How to keep yourself safe on the internet

Gone are the days when you had to stand in long queues to pay your electricity bills, phone bills, income tax returns and almost everything. But easy access to the internet and availability of these services online not just provide relief but of course helps in saving time. At the same time users are also exposed to the threats of identity theft, loss of personal information and spams.

If we follow a few golden rules we can easily protect our personal information and greatly reduce the possibility of fraud. Here are some of them:

Security suites 
Outpost Security Suite: This is the only free security suite that offers antivirus, firewall and anti malware in a single package. It even offers email and web surfing security for online protection and monitors application behavior to keep a check on malicious infections. Being free, it does have some limitations — only one auto update is allowed in a day. Others need to be manually done. Also, it does not include identity theft protection or technical support.

Norton 360 (v 6.0): As an all-in-one suite, Norton 360 (Rs 1,649) is pretty complete. Apart from protecting against local threats, it has a set of tools for online identity theft protection, to tune up your PC, Email and instant message monitoring as well as browser plugins to warn you of harmful websites & downloads. It even has parental controls to track Internet usage and keep kids safe from online threats. Finally, the price includes 2GB cloud storage. Norton 360 can automatically take a regular backup of important files to the cloud.

Firewalls 

Comodo: The free Comodo firewall uses cloud-based data to to protect your computer against online threats and programs. It is capable of detecting most trojans, worms, hacker attacks and even has a sandbox mode where new programs can be run in a protected, virtual environment to make sure that they are not harmful. In 'game mode', Comodo works silently in the background — useful if you don't want to be disturbed while playing a game or watching a movie. Finally, a built in 'TrustConnect' Wi-Fi feature encrypts and safeguards data transfers when connected to a public network.

ZoneAlarm Pro: The Pro version of ZoneAlarm's Firewall (US$ 30/year) protects your computer against hackers and makes it invisible online by hiding your information. It has a built-in anti-phishing tool that stops fake/infected websites from opening on your system and it even authenticates websites to show you which ones are secure and which are not. If an active download is infected, the firewall automatically suspends the download for protection. It even gives you 2GB online storage where the program uploads and backs up important data that can be restored if required.

Mobile 

Avast for Android: Avast's free app provides real time antivirus protection and even offers a firewall that can stop any app from accessing the Internet. It even offers SMS/call filtering, an app task manager and can show access rights of each app installed to detect any data stealing. The app has a strong set of anti-theft features that include lost notification on the phone, SIM lock, SIM change notifications, remote restart, remote wipe as well as the option to remotely locate your phone using GPS. The only thing that this free app skips out on is any sort of data backup service.

VirusBarrier for iOS: This $2.99 app can do on-demand scans of content downloaded on to your iOS device. The program scans for malware, adware and hacker tools on the iOS device which might get transferred and then infect the computer (Windows/MAC/Unix) when the device is connected to it. It can scan through zip files, email attachments, files stored online inDropbox or on FTP severs and can also scan websites for phishing links or other online threats.

More options for advanced users

Stay safe while downloading: Using Torrents is not illegal - sharing of copyrighted information is. Having said that, if you are a torrent user and are fed up of internet service providers clamping down on torrent speeds or are wary about your privacy being compromised (because of over-zealous media industry watchdogs), you should consider services like www.peerblock.com and www.btguard. com.

BTGuard's paid service completely hides your computer's IP address and provides a secure, encrypted route for your torrent data. PeerBlock is open source and works in conjunction with www.iblocklist.com. It essentially blocks your computer's communication with advertising orspyware oriented servers, computers monitoring torrents or computers which have been 'hacked' ( botnets).

Safeguard your property: Normally, there's not a very good chance that a stolen/lost laptop will be returned to you. Unless you install Prey first, that is. Head to www.preyproject.com to create and account and get started - it is free and available for Windows, Mac & Linux/Ubuntu. Prey installs in stealth mode - you won't find it anywhere on your computer - not in the hard drive and there's no mention of it in the start menu. Instead, you control it using an online control panel which you log into from any web browser on any machine.

Prey sits idle unless it receives a signal from you that the laptop has been stolen. Then onwards, as soon as the machine is connected to a network, it's exact location is relayed back you to. You can also choose to take a screenshot of what the thief is doing, use the webcam to take a photo, hide your passwords and data or do a complete data wipe. The point is, you stay in control and because you can continuously track the computer, chances of recovery are good. Prey is also available for smartphones running Android and iOS (download them from the respective app stores).

iSpy CCTV: Head to www.ispyconnect.com and you can download free software for Windows that converts your existing webcam into a surveillance device, complete with features like video recording, motion detection, face detection, audio feeds and automatic YouTube uploading. Advanced features like remote access (login to the website to monitor your cameras), access from mobile devices and automatic SMS/MMS/Twitter alerts cost upwards of $7.95 per month.

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IBM plans to hire more salespeople

International Business Machines's decade long shift to higher-margin software sales helped the company overcome a slowdown in technology spending last quarter and boost its full-year earnings forecast.

Excluding some items, profit will increase to at least $15.10 a share this year, up from a previous forecast of $15, IBM said on Thursday in a statement. Analysts had predicted $15.06 on average, according to data compiled byBloomberg. Earnings were $3.51 in the quarter, topping the $3.43 average estimate, even as sales declined.


IBM, the world's biggest computer-services provider, aims to get half of its earnings from software by 2015 --a move away from less-profitable hardware and services . Chief executive officer Ginni Rometty sees an opportunity for growth by selling software in developing economies and creating programs that work with cloud computing and business analytics.

"This quarter certainly suggests that the software play was a good idea," said Andrew Bartels, an analyst with Forrester Research. "The margins are much better than in other categories, and there are signs that demand may start to get stronger in the second half of the year."


Adding salespeople
The company plans to hire as many as 300 salespeople each month for the rest of the year to help promote its software products, chief financial officer Mark Loughridge said on a conference call. The shift to software, along with other moves such as stock buybacks and acquisitions, has helped IBM keep earnings stable through the economic headwinds in Europe and a slowdown in China, said Amit Daryanani, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets in New York.

"They're continuing to execute on things that have worked for them in the past," he said. "They have a lot of levers, like accelerating cost savings or doing more aggressive buybacks, to reach their numbers."
IBM sales fell 3% to $25.8 billion last quarter, dragged down by sluggish demand for hardware and currency fluctuations. Adjusting for currency changes, the revenue climbed 1%. Analysts had predicted sales of $26.3 billion.


Profit goal
Rometty has a five-year plan that targets annual operating earnings of at least $20 a share by 2015, up from $13.44 last year. Analytics software, which helps businesses predict trends, is seen generating $16 billion in sales by 2015, while cloud computing will account for $7 billion. Companies are increasingly storing their data and programs in the cloud, which means they access the software online via remote data centers.

