Google Could Run Into Patent Issues Over WebM

Google is likely to face fire from as many as 12 separate companies. The issue seems to be with the WebM Media format for audio and video that was designed for the HTML5 format. Currently, most video streaming services use H.264 standard, which isn’t royalty-free and that’s probably the reason as to why it hasn’t been integrated into the HTML5 web format so far.

Google has been pushing WebM as the future of streaming media and one of the key points is that the format is royalty-free. MPEG LA, the firm responsible for licensing patents first put out an invitation for patent submissions for the VP8 specification, back in February. According to an interview with Streamingmedia.com, it turns out that 12 companies have responded to the call and submitted patents that are necessary for the VP8 standard.

Rough waters up ahead...

How things pan out for Google is yet to be seen? Some of the other companies supporting WebM are Adobe, Opera and Mozilla. Google was the one that actually bought On2 for a sum of $106 million. While the firms that file the patents could sue the users of the WebM, it’s Google, who’ll probably stand their ground, if it comes to that. Some of the other larger companies although supportive, have not implemented WebM in their products.

Upload Photos Directly From Your Mobile to Google Maps v5.8

Google has updated its popular Google Maps service to version 5.8 for Android-based mobile devices. Among the features that have been found interesting and very timely is the ability to upload photos directly from one’s phone. Users of the previous versions of Google Maps would know that this feature in the previous versions was conspicuous by its absence. With more and more people getting hooked onto social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or the latest, Google+, an integration, in the least hassling way possible can be an asset.

Upload images directly

According to an official blogpost, the update allows users to share their experience of a new place they just visited, or are at present, by simply clicking an image of it and sharing it right away. This will also help at times when the user wishes to see how a place is in terms of its appearance and its reviews and ratings. The photos one ends up contributing can be managed or deleted using one’s Picasa account. 

A word that best describes

Better enhancing this feature for Google Maps on mobile is the ‘descriptive terms’ feature, that adds short, precise descriptive tags to particular locations, to better describe them or associate them to the businesses there. Specific places ‘starred’ by you, can be accessed instantly too, using the My Places feature. The update also lets users add a certain location, if it currently does not exist and has the user wanting to ‘check-in’ to it. A user has to then click on the ‘Add Place’ option, and enter the relevant details like the name, and location of the place they want to add. Once done, although the place will not pop-up in the search options on Google Maps, it will be visible to those who wish to log in to it from Latitude.

Get your favorite hangout listed

Those keen on trying it need to have an Android OS 2.1+ device, and can download the update,here.

File Your IT Returns Online, Before 31st July, 2011

Those following the news regularly, especially around this time would know that the last date for filing their Income Tax Returns is fast approaching - 31st July, 2011. Being constantly re-iterated by the government as a fundamental duty of every salaried citizen to file his or her income tax returns, this date and the days preceding this one hold much significance. Usually, income tax return filing in India is associated with long queues, excessive documentations – a hassle, in short.

Rush now!

Taking a cue from institutions like banks and travel agencies that carry out their transactions and other activities online, the Government of India began the concept of e-filing some time back. Over the years, the concept has picked up fairly well with the urban masses, owing to the considerable load that it has taken off the shoulders of anxious citizens looking to file their returns. Before proceeding to file one's taxes, all tax dues need to be cleared. Then post successful payment of one’s taxes, an acknowledgment, a lot like a challan issued by a bank can be obtained. This detail of the acknowledgment has to be mentioned during the process of e-filing of returns.

Users can log on to www.incometaxindia.gov.in, and if they’re a new user, they’ll have to register their PAN (Permanent Account Number) number on the site to create their account. Once registered, a link is sent via email to the id provided at the time of the registration. It is only on the clicking of this link that the said account can be activated. With the help of an XML file then generated, from the ITR form, the XML file needs to be uploaded to the website by logging onto it. Once done, an acknowledgement in Form ITR V is generated, which is also automatically sent to the e-mail address provided by the user while filling his form. This form then needs to be printed and signed manually by the user and sent to the Income Tax office in Bangalore for attestation.

