Blogger/Blogspot Domain changed from .com to .in and ccTLD

Blogspot domain changed from .com to .in or Blogspot domain changed from .com to your countries TLD is the question  you might be getting now.

Blogger/Blogspot hosted blog will now be redirects to your country-code top level domain. Blogs from India and all other countries hosted on blogger/blogspot platform with blogspot.com domain will now to redirected to your ccTLD( country-code top level domain ). In case of blogs from India, will now be redirected from .com to .in TLD. And same is the case with all other countries  Blogspot/Blogger Domain changed from .com to .in . This change does not applies on custom domain blogs, blogger/blogspot blogs with their custom domain will not be affected in any way.

Why is Blogspot/Blogger changing domain to countries specific TLD?

Migrating to localized domains will allow us to continue promoting free expression and responsible publishing while providing greater flexibility in complying with valid removal requests pursuant to local law. By utilizing ccTLDs, content removals can be managed on a per country basis, which will limit their impact to the smallest number of readers. Content removed due to a specific country’s law will only be removed from the relevant ccTLD.

Will Blogspot/Blogger domain redirection affect my blog?

Blog owners should not see any visible differences to their blog other than the URL redirecting to a ccTLD. URLs of custom domains will be unaffected.

Will this affect SEO of my blog?

After this change, crawlers will find Blogspot content on many different domains. Hosting duplicate content on different domains can affect search results, but Google is making every effort to minimize any negative consequences of hosting Blogspot content on multiple domains.

The majority of content hosted on different domains will be unaffected by content removals, and therefore identical. For all such content, Google will specify the blogspot.com version as the canonical version using rel=canonical. This will let crawlers know that although the URLs are different, the content is the same. When a post or blog in a country is affected by a content removal, the canonical URL will be set to that country’s ccTLD instead of the .com version. This will ensure that we aren’t marking different content with the same canonical tag.

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4 naval officers leak confidential info on social media, face action

Four naval officers are in the dock after they were reportedly found divulging information about the location of warships and other confidential data on social networking websites, which was even being accessed by foreign nationals.

Stringent action, including dismissal from service, has been apparently recommended against the four commander-rank officers (equivalent to Lt-Colonels in Army) by a Board of Inquiry (BoI) at the Mumbai-based Western Naval Command (WNC), the Indian Navy's premier command that controls most of the country's frontline warships, including aircraft carrier INS Viraat, say sources.

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Dennis Ritchie, founder of Unix and C, dies at 70

Dennis Ritchie, an internationally renowned computer scientist who created the C programming language, has died at age 70.

Ritchie died at his home over the weekend, according to a Google+ post from longtime colleague Rob Pike. His Wikipedia entry was updated to say he had died in Murray Hill, N.J.

His death was confirmed today by Bell Labs, in a message from its president, Jeong Kim, to employees. That message reads, in part:

Dennis was well loved by his colleagues at Bell Labs, and will be greatly missed. He was truly an inspiration to all of us, not just for his many accomplishments, but because of who he was as a friend, an inventor, and a humble and gracious man.

In addition to being the creator of C, Ritchie co-authored "The C Programming Language," commonly referred to as K&R (after the authors, Brian Kernighan and Ritchie) and widely considered the definitive work on C. He also made significant contributions to the development of the Unix operating system, for which he received the Turing Award in 1983 (along with Kenneth Thompson).

President Bill Clinton awarded Ritchie and Thompson the National Medal of Technology in 1999 for their contributions to Unix and C. He won many other national and international awards for his work and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1988 for "development of the C programming language and for co-development of the Unix operating system."

Dennis Ritchie (center) and Ken Thompson receiving the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton in 1999.

Ritchie went to work at Bell Labs' Computing Sciences Research Center in 1967 and was widely known as "dmr"--his Bell Labs e-mail address. As part of an AT&T restructuring in the mid-1990s, Ritchie was transferred to Lucent Technologies, where he retired in 2007 as head of System Software Research Department.

