Sandeep Aggarwal, founder of Indian e–Commerce startup ShopClues.com, has admitted his role in ‘insider trading’. Though the sentence for such a crime could be up to 25 Years in jail, the court proceedings are still underway.

Sandeep was formally charged and arrested by The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), USA in the month of July on charges of insider trading. Though the portal had initially attempted to stress that he was merely called in to be questioned in connection with insider trading, it appears Sandeep broke down in federal custody and confessed to divulging financially sensitive information to Richard Lee, a portfolio manager at SAC Capital, & another Hedge Fund Company.

What is Sandeep guilty of?
A Wall Street Analyst, Sandeep had information about the soon–to–take–place, deal between Microsoft and Yahoo. He not only used the information to procure "Hundreds of Thousands" of Yahoo's shares at exceptionally lower price before the announcement of the tie-up for himself, he shared this information with two people including Lee. Additionally, he leaked information about acquisition of 3Com Corporation by Hewlett Packard (HP) too.

What are implications of the admittance by Sandeep?
Now that the founder of ShopClues has admitted his guilt, a 'Guilty' Petition is expected to be filed, which will substantially reduce the hearing and subsequent sentencing time. Sandeep could be looking at 25 Years of Jail time, but it is up to the Judge and Jury to decide the extent of punishment. Additionally, Sandeep could strike up a 'Bargain' Deal with the Government in return for some information.

Meanwhile, SAC Capital is said to be negotiating a US$ 1.8 Billion settlement with the US government. As for ShopClues.com, since Sandeep, though being a founder, was officially employed as CEO of ShopClues and he has been swiftly replaced by Sanjay Sethi. Additionally, ShopClues has been quick to reassure that their portal will function as usual and they will "Continue to provide Best –In–Class service".

Though devastating to hear, ShopClues may not be affected deeply, as the wrongdoings of a single person, clearly out of the purview and interest of the core company, shouldn't adversely impact the reputation generated by ShopClues. What do you think?

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With social driving more Internet usage, it is understandable that a large number of people are a looking at a news feed at any given time. It could be in the morning when you want to catch up on stuff before you begin work, it could be during your lunch break and even when you retire for the night. Now, the problem seems to be that there are many things that you cannot control about this news feed. You cannot control people posting lame stuff (according to you) on your feed. It could be one of your friends playing some mindless game and populating your news feed with inane score updates. There numerous such irritating things, especially on Facebook which doesn't do a really good job of showing you the content that you want.

Rather is a new tool which promises to calm you down by hiding all the content you think is irritating. It comes as a simple Chrome extension which you can install and use for free. The premise of Rather is 'rather' simple. You choose the stuff that you don't like and also what you would want it replaced with. When Rather takes you input, it matches the keywords of your criteria and removes the content and replaces it with what you want. The replacement content can come from Instagram hashtags and RSS feeds that you define. Rather blocks content from across social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The extension even has an option to mute the particular keywords you define, instead of just replacing them. We think, the muting is a damn good thing. There are numerous occasions when the social media world can go mad and start doing things in a herd, thus irritating many users. A simple muting would really be beneficial in such situations.

Rather has been built in New York by Chris Baker, Pete Marquis and Yvonne Cheng. The service is currently available only on Chrome. The company has said that Firefox, Safari and Mobile are coming soon. The company claims that around 2,00,000 users have already started using the extension to block unwanted stuff.

We believe this is a great tool to block the unwanted noise of social media. You should try it out!

Website | GetRather

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Mobile Customers may have to soon bear the burden of rising tariffs. Additionally, the rates may not go up in segments or patches, but customers may have to shell out higher amounts each year, cautioned Vodafone India MD.

Clearly implying the days of ultra-low tariffs are coming to an end, India’s second largest telecom operator Vodafone is of the opinion that phone call and other mobile services rates will go up every year.

Why such a forecast?
India has been enjoying one of the lowest worldwide mobile communication tariffs, explained Marten Pieters, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Vodafone India, "We have lower tariffs for 18 years against inflation of 8-9% per year. Now, can you do that forever? No you can’t."

Essentially, telecom companies can no longer keep the tariffs subdued in order to gain in other factors, namely customer acquisition and market share. Companies are already offering the lowest rates, which leave no room for profits, lamented Pieters, "So the point has come where lowest has been seen, we will have to increase our tariffs every year depending on cost levels."

