Microsoft reveals three editions of its next-generation operating system

Microsoft reveals three editions of its next-generation operating system

Microsoft on Monday announced that there will be three editions of its next-generation Windows 8 operating system: Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro and Windows RT. The Redmond-based company detailed each edition on its blog and promised “all editions of Windows 8 offer a no-compromise experience.” Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro will support PCs and tablets powered by x86 processors, while Windows RT will be reserved for ARM-powered devices. The basic edition of Windows 8 is aimed at the average consumer, while the Windows 8 Pro edition is designed for tech enthusiasts and business and technical professionals and the RT edition is aimed at lighter-duty devices.
The Pro edition comes with all the features in Windows 8 plus encryption, virtualization, PC management and domain connectivity. “If you are an enthusiast or you want to use your PC in a business environment, you will want Windows 8 Pro,” the company said.
Windows RT, previously known as Windows on ARM, will only be available pre-installed on PCs and tablets powered by ARM processors, and it will include touch-optimized desktop versions of the new Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Microsoft will reportedly complete work on Windows 8 this summer, and the first wave of PCs and tablets powered by the new platform will then launch in October.

Infosys going through tough times, says V Balakrishnan, CFO

Infosys going through tough times, says V Balakrishnan, CFO

Times of India |1 day agoIn an interview with ET NOW, V Balakrishnan - Member of the Board and Chief Financial Officer of Infosys, talks about why the company misses Q4 guidance and it's cautious outlook. Excerpts:

Why has Infosys given such a poor guidance?
You should understand, the economic volatility is too high and most of our revenue comes from US and Europe. In the March quarter, we have seen confluence of three or four things. One, the decisions got delayed for some of the large contracts which are to be assigned. We have seen ramp downs in some of the financial services clients. Wherever we anticipated that the project will start and the ramp ups will happen, those decisions got delayed and we have seen some changes at the CSO level in some of our customers that has impacted the decision making process.

When you have a confluence of all those four which impacted our revenue growth in March, financially we want to be cautious for next year. Today, the challenge is not about budgets because most of the clients have finalised the budgets and budgets are either flat of slightly down but the ability to focus on the spending has come down.

At a time when US economy has recovered, how come that is not translating into some kind of a visibility for Infosys and are you of the view that if US economy indeed improves in coming quarters, that could change spending, commitment and then outlook from some of your clients?
It is going to be volatile because if you look at all the recent macroeconomic data emerging from US, there are concerns about growth. The employment creation has not been up to the expectation and Europe crisis is still lingering around. In this kind of environment, customer ability to come and spend on IT with a volatile environment also comes down. If you look at all the S&P 500 companies, earlier one-fifth of the companies did not give guidance for the full year, now it has increased to one-third.

This means ability of companies to predict for next 12 months has come down drastically and that also impacts the spending patterns of the clients. If you are looking at an uncertain environment, their ability to come and spend also comes down. That is what we have seen but hopefully if the macroeconomic data improves and clients get more confidence, probably they will come and spend more and we will look good.

Are you factoring in the possibility of a growth deterioration in your guidance?
No, we have been saying this, our guidance is the statement of fact. For example last year in the beginning, we gave a guidance of 18% to 20% growth. We revised it to 17% to 19% in the second quarter because the currency moved. Then we brought it down to 16.3% based on the change in environment.

Finally we delivered 15.8%. So you are living in a very volatile world. Our guidance is a statement of fact. It can be positive and negative depending on how the world environment is going to move. We have given a guidance based on what we know at this point of time.

No salary hike was given this year. You had an additional tailwind from the currency equation because rupee depreciated by about 5.8% for FY12. So both the tailwinds have been played out. Why are you factoring in a margin decline of about 50 basis points to about 100 basis point for FY13?
We exceeded the year with a 70% utilisation excluding trainees. That is one of the lowest utilisation we have seen for many quarters in the past. You have a lower utilisation that is going to impact margins and also we are hiring 35,000 people more. Our comfort zone on utilisation is somewhere between 76 to 80. That means for a 6% growth, we already have people.