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Intel aims to lower PC power consumption by 300 times

The world’s largest chip-maker Intel Corporation on Friday said it is working on a host of futuristic technologies that would improve the power efficiency of PCs 300-fold in the next 10 years.

The world’s largest chip-maker Intel Corporation on Friday said it is working on a host of futuristic technologies that would improve the power efficiency of PCs 300-fold in the next 10 years, as well as ensure the security of data and user identities.

Speaking on the final day of the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) 2011 here, Intel Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner said the company was developing technologies to take computing to the next level, with better performance and lower power consumption.

Energy efficiency was a key theme of the three-day IDF summit this year and a number of Intel executives demonstrated the efforts being taken by the company in this regard. The move assumes significance in light of consumers gravitating toward always-on computing devices with a greater degree of mobility.

Mr. Rattner said that Intel’s multi-core technology, in which more than one processing engine is built into a single chip, has become the accepted methodology for increasing performance while keeping power consumption low.

These technologies would enable faster web access, improve PC user security and reduce the requirement for wireless infrastructure to provide the optimal online experience, among other benefits, he said.

Mr. Rattner demonstrated a new technology for better PC security, wherein users would be able to see images and other data on social networking sites and other platforms only if the computer recognises his or her face.

The technology will enable parallel cryptographic and facial recognition services to improve security on Ultrabooks and traditional notebooks, besides desktop PCs, with the help of Intel microprocessors, he said.

Intel was also collaborating with China Mobile to replace existing “costly base-station hardware used on cell towers today with a fully programmable and far more cost-effective, software-based PC alternative”, he noted.

Mr. Rattner revealed that Intel Labs was working on a new ‘Near-Threshold Voltage Processor’ that has enabled an experimental Pentium-class processor unit to deliver five times better energy efficiency levels, with the ability to run a processor with a solar cell the size of postage stamp.

He said the extreme-scale computing technologies that Intel was working on would help achieve the goal of a nearly 300 times improvement in energy efficiency levels in the next ten years and potentially even a 1,000-fold improvement in the future.

Mr. Rattner also disclosed a new JavaScript solution that could speed up browser-based content such as 3D games by up to eight-fold and said that Intel would also soon launch the world’s first processor with Many-Integrated Core (MIC) architecture, which promises to revolutionise high-performance computing.

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One Million Victims of Cybercrime a Day Says Report

Over one million adults around the world are the victim of cybercrime every day, according to figures published Wednesday.

The Norton Cybercrime Report 2011 paints a gloomy picture. The company estimates that cybercrime cost online consumers over the 24 countries surveyed a total of $388 billion in just one year. By contrast, according to Adam Palmer, Lead Advisor at Norton Cybersecurity Institute and a former U.S. Navy prosecutor, the entire global trade in cocaine, heroin and marijuana is worth $288 billion.

Globally, the most common—and most preventable—type of cybercrime is computer viruses or malware. The next two most prevalent were online scams and phishing.

All told, Symantec estimates that there are 431 million victims a year. Your chances of being a victim of cybercrime (44% of people reported being a victim) are substantially greater that being a victim of a physical crime (15%).

Those rates vary quite dramatically globally. According to Mr. Palmer, Chinese users are far more likely to suffer an attack. Some 85% of Chinese users were victims, compared to just 38% of Japanese.

European figures show Germans and Poles to be the most likely victims of cybercrime among the nations surveyed.

   1. Germany 76%
   2. Poland 76%
   3. Switzerland 73%
   4. Spain 69%
   5. Italy 68%
   6. France 60%
   7. Sweden 60%
   8. Denmark 57%
   9. U.K. 51%
  10. Belgium 50%
  11. The Netherlands 41%

In all countries surveyed, men were more likely to be victims than women, and the report identifies the riskier behaviors associated with becoming a target for cybercriminals:

   1. Viewing adult content online (80% cf. 67% non-viewers of adult content).
   2. Lying online (78% cf. 59% who don’t lie online).
   3. Using free Wi-Fi (77% cf. 62% who don’t use free Wi-Fi).