Where does Vodafone see ascension?
It is no secret that Data Services and associated markets are being relied upon to drive the next growth spurt in revenues. However, the companies haven't yet found an optimum balance between Profit Margins, Customer Count and Data Standards. Since 2G has been prevalent for quite some time, customers have been using the same, despite the fact that 3G is 10 Times faster. However, considering the relatively high data tariffs, mobile users have been wary of 3G.

Vodafone has been experimenting with Data Tariffs too, shared Pieters, "We started 6-7 times high tariff rate when we opened up 3G network. It is now back to 1.5 to 1.6 times of 2G data rates. Over time [it] will come together. But it can’t come over time just by lowering 3G tariff, it needs to also see increase of 2G tariffs. Once it is equal, it doesn’t matter to customer anymore,"

It will be interesting to note that high numbers of phones in the market today are 3G capable. So, once prices for 3G fall to the level of 2G, adoption could easily pick-up. But ironically, companies are in fact jacking-up 2G prices to match 3G. This aspect clearly supports the statements made by Pieters. But, will Indian customers accept such methods of forceful persuasion or will companies once again witness high exodus?

Image Source: ndtv

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Swype which recently exited beta stage has updated its Android app with an array of new features. The updated app by Nuance Communications now gets enhanced bilingual support which enables users to enter text in two selected languages at the same time. It also suggests words according to user’s language preference in both tongues. This means you can switch between English and Marathi in the same message.

The latest update also lets user re-size and choose keyboard mode i.e. landscape or portrait. Users can choose their keyboard layout, whether its QWERTY, QWERTZ or AZERTY depending on the language they speak.Furthermore, Swype for Android adds support for four Indian regional languages viz, Gujarati, Malayalam, Marathi and Telugu. Prior to this update it supported Hindi, Tamil and Urdu.

The Swype keyboard now supports Android's "Talkback" and "Explore by Touch" accessibility features. Continuous dictation, which will allow people to see words and phrases appear on their screen as they speak is also added to the update. Finally, Swype has upgraded its voice recognition features that allows you to speak in one language but type in another. The app currently faces competition from the likes of SwiftKey, SlideIT and relatively new Adaptxt . SwiftKey also received an update to its Android app.

Swype is available on Google Play store for Rs 247.99 or for free for a 30-day trial.

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India's cyber security is far from being perfect. ICERT is the organization responsible for efficient tackling of any emergency related to cyber space. The mission of ICERT is to enhance the security of India’s Communications and Information Infrastructure through proactive action and effective collaboration. Gulshan Rai, Director General of Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (ICERT) has been vocal at the symposium on Cyber Security and Privacy for the 79th annual meeting of Indian Academy of Sciences about the lack of measures for ensuring the safety of India’s IT.

The immediate need for the ICERT is to strengthen and support the Indian cyber space and make it impervious to attacks from the cyber criminals and other threats. This is put more into perspective as the tensions are rife between China and India. China has been famous for its technological and intellectual prowess in the field of cyber hacking and cracking (cyber attacks on the US were allegedly initiated from China).

There is no need in today's world to know intricate algorithms or programming to be able to remain anonymous on the inter-web. The ability to remain anonymous on the Internet by the use of simple tools and software makes attribution and investigation complicated, as it hinders effective search mechanisms for potential threats. “Cyber-attacks by hostile organizations, nations and criminals are on the rise, along with increase in cases of threatening governments, business and individuals by attempting to extract technical, financial, and national security information,” was the statement that the Director General made. The cases of phishing and intellectual siege have increased on an individual level. The penetration of internet and mobile services add to the complexity of the network and in turn to the complexity of the problem of effective check on hostile elements.

India secures a spot among the top 10 spam-sending countries in the world alongside the U.S., according to the whitepaper launched by ASSOCHAM-KPMG in October. Cyber-crime has been affecting individuals as well as organizations in the country and the world over. In view of the same, the Government of India came up with two initiatives in the month of July 2013 to counter cyber-crime: Releasing the National Cyber Security Policy of India (NCSP) followed by the release of guidelines by the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre of the National Technical Research Organization (NTRO). The overwhelming number of loopholes and a shortage of professionals available for the government services looking into the matters of cyber security add to the woes of ICERT and similar groups. India really needs to up the ante or an imminent attack may prove fatal to vital information.

