According to reports, the official email system of the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh remained hacked for nearly three months, between February and April 2008. The PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) has reportedly said that many emails sent to the office during the period never reached the inbox. The error was noticed only in April 2008.
After getting official over a year ago, missing its original production plan and eventually hitting a wall with respect to production, Tata’s long-awaited Nano vehicle is all set to take to the streets this July. According to a fresh report over at Reuters, the world’s cheapest car (100,000 rupee, or $1,980) is expected to be the hottest thing around when it ships in India in a matter of months. In fact, there are so many orders waiting to be filled, initial owners will be “randomly selected from bookings made between April 9 and 25.” We’re also told that a European variant will be launched by 2011, and while a US model is still a possibility, no firm launch date has been given there. Good luck getting your rear into one, and be sure and shoot us a few hands-on shots if you do.
Filed under: Transportation
Tata’s $2,000 Nano car to hit Indian streets in July originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Windows, Microsoft, Mozilla, Freeware, Open Source
I’m not really one for joining causes online (Facebook has rid me of any desire for that), but as far as geeky technical causes go, Bring Down IE6 by the folks at .NET Magazine is a good one. Internet Explorer 6 is the bane of pretty much every web designer or developer’s existence. Things that work beautifully in all of the standards-compliant browsers (and even for the most part in modern versions of IE) require time-consuming and painful work-arounds just to get them sort of working.
The frustrating thing is that if Microsoft wanted to do something about the situation to ease the pain of the countless numbers of people building websites, they have it in their power to do so. The problem for web developers is that IE6 is still used by a frighteningly large percentage of people online. How can this be? Well, many unfortunate corporate workers are stuck using Windows 2000, and do not have permission to install or even use a portable version of a standards-compliant alternative browser like Firefox. These people are using IE6 because it is the only option available to them.
As much as Microsoft would like to force everyone to upgrade to XP / Vista / Windows 7, the truth is that for many companies, the Windows 2000 licenses that they already own work just fine for their needs.
What Microsoft should do is acknowledge that Windows 2000 is still being actively used, and make later versions of Internet Explorer available as an update for Windows 2000. Yes, I realize that Windows 2000 is no longer an officially supported platform by Microsoft, but that just points to the disconnect between what Microsoft wishes people would do, and what they are actually doing.
Also, if you’re in IT at a company that is still clinging to Windows 2000, for the love of all that is good, please add a modern browser to your standard install image. They’re free, and they’re a hell of a lot more secure than IE6 is. Pick one; Firefox, Opera, Safari, or even Google’s currently-in-beta Chrome browser. Any of these is a better choice than IE6.
And if you’re a web developer, consider using a simple script to provide a gentle reminder to IE6 users that they need to upgrade.
Let’s all let IE6 die the death it so richly deserves.
Bring Down IE6 originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Finally. Here comes Twitter’s first real foray into advertising, courtesy of Microsoft’s marketing budget.
And don’t worry, Twitter users: You won’t be getting come-ons for Vista in your Twitterstream. Not yet, at least.
The program that Twitter has rolled out today–something called ExecTweets–is a fairly cautious step into marketing, and that is certainly by design. But it does give a you a good sense of what Twitter thinks it can do with its buzzy, fast-growing and almost revenue-free product.
Today’s news: Microsoft (MSFT), via its Federated Media ad network/platform/agency, is sponsoring a page that collects Tweets from various executives. Twitter will get an undisclosed payment for giving the site its stamp of approval and for promoting the site on Twitter itself. Federated says it plans on launching similar programs on Twitter with other clients.
Soon, most likely today, Twitter users will start seeing promotions for ExecTweet on the main Twitter login page, and in the little box that Twitter just started featuring on profile pages. The one that looks like this:
As advertising goes, this is pretty innocuous. Hard to imagine even Twitter’s most anti-advertising adherents having a big problem with this one. But it’s also hard to imagine that many people will see the ads at all since the majority of Twitter use happens off the site, on mobile apps like Twitterific for Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone and desktop clients like Tweetdeck.
And it’s hard to imagine that many folks will want to use ExecTweet, period: The whole joy of Twitter is seeking out and finding specific people you find interesting–not just a mass of people whose common thread is that they’re “executives.”
I already follow AOL founder @stevecase, for instance, who’s prominently featured on ExecTweet right now. But I don’t imagine I’ll want to pay attention to others who show up on ExecTweet simply because they’re on ExecTweet.
And note that nothing about ExecTweet required Twitter’s OK: The company’s open API model allows users to repurpose its data for their own Twitter apps, and countless entrepreneurs and engineers are doing just that.
But there is something to be said for branding campaigns launched with Twitter’s approval and participation. Figuring out exactly how much that will be worth, and what it will eventually look like, will likely take Twitter and its ad partners a while to figure out. But now they’re starting. Finally.
Ugly just isn’t going to cut it in today’s mobile device market. That’s what Dell is finding as it attempts to build a smartphone capable of holding its own against the RIM’s (RIMM) Blackberry, Apple’s (APPL) iPhone and Palm’s (PALM) upcoming Pre.
According to Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu, the PC maker’s first smartphone prototypes have been rejected by wireless network operators, which found them dull compared with current and upcoming devices. “From our conversation with supply chain and industry sources, it appears that it ultimately came down to lack of carrier interest and small subsidies, making it difficult for Dell to make a profit,” Wu explained in a message to investors, noting that prototypes running Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Mobile and Google’s (GOOG) Android both were dismissed by carriers for their “lack of differentiation.”
Apparently, Dell’s “nondescript and gray” aesthetic just doesn’t translate to the cellphone market.
