Twitter users’ dilemma: How much to believe

Does Twitter have a credibility problem?

For many, a single fake tweet from the Associated Press account that briefly roiled financial markets, driving the Dow Jones industrial average down about 145 points, vividly reaffirmed the fearsome, near-instantaneous power of the 140-character message.

But the security lapse also revived doubts about Twitter's place in the media landscape - and its ultimate value - at a moment when its status as one of today's essential information networks had seemed all but cemented.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg‘s pay package rose 16 per cent last year

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reaped a gain of nearly $2.3 billion last year when he exercised 60 million stock options just before the online social networking leader's initial public offering.

The windfall detailed in regulatory documents filed saddled Zuckerberg, 28, with a massive tax bill. He raised the money to pay it by selling 30.2 million Facebook shares for $38 apiece, or $1.1 billion, in the IPO.

Facebook's stock hasn't closed above $38 since the IPO was completed last May. The shares gained 71 cents Friday to close at $26.85.

Samsung topples Nokia, emerges No. 1 phone seller

Samsung has overtaken Nokia to become the largest seller of mobile phones in the country's major markets, as consumers lap up its new feature phones and its smartphones continue to do brisk business.

According to market tracker GfK-Nielsen's data, Samsung's volume market share in urban areas in March rose to 31.4%, surpassing Nokia's 30.1%. GfK-Nielsen urban panel tracks sales in 793 cities and towns with a population of over 50,000, which account for more than 70% of India's total handset sales.

A dead end for smartphone batteries?

The Great Smartphone Conundrum. The time has come — we're going to have to choose between performance and battery life. Smartphones keep getting faster. If you buy a new high-end phone this year, you'll find it's noticeably more powerful than last year's best gadgets. It will let you run more demanding apps, it will load up web pages more quickly, and it will deliver sharper, more advanced videos and games.

This might not sound like a big deal — aren't new gadgets always faster than old gadgets? Yes, that's true. But what's striking about phones is how quickly they're getting quicker. This year's top-of-the-line phones are likely to be twice as fast as those released last year. And last year's phones weren't slouches — they were twice as powerful as the ones that came out in 2011.

Why IT companies Infosys, Wipro are betting big on start-ups

Indian information technology companies are turning venture capitalists in their quest for fresh ideas and technology to help them compete more effectively in a fast-changing business environment. Like multinational technology companies - Cisco, Intel and SAP - which are active investors, Indian firms too are tying up with emerging ventures possessing niche skills or buying stakes in them, thereby gaining access to what could even be blockbuster ideas.

The trend was exemplified earlier this month when Infosys said it has set up a $100 million (Rs 540 crore) fund to invest in startups, besides spotting and funding internal innovation. Similarly, Mahindra Satyam, which has a stated goal of growing faster than the industry, has a $50-million fund exclusively for investments in global technology startups. Wipro, too, is actively looking to partner innovative young companies or buy minority stakes in them.

Google India announces top travel trends for this summer

Google India, today, announced the top travel trends for this summer - a unique perspective on the hottest travel trends, based on searches conducted in India. These trends highlight the adventurous spirit of young Indians who are increasing searching for activities like scuba diving and snorkelling and want to explore beyond the conventional destinations. With more and more young Indian's coming online, they are increasing searching for new things to do while travellingand explore newer destinations which are rich in cultural heritage as well as give them a chance to discover their adventurous streak.
From tropical destinations like Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Goa to the wildlife sanctuaries of Uttarakhand, the search trends capture the top summer travel destinations this year. Showcasing young India's love for exploring their own country, these trends also highlight that Indians love to travel closer to home, as the top searched-for travel destinations remain domestic ones. Not only do these trends showcase the top destinations, but they also highlight the most searched-for activities and sights at these destinations like scuba diving in Andaman, Jim Corbett Park in Uttarakhand and not to forget the beaches in Goa.

Tech Mahindra acquires Sweden-based Type Approval Lab

IT and telecom solutions provider Tech Mahindra has acquired a Sweden-based Type Approval Lab for undisclosed amount which will help it strengthen lab presence in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions.

The lab was part of Sony Mobile Communication's internal test function and now will help Tech Mahindra establish its first European test lab with multi-million dollar infrastructure, Tech Mahindra said in a release.

The company, however, did not disclose financial details. This acquisition will prove to be a key milestone for the European expansion plan and reinforces further company's commitment to be a key player in this space, the release said.

Tips to avoid tax deduction at source

It’s that time of the year, when you have to submit your investment declaration. Make sure you fill this out to save you the hassle of waiting for the Income tax department to refund your tax. Here are some tips that will help you.

By BankBazaar.com - an online marketplace for your personal loan and home loan needs.

What is TDS?

