Facebook rolls out 'Donate Now' button

 Facebook has reportedly rolled out a 'Donate Now' button to make it easier for users to contribute virtually. 

The catch, however, lies in the fact that the button would collect credit card numbers and other billing information for Facebook that could ultimately help the social networking giant in its e-commerce and gaming initiatives. 

According to TechCrunch, 19 non-profit launch partners would start displaying the 'Donate Now' button at the top of their Facebook Pages and bottom of their News Feed posts. 

The non-profits include DonorsChoose.org, Boys and Girls Club of America, World Wildlife Fund, Unicef, Red Cross, and Kiva. 

The Donate Now button, lets the non-profits accept donations in a pop-up window right on Facebook and users can choose how much they want to give and either enter payment details or use ones already stored with Facebook. 

The report said that Facebook is not charging any fee to process credit card donations and is instead paying that fee itself making 100% of the donations reach the non-profits.

10 most downloaded iOS apps of 2013

Apple has revealed the top apps and content for 2013 through a 'Best of 2013' page on iTunes, its apps and content marketplace. The trends differ according to the country and reveal the names of the most downloaded iOS apps and games, and media content for the year. 

As per the list of the top free apps for the iPhone in India, Imangi's popular endless running game, Temple Run 2 tops the charts. The second most downloaded free app is instant messenger, WeChat, while the third most downloaded app is popular social networking service, Facebook's iOS app. Others in the top 10 list include Google Maps, Truecaller, YouTube, WhatsApp and Subway Surfers. It's worth pointing out that King.com's popular game, Candy Crush Saga that tops the charts in the US is not in the top 10 in India. 

In the paid apps category, Disney's Temple Run: Oz, the movie themed version of Temple Run, secures pole position. It preceded the mobile version of the classic game Contra, and Temple Run: Brave, the other movie themed Temple Run game. 

The list detailing the top iPad apps was similar with Temple Run 2, YouTube and Skype capturing the top 3 slots in the top free apps, and Temple Run: Oz, Temple Run: Brave and Need for Speed Most Wanted securing the top three spots in the list of top paid apps. 

The most downloaded song in India on iTunes, in 2013, was Tum Hi Ho from the movie Aashiqui 2, with Sunn Raha Hai from the same album, and Badtameez Dil from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, securing the second and third place. 

Aashiqui 2 was the top album, taking a lead over Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Raanjhana.

Vebbler: India's answer to Facebook, Twitter?

If you thought the world of online social networking is only about Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and LinkedIn, then hold on: there is a serious challenge coming from India.

The new, fledgling service, called Vebbler, is mostly about what Facebook and Twitter don't offer, besides taking online interactions to newer levels.

Founder Sahil Bhagat says Vebbler is based on personal networking, wherein online interactions are similar to the way we interact in real life. He says when the current networking sites were launched it was mostly students and youth who were online. But today, the demographics have changed so much that everyone from parents to teachers to colleagues and bosses are online.

Vebbler is based on crowd-layering model. Here, when you add a person, you have to put him or her into a group like workmate, acquaintance etc. He says, "In other sites, that's not the default way, it's just an option. Here all your connections are categorized just as in real life," says Bhagat.

One application of the model is in chat. Explains Bhagat, "When you are on holiday, you don't want to chat with colleagues, but only with friends and relatives. So, you can disable them."

An innovative feature is social commerce. Explains Bhagat, "We can so far tag only face. But there are elements other than the face: watch, dress, belt, spectacles etc. Suppose you like the watch you see in a photo and want to buy one like that, click on it. Vebbler goes to e-commerce portals and finds out products similar to the one in the photo. If you buy right away, you get discounts of up to 8%." He has brought in the feature because he thinks people are bigger influences than ads. "No personal data are shared," he stresses.

Vebbler seems to be catching on: it has 45,000 users from 694 cities in 70 countries. And to keep up with the rising demand, the team has grown from 7 to 11 people, and now includes mobile developers as well. One of the driving forces is its Campus Connect Initiative. Says Bhagat, "There are now 32 Campus Ambassadors (30 in India and 2 abroad) who visit colleges and explain the cool features of Vebbler."

There are a few more features slated to be launched very soon. One is them is Recommend Button, which will enable connections to recommend you movies, books, TV shows, restaurants, holiday destinations etc. An iOS app too is in the works.

Sahil Bhagat has been working in the digital and consumer internet industry for the last 4 years. His expertise lies in UI/UX development, product development and marketing. Vebbler is currently bootstrapped.

Sunil Ramakrishnan, a management student, feels that Vebbler has a number of cool features which are not there in the existing networks. "A feature like social commerce is an innovative idea, and can catch on," he says.

