Friday 29 November 2013
Monday 25 November 2013
Twitter News!!!
Twitter toughens encryption to thwart online snooping
San Francisco: Twitter on Friday announced it has toughened the encryption of traffic at the globally popular one-to-many messaging service to thwart online snooping.
Twitter followed in the footsteps of Google and Facebook, adding a layer of security called Perfect Forward Secrecy to protect data that users would like kept from prying eyes.
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"If an adversary is currently recording all Twitter users' encrypted traffic, and they later crack or steal Twitter's private keys, they should not be able to use those keys to decrypt the recorded traffic."
The non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation is among online rights champions who advocate for this kind of added protection on personal Internet traffic, according to San Francisco-based Twitter.
"We are writing this not just to discuss an interesting piece of technology, but to present what we believe should be the new normal for web service owners," Twitter said of the announcement.
"A year and a half ago, Twitter was first served completely over HTTPS," the company added. "Since then, it has become clearer and clearer how important that step was to protecting our users' privacy."
US Internet titans whose businesses are based on maintaining the trust of users have been kept to strengthen privacy protection in the wake of disclosures of broad scale cyber spying by the National Security Agency.
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed US surveillance on a global scale, straining Washington's ties with key allies and putting pressure on Internet firms to show people that their online privacy is being guarded.
Among the disclosures were spy tools for decoding data and a practice of saving encrypted information so that it might be unscrambled in the future.
Google News!!!
Google patents software to help you manage social media presence
London: Google has reportedly patented plans for software that would
help people better manage their social media presence by posting on the
user's behalf.
The software slowly learns how one reacts on social networks and can
mimic their usual responses to updates and messages from friends and
relations to help cope with the daily data deluge.
According to the BBC, the software also analyses continuing interaction
and flags messages that demands a more personal response.
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In the patent, Bhatia envisions a sophisticated system that collects information about all the different social networks someone has joined and tracks what and how they respond to different types of messages, notifications, status changes, videos, images and links sent to them.
The report said that instead of writing every response individually or clicking buttons to 'like' or forward messages, the software would generate suggested responses which a person could simply agree to be posted on their behalf.
Meanwhile, social media technologist Hadley Beeman said that the subtleties of human interaction might undermine the ability of Google's suggested system to pick out what matters most and flag it appropriately.
Friday 22 November 2013
Samsung Mobile News!
Samsung likely to introduce 'wraparound display' in 2014
Bloomberg has claimed that Samsung will release a handset a three-sided display design, which will allow users to read what's on screen even when a device is viewed at extreme angles.
According to The Verge, in which device the wraparound screen would be incorporated isn't clear yet but Bloomberg has claimed that the product launch would come sometime during the second half of 2014.
The report said that the display is based on the same Youm panels used in the Galaxy Round, which Samsung released just last month.
Facebook Users in India
India to have world's largest Facebook population by 2016
Washington: Indians are increasingly logging into their Facebook and Twitter accounts, with the country recording the highest social networking growth of 37.4 per cent this year, according to a new study.
India will also have the world's largest Facebook population by 2016, research firm eMarketer found.
India, with the highest growth this year, will increase user numbers by 37.4 per cent, while Indonesia's numbers will climb 28.7 per cent and Mexico will grow its social network user base by 21.1 per cent.
All three of those countries are also high-growth areas for Facebook, the world's largest social network, which eMarketer estimates will reach a worldwide monthly user base of 1.026 billion this year.
The US remains the single country with the greatest number of Facebook users, at 146.8 million this year, and India comes in a distant second.
But with India's large population and high expected growth rate, eMarketer believes the country will develop the largest Facebook population of any country in the world by 2016.
Since Facebook is banned in China, eMarketer assumes there are no users of the social network in the country.
Growth in the number of social network users around the world may be slowing, but it shows little sign of stopping, based on eMarketer's latest forecast of internet, broadband and social network users worldwide.
This year, eMarketer estimates, 1.61 billion people will log in to social networking sites at least monthly, from any electronic device.
That is a 14.2 per cent gain on social networker numbers from 2012, and double-digit growth is expected to continue for another year. By 2017, 2.33 billion people will use social networks, the research found.
Currently, the highest penetration of social network users as a share of total population occurs in the Netherlands, where 63.5 per cent of all residents are social network users; Norway follows just behind at 63.3 per cent.
Majority of residents in Sweden, South Korea, Denmark, the US, Finland, Canada and the UK also use social networking sites monthly.
However, the fastest growth in social network usage is happening in "less-developed" markets.
For the study, eMarketer analysed quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of research firms, government agencies, media outlets and company reports.
Twitter News !
Half of all active Twitter users live in just five countries
Washington: Half of all Twitter's active users, who tweet at least once a month, live in just five countries: the U.S., Japan, Indonesia, the UK and Brazil.
Using data from PeerReach, online statistics portal Statista created a chart, which shows the 13 countries with the highest shares of monthly active tweeters.
According to PeerReach, active users are those who tweet at least once a month, whereas Twitter defines them as those who log in to the service.
Roughly 40 percent of Twitter's monthly active users actually don't tweet, and only log in, Mashable reports.
The largest share of monthly active users is in the U.S., with 24 percent.
Japan was at the second position with 9.30 percent users. Indonesia was at third with 6.5. percent, the U.K with 5.6 percent, and Brazil was at the fifth position with 4.3 percent users.
After the top 13 countries, users from every other country in the world represent the remaining 26 percent of monthly active Twitter users, the report added.
China's Mobile Users
China's mobile phone users equal to India’s population
Beijing: China Thursday said the number of mobile phone users in the country have hit a record 1.22 billion at the end of October, making it the largest base for cellphones.
Among them, 67.19 percent or 817 million mobile phone users are connected to the Internet and 34.5 percent of them are 3G users, making China the largest base for mobile phones.
In contrast, fixed lines are decreasing, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said.
The number of fixed line users shrank by 8.82 million in the first ten months to 269 million at the end of October, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The mobile phone users account for 81.9 percent of phone users and fixed line users 18.1 percent.
Guangdong, Henan and Sichuan provinces reported the most mobile phone user growth in the first ten months.
The number of Chinese mobile phone users hit 1.11 billion at the end of 2012.
Earth by March Probe
ISRO posts first ever image of Earth taken by Mars probe
New Delhi: A photo of the Earth taken by the Mars Orbiter probe has been posted by the Indian Space Research Organization on its Facebook page on Wednesday.
The photo includes most of the Indian Peninsula, Tibet, the Middle East, parts of north-eastern Africa, the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.
“We have a nice little thing to share with all of you... yesterday in the process of testing our payloads we turned the Mars Color Camera towards the Earth and switched it on... and here is the ‘First ever image of Earth Taken by Mars Color Camera,’” said the post on ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission page.
“This image was taken yesterday at around 13:50 hrs from a height of almost 70,000 km above earth and has a spatial resolution of 3.5 km... We are certain we're going to get some great shots in the orbit of Mars,” added ISRO.
