Facebook second most accessed site, behind Google in the US

In a study carried out by Nielsen Media Research, it has been concluded that Google is the number one website in the U.S. The number two spot is taken by Facebook, followed by others, such as Yahoo!, MSN, YouTube and Microsoft in that order. There are some interesting facts to consider. The study was completed between January and October, this year. The ranking displayed based on the number of average unique visitors that accessed each site. Google took a lead of roughly 11 percent in terms of these numbers, over Facebook. The data was collected based on computers used in offices and homes. Some 153.4 million visitors from the U.S accessed Google. on an average per month.

Although this was a study done by Nielsen in the U.S, similar patterns are expected for other countries around the world, including India. The use of Google is obvious, whereas Facebook is a major phenomenon these days. Microblogging services like, Twitter didn’t not figure in that list - sites like Wikipedia, Apple and Ask.com did. The study shows without a doubt, the dominance of Google on the web and these numbers reported don’t even include international traffic.

Source : Facebook second most accessed site, behind Google in the US

Google Helps You Follow Santa with Smartphones and Social Media

Technology is making it easy and fun to follow Santa this Christmas.

Android phones, Twitter, Google, and YouTube are among the tools you can use to keep tabs on the jolly old elf during his travels for Sunday's holiday.

Google Earth and Google Maps

The easiest way to see what Santa's up to is to visit NoradSanta.org where you can see an embedded map of Santa's journey. The North American Aerospace Defense Command says the man in red officially began his annual journey across the globe at 2 a.m. EST time Saturday morning. If you'd rather see Santa in all his glory on Google Earth, click the "Track Santa On Google Earth" button in the bottom right corner of the map. This will prompt you to download the Google Earth Plug-in for your browser (Windows 2000 or higher and Mac OS X 10.5 or higher).

Smartphones

You can easily track Santa from any mobile device equipped with Google Maps, including Android smartphones and tablets, the iPhone, and the iPad. Open up Google Maps on your device and search for "Santa" to see the man in red's most recent location. If you don't have a Google Maps app on your device, point your web browser to m.google.com/maps. Android and iPhone users can also download NORAD's free official Santa tracking app from the App Store or Android Market. Both stores have many Santa-tracking apps, so make sure you get the official version called NORAD Tracks Santa by Visionbox. The app updates with Santa's current location and you can also play a game called Elf Toss where you try to help the elves load Santa's sleigh in time for Christmas Eve.

Social Media

One of the fastest ways to keep tabs on Santa is through NORAD's official Track Santa Twitter feed providing constant updates of Santa's location and links to the latest videos recording his journey. You can also find NORAD tracking Santa on Facebook, Google+, and Santa's latest videos for 2011 on NoradSanta.org or NORAD Tracks Santa page on YouTube. Just like last year, you can also visit SendACallFromSanta.com to send a personalized holiday greeting from Santa to any phone number in North America. And you can have the kids call Santa's Google Voice number at 1-855-34-SANTA (72682) to leave a voicemail for the man in red. Santa's sleigh, dubbed Santa One, was recently cleared to fly over American skies at an altitude of 50,000 feet.

Tracking Santa Through the Years

The annual tradition of using military technology to track Santa was born in the 1950s.

A newspaper ad that was intended to publish a special telephone number for calling Santa on Christmas Eve instead printed the direct number for the commander-in-chief of Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), the predecessor to NORAD. As calls started pouring in to CONAD that night, Director of Operations Colonel Harry Shloup did not disappoint the young callers and had his staff check the radar for signs of Kris Kringle's sleigh.

Source : Google Helps You Follow Santa with Smartphones and Social Media

Twitter celebrates Hindi Diwas by adding Hindi support

When Twitter celebrated its milestone moment of reaching 100 million user count, it made an announcement, too. The microblogging site was soon going to roll out additional language support for its homogenous user base. Yesterday, when the nation celebrated 'Hindi Diwas', it just seemed to be the perfect day to have Twitter launch translation support for Hindi. Beginning from yesterday, users can choose to tweet in Hindi, by simply changing their default language preference to 'Hindi' in the 'Settings' tab.

Once the above mentioned settings are changed, all instructions on the page get translated to Hindi. For example, instructions like - "What's happening?" gets translated to "Kya ho raha hain?",  "Help" gets translated to "Sahayta", "Search" gets translated to "Khoje", and so on. This move by Twitter came by when a report stated that of all tweets on the site, only 50 percent were in English.

Source : Twitter celebrates Hindi Diwas by adding Hindi support

First Android Honeycomb 3.2 Tablet By Huawei

Manufacturer Huawei claims the title for the first Android Honeycomb 3.2 tablet, with its 7-inch MediaPad announced on Monday.The tablet runs version 3.2 of Google's Android operating system for tablets, which is essentially the same version found on Motorola's 10-inch tablet, but tailored to the 7-inch screen of the MediaPad.

