Google and Pottermore Sign Ebook Deal

Pottermore is bringing Harry Potter to the digital format with ebooks and has signed a deal with Google to use their literary services for this purpose. This fall, Harry Potter will make its ebook debut on Google eBooks, which lets users port their purchases to 80 other readers. The ebooks will be available via Google eBooks, as well as its iOS and Android apps. However, since the Kindle doesn't support ePUB or PDF files, it is not clear how the eBooks will be supported on that device. The books, as previously reported, will be DRM free. Buy your Pottermore ebooks via Google Google also said that it will provide the payment platform via Google Checkout and the video platform via YouTube for this digital Harry Potter experience. This means, that you will be paying for the eBooks directly to Google as opposed to other services like PayPal or Amazon Payments. Pottermore is expected to open up in October. Since the release of the last movie in the series, Potter fanaticism is at an all time high and Pottermore seems to be catching fans just at the right time. Google, too, will stand to gain by partnering with the Pottermore website right at the opportune moment.

Pictarine Acts as Aggregator for All Your Online Pictures

Pictarine is a new service that allows you to aggregate all your pictures across various sites like Twitter (photo services like Twitpic, Yfrog and Lockerz), Facebook, Instagram, Picasa and Flickr. This way, your friends can see all your pictures without having to hop across various services. Other services include discovering your friends' photos (especially if they're on Instagram and you don't follow them). Mobile and DSLR photos can be added too, allowing all your pictures to be in one place. This however, doesn't mean that Pictarine is hosting your pictures. The other websites continue to host your pictures.

Put it all in one place

The website seems simple enough. You sign up for a Pictarine account, then add your Facebook, Twitter and whichever other accounts you wish to add. When you add Pictarine for Facebook, it asks you the same questions for authorization as any other third party Facebook app would. You then have what Pictarine calls 'zests'. A zest is a virtual album created of aggregations of photos from your various sites. The service has boost mode, which allows you to upload pictures to the various websites, as well as download from them with a single click. To sign up for Pictarine, click here.

Street View: Google and Karnataka Govt. Discuss Future

It can be recalled that a while back, we had reported that one of Google’s immensely popular services, Street View faced a complete ban in the city of Bangalore, India. Citing security concerns, as one of the key issues that came in the way of Google’s Street View getting a go-ahead, the government added that the recent terror attacks in Mumbai had only made matters worse for Google.

Getting the Street View

According to a report in The Economic Times, a recent meet between the legal team from Google, that included Google's legal expert, Geetanjali Duggal and Venkatesh Hariharan, Head of Public Policy and Government Affairs, in Bangalore and BJP’s media spokesperson, S. Prakash, as well as, the party’s lawmaker C.N. Ashwath Narayan, it was discussed that Street View was heavily violating security norms. However, Google’s representatives made attempts to convince the leaders that the Street View services would only display historical monuments and shopping complexes. Post the vicious attack on the nation’s financial capital; all metros including Bangalore were put on a high alert. In such a scenario giving out even the tiniest of details, let alone complete ‘Street View’ would be grave, the leaders added. 

The BJP government in Karnataka has asked Google to approach the Centre for further orders. According to BJP’s media spokesperson, S. Prakash, the Data Protection Act 2000 needed amendments keeping in mind technological advancements that have taken place, since its inception. Both parties are now looking at a third way, that of data protection. Although clashing on most grounds, both Google and the Karnataka government agreed that the entire mechanism needed serious monitoring. 

Google’s authorities now cite further discussions with local authorities as their next logical step. For the rest of us, it’s now a wait and watch game.

Olympus PEN E-P3 Digital Camera

One of the recent developments in the digital camera space has been the introduction of the mirror less, micro four-third sensor cameras. Some of the companies that are really pushing the envelope have been Olympus and Panasonic. There are a bunch of things that make these sort of cameras interesting. They are compact, although not as compact as the smallest point and shoot cameras and yet have the ability to produce SLR quality images. The reason for that is they have larger sensor sizes than point and shoot cameras, which means they have superior image quality.

