TechyTrends

• Moser Baer has advanced over 2.5% to touch its high at Rs 95 on the back of its launch of eight new LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) television models.
• The stock touched a low of Rs 91. The counter has clocked a volume of 372,493 shares till now.
• The price range of the newly launched LCD TV series ranges between Rs 14,900 and Rs 57,900.
• The new range of television models by Moser Baer will provide superior image clarity and high dynamic contrast ratio, the sleek and stylish Full HD and HD Ready televisions have A - Grade panels with powerful integrated built-in speakers for virtual surround sound

The Nokia N97 seems like its been a long time coming, but the first white review unit has dropped onto PhoneMag’s desk. Packing US-spec 3G HSDPA, the NAM N97 is, by now, visually very familiar, with its large 3.5-inch 640 x 360 resistive touchscreen, tilt-and-slide hinge and full QWERTY keyboard. After the cut, check out our N97 first-impressions, plus the unboxing video and a full hands-on gallery.


Specification highlights include a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss optics, 32GB of storage, A-GPS and Bluetooth. There’s also WiFi b/g and USB 2.0 connectivity, plus both an FM radio and FM transmitter for piping your audio through a car stereo. Up front, controls are minimal, though there’s a dedicated camera shutter button, and the N97 also supports TV out and microSD cards up to 16GB.


The display is bright and clear, but Nokia’s insistence on resistive rather than capacitive touch technology does make it less responsive than, say, that of the iPhone or Palm Pre. S60 5th edition is also a little frustrating in how it handles touch, for instance in requiring two presses – one to select, one to actually activate – controls such as app shortcuts. Meanwhile the QWERTY buttons suffer a little from their shallow depth, lacking the tactile feel you’d get on a BlackBerry for instance. The lined-up layout may be easy on the eye, but it makes hunt-and-peck typing tricker than a more traditional offset arrangement.


It’s early days with the software possibilities, but Nokia have high expectations both for their out-of-the-box app experience and for future changes as third-party developers start to release more apps through their Ovi distribution platform. Preloaded there are widgets for Facebook, AccuWeather and others, which have homescreen plugins for at-a-glance information; the N97 also supports various types of email and IM, with the latest news being upfront on the homescreen.


The first impression of the Nokia N97 is that it’s a more serious, business-like device than, say, the Palm Pre or iPhone, though the company themselves are at pains to highlight its entertainment and multimedia functionality.

The BlackBerry solution makes wireless access to email, phone, calendar, web, multimedia and other business and lifestyle applications effortless. With this application consumers can avail of freedom and productivity benefits offered by BlackBerry smartphones. Users can easily access information and stay in touch with their closed ones.

Abraham Foss, Vice President and CMO, Telenor Norwayremarks, “We are happy that our customers can now enjoy the benefits of the Blackberry solution. This complements our extensive product offering to our international customers.”

At the onset, Telnor would provide services to smartphones like BlackBerry Curve 8310, BlackBerry Pearl 8110 and BlackBerry Bold. These handsets offer outstanding communications and multimedia functionalities. They also comprise of GPS for location-based applications and services.

Mark Guibert, Vice President, Corporate Marketing, RIM commented, “It is with great pleasure that we are working with Telnor to bring the BlackBerry solution to their customers in Norway. BlackBerry smartphones are the right choice for business people and consumers who want to make the most of their time and who wish to stay connected to colleagues, friends and family while on the move.”

The BlackBerry Bold has a stylish design and is packaged with versatile features and capabilities. The BlackBerry Curve 8310 is built with a full-QWERTY keyboard and offers a compact design. The elegant BlackBerry Pearl 8110 is an ideal handset for users who wish to explore the features provided by the BlackBerry platform.

Telenor has come up with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server for corporate customers and organizations that administer their own email servers. This software tightly integrates with IBM, Lotus, Domino, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise. Further it provides secure, push-based wireless access to email and other corporate data with the help of advanced encryption and IT policy controls.

The phone incorporates many multimedia capabilities. With the broadband network’s high speed connectivity, users can enjoy fast email and messaging experiences. The handset is offered in silver color with a trendy flip design. It offers a microSD and SDHC memory slot for expandable memory up to 16GB. A microSD card can be acquired separately for video recording.

Two high resolution color displays are present, with the external LCD allowing customers to read without opening the phone. Visual Voice Mail incorporated by the phone helps users manage messages well. As an addition, the phone enables easy typing and dialing via the large SureType QWERTY keyboard. It has video-activated dialing and speakerphone capabilities. The cell phone provides a built-in media player for audio and video support. The handset has arrangements for entertainment as well with the BlackBerry Media Sync. This feature allows easy management of music through the handset.

