Anonymous has launched Operation India as per a video released in youtube.

The Indian Department of Telecom decided to block access to all file sharing websites as a measure to bring down piracy.

This is just the same that was decided over in United Kingdom over The PirateBay.

Watch the video here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYESlyheDCo

Apple has fixed a bug that caused personal assistant app Siri to declare that Nokia Lumia 900 was the best smartphone ever.

Last week, some users reported that Siri said ‘Lumia’ when it was questioned about the best smartphone ever, Stuff.co.nz reports.

However, Apple has appeared to fix the problem, because after repeated attempts, Siri now only answers with either “You’re kidding, right?” or “Wait … there are other phones?”

Siri uses search engine WolphramAlpha to calculate the best response to any given question.

Based on customer reviews from across the web, WolphramAlpha ranked the Nokia Lumia 900 as the “best” smartphone currently on offer.

Apple’s own iPhone 4S, the only model that Siri appears on, did not feature on the WolphramAlpha’s list of best smartphones.

Despite the fact that the quirk appears to have been resolved, Apple has not publically confirmed that it has altered Siri’s response.

Apple plans to use a larger screen on the next-generation iPhone and has begun to place orders for the new displays from suppliers in South Korea and Japan, people familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

Early production of the new screens has begun at three suppliers: Korea’s LG Display, Sharp Corp and Japan Display , a Japanese government-brokered merger combining the screen production of three companies.

The new iPhone screens will measure 4 inches from corner to corner, one of the sources said.

It is likely all three of the screen suppliers will get production orders from Apple, which could begin as soon as June. That would allow the new iPhone to go into production as soon as August if the company follows its own precedent in moving from orders for prototypes for key components to launch.

Apple’s decision to equip the next iPhone with a larger screen represents part of its competitive response to Samsung Electronics. Samsung unveiled its top-of-the line Galaxy smartphone with a 4.8-inch touch screen and a faster processor earlier this month.

Samsung, which this year became the world’s largest cellphone maker, sold 45 million smartphones in the first quarter and sales of the Galaxy phones outstripped the iPhone.

Only 12% of your friends see your average status update, but Facebook is testing an option called “Highlight” that lets you pay a few dollars to have one of your posts appear to more friends. Highlight lets the average user, not Pages or businesses, select an “important post” and “make sure friends see this”, but not color it yellow as Stuff wrote when it first spotted the feature. A tiny percentage of the user base is now seeing tests of a paid version of Highlight, but there’s also a free one designed to check if users are at all interested in the option.

Highlight could show Facebook’s willingness to try more aggressive ways of making money, which should delight potential investors. But Facebook is playing with fire here. The service has always been free for users, and a pay-for-popularity feature could be a huge turn off, especially to its younger and less financially equipped users who couldn’t afford such narcissism.

social Comment 140 inShare569 Pay To “Highlight” Your Facebook Status Updates To More Friends – A Reckless New Ads Test Josh Constine Thursday, May 10th, 2012 140 Comments Highlight Featured Image

Only 12% of your friends see your average status update, but Facebook is testing an option called “Highlight” that lets you pay a few dollars to have one of your posts appear to more friends. Highlight lets the average user, not Pages or businesses, select an “important post” and “make sure friends see this”, but not color it yellow as Stuff wrote when it first spotted the feature. A tiny percentage of the user base is now seeing tests of a paid version of Highlight, but there’s also a free one designed to check if users are at all interested in the option.

Highlight could show Facebook’s willingness to try more aggressive ways of making money, which should delight potential investors. But Facebook is playing with fire here. The service has always been free for users, and a pay-for-popularity feature could be a huge turn off, especially to its younger and less financially equipped users who couldn’t afford such narcissism.

The official statement from Facebook on this is:

“We’re constantly testing new features across the site. This particular test is simply to gauge people’s interest in this method of sharing with their friends.”

I doubt Facebook is going to see positive reactions to Highlight, but if it did it could turn into an unpredicted revenue stream. Just the fact that Facebook would test this could bolster confidence for potential IPO investors. They want to know the company is interested in striking a more advertiser-friendly balance between a pure user experience and the goals of advertisers. That’s especially important now, as yesterday Facebook had to warn investors that its ad business is in jeopardy as more users access via mobile where it doesn’t show nearly as many ads.

via Tech Crunch

As you’ve undoubtedly seen by now, with the upcoming iOS 6 software, Apple intends to replace the Google Maps aspect of their default Maps application with their own, in-house version. Mark Gurman of 9to5 Mac was the first to report this news, and dives into more of the detail behind it, including the 3D aspect. John Paczkowski of AllThingsD confirmed the change. And after talking to my own source, I can beat the dead horse in confirming the switch.

I’ve also heard a little bit more. First of all, iOS 6, which is expected to be shown off in developer preview form at WWDC in June, is internally codenamed “Sundance”. Second, while Paczkowski’s source said the new maps functionality will “blow your head off”, I’ve been told that’s a bit of hyperbole (you think?). Specifically, while the 3D functionality is cool, it’s also not something people are going to use regularly. Think of it like Google Street View — cool, but how often do you actually use it when compared to the regular Google Maps product? (Having said that, I still expect Apple’s 3D maps to be cooler than Google Street View.)

More interesting to me is the implication of this switch. Let’s assume that alongside this change, Apple will also be replacing the default hooks in the iOS SDK that currently use Google Maps. This is a big deal for third party developers. While some choose to use other maps APIs (like Bing Maps, for example), the vast majority go with Google Maps because it’s baked right in and easy to hook up.

