India among fastest growing Internet markets

http://www.businessawaaz.com/web/umarfaruk/blog/-/blogs/india-among-fastest-growing-internet-markets?_33_redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessawaaz.com%2Fweb%2Fumarfaruk%2Fblog%3Fp_p_id%3D33%26p_p_lifecycle%3D0%26p_p_state%3Dnormal%26p_p_mode%3Dview%26p_p_col_id%3Dcolumn-2%26p_p_col_count%3D1

Nokia out of top 5 globally, Tops in India

Finnish mobile handset manufacturer Nokia, which is facing a major crisis in global sales, still tops the list of mobile handset market in India even as it has been displaced from the fifth spot in global sales by the beleaguered BlackBerry maker  Research in Motion (RIM).

According to a report by Cybermedia, Nokia had 22.2 per cent share of the Indian handset market in terms of total unit shipments in the first half of 2012, followed by Samsung with 13 per cent and Micromax in the third spot with 5.5 per cent share.

India's total mobile handset shipments topped 102.43 million units, of which 5.50 million were smartphones, as per the report. Samsung topped the list of smartphone shipments, followed by Nokia and RIM.

The report also revealed that Android (with 56.4% market share) was the leading operating system (OS) in India, followed by Symbian (17.4% share), BlackBerry (12.1% share), Bada (8.5% share), iOS (3.0% share) and Windows Mobile (2.6% share) on a base of 5.50 million units, during the same period.

India is one of the few markets where Nokia still has a hold. As per an IDC report, the Finnish company has now dropped off the Top 5 list of smartphone vendors, which is led by Samsung and Apple at number 1 and 2 positions. Nokia was replaced by RIM at fifth position whose shipment volumes appear to have flattened though the company posted the second-highest year-over-year decline among any the leading vendors.

According to Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Nokia's share losses and the company's transition away from Symbian to Windows Phone has left ample opportunity for rivals to steal share away from Nokia over the past 18 months.

5 Ways to Derail your Interview

An interview is one of the hardest things to obtain as a job seeker -- and unfortunately, it's also one of the easiest ways you can lose the job opportunity.

Interview mishaps happen to everyone, but the key to avoiding them is to relax and be yourself, says Laura Rose, a life and ach and owbusiness coner of Rose Coaching.

"The interview is as much about getting to know the company and work environment as it is about them interviewing you. This strategy relaxes the entire interview," she says. "You can essentially direct the interview to the areas you are most comfortable talking about. Listening to the interviewer answer the questions, you can clue in on his terminology, terms and what he feels is important. Then you can highlight those same terms and skill set in your comments back to him."

Being well-prepared for the meeting can also help you impress a potential employer.

"It's difficult to overstress how important it is to do some research on a company you're interviewing with. Have a list of good questions to ask the person interviewing you. You want to seem like you are asking questions that require thought rather than questions seeking information that may be available on the website," says Debra Yergen, author of "Creating Job Security Resource Guide."

"Start with questions about the importance the organization places on industry hot buttons and what the hiring manager sees as differences between their company and their competitors. Another great question might be something like, 'Are there any employee groups here that work together to plan team-building activities or extracurricular events that bring co-workers together either to boost morale or support the community?' These kinds of questions send a potential employer a message that you're looking for more than a job," she says.

While asking the right kinds of question is vital, you must also be prepared to answer the tough questions, says Henry Motyka, business solutions manager at Norwood Consulting.

"Of particular importance are behavioral interview questions like, 'Tell me about a situation when ... ' It is best to define those situations beforehand and memorize them," he says.

Doing your research, asking the right questions and answering tough questions are ways to avoid making an interview mistake. But, unfortunately, there are many ways to derail an interview. Here are five gaffes to steer clear of in your interview.

1. Inappropriate attire
"If you are not professionally attired, you won't get the job, even if you are the most qualified," says image consultant Sandy Dumont. "Always dress better than required for an interview. Never dress down, because it is insulting to the other person. It says, 'I don't have to impress you; I dress for my own comfort.' When you dress to impress, they get it, and you will stand out from all the other candidates."

2. Trying to lead the interview
"Many of my clients have children. [They have a] tendency to talk over their interviewers. That's how they manage to be heard at home and that's what they often do in their interviews," says Rory Cohen, a career counselor. "When you don't listen, you don't get invited back for a second interview. Interviewers, in general, want and expect to be in the driver's seat."

3. Showing up too late or too early
"If you're more than 15 minutes early to your interview, go to the restroom and freshen up, then casually walk in about 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment," says Marie Applegate Prasad, founder of WiSo Résumés.

4. Bringing your own food or drink
"Do not bring any food or drinks into the office of the interviewer. Many find eating or drinking a big distraction and some people are sensitive to smells," Prasad says. "It's best to just wait until after the interview is over."

5. Forgetting important information
"On a sheet of paper write down the following information: company, address, phone number, hiring manager, person who scheduled the interview, position you are interviewing for and job duties,"
http://www.businessawaaz.com/web/umarfaruk/blog/-/blogs/5-ways-to-derail-your-interview?_33_redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessawaaz.com%2Fweb%2Fumarfaruk%2Fblog%3Fp_p_id%3D33%26p_p_lifecycle%3D0%26p_p_state%3Dnormal%26p_p_mode%3Dview%26p_p_col_id%3Dcolumn-2%26p_p_col_count%3D1

Assam: Three people injured in clash

GUWAHATI: At least three people were injured in a clash between two communities in lower Assam's Dhubri district, police said on Friday.

"Three persons were injured last night after a clash between two communities during the immersion of idols after the Durga puja celebration", IGP (law and order) A P Rout said.

The situation was now under control and eight people arrested, he said.

"There is no communal tension and the situation is totally under control. Rumours of communal tension are baseless", the IGP said.

Trouble was brewing in Dhubri since Wednesday when protesters clashed with the police during a bandh called by Dhubri Sarvajanik Durga Puja Sammanway Samiti against the stabbing of a puja mandap decorator on Tuesday.

The administration's alleged failure to nab the culprits responsible for the attack saw protesters clashing with police, who fired eight rounds in the air to disperse them on Wednesday.

A two-hour curfew was imposed on that day which was lifted at 5am on Thursday.

For More News Login: http://www.businessawaaz.com/web/business-awaaz/home

Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy receives 2012 Hoover Medal

Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy has been conferred with the prestigious 2012 Hoover Medal in recognition of his philanthropic activities in India.

Former US Presidents Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower and James Earl Carter are among some of the prominent recipients of this annual award established in 1930 to recognize great, unselfish and non-technical services by the engineers to humanity.

Murthy was awarded with the prestigious award on October 2 at the Global Humanitarian Technology Conference in Seattle.

The 70th recipient of the award, Murthy was recognized for establishing a foundation that forgesoutstanding improvements in healthcare, social rehabilitation, rural uplift and education following his formation of Infosys, an innovative company that provides business consulting, technology, and engineering services in over 30 countries.

In 2008 the former Indian President, APJ Abdul Kalam, had received this award.

The Hoover Medal is administered by a board representing five engineering organizations: The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Skype comes to Facebook on Windows, Mac

A new of version of Skype, which is now owned by Microsoft, has been launched for Windows and Mac. Users can now log intoSkype installed on their desktop with their Facebook and Microsoft Live ID, along with the standard Skype account.

The overall layout of the latest version of Skype is 'less cluttered' and the look has been refreshed for both Mac as well as Windows. Mac users can also look forward to support for Retina display, multiple windows while chatting and visual alterations.