As an exclusive feature, the mobile phone supports the BlackBerry App World. This allows easy access to social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Flicker. Along with that, users can make use of popular instant messaging service. The phone supports the VZ Navigator that guides users with directions to numerous points of interest. Moreover, it supports the BlackBerry Internet Service along with Enterprise Server.

The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 smartphone will be offered for a price of $129.99 after a $70 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. The phone will be offered from June 19, 2009 onwards via the Verizon Wireless Communications Store. VZ Navigator is offered for a monthly access price of $9.99 while the Visual Voice Mail is available for a monthly access price of $2.99.

Nokia India today unveiled its ‘take-back’ campaign in the city on the occasion of World Environement Day, whereby the company would plant a sapling for every used mobile customers deposit at recyling bins in its outlets.

Every time you return a junk mobile phone to a Nokia dealer, the firm will thank you by planting a tree, apart from recycling that phone in an eco-friendly manner.

Nokia India regenerated the “Take Back” campaign as result of a survey showing India at the bottom of the chart with only 17 percent people having knowledge about recyclability of phones. Nokia India also started a scheme of giving surprise gifts, in order to involve more and more people in the campaign.

Mobile phones, more so than PCs and laptops could be the worlds biggest contributor to electronic junk on this planet. And there is very low awareness about recycling of mobile phones in the country. As per a survey done by Nokia in 13 different countries, the percentage of people who actually recycled their phones stood at 3%. Up to 50% of the surveyed people were absolutely unaware that mobile phones could be recycled. It was found that recycling awareness was the lowest in India standing at 17%.

Stating that 80 per cent of a used phone, including the headsets, chargers and other accessories could be recycled, he said the campaign here followed a pilot study in Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon and Ludhiana early this year, which received tremendous response from the public. “A total of three tonnes of waste, including 10,000 handsets, were collected within the first 45 days of the launch,” Nokia India (Corporate Affairs) Director Ambrish Bakaya told reporters.

British scientists say they have for the first time developed a way to use brain scans to objectively measure the levels of pain felt by patients.

Using magnetic resonance imaging, researchers have found distinct differences between the brains of people who are experiencing pain and those who are not. That means doctors may have a way to measure suffering based on something other than asking patients how they are feeling, The Sunday Times of London reported.

"Pain seems to increase the blood flow to certain parts of the brain, roughly in proportion to the amount of pain felt, and we can measure that activation in a brain scan," Irene Tracey, professor of anaesthetic science at Oxford University, told the newspaper.

She and her colleagues reportedly have found the brain employs a "pain matrix" wherein physical suffering typically activates more than a dozen parts of the brain -- a distinct contrast with other senses such as vision or hearing that only stimulate just one part of the brain.

The Sunday Times said the findings indicate pain could one day be measured objectively, a development that would have big legal and social implications.

• On-demand grid lines both when shooting via the optical viewfinder and in Live View mode.
• Extensive playback options that allow viewing of images one at a time or in batches of 4, 9, and 72 as well as Calendar view that organizes images by shooting date and time. A histogram display is also available that shows exposure data for a magnified area of the image.
• Direct HDTV connectivity via built-in HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) connector.
• Highly durable shutter unit tested to 100,000 cycles.
• Compatible with all NIKKOR AF-S and AF-I lenses that have an autofocus motor.
• Built-in flash with a guide number of approx. 17/56 (ISO 200, m/ft., 20°C/68°F) and support for Nikon’s i-TTL flash control.
• Support for the Nikon Creative Lighting System when using SB-900 or SB-800 Speedlights, or the SU-800 Wireless Speedlight Commander.
• Long-lasting Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL9a that provides up to 510 shots per charge. (CIPA standard, with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR and flash fired at full power once every other shot.)
• Compatible with the optional ML-L3 Wireless Remote Control. There are two shutter release modes available when using the control: Quick mode for immediate triggering of the shutter release and Delayed mode, which delays triggering for two seconds.
• Compatible with the optional GPS Unit GP-1, which automatically appends longitude, latitude, altitude, and time information to the EXIF data of each image.
• Compatible with the optional Remote Cord MC-DC2, which enables remote shutter release and time (bulb) exposures.
• Includes Nikon ViewNX image browsing and editing software, which lets you organize, label, and select images as well as perform NEF (RAW) image editing adjustments and conversions.
• Image data from the D5000 can be used with optional Nikon Capture NX 2 photo-editing software, which features patented U Point® technology and powerful tools for quick and easy photo editing, including enhanced NEF (RAW) Editing.

