Google to shut down Orkut on September 30

Well now it's going to happen ,we r gonna miss ORKUT . The nostalgia ,remember those days we were crazy for scraps .


"Over the past decade, YouTube, Blogger and Google+ have taken off, with communities springing up in every corner of the world. Because the growth of these communities has outpaced Orkut's growth, we've decided to bid Orkut farewell," Google said in a post on the Orkut blog on Monday.

Orkut was launched early in 2004, the same year that Facebook, now the world's No.1 social network with 1.28 billion users, was founded.
The service's shutdown comes as Google's social networking plans remain in question. In April, Vic Gundotra, the head of Google's social networking services, left the company.

Gundotra oversaw the 2011 launch of Google+, a social networking service similar to Facebook. Gundotra said in October that 300 million users visit the Google+ web page every month.

Google has increasingly sought to position Google+ less as a social networking "stream" that competes with Facebook, and more as a means of establishing a unified "user identity" system to improve Google's various Web properties. Last year, for example, Google began requiring users of its YouTube site to sign in with their Google+ identity before posting comments about videos.

The company said it would preserve an archive of all Orkut "communities" that will be available from Sept. 30.

"If you don't want your posts or name to be included in the community archive, you can remove Orkut permanently from your Google account," Google said.

The Big Winners at Google I/O 2014

Based on Google I/O, the next couple of years are going to be pretty amazing. In the fourth quarter, we should be up to our armpits in new phones and tablets that showcase what Google talked about on stage, and next year we'll have aftermarket radios that will connect far more intimately with our cars. If you want to buy a new phone, tablet or even car, it might be wise to wait a bit.

If you watched the keynote at last week's Google I/O, Nvidia clearly was the big winner. It was showcased in TVs, mobile devices and automotive as the supplier of a key technology. Other brands were mentioned, but it was Nvidia that was mentioned most consistently -- and it was its technology apparently running or connected to most of the demos.

Lenovo, on the other hand, was only mentioned in passing -- yet I think it actually was the other big winner. I'll explain, and then close with my product of the week: the BackBeat Fit, an amazing wireless headset from Plantronics for those of us trying to keep in shape.

There Are Partners and Then There Are Partners

Years ago, I was on a team that counseled vendors on how to make presentations to analysts and media, and one of the things we focused on was the fact that most vendors didn't understand partners. You see, anybody can put up a bunch of logos or get onto a list of a bunch of logos, but that isn't the important part.

The important part is where you rank in that group. Does the logo mean that some executive showed up at a meeting or simply called in a favor? Or does it mean that the relationship is strategic and truly beneficial?

Google put up a lot of names during its keynote -- car companies, technology companies, and other "partners" -- but Google is pretty much famous for blowing off other firms, so the fact that a brand is on the chart doesn't really mean that much. What matters is whether Google treats it as special or not, and that you don't get from a chart. You get that from behavior.

Nvidia Was Loved

In the Google I/O keynote and the events that followed, Nvidia came up again and again. In the gaming segment, it even figured in the talk preamble, which spoke to how mobile technology was starting to rival PC platforms.

It was almost word for word from Nvidia's pitch for K1, which is its mobile part designed with desktop graphics technology, and then Google actually referenced that part in the demonstration. What came out later was that the TV it was using for the demonstration also was using that part, and it would be a core component of the Google TV offerings coming to market.

When Google drifted to automotive with Android Auto, and it referenced Nvidia K1 again, likely because Nvidia has the strongest automotive effort in its segment, with design wins that cover most of Europe and are showcased in Teslas.

The only place this affinity broke down was in the aftermarket, where Nvidia isn't yet focused, but where Google clearly was moving, regardless. It embraced vendors like Clarion, Pioneer and Alpine. Google clearly understands that given the three-to-five year development cycle and the current three-to-10 year release cycle, car companies just don't cycle technology fast enough to drive a wave like this. However, the aftermarket updates at least annually and sometimes more quickly.