A large share of the cybercrime burden is shouldered by emerging markets, with cybercrime costing China £16 billion ($25.8 billion), Brazil £9.5 billion and India £2.5 billion in the past twelve months.

The growing importance of mobile phones and mobile Internet in these markets plays a key role. While globally 10% of online adults have experienced cybercrime on their mobile phone, this triples to 31% in China where nearly three quarters of respondents (74%) access the Internet via their mobile phone.

Symantec carried out the research in 24 countries conducting 19,636 interviews.

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Six Big Windows 8 Features for Small Business

With Microsoft's big BUILD conference right around the corner on September 12, people are buzzing about the Windows 8 news that's sure to come, and for the last couple of weeks, Microsoft has been parceling out information. So far, the features we’ve seen look colorful, fast, flashy, and flexible—but how much of a difference will they make for small business users?

Let's take a look at the Windows 8 features that have already been revealed and see what kind of an impact they could make--for better or for worse.

1. That Metro Experience

The first thing you’re likely to notice in a Windows 8 demo is the new Metro style and the fluid movement on the screen. Designed to be similar to the beautiful Windows Phone 7 interface, Windows 8 uses live tiles to surface need-to-know information right from the start. Live tiles are small, tap-able color blocks that display specific information--such as how many email messages are waiting for you or what your next appointment in town is about.

The Start screen in Windows 8

To launch a program, you can tap the tile that represents it, or flick from the right edit of the screen to display the controls, then tap a button to launch the program you want to use. Once you're finished with that task, flick it away--or move it up to the corner of the screen out of the way--and tap a different program tile to open it. This means you can open and close and rearrange pieces of information on your desktop in much the same way you would on your physical desk.

A Windows 7 feature called Snap enables a side-by-side workspace experience. For example, you can add new customers to your contact list while watching a demo of a new sales training video, all using the same simple gestures as on your touchscreen smartphone.

2. It’s Keyboard and Mouse-Friendly, Too
If you’re a holdout with a mobile phone without touch capability, or you're using a notebook that doesn’t support touch, you may worry that Windows 8 won’t work for you. The design of Windows 8 is driven by an OS that's supposed to run seamlessly on touchscreens and smart devices--with a fluid design for ultraportables, easy adaptability to mobile technologies, and an always-on, always-connected approach.

however, your keyboard and mouse should still work the way they always have. Familiar keys like PageDown and PageUp will work; the Windows key still brings up the start menu; and you'll be able to navigate through programs and apps using the same point-and-click method as in Windows 7.

The flexibility of Windows 8 should enable you to switch easily back and forth between the Metro and the desktop views, so the way you interact with your PC will depend on what you want to do and what feels most natural. You might, for example, use Metro while you browse the Web, watch media, preview a presentation, or check email--but switch to Desktop view when you want more precise control of files, folders, or data.

3. Faster Boot, Faster Sleep
Another potential perk in Windows 8 is that it's meant to enable your computer to launch into life almost as soon as you push the power button. Microsoft Vice President Mike Angiulo said in a demonstration in June that startup times of 6 or 7 seconds should be possible.

Additionally, when you wake your sleeping computer, it should return from sleep instantly--which would be a relief after the horrors of Windows Vista and the improved but still lagging wake-up rate of Windows 7. When you’re on a client visit, for example, your computer can be a more natural part of the process. You should have fewer delays when you want to show off a new design, share a proposal, or demonstrate a Web app once you open your notebook.

4. Smooth Data and App Sharing--in the Cloud and Out
While Windows 8 developments are unfolding, Microsoft has been taking big steps in the online realm by launching Office 365, a new cloud computing service for small and large businesses. It's also promoting Office Web Apps, SkyDrive, and Azure as ways to collaborate in the cloud and reduce your IT overhead and hardware investments.

