First look: Microsoft‘s latest OS Windows 8.1

SAN FRANCISCO: 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 mea 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.those PCs are responsive to mice and keyboards, not the touch screens and other input methodsvoice 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 itemsrecent 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 the "Modern" tile screen. Swiping up literally displaysthe 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 the bottom edge and tap another button to get there. 

Unfortunately, the "All Apps" page feelstoo 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 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 birthdate, 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 upthe 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 appsMail. To me, the feature seemed to be more annoying than useful, even though you can 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.

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Google Reader alternatives: Pluses & minuses

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

With Reader, I've been able to see at a glancethe updates 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 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.of them are free,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 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, andthat 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 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: 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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 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.

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HP aims to re-enter the global smartphone race

BEIJING: Technology giant HP is looking at re-entering the smartphone race and is working on launching a new device, which will offer a "differentiated experience" to consumers. 

Without giving a timeline, HP Senior Director Consumer PC and Media Tablets Asia Pacific Yam Su Yin told PTI that the company is focusing onsegments including tablet PCs, notebook PCs as well as all-in-ones (AIOs). 

When asked if a smartphone is in the offing, she said: "The answer is yes but I cannot give a timetable. It would be silly if we say no. HP has to be in the game." 

The company had bet big on the smartphone ecosystem when it purchased Palm for USD 1.2 billion in April 2010 but the webOS-based devices failed to take off. 

With the likes of Apple and Samsung seeing a strong spurt in sales pushed by smartphones, HP also seems to be seen cashing in on the opportunity. 

According to IDC, smartphone shipments are expected to grow 32.7 per cent year-on-year reaching 958.8 million units in 2013, up 722.5 million units shipped last year. 

It also expects 2013 to mark the first year when smartphone shipments would surpass those of feature phones, accounting for 52.2 per cent of total mobile phone shipments worldwide. 

Emerging markets are forecast to account for 64.8 per cent ofsmartphones shipped during 2013, up 43.1 per cent in 2010. 

Once it re-enters the smartphone segment, HP will have to compete with category leadersApple and Samsung, which together have more than 50 per cent share of the global smartphone market. 

Asked if it will be able to make up for the lost time, she said, "Being late you have to create a different set of proposition. There are still things that can be done. Its not late. When HP has a smartphone, it will give a differentiated experience." 

HP is not alone in placing big bets on smartphones. Over the last few quarters, other computer makersLenovo and Dell have also launched smartphones to grab a share of the pie. 

According to reports, after the failure of the webOS, HP is expected to turn to Android operating system, which has seen huge adoption end users and availability of devices at multiple price points have also added to the popularity of the Google-promoted platform. 

Besides, HP also plans to launch over 20 products by September across various categoriesnotebook PCs, AIOs, printers as well as services for enterprise users.

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iPhone plastic shell leaks in China

It’s time to get green, it would seem, as a brightly colored back shell of what’s said to be a next-generation iPhone leaks in China. This leak is consistent with several tips and suggestions over the past week involving the so-called “budget” iPhone, including the color similarity to current iPhone bumpers. This device would, if it proves to be real, be one of several color options for the iPhone later this year.

This piece of hardware comes from micro-blogger 7mob, a fellow known for connections to China-based factory workers. In this case, the leakster claims he’s got a “friend’s friend” in with Foxconn, one of the largest manufacturing lines Apple has used in recent years.

This device appears with a single LED flash hole to the right of a lens hole (both of them circular), with a microphone hole between the two. A black Apple logo rests in the standard location in the center and top half of the device, while the normal “iPhone” brand name rests in the same location on the lower half.

It’s also been suggested that this green color is one of six options for the machine, with yellow, blue, pink, white – and it would appear that black is missing in action at the moment. Perhaps to differentiate between this low-cost model and the higher-end line with the iPhone 5, but no confirmations exist as such.

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Password fatigue haunts netizens

WASHINGTON: Looking for a safe password? You can give HQbgbiZVu9AWcqoSZmChwgtMYTrM7HE3ObVWGepMeOsJf4iHMyNXMT1BrySA4d7 a try. Good luck memorizing it. 

