Google Apps get Microsoft touch

Google has upgraded its online package of word processing and spreadsheet programs so that they work even more like the Microsoft applications with
which they're competing.

The changes introduced recently include several editing tools for word processing and quicker ways to fill cells in spreadsheets. The new features have long been staples in Microsoft’s widely used Office suite of software.

Google has been trying to lure users away from Microsoft's products for several years in an effort to siphon revenue from one of its biggest rivals. At the same time, Google hopes to diversify its own business , lessening its financial dependence on Internet advertising powered primarily by its search engine.
Winning converts has taken time because Google requires people to reach its programs over the Internet — a concept that has become known as “cloud computing.” Microsoft's competing applications typically are installed on individual computers.

Now, Tharoor aide slams Modi on Twitter

Shashi Tharoor's Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Jacob Jospeh has now joined the tweet war, going straight for Lalit Modi's jugular.

Jacob has posted a link to a recent newspaper article that alleged that Lalit Modi was convicted of possessing drugs, kidnapping and assault in the US during his days as a university student.

The conviction, the article says, came after Modi confessed to committing the offences before a US court.

The article quotes Modi's lawyers as saying that he did not serve the two-year jail sentence as he was let off on probation, and the county court did not give a final decision on his sentencing for drugs possession.

According to the newspaper report: "In 1985, General Court of Justice, Durham County, had charged Modi with kidnapping, assault and possession of 400 grams of cocaine, court documents show. He then entered a 'plea bargain', which is permitted under the US law and allows a reduced punishment without a trial if the accused confesses to his or her crimes."

The article points out that Modi's position as a cricket official has been challenged in the Supreme Court by a man, Kishore Rungta, who lost when Modi was elected president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association. The petitioner has pleaded that rules do not permit anyone convicted of a criminal offence to hold the post of an office-bearer.

Modi's appointment as Vice President of the BCCI was also challenged in 2007 in the Bombay High Court on the same grounds - that he had been convicted of drug trafficking in the US in 1980. Though the High Court had dismissed the petition, it had come down hard on Modi and the BCCI saying it was not proper for the "BCCI to become a tool of musclemen, merchants and power brokers."

The board, the court had said, should not become a centre of power politics and internal politics was destroying the gentleman's game.

The court even asked the BCCI if it could find no one else to be the BCCI Vice President?

Infosys net profit rises 2.2% to Rs 1,617 crore

IT major Infosys on Tuesday said that its net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2010, rose to Rs 1,617 crore from 1582 crore in the previous quarter.

During the quarter, Infosys’ revenue rose 3.5 per cent to Rs 5,944 crore from Rs 5,741 crore in the previous quarter.

An NDTV poll of analysts estimated the fourth-quarter net profit at Rs1,602 crore and sales at Rs.5,886 crore.

For FY10, Infosys reported a net profit of Rs 6,270 crore.

For FY11, Infosys forecast a revenue growth in the range of 16 per cent to 18 per cent in dollar terms.



During the fourth quarter Infosys and its subsidiaries saw a net addition of 3914 employees.

“We have been able to take advantage of the oppoertunitie4s of the in the market and grow faster due to our investments in capacity and capacity building even during the economic downturn,” said S Gopalakrishnan, CEO and MD.

The company's cash and cash equivalents stood at $3.5 billion at the end of March 31, 2010. "We maintained our margins in one of the toughest years for the industry. The currency volatility continues to be a concern for the industry. We have an active hedging programme to minimise its impact on our margins," Infosys CFO V Balakrishnan said.

The board has declared a final dividend of Rs 15 per share for the fiscal on every share of Rs 5 held. Infosys, which has Goldman Sachs, BT Group and BP Plc among its clients, added 47 clients during the quarter.

Facebook to set up centre in Hyderabad

Social networking site Facebook announced on Monday that it will set up its office in Hyderabad to support the growing number of users, advertisers and developers in India and globally. Facebook has seen exponential growth in recent months and has more than eight million active users in India, it said in a statement. The rising popularity of Facebook has also come as a threat to various other social networking sites like Orkut, MySpace and Flickr. It has more than 400 million active users worldwide. The centre will house online advertising and developer support teams and provide round-the-clock, multi-lingual support to its users and advertisers globally, it further said. The new centre in Hyderabad will supplement operations out of California, Dublin, Ireland and a recently announced location in Austin, Texas. It has already started its hiring procedure for the Hyderabad centre. "We expect our new office in Hyderabad to tap into the region's strong pool of talented people who understand operations and technology, and help us more effectively serve the needs of our users, advertisers, and developers around the world," Facebook Director (Global Online Operations) Don Faul said.