14-42 mm lens bundled up

Olympus has re-introduced the PEN line of cameras in the digital camera era. Now, there’s a new model. It’s called the E-P3 and it’s the flagship model of the PEN range. Two cheaper models, the E-PM3 and the E-PL3 are yet to follow. The E-P3, like the older E-P1 and E-P2 are targeted at those who are looking to upgrade from a point and shoot camera to a camera with better performance, minus the complexities of a full-fledged DSLR. We first looked at these cameras at an Olympus briefing held in Mumbai, a few weeks back.

Design and Build Quality
The EPL PEN E-P3 has not changed much in design since its predecessors. The PEN E-P3 we received in our labs was a stylish matte black camera with hints of chrome highlights along the edges. Like other PEN cameras, it is compact in design and can fit easily in the hand. It is slightly larger than a standard point and shoot.

40 - 150 mm lens option also available

Unlike the E-P1 and E-P2, this camera comes with a built-in flash that is concealed in the frame of the camera. A simple press of a button next to it is all it takes to deploy the flash that is held inside the body by a set of springs and hinges. These buttons include a dedicated video recording button for shooting videos at 1080i and a Fn1 key  for setting various functions of this camera. Other controls found on the rear of the camera are standard buttons, which are seen on most cameras such as a four way navigational button for flash, aperture priority, auto focus and a timer. The navigational pad also doubles as a scroll for adjusting various camera settings. Besides these the other buttons found are playback, info, menu and erase. A silver jog dial is also located on the back and this is used for adjusting wide-angle and telephoto.

Mode dial on the top

On the top of the camera is a mode dial for changing between the different modes of the PEN E-P3. Other buttons found here are a camera shutter-release button, on/off switch and a secondary function button called Fn2, which can be used to change ISO sensitivity in the manual mode. It has different functions in the different shooting modes.

The camera being slightly smaller than a DSLR isn’t the easiest to grip with one hand. The handgrip on the camera is interchangeable with additional options being made available to users. These can be installed by merely screwing them on to the body. Olympus has bundled a 1150 mAh battery along with the camera and the battery bay is located underneath.

Mini HDMI port available

Features
The Olympus E-P3 uses a micro four-third, 12.3 MP sensor. Its distinct design means there’s no folding mirror mechanism. The screen at the rear is a 3-inch, 6,14,000 dots one. Olympus specifies that the screen used is an OLED. Unlike most other cameras, the E-P3 comes with a touchscreen interface, which is used primarily for selecting focus areas on the screen and also for altering settings.

Spring loaded flash

Olympus provides lens options with the E-P3. The standard kit includes only the stock 14-42mm (3.5-5.6) lens. We received the dual-kit lens kit, which includes an additional 40-150mm (4-5.6) lens. Other than the proprietary USB port, there’s also a mini-HDMI port so you can output videos to a large TV or projector.

