Twitter gears up auto-ads for big clients: sources

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: Twitter is courting big time advertisers and will soon allow them to tailor, automate and publish ads in bulk directly onto the Internet micro blogging service, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.The company will soon provide a so-called application programming interface, or API, that will help advertising agencies and corporations deliver large volumes of ads on Twitter. Access to the API, which Twitter plans to begin in the fourth quarter, will initially be rolled out as a test involving a limited number of partners, the people said.

The move could provide a boost to Twitter's fledgling advertising business by opening the door to large online marketing agencies that rely on specialized software tools to deliver a blizzard of ever-changing ads on popular websites like Google and Facebook."It would increase the opportunity for advertisers to participate in that marketplace. Right now you've got to talk to a salesperson" to run an ad on Twitter, said one of the sources, who wished to remain anonymous because details of the new service are confidential.The move could also pose a risk to Twitter for consumer backlash if it results in a barrage of ads to users of the service, particularly if the promotions are of the less-exhaled variety like ads for teeth-whitening and weight-loss products. So far, Twitter has taken a go-slow approach to advertising for fear of annoying users with intrusive promotions.The five-year-old company is taking steps to ramp up its revenue at a time when its valuation is surging and anticipation mounts that it could follow in the footsteps of LinkedIn and Group on by floating shares in an initial public offering.According to a recent report in the New York Times, Twitter is seeking to raise $400 million in funding at an $8 billion valuation.Many details have yet to be hammered out, but the sources say that Twitter's advertising API will initially let advertisers automatically deliver ads for two ad formats on its website: Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts, according to another one of the sources.Promoted Tweets allow an advertiser to effectively sponsor any of the 140-character text messages that users send on Twitter, while Promoted Accounts let an advertiser promote its Twitter account to users of the service.While Twitter is among the most popular Internet social networking companies with more than 200 million registered accounts, its advertising efforts have lagged those of larger rival Facebook, which is expected to generate $4 billion in ad revenue this year.

SAP India bets big on enterprise mobility

MUMBAI, INDIA: SAP India, a subsidiary of SAP AG, today said that it will continue to deliver next-generation solutions on the SAP HANA platform, based on SAP in-memory computing technology, and Sybase Unwired Platform, the mobile enterprise application platform that simplifies the development, deployment and management of mobile enterprise applications.

SAP reaffirms its commitment to enable customers to do “business in the moment,” with amazing new applications and breakthrough analytics powered by SAP HANA and combined with mobile as the new desktop. Together these two technologies are transforming the way people and organizations work together and helping them run better, a ompany release said.The release adds that the SAP is using in-memory computing technology to transform how customers hink, plan and operate. By providing instant access to massive amounts information in any level of detail, SAP in-memory computing helps companies identify and move on new opportunities, better manage their business networks and develop smarter, more dynamic planning processes. SAP HANA allows companies to realize the promise of real real-time computing, enabling them to re-think business challenges and tackle entirely new ones. With SAP HANA as a foundation, a company can build the next generation of applications and renew its existing portfolio.With a shared goal of using in-memory computing technology to transform vertical industries and horizontal lines of business, SAP India in partnership with Hewlett-Packard India is launching a “Center of Excellence” located in Mumbai. In addition to the infrastructure platform, HP's Services for SAP HANA are designed to help customers  understand the technology  and benefits  of modernizing their IT landscape.SAP India also re-confirmed its strategy of further accelerating and strengthening the ecosystem by combining channel, services and all other partner types in one organization. This move allows to streamline strategies, leverage synergies in enablement across all partner types to eventually create greater value for customers.

Sony may launch tablets in India

Buoyed by the success of its VAIO range of notebooks, Sony may soon launch ‘tablet' personal computers in India, it was learnt. The consumer electronics giant had already unveiled two tablet computers in a market that was till now ruled by Apple.

Sachin Thapar, Sony India's IT division head, who was talking to this correspondent on VAIO, said that he was not in a position to comment on this matter. VAIO contributes 20 per cent of the total sales revenue of Sony India.

He said that riding on VAIO, Sony had moved to the third position after Dell and HP by value. The company now plans to double its sales from 2.5 lakh units in 2010-11 to 5 lakh units in 2011-12. “Going by our first quarter sales, performance is on track,” Mr. Thapar said.

