Karnataka Govt set to use IBM’s services for smarter employability

The Karnataka Vocational Training and Skill Development Corporation (KVTSDC), has signed a deal with IBM to develop a smarter employability platform to increase effectiveness of employment and skill-enhancement programmes in the state.

As part of this project, IBM will create a platform to connect job-seekers and job-providers along with training and certification agencies in employability marketplaces accessible through mobile phones in local and vernacular languages. Job-seekers will thus be able to find available jobs and apply for the same, while understanding job-trends, and also refer opportunities to their friends: all through mobile phones. Similarly job providers can post jobs, increase their reach, find matching candidates, connect with trainers, and track latest trends through both mobile phones and web channels.

The project will leverage several innovative technologies from IBM, including Spoken Web – a voice-based equivalent of the World Wide Web designed to provide information of value to rural and semi-urban people through their mobiles or landlines in local languages. A mobile crowd-sourcing-platform will enable people to offer opportunities to each other, provide referrals, and drive rapid dissemination of available opportunities.

“The Karnataka state government is a pioneer in skill development in the country. Our goal is to enhance employment opportunities in the state by creating a conducive environment for all the stakeholders. This Smarter Employability Platform will help us reach people in the remotest parts of Karnataka enabling them to have an access to all the information through mobile phones, by using the local languages,” said Dr. Vishnukanth Chatpalli, executive director, KVTSDC.

As the first phase of the proposed project, the Smarter Employability Platform will be implemented in the two districts of Mandya and Bijapur. It will be expanded to eight more districts within Karnataka in the second phase.

“By working with KVTSDC we hope to benefit a large section of the society and help build a smarter nation,” said Dr. Manish Gupta, director, IBM Research – India, and chief technologist, IBM India/South Asia.

Karnataka is the first state to set up a skill commission and take the lead in the Government of India’s objective of having 500 million skilled people in India by 2022.

Great mobile phone discounts for happy new year

During the first month of 2011, are you crazy about calling your dear friends for new year's plans or having thousands of text messages to wish happiness to partners, colleagues, parents or those who you love much? Did you find your network so terrible that the delightful chatting became endless “Hello”? Or you may grumble about the outdated cell phone makes you embarrassed among fashion guys, what a horrible experience and unendurable awkward moment! Then come to the April Sales of lastest mobile phones and enjoy the perfect connection as well as a huge range of money saving plans.

Vodafone have given out amazing special offers to ensure you a great saving on business matters and family & friends contact. Here is everything about their new year mobile phone promotions.

By picking the great new Vodafone Freebees, you will get something back every time you top up. Whether you love texting or browsing the web, making overseas calls, or enjoy the chatting with him/her at weekend, the three Vodafone Freebees solutions will certainly meet your different needs. Moreover, free UK calls are also available if you join in Vodafone Family!

For those who are struggling in business calls, Business Essentials price plan enables you to enjoy double minutes to UK mobiles and 3000 additiaonal Uk texts. Hurry to sign up, the offer ends 31 April!

You can now get free extras on selected SIM only plans this April to get rid of that terrible network, and with it, you can choose the personal suitable plan for text or minutes saving.

At Go Mobile, up to 6 months free line rental is available on a fantastic range of latest and greatest mobiles. The involved handsets include popular Blackberry 9300 Curve, Nokia 6303, HTC Desire, Samsung Monte Slide, Samsung Tocco Lite, Nokia C7 and etc.

As for T-Mobile, you can enjoy up to 30% off and unlimited texts for free on all phones. Stylish styles such as Samsung Monte, Sony Ericsson Spiro and LG are all included in this April Sale.

Three FREE SIM plan will enable you get flexibility and brilliant value while keeping your phone. The free international SIM offers up to 200 free international minutes every weekend and more fantastic Blackberry SIM waiting for you picking!

That's it? Of course no! T-Mobile gives more surprise during their April Sale: you can now get iPhone 4 at amazing price of only £499.99 with 12 months FREE internet worth £40, unlimited texts for FREE and FREE delivery as well.

So take action now! Have a good time with your friends via these great mobile phone plans in this wonderful April only at http://www.newvoucher.co.uk

Fragmentation is root cause of Android's recent malware problems

The revelation that Google has pulled 58 malicious applications from the Android Market after they infected over a quarter of a million devices brings the promise, potential and future of the Android platform into question. The threat of mobile malware is no longer theoretical or a way for iOS users to bash Android. It's a very real concern.

Before I criticize Android, I'd like to say that Android does a lot of things very well. This article is not about that. I must also perform the obligatory smartphone disclosure, so that all my biases can be addressed in advance. In the last five years I have owned a Sidekick, smartphones running Windows Mobile 5 through 6.5, a few Nokia mobiles, a Blackberry, several Android devices and most recently a Windows Phone 7 smartphone.