Google and Pottermore Sign Ebook Deal

Pottermore is bringing Harry Potter to the digital format with ebooks and has signed a deal with Google to use their literary services for this purpose. This fall, Harry Potter will make its ebook debut on Google eBooks, which lets users port their purchases to 80 other readers. The ebooks will be available via Google eBooks, as well as its iOS and Android apps. However, since the Kindle doesn't support ePUB or PDF files, it is not clear how the eBooks will be supported on that device. The books, as previously reported, will be DRM free. Buy your Pottermore ebooks via Google Google also said that it will provide the payment platform via Google Checkout and the video platform via YouTube for this digital Harry Potter experience. This means, that you will be paying for the eBooks directly to Google as opposed to other services like PayPal or Amazon Payments. Pottermore is expected to open up in October. Since the release of the last movie in the series, Potter fanaticism is at an all time high and Pottermore seems to be catching fans just at the right time. Google, too, will stand to gain by partnering with the Pottermore website right at the opportune moment.

Transfer Photos from Facebook to Google+ using Fotolink

So, you’ve managed to get a Google+ account, but don’t know where to start. You've managed to upload a profile picture, join a few circles and update a few streams. What's social networking without photos? However, all your photos are linked to your Facebook account. Here are a few quick steps to get your photos copied from your Facebook to your Google+ account. Fotolink, developed by Primadesk Inc allows easy integration of all your images from one account to another and has a relatively easy way to get all your Facebook images onto Google+.

• Go to the Fotolink application from your Facebook account and allow access, just like any other application.
• An integrated window will open that will display yours as well as your friends recent photos and albums. Click on the album you want to share with your Google account or select the photos to be shared and press Copy. The files will be copied to the clipboard. 
• Next, select ‘Photo Accounts’ and click on the Picasa Logo. Enter your Google username and password and press Connect. A separate window will appear that will ask you for access. Click on Allow Access.

Fotolink Access

• Your Google account is now integrated with Fotolink. Maximize the ‘My Online Accounts’ tab on the left hand side of the screen. Click on your account name that has been created. Create a separate album/ Click on an existing album and press Paste on the right hand side of the screen. Your pictures will be linked to your Google+ account.
• Log into Google+ Click on the photos tab. Next click on ‘Your albums’. Your photos will be available there. You can share it with your circles or post it on your stream. 

It’s that simple. So do try this out as I have and let me know what you think in the comments section below. Happy Google +ing!

Street View: Google and Karnataka Govt. Discuss Future

It can be recalled that a while back, we had reported that one of Google’s immensely popular services, Street View faced a complete ban in the city of Bangalore, India. Citing security concerns, as one of the key issues that came in the way of Google’s Street View getting a go-ahead, the government added that the recent terror attacks in Mumbai had only made matters worse for Google.

Getting the Street View

According to a report in The Economic Times, a recent meet between the legal team from Google, that included Google's legal expert, Geetanjali Duggal and Venkatesh Hariharan, Head of Public Policy and Government Affairs, in Bangalore and BJP’s media spokesperson, S. Prakash, as well as, the party’s lawmaker C.N. Ashwath Narayan, it was discussed that Street View was heavily violating security norms. However, Google’s representatives made attempts to convince the leaders that the Street View services would only display historical monuments and shopping complexes. Post the vicious attack on the nation’s financial capital; all metros including Bangalore were put on a high alert. In such a scenario giving out even the tiniest of details, let alone complete ‘Street View’ would be grave, the leaders added. 

The BJP government in Karnataka has asked Google to approach the Centre for further orders. According to BJP’s media spokesperson, S. Prakash, the Data Protection Act 2000 needed amendments keeping in mind technological advancements that have taken place, since its inception. Both parties are now looking at a third way, that of data protection. Although clashing on most grounds, both Google and the Karnataka government agreed that the entire mechanism needed serious monitoring. 