Features (Continued) The last major product update, the E-P2 did not include a built-in flash, this one does. HD video recording capabilities are also present. It can shoot videos at HD 1080i using AVCHD and the AVI format. Full zoom on Olympus has taken a slightly different approach with the PEN E-P3. Some of the features include a special art feature, which is basically a set of filters that give you instant results. Olympus has also updated the interface on the PEN series of cameras. The E-P3 specifically has a very minimalistic interface with not too much happening on the screen at any given time. Icons and artwork used on the interface are dense and compact. Olympus has bumped up the amount of filters from six to ten. Hidden in the Scene mode is a 3D feature where it can click 3D pictures and can be viewed on a 3D compatible television. Performance The Olympus PEN E-P3 is bundled with various features and different shooting modes. Images shot outdoors seemed a bit dull in the iAuto mode, though focusing was accurate. Images appeared detailed and no color fringing was noticed. However, those images that were shot at low ISO sensitivities appeared very bright and the color looked off in most respects. Low ISO sensitivity saw color fringing The Olympus PEN E-P3 performed shoddily in images that were shot indoors, with a lot of colour supplementation being noticed. Images shot in iAuto mode appeared crisp and clear but, the colour supplementation was a turn off. Both the 14-42mm and the 40-150mm lens lend themselves well to macro photography. This was a major plus point of this camera. The flash lit up approximately ten feet of a well lit area, which is impressive for any camera flash. The camera allows users to accurately limit the amount of light that leaves the flash. Macro image shot well Focusing isn’t consistent. The camera manages to click photos quickly when there’s sufficient light and the objects are prominent. While focusing on walls or plain surfaces, focusing is slower and sometimes the auto focus system refuses to focus. Olympus bundles a 1150 mAh lithium ion battery along with this camera and they rate the battery at approximately 330 shots, which is quite impressive for a camera with all these features. Flagship model of Olympus Verdict The PEN E-P3 sells at a maximum retail price of Rs. 39,999 for a single lens kit (14-42mm) and a maximum retail price of Rs. 46,999 for a dual lens (14-42mm lens and 40-150mm). While this may be a step up from point and shoot cameras, the PEN E-P3 has its fair amount of quirks for a camera looking to break into the DSLR market share. While it may have a ton of interesting features and packs a ton of concepts into a compact body; this camera is still not competent enough to match up to DSLR when it comes to quality. Looks and flamboyance are this camera’s forte and it does well in the features department too. However, for a price of almost Rs. 47,000, one would rather opt for a lower price ranging DSLR camera and achieve better image results.

Google Buys g.co Domain for a Ridiculous Sum

When companies the size of Google decide to buy domain names and specifically, domain names the size of g.co, they shell out a lot of money. When Google bought this domain recently, they're said to have paid to the tune of $1.5 million for it. Google would most likely use the domain to host its array of apps, everything from Gmail to Google Docs. The .co line of domains belongs to Columbia. A whole bunch of companies own sites on the .co domains including Twitter (t.co) and Amazon (a.co). A compact domain, merely a luxury The CO Internet company is run with support of the Columbian government. As of now, g.co isn’t accessible for any services. Instead, you’re just pointed out to Google’s official URL shortening service - goo.gl. The .co domain range is close to a year old and has some 1 million domains registered as of early June. Not all of these domains are obviously single alphabet ones. Shorter domains are a bit of a novelty. It makes accessing sites a little simpler and quicker. It’s only sensible for dot com moguls the size of Google who can afford to buy such exotic domains considering the user base they have.

Google Adds ZIP and RAR Support to Docs

Google Docs already lets you view 15 types of files in Gmail without downloading them. Now they've added support for ZIP and RAR files. So if someone sends you a ZIP or a RAR file, you just have to click on "View" and you can view the file within the browser itself. This will bring up a view of all the files in the folder and what type of and size files they are. When you hover over the files, you'll get a drop down list of options to View, Save to Google Docs, and Print (PDF). You'll be able to view documents that are supported by the Google Docs viewer and print (PDF) those that offer PDF support.

Check out ZIP and RAR viewability in Google Docs

ZIP and RAR files embedded in other ZIP and RAR files also work. You can have a RAR file inside a ZIP file and you can just click on it to access the embedded archive. This feature is also available in Google Docs for mobile. For each supported file, there is a link that you can click on to view it. Google says that they're continuing to add more types of files to Docs. If you'd like to tell them what additional file support you'd like, post on their forums. To try this feature in Google Docs, click here.

