Indian telecom operators to block cellphones with improper IMEI starting from 1st December

Indian Telecom operators will start blocking  mobile phones with improper IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers starting from tomorrow. They have been issued an order from the Indian government to take this action.

improperIMEI

GSM networks use IMEI to identify mobile devices. Operators block stolen mobile phone with the help of this number. Security reasons have been cited as the rationale for this directive. Following are the type of phones that are eligible to be blocked in the light of this order:

  1. Cellphones that do not have IMEI numbers.
  2. Have sequence of zeroes as their IMEI number.
  3. Non-genuine IMEI numbers.

Users whose device will get blocked will have two options

  1. Purchase a new mobile.
  2. Go to one of the outlets setup by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), to get a valid IMEI number embedded onto their devices via a specific software.

128 GB Pendrive = 109,227 Floppies

Growth may not always be in terms of size, and in this technological era we live in, it’s completely opposite. As we advance the size of storage is decreasing.

Did you know, a 2TB hardrive could store Photos which could be stored in 6900 Photo Albums? Imagine replacing your 120 Gb iPod with Discs, how many discs would be required? A whopping 28,000, i mean where would you store it?

Here’s a nice creation by Curtiss Spontelli which stores all our advancements in one Photograph. Click on the image below to enlarge.

Twitter, Twitter, Twitter : Most Popular English word of 2009!

twitter

Every 98 minutes, a new english word is created. With that you know, how many words out there are created throughout the year.

Twitter is perhaps the fastest growing social network, and even more talked about service. This makes twitter the No.1 on the list of most popular terms of 2009 for English Language.

The name itself is addictive (I like to say, “Tw-i-tt-er”), and thus it was declared the top word of 2009 by Global Language monitor which tracks English Language.

So, Twitter does Defeat Barack Obama and H1N1 in the phrase too, and it was quite obvious. Obama, H1N1 etc. had been trending topics on twitter i.e most tweeted about, they said it through twitter so it was going to win.

Massive growth in Social Media has benefited twitter a lot, and twitter has broken so many records!

Apple to kill off Google Maps on iPhone?

iPhone is seamlessly integrated with Google Maps but the following events make Apple and Google, quite a bit opponents.

iphone_maps

The latest news is that Google is developing it’s  own feature rich map application which would be something similar to the present Google maps you are using on your iPhone but more advanced features.

Apple posted a Job Listing, for the iPhone Maps team to take it to the next level.

We want to take Maps to the next level, rethink how users use Maps and change the way people find things. We want to do this in a seamless, highly interactive and enjoyable way. We’ve only just started

It surely states, they have just started so don’t expect the app so early, or some reports suggest that Apple could be releasing the App with new hardware ;)

Apple and Google’s Growing competition are a proof of this and along with that the recent news was that Apple have acquired Placebase which is a mapping company. So, its clear, New maps are coming.

[Credits : MacRumours]

How Google Makes Money Online by Offering Free services

The best things in the world come for free and this statement holds true in case of Google. If i was asked to name a company which has completely exploited the potential of the word “Free” is would be Google.

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I come across people asking questions, if Google offers everything for free how does it make money? Here is how it makes money.

  • Gmail – The leading email service provider is absolutely free and provides a hefty storage space of about 7 Gigabyte. One of the ways how Google is making money is advertising. Sidebars are full of ads which are related to the Email content you get.
    Picture 11

    Gmail Sidebar Ads

    7 Gigabyte may be enough for many users, but for few it’s not working till it’s unlimited. Whatever it maybe but Google charges you for adding additional storage to your gmail account.

    Picture 12

    Purchase Additional Storage

    The additional storage business is quite profitable because once, you’ve gotten yourself an account you probably won’t take the hassles of shifting to another email service provider.

  • Google Search – The main source of income for Google is Google Search. It is the most powerful product on the web after-all there is some reason why 451,258,500,123 searches are performed about every year and the money spent on advertising on Google is about $ 496,200,572,146. Every Query you do would surely eat away dollars from the advertisers pocket.
    Picture 13Sponsored links form the best methods of income via Google search. The reason why this advertising worked is because it was targeted. When someone is researching to buy a Television and is finding reviews and comes across an Advertisement which attracts the customer due to a huge discount on the product and hence makes a sale. Did you know that the I am Feeling lucky button costed Google Millions of Dollars, not because it was a huge technological invention but it redirects users who made a search on Google to the First result without the users having to encounter with the Google’s result page which contains advertisements.
  • Google Adsense and Google Adwords – A major portion of Google’s ad revenue comes from Publishers who monetize their content using Google’s ad network. My dad used to tell me, How much can a man work? |……| This much? |…………..| This much? How much can he make others work for him? |…… No Limits. This is what exactly happens here. Google knows that revenues from search are not enough for them so it gives other publishers chance to join in their ad network where there is a mutual benefit. The publisher makes money and so does Google by taking commission from their payments. The Commission rate is not disclosed but it is surely enough to keep Google’s growth at its peak. Google Adwords is from where advertisers join their ad inventory and make payments and prepare advertising campaigns.
  • Google Apps – When Organizations go online, they prefer to go Google. Why? It saves money and it actually is quite reliable in terms of service. Picture 15Nearly all those who buy domains use Google Apps for Email, Chat etc. but the biggest drawback is that if you use free version of Google Apps, you don’t get support and that’s the reason why most companies go Premium and they have to pay like $50 per extra user!
  • Picasa Albums – If you know, the Google limits it’s users to a limit of only 1 Gb Upload space on their picasa account. So if you want to continue once you cross the limits, you might want ti buy additional storage like $5 for 20Gb per year.
  • Orkut – Social networking is on the rise, and in countries like India and Brazil, Orkut does rule the market, kind of. If your eyesight is good, you would have surely observed those advertisements on Orkut.
    Advertisements on Orkut

    Advertisements on Orkut

    Google makes decent amount of income from this, but now as it is significantly loosing large amounts of users to Facebook, it’s end maybe near if Google does not do something to revive it!

