Norway's Telenor launches Indian mobile service

NEW DELHI (AFP) – Norwegian telecom group Telenor launched a new mobile service Thursday in India's congested cellular market where over a dozen operators are in a tariff war for millions of new customers each month.

"This is indeed a milestone in a longer journey to become a significant operator in India," said Stein-Erik Vellan, managing director of Unitech Wireless, the new mobile venture of Telenor and Indian property giantUnitech.

Telenor, the world's sixth-largest mobile services provider, holds 49 percent of the cellular company, known as Uninor, but the stake is set to rise to 67.25 percent.

The venture is part of a strategy by Telenor, which already has operations in such countries as Pakistan, Malaysia and Thailand, to boost its revenues from Asia.

The service was rolled out in seven of India's 22 cellular phone zones -- covering a potential 600 million customers -- and Uninor plans to launch in more zones next year.

Uninor, using the slogan "My time is now" targeting India's burgeoning youth population, is aiming for an eight percent share of the Indian market by 2018.

"This is a long term venture, not something we can do as a quick fix," said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, chief executive of Telenor Group.

Telenor joined a clutch of other foreign companies which have teamed up with local partners to tap the Indian market including Britain's Vodafone, Japan's NTT DoCoMo and Russia's Sistema JSFC. Foreign ownership in Indian telecom companies is capped by the government at 74 percent.

Foreign telecom firms have been coming to India in the hope of increasing revenue against a backdrop of sluggish domestic markets.

India, a country of nearly 1.2 billion people, added 16.67 million new mobile phone connections in October, making it the world's fastest-growing cellular market.

But a no-holds-barred price war has driven down billing rates to below a cent a minute, threatening revenues and profits of Indian telecom heavyweights such as market leaders Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications.

Telenor, the second-largest foreign telecom operator in Asia after Vodafone, said it will steer clear of new per-second billing plans offered by rivals.

It will aim to offer more attractive deals for customers who talk longer.

Telenor and Unitech, India's second-largest real estate company, teamed up last year to launch the company.

"This is the fastest rollout we have ever done in this group," said Baksaas.

The company has begun service in southern India, the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and the eastern states of Bihar and Jharkhand.

India now has 14 cellular operators, T.R. Dua, director general of the Cellular Operators' Association of India, said, warning that the market has too many players.

"The industry cannot support this many operators. Consolidation is the only way forward," he told AFP.

Telenor's launch is expected to be followed by several others including that of the United Arab Emirates' Etisalat.

AT&T, Verizon end lawsuits over cell ads

NEW YORK -

AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless agreed Wednesday to end lawsuits accusing each other of lying in TV ads, taking their rivalry out of the court system for now.

AT&T Inc. agreed to dismiss a lawsuit that sought to force Verizon to pull its "There's a Map for That" commercials. Verizon agreed to dismiss a suit that sought a declaration that AT&T's claims of "more bars in more places" was inaccurate.

Verizon's lawsuit was filed in July, just after AT&T complained to the National Advertising Division of the Council for Better Business Bureaus about Verizon ads claiming that it has "America's most reliable wireless network." That is the usual forum for disputes about advertising, but when Verizon filed a lawsuit, that process was suspended.

With Wednesday's actions, it appears that the companies have agreed to scale back their dispute to stay out of court. The companies would not comment on their reasons.

AT&T filed its lawsuit in federal court in Atlanta early in November, saying that Verizon's "Map" ads are misleading and amount todeceptive trade practices.

The ads show maps of the United States with areas highlighted to depict where third-generation, or 3G, data network coverage is available. Verizon's coverage, in red, is clearly wider than AT&T's, in blue.

AT&T said those maps could mislead viewers because it's not obvious that it has regular voice coverage and slower data service in many areas where it doesn't offer 3G.

Two weeks ago, a judge tossed out AT&T's request for a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction to stop the ads, but scheduled a hearing to give the AT&T attorneys another chance to make their case.

The slogan "There's a Map for That" plays off Apple Inc.'s "There's an App for That" ads for the iPhone, which tout the thousands of applications available for the phone. AT&T is the sole U.S. carrier for the iPhone.

In response to Verizon's ads, AT&T has launched an ad campaignwith actor Luke Wilson saying AT&T has the "the nation's fastest 3G network."

And given the lack of standards to identify which network is the "fastest" or "most reliable," the competing claims are likely to continue.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC of Britain.

Researchers rethink approaches to computer vision

Intel announced yesterday a 48-core chip that packs 1.3 billion transistors on a single processor. The computing power, according to Justin Rattner, the company’s Chief Technology Officer, will pave the way to machines that “see and hear and probably speak and do a number of other things that resemble human-like capabilities.”

But vast computing power is but one requisite to achieving an artificial visual system that’s truly perceptive, and it’s by far been easier to deliver than the other key component - the mimicry of biological neural processing.