Working in the cloud means you and your team can work together virtually using the online version of tools that keep teams running smoothly in the face-to-face world: real-time communication, team meetings, task assignments, project management, file libraries, and workflow and reporting options.

We don’t yet know any specifics about Windows 8 features that engage the cloud directly, but the OS will support app-to-app sharing (think of how your Twitter posts show up in your other social media accounts), so the convergence is likely on the way.

Windows 8 will also natively support USB 3.0, which should allow you to access and transfer files up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0. And that hopefully means a little less time standing in front of the room waiting for your presentation to load.

5: A Windows Explorer Makeover
Over the last week or so, Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft's Windows and Windows Live division, has written on the Building Windows 8 blog about some of the changes we can expect to see in Windows Explorer. In Windows 8, you should be able to copy, move, rename, and delete files--especially large groups of large files--faster and with better control. You should see the status of multiple file operations and even pause the ones that are slowing things down.

Another hoped step toward improved efficiency comes when Windows 8 finds a naming conflict while you’re moving or copying files. If you try to drag a group of files to a folder that already contains files with those same names, Windows 8 will prompt you--and show a smart Choose Files dialog--to click the files you want to keep.

The big improvement appears to be that you will see a number of the conflicts in a single dialog box, along with the information needed to make the choice. And if you’re still confused about which logo file you want to use, you can click the thumbnail to open the file and find out for sure.

What’s not clear is what will happen when you have, say, 20 file conflicts in the same operation—will the dialog box have tabs? Will you still have to click through multiple choices (similar to Windows 7)? That remains to be seen.

The menu and toolbar in Windows Explorer will be replaced with a ribbon layout, similar in style to the one in Office 2010 and the Office Web Apps. Depending on whether you love or hate the ribbon toolbar, you may like (or not) having the ability to touch your way through the Home, Share, and View tabs. Similar to the ribbon in Office 2010, the Windows Explorer ribbon includes contextual tabs to help you find the tools you need based on the tasks you’re performing. And in case you just can't deal with the ribbon or prefer to stick with the keyboard, developers are adding something in the neighborhood of 200 new keyboard shortcuts.

6. Is There an App for That?
The future of Windows 8The Windows 8 App Store has lots of folks speculating. Is it real? What types of apps will it include? Windows 8 is designed for ultraportable and always-on computing, and to be truly competitive in a mobile and ever-evolving market, a Windows 8 App Store is a must.

Windows 8 will be built on HTML 5, Javascript, and CSS. Microsoft VP Mike Angiulo says developers will be able to develop apps for Windows 8 right out of the box. What’s more, Windows 8's sensor platform and support for roaming and location-based apps are likely to find creative development and a storefront on your computer in the form of the Windows 8 App Store.

Even though we’re still working with early information--and much more will be revealed at BUILD--the Windows 8 features we've seen so far have appeal for small businesses. What’s not to like about faster processing, a sleek touch-driven interface, true multitasking, seamless and quick file management, and easy app sharing? If these features deliver as promised, they will make common computing tasks more fluid and natural, freeing you up to focus on the work instead of the technology.

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Google +1 button optimized for mobile web

The Google +1 button, the public sharing tool which was introduced to the internet a few months back has now been thrown open for mobile web as well,. This development with respect to mobile phones comes after Google + was introduced for the iPhone in the second half of July. With this, net savvy users can publicly share what they like or recommend while on-the-go.

The +1 button works in a two-way manner. With this, users can share pages they like, find useful, or want to recommend for possible future use to others. This can be done within their circles, restricted to people viewing the +1ed pages in the profile or it can be shared with everyone.

The other way round, this button helps improve the Google search process by showing +1 recommendations in a separate category in the search results. Thus, users can refine and simplify their search process by seeing what pages from their search have been +1ed.

Users can also control the visibility of their +1s. They can easily change the settings to restrict the visibility to a select number of circles, while blocking a few. Also, +1s can be kept hidden in the profile where no one will get a view of a user’s list, while they remain publicly visible.

