Today-Trends

Gmail for Mobile Gets Multiple Sign-in

2011-09-23T13:42:00.000+05:30

Google has upgraded Gmail for mobile with a couple of long-awaited features, including multiple sign-in.
The feature, which has been present in the desktop version of Gmail for about a year, lets users sign into several Gmail accounts at the same time — very convenient for those who often need to switch between one or more personal and business accounts.
To sign into another account, click on the account switcher at the bottom of the app’s thread list. Then you can choose to either sign into an another account, sign out of all accounts, or switch between the accounts you’ve already signed into.
Other new features of note include a vacation auto-responder, which can now be set up from the mobile version of Gmail, and creating a special mobile signature that makes it clear you’re responding to an email from a mobile device.
To try the new features, simply go to mail.google.com on your smartphone or tablet’s browser.

Adobe Announces Flash 11 and AIR 3 for October

2011-09-22T10:48:00.000+05:30

Adobe today announced the availability of Flash 11 as well as AIR 3 on a variety of platforms, including Android, iOS (via AIR), BlackBerry Tablet OS, Mac OS and Windows, for early October. The big feature in the new version of Flash is the ability to run hardware-accelerated 3D graphics inside the player. Together with some improvements of Flash’s 2D capabilities, this should enable a 1,000 times faster rendering performance over Flash Player 10 and AIR 2. In layman’s terms, this means console-quality games on all platforms mentioned above.
AIR 3 brings support for native extensions, as well as captive runtime, meaning the developers can automatically pack AIR 3 with their apps which will simplify the installation process.
Other new features of note are rental and subscription options for content publishers, content protection across all supported platforms (including mobile platforms) and HD video quality across platforms.

Google Wallet: First Impressions

2011-09-21T11:24:00.000+05:30

-mashable

Google officially rolled out its Google Wallet mobile payment system Monday. We’ve been using a Sprint Nexus S 4G with Google Wallet for the past six weeks. Google Wallet is still in its infancy, but the system already shows a lot of promise.

Right now, Google Wallet only works with Citi-Mastercards and the Google Prepaid Card. Visa and Google announced a worldwide agreement to support the Visa payWave app, but it will still be up to the financial institutions and banks to add support.

Types of Mobile Payments

Over the past six weeks, I’ve used Google Wallet at a variety of locations around New York City. Thanks to its partnership with Mastercard, the NFC chip built into the Nexus S 4G works with any of the thousands of PayPass merchants. This means that if you are in a taxi cab or at Walgreens, you can just tap or wave your phone to make your payment.
The “tap and pay” method of payment is cool, but the Google Wallet feature that has the most potential is what Google is calling SingleTap. The SingleTap experience means that users can combine their coupons, loyalty cards and payment method all with one tap.
Google showed me a demo of the SingleTap payment using one of Macy’s POS terminals and the results were impressive. Using the Google Offers app that can save coupons directly to Google Wallet for Android, you can make a payment with your default payment type, apply the coupon you have saved and also apply the purchase to your loyalty card for that store. It’s a seamless process and it offers tangible value over fumbling through various cards.

Using Google Wallet

I’m the type of person that never goes anywhere without my phone. In fact, I’ve recently started using a phone case that doubles as a wallet. For me, the value proposition of not having to carry around various credit cards and instead just use my phone makes a lot of sense.

If you have never used NFC-enabled devices, it can take a bit of getting used to. The way Google Wallet is set up, it only works if the screen is on and unlocked. If you haven’t used your wallet within a certain period of time, you will also be prompted to enter an unlock code before using the app.
We’ve discussed the security behind NFC systems in the past, and Google has created its own Secure Element that adds an additional layer of security. Google hopes to make this Secure Element an accepted standard within the NFC space.
I liked the process of using Google Wallet. The one frustrating aspect was that my day-to-day credit card, my Bank of America Visa checkcard, couldn’t be tied directly to the system. I do have a Citi-Mastercard and that worked seamlessly with the system (after calling Citibank to get the card activated for use with Google Wallet), but having to use the Google Prepaid Card added an additional layer of complexity that just wasn’t worth the hassle unless I knew I was going to be buying something in advance.

Privacy, Google Offers & More

A big question that many would-be users are sure to have about Google Wallet is “does this mean Google knows what I buy.” The answer, at least right now, is no. Google does record local transactions on your phone, but these transactions are only identified by amount and location and are only viewable to you.
In practice, this means that if I look at my Google Wallet history, I only see a date, an amount and an approximate location. Google says that it is working to roll out a more robust digital receipt system in the future.
I appreciate the concern for my privacy — and I certainly do NOT want my purchases being tracked (aside from how they are already tracked with existing loyalty card programs) — but a big disadvantage, at least right now, of the Google Wallet is that receipts are still printed. When I can have access to all of my receipts within the Google Wallet app, that will make the system that much more useful.
The biggest opportunity we see, right now, is for Google Offers. Google Offers as an app is a nice way to browse for deals, specials and coupons. You can clip those offers digitally to Google Wallet and then show the coupons at merchants, whether they are NFC-enabled or not.
The potential for the deal discovery space, especially with the addition of geolocation, is something I have been waiting to see take off for nearly two years. Google is being very cautious to make its experience as low-friction as possible. However, with the right tweaking and perhaps with greater social integration, a la Google Places and Google+, this component could really separate Google from the pack.

This Is Just the First Step

With the announcement that American Express, Discover and Visa have all licensed their NFC technologies to Google, the next step is to get the thousands of financial institutions and merchants on-board with an NFC system.
Meanwhile, the NFC space is highly competitive. Visa has its own mobile wallet initiatives, as does American Express and PayPal. We’re at an interesting place in the market; we’re finally at a point where lots of activity is happening in this space and mainstream adoption seems closer than ever, yet these competing solutions complicate short-term adoption.
Google’s approach is to create a platform that it wants everyone else to build on. That’s the general message the company has presented to me in regard to Google Wallet. It wants things like the Secure Element and the way it is being used by point-of-sale systems.
Interestingly, this is a similar game that competitors are taking too. Visa, for example, is licensing its technology to Google while developing its own platform. When I spoke with Visa last month, the company told me that its goal was to be wherever consumers want to make payments. That’s a vision shared by many of the major players in the payments space.
Google Wallet’s challenge will be to differentiate itself in a burgeoning market. This is just the beginning of what is sure to be a major technology story within the next 18 months.
Let us know what you think of NFC, Google Wallet and the future of payments in the comments.