Mozilla Streamlines Passwords, Rolls out BrowserID

In an attempt of the make the user’s online experience of trying out new websites and new services that the Internet offers; Mozilla has launched BrowserID, as per the company's official blog post. The newest technology to have come out of the Mozilla camp allows users to maintain just one password for their several online accounts, and most importantly keep the task of confirming their sign-ins at bay. All that you need? Operating on the Verified Email Protocol, BrowserID basically gives the user of a particular address the authority to prove that particular email belongs to him. The system of BrowserID, completely negates the need of having to enter one’s user name and password for each login, but instead shifts the reliability completely on email ids to do the same. To begin with, users just need to pick the site they want to log into using BrowserID. BrowserID then gives you an option of the email address you choose to sign-in with. While all this is being done, the users’ identity is being verified and taken down to assist BrowserID for the user’s further sign-ins. For beginners who wish to set up BrowserID on their system, a set of email addresses and passwords need to be provided to BrowserID, so that the latter has it stored on its database. After a quick verification, the user is informed via mail that he needs to verify his email address by clicking a link provided in the mail. Once the user verifies his email, he’s good to go. After this process, whenever the user attempts to log-in the registered site using BrowserID, all he’s got to do is decide which email id he chooses to log in with. Mozilla adds, that the best part about BrowserID is that it doesn’t leak back data to even its own servers, let alone to anyone else. However, for now, only the prototype has been readied. But, Mozilla-iites are one optimistic bunch. Others, you could give BrowserID a try here. You could alternately view the video below, and know what BrowserID is all about.

Apple's Upcoming MacBook Air to Have More Storage

People considering to buy the new MacBook Air will be in for a treat. Not only will the new model be coming out with the new Lion OS, but there’s bound to be a bunch of improvements and additions. Reports have suggested that the new MacBook Air will be upgraded from 2GB RAM to 4GB RAM, an upgrade which previously cost users $100.

New MacBook Air

Ming - Chi Kuo, an analyst from Concord Securities noted that the memory upgrades along with the new Lion OS should yield good performance. Kuo also stated that Apple will be upgrading the SSD of the 11.6-inch model from 64GB to a 128GB one. Reports from CNET also state that Apple will sell 128GB and 256GB SSD versions of the notebook. The new MacBook Air will be coming out later this week.

This second generation model will be more refined and will be completely redesigned. It’ll include a high-density screen, an additional USB port and SD card slot. The new Macbook Air will also have upgraded new-generation processors, graphics cards and a Flash-based storage. About the battery life, Apple have stated that it would give users up to 7 hours of usage time and up to 30 hours of standby time. Along with these features, Apple will also include a back-lit keyboard.

Apart from the new MacBook Air, other Macs will also be recipients of the new Mac OS update. Reports note that Apple will be launching Lion, sometime this month, Although so far, no additional information has been given on the official date of release. We did however make a trip to our local Apple retailers and were informed not expect the new MacBook Air with Lion before August.

PayPal Launches NFC Solutions for Android

PayPal, the popular mobile payment solutions provider has introduced the concept of Near Field Communications for Android devices. Popularly known as the NFC, the concept achieved massive popularity, after it was learned that it made payments easier than what it used to be. At the recently concluded MobileBeat 2011 Conference (12 - 13th July, 2011) in San Francisco, PayPal revealed its plans for revolutionizing mobile payments and a swanky demo of the PayPal NFC widget for Android devices.

Interestingly, unlike before, where a user had to specifically look out for the PayPal app to proceed with his transactions; the peer-to-peer concept just requires the widget. In an official blog post, it was revealed that users can, using the tap gestures proceed with the final stage of the payment. When the phones are tapped together, the Android widget on the smartphone sends the payment data. Laura Chambers, Senior Director PayPal Mobile demonstrated the concept at the event. She tapped the smartphones with each other, and the transaction went off, smoothly.

The service can be expected to start rolling out later this year. PayPal India users hopefully should have something for themselves, too. However, that is speculative.

