Instagram has added new layout options in addition to its signature square for pictures and videos in a bid to attract more advertisers and to stop users defecting to more flexible services such as Snapchat.

The move is the first major alteration to the photo-sharing, social media service since Facebook Inc bought it for $1 billion in 2012, and addresses the wishes of many of its 300 million users, who have been constrained by the square format.

“It boils down to giving advertisers and users more options,” said Debra Aho Williamson, a social media marketing and advertising analyst. “You want people to be able to see more of your ad. It’s something advertisers are definitely going to be interested in.”

One in five photos and videos posted on the service do not fit the square format, Instagram said in a blog post. “Friends get cut out of group shots, the subject of your video feels cramped and you can’t capture the Golden Gate Bridge from end to end,” it said.

From Thursday, Instagram’s web-based service and its mobile apps running on Google Inc’s Android system and Apple Inc’s iOS will allow portrait and landscape formats, giving both users and paying advertisers more options.

The move should help Instagram in its battle with newer rivals such as Snapchat for users in the fast-moving messaging and media-sharing market.

At the same time, it should attract more advertising revenue for Instagram, which said in June it would open its platform to all advertisers by the end of the year, rather than just to select brands.

Instagram is expected to generate nearly $600 million in advertising revenue by the end of this year and $2.8 billion in 2017, according to projections from research firm eMarketer.

By comparison Facebook, the world’s most popular online social network, generated more than $12 billion in revenue in 2014. The growing service hit one billion users in a single day for the first time on Monday.

To promote the new formats on Thursday, Walt Disney Co released exclusive footage of its upcoming film, “Star Wars, The Force Awakens,” using the new landscape option.

This post is appeared on :Techfirstpost

Instagram finally allows users to shoot pictures in landscape mode; Square mode also stays on

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A 16-year old going by the name Anmol Tukrel, an Indian-origin Canadian citizen is now challenging the authority of Google. He has designed a personalised search engine that claims to be as high as 47 percent more accurate than Google, and about 21 percent more accurate on an average. Tukrel’s search engine was designed as a part of a project to submit to the Google Science Fair, which is a  global online competition open to students aged 13 to 18 years.

Anmol Tukrel, who has just completed his tenth grade stated that he took a few months to design this project and approximately 60 hours to code the engine. In conversation with The Times of India, he said, “I thought I would do something in the personalized search space. It was the most genius thing ever. But when I realised Google already does it, I tried taking it to the next level.”

His development kit included only a computer with at least 1GB of free storage space, a python-language development environment, a spreadsheet program and access to Google and New York Times. The report points out that to test the accuracy of his search engine, Tukrel limited the search query to this year’s articles from the New York Times.

He claims that his search engine is better than Google because not only does it take into account location or browsing history, but also tries to understand context and meaning. According to the report, Tukrel was in India for a two-week internship programme at Bengaluru-based adtech firm IceCream Labs.

This post is appeared on: Firstpost

Meet Anmol Tukrel: 16-year-old Indian-Canadian claiming his search engine is 47% more accurate than Google

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Looks like, Microsoft is all set to take on Google with its new Translator app. The new app can be accessed on a variety of devices and supports 50 different languages.

Google’s Translate app, on the other hand, supports only 27 languages for text and voice conversion.

Available for iOS and Android platforms, the app called Microsoft Translator, supports phones and tablets as well as the Apple Watch and smartwatches that run Android Wear,CNET online reported.

One can type or speak the word or phrase to be translated. In response, the app shows the translated text on the screen and then speaks it too.

Text can also be copy-pastes from and to other apps for translation.

Microsoft has already been serving up language translation via its Bing website along with apps for its Windows Phone mobile operating system and its Windows 10 desktop software.

The company also offers translation through its Skype Translator programme, which is soon due to become part of the Skype app itself.

With the new app, Microsoft is entering into Google territory, which has long offered translation services on the web as well as for iOS and Android.

With Microsoft Translator, you can speak directly into your watch to get an instant translation in any of the 50 different languages.

The app can correctly pronounce the phrase for you through your watch. And all your translations and settings are synchronized between your watch and your phone.

This post appeared on: .Firstpost

Microsoft introduces Translator app for smartphones and watches

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Microsoft says its' new Windows 10 operating system is now running on more than 14 million computers, two days after the software was released as a free download.

That's a far cry from the company's goal of getting Windows 10 onto a billion devices within three years. Microsoft says it's releasing the software in waves to make sure downloads go smoothly.

In a blog post late Thursday, Microsoft said it has not yet delivered Windows 10 to everyone who requested a free upgrade for computers running older Windows versions. Microsoft says the 14 million includes some copies installed on new computers sold in stores.