Google’s authorities now cite further discussions with local authorities as their next logical step. For the rest of us, it’s now a wait and watch game.

Google Buys g.co Domain for a Ridiculous Sum

When companies the size of Google decide to buy domain names and specifically, domain names the size of g.co, they shell out a lot of money. When Google bought this domain recently, they're said to have paid to the tune of $1.5 million for it. Google would most likely use the domain to host its array of apps, everything from Gmail to Google Docs. The .co line of domains belongs to Columbia. A whole bunch of companies own sites on the .co domains including Twitter (t.co) and Amazon (a.co). A compact domain, merely a luxury The CO Internet company is run with support of the Columbian government. As of now, g.co isn’t accessible for any services. Instead, you’re just pointed out to Google’s official URL shortening service - goo.gl. The .co domain range is close to a year old and has some 1 million domains registered as of early June. Not all of these domains are obviously single alphabet ones. Shorter domains are a bit of a novelty. It makes accessing sites a little simpler and quicker. It’s only sensible for dot com moguls the size of Google who can afford to buy such exotic domains considering the user base they have.

Google Adds ZIP and RAR Support to Docs

Google Docs already lets you view 15 types of files in Gmail without downloading them. Now they've added support for ZIP and RAR files. So if someone sends you a ZIP or a RAR file, you just have to click on "View" and you can view the file within the browser itself. This will bring up a view of all the files in the folder and what type of and size files they are. When you hover over the files, you'll get a drop down list of options to View, Save to Google Docs, and Print (PDF). You'll be able to view documents that are supported by the Google Docs viewer and print (PDF) those that offer PDF support.

Check out ZIP and RAR viewability in Google Docs

ZIP and RAR files embedded in other ZIP and RAR files also work. You can have a RAR file inside a ZIP file and you can just click on it to access the embedded archive. This feature is also available in Google Docs for mobile. For each supported file, there is a link that you can click on to view it. Google says that they're continuing to add more types of files to Docs. If you'd like to tell them what additional file support you'd like, post on their forums. To try this feature in Google Docs, click here.

Google Effect Affecting Your Memory: Reports

How many times have you turned to your faithful, ‘ever so right’ computer to find answers to the most basic questions, okay maybe, slightly trickier questions? If you find yourself turning in too often, then you may be suffering from the Google Effect. Well! That’s not us, but a report on the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) weekly journal,Science. According to the report drafted by the AAAS researchers, internet (symbolized by Google) is replacing people’s own bank of information – memory.  You have the Google Effect, too? (Image credit: androidauthority.com) The research further revealed, and plunked a lot of blame on the hugely popular existence of ‘search engines’. In fact, a common observation would reveal that people are now replacing the word ‘search’, with ‘Google’. You now, usually ‘Google’ up something on the internet, instead of relying on your memory, or referring to a book. To better put their findings down, the researchers put a sample of individuals under a series of tests. The individuals were posed with a set of questions based on various themes, and were asked to type the answers to those on the given computer. It was found that when asked the same questions verbally, most of them couldn’t recollect the answers. Some stated that they didn’t find the need to recollect because they believed the answer to be stashed away in the computer. However, there is a visible pattern noted, too. The ones who thought that the information they entered wouldn’t be retained in the systems for them to go back to, showed better retention capacities than those who presumed that the information is retained and hence, it was unnecessary to store the additional data on themselves. In a report in The Telegraph, according to the researcher, Betsy Sparrow also believes that the dawn of Internet didn’t deplete our memory reserves, only modified it. She added that people just believed more in stacking additional information on their computers, and just off loaded their own memory reserves.