IBM has used buybacks to reduce its share count by a third since 2000 and boosted its repurchase plan by $7 billion in April. That has helped the company lift its earnings per share and stock price and won praise from investors such as Warren Buffett.

Second-quarter net income increased 5.9% to $3.88 billion, or $3.34 a share, from $3.66 billion, or $3, a year earlier. IBM's sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa were worth less when converted to dollars, as the euro declined about 12% from a year earlier. The credit crisis in the region also may have hurt growth.

"IBM hedges for that quite a bit, but currency got ugly," said Ed Maguire, an analyst with Credit Agricole Securities in New York.

Formerly IBM's sales and marketing head, Rometty , 54, succeeded Sam Palmisano in January. She became the first female CEO in the company's 100-year history. Palmisano, who had been CEO since 2002, remains chairman.

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How Infosys, TCS, Wipro, iGate are retaining benched staff

Roughly 100,000 revenue-earning employees are estimated to have turned into unbilled 'benched' talent in the past year alone, according to sources from the IT industry and placement firms. 'Utilisation rates' in some leading IT firms have dipped below 70% and an estimated 3.25 lakh of the 1.3-million strong IT workforce are now idle.


But unlike in the last slowdown, IT firms are now walking the extra mile to keep the 'benched workforce' engaged, even as they seek to balance P&L pressures and talent management compulsions.


Last quarter, Infosys rolled out Pathfinder Next, an initiative where staff on bench can work on internal projects and assignments, and have access to technology, business domains and other service lines. "Through the programme, employees get job enrichment, vertical and lateral career exposure and access to opportunities," a company spokesperson said.


Infosys had also launched SmartStaffing, a portal specifically created for those on the bench, in February. It enables employees not working on any project to reach out directly to delivery managers and designated unit talent managers and apply for any of the requirements that are vacant. Infy's utilisation dipped from 69% to 68% in the past year, but it expects the figure to improve to 69-71% in the coming quarters.



Sharp focus on benched employees

"We are doing not one but many things (to boost employee morale during this period) and do not expect any spike in attrition in the next few quarters," Infosys CEO SD Shibulal said after the firm announced its first quarter results last week.



Those on Wipro's bench are using idle time to learn newer soft skills, plug into more management gyaan or learn new languages such as French and German, a company executive said. Anyone can apply for these courses under Wipro's Open Enrolment programme.



TCS, which boasts of a utilisation rate of 82%, uses its bench to test prototypes of new technologies that have been developed internally besides getting them trained for upcoming projects.


Rather than relegate unbilled resources to a nondescript corner, iGate is getting them to work on pilots of key internal projects that can transform company strategy. With a utilisation rate of 77%, the California-based IT company-which employs over 10,000 in India-wants to use its bench strength to prevent layoffs. Those on the bench work on proof of concepts and internal automation tools. Managers are supposed to hold regular meetings and include all in project-specific meetings, reviews and other forms of communication. iGate also trains unbilled resources on a new solution called Integrated Technology and Operations ( iTOPS), which is expected to make them project-ready.



This is the second time the Indian IT industry is coping with declining utilisation rates; but it is perhaps the first time it has shown a razor sharp focus on making benched resources more productive and keeping them engaged. "Until a few years ago, companies would leave those on the bench alone," says P Thiruvengadam, senior director, Deloitte India. "But now they have become more organised and a lot of them are involved in preparing training modules, mock projects, learning about different projects, pre-sales activities, etc."




Learning from the past

The first time utilisation rates dipped was during the 2008 slowdown after Lehman's collapse. Industry growth rates soon slipped to single digits, layoffs were not uncommon and morale was low. Many on the bench quit as the first opportunity came along.



But later, in 2010, when demand for IT rebounded, companies couldn't replenish talent fast enough and cheap enough. The top tech firms were forced to go for lateral hiring, which sent their costs in a dizzy.




But now, having learnt the lesson from the last slowdown, IT firms are walking the extra mile to keep idle resources on the bench engaged and loyal. "Compared to 2008-09, things look much better this time," said Ankita Somani, IT analyst for Angel Broking.



This time around, companies are also taking extra care of campus hires. "First-timers need special attention; (older) employees without projects get involved in other things," said Parthasarathy NS, chief operating officer at MindTree. The company's utilisation rate is around 69%, though the ideal range, according to its COO, should be 70-72%.


More such initiatives are being rolled out across the industry.

Consulting and IT services provider UST Global, for instance, has assigned top-level managers to set up one-on-one meetings with employees not working on any project. In the past one year, UST's bench size has gone up from 6-7% to 10%.



The top brass has been told to keep communication flowing to those on the bench and to answer questions about the company, business environment, client requirements, etc.


UST, which employs close to 10,000 in India, also has an innovation lab called Apple Tree, where employees can conduct experiments and come up with scientific innovations. "People on the bench are asked to come to office everyday and be a part of this," says UST's global HR head Niketh Sundar. "If they aren't working on any projects and are not part of any training, we give them other duties". For instance, some have been pulled into UST Global foundation week celebrations.


But recruiters say such measures may be inadequate. Attrition is low only because there is no place to go, and once markets open up, these efforts may not keep them back. "If the skill sets learnt (by those on the bench) are niche, they aid the employee in climbing the hierarchy," said Sangeeta Lala, VP and co-founder of staffing firm TeamLease. "But it works only for the junior management and will not be sustainable if the bench grows."



"It can be a very frustrating phase, to be on the bench," said Rajesh S (name changed), an ex-employee of a large MNC IT services firm. He was on the bench since April. Rajesh attended knowledge-sharing workshops and in-depth discussions called 'know your industry'. He sat through training programmes on people management once a week for two hours. Resource deployment managers would also get in touch with him frequently. But Rajesh still found it hard to stay benched. He quit this month.

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Got email about Facebook pic? It may be a virus

Facebook users are reportedly at risk from a new virus, which is spreading through emails posing as photo alerts from the social network.

The emails have been reported to look exactly like Facebook's own messages, which are sent to a user's personal email accounts when they are tagged in a photo.


However, instead of the links in the emails leading to the referenced photo, they redirect the victim of the spam campaign to a site which tries to infect the person's computer with malicious software, and a few seconds later the link will redirect the user one more time to Facebook.com.


"Be wary of emails claiming to be from Facebook, and saying that you have been tagged in a photograph," The Telegraph quoted Graham Cluley of the British internet security firm Sophos, as warning.
"SophosLabs has intercepted a spammed-out email campaign, designed to infect recipients' computers with malware. If you click on the link in the email, you are not taken immediately to the real Facebook website," he added.