Sixty-three random alpha-numericacters in this case, generated by an online password generator are as good as it gets when it comes to securing your virtual life. 

But as millions of internet users have learned the hard way, no password is safe when hackers can, and do, pilfer them en masse banks, email services, retailers or social media websites that fail to fully protect their servers. 

And besides, with technology growing by leaps and bounds, why does the username-and-password formula a relic of computing's Jurassic era remain the norm? 

"The incredibly short answer is, it's cheap," said Per Thorsheim, a Norwegian online security expert and organizer of PasswordsCon, the world's only conference dedicated to passwords, taking place in Las Vegas in July. 

"If you want anything else if you want some kind of two-factor authentication that involves using a software-based token, a hardware-based token or biometric authentication you need something extra," he told AFP. 

"And that will cost you extra money." 

Back in the beginning, it wasso easy. 

The very first computers were not only room-sized mainframes, but also stand-alone devices. They didn't connect to each other, so passwords were needed only by a handful of operators who likely knew each other anyway. 

Then along came the internet, binding a burgeoning number of computers, smartphones and tablets into a globe-girdling web that required some virtual means for strangers to identify each other. 

Passwords have thus proliferated so much that it's a daily struggle for users to cope with dozens of them and not just on one personal computer, but across several devices. 

There's even a name for the syndrome: password fatigue. 

"People never took passwords very seriously, and then we had a number of really big password breaches," said Marian Merritt, Internet security advocate for software provider Norton. 

"As people are increasingly accessing websites smartphones and tablets, typing passwords is becoming an ever bigger pain," added Sarah Needham of Confident Technologies, developers of a picture-based password alternative. 

In a 24-nation survey last year, Norton found that 40 percent of users don't bother with complex passwords or fail to change their passwords on a regular basis. 

Rival security app firm McAfee says its research indicates that more than 60 percent of users regularly visit five to 20 websites that require passwords, and that a like-sized proportion preferred easy-to-use passwords. 

The most popular passwords, infamously, are "password" and "123456," according to Mark Burnett, whose 2005 book "Perfect Password: ion, Protection, Authentication" was among the first on the topic. 

Biometrics are coming

Carl Windsor, director of product management at California-based network security firm Fortinet, said he once ran John the Ripper, a free program to crack passwords, through an employer's Unix system with its consent. 

Within seconds, Windsor had one-third of its passwords. Within minutes, he had another third. "I also won a bet by finding the 'super secure' password of a colleague in less than five minutes," he told AFP by email. 

Password alternatives are in the pipeline. 

Google is toying with the idea of users tapping their devices with personalized coded finger rings or inserting unique ID cards called Yubikeys into the USB ports of their computers. 

The FIDO Alliance, a consortium that includes PayPal, is pushing an open-source system in which, for instance, websites would ask smartphone users to identify themselves by placing their fingertips on their touchscreens. 

"These (biometric) technologies are coming to a placethey are highly mature, cost effective and in a position to roll out into the consumer market today," FIDO's vice president Ramesh Kesanupalli told AFP. 

Kesanupalli said FIDO technology could be available as early as this year, bettering IBM fellow David Nahamoo's prediction in 2011 that biometrics would replace passwords within five years. 

In Washington, the US Patent and Trademark Office has recently published several patent applications Apple that envision facial recognition and fingerprint scanning. 

Motorola's head of research Regina Dugan has gone further, proposing a "password pill" with a microchip and a battery that would be activated by stomach acid. The resulting signal would emit an unique ID radio signal. 

"I take a vitamin every morning. What if I take vitamin authentication?" said Dugan at the D11 tech conference in California last month, quoted by TechWeekEurope.co.uk. 

For now, many Internet services are embracing two-factor authentication, that challenges users with a bonus security question "What is your dog's name?" or emits a one-use-only numeric code via SMS messaging. 

Online password managers with namesLastpass, KeePass, 1Password, Dashlane and Apple's just-announced iCloud Keychain have also been popping upmushrooms. 

They pledge to securely stash an individual's entire password collection, accessible via one master password. Some experts, however, consider the idea a Band-Aid solution pending the definitive password replacement. 

