Union Budget 2015: Imported mobile, tablets price may go up, local producers gain

NEW DELHI: In a move to boost local manufacturing of mobile phones and tablets, the government on Saturday increased duty benefits for domestic producers of these electronic items.

Excise duty structure for mobiles handsets, including cellular phones, is being changed to 1 per cent without CENVAT credit or 12.5 per cent with CENVAT credit, finance minister Arun Jaitley said while presenting the Budget in Parliament.

Earlier the duty structure for mobiles was 6 per cent with CENVAT credit.

For tablet computers, the duty structure is "2 per cent without CENVAT credit or 12.5 per cent with CENVAT credit."

"Manufacturer or producer of final product is allowed to take CENVAT credit. This would encourage local manufacturing rather then import," IESA chairman Ashok Chandak told PTI.

Local manufacturer can claim duty benefits on VAT paid on purchase of various input materials.

The increase in CENVAT credit will give benefit to domestic manufacturers against those importing such items.

The minister also announced to exempt "parts, components and accessories, falling under any Chapter, for use in the manufacture of tablet computers and their subparts for use in manufacture of parts, components and accessories, " from "BCD (basic custom duty), CVD and SAD.

"All goods except populated PCBs, falling under any Chapter of the customs tariff, for use in manufacture of ITA bound goods from 4 per cent to Nil," Jaitley said.

Indian Cellular Association national president Pankaj Mohindroo said that government's announcement on CENVAT leads to increase countervailing duty on imports to 12.5 per cent on imposed on imported mobile and tablets which is going to make strong case for manufacturing within country.

"Increase in CVD will increase price of imported products but domestic manufacturers like Samsung and Micromax stand to gain from this," Mohindroo said.

Government has also removed special additional duty on components of tablet which ICA national president said is a great advantage for domestic manufacturers.

ELCINA Electronics Industries Association of India said that not exempting printed circuit board from SAD will encourage local sourcing of components and is a positive step for domestic manufacturing.

"Continuing SAD on populated PCB will encourage people to gets them made in India. This will boost domestic electronic manufacturing services," ELCINA secretary general Rajoo Goel said.

In addition to this blanket announcement to reduce corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent also rejoiced industry players.

"Reduction of corporate tax to 25 per cent will make up more competitive with other Asian economies where bulk of manufacturing investment was going," Mohindroo said.

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Samsung Galaxy S5, Sony Xperia Z2 prices dip below Rs 30,000

NEW DELHI: Samsung and Sony's flagship smartphones of 2014, Galaxy S5 and Xperia Z2, are now available for less than Rs 3,000 on e-commerce websites in the country.

The South Korean manufacturer will launch the update to Galaxy S5 on January 1, while Xperia Z2's successor has been in the market for nearly six months.

Flipkart is selling the Galaxy S5 for Rs 28,999, while Xperia Z2 can be bought for Rs 29,900. On other e-commerce websites, such as Amazon and Snapdeal, the models are still priced at more than Rs 30,000.

READ ALSO: Samsung Galaxy S5 vs Sony Xperia Z2 vs HTC One (M8)

HTC One (M8), which was launched around the same time as the Sony and Samsung smartphones, is curently available at Rs 37,885, down over Rs 10,000 from its launch price of Rs 49,900.

Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have also seen their prices drop on Indian e-commerce websites recently.

Samsung Galaxy S5 features a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display with Full HD resolution and runs on Android 4.4 with TouchWiz UI. It is powered by the 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor with 2GB RAM and sports a 16MP rear camera on the back. It was the first Samsung smartphone to feature the fingerprint scanner and heart rate monitor.

Sony Xperia Z2 features a 5.2-inch Full HD IPS screen and uses a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 chipset with 3GB RAM. It runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat) and comes with 16GB internal storage, microSD card support up to 128GB, 3,200mAh battery and stereo speakers. The smartphone has a 20.7MP camera with Exmor R for Mobile sensor, similar to what its predecessor offered.

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Budget 2015: Imported mobiles, tablets price may go up

NEW DELHI: In a move to boost local manufacturing of mobile phones and tablets, the government on Saturday increased duty benefits for domestic producers of these electronic items.

"Excise duty structure for mobiles handsets, including cellular phones, is being changed to 1% without CENVAT credit or 12.% with CENVAT credit, finance minister," Arun Jaitley said while presenting the Budget in Parliament.

Earlier the duty structure for mobiles was 6% with CENVAT credit.

For tablet computers, the duty structure is "2% without CENVAT credit or 12.5% with CENVAT credit."

"Manufacturer or producer of final product is allowed to take CENVAT credit. This would encourage local manufacturing rather then import," IESA chairman Ashok Chandak told PTI.

Local manufacturer can claim duty benefits on VAT paid on purchase of various input materials.

The increase in CENVAT credit will give benefit to domestic manufacturers against those importing such items.

The minister also announced to exempt "parts, components and accessories, falling under any Chapter, for use in the manufacture of tablet computers and their subparts for use in manufacture of parts, components and accessories, " from "BCD (basic custom duty), CVD and SAD.

"All goods except populated PCBs, falling under any Chapter of the customs tariff, for use in manufacture of ITA bound goods from 4% to Nil," Jaitley said.

Indian Cellular Association national president Pankaj Mohindroo said that government's announcement on CENVAT leads to increase countervailing duty on imports to 12.5% on imposed on imported mobile and tablets which is going to make strong case for manufacturing within country.

"Increase in CVD will increase price of imported products, but manufacturers like Samsung and Micromax stand to gain from this," Mohindroo said.

Government has also removed special additional duty on components of tablet which ICA national president said is a great advantage for domestic manufacturers.

ELCINA (Electronics Industries Association of India) said that not exempting printed circuit board from SAD will encourage local sourcing of components and is a positive step for domestic manufacturing.

"Continuing SAD on populated PCB will encourage people to gets them made in India. This will boost domestic electronic manufacturing services," ELCINA secretary general Rajoo Goel said.

In addition to this blanket announcement to reduce corporate tax from 30% to 25% also rejoiced industry players.

"Reduction of corporate tax to 25% will make up more competitive with other Asian economies where bulk of manufacturing investment was going," Mohindroo said.

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Union Budget 2015: Feedback from tweeple

As soon as the Budget speech was over, we asked people on Twitter to rate finance minister Arun Jaitley's budget on a scale of 10. A majority of the tweeple seem to give the Budget a thumbs-up with most ratings averaging at 8.

Here are some tweets:

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Union Budget 2015: IT Inc speaks

Finance minister Arun Jaitley presented the first General Budget of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government on Saturday. Here are reactions from IT industry on Union Budget 2015.

Arvind Bali, director & CEO, Videocon Telecom
A positive budget that increases disposable income, people can be more connected and leverage the benefits of basic telecom services. The trinity of Jan Dhan, Aadhar and Mobile that FM referred is indeed positive. Budget resonates Make In India spirit. Speedy implementation of 7.5 lakh kilometers in 2.5 lakh villages through NOFN will enable more rural communities to benefit and improve effective governance. Telecom fraternity is committed to and now the onus is on us to connect the last mile for the benefit of the society.

Partha Iyengar, country manager (research), India, Gartner Overall, the budget is a 'feel good' budget. It has a pragmatic and good balance of social programmes, industry (large and SME) friendly programmes and tax reforms, without going overboard to be populist or 'politics driven'.

In terms of the IT industry specifically there is a nod for the needs of the IT industry in terms of making a statement that the needs of the IT industry will be addressed in terms of ease of doing business, capital access etc. However, without reviewing the details of exactly how this is to be done, we will need to adopt a wait and watch approach to see how effective it will be.

Reducing the tax on R&D and innovation investments to 10% is a very positive move, both from the point of view of facilitating technology transfer as well as incenting companies to invest more in driving innovation. Along the same lines, the nod to the 'start-up ecosystem' in the country is a major positive. This is the first time such language has made its way into the budget and a good reflection of the fact that job growth has to be broad based by facilitating the SME segment and even the start-up culture in the country.

On education and skills development again, there are some strong announcements like creating a skills development fund, an innovation platform, and basic education availability within 5 kms of every village. BUT, where are the teachers going to come from?

Anil Valluri, president, NetApp India & SAARC
The budget is a bold and an assertive one. We are pleased to know that local businesses and budding entrepreneurs stand to make a mark globally through various schemes that will help them prosper. A number of steps have been announced to improve the ease of doing business; creation of Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank, with a corpus of Rs 20,000 crore, and credit guarantee corpus of Rs 3,000 crore is a positive step to encourage young, educated, skilled workers who aspire to become first-generation entrepreneurs or expand their activities. With robust growth in the Digital India initiative announced last year, it is heartening to see that the government wants to further expand it and increase the network connectivity to more rural areas.

