Google Books project face trouble in India

A group of Indian author and publishers have raised voice against Google and filed charges at the New York district court alleging copyright violation for scanning several books in Indian languages without notifying the authors.

Star Publications Pvt. Ltd., Abhinav Publications, Daya Publication House and Pustak Mahal also include in the group of publishers, who have moved court against the Google Book Settlement.

By reaching an agreement with several universities in the US, Google has been scanning millions of books under copyright protection since 2004 and thus the snippets of these books were made available online under the initiative, known as the Google Library Project.

Siddharth Arya, the legal counsel for IRRO (Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation) said, “Google’s unilateral conduct is a brazen attempt to turn copyright law on its head, by usurping the exclusive rights of the copyright holder”.

“The outcome of all of this was GBS 2.0 that incorporates minor cosmetic changes but continues to violate basic copyright laws. It retains several fundamental issues in the original settlement such as a mechanism known as ‘opt out’,” Arya said.

Popularity: 28% [?]

Google Launches Android 2.1 SDK

Google has unveiled a software developer’s kit for Android 2.1, letting developers take advantage of the new operating system’s features–most of which are beneath the surface, as opposed to upgrades that are noticeable to Android smartphone owners.

The SDK includes a fully compliant Android library and system image, plus emulator skins and sample apps. Developers can download the kit using the existing Android SDK and AVD Manager tool.

Separately, Google has made available a new USB driver that works with the Nexus One smartphone.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Year 2010 to witness three more eclipses

Besides Friday’s solar eclipse, three more eclipses will occur during 2010.

According to A B G Siddharth, Director, Birla Science Centre here, there will be partial eclipse of the moon on June 26 followed by a total solar eclipse on July 11, this year. The solar eclipse, however, will not be visible in India.

The last eclipse during the year will be on December 21, a total lunar eclipse, which will also be visible from India.

In any given year there are a minimum of two eclipses.

This year, there are in all four eclipses.

Friday’s eclipse will begin at 11.30 am and cover 77 per cent of the sun at 1.32 pm. It will be over by 3.15 pm.

Inclement weather is likely to play spoilsport.

While in Hyderabad, the eclipse will be partial as it covers 77 per cent of the sun, it will be annular at the extreme tip of south near Kanyakumari where one can see the peripheral ring with the sun being covered 92 per cent and a ring like formation will appear.

Siddharth cautioned the people that the eclipse should not be seen with X-ray films or through smoked glasses or photographic films but should be seen only through certified solar eclipse special goggles or certified solar filters.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Google India Doodle Celebrates Makar Sankranti

Today’s Google India homepage sports a new Google Doodle which celebrates Makar Sankranti, the festival of kites in India. The new Doodle is brilliantly done and features kites in it.

We take this opportunity to wish all our Indian readers a Happy Makar Sankranti. To view the new doodle, you will have to visit http://www.google.co.in. Enjoy.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Google adds translation to main search engine

Google has began weaving an automated language translation feature into its universal search service.

A new “translated search” tool lets people direct Google to seek results from Web pages written in an array of languages and then deliver results in a searcher’s preferred tongue.

The feature has been available at the Google Translate service, but is becoming part of the California-based Internet firm’s popular main search engine.

“Now, when you search on Google for something in your own language, you can use this tool to search the web in another language,” Google technical lead Maureen Heymans and product manager Jeff Chin said in a blog post.

“We’re integrating it fully into Google search, making it easier for you to find and read results from pages across the web, even if they weren’t written in a language you speak.”

The tool can be found in a menu revealed by clicking on “Show Options” at the top of a Google search results page.

Search keywords are translated into languages that appear relevant, such as French and Dutch for a query about Belgium, and Web pages found are presented in the searcher’s language.

“We’ll algorithmically select the best language(s) to translate your search query into and then return you translated results from those pages,” Heymans and Chin said. “We’ll even display results from multiple languages.”

Searchers can look for Web pages written in any of 51 languages. The tool will display results from as many as five languages at a time, according to Google.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Twitter passes the 5 billion ‘tweet’ mark

Twitter has had it 5 billionth tweet, according to GigaTweet.com which measure’s the micro-blogging service’s site traffic.

If you have never been to GigaTweet, the third party app is a simple one which offers up a continual count of all the tweets sent on Twitter every second.

Watching the clock continually count up all that is going on within the Twitterverse is mesmerising stuff!

The site clocked the 5 billionth tweet this week, with CNET believing the person who sent the Tweet to be Robin Sloane a former executive of Current Media, with his post simply saying: ‘Oh lord’.

And what does he get for achieving this accolade? Well, his status for that tweet does have 5000000000 at the end of it, and that is of course something to cherish forever.