By signing up via Facebook or Windows Live ID on Skype 6.0, users can chat with their Facebook, Live Messenger, Outlook.com and Hotmail contacts from the desktop software, the first step towards deeper integration with Windows. However, users cannot make audio and video calls via Skype with these contacts as of now, though the company says it is 'coming soon'.

Other new features of Skype include support for six new languages (Thai, Croatian, Slovenian, Serbian, Catalan and Slovak), improved telemetry and removal of online user count.

Apple iPhone 5 available for pre-orders in India

Apple iPhone 5 is now available for pre-orders in India and will start shipping in the first week of November. Online retailer Infibeam has listed the 16GB version of the latest iPhone on its website and is taking pre-orders for advance booking amount of Rs 5,000.

Though Infibeam has not mentioned the price of the device, its iPhone 5 web page states that the remaining amount will be collected from buyers at the time of launch of the device. Buyers will have the option to pay the remaining amount via cash on delivery (CoD), debit card and credit card. According to a company executive, the booking amount will be refunded for those who are unable to pay the full amount at the time of launch.

iPhone 5 is widely expected to be roll out in India in the next few days, although Apple has consistently declined to announce a launch date in the country. According to sources, the company may price the device between Rs 46,000 and Rs 61,000, depending on the variant. 

Over the past month, Apple has twice cut the pricing of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S - the two older iPhones, marking a new first with the company. It also discontinued the three-year-oldiPhone 3GS, in line with its worldwide practice.

Apple iPhone 5, unveiled on September 12 this year, is the world's fastest selling smartphone and clocked sales of 5 million units over the first weekend. It features a 4-inch touchscreen withRetina Display technology and runs on A6 processor. The phone has Siri digital voice assistant,iOS 6, 8-pin Lightning dock, 8MP iSight rear camera with LED flash and 4G LTE compatibility.

LG announces world’s first 84-inch Ultra HD 3D TV in India

LG Electronics India has launched a 84-inch Ultra HD 3D TV with a screen resolution of 3840 x 2160. LG has also introduced new features like LG's Cinema 3D technology, Smart TV ecosystem for easy browsing and navigation with the TV.

LG has also introduced four-mode Magic Remote which allows users to access and navigates the Home Dashboard. The remote also features Premium Content, Smart Share Plus and voice recognition.

The other new features include an imbedded 2D to 3D conversion engine, Dual Play which supports head-to-head gaming by allowing opponents to simultaneously see different images on the same screen, 2.2 Speaker System with two 10W speakers and two 15W woofers

As of connectivity, LG's Ultra HD 3D TV includes built-in Wi-Fi, it supports Intel's Wireless Display (WiDi) technology, which enables easy and quick connectivity between TVs and PCs without the need for cables or internet access.

"LG's 84-inch Ultra HD 3 TV represents a whole new level of home viewing experience because it offers every advanced technology we currently have to offer," said Mr Soon Kwon, MD LGEIL.

The 84-inch Ultra HD 3D TV will be available in the market at a price of Rs17, 00,000 from November 1 onwards.

Canada vulnerable to cyber attacks: Report

Canada "has been slow" to set up firewalls to protect against cyber threats to critical infrastructure, leaving the nation vulnerable to crippling attacks, the auditor general has warned.
In a report, Auditor General Michael Fergusonsaid the government has made only "limited progress" over the past decade to safeguard electrical grids, telecommunications infrastructure, banking systems, manufacturing and transportation, as well as its own computers.
A key agency set up seven years ago to monitor cyber threats 24/7, called the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre, is still not fully functioning, leaving evening and weekend gaps in its security coverage, he said.
Also, incidents were not reported in a timely manner nor shared with the appropriate agencies, he said.
Opposition parties pounced on the report to accuse the government of being "recklessly ill-prepared" to protect Canadians who are increasingly reliant on the Internet, against cyber attacks.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews conceded some shortcomings revealed by the audit, but insisted the Tory government is committed to ensuring "Canada's critical infrastructure is well-insulated from cyber threats."
"It wasn't until 2010 that people became (fully) aware of the nature of cyber threats," he said. Ottawa announced stepped up security efforts that year but in January 2011, a cyber attack was still able to paralyze its computers, leading to a revamp of the network now being undertaken.
The report notes the frequency and severity of electronic attacks through the Internet are accelerating, which Toews confirmed at a press conference.
Attacks by ordinary hackers, organized criminal groups and state-sponsored entities are "constant," Toews said.

Middle East, Africa to drive global cloud traffic by 2016:Cisco

Global cloud traffic, the fastest growing component of data centre traffic, will grow six-fold by 2016 led by the Middle East and Africa, according to networking major Cisco.

It will grow from 683 exabytes of annual traffic in 2011 to 4.3 zettabytes by 2016, clipping a 44 per cent combined annual growth rate, said the second annual Cisco Global Cloud Index today.

The report also forecasts that global data centre traffic will grow four-fold to 6.6 zettabytes, which is about 1.5 years of continuous music streaming for the world's population in 2016, annually by 2016.

Global cloud traffic will account for nearly two-thirds of total global data centre traffic, it says, adding that globally, it will grow from 39 per cent (57 EB per month and 683 EB annually) in 2011 to 64 per cent (almost two-thirds or 355 EB per month and 4.3 ZB annually) in 2016.

The vast majority of the data centre traffic is not caused by end-users but by data centres and cloud-computing workloads used in activities that are virtually invisible to individuals, says the report.

An Exabyte or EB is 10 raised to the power 18, while a Zettabyte or ZB is 10 raised to the power 21.

For 2011-16, Cisco sees about 76 per cent of data centre traffic will be largely generated by storage, production and development data.

An additional 7 per cent of data centre traffic will be generated between the centres, primarily driven by data replication and software/system updates, it said.

Region-wise, the report predicts that the Middle East and Africa will have the highest cloud traffic growth rate by 2016, while the Asia-Pacific region will process the most cloud workloads, followed by North America.

Apple‘s iPad mini ‘fails‘ to impress analysts

Apple's "iPad mini" will attract new customers but the higher-than-expected price will come as a relief to low-cost tablets such as Amazon.com's Kindle, analysts said, in a muted reaction to the new tablet.

Few analysts revised their price targets for Apple in the wake of the announcement, with one raising their target and one cutting it.

Apple shares edged up 0.7 per cent to $617.75 in premarket trading.

The 7.9-inch mini version of the iPad has most of the functions and features of the full-size iPad but in a smaller package and is cheaper by $170.

"We believe the iPad mini with its $329 starting price for the 16GB Wi-Fi only model will help Apple reach a new customer base, particularly for holiday gifts to teenagers that may not have been able to afford the higher-end iPad," Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley wrote in a research note.

He raised his price target slightly on the stock to $800 from $797.

The $329 starting price for a Wi-Fi only "iPad mini" was higher than many expected and some analysts said the gadget might lure buyers away from Apple's $499 flagship 10-inch iPad, yet struggle to compete with the cheaper Amazon Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus 7, both of which are sold at or near cost.

"We were hoping the price would be at least a little lower given its competition is situated as low as $99, with many starting in the $199-$249 range," Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes said.

He cut his price target on the stock to $800 from $810, bringing him more into line with other analysts, although the price targets are still well above the current market price for the shares
.
While Canaccord estimates that Apple will sell 9.25 million units in the December quarter. Barclays forecast sales of more than five million units.

