Google, Audi developing in-car Android system: Report

 Google has reportedly joined hands with carmaker Audi to develop in-car entertainment and information systems that would function on the search giant's Androidoperating system.

The partnership is expected to be announced next week at the Consumer Electronics ShowA in Las Vegas, and its aim is to allow for in-car integration of music and navigation apps currently available on smartphones.

According to Cnet, the collaboration is expected to challenge Apple's iOS in the Car, which aims to integrate users' iPhones with their car's onboard receiver or infotainment system.

The tech giant has so far signed up such automakers as BMW, Honda, Mercedes, Nissan, Ferrari, Hyundai, Kia, and Infiniti to integrate more iOS features into their cars.

However, unlike Apple's OS, which requires and iOS device, the Google's Android-power system would run on the vehicle's built-in hardware.

The report added that rival Apple's infotainment system for cars is expected to kick off as soon as 2014 and could begin appearing in select 2015 models.

IT to create maximum jobs in 2014: Assocham

Information technology, banking and agriculture-related businesses are going to be among the key job creating sectors in 2014, according to a study by industry body Assocham.

"Information Technology (IT), pharmaceuticals, banking and agri-related industries such as farm equipment, fertilisers and seeds, will remain the largest employment generation sectors in 2014," the chamber said in its study.

All these sectors will stand out despite the present state of the economy where net employment is being lost and not created in a large majority of sectors.

IT will remain the net aggregator of jobs in 2014 due to recovery in the US economy, it said.

"The US economy is showing signs of improvement... A large number of American firms are expected to increase their IT spend as consumer sales pick up there," it added.

Continuous pressure on rupee will help increase the net income of IT companies and they will keep hiring, it pointed out.

"Since our economy still remains a good mix of organised and unorganised, large corporate and small enterprises, a large number of people in rural India are dependent on agriculture and tertiary industries; there are inherent and inbuilt strengths which come handy when the chips are down," Assocham President Rana Kapoor said.

Pharma sector will continue to hire in 2014. But because of some setbacks and tightening of regulations in the US and some other markets, the companies will have to invest more in improving their manufacturing and Research & Development.

Further, the study said that agri-based industries are expected to do better in 2014 on the back of a good rabi crop.

"The positive spin off would be evident in a whole lot of industries which are directly linked such as tractor and farm equipment manufacturers, irrigation firms and those involved in developing and selling seeds and fertilisers", it said.

On banking, the study said that 2014 is expected to be a better year for the sector.

"The NPAs would be reduced since the focus is very much there on the issue and there are signs of recovery in some segments of the economy. Besides, a huge number of backlog vacancies have to be filled up in public sector banks."

For the private banking sector, new licenses, which are likely to be given before April, will throw up new job opportunities.

While the new banks will leverage technology, job opportunities will arise both in brick and mortar as also in development and implementation of technology solutions, the study added.

Samsung to sell 110-inch ultra HD TV for $150,000

Samsung says a 110-inch TV that has four times the resolution of standard high-definition TVs is going on sale for about $150,000 in South Korea.

The launch of the giant television set reflects global TV makers' move toward ultra HD TVs as manufacturing bigger TVs using OLED proves too costly.

Last year, Samsung and rival LG Electronics touted OLED as the future of TV but they are still struggling to mass produce larger and affordable TVs with OLED. Japanese media reported that Sony and Panasonic decided to end their OLED partnership.

Samsung's 110-inch U-HD TV measures 2.6 meters by 1.8 meters. It will be available in China, the Middle East and Europe. In South Korea, the TV is priced at 160 million won ($152,000) while prices in other countries vary.

Bill Gates has no ego: Skype head Gurdeep Singh

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, one of the richest men in the world, as also one of the most powerful in the field of technology, has no ego, says Gurdeep Singh Pall, global head of Skype, the popular and free international voice and messaging service.

Chandigarh-born software engineer Pall, who was named as Skype's global head October this year, said: "The richest man in the world, who is among the most powerful people in technology, has no ego."

"Bill would debate you purely on the merit of the idea and he would expect you as his peer to engage with him and let the best idea win," Pall, who is also vice president, corporate at Microsoft, said in an interview on "Fair & Square" show on Chandigarh-based satellite television news channel, Day & Night News.

Talking about future things and how technology will transform lives globally, Pall said: "Put on your seat belts and get ready for a ride."

"The next decade of transformation in computer science is going to come through artificial intelligence and machine learning. The promise of wearable computing is actually very, very powerful and it is already emerging in areas like healthcare."

Pall, 47, who studied in Chandigarh's upscale St John's High School before completing his engineering degree in computer science from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), was visiting his parents here for the first time after taking over as the Skype global head in London. He also holds a master's degree in computer science from the University of Oregon.

Heading the information platform and experience team in Microsoft's new applications and services division, Pall has more than 20 patents (approved or in process) in networking, VoIP and collaboration areas.

"Bill Gates is one of the few people in the world - and there are only a handful of them in software and outside - who has technology, business and strategy all worked out. And anybody who can operate across these three dimensions has incredible impact," said Pall, who has worked closely with Gates in the past 10 years.

The first Sikh to reach the top management of Microsoft, Pall joined Microsoft in January 1990 as a software design engineer. He has worked on many breakthrough products in his tenure, starting with LAN Manager Remote Access Service.

Part of the Windows NT development team and having led design and implementation of core networking technologies, Pall has worked on some defining projects in technology like Windows 95, Windows XP, TCPIP protocol, Wi-Fi and Bing which transformed lives of individuals and business corporations.