While 5 billion is an immense figure for any website, what makes the feat so much more unbelievable is that Twitter only hit the 1 billion mark last November – having been around since 2006.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Airtel brings Twitter via SMS in India

Soon, the Twitter birdie would be chirping, we mean, tweeting on Indian mobile phones through SMS. Bharti Airtel has got into a four week exclusive deal with Twitter to offer update notifications as SMS to Airtel Subscribers. Twitter is a free micro-blogging service that allows users to update their status messages in 140 characters.

Back in 2008, Twitter was available in India through SMS but the notifications service was discontinued due to high costs. Twitter has been raging mania amongst youngsters just like Orkut of yesteryears. The main attraction is the presence of celebrities and known public figures on Twitter.

Airtel bagged an exclusive four weeks deal with Twitter for sending and receiving updates via SMS. Airtel subscribers can try out the Twitter notifications by sending this shortcode SIGNUP to number 53000. Existing Twitter users who wish to link their Airtel Number to Twitter account need to send START to 53000 for activating their device. More details about Twitter on Airtel can be accessed at this exclusive page – http://airtel.in/twitter/.

New users:
Send SIGNUP to 53000

Existing Twitter Users to link their Device to their account:
Send START to 53000

Twitter is accessible through mobile web over Data connection (GPRS). But the question is why only Airtel? In a blog post at Official Twitter Blog, Biz Stone, Twitter Co-founder said, “We worked quickly to establish full SMS service in India with the largest operator because organic growth in the region has been unusually strong and there is huge potential for positive impact.”

At the moment, Twitter notifications via SMS service is available in U.S., UK, Canada, New Zealand and now in India. So, after the four weeks period, other telecom operators would be able to provide Twitter notifications via SMS to users. Till then, Airtel servers would be bombarded to handle the SMS traffic. If you suffer from SMS congestion, please bear with avid Twitter users. That’s all we got to say.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Orkut to soon get an updated user interface?

Google Operating System has reported that Google Brazil website is showcasing an interesting Orkut screenshot on the Chrome section.

The screenshot showcases a different version of their Orkut social networking service.

Maybe, its a sign that a major overhaul to the user interface of Orkut is coming in the coming weeks.

Orkut is not very popular on the web. Bulk of its users are located in two markets India and Brazil. With Facebook targeting Orkut members in these two countries, Google has little incentive to keep on innovating. Looks like they are not giving up yet.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Twitter to introduce live video-tweeting

Twitter users may soon be posting real-time video tweets in addition to text tweets under plans to modernise the site.

The upgrade, which is being discussed by Twitter’s founders, will enable Twitter users to upload brief video snippets to their profiles directly from mobile phones, laptops and other devices.

Third party sites Twiddeo and Tweetube already allow Twitter users to post video tweets but only by creating links to their sites.

Both Twideo and Tweetube have so far failed to gain as much popularity as similar external service Twitpic.

Twitter’s founders hope by adding live video-tweeting it will help boost its prominence as a fashionable social-networking tool again.

In recent weeks both British singer Lily Allen and Hannah Montana actress Miley Cyrus have snubbed the site by closing their Twitter accounts. Allen’s last tweet read: “I am a neo-Luddite, goodbye.”

Some of Britain’s biggest tweeters include Stephen Fry with 810,000 followers, Sarah Brown, the prime minister’s wife, with 840,000 followers, and rock group Coldplay who have more than two million followers. Sarah Brown’s Twitter following is already believed to be five times larger than the entire membership of the Labour party.

Although many tweets describe mundane activities, the site has played a role in news events. Twitter was an active platform for protesters during the Iranian elections and in January, a ferry passenger was the first person to post pictures of people being rescued from an airliner in New York’s Hudson River.

Twitter has also been used as a campaign tool by Barack Obama and British politicians in support of the NHS.

The site has yet to make a profit or find a way of making money but has been valued at £603m. Twitter has 54 million users around the world every month.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Yahoo intensifies its advertisement in India

Yahoo has intensified its effort to regain its lost glory as a search engine against the giant Google. The company has come with a strategic advertisement plan to increase its popularity in developing countries like India, Brazil and China.

According to a recent survey in fast emerging countries, Google is way ahead of Yahoo and MSN, and also the gap will widen in near future.

Yahoo in its advertisement process in India has bought the front page of the leading newspaper Times of India. Now, the front page of TOI will be fully dedicated to Yahoo. The full page advertisement is quite attractive and unique. It will surely have an impact on the readers mind.

The catching tagline of the advertisement is “The internet is under new management”. The bottom line is “A homepage that lets you add whatever you love, an inbox that knows what you like (and don’t) and a freedom to access it from your mobile. Say hello to the new yahoo! take charge today at yahoo.in. “Its You “..which signifies Yahoo!!”

Moreover, the star network is also advertising Yahoo strongly.

As a consequence of efforts made by Yahoo in recent times, the search engine is being used by 26 million out of 35 million internet users in India.

Popularity: 9% [?]