Facebook worked on creating ‘secret‘ accounts of people: Book

Facebook developed an experimental feature called "Dark Profiles" which would give secret accounts to people who did not even sign up, a new book by a former employee of the social networking site has claimed.

Engineers wanted to create shadow pages for those who were tagged in photos by their friends in the hope they would cave in and join the social networking website, Katherine Losse, the author of 'The Boy Kings: A Journey into the Heart of the Social Network', said.

Nobody at Facebook "even flinched" when staff raised this disturbing new twist as they were so blinded by their mission to take over the world.

The book also claimed that in 2007 Facebook technicians worked on a programme called "Judgebox", which would let users compare and rate women in echoes of founder Mark Zuckerberg's sexist "Facemash" app he developed at Harvard.

It confirms for the first time that Facebook staff have a programme called "Facebook Stalker" which lets them track who has been visiting their profiles, the Daily Mail reported.

And in the early days of the social networking website, employees were given the 'master' password with no security checks at all and allowed to do as they pleased.

These claims have been made in the new book by Losse who worked for Facebook between 2005 and 2010 and worked her way up from customer relations to be the speechwriter for its founder Mark Zuckerberg.

She claimed that in Autumn 2006 everyone at the company was "so convinced that Facebook was something that everyone should have that when the product team created an experimental feature called dark profiles in 2006, nobody even flinched".

People can be tagged in Facebook photos even if they do not have a profile, and the idea was to create a 'dark' version which could apparently be activated if they finally signed up.

"It reminds me now of the way members of the Mormon church convert dead people, following the logic that if they had know about Mormonism when they were alive they would have been believers," Losse wrote.

The claims come at a difficult time for Facebook, it recently sparked yet another backlash after being caught out trying to force its 900 million users to adopt its own email service.

It was accused of 'hijacking' users' contact details and deleting their personal email addresses without asking them first.

Apple, Infosys among top innovators globally: KPMG survey

Apple ranked as the top innovator globally, while in India it wasInfosys. The Indian IT bellwether, which has been attracting flak for its performance in recent months, was identified as the innovation leader in a global tech innovation survey done across Americas, Asia Pacific (ASPAC), Europe, the Middle East and Africa ( EMEA) by KPMG.

About 44% of the survey respondents felt Silicon Valley's famed position as the innovation center may be challenged, and the world's technology innovation center would shift from US to another country in the next four years. Almost 30% of the 668 business executives in the survey said China and the US show the most promise for disruptive breakthroughs with global impacts, while 13 per cent cited India.

""The pace of technology innovations today is happening at unparalleled speed and China's projected rapid rise to prominence as a technology leader would be another example of this," said Gary Matuszak, partner, global chair and US leader for KPMG's Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice.

"China's anticipated parity with the US tech sector shows the significant challenge facing the US to retain its position as an innovation leader. Other countries will continue taking steps to boost technology innovation and to attract tech entrepreneurs," he added.

Google Unveils $199 Nexus 7 Tablet, New Android Software and More

Google’s day-one keynote from the 2012 I/O developer conference has officially wrapped up. We’ll have plenty of analysis directly from the show, but here’s a quick look at what’s been announced so far.

Nexus 7 Tablet
Google officially unveiled the $199 Nexus 7 tablet, built by Asus. Its feature list is as follows:

Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) operating system
7-inch, 1280×800-resolution touchscreen
Quad-core Tegra 3 chipset with a 12-core graphics processor
8GB of storage (16GB version available for $249)
Front-facing camera
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC
Nine hours of HD video playback
Weighs 0.75 pounds
Google says the Nexus 7 tablet is “optimized for Google Play” – meaning it’s geared toward consuming music, movies, games, books, magazines and more. The feature-set and price tag will certainly put a whole lot of pressure on similarly-priced (but less powerful) 7-inch tablets like Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet. It’ll be interesting to see if it’s able to lure away would-be iPad owners as well.

The Nexus 7 tablet can be pre-ordered now and will ship in mid-July. More info here.

Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
Google previewed some features of its next-generation Android operating system, such as:

Intelligently-resizing home screen widgets that play nicely with home screen icons
Offline voice typing – no need to have a data connection anymore
Actionable notifications that expand and collapse with two-finger gestures
Siri-like natural voice search with spoken answers
Google Now, which uses your search history, calendar and location to figure out what you might need. It’ll show you nearby public transit, stores and how long it’ll take you to get to the location of the next appointment in your calendar, for example.
Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) will be rolling out to Galaxy Nexus devices and Motorola’s Xoom tablet in mid-July. You can read more about the new platform here.

Nexus Q
And finally, Google also rolled out the Nexus Q, a $300 orb-shaped “social streaming media player” measuring 4.6 inches in diameter. It can be hooked up to your TV to stream YouTube videos as well as music, movies and TV shows from the Google Play store – all of which is controlled from your phone or tablet and your friends’ phones and tablets (hence the “social” part). It also features a built-in 25-watt amp for directly powering a pair of speakers, should you want to use it solely for music.