"While we believe these strong sales will come largely at the expense of Apple's competition, we concede iPad Mini will likely cannibalize iPad and iPod Touch sales," analyst Walkley said.

‘Airtel, Infosys, TCS among most in-demand employers‘

Six major Indian companies, including Bharti Airtel, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services, have made the cut in list of 20 'Most In Demand Employers' compiled by professional network LinkedIn.

Besides, Wipro Technologies, HCL Technologiesand Mahindra Satyam have also found a place in the list, which is topped by Accenture.

The professional network said in India, telecom player Bharti Airtel is the seventh most sought-after company among professionals on LinkedIn.

This was followed by Infosys at eighth spot and Tata Consultancy Services at the ninth place.

Wipro Technologies was 11th, followed by HCL Technologies 13th and Mahindra Satyam 14th.

LinkedIn analysed a large number of companies and published the list among its 175 million members.

"The three companies of Indian origin that feature in the top 10 list of most InDemand employers... are testimony to the increased importance of developing and maintaining employer brand by Indian corporates," it said.

Among others in the top five are Hewlett Packard, Oracle, IBM and Microsoft.

Cognizant Technology Solutions, Vodafone, Deloitte, Amazon, Adobe, Cisco are the others featuring in the list.

HCL fined for mentally harassing customer

HCL Infosystems has been asked by a consumer forum here to either refund Rs 27,890 as cost of a faulty notebook computer to a buyer or replace the defective machine with a new one.

The New Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum also awarded the customer Rs 3,000 as compensation saying he was "mentally harassed" as he had been approaching HCL ever since he had purchased the computer, for rectifying the problems with the machine. "...the complainant has been mentally harassed and it (HCL) has no option except to replace the set or refund the amount as per the invoice as it is pointed out by the service centre that it is a software manufacturing problem.

"Opposite party is directed to refund Rs 27,890 or replace the set in question or any substitute computer may be provided to the complainant of the same value. We also award Rs 3,000 as litigation and harassment charges," the bench presided by C K Chaturvedi said.

The complaint against the computer manufacturer was filed by Delhi resident Sandeep who had alleged that the notebook computer he had bought from an HCL's authorised dealer for a sum of Rs 27,890 on January 23, 2008 was defective and its defect could not be rectified despite several visits to the HCL's service centre.

The HCL in its reply had contended that the defect was in the software of the product and it was a hardware company and not a software repairing shop.

It had also argued that the software which had the defect was not manufactured by it.

The forum, however, rejected the contention saying under the warranty of the product sold by the HCL, both hardware and software defects of the product were covered and held it "guilty of selling a defective laptop"

An app to send ‘video SMSs‘

Text messaging is fast and efficient but a new video-sharing application aims to put users in the picture.
The London-based company Six3 has launched a new video-sharing app by the same name that will enable users to send short video messages as easily as sending a text. Whether it is a business traveller trying to stay in touch with family or a teenager connecting with friends, the app aims to combine the convenience of texting with the intimacy of video.

"It's easier to send a video message than a text message if you're walking down the street because you don't need to look down and tap away at tiny buttons. You just talk straight into the camera," said Tim Grimsditch, the co-founder and CEO of the London-based company Six3.

Users can also record a message, which must be less than 63 seconds long, and send it to other people using the app, or email it and send it to Facebook contacts.

It can also be used to send public messages via Facebook and Twitter and there are Instagram-style filters, that can add color, or contrast and other effects, that can be overlaid on the videos.

Grimsditch said most people using the app are business travelers and parents with young children. But "video natives," 25-year olds who grew up using video recording devices, are the most active users.
"They're using the app in a much more day-to-day, casual style because they have used video communication technologies their whole lives," Grimsditch explained.

"The text message started with the teens and very rapidly spread north up through the age groups," he added.

The idea for the app, which is available on iPhone now with plans for an Android version, originated when a company executive had difficulty sharing the experiences of his son growing up with family and friends who did not live nearby.

"He was surprised by just how difficult it was to communicate in an emotionally meaningful way," said Grimsditch, adding that video calling services such as Skype require coordination ahead of time.

With the increase in texting, the company thought the time was right to launch the video messaging platform. Since February when it was launched in beta, the app has over 12,000 users.

Grimsditch said it is possible to send a video as a text message, but added that the app maintains the quality of the video and provides a coherent way of sending video across various platforms.

The company plans to release an Android app in the first half of 2013, as well as premium services such as editing tools to monetise the app.

But can video messaging replace text messaging?

"Over time text messages will only be used for sharing small bursts of information, an address or a meeting time or date, while video messages will be used for almost all family, social and professional communication," Grimsditch predicted.

Android app to translate voice, text in real-time

Japan's biggest mobile operator said on Monday it will launch a translation service that lets people chat over the telephone in several different languages.

The application for NTT DoCoMo subscribers will give two-way voice and text readouts of conversations between Japanese speakers and those talking in English, Chinese or Korean with a several-second delay, the firm said.

" Hanashite Honyaku" will be a free application that can be used on smartphones and tablet computers with the Android operating system, DoCoMo said.

Customers will also be able to call landlines using the service, it said, adding that voice-to-text readouts will soon be available in French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai.

"We hope that with this application, our subscribers will be able to widen the range of their communication," a company spokeswoman said.

However, she conceded the service does not offer perfect translations and has trouble deciphering some dialects.

DoCoMo also said it has launched a separate service that lets users translate menus and signage using the smartphone camera.

Why Facebook CEO ‘did not join‘ Microsoft

Mark Zuckerberg has opened up about his start-up experience and said that ifFacebook hadn't happened, he would have probably landed at Microsoft.

The social networking mogul shared his experience in a talk at Startup School, the annual conference for entrepreneurs and computer hackers at Stanford University, the Daily Mail reported Monday.

Even though Facebook boasts one billion users worldwide - the founder divulged that he most likely would have made his way to Seattle if his idea had flopped.

"I probably would have taken an engineering job (and) always had a lot of respect forMicrosoft," he told Paul Graham, co-founder of the tech venture capital Y Combinator, during an interview Saturday before an audience of 1,700 at Stanford's Memorial Hall.

Will Apple go for ‘kill‘ with iPad Mini?

Just weeks after its momentous launch of the iPhone 5, Apple is back with what is expected to be another hot gadget -- a "mini" version of its market-leading iPad tablet.

Apple sent out invitations for an event Tuesday in San Jose, California, keeping details under wraps as it normally does, saying only: "We've got a little more to show you."

Reports have been swirling for months about the "iPad Mini," but Apple has made no comment.

But blogs which closely monitor Apple say the new tablet could be priced from $249 to $399, which could pressure rivals such as the Amazon Kindle Fire.

The event comes a little over a month after Apple released the iPhone 5, the latest model of its iconic smartphone, which was greeted with record sales.

The October 23 gathering is three days ahead of the release of Microsoft's new Surface tablet and two days before Apple reports quarterly earnings.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Apple has begun production of 10 million of the new iPads. Some reports say it may be available November 2.

Analysts say Apple is virtually guaranteed a hit on release, but that the long-term outlook is less clear.

Check out the Apple iPhone 5 page

"For Apple, given its well-oiled product marketing machine, 10 million is not a surprise," said Roger Kay, a consultant and analyst with Endpoint Technologies Associates.

"They will also likely take some of the wind out of the sails of the others like Amazon."

But Kay said that although Apple essentially created the tablet market with the 10-inch iPad, it is making a "defensive" move with the new device, expected to have a screen of 7.85 inches (20 centimeters).

