Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium review

As much as I like Google Docs for word processing and spreadsheets, I find the online software clunky at times. So I was skeptical when I heard Microsoft is trying to sell its new version of Office as an online subscription.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the subscription gets you the same software you'd get buying it at a retail store. In fact, I'm using the new Office 2013 to write this review, and it feels as smooth as the customized version of Office 2010 I regularly use.

With an online subscription, you keep paying Microsoft to use the latest version of the software, rather than pay the company once for software that gets outdated over time. It's pricey, at $100 a year, compared with the traditional way of paying a one-time fee that starts at $140 and is good for years. Nonetheless, households with several computers will find subscriptions a good value, as one subscription is good for up to five Windows or Mac machines.

At first glance, Office 2013 resembles Office 2010, whether you buy it as a subscription or out of a box. There's a row of buttons - the ribbon - with quick access to the tools you need most. Files are compatible, so you can send Office 2013 documents to someone who has only Office 2010 (as I'm doing with this review).

What Office 2013 does, though, is embrace Microsoft's touch-screen philosophy. Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system, which came out last fall, enables touch-screen controls so desktop and laptop computers work more like tablets. It's Microsoft's way of addressing a challenge to PCs brought about by the popularity of the iPad and tablets running Google's Android system.

So with Office 2013, you can access those ribbon buttons and menu options with your finger, as long as you have a touch-screen monitor. You can also move your cursor by touching the spot on the screen where you want to insert a paragraph into a Word document or edit a formula in an Excel spreadsheet. Of course, you can use the old-fashioned mouse and keyboard commands instead.

A button at the top lets you switch between touch and mouse modes, though you can still touch in mouse mode and vice versa. In touch mode, buttons and menus are spaced farther apart to reduce the chance of accidentally hitting the wrong one.

Microsoft also designed Office 2013 to reflect the fact that people these days tend to have multiple devices - perhaps a desktop at work, a laptop at home and a tablet on the go.

When you're online and signed in with a free Microsoft account (such as Hotmail, Live or Outlook.com), Office will push you toward storing your files online through Microsoft's SkyDrive storage service. That way, a file you save at home will pop up at work with all the changes you made. No longer do you have to email files to yourself - or kick yourself for forgetting to do so. If you prefer, you can still store files the traditional way, on your hard drive.

Other features reflect our continual connectedness. You can insert an image into Word directly from an online service such as Flickr, for instance, without first saving it onto your computer.

A "read mode" in Word temporarily reformats your document into something that resembles an electronic book. Commands for editing documents disappear, so you're left with the functions you'd need most, such as defining a word or translating a phrase. Word can also convert PDF documents into Word format so that you can make changes more easily.

Word and the other Office programs can access an Office Store, which carries apps you can buy or get for free to extend the software's functionality. That was how I got a free Merriam-Webster dictionary for defining words in read mode. Sadly, it works only when you're online. That means I'd have to wait to look up "defenestrate" if, say, I'm near the window of a skyscraper without Wi-Fi.

That gets me to my frustrations with Google Docs. It works well when I have a steady Internet connection, less so when I don't. You can enable offline use, but it's not the same. Since I travel a lot, I want to know I'll be able to access my Office files anywhere, especially with this push to save everything online.

The good news is Office 2013 works quite well without an Internet connection. SkyDrive is an Internet-based storage service, but it can also automatically save copies of all your files on every computer you use. That way, you can still open files when you're offline. Any changes you make will sync with the online copy later. I've tricked it by making different changes from different computers. Word managed to merge them.

And as I mentioned earlier, you're getting the full version of Office installed on your computer, not a copy that runs on your Web browser over the Internet. That means you're not losing most of the program's functionality when you're offline.

I've had only a few days to try out the new Office, so there are plenty of hard-core functions I have yet to discover. I've focused on Word and Excel for my test. The basic, Office 365 Home Premium subscription package also comes with PowerPoint for presentations, OneNote for note-taking, Outlook for e-mail, Publisher for desktop publishing and Access for databases. Packages geared for businesses will come later.

Microsoft will continue selling software the traditional way, for a one-time fee for one Windows computer. I use "traditional" loosely, though. If you buy it at a retail store, you're getting only a 25-character code, which you use to activate the software after downloading it at home.
At any rate, packages start at $140 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote ($20 more than the comparable Office 2010 package). You get Outlook as well for $220 and all seven programs for $400. You can also buy them a la carte - $70 for OneNote and $110 for any of the others. Consider that just $30 more gets you four programs.

If you have just one computer, the one-time fee is clearly for you. If you have two, it might still be cheaper to buy it the traditional way. You'd pay $280 for the basic package, compared with $300 over three years. I'm still running Office software from 2006 on an old iMac. That's less than $25 a year at today's prices, compared with $100 for a subscription.

Of course, the subscription gets you more, including access to all seven programs, not just four. You can change which five computers work with the subscription if you upgrade a machine or send a kid to college. You also get 20 additional gigabytes of storage on SkyDrive, on top of the 7 GB that comes for free, plus 60 minutes of free international calls a month on Skype.

Although Microsoft hasn't updated Office for Apple computers yet, the subscription will let you install Office 2011 on a Mac and give you a new version when it comes out, likely next year. The value proposition will grow even more if Microsoft ever makes versions that run on the iPad and Android devices. For now, the only tablets supported are those running Windows.

Office 2013 will require either Windows 7 or 8. With the subscription, you also get Office On Demand, which allows you to temporarily install copies on additional machines, such as that of a friend you are visiting. It's not the full experience, but it'll do. You won't lose your documents if you end your subscription one day, but you'll be limited to viewing and printing them.

Besides Google Docs, I've also used a number of free or cheaper options, including OpenOffice and Apple's Pages and Numbers. Yet I've repeatedly found myself coming back to Microsoft's Office. It's not cheap, but you're getting something far more versatile, whether you decide on a subscription or just a one-time payment.

Microsoft Windows 8.1 Preview: Hands on

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the latest update to Windows is a "refined blend" of its older operating system for PCs and its new touch-enabled interface for more modern, mobile devices.

After some hands-on time with it, the update seems to me like a patch over an ever-widening chasm.

The issue is that there are over a billion personal computers that use some version of Windows as it existed until last October, when Microsoft unveiled Windows 8. All those PCs are responsive to mice and keyboards, not the touch screens and other input methods like voice and gestures that represent the future of computing. Making it easier to cross that bridge is one of the goals of Windows 8.1, a preview version of which Microsoft released Wednesday.

