Nikon India today announced the new Nikon 1 imaging system. This series includes two models- the Nikon 1 J1 and the Nikon 1 V1. The Nikon 1 J1 is an advanced camera with interchangeable that lets user capture pictures and High Definition (HD) movies. The camera features an electronic viewfinder (EVF), 4 interchangeable lenses, continuous shooting and auto-focus system.
The name itself was inspired by the idea of developing a completely new camera system that would be a leader in the digital age by starting from "0", and giving birth to "1".
Nikon 1 J1 features new hybrid Autofocus (AF), Motion Snapshot mode, Smart Photo Selector which automatically capture image and is capable of recording recording Full HD 1080p movies simultaneously.
The Nikon 1 V1 has a magnesium alloy body and features 1.4 million dot high resolution EVF. The V1 also features a microphone and a Multi-Accessory Port for attaching SB-N5 compact speed light, or the GP-N100 GPS module.
The Nikon 1 J1 with 10-30mm VR kit lens will be available at a price of Rs. 29, 950, while the Nikon 1 V1 with 10-30mm VR kit will be available at Rs 43, 950.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Oracle investor sues co's Board
An Oracle Corp investor sued the company and members of its board of directors on Thursday for allegedly trying to "stonewall" a whistleblower lawsuit that ultimately resulted in a $200 million settlement.
The lawsuit filed by investor Jordan Weinrib in Delaware state court said the defendants, including Oracle CEO Lawrence Ellison and other past and present members of the company's board of directors, breached their duty to shareholders by engaging in prolonged litigation over the whistleblower's allegations, which the defendants allegedly knew to be true.
"The board forced the government to expend additional resources litigating the action when the board knew the company was in a significant liability position and that additional litigation would certainly raise the ultimate price of settlement," Weinrib said in the complaint.
The settlement in question was the result of a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2007 by Oracle's former senior director of contract services, Paul Frascella, who accused the company of violating price-reduction clauses in federal contracts covering $775 million in goods, extending discounts to commercial clients without doing the same for government buyers.
The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in the lawsuit in 2010. In 2011, Oracle paid more than $200 million to settle the lawsuit, including interest and payments for the whistleblower, the largest of its kind under the federal False Claims Act.
"Despite substantial evidence of wrongdoing, Oracle's board of directors did not admit that these acts had occurred, enact remedial measures and negotiate a resolution that involved a small payment," Weinrib said in the complaint. Instead, by litigating the case, Oracle drove up the ultimate settlement price, harming taxpayers and shareholders alike, Weinrib said.
Weinrib is seeking an unspecified amount in damages on behalf of shareholders. A spokesman for Oracle did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
The lawsuit filed by investor Jordan Weinrib in Delaware state court said the defendants, including Oracle CEO Lawrence Ellison and other past and present members of the company's board of directors, breached their duty to shareholders by engaging in prolonged litigation over the whistleblower's allegations, which the defendants allegedly knew to be true.
"The board forced the government to expend additional resources litigating the action when the board knew the company was in a significant liability position and that additional litigation would certainly raise the ultimate price of settlement," Weinrib said in the complaint.
The settlement in question was the result of a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2007 by Oracle's former senior director of contract services, Paul Frascella, who accused the company of violating price-reduction clauses in federal contracts covering $775 million in goods, extending discounts to commercial clients without doing the same for government buyers.
The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in the lawsuit in 2010. In 2011, Oracle paid more than $200 million to settle the lawsuit, including interest and payments for the whistleblower, the largest of its kind under the federal False Claims Act.
"Despite substantial evidence of wrongdoing, Oracle's board of directors did not admit that these acts had occurred, enact remedial measures and negotiate a resolution that involved a small payment," Weinrib said in the complaint. Instead, by litigating the case, Oracle drove up the ultimate settlement price, harming taxpayers and shareholders alike, Weinrib said.
Weinrib is seeking an unspecified amount in damages on behalf of shareholders. A spokesman for Oracle did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
T-Mobile cutting 1,900 call centre jobs
Cellphone carrier T-Mobile USA Inc said Thursday that it is cutting 1,900 jobs nationwide as it consolidates its call centers in an effort to reduce costs and remain competitive.
Seven of its 24 call centers will be closed by the end of June. About 3,300 people work at the centers slated to be shuttered, but T-Mobile said it plans to hire up to 1,400 people at the remaining 17 centers.