The Satio is being marketed as the manufacturer’s ‘flagship’ phone and features applications for YouTube and Facebook access, as well as free access to Hollywood movies.It can capture images and record videos as there are a host of camera functionalities such as up to 12x digital zoom, auto focus, BestPic, face detection, geo tagging of photos, image stabilizer, photo feeds, photo fix, red-eye reduction, smile detection, touch focus and Xenon flash.The Satio inherits album art, Bluetooth stereo (A2DP), media player, music tones (MP3/AAC), TrackID and PlayNow to download exciting music, movies and game.It’ having Size: 112 x 55 x 13.3 mm, Weight: 126 grams, 16:9 widescreen, Resolution: 640 x 360 pixels, Size: 3.5 inches.

Sony Ericsson’s Satio packs in an onboard memory of 128 MB that can be enhanced via an 8GB SanDisk mircoSD card, A-GPS, Google Maps, turn-by-turn navigation, Bluetooth technology, Modem, PictBridge, TV out, USB and a built-in Wi-Fi. Now, accessing Facebook application, YouTube, e-mails, instant messaging services and Exchange ActiveSync is not a difficult task.It supports on-screen QWERTY keyboard, auto rotation design and gesture control. Other features include handwriting recognition, HD and 3D games, FM radio with RDS, Java, document reader and document editor.Bundled with the HBH-IS800 wireless stereo headphones.it works on GSM GPRS/EDGE and UMTS HSDPA networks. It shines in black, silver and Bordeaux color scheme.

The Aino will offer a 3-inch touchscreen with a resolution that matches Samsung’s all-touch phones, and will come equipped with a remote control for Playstation 3.The phone sports a 8.1-megapixel camera, touchscreen media player, Facebook and YouTube applications, and Wi-Fi connectivity.

The Sony Ericsson Yari will be the first mobile phone with gesture gaming outside of the Japanese market. Unlike the other two new phones, the Yari will offer a standard 2.4-inch QVGA display, so by gesture gaming, Sony Ericsson means moving your body in stead of pressing buttons. The company promises a variety of games to choose from, whether you want to keep fit and stay in shape or just want to beat your best score at tennis or boxing. That said, the phone will also include A/B buttons for traditional gaming control.

Sony Ericsson’s Satio & Aino will be available in selected markets from early Q4 & the prices not yet announced.

“Due to its ease of use and continuous updates, our products have become popular all around the world, including India. As our latest products have already become a trendsetter in the Indian security solutions market, it is the right time to expand our market development programme,” Kaspersky Director (Channel-South Asia) Alexander Gnatusin told The Hindu.

“We are expanding our presence in India and soon will be opening our regional office in Hyderabad. We are also looking at extending our product line in India, besides setting up our marketing initiatives. We plan to increase our spending to $1 million by 2009-end,” he said. Kaspersky hopes to clock $15 million revenues over the next two years from its Indian operations, thus registering over 100 per cent growth rate.

According to Mr. Gnatusin, they have launched a security solution ‘Kaspersky Internet Security 2009’, which provides protection against viruses, spyware, trojans, hijacking, and identity thefts, and is equipped with virtual keyboard and parental control.

The solution is priced at about Rs. 500 for single user. Stating that mobile solutions would be a major revenue earner for them, Mr. Gnatusin said with the increased sales of data-centric and multi-media handsets, security threat had also gone up.

“We will be offering a wide range of solutions for this segment as well,” he said. Kaspersky is already offering security solutions for Symbian and Windows-enabled mobile handsets and is working on solutions for Blackberry devices as well.

“I wanted their iPhone killer. I’ve been anticipating this for a while,” said Peter Lewis, who bought phones for himself and his wife at a Sprint store in Chicago, where some 45 people were in line when the doors opened at 8 a.m. on Saturday.

“This is my birthday present to myself,” said Wilma Rivera, 36, a heating technician who was at Sprint’s flagship store in Manhattan.

Ms. Rivera, a longtime Palm user, said while she had been tempted by the iPhone, sold only by AT&T in the United States, she “never wanted to leave Sprint.”

Sprint, the No. 3 mobile carrier, is depending on Pre to help stem defections and win back subscribers from rivals, including AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

Jennifer Walsh Keifer, a Sprint spokeswoman, said late Saturday that Sprint had sold out of Pre phones at a number of locations around the country and that the company was doing its best to restock stores.

