Lok Sabha clears land bill, govt braces for battle in RS

  Shiv Sena Refuses To Vote With Govt Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the land acquisition bill after a marathon debate, with the government managing to keep its allies together though it failed to rein in Shiv Sena. The government now braces for a tough battle in Rajya Sabha where it lacks majority , as evident in the near-unprecedented event of its humiliation by the opposition which forced amendments to the motion of thanks on the President's address. For the ruling coalition, the good news is that it mana ged support from Akali Dal which had criticized the law and insisted that the "consent clause" be restored, as also LJP. While Sena stuck to its guns on the bill, it stopped short of voting against it and only abstained from voting. Im portantly, Biju Janata Dal, which was scathing in its comments and had termed the restoration of "consent clause" and "social impact assessment" as non-negotiable, staged a walkout instead of voting against the bill. However, what would be of concern to the government is that the opposition stayed united. Trinamool Congress and SP voted against the bill. In what could worry the government, the opposition stayed united against the land bill which was passed by the LS on Tuesday . If this line-up stays in the Upper House, the Centre faces the prospect of either the bill being sent to a parliamentary panel for vetting--standing committee or select committee--or its rejection. Only in the case of the latter would the government be able to call a joint sitting of Parliament to push it through, and the opposition is learned to be preparing a resolution seeking its referral to the select panel. Brought to replace the ordinance promulgated in December to amend UPA 's law, the bill was criticized by the opposition as reverting to the 1894 law which vested authorities with inviolable power to takeover land. The government argued that the bill was in the interest of farmers and that UPA 's law had made land acquisition for growth activities impossible. Rural development minister Birender Singh referred to the nine amendments to blunt the projection of the bill as pro-corporate and anti-farmer. Not restoring "consent" in any form, the changes to the bill limit industrial corridors to 1km on both sides of highways and railway lines and provide for compulsory job to one member of every affected family of farm labourers and grievance redressal at the district level besides prescribing that states determine that land acquisition for a project is bare minimum. The dropping of exemption to "social infrastructure" projects was dictated by the argument that private individuals could misuse it to open colleges and hospitals. The opposition moved 52 amendments which were either negated or not pressed by the members. Later, Congress, SP , TMC, Left and others walked out to let the bill be passed by a voice vote.Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was absent during the debate.  

iOS 8: A recap of the best new features

Regardless of whether you think the iPhone 6 (and 6 Plus) looks sweet or not, if you're a South African and don't feel like paying one helluva premium for a grey imported smartphone, you'll have to wait until late November before you can upgrade your handset to one of Apple's new gadgets.

In the meantime though, you can get your hands on Apple new mobile operating system, iOS 8, which has most of the goodness Apple will be rolling out with its new devices baked right in.

As with previous editions of iOS you'll need a compatible device. So, providing you have an iPhone 4S, 5, 5c or 5s; 5^th Generation iPod Touch; or an iPad 2, iPad with Retina, iPad Air, iPad Mini or iPad Mini with Retina, you're all good.

Overall look and feel

There's not a lot that's changed look and feel-wise since the major overhaul Apple made to its interface when it shipped iOS 7.

Things might seem a little smoother and crisper on iOS 8, but that's probably got more to do with app developers cleaning up their logos, icons and other bits and pieces than anything else.

There are some uber-cool tweaks and features to the underlying iOS 8 system that make getting around it and using it a ton simpler though.

Something you'll notice from the word 'go' is the new QuickType keyboard which emulates a great deal of what made Blackberry's revolutionary new touch keyboard cool, in that it supports prediction.

The intelligence behind the keyboard will consider what application you're in (your text messaging tone might be less formal than your e-mail tone) and who the message is addressed to, along with phrases and words you typically make use of, when it makes a prediction, which is pretty neat.

The 'learning' and 'ability to 'distinguish between apps' part will only work in iOS native apps, however, which is sad.

For the first time ever, however, iOS will have support for third party keyboards and most notably, SwiftKey, which for many users is an essential addition to Android.

Next, you'll notice that a whole bunch more applications show up in the notification centre than ever before. On top of that, those notifications will now have the ability to kick off quick actions.

In other words, tapping on the notification won't take you into the application any more – you'll be able to respond to messages (and tweets), accept or decline calendar invites and 'mark as read' or 'trash' mails as they come in, not to mention the other actions third party developers will use the feature to enable.

If you head over to the 'today screen' in the notification centre you'll also see a ton more widgets than the default calendar view. That's because iOS 8 allows app developers to build widgets that are either stand-alone or accompany their apps to give you relevant info when you need it.

Expect to see the list of widgets grow as iOS 8 rolls out.

From within apps – native or third party – you'll also notice the presence of a whole bunch of new icons in the share dialog. Through some architectural changes Apple has made in iOS 8, you'll be able to share content more easily between its own applications and third party applications, without having to cut and paste, or double-tap the home button and physically switch apps.

Speaking of double-tapping the home button, this feature is still used to switch apps, but now also displays the faces (or associated icons) of contacts you've recently interacted with, so you can tap on them and very quickly call or text them.

While the vast majority of the changes Apple has made to iOS 8 are under the hood (and in key common areas like the Notifications Centre and the multitasking interface) there are a handful of cool updates to apps that come natively installed with the OS, like Photos, Mail Messaging, Mail and Spotlight.

And the extent of these changes vary from app to app.

