Internet connectivity can be blocked during national emergencies

The Indian Government has incorporated a provision under the IT Act of 2008, giving itself or any of its officers a special authority to block internet connectivity across the country during times of national emergencies. The shutdown can happen in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence and security of its states, friendly relations with foreign states or for public order. Failure to comply with this order will result in imprisonment of up to seven years.

Source : http://www.alootechie.com/content/government-india-can-block-internet-connectivity-during-national-emergencies

Bing with instant search

Google's been serving up "instant" search results for awhile and saving people seconds any time they need to search for something. Time for Bing to do the same.

Fast Company reports that Microsoft is introducing an instant search feature as "part of a bigger make-over for Bing that'll maximize its use of HTML 5's "next gen" browser technology." This feature will be similar to Google's and suggest search queries as you type yours. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

Basically, with instant search, top search results will pour in as you type your query, and odds are that you'll spot what you're looking for before you're even done typing. In other words, you'll feel like the search engine is trying to read your mind.

Source url : http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/07/6210771-bing-to-imitate-googles-instant-search-feature

New Navigation Bar for Google

A week ago, we reported on a new top navigation bar Google began testing. It appears that Google seems to be rolling out this new top navigation bar out globally. I even see the new navigation bar.

The new navigation bar allows the Google page and search results move up slightly, since the bar is slightly shorter than the previous bar. It also adds a bit of a more colorful and graphical interface. The top bar has a light dark and light blue bar across the top. Plus, there is a little gear like icon at the far right that gives you additional options for your account and preferences.

Source url : http://searchengineland.com/yes-more-are-seeing-google%E2%80%99s-new-navigation-bar-65236

Egypt oversold being a top offshoring spot?

Before Egypt turned off the Internet, the country had received increasingly high marks from leading analysis firms as a promising offshore outsourcing destination, despite the nation's political risk.

When it comes to outsourcing, there are some things that analysis firms can no doubt do well. They can assess the labor pool, the educational system, and cost of business -- anything that can be measured and quantified. But as Egypt's political turmoil demonstrates, it's very difficult to predict the sweep of history.

Management consulting firm A.T. Kearney released an annual index this week that measures the attractiveness of offshoring locations, and it put Egypt fourth on the list after India, China and Malaysia.

Source url : http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9207680/Was_Egypt_oversold_as_top_offshoring_spot_

Indian continue to be on top in offshore outsourcing

India has been the world's favorite destination for offshore outsourcing but its service competitiveness and cost efficiency is being challenged by many other countries like Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia, according to a latest research.

It is already the most successful country among the offshore locations and continues to score very well across all the 10 criterion was said by IT consultancy firm Gartner in its latest report.

However, the rapid growth of the business in neighboring China is posing tough competition, according to the report that also revealed the debut of eight new countries in the list of Top 30.

Though the attractive cost structures of Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia create tough competition for India, while China remains the most prominent challenger in terms of scale, but India maintains it's position.

Year 2010 was eventful for IT

China is No. 1 in the supercomputer sector. The government was fair to target the three sectors with huge demand in domestic market disallowing monopolies to form. Still it's difficult for Chinese firms to compete Microsoft's software services and intel for it's chips.

In mid of November, China’s Tianhe-1 topped the world’s supercomputer rankings. The machine features thousands of graphics chips and is capable of achieving a sustained performance of 2.5 petaflops, or 2,500 trillion calculations per second. It was the first time China surpassed the United States in the sector. US-based Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility’s Jaguar system ranked No. 2.

The supercomputer, which requires high-end chips and server computing technologies, is a serious measure of a nation’s advanced IT technology and research ability. A supercomputer works for both industry and public sectors.

Google in talks to buy Groupon

Google Inc. may be close to buying online discount service Groupon in a deal worth as much as $6 billion in what would be the search company's largest acquisition ever, according to published reports.

The talks were reported by the technology blog All Things D and by The New York Times, which cited unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter.

Google and Groupon had no comment Tuesday.

The size of the deal would put it well above Google's largest acquisition to date, its 2008 purchase of DoubleClick for $3.2 billon.

Groupon, a 2-year-old startup based in Chicago, offers daily local bargains ranging from yoga classes to discounts from national retailers such as Gap and Nordstrom Rack. Buying Groupon would give Google an increasingly popular outlet for local merchants that hope to lure in more prospective customers. That's a lucrative space that Facebook entered recently with its Deals service. Google and Facebook are increasingly competing for online eyeballs and the ad dollars that follow them.

Source url : http://gadgets.ndtv.com/shownews.aspx?id=GADEN20100161804&Sec=NEWS&pfrom=Top-Tech