Automated Video Editing Site Makes Movie Magic Out of Raw Footage

2011-09-21T11:18:00.000+05:30

-mashable

Devices proffering video capture are nearing ubiquity. Hence, so too are lackluster, unedited video clips. Magisto to the rescue.

The Israel-based startup is launching to the public Tuesday with an automated video editing platform. Magisto’s promise: Give us your unedited footage, and we’ll give you a short movie that you can proudly show off to friends and family.
In fact, that’s nearly all there is to the site. You can upload up to 16 video files, add a title and soundtrack — select from available tracks or add your own — and then sit back and wait for an email to notify you that your mini movie is ready to be shared.
Magisto is not for the artistically-inclined, obsess-over-every-detail video editor. It’s for average Joes and Janes who don’t have the time or interest to bother with learning or using complicated editing software.
“The average person doesn’t edit videos,” says Magisto co-founder and CEO Oren Boiman. “So they either post long boring videos nobody wants to watch, or they save them on their hard drive — unwatched, unedited, unshared. We made Magisto to give people a way to take their videos and turn them into movies that are fun to watch and easy to share.”
The startup is keeping mum on its secret sauce, but does say that its proprietary technology is designed to automatically find the best footage in your videos. The technology is said to recognize faces, understand the difference between people, objects, pets and landscapes, and even capture the intent of the filmmaker.
Magisto’s magic formula, from what we’ve seen, works impressively well — so well, we’d like to see the startup release mobile applications for quicker uploads, and remove its branding at the end of finished movies.
Coinciding with Tuesday’s launch, Magisto is announcing that it has raised $5.5 million in a Series B round of financing.

Windows 8: The Top 4 Things You Should Know

2011-09-17T11:35:00.000+05:30

1) Windows 8 Works on Tablets, Laptops & Desktops

Perhaps the biggest difference between Windows 8 and its predecessors is that this OS is designed to work on not just laptops and desktops, but on tablets as well. Microsoft is introducing the Metro interface it popularized with Windows Phone into Windows 8. Users can access the Metro view or the familiar desktop view with a simple click or tap.
To work well on tablets, Windows 8 has been designed for touchscreens. More importantly, it has been designed to work on ARM-based processors. ARM technology runs most of the smartphones and tablets in the world. ARM chips are simply better suited for these smaller form factors due to their energy efficiency. Even the Apple A5, the chip that powers the iPad 2, contains a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU.
The result is that Windows 8 will work on almost any device you put it on. It works with keyboards and touchscreens, and it doesn’t matter if a device has an Intel, AMD or ARM processor. This makes Windows 8 a versatile OS in a world where the desktop no longer dominates.

2) Everything Is Faster on Windows 8

Windows 8 boasts vast performance improvements over its predecessors. The memory footprint has been reduced, the boot time has been decreased (Windows 8 boots up in less than eight seconds) and the Metro UI launches apps almost instantly. The OS also supports USB 3.0 and Hyper-V.
The result is a slick OS that’s as fast as iOS and Mac OS X Lion. Most people will be surprised by how quickly Windows 8 starts up or runs apps. We certainly were surprised.

3) Say Hello to the Windows App Store

Windows 8 will have an app store. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody. The rise of Apple’s iOS App Store has launched a wave of app store mania across the tech ecosystem. Microsoft also gave away its intent to launch an app store

Windows 8 Developer Preview Now Available for Download

2011-09-17T11:29:00.001+05:30

Mashable

Can’t wait to try out Windows 8 for yourself after Microsoft’s big unveiling of the new OS at yesterday’s Build Conference? Well, you needn’t wait any longer, as the developer preview version of the OS is now available for download. You can install it on a 32-bit or a 64-bit x86 machine. Activation is not required, but it’s far from a finalized version of the OS, so if you do install it, expect bugs and glitches. In any case, you should definitely check out Microsoft’s Windows 8 guide to get an idea of what you can expect from the next version of Windows. Also, check out our list of four most important new features in Windows 8.
Without further ado, the download is available here. If you choose to install it, please share your experiences in the comments!

Windows 8: Photos & Screenshots

Windows 8 Devices

Microsoft demonstrated a lot of Windows 8 devices, including tablet devices, at its Build conference in Anaheim, CA.

Windows 8 Devices: A Closer Look

These are some of the devices running Windows 8 at Microsoft's Build conference.

Windows 8: Lock Screen

"Your personalized lock screen shows you unread emails and other app notifications. The image shown here is a photo of the road leading to Mt. Cook National Park in New Zealand."
Courtesy of Microsoft

Windows 8: Start Screen

"See your apps and content in a glance on the start screen."
Courtesy of Microsoft

Windows 8: Files

"Pick the files you want to send or share from one place."
Courtesy of Microsoft

Windows 8: Internet Explorer

"Touch browsing is fast, fluid and intuitive."
Courtesy of Microsoft

Windows 8: Thumb

"The thumb keyboard feels natural and comfortable."
Courtesy of Microsoft

Windows 8: Touch Keyboard

"Large buttons help you type on the touch keyboard."
Courtesy of Microsoft

Windows division President Steven Sinofsky

Windows division President Steven Sinofsky takes the stage at Build.