Launched on November 5, the probe will monitor the Martian crust and atmosphere for signs of methane and explore the morphology, mineralogy of the Red Planet.
ISRO will move the probe from the earth's orbit towards Mars on December 1.
Thursday 21 November 2013
Facebook News!
Facebook to continue showing beheading footages if posted in 'right context'
Facebook has been criticized for allowing graphic content on its site, with the potential to cause psychological damage, especially to teenagers.
However, Facebook's UK and Ireland policy director Simon Milner said such footages could expose human rights abuses adding that such content would contain more prior warnings.
According to the BBC, the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) accused Facebook of lacking a sense of 'responsibility'.
The report said that Facebook had earlier issued a temporary ban on graphic content on its site after a video of a woman's beheading circulated on the site, but relaxed the ban totally saying such videos, if posted for condemnation, are allowed to be shared.
Milner said that human rights activists wanted to use Facebook to highlight such human right abuses and these people were 'condemning, not glorifying' beheadings and there was a place for people to share that kind of content in the right context.
He further explained that more measures are taken to ensure that people share such content more responsibly.
Meanwhile, ISBA's director of media and advertising, Bob Wootton seemed little convinced and said that advertisers would be concerned with the move and they rightly demand that where possible their ads are protected from appearing against explicit content, whatever the context of that content.
SPAM SPAM SPAM!
World’s most prolific source of spam emails shut down
London: In a series of coordinated raids by Microsoft and US federal authorities, the world’s most prolific source of spam emails has been shut down.
India.com
The Rustock botnet is an international network of virus-infected computers that has been taken advantage of for years by generating billions of emails each day in order to promote unlicensed online pharmacies and impotence pills.
But on Wednesday, security firms noticed email traffic from Rustock completely collapsed, according to the Wall Street Journal.
It has now been revealed that Microsoft, backed by US Marshals acting on a court order, seized servers that it’s estimated covertly controlled almost a million Windows PCs.
“We think this has been 100 per cent effective," the Telegraph quoted Richard Boscovich, senior attorney in Microsoft’s digital crimes unit, as saying.
The servers were rented from commercial Internet hosting firms across the Mid West, who were apparently unaware of their role in Rustock. These "command and control" servers would issue instructions to infected home and business PCs worldwide.
The criminals behind the spamming business were named in Microsoft’s lawsuit only as “John Does 1-11”. To get the court order, which empowered it to seize equipment and so "decapitate" the botnet, Microsoft alleged the John Does infringed its trademarks in some of their emails.
Google Aims for India
Google India aims to bring 50 million women online
New Delhi: With women comprising just 30 per cent of the online
population in India, Internet giant Google Wednesday said it aims to
help 50 million women in the country go digital in a year.
"India has over 200 million Internet users and the number is growing.
India is on its way to become the second largest Internet market
overtaking US. But, only one-third or about 60 million of the online
users are women," Google India MD Rajan Anandan told reporters here.
Internet can play a very important role in empowering women in India and
help them to transform their lives, he added.
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According to industry estimates, the number of Internet users in the country is expected to touch 280 million in the next one year.
Google India has partnered HUL, Axis Bank and Intel as part of the campaign.
"Along with our partners, we will create awareness about the benefits of Internet for women, educate them to use Internet to improve their lives and enable easy access points across the country," Anandan said.
Google has designed a website 'www.Hwgo.Com', which will host content covering the basics of Internet and content relevant for women in Hindi and English.
The company has also started a toll free helpline number '1800 41 999 77' to help women get answers for their Internet-related queries.
Twitter Updates for Android and iOS
Twitter adds new search filters to Android and iOS mobile app
Washington: Twitter has reportedly added new search filters for its mobile apps on Android and iOS platform.
The new search filters allow users to filter searches for specific topics like photos or videos.
According to Mashable, another filter allows users to search exclusively
from those they follow, and won't return tweets from strangers.
The update also lets users to alternate between top tweets and all tweets right at the top of the search screen.
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The report said that earlier Twitter's search limitations were a point of frustration for regular Twitters as finding a particular tweet from a feed wasn't always easy.
The updated version is available on Google 's Play Store and Apple's App Store, the report added.
Wednesday 20 November 2013
SOTD - Stay Fly
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Pakistan Wants to Kill Narendra Modi
‘ISI wants to kill Narendra Modi, gives contract to Dawood’
New Delhi: Even as a heated debate ensues on the safety of Narendra
Modi, a report on Wednesday claimed that Pakistan’s Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has finalised a plan to eliminate
BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.
An English daily reported, quoting central intelligence agencies, that
ISI has given the contract to kill Modi to its long time pawn against
India, Dawood Ibrahim.
The input was reportedly part of a secret note prepared by intelligence
agencies after the bomb attacks on Modi’s Patna rally which had left
eight people dead. Indian Mujahideen has been found to be behind the
terror strike.
The BJP has been demanding a high-level security for Modi including bringing him under the Special Protection Group (SPG) but the request was rejected by the Union Home Ministry.
The SPG protects the Prime Minister and his immediate family members.
The report further says that terror operatives in Saudi Arabia have also hatched a plan to kill Modi. They are said to be mulling various options including a suicide bomber, use of launchers to target Modi's convoy and ramming an explosives-laden vehicle into his convoy.
More worryingly, the intelligence agencies also fear that terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives may have recruited some security officials to allow free access to them.
What's New in Google Search ???
Google's new features to make search more personalised
Taipei: Internet major Google is adding new features to its popular
services like search page, maps and youtube to provide more personalised
information especially related to day to day lives of its users.
Weather updates at the start of the day of or traffic movement during
the office hours are some of the information that most of the users look
for daily, Kentaro Tokusei, Product Management Director (Japan) said at
the company event here yesterday.
Now a user will not have to look for these pieces of information
separately. The new feature Google Now provides all these updates on the
user's home page, he said.
"Providing right information at right time is the main aim of this feature," he said.
When asked about the privacy concerns of users, he said the features will not include storing of such specific information if a user does not opt for it. "It would be off by default and a user will have to first ask for such feature," he said. Google will soon roll out these updates, he added.
Google has also brushed up the design of another popular service 'maps' by making it simpler. It is introducing a dedicated map design for tablets.
"Providing right information at right time is the main aim of this feature," he said.
When asked about the privacy concerns of users, he said the features will not include storing of such specific information if a user does not opt for it. "It would be off by default and a user will have to first ask for such feature," he said. Google will soon roll out these updates, he added.
Google has also brushed up the design of another popular service 'maps' by making it simpler. It is introducing a dedicated map design for tablets.
Moreover it is adding a 'explore' feature to maps which helps a user find popular places to eat, drink, sleep, play and shop without typing a word.
On video service YouTube, David Macdonald, the head of Youtube Content Operations (APAC), said that it is adding channels like cookery show and workouts indoors, and providing regular updates to subscribers about latest content.