According to the update, the Google +1 button will appear automatically to anyone using Android version 2.1 or above and iOS 4.0 or higher browsers.

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India - No more pesky calls, SMSes from Sept 27: TRAI

NEW DELHI: After missing four deadlines, the rules slated to bring relief to millions of customers from pesky telemarketers and unwanted commercial text messages will be implemented from September 27, sector regulator Trai said on Monday.

From the last week of September, mobile phone and landline users registered with the National Customer Preference Registry - a modified version of what was earlier called Do Not Call Registry - will be free from these phone calls and text messages.

Trai had announced the new rules last year under which telemarketers, who call customers registered with Do Not Call, would face fines of 75,000 for the first violation and up to 2.5 lakh for the sixth offence, following which they would be blacklisted for two years. However, this has not been implemented yet.

A common and easily identifiable number series for calls and SMSes emanating from telemarketers wasn't available, which initially delayed implementation.

"DoT has provided the '140' number series to be allocated to telemarketers. Access providers (operators) have to make the relevant provisions in their network before allocation of resources to telemarketers using the '140' numbering series from both mobile and fixedline networks," Trai said.

Ernst & Young's telecom industry leader Prashant Singhal, however, feels the delay in implementation has impacted consumers and in future will impact telecom companies too. "It's a good thing this has happened, but a little too late.

It's very irritating to get such calls and text messages from a consumer's perspective. Telcos will feel an impact on revenues, by 1-2% which is around $200-300 million on an industry level, that come from originating and terminating charges," he said.

State-run telcos, BSNL and MTNL, will have to install new equipment to transmit the 13-digit numbers to landlines, most of which are equipped with caller-identification.

India has over 850 million mobile and over 34 million landline subscribers. Under the new rules, mobile users will have a choice of blocking only telemarketing voice calls while choosing to receive SMSes.

When receiving text messages, they can specify an area of choice like banking and financial products, real estate, education, health, consumer goods, automobiles, communication and entertainment, tourism or leisure.

What's more, customers can change these preferences after seven days compared to the earlier restriction of three months. "This will give more control to consumers.

They will be able to choose the kind of messages," says Idea Cellular's chief service delivery officer, Navanit Narayan, who added that the telecom company has been preparing to adhere to the guidelines set by the sector regulator.

Stricter enforcement of penalties is likely to reduce cases of consumers getting unsolicited calls and text messages despite being registered with the Do-Not-Call registry, the Idea executive added.

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Google brings +1 button to android, iOS mobile devices

Google’s +1 button, which helps people get recommendations from their friends, is now available for mobile devices such as phones and tablets.

Punit Soni, lead product manager for Google+ Games and Mobile, said this should help people around the Web make recommendations even while on the go.

“The button will automatically be visible to anyone on Android 2.1+ and iOS 4.0+ browsers. When you +1 something, it will be displayed publicly across the Web as an annotation on the content you +1’d," Soni said in a Google+ post.

Soni added that with the +1 button available on the mobile web, a user with an Android or iOS device can tap to +1 directly from his or her mobile phone or tablet.

The +1 button allows one to start conversations by publicly recommending pages across the web, or share with the right circles on Google+.

Google said the +1’s can help improve its search too, “since you can see which pages your social connections have +1’d right beneath search results and ads." — LBG, GMA News

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MTS launches broadband service of up to 9.8Mbps

NEW DELHI: Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL), which offers services under the MTS brand, announced the launch of a faster version of its broadband service 'MBlaze', priced at Rs 2,499 offering speed of up to 9.8 Mbps.

"I feel extremely proud to announce the coming in of the world's first CDMA EV-DO Rev.B Phase II network to India. This historic launch will redefine the way customers experience mobile broadband as we roll out MBlaze Ultra across India," MTS India President and Chief Executive Officer Vsevolod Rozanov said.