Zuckerberg Converts His 5+ Million Facebook Fans into Subscribers

2011-09-17T11:16:00.000+05:30

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has accumulated more than 5 million subscribers, thanks to a simple trick.
On Wednesday, Facebook rolled out a Subscribe button. It allows a user to follow anybody’s public updates, regardless of whether they’re Facebook friends. This one-way subscription model is like following somebody on Twitter or adding somebody to a Google+ Circle.
While some users are worried about the privacy implications of the the opt-in feature, many are using it to subscribe to other users, particularly Mark Zuckerberg. In fact, the Facebook CEO is amassing subscribers at a breakneck pace.
Since Wednesday morning, Zuckerberg has acquired more than 5 million subscribers, and that number is rising by the minute. The count is rising so quickly that the site can’t even properly display his total subscriber count (check out the screenshot to see what we mean).
There’s a caveat to this, though. Five million people didn’t suddenly decide to start subscribing to the Facebook CEO’s feed. Instead, Zuckerberg converted fans of his old Facebook Page (http://facebook.com/markzuckerberg) into subscribers of his personal page (http://facebook.com/zuck). A cached version of Zuckerberg’s fan page shows that he had 5,203,153 fans just before he made the switch. That’s around the same amount of people now subscribed to his account.
We believe that number will continue to rise as Facebook migrates the rest of Zuckerberg’s fans to his personal account and new people start subscribing to him. The social network has been converting many fan pages into subscribers in the past day and plans to launch a do-it-yourself conversion tool in the next few weeks.

New York Times & WNYC Launch SchoolBook to Foster Education Community

2011-09-13T18:45:00.000+05:30

On Wednesday, The New York Times and public radio station WNYC launched SchoolBook, a website to provide news, data and discussion about New York City schools.
The site aims to increase communication and understanding among parents, teachers, administrators and students. As many school websites are rudimentary and infrequently updated, SchoolBook’s creators hope to fill a gaping hole. It creates a page for each of NYC’s 2,500 public, charter and private schools with student population information, community discussion threads and more.
“In conversations with parents, principals and teachers, we kept hearing how fragmented the conversation was,” said Tyson Evans, an assistant editor on The Times‘s interactive news desk who helped develop the project. “We’re hoping they’ll see this as kind of a place to explore.”
If it’s numbers SchoolBook users are looking to explore, they’ll have plenty to discover. The site’s extensive database is comprised of information from thousands of public records from numerous sources, including city and state departments and non-profit organizations, Evans said. Much of the information was already housed in internal search and reporting tools for Times journalists built by Robert Gebeloff, a computer assisted reporter who specializes in education.
The challenge for SchoolBook, like many numbers-driven reports, was how to present the information in a useful and easy-to-understand way. Evans said he and his team wanted the site to provide more overall context than a tool that produces charts and visualizations. They chose to standardize the data and group scores into three categories: performance, satisfaction and diversity.
SchoolBook’s developers created custom software for the site with Ruby on Rails and were ambitious about writing data validators and imports. This will help ease the process of updating the database when schools come out with new information.
Some may argue SchoolBook is ranking schools based on scores. Gebeloff wrote an extensive guide to the site’s methodology, in which he says, “What we have not done, quite purposely, is grade or rate schools.”
The numbers are only part of the story. It’s the site’s ambitions for building community around education as an entity that sets it apart. Users are asked to log in with Facebook, an experiment The Times wanted to try to out with a standalone site. “We’re curious about the next phase of web identity,” Evans said.
It will be interesting to see how this affects conversation, especially as education can be a sensitive topic. With the controversy about how students and teachers should interact on Facebook, the single sign-in method will likely see challenges and complaints.
Participants can contribute on individual school pages in three ways: ask a question, post content (photos, student newspaper articles, etc.) or suggest an idea. This could be particularly useful for parents considering a new school for their student. If the school has an active community page where the user feels comfortable contributing, it may shed light on whether it’s a good fit.
The Times and WNYC worked with a handful of schools when brainstorming for the site. Evans expects those communities will lead the charge on SchoolBook and it will grow from there.
“We have ideas for how conversations will work but we’ll ultimately be learning from how the community uses it,” Evans said. “The more activity we can see at individual schools, the more we’ll be convinced it was the right project.”
Times and WNYC education reporters will be regularly updating the site with original articles, discussion threads and aggregated news posts from local sources GothamSchools and Inside Schools. Mary Ann Giordano, the site’s editor, will manage content from contributing writers, which may include teacher diaries, Evans said. The news and community aspects of the site were built on WordPress.
Overall, SchoolBook is leading the way in building community around the topic of education. Though projects like The Opportunity Gap from ProPublica and The Washington Post‘s D.C. Schools Scorecard were pioneers in data collection and presentation, they do little to bring readers together to share content and engage in debate. As Evans said, the purpose SchoolBook provides is up to its users — but it’s the site’s empowerment of its community members that will give people a reason to visit.

New iPhone 5 Clue: Will It Have a 4-Inch Screen?

2011-09-06T18:14:00.000+05:30

-Mashable

As we get closer to the rumored release date of the iPhone 5, yet another clue about its true nature has surfaced today.
Here’s a new set of extrapolations, taken to a speculative conclusion by our friends at MacRumors. When they snagged a couple of publicly available third-party cases that purport to fit the iPhone 5, they noticed that the case is so much wider that it strongly suggests a 4-inch screen on the new iPhone, larger than the iPhone 4′s 3.5″ display.
This is a different case from the iPhone 5 case we showed you yesterday, which was a soft case with closed ends that also suggested that the iPhone 5 will be significantly wider and thinner than its predecessor, also pointing to the possibility of a 4-inch screen.
MacRumors did more precise measurements with this particular case, noting that while the iPhone 4 is 2.31 inches wide, with its 3.5″ screen measuring 1.95 inches wide, an iPhone fitting into this case would have a display measuring a significantly wider 2.24 inches. So if this indeed is the final case design, the iPhone will have a 4-inch screen.
However, given the secretive nature of Apple and the possibility of fake case specifications passed around to various manufacturers accused of leaks in the past, we can’t be sure of the dimensions of the iPhone 5 just yet. This is just one piece of info, but add this to all the other iPhone 5 clues, and most are pointing to the same thing: As the evidence mounts, it points to a wider, thinner iPhone 5 with a larger screen and tapered bottom.
I think the current iPhone’s 3.5″ screen is way too small, and I would like to see a display that’s even larger than 4 inches. I think Apple will be enlarging the iPhone’s screen, to get closer to the even-larger screen sizes of many of its competitors. What do you think? To be sure, we’ll have to wait till later this month for the alleged introduction of the iPhone 5, with the rumored release in October.