We are hiring 35,000 more to make sure that we train our employees and keep them ready if there is incremental growth and on our employees side, we have always taken care of them. Even in 2008 the worst crisis, we honoured all the offers in the campus. We were the only company which honoured all the offers we gave in the campus.

Even two years back, we distributed the shares at trust to all the employees free of cost. So we always take care of employee interest and this is an unusual year. We are starting with a very volatile environment. Our visibility on growth is very limited. To that extent, we have to balance the interest of stakeholders.

That is why we said we are not looking at a wage hike at this point of time. Over the year when we have better a better hold on the growth, probably we will re-look at the wage hike.

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Tech News - How to recover deleted files: Tutorial | Techgig

Accidentally deleting files - it's something we've all done, but erasing a file isn't the only thing that can go wrong when you're working in a hurry.
It's also very easy to edit a document, save it and then later change your mind about the editing you've done.
The good news is the Previous Versions feature of Windows 7 can help you eliminate these problems by saving snapshots of your hard drive automatically, so you have the option of reverting individual files to an earlier version if necessary - or even restoring files that have been accidentally deleted.
Protect your workUse Previous Versions to rescue files after accidental edits or deletion
1. Enable System Protection

Click the 'Start' orb and then the 'Control Panel' shortcut to the right. Now click the 'System' icon followed by the 'System Protection' link to the left of the window.
In the Protection Settings section towards the centre of the dialog that appears, click the entry for your C: drive and then the 'Configure' button.
2. Configure restoration options

Select the option labelled 'Restore system settings and previous versions of files'. Use the slider that appears in the bottom portion of the dialog box to choose how much disk space should be set aside for previous versions of files and system backups. Click the 'OK' button once you've finished.
3. Create restore point

Windows will automatically start to create restore points and save multiple versions of files for you. Get things started by clicking the 'Create' button on the System Properties tab. Enter a name for your first restore point before clicking 'Create' - note that the date and time will be added for you automatically.
4. Complete system restore

You may have to wait for a little while as the system restore point is created, depending on the amount of data stored on your hard drive. Once it's complete, click the 'Close' button that appears to complete the backup process. You can then close the System Properties window and the Control Panel.
5. Accessing previous versions

If you discover that you've made and saved unwanted changes to a document, right-click it and select the 'Restore previous versions' option. Alternatively, you can right-click a file and select the 'Properties' option from the context menu before moving to the Previous Versions tab.
6. Check file contents

A list of previous versions of the selected file will be displayed, and you can then choose which one you would like to work with - click the 'Open' button to check the contents of a particular document. Work through the list until you identify the version that you would like to restore.
7. Restore previous version

Once you've decided which file you're interested in, click the 'Restore' button. Take note of the warning message that appears explaining that continuing will overwrite any existing file, and then only click the 'Restore' button if you're happy to continue. Once the process is complete, click 'OK'.
8. Create a copy

To avoid overwriting an existing file with one you're restoring - which could cause a problem if you accidentally restore the wrong file - it's a good idea to create a copy of the older version. To do this, click the 'Copy' button, navigate to the folder you would like to use and then click 'Copy' again.
9. Restore deleted files

If you've deleted a file by accident, right-click the folder it was stored in and select the 'Restore previous version' option from the menu that appears. You can then double-click one of the previous versions of the folder and create a copy of the file you're trying to retrieve.
10. Work with your documents

Having breathed a sigh of relief, you can now continue to work with your files as if nothing untoward ever happened. Whether you made an unwanted change to your CV or accidentally deleted some photos, Windows Previous Versions can help to save you a great deal of work and frustration.


 READ MORE

Tech News - How to recover deleted files: Tutorial | Techgig

Tech News - Hackers finally break down Mac Firewall; over 6 lakh Apple's Mac computers affected | Techgig

 More than 600,000 Apple Inc (AAPL) Mac computers were affected by a hacking attack, a sign that the once rarely targeted company is becoming a bigger focus for people intent on spreadingmalware, a security-research firm said.

The attack affects computers running Apple's Mac OS X software, according to Russian antivirus software maker Doctor Web.

Most of the infected computers are in the United States (X) and Canada, the firm said in a blog posting. Apple fixed a security hole this week that let the malicious software spread. Users who haven't downloaded the necessary updates are vulnerable, Doctor Web said.