He said it is not clear if Apple will be dominant in that segment of the market, which has established products from Amazon, Samsung and others.

"Apple wouldn't have gone into this if others hadn't," he said.

"The bar has been set by Amazon. Even though the Kindle is not the same kind of device, it does what it does very well."

The Kindle Fire proved popular last year, and a new version was launched last month. Meanwhile the small-format Google Nexus 7 joined the Samsung Galaxy in the seven-inch tablet market.

Also in the mix will be Microsoft's Surface -- a late entry in the market -- which has a 10.6-inch screen and starts at $499, challenging the larger-format iPads.

With Kindles selling from $199, Apple will be forced to keep its price low for its new model and "will not have its normal profit margin," said Kay. And some blogs say Google may sell a tablet as low as $99.
 Analyst Shaw Wu at Sterne Agee said the iPad Mini "is the competition's worse nightmare" but that sales will depend on how Apple prices the device.

"We do not believe Apple needs to price as low as $199 to match Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HD but believe a price point of $299 or $349 makes sense," he said.

"The key question is whether Apple decides to price in-line with its margin model, or does it get aggressive to 'go for the kill' against competitors?"

Ben Reitzes at Barclays said the Mini may erode some sales of the larger iPad but will grow the market.

"We believe a smaller iPad could be useful in promoting Apple's agenda in education with e-textbooks," he said.

"Also, the form factor could make more sense for gaming."

Jack Gold, analyst with J. Gold Associates, said Apple needs to get into the small tablet segment to maintain its leadership.

"There is a perception in the marketplace that Apple has lost some of its innovation capability, and if they can come out with an iPad Mini that is groundbreaking, which will be hard to do, they can get some of that aura back," Gold said.

Gold said Apple will have to wow consumers with the new device to protect its turf.

"Apple is a premium brand and they want you to pay a premium price," he said. "The only way to sustain that is to offer what the others don't." 

HSBC‘s websites hacked globally

Banking giant HSBC said that some of its websites had been hit by a "large scale" cyber attack that disrupted online services, but it assured customers that their data were not compromised.

The bank said in a statement that HSBC servers came under a "large scale denial of service attack" on Thursday.

It said a number of sites were affected around the world but did not give an exact number or say where they were.

"This denial of service attack did not affect any customer data, but did prevent customers using HSBC online services, including Internet banking," the bank said.

"We are taking appropriate action, working hard to restore service," the bank added. It said some of the sites are back up and running.

A denial of service attack typically involves sites being saturated with requests.

The London-headquartered, Asia-focused lender said it is working with authorities to investigate the incident. It gave no indication of who it believed might be behind the attack.

Sony to cut 5,800 jobs, shut down factory

Sony said it will cut staff in its headquarters by a fifth and shutter a factory making camera lenses and mobile phones in Japan, providing new details of a previously announced plan to trim its global headcount by 10,000 by end-March.

In addition to 1,800 at a chemical business it sold to a state-run bank in Japan, Sony will let go roughly another 2,000 people from its head office and plant in Gifu, central Japan, Sony said in a statement on Friday.

Around another 2,000 workers will be trimmed in Europe, half at a joint mobile phone venture with Ericsson it recently ended. The remaining job losses will be at other factories around the world, the company said.

The maker of PlayStation and Bravia TVs expects the job cuts to save about 30 billion yen ($378.6 million) a year, funds the company needs as it struggles to stem losses in televisions and other consumer electronics operations.

Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai, who took the helm in April, has pledged to revive the once-stellar brand by bolstering gaming, digital imaging and mobile devices as well as by nurturing new business such as medical devices.

Sony's stock ended trading Friday at 983 yen, unchanged from the previous closing price. The company's share price has fallen 42 percent since Hirai took over six months ago.

GM to hire 3,000 from Hewlett-Packard

General Motors will hire 3,000 workers from  Hewlett-Packard, part of a push to bring most of its computer technology in-house.

The HP employees, who already work on GM projects, will help the automaker toward a larger goal: improving the software technology it puts in cars and uses to run its business.

Thursday's announcement is the latest in series of technology moves at GM. The company plans to hire 10,000 programmers and software experts over the next three to five years. It also wants to shift technology work from outside firms into GM and to open four new IT centers.

The former HP workers will help GM consolidate 23 global data centers into two. And they'll try to cut GM's software applications by 40 percent so the company uses more common programmes and becomes more efficient, said GM chief information officer Randy Mott.

They'll also find ways to automate a number of corporate functions, saving GM money that will be spent on electronic innovation, Mott said. Once the automation is done, workers will shift to developing software and dreaming up new dashboard devices.

Mott said the employee switch is about GM's needs and has nothing to do with HP's plans to cut 29,000 jobs by October of 2014. Most of the new HP hires are in the US, but some are overseas.

HP, based in Palo Alto, California, is the world's largest maker of personal computers. It has been hurt as consumers shift away from PCs to smartphones and tablets.

HP is preparing to release a new line of tablets and has been trying to diversify into more profitable lines of technology, such as business software and consulting.

Refer a friend to Facebook and win Rs 50 talk time

Social networking site  Facebook is offering mobile talk time worth Rs 50 to new 'selective' users coming through referrals in India, a senior company official said.

Kevin D'Souza, Country Growth Manager, Facebook, said the initiative has been taken on a pilot basis and the amount of recharge varies from user to user and place to place.

To a query on whether this is for users who are coming through referrals, he said: "Yes. It is for users coming through referrals."

"We keep on trying new things. Because we do not know what will work. This is one of the tests. Just to get a feel of it, this particular test is being done in India," D'Souza said in a press conference.

"It is currently evolving with multiple pricing strategies. Different telecom carriers have different Facebook plans," he added, without elaborating further.

According to Facebook's mobile version talk time promotion page, after registration a user has to provide his mobile number to get Rs 50 free talktime and also the mobile number of the individual who may have referred him/her.

"Once you sign up and confirm your account, you will receive the talktime within three days," Facebook said.

"Facebook reserves the right to discontinue this service at any time without notice. Talktime rewards earned before this service is discontinued will be credited as appropriate," the company added.

To a query on Facebook access in Jammu and Kashmir, Kirthiga Reddy, Director - Online Operations, Facebook India refused to comment saying that the4 company always respects local laws.

"We cannot comment on specific situation. But we will say that our approach in such a situation is always to respect local laws," Reddy said.

Facebook makes sure that the content on the site is in accordance with terms and policies, she added.

Recently, reports said the Jammu and Kashmir government had directed internet service providers to block 'Youtube' and 'Facebook' if needed, to ensure that a controversial film deemed offensive to Islam was not accessible to subscribers in the state.

Reddy said the Facebook user base in India has grown to 65 million from barely eight million two years ago, making it a strong platform for marketers.

TCS to hire 25,000 from campus

TCS today announced its second-quarter earnings and shed light on its hiring plans. The company stated that it will be recruiting a total of 25,000 students via campus placements, out of which 12,500 have already been hired.

Speaking about its new hires in Q2 2012, Ajoy Mukherjee, the HR head of the company, commented, "We've hired 18654 this quarter in India. We're sticking to our hiring plans." Out of this figure, 10,205 were trainees, 5,764 were laterals and 2,685 were overseas employees.
The net addition of employees for the quarter stood at 10,531.

TCS also reported 11.4% employee attrition rate in IT and BPO divisions, its lowest over the past ten quarters

Samsung‘s WP8-based Ativ S in India soon?