Carriers' and Android OEMs' Misguided Priorities

As you might have gathered, my devotion is first and foremost early adoption, exploration and innovation. Bring something new to the table, and I'll give it a chance. That being said, it seems the rate of OEM hardware development and Google software development -- in order to reach feature and market share parity with iOS -- has overheated the dessert-themed engine that is Android.

I say this because the two handsets surest safe from the vulnerabilities are the Nexus One and Nexus S, which are niche devices by Google's own admission, and run the newest Android versions. According to Google's own numbers, at least 42.4 percent of Android phones are below Android 2.2, leaving them fully exposed (only devices running Android 2.2.2 are safe from last week's Android Marketplace infected apps). Google recognized this and has taken the unprecedented action of remotely patching the affected phones. This is starting to feel very much like Windows XP.

The blame for this failure falls directly on all three levels of the mobile ecosystem:

Blame the manufacturers who endlessly skin Android, making it harder to uniformly and easily update while abandoning released phones to focus on the latest and greatest.
Blame the carriers who use the outdated model of 24-month contracts and subsidized phones to lock-in customers with little concern for updates once the subscriber's name is on the dotted line.
Blame Google who has faltered at getting its partners to upgrade released phones and in keeping firm control of the Android Market. Gingerbread has been available for over three months and is used by a paltry 0.8 percent of Android users. That is simply unacceptable.

I have many issues with Apple's paradigm of computing, but its vertical integration and level of control has become an undeniable asset that ensures that more than 0.8 percent of iPhone users will be on the latest version of iOS three months after its release.

What makes this even more frustrating is the fact that many of these phones can be updated but are simply left to die. For example, that the great Adam of the Android line, the G1, managed to get a semi-functional Honeycomb port shoehorned on to it shows that many of these phones can receive updates. Do I expect carriers to update smartphones for the life of a 2-year contract when the average phone is used for around 18 months? Of course not, but there were a few OEMs as well as a carrier that didn't update a single Android phone in 2010. Not one. For the entire year. See Android's 2010 updates by OEM and by carrier.

The myTouch Slide 3G I bought nine months ago remains with the version of Android 2.1 it came with out of the box. The lack of upgrade communication frustrated me enough to switch to the HTC HD7. Obviously, Windows Phone 7 isn't perfect but the fact that Microsoft is trying to control the update process was enough for me to switch.

What's worse -- it's only going to get more confusing. Android 2.3 is supposedly going to become 2.4, which will take some of the features of 3.0 but still be called Gingerbread. However, Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream, will aim to merge the tablet and phone editions to create the magical centaur of Android. So if you buy an Android 2.2 smartphone today, what is your upgrade path? 2.3? 2.4? 4.0? I guarantee this year you will see Android phone owners struggle to get a 2.2 or 2.3 update while version 4.0 hits a Google Nexus One, S or their successors.

Caught between Haagen-Daz and Honeycomb

Now that Android has moved beyond the realm of niche enthusiast OS into mainstream market leader, the issue of fragmentation must be addressed. The enthusiast refrain of 'root your phone!' and 'XDA' are not mass-market solutions for people who don't want warranty-voiding homebrewed ROMs or understand the difference between Haagen-Daz and Honeycomb.

With equal blame to go around, I would like to present changes each party could make to improve the Android ecosystem and keep users feeling safe and remembered after buying their phones:

1. Carriers

Shift to 12-, 18- and 24-month contracts. Smartphone technology is moving too fast for the tech enthusiast to sit on a two-year contract. By offering increasingly subsidized contracts based on the length of commitment, customers can sign up based on their level of interest in new handsets and avoid being trapped on any given phone.

Create a trade-in and early upgrade process for orphaned phones. If a phone has not been updated to new Android version in the first year of the carrier contract, the owner should be eligible to receive trade-in value on the abandoned phone and/or a discount on another smartphone.

These low-end smartphone devices that Google CEO Eric Schmidt is so passionate about are usually the first to be deleted from the upgrade list. In fact, Motorola just canceled a slate of promised Android updates. These phones should not be dead ends for users.

2. OEMs

Remove Android skins. Hopefully handset manufacturers will soon realize that the best differentiator they can create is not a performance handicapping skin but a pure version of Android that receives updates as soon as possible. Carriers should be showing off how quickly their phones get the newest Android goodies not their shiny stock/weather/calendar widget.

Charge for updates. This might seem controversial since Android is open source. However, manufacturers are not updating phones because there is no profit motive. The novelty of an OS update can provide new life to a phone and do lots to satisfy current owners and to build brand loyalty.

3. Google

Talk to the OEMs. Last year's example of LG having to reverse their claim of their Optimus line being ineligible for Gingerbread is a common example of the miscommunication. Someone using Android as his or her main smartphone OS should understand its spec requirements. Google needs to make its software roadmap clear and seek to stop manufacturers from releasing handsets running the previous version of Android a week before Google updates the system.