Pankaj Mohindroo, national president, Indian Cellular Association
The step up in the differential from 5% in the pre-budget dispensation to the current 11% is designed to create the necessary pull for investments from India and abroad into the industry and will realize the "Make in India" programme.

The Government will have to fine tune the differential keeping in mind that smuggling of finished mobile phones into the country from China has always been a big problem. The 11% differential when added to high VAT rate of 15% in major states will be very lucrative preposition for the grey market operators. He recalled that the previous NDA Government in the 1999-2004 period had brought the excise duty down to zero on mobiles to curb smuggling from China. Even without the differential, FDI flowed into India with an organized world's largest factory in Chennai was set up by Nokia during this period only.

Currently, the mobile market has grown to a high of Rs 1 Lakh Crores with compound growth rate of 30% plus. The differential will ensure that hunger of the Indian consumer can be fed by domestic manufacturing. But this has to be done in a manner which does not result in price rise for the common man, specifically in the low price feature phone segment.
Nigel Eastwood CEO, New Call Telecom The Government delivers on its promise of strengthening the infrastructure sector. We, at New Call Telecom, strongly believe that small and medium sized companies hold the key to growth and by giving start-ups a boost will only expedite their growth story. The reduction in corporate tax from 30% to 25% over next four years is a welcome one. The reduction on taxes on technical services from 25% to 10% will also cut down costs for service providers like us who have focused plans for realizing the Digital India dream.

Sanjeev Sarin, founder & CEO, Ozone Networks
The budget reflects a lot of confidence that the new government has shown since the time it took charge of the office. It also projects a highly positive and optimistic roadmap for companies and investors looking to do business in India, thereby giving a boost of confidence to FDI in India and clearly sending out a signal that its simpler and lucrative to do business in India. It's a budget for the working class and professionals. It gives a big boost to the farming and manufacturing sector and also encourages employment opportunities by giving preference and building a strong foundation to domestic manufacturing in India.

Rakesh Deshmukh, CEO and cofounder, Firstouch
It's a great budget for mobile phone manufacturing. The reduction in corporate tax from 30% to 25% over a four years period is very appreciable. The move to reduce the burden on younger companies by reduction in the rate on income tax on royalty and fees for technical services to 10% from 25% is very positive. Rs 1,000 crore for promotion of startups particularly in the technology sector brings great hope and encouragement for startups like us to develop more patent technology innovations to help promote "Make in India" & "Made in India" initiative. This time budget is for betterment of the entire economy.

Shantanu Prakash, CMD, Educomp Solutions Ltd
We are happy that the government has addressed the need to upgrade over 80,000 secondary schools and add or upgrade 75,000 junior/middle, to the senior secondary level. Such steps would effectively enable more children to attend schools and be part of the country's growth story. The emphasis on the national skills mission, the launch of welfare scheme 'Nayi Manzil' and easier loans for higher education are all steps in the right direction and hold promise for the immediate and long term. However, we are disappointed that the persistent and legitimate demand from the education sector to exempt schools from service tax on outsourced services has not been met. This will certainly increase the burden on parents across the spectrum.

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Chinese internet firms shut down 60,000 accounts

BEIJING: Some of China's largest internet companies deleted more than 60,000 online accounts because their names did not conform to regulations due to take effect on Sunday, the top internet regulator said.

Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings, Baidu, Sina affiliate Weibo and other companies deleted the accounts in a cull aimed at 'rectifying' online names, the Cyberspace Administration of China said.

The reasons for their removal included accusations of being misleading, rumour mongering, links to terrorism, or involving violence, pornography and other violations, the CAC said in a statement on its website late on Thursday.

The purge is notable as a step toward China's government locking down control over people's internet account names, an effort which censors have struggled with in the past, despite numerous efforts to introduce controls.

These failed attempts have included trying to force users to register for online services using their real names.

The new regulations, which take on effect March 1 and will also target real-name registration, were issued by the CAC, which was formed last year and given power over all online content, something previously divided between various state ministries.

"Previously, the real-name registration system hasn't really been enforced," said Rogier Creemers, a researcher on Chinese media law at the University of Oxford. "These rules essentially impose a uniform and consolidated system for all online services requiring accounts."

The measure also reflects China's tightening control of the internet, which has accelerated since president Xi Jinping took power in early 2013.

Weibo, the country's biggest microblog platform, will comply with the regulations and had a dedicated team to handle illegal information, including account names, a spokesman told Reuters.

E-commerce giant Alibaba declined to comment beyond highlighting a section of the CAC's statement on Alibaba's efforts to set up a team to handle account name issues. Tencent, China's biggest social networking and gaming company, and search leader Baidu were not available for immediate comment.

Among the accounts removed were those purporting to belong to state agencies, state media organizations and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, said the CAC. China has blamed ETIM for violent attacks, but experts and rights groups have cast doubt on its existence as a cohesive group.

China operates one of the world's most sophisticated online censorship mechanisms, known as the Great Firewall. Censors keep a grip on what can be published online, particularly content seen as potentially undermining the ruling Communist Party.

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Samsung starts mass producing new storage chip for smartphones

SEOUL: South Korean technology firm Samsung Electronics has announced that it has begun mass production of a new flash memory chip for smartphones, offering greater speed and capacity than those currently available on the market.

The new Universal Flash Storage (UFS) would be the industry's first 128GB chip, though other versions with storage capacities of 32GB and 64GB would also be available, Samsung said in a statement from its headquarters in Seoul.

It also said that its new UFS would be faster and consume less energy than current ones, and would provide more stable conditions for viewing Ultra High Definition videos in smartphones.

The new chip will be thinner and can be inserted in the ePOP embedded memory package module in Samsung gadgets, allowing the company to make slimmer smartphones and increase the size of its battery, according to the statement.

The 'Command Queue' feature of the UFS would accelerate the speed of command execution by up to 2.7 times compared to the current high range products using eMMC 5.0 MultiMedia Card.

In this regard, Samsung also said that it had begun mass production of the next eMMC 5.1, which would be 50% faster than the eMMC 5.0, according to the statement.

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E-commerce may grow 50% in next 5 years: Economic Survey

NEW DELHI: As internet penetration in India is on the rise, the e-commerce sector in the country is likely to witness a growth of over 50% in the next 5 years, says the Economic Survey.

The government document, however, raised concerns over consumer safeguards and proposed amendments to the Consumer Protection Act.

"India's e-commerce market is expected to grow by more than 50% in the next five years," the Economic Survey 2014-15, tabled in Parliament today by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, said.

As per industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), as of October 2014 India had 278 million internet users.

On the hurdles being faced by the sector, the Economic Survey said: "Inventory management, logistics planning and resource availability are important hurdles for online retail in India."

It further said: "Consumer safeguard being another concern for consumers of e-commerce, the government proposes including sufficient provisions in the ongoing amendment to the Consumer Protection Act, 1986."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set up a Task Force last year to give suggestions to drive up revenues of India Post in with various services including eCommerce.

The Task Force, which submitted its report in January this year, recommended setting up a holding company under the Department of Posts to roll out of banking, insurance and e-commerce services by the world's largest postal network.

The task force added that rural India should be the main target area. India has a postal network of over 1,55,015 post offices of which (89.76%) are in the rural areas.

Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has on several occasions said India Post with its unparallelled rural, urban and semi-urban reach is best suited to offer delivery services to e-commerce players.

According to consultancy firm PwC, the e-commerce sector has grown by 34% (CAGR) since 2009 to touch $16.4 billion in 2014 and is further expected to touch $22 billion in 2015

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China's counter-terror draft strikes fear in tech firms

BEIJING/WASHINGTON: China is weighing a far-reaching counter-terrorism law that would require technology firms to hand over encryption keys and install security "backdoors", a potential escalation of what some firms view as the increasingly onerous terms of doing business in the world's second largest economy.

A parliamentary body read a second draft of the country's first anti-terrorism law this week and is expected to adopt the legislation in the coming weeks or months.

The initial draft, published by the National People's Congress late last year, requires companies to also keep servers and user data within China, supply law enforcement authorities with communications records and censor terrorism-related internet content.

Its scope reaches far beyond a recently adopted set of financial industry regulations that pushed Chinese banks to purchase from domestic technology vendors.

The implications for Silicon Valley companies, ranging from Microsoft to Apple Inc, have set the stage for yet another confrontation over cybersecurity and technology policy, a major irritant in US-China relations.