Undaunted by such criticisms, Dell (DELL) has gone back to the drawing board in the hopes of designing a more appealing device and may even consider an acquisition to spur such efforts along. Said Wu, “Dell remains committed to the cell phone space as it appreciates the opportunity in smart phones and the longer-term cannibalization potential of PCs.”
Describing its long-term financial outlook to analysts last week, eBay (EBAY) said it expects Skype to more than double its revenue to over $1 billion by 2011. Quite a claim to make about an Internet telephony business for which the company has taken some pretty nasty write-downs, a business that back in January eBay seemed to be looking to divest. But apparently, eBay sees quite a bit of promise in Skype’s new voice-over-IP service for businesses. Launching in beta today, Skype for SIP for Business allows companies to make domestic and international Skype calls from their corporate telephone systems rather than their PCs. Initially, the company will charge about 2.1 cents per minute for calls to cellphones and fixed lines, but Skype-to-Skype calls will be free. That’s a potentially compelling proposition for business customers looking to make low-cost calls to fixed lines and mobile phones around the world.
“If you’re selling something or running a campaign–if you want to do that in the traditional world, then you would set up an 800 number, for example,” Stefan Oberg, the head of Skype’s business division, told ZDnet. “But 800 numbers are local to a country. So if you’re an international business, you have to set up 800 numbers in many countries. Now a company can have a button on their webpage or refer to Skype in an ad, and it’s like a virtual, global 800 number.”
As I said, a compelling proposition. But will enough companies take Skype up on it to really cause a significant increase in revenue? Particularly in a market as competitive as business communications? A market in which traditional phone companies are already peddling their own VOIP offerings?
It was touching to see that Douglas Bowman, Google’s (GOOG) visual design leader, chose, in announcing his resignation, to stroll down Steve Wozniak Honesty Avenue.
In a blog post, he summed up his feelings, as all the best designers should, in one simple statement: “I won’t miss a design philosophy that lives or dies strictly by the sword of data.”
He talked of how data was being collected (and one can only wonder what fine, laborious methods are used in the process) to judge the acceptability of a shade of blue, the width of a pixel, or the hair bang length of a brand manager.
Well, he didn’t mention that last one, but I am prepared to believe it might be possible.
I know that there are some engineers out there who will delight in yet another triumph for alleged data over some subjective, sniffy, superior artist. I also know that there will be many, many artists and other sentient human beings who wish that they would just take a run and jump.
About three weeks ago, BoomTown surmised that the they’re-practically-giving-them-away prices for some prime but distressed tech companies–combined with cash hordes by stronger players–would eventually result in some acquisition activity sooner than later.
One combination I flagged most prominently, based on several sources, was that IBM would try to grab Sun Microsystems.
And today, The Wall Street Journal reported that that was indeed the case. Talks, the story said, were talking place, with a price of about $6.5 billion as a possibility, a 100 percent premium to Sun’s current market valuation.
We’re not so sure IBM will pay that much in this market, but it’s a good idea for the pair.
Such a deal has been long rumored in Silicon Valley, so I wasn’t the first to suggest such an obvious move, and these talks come as a surprise to very few, which would rescue the long-declining Sun and give heft to IBM’s Internet aims.
In fact, on Feb. 26, I wrote:
“IBM Buys Sun:
I mean someone has to buy Sun Microsystems (JAVA)–now hovering in the $5 a share range with a market valuation of just $3.62 billon–right?
But it’s not going to be Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), despite a deal announced just yesterday in which HP will distribute and provide support for Sun’s Solaris operating system on a line of HP servers.
Analysts dismissed the deal as meaningless in terms of true revenue, with one noting that it did not mean HP would buy Sun either, especially for its server business, because of redundant hardware products.
That leaves, according to many observers I spoke to: IBM (IBM), which competes with Sun in the server business too. Many think the products fit better together and IBM has a $115.3 billion valuation, so the purchase would be doable.
The server business is sucking wind, according to a report earlier this week, due to the global economy, so finding safe harbor for Sun is something Wall Street seems to be looking for.
Of course, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz curiously did use the term ‘Live Free or Die’ in his blog post about the HP deal yesterday–although he was not referring to Sun’s independence, but noting the phrase was ’synonymous with software independence, innovation and intellectual property freedom.’”
I guess for Sun, freedom’s just another word for something left to sell.
The other deal I mentioned as a major possibility is also commonly bandied about in Silicon Valley and is considered to be just a matter of time and price: Google (GOOG) buying hot microblogging service Twitter.
Let the let’s-make-a-deal activity begin!
Kevin Fox (who, until January 2008, was a senior user experience design lead at Google), on Google’s design process.
Google Inc, which a couple of years ago gave a tough time to venture capitalists by lapping up startups even before VCs spotted them, is now directly entering the space. The search engine is rumoured to be launching a venture investing arm titled Google Ventures. If this is indeed true, Google would be joining the likes of corporates like Cisco, Nokia, Qualcomm and Motorola, all of which have corporate venture arms.
A Reuters report speculates that Rich Miner, the head of Google’s Android project, would be affiliated with Google Ventures. Miner, who joined Google in 2005 after the search giant acquired Android way back in 2005, is responsible for wireless platforms. He joined Google in 2005 when the search giant acquired Android, a company he co-founded and which is the basis of Google’s new smartphone operating system.
A Google spokesman asked about Google Ventures on Thursday said, "It’s a project we’re working on. But we’re not able to discuss the details right now."
He declined to comment on any role of Rich Miner within Google Ventures.
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