Samsung unveiled its Ativ S, the world's first Windows Phone 8 smartphone, during IFA 2012 in August. Now, it seems that the device, which is still to launch anywhere across the globe, is headed for India.

Ezoneonline, the ecommerce portal from Future Group, has listed Samsung Ativ S in its mobile phone category. Though the site does not give any pricing or launch date details.

The WP8-powered smartphone is listed as 'Out Of Stock', though the site says that the delivery period is within 7 to 10 days. For those interested in the cost of the device, the website says "Price On Request" and they can provide their name, email address and mobile number.

Samsung Ativ S has a 4.8-inch SuperAMOLED touchscreen, same as the Galaxy S III, and runs on the Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system. The South Korean manufacturer has used a 1.5GHz dual-core Krait processor with 1GB RAM in the phone.
Ativ S will be available in 16 and 32GB variants, and will support microSD card of up to 32GB capacity. The smartphone has an 8MP rear camera with flash and a 1.9MP front camera. It comes with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, 2G, 3G and microUSB 2.0 as connectivity options. The world's first Windows Phone 8 smartphone will be powered by a 2,300mAh battery.

Samsung has always given priority to India while launching its mobile devices, such as Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note II and Galaxy Note 10.1. Therefore, it is possible that the official launch of Ativ S in India may not be too far away, though the Windows Phone platform has not exactly picked up in the country.

Five technology trends to watch in 2013

Each year in an effort to keep its finger on the pulse of emerging technologies, the  Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), comprising over 2,000 tech companies, releases a list of trends for the upcoming calendar year.

The latest list released this week gives tech enthusiasts a preview of what trends experts say will become mainstream in 2013.

Three-dimensional printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is heading straight for the mainstream, CEA analysts say. Commonproducts created via 3D printing include jewelry, figurines and cell phone cases.

Rather than creating a detailed object by sculpting it from materials, computer savvy consumers can create designs online and download them turning them into physical objects, creating them layer by layer.

While the technology has been around for decades, prices are dropping and the CEA predicts the technology will become commonplace in consumers' homes.

There is a potential for future concerns surrounding the creation of counterfeit goods. Current intellectual property laws do not cover items created with a 3D printer, so there may be a grey area for 3D printing and physical replication analysts say.

When it comes to the future of televisions, picture quality is everything. The CEA says TVs offering double the picture quality we see today are just months away from hitting stores, and are just a hint of what is possible in the future.

One option for the future is 4k TV, something John Taylor of LG Electronics describes as "theHDTV experience on steroids". And with four times the resolution of your current set, the CEA predicts the technology will begin to catch on in 2013.

Another popular option is the Organic Light-Emitting Diode, or OLED TV. It has significantly better picture quality than HD sets today plus lower energy consumption.

The challenge facing both of these new, crisper, options lies in getting consumers to switch.

"Most people are going to look at their TVs and say, 'It looks really good and crisp to me. Why do I need four times as many pixels?'" said Chris Chinnock, president of Insight Media, a market research company focused on emerging display technologies.

Thanks in part to the invention of the iPod, the CEA says MP3 players and ear buds created a new standard of how American's listen to music.

The same is now true with premium headphones, championed by the success of rapper Andre "Dr. Dre". Dr. Dre brand headphones promises to deliver studio sound quality to anyone willing to pay the $199-$399 price tag.

Marrying convenient digital music with professional sound quality in a home audio system is just one audio trend CEA sees going mainstream in 2013. But this is not just about the sound; it is also about functionality.

"Modern consumers put a priority on products that are both connected and portable," wrote CEA's Sean Murphy.

For the past 20 years, Africa has lagged behind the rest of the globe when it comes to internet connectivity. Mobile phones have single-handedly leveled out the playing field, a trend the CEA predicts will continue next year.

"Mobile phones (in Africa) are used for absolutely everything and used to the extreme by everyone," says Bruce Krogh, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

In the areas of banking, business, and social networking mobile phones have been a game changer for the continent.

"Today, social networking in Africa is used for everything from connecting people with ex-pat family and friends to helping farmers track corn harvests and trade exchange rates," writes CEA's Rachel Horn.

"While the West experiences its own mobile revolution, it must look to Africa for ideas, opportunities and inspiration."

Schoolchildren today have traded their paper notebooks and tablets for electronic versions, and that is only the beginning.

When it comes to technology in the classroom, analysts say it facilitates individualized teaching, where students can learn in the way that best suits them.

"In addition to classroom webpages and online lectures, social media is now heavily utilized by students as well.

"While social media is not a new concept, its usage within the school system is still in the preliminary stages, with fewer than half of adults reporting that their children's schools use this technology," the CEA reports.

Challenges facing technology stem primarily from funding and debates over how much is too much technology in the classroom.

Tablet market: Small companies versus Micromax, HCL

Even a year ago, companies such as Micromax and Lava were thought of as upstarts challenging mighty global corporations such as Nokia. With cut-price mobile phone models packed with features, they redefined the rules of the game and snatched market share from established players. But now, they are established players and little-known companies in the tablet space are doing unto them what they did unto Nokia and others.

Aiding the new upstarts of mobility - among them Kolkata-based Chirag, Bangalore's Lacs, WishTel from Mumbai and Noida-headquartered Zync Global - are India's smaller towns and cities. Places such as Ludhiana, Wardha, Hubli and Vijayawada are lapping up theirtablets that cost around Rs 6,000 apiece while the bigger brands concentrate on larger towns with products priced at around twice that amount.

According to technology market researcher CyberMedia, India's tablet market has become hyper-competitive with the entry of new vendors. About 90 of them are estimated to have launched tablets till the end of the second quarter of the current fiscal year.

The likes of Chirag, Lacs and WishTel have opened hundreds of exclusive stores in India's tier III and IV towns to improve market share and catch up with homegrown incumbents such as Micromax and HCL.

Relying on endorsements
Some of them are also relying on celebrity endorsements, much like Micromax and Karbonn did to break the stranglehold of MNCs.

Zync started selling tablets in November 2011, but has already spent over Rs 20 crore on advertising, according to its director Ashish Garg. The firm, with revenues of about Rs 150 crore, launched an Android-based tablet priced at Rs 5,500 earlier this month.

Garg told ET that his company is setting up service centres in over a hundred small towns, besides getting ready to export tablets to Latin America and Africa by the year-end. For now, Zync sells about 30,000 tablets a month.

In the three months to June, Indian consumers bought about 5.5 lakh tablets, a 673% jump over the year-ago period, according to data from CyberMedia. The average selling price of tablets dropped to Rs 13,000 from about Rs 26,000 at the beginning of the year.

The Rs 700-crore Intex Technologies is in talks with pharmaceutical firm Ranbaxy for supplying some 10,000 tablets for its field sales staff. "Our focus markets are places such as Ludhiana, Meerut, Jaipur, Hubli, Mysore and Vijayawada, where people are not afraid to buy small brands.

Urban buyers still prefer big brands," said Sanjay Kumar, head of the mobile business for Intex, which has a sales partnership with retail chain Croma. Intex, which recently introduced its i-Buddy tablets priced at Rs 6,500, expects to sell 50,000 units during the October-December festive season.

Lacs Magnum plans to increase the number of its exclusive stores from 60 to 1,000 across the country over the next year while rival Chirag will set up 50 franchisee stores by November-end. Lakhshya Verma, Chirag's head of business development, said the firm has managed to sell "a decent 25,000 units" in the past 14 months.