"It's a disaster for anyone doing business in China," said one industry source. "You are no longer allowed a VPN that's secure, you are no longer able to transmit financials securely, or to have any corporate secrets. By law, nothing is secure."

The Obama administration has conveyed its concerns about the anti-terrorism draft law to China, according to a US official.

Although the counter-terrorism provisions would apply to both domestic and foreign technologies, officials in Washington and Western business lobbies argue the law, combined with the new banking rules and a slew of anti-trust investigations, amount to unfair regulatory pressure targeting foreign companies.

"The true test will come with implementation," said Scott Kennedy, the director of the Project on Chinese Business and Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"Given the recent spate of AML-related (anti-monopoly law) cases against foreign firms, the regulations about the banking sector, and the reduction of foreign firms' products on government procurement lists, there is good reason for foreign firms to be highly concerned," Kennedy said.

Protectionism, not security?
To be sure, Western governments, including in the United States and Britain, have for years requested tech firms to disclose encryption methods, with varying degrees of success.

Officials including FBI director James Comey and National Security Agency (NSA) director Mike Rogers publicly warned internet companies including Apple and Google late last year against using encryption that law enforcement cannot break.

Beijing has argued the need to quickly ratchet up its cybersecurity measures in the wake of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden's revelations of sophisticated US spying techniques.

In December, China's banking regulator adopted new rules that outlined security criteria that tech products in 68 categories must meet in order to be considered "secure and controllable" for use in the financial sector, according to a version of the regulations seen by Reuters.

To attain the designation, source code powering operating systems, database software and middleware must be registered with the government if they are not domestically developed.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman issued a statement on Thursday criticizing the banking rules, saying they "are not about security -- they are about protectionism and favouring Chinese companies".

"The Administration is aggressively working to have China walk back from these troubling regulations," Froman said.

A US official confirmed a letter was sent by Froman, America's top trade negotiator, and other senior officials to Chinese counterparts expressing their concerns.

James Zimmerman, Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said the latest rules, if implemented, would likely limit opportunities for US companies, but could also backfire on China.

"One unfortunate consequence of over-broad anti-terrorism policies is to potentially isolate China technologically from the rest of the world, and the end result of that may be to limit the country's access to cutting-edge technology and innovation," Zimmerman said.

But several US technology executives and industry sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said they feared the security law would be more stringent than the bank regulations -- and more sensitive to discuss -- because it was rooted in public security considerations.

The vague, open-ended requirements for cooperating with law enforcement appeared the most worrying, as well as the possibility of steep penalties or jail time for non-compliance, according to one executive.

"It's the equivalent of the Patriot Act on really, really strong steroids," said one US industry source, referring to the anti-terrorism legislation enacted under the George W Bush administration following the September 11, 2001, attacks.

The National People's Congress did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Apple and Google declined to comment on the proposed law, while Microsoft was not immediately available for comment.

China is drafting the anti-terrorism law at a time when Chinese leaders say the country faces a serious threat from religious extremists and separatists. Hundreds of people have been killed over the past two years in the far western region of Xinjiang in unrest the government has blamed on Islamists who want to establish a separate state called East Turkestan.

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Karbonn launches Titanium Dazzle at Rs 5,490

NEW DELHI: Indian handset brand Karbonn has launched a new budget smartphone, Titanium Dazzle. Priced at Rs 5,490, the dual-sim phone is available in two colour variants -- Black and White.

The new budget smartphone sports a 5-inch FWVGA (480x854) capacitive touch display. Powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and 1GB RAM, the phone comes with 8GB internal storage and a microSD card that supports cards of up to 32GB capacity. mobmo It sports a 5MP rear camera with auto-focus and LED flash, and a 2MP front camera. The phone has an 1850mAh battery. The smartphone runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat and offers support for 21 Indian languages.

Karbonn Titanium Dazzle is equipped with Gesture enabled features including "Swipe" which allows users to shuffle to the next song by simply swiping their hand across the screen and "Smart Eye" which tracks eye movement and automatically pauses the video when the user looks away from the screen.

In terms of connectivity options, Karbonn Titanium Dazzle supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and Hotspot.

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Tougher internet rules to hit cable, telecoms companies

US regulators are poised to impose the toughest rules yet on internet service providers, aiming to ensure fair treatment of all web traffic through their networks.

The Federal Communications Commission is expected Thursday to approve chairman Tom Wheeler's proposed "net neutrality" rules, regulating broadband providers more heavily than in the past and restricting their power to control download speeds on the web, for instance by potentially giving preference to companies that can afford to pay more.

The vote, expected along party lines with Democrats in favor, comes after a year of jostling between cable and telecom companies and net neutrality advocates, which included web startups. It culminated in the FCC receiving a record 4 million comments and a call from President Barack Obama to adopt the strongest rules possible.

The vote also starts a countdown to lawsuits expected from the industry, which contends regulations will burden their investments and stifle innovation, potentially hurting consumers.

The FCC sought new net neutrality rules after a federal court rejected their previous version in January 2014. The ruling confirmed the agency's authority over broadband but said it had improperly regulated Internet providers as if they were similar to a public utility. That contradicted their official classification as "information services" providers, which are meant to be more lightly regulated.

The agency's new policy would reclassify broadband as more heavily regulated "telecommunications services," more like traditional telephone service.

The shift gives the FCC more authority to police various types of deals between providers such as Comcast Corp and content companies such as Netflix Inc to ensure they are just and reasonable for consumers and competitors.

Internet providers will be banned from blocking or slowing any traffic and from striking deals with content companies, known as paid prioritization, for smoother delivery of traffic to consumers.

The FCC is also expected to expand its authority over so-called interconnection deals, in which content companies such as Netflix Inc pay broadband providers to connect with their networks. The FCC would review complaints on a case-by-case basis.

Wheeler's original proposal pursued a legal path suggested by the court. It stopped short of reclassifying broadband and so had to allow paid prioritization, prompting a public outcry and later Obama's message.

With the latest draft, Wheeler sought to address some Internet providers' concerns, proposing no price regulations, tariffs or requirements to give competitors access to their networks.

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High speed 5G internet may be available by 2020

LONDON: Scientists are testing the speed for 5G service for the first time, and it may be available sooner than you thought.

By 2020, it may just be possible have recording-breaking speeds to mobiles, where you can download 100 movies in just 3 seconds, the Daily Star reported.

Researchers at the University of Surrey managed to record an incredible one terabit per second speed during a recent test, and this service is around 65,000 times faster than current 4G speeds.

5GIC director Professor Rahim Tafazolli, said that they had developed 10 more breakthrough technologies and one of them means we can exceed 1Tbps wirelessly. Previous 5G tests, performed by Samsung, had achieved download speeds of around 7.5 gigabits per second which is considerably slower than this latest test.

UK phone regulator Ofcom said it expected 5G mobile to be capable of delivering between 10 and 50Gbps, compared with the 4G average download speed of 15 Megabits per second.

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Railway Budget 2015: Wi-fi plan, SMS big opportunities for telecos

NEW DELHI: Indian Railways' plans to introduce Wi-Fi facility in 400 category B stations across the country, and SMS alerts as part of the 2015-16 Railway Budget announced on Thursday could provide huge business opportunities to private players, industry and analysts said.

Ozone Networks, the largest public Wi-Fi provider in India, said that the size of such an opportunity was immense. "We have already started discussions with the ministry for installing wi-fi in the stations," Sanjeev Sarin, founder of Ozone Networks, told ET. Ozone has over 1500 hot spots across India including the Mumbai airport and McDonald's outlets.

Sarin did not share details of investment or a blueprint of the way forward but added that the ministry has also asked the company to install Wi-Fi in two trains, without disclosing details.

Companies in the telecom sector including Tata Tele, Vodafone India and MTS that have become active in the Wi-Fi hot spot space over the last few quarters would be equally interested in implementing the government's plan, industry watchers said.

"The rail budget will leverage the reach of mobile and telecom networks for better rail facilities for the citizens," said Hemant Joshi, Partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells.

A number of public Wi-Fi hot spots exist in India but, at present, people have access to Wi-Fi at two railway stations -- Bangalore and New Delhi. The previous government began the program to introduce Wi-Fi in trains on a pilot basis in the Howrah Rajdhani Express. This was proposed to be extended to select Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto trains while the number of Category A and A1 railway stations which would have Wi-Fi was to be increased to 400, from the earlier plan of 75 such stations.

Railway minister in the present government, Suresh Prabhu, did not share any further details on rolling out this service to each of the 400 category B railway stations, during his budget speech. Mentions for trains getting the Wi-Fi facility was also missing. However, analysts were encouraged with the current set of announcements which they said were positive developments for the telecom sector.