After spending several hours with devices running Windows 8.1, it remains unclear to me whether a touch-based environment is what traditional Windows users want to accomplish the productive tasks for which they've come to rely on Windows.

But Microsoft has added to 8.1 a grab bag of fun features that make the free update worthwhile.

One way Microsoft reaches into the past is by reviving the "Start" button in the operating system's traditional "Desktop" mode. It appears as a little Windows icon at the bottom left corner of the screen.

However, other than the location and its general look, the button doesn't do what it once did. A single tap brings you back to the "Modern" interface, instead of the traditional Start menu, which used to bring up a whole host of convenient items like recent programs and commonly used folders.An extended press brings up a list of complex settings functions - the kind that most people would probably rather leave to their tech department if they are fortunate enough to have one.

So, instead of bringing back a familiar environment, the revived "Start" button is mainly just another way of directing you to the new one.

Another way Microsoft attempts to appease its established PC user base is by allowing people to launch their computers directly into the "Desktop" environment. But again, with no way to access programs except through the "Modern" interface, there is little cause for celebration among traditionalists.

The main changes in Windows 8.1 offer an easier way to function inside its "Modern" environment, better more integrated search results, and a hint of what's possible in the future.

One feature that makes the new environment easier to navigate: Now, a screen called "All Apps" is just a swipe away from the "Modern" tile screen. Swiping up literally displays all the apps on the computer, not just the ones that you have made as favorites on the start screen. In the past, you had to swipe up from the bottom edge and tap another button to get there.

Unfortunately, the "All Apps" page feels like too much. An array of icons easily covers two full screens. Although you can re-organize the apps into categories or alphabetically, there are too many to make it easy to use.

It's easier to use the search function, which can either be brought up by swiping in from the right edge, or just typing when in the "Modern" tile screen.

Entertainers get terrific new billing in Microsoft's improved search function. Type in an artist's name, say Lily Allen, and Windows 8.1 brings up a lively and colorful sideways-scrollable page that shows big photos, her birth date, and a list of songs and videos followed by decent-sized renditions of websites.

Clicking on a play button alongside a song instantly plays it. You don't have to own the song, because Microsoft throws in the feature as part of its Xbox Music service - which inserts ads unless you pay a monthly fee. You can queue up all the top songs and even add them to a playlist for listening to later.

Windows 8.1 can also run on smaller devices, including Acer's Iconia W3, which has an 8.1-inch screen measured diagonally and works with a wireless keyboard that also acts as a stand. In the past, screens had to be about 10 inches or longer diagonally.

Some add-ins didn't really excite me. The ability to resize the split-screen, which lets you do more than one thing at once, lacked pizazz. On the Acer and even Microsoft's own Surface Pro, you can only split the screen in two, and only at fixed intervals. With the update, the screens can be half-and-half or roughly cover one-third or two-thirds of the screen, instead of one taking up a sliver as in Windows 8.

Another feature is a predictive text function. Windows 8.1 offers up three predictions for words you are typing on an onscreen keyboard when in certain apps like Mail. To me, the feature seemed to be more annoying than useful, even though you can select the options with sideways swipes on the space bar.

Yet another feature turned the camera into a motion detector. In one demo, Microsoft's new "Food and Drink" app lets users swipe through a recipe with mid-air hand gestures. In practice, this often failed, sometimes turning pages in the wrong direction or not reacting at all. Still, it's a way to struggle through a recipe if your hands are coated with sauce.

At Wednesday's presentation, Microsoft executives previewed future Windows functions that could come in handy, including voice recognition in apps and contextual understanding of spoken questions.

For example, corporate vice president Gurdeep Singh Pall demonstrated a prototype travel planning app that not only showed 3-D overhead views of cities but gave computer-voice tours of various monuments. Speaking the question "Who is the architect?" brought up a webpage showing the answer, simply because the building that the architect designed was in view in the maps app.

"Apps are going to have eyes, they're going to have ears, they're going to have a mouth," said Pall.

As of this month, Microsoft says its new Windows platform will have 100,000 apps, and the company made it clear it hopes developers make even more, incorporating some of the new tools it has made available to them.

Ballmer said in his keynote he hopes that Windows 8.1 also offers a "great path forward" for users of the millions of programs that work on older versions of Windows. By showing off a variety of enticing features of the new interface, however, it's clear that path leads through the "Modern" world. 

Apple is world's most valuable brand: Forbes

Global technology major Apple is the world's most valuable brand followed by Microsoft, Coca-Cola, IBM and Google, according to Forbes.

Apple has topped the 'World's Most Valuable List' compiled by Forbes magazine with a brand value of $104.3 billion, nearly twice other technology major Microsoft, which has a brand value of $56.7 billion.

"... the Apple name is as strong as ever. Apple is the most valuable brand in the world for a third straight time at $104.3 billion, up 20 percent over last year. It is worth nearly twice as much as any other brand on the planet by our count," Forbes said.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's brand value has remained flat over the past three years, as the company struggles to make a transition from PC to the mobile world, the magazine said.

"Growth has slowed, but it is still one of the most profitable brands in the world with operating margins of 34 percent in its latest fiscal year," it said.

With a brand value of $54.9 billion, Coca-Cola was ranked third in the list, followed by IBM ($50.7 billion), Google ($47.3 billion).

Among the top 10 brands, McDonald's, with a brand value of $39.4 billion, was ranked sixth, followed by General Electric ($34.2 billion), Intel ($30.9 billion), Samsung ($29.5 billion) and Louis Vuitton ($28.4 billion).

Brands from US-based companies make up just over half of the list of 100, with the next biggest representation from Germany (nine brands), France (eight) and Japan (seven).

No Indian company features in the list.

Technology brands are the most prevalent with 19, including six of the top 10.

Samsung, which came at No.9, had the strongest one-year gain of any brand in the top 100, up 53 percent to $29.5 billion. The company's value soared 136 percent over the past three years.

"Sales for Samsung's Galaxy S4 smartphone have been on fire and the company also benefits from its market leading position with memory chips," Forbes said.

Forbes, however, said the value of a brand can collapse in the complex, fast moving technology world.

Forbes had valued the Blackberry brand at $6.1 billion last year, but this year it stood at just $2.2 billion and has come out of the top 100 brands list.

Similarly, three years ago, Forbes had deemed the Nokia brand worth $27.3 billion, ninth highest in the world, while today it is worth $7 billion, which ranks the company at the 71st place.

Forbes valued the brands on three years of earnings and allocated a percentage of those earnings based on the role brands play in each industry. The 100 most valuable brands span 15 countries across 20 broad industry categories.

