Google Glass gets new sightseeing app

Google Glass, a spectacle-like computing device drawing lots of attention, can serve as an automated tour guide with the help of a new application from a little-known start-up hatched within the Internet's most powerful company. 

The app, called ``Field Trip,'' is being released Wednesday by Google-owned Niantic Labs for the 10,000 people currently testing an early model of Glass known as the Explorer edition. It becomes just the ninth app to be approved by Google Inc. for use on Glass during an experimental phase. The device's mass market release is expected early next year. 

Other Glass apps, or ``Glassware,'' are from The New York Times, Facebook, Twitter, Path, Evernote, CNN, Tumblr and Elle magazine. Google is working with developers to add even more apps to the line-up. 

Once given permission, Field Trip tracks a user's whereabouts so it can automatically deliver alerts and informational snapshots about nearby historical landmarks, tourist attractions, restaurants and other local merchants in neighborhoods all over the world. The descriptions of locations flagged by Field Trip are pulled from more than 130 online sources. 

A version of Field Trip built for smartphones already has won a following. Field Trip apps for the iPhone and Android-powered phones have been installed on more than 500,000 devices since their release nearly a year ago. 

Field Trip creator Niantic Labs is a Google division set up to operate as an independent startup. It is staffed by a few dozen people within a sprawling company that generates more than $50 billion in annual revenue. 

Google CEO Larry Page approved the unorthodox arrangement as a way to retain John Hanke, who had been overseeing the team responsible for the company's widely used mapping products. 

Much of the mapping technology came from Google's 2004 acquisition of Keyhole, a startup run by Hanke. As Google grew larger, Hanke became eager to return to his entrepreneurial roots and was planning to strike out on his own again in late 2010 until Page convinced him that he should build his next project within Google. 

Having already made it easier for people to get to where they want to go with Google Maps, Hanke was interested in coming up with ways to educate people about their destinations. 

``I had this anxiety knowing that there was a lot of useful information on the Web about local sights that wasn't showing up on maps,'' Hanke, 46, said. 

The quest to dig up more pearls of knowledge inspired Hanke to christen his startup Niantic, which refers to a whaling vessel that came to San Francisco during the Gold Rush of 1849, only to be abandoned. The ship was briefly converted into a hotel that later burned down. The remains of the original ship were later found buried near a current San Francisco landmark, the Transamerica Pyramid. 

The Niantic name is meant to serve as a reminder that ``there is lot of cool stuff beneath the surface of things,'' Hanke said. 

The former location of the old Niantic ship and hotel isn't hidden because it's designated as California Historical Landmark. Ironically, the Field Trip app for the iPhone didn't call out this historic distinction even as a reporter stood in front of a plaque placed on the side of a building where the Niantic once stood. 

Besides Field Trip, Niantic has built a video game called Ingress that requires players to visit buildings of historical significance and other real-world locations to acquire the weapons needed to score points and accumulate power. The game so far can only be played on personal computers and mobile devices. Hanke declined to say whether Niantic is trying to build an Ingress app for Glass, too. 

Field Trip appears to be ideally suited for Glass, which is worn like a pair of spectacles so users don't have to tie up their hands fiddling with a smartphone or tablet. Glass contains a hidden computer, a thumbnail-size transparent display screen above the right eye and a camera for shooting hands-free photos and videos with voice commands. 

The Field Trip app is designed to alert Glass users when they are passing a building with a colorful history or a local landmark, along with tips on places to eat and shop. When something interesting pops up, a Glass user can choose to have Field Trip narrate the information through the device's bone conduction speaker. 

Although Field Trip works in any situation, Hanke believes it will be particularly useful for people traveling to a new area or just looking to do some local sightseeing. When he recently visited Rome with his family, Hanke said the Field Trip app ``was almost blowing up in my pocket because there was so much interesting stuff around me. And I didn't have to fumble around with a guide book to check it all out.''

Micromax’s biggest, most expensive phone launched

Indigenous smartphone manufacturer Micromax has launched its biggest-ever and most expensive smartphone in India. The new phone, named Canvas Doodle 2, has a 5.7-inch screen; the upcoming SamsungGalaxy Note III is also said to have a 5.7-inch display.

Available on online retailer Snapdeal, the new Micromax phone has been priced at Rs 19,990, making it the most expensive handset by the company. The listing says the phone will be dispatched in five days.

The new Canvas Doodle 2 has previously been teased by Micromax via its Facebook page with the tagline "Can your imagination get bigger?" The phone is not listed on the company's website as of now.

Micromax Canvas Doodle 2 has screen resolution of 1280x720p, same as that of Canvas HD and Canvas 4. It is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, backed by 1GB RAM and comes with 12GB internal storage. This dual-sim smartphone will run on Android4.2 (Jelly Bean) and come with Micromax's 'Blow to Unlock' feature.

The manufacturer has used a 12MP camera with dual-LED flash on the back and a 5MP shooter in front. The listing on Snapdeal mentions connectivity options like 2G, 3G and Wi-Fi. The 2,600mAh battery of the phone has been rated at 8 hours of talk time on 2G network.

Micromax has said it will launch a total of 30 smartphones this year and has tasted success with handsets likes Canvas HD and Canvas 4.

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Windows 8 vulnerable to hacking: Germany

A German government technology agency has warned that new security technology in computers running Microsoft'sWindows 8 operating system may actually make PCs more vulnerable to cyberthreats, including sabotage. 

Germany's Federal Office for Information Security, or BSI, said in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday that federal government agencies and critical infrastructure operators should pay particular attention to the risk. 

The warning comes after weeks of public indignation in Germany over leaks related to US surveillance programmes. The spying scandal has become a headache for Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of a September 22 election. 