The MediaPad is expected to ship in Q3 in the U.S., but Huaweit offers no availability date or pricing. The tablet runs on a 1.2GHz processor and Huawei claims you can squeeze out six hours of battery life, which is still around four hours less than market leader, Apple's iPad. Huawei's tablet will be more in line with HTC's Flyer tablet, which runs on non-tablet optimized version of Android.

The MediaPad is lighter than an iPad, coming in at 0.86 pounds, but it's slightly thicker at 0.4 inches, versus the iPad's 0.34-inches. Huawei's tablet also features dual cameras, one 5MP lens at the rear, which can record HD video (but no mention on whether it's 720p or 1080p), and a 1.3MP sensor on the front for self-portraits and video calls.

Along with 3G (HSPA+) and Wi-Fi support, the MediaPad can play 1080p videos and offers 8GB of internal storage, as well as microSD (up to 32GB) and HDMI slots. Huawei promises Flash Player 10.3 will be on board at launch, together with preloaded Facebook, Twitter, and Documents To Go apps, and the Let's Golf game.

When the MediaPad hits the U.S. shores this fall, the tablet will be likely sold though carriers at a subsidized price (but tied to a monthly data contract), as Engadget reports Huawei has no plans to release a Wi-Fi-only model of its Honeycomb 3.2 tablet.

Source : First Android Honeycomb 3.2 Tablet By Huawei

Nokia and TOI Launch an App on the Ovi Store

The readers of Times of India, one of India’s most popular, and subsequently the most widely read newspaper can now be accessed on their Nokia phones, courtesy the launch of the new Times of India app on the Nokia Ovi Store.

The app intends to give the traditional habit of reading the newspaper a major facelift. With the app on the phone, Nokia claims that it is possible to comfortably glance to the latest happenings around the globe while on the go, quite literally. The app is a free one and can be downloaded off the Ovi Store (www.store.ovi.com). The application can be viewed in both portrait and landscape formats, and allows easy sharing on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, as well as can be emailed or SMSed. Users can also incorporate the scroll and swipe gestures while they view the app. Additionally, Nokia has enabled the app with the high utility, auto update widget that would update news automatically, without the user having to perform any tasks specifically. This feature holds great promise since it bears in mind the dynamic nature of news.

Using the app, users will be able access news across all major sections like general affairs, politics, sports, world news, business, city news, among others.

Source : Nokia and TOI Launch an App on the Ovi Store

TweetDeck 2.0 for iPhone released

Popular Twitter client TweetDeck has been redesigned and rebuilt from scratch to be faster and sleeker. And that’s not all. The older version has been temporarily removed from the iTunes App Store as version 2.0 is supposed to be much more than an upgrade, a replacement app. The older app will resurface once they've updated it to point existing users to the new version.

They call the new TweetDeck a Hollywood-esque “re-imagining” where the soul of the application remains the same but is brought up to speed. It still supports Facebook, MySpace and Twitter but the app’s interface has been revamped. Better graphics, addition of comon gestures for access control like blending timelines, DMs, Mentions, favorites, Facebook News feed into a personalized column, and being resolved for retina-displays are the upgrades worth mentioning. A version modified for iPad is also on its way.

There is much better multiple account handling in this new app. In the Home, Me and Inbox pre-defined columns you can choose exactly which accounts will be used.

The blending of accounts into a column is also very flexible. You can see DMs from one account, blended with your Facebook news feed, plus a couple of Twitter Lists, for instance.

Source : TweetDeck 2.0 for iPhone released - Completely reworked from scratch

LG launches Cinema 3D TVs based on FPR in India

After getting a firsthand experience at Seoul, LG has finally launched its Cinema 3D TVs based on its new patented FPR technology in India. The best part is the pricing which is pretty aggressive as compared to existing 3D TVs. Prices start from Rs. 94,990 for a 40-incher and goes all the way up to Rs.1,64,990 for its flagship model.  

LG will also be launching its Smart TV line-up which will give users access to Internet apps like YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, etc as well as India centric content through various tie ups with Hungama, NDTV,  Indiatimes, CarWale and Zapak. All Cinema 3D TVs will come with patent technology like 3D Light Boost for a brighter and vivid picture, 2D to 3D conversion on the fly and DivX HD support. The initial roll out will include a total of seventeen models in various price segments and they will be bundling four sets of glasses with every TV. Additional glasses are considerably cheaper compared to shutter glasses at just Rs. 1,000 a pop. The Cinema 3D TVs should start rolling out in all major stores in the coming weeks.  

Source : LG launches Cinema 3D TVs based on FPR in India