Until then, security experts widely agree on two core principles: make your passwords as long as possible, mixing up words with some numbers and symbols, and never ever use the same password for more than one website. 

Beyond that, just cross your fingers and pray that the website you're using is doingit can at its end to protect the mental keys to your virtual world.

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In Depth: Best office suite for OS X: 6 tested

Best productivity suites for your Mac

Aside a browser and an email client, the must-have apps on any Mac are those found in an office suite. TextEdit is fine for tapping out quick notes to the milkman, but you need a more weighty solution for complex business documents.

The same can be said of quick sums: Spotlight provides a rudimentary calculator, but falls short when it comes to the family finances.

In your workplace, a comprehensive business bundle is less a luxury and more a necessity, but which one you settle on depends on what you need to do. It'strying to choose between a smartphone, a tablet and a Mac as your daily working platform. Each has benefits, but are communications options and portability, for example, as vital for you as data storage space or sheer computing muscle?

The six leading office suites we test hereoffer significantly different packages. If you want to work on your files on an iOS device as well as a Mac, iWork offers the most seamless experience, with iCloud integration and iOS versions ofthree apps. If you want to share documents and files with other users, you should weigh the benefits of Microsoft Office's 'standard' formats against Symphony's Open Document Format or the ease of sharing files over Google Drive.

With the realities of today's business world in mind, we're emphasising two key factors. First is compatibility with the most up-to-date Microsoft formats, becauseit or not, these are the cornerstones of modern business communication.

Second is how easy each suite makes it to live the cloud dream of accessing your data in any place, on any device. Other factors include how easy it is to find the tools and options you want and how easy it is to use them, so you can focus on your work and not on the tools themselves. Design is an only slightly lesser factor - after all, who wants to spend every working day wrestling with a clunky interface?

How we tested

To test each suite's compatibility with the established office formats, we created a set of documents using Microsoft Office 2011 and saved them in the latest DOCX, XLSX and PPTX formats.

The Word document was a single page of text set in the Cambria and Arial fonts, with headings in Calibri. We added a table with alternating coloured rows and embedded a PNG image, set to float to the right with text running around it. A line and a half of text was highlighted, two prices were coloured red and some numerals superscript. Three blocks of text were set as columns.

The Excel spreadsheet test was a single sheet with an embedded image and a ion of regular formulae, plus some date-based calculations. We added a 3Dt and some Sparklines in order to test compatibility with the newest features.

The PowerPoint document used a standard template, with some skewed text and a rotated image. We set different transitions between the slides and added handout notes to some of the slides. Finally, we embedded a table and an organisationt created using the built-in SmartArt tools.

Let's take a look at the suites.

Test one: Compatibility

How well does it work with Office docs?

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Google white space broadband plans get boost with FCC approval

Google‘s plans to squeeze wireless internet access into the “white space” in-between TV channels – and in turn further prise web control ISP dominance – has received a boost, with its TV bands database system getting the green-light the FCC.

Google‘s plans to squeeze wireless internet access into the “white space” in-between TV channels – and in turn further prise web control from ISP dominance – has received a boost, with its TV bands database system getting the green-light from the FCC. The TV white space (TVWS) database, which lists the existing TV services along with the frequencies they operate on in each area, and as such highlights the spare spectrum where other services could operate, gained FCC approval this week, after having been run in a public trial from March.

Google’s aim is to promote what’s known as dynamic sharing of spectrum, where chunks of bandwidth are used for multiple purposes at different times. That way, more applications can be derived from the limited amount of spectrum available.

“If a government communications system does not require spectrum at specific times, that spectrum can be freed up for commercial purposes during those times” Google suggests. “With dynamic sharing, multiple users, including federal, non-federal and commercial entities, can all access available bands of radio spectrum.”

The search giant began petitioning for more flexibility in how wireless frequencies are used back in 2008,requesting permission from the FCC to use spare channels in what’s considered the TV range for broadband purposes. However, the scheme met with resistance from TV networks, which warned that Google’s plan could result in interference.