Pre is hitting the shelves just before Apple is widely expected to announce a new iPhone on June 8.

The Pre costs $199.99, after a $100 rebate, for customers who sign a two-year service contract. It is priced in line with the $199 smaller-capacity iPhone. Pre’s monthly service fees start at $69.99, including unlimited text-messaging, lower than the cost of iPhone service plans with similar features.

Palm investors have been waiting for the new mobile platform since June 2007, when Elevation Partners took a $325 million, 25 percent stake in Palm.

In the past one-and-a-half months, Samsung and Sony have introduced thin sets.

Samsung launched the 29.9mm thin LED models. Sony followed with the launch of Bravia ZX1, a 9.9mm LCD set — the world’s thinnest — weighing approximately 15 kg.

LG Electronics India has recently launched energy-efficient models. The firm plans to launch 31 models — 19 flat and 12 ultra-slim models.

“We are seeing a drastic shift towards slim TVs in India. Slim TV is a huge hit since it fits perfectly into the Indian living room which is smaller in size than in the West. Slim TVs have the potential to become a mass market product in the next couple of years with a fall in their manufacturing cost,” said M.B. Shin, managing director, LG Electronics India.

The width of a plain vanilla flat CRT (cathode ray tube) model is around 15.7 inch (400 mm). Manufacturers have shrunk the thickness to around 11.8 inch (300 mm) in a slim CRT TV.

On the other hand, the current thickness of LCD TVs sold in India is around 4.7 inch (121.1 mm), while that for LED TV it is just 1.16 inch (29.9 mm).

The new category of flat-panel televisions use LED (light emitting diode) technology as their primary light source rather than the traditional cold cathode fluorescent lamps, allowing higher contrast ratios and slim depths for better design.

Samsung expects its LED models to constitute 10 per cent of its overall flat panel television sales. It has set a target to sell one million slim CRT sets in 2009.

Rival LG Electronics plans to roll out its LED television range in India around July.

The companies believe a slimmer product portfolio will create a new growth driver in line with changing consumer preferences.

Nearly 70 models of cell phones by the company enable an easy access through a one-touch button in the main menu. This will introduce a fascinating new option for mobile users in the country to acquire downloadable content from one centralized source.

Mr. Sudhin Mathur, General Manager, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications India mentioned, “At Sony Ericsson, we have always tried to keep ourselves abreast with evolving consumer needs. The youth in India are constantly on the move today. In fact, they comprise the new download generation. Mobile downloading is fast gaining momentum as the youth want their mobile phones to cater to a range of needs in tune with their dynamic lifestyle. PlayNow is the apt answer to this emerging need.”

He further added, “Our focus is on expanding the range of content that we offer to consumers through global and local partnerships. With PlayNow, Sony Ericsson provides integrated hardware, applications and services that enable consumers to seamlessly discover and consume content as they desire,”

PlayNow already offers a huge variety of music, games, films, ringtones, wallpapers and more. Some of the game titles include Need for Speed, Harry Potter, FIFA and SIMS. It also consists of music numbers, vibrant wallpapers and themes from Bollywood, Hollywood and more. The music is offered in a variety of local Indian languages. Additionally, this service is compatible with GPRS services and also provides a perfect billing incorporation.

August 22, 2008 saw the entry of much hyped iPhone 3G in India. The launch was limited to few cities where it was expected that consumers would indeed line up as in the Western World to grab the revolutionary mobile phone model by Apple.

While few people indeed queued up outside the retail shops in few places, they were surprised to know that there was no one ahead and behind them in the queue. And the same response from consumers continues to hold almost true even after so many months of the launch.

The consumer feedback to iPhone in India is indeed surprising. Because it was expected that Apple would gain significantly from entry into Indian market which is one of the most lucrative mobile services market in the world.

But the hope crashed soon after the launch. No one had had anticipated such a thumbs down response from consumers in India to a gadget which has bagged so many accolades and awards globally for its path breaking product.

So what failed iPhone in India.?

The answer to this is certainly the marketing strategy employed by Apple in India for the iPhone 3G.

Firstly Apple launched iPhone 3G in India at a time when 3G was not even present in India. Its partners in India, Airtel and Vodafone too do not offer 3G services. So even if the handset was compatible to offer 3G services it was of no use to the end-user who did not had access to 3G services.