Pictures please

Photos, for example, has gotten a very big overhaul, in that there's a bevy of new search options to make use of if you have tons and tons of photos in your library. You can search by the date the photo was taken, its location, or album name, or use smart suggestions to find photos taken nearby your current location, photos taken the same time last year, or those you've tagged up as favourites.

That's a nice set of additions. But what truly makes the new Photos app rock is the massive overhaul to its editing capabilities. Not only is the editing interface different, showing you a bunch of different options simultaneously in landscape mode, smart adjustments allow you to adjust lighting, colour saturation and make granular changes to exposure, highlights, shadows, brightness, contrast and the Black Point; or apply a host of quick filters.

A number of manual capabilities and adjustments – like those popularized by Nokia's Lumia 1020 and Sony's Xperia phones – have also been added to the camera app, along with new time-lapse videos, which are great for creating those artsy stop-and-start style sunset and traffic videos.

Mail trail

iOS has one of the best looking and functioning e-mail clients in the game. And that's why the fact that there are not a lot of interface changes is a good thing.

Mail now does however allow for users to very quickly jump between their Inbox and drafts folder (super useful for copying and pasting bits of info from previous mails into outgoing mails) and now scans items in your inbox intelligently for things like addresses, contact details and even flight numbers. The Mail client then underlines these items with a tap, do things like create new contacts, book time in diary and get directions.

A last little upgrade to Mail's functionality allows for additional things to be done with an e-mail using the swipe gesture. Instead of just allowing you to archive, or access more options with a swipe, you can now set as unread, flag, trash and access more options.

Follow-me SMS and MMS

iMessages are hugely popular in that they're essentially free SMS and MMS. The problem is, some of your contacts don't iMessage it all the time, particularly when they're out of data range and need to send SMS messages.

While this is cool if your only iOS device is a smartphone – as the little green bubbles (SMS/MMS) and blue bubbles (iMessages) thread nicely – if you have an iPad and an iPhone (and/or a Mac), you'll find the green bubbles mysteriously absent from your iPad (and/or Mac).

iOS 8 solves this by automatically synchronising your SMS and MMS messages across all of your Apple iMessage-capable devices. This means you'll be able to able to follow a text conversation with a contact perfectly, regardless of whether iMessages or SMS messages were part of the equation.

iMessage has also been upgraded to compete more heavily with Whatsapp, which has eaten into iMessage's usefulness because it's more feature rich and OS agnostic.

Apple has now hit back with the ability to insert voice, video and pic attachments into an iMessage at the tap of a button, share your location with a contact either in perpetuity or for a set period of time, great conversation groups and send multiple attachments at once.

Keeping it in the family

iOS devices – specifically iPads – are popular for family use. But, families invariably imply minors who can't really own an Apple ID. That in turn means that families have to share a single Apple ID, because Mom and Dad are the custodians of the credit card and password (and of age).

With iOS 8, Apple has introduced family sharing, which as its name implies eases this whole scenario.

We're talking six Apple IDs (and now accounts for minors) all sharing in each other's purchases of apps, music, videos and books – and most importantly a single credit card. To curb spending and manage the appropriateness of content, secondary accounts can be setup to ask for permission to download or buy a piece of content.

Family sharing also means the ability to set up combined photo libraries and a shared family calendar (all synced up with iCloud), not to mention tracking and location sharing.

This is a biggie.

Healthy times

Smartphones and the bevy of apps and wearables that reside around them have become the proverbial centre points in the fitness tech revolution. The problem is, every app has its own little kingdom and doesn't easily share its data with the others.

Apple's new Health app and more importantly, HealthKit developer toolset lays the groundwork for the various fitness apps available today to share their data with each other and for all of the data that each distinct app is collecting to be made viewable in a single aggregated dashboard.

Not only does this allow you too see all of your data in one place, but also for your running app (for example) to know what your sleep cycles and calorie intake was for the past day, so it's able to serve up a more appropriate route.

This will no doubt be extended even further with the host of new sensors built into the new iPhones and towards the early part of next year, the Apple Watch.

Continuity – The next big thing

I've saved the best for last. The one feature I'm really looking forward to (and the majority of my Apple-using friends are salivating over) is a new feature that lets you start a task on your iPhone, carry on with it on your iPad and then finally, finish it on your Mac.

Features currently supported by Continuity – the aptly named new feature stack – support this 'task' syncing, the ability to make (and answer) calls if your phone is in another room and finally, the sharing of files between Mac OS X and iOS devices using AirDrop.

Apps that currently support 'hand-offs' between iOS and Mac OS X include Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Safari, Reminders/Notes, iWorks and Maps. Because Apple has made this functionality available to third party developers, however, it shouldn't be too long until we can hand-off between some of the more popular apps used across the Mac and iDevice worlds.

In order to get the full picture, you'll obviously need to run a soup-to-nuts Apple technology stack and be using both iOS 8 and the next version of Mac OS X (Yosemite).

Since the new Mac OS version is only due for public release in October though, we'll all have to wait another month or so before we get to enjoy all of this goodness.