Resurrect the original Nexus model concept. Google had ambitious plans for the Nexus One but had those quickly squashed as it tried to roll out the smartphone across the four U.S. carriers. However, Google had it right -- a uniform set of hardware with updates controlled by the software provider improves security and keeps everyone on the cutting edge of Android.

What suggestions do you have for carriers, OEMs or Google that will rectify Android's fragmentation and to improve developers' and users' trust in the platform?

Samsung latest mobiles including Galaxy S II and Google Nexus S to reach New Zealand in April

Samsung will roll out some of its latest mobile versions in New Zealand in the month of April. This would also include the trendy Galaxy S II and the Google Nexus S.

The entire sale would be conducted by Vodafone that happens to be the registered dealer of Samsung in New Zealand. The exact dates of the launch are yet to be revealed. The news of Samsung’s launch has already triggered the expectations and curiosity of the citizens residing in New Zealand.

Among the wide array of smartphones launched by Samsung, Galaxy Ace and Galaxy Mini stand out to be one of the lowest priced products. Galaxy Ace that costs around $500-$600 has already being a hit in the market. Galaxy Mini that is likely to be priced at $300-$400 runs on 600MHz power.

New Zealand will get its first smartphone based on Android 2.3 or Gingerbread in April with the introduction of Nexus S. The phone has vivid features incorporated into it. Built with 1 GHz processor, the phone consists of a concave display of 4 inch. The display is designed in a way to suit the shape of an individual’s face. Camera facility of 5MP is available in the handset that allows a video recording of 720p HD. With no other manufacturer’s software, the phone solely operates on Android installed in it.

The Galaxy S II comes with a high resolution screen. It works on a dual core processor of capacity 1GHz. Memory of 1GB RAM is built into the handset. The phone was launched in the month of February at the Mobile World Congress. It follows the Galaxy S that had helped Samsung emerge as a top competitor in mobile industry across the globe.

* CNET UK * Crave * Mobile Phones Samsung Galaxy Pro gives BlackBerry some Qwerty Android competition Read more: http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/samsung-galaxy-pro-gives-blackberry-some-qwerty-android-competition-50003054/#ixzz1FzDl0Cmo

Samsung's new Galaxy Pro smart phone is the latest Android handset looking for a bite of the BlackBerry market, with a Qwerty keyboard and a 2.8-inch touchscreen. Announced this weekend, it's already been confirmed by Three as coming to that operator's network here in the UK.

The phone was unveiled at Samsung's own SEA Forum event in Singapore, having been held back from Mobile World Congress last month, presumably to avoid it being overshadowed by the new Galaxy S II and a crop of other touchscreen Galaxy mobiles (the mini, Gio, Ace and Fit).

Official specs on the Galaxy Pro are thin on the ground, although in a blog post, Three confirms the 2.8-inch screen and physical keypad, as well as saying the device will run Android 2.2 Froyo, rather than the latest 2.3 Gingerbread software.

Three will also be selling the Galaxy Pro on its all you can eat One Plan, and is pitching the handset's Wi-Fi hotspot feature as a selling point -- although that's an Android feature rather than a Galaxy Pro feature, so applies to any Android phone sold through the network.

Our colleagues at CNET Asia have already got hands-on with the Galaxy Pro, and report that it has a bottom-edge lip like the Galaxy S, and a mesh-like cover on the back to make it more grippable. They confirm the screen has a poor 320x240-pixel resolution, and inside there's an 800MHz processor, with HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.

The camera is a 3-megapixel model, and Samsung's own TouchWiz software is layered on top of Android, including its Social Hub for pulling together email, social networking and instant messaging. Three has no release date for the device, but Samsung tells CNET Asia the phone will go on sale here in the UK first later this month.

There's certainly no shortage of competition coming up for this kind of Qwerty candybar handset with social features to the fore. RIM's BlackBerry smart phones continue to rule the roost thanks to their BBM messaging service -- although that's rumoured to be on its way to Android -- but the HTC ChaCha and INQ Cloud Q offer a similar form factor.

Here's Three's YouTube video of the Galaxy Pro, though:

Read more: http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/samsung-galaxy-pro-gives-blackberry-some-qwerty-android-competition-50003054/#ixzz1FzDp6tGf

Latest Mobiles Of Rupees 14000 To 16000 - Roopit Bangalore

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Spice Flo Price India, TouchScreen Dual SIM Spice Flo M-5700 Features & Specifications

Spice Flo is a latest mobile by Spice mobiles in India. Spice FLO M-5700 is bar shaped and weighs a mere 65 grams. Spice FLO M-5700 is a dual sim mobiles operates at frequency of GSM 900/1800 MHz. Spice FLO M-5700 is a touchscreen mobile phone with wide screen of 2.8-inch Touch screen display & resolution of 240×320 Megapixels. 1.3 mega-pixel camera gives good clarity of photos. Phone also has the ability to record videos at 15fps and play them at 25fps.