It is also helping small entrepreneurs to create localised content like comedy, short films and music videos, he said.
It is also educating the content creators on how to get best from its service. Knowledge graph, offline language translator and new book store are among the other new features that have been added.
All these features aims to provide more personalised, accurate and hassle free information, Vince Wu, Senior Product Manager (Chrome OS), Google, said during the presentation on new features.
Monday 18 November 2013
The Man Of Centuries
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - The Man of Centuries
“My only dream was to wear the Indian cap and the Indian colours. In that respect, my childhood dreams have come true……”
A man who repeated the history by bringing world cup home, ‘Sachin Tendulkar‘ the name needs no introduction. A living legend who has kept billion hearts ticking, hopes alive and made impossible turn possible. For some he may be the greatest batsman ever seen in the world of cricket, and for others he may be the God of Cricket, but for me he is more of a mentor who has taught me the real meaning of – hard work, perseverance, passion and motivation. A little master blaster who has scored more than 34,000 runs in a career spanning more than two decades, truly deserves to be called as an undisputed king of cricket.
My introduction with Sachin, or you may say cricket, started when I
was in college. Living in a boy’s hostel, cricket was contagious that
spread its wings faster than Rajdhani, and even I was not spared. I
still remember the day when all the boys had gathered in the hostel
living room, to watch the cricket match between India and Pakistan.
Inspite of the fact, that the very next day we had our semester exam,
but everyone seemed to be bothered about the century of Sachin, rather
than the passing marks being a student. We watched Sachin play as he
made India win the match swiftly, and that day I lost my heart to him
forever.
In the course of my journey from just a college kid to a working professional, I have watched him very closely and seen him evolved with every match he has played. Whenever he comes on ground, the crowd goes mad, TV volume and TRP soar rocket high, and the expectations cross the set bar. He is the most non-controversial figure and his passion, motivation and love towards cricket is incomparable. His piousness towards cricket can be very much felt when he quoted “Cricket is something very, very special to me. It has never been about owning this or that car and the other things that come with this life. An obsession with money or worldly matters was always thumbed down.”
Thank you Sachin for making me love cricket – bat, ball, runs, score, fours, sixes and a lot more. You are and will always be considered as the greatest player to be born in the universe(It may seem a little exaggerated but its my personal opinion). India is so proud to have you and every Indian loves and admires you. After you 200th test match the cricket will be divided into – Sachin and After Sachin era.
For Tomorrow, when There Will be No Sachin To play,
With Nostalgia in our heart, We Will Miss Him Every Cricketing Day,
But After Years, There will Come Moments When We Can Proudly Say,
“I Was Alive when Sachin Used to Play”
“My only dream was to wear the Indian cap and the Indian colours. In that respect, my childhood dreams have come true……”
A man who repeated the history by bringing world cup home, ‘Sachin Tendulkar‘ the name needs no introduction. A living legend who has kept billion hearts ticking, hopes alive and made impossible turn possible. For some he may be the greatest batsman ever seen in the world of cricket, and for others he may be the God of Cricket, but for me he is more of a mentor who has taught me the real meaning of – hard work, perseverance, passion and motivation. A little master blaster who has scored more than 34,000 runs in a career spanning more than two decades, truly deserves to be called as an undisputed king of cricket.
In the course of my journey from just a college kid to a working professional, I have watched him very closely and seen him evolved with every match he has played. Whenever he comes on ground, the crowd goes mad, TV volume and TRP soar rocket high, and the expectations cross the set bar. He is the most non-controversial figure and his passion, motivation and love towards cricket is incomparable. His piousness towards cricket can be very much felt when he quoted “Cricket is something very, very special to me. It has never been about owning this or that car and the other things that come with this life. An obsession with money or worldly matters was always thumbed down.”
Thank you Sachin for making me love cricket – bat, ball, runs, score, fours, sixes and a lot more. You are and will always be considered as the greatest player to be born in the universe(It may seem a little exaggerated but its my personal opinion). India is so proud to have you and every Indian loves and admires you. After you 200th test match the cricket will be divided into – Sachin and After Sachin era.
For Tomorrow, when There Will be No Sachin To play,
With Nostalgia in our heart, We Will Miss Him Every Cricketing Day,
But After Years, There will Come Moments When We Can Proudly Say,
“I Was Alive when Sachin Used to Play”
Samsung affecting sales of iPad and iPhone: Apple
Samsung affecting sales of iPad and iPhone: Apple
San Jose: The patent war between Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc is
everlasting, the latest case wherein a top Apple Inc executive
reportedly alleged that the South Korean company was affecting the sales
of Apple iPhone and iPad.
According to reports, Phil Schiller,
marketing chief of the US tech giant, appearing before a federal court
in San Jose, California, as a witness testified that Samsung damaged the
reputation, business and marketing efforts of his company by selling
devices that were copied from the iPhone and iPad.
In the patent war between the two giants, Apple Inc has accused Samsung of copying its devices including its operating features.
Defending
the launch of iPad Mini as a competition in the tablet market, Schiller
said Apple was merely trying to make better products and that it was
not in the competition.
"It's much harder to create demand and
people question our innovation and design skills like people never used
to," Schiller said, adding that Samsung "weakened the world view of
Apple as this great designer and innovator."
In a global
litigation that is likely to go on for years, Apple was in 2012 awarded
over USD 1 billion after it convinced a jury that Samsung had copied
features of iPhone such as screen zoom with finger pinch, touches, black
screen, etc.
Schiller also told the jury during a hearing on
Friday that Samsung copied "many attributes of Apple's products; its
designs and features ... the very essence of what Apple is about".
"If we don't have that, we don't have Apple's business," he added.
Sony's New Experia Z1s
Sony Xperia Z1s features leaked online!
New Delhi: Sony Xperia Z1S reported specs are doing the rounds as Sony is set to unveil a mini version of the Z1.
According
to Xperia Blog, the leaked images suggest that the Xperia Z1S rivals LG
G2, Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and also Xperia Z1 on the performance page.
The phone, however, is a slight watered down version of the Z1 when it comes to resolution, screen size and battery capacity.
Interestingly, it mirrors HTC One Mini.
Sony
had previously listed the phone on its website but later took it down
as camera samples of the Xperia ZS1 were leaked to the web.
The Xperia ZS1, like the other Xperia Z phones, is water-resistant and dust-proof.
Xperia ZS1 Specifications
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 800
Display: 4.3-inch; 720p resolution
Camera: 20.7 MP rear
OS: Android 4.3
Memory: 2GB RAM
Storage: 16GB internal storage
Battery: 2,300 mAh
Sony Playstation 4
Sony sells over 1 million PlayStation 4 units within 24 hours
New York: Sony Corp said Sunday that it sold over 1 million units of its
latest video game sensation, the PlayStation 4, within 24 hours of its
sale in the market.
Currently available only in the US and
Canada, the company is planning to launch the video game consoles in
Europe and Latin America on November 29.