Secondly Apple had mainly followed a strategy if tying up with a single operator in a country. For instance Apple offers iPhone in USA in tie-up with AT&T. But in India Apple chose to tie-up with multiple operators i.e. Airtel as well as Vodafone.

iPhone in USA was offered initially for $ 199 monthly rental and host of other VAS mainly procured by the consumers through Apple’s App Store for iPhone. In India the iPhone has not been positioned as a value for money product. The price range coupled with the fact that data services are primarily being positioned around iPhone both by Vodafone and Airtel has resulted in a scenario where the iPhone is confined to a limited market. This has greatly shrunk the addressable market of the model in India.

Moreover the marketing of iPhone has been very limited in India. For the operators the iPhone is just another bundled service offered to the subscribers. Compare this with the market situation in USA especially where operators are now building their business case around iPhone. AT&T for instance is greatly dependant on iPhone now. The company is incurring tremendous margin pressure due to its iPhone offerings. But the trade-of sounds profitable as the company has been notching up new subscribers rapidly. The lock-in period ensures that the company would not face customer churn significantly for atleast two years.

iPhone has crossed 10 million mark globally since its launch last year in June. But in India there is still no clarity on the number of takers for the popular model. Indian operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone declined to comment on the performance of iPhone when queried by TelecomTiger.

The failure in India has also resulted in loss of revenues from App Store, the VAS stores set-up by Apple. In the event of few takers for iPhone it makes the feasibility of rolling out App Stores that much more difficult for Apple.

Apple is expected to announce a new version of iPhone for the global markets very soon. In fact the company is also speculated to be planning a range of iPhone models.

Apple is yet to enter China. The operators in China are clear on the business model for iPhone and are demanding higher revenue share from Apple. They also want a share of revenues generated out of App Store.

The Indian consumers have proved it that they won’t vie for a product purely on the hype surrounding it. They want a justified marketing offering revolved around the product or the service.

Not long ago Microsoft released into the wild the Windows Mobile 6.5 Developers Toolkit, which is meant to allow developers to build their applications for the upcoming operating system, and some folks that already played around with it say that they could also have a glimpse at what Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard should look like when available on the market.

According to the reports, the upcoming Standard version of the platform will look a lot like the Windows Mobile 6.1 that we are all accustomed with, though there are also a nice range of novelties. The first new feature is the Internet Explorer Mobile 6, which most of you should already know that comes as a great addition to the platform

The theme of the upcoming platform is stated to be very similar to the old one, while there are also a series of refreshes that have been packed into the user interface. It seems that the apps used on Windows Mobile 6/6.1 work on the OS quite well, and that the new ones, such as the Marketplace stub app or the widgets, are all there and look quite nice.

At the same time, the Windows Mobile 6.5 platform is also reported to work pretty well on non-touchscreen phones, as Microsoft already stated it would, although it has been developed to work seamlessly on touchscreen handsets, unlike the Windows Mobile 6.1, which was great on handsets without touch screen capabilities.

For what it's worth, Microsoft seems to have made the expected changes to its Windows Mobile operating system, and users will be able to enjoy a few more features than those available on previous releases. The web browser is one of them, and the widgets can be added to the list as well. It still remains to be seen how the platform will fit into the upcoming handsets, so stay tuned to learn more details on this.

French car giant Peugeot is set to launch itself in India next year. The company may set up a manufacturing plant either somewhere in Andhra Pradesh or in Tamil Nadu. There are reports that the company is already in negotiations in the two states with state governments.

Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker in Europe.

Peugeot's roots go back to nineteenth century coffee mill and bicycle manufacturing. The Peugeot company and family is originally from Sochaux, France. Peugeot retains a large manufacturing plant and Peugeot Museum there. It also sponsors the Sochaux football club, founded in 1928 by a member of the Peugeot family.

Peugeot is a long way off from its ambitious target of selling 4 million units annually by the end of the decade. This year its sales projects put it at 2 million, but chief executive Jean-Philippe Collin has a plan in place to reach the targets set out by parent company PSA.

The plan involves expansion on two fronts. Firstly, Peugeot plans on developing new models to compete in segments where it currently does not compete. Collin figures the French automaker currently competes in 72% of market segments, but wants to get that figure up to 90%. Despite Peugeot's sportscar racing program, the company is not prepared to build a pure sportscar any more hardcore than the upcoming 308 RC Z sports-coupe. It is pursuing government funding to develop a diesel-hybrid drivetrain, however, which might be key to its expansion.

The company like many other car manufacturers are truly smitten by the growth in the auto sector in last more than a decade.