The problem, according to the BSI, is with the use of a computer chip known as the Trusted Platform Module, or TPM 2.0, which is built into Windows 8 computers. TPM 2.0 is designed to better protect PCs by interacting with a variety of security applications. 

But the BSI, which provides advice on technology and security to the government as well as the public, said the joint implementation of Windows 8 and TPM 2.0 chips could lead to "a loss of control" over both the operating system and hardware, without specifying exactly how that could occur. 

"As a result, new risks occur for users, especially for federal and critical infrastructure," it said. 

The statement concluded: "The new mechanisms in use can also be used for sabotage by third parties. These risks need to be addressed." 

Microsoft declined comment on the BSI statement. 

The company provided Reuters with a statement saying that PC makers have the option to turn off TPM technology, so that customers can buy PCs with it disabled. 

TPM was developed by the Trusted Computing Group, a non-profit organization backed by technology firms including IBM, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft. 

The BSI said it was working with the Trusted Computing Group and operating systems producers to find a solution. 

A spokeswoman for that group declined to comment on the specific claims raised by the BSI. She said the group has provided PC makers and users with plenty of advice on best security practices to avoid any threats that they may face.

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Yahoo beats Google in US web traffic, shares rise

Yahoo shares powered higher on Thursday after a survey showed the struggling internet giant topped a survey for US web visitors for the first time since 2011.

In late morning trade, Yahoo was up 2.99% at $27.87.

The comScore survey showed Yahoo edged past Google with 195.6 million unique US web visitors. It was the first time Yahoo was on top since May 2011. The figures exclude Yahoo's newly acquired Tumblr blog sites.

The report provides a modest victory for Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer, who moved from Google a year ago. But Yahoo still trails Google in revenues and advertising, particularly in the key search segment.

A comScore survey earlier this month on search engines showed Google on top with a commanding 67% market share, followed by Microsoft with 17.9%, and Yahoo in third place with 11.3%.

Still, Paul Ausick at 24/7 Wall Street said the new figures are significant.

"The rankings are worth more than just bragging rights, too," he said.

"Yahoo has taken over the top spot in comScore's Ad Focus rankings as well with an 87.2% reach. That means that a page owned by a Yahoo site was viewed by 87.2% of the 225 million total web visitors in July. That is well ahead of Google's 80.6 percent reach. And that translates into higher ad rates and more revenue for Yahoo."

Last month, Yahoo said its second-quarter profit rose sharply from a year ago, but revenues lagged. Net profit rose 46% from a year ago to $331 million, slightly better than expected, but revenues excluding payments to partners fell 1% to $1.07 billion.

Since taking over, Mayer has been on a buying spree, and has also sold shares in China's Alibaba to boost its cash. Its most publicized deal was a billion-dollar acquisition of the blogging platform Tumblr, expected to help bring a younger audience to Yahoo.

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Google buys virtual image tech patents from Hon Hai

Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision said it sold Google part of a patent portfolio involving the superimposition of virtual images on real-world photos. 

The technology, dubbed Head Mounted Display, is commonly used in aviation and ground displays, engineering and scientific design applications, gaming devices and training and simulation tools, the company said in a statement. 

It did not disclose the price of the sale. 

Hon Hai, the world's largest maker of electronics under contract and a major manufacturer of Apple Inc products, has said it will focus on developing new technology, intellectual propertyrights and e-commerce as it looks to reduce its reliance on Apple. 

It said it had applied for over 55,000 patent rights globally, of which over 5,000 have been approved. 

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Nokia threatens to quit India: Report

Finnish telecom giant Nokia has told India's government that the country is now its "least favourable market" to operate in and it makes better sense to export its products from China, a report said Friday. 

Nokia, which is fighting a 20-billion rupee ($311 million) tax demand from Indian authorities, urged the government to "act quickly to correct the wrong perception of India as a place for business", The Indian Express newspaper reported. 

"The political risk of operating in India" has become "suddenly substantially higher and may inevitably influence future decisions to develop one's operations in India", Nokia said in a letter quoted by the daily. 

The reported warning comes at a bad time for India when foreign direct investment has slowed to a trickle amid mounting domestic economic woes including a plunging rupee, a huge current account deficit, slowing growth and perceived government policy paralysis. 

The Finnish group did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the message which The Indian Express said was dated June 19 and was received by the finance ministry last month. 

Nokia said its tax problems made it "more cost-efficient for Nokia to transfer the manufacture of mobile phones to China and to import them to the Indian market rather than manufacture them in Chennai". 

Nokia, which has one of its biggest plants world-wide in the southern city of Chennai, is among a string of multinationals in tax disputes in India including Cadbury Royal Dutch Shell and Vodafone. 

India has stepped up its pursuit of alleged tax delinquents to reduce a hefty budget deficit. 

Nokia insists software downloaded onto its mobiles in India should to be taxed in Finland under a bilateral treaty between the countries, but India's tax authorities view it differently. 

"Nokia does not think India can override its international obligations," Nokia was quoted as saying. 

Tax claims against Nokia and other multinationals have "too great an impact on the predictability and certainty of Indian business environment to be ignored", Nokia added. 

India -- one of the world's fastest-growing mobile phone markets -- is the second largest market for Nokia which began operations in the country in 1995 and employs 8,000 workers directly in Chennai. 

Nokia which had been the country's leading handset maker for 14 years recently ceded its crown to South Korea's Samsung.

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Google now recognizes Hindi handwriting

Google added support for Hindi handwriting on Android smartphones and tablets.