The Sony PlayStation 4 went on sale in the US and Canada on Friday, November 15.
In
a statement, Andrew House, head of Sony Computer Entertainment, said
the sale of PlayStation 4 remains very strong in North America.
Sony
is aiming to sell 5 million PS4 units by the end of its fiscal year
that ends on March 31. Robert W. Baird & Co analyst Colin Sebastian
has said he expects 2.5 million to 3 million PS4 shipments in the fourth
quarter in North America.
Both the PS4, priced at USD 399 in the
United States, and the Xbox One, with a price tag of USD 499, offer
improved graphics for realistic effects, processors that allow faster
game play and a slew of exclusive video games.
Twitter IPO
Twitter IPO: 1,600 new millionaires to pay $2.2 bn in taxes
New York: US tax department is in for a major windfall from Twitter' blockbuster IPO, which has made 1,600 of its employees millionaires and they will together pay an estimated USD 2.2 billion (about Rs 13,800 crore) in taxes, a research report says.
According to a report by US-based PrivCo, a provider of business and financial research on major privately-held firms, Twitter's fantastic public debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), last week, added as many as 1,600 employees of the microblogging site to the US millionaire club.
"With an 8 percent tax rate in California and a 32 percent tax rate at the federal level, Twitter's newly-minted millionaires face a tax bill of USD 2.2 billion," PrivCo said.
Individually, the US Internal Revenue Service stands to get taxes worth USD 1.72 billion while Californian authorities will receive an amount of USD 479 million.
"Twitter's IPO will have far-reaching implications for everything from Silicon Valley real estate prices to new start-ups that will be formed by the 'Twitter Mafia' -- new angel investment capital now available for other new business ventures," PrivCo said.
"The addition of 1,600 new millionaires to California's tax base will also bode well for the state's budget crisis," it added.
Twitter had begun trading on NYSE on November 7. On its very first day of going public the microblogging site's shares climbed around 73 per cent over the issue price of USD 26 at USD 45.1 apiece, valuing the company at nearly USD 25 billion.
On November 15, the shares of microblogging site closed at USD 43.98 apeice, 2 per cent lower than its closing price on the debut day. The current market capitalisation of Twitter stands at USD 23.96 billion.
Terming Twitter's valuation post its IPO-pop as "quite rich", PrivCo CEO and Founder Sam Hamadeh said: "...PrivCo knows that Twitter has a long M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) shopping list with dozens of target private companies the microblogging service is targeting for purchase".
"So Twitter will use its rich stock to buy companies straightaway, adding to its revenues and further justifying its high valuation," he added.
Twitter's losses had widened to USD 64.6 million in the September quarter from USD 21.6 million a year earlier.
Its revenue has gone up to USD 534.5 million for the year ended September 30.
The microblogging site had 231.7 million monthly users in the quarter ending in September, up 39 percent from a year earlier.
SOTD - Red Bull Revolutions in Sound
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Saturday 16 November 2013
#Apple - iPhone 5c
Apple to announce buyback scheme for iPhone 5C and iPhone 4S offering Rs 13,000 for old smartphones from rival brands
Yesterday, we reported about Apple making aggressive plans to boost iPhone sales in India and today we have come across some new details regarding those plans. In addition to accepting older iPhones when users upgrade to the iPhone 5S or iPhone 5C, it seems that from tomorrow Apple will launch a buyback scheme for the iPhone 4S 8GB and iPhone 5C where users can exchange smartphones from other brands. The offer is not available on the iPhone 5S at the moment, which we believe is due to the current stock crunch.
Apple will accept smartphones including the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10, Nokia Lumia 925, HTC Desire 500, Desire 600, One mini and One dual-SIM, Samsung Mega 5.8/6.3, Galaxy S4 mini, Galaxy SIII, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 and Sony’s Xperia C, Xperia ZR, Xperia Z, Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z Ultra. The company will also accept the 8GB and 16GB variants of the iPhone 4 as a part of this deal. This offer goes live tomorrow and one can expect a minimum of Rs 13,000 for these phones subject to certain conditions.
Some retailers had jumped the gun and were offering up to Rs 12,000 for an iPhone 4 when upgrading to an iPhone 5C, Earlier this summer, Apple had launched a similar buyback scheme where users could exchange their smartphones from rival brands and get Rs 7,000 off on the iPhone 4.
#HTC - One Successor Said
HTC One successor said to feature 5-inch 1080p display and KitKat
Back in April, we called the HTC One the closest thing the world has ever seen to a no-compromise smartphone. Four months later when we pitted it against Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S4, we said the HTC One was still the best smartphone on the planet. While HTC has struggled to get the phone into consumers’ hands thanks to tremendous competition (and massive marketing budgets) from Apple and Samsung, those who have bought the One seem to enjoy it very much for the most part. According to a new rumor, the One is about to get even better.
We have seen a few images leak that seemingly showed components from HTC’s upcoming One successor, code-named M8, and now @evleaks claims to have confirmed some preliminary details. According to a post on his Twitter account on Friday, the next-generation HTC One will feature a 5-inch display with the same 1080p resolution as the current-generation One. It will also be powered by Android 4.4 KitKat according to @evleaks, and it will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor.Earlier rumors suggested that the M8 might also feature an integrated fingerprint scanner, which would certainly make sense considering HTC included one on its new HTC One max phablet.
#Twitter - Something New
Users can now create customized timelines on Twitter
Melbourne: Twitter has introduced "customized timelines" to give better control to the users for organizing and delivering their tweets on the social messaging platform.
The users can design new timelines and name them, in addition to the standard one, to follow new topics on the messaging platform, Stuff.co.nz reports.
The creation of customized timelines will give an opportunity to the users to create a separate timeline, prioritizing the tweets that they felt were relevant, when any conversation around an event or topic took off on Twitter.
The timelines are public entities, with their own page on "twitter.com", making it easy to share with others so that they can follow, the report added.
#Twiter News
Twitter ties up with Start Sports for in-stream video service
New Delhi: Twitter today said it has tied-up with starsports.Com,
allowing users of the micro-blogging site to be able to directly view
videos in-stream, without leaving Twitter.
As part of the partnership, when a link to starsports.Com is tweeted,
Twitter users on mobile will have the option to download the
starsports.Com App and watch the video, aiding Star Sports to create a
strong sports experience on digital platform, Star Sports said in a
release.
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Star Sports also regularly leads innovative broadcast integration of Twitter to fuel social TV experiences, as has been evidenced during this year's Women's Cricket World Cup, Super Fight League and BCCI's international matches.
Starsports.Com, which was launched in June 2013 creating India's first multi-sport destination on digital, said the partnership with Twitter is a step forward in transforming the sports landscape on social media.
The network's handle @starsportsindia, which was started earlier this year, already has close to 1.5 lakh followers.
The in-stream video service will be first rolled out for videos that form a part of the Sachin Memory Project - an initiative by starsports.Com to commemorate the little master's retirement.