The call centers slated for closure are in Allentown, Pa.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Frisco, Texas; Brownsville, Texas; Lenexa, Kansas; Thornton, Colo. and Redmond, Ore.
The company said that workers whose jobs are eliminated will have a chance to transfer to the remaining call centres.
"These are not easy steps to take, but they are necessary to realize efficiency in order to invest for growth," Philipp Humm, T-Mobile CEO and president said in a statement.
T-Mobile, based in Bellevue, Washington, is the smallest of the four national carriers and is dealing with steep subscriber loses, resulting in fewer calls to its call centers.
In last year's fourth quarter, T-Mobile lost a net 802,000 subscribers on contract-based plans, which are the most lucrative. It is the only national carrier not offering the iPhone, the popular Apple Inc. device now carried by all three of the company's larger rivals.
In addition, a $39 billion bid by AT&T Corp to take over T-Mobile was thwarted last year by antitrust concerns.
T-Mobile said it will restructure other parts of its business during the second quarter. That includes plans announced previously to modernize its network, add new technology and hire more sales staff. The company employs about 36,000 people.
It announced in February that it will revamp its wireless data network this year, making it compatible with iPhones and other smartphones.
Seven of its 24 call centers will be closed by the end of June. About 3,300 people work at the centers slated to be shuttered, but T-Mobile said it plans to hire up to 1,400 people at the remaining 17 centers.
The call centers slated for closure are in Allentown, Pa.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Frisco, Texas; Brownsville, Texas; Lenexa, Kansas; Thornton, Colo. and Redmond, Ore.
The company said that workers whose jobs are eliminated will have a chance to transfer to the remaining call centres.
"These are not easy steps to take, but they are necessary to realize efficiency in order to invest for growth," Philipp Humm, T-Mobile CEO and president said in a statement.
T-Mobile, based in Bellevue, Washington, is the smallest of the four national carriers and is dealing with steep subscriber loses, resulting in fewer calls to its call centers.
In last year's fourth quarter, T-Mobile lost a net 802,000 subscribers on contract-based plans, which are the most lucrative. It is the only national carrier not offering the iPhone, the popular Apple Inc. device now carried by all three of the company's larger rivals.
In addition, a $39 billion bid by AT&T Corp to take over T-Mobile was thwarted last year by antitrust concerns.
T-Mobile said it will restructure other parts of its business during the second quarter. That includes plans announced previously to modernize its network, add new technology and hire more sales staff. The company employs about 36,000 people.
It announced in February that it will revamp its wireless data network this year, making it compatible with iPhones and other smartphones.
New telecom operators adding users despite uncertainty
New telecom operators, led by Uninor and Sistema Shyam (MTS India), continue to add new subscribers in February notwithstanding the uncertain environment after the Supreme Court judgement cancelling 122 2G licences.
Uninor, a joint venture between Unitech and Norway-based Telenor, registered the maximum growth of 6.04 per cent in additions as it added 2.34 million users in the month. Its total user base was at 41.14 million.
According to the GSM users data released by Cellular Operators of India today, all operators added 8.77 million new users in February to take the country's GSM user base to 656.86 million.
In January, GSM operators had added 8.44 million new users taking the total to 648.08 million.
Another new operator Videocon, which added 0.34 million new subscribers, posted the second highest growth rate of 5.97 per cent in February. The user base of Videocon stood at 6.19 million.
CDMA player MTS India said it added 0.23 million new customers, taking its user base to 15.43 million.
Idea Cellular added maximum number of users at 2.58 million taking its subscriber base to 110.70 million.
However, state-run BSNL failed to add even a single new subscriber for the month. Its user base stood at 93.42 million.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel added 1.82 users as its total subscriber base was at 178.77 million. It had a market share of 27.22 per cent.
Vodafone Essar, with a 22.75 per cent market share, added 0.83 million new subscribers during the month, taking its subscriber base to 149.44 million in February.
Aircel added 0.79 million customers taking its subscriber base to 63.25 million, whereas MTNL added 38,757 new users taking its base to 5.53 million in February.
Both Etisalat and Stel, which have expressed their intentions to exit business after their licenses were cancelled by the Supreme Court, did not add any new user.