Microsoft attacks Google Chromebooks with new Scroogled video advertisement

Taking a fresh shot at Google, Microsoft has now released an ad that targets the Chromebook, Google's Chrome OS-based cloud-focused notebooks, as a part of its anti-Google 'Scroogled' campaign.

The new Scroogled ad features stars from American reality TV show, Pawn Stars, and features the setting of a pawn shop where people trade things and check their value. The ad features a woman walking into a pawn shop in the hope of trading a Chromebook gifted to her by her mother for a ticket to Hollywood. The dealer confronts her by asking what makes her think that it's worth that much to which she responds that it was a laptop. Following her response, the ad shifts to an aside with the shop dealer breaking into laughter and talking about the Chromebook, calling it a relatively new kind of device that runs just web based applications. "When you're not connected, it's pretty much a brick," he exclaims. He then talks about how a traditional PC utilises built-in applications like 'Office and iTunes' that work even when you're offline.

The scene shifts back to the shop where the dealer tells the woman that the Chromebook logo implies that the device is 'not a real laptop' and that it doesn't have Windows or Office. He goes on, saying that it doesn't do much at all without Wi-Fi, and that when you do get online, "Google tracks what you do so that they can sell ads," bringing the focus back to user privacy, which has been the central point of the Scroogled campaign.

"That's how you get Scroogled," the dealer says, following which another dealer, who's standing next to him asks what the term exactly meant. The first dealer then replies that Google is always trying to find more ways to make money off of people's personal information and that the Chromebook hardware makes it even easier for them. He reiterates in another aside that he can't buy something which is not what it appears to be, and that he doesn't want to get Scroogled.

Microsoft has also put a dedicated web destination on its Scroogled website where it has listed the problems plaguing Chromebook devices.

Chromebooks have been touted as no-frills low cost notebooks that relies on a cloud based set-up for applications and data storage, and is deeply integrated with Google's services. Unlike Windows-based devices, it doesn't come with a large number of native applications, out of the box.

The ad comes days after Microsoft started offering anti-Google merchandise for sale on its online store, saying that the Scroogled gear was a new way for people to express themselves and their misgivings about Google.

Microsoft started the Scroogled campaign in April through which it started attacking Google with a series of ad campaigns. The ads, which have appeared online, on television and in print, depict Google as a duplicitous company more interested in increasing profits and power than protecting people's privacy and providing unbiased search results.

 

 

Nokia Lumia 2020 tablet with 8-inch display to launch in Q1 2014: Report

Nokia is probably busy pushing out its recently announced Lumia 2520 tablet globally. However, a new report suggests that the Finnish manufacturer might unveil its next tablet, the alleged Lumia 2020, as early as Q1 next year.

 

According to a report by Digitimes citing sources familiar with the matter, Nokia has plans to expand its tablet portfolio by launching a new tablet, the Lumia 2020, and that the company would be targeting the mid-range tablet segment with it, while it targets the high-end with the Lumia 2520.

Nokia announced its first Windows RT tablet, the Lumia 2520, at Nokia World in October. The Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet runs Windows RT 8.1 and comes with a 10.1-inch full-HD IPS LCD display that boasts of enhanced sunlight legibility and a Corning Gorilla Glass 2 screen.

Earlier reports had suggested that Nokia might launch the rumoured Lumia 2020 at MWC 2014 alongside the Lumia 1820 Windows Phone.

Prolific tipster, @evleaks has already revealed that Nokia has codenamed Illusionist its second Windows RT tablet sporting an 8-inch tablet.

The Nokia Lumia 2020 aka Illusionist is thought to sport a similar design to the Lumia 2520 tablet, and that it would come with a lower Lumia model number to differentiate it from the larger 10.1-inch sibling. Further, the Nokia Lumia 2020 is said to be powered by a Qualcomm processor, would run Windows RT 8.1, just like the Lumia 2520 tablet and in addition would come with stylus support.

Earlier speculation had pointed to a Lumia 2320 name for the more affordable Illusionist tablet, similar to naming scheme of the two announced phablets from the company, the Lumia 1320 and Lumia 1520.

Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Panem Run game available for Android and iOS

Reliance Games and Lionsgate have brought the next chapter in The Hunger Games saga to mobile devices (Android and iOS)

 

Based on the film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which opened in theatres worldwide on November 22, 2013, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Panem Run mobile game puts the movie's action in the palms of players' hands. The game will employ both competitive and social elements, allowing players to challenge fellow Hunger Games fans to see who can bring glory to their District, achieve the greatest distance, and attain the highest score.

"With its epic story of struggling for survival, The Hunger Games franchise lets us recreate the competitive world of Panem in a social mobile game," said Manish Agarwal, CEO of Reliance Games. "In partnering with Lionsgate, we'll build a community of Hunger Games fans, teaming up to face unique challenges together as they run through the Districts of Panem.""

"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Panem Run mobile game is a fun and exciting complement to the film's spectacular action and story," said Danielle De Palma, Lionsgate Senior Vice President of Digital Marketing.

Low-cost 'nano-camera' developed that can operate at the speed of light

Researchers at MIT Media Lab have developed a $500 "nano-camera" that can operate at the speed of light. According to the researchers, potential applications of the 3D camera include collision-avoidance, gesture-recognition, medical imaging, motion-tracking and interactive gaming.

 

The team which developed the inexpensive "nano-camera" comprises Ramesh Raskar, Achuta Kadambi, Refael Whyte, Ayush Bhandari, and Christopher Barsi at MIT, and Adrian Dorrington and Lee Streeter from the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

The nano-camera uses the "Time of Flight" method to measure scenes, a method also used by Microsoft for its new Kinect sensor that ships with the Xbox One. With this Time of Flight, the location of objects is calculated by how long it takes for transmitted light to reflect off a surface and return to the sensor. However, unlike conventional Time of Flight cameras, the new camera will produce accurate measurements even in fog or rain, and can also correctly locate translucent objects.

What makes it difficult for conventional Time of Flight cameras to accurately measure the distance light has travelled (in a changing environment, along semi-transparent surfaces, or to an object in motion) is the creation of multiple reflections, which smear the original signal's reflection before being collected by the sensor, resulting in inaccurate data. To avoid the problem, the team used an encoding technique that is used in the telecommunications industry.

Raskar, associate professor of media arts and sciences, and leader of the Camera Culture group at the Media Lab, explains the new method: "We use a new method that allows us to encode information in time. So when the data comes back, we can do calculations that are very common in the telecommunications world, to estimate different distances from the single signal."