"This once again refutes claims by some experts that there are no cyber-threats to Mac OS X," Doctor Web said. Apple spokesman Bill Evans declined to comment on the hacker attack. He noted that there are 63 million Macs in use worldwide. Macs have historically been an unappealing hacking target because of their low market share.

Instead, criminals have attacked PCs running Microsoft Windows software, seeking the biggest number of victims for illicit moneymaking schemes. The attack that Doctor Web analysed is an especially harmful variety that infects computers without user interaction.

To get hit, users just need to visit a poisoned webpage and the infection happens silently in the background. The vulnerability that allows the attack to take place exists in Java, the widely used programming language for building web pages.

Boris Sharov, Doctor Web's chief executive officer, said in an interview that the spread of the infection appears to have leveled off at around 600,000 computers, a sign of the effectiveness of the security patch.

"It just shows that no matter what operating system you're using, you can be at risk," he said in a phone interview on Friday. "No one is immune."



Tech News - Hackers finally break down Mac Firewall; over 6 lakh Apple's Mac computers affected | Techgig

Tech News - Google glasses' hidden dangers | Techgig

If you think texting while walking is dangerous, just wait until everyone starts wearing Google's futuristic, internet-connected glasses.

Directions to your destination appear literally before your eyes. You can talk to friends over video chat, take a photo or even buy a few things online as you walk around.

These glasses can do anything a smartphone or tablet computer does now -- and then some.

Google gave a glimpse of "Project Glass" in a video and blog post this week. Still in an early prototype stage, the glasses open up endless possibilities-as well as challenges to safety, privacy and fashion sensibility.

The prototypes have a sleek wrap-around look and appear nothing like clunky 3D glasses. But if Google isn't careful, they could be dismissed as a kind of Bluetooth earpiece of the future, a fashion faux-pas where bulky looks outweigh marginal utility.

In development for a couple of years, the project is the brainchild of Google X, the online search-leader's secret facility that spawned the self-driving car and could one day let people ride elevators into space.

If it takes off, it could bring reality another step closer to science fiction, where the line between human and machine blurs.

"My son is 4 years old and this is going to be his generation's reality," said Guy Bailey, who works as a social media supervisor for Kennesaw State University outside Atlanta. He expects it might even be followed by body implants, so that in 10 years or so you'll be able to get such a "heads-up" display inside your head.

At its best, the goal is to make your life easier by putting the tools now at your fingertips in front of your eyes.

"There is a lot of data about the world that would be great if more people had access to as they are walking down the street," said Jason Tester, research director at the nonprofit Institute For the Future in Palo Alto, California.

That said, "once that information is not only at our fingertips but literally in our field of view, it may become too much."

Always-on smartphones with their constant Twitter feeds, real-time weather updates and "Angry Birds" games are already leaving people with a sense of information overload. But at least you can put your smartphone away. Having all that in front of your eyes could become too much.

Tech News - Google glasses' hidden dangers | Techgig

IIT responsible for Aakash I failure: Datawind

Six months after ministry of human resource development launched the Aakash tablet, barely a few hundred units have reached students. The manufacturing of the device has been stopped and now the ministry and Datawind, the company responsible for supplying the tablet, are focusing on Aakash 2, an upgraded version of the device.

Datawind concedes Aakash, which is supposed to digitize the way students study in India, has not been a success in its first version. But the company squarely blames IIT-Rajasthan, the nodal agency overseeing the project, for the fiasco. It says the concerns over the tablet's quality and functionality are overblown by the institute in a bid to "favour other firms".

Datawind's CEO, Suneet Singh Tuli, says that after winning the bid to manufacture Aakash, the company supplied 10,000 tablets to IIT-Rajasthan. They were part of an initial order of 1,00,000 tablets that Datawind was supposed to supply to the government at a price of $49.98 per unit. But after a few hundred tablets reached students as part of the pilot project, IIT-Rajasthan started rejecting Aakash tablet, allegedly after reports that the device was failing during pilot testing and did not meet the quality criteria set by the institute.