TCS to keep watch on US immigration bill: CEO

 Tata Consultancy Services expects the next financial year to be better than the one that ends in March 2014, even as it remains cautious about immigration reforms being legislated in United States, its largest market, and a volatile rupee.​ 

"FY14 has been a good year for us and initial indications are that the coming fiscal will be better," said N Chandrasekaran, chief executive officer at India's largest software services exporter. "As for the challenges in the coming year, we will be keeping a close eye on the US Immigration bill and the currency fluctuation." 

The US immigration bill which is expected to come up in US Congress, if passed in its current form, will hurt the $76-billion Indian IT export sector. The proposed legislation, which the industry considers discriminatory and a trade barrier, requires companies to bring down their visa-dependent workforce significantly over the next three-four years. This could force Indian companies to hire more people locally, disrupting their current India-centric model. 

Chandrasekaran said he sees huge demand in digital services such as mobility, cloud, social media, and data analytics, which he described as 'digital five forces'. Market research firm IDC sees these newer technology areas pushing global technology spending in 2014 up 5% to $2.1 trillion. When asked whether these new technologies will help TCS delink revenue growth from headcount growth, Chandrasekaran said "business will never be completely non-linear". 

"This is a very successful business model. We are still 1.5% of the global market. There are lots of opportunities and this model will continue," he said while adding that there will be a parallel model that will bring in non-linear revenues, which is small now. "Going forward, non-linear revenue growth from a very small scale will grow much faster than the linear model. But both will grow and there's no effort on our side to restrict the growth of current business model — it's successful, it's scalable." 

Chandrasekaran said TCS expects to maintain the margins at around 27% going forward. The company however, expects its India business to go a bit slow because of the upcoming election in 2014. TCS has hired nearly 50,000 people this year and said that they will keep up with the hiring as planned. TCS, with about 2.8 lakh staff, is India largest private-sector employer and second-biggest technology company by employee strength globally, after IBM. 

"We expect the demand to go up in all geographies and verticals," Chandrasekaran said about the year ahead.

Google acquires developer of military robots

Big Dog, a four-legged robot that can climb muddy hills, and Cheetah, a robot which can outrun the fastest human, are among the robots that now belong to Google Inc. 

The world's largest Internet search company acquired Boston Dynamics, a privately held company best known for building robots that look as if they belong in a science-fiction movie and which are often co-developed or funded by the U.S. military. 

The acquisition is the latest by Google's secretive robotics division, led by Andy Rubin, the former boss of the company's Android mobile operating system. Google's new robotics division has acquired more than a half-dozen other robotics companies. 

 

Google declined to comment and Boston Dynamics did not return requests for comment. A person familiar with the matter confirmed the deal, which was first reported by the New York Times on Saturday, and said that Google will honor Boston Dynamics' military contracts. 

The financial terms of the deal could not be learned. 

Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, Boston Dynamics was founded in 1992 as a spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company works with the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, according to its website. 

The company's website lists a catalog of nine different robots, including a DARPA-funded machine capable of scaling vertical walls using "micro-claws," and a small four-wheeled vehicle that can jump 30 feet into the air and which is being developed with the U.S. Army's Rapid Equipping Force. 

The four-legged Cheetah robot, which can surpass speeds of 29 miles per hour according to the website, is billed as the "fastest legged robot in the world." 

Google has been tight-lipped about what it plans to do with the robots. Media reports earlier this month suggested that the company's efforts were focused on developing robotics technology that can be used in factories.

Samsung Galaxy S5 with eye sensor to launch in Feb

With all the major launches of the year over, all eyes are now on the next big gadget unveiling -- Samsung Galaxy S5. The upcoming Samsung flagship has kept the rumour mill buzzing for quite some time, with speculations rife about a metal body and 64-bit processor.

The latest rumour about the Galaxy S5 comes courtesy ZDNet Korea, which cites sources at Samsung. According to the report, the upcoming handset will have QHD (2560x1440p) resolution as well as iris verification technology and will be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress technology expo in February next year.

A QHD screen has four times the pixels that a 720p (qHD) display packs and is sharper than today's Full HD panels. Samsung has already completed the development stage of the QHD panels and is now working on mass producing it for next-generation smartphones.

Earlier this year, LG unveiled its ultra-thin QHD display panel, while Chinese manufacturer Vivo launched the world's first smartphone with this technology in October. The report says that Samsung's first QHD smartphone will be unveiled at Mobile World Congress next year.

The iris verification is Samsung's take on enhancing smartphone security, similar to the fingerprint scanner in Apple iPhone 5S and HTC One Max. This technology, acquired by Samsung earlier this year, allows users to unlock devices through their iris.

All three rumours are in line with earlier speculations about the device and it is likely that Samsung's first smartphone to have new technologies like iris sensor and QHD display will be Galaxy S5.

Other rumoured features of Samsung Galaxy S5 include 64-bit processor, 5.25-inch touchscreen, 16MP Isocell camera and Android 4.4 operating system