Wiki Leaks New Release

2011-09-01T10:47:00.000+05:30

Find Home Design Inspiration With Houzz’s 170,000+ Photo Library

2011-09-01T10:37:00.001+05:30

-Mashable

Clipping photos from magazines seems like an antiquated brainstorming method for covering blank walls or redoing a bedroom.
Houzz is bringing the process into the digital age by creating a database of more than 170,000 home design photos sorted by room, style and geographic location. Users can add photos to their own virtual “ideabooks” or look through curated volumes for inspiration.
Houzz combines browsing magazines with researching designers. Eager designers can show off their work by creating profiles on the site. Users can then contact professionals with questions or job offers.
About 25,000 interior designers, architects and general contractors have used the site to display their work.
“We’re sort of the middle man,” Head of Business Development Katherine Nannizzi says. “We’re giving the tools to the home design professionals to upload their portfolios, and hopefully giving the tools to users to be able to search through this database of photos, find what they’re looking for, and connect with the professionals if they so choose.”
The site started as the pet project of husband-and-wife team Alon Cohen and Adi Tatarko. As the startup raised a $2 million round of funding last fall, it launched an iPad app and began working to monetize its photo service.
Because each photo on Houzz is, as Nannizzi puts it, “tagged 10 ways to Sunday,” it’s easy to figure out what type of products individual users are interested in purchasing. This makes it a great platform for advertisers — a revenue stream the startup has recently started pursuing.
Houzz has also started tagging individual items in photos with descriptions and a link to where they can be purchased. Right now, the links don’t bring in revenue, but it’s conceivable Houzz could one day collect referral fees.
Charging designers is another potential source of revenue, although Nannizzi says the plan is to keep the site’s current services free. This makes sense, as designer content is largely what distinguishes Houzz from other online home design tools.
“We don’t have a lot of competitors who are working directly with designers,” Nannizzi says. “Technology is really disrupting a lot of word of mouth industries because it is allowing them to have a bigger platform, and this is definitely one area where you see that.”
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, kourafas5

Samsung Announces Three New Bada 2.0 Smartphones

2011-08-31T11:09:00.000+05:30

-Mashable

It seems that Samsung has decided to let us in on all its secrets ahead of the IFA trade show, held in Berlin September 2-7. After LTE versions of Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab 8.9, the company announced a trio of Bada-powered handsets: Wave 3, Wave M and Wave Y. All three smartphones are powered by Bada 2.0. The most powerful device in the bunch is Wave 3, which resides in a 9.9 mm metal case and sports a 1.4 GHz CPU, a 4-inch VGA Super AMOLED screen, a 5-megapixel camera, 3 GB of memory and a 32 GB microSD slot.
Samsung Wave M also has a metallic body, but its specifications are far less impressive: a 832 MHz CPU, a 3.65-inch HVGA screen, 150 MB of storage memory (again, with a 32 GB microSD slot).
Finally, there’s the entry-level Wave Y, sporting a 3.2-inch HVGA screen, an 832 MHz CPU and a 2-megapixel camera.
All three devices support Samsung’s new free messaging service ChatON. Price and availability are unknown at this point, but all three smartphones will be on display at Samsung’s stand at IFA in Berlin.

Windows Explorer 8 Gets Ribbon Interface

2011-08-31T11:06:00.000+05:30

-Mashable

Microsoft’s file management application Windows Explorer will get a new interface in its next iteration, the company revealed in a blog post.

First revealed in April, the new Explorer will be a part of the upcoming new desktop OS from Microsoft, Windows 8, which is still in early stages of development. The ribbon interface, however, is very well known from Microsoft Office 2007 onward as well as some Windows 7 applications such as WordPad.
Now it’s coming to Windows Explorer too, along with a bunch of other changes and improvements. Microsoft’s goals are threefold: to optimize Explorer for file management tasks and secure a streamlined command experience while respecting Explorer’s heritage (meaning trying not to anger millions of users who are used to the “old”-style Explorer).
Interestingly enough, Microsoft’s own research (detailed in the very long blog post) shows that almost no one is using the menu bar in Windows Explorer; hence the need for a change.
Personally, I haven’t liked most of Microsoft’s UI changes in the past couple of years, including the Ribbon; my file management app of choice is Total Commander, a shareware tool that mimics the look and feel of the ancient Norton Commander, while adding dozens of advanced options and features.
With that in mind, I’m not sure that adding more stuff to the menu bar is a good idea; I’d rather see Microsoft simplify the UI even more. The ribbon will take up more screen real estate and add a bunch of prominent options that will confuse new users and probably won’t be of much help to advanced users.
The folks at Microsoft are aware of that and address some of these points in the post. The new interface, Microsoft claims, “exposes hidden features,” “provides keyboard shortcuts for every command in the ribbon” and “provides UI customization with the quick access toolbar.”
As far as screen real estate is concerned, Microsoft claims that through some clever design optimizations — even with the new, taller ribbon menu — the next Windows Explorer will allow the user to see more files on the screen than the current Windows 7 version of Explorer.
Of course, we cannot give any final judgement until we see the finished product; right now, Windows 8 is slated to hit the market in 2012.
Based on Microsoft’s detailed insight into the new Explorer, what do you think? Will it be an improvement compared to the old Explorer? What do you think about the Ribbon interface in the context of a file management tool? Please, share your opinions in the comments.

HOW TO: Protect Your Laptop In Case of Theft

2011-08-29T11:30:00.000+05:30

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Today-Trends regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.
Our laptops often contain a lot of sensitive data for work and personal use, and for most people, the thought of losing all that information is more than a little frightening. The sudden, unexpected loss (or worse, theft) of expensive equipment and delicate documents doesn’t have to be a paralyzing experience, however. Here are some quick tips outlining steps you should take should your laptop become lost. We’ve also added a few handy precautionary measures you can take beforehand, so your laptop has a better chance of making it home safe if the two of you become separated.