Fist let’s understand what Tax Deducted at Source means. As the name suggests, TDS is the spot deduction of tax from the income source itself, at the time of earning. This is to simplify the taxation procedure for the government and to ensure that the payment making and receiving individual / company is accounting the same without fail.

Samsung testing brain-powered tablets

Tech giant Samsung is looking to ditch not only the keyboard but the touch screen in favor of mind control.

The technology, which Samsung stresses is in its infancy, would allow users to control a computing device with their thoughts alone.

Google ads help small businesses with low-cost marketing

Small businesses are using low-cost marketing tools on the internet to gain customers in global markets. These companies that sell a range of products such as apparel, home accessories and party supplies use products such as Google keywords with budgets as low as $3 (Rs 150) a day.

"We have received over 200 sales leads via Google in six months," said Tenzin Thargay, founder of Mumbai-based GetMy-Meal .in. In Jodhpur, Bharatplaza.com, which makes wedding suits, has built up revenues of Rs 10 crore with customers spread across the United States, United Kingdom and Australia without appointing any local sales managers.

Galaxy S4 launch: Samsung‘s time to shed copycat tag

Samsung's latest flagship Galaxy smartphone goes on sale this week, as the South Korean giant seeks to cement its lead over faltering rival Apple in an increasingly saturated market.

The Galaxy S4, armed with eye motion control technology that will pause a video when the user looks away, comes with a faster chip and is thinner and lighter than the Galaxy S III.

Unveiled last month at New York's Radio City Music Hall, the touchscreen device goes on sale in South Korea on Friday and will roll out globally over the weekend.

HCL Tech: An employee’s trust in the management today is the lowest

Can a philosophy that reads, 'Employees First, Customers Second' ever help a company's revenue to increase fivefold? Vineet Nayar, vice-chairman and joint MD of HCL Technologies Ltd who architected this unconventional strategy tells Viren Naidu why the time now is right to put the 'human' back in 'human resource'

'Employee first, customer second' has become a global phenomenon and set a benchmark for good people-management practices. What was the philosophy behind this?
High-performance individuals just want an opportunity. A painter seeks an opportunity to paint, a singer to sing and a football player to play. In that opportunity, they find the inner strength to ignore all that is wrong around them and focus on that one thing that they are passionate about. Highperformance organisations are those that help you discover what you are passionate about and then give you the opportunity and support to excel in that one thing that matters the most.

How well do you know your employees?

An employer-employee relation is quite special, both of them stand to gain or lose a lot from each other. Astrology can help you understand your employees better which in turn can help build trust and loyalty among your employees and strengthen your bond.


Given below is the employee characteristics peculiar to people belonging to the different zodiacs.

Aries

Motivation and appreciation is what the Arian wants. Give him that and he will work happily without complaining. They have an eye for detail and do tasks assigned to them meticulously. They make excellent troubleshooters; there is no problem that the Arian cannot solve.

What West Bengal's chit fund scam is all about

The Saradha Group chit fund scam that left scores bereft of their savings, has Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in a tizzy with the chief minister putting the onus on the Left and some even trying to cover up the mess.

Sudipto Sen, the promoter of the chit fund funded by the Saradha Group, was arrested from Sonmarg in Jammu and Kashmir with two of his associates, police said.

"Based on information provided by the West Bengal Police, three people were detained by us from the Sonamarg tourist resort in Ganderbal district today (Tuesday)," a senior Jammu and Kashmir Police officer told IANS.

Today, things got messier with reports of a Saradha Group agent trying to commit suicide as she was under pressure to pay investors back.

An IBN-Live report says that a agent of the firm, Tapasi Singha, tried to kill herself by consuming sleeping pills as she had a liability of Rs 5,30,000.

Hike subscriber base crosses 5 million

Hike from Bharti SoftBank (BSB)

Bharti SoftBank's free mobile messaging app Hike, which was launched globally in December last year, has crossed 5 million subscribers.

"The free mobile messaging app Hike from Bharti SoftBank (BSB), has crossed the 5 million active subscribers mark in just four months after its launch. This makes Hike one of the fastest growing free mobile apps globally," the company said in a statement.

Bharti SoftBank (BSB) is a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and mobile communication and broadband services firm Softbank.

Microsoft: One in four PCs do not use updated anti-virus

One out of every fourcomputers do not use up-to-date antivirus software, a report has said.

According to Microsoft's Security Intelligence Report, without vital protection layer, computers are 5.5 times more likely to be infected with malware.

Tim Rains, director of trustworthy computing at Microsoft, stressed that surfing the internetwithout up-to-date antivirus is like leaving your front door open to criminals, the Enterprise Innovation reports.

Samsung Galaxy S4 to launch in India on April 26

Samsung Galaxy S4

Samsung will launch its flagship smartphone - Galaxy S4 - In India on April 26. The launch is part of the global rollout of the device. It will go on sale in other markets like the US and some European countries on the same day.