"The emphasis of railway budget on safety, usage of telecom and satellite technology through SRO for unmanned crossings, SMS alerts, development of high speed rail network, improved customer experience through free Wi-Fi, mobile app to address complaints, multi-lingual e-portal are very good for the telecom and technology sectors," Joshi said.

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BlackBerry to help Google secure Android

TORONTO: BlackBerry Ltd said that it is working with Google Inc to enable its software to manage and secure some of Google's Android devices, a move that builds on BlackBerry's recent partnership with Samsung Electronics Co.

In November, BlackBerry announced partnerships with Samsung and other high-profile technology industry players, broadening the reach of its revamped mobile device management and security platform.

BlackBerry said it is offering a "highly secure mobility solution" for Samsung's Android devices. The new system weds BlackBerry's security platform with the South Korean company's own security software for its line-up of Galaxy devices that are powered by Google's Android operating system.

BlackBerry also outlined a similar tie-up directly with Google, to manage devices equipped with Android for Work -- Google's own solution to securely separate business and personal data and applications.

BlackBerry shares rose 4.3% to $10.71 on the Nasdaq following the announcement.

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Facebook introduces 'suicide alarm'

WASHINGTON: Facebook is rolling out a new feature for suicide prevention that allows users to report suicidal posts on the social networking site and also contact a helpline or another friend for guidance.

Facebook has announced updated tools that provide more resources, advice and support to people who may be struggling with suicidal thoughts and their concerned friends and family members.

The new effort is part of a collaboration between Facebook and researchers at Forefront: Innovations in Suicide Prevention, an interdisciplinary organization based in the University of Washington's School of Social Work.

When someone sees a post that suggests its author might be considering suicide, they can click on a dropdown menu and report the post to Facebook.

The person who flags the post also has the option to message the potentially suicidal person, contact another Facebook friend for support or connect with a trained professional at a suicide helpline for guidance.

Facebook will then review the reported post. "We have teams working around the world, 24/7, who review any report that comes in. They prioritize the most serious reports, like self-injury, and send help and resources to those in distress," Rob Boyle, Facebook Product Manager, and Nicole Staubli, Facebook Community Operations Safety Specialist wrote in a Facebook post.

If the poster is thought to be in distress, a series of screens will be launched automatically when that person next logs onto Facebook, with suggestions for getting help, 'UW Today' reported.

The responses link to a number of positive options, including videos from Now Matters Now, an online programme started by Forefront research scientist Ursula Whiteside that uses real-life accounts of people who have struggled with suicidal thoughts to provide research-based coping strategies.

"Often, friends and family who are the observers in this situation don't know what to do," said Holly Hetherington, a Facebook content strategist working on the project.

"They're concerned, but they're worried about saying the wrong thing or somehow making it worse. Socially, mental illness and thoughts about suicide are just not something we talk about," Hetherington said.

Stephen Paul Miller, Forefront's operations manager, said that one advantage of the Facebook tools is that they can be used by anyone: a concerned friend, a grandparent or a colleague.

"You don't need to have a degree to be able to meet somebody where they are in their pain and connect them to a resource," he said.

"You just need to know that there's somebody who can help you facilitate that connection, and that's what the Facebook project has the ability to do. This has the potential to save so many lives," Miller said.

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Delhi Police launches women safety app "Himmat" on Whatsapp and Hike

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has launched Whatsapp and Hike groups for its application — "Himmat." Whatsapp group is available on the number 8800001091.

Delhi Police is working towards launching the app on Apple store and making it available to non-smartphone users as well.

More than 30,000 women have downloaded the app which let's women send SOS signals to alert Delhi Police control room.

However, only 2 genuine SOS has been generated till now. A woman complained of domestic violence in Delhi and a teenaged girl from Karnal raised SOS.

8 SOS messages from foreign countries.

Delhi Police acted swiftly in both cases. The teenaged girl was complaining about harassment in the hands of a local youth. Delhi Police contacted SP Karnal and asked to take action.

Women can click a pic of the taxi/auto they're boarding and send it to this group so that the cops have a record and she feels secure.

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Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet design, features leaked

NEW DELHI: While it is widely known that Samsung and HTC will unveil their flagship smartphones of the year at the Mobile World Congress next week courtesy a number of leaks, Sony's plans remain murky.

However, it now seems that Sony is going to give its Xperia Tablet Z series a refresh on March 3, going by a leak from the Xperia Lounge application.

According to the leak, the upcoming Xperia Z4 Tablet will come with a 2K screen, up from the Full HD panel of its predecessor Xperia Tablet Z3. It will also feature "the latest ultra fast processor" and have "industry leading battery performance."

No other information about the specifications of Xperia Z4 has been leaked via the screenshot. However, Sony seems to be taking cues from the design language of Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact, Sony's most recent tablet, making it much different from other large-screen Sony tablets.

This tablet will be positioned as a rival to Apple's iPad Air 2 and Samsung's Galaxy Tab S 10.5.

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9 biggest tech startups in the world

Valuation: Snapchat was valued at $10 billion in its last round in December, but is reportedly seeking a new round at a valuation between $16 million and $19 million.

CEO: Evan Spiegel

Founded: 2012

Total funding: $648 million

What it does: Its photo messaging app allows users to send photos and videos that get deleted after a set period of time.

Notable investors: Yahoo, Kleiner Perkins, Benchmark Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue Management, SV Angel

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Snapdeal taken to court for selling sex toys

NEW DELHI: Snapdeal has been taken to court by a Delhi-based lawyer for selling sex toys and accessories.

According to a report by Quartz India, Suhaas Joshi, a Supreme Court lawyer has filed a complaint against Snapdeal.com and Chennai-based Ohmysecret.com. The report mentions that a metropolitan magistrate at Delhi's Tis Hazari court has directed the police to investigate the matter and submit a report next month. The complaint mentions that the e-commerce marketplace was abetting gay sex and exhibiting obscene products by listing lubricants and massagers/vibrators. The report links to a court order dated February 5.

The report suggests that the complainant's intent was to 'test the limits of India's anti-homosexuality law (Article 377) that criminalises any intercourse that is against the order of nature. He says that there's no clarity on whether products that facilitate such activity are legal.

It's worth pointing out that the sale of sex toys is prohibited under Indian laws against obscenity. At the time of filing this story we were not able to locate the said product listings on the website.

Responding to Quartz, a Snapdeal spokesperson said, "Snapdeal.com is an online marketplace which provides a platform to connect buyers and sellers. We understand that at times sellers may list products which may be inappropriate, we take down such listings upon being notified of the same."

Last month, it was reported that the government of Telengana wanted to block sites such as Flipkart,Iambesharam.com, Thatspersonal.com and Ohmysecrets.com for "objectionable content" as the retailers were selling intimate items.

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China drops Apple, Cisco from state purchase lists

BEIJING: China has dropped some of the world's leading technology brands from its approved state purchase lists, while approving thousands more locally made products, in what some say is a response to revelations of widespread Western cybersurveillance.

Others put the shift down to a protectionist impulse to shield China's domestic technology industry from competition.

Chief casualty is US network equipment maker Cisco Systems, which in 2012 counted 60 products on the Central Government Procurement Center's (CGPC) list, but by late 2014 had none, a Reuters analysis of official data shows.

Smartphone and PC maker Apple has also been dropped over the period, along with Intel's security software firm McAfee and network and server software firm Citrix Systems.

The number of products on the list, which covers regular spending by central ministries, jumped by more than 2,000 in two years to just under 5,000, but the increase is almost entirely due to local makers.

The number of approved foreign tech brands fell by a third, while less than half of those with security-related products survived the cull.

An official at the procurement agency said there were many reasons why local makers might be preferred, including sheer weight of numbers and the fact that domestic security technology firms offered more product guarantees than overseas rivals.

China's change of tack coincided with leaks by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden in mid-2013 that exposed several global surveillance program, many of them run by the NSA with the cooperation of telecom companies and European governments.

"The Snowden incident, it's become a real concern, especially for top leaders," said Tu Xinquan, Associate Director of the China Institute of WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. "In some sense the American government has some responsibility for that; (China's) concerns have some legitimacy."

Cybersecurity has been a significant irritant in US-China ties, with both sides accusing the other of abuses.

US tech groups wrote last month to the Chinese administration complaining about some of its new cybersecurity regulations, some of which force technology vendors to Chinese banks to hand over secret source code and adopt Chinese encryption algorithms.

The CGPC list, which details products by brand and type, is approved by China's Ministry of Finance, the CGPC official said. The list does not detail what quantity of a product has been purchased, and does not bind local government or state-owned enterprises, nor the military, which runs its own system of procurement approval.