Satyamev Jayate yielded donations of Rs 30 lakh through text messages

Nearly seven weeks after the show went on air, Aamir Khan Productions’ TV reality show Satyamev Jayate has revealed that it has received donations around Rs 25 to Rs 30 lakh through text messages. According to a MoneyLife report, the show has received Rs 1.9 crore through Axis Bank which means “Rs 3 crore plus” of donations after adding “Rs 85 lakh donated by Reliance”.
The report further suggests that advertisers have been paying Rs 8 to Rs 10 lakh for a 10 second spot on the show and Bharti Airtel, the presenting sponsor, is understood to have paid Rs 17 to Rs 20 crore while associate sponsors (Skoda, Coca Cola, Axis Bank, etc.) have paid around Rs 7 crore each.

Star India officials have updated the website to say that the show had yielded—630,298,439 connections, 8,839,494 responses, 2,778,984 community members and Rs 30,160,678 in donations. However, there was still no clarity about how much came through online transactions.

Meet on UK-India teaching partnership

Mangalore: Manipal University and the University of Nottingham began a two-day workshop on teaching partnership in Delhi on Tuesday.

A press release from Manipal University said here that the objectives of the two-day workshop on ‘UK-India Teaching Partnership Development Forum’ are to foster relationships between universities of India and the UK, and to promote joint and dual degree programmes. Another objective is to facilitate collaborative research.

Over 150 delegates consisting of vice-chancellors, heads of institutions and researchers from India and the UK are attending the workshop, it said.

Welcoming the gathering, Prof Christine Ennew, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nottingham, stressed the need for fostering partnerships by bringing together universities from both the countries.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Vinod Bhat, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Manipal University, said that India is witnessing a sea change in higher education.

“While some reforms have already been ushered in, we are awaiting the enactment of a few more bills, especially those related to National Council on Higher Education and Research, entry of Foreign Universities and amendments to UGC Act for deemed universities,” he said.

Dr Samir Brahmachari, Director General of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and Dr Rob Lynes, Director of British Council in India, spoke on the occasion, the release added.

Coke sees big India fizz; to pump in $5 b over 10 years

New Delhi: Beverages giant Coca-Cola plans to more than double its investments in India over the next decade.

The beverages major will pump in $5 billion (around Rs 28,500 crore) over the next ten years as it ramps up capacities in India, which is likely to be the world’s largest youth market by 2020.

Since its entry into India in 1993, when it acquired Parle’s soft drinks brands Thums Up and Limca, Coca-Cola has invested close to $2 billion.

The company operates on a “hybrid model” in India, running a mix of owned and franchisee-operated bottling plants.

Announcing the investment scale-up in New Delhi on Tuesday, Coca-Cola’s global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Muhtar Kent, said India had “near limitless growth potential.”

The revised investment is “more than twice” the previously announced $2 billion for India, Mr Kent said.

Coca-Cola expects India to be among its top five markets worldwide by 2020, Mr Kent said, adding that the India story was one of “remarkable turnaround.”

Six years back, Coca-Cola had hit the nadir in India, with growth plunging and the company’s flagship brand buffeted by the pesticide controversy.

Mr Kent declined to reveal whether the new investments will result in a change in its product mix, away from flavoured, carbonated water to more of juices and other ‘healthier’ beverages.

But that shifts appears unlikely.

Mr Kent underscored the low per-capita consumption in India — an average of 12 units a year, or a bottle a month — in contrast to China’s per-capita average of 38 and Coke’s global average of 92 units.

Observers who track the sector closely said the company, unless compelled by legislation, is unlikely to look at diversifying the mix until consumption reaches close to the global per-capita average .

Coca-Cola India President Mr Atul Singh said sales in India grew at over 20 per cent last year.

India, Australia team up for 13 research projects

Hyderabad: Indian and Australian scientists will jointly undertake 13 new research projects.

Developing new batteries for electric vehicles, recycling of hazardous e-waste, method to manage wastewater discharged from ethanol distilleries, new vaccines against tuberculosis, etc will be the focus of some of the collaborative work.

The broad areas of research identified are environment science, materials science, stem cells and vaccines. The Australian and Indian Governments will support these projects as part of a joint multi-crore rupee program. A few workshops also will be organised.

An Australia-India Strategic Research Fund has been created for which the Australian Government has committed a total Fund of Australian $64 million.

For the current joint projects, Australia has committed Rs 23 crore . The Indian Government will fund the Indian teams’ participation.

In a press release, the Australian High Commissioner to India, Mr Peter Varghese said: “This program brings together leading scientists in both countries for truly world-class research. This is Australia’s largest science fund with any country and one of India’s largest sources of support for international science”.

Government sets up cell to track big projects

New Delhi: The finance ministry on Tuesday announced setting up of an Investment Tracking System for all major projects in the private sector and those under the public private partnership (PPP) worth Rs 1,000 crore and above.

