Carry Your Computer on a USB Drive and there is no need of Travelling with Laptop

Laptop computers are shedding weight but they still weigh a few pounds and carrying them around on the shoulders is often very inconvenient.

Do you really need that notebook wherever you go? Not always.

For instance, you are traveling for a business conference or an Internet café or a friend’s place that will definitely have spare computers but you need to carry the laptop just because it contains all your software programs, application settings and personal data (like docs, photos, music, videos, etc).

Are you are in a similar situation? If yes, it’s time to give your shoulders some rest – leave that laptop at home and just switch to a USB Flash Drive (or an iPod or any other removable disk).

We generally use USB drives to transfer documents and presentations across computers but these key chains can also be used for carrying software programs and other files. Here are some resources to help your turn that USB drive into a personal computer.

PortableApps – This is a excellent collection of useful programs like Firefox (for web browsing), OpenOffice (like Microsoft Office), Pidgin (for chat) and GIMP (for photo editing) designed to run from any removable disk without installation. PortableApps also includes VLC Media Player that can virtually play all multimedia file formats.

Do checkout some other wonderful sites like portablefreeware.com and tinyapps.org for downloading apps that can run off your USB drive.

MojoPac – This program turns any USB drive into a self-contained Windows XP computer.

The first step is to to install the MojoPac software on your USB drive and then install (or copy) all the applications, games and other files onto the drive. Now just plug this USB device into any Windows XP computer and Mojopac will launch itself providing you a work environment that looks the same as your PC at home.

You will see all the familiar applications, icons and documents at the same locations where you expect them to be.



Webaroo – Like an offline browser, Webaroo lets you read websites and blogs from your portable drive even while you are offline. It works like this – you suggest Webaroo a list of websites and it automatically fetches them to the portable drive whenever you go online (full review).

These local copies of web pages are exact replicas of the original web version. You can now go offline but the web pages will always remain accessible from the USB drive. If the source content is updated, Webaroo will update the local version itself the next time you connect to the web.
These local copies of web pages are exact replicas of the original web version. You can now go offline but the web pages will always remain accessible from the USB drive. If the source content is updated, Webaroo will update the local version itself the next time you connect to the web.

A word of caution here – USB Drives are very convenient but at the same time, they are small so the chances of losing them also run high. You should therefore consider using a free program like TrueCrypt to encrypt data that’s on the portable drive.

When you are done working on your friend’s computer, eject out the USB drive and no traces of your computing activity are left on the host computer - your applications preferences, web browsing history and all data files are stored back onto the flash drive.

Hotmail of Microsoft Blocked

An undisclosed technical glitch blocked users from logging on to Microsoft Corp's free Web-based email service and other sites.

After several hours, the software maker was able to reduce but not completely fix the problem that left Web surfers around the world unable to access Hotmail and other services that require a Microsoft login. These include the Xbox Live video game community site and the Windows Live Messenger instant messaging programme.

“The issue is purely impacting the login process for customers and largely does not impact customers who were already logged in,” said Microsoft spokeswoman Samantha McManus in a statement. “We have made significant progress in decreasing the number of customers currently affected since initial reports, but the issue has not yet been completely resolved.”

Microsoft did not say what caused the problem.

McManus said the sites will be working again for all users “shortly.”

Lenevo's Thinkpad X300 is Rival for Apple's Thinnest LapTop

Apple MacBook Air, launched last month, finally has an official challenger from the Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo.

The company has launched their ThinkPad X300 ultra-portable machine. The notebook weighs 2.93 pounds (base model) and boasts of more features than Apple MacBook Air.

Lenovo has equipped this notebook with three USB ports and DVD Writer, in comparison to MacBook Air's one USB port and no writer.

The laptop measures 0.73 inches at its thinnest point and 0.92 inches at its thickest point, bigger in comparison to MacBook Air, which measures 0.16 inches at its thinnest part and 0.76 inches at its thickest part.

The company also claims that the notebook uses 25 per cent less power than previous ThinkPad models.

Targeted at both business and consumer users, the laptop comes with Windows XP or Windows Vista.

ThinkPad X300 comes with 64 GB hard drive, 13.3-inch LED-backlit display and lithium-polymer battery. The lithium-polymer chemistry provides better battery life than standard lithium-ion batteries found in most laptops today

X300 is powered by Intel's Core 2 Duo SL7100 LV low-voltage chip, operating at 1.2GHz. The laptop is expected to get WiMax capabilities later this year.

Without an Internet Connection, Read Your Favaorite Websites

Do you spend a lot of time away from the computer in places where there’s no internet connectivity or if does exist, the cost of accessing the web are way too high.

Have you ever wished reading some of your favorite blogs and websites even while still staying offline? Well now you can, courtesy Webaroo.

Just like the Apple iPod lets you listen to your favorite songs while you are away from the computer, Webaroo is a free software that lets you browse (and search) web content on your laptop while you are disconnected.

You may have often read about offline browsing software utilities like wget that help you mirror complete websites and image galleries to the local hard drive of your computer. Webaroo is something more.

Once you install Webaroo software, you suggest a list of blogs, websites, videos, podcasts or any other online content that you would like to read offline.

When you connect your laptop to the Internet, Webaroo fetches the web pages from the internet and creates a local copy which is no different than the original web version. Depending on your setting, Webaroo will also download content other than text which may include images, songs, videos, Office documents or anything else found on your favorite websites.

If you are too lazy to make suggestions, just import your browser bookmarks in Webaroo . Alternatively, you can download readymade web packs from the Webaroo site which are like a collection of popular websites arranged in categories. For instance, the technology news web pack may include sites such as CNET, PC World, PC Magazine, etc.

Other than browsing the content offline, you can use the Webaroo desktop search engine to find information that already saved on the computer.

And the next time you connect to the internet, the software will automatically update the local cache copies if the source website have been modified. Can’t get simple enough.

Google is the Home of Hackers

Infamous computer hacker group Cult of the Dead Cow (CDC) said that it is offering a software tool that lets people use Google to scan websites for security flaws.

CDC says a "Goolag Scanner" programme based on work done by a hacker using the name "Johnny I Hack Stuff" is available for free download at its website.

The tool lets people with fundamental programming skills check websites or Internet domains for weaknesses that could be exploited by hackers, according to CDC.

The group said it uncovered "some pretty scary holes" through random tests of the tool in North America, Europe, and the Middle East.

CDC advised website operators to use to tool to find and patch vulnerabilities before hackers use it for crime or mischief. "If I was a government, a large corporation, or anyone with a large web site, I'd be downloading this beast and aiming it at my site yesterday," CDC spokesman Oxblood Ruffin said in a message posted at the website.

Google did not respond to an AFP request for comment.

Computer security specialists warn people to make certain any programs they download onto their computers don't contain malicious code.

Hackers routinely try to trick people into installing programs that then take over machines or mine them for passwords, financial accounts, or other valuable information.

CDC was established in the US in 1984 and its history includes declaring war on the Church of Scientology and claiming to have given former US president Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's Disease with a tainted dart from a blow gun.

Pakistan Blocks Video WebSite YouTube

Pakistan's government has banned access to the video-sharing website YouTube because of anti-Islamic movies that users have posted on the site, an official said.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority told the country's 70 Internet service providers that the popular website would be blocked until further notice.

The authority did not specify what the offensive material was, but a PTA official said the ban concerned a movie trailer for an upcoming film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who has said he plans to release an anti-Quran movie portraying the religion as fascist and prone to inciting violence against women and homosexuals.

The PTA official, who asked not to be identified because he was not an official spokesman, said the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority also blocks websites that show controversial drawings of the Prophet Muhammad. The drawings were originally printed in European newspapers in 2006 and were reprinted by some papers last week.

The PTA urged Web users to write to YouTube and request the removal of the objectionable movies, saying authorities would stop blocking the site once that happened.

Pakistan is not the only country to have blocked access to YouTube. In January, a court in Turkey blocked the site because some video clips allegedly insulted the country's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It is illegal to insult Ataturk in Turkey.

Last spring, the Thai government banned the site for about four months because of clips seen as offensive to Thailand's revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Moroccans last year were unable to access YouTube after users posted videos critical of Morocco's treatment of the people of Western Sahara, a territory Morocco took control of in 1975.

Take Notes on your Mobile Phone with ShifD or on the Desktop

ShifD, a new note taking application, is a wonderful mix of Instapaper and Clipmarks. Developed by the New York Times, this simple yet very useful app is available for the desktop, web browser and even your mobile phone.

You could either select some text on a web page and its instantly saved as a new note to your online account (like Clipmarks) or you can just save the link (URL) of the current page pretty much like the "read later" feature of Instapaper.

Related Article: Online Note Taking Software

While Instapaper and Clipmarks are limited to the browser, ShifD also provides a desktop client so you can take notes from virtually any Windows or Mac application provided you have Adobe AIR installed. The desktop software will synchronize with the online version so you always have the same notes / web links at all locations.

The most attractive thing is the mobile component of ShifD - you can take notes from the mobile phone using the phone browser or by sending the text/link as an SMS. This works for all phones including BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, etc but the SMS feature is open only for US residents.

Save All Websites U visited when it comes to Call the Day Off

Imagine a situation where are you have a dozen different websites open inside Firefox and suddenly your wife walks in saying - "Let’s go out for dinner and then see a movie."

That’s an offer you can’t refuse but before shutting down the computer, you would like to save a list of all websites that are currently open in Firefox. Here are some suggestion on how to achieve this?

Option 1. Press Ctrl+Shift+D or go to Bookmarks and select "Bookmark all Tabs". This will save all the open tabs into one folder and you can resume surfing the next day by select "Open All in Tabs" from the bookmark folder.

Bonus Tip: Name this folder something like "Feb25" or "022508" so it becomes easy for you to guess the date from the folder name itself.


Option 2. Send Tab URLs - This extension helps you send URLs of all open tabs to any other email address tabs using your default email program - it could be Gmail, Microsoft Outlook or anything else. Very handy if you are working from home and need to access the same websites from office the next day.

If you don’t want email, use Tab URL Copier to copy URLs of all open tabs to the clipboard and paste them inside any note taking software like Google Notebook.


Option 3. Google Browser Sync - If you have a Google Account and work across computers, this Firefox add-in from Google is a perfect way to save your Firefox tabs and open windows. Unfortunately, Google Browser Sync is not supported on Firefox 3.

Option 4. Session Manager - This is probably the most popular solution for save your browser session in Firefox. It will even restore your windows and tabs incase your browser crashes.

Firefox, even without any extensions, will prompt your save the tabs if you decide to quit the browser when multiple tabs are open. This sounds like a good idea but if you are sharing the computer with other family members, you run the risk of losing work if someone else logs in the next day before you do.

Take a Look At the Most Popular Social Networking Sites around the World

Like the Internet World Maps, this picture illustrates the popularity of various social networks across different countries of the world.

Pirated Software Programs on the Net

You will be surprised to know that the top pirated software on the Internet includes anti-virus programs followed by AutoCAD and Adobe Photoshop.

The CD/DVD burning software from Roxio also seem to more popular among software pirates than Nero. And its strange that Microsoft Office is missing in the following list of most pirated software programs compiled by the Software Industry Association - SIIA Anti-Piracy 2007 Year in Review

Adobe - Adobe Acrobat, Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe DreamWeaver, Adobe Creative Suite

Symantec - Symantec Norton Anti-Virus, Symantec PC Anywhere, Symantec Norton Ghost

McAfee - McAfee VirusScan, McAfee Internet Security Suite

Others - Autodesk AutoCAD, Roxio Easy CD/DVD Creator, Roxio Toast Titanium, Ipswitch WS_FTP, Nero Ultra Edition 2007, Intuit TurboTax, Intuit Quicken Home and Business

Chat with Live Readers by adding Google Talk Badge To your Blog

Like Meebo Me, Google Talk now allows you to chat with people who may not have signed up for Google Talk or a Google Account.

This is possible through a new Google Talk Chat Badge that bloggers can embed in their web pages to chat live with blog readers and other site visitors.

It really doesn’t matter whether your readers have a Google Talk account or not - they can talk to you through the web page as long as you are signed into your GTalk account.



Another use of Google Talk - If you run a support website where you provide live support to customers via IM, Google Talk could be a wonderful option for you because its free and definitely very reliable.

The Google Talk chat badge on the blog will be automatically disabled if you set your Google Talk status as "Busy". And you chat with more than one person at the same time as each session will open in a separate tab (see screenshot).

All Google Gmail Users are given 2 separate Email Addresses - Wow Its Amazing

You probably know how to create multiple email aliases in Gmail by adding the plus symbol and dots to your Gmail username but there’s something more interesting.

When you create a Gmail account, you actually get two email addresses - one is the regular @gmail.com while the second email address has @googlemail.com in the domain.

That means if your email address in Gmail is something like billgates@gmail.com, all email messages that are sent to billgates@googlemail.com will also be delivered to your own Gmail account. That’s two for the price of one.

Like the Gmail plus trick, you can take advantage of these two domains so that less spam reaches your Gmail Inbox.

Give the @googlemail.com address to your close contacts (put that in the visiting card) while keep the @gmail.com address for public (put it on your blog). Then set a Gmail filter such that all email messages with @googlemail.com in the header go a special folder so you will never miss important email from close friends.

Hacker's New Tool -- Local Languages

Hacker's help wanted ads are appearing on underground Internet channels as mallicious code designers increase the demand for programmers with foreign-language skills to help launch country-specific attacks, McAfee Inc said in a report.

Hackers want to craft compelling and grammatically correct Web pages and spam emails -- which are crucial in fooling people to download viruses or reveal personal information like credit card numbers.

By localising their attacks, hackers can better target software and sites popular in specific countries -- such as peer-to-peer network applications in Japan, online gaming sites in China, and banks in Brazil. They can also limit their attacks to countries where law enforcement is more likely to be lax.

The report found that just 67 per cent of spam is now written in English, a sign that broadband penetration in emerging markets has made attacks in non-english languages increasingly lucrative.

Attacks written in local languages aren't new, but the torrent of money flowing into criminal coffers from Internet attacks has made hackers increasingly sophisticated about lures that will work on their targets.

“It speaks to the underlying professionalism and understanding of business that we've seen in the past few years and that we haven't seen in the past,” said David Marcus, security research and communications manager with McAfee. "They're approaching malware as a business and are looking to build their businesses globally.”

Marcus added that hackers' recruitment pitches often take two forms: hackers looking to employ virus-writers to design spam and websites in local languages and those hackers looking to trade malicious programmes in different languages.

Hackers already have made progress in english-language spam. While three quarters were packed with typos and other errors just a few years ago, only about 10 per cent do so today.

Moreover it doesn't take a huge investment in time to craft this stuff perfectly.

20 India's IT companies are among World's Best

Reflecting the outsourcing prowess of India Inc around 20 Indian companies, including the likes of Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services, are among the best in the world.

'The 2008 Global Outsourcing 100' list compiled by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals has named about 20 companies based in India. Among them are, India's top software exporters Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Wipro Technologies, while Genpact, WNS and EXLService are leading BPO firms listed in the US.

The others figuring in the list are MindTree Consulting, Aditya Birla Minacs, Patni, Quest, Tech Mahindra, Mastek, KPIT Cummins, Convergys, Zenzar Technologies, First Source, ITC Infotech, Hexaware and 24/7 Customer.

The evaluation process for compiling the list mainly takes into consideration the size and growth in revenue of the company, its employees, centres and countries served, management capabilities, competencies and customer experience.

The list also features many foreign companies who have a substantial presence in India. Most of these companies are American such as Accenture, Cognizant Technologies, IBM, ADP, Xerox, CB Richard Ellis and Hewlett-Packard. Other names include Cushman & Wakefield, Unisys, Hewitt and French firm Capgemini.

How your junk PC can expose you

If you've been using a computer for some time and need to abandon it -- either because you're leaving a job or moving to another machine -- you need to be concerned about security. Once you leave, a lot of information can be retrieved about you just by inspecting the digital traces you leave behind.

Clear History, for instance, removes the history of activity kept by most popular applications. It can clear not only document and Internet history but also can ferret down into more arcane data and registry information, removing any record of your activity.

So before you say goodbye to a PC, follow this list of to-do items to ensure that no one gains information about you that they do not need to know.

Create a Personal Handwritten Signature For Your Email Messages

A handwritten signature at the bottom of your email messages can sometimes add a pinch of personal touch to your emails. (Also read - "How to Add Image Signatures in Gmail")

If you are on a Tablet PC, you can very easily sign off emails with handwritten cursive signatures using the stylus but for everyone else, MyLiveSignature is the place to go.

MyLiveSignature, as the name suggests, allows you to create email signatures online that look as if they are handwritten. You can customize the slope (tilt) of the writing or choose from a variety of cursive handwriting fonts so that the image closely resembles your real signature.

And if don’t like approximations - write your signature on a sheet of paper, scan the signature and upload that image to MyLiveSignature. They will send you an exact copy of the signature ready for use in emails and blogs - this however costs $10.

MyLiveSignature.com - Type your name to get started.

Embed Images from Google Maps In Emails & Blogs Without Using Screen Capture Software

It is now possible to embed live images of Google Maps in emails and other websites (like MySpace, Facebook or WordPress.com) that do not allow JavaScript.

Earlier you had to take a screenshot of the Google Maps and save that as an image file but that’s no longer necessary as this Static Maps Wizard will let you create a still but dynamic image of any location on Google Maps.

For instance, the map of Hyderabad above is not a screenshot but a live image served from Google Maps using this URL.

You can place the Google Maps image in any web page using the standard tag. For embedding maps in web emails (like Gmail), simply compose a new message and drag the Google Map on to the email body.

Wanna Have Fun - Add Humorous Captions and Graphics to Any Photo on Any Website

Photo Crank is as online service that lets you add captions and entertaining graphics to web photos on the fly - you could use this either for fun (like running a caption contest) or for collecting feedback on certain photos.

And there are no licensing issues because the photo stays on the original website.

You can add a line of code to your blog template and readers can then add captions to your photos and images while staying inside the blog. These comments are automatically saved with the photo and others can also read them.

To see all this in action, visit the blog of fake Steve Jobs and wait for this photo to load in the browser. This will particular interest blogs that are about celebrities.

How to Connect a Laptop Computer To Your Television Screen

Question: Aditya wants to watch YouTube videos and Flickr photos on his large TV screen with the entire family and is wondering if there’s any simple way of connecting TV to the PC.

Solution: While is is possible to display the contents of your computer screen on the TV, you may not be very happy with the overall picture quality and the text is not very readable.

If that is no concern, here’s how to connect your computer to a Television set (we used an HP Tablet Vista computer and a Sony Bravia HDTV for this example)

computer-tv-cable 1. First you need a video cable for making the physically connection.


Most computers have an S-Video port that can be connected to the S-Video input of your TV screen using a very cheap S-Video cable (it’s round with 4 or 7 pins).

For better picture quality, you should connect the computer to the TV using standard VGA ports or via the DVI to HDMI cable provided your TV supports these ports.

connect television 2. Open the "display settings" in your Vista computer and activate output to the TV screen. You can either mirror content of your computer on the TV or extend the display just like a dual monitor screen.

3. Pick up your TV remote and switch to "External Inputs" from the menu. You will need to change the default "Video 1" to a different selection which may be "HDMI 1" or "Video 2" depending on how you have made the connection.

Important: Make sure you connect the cable to the TV before turning on the computer as sometimes it may fail to recognize external display.

You may also need to change the screen resolution of your TV using the Display settings in your Control Panel else the picture may appear distorted.

The Top Luxury Mobile Phones in the World

Luxury goods companies seems to be realising the potential of Geek fashion. The companies which realised long ago their brands could be extended to more than clothes and bags, have been rushing to embrace the gadgets.

And on the top of their attention are mobiles, which has been a status symbol and part of fashion accessories for some time now. International fashion labels Prada, Dolce & Gabbana and Armani are rushing in to release fashionista mobiles. French fashion house Christian Dior, while rumours are rife that luxury crystal specialist Swarovski is all set to follow suit.

Here's a look into these Designer Mobiles.

Scribd iPaper - Embed Documents in Web Pages, Also Make Money via Google AdSense

pdf scribd ipaperScribd, a perfect place for uploading Office documents and PDFs, has moved from Adobe Flash Paper to a new iPaper format that is definitely more impressive and also allows web publishers to monetize documents.

With the new iPaper format, you can embed virtually any document format into your website or blog as a flipping book with 3D page turning capabilities or in a landscape (presentation) mode.

This is very similar to the Issuu PDF Converter but the advantage is that you can print and search through documents inside the iPaper viewer - something which is not possible inside Issuu.

Scribd provides a simple QuickSwitch mode - you copy-paste a block of code in your blog and all documents/PDFs (that are mentioned in your articles) will be auto-converted into iPaper format without you having to upload files manually. This mode will also replace the document links in your web pages with an embedded document player. Simple!

Another attraction is AdSense - Scribd will pay blog owners who embed documents in their blogs using iPaper - the earnings will be based on the number of ad impressions served via Google AdSense. And if you are a content publisher, Scribd offers something similar to Ads for PDF where you also get to monetize your own documents.

Default Print Margin in Word Documents and our Environment

When you create a new document inside Microsoft Word 2007 using the default settings, the page margins are set to 1" indicating the non-printable space around the edges of the page. In case of Word 2003, the default print margins are higher by a quarter-inch.

A study indicates that decreasing this default print margin width in Word from 1.25 inches to 0.75 inch would result in average paper savings of 4.75 percent. And you just don’t save on paper but also trees and money.

As most Microsoft Office users are less likely to fiddle with the "factory defaults," actress Tamara Krinsky has launched an online campaign called "Change the Margins" that will urge Microsoft to reduce the default printing margins from 1" to .75" so that Word becomes a more environment-friendly software. Her mantra:

Narrower margin settings = more text/page = less paper used.

Check Your Gmail or Yahoo! Mail with Flock (Web Browser)

Flock, the favorite web browser of social animals, now supports Gmail and Yahoo! Mail so you can easily check web emails without having to open separate browser tabs - the mail icon glows indicated you have new email.

Other than checking email, you can also share links of web pages and photos using web email without leaving Flock.

This may sounds similar to the GmailThis! bookmarklet of Firefox but its integrated in the browser so all mailto: hyperlinks open in Gmail by default and not in desktop programs like Outlook or Thunderbird.

Related: Make Gmail the Default E-Mail Client in Firefox

And if you like adding smiley icons or image signatures to your outgoing Gmail messages, Flock is a perfect choice - drag the image onto the web clipboard of Flock, then compose a new mail message and drag that same image from the web clipboard to the body of the email.

Flock is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Arrange Browser Bookmarks Like The Icons On Your Desktop

Deskload is a visual way of organizing links to your favorite websites just the way you arrange icons across the Windows desktop.

You can manually add your favorite websites to the Deskload desktop or import addresses in bulk via the Browser bookmarks file.

Once you have created a desktop of bookmarks, you can arrange and move these web page icons around, change the background wallpaper and then save the layout so that the desktop is accessible from any computer.

Handy if you maintain a small list of websites that you need to access from other computers.

SonY Ericsson G900 Revealed

Sony Ericsson refreshed its G series with Symbian UIQ based G900, a candybar handset sporting a 2.4" QVGA touchscreen, with 160 MB of internal memory and a Memory Stick Micro (M2) card slot.

The phone is packed with features like 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus, red-eye reduction, digital image stabilisation and facial recognition.

The phone comes with FM radio, multimedia player, stereo Bluetooth, Opera web browser, document editors and an email client. The G900 sports tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900MHz), WCDMA (2100MHz), and WiFi. The phone will sport dark Red or dark Brown colours.

Chip Maker INTEL Offices Raided

The European Commission conducted antitrust raids against Intel's Munich offices and against retailers selling products of the world's largest chip maker, the Commission and the chip maker said.

The European Union watchdog's actions ratcheted up pressure on Intel and broke new ground by raiding Germany's huge Media Markt-Saturn, electrical goods retailer DSG International, which owns Dixons and Currys, and France's PPR, owner of retailer Fnac.

Carrefour, another prominent French retailer, declined to say if it had been raided. Intel has been preparing for a Brussels hearing on March 11 and 12 to answer pending charges it abused its dominance of the market for central processing units (CPUs) at the heart of every PC.

"Commission officials carried out unannounced inspections at the premises of a manufacturer of central processing units and a number of personal computer retailers," said Jonathan Todd, a Commission spokesman.

He said the Commission, accompanied by local law enforcement staff, conducted the raids because it had reason to believe the companies "may have violated EC (European Community) Treaty rules on restrictive business practices and/or abuse of a dominant market position."

Intel confirmed the raids. "There has been a raid on our offices in Munich. As is our normal practice, we are cooperating with authorities," said Chuck Mulloy, a spokesman for the chip maker.

New investigation
The raids come as Intel faces a closed hearing in Brussels next month on charges that it slashed prices below cost and offered huge rebates in an attempt to drive smaller competitor Advanced Micro Devices Inc out of the market.

V for Valentine......How Important is it Today ?

Has Valentine’s Day lost its relevance today?
Valentine's Day, celebrated on February 14 every year, was perceived as a western concept sometime back. But over the years, the occasion has caught the fantasy of east as well. Particularly in India, the popularity of V-Day is well on its way to surpass that of traditional Indian festivals like Diwali, Holi. Who cares if expression of love today is reduced to the exchange of flowers, expensive gifts or chocolates, which the shopping malls are dying to sell? The big question is - Do we really need to wait for a particular day to express love? Is V-Day all about marketing gimmicks?
Write in with your views .

Indian origin woman among top 15 in corporate US

Indian origin Cisco official Padmasree Warrior has been named one of the top 15 most influential women driving innovation (and revenue) in corporate America.

Warrior, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at the Cisco Systems, has been ranked among the top 15 women in business by a magazine.

The PINK magazine's Top 15 Women in Business - "The Innovators" list identifies remarkable women leaders who use ideas to transform companies every single day.

From Michelle Gass, just promoted to senior vice president of global strategy at Starbucks, to Union Pacific Railroad's Diane Duren, who developed a new train route that delivers millions in revenue annually, these women create change in their organisations - the kind that births new generations of products and has an immediate impact on the bottom line, says the magazine that caters to America's career-focused women.

Warrior, who joined Cisco in December 2007 after stepping down as the Vice President and CTO of Motorola has been known as a driving force for innovation at Motorola and knowing how to harness the creative power of engineers.

Warrior, 47, raised in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, India, holds a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from IIT Delhi and a M.S. degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University. In 2007 she was awarded Doctor of Engineering, Honoris Causa from New York's Polytechnic University.

Besides Padmasree, some other women making to the list in the March-April issue of the magazine are: Cathy Avgiris, Comcast, Barbara Beck, Manpower, Irene Chang Britt, Campbell Soup, Laurie Brubaker, Aetna, Diane Duren, Union Pacific Railroad, Julie England, Texas Instruments, Michelle Gass, Starbucks.

Want to know the Great Web sites......Dont Install StumbleUpon Toolbar ....there is a Trick

Auto Discover Great Websites Without Installing StumbleUpon Toolbar; Works In All Web Browsers

stumbleupon toolbar not for safari, opera StumbleUpon is a wonderful way to randomly explore some of the best web content, photos and videos on the Internet. It shows websites that you are very likely to enjoy as they are recommend by like minded people..