Many users on the site may not have realised that their computer has been infected, but can spot the bogus emails as Facebook is misspelt as 'Faceboook', the report said.
"Even if you didn't notice that 'Faceboook' was spelt incorrectly, you could have seen by hovering your mouse over the link that it wasn't going to take you directly to the genuine Facebook website," Cluley said. Facebook was unavailable for comment.

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Now, an app to detect skin cancer

Scientists have developed a new, free iPhone application which could help you conduct a self exam to detect potential skin cancer, but there is a catch: You will have to fully expose yourself for results.

Developed by a team at the University of Michigan in the US, the new app, called UMSkinCheck, aims to make the already existing whole body photographic self-diagnosis a bit simpler and cheaper.


Instead of hiring a photographer for full body shots, the app allows one to take multiple shots of different body parts. In other words, one has to take 23 nude photos in seven different poses that will be stored on an app. As you cannot take all the photos yourself , you will have to enlist a friend to help, LiveScience reported.


In addition to the full-body survey , the app includes many other useful tools. "You can do a self-exam , where it guides you through checking parts of your body that are most likely to have exposure to sun, a lesion tracker, so you can note if sunspots on your body have changed or become abnormal, and a risk calculator, which asks questions like your race and amount of freckles to determine your chance of developing melanoma," the portal said.


There's also important information on sun damage and tips on how to stay safe. A Characteristics of Melanoma tab shows images of what potential skin cancer could look like, a Sun Safety tab has tips on how to preserve your skin while outside and a Sunscreen Tips tab has lots of info on what kind of sunscreen to use and when to use it. And there's also a helpful feature for links on learning more about skin cancer and preventing it.


Background info within the app says that "studies have shown that total body photography can be an important tool in helping track skin changes that could indicate skin cancer" . Thankfully the app has a password protection setting, which, when enabled, keeps your information and images private. You can also set up notification times for when you should do a self-exam or check lesions.

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Comcast to launch mind-bendingly fast 305 Mbps home internet

If you have a need for speed, you may be disappointed with the broadband options offered by your internet provider. But according to a new report, your home may soon be getting a speed boost if you're willing to pay for it: Comcast will start offering amazingly fast 305 Mbps residential service later this year, a huge step up from their current 105 Mbps plan.


The new offering is meant to compete directly with Verizon's 300 Mbps FiOS service, and will be released in areas already being served by Verizon. We don't know if there will be bandwidth caps, and there aren't any pricing details available yet, though you can probably expect it to be priced competitively with Verizon's. Currently, FiOS will serve you broadband at a stunning 300 Mbps (65 Mbps upload) for $205 per month, though this may come down with competition from Comcast.


Just how fast is 305 Mbps? At that speed, you could download an entire movie in 720p in about a minute and a half.

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Google and NIIT launch Google Web Academy in India

Google, in collaboration with NIIT, has introduced a training initiative for young professionals in India, to be called GoogleWeb Academy.

It aims to bridge the digital skill gap in the country and help students and professionals capitalise on the emerging job markfor the online industry.

Under the initiative, NIIT will offer specialised courses through its centres across the country.


Google will provide NIIT with its training curricula and certification standards to offer advanced training programs that are specially designed to create a pool of highly qualified professionals and help young professionals to gain useful skills required in the job market for the online space.

The program will be initially offered in India, and subsequently launched in other parts of the emerging world.


"As the Indian internet market continues to show robust growth, we believe a capacity building program to help young professionals gear up for the opportunity is the need of the hour, Rajan Anandan, VP & Managing Director Google India, said. "Google Web Academy is part of our initiative for emerging Internet economies," he added.


Vijay Thadani, chief executive officer, NIIT said the courses offered by NIIT under the Google Web Academy program will include certification programs for online professionals covering topics like search engine marketing, optimising online presence with web analytics and enhance business productivity with Google products and technologies.


The program will also offers technical courses for IT professionals and developers covering topics like building new web and mobile applications using Google technologies, integration across Google products, web optimisation and introduction to cloud computing, among others.

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Google India, MakeMyTrip among the top 5 Great Places to Work in India for 2012

According to the results of annual Great Place to Work survey, like last year, Google India has again topped the list for 2012. However, online travel company MakeMyTrip has slipped one position down and has been listed on number four. PayPal India retains its 17th position and Cleartrip has also been featured in the list ranked between 26 and 50.

Like past several years, this year too IT industry has the biggest representation in top 10 of India's Best Companies to Work for list. As many as seven companies in top 10 are IT companies.

This year one of the biggest improvements in workplace culture, as shown by the study, has been in the area of work-life balance, flexibility in being able to take out time when required and creatively and effectively designing policies which are perceived as special by employees. However, the survey also showed most companies conservative on costs front, this means no high double-digit salary increases for employees.

According to this ToI report, a lot of the credit for creating this culture goes to Google's hiring policy. The company is not always looking for the smartest candidates; it wants people who fit in and that gets gauged by the peers, juniors and bosses in an interview. Newcomers are given six months to watch and absorb Google's ways of working before being put on a team.

At Google, roles are defined but not rigid. The company likes to whet the risk appetite of its employees by challenging them. During appraisals, metrics are clearly defined and regular one-on-one sessions are arranged so that there is no haziness at the end of the year. The firm is making its reward system more frequent, flexible and fast so that employees will be rewarded for good work immediately. Every business decision has the HR as business partner to ensure that it remains about the people and not merely markets.

MakeMyTrip claims to encourages a lot of ownership and independence to make decisions. It is this sense of empowerment that's driving a clutch of innovations across the company. Overall, the attrition at MakeMyTrip stands at 23 per cent but the regretted attrition, or churn at the senior levels, sits under 10 per cent.

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Google vice president Marissa Mayer named as new Yahoo CEO

One of Tecca's 10 most influential women in tech just got a lot more so. Marissa Mayer, employee number 20 at Google and a key player in many of its products, has left the company to assume a new role as president and CEO of Yahoo.

Mayer, who this past April was nominated to the board of Wal-Mart, was approached last month about the position. Up until her departure, she had been in charge of Google Maps and location-based services, holding a seat on the company's elite operating committee along with its co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

She replaces former Yahoo head Scott Thompson, who resigned in May following a stir involving the validity of his academic credentials. Thompson was only with the company for four months, and after his departure Yahoo reportedly courted the likes of Hulu boss Jason Kilar. Mayer's name was never mentioned as a potential candidate at the time.

In her new position, Mayer ranks among a handful of female CEOs of major American tech companies, which include IBM CEO Virginia Rometty and Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman.