"In our quest to bring 300 Million more Indian users online, it has often confounded us that less than 10% of internet usage is in Indian languages while in the offline world more than 90% of newspaper readers or TV viewers are using these media in Indian languages," said a Google spokesperson. "Today, we are announcing beta support for Hindi handwriting and ability to switch to a native Hindi experience for your Android. These are baby steps to make the Hindi internet simpler to use."

Once enabled, this feature will allow a user to scribble words in Hindi using his fingers or a stylus on the touchscreen of a phone or tablet. Google will recognize the word and perform a search query. The same feature can also be used to scribble words in Hindi and then translate them into English through the Google Translate app available for Android smartphones and tablets.

Laptop users can access the same feature by installing an extension in Chrome browser. "Whenever you activate this (extension) your computer's trackpad will turn into a writing pad, so you can write Hindi script using freehand. Then the tool will recognize your handwriting and convert it to text, which can be inserted into text fields on any website," said the spokesperson.

Android users who have access to the latest version (4.3) of the mobile OS can also use turn on Hindi user interface. This is similar to the support for local languages provided by Samsung in its devices. The Korean company recently said that it was adding user interface support in nine Indian languages, including Hindi, to its Galaxy smartphones and tablets.

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‘6-inch Nokia phone with 20MP camera in the works‘

Nokia recently announced its biggest-ever smartphone, Lumia 625. The all-new smartphone features a 4.7-inch screen, biggest in the company's portfolio. The screen size, however, pales in front of the behemoths offered by many of its rivals like Samsung, Sony and Huawei. Now, the buzz is that the Finnish manufacturer too is joining the big-screen war.

Tech news website The Verge, citing sources at Nokia, has reported that the company is working on a phablet with a 6-inch screen. It is expected that the upcoming handset has been codenamed Bandit and will have a full HD screen, 20MP camera and a quad-core Snapdragon processor. The report says "Bandit will be the first of many planned 1080p Windows Phone devices."

An image of a Nokia phone with 6-inch screen has leaked too, with a Weibo user claiming that the device is already under mass production in China. A report by UK's Mobile Today says Nokia will unveil its 6-inch phablet in the fourth quarter of this year, priced between $620 and $780.

Windows Phone 8 operating system currently does not support full HD screens, which will come with the GDR3 update that is scheduled to be released this fall. This update will also bring support for quad-core processor on phones running on Microsoft's mobile OS.

With such features, the new flagship would be competing with some of the big screen devices in the market today, such as Sony Xperia Z Ultra, Samsung Galaxy Note III and Huawei Ascend Mate.

Details of Nokia's upcoming 5.2-inch screen phone and 10.1-inch tablet (codenamed Vanquish) too appeared online recently.

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How Facebook plans to make internet more affordable

Facebook's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has enlisted Samsung Electronics, Qualcomm and four other companies for a project aimed at bringing internet access to people around the world who can't afford it, mirroring efforts by Google and others.

The project is called Internet.org and will be launched. It focuses on enabling the next 5 billion people without access to come online, Zuckerberg said. 

"The goal of Internet.org is to make internet access available to the two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected and to bring the same opportunities to everyone that the connected third of the world has today," said Zuckerberg. 

Other players in the project include Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia. and Opera Software ASA. 

The partnership will develop lower-cost, higher-quality smartphones and deploy internet access in underserved communities, Facebook said. 

Google said in June that it had launched a small network of balloons over the Southern Hemisphere in an experiment it hopes could bring reliable internet access to the world's most remote regions. 

That pilot program, Project Loon, took off in June from New Zealand's South Island, using solar-powered, high-altitude balloons that ride the wind about 12.5 miles, or twice as high as airplanes, above the ground, Google said.

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Cloud computing: India can become a global hub

Amazon, a big daddy in information technology's hottest area - cloud - has 8,000 customers in India but does not have in this country a key element of cloud infrastructure - data centres. That's because no foreign customers would let their data be stored in centres in India, and only their Indian customers would use it, making it less feasible. Given the state of infrastructure and data security laws in the country, customers did not want to take a risk. 

So, instead Amazon stuck with its data centres in Singapore, just like Google, Rackspace, Citrix, and Facebook who all serve their growing number of Indian clients from the city state. 

Shane Owenby, Asia-Pacific managing director of Amazon Web Services (the ecommerce firm's cloud arm), said the company would not comment on speculation regarding the placement of its data centres and that it was always looking at geographic expansion. 

Even so, industry observers and participants think that India, the sourcing hub for the world for technology services, has the potential to become a hub for the global cloud where digital information is stored, processed and accessed via the internet. With more and more components of technology being offered as a service, it is only logical for India to be the place from where it could all be delivered to the world. 

Thanks to uncertain power supply and patchy infrastructure, India is losing out on the hardware and storage side of the cloud, but can still be the nerve centre that helps stitch together various parts of cloud-based technology solutions and delivers it to enterprises across the world. 

India can still become hub for global cloud computing According to Sid Deshpande, a data centre analyst at research firm Gartner, companies such as Amazon, Google and Rackspace have invested significant amounts of money in innovative designs to be able to provide cheap computing services using the cloud. "Unless Indian providers are willing to invest in bleeding-edge technology and skills that enable similar outcomes, I do not see them as viable competitors in the commodity public cloud space." 

But Deshpande does see the Indian IT industry playing a role in helping enterprises manage the various offerings they do buy over the cloud. 

The cloud-computing model makes it possible for corporations to not worry about the ingredients - be it computing power, storage capacity or software applications - that go into technology-enabled solutions. 

Instead, they can now consume these as a utility and pay for it based on usage. It is for the system integrators such as an InfosysBSE -2.19 %, TCS or WiproBSE -1.05 % to piece together components from a legion of ecosystem partners and stitch it all together seamlessly to match clients' specific requirements. 