The promoters of these projects have been directed to feed regular updates to the ministry's monitoring cell on the status of their projects and provide reasons if there was any delay in their implementation.

The monitoring cell has been set up in the department of financial services in the ministry which will coordinate with the promoters on all implementation issues.

The ministry on Tuesday released a format for monitoring such projects and promoters have been asked to update the information online. The government has now made it mandatory for promoters to provide details of their projects along with reasons behind delay to the monitoring cell on a monthly basis.

The initiative has been taken in view of tardy progress of major infrastructure projects. The government has set up a proposed target of $1 trillion worth of investment in the infrastructure sector during the 12th Plan period between 2012-17, a majority of them in the private sector and under the PPP mode.

For the current fiscal, the prime minister had said the government targets at least Rs 2 lakh crore of investments in the core sector. Projects have been delayed for various reasons, including land acquisition problems faced by private sector companies and fuel supplies bottlenecks.

India fifth most attractive retail market

New Delhi: Despite the recent flip-flops over enhancement of FDI cap in the retail sector, India has emerged as the fifth most favorable destination for international retailers, outpacing UAE, Russia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

"India remains a high potential market with accelerated retail growth of 15-20% expected over the next five years. Growth is supported by strong macro economic conditions, including a 6-7% rise in GDP, higher disposable incomes, and rapid urbanization," said a recent report by global management consultancy firm A T Kearney.

The approval of 100% FDI in single brand retail, especially, will give a fillip to the sector in the country prompting several international retail chains to explore the market either on their own or through local partners, the report said.

Companies such as GAP, IKEA, Abercrombie & Fitch have already stepped up inquiries for an entry into the market, despite the rider of 30% local sourcing for single brand foreign retail chains.

According to the entity's Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) 2012, India ranks fifth after Brazil, Chile, China and Uruguay.

With the developed markets witnessing an economic turmoil, emerging countries are fast becoming the retail hotspot for foreign brands, with most of them seeing faster growth here compared to their home markets.

In the past five years, retail chain giants like Walmart, Tesco, Metro Group, saw revenues in developing countries grow 2.5 times faster than their home markets, the report said.

Even in the food and beverage industry, India is fast becoming an important investment destination for foreign players with companies like Starbucks which is planning to enter India this year and American brand Dunkin' Donuts which recently entered the country in partnership with local franchisee Jubilant FoodWorks.

Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts to set up third plant in Bangalore

Bangalore: Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts is setting up its third manufacturing plant for automotive components at Bidadi, about 32 km from Bangalore. The company is investing Rs 500 crore to set up the plant.

Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts is a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan, Toyota Industries Corporation, Japan, and Kirloskar Systems, Bangalore. The Toyota group holds 90 per cent stake in the company, which already operates two manufacturing plants at Bidadi — for exports, as well as the domestic market. At these plants, the company manufactures manual transmissions for ‘Fortuner’ units manufactured in India, Thailand and Argentina. It also produces front and rear axles and propeller shafts for the ‘Innova’ units made in India.

According to an official notification issued by the Karnataka government, a high-level clearance committee, headed by Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, had recently approved the company’s proposal to set up a third plant to manufacture castings and machine parts, the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for which was signed at the Global Investors’ Meet in Bangalore on June 7 and 8.

With the fresh investment, which would create 150 jobs in Bangalore, total investment in the company would rise to Rs 1,000 crore.

At the proposed plant, Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts plans to manufacture 240,000 castings of engine parts and 120,000 units of machine parts. The company has sought an additional 17 acres from the government. The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board would acquire the land for the company, provided the company secures consent for this from 80 per cent of farmers who own the land. The board has also sanctioned 6,00,000 litres of water a day for the new plant.

“We have signed an MoU with the state government for an investment of Rs 500 crore for the new capacity. As part of the new investment, we would manufacture petrol engine parts and transmission units for Toyota’s small car, the Etios Liva, and the Etios sedan. We will export 55 per cent of the 2,40,000 transmission units to Toyota’s Brazil facility, while the remaining 45 per cent would be used for domestic consumption,” T R Parasuraman, senior vice-president (administration, finance and human resources) told Business Standard.

Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts has about 50 acres adjacent to the Toyota car plant at Bidadi. In the export-oriented first unit here, the company manufactures 1,80,000 units of R-Type transmissions a year. The company’s axle plant, where it manufactures front and rear axles and propeller shafts for the Innova, has a capacity of 75,000 units a year. As a part of the company’s localisation project, the new plant would manufacture engines and expand its export-oriented unit to supply transmissions for the Etios. Production of transmissions for the Etios and Etios Liva models is scheduled to start by early 2013.

A senior company official said the new plant would start producing engines for the Etios and the Etios Liva by end of July or early August.

Two years ago, Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts had announced the setting up of an engine plant, as well as the expansion of its export-oriented unit for transmissions.

The company serves as a production and supply base for manual transmissions for Toyota’s international multi-purpose vehicle series vehicles to India, Thailand and Argentina.