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How Facebook, Twitter can affect your Job

If social media websites like Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook can help you find a job and build your corporate network, when used the wrong way can also backfire and jeopardize a job offeror even your current job told experts to TJinsite, research and knowledge arm of TimesJobs.com.

It is therefore important to be careful and consider what you shouldn't do, as well as what you should do, while using social media to search a job or anything concerning your employment or employer. 

"Rants about your boss or your job, which were once reserved for after-work drinks are now being voiced in the social media sphere. Workplace complaints are surely not good for your social profile", remarked Gitanjali Puri, Director-Marketing, CSC India.

Adding further, she advised employees to be really careful about what they tweet. "Hiring managers and bosses are using Twitter, too, and if you say it someone will probably read it. Tweets show up in Google search and you don't want to lose your job because you didn't think before you tweeted, even if you hate it."

In view of Faisal Farooqui, Founder, Mouthshut.com, "The most important thing amongst social media etiquettes is to avoid making irrelevant posts, in any careless moments. In the social sphere, you are watched by just not friends and family, but also by your current and future employers."

He also mentioned that nowadays HR managers do a routine check of the candidates' social media profile pre and post hiring. So, don't post anything that you can't justify or can cause embarrassment.

Employees should not disclose company's confidential information on the social networking sites or if necessary should add disclaimer.

According to Sundararajan Narayanan, VP and Global HR Head, Virtusa Corporation everyone in a company has access to information now; not just leadership team. That shouldn't be parked at social media platforms.

"So, it makes sense to encourage learning and knowledge about best practices, and make employees aware about the company's social media policies."

In conclusion, social media is testing the limits and boundaries of professional versus personal worlds. The faster both employer and employees understand this space and follow some basic rules, social media can become a great way to engage and connect with team members.

Most importantIt should go without saying, but don't ever use racial or ethnic slurs, slam others with personal insults and obscenities or engage in conduct that would not be acceptable in the workplace or anywhere else

Remember to be considerate of other people's sensitivities to certain topics like politics or religion, too. Therefore, think before you hit "post"

Before commenting in a public forum, remember that you are representing your company. Join online groups on social or professional networking sites with care. The rest will fall into place

Don't pick screen names for which you would have to defend yourself.

Companies monitor what their employees are up to on social media. The reason is simple: what you voice out there might in somewhere reflect the values of the company. Do not tarnish the image of your organization in public view.

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LinkedIn testing new website design

Professional networking site LinkedIn has said that it is testing a redesign of its website. The moves comes few weeks after the website stopped displaying content from the popular micro blogging platform, Twitter.

The new-look is intended to make people want to stay on the site longer, according to a report that said the new site emphasises building relationships and more effectively curates content shared by users.

According a report by TechCrunch, LinkedIn's new look includes a menu bar that remains at the top of the page when users scroll down, and it has also switched to a darker look, with gray replacing the white background and black being the color of the menu bar.

The report said that the redesign also looks to make things much simpler to do, with the menu bar always near, it is easy to create messages more quickly.

This is also consistent in the 'people who have viewed your profile' page, where a 'Message/Connect' button now is presented next to the people who appear, The Los Angeles Times reports.

According to the report, the new look is definitely still a test.

Donna Serdula of LinkedIn-MakeOver.com pointed out that the new look disappeared when she left the home page.

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HC removes 200 SMSs per day limit

          The Delhi High Court today set aside the cap of 200 SMSes per day sent through a mobile phone SIM for personal communications but upheld the curb on unwanted commercial SMSes saying they infringed the "equally" important right to privacy of "unwilling recipients."

        "We are, therefore, of the opinion that the impugned provision (of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) insofar as it covers non-UCCs (Unrestricted Unsolicited Commercial Communications) SMS in the present form as it exists, infringes the freedom of speech of the citizens.

         "And the conditions imposed upon the freedom of speech is not reasonable which would be protected under Article 19 (2) (which deals with reasonable restrictions of freedom of speech) of the Constitution," a bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said.

The bench, however, made a distinction for unsolicited commercial calls and said that the restriction imposed by the Trai on them was valid.

           "We have already pointed out that the Trai has found that UCC calls and SMSes were interfering with the personal lives of the individuals as often telemarketers would call them up for selling their products. All such calls sere unsolicited, since the receiving party does not want to receive such calls or messages.

           "These UCC messages disturb the recipients, intrude into their privacy, and impose a cost in terms of the time and efforts. In fact, they infringe the equally importance rights of the unwilling recipients," it said.
Partly allowing the petition of Anil Kumar, secretary of NGO Telecom Watchdog, the court, however, granted liberty to Trai "to come out with more appropriate regulations for regulating unsolicited non-UCCs SMSes that could meet the test of reasonableness under the Constitution."

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TCS aims to hire 50,000 in FY 2012-13

Infosys has promoted another 4,000 people taking the total number of promotions this year to 20,000, effective July 1, 2012. This is about over 13% of the company's total strength of 1,51,151 as on June 30.

TCS has a target to hire 50,000 people this year while Infosys will hire 35,000 people, which includes 13,000 jobs for its BPO operations.

"We have done the promotions and progressions as we talked last time, we have done 20,000 across the corporations," said Infosys CEO SD Shibulal said.

The company had earlier said it would review the wage hike decision depending on the company performance. However, with lower-than-expected earnings and forecast, in dollar term, the company will not lift its freeze on salary hike any time soon.

Infosys and its subsidiaries added 9,236 (gross) people in the first quarter of FY'13, while the net addition during the period stood at 1,157 employees. The rate of attrition during the quarter was marginally higher at 14.9% against 14.7% in the January-March quarter of 2011-12.

"Typically, attrition in the first quarter (of a fiscal) goes up because people tend to go for higher studies. About 30% of our attrition was due to this reason," said Shibulal.

Meanwhile the country's lead tech player Tata Consultancy Services has continued to hire to support business growth. With campus trainees joining the company from the beginning of July-September quarter, lateral hiring accounted for 75% of total hiring in Q1.

There was a total gross addition of 13,831 people (net addition of 4,962) taking the total employee strength of 243,545 on a consolidated basis. The utilization rate (excluding trainees) was at 81.3% and that including trainees was 72.3%. The attrition rate (last twelve months-LTM) was 12.0%t.

"We have been able to effectively increase our retention rate in the first quarter to over 88% and increase our utilization rates further. The on-boarding of current year's trainees has begun," said Ajoy Mukherjee, Executive vice president and Global Head, Human Resource.

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Check your Bank Notes online, Its Original?