“Reverse engineering a biological visual system—a system with hundreds of millions of processing units—and building an artificial system that works the same way is a daunting task,” said David Cox, Principal Investigator of the Visual Neuroscience Group at the Rowland Institute at Harvard. “It is not enough to simply assemble together a huge amount of computing power. We have to figure out how to put all the parts together so that they can do what our brains can do.”

The challenge has led neuroscientists and roboticists to re-framed approaches. For instance, European researchers have recently developed an algorithm that enables a robot to combine data from both sound and vision to enable depth perception and to help isolate objects.

Back in the U.S., David Cox (mentioned above) and Nicolas Pinto, a Ph.D. candidate at MIT and their team of Harvard and MIT researchers haverecently demonstrated a way to build better artificial visual systems by combining screening techniques from molecular biology with low-cost high-performance gaming hardware donated by NVIDIA.

Below is an image of the 16-GPU ‘monster’ supercomputer built at the DiCarlo Lab (McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT) and the Cox Lab (Rowland Institute at Harvard University) to help build artificial vision systems. According to an article, The 18″ x18″ x18″ cube may be one of the most compact and inexpensive supercomputers in the world.

(Credit: Nicolas Pinto / MIT)

The team drew inspiration from genetic screening techniques whereby a multitude of candidate organisms or compounds are screened in parallel to find those that have a particular property of interest. So instead of building a single model and seeing how well it could recognize visual objects, they constructed thousands of candidate models, and screened for those that performed best on an object recognition task.

Their models outperformed a crop of state-of-the-art computer vision systems across a range of test sets, more accurately identifying a range of objects on random natural backgrounds with variation in position, scale, and rotation.

“Reverse and forward engineering the brain is a virtuous cycle. The more we learn about one, the more we can learn about the other,” says Cox. “Tightly coupling experimental neuroscience and computer engineering holds the promise to greatly accelerate both fields.”

Ruby on Rails becomes latest open-source offering to run on Microsoft's Azure cloud

For a while now, Microsoft has been courting open-source software makersto convince them of the wisdom of offering their wares on Windows. So it’s not too surprising that many of those same apps also are being moved to the Windows Azure cloud platform.

At the end of November, Microsoft architect Simon Davies blogged that he had gotten the open-source Ruby on Rails framework to run on Windows Azure. By using a combination of new functionality in the November Windows Azure software development kit (SDK), plus some new Solution Accelerator technology, Davies said he managed to get Ruby on Rails to run. (The fruits of Davies’ labors are available at http://rubyonrails.cloudapp.net/.)

Davies blogged:

“One of these (new November SDK) features enables Worker Roles to receive network traffic from both external and internal endpoints using HTTP, HTTPS and TCP. This new feature enables many new scenarios, one of then is the ability to run existing applications that receive traffic over sockets in Windows Azure.”

There are a bunch of these Azure Solution Accelerators available for download from the Windows Azure Platform Web site. There are also newSDKs for Microsoft’s recently unveiled AppFabric middleware for Java, Ruby and PHP developers, as well, availble for download.

Davies noted that Microsoft has demonstrated a number of open-source apps, including MySQL, Mediawiki, Memcached and Tomcat, can run on Windows Azure. Microsoft has been working on delivering PHP and Eclipse tools for Windows Azure.

Recently, CNet open-source blogger Matt Asay expressed some concern that Microsoft’s “super-friendly, super-dangerous bear hug” of open-source applications — especially in the cloud realm — could do open-source more harm than good.

Some open-source vendors — SugarCRM comes to mind — have developed their own Azure ports of their wares. But in other cases, Microsoft is the instigator, either moving the open-source applications and tools onto Azure or working with a third-party to do so.

I don’t see the same kind of potential danger that Asay does in this scenario, since what really matters is whether developers and customers are interested in using what’s hosted on Azure, rather than who “put” the apps in the cloud. Do you agree?

Intel sees rush to Netbook app store

As Intel and PC makers prepare to launch an app store for Netbooks in 2010, the emphasis is on speed.

"We have a lot of developers right now jumping all over this and writing apps and getting them ready," Scott Apeland, director of Intel's Developer Network, told CNET Wednesday. "Today, you can actually submit applications and get them in validation and be one of the first in the store when we have that available next year. We don't have specific dates. It's how fast we can get it up and ready."

Intel Atom Developer Program

(Credit: Intel )

How fast? "The whole program is moving extremely fast. Now we're working frantically on getting the store ready," he said.

The store itself will come preinstalled on future Netbooks, according to Apeland. "We're working with OEM partners (PC makers) now to get this ready and preinstalled on systems. So, when a user purchases it, he just runs the app store...and pulls from a catalog of applications that are available and they can make the purchases right there," he said.

The largest suppliers of Netbooks using Intel's Atom processor are Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer, and Asus--all of which are readying the next wave of Netbooks based Intel's new "Pine Trail" Atom technology, expected to launch sometime this month. It's a hot market: Intel said Wednesday that more than 50 million Netbooks are expected to be sold by the end of 2009.