For now, Samsung hasn't revealed any India price but the phone is expected to cost a little more than Rs 40,000.

Samsung has two versions of Galaxy S4 - one powered by a Qualcomm S600 processor and another powered by Samsung's 8-core Exynos processor. In India, the Korean company is expected to launch the Exynos model.

Galaxy S4, which is powered by Android operating system, is the successor to Galaxy S III. Samsung hopes to sell around 10 million units of its top smartphone within one month of launch.

Review: Twitter music service

Until now, my problem with social music services has been this: Following friends doesn't really turn up much music I actually want to hear. We didn't become friends because we share musical tastes, and too few of them are using the services I'm trying out.

Twitter's new music service solves this problem. It helps that it's free. With it, I'm able to sneak a peek into the musical interests of the artists I like. For example, I discovered that Gotye likes the Divine Fits, a Los Angeles-based band I'd never heard of until now, because he follows them on Twitter.

Social media driving up business for travel companies

Social media services are not only bringing pictures of exotic locales into homes, but also driving up business for travel companies, as the wired generation increasingly turns to online tweets and posts to firm up travel plans.

For the world's largest tour operator TUI, leads through social media for its India arm have risen from nil about two years ago to about 20% now, its country managing director Arjun Sharma said.

For mid-sized travel firm Pearl Luxe, about a quarter of the bookings come through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+. Pearl Luxe's promoter Taruna Seth has ramped up presence on these platforms after some pictures she had posted online of her trip to Chamonix in France ended up getting her over a dozen queries.

Hacker targeting online gaming companies: Kaspersky

Kaspersky Lab's team of experts recently published a detailed research report that analyzes a sustained cyberespionage campaign conducted by the cybercriminal organization known as 'Winnti'.

According to Kaspersky Lab's report, the Winnti group has been attacking companies in the online gaming industry since 2009 and is currently still active. The group's objectives are stealing digital certificates signed by legitimate software vendors in addition to intellectual property theft, including the source code of online game projects.

Google Play hit by cash-stealing bug

A bug that steals cash by racking up charges from sending premium rate text messages has been found in Google Play.

Security researchers have identified 32 apps on Google Play that harbour the bug called BadNews. A security firm Lookout, which uncovered BadNews, said that the malicious program lays dormant on handsets for weeks to escape detection.

The malware targeted Android owners in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other countries in eastern Europe, the BBC reports.

According to the reports, these 32 apps were available through four separate developer accounts on Google Play. Google has now suspended those accounts and it has pulled all the affected apps from Google Play, it added.

Security flaw affecting 120,000 free Android apps revealed

A flaw in commonly used applications on Android smartphones such as texting, messaging or microblogging could spread private information or allow forged fraudulent messages to be posted, a recent study has revealed.

University of California graduate student Dennis (Liang) Xu has identified security flaws in about 1,20,000 free apps in Android smartphones, which has about a half-billion users worldwide.

The flaws start to appear just when the victim downloads a piece of malicious code onto their phone which could be hidden in a useful app, or attached to a 'phishing' e-mail or web link, that could harm the vulnerable programmes by invading them. Xu said that the vulnerability results from the developer's error of leaving private codes public.

Over 50 per cent mobile apps to be hybrid by 2016: Gartner

Hybrid apps, which offer a balance between HTML5-based web apps and native apps, will be used in more than 50 per cent of mobile apps by 2016, according to research firm Gartner.

While native application development offers the ultimate user experience and performance for mobile applications, the trade-off is often a fragmented set of development tools and multiple versions of an application to serve the same user need - because different versions must be made for each type of device or operating system, Gartner said.

Google Affiliate Network Retires

An update on Google Affiliate Network  

Important updates for Google Affiliate Network publishers and advertisers

Our goal with Google Affiliate Network has been to help advertisers and publishers improve their performance across the affiliate ecosystem. Cost-per-action (CPA) marketing has rapidly evolved in the last few years, and we constantly evaluate our products to ensure that we’re focused on the services that will have the biggest impact for our advertisers and publishers. To that end, we’ve made the difficult decision to retire the Google Affiliate Network and focus on other products that are driving great results for clients. 

Publishers can continue to earn revenue through the AdSense network. And marketers can take advantage of other CPA-oriented Google tools like Product Listing Ads, remarketing and Conversion Optimizer to drive valuable online sales and conversions. These areas are growing rapidly and we continue to invest significantly in them. 

We’ll continue to support our customers as we wind down the product over the next few months. While we will no longer be adding new product functionality, we will maintain the platform during the transition period. We plan to disable publisher relationships from advertiser programs on July 31, 2013. Publisher payments will be disbursed for network activity generated through this date. We will continue to make certain functionality available through October 31, 2013 for retrieving reports, reconciling orders, and processing payments. 