Beware of forged note, Pehchano paise ki boli, kyunki Paisa bolta hai.
Reserve Bank of India has issued in public interest, a site where any one can get list of hidden security features. One can easily identify a suspected forged note, counterfeit note or fake note by checking these features.
As per Section 39 of the Criminal Procedure Code, every person, aware of the commission of or of the intention of any other person to commit certain offences, including those relating to counterfeiting of currency, is required to immediately give information about such commission or intention to the nearest magistrate or police officer.
While receiving banknotes, it will be a good idea to develop the habit of checking the genuineness of the notes.

http://www.paisaboltahai.rbi.org.in

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Filing tax returns online? 10 things to know

With July 31 drawing closer, it's once again the time to pore over your documents and ring up your tax consultant. Most individuals prefer to adopt the conventional method and let their chartered accountant handle the cumbersome procedure. However, this year, those with a taxable income of over Rs 10 lakh have no choice but to take the e-filing route. Besides, even others could consider opting for e-filing. It is not as confusing as it is made out to be. If you neither owe any tax nor have any refund to be claimed, you can follow these simple steps to ensure that your returns are filed with minimal hassles:

1. First of all, you need to start by logging on to the website (www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in) created by the I-T department for the purpose. If you haven't registered already, you can do so with the help of your PAN. It acts as your user ID in this case.

2. Next, you need to download the appropriate ITR form for individuals listed in the site. Go to the 'Downloads' menu and choose ITR-I (Sahaj), if your only source of income is salary or pension. Remember, the current assessment year is 2012-13.

3. Now, open the downloaded excel utility. If you are using Office 2003, then go to Tools Macro Security, set the security level at 'medium' and enable macros while opening the excel utility.

4. Now, enter all the details asked for. The required information will be available in your Form 16.

5. Next step is to validate the same by hitting the 'Validate' key. An XML sheet will be generated and saved on your computer. The registration process (Step 1) can also be initiated at this stage.

6. You can upload this XML file on to the I-T portal after selecting AY 2012-2013 and the relevant form. You will be asked whether you wish to digitally sign the file. If you have obtained the DS (digital signature), select Yes. Else, choose 'No'.

7. If a message regarding successful e-filing is flashed on your screen, you can consider the process to be complete. Your ITR-Verification form will be mailed to your registered e-mail ID.

8. Now, all you need to do is to get a print-out of the ITR-V (only in black ink), put your signature and send it by ordinary post to the Income Tax Department-CPC, Post Bag No-1, Electronic City Post Office, Bangalore - 560100, Karnataka within 120 days of filing your returns on-line.

9. It is important to ensure that your tax return reaches this office within 120 days, failing which, you will have to go through the process all over again.

10. If you do not receive an acknowledgement from the I-T Department in due course, you can send the form again. However, don't opt for courier services under any circumstance as it will not be accepted.

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Many companies are connecting with their consumers through bloggers

The next time you shop for a new mobile or sedan, chances are you, the urban educated reader, may first check out blogs, read product reviews and decide on the winner. Be it new LED TVs, designer stilettos, Hollywood DVDs, home decor , independent reviews by bloggers are increasingly swaying customer choices and opinions.

Brands have seen this coming for some years. Today, they are actively engaging with bloggers to market their brand ethos and products. "When a blogger writes about our brand, it's an independent view.

It's not brand-speak . It's an opportunity to see how people see our ethos," says Neeraj Goyal, general marketing manager at Johnson & Johnson. His company organised a meet for women bloggers in the 19-35 age group in Mumbai last May in association with Indiblogger, as part of its product, Stayfree's "It's time to change" campaign. "Bloggers have the potential to change the thought process of readers," says Goyal.

With fun contests, games and giveaway goodies like mobiles involved , such meets attract good numbers. For instance, the Indiblogger-Spice Mobiles blogger meet in Delhi in June had around 250 bloggers in attendance, reportedly the largest one in the capital so far. T M Ramakrishnan, CEO of S Mobility Ltd says, "You are open to criticism at a bloggers' meet. We instantly get to know what people think of our product. Such interaction is very important."

That kind of interface can inspire blogs which create a buzz around the brand. Blogger and creative writer Arvind Passey says, "I have had a lot of readers get in touch with me through Facebook or Twitter or even direct messaging and mail... and I have made serious attempts to address their queries every time."

He says brands appreciate that bloggers have a deeper online penetration and a mass-perception that they express and reflect the truth according to their sensibilities; they can be won over by a fraction of investment that other traditional forms of advertising entail; they add their unique insights to product perceptions and also tend to reflect the changing moods of the public.

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8 Ways Mobile Developers Can Make The Most Money On Their Apps

Have a mobile app? Wondering if advertising can help you make money from that app? Here are eight must-know tips to help you turn mobile app inventory into dollars.

1. It takes customers to make money

While this is a piece about monetizing apps, the amount of money you can generate from an app is highly dependent upon the number of users you have. Once apps achieve popularity, their success spirals. In order to reach critical user adoption levels, engage in user acquisition best practices, from cross-promotion to viral distribution, and from PR to paid in-app advertising. Try multiple channels to see what works for you, and stick to vendors who allow you to pay based on the performance metrics that are relevant for your unique business needs. For example, don’t pay for clicks if what you really care about is installs.

2. Know your customers – and their value

Not all customers are created equal. Know the lifetime value of your customers by the channels in which they were acquired. For example, let’s say you can acquire a “high value” customer – say someone worth $6 in lifetime value — for an acquisition cost of $3, and let’s say you can acquire a “low value” user worth $2 in lifetime value for an acquisition cost of $1. Don’t think that pursuing one customer or the other is an either/or decision. You make $3 in profit from the “high value” customer and $1 in profit from the “low value customer.” Both sets of customers are profitable, so pursue additional acquisition of BOTH types.

3. Averages lie

Whatever you do, do not fall into the trap of averaging your customer acquisition costs — nor your user values. In the above scenario, if you average the value of your customers, you might attempt to pay $2 for customers worth “an average of $4.” At that price you probably couldn’t get the $6 high value customer because your bid would be too low to be competitive and you’d be spending $2 to acquire a customer worth exactly that – with no margin leftover for you.  Needless to say, this is not a profitable path for user growth.

4. Free is often best –  but not always

What you charge for an app should be based largely on how users engage with it. For example, if people use your apps just a few times, an ad-supported model probably doesn’t make sense, as you’ll earn just pennies per user. It makes more sense to charge 99 cents, $3.99 or another small fee up-front. Even though sales at the paid price will be a fraction of the free, ad-supported version, the total revenues are likely to be higher. However, if you have an app that is likely to be used many times – and this is the majority of apps – then free is probably the best option for you. And of course, free trials and freemium options are also great avenues for getting users hooked on your services.  After that happens, there is a much higher chance that they’ll actually spend money on your app. A recent piece by Infoworld does a good job of discussing this user engagement model.