Over a 100 curated videos dating back to the 1980s will be made available as part of this initiative on a timeline that marks how his career has evolved, even as the world changed around him.
#Road Accident
Eight killed in road accident in Andhra Pradesh
Hyderabad: Eight persons were on Saturday killed and five others got
injured when a vehicle carrying the victims hit a truck coming from the
opposite direction in Nellore district, police said.
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Six persons died on the spot and two others succumbed in the hospital. All the injured were admitted to a hospital, he said.
The victims hail from neighbouring Kadapa district, police added.
#Earthquake
Earthquake in Jammu and Kashmir, tremors felt in Delhi
New Delhi: A 4.0-magnitude earthquake struck Jammu and Kashmir early
Saturday, and its tremors were felt in national capital Delhi as well.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the epicentre of the earthquake was 43 kilometres north of Ladakh capital Leh.
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Experts have described the recent quakes as mild tremors caused by a re-alignment in fault zones.
Friday 15 November 2013
Rohit Sharma hits Rs 2 crore
Rohit Sharma hits Rs 2 crore
In 2011, when Rohit Sharma was going through one of his worst phases in cricket
with inconsistent performance and being dropped from the world cup
team, a leading news satire website wrote an article citing Rohit
Sharma’s appointment as the brand ambassador for Maggi Noodles.
The reason, according to the website was that Rohit would often go out
to bat and come back in two minutes, making him their perfect brand
ambassador. It was also a time when Rohit was hardly representing any
brands in India while his team mates and juniors including Virat Kohli
had landed themselves a number of brand endorsements.
Cut to 2013, a double century in a one day match against Australia and a
dream debut in Sachin Tendulkar’s second last test match in Kolkata in
addition to being the captain of Mumbai Indians, has made Rohit one of
the most sought after cricketer in India today.
If sources in the industry are to be believed, the Mumbai cricketer will
sign a Rs 2 crore deal with sports goods maker Adidas to sport their
brand on his bat. Sharma will be seen walking onto the field today with
Adidas branding on his bat and jersey. The brand is currently endorsed
by Tendulkar.
"The whole idea is to introduce Sharma as Sachin's protege," says a
person from the industry. In addition, the Mumbai based cricketer is
also expected to endorse a number of brands and is likely to charge
anything between Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1 crore per endorsement annually.
“Rohit is not a new comer. He has been around for more than 5 years and
his biggest problem was his inconsistent on field performance even
though he had tremendous talent. And now that he has backed up that
potential with performances, his brand value is certainly seeing a
surge”, says Indranil Das Blah, COO at Kwan Entertainment &
Marketing Solutions.
According to media buyers and planners, enquiries have been on the rise
from companies including Mobile handset makers, real estate developers,
and clothing companies over the past few months and a number of deals
are expected to be signed in the next three months.
“About a year ago, he was charging Rs 40 lakh per endorsement and now
the market is ready to pay him between Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1 crore per
year. He had one endorsement last year which expired in August. Now, we
will see a significant rise in the endorsements over the next three
months”, an official at a sports marketing company told Business
Standard.
Industry experts also pointed out that Rohit was not being approached in
the past largely due to his inconsistent performances and his inability
to cement his place in one day team and test teams. He was yet to make
his test debut while players like Shikhar Dhawan had cemented their
place, raising question marks over Rohit's future.
“The timing, in my opinion, for Rohit could not have been better. He has
had a very good year in all formats of the game. He has proved that he
is maturing with each game. This makes him good choice for services and
products like insurance, technology and real estate.” says Firoz
Engineer, Business head at Balaji Spark and had earlier handled a number
of sportspersons while working as Vice President at Globosport.
And now with Sachin Tendulkar hanging his boots on Sunday, industry
experts also point out that the time is ripe for Rohit to take on the
role of the steadfast dependable player in the team.
“Virat with his attitude, on and off the field, has filled into the
shoes of 'bad boys of cricket' like Ganguly and Dhawan with the rustic
image around him has potential to go the Dhoni way with a massy appeal.
This leaves a clear field for Rohit to take on the image of the
sophisticated, cool and collected player like Sachin and Dravid have in
the past,” says Bunty Sachdeva, promoter, Cornerstone (the company that
manages Rohit Sharma).
Rohit’s junior in the team and the reigning prince of Indian cricket,
Virat Kohli meanwhile has already become a brand to reckon with in the
Indian cricket team after Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni. Kohli is
reportedly charging Rs 3 crore per endorsement and is currently handling
15 brands. In addition, he had also signed a Rs 10 crore deal with
German sports good manufacturer, Adidas.
After the Wankhede test match against West Indies, India will be playing
South Africa which will be followed by the 2014 edition of the Indian
Premier League. And his Sharma can carry on his purple patch, Sharma can
crack into the big league of celebrity endorsements and can be counted
alongside MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli.
Meanwhile, experts have also said that with Tendulkar retiring, brands
could look at bringing Rohit as successor and adopt a passing the baton
kind of theme.
“A good way to capitalise on the rise of Rohit Sharma and the retirement
of Tendulkar would be to have both of them on the brand and adopt a
'passing the baton' kind of theme. Both the players have a similar
images and Rohit's form has made him the quite a hot property as far as
brands are concerned,” says a sports celebrity manager. This is may be
exactly what Adidas has in mind for the two players.
Tendulkar currently endorses Aviva Life Insurance and travel portal
Musafir.com (in which he holds a stake as well) among many others and
brands are not expected to drop him anytime soon according to experts.
Reuppe Price Rise Against Dollor
Rupee gains for second day
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervened on Thursday in the foreign exchange market, helping the rupee to rise for a consecutive session against the dollar. This was a day after RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan boosted the confidence of investors by assuring that the current account deficit (CAD) would be brought down substantially.
Till Wednesday, the rupee had lost a little over three per cent in the
past five trading sessions, prompting the central bank to state there
was no fundamental reason for volatility in its value.
The rupee closed at 63.12/$ on Thursday, compared to 63.32/$ on Wednesday.
The rupee gained strength since Wednesday, after the central bank said
the CAD for this financial year would be brought down to $56 billion,
below three per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). It reached a
record high of 4.8 per cent of GDP in 2012-13. The central bank’s
preference is for it not to exceed 2.5 per cent of GDP but it has been
above this for three years. Rajan had said inflows worth $18 bn had come
in so far via the twin swap facilities. Market participants initially
had estimated $20 bn would come in and these are open till the end of
this month.
The high CAD, coupled with fear of the US Federal Reserve
starting to taper its asset purchase programme, had taken a toll on
emerging market currencies. The rupee hit an all-time low of 68.85/$ on
August 28. The central bank then unveiled measures to attract inflows,
which have stabilised the currency since September.
Rajan’s comments also helped the equity markets, which snapped a week’s
losing streak. The benchmark BSE Sensex ended one per cent higher on
Thursday from the previous close. RBI had announced bond purchases worth
Rs 8,000 crore next Monday via open market operations, to ease
liquidity.