There are reports that the company conducted consumer clinics in October last year with market research firm IMIRB, and is looking at bringing its hatchback 307 and sedan C5 in India. It had discussions with the Automotive Research Association of India to understand the regulations and homologation; thereby making the vehicles, meet the Indian rules and norm, as revealed by sources.

The company is said to be considering bringing some new and alluring small models to the Indian market. Peugeot had made an unhappy exit from the Indian automobile market a decade ago.

A decade ago this second biggest car maker of Europe had to exit because of differences with their Indian partner, the Doshis. At present, the company is learnt to be studying the 1.5 million Indian passenger vehicle market.

Every time you return a junk mobile phone to a Nokia dealer, the firm will thank you by planting a tree, apart from recycling that phone in an eco-friendly manner.

Announcing the initiative on World Environment Day, Ambrish Bakaya, director of corporate affairs in Nokia India, said the firm had already tied up with two NGOs in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to plant 22,000 trees. The programme would soon be extended to the top 15 cities of the country, he added.

"We already have 1,300 bins at our main dealers' shops around the country where people can throw in their junk phones," Bakaya said.

The mobile phone manufacturer with the largest market share in India has been getting a good response. "Now we have tied up with an NGO called Ahimsa in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu to plant 12,000 trees, and with Bangalore's Rotary Midtown to plant 10,000 trees in educational institutions around that city."

Nokia has also been working computer manufacturers to strengthen the laws on recycling of e-waste, which threatens to become a major problem in India.

Saying that the firm was working with the Manufacturers Association for Information Technology, the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Department of Telecommunications to put together stronger guidelines on the subject, Bakaya added: "We welcome any step which helps strengthen e-waste management and creates awareness about the need to recycle e-waste in an eco-friendly manner"

Google Chrome is now being offered in many Indian languages, with version 2 of the browser made available for download.

The stable version 2 comes in Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya (on Windows Vista alone), Tamil, and Telugu. A Hindi version was available earlier.

What this means is that PC users who have Windows Vista as their operating system should be able to easily select the browser’s interface language by using the language-setting options. It should also be possible to switch from one language to another by changing the language option and re-launching the browser. The users can then see the browser menus and other associated content in one of the Indian languages (or any of the other available language options).

With Windows XP, the Indian language options are fewer, and font rendering might be an issue, if the user’s system is not primed for it. Asked about this, a Google spokesperson said: “Creation and consumption of Indian language content on the web is a relatively recent phenomenon. In some cases, the fonts get installed by default, and if not, Google tries to provide installation or downloading option through all our products.”

Chrome was launched only in September 2008, but it has garnered a small share of the browser market. In December last, a Google blog post claimed that in just 100 days, the initial (beta) version had built up a base of over 10 million active users worldwide.

Apart from its availability in several languages, speed was one feature on which there has been increased focus in the new version. Improvements had been made to get the browser to load up and render pages faster, Google claimed.

Stability is also another improvement being highlighted, with the fixing of “over 300 bugs that caused crashes since launch.” In the new release, Google also referred to the form autofill option, which enabled users to fill up form fields without having to input the same information in each instance.

However, this browser is not packed with as many features as some of the others are. And it might not fit your bill, if you are a heavy user of the kind of add-ons that are possible with Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer.

This has a lot to do with how Google has conceived the browser. It was “not just a browser but also a modern platform for web pages and applications.” The browser is based on open source software. It has been developed with Webkit, an open source browser engine, which was originally deployed for the Safari browser. The rendering of Javascript, a scripting language widely used in the Web environment, was also speeded up, Google said.

As for the release of the stable version 2 of the browser, Google itself said it did not give much weightage to version numbers, and these were “mainly a metric to help us keep track of changes internally.” For those already using older versions, the update ought to happen automatically.

Are you an Indian? If you hail from this country and are an internet savvy individual, it’s the time for you to avail yourself of Google Chrome. Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google and based on the WebKit layout engine and application framework. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008.

What makes this reporter advise an Indian to do the same? Well, Google Chrome, at the moment, is being offered in many Indian languages, with version 2 of the browser made available for download. It is to be noted that there was a Hindi version from almost the beginning and the latest initiative include Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya (on Windows Vista alone), Tamil, and Telugu.

What does all this indicate? It enables the PC users, having Windows Vista as their operating system, to easily select the browser’s interface language by bringing into play the language-setting options. What is more, it is not at all a problem to switch from one language to another by means of changing the language option and re-launching the browser. The users can then see the browser menus and other associated content in one of the Indian languages (or any of the other available language options).