Tuli, however, disagrees. "IIT-Rajasthan was simply trying to defame us by saying that we could not meet the quality required by it," he says. "When we were awarded the contract, there was only a specification sheet. But when we started supplying the tablets, IIT-Rajasthan started rejecting the tablet based on biased and unscientific testing methodology. "

"IIT Rajasthan put up roadblocks. It jeopardized the whole project. I can say the dirty tricks by the institute put us around six months behind on the project ... they did it because they were favouring other firms... Even now, the institute is trying to sabotage the project," he adds.

There are reports that IIT-Rajasthan has been issued a showcause notice by MHRD last month over the Aakash failure. The notice asks institute to explain why it did not set up a tablet testing facility and procedure in time and why it failed to resolve its dispute with Datawind. Reportedly, the institute also worked with Wishtel, a company that launched a low-cost tablet called Ira last week. TOI tried contacting Prem K Kalra, director of IIT Rajasthan, over the email and phone but he wasn't available.

Datawind says that after the fiasco, it took back the tablets supplied to IIT-Rajasthan. "We have not been paid for a single one of them. But mission is more important to us... we believe in Aakash project," says Tuli.

The company is now working on Aakash 2, an updated version of the original tablet. It will have a capacitive screen instead of resistive and hence support multitouch. It will also have a better processor - based on Cortex A8.

"We are working with IIT Mumbai for Aakash 2 and will start supplying the tablet to government this month. Our original order for 100000 units has been transferred for Aakash 2 now. After the order of 100000 units is met, MHRD will invite bids for more tablets. We will bid again," says Tuli. Kapil Sibal, minister of human resources and development, on Tuesday said that Aakash 2 will be available in May.

Datawind also sells a commercial version of Aakash tablet called Ubislate. Tuli claims the firm has received over 3 million pre-bookings for Ubislate. However, this tablet too has not reached customers. "We are aware of the delay and trying to sort it out. We hope to ship Ubislate to consumer in next 10 days. To compensate for the delay, we will now give them Ubislate+, an upgraded version of the tablet at the same price," says Tuli.

Courtesy Tech Gig News :Read more:  

Top 5 Facebook Privacy Tips

Frequent Facebook users have a love-hate relationship with the world's largest social network. It's hard not to worry about how Facebook is using the information we so freely feed it, yet the platform itself is so fun and enjoyable to use, oftentimes it's easier to overlook the bigger privacy picture for in-the-moment fun. Parents share images of their kids with friends and distant relatives. Artists trade links and images on Facebook, collaborating and curating ideas and interests. Yet the social networking comes with a price, as evidenced by the controversy caused by the Girls Around Me App, which uses public Foursquare and Facebook location data to map women nearby. And of course, it's easier to freak out about apps like this than to seriously consider what dumping your personal information onto Facebook itself means.
Facebook users need to be aware of what they're sharing and with whom, especially the young and vulnerable. To get a better idea of five ways to better protect your Facebook privacy, ReadWriteWeb talked to Sarah Downey, a privacy analyst for Abine, the maker of Do Not Track Plus.
Be aware of what you share on Facebook, but also keep an eye on social-sharing apps that let your friends share your information. If you are worried about the information that you've made available on Facebook, limit with whom you share it.

1. Limit Sharing to Friends Only

This suggestion is diametrically opposed to Zuckerberg's famous 'the age of privacy is over' declaration in 2009 in which he decided that everyone should share everything they posted on Facebook with everyone else. Later he retreated on this statement. The FTC stepped in, especially as the Timeline era approached. Facebook users can set the default to 'friends only,' and that's exactly what Downey suggests.
'If you're sharing with 'friends of friends,' you're exposing your info to an average of 150,000 people,' says Downey. 'When your data is open to the public, it can - and does - end up anywhere: the Girls Around Me app or Spokeo.com are two creepy examples.'
To change the settings to friends-only, go to Privacy Settings, and select 'Friends' or 'Custom.' Adjust the settings according to whom you would prefer sees your posts. Note that if you check the 'Friends of those tagged' box, you are allowing Facebook to share the post on your wall with the friends of the person tagged.