In 2010, the FCC agreed on a spectrum sharing plan, but also laid down expectations from hardware providers as to how to address the interference issue. Devices using the contentious bands will need to be fitted with equipment that tracks wireless use, so as to ensure that they don’t overstep onto other applications.

Meanwhile, two types of white space sharing have been formulated. Most flexible is a so-called “portable” white space device, which has a smaller range of its wireless signal, such as a smartphone or laptop; more powerful devices are known as “fixed” and include commercial WiFi hotspots and wireless broadband transmitters for rural and other off-the-track areas. The FCC is, unsurprisingly, more strict with the latter, given the greater chance for infringing on existing uses of the spectrum.

Although Google was long rumored to be considering its own wireless internet service fitting into the white space freed up by the change in regulation, it’s only recently that the company has given hints on what that might look like. Project Loon will see Google deploy giant balloons that work as network hubs around the world, forming a loose ring of connectivity that delivers roughly 3G-speed access, according to the ambitious plans.

White space use ties into that closely, with Google already operating TVWS trial services in the US and, most recently, in South Africa.

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Nokia takes potshots at iPhone 5 in Lumia ad

NEW DELHI: Finnish smartphone giant Nokia has once again taken a jibe at dominant rival Apple in an advertisement for its new smartphone. The latest Lumia 925 ad shows the protagonist walking around at nighthe encounters zombies, who have been apparently transformed into the undead due the extra-bright LED flash of the iPhone 5. The red-eye effect, associated with low light conditions, is visible inthe zombies.

The iPhone 5 shown in the video is easy to recognize, even though the trademark Apple logo has been omitted.

Nokia has created this advertisement in order to highlight the powerful camera of Lumia 925. Towards the end of the video, the ad says "The best pictures in any light, even without flash," in a bid to emphasize that the Lumia 925 camera is superior to the one in iPhone 5.

This is not the first time Nokia has made fun of Apple though an advertisement. Last year, the company released an ad showing that iPhone users have to contend with only black and white colour options for their smartphone, whereas Lumia buyers can opt for multiple hues.

Apple is not the only rival that Nokia has poked fun at either. The Finnish giant earlier this week posted a meme on its Conversations blog,it took a jibe at the hefty size of Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom. Last year, before the launch of Lumia 920, it tweeted, "Samsung take note, next generation Lumia coming soon."

Nokia did not even spare BlackBerry when the Canadian titan launched its Z10 and Q10 smartphones. It tweeted that Lumia 920 is the best smartphone for corporate users, even though BlackBerry phones have traditionally been favoured by the segment.

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iPad 5 schematics leak with iPad mini-size sides

The fifth generation full-sized iPad appears to be popping up this week for the first time in schematics – not the average leak vehicle, to be sure. 

This device appears – according to the images shared by NWE, to shave off around 1/4 of the thickness that is in the wi-fi edition of the iPad 4 (the current generation machine on the market today.) This device also appears to be thinner – however slightly – than the iPad mini, with corners and edges that essentially match those of the smaller tablet.

This same source – said by NWE to be “undoubtedly proven to be reliable” in the past, shows the iPad 5 to have a 7.9mm thickness, 232mm length, 178.5mm width, and may or may not include the display in these measurements.

That factoid – the idea that this set of schematics may have some millimeters added to it when the display glass is added in the end – could very well put the thickness back up to the same size as the iPad mini. That’s still significantly thinner than the iPad 4, of course.

The release time for this machine has been suggested to be right in-between mid-September and the end of October, this lining up generally well with past iPad releases. This release will likely be joined by iPod and/or iPod touch device reveals as well.

ALSO NOTE: This leak matches up extremely well with a previous leak of the iPad 5′s iPad mini-like corners and bezels.

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Airtel, Google launch Free Zone

MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel has entered into an agreement with Google to offer customers the first search page on the Google engine for free. This means Airtel users will be able to conduct a basic Google search or set up a Gmail account without subscribing to a data service plan on the network. Free Zone, as the service is called, aims to empower first time internet users. 

Airtel mobile customers can access the service by visiting. "In (India),feature phones predominate, our association with Google to bring Free Zone to India will encourage millions of users to discover the power of mobile internet," said N Rajaram, chief marketing officer - consumer business, Bharti Airtel.