Kadambi adds: "By solving the multipath problem, essentially just by changing the code, we are able to unmix the light paths and therefore visualize light moving across the scene."

Raskar's group had unveiled a trillion-frame-per-second "femto-camera" in 2011, which costs roughly $500,000 to build. The technique scans a scene with a femtosecond (one quadrillionth of a second) impulse of light, and then uses extremely expensive laboratory-grade optical equipment to capture an image each time.

The team's "nano-camera" instead measures the scene with a continuous-wave signal, oscillating at nanosecond periods (one thousand-millionth of a second). According to the researchers, this means the nano-camera can reach a "time resolution" (size of interval between images) within one order of magnitude of femtophotography, while costing just $500. They call the technique nanophotography, which is claimed to deliver similar results to femtography, with marginally lower quality, and a fraction of the cost.

Sony Cyber-shot RX10 with 20.2-megapixel Exmor R sensor launched at Rs. 84,990

Sony has launched its new advanced point and shoot camera in India, the Cyber-shot RX10, which the company is calling a bridge-style camera. It has been priced at Rs. 84,990, and will be available in the market at the end of December 2013.

The Sony Cyber-shot RX10 features a 20.2 effective megapixels (approximate) 1.0-type back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor, which is found on the DSC-RX100 II, and according to Sony is around four times bigger than a standard compact camera's sensor.

The Cyber-shot RX10 features a fixed Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-200mm (35mm equivalent) F2.8 lens, which according to the company features 'superb levels of clarity and resolving power'. The lens' ability to focus at distances as short as 3cm supposedly also make the RX10 ideal for detail-rich macro shots.

The wide F2.8 maximum aperture should be effective in low light, and the lens' 7-blade iris diaphragm should also assist in creating circular background defocus ('bokeh') effects. Also onboard, is Optical SteadyShot (image stabilization), supposedly effective also at longer focal lengths.

The Sony Cyber-shot RX10 is powered by a BIONZ X processing engine, which according to Sony offers approximately a 3X improvement in processing speed compared to previous BIONZ processors. Autofocus is apparently also speedy and responsive, with Sony crediting the new Direct Drive SSM mechanism.

As for video recording, the RX10 can capture full-HD 1080p video, at a selectable 50p (AVCHD progressive) or cinematic 25p frame rates, with full control over P/A/S/M exposure modes. A 'clear' HDMI output allows video to be reviewed on an external monitor or recorded to a separate storage device.

A built-in audio level meter and adjustable levels are also found on the Sony Cyber-shot RX10, apart from microphone jack and headphone output for accurate level monitoring. Sony is also offering the optional XLR-K1M adapter kit, allowing the addition of an external microphone via the balanced XLR terminal.

The RX10 features a 3-inch 'bright 3.0-type White Magic' LCD, with 1290k dots, apart from a 1440k dot high-contrast Tru-Finder electronic viewfinder. Also onboard is Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity, and it is compatible with Android and iOS devices, using the PlayMemories Mobile Version 3.0.

Sony is also highlighting the RX10's light, rigid magnesium alloy body, and it apparently features dust and moisture-resistant seams and control seals for extra durability on location. The DSLR-like build is meant to offer easy access to a wide range of manual buttons, seven customisable buttons, and a top-mounted LCD.

Acccording to Sony, there's a range of compatible accessories available, such as the LCJ-RXE jacket case, the ECM-XYST1M Stereo Microphone, the HVL-F43M flash, or the battery-powered HVL-LEIR1 Video IR light.

Angry Birds Go! features in-app purchases as expensive as $100: Report

It looks like Rovio's upcoming kart racing game, Angry Birds Go!, will be full of in-app purchases with some priced as high as $100.

While the game will be widely launched on December 11, the Finnish developer has now launched it in New Zealand via Apple's iTunes App Store as part of a soft launch. Mobile gaming focused website Pocket Gamer, has already previewed the game, and discovered that it's a free download but features a number of in-app purchases including cars, energy systems, pay-for power-ups, multiple currencies and advertising priced as high as $100.

The Angry Birds Go! preview also describes the gameplay, mentioning that the action can be controlled with tilt or touch but one can't jump and drift. Races can be started by catapulting birds from the start line.

The report points out that Angry Birds Go! power-ups can be used free of charge once or twice following which one needs to use premium currency, in the form of gems to buy power-ups. To purchase gems after you run out of the initially allocated quantity, you need to pay in real cash.

Karts can also be upgraded through in-app purchases, and most notably, there is even a Big Bang Special Edition car, that costs a whopping $99.99.  It even uses a waiting system wherein you'll need to "reenergise" your player by paying in gems, or have to wait for it to be ready on its own.

While there's still time for the game's full launch, and there might be some changes, as the initial reaction has been of outrage, similar to how mobile gaming enthusiasts reacted to games, like Real Racing 3, which were full of irritating in-app purchases.

Rovio released the gameplay trailer of Angry Birds Go!, in October. It is a kart-racing game that brings the Angry Birds characters to a brand new downhill kart racing set-up.

The game would be available worldwide on December 11 on all major mobile platforms including Android, iOS, Windows Phone 8 and even BlackBerry 10, via respective app stores.

Angry Birds Go! will be the eighth game in the popular series, following the original Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds Space, Angry Birds Star Wars, Angry Birds Star Wars II and Angry Birds Friends, and excluding the Bad Piggies spinoff. 

Google officially launches its election portal in India

After Facebook, Google has jumped on the bandwagon of polls in India, the world's biggest democracy, by setting up an election portal that gives all polls and politics related news to users in India.

 

The US-based search engine major Thursday launched its election portal which also provides information on political parties.

"Election portal will serve as a one-stop destination to help voters get answers to their elections and voting-related queries to make an informed decision," Google said in official blog.
In the first phase of the launch, the portal will cover news information and videos related to state elections in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram covering news from leading publications and broadcasters both in English and Hindi.

Users will also be able to watch content hosted by YouTube partners on elections and links to Hangouts done by political representatives in the recent past.

Earlier this month, social networking site Facebook joined hands with the Association for Democratic Reforms to help the voters access election candidates' criminal, financial, educational, professional information directly on their mobile via Facebook using USSD technology.

Facebook launched 'Register to Vote' feature, which seeks to promote its users to exercise their voting rights.

The feature encourages users to add on his/her Facebook timeline as a life event that the person has registered to vote and share this story with other connected users.

