Infosys has reached a deal with federal prosecutors in Texas, with regards to the claim of widespread visa fraud and abuse. The deal involves Infosys paying around $34 Million, which according to the New York Times, is the highest ever amount paid in a visa case. The legal proceedings have been going on for 2 years since the a whistleblower case filed by one of Infosys' employees, Jack Palmer.

The settlement will be officially announced today. The claims in the case are about how Infosys, a major tech outsourcing company used the provisions of a US business visitor visa to illegally get Indian employees to the US to work on projects which is at odds with the allowances of the the visa which is limited to entry into the US for meetings and other temporary work. Since there have been major restrictions on the H-1B visa, which has an annual limit of 65000 in the country, Infosys designed to used the business visitor visa B-1 to limit costs and losses for its outsourcing operations. It is alleged that the company failed to keep proper records of those employees entering the US on this visa and also actively deceived US Immigration officials about the purpose of its Indian employees' visits to the country. All this came to the front, because of Jack Palmer, who was asked by the company to be complicit in these activities. He refused to participate and also launched a whistleblower case against the company.

Infosys has categorically denied these claims and allegations and insists that the organization was not complicit in the case of visa fraud. Its statement said that,

"Infosys' policy demands adherence to all laws, rules and regulations everywhere we operate and we continue to take our compliance obligations seriously."

A grand jury in the Texas court had been considering criminal charges against the company and with this deal, this won’t come to pass. Criminal charges would have resulted in considerable damage to Infosys and its operations.

Infosys, a giant in the Indian IT sector has been facing many challenges in the recent years. Tough immigration laws have been hitting its revenues, a majority of which are dependent on outsourcing related operations. Founder, Narayanan Murthy is back at the company for a second time in his capacity as Executive Chairman and is looking into reviving the company. With this fine, the company has taken a big hit and it remains to see how it can bounce back.

Source | NYT

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SoundCloud has integrated with Instagram which makes it easier to add your own photos as album art on your playlists. SoundCloud users can now link their account to their Instagram account to easily choose personal cover art for tracks, personal playlists, their profile and groups. SoundCloud is a social community for musicians and DJs around the world to listen, record, and share their work across the internet. ”You can do it (add photos) straight away when you post on SoundCloud, or add Instagram images later on the sound or track's page“, explained SoundCloud in a company blog post.

In order to access the latest feature, users have to simply click the display picture for your profile, group, track or playlist and select Hit the 'Choose New Image' button. A new Instagram button is now available in the bottom left-hand corner of the pop-up window. Upon clicking “Instagram,” a pop-up box will appear, asking you to connect to your Instagram account.

The music platform also gets 250 million monthly visitors up from 200 million in July. The numbers were announced by CEO and Co-Founder Alexander Ljung at TechCrunch Disrupt Europe. Speaking about the Instagram partnership, SoundCloud CEO Alex Ljung said that, ”We're the largest audio platform and they're the largest photo platform. It's cool to tie them together".

Earlier in August this year, Google+ integrated SoundCloud which enables users to play tracks from Google+ posts itself, while last year SoundCloud integrated with Facebook.

Image Credits: soundcloud

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The Government of India has announced that it may ban private email services like Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook for official communications between its employees because of the potential implications of surveillance being carried out by the NSA and therefore the US Government. The leaks against NSA have alleged that the secretive organisation had collaborated with various US technology companies to spy on data being hosted on these companies' servers.

The Government has announced a new email policy which will require employees in the public sector to route all their communications via National Informatics Center's email service. The new policy seems to be in the final stages and the Government is looking to put it into practice by December end. The new policy aims to protect crucial government and administrative data which may be under the dangers of the alleged surveillance. Most US email service providers do not provide the Government with any details about Indian user data because they say that the data resides in the US servers where the Indian Government doesn't have any jurisdiction. This also means that communications between Government functionaries also lies on an US server, which is more prone to spying by NSA.

The new email policy will require an upgrade of the NIC infrastructure which is estimated to be around Rs.5 crore to start with. However for a full scale deployment all over the country, the estimated investment might be around the Rs.50-100 crore figure. The Government is also looking at utilizing cloud infrastructure to make it easy for various divisions of the Government to communicate with each other in a better way.

All this translates into a loss of trust for these US based email services like Yahoo Mail and Gmail. While the companies in question have denied the allegations presented by the Snowden revelations, it also seems they are forbidden by a secret court called FISA to disclose the extent of their collaboration with the US Government. The allegations, both proven and unproven have given many users a jolt because many expected these services and companies to respect their data. While privacy activists have been warning about the data collection by these companies for the last decade, the full extent and implications of this are now beginning to show.

Source | The Hindu Businessline

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Governmental Departments have been using the e-Governance initiatives quite enthusiastically. Transactions across government offices and departments have officially crossed the 1 Billion mark.

Designed and deployed with a long-term goal of stemming the rampant corruption within the Government Procedures, e-Governance initiatives have been slow to be adopted. However, the number is slowly growing.