The Ministry of Finance declined immediate comment.

"We have previously acknowledged that geopolitical concerns have impacted our business in certain emerging markets," said a Cisco spokesman.

An Intel spokesman said the company had frequent conversations at various levels of the US and Chinese governments, but did not provide further details.

Apple declined to comment, and Citrix was not immediately available to comment.

Security pretext?

Industry insiders also see in the changing profile of the CGPC list a wider strategic goal to help Chinese tech firms get a bigger slice of China's information and communications technology market, which is tipped to grow 11.4% to $465.6 billion in 2015, according to tech research firm IDC.

"There's no doubt that the SOE segment of the market has been favoring the local indigenous content," said an executive at a Western technology firm who declined to be identified.

The executive said the post-Snowden security concerns were a pretext. The real objective was to nurture China's domestic tech industry and subsequently support its expansion overseas.

China also wants to move to a more consumption-based economy, which would be helped by Chinese authorities and companies buying local technology, the executive said.

Policy measures supporting the broader strategy include making foreign companies form domestic partnerships, participate in technology transfers and hand over intellectual property in the name of information security.

Wang Zhihai, president and CEO of Beijing Wondersoft, which provides information security products to government, state banks and private companies, said the market in China was fair, especially compared with the United States, where China's Huawei Technologies, the world's largest networking and telecoms equipment maker, was unable to do business due to US security concerns.

Local companies were also bound by the same cybersecurity laws that US companies were objecting to, he added.

The danger for China, say experts, is that it could leave itself dependent on domestic technology, which remains inferior to foreign market leaders and more vulnerable to cyber attack. Some of those benefiting from policies encouraging domestic procurement accept that Chinese companies trail foreign competitors in the security sphere.

"In China, information security compared to international levels is still very far behind; the entire understanding of it is behind," said Wondersoft's Wang.

But Wang, like China, is taking the long view.

"In 10 or more years, that's when we should be there."

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Tweets change after people get engaged: Study

WASHINGTON: A new research has found that people announce their wedding or engagement news online to change their social persona.

A researcher of Georgia Institute Of Technology analyzed that people even change the usage of words on Twitter after getting engaged, as almost 69% of people drop using 'I' or 'me' and replace it with 'we' and 'us.'

Munmun De Choudhury, Georgia Tech associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing who led the study said that people after getting engaged starts painting themselves as a couple, rather than as individuals, and such people showcase publically that they are adapt the new change and stand by society's expectations.

De Choudhury and co-author Michael Massimi found that engaged people are much more likely to think and tweet about the future, instead of using past-tense verbs, future-tense verbs surged by 62% after engagement.

Massimi, a former post-doctoral fellow at Microsoft Research Cambridge said that people look forward to the future in their real lives and boast it out on social media.

Choudhury concluded that Twitter can be a powerful tool that can mirror our thoughts and how an individual actually feels.

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Software developed for robots to aid dementia patients

TOKYO: A group of Japanese developers has created software for robots that will monitor and help dementia patients in their daily lives, media reported.

The application won the first app contest organised by Japanese telecommunications company Softbank, barely a few days before it begins selling its humanoid robot Pepper, the first robot capable of recognising human voices and reading the gestures and body language of human beings.

Project Team Dementia was named the winner from among the more than 100 applicants who participated in the contest held in Tokyo.

With the software, Pepper will be able to hold simple conversations with people suffering from dementia, urge them to wake up or take their medicines, and even inform the doctor via the internet of the number of pills taken by the patients.

The robot will also be able to notify patients when they receive an email and ask them questions about how old their grandchildren are to check if they correctly remember family-related information.

The winning team was awarded prize money of $8,400.

Softbank, that had pushed back the sale of Pepper due to excess demand from software developers, will begin commercial sales of 300 units of the popular robot only to developers this week at a price of $1,700.

Customers will also have to pay a monthly charge of around $200 for a three-year contract.

The charge includes a basic tariff of $125 for using the company's cloud services.

The company also offers insurance at $82 per month for maintenance and discounts on repairs.

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New Windows 10 build may come this week

Windows 10 users impatient for news of the next Technical Preview build have been assuaged by a slew of screenshots from prolific Windows leaker WZor.

The Twitter user posted various shots of Windows 10 Technical Preview build 10014 and its Professional counterpart build 10022, although anyone hoping for big changes to the OS will be disappointed.

Most of the changes are behind the scenes and concern bug fixes for device configuration, NFC, security, user experience, audio, USB and some others for File Explorer that include a maximum of four items able to be displayed in frequent folders.

Another small change is that if OneDrive is chosen as the default save location, the documents and picture folder in quick access will show the OneDrive version of those folders.

Release this week?
New versions of the preview have been released on a fairly regular basis since September 2014 and give users a good taste of what is to come when the final product hits the market later this year.

It's unclear when the next Windows 10 Technical Preview will release for the public with this week being pegged as the possible date in some places and the latest leak will only ignite those rumours further.

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Most popular apps vulnerable to hacking: McAfee

NEW DELHI: Cellphones with mobile apps could be potential target of cyberattacks globally and subscribers' data including usernames and passwords are at risk, security software maker McAfee said today.

The failure of mobile application developers to patch critical secure sockets layer (SSL) vulnerabilities could potentially impact millions of mobile phone users, according to McAfee Labs Threats Report: February 2015.

It said that in September 2014, Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) at Carnegie Mellon University released a list of vulnerable mobile applications and McAfee Labs in January tested the 25 most popular apps on the list.

During the tests, it was found that 18 have still not been patched despite public disclosure, vendor notification, and, in some cases, multiple version updates addressing concerns other than security.

The report said most downloaded vulnerable app in this group is a mobile photo editor with between 100 million and 500 million downloads. The app allows users to share photos on several social networks and cloud services.

"McAfee Labs researchers simulated man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks that successfully intercepted information shared during supposedly secure SSL sessions. The vulnerable data included usernames and passwords and in some instances, login credentials from social networks and other third party services," it said.

Although there is no evidence that these mobile apps have been exploited, the cumulative number of downloads for these apps ranges into the hundreds of millions, the report said.

"Given these numbers, McAfee Labs' findings suggest that the choice by mobile app developers to not patch the SSL vulnerabilities has potentially put millions of users at risk of becoming targets of MITM attacks," it added.

McAfee Labs also warned of increasingly aggressive potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) that change system settings and gather personal information without the knowledge of users.

McAfee Labs reported that mobile malware samples grew 14% during the fourth quarter of 2014, with Asia and Africa registering the highest infection rates.

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Apple’s Siri will soon recognize Indian English

NEW DELHI: Apple's Siri may have been the first truly interactive smartphone voice assistant but it has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to understanding the English spoken with an accent that Indians use. In fact, Google Now, which was launched later recognizes the accent in a much better way. All that is about to change judging by the latest iOS 8.3 beta release.

According to 9to5mac, the second beta of iOS 8.3 seeded to developers adds Siri support for English for India. This means that Siri will be able to understand voice commands spoken in English spoken with an Indian accent.

It will also allow users to use the dictation feature to dictate emails or write-ups without the need to fake an American or British accent.

As per the report, new options are accessible via the Siri settings menu on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. iOS 8.3 is expected to release later this year but it will also be open for public testing in March via a public beta.

In addition to English for India, iOS 8.3 adds support for Russian, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, Swedish, Thai and Turkish.

Unfortunately, there are no signs of Hindi support coming to Siri. Google, on the other hand, had introduced Hindi voice search, last year and had demonstrated the capability at the launch of the Indian Language Internet Alliance.

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Hack makes Android Wear watches work with iPhone

Google wants Android Wear to work with iPhones as soon as possible, but we are yet to hear any official details from either company.

But Android developer MohammadAG has come up with a temporary solution - he's managed to get his iPhone notifications sent direct to Android Wear.

The developer, whose real name is Mohammad Abu-Garbeyyah, used the Apple Notification Center Service to feed his push notifications from an iPhone to his Moto 360 smartwatch.

Apple's Notification Center Service is built directly into iOS meaning there's no need to download a special app and notifications can be pushed right away, much like they are on Pebble smartwatches.

Forget Apple Watch

All the other Android Wear features aren't accessible through this hack as it only works for push notifications.

The feature can't be enabled without the .apk file MohammadAG created - he said that he's working on releasing it to the public.

If it was available you'd also need to have an Android phone to set up the smartwatch and download apps, but the good news is there isn't a need to jailbreak the phone.