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Close on the heels of Micromax's planned European expansion, comes the news that the handset maker will begin assembling their phones in India by the first quarter of the next year. Currently, the company does not produce its phones in the country. It imports them from China where it has tie-ups with handset making companies.

Rahul Sharma, Micromax's Co-Founder spoke about this new development,

"We have a plant in Rudrapur and have already started assembling of phones on trial basis there. It will be commercially launched in the first quarter of next year".

It is said that the facility currently employs 400 people and will look at growing its production over the next year. This seems to be an ambitious plan for the company which has seen a dramatic rise over the last few years. Its current turnover for the Q2 is around Rs. 3,168 crore and it aims to double this number by the current financial year end. That is an ambitious goal but the company's planned European expansion may help them achieve their goals. If they can drum up demand in these new markets due to unique and affordable price points matched with performance, the company will be able to double its turnover and at the same time assemble handsets in a bigger volume in the Rudrapur plant.

The company plans to introduce 20 new phones over the next six months. Flooding the markets with so many devices which are priced within the spectrum of many different demographics and their buying power has worked for them and Samsung in the past. Also, Micromax's first ad for Canvas Turbo with Hugh Jackman as the brand ambassador has begun airing in the country. Take a look at it below:

Do you think Micromax can become an global brand? Share your thoughts with us.

Source | The Hindu Businessline

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Dhingana, one of the major music streaming sites in India, has announced a partnership with Idea Cellular. The deal will let Idea Cellular's Android using customers download unlimited music free of charge. This will also not include data charges. Dhingana is an ad-supported free streaming service and charges for the feature of saving songs to your offline storage.

iOS users are not included in this new partnership. Dhingana Gold, which costs $1.99 per month allows the same unlimited downloads but also has ad-free service and HD quality playlists. Idea has been pushing Android for a while now. They even have their own rebranded smartphone devices which they sell with their cellular subscriptions. Their strategic tie-up with Dhingana is meant to entice a lot of the Android users towards picking up an Idea connection. It may also have to do with making it difficult for users to leave idea because of the free unlimited music downloads that Dhingana offers. For music loving Indians, this is a very compelling offer.

While this may sound like Dhingana is giving away too much for too less, there is a catch. All the songs downloaded via Dhingana will only be playable via the Dhingana app. This is because they will be encrypted to only be opened by the app.

This feature is also available on WAP enabled feature phones. Idea's subscriber base is around 127 million users and Dhingana being available for free on the service, will be a big boost for the streaming service and a compelling offering for the consumer by the operator.

Source | The Next Web

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The Government of India (GoI) appears to be seriously considering shifting its data and processes to the Cloud Based Infrastructure.

Formally recognized as Meghraj, the National Informatics Center (NIC), the GI Cloud initiative will eventually house government data, services and applications on remotely located servers in order to create shared and unified government services and infrastructure. A task force has already been set up and Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) will work on the implementation of the GI Cloud initiative.

In simple terms, it means the government may soon begin the process of shifting its data from location–locked servers to Cloud based servers, so that majority of the information will be available to Government Officials across India without having to physically access computer terminals on which the data is presently stored.

The government’s need for Cloud Based services cannot be stressed enough. With such a vast topography, data accumulated at one end, seldom reaches the other. Centrally housed data and applications will help the government easily replicate successful applications across states, without the need to duplicate. Essentially, projects which require specific software and applications will be readily available.

In the month of May this year, Govt. had ceremoniously launched its very own App Store replete with multiple apps. Though most of the apps were meant for information dissipation and were awareness related, a few, like the mPassport app have gained substantially productive features. Though almost nothing new has been introduced in the App Store, it has gained the ability to allow downloads only to the authenticated users. Some of the notable apps on the store include Co-operative Core Banking Solution, e-Hospital and eDistrict Kerala, among others.

Despite the slow progress of the App Store, the GI Cloud could offer a lot of functionality, once fully operational. It is being designed to offer IaaS (Internet as a Service), SaaS (Software as a Service) and PaaS (Product as a Service) for Government and associated entities. Such high end facilities for Governmental departments could indeed allow them to scale-up operations without seeking funds. Do you think the GI Cloud / Meghraj initiative should be limited to the Governmental Services or should they allow the same for common citizens too?