With over 200 million Internet users in the country, the Internet audience in India has reached a critical scale and it will play an important role in influencing decisions of a large proportion of the urban Indian population in the upcoming elections, Google said.

"Elections related search queries on Google have shown a considerable increase and the interest in news information related to elections and politics have started to peak," Google India Head of Public Policy and Government Relations Chetan Krishnaswamy said.

Leading political parties are active on most social media platforms, and users will be able to access all information sent out by the political parties on platforms like YouTube, Google+ and connect directly with the candidates in their constituency, he added.

Is Feedly a worthy replacement of Google Reader?

On July 1, we say goodbye to Google Reader, a handy tool for bringing headlines and articles from your favorite websites into a single place.

 

With Reader, I've been able to see at a glance all the updates from various news services, blogs and company websites I follow. Although many of these items relate to work, I have added a few fun topics, too, including news on Antarctica and a daily dose of passive aggressive notes that people send each other.

I have spent a lot of time curating Reader, so I'm not keen on seeing it die.

Fortunately, there's an afterlife. Google has made it easy to move your list of sites you follow, known as feeds, to another service. And many of those rival services have made it easy to accept those feeds, especially after Google said in March that it would retire Reader.

Reader's demise comes as little surprise. Google says usage has declined since Reader made its debut in 2005.

RSS feeds - for really simple syndication - used to be a popular way to keep track of multiple websites without having to visit each and every one. Content comes to you, through readers such as Google Reader. More recently, though, Twitter and Facebook have performed a similar role in discovering content. I myself have logged on to Reader less frequently because keeping up with more than 150 feeds from dozens of sites became overwhelming.

Yet I still check it now and then for a glimpse of what's out there.

As July 1 approached, I looked at a half-dozen alternative services. All of them are free, like Reader. It didn't take long to find one that exceeds what Reader offers in many ways, though a few omissions will leave me missing Google's offering.

The service that stands out is Feedly. An update available Wednesday allows Feedly to run on just about any major Web browser. The service also is available through apps on the iPhone, the iPad and Android devices.

Transferring your feeds from Reader is easy.

Most other services require you to create a data file of those feeds using a Google tool called Takeout. It's fairly straightforward, but you then have to save the file to your computer and import that to the service. In one case, only one of the more than 150 feeds survived the transfer because of some glitch.

With Feedly, you can skip that step. Simply log in with your Google account, and all that gets done automatically. There's also no need to create and remember a separate Feedly account. You use your Google credentials each time you're back.

On Reader, I have my feeds organized by category into folders. Those categories remain intact on Feedly, though they appear alphabetical rather than topical, as I had arranged them on Reader. It isn't too difficult to reorder them.

Feedly excels in highlighting the most popular items from all your feeds, based on sharing and other interactions on Feedly and elsewhere. Simply visit a page called "Today." Under the default layout, you see headlines and the first sentence or two of each item. You can click on any item for more.

You can also share the item on a number of social networking sites. That freedom isn't available on Reader, which confines sharing to Google's own Plus service.

My four main complaints with Feedly
1. You can save a link to read later, but it would have been better had Feedly fetched those items as well so you can read them offline.

2. Although the service lets you email items to others, you have to go through stand-alone software such as Outlook, which is often tied to your work account. By contrast, Reader lets you email over the Web using Google's own Gmail service.

3. With Reader, items are automatically marked as read as I scroll down, so that they won't reappear the next time. Feedly does that, too, in a non-default layout that most resembles Reader's. That part is good. But while Feedly offers additional layout options, it doesn't take full advantage of its greater breadth. It would have been nice to have auto-marking when scrolling in those layouts as well.

4. Many websites let you easily add their feeds by clicking on a button. Reader is usually among the options, but Feedly isn't yet. Instead, you must copy and paste the Web address for the feed into Feedly. But Feedly is better than Reader at suggesting feeds to add, if you don't have specific ones in mind for a given topic.

I did try one other service that makes it as easy as Feedly to transfer feeds from Reader and discover new ones. But that service, called Pulse, does require you to set up a separate Pulse account or use Facebook's - not Google's. If you can get past that added hassle, Pulse does the rest of the work for you once you log in to your Google account. There's no Google data file to create, save and import.

Unfortunately, articles are presented as tiles, similar to what you see in Microsoft's oft-criticized Windows 8 operating system. That works fine when you're choosing apps on a tablet computer. On desktop and laptop computers, I find a list much easier to read and scroll through. I had a backlog of more than 20,000 articles, and I wasn't about to click on 20,000 squares.

There are dozens of other services I didn't get a chance to try. Some of them are more geared toward mobile devices. Others are still in development. For example, a popular site called Digg promises one on June 26, just five days before Reader's cutoff.

I'm sure there's one out there that matches or exceeds what Feedly offers, but I saw no need to look further.

Feedly has tripled its user base to 12 million since Google announced Reader's retirement. The growth has given Feedly incentive to work on new features. Feedly has also designed the system so that outside developers can build apps for it. You can use one to run Feedly on BlackBerry phones, for instance.

Feedly isn't perfect, but switching to it will make Reader's demise easier to accept.

TiVo Roamio review

In many ways, TiVo's digital video recorders have become redundant as cable and satellite TV companies offer their own DVR services. Yet the company that pioneered DVRs 14 years ago keeps churning out new products.

Avid television viewers will appreciate that. The fifth-generation TiVos, called Roamio, continue the company's tradition of giving you much more than you can get from your cable or satellite company. That includes the ability to watch recorded shows when you're away from home, starting this fall.

But you'll also pay much more for the experience - $400 for the mid-range model, plus a monthly service fee of $15. By contrast, you can often get DVR service through your TV provider for a comparable monthly fee, with no extra equipment to buy.

If you don't watch a lot of television, Roamio isn't for you. It would be like going to a five-star restaurant when all you want is bread. But Roamio is a worthwhile investment if you have hundreds of television channels and Internet video services and can't figure out where to start.

Like other DVRs, you can pause live television to answer the phone or the door. You can rewind live sporting events and create your own replays. Get home 15 minutes late? You can start watching a show from the beginning as it's still being recorded.