Speaking on this, a Google spokesperson said: “Creation and consumption of Indian language content on the web is a relatively recent phenomenon. In some cases, the fonts get installed by default, and if not, Google tries to provide installation or downloading option through all our products.”

You can get best picture if you care to gauge how Google has conceived the browser. It was “not just a browser but also a modern platform for web pages and applications.” As per experts, the browser is based on open source software. It has been developed with Webkit, an open source browser engine, which was originally deployed for the Safari browser. The rendering of Javascript, a scripting language widely used in the Web environment, was also speeded up, Google said.

Rotary Bangalore Midtown and Ahimsa, Chennai will plant 10,000 saplings each in Bangalore and Chennai over the next 12 months, as part of Nokia's mobile waste management initiative.

The Nokia Take-Back recycling program was launched in India on January 2009 across the cities of Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon and Ludhiana. As a part of the program, Nokia committed to plant a tree sapling for every handset dropped, irrespective of brand or model, into one of its recycling bins. Within the first 45 days of its launch, the collection exceeded 3 tonnes of waste including 10,000 handsets, according to the company. Nokia now intends to extend the campaign to over 15 cities in phases in the next few months. Globally, the Take-Back program has successfully been rolled out in 85 countries.

Ambrish Bakaya, director corporate affairs, Nokia India, said Nokia has taken a holistic approach to environment concerns and works with different stakeholders to drive environmentally-sustainable initiatives. "We believe recycling old products is a key part of this approach and we are fully committed to educating consumers on the need for responsible mobile waste management. Over the next few months, Nokia will extend the Take-Back program to other cities across the country and our partnership with Rotary and Ahimsa will further help us in supporting this cause," Bakaya said.

In India, under the Take-Back program, Nokia has set up a recycling infrastructure across the country with over 1,300 recycling bins installed at Nokia Priority Dealers and Nokia Care Centers nationally. The company encourages mobile phone users to dispose their used handsets and accessories such as chargers and headsets, regardless of the brand, at any of these bins and ensures proper end-of-life treatment for the waste collected.
The company has also launched a SMS campaign to inform customers about the nearest Nokia mobile waste collection point by simply sending an SMS 'Green' to 55555 from their handsets.

As per a Nokia study, if every Nokia user across the world recycled just one unused phone at the end of its life, together it would save nearly 80,000 tonnes of raw materials.

Extreme networks today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Westcon India wherein the latter will serve as a distributor for Extreme''s data networking solutions.

Jitendra Gupta , country manager for India at Extreme Networks in New Delhi, said , “With the help of Westcon as our national distribution partner Extreme Networks can broaden our channel partner base across India and can provide the necessary support form sales, pre-sales, RMA and post sales follow up to the Indian partner community at a faster and more economical pace. We firmly believe that with the help of Westcon we can reach out to the growing and yet untapped channel market across India.

Commenting on the agreement, Rajiv, Business Head for WestconINDIA said, “We are overwhelmingly delighted to partner with Extreme Networks in India as we believe that the significant solutions of Extreme will tremendously benefit our valued partners to provide customer delight thanks to the world class and cost effective solutions of Extreme Networks.”

Nokia Messaging has been updated to support S60 5th Edition devices, including the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. The software, which lets users receive messages from up to 10 email accounts to one inbox, is already available for S60 3rd Edition.

The update also includes translation for twenty more languages and fixes a few small bugs. The team is currently working on "HTML" and homescreen integration for future versions.

Users can connect to email.nokia.com to use the service.

Aircel, one of the fastest growing GSM mobile operators in India, is well positioned to capture additional market share with the successful implementation of the Telcordia® Real-Time Charging solution. Telcordia, the global leader in the development of mobile, broadband, fixed and cable communications software and services, successfully deployed the solution in just five months, effectively powering Aircel's Pan-India network rollout and supporting the introduction of interactive, real-time services and tariff plans.

Aircel, part of Maxis Communications Berhad, Malaysia, awarded Telcordia a five-year, multi-million dollar contract for Telcordia Real-Time Charging, a flexible charging and policy control solution for their mobile prepaid subscribers. Telcordia also drew on its 25 years of telecom consulting expertise to manage the integration of the solution into the Aircel network, and worked with in-country partners on implementation.

"We selected Telcordia's leading edge solution because it provides us with the reliability and scalability we need to support our business strategy of delivering service innovation to millions of subscribers," said Mr. Gurdeep Singh, COO, Aircel Cellular Ltd.