Mobile Ticketing Makes Life Easy For Indian Railways' Commuters

Indian Railways have certainly made life a whole lot easier for commuters by introducing the new mobile ticketing application for mobile phones. Although the application is still in the development stage, it is being ascertained that commuters would no longer have to wait in long lines and wait for printouts of their tickets. All the customer has to do is download the application on their mobile phone and carry some kind of identification proof. The ticket will be sent to them via SMS on their mobile phone through the same application. This mobile ticket cannot be forwarded. 

Booking made easy

Elimination of the ticket printouts has certainly made the Indian Railways more modernized and a lot more accessible. Other than making it easy for commuters to book their tickets, it also helps them to make their own reservations without going to the reference of a travel agency. This feature will definitely help commuters in the rural parts of the country. Since most travel agencies often block tickets and sell them at a higher price, this will  prevent ticketing fraud. However, the introduction of the mobile ticketing application will not completely rule out the presence of travel agencies; but it will make it more organized.

Earlier, travel service agents (RTSA) used to sell tickets and make reservations for the customers without actually registering them on the IRCTC website. It will now be mandatory for individuals as well as travel agents to register themselves before making any further reservations. S. S Mathur, GM-IT reports that ‘there will be no additional charges and that they were planning to stick to their current prices”.

For more information check out the IRCTC link here.

Google Encourages Reading News With Google Badges

If you’re an avid follower of news, irrespective of the beat, and spend a considerable chunk of your online time rummaging through articles, then this might interest you. Search giant, Google has come up with a unique offering.

A basketball fan's badge collection

Beginning solely for U.S.-based customers, at least for now, Google plans to reward avid news readers based on the number of articles they manage to read over a period of time on Google News. The more articles of a particular beat one reads, the higher are his chances of earning a Google News Badge. An average, regular reader will find himself worthy of the bronze badge, and then as he increases the number of his news pieces read, he’ll find himself earning Silver, Gold, and Platinum. The best of the lot, will win themselves the Ultimate badge – the highest level.

According to an official blogpost, Google currently has a collection of over 500 badges on itself. So users can choose to enhance their proficiency in any level and begin earning badges. Additionally, Google also lets users share their badge collection with their friends, share their expertise, or stay private about it.

In order to avail the services, users will have to visit the Google News service after they sign-in to their Google account, with their web history enabled. Once there, users can visit the Help Centre page for further instructions.

PayPal Launches NFC Solutions for Android

PayPal, the popular mobile payment solutions provider has introduced the concept of Near Field Communications for Android devices. Popularly known as the NFC, the concept achieved massive popularity, after it was learned that it made payments easier than what it used to be. At the recently concluded MobileBeat 2011 Conference (12 - 13th July, 2011) in San Francisco, PayPal revealed its plans for revolutionizing mobile payments and a swanky demo of the PayPal NFC widget for Android devices.

Interestingly, unlike before, where a user had to specifically look out for the PayPal app to proceed with his transactions; the peer-to-peer concept just requires the widget. In an official blog post, it was revealed that users can, using the tap gestures proceed with the final stage of the payment. When the phones are tapped together, the Android widget on the smartphone sends the payment data. Laura Chambers, Senior Director PayPal Mobile demonstrated the concept at the event. She tapped the smartphones with each other, and the transaction went off, smoothly.

The service can be expected to start rolling out later this year. PayPal India users hopefully should have something for themselves, too. However, that is speculative.

iPhone 4, Samsung Nexus S on Space Shuttle Atlantis' Final Mission

Afew days ago NASA bid adieu to its 30 year long, space shuttle mission, with the launch of the space shuttle, Atlantis. Along with the four member crew, Atlantis had some special guests onboard. Reports suggest that the Atlantis crew carried with them, along with the other equipments; two Samsung Nexus S smartphones and an iPhone 4.

Simply out of this world, quite literally!

According to reports, the smartphones will aid the crew onboard with several experiments they routinely carry out. Both the Nexus S and the iPhone 4 will be connected to the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, and Experimental Satellites, also known by the acronym SPHERES. With the smartphones doing the routine experiments, the crew members will spend a lot of time with  them. 