 

[Images - Apple.com]

Now, SMS alerts to help you track car registration

Mumbai: Close on the heels of a car dealer delivering an unregistered Audi 6 to the Pedder Road accident victim recently, state transport commissioner V N More has decided to introduce a four-level text message alert for all car registrations in Mumbai.      The alerts will help citizens track the status of his/her car registrations, and whether the registration number has been allotted by the RTO or not. This will be for the first time that the RTO will be informing citizens through text alerts.      The alerts will be at four different stages—car registration fees paid, inspection of vehicle done, road taxes paid and car number/ registration allotted, sources said.In the case of Peddar Road accident victim Phorum Ruparel,  the new Audi 6 was delivered to her residence on Tuesday. But little did the family realize that the car was unregistered and the number plate on it was, therefore, illegal. This was highlighted by TOI, following which the Wadala RTO took suo motu cognizance of the case and had imposed a compounding fine of Rs 2,000 besides charging a penalty interest of Rs 13,220 for road tax not being paid by the dealer.      "Though the family claims that it had paid the tax, the car dealer had failed to deposit it with the RTO. This attracted the penalty interest charges. Besides, the dealer had also failed to get the car inspected and the registration number was not allotted, causing embarrassment to the car owner," an RTO official said.      More now wants every car owner to be on alert and keep tabs on the registration process. "From next week, we will introduce the SMS service not only in Mumbai, but in other districts of Maharashtra," he said. For example, once the car is inspected and the taxes paid, there will be SMSalerts. The moment the dealer deposits the registration fee, there will be another text message forwarded to the mobile number of the car owner.      The SMS alerts will also be introduced for licences sent by speedpost. "The moment your licence or RC smartcard is ready for dispatch, you will receive a text message on your mobile," More added.  INSTANT MESSAGE  HOW WILL IT WORK      The moment one buys a car, the dealer will ask the RTO for an inspection. Once inspection is done, he/she will receive a message      The dealer will have to deposit the road tax with the RTO. Once the money is credited to the RTO account, the owner will get a text message  Payment of registration fee will also be confirmed through a text message  Once the registration number is allotted, the owner will get an SMS, after which he can affix a numberplate on the car NO CLUE ABOUT NEW CAR: MISHRAS     The Mishras from Thane whose Elantra car was hit by the speeding Aston Martin on Pedder Road on December 9 say they have no clue about any new car being registered in the name of Smriti Mishra at the Thane RTO this week. However, the family has expressed anguish over different versions being presented by media about the incident. "Even the model of our car was wrongly reported. It was not a Corolla but an Elantra," Smriti told TOI. — Manoj Badgeri TOI report on Jan 27

Your vehicle insurance details will soon be just an SMS away

HYDERABAD, NOV. 6:  

Soon, when a traffic policeman asks for your car or bike insurance, you won't have to worry if you do not have the papers with you. A simple text message from your mobile phone will retrieve the details instantly, thanks to an IRDA initiative.

"We will be providing vehicle insurance information to all the stakeholders through Short Messaging Service (SMS) and web-based applications of the Insurance Information Bureau,'' said M. Ramaprasad, Member (Non-Life), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), speaking to Business Line on Wednesday.

The beta version of the service has already been launched while the web-based application can be accessed anytime on the portal of the Insurance Information Bureau.

The database of all insured vehicles across the country is now available in digitised form and regularly updated. Until now, verification was done only by checking a hard copy of the insurance policy.

The digital service is beneficial to all the stakeholders. . "In case of an accident, victims can get to know the insurance company details if they know the number of the vehicle,'' said the IRDA official.

"We are talking to Road Transport Authorities and police in different States to share data so it will be easy to track down uninsured vehicles,'' he said. Some components of motor insurance, such as third-party insurance, are mandatory.

It would also help insurers, which sometimes have to grapple with multiple claims in damage and theft cases. This can be brought down if data on claims are available.

POLICY DATABASE

As the system will have a database of insurance claims made/honoured, cases of bad or negligent driving can be ascertained by the insurers before deciding on the premium to be charged.

IRDA is monitoring the submission of data by each underwriting office on a daily basis to ensure the smooth functioning of the system.

Govt to gift 2.5cr mobiles, 90 lakh tablets

New Delhi: In another mega scheme to woo the poor, the Centre proposes to spend Rs 9,822 crore distributing 2.5 crore mobile phones and 90 lakh tablets virtually free of cost to targeted beneficiaries over four years starting 2014-15. 

    The move is reportedly aimed at bridging the digital divide in the country. 
    The government's mobile phones will come bundled with free connection charges for two years. States will give lists for mobiles, tablets 
New Delhi: The users of the mobile phones that the Centre is planning to distribute will have to pay a one-time charge of Rs 300. They will get 30 minutes of talk time, 30 text messages and 30 Mb of data usage free per month. 
    This scheme will be restricted to the rural population.Similarly, 90 lakh tablets that will be given away to students of classes XI and XII, both in rural and urban areas, will have free data card connection for two years. The proposal has been sent to the Telecom Commission by the department of telecommunication (DoT). After it is approved by the commission, the plan will be sent to the Union Cabinet. 
    The programme will be implemented by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd on behalf of the government. In the first year, 25 lakh mobile phones and 15 lakh tablets are proposed to be distributed at a cost of Rs 395 crore and Rs 772.5 crore, respectively. In the second year, the department aims to give away 50 lakh phones and 35 lakh tablets at a cost of Rs 880 crore and Rs 1,858.75 crore, respectively. In the third year, 75 lakh people will get phones at an expenditure of Rs 1,365 crore and 40 lakh students will be given free tablets at a cost of Rs 2,191.25 crore.
    In the fourth year, the free tablets program will end but will still cost the department Rs 150 crore in providing services for the data card connections. The department will spend Rs 1,850 crore in distributing the remaining handsets. 
    While the administrative and distribution charges for each mobile phone will be Rs 320, for tablets this cost will come to Rs 900. 
    In the case of tablets, the beneficiaries will get device and data connectivity for a maximum period of 2 years or his/her duration of study at school, whichever is less. The service provider will give a free package of 75 minutes talk time, 75 SMSs and 500MB data usage every month. 
    The proposal says selection of beneficiaries for the programme will be done by state governments. But they will have to meet broad guidelines fixed by the department—only one beneficiary from each family covered under MGNREGA and 30% 'open' beneficiaries for mobile phones. 
    For tablets, the government will target students of classes XI and XII studying in government schools who are not covered by other similar schemes. The list of eligible students would be provided by school authorities and authenticated by state governments. 
    Funding for the programmes will from the Universal Service Obligation Fund, which is being realized through a levy of 5% on telecom services revenues from operators. Till March 31, 2013, this kitty had nearly Rs 28,000 crore and Rs 6,500 crore was being added every year.