Where TiVo has excelled is in helping you find programs to record. You can create wish lists of favorite actors and have TiVo automatically record movies or talk shows they appear in. You can also do the same with keywords, such as "national park" or "dolphins." You can even have TiVo offer suggestions based on your past viewing, though I have found its picks dubious at times.
TiVos also integrate TV shows and movies from Internet video services such as Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Hulu. When you search for "Breaking Bad," for instance, you get a list of episodes the AMC channel is showing over the next two weeks plus all the episodes available on Netflix or Amazon. To watch through TiVo, you still have to get a Netflix subscription or buy individual episodes through Amazon, but it's good to know you can get past episodes there. You can also search for related video on YouTube and see what other shows cast members from "Breaking Bad" are in.
The new TiVo has all that, plus suggestions on what to watch now, rather than just what to record in the future. It's based partly on what other TiVo users are watching at the moment or have watched in that time slot in the past.
Roamio also lets you customize the on-screen television listings. If you're in the mood for a movie, you can have TiVo show you just the movies when you scroll through the listings. You can customize that further and scroll through just comedies or documentaries. Instead of movies, you can also scroll through just sports, news shows or kids programming.
As is the case with previous TiVos, if there are channels you never watch, such as something in Korean or Russian, you can have TiVo remove them from your lineup. Shows on those channels will be filtered out of listings and searches. You can also do that with Internet services you have no interest in paying for.
Roamio also has a number of hardware improvements, mostly on the mid-level Roamio Plus ($400) and the high-end Roamio Pro ($600)

• Those two models will let you watch live or record up to six shows at once. That's up from a maximum of four. (The $200 base model has four tuners, up from two.)

• Both will let you watch your recorded shows on an iPhone or iPad. Before, you needed a separate $130 TiVo Stream box. Streaming is currently limited to iPhones and iPads connected to your home wireless network, but TiVo will start offering out-of-home streaming this fall. Users will be able to stream video in various ways, including through a hotel Wi-Fi on the road. Android streaming is promised by early next year.

• All three models come with a remote that uses radio signals rather than an infrared beam. What that means is you don't have to point the remote at the TiVo.

• All three models also have Wi-Fi built in, so you no longer need to attach an Ethernet cable or buy a separate TiVo Wi-Fi adapter for $90.

• The Roamio offers speed improvements over the previous model, which you'll notice when navigating menus. That said, the system did hang on me for a few seconds now and then as TiVo sifted through all the data.

 
The base model comes with 500 gigabytes of storage, enough for 75 hours of high-definition recordings. The Plus model, which is the one I reviewed, has 1 terabyte for 150 hours, while the Pro has 3 terabytes for 450 hours. That's nearly 19 days of TV without any sleep. There's even more room for non-HD recordings.

If you bought a new TiVo recently, you probably don't need to upgrade. If you want the streaming, you can simply buy the TiVo Stream device. It will get out-of-home streaming, too, when that's available. You can also get a device called the Slingbox, which essentially mirrors over the Internet what's being shown on your home TV. TiVo has at least one advantage over the Slingbox: It lets you and whoever's home watch different shows.

Roamio isn't compatible with satellite TV or video service through AT&T's U-verse.

It works with cable TV service, but you'll need to keep it. While the base model can accommodate over-the-air broadcasts, the Plus and the Pro models can't process signals from antennas. You would be stuck with TiVo as a streaming device, which isn't its strong suit. Both Roku and Apple TV offer access to many more Internet services than TiVo. TiVo is largely limited to Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon.com and a few others. That said, the Roamio has software changes that's designed to make future apps easier to write.

Game machines such as the Wii U and phones such as Samsung's Galaxy S4 offer apps that let you find shows and control the TV from the device. TiVo can replace your TV's remote, too, but it's expensive if that's all you want.

I have stopped channel surfing since I got my first TiVo in 2001. There's always something better to watch now that TiVo has helped me find and record programming. After just a few hours with Roamio, I was discovering even more shows and movies I want to watch.
And with streaming video, it does a good job of finding all that content. With one search, I can tell that Netflix has only the first four and a half seasons of "Breaking Bad." That same search tells me that if I want more recent episodes, I need to buy them through Amazon Instant Video or wait for reruns on AMC. With Roku, I have to search for online content one service at a time.

You can probably cobble together a bunch of services and devices that do what TiVo does. With the new Roamio, TiVo is the one that does it all and does it well.

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 with 5.2-inch display, Android 4.3 launched

Samsung has announced the successor to the Galaxy Grand, the Galaxy Grand 2. The South Korean handset maker has not revealed the price for Galaxy Grand 2 and has also not announced the availability details for the smartphone.

 

The Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean out-of-the-box. The Galaxy Grand 2 is a dual-SIM device with support for GSM+GSM. It features a 5.2-inch HD TFT display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels.


The Galaxy Grand 2 is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor alongside 1.5GB of RAM. It sports an 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera accompanied by an LED flash. It also houses a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes with 8GB inbuilt storage, which is further expandable up to 64GB via microSD card.
Connectivity options on the Galaxy Grand 2 include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS/ AGPS, micro-USB and 3G (HSPA+).

The smartphone measures 146.8x75.3x8.9mm and weighs about 163 grams. The Galaxy Grand 2 packs a 2600mAh battery that can deliver up to 17 hours of talktime, although no standby time detailed.

The Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 will be available in Black, Pink and White colour variants in select regions.

Samsung has decided to pre-load the Galaxy Grand 2 with some some of the popular apps seen on flagship smartphones, Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3, like Story Album, which can organise pictures by timelines; S Translator, company's proprietary translation service; S Travel, which offers guides and travel details; Samsung Hub, company's own content service that offers access to music, videos and games. The phone also comes with Group Play, a feature first seen on Galaxy S4, which lets users play music or games together, as well as share documents.


Mobiles launched in November 2013
Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 key specifications

• 5.2-inch HD TFT display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels
• 1.2GHz quad-core processor
• 1.5GB of RAM
• Dual-SIM (GSM+GSM)
• 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash
• 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera
• 8GB inbuilt storage, which is further expandable up to 64GB via microSD card
• Android 4.3 Jelly Bean
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS/ AGPS, micro-USB and 3G (HSPA+)
• 2600mAh
• 146.8x75.3x8.9mm
• 163 grams

India lags behind Bhutan, Nepal and Zimbabwe in Internet download speeds: Ookla

The Internet infrastructure in India is improving with broadband speeds going up, though penetration is still low due to the high cost of bandwidth. However, the country still lags behind countries like Bhutan, Cambodia, Nepal, Nigeria, Laos and Zimbabwe when it comes to Internet download speeds.

According to Ookla's Net Index, the average download speed in India was 4.18Mbps, ranking it at 130th position. In contrast, the average download speed in Nigeria was 5.14Mbps, while Nepal had an average download speed of 4.92Mbps, Cambodia had 4.66Mbps, Laos had 4.73Mbps, Bhutan had 4.41Mbps, and Zimbabwe had 4.20Mbps.