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Microsoft Lumia 640 specifications, features leaked

NEW DELHI: The Mobile World Congress (MWC) is just a week away, and at least one of the products Microsoft plans to unveil at the expo has already leaked online.

According to the database of Brazil's telecom certification agency Anatel, the Lumia 640 smartphone, whose model number is RM-1109, will come in a dual-sim DTV variant, which includes integrated digital television. The leaked paperwork also revealed some of the specs and features of the Lumia 640, such as quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB RAM and 8GB internal storage.

In terms of display, the Lumia 640 is said to come with a 5-inch screen with a 720p resolution. Also, it will sport an 8.7MP rear camera and 0.9MP front-facing camera. The smartphone reportedly also has a 2,500mAh battery, while its connectivity suite will feature 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

It is expected that this mid-range smartphone will be priced at approximately $275.

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Apple wants to hire a journalist

Apple is looking for a music journalist to write for iTunes, musically.com reports. A new job listing has appeared on the Apple website for an 'Editorial Producer.'

Among other qualifications and skills, the company says a potential candidate must be a 'seasoned writer' with 'deep contacts in the freelance world.'

Apple explains that the role is full-time and split between editorial and producing duties. It's journalism, but it's also about merchandising, promotion, and shaping Apple's music content as a whole — not just features and interviews you might find in more traditional music publications.

Have a look at the skills/expertise you need to be in with a shot:

Musically duly notes that Apple hiring an actual journalist a big deal. It's music platform, iTunes, was built primarily as a place to find and download new music, not read about it. But the position appears to show that the company is expanding from simple curation to original content.

The expansion details come after news broke that Apple had pinched popular UK radio presenter Zane Lowe from BBC Radio 1. We don't know exactly what Lowe is going to be doing at Apple quite yet, but there's speculation he's going to work on iTunes Radio, which builds online radio stations based on listener tastes. Lowe might also get involved in crafting tailored playlists, high-profile interviews, and discovering hot new music.

Apple is also soon to relaunch iTunes with Beats Music, its upgraded, revamped streaming service. It's clear the move is in direct competition with rival Spotify, which also has an editorial team, and WiMp/Tidal, which US rapper Jaq-Z will almost certainly soon own. Like Spotify, the Scandinavian service also offers users features, reviews, and interviews.

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Superfish: Internet pioneer or privacy nightmare?

SAN FRANCISCO: A little-known Silicon Valley startup was caught in a firestorm of criticism this week for making software that exposed Lenovo laptop users to hackers bent on stealing personal information. But Superfish Inc. has also won praise for producing visual search technology that many see as the next big thing in online shopping.

Is Superfish an internet pioneer or a computer-user's privacy nightmare?

Either way, don't expect a mea culpa. Faced with a withering publicity barrage that could jeopardize any startup's future, Superfish CEO Adi Pinhas blamed another company for the security flaw and complained about what he called "false and misleading statements made by some media commentators and bloggers.''

Researchers revealed that some laptops sold by China's Lenovo, the world's biggest PC maker, had a security flaw that could let hackers impersonate shopping, banking and other websites and steal users' credit card numbers and other personal data.

Lenovo has since apologized for pre-loading the computers with Superfish's visual search software, which captures images that users view online, such as a sofa or pair of shoes, and then shows them ads for similar products. By itself, the image recognition algorithm might not be a security risk. But the problem arose because Superfish used software from another company that can eavesdrop when internet users visit secure or encrypted websites.

That software replaced the encryption code on websites with its own easily-hacked code, according to several researchers. The Department of Homeland Security issued an alert saying Lenovo customers should remove Superfish software because of the hacking dangers

Superfish on Friday insisted its own code is safe and said the security flaw was "introduced unintentionally by a third party.'' In an email to The Associated Press, Pinhas identified that party as Komodia, a tech startup based in Israel that makes software for other companies, including tools for companies that show online ads and for programs parents can use to monitor their children's web surfing.

Some experts say the problem may extend beyond Lenovo. The Komodia tool could imperil any company or program using the same code. "It's not just Superfish, other companies may be vulnerable,'' said Robert Graham, CEO of Errata Security. Komodia CEO Barak Weichselbaum declined comment.

Launched in Israel by Pinhas and fellow entrepreneur Michael Chertok, Superfish is among a handful of companies pioneering the use of "visual recognition'' technology, which industry experts say could revolutionize online shopping by letting people search online with pictures as easily as they now search with words. Superfish's visual recognition algorithms can analyze a picture and search through a database for similar images, even if they're not labeled with descriptive text.

"I've been impressed. They're probably one of the best technologies that's out there,'' said Sucharita Mulpuru, a Forrester Research analyst. "It can be a powerful tool for a lot of things, but definitely for shopping and e-commerce.''

Consumers will see more of this in the future, said Yory Wurmser at the eMarketer research firm. Amazon.com Inc. built a similar shopping feature into its Fire smartphone last year. Google Inc., Facebook Inc., Pinterest and other tech giants are investing heavily in visual search.

Now based in Palo Alto, California, Pinhas has called Superfish a "deep technology company.'' But Superfish critics call its products "ad-ware'' or worse. Several internet message boards are filled with complaints that an earlier Superfish program, WindowShopper, bombarded users with annoying ads and diverted them to websites they didn't want to visit. Pinhas didn't respond to an emailed question about WindowShopper.

Superfish, which was founded in 2006, said last year that it had 85 employees and about $45 million in annual revenue. As a privately held startup, the company doesn't disclose major customers or contracts. But with the Lenovo debacle, Superfish's brand is taking a hit. However the flaw was introduced, critics say Superfish and Lenovo should have caught the problem sooner.

"They probably saw this as a way to generate revenue, but the security implications are pretty severe,'' said analyst Ken Westin of the cybersecurity firm Tripwire.

Lenovo released a software tool on Friday to help customers remove the Superfish code from their laptops. It can be found at http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/product_security/superfish_uninstall . But some experts say users may want to wipe their hard drives and start over, re-installing the Windows operating system however.

That's not an easy task for casual users, said Westin, "but it's the best way to be completely sure.''

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Mitashi launches 6-inch phablet Duo King at Rs 7,499

NEW DELHI: Eyeing the rising demand for phablets, Mitashi has launched a phablet with 6-inch screen in the Indian market at Rs 7,499.

The new model, named Duo King, is powered by Android 4.4 (KitKat) and runs on a 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 1GB RAM. It comes with 8GB of internal storage and can support two sim cards simultaneously.

On the imaging front, this budget phablet has a 5MP camera with dual LED flash on the back and a 0.3MP shooter in front. The Mitashi Duo King can access the internet over 2G, 3G and Wi-Fi, measures 9.9mm in thickness and houses a 2,600mAh battery.

Adnan Chara, vice president of gaming, toys & telecom, Mitashi Edutainment, said, "At Mitashi, we value nothing more than providing edgy, technologically advanced and specifically positioned products at reasonable prices to our customers. We are sure the Duo King will be lapped up by the technologically savvy consumer who wants a tablet and a phone rolled into one and also wants it cheap."

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Nokia Networks to showcase 5G connectivity

NEW DELHI: Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia Networks said that it will showcase the possibilities of mobile connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT) with 5G at the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2015.

The live demonstrations will include 5G radio equipment on new millimeter and centimeter wave bands for utmost capacity as well as new frame structures to achieve single-digit millisecond latency.

"Within the next ten years, we will see 50 billion things connected, enabling industries to become more efficient and helping people to improve their daily lives. At Nokia Networks, we are already demonstrating key technologies like 5G that will make mobile networks the natural choice for bringing these possibilities to reality," Kathrin Buvac, vice president, Strategy, Nokia Networks, said in a statement.

The company said that critical new security capabilities will be needed at the device and network levels with the IoT. Real time IoT will require even more reliable communication links, lower transmission delays (latencies) and extreme throughput to serve the data transmitted by hundreds of billions of sensors and machines. Nokia Networks has already been providing IoT-ready radio and core networks that meet today's needs for machine-type connectivity.

The company said that it has proven experience in delivering highly secure networks and is launching its extended Mobile Guard solution for security control to address complex IoT applications including smart city, eHealth and smart grid.

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Social media at war against H1N1

KANPUR: The raging swine flu epidemic has become a major topic of discussion on the social media and messaging applications. Gen Next has taken up the onus of not only creating awareness about the disease but also of disseminating preventive measures.

The messaging application - WhatsApp - has turned into a platform for people of all ages to chat and share messages on precautions. Even jokes about the disease are already doing the rounds. People are urging each other to maintain hygiene around their homes and prompt others to do so. Messages about anti-flu shots and using a mask to avoid coming in contact with the virus too are doing the round.