Though the number, at the face of it, appears huge, it is vital to note that most of the transactions happen in a handful of situations and few states within country. Most of the other states have either very poor records or some haven't even begun to make use of this internet-age protocols that save not only time, but reduce human effort and maintain a streamlined record chronologically.

Most number of transactions recorded, were for the utility and government services. Collectively these services clocked about 258 Million Transactions. The state of Gujarat appeared to be the most progressive as the highest number of transactions (389 Million) originated here. Maharashtra, which has the highest number of broadband users, managed to grab the second spot. It could generate 189 Million transactions. This figure is not even half of what the western state managed. But worse still, the Capital of India, New Delhi, could clock only 71 Million indicating the sheer unwillingness of the Government Machinery to adopt techniques meant to quicken the process, while reducing instances and opportunities of kickbacks.

National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), Mission Mode Projects, Aadhar and National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN), are just a few of the pan-India projects announced by the Government. Taking advantage of the same, only Gujarat managed to setup a State Data Center (SDC). Neatly categorized as state, central or integrated, these projects have seen some of the finest planning, but will certainly require the cooperation of private enterprises to ensure decent User Interface and workability.

Surprisingly, the Government seems to have realized the importance of roping in private software development companies. To ensure their willing participation, the present ruling Government has even earmarked funds to financial support (funding) small companies developing mobile apps and other platforms that could be used to boost e-Governance initiatives.

With Smartphones and tablets getting truly affordable, citizens even in the remote corners will soon gain access to the hardware and connectivity options. But, the success will depend on the eagerness of these citizens as well as the willingness of the Government Officials to truly adopt these tech-driven Government Procedures. What do you think?

Image Credits: egov

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The Indian Government is preparing itself to compete with private players in the online bus ticketing segment. The Government will be launching a new bus ticketing portal called Bus India with a private partner. This venture will be unveiled formally today and is already online as you can see in the image below.

The tagline of the site claims that it is 'India's Largest Bus Ticket Reservation System' and is 'Promoted by the Indian Government'. The visit counter on the footer of the website shows that around 25,88,502 people had visited the site at the time of writing this post.

BusIndia sports various regional bus corporations as partners and also has a hotel booking feature. NextBigWhat has reported that the venture is planning to raise funding to the tune of Rs.200 crore. BusIndia is a joint venture between the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation and a private company called Radiant Info. Radiant Info runs the online operation for the corporation and claims to have over 1000 employees with a total revenue of Rs.400 crores.

We did a quick search for a Mumbai-Goa route for November 22nd on both BusIndia and Redbus to see the differentiation. We got no results on BusIndia while Redbus returned all the results.

We are not sure if BusIndia is completely active nationally yet. However, it has a long way to go to catch up to the expertise of Redbus. BusIndia's website design and UI look very dated while Redbus' UI is definitely much better. While the fact remains that if the Indian Government shows support towards a competitor, Redbus will definitely have problems in terms of competition in the coming months. However, Redbus has had a good head start and has a large market share in the segment. Toppling it will take effort.

What are your thoughts on Bus India? Have you checked it out yet? Do tell us what you think of it in the comments.

Link | Official Press Release

Website | BusIndia

Source | NextBigWhat

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Twitter has rolled out updates for Web, iOS and Android apps with in stream previews of photos and videos. The latest update makes Twitter timeline more visually appealing and less filled with texts. Prior to the update, users had to click on links to open photos and videos. This is another Twitter’s move toward a richer multimedia experience for its 230 million users.

“So many of the great moments you share on Twitter are made even better with photos or with videos from Vine. These rich Tweets can bring your followers closer to what's happening, and make them feel like they are right there with you.We want to make it easier for everyone to experience those moments on Twitter”, wrote Michael Sippey, the company’s VP of product on a company blog post.

However, the update only works with images posted on Twitter itself, or videos posted on Twitter’s Vine service. The new apps also makes it easier to retweet, reply to and favorite tweets right from the timeline.  If you are not a fan of the new image previews, you can turn them off on iOS and Android, but there doesn't seem to be a toggle for the Web version.

User engagement was always an issue on Twitter but the latest update can curb the issue to some extent due to the visual preview. However, the update might annoy some as it will make your timeline crowded. The move from micro blogging site which is nearing its IPO it also an unsaid indication to advertisers.

You can update the Android app here and iOS app here.

Image Credits: aa

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It appears BlackBerry now wants it's BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), which recently evolved into a cross-platform messaging platform, to become even more powerful. BBM Versions meant for Android as well as iOS Mobile Operating Systems (OS) will shortly get holistic communication capabilities apart from text-based interface which it presently sports.

What is BlackBerry Planning? Apparently, BBM users on Android as well as iOS, could get a much more powerful BBM than was ever possible. Such a complete communications solution was never a possibility even for the BBM users on native BlackBerry Devices when BBM was exclusive and worked purely on Blackberry's own global communications network referred to as BlackBerry Internet Services (BIS).

In the near future, BlackBerry plans to offer Video Calling as well as Voice Calling services to its users. Additionally, the company is planning to develop and introduce BBM Channels. Interestingly, it appears to be an attempt at developing communities that are expected to connect like-minded Blackberry Messenger users across nations via common groups. Though the company hasn't divulged much detail about the same, the communities might work in the same way Yahoo Messengers with Virtual Chatrooms worked.

Why is BlackBerry offering such a high amount of functionality?
BlackBerry Messenger had always been one of the strong persuasive reasons young buyers opted for Blackberry Devices. The BBM craze had once reached epic proportions. However, the Smartphone maker never allowed BBM to work on devices that ran on any other OS. Since BlackBerry has started to suffer, the Canadian company has tried multiple attempts to breathe life into the organization, but has met with setbacks.

Blackberry will soon change ownership and perhaps the company wishes to ensure the services segment gains organic traction. Owing to the extensive exclusivity, Blackberry witnessed such a huge adoption of its cross-platform BBM that it abruptly withdrew the apps, only to refine them and re-launch after a brief hiatus.

BBM is being claimed to be used by more than 80 Million users and was downloaded more than 10 Million times within the short 24 hours post launch. Though only 20 Million from those users belong to Android and iOS OS, BBM wishes to enhance the count to ensure the company receives traction. Do you think original BBM users will now accuse the company of marginalizing them?

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Google has added an array of tools and updates to improve Google+ experience. The search engine giant has unveiled 18 new features to various domains like photos, videos, hangouts and chat.

Photo and Video Enhancement:

Google+has introduced automatic video editing feature called ‘Auto Awesome’ that allows users to turn clips recorded with their phones into small, shareable videos, complete with a soundtrack and effects. The social network also gets Auto Eraser and Auto Action which removes other people or objects from your photos and collates a number of photos and merges them into one single image respectively. Google+ revealed in a blog post  that more than 1.5 billion photos are uploaded to the social service every week.

Vic Gundotra, VP of Engineering at Google announced the updates at a press conference in San Francisco yesterday. He said Google+ can create Auto Awesome Movie on its own and send users a notification when the movie is finished or users can prompt the social network to make one by selecting pictures and videos they want to have included. Google has also made it easier for users hoping to search through their photo library. The site added more than 1,000 search terms that Google’s image algorithm identifies automatically.

Hangouts and SMS Integration:

As promised in August, Google+ Hangouts on Air are getting full screen HD video calls on mobile and desktop. It will fix and enhance webcam lighting automatically. Google’s The Hangouts chat app is getting SMS integration, meaning users can send and receive a message without having to exit and enter a new app. The app is also updated with ability for users to send animated GIFs and maps of their current location. A simple tap of the place button on the bottom of the app will input a map into the stream.

Gudotra also announced the that number of people who use Google’s two-year-old social network at least once a month has climbed to 540 million from about 300 million early this year. Google said that they have slowly started rolling out the updates and it should soon arrive on iOS and Android.

The updates are quite impressive which can directly affect user engagement on the social network which is facing the heat from Facebook.

Image Credits: Gblog

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Ineda Systems, a Hyderabad and Silicon Valley based startup, has managed to raise bulk of its intended funding in its first external funding round.

Ineda has managed to raise more than US$ 9 Million from its intended target of US$ 12 Million in a funding round participated by about 12 investors. Some of the notable mentions in these dozen investors are said to include former Global Chief of handset maker Motorola, Sanjay Jha and Lip-Bu Tan, Founder of venture capital firm Walden International. Both these individuals currently occupy seats on Ineda's Board.

Focusing on reduction of power requirements of System on a Chip (SoC) Processors, Ineda wishes to incorporate its designs and chips in wearable devices. Its Silicon Design methods, Software and Application Ecosystems could find their application in Consumer as well as Enterprise oriented products.

Founded about 3 years ago, Ineda is apparently in a Stealth Mode, meaning, its products, designs and solutions haven't been publicly announced. The company plans to be "The first in the world with power usage in the envelope required by wearable devices." Its products are being designed to address the wearable platforms from a ground-up manner, including vertical engineering of the wearable device. Additionally, the products are made to be easily customizable with third-party APIs and the application development framework.

Wearable computing is a still a pretty nascent segment. Though Google with Google Glasses and Samsung has brought forth a wearable smart-watch in the form of Galaxy gear and few other companies in the past have attempted to build additional functionality within everyday apparel like Shoes (Nike Fitness), a complete and seamless wearable attire is still some way off. Perhaps the biggest challenge is to ensure the devices have enough and adequate power to function without needing bulky batteries. While manufacturers are trying to shrink the batteries, Ineda is working to reduce the requirement of power itself. While the devices built around the SoCs from the company may have limited functionality due to restrictions on power consumption, they could certainly last a lot longer owing to their frugality. What do you think?

Image Credits: si

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