Microsoft offers ad-free Bing for the classroom to battle Google

The long-running rivalry between Microsoft Corp and Google Inc is turning into a schoolyard brawl. Microsoft on Wednesday opened a new front against the world's No. 1 search provider by piloting an ad-free offering for educational users of Bing, its search engine that for years has trailed Google.

Under the free program called "Bing for Schools," students in participating school districts will no longer see ads or adult content when they do Internet searches. Microsoft, which has signed up the Los Angeles Unified School District and Atlanta Public Schools among other school districts, has pitched Bing as an alternative at a time of rising public concern over how Internet companies are tracking their users' every move to target the ads they display.

Ad-free Bing for students

As part of the program, Microsoft will also offer free Surface tablets and course materials for teaching youngsters about Internet use. Stefan Weitz, Microsoft's director of search, said the program would help expose young users to Microsoft products. "We hope that we demonstrate the quality of Bing to teachers and students and also their parents, and once they see how good it is, we hope to see increased usage outside of schools too," said Weitz.

Bing, with 18 percent of the search market share, has long trailed Google, at 67 percent, according to data from ComScore, despite an aggressive effort to close the gap. Microsoft's move is the latest sign that technology companies are targeting the education market as a way to reach children who will become the next generation of consumers.

The new Bing campaign, framed in the context of privacy concerns, is part of a broad, anti-Google marketing campaign directed by a team of political consultants including Mark Penn, long-time adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton.

In recent months Microsoft has ramped up allegations posted to its "Scroogled" website, including claims that Google violates its users' trust by scanning emails to target ads. Microsoft has also backed promotion of a "Do Not Track" protocol that would discourage online ad targeting. "People just don't think it's appropriate to show ads to children in a learning environment," Weitz said.

A Google spokesman declined to immediately comment.

While Microsoft relies heavily on software sales, more than 95 percent of Google's revenue come from ads, and a significant portion of that comes from its dominant search engine. Google and Microsoft have also been vying to get schools to adopt their productivity software. Google has been offering a discount for its Google Apps suite, which it hopes can replace programs such as Microsoft Word on school computers.

Tech companies, led by Apple Inc , have also competed fiercely to get hardware into the classroom, even while academic studies are divided over the effectiveness of gadgets in improving student performance.

Following Apple, Google in December announced a program to give its Chromebook computers to schools for $99 each. Six months later, Microsoft began offering its Surface RT tablet to educational institutions for $199, a discount of more than 50 percent.

As part of the Bing campaign, school districts whose students use the Microsoft search engine win points, which they can redeem for Surface tablets. Aleigha Henderson-Rosser, the director of instructional technology at Atlanta Public Schools, said she had no qualms about receiving aid from tech companies. She also said Atlanta schools will not be paid money to participate in the Bing program.

Henderson-Rosser said she will try to rally parents to use Bing to help win Surface tablets for schools that cannot afford the technology. She said, "I'm seeing it as a community effort to fill in the gaps."

Reuters

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DoT introduces new guidelines for 4G mobile telephony

The Department of Telecommunication has introduced a list of new guidelines that will allow 4G players to offer mobile telephony. This piece of news will allow Internet Service providers (ISP) that hold 4G licenses to offer voice telephony along with high speed Internet. Companies like Reliance Jio Infocomm, Augere and Tikona, won BWA spectrum during the auctions, can now offer mobile telephony service by paying an extra amount of Rs 1,658.57 crore.

DoT introduces new guidelines for 4G

It is also good news for consumers as there have been speculations that the cancellation of telecom licences would lead to decrease in competition and eventually increase in voice tariffs among the remaining players. In fact, as DoT is now allowing 4G players to enter the voice segment, there is a possibility that the rates may be decreased.

According to the new guideline introduced by DoT: “Entry fee applicable to migration to Unified License shall be equal to entry fee for new Unified License except for Internet Service Provider with BWA spectrum. For migration of ISP with BWA spectrum to UL regime with authorisation of providing access services, which enables it to provide mobile voice services also using BWA spectrum, an additional fee equal to the difference between the entry fee for UASL as per details in Annexure V and entry fee paid for ISP license shall be payable in addition to the entry fee as applicable for new UL.”

This means companies with 4G wireless broadband spectrum and an ISP license can pay the additional amount of Rs 1,658.57 crore, excluding fees payable for unified licences for pan India. Among the companies that won 4G spectrum, Airtel and Aircel already offer mobile services. Moreover, Reliance is said to bring 4G services by the end of the year.

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Apple's iTunes Radio will have audio ads every 15 minutes, video ads every hour

Apple has been hard at work delivering on its announcements at WWDC sometime ago. One of the expected launches, iTunes Radio, now has some new information regarding the kind of advertising expected on the platform. From what is known so far, the new streaming service lets users create stations based on their library and listening habits, and also share them with friends.

A new report by Advertising Age has surfaced with details on how the advertising model will function on the new platform. The report states that it draws information from “people familiar with the negotiation". The first thing that draws attention is the kind of advertisers that are getting on the iTunes Radio bandwagon. Big brands like Pepsi, Nissan, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble and a few others will be official brand partners at the time of the launch. And the report states that these companies may shell out anywhere between a few million dollars to tens of millions for a year-long deal. The advertising campaign will be exclusive for the company, within the limits of their respective industries for the term.

Advertising on iTunes Radio, from January next year, will reportedly come with a minimum buy-in of around $1 million. And the platform will be available on iAd in three forms: interstitial audio ads, video ads and slate ads. Put simply, slate ads are interactive display ads that will take over whatever screen the consumer is using. The pricing of each ad will depend on the screen size that the advertisers want. In addition, iTunes Radio users will be subjected to an audio ad once every 15 minutes and one video ad every hour.

Apple's iTunes Radio will come with a detailed advertising model (Image credit: Billboard)

The platform will definitely be wide-reaching, as advertisers on iTunes Radio can target users across iPhones, iPads, Apple TV as well as any desktop or laptop that has iTunes loaded on it. There is some good news for Apple users, though. They can avoid this by shelling out some moolah to buy iTunes Match. While this move may seem a bit counter-productive for promoting advertising, it can be assumed that Apple and its music industry partners don’t want to focus on ads as the primary revenue model. The whole point of iTunes Radio is to promote music, with the option of buying that song you have just heard. To that end, every song played on the service will come with a purchase button. Interested users just need to click the same to officially own the title in their iTunes library.    

While the official word so far places the debut of the iTunes Radio later in the year, there are expectations that it will come to market next month, accompanying the company’s latest additions to the iPhone line-up, according to the Next Web.

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SwiftKey Cloud update now available for all Android devices

SwiftKey has announced today that it is rolling out the SwiftKey Cloud service on Android and is also offering a 50 percent discount on the application to promote the feature. The Cloud will back up your personalised dictionary and all your favourite words as you jump between devices.

The application has been upped to version 4.2 on Google Play Store and the Cloud feature is rolling out to Android devices now. SwiftKey Cloud was first launched as a beta feature late last month, where you had to download it separately from SwiftKey’s website.

Now available for all Android devices

The Cloud feature will help you back up your writing style and phrases you use often along with your writing habits. When you switch to another device, where you have SwiftKey installed, the Cloud will teach the app your style of writing. You will not need to fret about teaching the newly downloaded application your likes and dislikes, saving you a good few days of headache.

The Cloud also comes loaded with a new feature called Trending Phrases that sifts through news sources like Twitter to figure out what are the hottest keywords currently. So the next time you try and message your friend about the Royal Baby around the time there’s a new announcement about him, SwiftKey will automatically suggest relevant words for you to type. The update also features enhanced personalisation with one-click sync with Yahoo! Mail, Twitter, RSS and SMS. SwiftKey will now be able to learn better how you type. The feature is launching in a bunch of languages including English US, English UK and Hindi.

SwiftKey has said that it is waiting to launch the feature on other App Stores besides Google Play as soon as approvals come through. You can grab SwiftKey for Rs 50 for a limited period of time using the Play Store right now.

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Close Cameron aides asked paper to destroy Snowden data

Two of British Prime Minister David Cameron's most senior aides pressed the Guardian newspaper to hand over or destroy intelligence secrets leaked by Edward Snowden, political sources said on Wednesday.

News that Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood and National Security Adviser Kim Darroch were involved drags Cameron into a storm over Britain's response to coverage of leaks from the fugitive U.S. intelligence contractor - a response that left even its U.S. ally talking of the importance of media freedom.

Cameron, on holiday in Cornwall, made no immediate comment.

The Guardian asked to hand over or destroy information leaked by Snowden

The Guardian, media freedom activists and human rights lawyers say pressure on the paper over the Snowden material and the separate detention of the partner of a Guardian journalist on Sunday represented an assault on independent journalism.

The government says its intelligence agencies act within the law and that the Snowden leaks, which revealed U.S. and British surveillance of global communication networks, threaten national security. The United States has brought espionage charges against Snowden, who has found temporary asylum in Russia.

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger said on Tuesday that he had been approached weeks ago by "a very senior official claiming to represent the views of the prime minister" and by "shadowy Whitehall figures", a reference to London's government district.

Rusbridger said he had been told the paper would face legal action if it refused to destroy or hand over data from Snowden.

Later, two intelligence agents oversaw the destruction of hard drives at Guardian offices, but Rusbridger said this would not stop reporting as there were copies elsewhere in the world.

A White House spokesman said on Tuesday that it was hard to imagine U.S. authorities taking such action against a media organisation, even to protect national security.

Several sources said Heywood and Darroch were among those who had contacted the paper. Heywood is Britain's most senior civil servant and Cameron's top policy adviser; Darroch is the prime minister's senior adviser on national security issues.

"The prime minister asked the Cabinet Secretary to deal with this matter, that's true," one source told Reuters.

"You won't be surprised to hear that (Darroch) also got involved with this," said another source.

Home Secretary Theresa May, the interior minister, defended the government's actions.

"I think issues of national security are rightly addressed at an appropriate level within government, and I do not find it surprising that someone at a very senior level within government should be involved in this particular issue," May told the BBC.

"STOLEN INFORMATION"

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the coalition with Cameron's Conservatives, said through a spokesman it was "reasonable" for Heywood to request that the Guardian destroy data that "would represent a serious threat to national security if it fell into the wrong hands".

"The deputy prime minister felt this was a preferable approach to taking legal action. He was keen to protect the Guardian's freedom to publish, whilst taking the necessary steps to safeguard security," Clegg's spokesman said.

Rusbridger's revelations about the phone calls from the heart of government and the destruction of data have amplified a controversy over the detention at London's Heathrow airport on Sunday of David Miranda, the partner of a Guardian journalist.

Miranda, a Brazilian who was in transit from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro, was held for nine hours under an anti-terrorism law before being released without charge minus his laptop, phone and memory sticks.

He is the partner of Glenn Greenwald, a Rio-based American who has led the Guardian's coverage of intelligence secrets leaked by Snowden. Miranda had been ferrying documents between Greenwald and a Berlin-based journalist contact of Snowden.

It was unclear what information the documents contained.

Gwendolen Morgan, Miranda's lawyer, said there would be a hearing at London's High Court on Thursday to rule on her request for an urgent injunction to prevent the British authorities from examining any data seized from her client or sharing it with anyone else.

"The purpose of these proceedings is to protect the confidentiality of the sensitive journalistic material that was seized," Morgan said in her request submitted to the court.

Public opinion is divided over the issue. A poll released by YouGov on Wednesday showed 66 percent of those asked supported the police having the powers that were used to detain Miranda, but 44 percent of respondents believed the law had been used inappropriately in his case.

"The picture of a country split down the middle extends to the actions of the Prime Minister and the Guardian over the hard drives containing Mr Snowden's information," YouGov said in a statement.

"43 percent thought Mr Cameron was right to instruct the intelligence agencies, via the Cabinet Secretary, to seek to recover the hard drives, while 40 percent think that either he should have stayed out of the decision or that the action was wrong whoever authorised it."

The pollster said the public was also split on whether the Guardian had been right to publish Snowden's information.

Brazil has said Miranda's detention had "no justification", while Miranda has launched a personal legal action against the police and the government, accusing them of abusing anti-terrorism powers to get hold of sensitive journalistic material.

Russia, a frequent target of British criticism over human rights, accused the British government of double standards in comments by a Moscow Foreign Ministry spokesman.

But May said: "It is the duty of government to protect the public, and it is absolutely right, if the police believe that somebody has in their possession highly sensitive stolen information that could help terrorists, that could lead to a loss of lives, it's right that the police should act."

Reuters

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NASA adds more space launch platforms for sale to private firms

While NASA considers competing bids to take over a shuttle launch pad at Kennedy Space Center, it added three mobile launch platforms to its list of excess equipment available to private industry, officials said on Tuesday.

Ideally, NASA wants a commercial launch company to take over one or more of the massive steel platforms, which were originally built in 1967 to support the Apollo moon program's Saturn rockets. The 25-foot (7.6-meter) tall platforms were later modified for the space shuttles, which flew from 1981 until 2011.

More space launch platforms for sale..

Recycling the platforms, which measure 160 feet by 135 feet (49 by 41 meters) is another option, a solicitation on NASA's procurement website shows.

The U.S. space agency also is interested in other uses for the mobile launch platforms, which served as bases to stack and assemble the shuttle and then transport it to the launch pad. The platforms provided power and umbilical connections and had open sections for flames and rocket exhaust to pass through.

"At this point, NASA is looking to gauge interest for potential use of the (platforms) and concepts for potential use," spokeswoman Tracy Young said.

Proposals are due September 6.

NASA is already assessing bids for the shuttle launch pad from two competing firms backed by Internet billionaires.

NASA is also turning over the shuttle's runway to Space Florida, a state-backed economic development agency. Space Florida, in turn, plans to make the runway and support facilities available to a variety of commercial companies, including privately owned XCOR Aerospace, which is developing a two-person, suborbital spaceship called Lynx that takes off and lands like an airplane.

Another potential customer is Stratolaunch Systems, an orbital space vehicle backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

The most contentious - and highest profile - piece of shuttle equipment available is a Kennedy Space Center launch pad that has attracted competing bids from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk, co-founder of Paypal and chief executive of electric car company Tesla Motors .

Bezos and Musk, both billionaires, are vying for Launch Complex 39A. NASA intends to keep the second shuttle launch pad, 39B, for a new heavy-lift rocket under development called the Space Launch System.

Musk's Space Exploration Technologies of Hawthorne, California, wants 39A to launch its Falcon 9 and planned Falcon Heavy rockets. The privately owned firm, also known as SpaceX, already flies from a leased launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, located just south of the Kennedy Space Center.

The first Falcon 9 rocket flight from a new launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is scheduled for next month. The company has a backlog of more than 50 launches, including 10 missions to fly cargo for NASA to the International Space Station.

SpaceX also is developing a version of its Dragon cargo ship to fly astronauts.

Startup Blue Origin, a Kent, Washington, firm owned by Bezos, submitted an alternative proposal to NASA to run pad 39A as a multi-user facility.

Both firms say they are ready to take over maintenance and operations of the launch pad on October 1.

United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin , did not bid on the shuttle's launch pad, but has publicly endorsed Blue Origin's proposals. The company, which has a lucrative monopoly on launching U.S. military satellites, is facing its first competition for the business from rival launch pad bidder SpaceX.

The main NASA facilities that will remain are the shuttle launch pad 39B, plus various hangars for the Orion deep space capsule to be launched by NASA's heavy lift rocket, due to begin test flights in 2017.

Reuters

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Canonical's ambitious Ubuntu Edge campaign fails despite raising $12.8 million

Canonical’s Ubuntu Edge has definitely one of the most ambitious projects seeking crowd-funding to date, but sadly the project has failed to meet its goal on Indiegogo. It recently broke the record of the most amount of money every pledged to a crowdfunded online site, a figure that Pebble Watch had previously set. More than 27,000 people have contributed to Ubuntu’s smartphone project, but the fact is that it is a failure. The target was $32 million and Canonical was able to collect  $12,809,906 on Indiegogo.

Even the creators of the projects have to agree that a miracle was needed to make the project a reality. It should be noted though, that while the amount is huge by crowdfunding standards, Canonical might not be able to produce Edge with the money raised. The company had planned to launch around 40,000 units of the Ubuntu Edge for which it needed $ 32 million. A lot of people have pitched in for the project, though. Bloomberg, the media company, recently pledged $80,000 to the campaign. Unfortunately, no other backer with that kind of moolah pitched in.

Canonical's ambitious project fails to reach funding goal

While talking to Digital Trends earlier, the company’s Vice President, Victor Tuson Palau said that Canonical would find other ways to fund and make the smartphone. The VP said, “If we don’t make the $32 million target, we will not make the phone on our own.”  In the report, Canonical described the Ubuntu Edge as a small “side project” for the company. The company is reportedly working with an unnamed “major manufacturer” to make a phone with more modest specs, as well as less sapphire glass.

The risk factor of the project was high from the start. And the promises being made were just as considerable. Canonical had promised that the Edge would be the first smartphone which could also be used to power a PC and will have the full-blown Ubuntu PC OS baked in. And if the Ubuntu OS wasn’t enough for users, they could have switched to Google’s Android OS, which is also available.

The list of specifications that the Edge would have come with was nothing short of brilliant. The smartphone was set to come with a staggering 128GB of internal storage, 4GB of RAM and the fastest processor available in the market. Till date, Canonical hasn’t even revealed which SoC that would be. The Edge would also come with a 4.5-inch display with 720 x 1280 resolution ratio. Thrown in was a dual-LTE antenna, Stereo speakers, a sapphire glass screen and a silicon-anode battery. It should be noted that there is only one other smartphone in the market that even comes with sapphire glass, which is reportedly unbreakable. Silicon-anode batteries are supposed to be the next step in battery technology, as it packs a lot more power in the same space occupied by current lithium-ion batteries.

Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth believes Edge has already made a difference. "This campaign lets enthusiast consumers signal their interest to a mobile industry that caters overwhelmingly to the mainstream. It’s making it clear that we’re no longer satisfied with minor updates; we’re looking for true innovation and we’re ready to pay for it. And that message is getting through.”

One thing is for sure, the project has definitely given the company a lot of press and created brand awareness. And the project was ambitious and it can only be hoped that Canonical will be able to bring the lofty features of the Edge to the market sooner rather than later.

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