"Indian firms have reached a maturity in the total outsourcing space, taking away entire IT needs of large organisations end-to-end. In the cloud scenario they will take this story forward, forming new partnerships and new business models," said Srikanth Karnakota, director of Microsoft's server and cloud business. 

Indian IT companies are increasingly partnering with cloud platform providers to put together the products an enterprise has chosen from the vast array of cloud offerings, and tie those products into the parts of the corporation's IT infrastructure that have not moved to the cloud. And the new job is a lot like the old one, except the modes of delivery and payment will change. The challenge will be when clients' expectations for technology-led innovation increase and IT recedes into the background, much like plumbing. 

"While a lot of companies offer the infrastructure and the platform, Indian IT service providers will use the skills of system integration in process and applications. We will play a strong role in putting the three components together," said Atul Sood, global head of cloud enablement at Wipro. 

This new-age version of system integration is called cloud brokerage services and becoming big business. Gartner predicts that the segment will be worth $100 billion ( 6 lakh crore) in 2014. As cloud service brokerage grows, Indian IT players are getting ready to shift with the inevitable change in business models, partnerships and job requirements. 

"There will be new partnerships. Even the cloud providers would need partners. An Amazon, for example, which provides the infrastructure and platform as a service, would need partners to manage the back-up, network connectivity and applications," said Kalyan Kumar, chief technology architect for HCL Technologies. 

Infosys, the number two IT services company in India, said it expects majority of the workload in global enterprise IT to move to the cloud and expects both the global cloud providers and Indian IT services companies to own parts of the infrastructure that makes the cloud possible. 

"It will be a combination of ownership, depending on the organizational strategy. At Infosys, we will continue to be asset-lite and an ecosystem integrator. We have already established deep partnerships with over 30 organizations such as AWS, Microsoft and others," Vishnu Bhat, vice president and head of Infosys Cloud and Big Data business, said in an email. IT companies are also beginning to consider the need to re-skill employees to manage cloud services and infrastructure.

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Google Maps integrates traffic app Waze

Google on Tuesday said it began integrating into its online maps features from the Waze traffic app it acquired earlier this year in a deal said to be worth some $1 billion.

"No one likes getting stuck in traffic. That's why the Waze and Google Maps teams are working together to harness the power of Google technology and the passion of the Waze community to make it easier to navigate your daily life," said the tech giant's Brian McClendon in a blog post.

"Users of Google Maps for Mobile will now benefit from real time incident reports from Waze users," he added. 

McClendon said "Wazers" reports on accidents, construction, road closures and other issues will appear on the Google Maps app for Android and iOS in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Switzerland, Britain and the US. 

In June, Google announced plans to buy the crowd-sourced map app Waze, which was launched in Israel to help users of Apple and Android smartphones. 

In addition, the Waze Map Editor now includes Google Street View and satellite imagery to make it easier to correct map errors reported. 

"We've incorporated the power of Google Search to the mix," a Waze blog post said. 

"Google Search joins a host of other search providers featured on Waze, from Foursquare to Yelp, making it easy to find favorite businesses, home addresses and more." 

Google's upgrade of its maps comes as it ramps up efforts against Apple and other rivals to be at the heart of mobile internet lifestyles, particularly when it comes to providing advertising or services relevant to where people are at any moment. 

Satellite tracking technology commonly built into smart phones lets Waze automatically measure traffic flow while simultaneously verifying or modifying public street information in its database. 

Drivers can upload comments, along with pictures, from along their routes to alert fellow "Wazers" to anything from accidents or detours, to a favourite place to grab a cup of coffee. Waze also provides users with turn-by-turn directions.

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Hacker who exposed Facebook bug to get reward

A man who hacked into Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook page to expose a software bug is getting donations from hackers around the world after the company declined to pay him under a program that normally rewards people who report flaws.

Khalil Shreateh discovered and reported the flaw but was initially dismissed by the company's security team. He then posted a message on the billionaire's wall to prove the bug's existence.

Now, Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer of cybersecurity firm BeyondTrust, is trying to mobilize fellow hackers to raise a $10,000 reward for Shreateh after Facebook refused to compensate him.

Maiffret, a high school dropout and self-taught hacker, said on Tuesday he has raised about $9,000 so far, including the $2,000 he initially contributed.

He and other hackers say Facebook unfairly denied Shreateh, a Palestinian, a payment under its "Bug Bounty" program. It doles out at least $500 to individuals who bring software bugs to the company's attention.

"He is sitting there in Palestine doing this research on a five-year-old laptop that looks like it is half broken," Maiffret said. "It's something that might help him out in a big way."

Shreateh uncovered the flaw on the company's website that allows members to post messages on the wall of any other user, including Zuckerberg's. He tried to submit the bug for review but the website's security team did not accept his report.

He then posted a message to Zuckerberg himself on the chief executive officer's private account, saying he was having trouble getting his team's attention.

"Sorry for breaking your privacy," Shreateh said in the post.

The bug was quickly fixed and Facebook issued an apology on Monday for having been "too hasty and dismissive" with Shreateh's report. But it has not paid him a bounty.

"We will not change our practice of refusing to pay rewards to researchers who have tested vulnerabilities against real users," chief security officer Joe Sullivan said in a blogpost.

He said Facebook has paid out more than $1 million under that program to researchers who followed its rules.

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Videocon A42 smartphone launched at Rs 7,490

Indigenous smartphone manufacturer Videocon Mobiles has launched the A42 budget smartphone in the country. This handset boasts of Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) operating system as well as 3.75G connectivity and costs Rs 7,490. 