Having played the price game once, the Indian incumbents are not sitting idle. They are willing to go where the demand is and sell at a price point that meets the demand. Micromax, for instance, launched its Funbook priced at Rs 6000, although its high-end tablets sell for up to Rs 10,000.

"We were surprised to see that about 35% of our initial orders were from small towns," said Micromax Chief Executive Deepak Mehrotra. During the April-June quarter, Micromax was India's top tablet vendor, beating Samsung and Apple.

Micromax had an 18% market share during the quarter, compared to Samsung's 13% and Apple's 12%. Incumbents see a parallel between the flurry of new entrants in the tablet space and developments in India's mobile phone market.

"We can draw an analogy with the evolution of the feature-phone market in India," said SN Rai, co-founder and director at Lava Mobile. "We suddenly saw a huge number of players coming in, but many were also exiting at the same pace."

Analysts agree the new entrants will not have staying power if they compromise on quality to bring down prices. "These companies procure white-label products from China. These are relatively cheaper because they follow the basic design and specifications," said Faisal Kawoosa, lead telecom analyst for CyberMedia Research. That is not very different from how Micromax, Lava and Karbon started out. But once they gained scale and managed high volumes, they invested in quality.

Amazon.com hiring 50,000 temporary workers

 Amazon.com says it's hiring 50,000temporary workers at order-fulfillment centers across the US this holiday season.

The Seattle-based online retailer says it expects "thousands" of those it hires to stay on full time.

Full-time workers get stock grants and benefits. The company says its full-time employees make 30 per cent more than traditional retail employees. It says stock grants have added an average 9 per cent to base pay over the last five years.

Tuesday's announcement follows hiring announcements from major retailers.

Among those, Macy's plans to hire 80,000 seasonal workers, while Wal-Mart Stores plans to add 50,000. Toys R Us plans to hire 45,000 seasonal workers this year.

Indians prefer unlimited Internet data plans

A majority of mobile phone users in India prefer unlimited Internet data plans to usage-based plans, a survey by Ernst & Young has found.

"In India almost 54 per cent of the respondents prefer unlimited mobile data for a fixed price per month," the survey, conducted across 12 countries including the US, the UK, China, Australia and Russia, to highlight short- and medium-term issues faced by operators, said.

The survey said confusion over data tariffs and lack of guidance from operators on the value of new services are limiting the adoption of mobile data services.

"One in three respondents say they cannot understand mobile data tariffs effectively while only one in five customers claim that they can make an accurate judgement as to what the best tariff option is," the survey said.

In India, 31 per cent of the respondents said they clearly understand mobile data tariffs offered by operators, which is the highest among others.

In the US, only 16 per cent respondents said they can understand the data plans, as many as 24 per cent understand data plans in the UK and Russia.

"It is imperative for mobile operators to spread more awareness about the improved security and privacy features enabling the end consumer to effectively access mobile Internet services, especially in case of mobile money transfer or payment through mobile services," Ernst & Young Global Partner Prashant Singhal said.

The survey said rising smartphone take-up means that more than 1 in 3 mobile customers are using services such as web browsing, instant messaging and social media on their devices.

The survey finds that 3G customers are a high-value segment and in India, the average monthly spend of post-paid and pre-paid 3G users stand at $ 43 and $ 27 respectively, while in US, the figures stand at $ 115 and $ 78.

Soon, Eye movements can be your new password

Taking cue from iris scans used in UID in India, researchers are developing a new biometric system that can identify people by the way they flicker their eyes while looking at a computer screen.

Oleg Komogortsev, a computer scientist at Texas State University-San Marco, is making use of the fact that no two people look at the world in the same way .

When looking at a picture, different people will move their eyes among points of interest in different sequences, researchers observed.

Even if two people trace the same paths, the exact way they move their eyes differs, the 'LiveScience' reported.

"We are seeing there are enough differences so we can talk about this as a biometric," Komogortsev told TechNewsDaily.

A biometric is a measurement of something on the body - fingerprints, for instance - used to identify people.

Computer scientists all over the world are studying biometrics for crime solving, for border security, and just as a high-tech way to sign into smartphones, tablets and other devices.

Komogortsev's research is in its earliest stages and needs years of work before it might show up at airports, high-security workplaces or even home computers.

However, he thinks eye movements could be part of the next generation of a more established biometric iris scans, which are already used in some airports and private companies, and in a countrywide ID effort in India.

Previously, researchers showed that crooks could fool an iris scanner with printed contacts, or by holding up a high-quality printout of the correct person's eye in front of the scanner.

Komogortsev hopes adding an eye-movement sensor could prevent this type of counterfeiting.

"The strength of our method is it can work together with iris [scanning]," he said.

Komogortsev's system records eye movements and analyzes two features. In one, the system measures "fixations", the times when people linger their gaze over a point on screen.

In another, it measures "saccades", the swift movements the eye makes when it flies between points.

His system considers both the exact path that people's gazes take and the fixations and saccades they make along the way.

From those movements, the system calculates unique properties about people's eyes, including the force their eye muscles use and other properties about the fat and flesh around the eye and the eyeball itself, Komogortsev said.

UID is an initiative of Unique Identification Authority of India of the Indian government to create a unique ID for every Indian resident.

‘Apple likely to unveil iPad mini on Oct 23‘

Apple is expected to take the wraps off its highly anticipated iPad mini at an October 23 invitation-only event, reported tech blog AllThingsD on Friday, citing sources familiar with the company.

The event would come before Microsoft unveils its latest operating system, Windows 8, and its new Surface tablet on October 26.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

Speculation has been swirling for months that Apple was planning a smaller, less expensive version of its popular iPad to take on cheaper competing devices.

Apple shares were down 0.2 percent at $626.51 in morning Nasdaq trade.

Firefox 16.0.1 goes offline over hacking concerns

The new Firefox 16 was taken offline only a day after its release by its maker, Mozilla, after a major "security vulnerability" was discovered.

"Mozilla is aware of a security vulnerability in the current release version of Firefox. We are actively working on a fix and plan to ship updates tomorrow. Firefox version 15 is unaffected," The Age quoted Mozilla's Director of Security Assurance, Michael Coates, as writing in a blogpost.

According to the report, the security flaw in the world's third most popular browser is capable of allowing hackers and malicious sites to see a user's browsing history.

"The vulnerability could allow a malicious site to potentially determine which websites users have visited and have access to the URL or URL parameters," said Coates.

However, the company said that only a "limited number of users are affected".

Despite assuring users that there is "no indication that this vulnerability is currently being exploited in the wild", the company recommended that users downgrade to Firefox 15.0.1 until a fix was released, the report said.

Earlier this morning a patch was released for the mobile version of Firefox running on Android smartphones, following which an update was made available to Windows, Mac and Linux users of the desktop browser, Firefox 16.0.1. It is recommended that users upgrade immediately, the report added.

iPhone 5 price in India likely to be Rs 45-48,000

Apple iPhone 5 is expected to be rolled out in India on October 26 at an expected price ranging between Rs 46,000 to Rs 48,000 for the 16GB model.

The 32GB variant is likely to be priced between Rs 51,000 to 53,000. The 64GB top variant of the iPhone 5 will bear a likely tag in the Rs 58,000-61,000 price band.

When contacted, a company spokesperson refused to confirm the price or launch date. But the market, and even the carriers, are agog with speculation that October 26 is indeed the launch date for iPhone 5 in India.

These prices too are tentative and based upon the expectations of the two major telecom operators. Apple sources claimed that the actual price tags will depend upon the prevailingforeign exchange rates around the launch.