GoogleMINUS Tells You When You've Been De-Circled

It hurts to be defriended on Facebook, doesn't it? And now that we have Google+, we have a brand new way of being emotionally abused. Un-circling (I prefer de-circling) is cruel. Just like you have a browser extension that can find for you who's defriending you on Facebook (Unfriend Finder), you can now get a browser extension that allows you to see who's de-circling you on Twitter. It's called GoogleMINUS. The extension works on Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome, but requires another browser extension to be downloaded, Kynetx. Kynetx is a device that allows developers to easily develop cross platform applications that run on multiple browsers. Feed your ego Once you have Kynetx installed, there are dozens of other browser extensions you can install, including GoogleMINUS. You'll need to create an account on Kynetx by authenticating via Facebook or Google. The way it works is pretty simple. Everytime you get de-circled, you get a notification that pops up and tells you who's removed you from a circle. According to the developer, there will be more features coming soon. For now, enjoy the info and here's to hoping your ego doesn't get too badly shattered.

Twitter for Android Gets Big Update

Twitter for Android has gotten a huge update bringing two big features, namely push notifications and multiple account usability. So now, if you have more than one Twitter account that you tweet from, you can use the Android app to switch between accounts without logging in and out. These features have been available for Twitter on iOS since Twitter bought the iOS app, Tweetie. However, to the disappointment of many Twitter users as well as social media marketers, yet to the smiling faces of third party clients that base their product on multiple account usage, this feature is still not available on Twitter for web.

Twitter for Android with new features

For iPhone users, push notifications came in Twitter for iPhone and now for Android users it seems slightly redundant. Android already has a bar for notifications so users will see the same notifications twice. The Twitter for Android app is available for free from the Android Market. If you want your Twitter on your Android smartphone to be able to push notify and tweet from multiple accounts, head on over and download the app.

Facebook App for Every Phone

With social networking fast becoming a core part of the lives of millions, it only makes sense to keep oneself connected 24/7. What better way than to have it on one’s phone? Keeping this sentiment in mind, Facebook has rolled out an app, which it claims functions on over 2,500 Java-enabled mobile phones. Called the Every Phone app, it comes with the popular social networking site’s most popular features – News Feed, Inbox, and Photos. Additionally, users can also upload their pictures, and also search for their phonebook contacts on Facebook.

One for all..

What’s enticing is that, Facebook has roped in several mobile service providers, including four from India, namely – Aircel, Airtel, Idea and Reliance and 16 others to offer free data access to users for a 90-day period. The site has also been optimized for different mobile platforms, so as to ensure that the data consumption is minimal compared to other apps. 

Those willing to give this a try can download and install the same by logging onto - http://d.facebook.com/install from their mobile browsers. The app has been made available with GetJar, Appia, and Mobile Weaver.

Blogs: The Long and Short of It

Before social networking sites,blogging was the only platform that allowed people to create their profiles online, express their views, interact, air their grievances, share pictures; in short, maintain an online diary. Platforms like Wordpress, Blogger and LiveJournal became extremely popular. There was no word limit and you could rant as much as you wanted about any topic under the sun. While many maintained a blog just for the pure love of writing, others turned it into a revenue generating platform. However, with the ever increasing popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, there are reports that claim blogging will soon become a thing of the past. Is this true?

 

Blogging vs Social Networking

There are many reasons why social networking sites became popular. It allowed people to express themselves freely and almost instantly. Airing your views within 420 characters on Facebook or with Twitter’s 140 characters came easy to many, instead of sitting down to write a dedicated blog. Having said that, there are many who still enjoy blogging, and the process of ideating, letting the words flow, and presenting their thoughts in an environment that is their own.

A 17 per cent increase in female bloggers

Take the case of Aditya Rao, a veteran blogger, who has been blogging for over six years and has about three blogs. He says, “My blogs have gone through many phases, starting with the silly college blogs on Rediff.com and Blogger.com. While it’s true that a lot of my networking and small updates have gone on to Twitter, blogging remains a personal favorite because of its mix of photos, video and text and also because I can get much more creative in my blog. Blogs, especially the Wordpress platform, are very flexible these days and a blog can be customized by a non-coder like me to look like a website proper website.”