Meanwhile, yields on government bonds hardened across tenures after data showed Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation
for October was higher than expected. The yield on the benchmark
10-year 7.16 per cent government bond closed at 9.02 per cent on
Thursday, against 8.92 per cent on Wednesday.
The increase in yields also triggered concern that the RBI would further
raise the policy rate at its mid-quarter policy review in December.
Meanwhile, bond auctions by RBI saw devolvement on primary dealers for
one of four securities. The cut-off for 10-year government securities
(8.12 per cent) was a yield of nine per cent. The amount devolved under
this security was Rs 460.5 crore, RBI said. The other three securities
were fully subscribed.
Salt
Salt at Rs 150-200 a kg in Bihar
Rumours of acute scarcity of salt triggered panic buying in half a dozen districts of Bihar on Wednesday and Thursday.
According to state government sources, a rumour originated from
Madhubani district on Wednesday evening that the supply of salt from
Gujarat had been stopped due to the political tussle between Bihar Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar and his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi. Within
a couple of hours, the price of salt skyrocketed to Rs 50-60 from Rs 10
a kg. By Thursday morning, the rumour spread to adjoining districts.
According to reports, people in Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Samastipur,
Supaul, Sheohar and Begusarai districts have since bought salt at Rs
50-150 a kg after rumours spread that the salt would be out of the
market soon. Such was the panic that in some places, shopkeepers had to
call the police.
Though struck by panic at first, the state government soon swung into
action. Government officials raided dozens of shops and several godowns
on Thursday. Three persons were also arrested for spreading rumours.
“They have been booked under the Essential Commodities Act and were
being interrogated by the police,” said Food and Civil Supplies Minister
Shyam Rajak.
He blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for spreading the rumours and
alleged that it was “trying to destabilise the Janata Dal (United)
government”. He said, “The BJP is a proven master of rumour mongering
and the rumour about salt is no exception.”
Thursday 14 November 2013
Samsungs - What's New?
Samsung Galaxy Core Plus smartphone launched?
Samsung has discreetly launched a new smartphone, named as the Galaxy Core Plus, which is found listed on the company’s website for Korea. The smartphone is essentially the successor of its previously launched affordable offering, the Galaxy Core, and going by the specs, is likely to be priced around the same price range.
In terms of specifications, the Galaxy Core Plus phone does not vary much from the previous model. It comes with a 4.3-inch WVGA (480 x 800) TFT display and is powered by a 1.2GHz processor, though the RAM size on this one is lesser than that on the previous model. So instead of 1GB of RAM, the Core Plus features a 768MB of RAM with 4GB of internal storage, which is accompanied by an additional 50GB of free storage on Google Drive and up to 64GB of external memory support on a microSD card.
It sports a 5-megapixel rear camera and a VGA front-facing camera with the standard video recording and video calling capabilities. On the connectivity front, the phone comes with 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS/AGPS and in addition to that also offers NFC support.
Another noticeable difference is that the phone runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean while the previous model was powered by the 4.1 Jelly Bean version.
Considering the features that it offers, the Core Plus will be up against the newly launched Motorola Moto G smartphone, which will be launched in India in early-January.'
Apple iOS 7 Updates
Don’t worry if you find bugs in iOS 7 – Apple is already prepping iOS 7.0.1, iOS 7.0.2 and iOS 7.1
Hundreds of millions of people will meet iOS 7 for the first time in the coming months after Apple finally releases its new operating system on Wednesday. If you happen to find a few bugs here and there when you update though, don’t freak out — according to a recent report, Apple is already prepping several new versions of its iOS 7 software.
9to5Mac on Sunday reported that iOS 7.0.1, iOS 7.0.2 and even iOS 7.1 have appeared in the server logs for its website, meaning devices running those unannounced iOS builds have visited the site. The report notes that the visits have come from cities in and around Apple’s Cupertino, California headquarters, which is a clear indication that the tests are happening internally at Apple. The first version of iOS 7 will be released to the public tomorrow.
Windows Phone to Take 3rd Spot?
Windows Phone finally overtakes BlackBerry to take third spot in terms of smartphone shipments
Research firm IDC has posted its quarterly report on the smartphone market which suggests that Windows Phone devices have finally overtaken BlackBerry smartphones in terms of shipments. This also means that devices running Microsoft’s OS take third spot in terms of smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013. According to the report, Windows Phone devices accounted for 3.2 percent of total shipments while BlackBerry devices fell to 2.9 percent from 3.2 percent in the previous quarter.
It’s also worth noting that Nokia has expanded its Windows Phone portfolio to lower price points with devices like the Lumia 720, Lumia 620 and the Lumia 520. In fact, the Lumia 520 costs less than Rs 10,499, so it makes sense that the shipments are increasing. On the other hand, BlackBerry only launched its new BB10 based Z10 in January and its QWERTY Q10, which happens to be its bread in butter device has not launched in many parts of the world including India. Plus, its Q5 smartphone was only announced two days ago, and will not arrive before June. In fact, if anything can say that the growth in Windows Phone shipments is still slow.
Android and iOS seem to be in league of their own with 92.3 percent smartphone shipments being shared between both the platforms. Actually, it is Android, which is really running away with the market share. Yesterday, Google announced that there had been 900 million Android activations which was up from 500 million activations a year before. Additionally, 75 percent of the total smartphones shipped in Q1 were based on Android.
While, Apple managed 17.3 percent, it should also noted that it shipped 37.3 million iPhones in Q1 in the wake of the iPhone 5, and this was its best best quarter ever.
IDC posits that 162.1 million Android smartphones were shipped in Q1, an increase of 71.8 million units from 90.3 in 2012.
Android is on a roll, and if Windows Phone and BlackBerry want to make a fist of it, then both the operating systems need to eke out market share from Android. Windows Phone seems to be in the right direction, as devices like the Lumia 520, Lumia 620 and the Lumia 720 are selling quite well in emerging markets like India.
Steve Jobs Vs Android Founder?
Steve Jobs reportedly called Android’s founder a ‘big, arrogant f**k’
It’s no secret that Steve Jobs did not have much affinity for his mobile competition at Google, going so far as to say he would destroy Android, which he considered to be a product that was stolen from Apple. His attacks appear to have been even more personal as Fred Vogelstein’s book, Dogfight: How Apple And Google Went To War And Started a Revolution reveals. Business Insider notes one especially provocative quote in which Jobs refers to Andy Rubin, the founder of Android, as a “big, arrogant f**k,” and Android itself as a “f**king rip off of what we’re doing.”