SOFT TARGET A mobile can be hacked in 2 min via SMS

Outdated Tech Used In SIM Cards Renders Cellphones Vulnerable To Spying, Says Expert

Houston: Millions of mobile phones may be vulnerable to spying due to the use of an outdated 1970-era cryptography technique, according to a new research. The research, due to be presented at an upcoming Black Hat security conference in US, cites phones running the risk of their security being breached due to use of the old cryptography technique. 
    Cryptography allows communication to take place securely over a mobile network. 
    Karsten Nohl, an expert cryptographer with Security Research Labs, has found a way to trick mobile phones into granting access to the device's location, SMS functions and allow changes to a person's voicemail number. 
    Nohl's presentation, "Rooting SIM cards," will take place at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas on July 31. His research looked at a mobile phone's SIM (Subscriber Identification Module), the small card inserted into a device that ties it to a phone number and authenticates software updates and commands sent over-the-air from an operator. To ensure privacy and security, SIM cards use encryption when communicating with an operator, but the encryption standards use vary widely. 
    Nohl's research found that many SIMs use a weak encryption standard dating from the 1970s called DES (Data Encryption Standard), according to a preview posted on his company's blog. DES has long been considered a weak form of encryption, and many mobile operators have upgraded now to more secure forms. It is relatively easy to discover the private key used to sign content encrypted with DES. In its experiment, Security Research Labs sent a binary code over SMS to a device using a SIM with DES. 
    Since the binary code wasn't properly cryptographically signed, it would not run on the device. But while rejecting the code, the phone's SIM makes a crucial mistake: it sends back over SMS an error code that carries its own encrypted 56-bit private key. 
    Owing to DES' weakness, it is also possible to decrypt the private key using known cracking techniques. 
    Security Research Labs did it in about two minutes on a regular computer with the help of a rainbow table, a mathematical chart that helps convert an encrypted private key or password hash into its original form faster. 
    With the private DES key in hand, it is then possible to "sign" malicious software updates with the key, and send those updates to the device. 
    The device believes the software comes from a legitimate source and then grants access to sensitive data. 
    Using the SIM's private key, an attacker could force the SIM to download Java applets, which are essentially very small programs that perform some function. Those applets would be "allowed to send SMS, change voicemail numbers, and query phone location among other things," the company wrote. PTI

IMD warns of extreme rain, BMC urges people not to leave home

Mumbaikars, especially in the island city, woke up to very heavy rainfall on Sunday. From 8:30am to 11:30am, Colaba recorded 122mm and Santa Cruz 35mm, causing floods in several areas. Though it continued to rain thereafter, the intensity became a lot less, with Colaba recording 147.2mm from morning till evening. Santa Cruz recorded 115.4mm in the same period.
    Rainfall intensity is likely to be more on Monday. The weather bureau has warned of very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall, accompanied by strong winds gusting up to 50kmph in the city and the suburbs. As per the bureau's glossary, 64.5-124mm rainfall is 'heavy', 124.5-244.5mm 'very heavy', and above 244.5mm 'extremely heavy'. Also, high tides up to 3.68 metres are to occur at 6.12pm. If high-intensity rainfall continues in the evening, people may get into trouble finding transport for heading home from work.
    Taking note of the forecast, the BMC has issued a warning: "We appeal to citizens to leave home only after consulting various media on the amount of rainfall and waterlogging in their areas. Citizens should not leave home unless necessary." It has also cautioned people against venturing into sea.
    Monday's rainfall was caused by two weather systems: an active offshore trough running from the Gujarat to the Kerala coast and an upper air cyclonic circulation over Gujarat. "Together, these systems are causing rainfall over the Konkan and Goa region, including Mumbai," said V K Rajeev, director of weather forecast, IMD, Mumbai.
    Moreover, very strong south-westerly winds are blowing along the west coast. For Mumbai, this means heavy rainfall with strong gusts of wind.