2. Don't Let Your Friends Share Your Info

Pay close attention to requests from random Facebook social apps like BranchOut. (Plus, do you really want to do 'career networking' on Facebook? Casual networking is one thing, but for purely professional connecting, go to LinkedIn.)
'BranchOut requests your basic info; your email address; your profile info: education history, location and work history; and your friends' profile information, including their education histories, locations and work histories,' says Abine. 'Even without your permission, BranchOut can access your friends' permission.'
This is not only intrusive, yes, but also indicative of something more important: As soon as you become Facebook friends with another user, you are allowing them to access a great deal of information about you. This is even more reason to watch what you share on your Facebook profile and who you become friends with.
To change this setting, go to Privacy Settings > Apps, Games and Websites. Then select 'How people bring your info to apps they use.' Go through and uncheck information about yourself that you don't want your friends to share via social apps and games.

3. Take Care of Your Taggage

That's right, I said taggage, not baggage. It's all kind of the same these days, though. Unlike Google+, which asks users if they'd like facial recognition turned on in photos, Facebook offers 'tag suggestions.' This means that when a photo that looks like you is uploaded to the network, Facebook suggests adding a tag. It says that this helps 'save time,' especially when many photos are uploaded from a single event. It does not tag you automatically, but this sort of thing does count as facial recognition. If you would like to opt-out of this feature, change the 'who sees tag suggestions when photos that look like you are uploaded' option to 'no one.'
If you don't mind keeping it within friends, select the 'friends' option. You can also adjust the Timeline and Tagging options, turning on the review tags and review posts friends tag you in.

4. Limit Audience for Past Posts

The switch to Timeline caused many to promptly wipe and clean up their Facebook profiles, making them shiny new and pristine for friends. Changing the privacy settings on old posts means that you're making a conscious decision to share even past posts with only your current Facebook friends. This includes posts you've previously made public, or posts you've shared with people who you may not be friends with anymore. It poses an interesting question - do you want to change your Facebook past? That photo of an ex that you've since Facebook defriended, or perhaps a friend that you needed to unfriend for a time? If those photos represent memories, is it really necessary to go for a one-size-fits-all vision of your Facebook past?

'Think of this button as a one-stop shop to edit visibility of all your past Facebook posts,' says Downey. 'Anything that was open to the public or friends of friends will change to friends only.'

5. Make Your Subscriber Search Private

Do you want your Facebook profile to be a community space, or a subscriber-based stream of you? Removing the public Subscribe option will help keep random strangers out of your publicly facing community.

'Unless you turn off Subscriber Search, anyone can subscribe to your public posts, whether you know them or not,' says Downey. 'This means that your 'public timeline' will show up in search engine results and let anyone look up your timeline by name.'
To change this, go to Account Settings > Subscribers, and uncheck the 'allow subscribers' box

Read More:
(courtesy) : www.techgig.com

Facebook Considers Adding The Hate Button

Facebook Considers Adding The Hate Button
In 2010, TechCrunch broke the news that Facebook was going to release a “Like” button for the whole darn Internet. Now, TechCrunch has learned Facebook is considering a “Hate” ..

In 2010, TechCrunch broke the news that Facebook was going to release a “Like” button for the whole darn Internet. Now, TechCrunch has learned Facebook is considering a “Hate” button as well.

According to Facebook’s S-1 filing, users are now generating 2.7 billion Likes and Comments per day. With the Hate button, Facebook expects to at least double that. The S-1 noted “popular Pages on Facebook include Lady Gaga, Disney, and Manchester United, each of which has move than 20 million Likes.” Many inside the company think the Hates could easily top that.

When the original Like button was announced, Mark Zuckerberg made a bold prediction there would be over 1 billion Likes across the web in just the first 24 hours. Sources at Facebook say Mark is estimating 2 billion Hates on the first day. Facebook studies have shown the sad fact that people hate things on the Internet more than they like things. There’s also an internal debate on whether the new button should be called “Hate” or “Dislike.”

MySQL Query Browser Error:"Access violation at address 0096D717 in module 'LIBMYSQL.DLL'. Read of address 00000088.