The new service, MBlaze Ultra, would be launched in a phased manner.

"It has been launched in Jaipur and will be shortly introduced in top metros and other key cities across India soon," Rozanov said.

SSTL plans to invest close to Rs 50 crore in Rajasthan during 2011, Rozanov said. It has invested Rs 13,500 crore in India so far.

The company's earlier product MBlaze, which offers speed of up to 3.1 Mbps, is available at Rs 1,599. The company will continue to offer the product in the Indian market.

"Upgrading to EV-DO Rev. B Phase II network will allow MTS to provide an enhanced consumer experience with even higher speeds, superior indoor penetration and outdoor coverage," Qualcomm India and South Asia President Avneesh Agrawal said.

SSTL, a joint venture between Sistema of Russia, and the Shyam Group of India, has over 13 million wireless subscribers and under the MBlaze brand provides mobile broadband services to more than one million customers in over 200 cities across the country.

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Oprah to Appear Live on Facebook, Invites Your Questions

Oprah Winfrey is coming to Facebook next week. On September 8, the TV star will be the one answering questions rather than asking them, appearing on a one-hour Facebook Live streaming video interview on Sept. 8 at 4:30 P.M. Eastern Time, 1:30 P.M. Pacific.

To see the live webcast, go to Facebook Live on Sept. 8 and Oprah will answer questions shared by visitors to the Facebook Live event wall. Fans are invited to share their questions now, with the promise that “you might hear Oprah answer your question during the live show.”

Oprah is no stranger to Facebook. Her official Oprah Winfrey page is liked by more than 6.2 million fans. She’s also hip to the iPad-based magazine app Flipboard, where there is an official “Oprah” section.

Oprah has a burgeoning Twitter account as well, where she has 7.2 million followers. That number is dwarfed by the throngs of devotees the woman enjoys elsewhere. For instance, soon after she joined Twitter and featured it on her TV show in 2009, Twitter traffic was boosted by an astonishing 24% compared to day before the segment aired.

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Microsoft gives further peek at Windows 8

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft on Tuesday provided another glimpse at changes coming with the next-generation of Windows software that powers most of the world's computers.

Microsoft is making major improvements to a key Windows Explorer file management program to enhance how it interacts with the coming Windows 8 operating system, according to Windows division president Steven Sinofsky.

"Windows 8 is about reimagining Windows, so we took on the challenge to improve the most widely used desktop tool (except maybe for Solitaire) in Windows," Sinofsky said atop a blog post detailing Explorer modifications.

"Windows Explorer is a foundation of the user experience of the Windows desktop and has undergone several design changes over the years, but has not seen a substantial change in quite some time," he added.

A control "ribbon" for commands was added to make them more easily accessible to people other than "power users" familiar with Windows Explorer shortcuts.

Engineers set out to "return Explorer to its roots as an efficient file manager and expose some hidden gems" in the form of handy commands many people may not know, according to Alex Simmons of the program management team.

Microsoft in June provided the first sneak peak at the successor to Windows 7, a next-generation operating system designed to work on both personal computers and touchscreen tablets.

Sinofsky demonstrated some of the features of the operating system code-named "Windows 8" at a D9 technology conference hosted by All Things Digital.

"Laptops, slates, desktops -- all can run one operating system," Sinofsky said.

"Windows 8" builds upon many of the features in Microsoft's latest mobile operating system for smartphones, Windows Phone 7, including the use of touch "tiles" instead of icons to launch and navigate between applications.

Microsoft has promised to reveal more features of Windows 8, which uses Internet Explorer 10 as a Web browser, at its developers conference in Anaheim, California, opening on September 13.

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Today’s Top Headlines in Tech & Social Media

Hello friends welcome to harigeek.com
Below are the Today's top headlines in Tech  and Social Media :

Samsung Announces LTE Versions of Galaxy S II & Galaxy Tab 8.9

Ahead of the IFA trade show in Berlin beginning Friday, Samsung has announced LTE variants of the Galaxy S II smartphone and Galaxy Tab 8.9 tablet. The new versions of these devices will have fast wireless data transfer capability with download speeds as fast as 100 Mbps.