Rao says blogging provides him with a platform for thought, leadership and personal branding. So, does he feel that there has been a decrease in the number of bloggers? “No. Internet users have increased, so bloggers have also increased. However, fi ve years ago, everyone on the Internet was a blogger, but with the Internet spreading to the masses, even though the number of bloggers has increased, the percentage has gone down.” On the other hand, Sidin Sunny Vadukut, an active blogger since 2002, feels that the number of bloggers has gone down. “I do sense a drop, at least in the number of serious, regular bloggers. I am not going to say that is a good or bad thing. These social networks allow a lot of people to communicate and publish without having to use the medium of blogs, especially if the idea was to communicate short messages, form interest groups, etc. However, India, in my opinion, has always had a shortage of good, well written blogs. While we have lots of personal blogs, specialized ones are very rare. I don't think the situation has changed much.”

 

The most powerful social networking service out there, by far

Anoop Johnson, Director-Marketing and Strategic partnerships at IndiBlogger, which is the largest community of Indian bloggers feels that even though the number of bloggers have gone down, the quality has definitely improved. “Back in 2007-2008, we used to approve around 500 blogs every month, and reject around 700. Blogs are mainly rejected because they had duplicate content or did not have enough posts because the author ran out of things to say. In 2010, we approved roughly 600 blogs per month, while the number of spammy blogs came down to 500 per month. In other words, serious writers still continue to grow in number, while the half-baked attempts at blogging decrease since those authors have other outlets like Facebook and Twitter. Blogging requires much more discipline and passion than maintaining a social network profile, and there really is no comparison between the two.”

Blogging With a Social Twist

Marrying your blog with a social network seems to the current trend, especially exploited by those who use their blog to generate revenue. And they seem to be starting young. All of 14 years-old, Vishal Sanjay from Ryan International School, Bangalore effectively employed the social networks to his advantage to generate traffic for his blog. He blogs about social media, Internet marketing and business and is generating a sizeable revenue. He says, “Our main source of traffic remains social media sites such  as Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Facebook and Twitter. Every new post goes viral on these networks and we also have a practice of exchanging social media votes to get our articles viral. We have managed to garner great response and have over ten thousand visitors every month. Also,fellow bloggers often comment or link some of our posts, which also works in our favor. 

Wordpress's recently launched series of challenges have received an overwhelming response

Similarly Deepak Raj, who is relatively new to blogging, having started in 2008, is an avid blogger having published more than 1,000 articles on his blog BikeAdvice. in. The 23-year old claims that he has never had a 9-5 job and makes money mostly from his blog. Even though he gets a majority of traffic from search engines, he feels that the traffic from social networks is of better quality. He says, “Facebook and Twitter should be looked upon as companions to your blog rather than a competing site. Before social networks got popular, the only source of traffic to the blogs was the search engines. Google and other search engines help people to find relevant content, but they do not help a blog article go viral. With Facebook and Twitter, it is very easy to rapidly spread good quality content. All it takes is a single click on the Facebook ‘like’ button on a blog post and all his friends are instantly notifi ed about the content that he or she likes.”

Even regular bloggers, who are not concerned with traffic and revenue, look at social networks as a medium to attract people to their blog. Like Sidin Sunny Vadukut puts it, “On an average, I blog once a month and then I Tweet or Facebook out my links. Sometimes I get interesting feedback and often meet people with similar views or ideas, which is fun. I know there are other bloggers who have closely married their blogging and social networking together. I am nowhere near that sophisticated. If anything, Twitter and Facebook come in the way of my sitting down, focusing and writing.” So, is Blogging on the Wane? Blogging is defi nitely not dead. Recently, Wordpress launched a series of challenges, like ‘Post a Day’ and ‘Post a Week’. This was viewed as a move to give blogging a shot in the arm, and looking at the overwhelming response, it seems to have worked. We have also seen blogging evolving in its new avatar, as a part of the whole social media movement. Leading brands have their blogs that are professionally managed and aimed at presenting the readers with the humane side of the corporate world.