5. Don’t play favorites with money

Too many app developers get caught up in the decision of whether to use advertising or virtual currency to monetize their free apps. Stop fretting about which is better. When it comes to money, all money is good.  Try both options – many of the top app developers use both of these channels and more. Fortunately, implementing advertising in your app can be self-serve and almost instantaneous. The risk is incredibly low to try it out and see if it works for you.

6. Don’t play favorites with partners, either

Ease of setup is not a license to skip due diligence in monetization partners. You should do your research, select a number of potential monetization partners — and try out all of them.  Consider this app monetization speed dating. Test out several partners until you find the one or ones that monetize best for you.

7. It takes two to tango

Don’t expect your monetization partner to do all of the work. You know your app better than anyone. Think critically about logical places and transition times for advertising. If you develop a game, consider placing ads at natural transition points between levels and/or at the end of a game. Think about when your users may be most willing to engage with ads, and place advertising accordingly. The result will be both a better experience for your users AND increased revenue for you.

8. Analytics reign supreme

It’s absolutely worthwhile to spend the time and resources required to invest in solid analytics. Invest in internal analytics in order to truly understand user values, customer attribution models, and monetization payouts, and use the myriad of external tools available, from App Annie to Distimo, to help you make smart decisions about markets to pursue, platforms to prioritize, and other critical strategic decisions to make.

Given the explosion of smartphone adoption rates and app usage trends, it’s an exciting time to be a mobile app developer.  Make the most of it!

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Tips & tricks to keep your PC safe

No two ways about it: If you're connected to the internet, your PC is at risk. You might not even know it, but hackers probably have access to the data on your computer if you've been lax with its security. And that's just for starters. They could be reading your emails when you do, viewing your bank passwords when you type them out, and even mount hack attacks oninternet servers through your machine — while you remain blissfully clueless.

Thankfully, you don't have to spend "protection money" to ensure that your computer is safe. Free software will do a fine job of keeping your machine safe from the evils of Cyberia.

Get an antivirusWhen it comes to antivirus programs, the impression is that paid versions are always better. Not true. Paid anti-viruses have more features —- like sandboxing (to isolate the web browser) or anti-spam (to filter emails) -— but the detection engine for virus scanning and real-time protection is more or less similar across guardian software.

Avira antivirusAvira is said to have one of the best virus detection engines among all anti-virus programs, and that alone makes it worthy. It is also quite easy to use and does not slow down the system as much as other similar offerings. However, be careful while installing it. Go in for a custom install, and uncheck the box that installs the optional toolbar for browsers.

Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE)Over the last couple of years, MSE has bloomed into a solid antivirus with an excellent detection rate. The virus scan is a little slow, but the fact that it is produced by the same company that makes Windows means it is very well integrated into the system. If you are looking for an antivirus that is easy to use and does its job without pestering you, give MSE a try. The only thing it requires from a user is a valid license for Windows.

And a firewall Software firewall will not stop a skilled hacker, but it still plays an important role in securing your PC. A firewall gives you the power to decide which programs or services on your computer can access the internet, and in what way. To that effect, the free version of ZoneAlarm gets our nod as the firewall of choice.

The rules in ZoneAlarm are easy to set and the applications accessing the Internet can be monitored and controlled with just a few clicks. Power users who are looking for advanced tools could try Komodo or Outpost. But for mainstream users, ZoneAlarm gets the job done easily and efficiently.

Now, vaccinate your pen drives Pen drives, often used on different computers, are the primary source of virus infections on home PCs. But of course, you can't stop using a pen drive for that reason. The solution is a digital vaccine.

Panda offers a USB vaccine that disables Autorun — a feature of Windows that is exploited by cyber scammers — and stops viruses. The tool is simple to use: Download it, plug in a pen drive and then select USB Drive Vaccination. This will make the pen drive immune to viruses unless you format it again. At the same time, clicking on 'Vaccinate the computer' will disable Autorun on the machine and make it more resistant to viruses that use USB drives to spread.

Safe practices for PC safetyDon't be click-happy. Download files or click on links shared only by people or websites you know and trust. Most importantly, use common sense while browsing the web. Run an anti-virus scan every day, and before opening archived (winZip or WinRAR) files. Update your antivirus or Windows without delay.

Finally, take care of pesky spiesEven the best antivirus programmes are sometimes unable to detect spyware — tiny programs that get installed on your PC without your permission to collect information about you, and serve you annoying pop-up ads.

To protect yourself from such 'spies' , you might want to consider Malwarebytes Anti-Malware . The free version of this utility lacks real-time protection, but with an antivirus active on your machine, it is not something that should bother you too much. Just scan your computer with Malwarebytes every month or so and you'll be fine.

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Five Tips For Web Development

 The web development professionals sometimes face lots of difficulties in creating the web deigns in line with the requirements of the clients. The problem turns worst when in spite of the perfect availability of the infrastructure they are not able to deliver the expected quality. So in order to achieve the world class standards they need to polish their basics first. Web developers in fact are those people who work from behind the scenes and provide a full back end support by weaving a right software framework for the web sites. Hence to establish a good repute for their company they have to gain an expertise knowledge on the same domain.

Here are a few tips for all those web development professionals by following which they can get their business grow and amplify their reach by manifolds.

*Compatible coding structure: You as the web development person while designing any site should keep in mind the user's attitude as well. The coding structure of your site should be prepared in such a way that it could easily get open in all types of web browsers. You should make sure that all the important technicalities while framing the web structure are addressed perfectly.

*Web developers are the real window dressers: You while designing any web site on a particular platform should think from the online visitors perspective and make it more perceivable. Right from deciding the number of pages to installing the color patterns, the planning part on behalf of the web developers remains an important factor.

*In depth knowledge of the web development software: Although there are immense number of automated web development software available on the online world. But still it is vital for you to remain well versed with web development platforms, languages and coding structures.

*Don't fill web site with heavy images: While developing any web site it is equally significant for you to avoid stuffing heavy resolution images. If you will make the web site too much flashy, the online visitor may get distracted and he will move to some other website for garnering information or buying any service or product.

 *Test the website on various web browsers: When you are done with developing the website, you should confirm its functioning by making some trial runs on the internet browsers. This activity is performed to assure smoother operations of the web pages on various broad band connections. There are many countries in this world who use dial connections to access the web site. The speed of these dial up connections are slower than the broad band connections. Hence to check the site's performance on all types of windows setting as well as web browsers, testing remains the necessary part in the web development process.