1. File a Police Report

While it may seem obvious, many people don’t bother to file police reports on lost property under the assumption that there’s little law enforcement can do. While this may or may not be the case (depending on your situation), contacting the police gets the word out that your laptop is missing. Even if the police can’t find your missing MacBook, stolen computer hardware is entered into a national database, so if someone tries to sell your laptop, there’s a good chance it will raise a red flag when they do, even if they’re across the country.
If you live near a university, be sure and tell the campus police about your missing laptop as well, and don’t forget about alerting any private security in the area where you were working when the laptop disappeared.

2. Inform Local Repair and Pawn Shops

Tell any pawn or repair shops in your area about your missing computer. Be sure and give them serial numbers and describe any identifiable features, such as scratches in the case or worn paint. Most reputable pawn or repair shops will check with the local police department before purchasing used laptops, but it never hurts to make them aware of your plight, either.

3. Contact Your Insurance Agent

Many insurance policies for homeowners and some renters will cover stolen computer hardware, even if the item wasn’t taken from your residence. If your laptop was stolen out of your vehicle, its loss could be covered by your automobile insurance. If your laptop is company property, it is most definitely going to be covered by your company’s insurance policy. Get in touch with your insurance agent and inquire about filing a claim so that you can recover some of the cost of replacing your laptop. You’ll likely need that police report to do this, but your insurance agent can help you with the specifics.

4. Continue Spreading the Word

Get the word out to friends, colleagues and people in the community by letting your Twitter followers and Facebook friends know your laptop is missing. Post notices to community classifieds like Craigslist and other local directories. You may even want to put up fliers in your local grocery store or take out an ad in the local newspaper. If you can afford to do so, consider offering a reward for your laptop’s return. Offering a reward that’s similar to the laptop’s actual value may not save you a lot of money on replacing hardware, but it may help ensure that your data is returned safely.

5. Remain Vigilant

Once you’ve filed all the paperwork, got the word out to local businesses, tweeted about your lost laptop and placed an ad in the lost and found section on Craigslist, it may be tempting to sit back and let fate decide what happens next. Don’t give up, though — remain proactive. Check those lost and found ads yourself — but go beyond that, too. Many laptop thieves will attempt to sell the laptop online, because it’s harder to trace, so keep an eye on sites like eBay and Craigslist. If you were at a place of business when your laptop vanished, check in with them every few days. Keep an eye peeled to the local paper or community bulletin boards. Your laptop may turn up, and if it does, you need to be aware so you can claim it.

How To Prevent Theft and Protect Data

By taking the steps above, you maximize the chances that your laptop will be returned to you, whether it was stolen or simply misplaced, but what about precautionary measures? Here are a few things you can do beforehand to help make sure your laptop finds its way home and that your data stays protected.

1. Install Prey

Prey is a monitoring application that you can activate remotely should your laptop become missing or stolen. Prey then “calls home” to the Prey server (or your own server, depending upon configuration) once the laptop connects to the Internet. A Prey report gives the IP address, geolocation (complete with map) and even a screenshot from your webcam. You can also use Prey to lock your device to prevent others from accessing it.

2. Encrypt Sensitive Data

Personal data such as credit card, financial and medical records should always be encrypted — this is doubly true if your computer is portable. Encrypting your data will help to ensure that your identity doesn’t get stolen along with your laptop and helps protect you from any liability regarding the loss of sensitive work files.
There are a number of good encryption tools out there, and many modern operating systems have encryption options baked in. One popular, free encryption tool for Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms is TrueCrypt. Cross-platform and free, TrueCrypt is an affordable way to protect your personal files.

3. Make Your Laptop Easy to Return

Consider placing a prominently named text file on your desktop (e.g. REWARD_IF_FOUND.TXT) containing your contact information and any information about a reward, if you can afford to offer one. These details will make it easier for anyone who’s stumbled across your missing computer to return it to you without the need to go digging through personal data. It may even cause a remorseful thief to have a change of heart — especially if you can provide a way for the laptop to be returned anonymously.

4. Back Up Your Data Frequently

You should already be backing up your data on a regular basis to protect against hardware or software failure, but if you’re not, the possibility of a missing laptop is just one more motivator to do so. If you’re on the go with your laptop a lot, you may want to take advantage of online backup services like Dropbox. If you choose to backup to an external hard drive, don’t store the drive in your laptop bag! While this is fine for protecting you from technical issues, having your backup hard drive stolen along with your laptop doesn’t do you any good at all.

5. Consider an Engraving

If you’re serious about hanging onto your laptop, consider having your company or name and a piece of contact information such as your email address or phone number engraved into a prominent location on your laptop. This greatly decreases its resale value and makes it obvious who the laptop belongs to. Engraving is a reasonably good deterrent against theft and provides just one more way of letting the finder of your laptop know who to return it to. Of course the downside to this is that it makes the laptop harder for you to sell as well, unless you replace the engraved portion of the case.

Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple

2011-08-26T12:36:00.001+05:30

Steve Jobs, co-founder and two-time CEO of Apple, offered his resignation via a letter to the company’s board Wednesday. He will be succeeded by Tim Cook. Shares of Apple fell by as much as 7% in after-hours trading.