Apple has never disclosed the prices of its products or partners before the official launch. Sources say this time around the company is all set to broaden its retail strategy in India.

This time, Apple will use its reseller network in India to directly retail the iPhone 5, just like it does with the iPad, iPod, notebooks and computers. Therefore, it may even break away from its carrier partners in India, Airtel and Aircel, who sold the previous iPhone models in India with their own plans. In India, only unlocked handsets are sold.

If Apple launches the phone without any carrier partner in India, it will mean that users will have to select operators who provide nano-sim cards, which only the iPhone 5 uses at present. Sources at Vodafone India said the second biggest telecom operator in India already has a stock of nano-sims in place to meet the demand for the latest iPhone.

Apple is also planning to provide specially-priced two-year warranty to iPhone 5 buyers.

It should be noted that the price of iPhone 4S 64GB is around Rs 48,000 in the Indian market, the expected base price for the iPhone 5 16GB. The 16GB and 32GB versions of iPhone 4S currently cost around Rs 41,000 and Rs 45,000 in the country, respectively. The price of the two-year-old iPhone 4 8GB has vbeen recently revised to Rs 28,300 by Apple.

Infosys to hire 6,000 engg, MBA grads, promote 12,000

                                                            www.attuneinfocom.com

IT services firm Infosys will hire 6,000 students from engineering and MBA colleges this year. This is a sharp drop compared with the 19,000 they hired last year.

But Human Resources head Nandita Gurjar said if needed Infosys would hire more through off-campus placements. Off-campus hiring takes place when companies recruit students who have not been placed during the regular hiring season.

The firm will also announce 12,000 new promotions from January-April 2013 in addition to the 20,000 promotions it had announced earlier for April to December 2012. The company's employee satisfaction study, which takes places every 18 months will happen in January as well, said the HR Head.

Infosys after two quarters announced wage increments of about 6%, which will be rolled out this quarter onwards. On site employees get a 2-3% hike. "A wage increment despite unsure economy reflects on the confidence the firm has in long-term growth," said SD Shibulal, CEO and MD. "This shows confidence in long-term strategic direction, while we believe short-term has challenges."

Non-bailable warrant issued against Kingfisher, Vijay Mallya

HYDERABAD: A city court on Friday issued a non-bailable warrant against business tycoon Vijay Mallya and five others in a cheque bounce case.

The 13th metropolitan sessions court issued the warrant against crisis-hit Kingfisher airlines in a case filed by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), which manages the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here.

The case was filed in August by GHIAL after four cheques of Rs 10.3 crore issued by Kingfisher towards user charges bounced.

The court issued the warrant after Mallaya failed to appear despite summons issued to him. The liquor baron reportedly sought exemption from personal appearance as he was abroad.

The respondents in the case include Kingfisher, its chairman Mallya and CEO Sanjay Agarwal.

Kingfisher had issued cheques to GHIAL towards airport user charges which include parking, landing and navigation charges.

The crisis-hit airlines faces similar cases in Mumbai and Delhi after the airport operators moved the court over dishonoured cheques.

From: Times Of India.

India‘s IT spending to reach $71.5 billion in 2013: Gartner

IT spending in India is projected to total $71.5 billion in 2013, a 7.7 percent increase from the $66.4 billion forecasted for 2012, according to Gartner.

Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president and global head of research at Gartner, provided the latest outlook for the IT industry here today to an audience of more than 700 CIOs and IT leaders at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, which is taking place here through October 12th.

The telecommunications market is the largest IT segment in India with IT spending forecast to reach $47.8 billion in 2013, followed by the IT services market with spending of $10.3 billion. The computing hardware market in India is projected to reach $9.5 billion in 2013, and software spending will total nearly $4.0 billion. Software will record the strongest revenue growth at 15 percent, IT services will grow at 12 percent. The telecom segment, which accounts for 67 percent of the Indian ICT market, is set to grow at 7 percent revenue growth in 2013.

"The hardware segment will account for 14.1 percent of all IT spending in India by 2016, driven by positive contributions from the storage and the client computing segment," said Partha Iyengar, head of research - India, at Gartner. "Mobile phones will continue to be the fastest growing space within the Indian IT market. During the same time period, this segment will also account for nearly 42 percent of all telecommunications revenue in India, and it will also account for nearly 26 percent of the overall IT spending."

Despite the troubled global economy, 40 percent of CEOs intend to raise their investment in IT. Eighty percent of them can name a company that is using IT-related innovation for competitive advantage. This has a cascading impact on the role of a CIO.

Hackers using Skype to attack Windows PCs

Free internet-calling service Skype is being used by hackers to distribute a 'worm' that infects users Windows PCs.

On clicking an instant message saying "lol is this your new profile pic?" users are unwittingly downloading a file containing a Trojan   horse  malware file.

This opens a backdoor allowing hackers to hijack infected PCs and recruit them into a "botnet army".

Users can be locked out of their machines and held to ransom, the BBC reports.

According to the report, Skype said in a statement that they 'are aware of this malicious activity and are working quickly to mitigate its impact.'

"We strongly recommend upgrading to the newest Skype version and applying updated security features on your computer," the firm said in a statement.

"Additionally, following links - even when from your contacts - that look strange or are unexpected is not advisable," it added.

Collected from: Techgig
http://www.techgig.com/tech-news/editors-pick/Hackers-using-Skype-to-attack-Windows-PCs-15544?mailer_id=1233&utm_source=Mailer&utm_medium=TG_batch&utm_campaign=digest_news_2012-10-11&email=umar.laliwala@attuneuniversity.com&activity_name=tgdailynews_2012-10-11&dt=&auto_login=dW1hci5sYWxpd2FsYUBhdHR1bmV1bml2ZXJzaXR5LmNvbUAjJEAjJDMwODg1M0AjJEAjJDEzNDk5MzMwMTI=&src_type=autoLogin

Apple iPhone 5 launching on Oct 26 in India

After the initial round of global iPhone 5 launches, Apple seems set to launch the latest version of its iconic smartphone in India on October 26, industry sources say. However, Apple spokesperson refused to comment on the matter.

iPhone 5 is eagerly awaited in the country and is already available in the grey market at sky-high prices, touching over Rs 1 lac. It is the fastest selling smartphone of all time, with 5 million units sold over the first weekend itself. With this device, Apple broke its mould of 3.5-inch screens and ventured into the 4-inch screen size domain and introduced the all-new Lightning dock connector and EarPods.

In India, iPhones have commanded top dollar and are out of reach of the masses, one of the main reasons for the meager market share of Apple's phone in India as compared to Android phones. Last year, the base variant of iPhone 4S was launched at Rs 44,500 in the country and currently costs Rs 41,500 after the recent price revision. In contrast, no Android smartphone in India currently costs above Rs 40,000, though it must be remembered that Samsung Galaxy S III was priced around Rs 43,000 at the time of launch. However, the company soon brought the official price of the device down to Rs 38,900 and currently the phone costs Rs 35,500 on the company's e-store.

Recently, when Apple slashed prices of its phones in India, the iPhone 4 was given a price tag of Rs 28,300, which is quite high considering that it is two years old.

Apple has been making efforts to penetrate the Chinese market, but seems to largely ignore India's potential. On the other hand, Samsung, the arch rival of Apple in the smartphone domain,has already made inroads into India and is perched right at the top of the smartphone market in the country. India has become one of the biggest markets for the South Korean company's mobile division.