Named one of the "15 Innovators & Influencers Who Will Make A Difference" in 2008 by Information Week, Pall co-authored "Institutional Memory Goes Digital", which was published by Harvard Business Review as part of Breakthrough Ideas for 2009 and subsequently presented at the World Economic Forum 2009 in Davos.

As head of Skype, which has over 300 million active users, Pall said, "One-third of all long-distance calling in the world happens on Skype. Wherever I go, people tell me a personal story about Skype."

Pall says that India needs to move in the fast-forward mode to ensure that it does not lag other countries.

"India is one of the players (in the field of technology), it is not one of the leading players. Countries like China, who had not invested in computer science in the 1990s and had a language gap as well, are really, really growing fast now.

"In fact, today most of the graduates who are finishing PhDs in computer science in the US are coming from China," he pointed out.

Asked about a world without Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Pall said, "There are some secular trends in the industry which are immutable; they will happen regardless of whether certain people are there or not."

"If Bill Gates and Steve Jobs weren't there, these things would have taken a lot longer to converge because you would have ended up with lots of fragmented solutions which would compete among themselves and there would be inefficiency."

Comparing technology giants Apple and Microsoft, Pall told interviewer Khushwant Singh, "Apple is a very product-oriented company and you associate high design with it. But Microsoft is a very technology-oriented company where we ask how we can use the technology to create products."

Pall said Apple without Jobs has been left with a huge void.

"I personally think that people like Steve Jobs are really hard to replace and I suspect they (at Apple) are already feeling his absence and they will feel that more with time."

Apps to help you stick to New Year resolutions

Do you set up new year resolutions every year but no matter how hard you try, you always end up straying away from them? Then there are a few apps out there that may help you stick to your resolutions.

According to Cnet, for managing budget and savings goals, the best app is 'Mint' and for losing weight goals, 'Lose It' app is one of the top picks for getting in shape.

If you wish to quit smoking this year, 'Cessation Nation' app will set a quit date and then track your progress throughout the quitting process.

While 'Lift' app helps you start a new habit and cultivate it over time, 'Evernote', a note-taking app, organizes all of your digital and physical clutter into one streamlined space.

Bitcoin malware: India among top targets

Bitcoin craze is turning into a fertile ground for   cyberfraudsters as thousands of computers, including in India, are being infected with malwares   related to the virtual currency.

The findings of a survey, that has pegged the count of computers infected with bitcoin related malware at at least 12,000, comes at a time when regulators worldwide have flagged money laundering concerns about this popular virtual currency.

IT security firm Trend Micro, a 'bitcoin mining malware' is infecting computers globally leading to increasing threat of cybersecurity risks for bitcoins users.

India is among the countries that have been hit the most by such malwares, it said.

As per the survey, four out of the six countries that have the highest number of such infected computers are in the the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

Japan was the most affected country with APAC, followed by Australia, India and Taiwan.

"Bitcoin users have become the hot target for cybercriminals as bitcoin transaction is permanent and has no reversal of charges," Trend Micro managing director (India & SAARC) Dhanya Thakkar said.

About 12,000 personal computers have been globally affected by malwares (related to bitcoin) which were causing severe slowdown of computer systems making them "virtual assets for the criminals," it added.

"Although bitcoin is claimed to be anonymous, the transaction records are still in public and it leave traces... Consequently, given enough circumstantial evidence, criminals can identify and obtain the owners personal information," Trend Micro said.

Thakkar noted that there is no regulator or authority that bitcoin users can appeal to if they fall victim to theft or fraud.

Going by estimates, as many as 67 digital currencies are in circulation on the internet and their total value is around $13 billion. Out of this amount, bitcoin alone accounts for over $9 billion.

Europe: Indian IT's new growth driver

North America may account for the lion's share of India's IT exports but, growing demand for outsourcing services from Europe is expected to drive the $108 billion IT sector in 2014, industry body Nasscom said.

"Europe is growing faster than the US. That is something we saw this year and this will only gain momentum. There is a lot of latent demand in the region, which will drive growth for the sector," Nasscom President Som Mittal told PTI.

North America accounts for over 60% of revenues of Indian IT exporters, while the European region contributes about 20% with the UK making up for the bulk of that share.

"The share of the European region has been growing... The market is now more open to outsourcing and in the coming year, we will see a lot of new projects coming up, which is a huge opportunity for our domestic companies," he said.

Indian IT companies are also ramping up presence in Europe as they face uncertainty in the US market, where new immigration laws could drive up costs of sending workers on short-term visas.

"The companies are bullish on the European market, which is evident from the acquisitions that some of them have made in the recent past," he said.

Indian companies have also been acquiring local firms to address labour issues and increase pace of growth in Europe. These include TCS' acquisition of French IT services firm Alti for Rs 530 crore, Geometric acquiring 3Cap Technologies for 11 million euros and Infosys buying Swiss consulting company Lodestone for $350 million last year.

US-based Cognizant, which has 75% of its workforce based in India, acquired six small IT services companies (part of Germany's C1 Group) for an undisclosed sum.

"For European companies, many of them which have seen prolonged economic slowdown, Indian IT firms not only offers cost advantage but also high quality of work," Mittal said.

Nasscom expects the domestic IT sector to grow by 12-14 per cent, while IT exports are likely to reach USD 86 billion in the current fiscal ending March next year on the back of adoption of new technologies and tapping new geographies by corporates.