Even for a man who likes his product launches planned in minute detail, Steve Jobs’ exit from the role he has inhabited for the last 14 years was meticulously well-executed. Jobs’ resignation letter hit the wires several hours after the New York Stock Exchange had closed for the day, allowing major investors time to digest the news. The letter was direct, simple and moving, as we’ve come to expect from Jobs’ public pronouncements. But most importantly, it made clear that this moment had been planned for some time. The letter was immediately followed by a press release from Apple, which revealed that Tim Cook had already been installed as CEO by the board.
And that “new role” Jobs referred to in his letter? Chairman of the Board. He wouldn’t actually be leaving the company. He would, as his letter said, still be “contributing to [Apple]‘s success.”
In short, it’s hard to imagine a smoother transition to the Cook era at Apple. And that reflects the fact that not a lot is actually changing here. Let the markets react how they may, and let analysts criticize Apple for not announcing its succession earlier; this, as we all know, is not a company that likes to launch anything ahead of time.
Unofficially, of course, we’ve been in the Cook era for some time. Tim Cook, the son of a shipyard worker, has been running Apple’s day-to-day operations as COO since 2007. He served as temporary Apple CEO in 2004 and 2009, while Jobs underwent treatment for pancreatic cancer and had a liver transplant respectively. And he has been effectively occupying the top job again this year, since Jobs took medical leave in January.
Part of Jobs’ business genius is that he has set up a company that can run like a well-oiled machine without him at the helm — which is, after all, the ultimate goal of any CEO. Jonathan Ive, Apple’s maestro of product design, will ensure that future Apple devices look and feel as beautiful as ever. Senior VP Scott Forstall is the software guru for iPhone and iPad. Cook makes the trains run on time — and given that he left then-secure Compaq for then-moribund Apple in 1998, his instincts have a good track record.
The only question mark truly hanging over Apple: How will Cook handle its world-famous product announcements? Nobody can anchor a keynote like Jobs, certainly not the understated Cook or the overly enthusiastic marketing chief Phil Schiller. If Apple (and the world) is lucky, Jobs will be well enough to launch the iPhone 5 this fall. And if not, he’s certainly given his replacement plenty of time to prepare for the spotlight.

Cheaper iPhone 4 Coming Within Weeks [REPORT]

2011-08-25T16:52:00.000+05:30

Mashable

A cheaper version of iPhone 4, sporting only 8 GB of memory, is slated to hit the market within several weeks, Reuters reports citing two unnamed industry sources.

Currently, the iPhone 4 is available with either 16 or 32 GB of storage space.

Although details are scarce, this report seems to be different from rumors claiming Apple is planning to release a significantly cheaper and pared down version of the iPhone. Reuters’ sources, which are tied to Korean manufacturers which produce parts for the iPhone, only mention the reduced storage memory in an otherwise standard iPhone 4, which will reduce the device’s price but is unlikely to provide for a drastic price cut.

Reuters also claims that the next generation iPhone will be launched at the end of September.

The launch date of iPhone 5 has been juggled with more than ever in the device’s history. We’ve seen rumors flying back and forth, some pinning the release date to the beginning of October, and the others claiming Apple will launch it in late September. This latest report tips the scale to the latter variant, but we wouldn’t call it a safe bet.

Difference between Government and Activist drafts(Anna Hazarae)-Wikipedia

2011-08-19T20:43:00.000+05:30

Difference between Draft Lokpal Bill 2010 and Jan Lokpal Bill
Draft Lokpal Bill (2010)	Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's Ombudsman Bill)
Lokpal will have no power to initiate suo motu action or receive complaints of corruption from the general public. It can only probe complaints forwarded by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.	Lokpal will have powers to initiate suo moto action or receive complaints of corruption from the general public.
Lokpal will only be an Advisory Body with a role limited to forwarding reports to a "Competent Authority".	Lokpal will have the power to initiate prosecution of anyone found guilty.
Lokpal will have no police powers and no ability to register an FIR or proceed with criminal investigations.	Lokpal will have police powers as well as the ability to register FIRs.
The CBI and Lokpal will be unconnected.	Lokpal and the anti corruption wing of the CBI will be one independent body.
Punishment for corruption will be a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of up to 7 years.	Punishments will be a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of up to life imprisonment.

Detailed

The following table details differences between the Government and activist backed versions.

Issue	The Jan Lokpal Bill	Government's Lokpal Bill
Prime Minister	Can be investigated with permission of seven member Lokpal bench.	PM cannot be investigate by Lokpal.
Judiciary	Can be investigated, though high level members may be investigated only with permission of a seven member Lokpal bench.	Judiciary is exempt and will be covered by a separate "judicial accountability bill".
MPs	Can be investigated with permission of seven member Lokpal bench.	Can be investigated, but their conduct within Parliament, such as voting, cannot be investigated.
Lower bureaucracy	All public servants would be included.	Only Group A officers will be covered.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)	The CBI will be merged into the Lokpal.	The CBI will remain a separate agency.
Removal of Lokpal members and Chair	Any person can bring a complaint to the Supreme Court, who can then recommend removal of any member to the President.	Any "aggrieved party" can raise a complaint to the President, who will refer the matter to the CJI.
Removal of Lokpal staff and officers	Complaints against Lokpal staff will be handled by independent boards set-up in each state, composed of retired bureaucrats, judges, and civil society members.	Lokpal will conduct inquiries into its own behavior.
Lokayukta	Lokakyukta and other local/state anti-corruption agency would remain in place.	All state anti-corruption agencies would be closed and responsibilities taken over by centralized Lokpal.
Whistleblower protection	Whistleblowers are protected law.	No protection granted to whistleblowers.
Punishment for corruption	Lokpal can either directly impose penalties, or refer the matter to the courts. Penalties can include removal from office, imprisonment, and recovery of assets from those who benefited from the corruption.	Lokpal can only refer matters to the courts, not take any direct punitive actions. Penalties remain equivalent to those in current law.
Investigatory powers	Lokpal can obtain wiretaps, issue rogatory letters, and recruit investigating officers. Cannot issue contempt orders.	Lokpal can issue contempt orders, and has the ability to punish those in contempt. No authority to obtain wiretaps, issue rogatory letters, or recruit investigating officers.
False, frivolous and vexatious complaints	Lokpal can issue fines for frivolous complaints (including frivolous complaints against Lokpal itself), with a maximum penalty of 1 lakh..	Court system will handle matters of frivolous complaints. Courts can issue fines of Rs25,000 to 2 lakh.
Scope	All corruption can be investigated.	Only high-level corruption can be investigated.