The latest handset in Videocon's portfolio, the A42 has a 4.5-inch screen with 654x480p resolution. It runs on a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, backed by 512MB RAM, and features dual-sim functionality. This phone comes with 4GB internal storage and supports microSD cards up to 32GB. 

Videocon has used a 5MP rear camera with LED flash on the back and a 1.3MP unit in front. Connectivity options in the phone include 2G, 3.75G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and microUSB. It is powered by a 1,700mAh battery and comes in black and white colours. 

Khalid Zamir, head product planning & development, Videocon Mobile, commented, "For these first time Android users, our endeavour is to bring an easy, intuitive yet immersive Android experience with which they can stay connected to their friends, peers and family on the go. The device's well laid out feature set tuned up with the latest Android (Jelly Bean version 4.2.2) provides a deeper engagement with the consumers thus helping them to experience the best of Android Smartphone capabilities on offer." 

Key specs: 

*Display: 4.5-inch screen with 854x480p resolution

*Operating system: Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)

*Processor & RAM: Dual-core 1.2GHz CPU, 512MB RAM

*Storage: 4GB internal storage, microSD expansion up to 32GB

*Camera: 5MP rear unit with LED flash, 1.3MP front camera

*Connectivity: 2G, 3.75G, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, microUSB

*Battery: 1,700mAh 

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Google Moto X knows what you are doing

How do you distinguish your phone from the more than 4,000 other touchscreen phones? (That's not a joke. There have actually been 3,997 different Android phone models so far. And six iPhones and a motley assortment of Windows and touchscreen BlackBerry phones. Heaven help the landfills.)

Moto X, from Google, is being spoken of as an iPhone killer. With its 4.7-inch screen, it looks great, but it isn't as big or sharp as the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One. The phone is fast, but processor isn't the latest and greatest. Here are some features that sets it apart from others. 

It mutes during meetings

Assist feature enables phone to detect what you are doing, and to suitably adjust the mode. t If you are driving, the phone detects motion, and reads out text messages and routes calls to speakerphone. t If you are at a scheduled meeting, going by calendar, the phone goes into mute on its own. If you choose, it can automatically send text messages to calls, saying you are driving or you are in a meeting. 

Move it to know the time

Just move the phone to know what time it is. No need to wake up the phone or press a button or unlock it as is the case normally. Any missed event is indicated by an icon. Hold down finger on it to view the details. Or swipe upward to open the corresponding app to reply. But this feature shows you only one notification — the most recent. 

Twitch wrist to turn on cam

Fire up camera app by twitching your wrist a couple of times. The camera works whether the phone is on or off. Within two seconds, you're ready to take a shot by tapping anywhere on the screen. t But it takes a while to come into focus. So expect a bit of blurriness sometimes. 

Talk to your phone

Command the phone to dial a number, send a text, open an app, set your alarm, look up a fact on the web, and so on. t Precede your command with the salutation, "OK, Google Now." For example: "OK, Google Now. Remind me at 8 pm to give the dog his pill." t For best results, train your phone to recognize your voice. t Doesn't reply to your queries like Siri, but obeys all your commands. 

How to locate your misplaced Android phone

Often we misplace our phone. If you muted the ring, then you can't even call from another phone to locate it.

That's when Android Device Manager comes in handy. Go to google.com/android/devicemanager. The site will automatically connect to your phone and display a message like: "Last located at 6:42 PM; Manekshaw Parade Grounds Bus Stop, Cubbon Road, Shivaji Nagar, Bangalore, Karnataka 560001, India - Accurate to 574 meters. Last used August 14, 2013". 

To locate the device, click on Ring. The device will ring at full volume for 5 minutes. You have to press the power button to stop it ringing.

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Samsung beats Nokia to emerge No.1 in India: Report

Buoyed by high demand for smartphones, the mobile handset market in India is estimated to have grown by 14.7% in 2012-13 to touch Rs 35,946 crore, according to a Voice&Data Survey.

The market grew from Rs 31,330 crore in FY'12 with Korean electronics maker Samsung dethroning Nokia from the top position this year, the survey said.

The 18th annual survey 'V&D 100' covered over 30 mobile handset companies doing business in India across categories like feature phones, multimedia phones, enterprise phones and smartphones.

The survey attributed Samsung's rise in Indian market to its rich product portfolio catering to customers of all budget categories.

"Samsung handset prices range from Rs 1,500 to Rs 50,000 and come in varied screen sizes. These two factors helped the company grab customer's attention, besides the product quality and new features," it added.

The survey said Samsung ended the year with revenues of Rs 11,328 crore in 2012-13 as compared to Rs 7,891 crore in FY'12, a growth of 43.6%. It also became the market leader with 31.5% market share.

On the other hand, Nokia, with 27.2% market share, dropped to the No 2 spot.

In the 12 months ended March 2013, Nokia's revenues from Indian operations were placed at Rs 9,780 crore as compared to Rs 11,925 crore in FY'12, as per the survey.

"Nokia's drop in market share started when the company failed to sense the need of a dual-sim phone for the Indian consumer, and the same was tapped by the Indian players years ahead of global players like Nokia," it added.

Nokia's Lumia series phones that witnessed huge growth globally in the initial phases could not draw much attention in India.

The survey said Apple's revenues grew 417.2% to post revenues of Rs 1,293 crore in FY'13 as compared to Rs 250 crore in the year ago period.

Though India was never a focus market for the Cupertino-based smart devices maker till some years back, in the last two years, the iPhone maker has started making inroads slowly.