Mr. Singh further added, "Telcordia implemented the entire solution in record time. The prepaid solution is flexible and vendor agnostic, which means that we are able to easily and quickly implement new service offers, which will attract more customers and build our market share. This solution is core to our strategic vision of being a communications pioneer in the delivery of mobile voice and data services in the Indian market."

India is experiencing an unprecedented rate of subscriber growth and the challenge for Communications Service Providers (CSPs) is to attract new subscribers, keep existing ones and increase service use to boost revenue. As such, there is a greater need for CSPs to differentiate their service offerings by providing relevant, interactive and personalized services. Telcordia Real-Time Charging makes it easy to create and deploy customer-specific rules for rating, discounting, promotions, and settlements, enabling Aircel to differentiate their service offerings and personalize the experience for customers.

"In the hyper growth and hyper competitive market in India, time-to-market for new services is critical," said Mr. Anuj Kapur, Country Head, Service Delivery Solutions, Telcordia. "Aircel is now well positioned to secure high-value subscribers, grow their business and drive revenue through the delivery of new content and services."

Telcordia Real-Time Charging is part of the Telcordia Service Delivery Suite, which offers the key enabling elements of personal, interactive services -- real-time charging, policy control and rapid service creation. This service delivery based solution is emerging as a market leader for next generation prepaid services in high growth and highly competitive markets.

The Telcordia next generation prepay solution combines the strengths of advanced service creation with real-time charging, running on a multi-service telecom application server with an in-built, large scale, in-memory subscriber database. The solution is built on IBM BladeCenter and Telesoft Technologies OKEFORD media platform technology.

For more information about Telcordia please visit www.telcordia.com.

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About Aircel

Aircel, a part of Maxis Communications Berhad, Malaysia, is India's fifth largest GSM mobile service provider with a subscriber base of over 20 million and is the fastest growing mobile operator in the country. It is the market leader in Tamil Nadu, Assam, North-East and Chennai. Aircel is now present in 17 Telecom Circles (Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, Assam, Bihar, Chennai, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, North-East , Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal) and with spectrum secured for all the remaining circles (a total of 23 circles in India), the company is on track to become a leading Pan-India Operator. For more information, please log on to www.aircel.com

About Telcordia

Telcordia Technologies, Inc. is a leading global provider of telecommunications network software and services for IP, wireline, wireless, and cable. As the industry continuously evolves, Telcordia has the experience and reach to deliver the critical elements of success to help communication providers worldwide deploy innovative and profitable new services via any network or device while helping carriers aggressively reduce costs and grow revenues. Telcordia is headquartered in Piscataway, N.J., with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Central and Latin America. (www.telcordia.com)

For more information on Telcordia's products and solutions listen to the latest podcasts at http://www.telcordia.com/podcasts/index.html.

Mercedes-Benz India recently announced the launch of it’s Special Edition E-Class tailored specifically for the Indian market. Created in colours of Carneol Red, Obsidian Black, Calcite White, Tenorite Grey, Iridium Silver and Cubanite Silver, the company will produce only 192 units of this special vehicle to maintain exclusivity.
“Mercedes-Benz E-Class is clearly the most sought-after luxury car and we have sold over 16,000 units of this car since its India launch in 1996. The Special Edition E-Class will be a collector’s item: a luxurious, powerful and exclusive Mercedes-Benz with even more sporty and aggressive styling.” commented Dr. Wilfried Aulbur, Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India.

Apart from limited production, the ‘Special Edition’ will only be sported in a 3-liter diesel engine coupled with additional design, trim and style enrichments to emphasize the Mercedes-Benz product offerings.

Amongst the many features making its debut in the Special Edition, is the 17” 5-double-spoke light-alloy wheels highlighting the sporty stance of the car, the LED technology tail-lights, that not only accentuate the attractiveness of this vehicle, but also build-up on the safety aspects of the same. With the incorporation of the LED technology, the reaction time for the trailing vehicles is now 160 milliseconds faster as compared to regular lights thus escalating safety to newer heights.

Also making its debut, thereon contributing to the grandeur of the plush interiors is the fine detailing of the bird’s eye maple wood trim that tastefully lingers on to the senses while seated in the interiors.Preview of the further accompaniment in this collectors item include dynamic changes in the grille & headlamp unit, additional chrome highlights to add to the exterior appeal of the vehicle, new multi-function wood/leather steering wheel. The new instrument cluster design also features among the enhancements introduced with this exclusive edition.

Priced at Rs. 43.4 Lakhs ex-showroom Delhi, the Special Edition E-Class will be retailed on demand through Mercedes-Benz Dealerships across the country.