Swiss bank released the result of indian black money-1,456 Lac Crores

2011-08-19T14:37:00.000+05:30

Swiss bank released the result of indian black money.india has more black money among the total of all over country.

Anna Hazare says bring back the Black Money.

Do u know what will

happen if

1,456 Lac Crores comes back.

1. India Financialy No.1.

2. Each district will get 60000 crores & 1 village will get 100 Crores.

3. No need to pay taxes for next 20 yrs.

4. Petrol 25 Rs, Diesel 15 Rs, Milk 8 Rs.

8 Tips for Small Business Homepage Design

2011-08-16T11:27:00.000+05:30

-Mashable

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

I hate to dash one of your childhood maxims, but people do judge books by their covers. And in web terms, your book cover is your website’s homepage. For small businesses especially, your homepage is your storefront, your calling card, your pick-up line.
Here are eight tips to de-cheese your small business homepage. Please share links to your innovative homepages in the comments below.

1. Keep It Simple

Many established and large-scale businesses can afford to clutter their homepages. They’ve conditioned repeat users, who are able to sift through the ads, widgets and thumbnails to access the information they need. Websites like Amazon and The New York Times have instantly recognizable and easily navigable formats, and frankly, they can afford to hire designers who’ve studied user/site interaction as if it were astrophysics.
Therefore, as a small business owner, keep your homepage simple, like Sheepshead Design. The page should communicate your product or service either with a stand-out image or a simple slogan. More than anything, your homepage should elicit a positive reaction from your visitors, not confuse them with flash and clutter. Think of your homepage in terms of cities: It should be an Oahu, not a Las Vegas.

2. Be Scroll-Conservative

I don’t know about you, but I panic when the scroll bar on my browser shrinks faster than the speed of light -- it means a page is struggling to load its endless stream of information or images. You don’t want that to be the first impression of your site. (Note Olive & Myrtle's healthy-sized scrollbar above.)
Instead, link to separate category or channel pages that will include subsequent information. Although your homepage can create opportunities for product promotion or special offers, it should read less like a 20-page Applebee’s menu and more like a classy prix-fixe place card.

3. Display the Right Links

Although it’s advisable to keep your homepage simple, you’ll still need to include the links to relevant information. A good rule of thumb is: about, product, news. In other words, people need to know what your business is all about, how they can participate and what's current (see Narien Teas' site.)
Jesse Thomas, founder and CEO of design agency Jess3, suggests keeping your mobile site in mind as well. "The mobile site is going to have its own special subset list of priorities for the homepage -- less on the product stuff and more on the resource information," he says. "The mobile site needs to be minimal because ... most people who use their mobile phones are using them for utility, not for prolonged browsing."

4. Keep Featured Products Above the Fold

Okay, we learned this one from Etsy, where vendors can choose which eye-catching products to include on their Etsy storefront banner. Your homepage should reflect the same shameless self-promotion, like John Murphy Photographs.
Display products you’re proud of or photographs that pop off the screen. It’s Curb Appeal 101 -- you don’t see a bakery put out last week’s boring, plain cookies. So, display your own freshest basked good for an alluring homepage-drool effect.

5. Make It Current

Some businesses wish to promote their social media outlets in ways other than widgets. If you and your business are active on Twitter or Facebook, like Brooklyn Brew Shop for example, many website hosts offer a live feed of your recent posts, or you can make your own widget on Twitter and embed the HTML on your site. That feed will update on your homepage every time you tweet or share.
However, if you plan to take advantage of these widgets, you must stay active on Twitter. There’s nothing worse than users seeing that the last time you tweeted was two weeks ago. Customers won’t stick around if you’re not taking the time for them.

6. Create a Homepage that Reflects Your Physical Theme

The most successful marketing reflects brand consistency. Select a design, template, color scheme, logo, etc. very carefully. You not only want these elements to reflect your product or service, you also need them to remain consistent across all platforms.
Especially if you have a physical storefront or a public presence, make sure that distribution materials -- like business cards or flyers -- reflect your customer’s virtual experience. Bonus points if your shop’s interior (or in Nom Nom Truck’s case, exterior) mimics the website.

7. Attach a Featured Image to Your Homepage

I have attempted multiple times to share a website on Facebook (and now Google+) only to find that a thumbnail image would not attach alongside it. When people link to your site, especially to your homepage, make sure its name pairs with a compelling image -- the click-through rates will be much better. The image should be easily discernable in a small size, so it may not do, for example, to feature an intricate product or an image containing lengthy copy. Put An Egg On It ezine provides a perfect example.
It may be difficult for a business to conceive of an image if it offers an abstract service. Therefore, make sure a logo or an avatar pops up alongside your link. Most site hosts offer this option automatically, otherwise you may have to reconfigure some code or settings to ensure your links are properly ornamented.

8. Be Quirky!

Small businesses today are reinventing the design wheel by having fun with their customers. This could entail anything from Lolcats to an interactive Flash plug-in homepage.
Salt Films' website (seen above) uses a giant hand to select “salt shaker” links. The artist behind French beat-box website Incredibox encourages users to interact with kooky avatars. Design of Today is a design firm whose homepage advertises its potential with colorful animated links.

Google Buys Motorola for $12.5 Billion

2011-08-16T11:21:00.000+05:30

-Mashable

Google announced on Monday morning that it will acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion — a 63% premium on what the smartphone maker’s shares closed at on Friday.

The acquisition, Google said in a a statement, “will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem.” The company will continue to be run as a separate business.
Buying a hardware company is an unusual move for Google.

The State of Mobile Malware

2011-08-13T14:55:00.000+05:30

-Mashable
The growth of mobile malware has skyrocketed in the past two years.
Malware specific to Android devices in particular has been making headlines as of late. In March, Google removed 21 apps from the Android Market after the blog Android Police alerted the company that the apps contained malware and were being used to collect user data. Google also invoked a kill switch, which automatically deleted the malicious apps from users’ phones, without any action necessary from the users.
Just one month later, Skype revealed that its Android app was vulnerable if a user had downloaded malicious software to his or her device.
It isn’t just Android devices that are vulnerable, though — all mobile devices are at risk. With mobile malware becoming an increasing risk, it’s important to be educated about the risks and how you can protect your mobile device.
We came across this helpful infographic created by software company Bullguard that explains the current state of mobile malware.Has your mobile device ever been affected by malware? Let us know in the comments.