The top five positions were taken by Hong Kong at 71.22Mbps, Singapore at 52.75Mbps, Romania at 50.26Mbps, South Korea at 47.20Mbps and Sweden at 42.35Mbps in terms of download speeds. The US ranked 31 with an average download speed of 20.74Mbps, while the global average was 16.20Mbps.

Countries such as Afghanistan, Malawi, Cuba, Benin and Gambia were at the bottom with average download speeds of 1.13Mbps, 1.16Mbps, 1.21Mbps, 1.36Mbps and 1.46Mbps, respectively.

In terms of upload speeds, India's position was a little better as it ranked at 93rd position with an average upload speed of 2.91Mbps. Hong Kong recorded the highest average upload speed at 58.99Mbps, followed by South Korea at 40.06Mbps, Singapore at 37.14Mbps, Macau at 36.48Mbps and Andorra at 35.98Mbps. The US recorded an average upload speed of 6.30Mbps while the global average was 7.08Mbps.

According to Ookla, the company that offers Speedtest.net and its mobile apps which help in comparing and ranking consumer download speeds around the globe, the data is based on over 1.5 billion records. The company claims this is the largest number of broadband speed and quality results ever compiled.

As per the company, the results are based on millions of recent test results from Speedtest.net. "The value is the rolling mean throughput in Mbps over the past 30 days where the mean distance between the client and the server is less than 300 miles," it informs.

Samsung Galaxy S5 to come in two variants, ship alongside next Galaxy Gear: Report

Samsung's next flagship smartphone, expected to be called the Galaxy S5, might still be far from confirmed, but a new report suggests that the device will hit mass production in January 2014. The report also expects the speculated successor of Samsung Galaxy Gear to be launched alongside the rumoured Galaxy S5.

 

Korean publication, ET News reports that the South Korean manufacturer plans to release two versions of the alleged Galaxy S5. As per the report, there will be two variants of the Galaxy S5: a premium variant which will sport a metal chassis and a flexible OLED, and a variant which will come with the usual plastic body, as found on other Galaxy smartphones.

Earlier this week, a new set of images purportedly revealing the supposed metal frames of the rumoured Galaxy S5 was spotted online.

Further, the report speculates that Samsung will initially manufacture around 8,00,000 to 1 million units of the alleged Galaxy S5 in January, and will increase the number up to 6 million units in February. Samsung is likely to release the Galaxy S5 in March or April 2014, according to the report.

Sammobile has revealed some of the specifications of the alleged Galaxy S5, with two variants expected to be powered by 64-bit Exynos chipset and Snapdragon chipset (no word on this would be the new Snapdragon 805 chipset. Also expected on board is 3GB of RAM, a 16-megapixel camera, a 4000mAh battery and Android 4.4 KitKat with TouchWiz UI on top.

Earlier reports had suggested that Samsung's next-generation of high-end smartphones, including the rumoured Galaxy S5, would be equipped with a 16-megapixel camera, but didn't indicate the type of module.

In addition, the ET News also claims that Samsung is also busy developing the successor to the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, and that it might launch along with the alleged Galaxy S5. The next generation Samsung Galaxy Gear is said to be 15 to 20 percent thinner than the current smartwatch. As of now, there is no word on specifications of the rumoured Galaxy Gear smartwatch.

A recent report has suggested that sales figures Samsung's first wearable device, the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, had been disappointing. However, Samsung countered the claim immediately after, and said that it sold 800,000 smartwatch units in 2 months.

Twitter drops direct messaging from all followers

It was fun while it lasted, especially for spammers, direct marketers and those whose social media behavior borders on stalking, but Twitter has decided to unceremoniously disable a new direct message feature after just one month. 

Avid tweeters may have noticed that the "accept DM (Direct Messages) from anyone" option has vanished overnight from the service, meaning that from now on in order to send a direct message to another Twitter user, you will have to follow that person and he or she will also have to follow you.

Twitter, like many of the current generation of web companies, has a habit of testing new functions or features out and then dropping them again, often without warning. And the disappearance of DM did not come with any sort of prior announcement or explanation.

However, the move is leading some in the tech world to speculate that the option to direct message anyone on Twitter may soon return as part of a standalone messaging app. But in the meantime, celebrity tweeters around the world can breathe a sigh of relief: the nightmare is over.

Google launches Newsstand for Android app

More than just a storefront for buying digital magazines and newspapers, the new service is aimed at helping users manage all of their digital subscriptions.

Therefore, the launch of the Newsstand for Android app is essentially replacing Google's Google Play Magazines and Google Currents apps.

As Google highlights in a blog post about the launch, app users will be able to subscribe to newspapers such as the FT and the Wall Street Journal, HD magazines including Rolling Stone and the Economist, but will also be able to launch the app to keep up with blogs they follow and to manage RSS feeds to a host of news sites -- so think Flipboard.

Google says that any information, such as RSS feeds stored in the Google Currents app, will automatically transfer over to Newsstand for Android when the new app is downloaded, and that the Google Play Magazines app will be replaced by the Google Play Newsstand on the Google Play Stores in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia in the coming days.

Review: Xbox One

If you're a video-game aficionado, you know the answer: It's Microsoft's latest game console, and it arrives in North America and Europe on Friday. To gamers, Xbox means cutting-edge adventures such as Halo and Gears of War, and well as the brand that brought online competition to the masses through Xbox Live.

But Microsoft wants you to think of Xbox One as more than a game machine. You can use it to watch movies on Netflix and Hulu Plus. You can hook it up to your cable box to watch live TV. You can Skype your grandma and share family photos through the SkyDrive storage service.
Still, if you're considering buying an Xbox One this week, you probably have one thing in mind: games.

The Xbox One is a chunky black box that's a little larger than its predecessor, the Xbox 360. It arrives with a respectable library of 22 titles, all sold separately. By and large, they look just as pretty as their counterparts on Sony's PlayStation 4, which came out last week.

A group of visiting journalists try out the improved motion-detecting capabilities of the new Kinect controller for Microsoft's next-generation Xbox One entertainment and gaming console system. (AP Photo)

 

Both the Xbox One and the PS4 are state-of-the-art game machines, and for some, the difference will come down to price. At $500, the Xbox One costs $100 more.

The most significant distinction between the two is the re-engineered Kinect camera that's packaged with every Xbox. Like the one for its Xbox 360 predecessor, it lets you use voice commands and gestures to navigate on-screen menus and some apps, but it's much more precise and responsive than before. On the PS4, a similar camera sells for $60, but Sony's pitching it as an accessory rather than an essential part of the experience.