A huge thanks to all our advertisers, publishers and the team that has worked tirelessly on Google Affiliate Network over the past few years. We look forward to helping you grow your business in the future.

How to remote log out from Gmail, Facebook

If you headed home from office, without logging out of Facebook or Gmail, you can do so from anywhere using the 'remote log out' feature.

In Facebook, click on the tiny gear sign on the top right of the page, go to 'account settings' and then to 'security' on the left pane. Under 'security settings', click on 'active sessions'.

No one else might be using your account, but you would not have logged out of Facebook, leaving the session active. Anyone can gain access to your account in such circumstances. To remote log out, click on 'end activity'.

Google chairman: Everyone will be online by 2020

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt has predicted that everybody in the world will be on the internet within seven years.

Schmidt wrote on his Google+ account that 'for every person online, there are two who are not.'

"By the end of the decade, everyone on Earth will be connected," he added.

According to CNN, Schmidt followed up with a related thought on Sunday.

What should happen to your photos, emails and documents when you stop using your account?

This is question which many of use have, who will access our emails, photos, documents etc when we expire.

Google puts you in control.

You might want your data to be shared with a trusted friend or family member, or, you might want your account to be deleted entirely. There are many situations that might prevent you from accessing or using your Google account. Whatever the reason, we give you the option of deciding what happens to your data.

Using Inactive Account Manager, you can decide if and when your account is treated as inactive, what happens with your data and who is notified.

Google Account Activity Beta

Today while I visited my GMail's account section I found a link under my Profile picture about activating "Account Activity". So I clicked the link and activated it. Now I see a "more" link beside the "Account Activity" section under my Profile picture. When I click it I can see how many email I received, how many email I sent and many other details.

Here is what Google says about Account Activity:

Google Account Activity creates monthly reports on your usage of Google products. Depending on which products you use, you can see how many emails you've sent, who your most popular contacts are, what searches you've performed, or what computers you've used to sign in. Account Activity Reports are a great way to help ensure that your account is safe and to understand your use of Google products.

Major brute force attack against WordPress

Yesterday night I received two emails from my two hosting companies. Then I Googled and found some articles which may help you solve this issue.

I already started implementing security measures on all my WordPress website. I suggest everyone to do the same.

Hosting Company Notices can read from following links:

• Update on the WordPress "Brute Force" Attack and iPage's Response
• Global Attack on WordPress Sites

Codex Article:

• Hardening WordPress

Must Check following sites. They provides hosting security service:

• Cloudflare
• SiteLock

Some Useful security WordPress plugins:

• Better WP Security
• WP Security Scan
• WordPress Firewall
• WP Maintenance Mode
• WebsiteDefender WordPress Security
• Wordfence Security

Some More articles on this attack:

• Huge attack on WordPress sites could spawn never-before-seen super botnet
• Major brute force attack against WordPress underway

WB Guv to students: I am sorry for what happened

Trying to soothe the Presidency students, he seemed to hint at the failing of the West Bengal government at reining in the goons.


KOLKATA: West Bengal governor MK Narayanan while addressing the students at Presidency College in Kolkata apologized to them saying, "I'm sorry and I apologise for what has happened."

Narayanan, who is also the Chancellor of the Presidency University, said the violence at Presidency was a blot on all of us. "I will use the word again -- criminals -- entered this place. I'm sorry and I apologise for what has happened. Never ever in the history of Presidency college should this ever happen again. Presidency is a dream project and as Chancellor I have been unable to fulfill my responsibility to you."

Trying to soothe the Presidency students, he seemed to hint at the failing of the West Bengal government at reining in the goons, allegedly from the ruling Trinamool Congress, who were responsible for vandalising the premises of Presidency University and also threatening the girl students with rape.

Bajaj Auto launches ultra-low-cost car RE 60

Bajaj Auto launches ultra-low-cost car RE 60

Money saving tips from your grandparents

We can all certainly take a leaf or two from our grandparents' books when it comes to being frugal and thrifty.

Money saving tips from your grandparents

Live within your means

Living within your means is something easily said and a lot harder to follow. To do it, it is just a question of making a budget and spending less than what you earn (net after taxes). The main thing is to focus on your needs, not your wants, because it is easy to let our impulse spending get out of control. In addition, our grandparents certainly knew how to avoid lifestyle inflation. If you have already lived happily with a set amount of money before, why change now? You will not really miss the extra income if you do not get used to it and it is a lot more satisfying to see your retirement account grow.

eBay Advanced Marketing Strategies

Explore the strategies that will help you define your brand to attract and retain Web 2.0 customers utilizing the latest search engine optimization (SEO) techniques and advanced tactics for connecting with customers through social media and eBay Stores.

Twitter Relaunches Twitter For Business

Twitter for Business website screenshot

What can your business do in just 140 characters? Twitter wants to help you find out.