Apple Patent Claims Delays Galaxy Tab 10.1 Launch in Australia

The launch and advertisement of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet has been delayed until at least September 30 after Apple stepped up its patent infringement battle in Australia’s federal court.

Eric Schmidt: If You Don’t Want To Use Your Real Name, Don’t Use Google+

Google+ was meant to be an identity service, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said this weekend, shedding some light on Google’s reasoning behind Google+’s controversial real-name policy.

Social Media-Related Libel Cases Double in UK

According to research from UK legal firm Sweet and Maxwell, libel cases resulting from posts from social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have doubled in the last year.

Further News

    * Samsung is set to enter the mobile messaging market with ChatON, a free texting, group chat and video/image sharing app compatible with multiple smartphone and feature phone OSes.
    * The City of New York has launched a Google Maps-powered application to help residents report on damage caused by this weekend’s tropical storm.

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Twitter Boasts That It’s Faster Than Earthquakes [VIDEO]

Twitter has released a short promotional video that touts that it’s faster than an earthquake.

The 47-second short notes draws attention to the fact that Twitter messages hit New York City before Virginia’s 5.9 magnitude earthquake had a chance to reach the Big Apple. The man in the video, warned of the quake via Twitter, picks up his mug before the quake strikes. He easily ignores the Twitter pillows and napkins being thrown at him.

The quake, which caused minimal damage, has been the subject of countless social media jokes. We expect that some will find the video insensitive, while others will laugh at the video’s whimsical nature.

At the very least, we agree with the video: Twitter is faster than earthquakes. Check out the video above and let us know what you think of the social media service’s video in the comments.

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Facebook ending Deals product after four-month test

Facebook has decided to shut down Facebook Deals, its four-month-old Groupon competitor.

“After testing Deals for four months, we’ve decided to end our Deals product in the coming weeks,” Facebook told Reuters in a statement.

The product, which launched in late April, was an attempt to bring the popular daily deals phenomenon to Facebook’s 750+ million users. It launched in San Francisco, Austin, Dallas, Atlanta and San Diego, but quickly rolled out to other cities.

The market for daily deals has become more competitive in recent months, however, and many are questioning the entire business model in light of Groupon’s questionable financials.

“We think there is a lot of power in a social approach to driving people into local businesses,” Facebook said in its statement. “We’ve learned a lot from our test and we’ll continue to evaluate how to best serve local businesses.” We have reached out to Facebook for more information.

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Facebook reaches 1 trillion page views

More than 870 million unique users visited Facebook in June.

Facebook has achieved a new milestone - it has officially hit 1 trillion page views.

According to Time magazine, new figures released for web traffic in June suggested that those 870 million visitors are around 120 million greater than Facebook’s reported total number of registered users, reports Fox News.

The inconsistency in the figures might be a result of non-Facebook members visiting the site from other social media links or through search engine traffic.

The second popular site is YouTube, which only has one-tenth of the page views, but matches 90 per cent of Facebook’s unique visitors during the same time period.

According to the data compiled by the Google-owned Double Click Adplanner, Facebook received more than 1 trillion page views throughout the month of June and more than 870 million unique users visited the site with an average of 1,149.42 page views per user.

Links:

1. Facebook added new feature to its comment system

2. Get Ride from facebook chat virus

3. More from Facebook

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Screenshots of HTC Sense 3.5 leaked

HTC has some peppy new handsets lined up for 2011 like the Bliss and a bunch of other WP7 smartphones. And as we all know, HTC is known for its user interface known as HTC Sense.

There have been a bunch of versions of Sense over the years and today Sense 3.0 stands as the newest and greatest version of Sense. But all that is set to change soon with the launch of the HTC Bliss which will introduce the Sense 3.5 UI.