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3 High Value Skills To Boost Your Career

If you are lucky enough being a specialist in your field, you are really ahead of the curve. Whether you are an accountant, artist, writer, engineer or marketer, you are more competitive with a refined skill base. Beyond knowing the general trends of your trade and the language, you should be able to produce something of economic necessity and of high value. It gives a great competitive advantage for your talents. 

 

You would be able to approach the problems in different innovative angles when you give yourself a strong foundation on any of these skills. Also, you will position yourself to adapt to the shifting market conditions. Here are 3 skills that will complement any analytical , technical or creative talent. 

Networking
Whether you realise it or not, strong networks make you exponentially more valuable. You can always rely on your network on people for help when you want someone to help you accomplish a goal. Most successful organisations thrive on the combined expertise of different types of people. You can get innovative ideas to approach a problem when you have a network of people from different organisations and skills. You may also get referrals if you are looking for a job change or even a career change.

Web Development
 The Internet industry is one great field where there is a high demand for creative talents. If you are a writer or an artist, you can notice that there is a great opportunity to find work that has high demand. You'll be able to see the bigger picture, if you develop a range of technical skills. If you are a writer, blogger or  graphic designer, you would benefit from learning a programming language for the web.

Blogging
The ability to blog is valuable no matter which area you have expertise in. You can contribute to an influential blog in the industry you are working for and get good compensation. You can also maintain your own blog to attract prospective employers and clients.Blogging also helps you in organising your insights rather than just functioning as networking tool.

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Five Common Legal Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make

Starting a new business requires a lot of planning and legal work that are sometimes overlooked by the entrepreneurs. Though most of them may look minor at the start up time, they may cause major issues once the business grows big. These issues can decide the success and failure of your venture. Let us look at some of those legalities that are overlooked by many entrepreneurs. 


Mistake #1 - No Formal Communication : Always put your business communications in writing. Never assume that things would be always according to the plans and oral discussions. When things go wrong, the client and the entrepreneurs may have difference of opinions. Hence, it is always recommended to have a written communication from the client even if he is a friend or relative of yours. 


Agreed ! There are some partners who are doing a good business from many years without any formal agreements. We do not deny that. But the history also teaches few lessons which proved costly both in relations and finances. 


Mistake #2 - Adding Partners without proper Agreement : Never add any partners without complete knowledge about their understanding and the role they are going to play in the partnership. Also, have an agreement on the profit/loss sharings. Recollect the story of the facebook founders (if you are not sure about their story, watch the social network movie). 


No matter how good friends you are, a legal agreement is a mandatory. It doesn't mean that you lost belief on another - you don't need to take it to heart. The agreement should also have a clause on what should be the action when there is a difference of opinions. 


Mistake #3 - 50-50 Partnership : We would recommend you not to go for a 50-50 partnership. It should be atleast a 51-49 partnership. When there is a difference of opinion at some point of time (expected in any business partnerships), there must be someone who has to take a decision. A 50-50 partnership leads to deadlock situations and may not lead to a conclusion. 


Mistake #4 - Filing Patents/Trademarks without enough Research : A glance of search engines results and other patent related websites definitely is not sufficient to file a patent for your business idea or for the brand name. You may loose all your patent filing money once you come to know that someone else already has the same idea. There are clients who lost thousands of dollars like this. 


Mistake #5 - Wrong Business Structure : Making a wrong choice about the structure of business you are planning to implement may put you on risk or it may lead to huge taxes by the end of the fiscal year. 


You can either go for Sole Proprietorship, Limited Liability Company (LLC) or an S-Corp.  Most of the start ups choose sole Proprietorship as it doesn't require much formalities and registration headaches. It costs less but beware there is no difference between your assets and business and hence your assets can also be in a risk in future. LLC & S-Corp structures takes may cost more at set up time but keeps your assets separate from your business. 

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How To Recover Photos Deleted From Your Camera

Ack!!! yesterday I let my kid of two years old play with my camera for about two minutes and when I get it back it turned out that all the photos and videos are deleted, now before I freak out I want to know if it is possible to recover the deleted photos from the sd card of my camera, these photos are precious to me.



It is possible to recover deleted photos and videos from your camera, this is the tutorial guide you should follow to get your deleted photos back.
Photos deleted from your camera are not permanently erased, the simple delete command on most cameras just marks the space on a memory card as being available for use rather than overwriting the actual space on the card. As long as you don’t record anything new onto the card, previously deleted photos should be relatively easy to recover using a file recovery utility.
Ok, first things first.
STOP taking any more pictures with Your SD Card, since the deleted photos are still alive but living in the fear of being replaced, overwritten by new materials, so avoid writing any new data on the card to prevent overwritten.

Then, download camera sd card photo recovery, To use the software, you will need a card reader connected to your PC and the SD card connected to the reader.

Launch the software.
Select the target device.
In the advanced scan menu, Choose the type of image file you are looking for, or select the model camera you are using.
Click "Start Scan" to start the scanning process.
Now choose the media files you’d like to have back, recover deleted photos from your camera’s sd card.
Retrieve deleted pictures in the following formats:
JPEG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, PNG,
WAV, MP3, AIFF, RPS, MIDI, M4A, M4P, AU, OGG,
WMA, MOV, AVI, ASF, WMV and MP4 files
Works with any type of digital camera, including:
Sony (SR2)
Canon (CRW, CR2)
Kodak (K25, KDC, DCR)
Pentax (PEF)
Sigma (X3F)
Fuji (RAF)
Minolta (MRW)
Nikon (NEF, Intel)
Olympus (ORF)

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Top 5 Softwares You Must Have On Computer

A personalized laptop or computer is constantly personalized. Absolutely everyone installs the applications they feel one of the most critical to their operate or play. Nevertheless there are several quite standard utilities and plans that spans across the vast majority with the PCs.



1. Microsoft Office: That is possibly one of the most utilised utility program across all continents. Be it for organization or for personalized use every single laptop or computer on all key platforms use the most current Microsoft Office or its parallel workplace suite.

2. Skype/ Gtalk/ MSN/Yahoo Messenger/Meebo: They are all chat softwares plus a ought to should keep linked with good friend, colleagues and household.

3. IE/ Firefox/Google Chrome/: A browser(be defined as an application application or plan intended to allow consumers to access, retrieve and view paperwork and also other sources on the net.) for browsing the world wide web and for other webpage editing.

4. PC Wizard:Appropriately diagnosing and repairing a laptop or computer calls for expertise about precisely what is within it. Some data, such as the processor that a laptop or computer has along with the sum of RAM set up, is particularly simple to run into. But other data, just like the exact model of motherboard or challenging drive, might be far more hard to establish. That is particularly genuine in pre-built methods from firms like Dell, as they usually tend not to incorporate technical data about their PCs. PC Wizard could be the effortless resolution to this situation. This application scans a Pc and returns in depth data in regards to the parts inside. This incorporates almost everything in the audio controller on the motherboard chipset. You may also have the capacity to see the temperature with the processor, video card, and challenging drive (presented the technique has people sensors put in).