Free Online Alternatives To Expensive Software

Almost every piece of expensive software that you buy for a computer has a free and capable online version. Not only will you save money, but you'll also free up some vauable hard drive space, 

DOCUMENT EDITING 
Google Docs/Drive 
http://drive.google.com 
Google Drive provides a feature-rich interface for text, spreadsheets and presentations. You can open documents saved in your Gmail inbox or create a new one online. You can also collaborate real-time with colleagues on a document. All documents are automatically saved in your Google Drive cloud storage space. 
Microsoft Office Web Apps 
http://office.microsoft.com/web-apps/ 
Microsoft also offers a free online office suite for SkyDrive users — the interface will be familiar to users of MS Office. You get 7GB of free cloud storage to store your documents. You can create or upload Word, Excel, PowerPoint as well as OneNote files to SkyDrive and edit them. Documents can be shared and you can select which users can edit the document and if it is mandatory for users to sign into their Microsoft account to access the document or not. 
Zoho Docs www.zoho.com 
Zoho's office suite includes support for MS Word, spreadsheets, presentations as well as databases and reports. Like the other two office suites mentioned above, this one also supports real-time collaboration but in addition offers various other integrated services. With a single account, you get access to mail, chat, calendar/planner, invoice generation, as well as a CRM (customer relationship management) system. VIDEO EDITING 
Filelab 
www.filelab.com 
Filelab products work better with Google Chrome and you need to download a free plugin first. Once you start, you get support for multiple video formats and HD resolution. It offers all the basic editing controls to trim, cut and merge. You can also add creativity to your video with multiple effects. There are over 50 transition effects available along with the option to overlay one video on top of the other. You can define transparency, add audio tracks and then watch a live preview right in your browser window. 
Video ToolBox 
www.videotoolbox.com 
This editor supports editing of the most common file formats and also lets you convert from one format to another. You can add watermarks, merge videos, extract audio, take screenshots or remove unwanted parts of a video. It also gives you 1GB of free cloud storage. 
YouTube Editor 
www.youtube.com/editor 
Youtube offers a powerful online editor that lets you trim videos, merge multiple videos into one, add transitions, stabilise video or add a soundtrack of your choice. It also automatically suggests corrections and effects if your videos are not up to the mark. 
PHOTO EDITING 
Photoshop Express 
http://photoshop.com/editor 
If you need to do just basic image adjustments and manipulation, Adobe's own online photo editor is great. You get basic editing (crop, resize, rotate) as well as a few adjustments (white balance, soft focus, highlight) options. Various effects to enhance the picture are also available. Once done, images can be saved to your computer or shared on Flickr, Facebook or Picasa. 
Pixlr 
http://pixlr.com/editor 
With this online editor, you can create a new image, upload one from your computer or open any image from a URL. The interface is similar to Adobe Photoshop and you get all the usual tools as well as support for layers. You also get various filter effects, levels, curves and exposure controls. Images can be saved to the computer or to online services like Flickr/Picasa. 
Splashup 
www.splashup.com 
Splashup has a similar interface to Photoshop. Apart from your PC and from a URL, it also supports importing images from Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket and can capture an image from a webcam. Like Pixlr, it lets you work with layers to add various filters. However, it does not have advanced editing options such as levels and exposure control. VARIOUS OTHER FREE TOOLS 
Music Creation 
SOUNDATION STUDIO (www.soundation. com) offers advanced tools and effects that you would only get with professional music studio software. You launch the studio right inside your browser window and it also includes over 600 free audio loops and samples that you can start with. A free account lets you save and publish as many songs as you want, but if you want recording, you need one of the paid plans. 
3D House Planner 
HOMESTYLER (www.homestyler.com) is a free and easy-to-use house planner. You can use it if you are planning on building a new house or even just redecorating. Homestyler lets you easily create a layout, add furniture, landscaping and experiment with paints, textures and different lighting for your room. You can easily view in 3D and share with friends too. 
PDF Tools 
A SUITE of no-nonsense PDF tools can be found at www.pdfunlock.com (to remove restrictions from PDFs), www.pdfmerge. com (to merge multiple files into one), www. splitpdf.com (split one file into multiple) and www.pdfprotect.net (add password protection). At www.pdfaid. com, you can choose from a variety of web tools for watermarking, image extraction, rotation, compression and conversion. Note that some of the tools imprint a small PDFAid logo on the final file. 
Speech To Text 
RATHER THAN use expensive dictation software, just head towww.talktyper.com. You need to download Google Chrome first because it doesn't work too well on other browsers. Make sure your microphone is working and click the green microphone button to start the dictation. It works pretty well if you speak clearly and the conversion to text is almost instantaneous. 
Optical Character Recognition 
AT www.ocronline.com, you can convert a scanned document, PDF file or an image (JPEG, TIFF, PNG, PDF) to an editable text file. First, complete a quick sign-up. If you are scanning, make sure to do it in 300dpi. Upload your document, select your preferred output format and you're done.