Amongst the most circulated message was easy availability of medicine in Homeopathy for swine flu. The messages read that homeopathy had a sure-shot treatment for this viral disease. The other message that circulated the most was about keeping Camphor and Cardamom together tied in a small piece of cloth to stop the virus from attacking the human body. Such messages were a common sight on facebook pages too. These messages received several likes and were shared hundreds of times.

Such messages have left such an impact on people in the city that many locals kept camphor and cardamom tied in their handkerchiefs. This had also become talk of the town. Those who had taken this step had asked their peers to follow the same. People moving around with their face covered too is a common sight.

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Online retailers go 'offline' to woo customers

NEW DELHI: Even as retail chains scurry to open online stores to cash in on the e-commerce boom in the country, firms like MakeMyTrip, CarTrade, FirstCry and Lenskart are planning to build their offline presence with brick and mortar stores to woo more consumers.

A slew of companies that started business online are now opening physical stores which the owners say is a strategy to reach out to people who still do not have access to Internet.

While online travel firm MakeMyTrip has opened 18 company-owned stores in the recent past, baby and kids product portal Firstcry has taken its tally to more than 100 stores across the country.

"About 85% market is going to remain offline even after five years however hard we try to push e-commerce. Online shopping is convenient but it does not give that touch and feel experience, which customers in my segment would specially want," FirstCry CEO and Co-founder Supam Maheshwari told .

Maheshwari added that the firm, which has presence in more than 80 cities in India, is planning to add 100 more stores in the next one year.

"We give same prices both online and offline, so we can claim ourselves to be a true player in both spaces," he added.

MakeMyTrip CMO Soujanya Srivastava said a lot of customers want to meet a company official before handing over the money, which was the intent behind its stores.

He added: "We have both company-owned stores and franchisees, which are located in both metro and non-metro cities. The primary objective is to expand our business by reaching those who are miles away from the Internet through these stores."

However, for online furniture retailer FabFurnish, setting up a brick-and-mortar store is more of brand building exercise.

"Furniture is a segment which does not have a brand as such in our country. Though we started as an online store, which still remains our focus, we are also looking at physical stores as a brand building exercise and make it more visible to our customers," FabFurnish Co-founder and CEO Vikram Chopra said.

Currently, the company has four stores in the country - two in Bangalore and one each in Gurgaon and Faridabad.

"Average footfall in our stores is around 50 per day, which cannot be compared to the number of visitors to our website. For us, these stores are just a way of reaching those people who want to meet us face-to-face," he added.

Online auto classifieds platform, CarTrade, has also taken its business offline with the company having 50 franchisee operated shops across the country besides plans to double the number of stores in next six months.

"We want to give our customers a seamless experience, so that they can see a car on the website and also have an amazing hands on experience at our showrooms, so we decided to make our business available on both platforms," said CarTrade Founder CEO Vinay Sanghi.
One of the earliest adopters on e-commerce route, BharatMatrimony has also taken its matchmaking business to physical locations with more than 180 stores in 20 cities as well as international locations in the US, UAE, Singapore, Australia and Canada.
Lenskart, on the other hand, has set up 68 stores, which Founder CEO Peeyush Bansal says is a strategy to ease a person's hassle of getting his vision glasses.
"Though we started with a website but we adopted a different business model with passing time. The customers will get their eyes checked up at our stores and then place the order online which will give an ease of selecting a wide range of choices for the frame we offer," Bansal said. He added: "We have also launched mobile check up services in several metro cities where the eye testing can done at home and the customer then gives the order online."
Lenskart is planning to open 10 stores each month in next one year.

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Samsung Galaxy S6: New teaser hints at metal body, bezel-free screen

It sounds like Samsung's next Galaxy phone will finally be metal instead of plastic.

It looks like Samsung's next Galaxy phone will finally ditch the cheap-feeling plastic of its predecessors.

In a new teaser trailer for its upcoming phone - likely to be called the Galaxy S6 - Samsung teases that "metals will flow" while cutting to a bunch of cryptic, artsy shots of liquid metal.

The ad also proclaims that "borders will disappear," hinting that its screens will be bezel-free.

Other than a new metal design, the Galaxy S6 may come with wireless charging as well as some performance improvement and cleaner software. We'll know for sure on March 1 following Samsung's press event in Barcelona.

Watch the full teaser:

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Budget 2015: What Indian handset makers want

NEW DELHI: Mobile handset makers like Micromax and Karbonn have sought tax holidays and subsidies in the upcoming Budget to promote local manufacturing, a move they expect will create lakhs of jobs.

One of the fastest growing mobile phone market globally, India lags behind China as most handset makers, including Indian players, get their devices manufactured in China.

It is imperative that the government provides a fillip to manufacturing in the country by making its policies directly competitive to present "monolith China", Micromax Chairman Sanjay Kapoor told .

"I hope the government will adopt a carrot rather than a stick approach for India's burgeoning smart devices market through encouraging and supportive rules and regulations to expedite the eco-system creation in India which is quintessential for smart device manufacturing," he added.

Kapoor said failing to do this will make it "difficult" for smartphone manufacturers to provide the latest technology at competitive prices, which is pivotal for the success of 'Digital India'.

Pradeep Jain, Managing Director at Karbonn said indigenous products will help the country realise the vision of initiatives like 'Digital India' and 'Make in India' and take the mobile and Internet revolution to mass consumers.

"In Budget 2015, the government should be introducing friendly policies including tax holidays and interest subsidies to give a push to domestic handset manufacturing and increase the mobile phone user base in India," he said.

The collateral benefits are greater employment opportunities, higher quality standards and better pricing, said Jerold Pereira, chief executive at Videocon Mobile Phones.

Jain said government should also look at steps to facilitate easy financing options for mobility goods like mobile devices and tablets to establish India as global power in international mobile market, he said. "With locally manufactured products, we expect to see billion hands using mobile phones for communicating and sharing data in coming years," Jain added.

Maxx Mobile Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Agarwal hoped that custom duty on imports for mobile handsets will be increased.

"We also hope that the government will offer ESOPS, subsidies on investments and incentives for Indian mobile manufacturers," he added.

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Motorola to make ‘exciting’ announcement on February 25

NEW DELHI: Motorola has made a mysterious announcement about a product it is going to launch next week. The Lenovo-owned manufacturer has sent out invites to only international media, informing them of an event on February 25.

The invite reads:

"Motorola is making an exciting announcement next week and wants you to be in the front row. The best part? You get to choose where and when you'd like to experience it. Everything you need fits inside one box, which we will deliver to your doorstep on Wednesday."

It is difficult to say whether the event will mark the launch of a new smartphone, a wearable device or a new product line altogether. The statement "You get to choose where and when you'd like to experience it," only adds to the confusion, as product launches are usually held at a central venue.

Motorola is already rumoured to be working on the successor of Moto 360. Also, in the past, there have been reports of the smartphone maker to be working on a mid-range smartphone running on a 64-bit processor.

This would be Motorola's first announcement since the Lenovo deal was finalized late last year.

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1,500 mobile phones to be launched in 2015: Report

NEW DELHI: As mobile phone brands like Xiaomi, Asus, Motorola, Obi etc slug it out to increase their market share in India, around 1,400-1,500 new models are expected to be launched in 2015, a report has said.

"We expect around 1,400-1,500 phone launches in 2015, up around 20% from 2014," 91mobiles.com said in a report.

Last year witnessed 1,137 total phone launches whereas in 2013 the number stood at 957.

The research and comparison website for mobile phones and gadgets, has a database of over 20,000 devices and claims over 40 million people visited the website in 2014.

"The trend will continue as the new brands such as Xiaomi, Motorola, Asus, Obi etc look to intensify their presence in the Indian market, while the incumbents are likely to put up a strong fight by launching several devices that cater to a larger variety of consumer preferences and price points," Mathur said.

The report said second or third-time smartphone buyers were moving up to higher-end devices in 2013 and 2014.

"However, in starting early to mid 2014, offerings from several new brands like Xiaomi, Motorola, Lenovo and Asus started providing the specs and reliability of higher end devices within the Rs 5-15,000 price range."

It said such devices also allowed consumers to opt for faster upgrade cycles instead of buying Rs 40,000+ phones, which they would then have to use for longer.

"This led to average selling price of smartphones to fall by 18% in 2014," it added.

The report said this trend of value for money devices dominating is likely to continue in 2015, although the Rs 15,000-25,000 range is likely to grow in popularity.

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Flipkart uses Amazon package as dustbin

NEW DELHI: An image posted by Reddit India has created a buzz on social media and led to a Twitter war between e-commerce giants Flipkart and Amazon.