"In the last fiscal, Apple made some disruptive changes in its sales strategy, which paid off. Appointing Ingram Micro and Redington as the national distributors for their entire sales, and offering EMI schemes to the consumers to buy the most coveted Apple product changed the game for them," the survey said.

Apple now enjoys 3.6% market share in India having the smallest number of handset models in its portfolio.

Homegrown handset maker Micromax captured the third position with 8.7% market share. In FY'13, Micromax posted revenues of Rs 3,138 crore as against Rs 1,978 crore in FY'12, a growth of 58.6%.

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Apple to launch two iPhone versions in Sept: WSJ

Apple has asked its Taiwan-based supplier to begin shipping two new versions of the iPhone next month, including a lower-cost model, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Journal, citing unnamed sources, said Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision, the parent company of Foxconn in China, was readying both a standard iPhone with new upgrades and a less expensive model with fewer features.

Last week, the news site AllThingsD, part of the same company as The Journal, said Apple had scheduled a September 10 event to unveil the new smartphones as part of an effort to regain momentum.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

Apple's move comes with its chief rival Samsung reportedly set to unveil its own smartphones and other devices, including a smartwatch. Speculation has centered around whether Apple will shift its strategy to include a lower-cost handset to appeal to more consumers, especially in emerging markets.

A survey released by Gartner last week said Apple's share of the smartphone market worldwide fell to 14.2% in the second quarter, while Samsung's share rose to 31.7%.

Gartner said the Google Android operating system was used on 79% of smartphones sold in the period.

Google eyes bigger slice of online photo-sharing

Internet giant Google said it would increase its focus on photograph sharing by offering tools to help both professionals as well as amateurs to share their images.

Currently, Facebook, Pintrest and Flickr lead theonline photograph sharing market, of which Google aims to corner a larger pie. "Recognizing evolving needs of photographers, Google Plus is focused on not only providing services to help people share special moments, but also useful photo-editing tools," Google India marketing director Sandeep Menon said here today at an event marking World Photography Day.

Google Plus offers a range of features like back up, auto enhance and highlight to help users edit photographs online and share it with friends, he said.

"The world of photography has seen a paradigm shift in the past couple of decades. It has moved away from isolated dark rooms to highly interactive social platforms," renowned photographer Raghu Rai, who was also present at the event said.

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iPhones consume more energy than refrigerators

A new study suggests that aniPhone uses more energy than a refrigerator.

According to Breakthrough Institute, the new research claims that a fridge uses just 322kWh per year, compared with the 361kWh for an iPhone, if you include its wireless connections, data usage, and battery charges, Newser.com reported.

But that's nothing compared to information and communications technology worldwide, which uses 10% of global electricity--and that's a low estimate.

New trends like wireless broadband could make the figure even higher.

The information sector relies heavily on coal power, and differs from other energy leeches because the cloud is never turned off, making it hard to reduce electricity use and carbon emissions.

The study, sponsored by the coal and mining industry, notes that change is unlikely in the near future.

But the Breakthrough Institute notes we badly need cleaner alternatives.

No reward for hacking Zuckerberg‘s Facebook page

A researcher who hacked into Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg's profile to expose a security flaw won't get the customary reward payment from the social network.

While Facebook offers rewards for those who find security holes, it seems that Palestinian researcher Khalil Shreateh went too far by posting the information on Zuckerberg's own profile page.

Shreateh said on his blog he found a way for Facebook users to circumvent security and modify a user's timeline.

He said he took the unusual step of hacking into Zuckerberg's profile after being ignored by the Facebook security team.

"So i did post to Mark Zuckerberg's timeline, as those pictures shows," he said, including screen shots of the posting.

"Dear Mark Zuckerberg," he wrote."First sorry for breaking your privacy and post to your wall, i had no other choice to make after all the reports i sent to Facebook team. My name is KHALIL from Palestine."

His reward for exposing the flaw was having his Facebook account disabled.

He later got a message saying, "We are unfortunately not able to pay you for this vulnerability because your actions violated our Terms of Service. We do hope, however, that you continue to work with us to find vulnerabilities in the site."

Facebook said it appreciates help with security but not by hacking into user accounts.

Facebook security engineer Matt Jones posted a comment Sunday on a security forum saying "we fixed this bug on Thursday," and admitted that "we should have asked for additional... instructions after his initial report."

"We get hundreds of reports every day," Jones said. "We have paid out over $1 million to hundreds of reporters. However, many of the reports we get are nonsense or misguided."

Jones added that "the more important issue here is with how the bug was demonstrated using the accounts of real people without their permission."

"We welcome and will pay out for future reports from him (and anyone else!) if they're found and demonstrated within these guidelines," Jones said on the YCombinator hacker news forum.

Independent security researcher Graham Cluley said he had "some sympathy" with Facebook on the issue.

"Although he was frustrated by the response from Facebook's security team, Shreateh did the wrong thing by using the flaw to post a message on Mark Zuckerberg's wall," Cluley said on his blog.

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Inside Google‘s experiments: Balloons & Fiber

From sending solar-powered balloons into the stratosphere to offering free Wi-Fi in parks, Google is quietly spending hundreds of millions of dollars on nascent internet services that may one day challenge the telecom and cable companies.

In recent months, Google has announced plans to bring free wireless internet access to 7,000 Starbucks cafes across America, eventually displacing AT&T; it has asked US regulators for broader access to wireless airwaves; and it has launched 30 solar-powered balloons over the South Pacific ocean, designed to beam the internet to remote regions.

Then there is Google Fiber, the high-speed cable TV and internet service that was introduced in Kansas City late last year and that will be expanded soon to Austin and Provo, Utah. Fiber delivers internet speeds at 1 gigabit per second, as much as 100 times faster than the average U.S. network.