• I recently installed the lastest GUI tools and now when I try to edit table data from MySQL Administrator I get a MySQL Query Browser Error. It says:
  
  "Access violation at address 0096D717 in module 'LIBMYSQL.DLL'. Read of address 00000088.
  
  It still shows all the data but I can't use the edit function. I am running MySQL 5.0.24 on FreeBSD 6.1. Is there a configuration setting that I'm missing? If I open the Query Browser manually I have full functionality.

One of the Best ANS:

Check your windows folder for the my.ini file. In that file you should double check your username and password. I was using Vista x64 and this solved my problem! The mysql admin window would just keep closing on me, but I had forgot that I changed the password manually by prompt after I just installed. Hope this helps!

PPP Ad Tips

The mimic bands the keyword opposite the given earth.

Now that you've added your blog, we need to make sure that you own this blog.
Create a new post on your blog. Copy and paste the randomly generated sentence shown above exactly as it is given anywhere in your new post. Publish the new post so that it is viewable at your blog's URL.
Once this sentence is on your blog, come back to your PPP account and press the claim blog button. You can remove the post after you have successfully claimed the blog.

Geek Zone: If stylus = fail, Samsung's Galaxy Note has 5M fai...

Geek Zone: If stylus = fail, Samsung's Galaxy Note has 5M fai...: Apparently a 5.3-inch smartphone isn’t too big, and having stylus to go with it doesn’t mean it’s a failure: Samsung announced 5 million s...

If stylus = fail, Samsung's Galaxy Note has 5M failures

Apparently a 5.3-inch smartphone isn’t too big, and having stylus to go with it doesn’t mean it’s a failure: Samsung announced 5 million sales of its Galaxy Note in a blog post on Wednesday. Previously, the company has reported device shipments, but Samsung specifically means actual end-user sales, making the oversized phone — or undersized tablet — just the right size for success.

I suspect that because of the size and stylus, the Note can’t be properly evaluated in a short hands-on session. I tried to do just that and came away with mixed feelings: Nice hardware, but an odd-feeling size in the hand; likely because there have been so few devices in this size range. But if the handset can replace both a phone and tablet while still being highly portable, that’s a plus. Clearly, 5 million people think so.
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Cellphone is the new tool for data collection

Researchers can garner vast amounts of information bearing on pollution, epidemics, transportation, from cameras, audio recorders and other applications built into cellphones, cheaply and efficiently.

But how to get mobile users to cooperate? "We can 'soft control' users with gaming or social network incentives to drive them where we want them," said study co-author Fabian Bustamante of Northwestern University.

For example, a game might offer extra points if a player visits a certain location in the real world, or it might send a player to a certain location in a virtual scavenger hunt, according to a Northwestern statement.

To test soft control, researchers created Android games, including one called Ghost Hunter in which a player chases ghosts around his neighbourhood and "zaps" them through an augmented reality display on his phone.

In actuality, the player's zapping motion snaps a photo of the spot where the ghost is supposedly located, said Bustamante, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Northwestern.

In Ghost Hunter, researchers are able to manipulate where the ghosts are placed. Some are placed in frequently travelled areas, others are located in out-of-the-way, rarely photographed locations.

Participants were willing to travel well out of their regular paths to capture the ghosts helping researchers collect photos of Northwestern's Charles Deering Library from numerous angles and directions - a far broader range of data than the random sampling found on Flickr.

"Playing the game seemed to be a good enough vehicle to get people to go to these places," said John P. Rula, McCormick graduate student, who led the study.

If this technology were implemented on a larger scale, users would need to be notified that their data was being collected for research purposes, Bustamante said.

"Obviously users need to know where their data is going," he said, "and we take every measure to protect user privacy."

These findings were presented at the XIIIth Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications (HotMobile).


http://www.techgig.com/tech-news/editors-pick/Cellphone-is-the-new-tool-for-data-collection-11118

Facebook hires software engineers from India to fill US posts

Facebook hires software engineers from India to fill US posts

Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, is doing something that no domestic or multinational company has done before - hire software engineers from India for positions based in the United States.

Typically, global firms such as IBM and GE hire in India for positions here and send some of these recruits abroad for specific projects.