Circle-wise, the highest number of additions were in Maharashtra which saw 1 million new users being added in February.
GSM is the leading standard for mobile telephony systems in the world. The other technology platform on which telcos offer services is CDMA, where players such as Tata Teleservices (TTSL), RCom and Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL) are the main operators.
TTSL and RCom offer both GSM as well as CDMA services.
Uninor, a joint venture between Unitech and Norway-based Telenor, registered the maximum growth of 6.04 per cent in additions as it added 2.34 million users in the month. Its total user base was at 41.14 million.
According to the GSM users data released by Cellular Operators of India today, all operators added 8.77 million new users in February to take the country's GSM user base to 656.86 million.
In January, GSM operators had added 8.44 million new users taking the total to 648.08 million.
Another new operator Videocon, which added 0.34 million new subscribers, posted the second highest growth rate of 5.97 per cent in February. The user base of Videocon stood at 6.19 million.
CDMA player MTS India said it added 0.23 million new customers, taking its user base to 15.43 million.
Idea Cellular added maximum number of users at 2.58 million taking its subscriber base to 110.70 million.
However, state-run BSNL failed to add even a single new subscriber for the month. Its user base stood at 93.42 million.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel added 1.82 users as its total subscriber base was at 178.77 million. It had a market share of 27.22 per cent.
Vodafone Essar, with a 22.75 per cent market share, added 0.83 million new subscribers during the month, taking its subscriber base to 149.44 million in February.
Aircel added 0.79 million customers taking its subscriber base to 63.25 million, whereas MTNL added 38,757 new users taking its base to 5.53 million in February.
Both Etisalat and Stel, which have expressed their intentions to exit business after their licenses were cancelled by the Supreme Court, did not add any new user.
Circle-wise, the highest number of additions were in Maharashtra which saw 1 million new users being added in February.
GSM is the leading standard for mobile telephony systems in the world. The other technology platform on which telcos offer services is CDMA, where players such as Tata Teleservices (TTSL), RCom and Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL) are the main operators.
TTSL and RCom offer both GSM as well as CDMA services.
New Apple iPad in wi-fi trouble?
Apple's new iPad has trouble picking up and holding on to wi-fi signals, say users.
A thread on Apple's official forums has 144 posts from angry users, and has been read by 5,000 people, Daily Mail reported Thursday.
"This is a problem Apple - you need to fix it," says one user.
"The laptop wifi reception is as strong as it gets, but the iPad only registers a weak signal. Anyone else having similar problems? Any suggestions?" Daily Mail quoted one user as saying.
Other Apple launches have been blighted by similar problems, including the original iPad and some models of iBook, the newspaper said.
The news comes as users complain that a hidden "upgrade" to the new machine has meant that many older "Smart Covers" - the magnetic covers used by Apple which turn on the machine automatically when opened - won't work.
The problem is particularly bad with third-party covers made by companies other than Apple, but older official Apple covers also fail to work, the paper added.
Google imagines environment-aware mobile adverts
If you have ever stood in the rain wondering where the nearest umbrella shop is, then the latest Google patent may interest you.
The search giant has secured intellectual rights to a system that would serve ads based on environmental conditions.
Google said forward-looking patents were useful for its portfolio, but it had no current plans to act on it.
But privacy advocates have warned it could set a dangerous precedent.
Spying device?
The patent, first reported by PC World magazine, potentially paves the way for a mobile phone fitted with sensors that would allow it to record data such as temperature, humidity, light, and sound or air composition, which would trigger relevant adverts.
"Advertisements for air conditioners can be sent to users located at regions having temperatures above a first threshold, while advertisements for winter overcoats can be sent to users located at regions having temperatures below a second threshold," explains the patent document.
The patent would allow Google to search offline data as well as online
Gus Hosein, executive director of Privacy International, is not impressed.
"Not content with collecting vast amounts of information from your online activities, it seems Google are looking to start exploiting the offline space as well. Patents like this may never come to fruition, but they force us to ask ourselves: how many aspects of our lives will advertisers try to exploit, and where will it end?
"This is an attempt to turn our devices into personal spying devices, just so a company can try to sell you a coat on a cold day."
Google was keen to put the patent in context.
"We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don't. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent applications," said a Google spokesman.