While the Nexus S smartphones would have been placed small spheres propelled by thrusters, completely ruling out the need of manual operations, the iPhone 4 will be used to run an app called ‘Space Lab’. Using the app, the crew onboard will be able to carry out numerous experiments with  the phones’ cameras, gyroscopes, and some other sensors, in addition to checking if the computer memory would suffer any repercussions owing to space radiation.

Google to Fix Google Talk Video Jitter on Android

A problem with video on Google Talk on Android (tablets and smartphones) is the jitter and instability. Google is looking to fix this issue and has approached SRI International to embed its video stabalization software in the Google Talk application for Android. This should help prevent the jitter and instability on Android smartphones and tablets, while video chatting via Google Talk. The company, SRI International is the same company that is responsible for the invention of the computer mouse. It's a Menlo Park, California based non-profit organization and has been working on this video stabalizing software since the nineties. Now that Android tablets are fast and powerful enough to sustain this software, it only makes sense for integration. Video chat on Android via Google Talk will be easier The software works by recognizing the face of the user video chatting and stabalizing that video before compressing for transmission. The steadiness and stabalization of that shot allows for better compression, making the video actually look sharper with less noise. The stabilization software is only available for devices that have Android 3.0 installed. The difference between this software and other stabilization software is that this works in real time, a necessity for video chatting.

Google Maps 5.7 Now Features ‘Labs’

Google Map’s swanky new update has made life just a little simpler in this metropolitan chaos we live in. Other than the new detailed transit routes, they’ve also introduced ‘Labs’, similar to the one in Gmail. This gives you access to some pretty nifty add-on features that extend the functionality of Google Maps. For now, we have just three to choose from, but I’m sure more are on their way.

No need for data roaming

To get started, head over to the Android Marketplace and update Google Maps. Once it’s done, open it up and go to Options>More>Labs. Here you can choose which lab you wish to enable. The first one called ‘Scale Bar’ shows distances in metric and imperial units and changes as you zoom in or out. ‘Measure’ allows you to gauge the distance between any two points that you select. But perhaps, the most exciting feature is the ‘Download Map Area’ lab. This lets you download the entire map of a particular area (only map tiles, no satellite and traffic info) in advance so when you arrive at your destination you don’t have to wait for it to load. This is brilliant since if you’re travelling to another state or country and don’t have data roaming, simply pre-load the map before your journey.

Once the map area has been loaded, you’ll see a square box to show you, which area is ready for viewing. This is currently only available for Android smartphones. iPhone users will have to wait for the next iOS release.

Google’s Cosmic Panda is an Updated YouTube UI Preview

Google’s video service YouTube sees a few updates every now and then. The aim is to try and enhance viewing experience. There have been plugins and scripts for browsers that try and make it better by darkening the screen and hiding all the text content on it. Google has launched a new viewing mode codenamed Cosmic Panda that's available on youtube.com/cosmicpanda. It’s free to everyone and can be viewed by clicking on the Try it Out button on that page. The mode changes the interface of the flash player component itself with completely new buttons.

A fresh new interface

Comments can be seen listed below the video. Clicking on the Suggested buttons slides open a large listing of related videos. A neat new feature is the ability to change the quality of the video on the player itself and then choose a different viewing area. Typically, YouTube changes the image quality everytime you open a larger version of it. Real time comments are also available. It’s not just the video viewing page, but also the profile pages. Featured videos on profiles are shown as large, wide thumbnails instead of the tiny versions on the default interface. Having used it for a while, it’s easy to say that the Cosmic Panda interface is a good step up from the existing interface and we’re hoping Google switches to it, full time.

Google Maps 5.7 Adds Public Transport Data to Directions

Google Maps is a handy utility on the web, but it’s even more handy on an Android phone when you’re out travelling to places you’ve never been to. Head to any densely populated city and try and figure your way around the lanes and finding the best bus and train routes can be a pain. Google has updated their Google Maps app to version 5.7. There have been additions made to the direction system. Now, you receive more accurate turn-by-turn information to your destination. What’s much more interesting is the addition of bus and train routes. It’s not just the details, but it’s how it adds this information to a route.