5. A Complete Virus Safety Application: Malware is probably the most common leads to of laptop or computer troubles. Unsuspecting individuals download the incorrect file, and now abruptly their processor would seem to get operating at 80% or increased usage no matter what they are undertaking, or their homepage is altered to llamas.com. A ought to have for all personal computers to safeguard the Pc from virus attacks, malware, adware and also other malicious applications even though browsing the world wide web.

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Career in mobile app development

A mobile app i.e. a mobile application is an application developed for mobile phones and smartphones. In simple terms, a mobile app is a software programme for ones phone. These can be as simple as a basic flashlight application or a dictionary or something similar to a Google Maps navigation app.
There are mobile apps developed for entertainment like the Facebook and Twitterapp (social media networks) or the Angry Birds mobile app (games). Mobile applications are basically a lighter version of computer applications meant for mobile devices/tablet devices, which cater to infotainment and entertainment.

The mobile applications market is not just restricted to general users but has also reached out to business and institutional users. This ever-changing and growing industry and its revenue generation opportunities have not only enticed customers, but also business conglomerates. The year 2011 witnessed a breakthrough for mobile application development and many new players have entered this domain, there will be more in the coming days.

This year featured a steep rise in text messaging, Smartphone purchases and mobile advertising. Location-based services, social networking application, m-commerce, context-aware service, object recognition, mobile instant messaging and mobile payment or mobile money transfer will be the areas of growth. Also, more social games apps in mobile devices will be developed.

Industry statusThe mobile application market is rapidly growing and gaining popularity as an emerging job opportunities market. India is the third fastest growing app market in the world. As per Gartner report, Indias active mobile connections will exceed 900 million by 2016, which translates to 72% penetration. According to Trai in January 2012 the number of active mobile connections in India has reached 659.99 million and the total mobile subscriber base stands at 903.72 million.

It is estimated that every Indian user spends nearly 52 minutes per-day using mobile apps. Similarly, mobile app economy-estimated at nearly $4 billion (Rs 20,000 crore) in 2009 and expected to grow to $18 billion in half a decade-continues to expand exponentially.

There is an increase in the demand of mobile applications as more and more people are using smart phones. It has been projected that mobile value-added services market (which includes mobile apps) will reach Rs 214.1 crore by the end of 2012 from Rs 158.6 crore in 2011. Revenue generated by mobile VAS was INR 122 billion, as on March 2011. It is estimated to reach Rs 482 billion by 2015.

Growth areasThe future is mobile and all the services and offerings are going to run through application. India has more mobile connections than PCs or TVs and landline phones. Mobile app development is evolving to integrate with television, in-car navigation and entertainment, shopping, commerce and banking. It is safe to say that the future of apps is This talks about future growth prospects in the industry.

Mobile operators have seen a significant growth in revenues through VAS, which has significantly increased demand for mobile application developers. This booming industry is struggling to get quality developers who have ideas and creativity. Go to any job site and you will observe the number of jobs that come under the M-VAS industry. Here the demand and supply ratio is inadequate and industry is looking for talented professionals. Planning a career in this industry will surely be a good move.

As it can be seen, there is more demand than supply because there arent enough good mobile developers. As mobile phone companies look to attract users through applications, the demand for application developers is growing and will grow.

Skill-sets requiredSince mobile apps are based on the IT platform, application developers should have a BTech (computer application) or MCA degree with experience of gateways/servers (WAP, XML, VXML, WTA, etc), browsers (WML, XHTML), clients (SMS, e-mail, chat etc), and stacks (WAP2.0 and TCP/IP).

Apart from developers, the industry also seeks product and content creators who could be experienced graphics designers, content writers, researchers, etc. Innovation and out-of-the-box thinking can allow freshers in the industry to grow quickly.

With the changing technology, keeping pace with industry trends, technological innovations and new products in the market, it is important that freshers constantly update themselves with the latest developments.

One should also have the ability to understand client requirements, change specifications promptly, if needed, and have the confidence to sell the product in the market. If one wants to become a mobile app developer, one would need to be proficient in a programming language such as C, C++, Objective C for writing applications on iOS (iPhone, iPad) or Java (Android,Blackberry OS). Now private academies and training institutes too offer short-term crash courses and one-year diploma courses in apps development.

RemunerationThe starting salary of a developer at the entry level could be from Rs 3-5 lakh per annum depending on the technology they are working on. Those who are working on content at the entry level could expect anything in the range of Rs 2.5-4 lakh per annum.

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Receive Email notification when someone unfriend you on Facebook

Have you even up some day and logged into Facebook to find that you're one friend short than you were yesterday? Some of you might not even notice this, but for others, it is a big deal. Before Facebook, people used to compete with each other on Google's Orkut for the most amount of scraps. Now, some people compete for friends (I did that too, once long ago :P). Competitions aside, every Facebook friend and fan is extremely important to marketers. While there's no shortage of people to befriend from Facebook's inventory of 901 million, it is important to retain the ones you already have.

These days, people tend to have friends in the hundreds. So if someone un-friends you, how would you know which of your 333 friends was it? Facebook doesn't send you any sort of notifications for this, nor do I think it ever has. So to track down that one deserter, you'll need a third party app called TwentyFeet. Now this app isn't like those scam apps we discussed in Facebook security tips, although there are some scams that will promise to track who unfriends you.

What is Twenty Feet?

Twenty Feet is a free service that can be used with one Facebook as well as one Twitter account. It tells who unfriended or unfollowed you. It is simple. It fetches a list of all profiles listed as your friends every day. When one or more profiles go missing, Twenty Feet will notify you by email. Those friends could have blocked/unfriended you, or might have left Facebook or deactivated their account. Either way, it is good to know who has a problem with you :)

Twenty Feet is free and can be linked to one Facebook and one Twitter account. For multiple profiles and business pages, you will have to go premium at $2.5 per year, which is a very fair deal in my opinion.

Twenty Feet can only tell you who unfriended you after you've installed it. It won't tell you of any such activity before installation. This is because Facebook doesn't provide that kind of functionality that allows you to see who unfriended you in the past (although it should have that!).

How to see who unfriended you?

Setting up is really simple. Go over to twentyfeet.com, and click on Sign up and Try for Free. You can either fill out the sign up form, or sign up via Facebook or Twitter. And that's it! You will receive emails for any friend that unfriended you. Watch the video below for more information

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