On whether the company plans to expand its present range of product offering across 62 models in 16 colours, he said that there was further scope but the company was not looking at an offering in the sub-Rs.25,000 level. Presently the price ranges between Rs.24,990 and Rs.1,29,900.

While historically North is VAIO's biggest market followed by the South and the West, the East was now looking promising, Mr. Thapar said. “Contribution from the East has doubled in one year. The East comprises the seven north-eastern states, West Bengal Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa”. Referring to West Bengal, he said that the consumer notebook market was expected to increase to 2 lakh units this fiscal from 1.5 lakh units in the previous one. The state which contributed 6 per cent to the total sales is expected to contribute 10 per cent this fiscal. The market share too is set to increase from 14 per cent to 22 per cent in the current fiscal.

Google changing way brain remembers information: Study

BOSTON: Internet search engines like Google are changing the way our brains remember information, according to a new study that says readily available information online makes people easily forget facts since computers become their external memory ".

Researchers from Harvard University and Columbia University said Google and databases such as Amazon.com, IMDb.com serve as an external "memory, where information is stored collectively outside ourselves".People are more likely to remember things they think they will not be able to find online and will have a harder time recalling information which they know they can easily access online, the study added.

"Since the advent of search engines, we are re-organising the way we remember things," Columbia University psychologist Betsy Sparrow said.

Our brains rely on the Internet for memory in much the same way they rely on the memory of a friend, family member or co-worker.

The research also found that people remembered where they stored their information or where to look for information on the internet better than they remembered the information itself.

In the paper titled "Google Effects on Memory: Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips," researchers conducted four experiments.

They gave students 40 statements, asking them to type the information on a computer.

Those who were told the information would be saved had a much harder time remembering the statements later than those who were told it would be erased.

Similarly, Columbia students were asked a series of questions and allowed to take notes.

The students who were told the information would be saved in one of six computer folders had a harder time remembering the information later than those who were told it would be erased.

About 60 Harvard students were asked to type trivia, such as "An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain," into computers, and were told either the information would be saved or erased.

People who believed the data would be saved were less likely to remember, according to the study published online by the journal Science.

In the last experiment, Columbia undergraduates were told the same information would be saved in files with names such as 'facts', 'data' and 'names'.

The students remembered the file names better than the information itself, the study said.

Artificial intelligence to boost airplane safety levels

Researchers are developing a system based on artificial intelligence (AI) to pinpoint internal flaws in aircraft quickly and accurately that are missed otherwise.

Aircraft made mostly from composite materials are already on the drawing boards of major aeronautical manufacturers, which seek lighter planes able to carry more passengers, cargo and fuel.

While these ultralight materials are available, their widespread use is problematic because scanning them for potential flaws is expensive and more time—consuming than similar processes used for checking and certifying metals.

Swinburne University of Technology researchers are tackling this challenge by developing an automated approach, based on AI technology that greatly speeds up analysis and accuracy than a human technician can ever achieve.

“There is a lot of pressure on the technicians who analyse the scans of composite materials for certification,” said Mark Hodge, CEO of the Defence Materials Technology Centre, based at Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus, according to a Swimburne statement.

“Getting it wrong could cost lives and a lot of money. The risk of those consequences means there is a tendency for the technician to be conservative and not certify parts that have any potentially threatening flaw,” he said. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success. John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956, defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines."

The field was founded on the claim that a central property of humans, intelligence—the sapience of Homo sapiens—can be so precisely described that it can be simulated by a machine.This raises philosophical issues about the nature of the mind and the ethics of creating artificial beings, issues which have been addressed by myth, fiction and philosophy since antiquity.Artificial intelligence has been the subject of optimism,suffered setbacks and, today, has become an essential part of the technology industry, providing the heavy lifting for many of the most difficult problems in computer science.

AI research is highly technical and specialized, and deeply divided into subfields that often fail to communicate with each other.Subfields have grown up around particular institutions, the work of individual researchers, the solution of specific problems, longstanding differences of opinion about how AI should be done and the application of widely differing tools. The central problems of AI include such traits as reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, communication, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects. General intelligence (or "strong AI") is still among the field's long term goals.