Mobile bills set to rise as operators slash freebies

Mumbai: Your mobile bill is set to rise with two leading telecom companies—Bharti Airtel and Idea—deciding to cut back on promotional offers such as free talk time across a majority of circles, setting the stage for other operators to follow suit.      Although the rise would vary depending on the circle and tariff plan for post-paid users or the usage pattern for pre-paid users, in some cases  the increase in the monthly outgo may be as much as 25%. For instance, if you paid Rs 22 for 50 minutes of talk time as an Airtel customer, you will now get only 40 minutes. That translates into a 25% hike. Also, in some cases, the validity of the vouchers has been cut and the threshold of getting full talk time has been increased. So to avail of the full talk time benefit, a pre-paid user may now have to spend Rs 50-60 during a recharge, instead of getting the benefit during a Rs 30 recharge.  Double gas price: Oil min to govt      Power tariffs and public transport fares could soon go up across the country. The oil ministry has suggested that the government accept the Rangarajan panel's suggestion to double domestic gas price by linking it to an average of international hub prices and cost of imported liquid gas. P 25 Bharti, Idea shares rise 3-4%  Mumbai: Unlike Airtel, which went public with its move to reduce freebies in a bid to improve its margins, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have not confirmed the price changes. Idea managing director Himanshu Kapania TOI that the company would evaluate price corrections after seeing Airtel's moves.      Vodafone indicated that it would follow other operators in pruning promotional offers. "We feel these were inevitable given the sharp input and energy price increases in the country. We are studying these moves individually across all our circles. We are inclined to follow to maintain consistency and competitive position though we haven't decided on our precise circle-wise moves," the company said in a statement.      The withdrawal of freebies has been done with the intent to improve the realized rate for the industry which varies between 27 paise per minute for new operators and 43 paise a minute for older players such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone.      Stiff competition has forced Indian telecom companies to offer among the cheapest call rates in the world. But they are finding it tough to sustain the tariffs, especially given the huge churn among users who tend to shift to an operator offering the lowest call rates. Portability is easy given that 95% of the mobile users in India are pre-paid customers. In recent months, however, companies have moved to raise rates and focus on profitability instead of blindly acquiring customer base.      The last big hike in tariffs happened in mid-2011 when customers had to pay 1.2 paise per second instead of 1 paise per second for voice calls.      Following Wednesday's moves, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular shares rose 3-4%. "We have spent on new spectrum, there is one-time fee so we have to evaluate the situation. But a big hike is not possible considering there is still hyper competition and over capacity still exists. Volumes have been impacted earlier when corrections have been implemented," said Idea's Kapania.

Now, pay using mobile phone card reader

Mumbai:The current credit card point of sales (POS) terminals may soon go the way of the 'zip zap' machines that were used by merchants to generate receipts based on credit card impressions until early '90s. The Reserve Bank of India has given its nod for a card reader that costs Rs 1,500 and can, in conjunction with an android phone, do everything that a POS terminal can do.     The cigarette box sized device, which records signatures on a touch screen from a stylus, does away with charge slips and works as well as any swipe machine. Citibank has been the first off the block to adopt this technology developed by Bangalore-based Ezetap Mobile Solutions and has obtained regulatory clearances for its launch.      The bank already has several merchants trying out this new technology. Shoppers Stop is testing this out as a queue buster by authorizing salespersons to receive payment on the spot. Others trying out this service are Vodafone and Bajaj Allianz. Citibank is also talking to a fleet cab company for accepting card payments.      "Besides replicating the job of the POS terminal, the mobile payment solution can be customized to specific business needs and also be integrated with the businesses back-end system, thereby making the process very efficient," said Muge Yuzuak, country head, cards and personal loans, Citibank India.      To function, the card reader needs to be connected to an android phone which needs to have the requisite app. The merchant can also fit the mobile with his own app that updates his systems about the payment.      Mobile-based card payment systems are by themselves not an innovation. The difference is that while earlier innovations involve a separate platform, this one replicates the card POS and somewhat blurs the lines between credit card and mobile payments.      "The device complies with the securities standards prescribed by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. We have also got the necessary approvals from the Reserve Bank of India for card transactions through this mobile payment solution," Said Yuzak.      In theory, the mobile payments business could be bigger than cards because of the sheer number of mobile phones. However, because of the restrictions on the size and multiple entries required for making a remittances, few merchants accept payments from mobile. OLD SCHOOL: RBI has cleared a card reader that can, along with an android phone, do everything that a POS terminal can do.

Airtel launches 'Call-me-back' service for prepaid subscribers

Airtel, in partnership mCarbon (a Value Added Service provider), has unveiled 'Call-me-back' service for prepaid subscribers. With the help of this service, a user can request their family and friends to call them back if they have a balance of less than Re 1.
  
To use this service the user needs to send a toll-free SMS with the word CALL <space> <Airtel mobile number you want to speak to.> to 121. Thereafter the person you want to speak to will get an SMS from the number the user saying: "Please call me back. Thank You." There is no charge to user for this service, and the call-back by the friend or family member will be charged as per his current calling plan rate. The customer who is calling back can be an Airtel prepaid or postpaid user anywhere in the country (including on roaming).

This service can be availed when the balance in customer's prepaid account is below Re 1, and can be used up to 3 times in a day.

Rajesh Razdan, Co-founder and Director, mCarbon Tech Innovation, stated "The customer's experience of an operator has many facets and involves many touch-points. We are pleased to launch 'Call-me-back', one such service that drives our philosophy of Customer Experience Management. We are positive on our ability to continuously add new and exciting applications under our wing."
  
Earlier this week, Airtel unveiled a new prepaid hotspot service called 'WiFi Hangout'. The service that is currently available in select cities namely Mumbai, Bangalore and the NCR allows prepaid users to enjoy a broadband Internet experience anywhere on their Wi-Fi enabled devices such as Laptop, tablet or mobile. The Airtel WiFi Hangout plans begin at Rs.20 for 30 min, Rs.30 for 60 min and Rs.50 for 120 min of unlimited usage.
  
Apart from this Airtel had also come up with an Airtel Data Share Plan. Under this plan the subscriber will have to shell out Rs. 1000 per month and can use 3G data on up to three smart devices. There is a cumulative cap of 5GB, on exhaustion of which the Airtel user can continue to use unlimited data but at the speed of 80KB per second. 