Though most applications are expected to be written for the Linux operating system--Intel's version is called Moblin--Apeland claims that the program has a wide target.

"The Atom Developer Program doesn't favor one OS over another, and at its core, the program is meant to facilitate development across multiple OSes," he said. "Right now it's Windows and Moblin...we plan to expand support to different run-time environments, including Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight."

Apeland said that Intel's software developer network overall has between 700,000 and 1 million monthly users, and 20,000 independent software vendors (ISVs) who are members of the Intel software partner program. Though Apeland couldn't say how many of these developers are doing development specific to Atom-based Netbooks, he did allow that Intel has had "tens of thousands coming and checking out our site (and) thousands actually joining before we had any (software development kit) or tools available."

The developer will get 70 percent of the revenue from the sale, Apeland said--similar to the Apple app store. "The rest (30 percent) will cover operational costs and partner costs that are involved." Intel announced a beta of a software development kit on Wednesday for Atom processor-based Netbooks.

Apeland also discussed the type of applications that are popular. "For example, social networking, on-line chats, sharing of photos, video. I think there's going to be a lot of innovation around that," he said, adding that development will also target "a way so users don't have to worry about--keep track of--different sites for log-in."

On the education front, Apeland said, "the Netbook has a lot of natural opportunity because of the keyboard and screen size versus a small handheld device."

Hyundai's new Sonata gets by without a V-6

Debuting at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show, the 2011 Hyundai Sonata is the first vehicle to feature Hyundai's "Fluidic Sculpture" design language--"Fluidic Sculpture" obviously being market-speak for bulbous and swoopy.

2011 Hyundai Sonata (photos)

The Sonata will debut with a 2.4-liter gasoline direct injection engine and a pair of six-speed transmissions, one automatic and one manual. However by the end of 2010, a turbocharged 2.0-liter engine and a Hybrid Blue Drive model are set to join the lineup. However, the Sonata will not get a V6. This is a four-banger only party. The 2.4-liter launch engine will output 198 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque, while delivering 23 city/35 highway mpg. A performance oriented SE model boosts the horsepower to and even 200-ponies and adds uprated suspension components.

Cabin tech packages include a DVD/MP3-compatible Dimension audio premium audio system with a 6.5-inch touchscreen navigation system that is optional on the GLS and SE trims. Stepping up to the luxury-oriented Limited trim adds HD Radio and makes a navigation-free version of the Dimension audio system a standard feature, as well as opening up the option to choose a 400-watt Infinity audio system with touchscreen navigation. Regardless of trim, choosing the premium audio option also nets a touchscreen navigation system. The nav system's data is stored on 8GB of flash memory, so we expect that it's a similar system to the one found in the Genesis Coupe.

XM satellite radio is standard (with three months of service included), as well as access to XM NavTraffic and XM Data Services when equipped with navigation. Also standard are Bluetooth handsfree connectivity and iPod/USB connectivity.

If Hyundai's Elantra Touring and Genesis coupe and sedan are any indication of the direction the Korean automaker is heading, we may find the new Sonata stealing a few Camry and Accord sales when it debuts in 2010. However, until we can get some wheel time with the midsized sedan, you can check out our gallery of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata.

Uninor India - Eighth GSM Service to Start in India

Here is a happy news for all the mobile freaks, India will get its 8th GSM service provider soon in the form of "Uninor". Recently Unitech Wireless got permission from Indian Government to start their Uninor GSM services in India.

It is a joint venture between the Norway based telecom firm Telenor and Unitech wireless of India. The brand name of this GSM service will be called 'UNINOR'. Uninor in India has got license to start the GSM services in 22 circles. Telenor has already bought around 67% shares of Unitech wireless, and recently it got permission from the cabinet Committee on Economic affairs to rise its stake in Unitech wireless to upto 74%. This is the maximum stake a foreign company can hold in the Indian based company. Unitech is basically a construction company, but they started a division called Unitech Wireless recently.

Uninor India is going to start services in 8 circles by December, 2009, 4 in south India, 2 in Uttar Pradesh, one each in Orissa and Bihar.

Chinese Telecom equipment manufacturer ZTE is going to provide the GSM Network supply to Uninor GSM service. ZTE has signed an agreement with Uninor for 5 years, under which it will supply the network equipments for the circles of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana.

In the other circles like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh Nokia siemens network has won the deal of supplying the Network equipments for Uninor India. At the same time Nokia siemens network will be responsible for network operation and maintenance in the following circles.

Currently Uninor is under test, we can see its network by using the Manual search in our mobile under the name IND 820 in Bangalore circle. It is going to be launched by this year end in some 8 circles in India. So the customers will be in a great fix to decide about which service provider to opt for.

As the competition increases between the GSM service providers, the customers are befitted by better offers. India is the main target for many external service providers because of the market in India. So lets hope some good service and offers from Uninor.