Yers to share personal information, and it's easier than ever for the bad guys to spread malware and steal your data, your money, or both. As part of its security scanning efforts, TrendLabs processes more than four terabytes of data each day and analyzes some 8 billion URLs and 200,000 IP addresses. The report also includes the company's top 10 blocked URLs or malicious domains.

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