Local bus and train information added to Google Maps

For example, it’ll tell you to go walking to the closest station, catch a train to five stations away and then switch over to a bus. It has a fairly detailed database of all buses and trains. It also gives you an approximate time to destination using one of the public transporation options. In case of buses, the frequency is mentioned. In the case of trains, the actual train timings are mentioned. There’s also a total time taken to reach your destination present in the app. Anyone travelling in the city will find this handy. The only thing missing now is the amount of rush or traffic on a particular route at a given time.

Google+ Reportedly Open to Everyone

According to an unofficial Twitter account of Google+ enthusiasts (it's unofficial because it's not Google managed), Google+ is open and without need of invitations. The account managers tweeted that Google+ is now open to anyone who has a Google account. However, not too long after, they also tweeted that people were complaining of over capacity messages from Google, which meant that despite opening up, the social network still was limiting sign ups due to space issues. They're keeping a spreadsheet of users who would like Google+ invites and are trying to send them out as quick as possible. They've also set up, sort of a Craigslist for invites where users who have invites can also tweet in and "spread the love".

Google+ opened up!

The service is clearly still in hot demand as just this one unofficial account was racking up 100 requests a minute. Enough to tweet that they're 800 requests met, 5000 to go. People still want a bite of this "Facebook killer", so to say. To read our first impressions on Google+ click here. If you're already on and need a survival guide, click here.

Google+ Survival Guide

Google+ is poised to grow bigger, and wading through just might get tough. Being your guide to most of your techie issues, we're back again. To make the going easier for you, we've shared our Google+ Survival Guide,with you.   TOP 10 Make a part, or your entire post in BOLD by adding a (*) before and after it. Italicise your text by placing a _ before and after the text Strike through your text with a - before and after it Clicking on the timestamp of any post, you get the URL for the same Users have an option of sharing their post either publicly, or within specific circle(s) Now this one’s a life saver, you can actually MUTE a particular post, if you don’t want to be bothered with the constant notifications that come. Simply, click left click on the post, hit Mute this post, and watch the magic unfold. It is possible to share a particular post, or check Google+ notifications, while you check your mails on Gmail. You can add people to your chat list, automatically by just clicking ‘q’, while on the homepage with a second gap between the two actions. You can share photos, videos and other links directly by dragging and dropping those from your desktop to your It also possible to decide how your post is used, or not on the site Using options like Disable comment, Disable reshare, Delete options, you can decide what to do with your post. Quick Shortcuts J – Scroll Down K – Scroll Up Space – Move Up on the Stream Shift Space – Move Down on the Stream Q – Gets you to Chat Tab, Return – End of the Comment Return – Start Comment This isn't all. If you have any tips which you'd like to share with other Tech2 readers, do post them in the comments section below.

Picasa and Blogger to be Rebranded Under the Google Umbrella

Google’s Picasa and Blogger are set to undergo a makeover with the possibility of their names changing ahead of the public launch of their social networking site, Google+. According to a report by tech blogging website, Mashable, who're citing the claims from anonymous sources, Picasa will be rebranded to Google Photos and Blogger will be called Google Blogs.

Google to rebrand Picasa and Blogger

Picasa is an image organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos, plus an integrated photo-sharing website that was first started in 2002 by Idealab. Later on in 2004, Google acquired the site in 2004 and led it to become one of the world’s most popular photo sharing website. Blogger is a blog-publishing service that allows private or multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. Google bought Pyra Labs, which was the creator of Blogger in 2003.

According to the report, “The move is part of a larger effort to unify its brand for the public launch of Google+, the search giant’s social initiative.” The report goes on to indicate that the transition will take place in a month and a half and one should expect the public roll out of Google+ on or before July 31st, 2011.