MF transactions through SMS

Paper Work

 

Investors can conduct their mutual fund transactions through SMS. To avail of this facility, you need to register with the AMC, which will specify the types of transactions allowed through this mode as well as the maximum transaction value. The investor needs to fill up a form prescribed by the AMC and mention the unit holder details, KYC verification status, mobile number through which the facility will be used, etc. In case of joint holding, the application will have to be made jointly. 
Debit mandate 
In addition to the SMS facility registration form, the unit holder needs to provide a debit mandate to his bank to carry out transactions through theSMS facility. A debit mandate registration form for SMS facility needs to be filled up by all unit holders. 
Processing 
It usually takes 21-30 days from the date of receipt of documents for the AMC to get the debit mandate verified by the bank and process the application. The AMC then allots a PIN for SMS transactions. 
Transactions 
On receipt of the PIN, the investor can carry out transactions in his folio by sending an SMS to the prescribed number in the format prescribed by the AMC. The company sends a transaction confirmation message to the investor, which needs to be acknowledged. 
Points to note 

• The first purchase needs to be carried out through a physical form, while the subsequent transactions can be carried out via the SMS facility. 

• The investor needs to keep the AMC informed, in the prescribed format, about any change in details in order to keep the SMS facility active. 

• The transactions using the SMS facility have the same broker code that was registered during the previous transaction.

UNHAPPY TIDINGS? SC quashes tribunal order, 200 SMSes per day cap back

New Delhi: The cap of 200 text messages per day per person came back into force on Monday with the Supreme Court staying the telecom appellate tribunal's decision quashing the limit imposed by the telecom regulatory body.     The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had challenged the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal's (TDSAT) decision before the apex court on the ground that the limit was enforced to strike a balance between the sender's right to freedom of speech and expression and the receiver's right to privacy.      A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and Gyan Sudha Misra stayed the TDSAT order after hearing brief arguments from senior advocate Krishnan Venugopal. It also issued a notice to Aditya Thackeray — on whose petition the TDSAT had quashed the limit as violative of right to freedom of speech and expression. The bench asked Aditya, son of Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray, to file a response in six weeks.      Trai had first restricted text messages to 100 per day per mobile phone subscriber as part of its tough Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations. However, the limit was later raised to 200 messages per day per person.      The telecom regulator said the national average of text messages was just two per person per day.

Tata Tele moves tribunal against Voda on SMS fee

New Delhi: Tata Teleservices has approached telecom tribunal TDSAT against Vodafone's notice threatening to disconnect termination of SMSs on its network over a dispute on certain fees. Vodafone had issued termination notice to Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) asking it to pay Rs 188 crore as SMS termination fee by November 17, failing which it would disconnect the Tata group firm SMSs from its network.      TTSL's petition was put on Friday before a special vacation bench of Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).      During the proceedings, both the parties agreed to put the matter on November 20 for next hearing. Meanwhile, Vodafone has also assured the tribunal that it would not stop interconnection of TTSL SMSs from its network till the next date of hearing.      "As agreed by both the parties, this matter may be put up on November 20, 2012 under the same heading," said TDSAT member P K Rastogi in his order. Vodafone is demanding termination fee from Tata Tele at the rate of 10 paise per SMS from April 2011. AGENCIES

Bharti scion’s ‘Hike’ into instant messaging mkt

Mumbai: Bharti SoftBank Holdings (BSB) — spearheaded by Kavin Bharti Mittal, one of the twin sons of billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal — is entering the fastgrowing mobile instant messaging market, taking on the likes of Blackberry messenger and Whatsapp. 

    Hike, which is being launched globally, comes after six months of BSB buying a 49% equity stake in a Gurgaon-based mobile start-up Y2CF Digital. In an interaction with TOI, the Bharti scion said the mobile app market in India is currently fragmented, which is where Hike will look to come in and plug the gap. The JV will also launch a mobile portal in association with Yahoo! Japan early next year and make an announcement on the gaming front soon. 
    "In the last couple of years, instant messaging has taken over SMS in a big way as operators see revenues decline or remain largely stagnant. Currently, there are five-six different services and no one app ties everyone together. Hike is an attempt to make that happen," said the 26-year-old Mittal who heads strategy and new product development at BSB. Hike, a cross-platform messaging service, will also allow users to send messages to people who have not downloaded the app in the form of an SMS. Mittal said he will be working with operators to introduce new revenue streams in order to monetize the app. This will mean tying up with operators on the billing front once the service gains critical mass. 
    The slow uptick of 3G in India has been one of the big deterrents for the growth of data-led services in the country, Mittal said. "In an emerging market, building data services is difficult. So the pace at which 3G is picking up affects everyone building mobile apps. But in the next two-three years, things will accelerate. It is a matter of when and not if," said the self-acclaimed tech enthusiast who has interned at McLaren Racing, Google and Goldman Sachs. 
    The mobile data services market is projected to grow to Rs 67,100 crore by 2015, according to a recent report by Internet and Mobile Association of India, and will contribute 54% of telecom revenue. 
    Talking about the targets set for BSB's location-based service Hoppr and justlaunched Hike, without giving any specific number of the traffic coming in, Mittal said, "We believe that 10 million is the new one million." BSB is an equal joint venture between telecom-to-retail conglomerate Bharti Enterprises and Japanese communications major SoftBank Corp, which was announced in October last year to build digital consumer properties across mobile, internet, gaming and social media.