To use StumbleUpon, you need to install a toolbar that is available only for Internet Explorer and Firefox. There’s no official support for Opera and Apple Safari.


There is however a quick workaround so you can continue to find great websites with StumbleUpon without downloading the toolbar - the trick works on non-supported browsers as well. (see screenshots).

Apple Safari with StumbleUpon Toolbar

stumbleupon safari toolbar

StumbleUpon Tool inside Opera Browser

stumbleupon opera toolbar

To see how this works, visit the URL stumbleupon.com/demo/#url=http://www.labnol.org/ in any web browser - you will immediately notice a virtual toolbar over the web page with separate buttons for stumbling websites, blogs, photos and videos.

stumbleupon buttons Click any of these buttons and enjoy as you are transported to some random but great website recommended by the StumbleUpon community.

Click the stumble button again to see another site and so on. No installation required and a perfect way to cure boredom.

Yahoo's Another Discovery NewsGlobe

yahoo-breaking-news

Yahoo! Newsglobe is another interesting way to visualize news stories as they happen in any part of the world. The news globe takes the feed from Yahoo! News and is therefore almost real-time. Thanks Lucas Shuman

Pink Slips soon to be more.....?

Are pink slips round the corner?

Dell lays off 1200, Nokia to shut German plant… and now, TCS lays off 500 and IBM 700, are the tremors of slowing economy finally reaching onshore?

This seems to be the question worrying all IT employees. Just a few months, and the over-pampered employees of the country's Sunrise sector don't know if they have made the right career choice. The days of hefty pay cheques and bonuses seem to be replaced by the anxious days of the early-2000 slowdown, when no one knew 'whose turn it could be next'.

Says Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO, Infosys, India, "Pink slips are possible in the industry." However, he goes on to add, "What happens in such a situation largely depends on the company's clients. If we look at companies that have clients in sectors like services, BFSI and retail, they will be the most affected."

Few other sectors have been so closely bound by the global markets as information technology. So, according to analysts global sentiments affecting the industry is but a natural outcome. The industry is in fact expected to come on par with its global counterparts in terms of salary increments and annual growth.

Sourabh Kaushal, Industry Manager, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia & Middle East, news from the TCS and IBM stables could be seen as early signs. "These are still early signs. However, facing a US recession, IT companies are under great pressure. So, in future we may see this trend growing with companies undertaking strategic restructuring."

We run you through some of the top tech companies in India and overseas which have gone for a trimmed workforce in the past few months.

New Mobile Services From Yahoo Inc

Yahoo Inc announced a new mobile phone service that integrates e-mail, instant messaging and social networks.

Called oneConnect, the service is expected to launch this spring, Marco Boerries, executive vice president for Connected Life at Yahoo, on Tuesday said at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona. Its open architecture means users and other companies can eventually add many other applications to it.

"The key driving force in opening up the platform is putting content into the device. No company can create these ecosystems alone. We have to be open," Boerries said.

Boerries also announced cell phone carrier T-Mobile will offer Yahoo Inc's Internet search service to its European customers in late March, shifting away from Google.

T-Mobile will offer Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Messenger, as well as Yahoo's oneSearch, which provides news, financial information, photos, Web pages and other services.

The announcements was made in Barcelona as Yahoo copes with Microsoft Corporation's unsolicited bid for Yahoo and as Yahoo completed an acquisition of its own, buying online video service Maven Networks Inc for USD 160 million. Yahoo on Monday rejected Microsoft's offer, originally valued at USD 44.6 billion, or USD 31 a share.

On oneConnect, social networks will be integrated into contact lists, which in turn can be used to link into various ways of keeping in touch with friends, or keeping tabs on them -- allowing users access to a wide range of services from Yahoo Messenger to Google Talk to AOL Instant Messenger and MSN Messenger.

Apple's Thinnest Laptop soon coming to India

Apple unveiled the world's thinnest notebook, MacBook Air, in India on Wednesday.

/photo.cms?msid=2778508 Angeline Tan, product marketing manager of Apple, introduced the notebook here, which measures 4 mm at its thinnest point.

The MacBook Air was first launched at the MacWorld expo in San Francisco on January 15.

In India, it will ship in two weeks through Apple authorised resellers and authorised dealers for a suggested retail price of Rs.96,100 ($2,421).

The features of the MacBook Air include a 13.3-inch liquid crystal display, a full-size backlit keyboard and a built-in video camera.

MacBook Air delivers up to five hours of battery life and includes Wi-Fi networking.

With an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 1.6 or 1.8 GHz of processing power, Apple's standard model contains a 1.8-inch hard drive offering 80 GB of storage.

Valentine Gift For Valentine Lovers

V-day is here again! Wondering what to floor your partner with this time? Looking for something beyond those mundane flowers, chocolates and deodorants?

How about some tech toys for that special person in your life? Here's a line-up of some of the best gizmos that may make the perfect gift for your loved one. Take your pick.

Add Power to ur windows

Add Power to your Windows

Wanna add some Power to your Windows? How about some PowerToys to add fun and functionality to your Windows experience.

Wondering what these PowerToys exactly are. PowerToys are primarily additional programmes that developers work on after a product has been released. These though are released by the company are not under technical support.

Here are some interesting PowerToys to add to your Windows XP experience.

Embedding MP3 Audio Files In Web Pages With Google or Yahoo! Flash Player

Question: How do you embed an MP3 file (like a podcast, song or background music) into a web page or an RSS feed so that visitors can listen to the audio in the browser itself without requiring an external player like QuickTime or Windows Media Player ?

Answer: We earlier recommended the Google MP3 Player for embedding MP3 songs and audio podcasts in web pages but for some reason, the Google Flash player has stopped working on external websites other than listening to voicemail messages on Gmail.com.

So here we explore some new Flash MP3 players from Google and Yahoo! that are again light-weight, easy to implement and extremely efficient.

1. Google Reader MP3 Player

Google Reader has an inbuilt MP3 player that is pretty much the same as Gmail player but it also works on non-Google websites. This player has volume controls, no Google branding and it auto-detects the duration of the music file so your readers know how long the song will last. Here’s a live example followed by the HTML embed code:

To use this MP3 player on your website or blog, copy-paste the following code and replace the MP3_FILE_URL with the link to your MP3 file.

MP3_FILE_URL" width="400" height="27" allowscriptaccess="never" quality="best" bgcolor="#ffffff" wmode="window" flashvars="playerMode=embedded" />

2. Yahoo! MP3 Player

If you think normal is boring, check this out. Yahoo! offer a code generator (Easy Listener) to help you create a Flash based MP3 player that matches your website color theme and layout. See example:

Though this Easy Listener MP3 player requires you to pass the address of the web page that contains the MP3 file(s), you can directly pass the MP3 link and it will work just fine. Supports auto play and you can decide where the meta data associated with the MP3 file should be displayed.