How Students Use Technology [INFOGRAPHIC]

2011-08-11T10:21:00.000+05:30

-Mashable

It’s clear that today’s students rely heavily on electronic devices even when they’re not incorporated in the classroom. In one survey of college students, 38% said they couldn’t even go 10 minutes without switching on some sort of electronic device.

But how students are using their devices, how technology is affecting their educational experience, and what effect it has on their well-being are questions that are harder to answer. In the infographic below, online higher education database Onlineeducation.net has summed up some of the existing research on these points.

Facebook, Google & Apple Not Trusted in Mobile Payments [STUDY]-Mashable

2011-08-11T10:15:00.000+05:30

When dealing with mobile payments, consumers trust credit card companies — such as Visa, MasterCard and American Express — over technology brands, including Facebook, Google and Apple, according to a recent study conducted by Ogilvy & Mather, an international advertising, marketing and public relations agency. A number of mobile payment technologies have been developed over the past few years, including Square and Google Wallet. And Paypal recently demoed a new version of its mobile app that will include near field communication technology, enabling Android users to initiate payments with one another by tapping their devices together.
In the study, 500 U.S. online users were asked to select as many brands as they wanted in answering the question, “Who would you trust with mobile payments?”
Above are the results of the study.

World’s First Glasses-Free 3D Laptop Comes With Health Risks-Mashable

2011-08-11T10:10:00.000+05:30

Toshiba announced the Qosmio F755 3D laptop on Tuesday, describing it as “the world’s first laptop capable of displaying glasses-free 3D and 2D content at the same time on one screen.”
The press release proudly featured the laptop specs in the body of the text, but other seemingly minute details — such as potential health risks of 3D viewing, in this case — were kept in the footnotes. One footnote stated:

“Due to the possible impact on vision development, viewers of 3D video images should be age 6 or above. Children and teenagers may be more susceptible to health issues associated with viewing in 3D and should be closely supervised to avoid prolonged viewing without rest. Some viewers may experience a seizure or blackout when exposed to certain flashing images or lights contained in certain 3D television pictures or video games. Anyone who has had a seizure, loss of awareness, or other symptom linked to an epileptic condition, or has a family history of epilepsy, should contact a health care provider before using the 3D function.”

That disclaimer footnote then points to another more lengthy disclaimer on Toshiba’s website entitled, “3D Viewing: Important Safety Information,” in which another list of health risks continues. The first point on the list is especially poignant:

“If you or any viewer experiences the following symptoms or any other discomfort from viewing 3D video images, stop viewing and contact your health care provider: Convulsions, Eye or muscle twitching, Loss of awareness, Altered vision, Involuntary movements, Disorientation, Eye Strain, Nausea/Vomiting, Dizziness, Headaches, Fatigue.”

Priced at $1,700, the laptop will be available in mid-August. One can’t help but wonder if consumers will be paying attention to these small details relating to their health when deciding to purchase the latest in technological wonders.

Twitter photo sharing goes live for all users- Digital Trends

2011-08-10T12:49:00.000+05:30

Twitter photo sharing goes live for all users

By Mike Flacy | Digital Trends

Announced during June of this year, Twitter rolled out the ability to upload photos to all users today. When users log into the Web version of Twitter, they will be greeted with a prompt that directs users to click the new camera icon underneath the messaging box to choose a photo to upload. Twitter has put a 3MB limit on the size of photos and photos immediately appear in thumbnail mode before a user completes the message. The user also has the ability to delete the picture before sending the tweet. All images are being hosted by Photobucket and will show up as “pics.twitter.com” links within the Twitter feed.

Users also have the ability to add the pictures to Twitter’s search function by adding hashtags to the tweet. Users can also comment on photos by simply replying to the tweet containing the photo link. At the moment, only Web users can take advantage of photo uploading. Twitter had yet to add support for the mobile version of Twitter, although iPhone users will be able to send photos to Twitter through the photo application after the next, major iOS update. Also in the works, Twitter is going to provide support for photo galleries designed to gather and syndicate all photos that a user has uploaded on Twitter and third party services like TwitPic.

Photographers will be interested to learn that all EXIF data, information that identifies what equipment was used to take a picture as well as the settings used, is stripped from the photos after uploading. If a Twitter user is concerned about photo privacy, switching to a protected account keeps the public from viewing the images. In addition, deleting photos from a public stream removes the photos from Twitter search. Photos can also be flagged if deemed illegal or of a sensitive nature.

Skype Details Its Future With Microsoft And Facebook- Forbes

2011-08-10T12:48:00.000+05:30

Skype Details Its Future With Microsoft And Facebook

By Elizabeth Woyke | Forbes

What does Skype’s future look like? According to the company’s vice president, a lot of integration with Microsoft products, including Windows Phones and Xbox consoles, and a boatload of telephony-related releases with Facebook.
The Internet communications provider is still waiting for European regulators to approve its pending acquisition by Microsoft. (The U.S. Department of Justice okayed the deal in June.) Skype says it expects to receive European approval before the end of the year. In the meantime, while the two companies aren’t yet formally collaborating on products, they are thinking about them.

Clash @ Delhi

2011-08-10T12:45:00.001+05:30

Delhi:The BJP activists were raising slogans demanding the removal of Dikshit and on price rise issue.

Violence Across Britan.

2011-08-10T12:44:00.000+05:30

London: Worst unrest in two decades spreads to major cities, police helpless; question mark over int'l sporting events....

Gold Price Increase @ Rocket Speed.

2011-08-10T12:38:00.000+05:30

Gold price increase in tremondus way as the people investing in Shares in Gold, all shares are going down but gold price rise highly due to this investment of share market in gold.