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RCom offers 50% discount on 3G plans for iPhones

MUMBAI: Reliance Communications has tied up with Apple to bundle the iPhone handset with its service plans. The Anil Ambani-owned telecom operator will offer as much as 50% discount on data service on its 3G, or third generation, network to iPhone users on its network under these plans.

This is Apple's third operator pact in India, it also offers bundled devices with plans Aircel and Airtel. Industry experts, however, say this marks the Cupertino, California-based company's first attempt at bringing the CDMA technology version iPhone to India. Aircel and Airtel have GSM technology-based operations.

"There will be around 140 million more smartphone users in India over the next two or three years. We are gunning to get 40 million of them," said Gurdeep Singh, chief executive (wireless business), Reliance Communications. "The definition of a subscriber ARPU is dead, it is now the screen size that determines the ARPU. The larger the screen, the more the ARPU."

Apple is also one of the only LTE or 4G technology device makers and the latest iPhones and iPads come in variants that can operate on the upgraded technology. Reliance Communications is a passive infrastructure - telecom towers and optic fibre - provider for Mukesh Ambani's Relaince Jio Infocomm, which is the only company in the country with airwaves to provide high-speed internet connectivity on 4G across India.

For Gurdeep Singh, Reliance Communications' chief executive for wireless since May last year, this is the second major operational move for the company. Singh was at Aircel as chief operating officer when the company entered into the first pact with Apple in India. The tie-up is also Singh's second major move at the company, six months after he increased headline call rates.

The pricing proposed for iPhone data users on Reliance Communications at the most discounted plan offering 6GB of data surfing a month at Rs 804, compares favourably with Airtel's parallel offer that gives 1.2GB data at the same price. However, Airtel offers more free calling minutes and SMS.

Reliance Communications will offer premium numbers to new iPhone customers on its network, and free access to applications WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter for three months.

"We are a younger GSM player in the developed marketsMumbai and Delhi. This should increase our access to the postpaid customer market," Singh said. Postpaid customers account for as little as 5% of companies' subscribers, but contribute over half the revenue in most cases.

Singh said, the plans are being rolled out in seven cities, including Mumbai and Delhi to start with, and are restricted to iPhone users. However, the company will include more handsets as time passes and results are captured, Singh added.

The Anil Ambani group flagship company already has pacts with Samsung, HTC, Blackberry, Lenovo, Nokia for other deals.

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Oracle, NetSuite announce cloud computing alliance

SAN FRANCISCO: Software companies Oracle and NetSuite announced an alliance to deliver cloud-based services to mid-size business customers, the third tie-up unveiled this week by Oracle as it pushes further into services delivered over the internet. 

The agreement will focus on integrating Oracle's software for human resources with NetSuite's services for enterprise resource planning and will be aimed at mid-size companies, Oracle and NetSuite said. 

"You shouldn't think of this as a date. You should think of this as us continuing to integrate our products closer and closer together," Oracle president Mark Hurd told analysts and reporters on a conference call. "Think of this almost as rolling thunder as opposed to an event." 

NetSuite, in which Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison is a major shareholder, makes web-based software for small and mid-size companies to manage their businesses and customers. Connecting their products gives the two technology companies new sales opportunities. 

The partnership with NetSuite follows Oracle agreements announced earlier this week with cloud computing leader Salesforce.com and top software maker Microsoft. 

Oracle wants to speed up its move into cloud computing, a fast-growing area of technologythe No. 3 software maker has fallen behind smaller rivals selling all-in-one solutions that are less expensive than Oracle's offerings. 

Shares of NetSuite have more than tripled over the past five years, while Oracle's have gained about 40%. 

Microsoft will support Oracle's software on its cloud-based platforms, which have also struggled to catch up with Amazon.com's cloud offering, called Amazon Web Services, which blazed the trail in elastic online computing services. 

Ellison and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on Thursday are due to hold a conference call to outline the details of their new nine-year partnership.

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Apple co-founder backs NSA whistleblower, slams US

WASHINGTON: Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak has expressed his support for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden who leaked sensitive data about US surveillance programme, and has criticized the government for giving itself the permission to do what it wants. 