Google is happy with customer responses in Kansas so far and may roll Google Fiber out to a few more US cities, according to several people close to the project.

"Fiber is considered the golden child right now within Google because of its disruptive nature and the applause that they get from the communities using it," said a former member of Google Access, a group headed by Vice President Milo Medin, who drives the company's internet access projects.

Medin, a networking industry veteran who founded the seminal @Home cable broadband network in the 1990s, leads a few hundred employees. The group operates autonomously with its own engineering, finance and marketing units, according to the source.

As Google delivers more music, videos and other content to mobile devices, it has become increasingly invested in ensuring it gets the bandwidth it needs. Web access projects like Fiber could help Google grow revenues beyond its maturing search business, and give it more insight into consumers' online habits, crucial to making ads more effective.

But Google would be venturing into territory far afield from its traditional strengths and margins may suffer as a result, analysts said. The company would also be competing against well-established internet service providers, such as AT&T or Time Warner Cable.

Content providers have clashed with distributors in the past. For instance, Netflix, which streams billions of hours of video every month, has accused cable company Comcast of giving its own content preferential treatment.

The future of US federal regulations that forbid internet service providers from blocking or slowing another company's online offerings are currently up in the air, with Verizon Communications challenging the rules in court.

"Users want more speed. They don't want artificial ceilings imposed on what's possible on the web," said Kevin Lo, general manager of Google Access.

Lo said Google was pleased with the customer response to Fiber in Kansas City so far, but he declined to give details such as subscriber numbers, financial goals, or expansion plans.

Tearing up streets

Building high-speed networks is a cumbersome process that requires tearing up streets and working with local governments to get access to utility poles and approvals.

Given Fiber's small footprint and the limited amount of online services that actually need such high bandwidth today, the immediate threat to cable and telecom companies may be limited, according to some industry observers.

Time Warner Cable President Rob Marcus said in April he believed Google Fiber "passed" only 4,000 homes in Kansas City at the time. "The number of defections we've seen is de minimis at this point," Marcus said.

AT&T said in April that it was ready to build its own 1 gigabit per second fiber network in Austin, provided it receives the same treatment from local authorities as Google, which plans to begin connecting homes there in mid-2014.

"I have to think that the existing players are trying to figure out how to respond to this, because if it goes bigger it will definitely give them a new kind of competition," said Bill Coughran, a partner at venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. He was previously senior vice president of engineering at Google and had worked on the Fiber project.

To make a difference to Google's overall business, which is expected to generate roughly $60 billion in revenue this year, the Fiber service needs to achieve significant scale.

In a city of 1 million households for example, Google would reap a modest $288 million a year in subscription revenue if 20% of families were to sign up for its $120 monthly TV and internet service. If Google were able to enlist half the homes in the city, that could mean $720 million in annual revenue.

Bernstein analyst Carlos Kirjner estimated the cost of making Fiber available to 300,000 homes in the greater Kansas City region at $170 million. Expanding Fiber to 20 million US homes, which Kirjner believes is not likely, would cost $10 billion to $15 billion, he wrote in a research report.

Diving into the access business in a bigger way could in the short term hurt Google's operating margin, which stands in the mid-40-per cent range for its core internet business. Typical cable industry margins are in the mid-30 per cent range.

Michael Binger, a portfolio manager at Gradient Investments which owns Google shares, said he is comfortable with the company's current level of investment in projects like Fiber.

But if Google were to radically ramp up such efforts, for example by investing in a costly nationwide high-speed network, he said, "I'd want more detail about what their vision is, and how it provides a financial return down the road."

Air balloons

With $54 billion in cash, Google can afford to fund experiments such as Fiber and Loon - the air balloon project run by Google X, the secretive arm of the company that specializes in bold, futuristic projects such as robot cars.

Loon involves creating an airborne wireless network using 12-meter-tall, super-pressured air balloons powered by the sun. They would drift along relatively slower air currents in the stratosphere and run off batteries at night.

In June, Google launched a test of 30 balloons over New Zealand equipped to deliver 3G-like wireless speeds to ground antennas that in turn transmit the signal to wireless devices. The goal is to eventually keep a large fleet of balloons in the skies, though analysts say Google will face many technical and regulatory challenges operating such a network.

Some investors consider these projects a waste of resources.

"There are people on Wall Street who would like Google to quit spending on things that may not actually materialize in generating significant revenue," said Needham & Co's Kerry Rice.

But he added that a Google-owned, high-speed internet service would support its other online businesses such as YouTube, which can offer more long-form video programming that allow for more opportunities to insert commercials.

"If you have the infrastructure in place, there are a lot of things you can do," Rice said.

YouTube said in May it was streaming 6 billion hours of video a month. The goal is to get to 1 billion hours a day within a couple years, according to a person familiar with the matter, adding that bandwidth is crucial to the effort to ramp up viewership. Google declined to comment.

Wall Street has generally tolerated Google's experiments because of past successes such as the Android software, which is now installed on four-fifths of the world's smartphones. Other products such as Google TV, however, have fared less well.

Owning the pipes would give Google even more insight into consumers' online habits, which can help make its ads and products more effective, analysts said.

"If you're the network provider and you're monitoring the traffic, looking at what people are doing, you're going to be the first to know," said Ian Keene, a Gartner analyst.

Google has funded public Wi-Fi networks managed by cities such as New York and San Francisco. In the Starbucks deal, Google will create and run a wireless service it says will be ten times faster than the previous Wi-Fi Starbucks offered.

Starbucks' existing wireless provider, AT&T, said when the deal was announced that it had offered to upgrade its Wi-Fi service and that it continues to provide Starbucks with a variety of services. It could not be immediately be reached for additional comment.