ISRO-developed computer helped PSLV-C17 put satellite in orbit

  Vikram has indigenous processors both in primary and standby mode

“One of the achievements” of the successful Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C17) mission that put the communication satellite GSAT-12 in orbit on Friday was that it used an indigenous computer, Vikram, with advanced software in the rocket's navigation, guidance and control systems, said K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). This advanced mission computer helped the rocket put the satellite accurately in orbit.Mr. Radhakrishnan told a press conference here that the ISRO-developed Vikram had indigenous processors both in the primary and standby mode. The ISRO had tested the indigenous software and only after it was found flight-worthy, was it used in the mission.T.K. Alex, Director, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, said the coming days would be “interesting” because commands would be given from the Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan, Karnataka, to the liquid apogee motor (LAM) on board the GSAT-12 to take the satellite from its present sub geo-synchronous transfer orbit (GTO) to a circular geo-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 36,000 km. Dr. Alex was confident that the ISRO would do this with the experience gained from the Chandrayaan-1 mission in 2008, “which was almost similar” to the GSAT-12 mission.S. Ramakrishnan, Director, Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, ISRO, called Friday's success “yet another feather in the cap of the PSLV and the ISRO.”A GSLV with an indigenous cryogenic stage would be launched from Sriharikota by June 2012, said P.S. Veeraraghavan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.Asked whether the PSLV-XL version would be used more often to put the ISRO's communication satellites in orbit than India's Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) or the Ariane vehicle of Arianespace, Dr. Radhakrishnan said the GSLVs were “more efficient and powerful” than the PSLVs. The GSLVs could put a 2.2-tonne communication satellite in a GTO but the PSLV-XL version could put only a 1.4 tonne communication satellite in a sub-GTO.The GSAT-12, with its 12 extended C-band transponders, would boost ISRO's transponder capacity from 175 to 187. The ISRO had 211 transponders from its communication satellites at the beginning of the 11th Plan but it went down to 141 by April 2011 because of a series of failures with the GSLV flights. Dr. Radhakrishnan was confident that the ISRO's transponder capacity would go up to 215 by April 2012 with a series of launches of communication satellites from India and abroad. For instance, the GSAT-10, with 30 transponders, would be launched by an Ariane vehicle from Kourou island in French Guiana in April 2012.An arbitration process would get under way between Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the Department of Space, and the Devas Multimedia Private Limited if the negotiations between the senior officials of the ISRO and Devas did not fructify, the ISRO Chairman said. (The ISRO annulled the allocation of 3G spectrum to Devas after allegations were made that the spectrum was sold to Devas at a low price). If arbitration was resorted to, the ISRO and Devas would each name an arbitrator of their own and these two would name another arbitrator. During the arbitration, which would take place in New Delhi, the Indian laws apply, he added.“Good progress” had been achieved in realising the orbiter, lander and rover of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, slated to take place in 2014, said Mr. Alex. While India would make the orbiter and the rover

“Lack of skills hit northeast's development - Handique”

Shillong: Lack of entrepreneurial talents and professional managerial skills has hindered development activities in insurgency-ravaged northeastern states, union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region B.K.Handique said on Saturday.

"The region has for very long, been experiencing a gap in professional managerial skills, because there had been no organisation to impart them any kind of

professional training for managing their business successfully," Handique said at the launching a six month course on "Developing Managerial Skills for Entrepreneurs" at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Shillong.

According to Handique, the region could be further developed by undertaking the challenge of creating and enhancing the multidimensional capacities that are crucial for the region.

Echoing Handique, Union Minister of State for Water Resources Vincent H. Pala, said the young talent of the region in whose hands lie the future of the region, often lack the opportunities to go out of the region for advanced and modern technical and professional development.

He said the reasons for the unprofessional managerial skills ranged from the remoteness of the region to lack of financial resources as well as the lack of awareness and information about the various business and professional opportunities available in this age of stiff competition.

Earlier, Handique's ministry had sanctioned Rs.79.15 lakh for developing managerial skills among the new generation of entrepreneurs from the northeastern region.