Jobs later met with Rubin and Google executives Larry Page and Alan Eustace to force them to remove features from Android that were poised to be staples of the iPhone’s design, such as multitouch gestures and the ways users unlock their phones. Had Jobs not been so adamant, Android might have launched on a level playing field with iOS. And considering Android’s current success, there’s no telling how far ahead Google might have gotten by now.
smartwatch support for iOS 7
Pebble smartwatch support for iOS 7 notification update now live
Apple has approved Pebble’s companion app that brings support for all notifications on iOS 7, which Pebble had announced last week. With the update, iPhone users will finally get a reason to buy the smartwatch as they would be able to get many more notifications than incoming calls and text messages. Essentially any app that does a banner or popup notification will be supported by Pebble.
The new notification functionality will work on the iPhone 4S and later, running on iOS 7. You can buy Pebble for $150 and can download the free companion app from Apple’s iTunes App Store.
Apart from announcing notification support for iOS 7, Pebble had also announced its new SDK that opens accelerometer API for developers.
Wireless Smart Wristband?
Jawbone UP24 launched, finally goes wireless
Jawbone has launched a new smart wristband, the UP24, that finally connects wirelessly with a smartphone app. The UP24 gets Bluetooth Smart (Bluetooth Low Energy) that will connect with the app and push notifications to the band. The UP24 is priced at $149.99, which is similar to the Nike+ Fuelband.
The UP24 will track your movement as well as your sleep pattern and will also push automatic summaries every morning. Users can customize it to send reminders via vibration to keep reminding users to keep moving and hit daily goals. Jawbone claims its battery would last up to 7 days.“The UP community has logged more than 500 billion steps and 35 million nights of sleep with UP. It’s an astounding amount of data,” said Travis Bogard, vice president of product management and strategy at Jawbone. “From it, we’ve learned a tremendous amount about how people live, and we’ve applied that knowledge to deliver even more personal data insights and more actionable recommendations with the new UP 3.0 App. UP24 plus UP 3.0 is the only system that pushes incredibly smart, timely information to you at just the right moment to help turn your intentions into action. As a result, UP24 is much more than just wireless syncing – we didn’t just want to add Bluetooth. Instead we used the real- time experience to create a powerful, personalized system that helps you take action and fine-tune your day.”
Noki's Blue Smartphone
Nokia Goldfinger and Moneypenny claimed to be the first Windows Phone Blue smartphones
Last week we reported about a bunch of codenames of unannounced Nokia smartphones, some of which were inspired by 007 characters. Now it turns out that the James Bond-inspired products – Moneypenny and Goldfinger – could be the first smartphones rocking Windows Phone Blue update, popular leaker @evleaks claims.
Windows Phone Blue or Windows Phone 8.1
is expected to sport a new notification centre, a redesigned calendar
and a new multitasking menu that allows users to close multiple apps in
one go. These details were leaked earlier this year.
Nokia is also expected to launch a smaller 8-inch Windows RT tablet codenamed Illusionist
Smartphone with Dual-Display?
YotaPhone smartphone with dual-displays to be launched by December: Report
Yota is finally going to launch its long awaited dual-screen Android smartphone named the YotaPhone before Christmas, Techcrunch reports. The Russian company has reportedly confirmed a launch before this year, however has not disclosed anything on its pricing strategy. Just to recall, Yota had announced the phone in the end of last year, and showcased it at the Mobile World Congress earlier this year.
The phone had created a buzz for featuring a unique dual display design with an LCD primary display and an e-ink based secondary one. It has already been a year of its announcement and the company is also selling it online on pre-orders, but the phone has not been launched yet. The phone is expected to be priced close to $500.
Talking of the features, the phone comes with a 4.3-inch 720p primary display and a 4.3-inch (360×640 pixels) secondary electronic paper display. It is equipped with a dual-core 1.7GHz processor with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of on-board storage though the name of the chipmaker is yet not revealed. It sports a 13-megapixel primary camera with autofocus and LED, and 1-megapixel front facing camera. Connectivity options include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS/AGPS and 3G. It also features sensors like Accelerometer, compass, gyroscope, proximity and ambient light sensor.
On the software front, the phone runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean version with special YotaPhone gestures and Put2Back applications for the back screen.
Shopping online?
Shopping online? Be careful with third-party sellers
NEW DELHI: Nishant Gambhir is no stranger to online shopping. A digital marketing professional for a company that makes accessories for mobile phones, he is familiar with the world of e-commerce. But recently when he bought two items from Flipkart, he was in for a rude surprise.
"I bought a PCIe card for wireless network and a Logitech keyboard. The items were delivered to me," Gambhir told TOI. "But when I opened the packages, I found that I was cheated. The PCIe card was broken. And the Logitech keyboard wasn't new. It was one-year-old and had no warranty. I never had such bad experience withFlipkart earlier."
Flipkart has built its reputation on fast delivery and clean consumer-friendly service. But in the recent months its reputation has taken a beating. Earlier this year, the company changed into an e-commerce platform and allowed third-party sellers to sell goods through its website.
"The items I bought were not sold by Flipkart. They were sold by third-party sellers who list their goods on Flipkart," said Gambhir. "I never had a bad experience with items sold by Flipkart."
Gambhir tried contacting the sellers after receiving the faulty goods but he got no response. "This is when the Flipkart came to my rescue. When I did not get the response from sellers, Flipkart picked up the faulty goods from me on their behalf and refunded the money. So in the long run, no harm was done. But I wasted 10 days over the issue and I did not get the product I wanted when I needed them," said Gambhir.
As the popularity and reach of online shopping grows, more sellers are joining the bandwagon. For these sellers, companies like Flipkart, Amazon, eBay, Indiatimes Shopping, InfiBeam, Rediff and Snapdeal etc offer an easy option to reach out to customers.
Unfortunately, many of these sellers neither act professionally nor have the resources to offer the kind of service they promise. But consumers don't realize it because when they shop they believe they are buying from Flipkart or Amazon.
Flipkart doesn't sell goods directly. But after it converted itself into a platform, it handed over the front-end operations to WS Retail to sell items to consumers. Most consumers who buy goods from WS Retail still get good and clean service. They also get a 30-day return guarantee, fast shipping and impeccable packaging that keeps the items safe during shipping.
But the other third-party sellers do not offer the same kind of return guarantees or clean service.
TOI emailed Flipkart to understand the difference in quality of service offered by WS Retail and other third-party sellers but the company did not respond to the questions.
Flipkart, however, is hardly the only e-commerce platform where a consumer has to be careful.
Kunal Gangar, a blogger, bought a Sony DSLR camera from a third-party seller on Amazon on October 17.
"The seller had promised to ship the product by October 22 but it never happened. When I asked seller, he said that he had shipped the product and I would get it soon. Around a week later when I had neither got the product nor received any email or message from the courier company about the shipment, I asked the seller again. This time he told me that the camera has been misplaced by the courier firm," said Gangar. "I asked the seller to refund the money. I also contacted Amazon customer care."
While Gangar too got his money back, he said the whole experience was very frustrating. "I did not get the product I wanted to buy and I wasted my time chasing the seller," he said.