Orkut beats Facebook in India

NEW DELHI: Facebook might have overtaken Orkut globally in terms of the number of users, but Google's social networking offering still remains the
favourite in India, according to the England-based online traffic tracking firm comScore. In its latest report on social networking activity in the Asia-Pacific region, comScore says the Google-owned Orkut is ranked as the top social networking site in India, with 46.8 per cent of the nation's web population using the website. Facebook, on the other hand, ranks numero uno in Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Vietnam. The study covered all Internet users aged above 15 in these countries, who accessed social networking sites from home and work locations. However, it excluded those visiting the sites through Internet cafes, mobile phones or PDAs. It also did not include China in the study. The study has found that 50.8 per cent of the total online population in the Asia-Pacific region visited a social networking site in February 2010, translating into a total of 240.3 million visitors during the month. "While social networking continues to be one of the most popular and fastest growing web activities in the world, its dynamics in the APAC region exhibit significantly more individual market differentiation than in other global regions," comScore executive vice-president (APAC) Will Hodgman said. "In some markets, such as the Philippines, Australia and Indonesia, social networking is one of the most popular web activities, reaching nearly 90 per cent of the entire online population, while other markets report less PC-based social networking penetration, which can often be attributed to the high propensity to engage in social networking via mobile devices in these markets," he added. About 68.5 per cent of India's web population accessed social networking sites in February, visiting these sites on an average of 13 times. An average user spent about 2 hours 10 minutes on these sites. In contrast, Internet users in the Asia-Pacific region spent an average of 2.5 hours on social networking sites during the month and visited the category on an average of 15 times.

5 Tips to power your Gmail

Google's Gmail is claimed to be the most powerful and configurable of the free email services out there. But most people tap just a small percentage of its features. That's in part because a lot of what you can do with Gmail is hidden beneath the surface. Here’s bringing some of that functionality to light.

How to manage multiple Gmail accounts?

Perhaps the quickest way is to take advantage of Gmail's POP3 functionality to set up your Gmail accounts in a traditional e-mail client, such as Outlook, Thunderbird, or Eudora. That way, you can download all of your mail from multiple accounts at the same time and respond to them from one location. For instructions on setting up individual mail programs to receive Gmail, open your Gmail account, and click the Settings link. From the Settings screen, click Forwarding and POP/IMAP. In the POP Download section, make sure you select one of the 'enable' option buttons. And from the same section, click the 'Configuration instructions' link to learn how to set up Gmail with the e-mail program you use. Instructions for Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Windows Mail, and more are provided. There's also instructions for iPhone users. If you use the Firefox web browser, another option is to download and install Gmail Manager (http://bit.ly/1i3TkM), a well-regarded add-on that gives you access to multiple Gmail accounts from your browser's status bar.

How to install Gmail Drive?

The free utility Gmail Drive (http://bit.ly/33AjJ) will create a virtual drive based upon your Gmail account. Once installed, the drive will show up in Windows Explorer just like any other drive. In Windows 7, the drive is categorised as 'Other.' When you first try to access or double-click the drive, Gmail Drive prompts you for your Gmail logon credentials. Once you're logged on, you can drag and drop files to your Gmail drive just as you can to any other.

How can I back up my Gmail?

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Mail to friend
The easiest way is to have Gmail forward a copy of all incoming messages to another email account. You can use another free email provider, such as Yahoo or Microsoft if you wish. To set up forwarding, open your Gmail account, and click Settings. From the Settings screen, click Forwarding and POP/IMAP, and from the Forwarding section, select 'Forward a copy of incoming mail.' Supply an email address to which mail should be forwarded. In addition to backing up your email, this feature will also give you a way to access your email when Gmail is down or inaccessible for any reason. In an age when, for many people, email is crucial to getting work done, backing up in this manner is a good idea.

Is there any add-on that can assign keyboard shortcuts to Gmail?

You don't need an add-on to make Gmail keyboard friendly. All you need to do is learn and take advantage of the many built-in keyboard shortcuts available already. For instance, log on to your Gmail account, and press the letter 'c' to compose a new message. While reading a message, press 'r' to reply or 'a' to reply to all recipients. Press 'f' to forward. Press 'n' to see the next message as you're reading the current one, and press 'p' to see the previous one. To see a complete list of keyboard shortcuts, just click the Help link and type 'keyboard' in the resulting search box. Of course, you can also set up your favourite email program, such as Outlook, to retrieve and send Gmail, bypassing the web interface altogether. Then you'll have the familiar keyboard shortcuts at your disposal.

How to get rid of Buzz in Gmail?

Buzz, the new Twitter-like Google service that allows you and others within a defined social group to post what's going on or what's interesting, is getting mixed reviews -- and not just from those who see no use for it, like you. Some of those who actually use it complain that the service is resource-hungry and intrusive. If you use it, its integration into Gmail means that you're notified of a 'buzz' via your Gmail inbox. It's easy to get rid of Buzz, though. From the Settings screen, locate and click the Buzz link among the available settings. From the 'Buzz choices' section, click 'Do not show Google Buzz in Gmail' and/or Disable Google Buzz. Selecting 'Do not show Google Buzz in Gmail' will simply remove the Buzz link from your Gmail. Disabling Buzz will remove any Buzz profile you've created as well as any posts (or buzzes) that you've made. -- DPA