MP3_FILE_URL&skin_color_1=-145,-89,-4,5&skin_color_2=-141,20,0,0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" />

3. Yahoo! Media Player

If you maintain an MP3 blog or run a podcast and regularly link to MP3 files, it makes little sense to embed a separate Flash player with every MP3 file. I would therefore recommend using the Yahoo! Media Player that auto-detects links to MP3 files in your web pages and creates an embedded player for each link.

All you have to do is insert the following link in your blog template and all MP3 hyperlinks will be converted into inline MP3 players. This also has the shuffle feature and visitors can easily skip to any song in the playlist. Excellent stuff.

4. Odeo MP3 Player

Odeo offers a pretty impressive MP3 player (see example) that works perfect in web pages as well as RSS readers but a small issue is that Odeo Player requires you to type the exact duration of the song in the embed code. You can skip this step but then the progress bar won’t reflect the true status when you play the song. And there are no volume controls.

To use Odeo MP3 player in your website, add the following code replacing MP3_FILE_URL and DURATION with relevant values.

DURATION&external_url=MP3_FILE_URL" />

Summary: With so many choices, how do you pick the right MP3 player for your website ?

As a minimalist, I prefer the Google Reader MP3 player since it offers volume control and minimal branding. But if you are regularly linking to MP3 files, this will prove cumbersome and I suggest integrated the Yahoo! Media Player on your website.

How to Find People Who Are Yet To Accept Your Request to Become Facebook Friends

When you send a friend request to someone on Facebook, they can either approve your friendship request, decline it or leave the request untouched.

Now Facebook will inform you when friends approve your request but there’s no easy way to figure out the names of people who are yet to approve your friendship requests.

So here’s a simple Facebook hack to help you retrieve this information:

1. Open your Facebook Privacy page by clicking the "privacy" link at the top right corner.

2. Click the link that says "Poke, Message, and Friend Request"

3. The next screen will show you a list of Facebook members who are not your friends but can see some parts of your Facebook profile. They are in the list because you have contacted them in the past through a poke or friend request though you are not mutual friends.

And this is the list that has all the names who have not confirmed your friendship request yet. Unfortunately, there is no way to cancel a friend request once it has been made so you cannot delete names from the list on your own.

Virus Danger for Mobilez

The virus is all set to go mobile. With the cellular phone providing net-enabled features like e-mail, instant messages, multimedia, browsing etc, virus writers who hitherto attacked computers are readying to upload viruses onto mobile phones. In all probability, 2008 might see mobile communication devices become the latest victim of the virus.
At stake is destruction of valuable data and experts say the viruses can worm their way into other devices or networks through infrared, Bluetooth or WAP. And the most worrisome factor is disruption of services can be much more in the case of mobile phones as they vastly outnumber the number of personal computers in the world. Security experts apprehend that the virus can spread much faster in the case of the mobile phones due to the fact that practically everyone has one. The kind of threat in the offing could be gleaned from the fact that there are around five lakh viruses on the prowl on the Internet. While it took almost 20 years for the mischief-mongers to create three lakh viruses, it just took a year for the computer-savvy criminals to make two lakh viruses in 2007.
Jari Heinonen, vice-president (Asia-Pacific) of F-Secure, says that as mobiles have outnumbered PCs, cyber criminals are beginning to target the wireless networks. Already there are hundreds of mobile viruses/worms on the prowl to hack into gullible users' devices. F-Secure experts, who have mapped the shifts in Internet crime trends since 1986, believe that India, along with Mexico and Africa, could be the next hotbed of Internet crime more so on the mobile front. The trend is expected to continue and spread into Central America, predicts Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure. Even Macintosh OS-based Apple's iphone, that claimed not to be fetched by any malicious malware, was found to be affected by a trojan on January 10 this year.

Vishal Dhupar, MD, Symantec India, says: "As phones become more complex, more interesting and more connected, we expect attackers to take advantage and trick users into giving valuable information. As banks are moving closer toward making services available on mobile devices, the threat factor is getting greater. Symantec found 18,424 unique phishing URLs. Banks continue to be the most phished sector with 52% of these URLs spoofing financial institutions."

Tata Nano got a Maruthi Challenge

The battle for the small car is getting hotter. Soon after the Tatas stunned the world with a Rs 1 lakh car, Nano, Bajaj announced a small car with Renault's support and then Hyundai stated its intention to come out with a car that could cost less than Rs 2 lakh and hit the road by 2011.

And now, TOI learns auto biggie Maruti-Suzuki too is ready with a hot recipe for a dish of a small car.

Maruti-Suzuki is tight-lipped, even in the denial mode, but a number of vendors who have been entrusted with the challenge of developing components for Suzuki's small car say the company's reticence is only evidence of the seriousness of its intent.

The little car could hit the road, they say, as early as the end of this year or early 2009.

From what TOI learns, the Suzuki car will come closest to rival Nano. It will sport a Suzuki 660cc engine - as against Nano's 623cc - and wear a tag of around Rs 1.5 lakh on road (that is, excluding insurance) - a little higher than Nano, which is expected to be Rs 1.25 lakh on road.

Suzuki, say several vendors, is confident of overcoming the price difference by virtue of its high brand equity in the auto mart.

When contacted, a Maruti spokesman in Delhi first said the company had no comments to offer. When asked for a written response, the spokesman wrote back saying the company has "no plans" for such a car.

The small car project, said vendors, is being mothered by Suzuki at its headquarters at Hamamatsu in Japan, although it will be eventually manufactured in India. A vendor said that Suzuki has codenamed the project "Under A" as the proposed car would be positioned below the A segment, which is driven by Maruti 800 at present.

Tips to safer Online Banking

Banking has never been easier. Type in one simple web address and you have access to your bank for almost anything, from viewing the latest balance to transferring money to your friend to paying for that online purchase.

However, this convenience has its set of risks too. The stepping of financial institutions into the virtual realm has lead to a new breed of financial criminals. Criminals, who largely thrive on the innocuousness of netizens and technology loopholes.

Here are some simple tips to prevent you from falling into the trap of these cyber criminals. Remember, a simple ignorance or oversight can make a huge dent in your hard-earned savings.

Dell closes kiosks, Team up for HP

Dell said that it would close all of its 140 US kiosks, a concept it launched in 2002 to showcase computers, as it expands sales of PCs in retail stores.

Dell, the world's second-largest personal computer maker will shut the kiosks, mostly in shopping malls, today -- a decision the company said fits with its new retail strategy.

Customers could test Dell PCs at the kiosks and order the products, but they could not take delivery of them there.

The concept has become largely obsolete as Dell last year departed from a 23-year strategy of direct-only sales and its computers are now available in about 10,000 store outlets and online.

Dell in June started selling computers at Wal-Mart Stores Inc and later announced agreements with France's Carrefour SA and China's GOME Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd, among others.

Founder Michael Dell, who retook the company's helm a year ago, is changing Dell's consumer-sales strategy to better compete with rivals including Hewlett-Packard Co, which overtook Dell as the world's largest PC maker in 2006 after selling more notebook computers and printers in stores.