'Minority Report'
Patents are the new battlefield for tech firms, and as well as seeking to gain as many device-specific patents as possible, many are also lodging forward-thinking ideas to future-proof themselves.
Andrew Alton, a patent lawyer with law firm Urquhart-Dykes and Lord, said it was a logical extension of Google's context advertising.
"There are elements of things from the film Minority Report happening in the real world but this is just an extension of context-based advertising. It is what Google does anyway - combining people's past history with search results or searches based on GPS location," he said.
He said that such "blue sky patents" were becoming increasingly popular with firms.
"Lodging patents on stuff you are already doing puts you behind the times. To guess what will happen next, to step back and look at the next generation of products that puts you in a dominant position," he said.
"If you spend money on research and development of new products, the costs may be massive but getting licensing rights when someone else invents it is free money for firms," he added.
The search giant has secured intellectual rights to a system that would serve ads based on environmental conditions.
Google said forward-looking patents were useful for its portfolio, but it had no current plans to act on it.
But privacy advocates have warned it could set a dangerous precedent.
Spying device?
The patent, first reported by PC World magazine, potentially paves the way for a mobile phone fitted with sensors that would allow it to record data such as temperature, humidity, light, and sound or air composition, which would trigger relevant adverts.
"Advertisements for air conditioners can be sent to users located at regions having temperatures above a first threshold, while advertisements for winter overcoats can be sent to users located at regions having temperatures below a second threshold," explains the patent document.
The patent would allow Google to search offline data as well as online
Gus Hosein, executive director of Privacy International, is not impressed.
"Not content with collecting vast amounts of information from your online activities, it seems Google are looking to start exploiting the offline space as well. Patents like this may never come to fruition, but they force us to ask ourselves: how many aspects of our lives will advertisers try to exploit, and where will it end?
"This is an attempt to turn our devices into personal spying devices, just so a company can try to sell you a coat on a cold day."
Google was keen to put the patent in context.
"We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don't. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent applications," said a Google spokesman.
'Minority Report'
Patents are the new battlefield for tech firms, and as well as seeking to gain as many device-specific patents as possible, many are also lodging forward-thinking ideas to future-proof themselves.
Andrew Alton, a patent lawyer with law firm Urquhart-Dykes and Lord, said it was a logical extension of Google's context advertising.
"There are elements of things from the film Minority Report happening in the real world but this is just an extension of context-based advertising. It is what Google does anyway - combining people's past history with search results or searches based on GPS location," he said.
He said that such "blue sky patents" were becoming increasingly popular with firms.
"Lodging patents on stuff you are already doing puts you behind the times. To guess what will happen next, to step back and look at the next generation of products that puts you in a dominant position," he said.
"If you spend money on research and development of new products, the costs may be massive but getting licensing rights when someone else invents it is free money for firms," he added.
After 6 years, Twitter has 14 crore users
Twitter on Thursday revealed that over 140 million active users make 340 million tweets everyday. The company disclosed the figure in an official blog posted after it completed six years of operations .
"At last check, there are more than 140 million active users and today we see 340 million Tweets a day. That's more than 1 billion every 3 days. Howeverconcisely, it turns out there's plenty to say," the company said. Twitter is a microblogging website where users cannot post a message bigger than 140 characters. However, this limit has been one of the reasons why the service has grown so rapidly as it allows people to post quick and concise thoughts in real time.
In the blog, Twitter revealed that the idea of the website was born when @jack (Jack Dorsey, the company's current executive chairman) sketched out his notion in March 2006. "No one could have predicted the trajectory of this new communication tool (then)... Now it seems that there are as many ways to express yourself in 140 characters as there are people doing it," Twitter said on the blog.
"At last check, there are more than 140 million active users and today we see 340 million Tweets a day. That's more than 1 billion every 3 days. Howeverconcisely, it turns out there's plenty to say," the company said. Twitter is a microblogging website where users cannot post a message bigger than 140 characters. However, this limit has been one of the reasons why the service has grown so rapidly as it allows people to post quick and concise thoughts in real time.
In the blog, Twitter revealed that the idea of the website was born when @jack (Jack Dorsey, the company's current executive chairman) sketched out his notion in March 2006. "No one could have predicted the trajectory of this new communication tool (then)... Now it seems that there are as many ways to express yourself in 140 characters as there are people doing it," Twitter said on the blog.
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