The image shows an Amazon package in Flipkart's office reception. Many Twitter users began mocking the Indian e-commerce website after this post.

Flipkart, however, soon replied to the tweet saying that the package was being used as a 'reception dustbin'. This created a massive stir on Twitter, with many users calling out to Amazon India to respond to Flipkart's quip. Amazon, however, did not go for a sharp retort and instead took the high road, saying:
Flipkart took this statement in humour as well and responded:

This is not the first time the two companies have locked horns. In the intense fight for the crown in India's e-commerce market, Amazon had reportedly hijacked Flipkart's Big Billion Day Sale last year buy buying the domain name bigbillionday.com. So, users who logged on to bigbillionday.com were redirected to Amazon India's website instead of going to Flipkart.

Before that, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had announced a $2 billion investment in the company's India arm just a day after Flipkart had raised $1 billion from investors.

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New Android malware makes calls, steals photos

NEW DELHI: A new bug that is capable of making calls, sending messages and taking pictures while the phone appears to be off, is hitting Android phones at a fast rate, according to a report by AVG.

The malware, known as PowerOffHijack, was first discovered in China, and prompts a fake dialogue box when the user presses the power button. Once the user taps 'OK' in this dialogue box, the phone appears to be switching off with the regular procedure, and the screen goes dark.

But in reality, the phone remains turned on and the malware comes into effect. During this time, apart from exploiting the basic functions of the phone, the malware can also access sensitive information off the device.

PowerOffHijack is mainly targeting phones with Android Lollipop, and has already infected more than 10,000 phones worldwide.

But PowerOffHijack only affects phones that have been rooted, thus limiting the potential pool of infected Android 5.0 smartphones. Google Play also weeds out malicious content, so it is highly unlikely that the malware can enter someone's phone through it. AVG has also said that its app can detect the malware.

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Lenovo Vibe Max, X3, S1, P1 Pro images, features leaked

NEW DELHI: The Mobile World Congress is just around the corner and phone leaks are becoming common by the day. The latest are images and specifications of five Lenovo phones online, by Taiwanese blog MXPhone, which has spilled the beans on the upcoming smartphone in Vibe lineup.

Lenovo Vibe Shot, also known as Vibe Max, is said to be powered by the 64-bit Snapdragon 615 processor and 3GB RAM. It also comes with 32GB of internal storage, and can also support a microSD card for extra storage. The phablet, the successor of Lenovo's Vibe Z2 Pro, will again have a 6-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) display, but will come with a stylus and fingerprint sensor this time.

Vibe X3 will be take up the flagship's mantle from Vibe X2, and sport a 5.5-inch Full HD screen, stereo speakers with Lenovo's audio enhancement software, metallic frame on the sides, fingerprint sensor and 20.7MP camera.
The leaked images show that it will look much different from the Vibe X2, whose tagline is 'world's first layered phone.'

Lenovo Vibe S1, a low-cost, trendy smartphone, will reportedly come in a number of colour options and sport a secondary camera made for clicking selfies. However, there was no word on its hardware features.

Very few details Lenovo Vibe P1 and Vibe P1 Pro were available in the report, which just said that both feature LTE and 64-bit octa-core processor, along with 4,000mAh and 5,000mAh batteries respectively.

All these phones are expected to run on Android Lollipop.

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14 highest-paying tech jobs

01

There's no question that the technology industry pays well.

But which job titles will specifically make the most money in 2015, and which ones have tons of job openings?

Those are the questions the job-hunting site Glassdoor answered when it created its latest list of the 25 best-paying jobs that are in high demand.

And naturally this list is dominated by tech roles.

Here are the 14 tech jobs that have found a place in Glassdoor's 'best-paying jobs' list.

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Making your home 'smart', the Indian way

Most home automation platforms offer a trifecta of 'sensors-apps cloud' — a central hub connected to sensors equipped to detect movement or heat; apps that allow users to control these sensors; and access to remote systems, or the 'cloud,' to store and analyze data.

That's where the similarity ends for WiZN Systems. The home automation company's CEO Amit Premy has advanced beyond the trifecta to develop a new network protocol that can make the sensors last longer and communicate faster over a longer range.

Most existing sensors transmit data using protocols such as Wi-Fi, ZigBee or Bluetooth Low Energy, which operate at bandwidths greater than 1 Gigahertz and are, thus, not ideal for India.

"I tried out all of them at home, and none of them deliver what they promise in an Indian setting," said Premy, a soft-spoken entrepreneur who works out of his home in Bangalore's Whitefield area.

At large bandwidths, hubs need more power to transmit information, draining sensor batteries. Also, large bytes of data are transmitted even for small actions: Imagine using a truck to ferry two people, instead of a two-wheeler. It is slow, uses more fuel, and wastes a lot of space. Such large "overheads," as they are called in network parlance, delay a sensor's ability to switch on the lights or detect smoke or a burglary.

When he began his project last year, Premy, an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and a former executive of US-based semiconductor firm Texas Instruments, started with a fairly simple question: Why not use a lower bandwidth?

He did and the result: batteries that can last five years, responses that can be transmitted in 0.3 seconds, a central hub that can control more than 100 sensors, far more than ZigBee's 30-node capability.The new network's range of up to 1,000 ft is also much superior to ZigBee's standard 60-ft range.

"Anyone who wants to add smartness to their device can adopt this approach. It's a great help to 'make in India,'" said Arvind Tiwary, who heads the Internet-of-Things group at The Indus Entreprenuers, or TiE.

Currently, WiZN Systems' main competitor is a US-based company called Z-Wave, which also operates in the sub-Gigahertz range. Z-Wave makes its own chipsets, while WiZN does not.

The Bengaluru-based company, which has filed a patent for the new architecture, aims for its home automation system to be in 1,000 city homes this year.

"It's (WiZN platform) interesting technically. But commercially, it will be a tough one to crack," said Bahubali Shete, a maker of IoT solutions who sold his company Connovate Technologies to Binatone last year. "Home automation is all about the ecosystem. Even companies like Apple and Samsung don't do this, because interoperability is key." But what is entrepreneurship without chutzpah and a few risky bets?

"Platform adoption may be a problem, but we have a solution that works. That's why the customers will come to us," said Premy.

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Indian IT to enter a new era with Internet of Things

MUMBAI: After decades of low-margin work like server maintenance, India's information technology services firms are moving upscale in search of lucrative contracts for driverless cars and other advanced projects as online innovation changes clients' needs.

Companies from Tata Consultancy Services to Wipro are all joining Infosys in investing in new, high-end technology, industry watchers say. Earlier this week Infosys bought US automation specialist Panaya for $200 million.

Triggering change is a wave of invention allowing machines to talk to each other online, dubbed the 'Internet of things.' Customers are ramping up: from about 5% now, strategy advisor Offshore Insights estimates automation and artificial intelligence work will grow to 25 to 30% of an IT outsourcing market seen by the national industry association as worth $300 billion by 2020.

"We're in the midst of a new wave of software, and IT services companies really don't have a choice," said R Ray Wang, principal analyst and founder of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research.

As well as deals, the prospect is spurring heavy investment. Third-largest IT services exporter Wipro is building computing systems designed to mimic human decision-making abilities, where machines can understand and react to what human beings say to them. HCL Technologies, meanwhile, is using robotics to do away with manual testing of hardware.

Though carrying higher profit margins, the new business lines are not as big-ticket as traditional large-scale outsourcing projects, meaning revenue may be reduced in the short term, analysts say.

Infosys and peers may also find themselves competing in some cases with global majors such as Google, now developing artificial intelligence business and working on projects including self-driving cars.

But industry watchers see plenty of business openings for players like Tech Mahindra. Its engineers are busy testing consoles for cars that can monitor driver fatigue and predict signs of heart attacks, as well as working on a technology for driverless cars.

"The larger point here is Internet of things," said KS Viswanathan, vice president of industry initiatives at the National Association of Software and Service Companies. "If you look at any automobile today, 25-30% of what goes in is electronics."

"Tech Mahindra will take (its technology) to its global clients...A Volkswagen cannot suddenly change all cars to be software-driven like a Google car is, they have to work with what they have and use technology that fits."

Indian companies are looking to collaborate with startups to jointly develop solutions for clients and in some cases are also eyeing takeover opportunities to get access to skills needed to wins these contracts, said industry officials.

"The catchwords today are digital, analytics, robotics," CP Gurnani, chief executive of Tech Mahindra said. "It is a small part of business, we are still not at the inflection point. But we are laying down the roadmap."

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