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WhatsApp which reached 350 million monthly active mark last month has revealed some new milestones. The popular instant messaging platform claims that it has surpassed 25 million active users in India up from 5 million since August. Neeraj Arora, WhatsApp’s Head of Business Development revealed the numbers in an interview to a TV news channel.

Arora touted in the interview that the four year old messenger is currently processing up to 18 billion messages per day across 100 countries on 750 mobile networks. He also added that WhatsApp as promised will not include ads and keep the platform as clean as possible.

He further added that WhatsApp’s partnership with telecom operator Reliance in October last year did "phenomenally" well. Finally Arora dismissed rumors of  a possibility of selling WhatsApp to Facebook or Google. Mobile instant messaging market has become extremely competitive in the world with an array of apps from Viber, WeChat, Hike and so on. Whats App has always been popular in developing countries like India due to growing internet user base. The Japanese messenger Line last month claimed that it has 10 million users in India, while Bharti Soft Bank’s Hike has 5 million users in India.

WhatsApp is currently spending no money on marketing while other players like Line and WeChat are involved in aggressive marketing in India. Also, Blackberry’s BBM which recently made the Android and iOS app store is trying to shift users from other platforms.

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Nothing has affected technology as much as science fiction and the latest technology patent that Motorola has filed for come straight out of a science fiction movie.

The technology is about a tattoo that could stick to ones throat and sense the speech from the throat when he/she talks and send the speech wirelessly to his/her smartphone for calls and other recording. This is a breakthrough in terms of portability and the "smartness" of the devices as this technology has not been worked upon ever by any company (or at least successfully put to test after invention). Motorola has been working on the technology under the aegis of Google, which is rather bullish on cutting edge technology with it's Motorola arm ever since it acquired the once tech giant.

“Communication can reasonably be improved and even enhanced with a method and system for reducing the acoustic noise in such environments and contexts,” says the patent application and this is true for people that work their phones in such environments. Motorola was the original manufacturer of the "mobile" phone whose evolution has led to the quintessential smartphone or the handheld revolution. The patent business has been tricky for companies operating in this sector since the biggest patent battle till date was won by Apple back in 2012. Falling share prices of Nokia and falling market share of Microsoft and other companies that got hit by the Apple Samsung wave of devices are now looking at alternate measures of making money or at least making a dent in the business of their competitors for an equal chance of putting their products out there in the market.

The sticker in question would have a mic that would detect the vibrations from the user's throat and send them to the phone. Bluetooth is the preferred technology till now but it could be something else depending upon disclosure of the method. "It is contemplated that a user that may be nervous or engaging in speaking falsehoods may exhibit different galvanic skin response than a more confident, truth telling individual,” is included in the filing, which means that this device can also be used for lie detector tests based on the skin response. Holding a patent is always good and Motorola and essentially Google is doing the right thing, whether or not this device is realized in near future.

Image Source: tech2

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Aircel, one of the telecom service providers in India, is quietly testing Long-Term Evolution (4^th Generation) services as it has had a great experience by offering data centric plans to its subscribers.

The mobile network operator is currently conducting trials for the 4G Services in Andhra Pradesh, but the company has cautioned that it will be some while before the company can confidently offer 4G internet and associated services. "The trials are currently on but we don’t have the required ecosystem, including the 4G-enabled mobile handsets, to launch the services commercially", clarified Deepinder Tiwana, AP Circle Business Head of Aircel. Maybe Xolo could help?

Despite the current lack of capabilities for deploying Next Gen data and communication standard, Aircel appears to be doing quite well, thanks to Data Services. Owing to the upswing in the usage and consumption of Data, Aircel has been able to arrest and even reverse its loss making streak. Data Services, namely 2G and to some extent 3G, has helped Aircel to be more optimistic about its future. Though Tiwana refrained from divulging exact figures, he did say, "We will start making full-year profit from next year."

Why is Aricel interested in 4G?
Interestingly, Aircel is the only other cellular service provider, after Reliance, to secure 4G license for the AP Circle. What this means is if Aircel can get its infrastructure up and ready, it can offer all sorts of communication tools which have been legally allowed by the Government. However, this is just for the AP Circle.