Dell spokesman Bob Kaufman said Dell will keep about 50 kiosks outside the United States.

“We recognised early on that customers really wanted to touch and see the products before they purchased them,” Kaufman said. “That led us to the kiosk model. Now, customers can touch and feel our products before buying them at one of our retail partners.”

Shares of Dell slipped 17 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $20.39 in mid-day trading on Nasdaq.

Yahoo Might Link Up with Google

Yahoo Inc would consider a business alliance with Google Inc as one way to rebuff a $44.6 billion takeover proposal by Microsoft, a source familiar with Yahoo's strategy said. Yahoo management is considering revisiting talks it held with Google several months ago on an alliance as an alternative to Microsoft's bid, source said. At $31 a share, Yahoo believes the bid undervalues the company, two sources said.
A second source close to Yahoo said it had received a procession of preliminary contacts by media, technology, telephone and financial companies. But the source said that they were unaware whether any alternative bid was in the offing. In a memo to Yahoo employees, which was obtained by Reuters, Yahoo leaders wrote, “We want to emphasize that absolutely no decisions have been made -- and, despite what some people have tried to suggest, there's certainly no integration process underway.” Few natural bidders exist besides Google that could engage in a bidding war, and Google would be unlikely to win approval from antitrust regulators, some Wall Street analysts said.
The Wall Street Journal reported on its website that Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt called Yahoo's chief executive Jerry Yang to offer his company's help in any effort to thwart Microsoft's bid. Spokesmen for Yahoo and Google declined comment. Google was not immediately available for comment on the WSJ story. Yahoo's efforts to find an alternative bidder could simply be a measure to pressure Microsoft to boost its bid, which valued Yahoo at $44.6 billion when first announced. Sanford C Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay wrote in a research note that “the Microsoft bid of $31 is very astute” because it puts pressure on Yahoo management to take actions that could unlock the underlying value of Yahoo assets, which he estimates are worth upward of $39-$45 a share. The bid gave a boost to markets in Asia when they opened on Monday. Shares in Softbank Corp soared as much as 16 per cent and Yahoo Japan was untraded due to a flood of buy orders on Monday, on hopes a potential deal between Microsoft and Yahoo would boost the Japanese firms' competitiveness. Softbank holds a 3.9 per cent stake in Yahoo Inc in terms of voting rights. The benchmark Nikkei average ended the morning up 2.4 per cent while indexes in Shanghai, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore also gained.

Google CEO, co-founders pact revealed

Google Inc's top three executives had pledged to work together for 20 years in a pact they made shortly before the company's initial public offering in August 2004, Fortune magazine has reported.

Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, together with Chief Executive Eric Schmidt say in a joint interview for Fortune's February 4th issue that the three had agreed to work together for two decades starting one month before the 2004 IPO.

"We agreed the month before we went public that we should work together for 20 years," said Schmidt, who added that he will be 69 years old by that time. Page would be 51 and Brin 50. The interview can be found at http://tinyurl.com/2oo5vt/.

A Google spokesman could not immediately be reached to comment. Schmidt is Google's chairman. Page is president of products and Brin is president of technology. Each is a billionaire. With a market capitalisation now around $170 billion, the world's most valuable Internet company is scheduled to report results for the final quarter of 2007 on Thursday.

Wall Street expects Google to report 2007 revenue around $16.6 billion, an increase of 57 per cent over the prior year.

Hyundai Plans Below Santro Style Car

Call it the Nano effect, but the lure for cheap compact cars is growing by the day. Hyundai Motors is working on a new compact car that would be priced lower than the ‘Santro’ and could be rolled out within three years. The South Korean auto major, that inaugurated its second manufacturing plant here, said the new car would be smaller than the Santro and sport a lower price point and will be developed keeping in mind the global market. However, company’s India president Ashok Jha said the project was in an initial stage at the moment and refused to comment on specific queries on the new offering, saying it was "too early". Currently the cheapest version of the Santro is available at an ex-showroom price of Rs 2.7 lakh and with an eye on a low-priced car, Hyundai may possibly look at a price point close to Rs 2 lakh. Jha said the company’s upcoming research and development centre at Hyderabad, that would focus on developing low-cost technologies, would be a contributor to the project. However, when asked specifically on the Nano and whether it could pose a threat to the company’s sales, he said this could be ascertained only when the Tata’s budget car is launched in the market. Hyundai’s current capacity in India is about 3 lakh units and the new plant will add a similar capacity, taking up the total capacity to 6 lakh units. The company is pumping in an additional Rs 4000 crore-plus in India by 2013 over and above the Rs 3372 crore it has invested so far. Hyundai India senior V-P Arvind Saxena said compact cars would be a major focus for the company in the coming years. "It is the largestsegment in the Indian market with a share of 74% and we will focus on it aggressively," he said. Small cars have been the biggest volume churner for Hyundai in India through its Santro and now with the i-10. However, it has not been able to make much of an impact in sedan segment where only ‘Accent’ has given it some success. Apart from the domestic market, it is also using India as a hub for manufacture of small cars that it exports to over 70 countries, including Europe, Africa and Latin America. The company plans to export as much as 50% of the production from India and said it is working on a plan to get a rail connectivity to transport its cars from the factory to the Chennai port, to make the process more efficient and safe. "RITES had done a feasibility study for this and if approved, it would be a tri-partite project including the railways, Chennai port and the Tamil Nadu government," the officials said.

Is IT Future Cloudy In D-street ?

Is IT dead? And is the stock market about to write the obituary of the information technology (IT) sector? Or, has it already done it? The sector, which appeared almost invincible not so long ago, is now under siege from investors and analysts alike.
Valuations of IT companies

Its future prospects have also come under a cloud on fears that the US economy is hurtling towards a recession which, in turn, will trigger off a global economic slowdown. So, are the curtains finally coming down on the sector, or is there still some steam left? ETIG tried to find the answers to these questions and concluded that all is not over for yesteryear’s poster boys of Dalal Street. IT stocks were laggards in ’07, even as the broader market continued to witness a bull run. The 30 components of the ET Infotech index lost over 5% during the year, while the BSE Sensex gained 45.5%. IT scrips could not escape the recent bear hug as well. Here again, the 20% drop in ET Infotech was sharper than the 13% fall in the Sensex. The market turmoil has also caused these scrips to trade at historically low price-toearnings (P/E) multiples. Interactions with industry observers and analysts reveal a common thread. There seems to be a consensus that stocks of IT exporters, especially the top companies, are attractive at the current levels for long-term investors. The argument is largely based on the commonly used P/E valuation method. An undeserved fall? Most of the IT stocks are currently available at deep discounts to their historical P/Es (see adjacent table). In the case of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro and HCL Tech, the current P/Es are half of their historical P/Es. This looks interesting, given that the Sensex is currently trading above its four-year average P/E levels, even after the recent crash. One argument to support the downward revision in IT valuations is that earnings growth of these companies has come down over a period of time. During ’05-06, quarterly earnings of the ET Infotech index were growing by an average 50% annually. The growth moderated to over 33% by the middle of ’07-08. This is partly due to a higher base. Also, the rupee’s appreciation has been dragging the growth down since the June ’07 quarter. A comparison of the quarterly earnings of the ET Infotech and the Sensex reveals that the former has started growing at a slightly lower pace than the latter. During the September’07 quarter, the Sensex profit after tax (PAT) growth outpaced that of the ET Infotech by a few notches. This pattern continued in the December’07 quarter as well. The Rupee bogey The steep appreciation of the rupee in a short span of time has retarded the growth of IT exporters. This is evident from the fact that while growth in rupee revenues has come down, growth in dollar terms has remained strong. Growth in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) space during the December ’07 quarter was decent, despite the subprime woes in global financial markets. This sounds assuring enough, since the banking and financial segment is the major revenue stream for Indian IT companies. Moreover, IT companies have been able to curtail the impact of a stronger rupee on their profitability. On an average, a rise of 100 basis points (bps) in the rupee against the dollar pulls operating margin down by 30-45 bps in case of top IT companies. Hence, an overall increase of 11% in the rupee should have reduced the profitability of IT companies by 300-450 bps.