In comparison, another product — A Nokia phone — that Gangar bought at the same time from Amazon was delivered to him within days.
The difference: The listing of Nokia handset was a "fulfilled by Amazon" deal whereas the camera was sold and shipped directly by the third-party seller.
In reply to TOI questions, Amazon said that it has several safeguards in place to offer consumers best service whether they are buying an item from a third-party seller or from Amazon. "We offer a 100% purchase protection with A-to-Z Guarantee for all products bought on Amazon.in. It guarantees the condition of the item (defective, damaged or does not match the item described) and its timely delivery when you purchase from sellers on our website," said an Amazon spokesperson.
Due to the existing rules governing FDI in retail in India, Amazon here doesn't sell any items directly. Instead it uses "fulfilled by Amazon" to offer service that is better than what third-party sellers can manage. Any item that is sold under "fulfilled by Amazon" programme is shipped from an Amazon warehouse. This means timely shipping. Also chances of frauds are nil because the item is already in Amazon warehouse before it has been listed on the website.
Unfortunately, unlike in the US where amazon has many warehouses, in India sellers have to ship the products to Amazon's Mumbai warehouse before they can be a part of "fulfilled by Amazon" programme. For now there are very few items on amazon.in that are part of "fulfilled by Amazon" programme.
Tips for best online shopping experience
* On Flipkart, if possible buy only from WS Retail
* On Amazon, if possible buy only the items that are part of "fulfilled by Amazon" programme
* In any virtual marketplace, buy only from sellers that have good reputation (feedback score) and have done a few hundred transactions
* On eBay, pay through PaisaPay and get the items through courier. This creates a record of the transaction, which can be useful if you face issues with a seller. Also, eBay doesn't release PaisaPay money to a seller unless it gets a confirmation that the product has been delivered
* If you run into an issue, raise a claim with the platform owner immediately. Also, communicate with the seller on email so you have some documentary proof
* If possible, buy from only the sellers that list their contact numbers and emails IDs
* If possible, buy only the goods that come with official warranty and not "seller warranty"
...ReadMore
NEW DELHI: Nishant Gambhir is no stranger to online shopping. A digital marketing professional for a company that makes accessories for mobile phones, he is familiar with the world of e-commerce. But recently when he bought two items from Flipkart, he was in for a rude surprise.
"I bought a PCIe card for wireless network and a Logitech keyboard. The items were delivered to me," Gambhir told TOI. "But when I opened the packages, I found that I was cheated. The PCIe card was broken. And the Logitech keyboard wasn't new. It was one-year-old and had no warranty. I never had such bad experience withFlipkart earlier."
Flipkart has built its reputation on fast delivery and clean consumer-friendly service. But in the recent months its reputation has taken a beating. Earlier this year, the company changed into an e-commerce platform and allowed third-party sellers to sell goods through its website.
"The items I bought were not sold by Flipkart. They were sold by third-party sellers who list their goods on Flipkart," said Gambhir. "I never had a bad experience with items sold by Flipkart."
Gambhir tried contacting the sellers after receiving the faulty goods but he got no response. "This is when the Flipkart came to my rescue. When I did not get the response from sellers, Flipkart picked up the faulty goods from me on their behalf and refunded the money. So in the long run, no harm was done. But I wasted 10 days over the issue and I did not get the product I wanted when I needed them," said Gambhir.
As the popularity and reach of online shopping grows, more sellers are joining the bandwagon. For these sellers, companies like Flipkart, Amazon, eBay, Indiatimes Shopping, InfiBeam, Rediff and Snapdeal etc offer an easy option to reach out to customers.
Unfortunately, many of these sellers neither act professionally nor have the resources to offer the kind of service they promise. But consumers don't realize it because when they shop they believe they are buying from Flipkart or Amazon.
Flipkart doesn't sell goods directly. But after it converted itself into a platform, it handed over the front-end operations to WS Retail to sell items to consumers. Most consumers who buy goods from WS Retail still get good and clean service. They also get a 30-day return guarantee, fast shipping and impeccable packaging that keeps the items safe during shipping.
But the other third-party sellers do not offer the same kind of return guarantees or clean service.
TOI emailed Flipkart to understand the difference in quality of service offered by WS Retail and other third-party sellers but the company did not respond to the questions.
Flipkart, however, is hardly the only e-commerce platform where a consumer has to be careful.
Kunal Gangar, a blogger, bought a Sony DSLR camera from a third-party seller on Amazon on October 17.
"The seller had promised to ship the product by October 22 but it never happened. When I asked seller, he said that he had shipped the product and I would get it soon. Around a week later when I had neither got the product nor received any email or message from the courier company about the shipment, I asked the seller again. This time he told me that the camera has been misplaced by the courier firm," said Gangar. "I asked the seller to refund the money. I also contacted Amazon customer care."
While Gangar too got his money back, he said the whole experience was very frustrating. "I did not get the product I wanted to buy and I wasted my time chasing the seller," he said.
In comparison, another product — A Nokia phone — that Gangar bought at the same time from Amazon was delivered to him within days.
The difference: The listing of Nokia handset was a "fulfilled by Amazon" deal whereas the camera was sold and shipped directly by the third-party seller.
In reply to TOI questions, Amazon said that it has several safeguards in place to offer consumers best service whether they are buying an item from a third-party seller or from Amazon. "We offer a 100% purchase protection with A-to-Z Guarantee for all products bought on Amazon.in. It guarantees the condition of the item (defective, damaged or does not match the item described) and its timely delivery when you purchase from sellers on our website," said an Amazon spokesperson.
Due to the existing rules governing FDI in retail in India, Amazon here doesn't sell any items directly. Instead it uses "fulfilled by Amazon" to offer service that is better than what third-party sellers can manage. Any item that is sold under "fulfilled by Amazon" programme is shipped from an Amazon warehouse. This means timely shipping. Also chances of frauds are nil because the item is already in Amazon warehouse before it has been listed on the website.
Unfortunately, unlike in the US where amazon has many warehouses, in India sellers have to ship the products to Amazon's Mumbai warehouse before they can be a part of "fulfilled by Amazon" programme. For now there are very few items on amazon.in that are part of "fulfilled by Amazon" programme.
Tips for best online shopping experience
* On Flipkart, if possible buy only from WS Retail
* On Amazon, if possible buy only the items that are part of "fulfilled by Amazon" programme
* In any virtual marketplace, buy only from sellers that have good reputation (feedback score) and have done a few hundred transactions
* On eBay, pay through PaisaPay and get the items through courier. This creates a record of the transaction, which can be useful if you face issues with a seller. Also, eBay doesn't release PaisaPay money to a seller unless it gets a confirmation that the product has been delivered
* If you run into an issue, raise a claim with the platform owner immediately. Also, communicate with the seller on email so you have some documentary proof
* If possible, buy from only the sellers that list their contact numbers and emails IDs
* If possible, buy only the goods that come with official warranty and not "seller warranty"
...ReadMore
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