Why the preferential treatment to AP Customers?
"Data services are growing exponentially in Andhra Pradesh. About 44% of our 1.85 million subscribers in AP use data services, including 12% for 3G. This has enabled us to double our revenues in 2013 compared to the previous year," reasoned Tiwana.

Hence Aircel is working with its marketing team to come up with attractive 'Value For Money' Plans to push Data Consumption. These Data Plans will be selectively deployed in areas where customers are using more data, hinted Tiwana, "We have identified the priority segments and are accordingly drawing up our strategies to drive future growth."

Data Services could surely prove to be the next driver of revenue for telecom companies. But adoption has to rise exponentially. Interestingly, companies are trying all sorts of pricing strategies that would either encourage users to use more data from older standard or shift to the faster and newer 3G and 4G. What do the customers prefer?

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Microsoft is hunting for a new CEO after Steve Ballmer announced that he would be leaving within a year. There have been reports that Stephen Elop and  Alan Mulally have been considered as external candidates for the post. Stephen Elop, a previous Microsoft executive, left to join Nokia as its CEO. Nokia's smartphone business was acquired by Microsoft recently and he is now back with Microsoft when the acquisition gets completed.

Last weekend, Bloomberg reported that if Stephen Elop gets the position, he has in mind of doing some radical things. Apparently, he wants Microsoft to be more inclusive of other mobile platforms like iOS and Android, because they are currently firmly established in the consumer space. The services part of the business could provide user apps on these platforms instead of following Microsoft's usual lone wolf approach. Microsoft has always paid more attention to its own platform even as a software maker. Elop wants this to change and get Microsoft to focus more on bringing their services to competing platforms. Under this approach he will be pushing for Office on Android and iOS. This will mean that Microsoft will continue to have its eggs in many baskets. Clearly, PC sales are dropping. Even though Windows Phone is doing well this quarter, its market share comes nowhere close to the leaders. Instead of fighting the hard battle in a silo, Stephen wants Microsoft to put its widely used apps in rising hardware and software ecosystems. This makes a lot of sense from the new devices and services angle that Microsoft has taken recently.

The report from Bloomberg also suggests that Elop is willing to shut down or sell some major parts of Microsoft businesses. Xbox and Bing are in his sights and these views are apparently supported by some investors, analysts and Co-Founder Paul Allen. Xbox while still a gaming phenomenon is been seen as a distraction for the company. Bing has never had a chance of competing with Google in the search territory. While these decisions are clearly very controversial, there are certain merits. Stripping Microsoft of non-performing and non-aligned businesses could revive the giant in a big way. This could end up giving Microsoft a renewed focus on being a technology company and compete in areas which have traditionally been their strengths such as Office, Enterprise Servers and its newly acquired phone hardware business.

Microsoft has officially denied this report and has called it speculative! However, it would be very interesting to watch this out as the day for the CEO announcement comes closer.

Source | Bloomberg

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Few months back, we wrote about the Google Impact Challenge for social entrepreneurs and organizations in India. The Challenge is now over and Google has awarded 4 organizations the grand prize for their innovative ideas in improving developmental efforts in the country.

The challenge was about using technology to solve some crucial social and developmental problems in the country. The top four have received a Rs. 3 Crore and support from Google in further efforts. The finalists in the top ten have also received Rs. 1.5 crore each in seed funding.

Here are the winners of the challenge.

1. Integrated water & sanitation system to support healthy villages:

Social Awareness, Newer Alternatives or SANA is a project which will make use of solar powered water purification using micro-ionization and bio-digesting technology to improve water quality. SANA plans to make available 54 million litres of water over the next 3 years and thus improve sanitation and health, making an impact on 25,000 people.

2. Video hub to scale agricultural training:

Digital Green trust is aiming to build and scale an online video hub and knowledge base across 10,000 villages. The organization intends to transform local farmers into community knowledge workers and thus share superior agricultural facilities across the community.

3. Apps to connect citizens with the government:

There is a great gap between elected officials and citizens in cities. Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy wants to connect these both sections with mobile and online reporting tools, thus creating a direct link between the government and the people.

4. Network of motorbike science labs to educate rural kids:

Agastya aims to ensure that rural Indian schoolchildren have access to science and technology labs by using a novel motorbike powered science lab. Their aim over the next 3 years is to reach 1,620 rural schools.

You can see more of the finalists and the innovative projects on the official website.

Link | Google Impact Challenge India

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