Pay High and Take High Quality Talent

All eyes fell on top software outsourcing companies after the sector's leader, Tata Consultancy Services, cut variable pay for all its employees, citing a shortfall in its performance viz-a-viz internal targets. Investors and employees are keen to know how salary norms in the outsourcing industry are going to evolve in the wake of worries over economic slowdown in the United States.
TCS ploughed back Rs 83 crore from employees' hands into the company's coffers, saying previously set expectations of shareholder returns had not been met by its fiscal third quarter earnings. This made staffers poorer by 1.5 per cent of their annual cost to company. Officials in top outsourcing companies including Wipro said they're not considering a similar move right away. Human resource consultants, however, said many will follow TCS sooner or later, after ascertaining the demand environment in the United States. T V Mohandas Pai, who heads human resources at Infosys, said that the country's second largest software exporter sees no dramatic change.
A quick interview: You might have read TCS has cut variable pay for its employees... I am not too worried when a company changes variable pay. See, variable pay is variable with performance. Nothing is guaranteed in it. I don't think any dramatic change has happened. With fears of a slowdown, how do you see salaries moving in the next several months? Honestly, I don't think the hiring environment has changed. There is still demand for high quality freshers. Lateral hires in high growth areas are in demand. Lateral hires in mature areas such as application development ... well, there is supply there and there is not so much of a rate increase. But if you want high quality talent, you have to pay. For several quarters now, we have been seeing 12-15 per cent wage hikes.

Wi-Fi gadgets turn on heat

Wi-Fi gadgets turn on heat
Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but a couple of years ago you would have thought that by now you would be able to sit at any city cafe, park bench, airport bar or a cafe hotspot across the country and hop on the Internet via a free Wi-Fi connection. The painful truth is that such ubiquitous Wi-Fi is still years away. But several companies are betting enough people have wireless routers at home or use public hotspots to support a handheld Wi-Fi device that doesn't double as a cell phone. The Sony Mylo COM-2, the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet and the Zipit Wireless Messenger 2 all let you save on cellular data service fees while leaving your laptop computer in its case. And each is directed at a different segment of the market.

Do Yahoo Falls In Microsft's Den ? Markets Tell Yes

IT IS a potential deal that has been talked about for years, but has suddenly become a real possibility. On Friday February 1st Microsoft, the world’s biggest software company, made a $44.6 billion offer for Yahoo!, an ailing internet giant. The proposed deal, which would transform the software and internet-services industries, values Yahoo! at $31 a share, a 62% premium over the closing price on Thursday.
In a letter to the board of Yahoo!, Microsoft’s chief executive, Steve Ballmer, referred to previous discussions between the two companies in 2006 and 2007 about a possible partnership or merger. At the time, Yahoo! was hopeful that Panama, a new system it had developed to place advertisements next to the results of internet searches, would improve its fortunes and help it to catch up with Google, the leader in both internet search and advertising. Panama failed to live up to expectations, however, prompting Yahoo!’s chief executive, Terry Semel, to resign in June 2007.
His place was taken by Jerry Yang, one of Yahoo!’s co-founders, who promised to put things right at the sprawling internet conglomerate. But Yahoo!’s latest results, released on January 30th, were disappointing, and its share price fell to a four-year low. Mr Yang said that the company faced “headwinds”, as Yahoo! announced plans to cut 1,000 jobs, some 7% of its workforce. Microsoft saw its chance. “While a commercial partnership may have made sense at one time, Microsoft believes that the only alternative now is the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! that we are proposing,” wrote Mr Ballmer.
Google is not mentioned anywhere in Mr Ballmer’s letter, but its increasing clout in the online-advertising market, as a result of its leadership in search, is what has motivated the deal. “Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition,” he wrote. Combining Yahoo!, the number two in search and advertising, with Microsoft, the number three, would provide a stronger competitor in an industry where scale provides a huge advantage.
Google currently handles 66% of searches on the internet in America, compared with 21% for Yahoo and a mere 7% for Microsoft (through MSN and its new search engine, live.com). Strikingly, over the past year both Microsoft and Yahoo have seen their share of searches decline while Google's has gained.
The more people use your search engine, the more advertisers you can attract; and the more advertisers you can attract, the more likely you are to be able to serve up relevant advertisements that people will actually click on. As Mr Ballmer puts it: “While online advertising growth continues, there are significant benefits of scale in advertising platform economics, in capital costs for search index build-out, and in research and development, making this a time of industry consolidation and convergence.”
Microsoft is desperate to grab a bigger share of the online-advertising market because many of its software products are being challenged by free, advertising-supported services offered by Google. The company is also worried that Google’s dominance in search and advertising allows it to dictate terms to advertisers, and gives it an unfair advantage over its smaller rivals. This is a bit rich coming from Microsoft, a convicted monopolist in operating-system software, which has also been known to squeeze out smaller competitors, but its anger that it has had to endure years of scrutiny by regulators, while Google has been left alone, is genuine.
As well as creating a stronger rival to Google, the deal would also have other merits, Microsoft claims. The two companies could combine their research-and-development efforts into search, advertising and other areas; they could save money by consolidating the huge warehouses full of computers, known as “server farms”, that both firms operate; and they would be better placed to compete in new areas such as online video, social networking and online commerce. But it is clear that the real prize is greater clout in search and advertising.
Whatever Yahoo!’s management makes of the offer, the firm’s shareholders will be delighted at the news. Microsoft shareholders are likely to be less enthusiastic: integrating the two companies would be a mammoth task, and Microsoft has never made an acquisition on anything approaching this scale before. Some sceptics say that this is too much to pay for a troubled company, even if it is, by some measures, the world’s biggest internet firm. Microsoft says it is confident that regulators will approve the deal, which could be completed by the end of the year.