Nevertheless, things seem to be changing for India, as Apple looks set to bring its latest offering to the country within a short span of its worldwide launch, especially considering that the first iPhone was never launched here.

Telenor sets new India venture after divorce from Unitech

Norwegian telecoms group Telenor has dissolved a joint venture with India's Unitech Ltd, hoping to distance itself from a scandal over the award of operating licences and setting out a new plan to win business in the subcontinent.

Telenor said on Thursday it would set up a new entity through which it could bid for operating licenses, after courts cancelled 122 regional operating permits held by eight carriers - including the Telenor/Unitech venture - granted in a scandal-tainted licensing round in 2008.

The move could make it easier for Telenor to continue doing business in India, although it still has decide whether to spend the billions of crowns required to buy back the lost licenses.

"Telenor is preparing to participate in the upcoming 2G spectrum auction through this new entity, but will take a final decision on whether to participate at a later date," the company said.

The 2008 corruption scandal in which lucrative mobile phone permits were sold at below-market price led to the resignation of two Indian ministers having cost the exchequer as much as $36 billion in lost revenue.

Telenor, which owned two thirds of the Uninor-branded venture with Unitech, had blamed the Indian company for the licence cancellation.

Unitech initially opposed the ending of the venture and had said it had veto rights to block any transfer of its assets, but has now agreed to sell its share of the venture for a nominal sum to the Norwegian group.

Telenor, which had threatened to exit India, has had to write down 8.1 billion crowns ($1.4 billion) worth of Indian assets as a consequence of losing the licences.

It has said it is in talks with several potential new partners in India and has given itself an Oct. 18 deadline to decide whether to participate in the upcoming state auction, set to start next month.

The new licensing round could be costly for Telenor and risks pushing it above a self-imposed investment cap, which it has repeatedly said it would not breach.

Telenor will have to sign a new local partner as Indian rules allow a maximum 74 percent shareholding by foreign companies in telecom carriers.

Shares in Unitech rose 13 percent after news of the settlement.

"Subsequent to a successful business transfer and spectrum auction, all disputes and claims between the parties shall stand withdrawn/concluded," Unitech said.

Third of world‘s population has Internet: UN agency

More than a third of the world's population is online while mobile phone uptake increased by more than 600 million in 2011 to around six billion, a UNagency said Thursday.

But the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) highlighted huge disparities in the cost of services, with the poorer parts of the world tending to pay the most.

"On the back of the increase in broadband services worldwide, the number of people using the Internet grew by 11 percent over the past year ... ie, 2.3 billion people," the ITU said in its 2012 report on information and communication technologies (ICT).

In terms of affordability, Macau, Norway and Singapore topped the list of 161 countries featured in the report.

Madagascar came bottom, just behind Togo and Niger.

In Africa, Internet connectivity prices were almost seven times higher than in the Americas, and 20 times higher than Europe in 2011.

Mobile phones with broadband showed the sharpest growth of all ICT sectors between 2010 and 2011, the agency said, with almost 1.1 billion subscriptions by the end of 2011.

Despite a surge in mobile phone broadband, "prices for ICT services remain very high in many low-income countries," said Brahima Sanou, director of the ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau.

Income from the telecommunication sector reached $1.5 trillion (1.2 trillion euros) in 2010, around 2.4 percent of the world's gross domestic product, the report said.

BSNL Penta T-Pad WS703C tablet launched @ Rs 6,999

Pantel Technologies has announced the launch of India's first 2G SIM Slot Tablet PC, the Penta T-Pad WS703C, today.

Present at the announcement was the Minister of HRD, Telecom and IT, Govt of India, Kapil Sibal, launching India's first Voice call based tablet PC with 3D enabled capacitive touch screen, the Penta T-Pad WS703C today. Penta T-Pad WS703C comes with TF card expansion slot, voice call feature, 7-inch 3D-enabled capacitive touch screen, front and rear cameras and HDMI ports.

The all-new Penta T-Pad WS703C is priced at Rs 6,999 and features 4GB of internal storage, 512MB of RAM. It runs on a 1.2GHz Cortex A8 processor, has an in-built 2G sim card slot and is also compatible with 3G dongles. The 'all-port' architecture on this model includes features like dual camera, HDMI port and mini-USB port.

The first customers of the Penta T-Pad WS703C model were the meritorious students of the SSLC - 2012 exam in Kerala. A total of 674 units were given to the students today under a unique merit initiative undertaken by MP PC Chacko in his constituency.

Speaking on the occasion, Vijender Singh, managing director, Pantel Technologies, said, "It gives me immense pleasure to launch the latest offering from our stable powered by BSNL data connectivity. A 2G sim-based tablet PC for voice call and 3G compatibility through a dongle is yet another milestone in offering affordable digital computing solutions to the Indian student community."

At the occasion, Kapil Sibal said, "With the launch of Penta T-Pad WS703C students have more choices in the classroom, which in turn increases the canvas of democracy. BSNL is the No 1 telecom operator in India with a strong focus on the student community. The launch of the Penta T-Pad WS703C with 2G Data plans of BSNL makes for yet another attractive digital offering to the student community."

Pantel Technologies has entered into a strategic reverse data bundling alliance with BSNL. The plans offered by the alliance include the Rs 125 (4GB of 2G data free in 60 days) and Rs 150 (2GB of 3G data free in 60 days) pre-paid offerings that can be availed by the consumer at the time of purchase of the Penta T-Pad tablet.

Samsung unveils Galaxy S III Mini

Samsung today unveiled the Galaxy S III Mini, the smaller and toned-down iteration of its current flagship smartphone, in Germany. The all-new device features the 'pebble' design language that the Galaxy S III and Note II have, but features a smaller 4-inch SuperAMOLED display.

The Galaxy S III Mini runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) with Nature UI and is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor, which will be much slower than the 1.4GHz quad-core processor used in the S III. The phone will be available in 8GB and 1GB variants, which will support microSD card up to 32GB.

Rear camera in the S III Mini has been scaled down to 5MP, from the 8MP snapper that came with the S III. The battery has also been reduced from 2,100mAh in the S III to 1,500mAh in S III Mini. Connectivity options in the two devices remain the same, such as NFC, 4G, 3G, 2G, Bluetooth 4.0 and S Beam. The S III Mini also comes with S Voice, the digital voice assistant that Samsung developed in order to rival with Apple's Siri.

Though the S III Mini is being launched as an extension to the S III brand, its hardware is quite similar to that of the Galaxy S Advance. The only differences between the two devices are NFC, 4G, S Voice, S Beam, slight increment in RAM and Android 4.1 instead of Android 2.3.

There was no word on the pricing and availability of the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini globally as well as in India. However, India is one of the biggest markets for Samsung and we expect that the phone will soon be officially launched in the country.

Lenovo to set up first PC plant in US

Lenovo Group, the world's No.2 PC maker, will open its first PC production plant in the United States with operations expected to begin in 2013.

The Whitsett, North Carolina, facility will manufacture Think-branded laptop and  desktop PCs,  tablets  and servers aimed at the US market, Lenovo said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Lenovo did not provide any investment figures but said it would create 115 jobs.

Over the past two years, Lenovo has invested in new plants and manufacturing joint ventures in China, Brazil and now the United States to produce PCs and mobile Internet devices such as smartphones, it said.

Shares of Lenovo, which analysts said is set to overtake Hewlett Packard later this year as the world's largest PC maker, rose more than 2 per cent in early trade in Hong Kong on Wednesday to their highest in nearly a month, outperforming the main Hang Seng Index's 0.7 per cent gain.