"It has been an incredible 24 hours for Windows and our fans," wrote Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President, Windows and Devices Group, Microsoft. "We're humbled and grateful to see the response to Windows 10. We have seen unprecedented demand for Windows 10, with reviews and customer feedback overwhelmingly positive around the globe. We are doing everything we can to upgrade the world to Windows 10 as quickly as possible over the coming days and weeks ahead."

Reaction has been mostly favourable, with reviewers calling the new Windows an improvement over the last version, known as Windows 8.

Microsoft that Windows 10 update will continue to roll out in phases.

"As we've shared, our top priority has been ensuring that everyone has a great upgrade experience, so, we are carefully rolling out Windows 10 in phases, delivering Windows 10 first to our Windows Insiders. While we now have more than 14 million devices running Windows 10, we still have many more upgrades to go before we catch up to each of you that reserved your upgrade," Mehdi added.

"Rest assured we are working 24x7 to continue the upgrade process and are prioritising the quality of your upgrade experience over anything else. We are grateful for your excitement and enthusiasm and we appreciate your patience over the days and weeks ahead as we carefully roll out Windows 10 in phases to all of you that have reserved," the post said.

This post original appeared on: Ndtv

Windows 10 Already Running on 14 Million Computers, Says Microsoft

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Leading telecom service provider Aircel on Thursday launched free voice calling on data recharge for customers across the country.

The company claimed that the product has been specially designed keeping in view the dramatic increase of mobile data users in India, for whom data usage is as much a part of their daily lives as is voice calling.

"With this, customers would now enjoy an added benefit on the most affordable data products by Aircel", a company release said.

"The product also offers attractive call rates for local as well STD calling", it said.

ORIGINAL POST: BUSINESSTODAY

Aircel launches free voice calling on data recharge

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Amazon has an official Tumblr. And it’s … curious, to say the least, to see what Amazon thinks makes a good Tumblr post.

You arrive to seizure-inducing homescreen where the background strobes in Amazon black and ocher behind the words “Amazon’s Official Tumblr, just in case you were wondering). A pair of hands presents you with an open Amazon package. (Don’t look at it too hard.)

Scroll down a bit, and you’ll see an (apparently) carefully curated selection of items Amazon has chosen to feature, including:

The Boyfriend Pillow, a disembodied arm that girls can cling to for comfort (better than a stuffed animal?); the world’s first smartphone; some bags of “cool chips”; and what I suppose Amazon thinks of as a particularly helpful user review of a Crystal ballpoint pen. “A downside is it supports one default font (that appears to be user-specific?) I have tried multiple times to access Helvetica, Times New Roman, Impact etc. to no avail… I don’t even see any input buttons.”

Naturally, it also features the handy Tumblr for Dummies. Maybe Amazon is just trolling itself.

ORIGINAL POST: WIRED

Amazon’s Official Tumblr Is Really Weird

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NEW DELHI: India is proving to be quite a strong growth engine for Apple, the world's most valuable company that sells the iPhone smartphones, iPad devices and Mac line of computers.

Growth rate in India has surpassed that witnessed in China. Sales in India were up 93% in April-June against 87% growth in China, according to numbers released by the company, while announcing quarterly results on Tuesday.

However, it must be noted that China is many times bigger for Apple in terms of absolute volume and revenue, contributing almost 25% to the $49.6 billion revenue that the company clocked in April-June quarter. India, on the other hand, is still a billion-dollar market for Apple, and that too on an annual basis.

But, India is moving up fast, say distributors and sellers of Apple's devices. "The demand has remained strong after the introduction of iPhone6 last year. Apple devices are selling like hot cakes," said Manish Khatri, who runs a multi-brand retail store in Mumbai.

Khatri said Apple's run is so strong that even Samsung's new devices —S6 and S6 Edge — could not have a big impact on the demand for its products.



A top distributor for the company said Apple's strategy to make phones available under Rs 15,000 price bracket has also helped the brand. "iPhone 4S is witnessing great demand. The low entry price of the phone means that a highly aspirational product is being made available at price points which were never seen before," the distributor said, requesting anonymity.

Nilesh Bhansali, director at Apple re-seller 'Mobile Moovers' in Bangalore, said his sales have seen a near four-fold increase in the last quarter. "The lower price point also introduces people to the Apple world and its operating system at an early stage. Once you buy an Apple, then you usually never quit the brand," Bhansali said.

Apple hopes to sell 7 million units in India by 2018 against the 1 million units it sold in the previous year.


ORIGINAL POST: TIMESOFINDIA

Apple grows faster in India than China

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