We have read rumors about HTC Bliss and Sense 3.5 since the past few days but none of them have been conclusive enough. And now, some alleged screenshots of the Sense 3.5 UI has leaked on the internet courtesy of a Chinese website.

 

Well, the Sense 3.5 UI is pretty reminiscent of Sense 3.0 but there are some significant changes. The homescreen has an entirely new touch. The typical Menu, Phone and Settings icons on the bottom of the screen have made way to the separate Menu and Phone icons on the bottom left and bottom right of the screen.

There are some other minor tweaks to the UI which is clearly noticeable but not to such an extent. And reports suggest that this particular version of Sense is meant to run on mid ranged HTC phones like the Bliss which is said to feature a 3.7 inch display, an 800 MHz processor and Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

But things would seem much better if HTC would allow reverse compatibility of the user interface for older handsets like the Incredible S, Desire S, ChaCha, Salsa, Desire HD and others. It seems like HTC had to come up with Sense 3.5 since Sense 3.0 requires higher processing and graphics performance.

HTC is holding an event in London on September 1, where it is expected that the Bliss would break cover along with Sense 3.5. Other announcements could include the HTC Puccini which is set to be the company’s first Honeycomb tablet.

For More Click

Links:

More from Android

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Google Docs for Android Lets Users Add Photos to Documents

Google Docs for Android now lets users dump photos they take from their Android smartphone into a Google document.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) enhanced its native Google Docs for Android application, adding the ability to drop photos users take from their Android smartphone right into a Google document.

The search engine in April launched the Google Docs application for Android with a nifty feature that lets users turn photos with text into documents that may be edited from smartphones.

Users simply tap a button to create a new document from a photo or select the camera icon from the widget.

The document will then appear in the documents list after the phone user snaps the picture. Users may also convert existing photos from their Android phone by sharing them with the Google Docs app.

With the Docs for Android bump, users can now tap the camera icon from the Docs widget icon on their Android phone, shoot a photo, and then select "send to Web Clipboard" and press "OK."

Then users can open any Google document from their computer, click the Web Clipboard icon and pick the item to paste into their document.

Google also improved the app so that users can open documents with any compatible viewer application or send a document as an attachment through email or another app on their phone.

The idea is that not only can users create, edit and access documents from their mobile phone, but they can augment the documents with photos, then save them in Google's cloud computing system for later access on desktop computers and laptops.

Such mobile workflow capabilities are important at a time when corporate professionals are increasingly tasked to complete their projects while traveling.

While the initial Docs app was available only in English, the improved Docs app is available in 45 additional languages.

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UK to Twitter, Facebook & RIM: We Won’t Ban Social Media

In a meeting Thursday with representatives from Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry-maker RIM, British officials made it clear that they will not restrict social media use during times of chaos.

“This was a dialogue about working together to keep people safe rather than about imposing new restrictions on Internet services,” a Facebook representative said in a statement.

Prime Minister David Cameron gave a reason to fear otherwise when, following riots that swept through the UK earlier this month, he told Parliament that the government was examining whether to ban suspected troublemakers from social media.

In anticipation of the meeting between UK officials and representatives of Twitter, Facebook and RIM — all of which make tools that were used by some to coordinate violence during the riots — human rights groups wrote an open letter to the British Home Secretary regarding Cameron’s comments.

Although fears that the UK would create restrictions on social media were dispelled, there was some conversation about how law enforcement might gain more access to information shared on social networks and between BlackBerry devices.

Gordon Scobbie, a senior police officer who leads the force’s social media efforts and attended the meeting, told the New York Times that Twitter, for example, might consider compelling people to use their real names instead of anonymous handles and that RIM has already agreed to provide the police with information from BlackBerry Messenger under some circumstances.

“When people use a telephone, under certain circumstances, law enforcement has a means of intercepting that,” he told The Times. “Just because it’s different media, we shouldn’t stand back and say, ‘We don’t play in that space.’ ”

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