Trai targets pesky ads: Pay more for 100+ SMSs

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  New Delhi: In a fresh bid to curb unwanted text messages spanning sauna belt to apartments, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Monday announced new measures, including hiking the tariff for sending over 100 SMSs a day and an easier system to lodge complaints.      Although it decided against levying a penalty that it had proposed earlier, officials said the proposal had not been given up yet. But the immediate focus is on SMSs sent from phones that account for a bulk of pesky  promotions. Trai said within a fortnight, telecom companies would have to ensure that anyone crossing the 100 SMS mark a day would have to pay at least 50 paise more for every subsequent message.      Stating that the telecom regulator had adopted a "zero tolerance" approach towards pesky messages, a senior official said, "This is the first of many measures we are planning to take."  HOW TO BLOCK 1 Call 1909, register for fully or partially blocked category. In partially blocked segment, you can choose from one of the seven sectors —financial services, real estate, education, health, consumer goods & autos, entertainment and tourism 2 SMS to 1909: For fully blocked category, say "START 0". For partially blocked, SMS 'START' with one of the seven options 3 Within 24 hours, you will receive a registration number and the service will be operational within 7 days HOW TO LODGE A COMPLAINT      Via SMS:  Simply forward the message to 1909      Add the phone number of the sender and the date on which it has been sentTrai aims to control cheap bulk SMS packs  New Delhi: The new guidelines announced by Trai to deal with pesky SMSs — the tenth amendment to the rules on commercial communication or unwanted messages — propose to crack down on messages sent using software applications. Within three months, telecom operators have been asked to put in place a system that blocks messages with same or similar characters. The proposed mechanism will ensure that at best 200  messages with "similar signature" are sent in an hour. Once this limit is breached, the service provider can block it.      "We have arrived at the figure of 100 SMSs after a lot of consultation process," the Trai official said. "Our analysis shows that on an average, a person sends two SMSs a day and 47 in a month. The limit we have prescribed is much beyond this." In any case, registered telemarketers, banks and airlines will be exempted from the new rule.      An official said the aim now is to control cheap bulk SMS packs. Currently, mobile service providers offer concessional SMS packs and tariff plans for bulk SMS users. "These SMS packs and tariff plans are being misused by unregistered telemarketers to send promotional SMSs to consumers. To prevent unregistered telemarketers from misusing such SMS packs or tariff plans for sending bulk promotional SMSs, a price restraint has been placed," Trai said.  Times View: Time to act D eclarations by the telecom regulator that pesky calls will be reined in are always welcome, but with each reiteration they lose their credibility unless there is some corresponding action on the ground. The reality is that we have been hearing such threats from the regulator for years now but the pesky calls and messages have not stopped, making most people give up hope that they ever will stop. We hope that this time things will be different.

SMS perverts use fake papers to hoodwink cops

Mumbai: The incessant ringing of her cellphone in the dead of the night woke up Reema (name changed) from her deep slumber. The Chembur resident, who works as an executive with a private firm, answered the phone, only to hear the maniacal laughter of aman. A few days later, Reema received an obscene text message from the same number. To make matters worse, Reema's two female flatmates also started receiving vulgar SMSes from the same number. They then approached the police. "The man told us the cops will never find him as he had procured six SIM cards using fake documents," said Reema. 

    The cops traced the number to a Goregaon man and learnt that he was unaware that his papers had been used to obtain the SIM card. 
    Reema and her flatmates are not alone. Many women are still waiting for the perverts, who harassed them through obscene SMSes and emails, to be brought to justice. Investigators, too, admit that very rarely do such persons get caught. "Mobile service providers do not thoroughly check documents while giving out SIM cards. This negligent approach helps the perverts get away with their crime," said an officer. 
    According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Mumbai has the maximum number of registered cases of sexual harassment or obscenity through SMS, MMS or email. Between 2007 and 2012 (till August), 84 such cases were registered in the city. When it comes to states, Maharashtra, too, doesn't fare better. The NCRB data shows Maharashtra has the third highest number of such cases (169) registered in the country in the same period. 
    JCP (crime) Himanshu Roy said, "We will take up the matter with the information technology ministry so that proper action is taken against erring service providers." 
    A spokesperson of a leading telecom operator said the cops were trying to pass the buck by blaming operators. Times View: Crack the whip B oth service providers and cops need to be more proactive when it comes to helping victims of online/mobile sexual harassment. The trauma that the victim goes through should not be compounded by official apathy and the gloves should be off while dealing with these predators. They are a real enough menace though they may be operating in the virtual world.

Google Introduces Free SMS Service For Gmail Users In India

Gmail has redefined the web-mail segment and it has now fully evolved, and is not just a mere email application. Gmail isn't just limited to sending and receiving emails, but users can also chat via Gmail. Recently a video conferencing capability has also been added through Google Plus Hangouts, and more interestingly now Google has attached one more feature to its chat, which allows users in India to send free SMS right from the Gmail's interface.

This new service lets Indian Gmail users to send an SMS from Gmail to any mobile phone and receive replies as chat messages. This feature was added to Gmail on October 10th for both regular users and Google Apps' users. Google's support page says that the SMS chat in Gmail is supported by all mobile operators in India.

SMS in Gmail Chat is free; however, it has some restrictions to prevent abuse. Initially, every user will get a credit of 50 free messages. Each credit is equal to one SMS message. If a reply is sent to the SMS, then the SMS limit is increased by five. The credits will increase after 24 hours and if you don't want to wait, then you can also purchase SMS credits. Users from any country can send free SMS to any region that supports the SMS feature via Gmail.

Those who want to opt out of receiving Gmail chat SMSs can block all future messages from that sender by replying the message with the word 'BLOCK'.

This Gmail texting service will compete with other mobile messaging services that are gaining in India. Sites like Way2SMS and 160by2 are already very popular in India and Whatsapp has also collaborated with Indian carrier Reliance to offer unlimited messaging plan to college students.