Consider Foursquare. They recently made headlines when they switched away from Google Maps on their website. At the same time, they made a point of saying they weren’t switching away from Google Maps on their mobile applications (where maps are obviously the most important). Why not? Again, because Google Maps are standard in both the iOS and Android SDKs. More importantly, unlike with the web, developers aren’t charged to use these maps on mobile. At least not yet.

Google recently made the change to start charging high volume customers of the Google Maps API on the web. Hence, the Foursquare switch, and several others larger customers are now either switching or considering switching. My guess would be that because of iOS, Apple may be the largest user of the Google Maps API right now. It’s not clear if Google charges Apple for this or not. Or if they’re about to start, as they have with other third-parties.

But it doesn’t matter. Apple can afford any charge Google throws their way, and would undoubtedly pay it if they thought it was worth it to ensure iOS remains the best mobile platform out there. This move away from Google Maps is more about controlling essential technology, as John Gruber points out today.

But the side effect of such a switch could seriously harm Google Maps as the de-facto mapping service. Again, because of their very nature, maps are most vital for mobile usage. And if Apple not only pulls iOS out, but takes millions of developers with them, Google Maps could suddenly go from behemoth to vulnerable.

via Techcrunch

Time spent on Facebook’s mobile site and apps per month (441 minutes) has finally surpassed usage of its classic website (391 minutes) — for Americans who use both Facebook interfaces according to the latest report from comScore. And that’s actually a big problem for the social network.

Facebook usually shows four to seven ads per page on its website, but only a few ads per day in its mobile news feed. That means it makes a lot less money when you visit from your little devices. In fact, this week Facebook had to warn potential investors in its IPO that the more people who access it from mobile instead of the web, the worse its business is doing.

Way back when Facebook launched in 2004 it was just a website, and it hardly showed ads at all. Over the years it launched a special mobile website called m.facebook.com, and apps for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and just about any device you can think of.

At first these smaller interfaces were just a way to glimpse Facebook while away from home. But as our phones grew more powerful and Facebook’s apps got better, we could help but friend, chat, and Like no matter where we were. Now there’s 78 million Americans age eighteen and older who use Facebook mobile, and they spend 7.3 hours per month there on average, compared to the total 160 million Americans who use Facebook and spend an average of 6.5 hours on its website per month. That’s a big shift from when the web was king.

Facebook realized it had to start making money on mobile, but people hate traditional mobile ads. CEO Mark Zuckerberg didn’t want annoying banners that took up most of your Facebook screen. so Facebook’s solution was mobile Sponsored Stories –stories in your news feed that could appear there anyway, but that companies pay to have appear more prominently and frequently.

via Techcrunch

A court in the UK recently decided that The Pirate Bay must be blocked by a number of ISPs, and now a court in the Hague has ruled that Dutch Internet providers must also block access to The Pirate Bay.

The news comes after the Netherlands was the first country to pass net neutrality into law, and whilst the law is designed to prevent ISPs from throttling traffic or charging for premium services, it also allows for websites to be blocked via a court order.

A court in the Hague has now ruled that Dutch ISPs, Tele2, KPN, T-Mobile, UPC and Telefort must block access to The Pirate Bay within the next 10 business days, if the ISPs do not comply with the court order they will be fined 10,000 Euros per day up to a maximum of 250,000 Euros.

via Geeky Gadgets

Things may not be looking good for RIM these days, but it isn’t all bad news. Some people still love Blackberry devices for its design and its security features. Like the Pentagon, for instance, who have endorsed the device.

The Pentagon has given the green light for Blackberry 7 devices to be used agency wide. The Blackberry devices that have been approved include the Bold 9900, 9930, Torch 9810, 9850, 9860 and the Curve 9360. The phones will be used by personnel from the US Army and the Defense Department.

They are no strangers to RIMs devices. According to the Department of Defense’s fiscal 2013 budget, there are about 250,000 Blackberry devices currently in use, while 5,000 Apple iOS devices and 3,000 Android devices are part of a pilot system.

via Geeky Gadgets

Amazon has announced that all seven of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books are coming to their Kindle Owners Lending Library, the books will be available in multiple languages from the 19th of June.

They will be available in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish to the Kindle Owners Lending Library, which Amazon says now has over 145,000 books.

“We’re absolutely delighted to have reached this agreement with Pottermore. This is the kind of significant investment in the Kindle ecosystem that we’ll continue to make on behalf of Kindle owners,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “Over a year, borrowing the Harry Potter books, plus a handful of additional titles, can alone be worth more than the $79 cost of Prime or a Kindle. The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library also has an innovative feature that’s of great benefit for popular titles like Harry Potter – unlimited supply of each title – you never get put on a waiting list.”

You can find out more information about the Harry Pottery books and the Kindle Lending Library

via Geeky Gadgets

Today NVIDIA has launched its latest graphic card the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 equipped with Kepler architecture. NVIDIA says that the new card will provide 45 percent more power than the closest AMD equivalent.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 is fitted with a 28nm chip Kepler architecture and 2GB of DDR5 RAM, together with NVIDIA’a GPU Boost technology. Which has been created to autonomously overclock the graphics processor when extra power is required on graphically intensive tasks.

“Engineered from the same DNA as the recently announced GTX 680-NVIDIA’s top-of-the-line, single-GPU-the GTX 670 packs a mean punch in its lithe 9.5-inch-long frame. It outpaces the closest competitive product in gaming performance by upwards of 45 percent,(1) while consuming approximately 18 percent less power.(2)”

The new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 with Kepler architecture is priced at $399 / £329 inc VAT / €329 exc VAT, and expect to see independent speed tests hitting the web over the coming days.

via Geeky Gadgets