Wozniak who invented the Apple I and II computers said that freedom in US is 'just a joke', reports New York Daily News. 

According to the report, Wozniak said that the US government is upset because of Snowden's revelations as it embarrassed them and questioned what the government is doing in the name of fighting terrorism. 

Wozniak who along with late Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne, started Apple in 1976 said that initially technology was thought to give less restriction but with digital technology nothing is private anymore not even the emails, the report added.

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'India becomes world's third-biggest smartphone mkt'

LONDON: India has been ranked the third largest smartphone market in the world pushing down Japan, a new study has revealed. 

According to Express.co.uk, the study by market research experts Strategy Analytics has found that India has moved ahead of Japan as during the first quarter of 2013 smartphone sales in India increased by 163%. 

The study revealed that the increase in sales is due to the improved distribution networks for Samsung, Apple and Indian firm Micromax and the key brands driving the rise include foreign firmsSamsung and Apple. 

However, the study pointed out that domestic players are experiencing faster growth such as Micromax, Karbonn and Spice which have grown between 200% and 500% on a yearly basis. 

The report added that leading India in the smartphone market are China and America.

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Cognizant tops Recruiters list in India

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The IT services sector is perhaps the worst hit by global economic turbulence over the past few years. But when one company this industry hires more MBAs 21 top B-schools than any other company acrosssectors, you know it is doing something right. 

Cognizant, number one in India's Top Recruiters list this year, also featured in the top ten in the previous two years. 

It hires one MBA for every 20-25 tech professionals and this, the company believes, is the best way to beat the industry-wide slowdown. "Our industry-leading growth is, in part, a function of our ability to proactively provide solutions to business problems and not just technological capability . This attribute is strengthened by our MBA talent," says R Chandrasekaran, group chief executive , technology and operations. 

At Cognizant, MBAs undertake a varied spectrum of roles such as IT consulting, client relationship management, business development, opportunity assessment , M&A, business integration and analytics. The company hired more than 200 MBA students the 2013 graduating batch. And it is not done hiring yet. "We now have several groups within our Emerging Business Accelerator businesses, looking for MBA talent for their ventures," says Chandrasekaran. 

ET reached out to the country's top 21 B-schools and compiled hiring data over 119 companies to put together the third edition of 'India's Top Recuiters List.' Capgemini, a new entrant in this list, made itthe way to the number two slot. 

"We doubled our B-school hire intake this year," says Rajesh Padmanabhan, head, HR. "We engage with a few campuses and keep reviewing this list based on our experience of candidate performance, retention rates and their overall progress," says Padmanabhan. BCG, which hired more than rival McKinsey, made the most of the slowdown. 

There were fewer offers others. For a consulting firmours, people are the raw material. We are hiring more," says Sachin Nandgaonkar, senior partner and director at Boston Consulting Group. BCG, which was also the top recruiter at IIM-A , B and C, is now looking beyond. "We also recognise that there are other bright people who for some reason have not made it to IIMs. We wouldto see if that talent gets attracted to BCG," says Nandgaonkar. The firm also hired five Indian-origin graduates Insead, The Wharton School, and Kellogg School of Management. "We are seeing non-Indians at these B schools wanting to do India stints as it is an addition to the resume," says Nandgaonkar. 

For Goldman Sachs, the lone investment bank among the top 10 recruiters, this year was the most aggressive in recent memory. Says Bunty Bohra, MD : "We have been growing over the past seven to eight years and are expanding the breadth of our internship experience." 

Goldman Sachs visited 65-plus campuses this year, and Bohra himelf visited more campuses than ever. The firm used social media aggressively to woo top talent. It significantly upgraded its web-based content to communicate with the generation of millennials and also launched a global career app in February 2013. 

"If we are not connectingthe future of workforce is, we are not doing it right," says Bohra. Airtel's hiring numbers have remained the same, but this year, it reviewed the campuses it visits. "We have made our list crisp," says Krish Shankar, executive director, HR at Bharti Airtel. The company also picked some young leaders for its overseas operations in Africa campuses this year.

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