  • Youtube – There a lot of arguments over this issue. Google is actually running YouTube in loss which is not a good sign for Google. To make up for loss and make actual profits Google is working very hard to monetize it.
    Youtube OverLay ads

    Youtube OverLay ads

    First of all the ads you see around YouTube.com are one source of income. The next way could come from partner companies who agree to promote their music, commercials, etc on YouTube. Adwords advertising for videos is also a source of income. Youtube has also experimented a lot with Overlay ads and it’s becoming quite a bit success.

  • Shopping? Google Product search is what you might refer to and that is where money starts moving towards Google’s banks. As far as what we have learned, Google gets Referral Revenue by selling products via Google product search.
  • Picture 17Google Earth and Maps – Google Earth is the best software for Online Navigation. A lot of features included. But like nothing satisfies few people and they want more so they opt in for the Pro Version of Google Earth which costs $400 and they also offer enterprise solutions. Google Maps and other services are advertising supported and soon, you might be see new advertising which is actually local based advertising i.e if you search for local pizza store you come across ads from such stores on your map.

Try the New (Redesigned) Google now with this browser hack!

For all those who are sick of hearing about new google, here’s a super easy hack to get the new Google Working on your computer right away.

I tried it on FireFox, though this hack did not work with Safari. This look reminds me of Google Wave. Not sure why, perhaps the buttons? No idea!

Why Should you get it? Well,if You think Google only works on it’s logo for the design, you must check this out.

Picture 9

New Google

Search Results

Search Results

  1. Go To Google.com and not to any regional website.
  2. Type in the Following Code in your URL Bar in your Browser
  3. Thats it! Refresh the Page and Enjoy!

In the mean time, check it out and let us know what you think in the comments!

Forget Data Loss : Work. Online [Video]

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Cloud Computing is supposed to be future with Chrome OS and all other top companies hoping to go cloud. Why? No Offline hassles, data loss and stuff like that. 

It’s simple. Everything’s on the cloud. You access it. Well, if i am not able to persuade you then this video from Zoho will surely do the task! (The guy in the video is kinda funny and watch for 1:27 in the video!)

Use YouTube to bell the CAT!

The CAT, which has gone online from this year, will be held between Nov 28 and Dec 7 in 32 cities and at 105 testing centres.
IIMs are revolutionizing the way online tools like YouTube are being used to impart knowledge. If you are a student taking CAT this year, you better make sure you’ve watched the videos posted on YouTube to get the extra edge.

youtube

Prometric Testing – The partners who’re administering the test have created a channel on YouTube with a couple of instructional videos at http://www.youtube.com/IIMCAT

The IIMs have specifically advised students to watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaKHWpiFToE

“Candidates are encouraged to view the YouTube videos,” an official communication from the IIMs and their online test conductor Prometric said Wednesday.

Seems like the IIMs are going all out with the use of technology in the administration of the first ever Online CAT this time but it looks like people have become apprehensive with the new format of the test. They’re employing a wait and watch startegy to crack the CAT. This is evident from the fact that only around 242,000 aspirants will attempt to bell the CAT this year. The figure has fallen from 276,000 candidates last year. Are you taking the CAT this year or are you on the fence? What do you think of the new format and this kind of use of the Internet for the test? Do you think it is all a gimmick or are these initiatives really helpful to the aspirants? Leave your thoughts.

Top 10 Weirdest Pendrives

Forget Cd’s. These days pendrives are in. At Schools, Students and teachers, Doctors all use this. So what happens when pendrive go trendy? Check out these pendrives!

Check them out.

ATT210333

An lizard pen drive

ATT210337

Syringe Pendrive

ATT210323

Delicious Pendrive!

ATT210321

Star Pendrive

ATT210297

Made of Wood

ATT210313

Chici Pendrive

ATT210299

I am going to eat this!

ATT210291

Slipper Pendrive

ATT210327

Lego Pendrive

ATT210339

Doctors Pendrive

Paypal Wishlist : Make free money on Facebook

facebook-money

PayPal Wishlist is a Facebook Application that lets you earn free money on the most popular social networking website, Facebook. All you have to do is add this networking App to your profile and start inviting your friends.Everytime your friends join by clicking your referrel link,you earn free bucks.

Still don’t believe us? Shown below is a screenshot from the official App site , explaining HOW IT WORKS.

paypal wishlist working

Steps required to setup the Facebook Wishlist :

1. Login to your Facebook Account
2. Add the Paypal Wishlist app here.

3. Type your paypal email address on Enter Email Address box
4. Create your Wishlist by adding gadgets,books etc and share your paypal wishlist to friends.

NOTE : PayPal account holders registered in India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore or Vietnam will eligible to earn cash back. This promotion is valid until December 31st, 2009 or until funds last.