Setting up the Xbox was easy. You connect the Kinect to the Xbox and the Xbox to the TV. You sign in or create a free Microsoft account, download some software updates and calibrate the Kinect. Despite earlier threats that the console would need to be always connected to the Internet, Microsoft now says constant connection isn't necessary after the initial setup.
On-screen menus are simpler and less cluttered than the Xbox 360's.

Kinect Group Program Manager Scott Evans (R), shows a guest the newest generation Kinect sensor for the Xbox One during a press event unveiling Microsoft's new Xbox One in Redmond, Washington. (Reuters Photo)

 

The "Home" section is dominated by a large image of your most recently opened game or app. Smaller icons show the four apps you used before that. To the left is your user profile. To the right are links to available games and Xbox Live recommendations.

The most innovative button on the Home page is called Snap. It lets you shift one app to the upper right corner of the screen while using another app. For example, I played Forza Motorsport 5 on the main screen while a live broadcast of a college football game ran in the Snap window. If the gridiron action got interesting, I could quickly switch it to the main display.

The other main sections of the user interface are Pins, where you can arrange icons for your favorite apps, and Store, where you can buy new games, movies and music.

The entire interface can be navigated by voice command with the Kinect. To watch live TV, for example, you say, Xbox, watch TV. To play a game like "Killer Instinct," you say, Xbox, go to 'Killer Instinct.'

After a few hours, I got pretty good at getting the machine to follow my orders. As a longtime Xbox user, however, I still found it easier and more intuitive to use the Xbox One's handheld controller, which looks and feels similar to previous Xbox controllers.

Kareem Choudhry, left, development manager for Microsoft Corp.'s Kinect motion-sensing device for the Xbox, demonstrates the level of detail in the camera of the new Kinect for the next-generation Xbox One entertainment and gaming console system to a visiting journalist, right, during a demonstration. (AP Photo)

 

You can also navigate the on-screen menus using Xbox SmartGlass, a free app for iOS, Android or Windows 8 devices, including Microsoft's Surface tablet. If you're in the middle of a game, SmartGlass can display additional instructions or the Achievements you've earned. It's far from essential, but it could be interesting to see what developers do with that second screen.

The Xbox One uses custom-designed chips from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. It cannot play games for the Xbox 360, but Xbox One owners probably will want only state-of-the-art titles anyway. After initially threatening a digital-rights scheme that would have blocked games previously played on other Xbox Ones, Microsoft reversed course and now says you'll be able to buy, sell and trade used games as much as you want.

Microsoft promises eight times the graphical performance of the Xbox 360. The images in the games I tried are on par with the PS4's - as detailed and realistic as anything yet produced by a living-room console.


Forza Motorsport 5, the latest auto racing simulator from Microsoft's Turn 10 Studios, takes full advantage of the Xbox One's graphic oomph. You can see the attention to detail in every car. From the driver's seat, you can read every instrument on the dashboard. The beauty extends to the gorgeous environments, from the Bernese Alps to the streets of Prague to famous racetracks like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Ryse: Son of Rome, an original adventure from the German studio Crytek, revels in the glory of ancient Athens. But gamers are more likely to be stunned by its copious gore, as centurions hack and slash their way through hordes of barbarian invaders.

Ryse tries to incorporate voice commands as well. At times, you're expected to orally order your legions to charge the enemy or block incoming attacks. But you can accomplish the same things by pressing buttons, which I resorted to after the troops ignored my shouts a few times.


And therein lies the test for Microsoft's Kinect-centric strategy. I've been using the Kinect to explore the Xbox One's menus - but when I'm immersed in a game, it feels more like a gimmick.

However you decide to control it, though, the Xbox One is a versatile, powerful machine that should be able to deliver inventive high-definition games for a long time. Between it and the PlayStation 4, the new generation of gaming is off to a roaring start.

Facebook launches Internet.org Initiative To Connect The Unconnected World

900 × 505 - thisiszone.com

Facebook announced that it has partnered with Samsung, Nokia, Ericsson, MediaTek, Opera and Qualcomm to launch a project called Internet.org, to make the worldwide web available to two-thirds of the planet still not connected to the Internet with internet access via cheaper devices, better business models and better infrastructure.

According to Facebook, only 2.7 billion people — just over a third of the world’s population — around the world currently have access to the Internet. And, the goal of Internet.org is to connect the remaining five billion people and provide the same opportunities enjoyed by those in the connected third of the world.

“There are huge barriers in developing countries to connecting and joining the knowledge economy,” Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, said in a statement. “Internet.org brings together a global partnership that will work to overcome these challenges, including making internet access available to those who cannot currently afford it.”

Improving the global economy is certainly a laudable goal, although Facebook stands to benefit from this, too.

The Internet.org website is currently live and provides an overview of its mission and goals, and in coming weeks, it is expected to feature interviews with technology leaders and experts, along with the latest news on the project’s progress.

Biggtest Cyber Attack In History Slows Down The Global Internet

 

The internet around the globe has been slowed down in what security experts are describing as the biggest cyber-attack of its kind in history.

“Based on the reported scale of the attack, which was evaluated at 300 Gigabits per second, we can confirm that this is one of the largest DDoS operations to date,” online security firm Kaspersky Lab said in a statement, “There may be further disruptions on a larger scale as the attack escalates.”

 It is having an impact on popular services like Netflix – and experts worry it could escalate to affect banking and email systems.

Spamhaus, a group based in both London and Geneva, is a non-profit organisation that aims to help email providers filter out spam and other unwanted content.

To do this, the group maintains a number of blocklists – a database of servers known to be being used for malicious purposes.

Recently, Spamhaus blocked servers maintained by Cyberbunker, a Dutch web host that states it will host anything with the exception of child pornography or terrorism-related material.

Spamhaus said it was able to cope as it has highly distributed infrastructure and technology in a number of countries.

What Will The World Look Like When We Connect The Unconnected, Internet Of Everything Info-graphic By Cisco

As technology advances exponentially, the Internet won’t just connect the things we use, it will connect everything in more meaningful ways. The possibilities for transforming business and our lives are endless.

The connected world will enhance our lives tremendously  as even one unassuming element will have sweeping implications for business, social interactions, and well-being in general. Amazing things will happen, and amazing experiences will be created.

Cisco published an info graphic depicting what will the world look like when we connect the unconnected.

See the info-graphic below: