US court asks Indian company to pay $100000 for using pirated software

An Indian textile company has agreed to pay a penalty of $100,000 (or Rs 66 lakhs) to settle charges of using pirated software that gave it competitive advantages over American businesses. Headquartered in Madhya Pradesh's Indore, Pratibha Syntex Ltd exports cloths to top American companies including Walmart. As per the settlement reached, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and has been approved by a judge, the textile company has agreed to pay $100,000 in restitution within 30 days. "Pratibha Syntex engaged in illegal business practices that placed California garment companies at a disadvantage, while hurting American software companies' ability to develop new and innovative products," California Attorney General Kamala Harris said. "Businesses around the globe should be on notice that the state of California will hold them accountable for stealing intellectual property to unfairly undercut their competition," she said. The case assumes significance as this is first time that a state government has secured a legally enforceable judgement against an international company for such violations. In 2013, Harris sued Pratibha Syntex on the basis that it did not pay licensing fees for software it relied on for its business, including products manufactured by Adobe, Microsoft, and others, giving the company a significant cost advantage in the low-margin business of apparel manufacturing, shipment and sales.

An ex-employee explains top challenges facing Google India –and how to tackle them

 Despite having over 90% smartphone market share in India, Google is lacking a big consumer app in the country. Facebook has WhatsApp (and Messenger), both of which are massive in India, and Google is getting anxious that it could lose out. Google CEO Sundar Pichai made his first official trip to India in mid-December as the company looks to expand in the country. Pichai announced a partnership with the Indian government to bring more of India's 1.2 billion population online. Business Insider spoke to Keval Desai, an ex-Google employee turned investor, about the problems Google is having in one of the fastest growing markets on Earth. (He was keen to stress that his views are not based on inside knowledge, but an understanding of Google's culture and businesses.) Problem 1: India is a mobile-first country Unlike the US or Europe, the majority of internet users' first experiences of technology and the internet are on a mobile device (most likely a smartphone) rather than a PC. "Google has to re-architect its product [and] business model to this new mobile era," Desai said. "Google faces a completely new ecosystem in mobile that is similar to the old PC era of the '80s-'90s and not the web era of 2000s when Google was born." This change is not specific to India but the whole of Google's business and the company has been working hard on creating mobile apps for all platforms while expanding beyond search and advertising, which make up 90% of Google's revenues.

Flipkart ties up with Viacom 18 to get more international brands to India

  E-commerce giant Flipkart came out with a new brand licensing initiative to ease the process for international brands entering India and offering consumers more authentic and branded merchandise. In "a first of its kind" arrangement in the industry, Flipkart has tied up with Viacom 18 for the licensing of three large brands -- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spongebob Squarepants and Peanuts -- for sellers. Global brands are constantly looking to partner with the most competent manufacturers across categories, and Flipkart wants to become the licensing platform that connects these brands to the most deserving sellers in India, it said. The brands' "core pain points" like fakes and lack of transparency on retail sales can be addressed effectively through Flipkart's "superior analytics system and the tight control" it keeps on product quality, the company said. In addition, Flipkart's expertise across 70 plus product verticals will allow the company to offer these brands a more innovative approach towards merchandising and sales, it said in a release here. The sellers, in turn, will have the opportunity to create a better experience for buyers, by assuring them quality of authentic products and differentiating themselves from the clutter on the marketplace, it said further.

Sania, Saina, Deepika underlined growing might of sportswoman

 The Indian men's hockey team set an example by qualifying early for the Olympics and rounding off its rollercoaster journey this year with a bronze at the World Hockey League finals. But a tenacious women's team stole their thunder, making its way to the quadrennial event after 36 years to spice up the country's preparations for the 2016 Games. Three personalities rode the crest like the women's hockey team this year. Deepika Kumari led a confident group of archers as the country's women recurve team qualified for Rio. Wrestler Narsingh Yadav announced his arrival in the 74kg category, winning the World Championship bronze in Shiva Thapa,and raising questions about Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar's divine right to represent India at Rio. The third athlete was Shiva Thapa, who fought bravely in the World Boxing Championships to raise hopes of an Olympic quota before losing in the semifinals. A berth in the final would have helped Thapa fetch the country its first quota in boxing. It was the year of the underdogs, although at times it looked as if the big players would drown them out.

Full spectrum of bad, good for telecom

successful auction of airwaves and the launch of 4G services were the high points for India's telecom industry in 2015 even as the lingering problem of call drops and bottlenecks in infrastructure, notably on transmission towers, remained major areas of concern. Early in the year, the country saw the biggest auction of spectrum when the government garnered Rs 1.10 lakh crore ($17.6 billion) to licence 380.75MHz of airwaves in the 900MHz, 1,800MHz and 800MHz and 2100MHz bands across 17 out of 22 telecom circles. The telecom service providers that participated in the marathon auctioning were: Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Reliance Communications, Reliance Jio, Tata Teleservices, Telenor and Aircel.

Google launches Chromebit in India, priced at Rs 7,999

After Google CEO Sundar Pichai delivered his keynote today in Delhi, Caesar Sengupta Google VP, product management launched the Asus Chromebit. Priced at Rs 7,999, the smartphone will be available starting January 2016. Scientists amazed how quickly lizards evolved new feetFuturity The Ultimate Way to Get Cheap Hotel RoomsSave70 Recommended By Colombia It is a PC-on-a-stick with Google's Chrome OS built-in; users need to plug the stick in a TV/monitor and pair it with keyboard and mouse to turn it into a fully-functioning computer. Chromebit CS10 is the world's smallest Chrome OS device and features 2G RAM, 16GB of storage and a Rockchip quad-core RK3288C processor. The Asus Chromebit CS10 runs on Chrome OS operating system and includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a USB port connectivity options. It comes with free 100GB of Google Drive space for 2 years.

Facebook's Free Basics Trai submission runs into hot water

Various Facebook users on Friday reported that they had been "signed up" as supporters of Facebook's Free Basics service against their will. Multiple users reported being automatically signed up when they scrolled down the page using which one can send a template email to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in support of Free Basics, a Facebook program which provides certain internet services for free. Even as a strong verbal volley ensued, Facebook issued a formal statement saying no one was being signed up against their will. "Got conned into signing the #FreeBasics petition on FB. DON'T "SCROLL DOWN TO LEARN MORE"! Signs you up immediately!" tweeted@ accidenteshwari, along with a mobile phone screenshot of the prompt page. "OKay... FB just listed an uncle's account as having signed up to support Free Basics. He passed away two years ago," wrote@grondmaster on Twitter. In an official statement reacting to these user reports, Facebook said: "People are not being auto enrolled. To show support for Free Basics people are required to click 'send email' before their submission is made. There is a clear action required." At the time of going to press it wasn't yet known if this was a result of a programming bug. The letter to Trai in support of Free Basics says, "I support digital equality for India. Free Basics provides free access to essential Internet services, such as communication, education, healthcare, employment, farming information and more. It helps those who can't afford to pay for data, or who need a little help with getting started online. And it's open to all people, developers and mobile networks. With 1 billion Indian people not yet connected, shutting down Free Basics would hurt our country's most vulnerable people. I support Free Basics and digital equality for India. Thank you."

Roger Federer: I have no plans to retire after Olympics

Roger Federer, the 17-time Grand Slam singles champion, does not intend to retire after next year's Olympics. The Swiss will turn 35 during the Rio Games, where he will play in the singles and mixed doubles, although he has not decided on the doubles. "I've planned all of 2016, you know all the way through the Rio Olympics and beyond," he said. "No plans to retire yet. I don't have a definite date even though that would help to make things easier to plan." Federer, who has been competing in the International Premier Tennis League in India, added: "I'm looking forward to next year. "The Australian Open is obviously a big goal for me. And after that it's going to be a long, tough year. "So I'm happy I'm feeling fine physically and in good shape and of course, like I say so many times I hope I'm still on tour for a while."