As part of the deal, Google will also help develop a new version of the Starbucks Digital Network available to customers, putting Google in a strong position to promote the music and other media it sells and to offer more targeted advertising.

"They're not underwriting these efforts for the benefit of the internet community," said Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin. "They look at the big picture that these efforts are going to generate."

5 Google Hangouts to learn something new

Google Hangouts is one of the best video chat and conference services, but it's easy to forget that it's not just for talking to friends privately. There are tons of public, open Hangouts every day that anyone can join, and many of them can teach you something interesting and new, expose you to new ideas, or just help you relax and live a little. Here are a few of them. 

Language Practice Hangout

The Language Practice Hangout Community at Google+ was built by and for people who want to learn new languages from people who actually speak them natively, without spending a ton of money. By joining, you get access to a number of sub-communities specifically for people looking to learn specific languages, like English, German, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, and several more. 

The community is well over 21,000 people strong, and hosts weekly live Google Hangouts where you can join other native speakers in a discussion to help boost your language skills through common conversation. They even have a well packed Google Calendar of events and hangouts here. Best of all, everything is free because it's built by a community of people looking to help each other and, of course, learn something new. 

ChefHangout

If you've always wanted to go to cooking school but never had the opportunity, ChefHangout may be perfect for you. Unlike some of the other regular hangouts here, ChefHangout isn't free, but it is a bona fide cooking class with a select number of participants and a real trained chef leading the class inside a kitchen using professional equipment. Courses usually run about $20, and you can see the upcoming class list and schedule on their site. Whether you're interested in learning to make vegetarian or vegan Japanese dishes, cook with fall ingredients, learn to roast a chicken or a turkey, master your knife skills, or something else, ChefHangout either has had or is likely planning a class on it. 

Right now, there's an upcoming introduction to cajun-style cooking scheduled for October 5th, a fall-cooking class that'll focus on fresh autumn soups and salads on September 21st, and a few more later on. If you're already at home in the kitchen and want something to test your skills a bit more, or you have friends you may want to learn alongside, check out their Master Series, which requires a minimum of five people in each class and aims to teach more advanced cooking skills-all using Google Hangouts as your primary learning tool. 

Maker Camp

We mentioned Maker Camp back at the beginning of the summer when it started, and while it's definitely winding down now, we have no reason to believe the folks at Make won't do it again next year, or even do similar Hangouts and events in the fall or winter. In fact, the last Maker Camp hangout for this summer is today at 11am Pacific, so make sure to join the Google+ community and RSVP for the final event: A field trip to Pixar!) 

You can see some of the other previous events on their schedule, and go back through the previous events if you like. Stay tuned though, we know they'll host more events soon! 

NASA Science and Astronomy Hangouts

The NASA page over at Google+ is worth circling, if not for all of the amazing photos and historical tidbits they post, but also for their almost weekly Google+ Hangouts with their readers on topics including space exploration, living in space, and climate change and weather, to name a few. In many cases, the Hangouts are just live on air, meaning you can watch them from Google+, submit your questions, and have them answered on air, but in other cases you can actually join the panel, be brought into the show, and participate in the discussion or ask your questions in-person. 

Best of all, the discussions are always open to the public for anyone to join. At the time of this writing they don't have any on the docket (they just finished one on Wildfire and Climate Change), but you can check their calendar here to make sure you don't miss anything. 

The Hangout Comedy Club

If you're looking for a hangout that's a little less informative and a little more relaxing, you may want to check out the newly announced Hangout Comedy Club, which you can join live as it happens (the first one was yesterday!) to hear stand-up comedians delivering jokes and punchlines from the comfort of your desk or couch. The series is actually a partnership between Google and the charity Comic Relief, and your real-time "lols" will turn into big bucks for the charity itself. Google describes it like this: 

We're partnering with the UK charity Comic Relief to bring you the first online comedy club-the "Hangout Comedy Club." We've created a clever gizmo called the "Laughometer," which will measure how much you enjoy the show and turn your lol's into an optional donation to Comic Relief. They use the funds they raise to tackle the root causes of poverty and social injustice. 

To be part of the Hangout Comedy Club, simply join a Google+ Hangout hosted by one of our famous comedians, including Katherine Ryan, Sanderson Jones and Joey Page. Just like a real comedy club, if you're brave enough, you can join the front row with up to eight others. If you'd rather sit out of sight, join a Hangout, add your friends, and watch from the safety of the back row. To us, that's a pretty good way to raise money, and a great use of the technology. Besides, it's fun, too. 

Bonus: Hangouts Against Humanity

Finally, if you're bummed that some of the ones above are either ending or don't meet your definition of fun, maybe this is more up your alley. The popular party card game Cards Against Humanity is a lot of fun to play with your friends, but if your friends don't live nearby, or you can't get together to play, you might consider starting a Google Hangout with them and playing Hangouts Against Humanity, a version of the game that you can fire up inside a Google Hangout. You can circle the Hangouts Against Humanity Google+ page here to stay up to date on its development, and join the Google+ community here. From there you can get involved, join or host a game, and in general just have a great time. 

Hangouts is great for talking to friends, but you can see it's also great for learning new things, keeping up with the news, meeting people you may never have known, and having a little fun at the same time. These aren't the only uses for hangouts either, and you can always use previously mentioned GPHangouts to find public hangouts hosted by individuals if you're really daring. 

Our suggestion if you're looking for more is to poke around the Google+ Communities page and see which communities have regular hangouts on-air, even if they're just broadcasts and you can't get in on the actual panel, you can usually interact with the hosts and join the conversation.

Source: Lifehacker.co.in