Perhaps the most interesting initiative tightly connected to Nvidia is Google's Project Tango -- strangely, not mentioned during the keynote. Project Tango is a tablet-sized 3D scanner that can be used to capture virtual images of rooms and objects. It can be used to virtually navigate a room later or as the front end for a 3D scanner. The development kit is Nvidia K1-based.

So, while other firms clearly were mentioned, Nvidia was loved, which suggests its relationship with Google is far more intimate. In partnerships, intimacy is important if the relationship is to be meaningful and lucrative.

Lenovo Got a Beachhead

One of the best received parts of the keynote came when Google promised to give attendees Samsung, LG or Motorola smartwatches. The best of the set, both from my view and the audience's -- based on the applause -- was the Moto 360 watch from Motorola. It actually looks and behaves like a watch and then magically transforms into a smartwatch when needed.

Lenovo is a huge power in China and a growing power in emerging markets with smartphones, but it barely has a presence in this segment in much of Europe and the U.S. It has been looking to establish a beachhead in the U.S. and European markets and recently bought Motorola from Google in order to get that beachhead.

Given that the audience for a developer conference typically is made up of technology geeks and influencers, the fact that they seemed to lust for the Moto 360 the most suggests that Lenovo got a huge win (assuming the acquisition goes through). It actually could use the success of the Moto 360 to become a player in the Google space but likely should consider Nvidia to get there.

Wrapping Up: It's Going to Be a Huge 4th Quarter

Based on what we saw at Google I/O, the next couple of years are going to be pretty amazing. In the fourth quarter, we should be up to our armpits in new phones and tablets that showcase what Google talked about on stage, and next year we'll have aftermarket radios that will connect far more intimately with our cars.

If Nvidia is successful with its modular initiative for in-car entertainment, then we should even have new cars that are far easier to upgrade. That suggests that if you want to buy a new phone, tablet or even car, it might be wise to wait a bit.

Google demonstrated the kind of cross-company integration that Microsoft's new CEO also is promising, and Google's success last week does suggest Microsoft is finally on the right path as well. In the end, Google did an impressive job at Google I/O, and both Nvidia and Lenovo benefited from it in particular.

Whoever prepped the folks who did the keynote at Google I/O did a particularly good job. It moved sharply, got lots of applause and was very entertaining.

In 'The Internet's Own Boy,' the Good Guy Doesn't Win

"Swartz clearly didn't want to do any harm. He wanted to help with what he saw as a major problem," said Rob Enderle, principal of the Enderle Group. "A lot of young hackers feel that way, and in that respect this movie is a good thing. Oftentimes, young adults don't have a sense of the risk they are taking and will do things without quite thinking them through."

The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, a documentary directed and produced by Brian Knappenberger, is opening at theaters and online this weekend -- and re-opening wounds about the subject and his suicide.

It is also serving as a reminder that often the good guy doesn't win, said Rob Enderle, principal of the Enderle Group.

"I hope that is the biggest takeaway people watching this movie have," he said. "If you are going to fight this fight, be aware it will get really ugly."

Who Was Aaron Swartz?

Aaron Swartz, a Harvard University fellow, computer program and Internet hacktivist, was responsible, among other things, for creating an open source system called "DeadDrop," which was posthumously developed by The New Yorker to allow informants to deliver documents anonymously. The Freedom of the Press Foundation has since taken over development of the software.

Swartz worked on a number of high-profile Internet projects, including RSS, Creative Commons and Reddit. He became a partner in Reddit after it merged with his company, Infogami. Swartz founded the group Demand Progress, which helped to derail the Stop Online Piracy Act that was making its way through Congress a few years ago.

The beginning of Swartz's undoing came early in 2011, when he was arrested for systematically downloading hundreds of academic journal articles from an MIT database. Federal prosecutors later charged him with two counts of wire fraud and numerous violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Swartz faced US$1 million in fines and 35 years in prison. He hanged himself following the prosecution's second refusal of a plea bargain. He was 26 years old.

The prosecution of Swartz's case has received heavy criticism for being overzealous.

Remembering Old Times

The Internet's Own Boy takes viewers through Swartz's accomplishments, followed by his standoff with federal prosecutors. The documentary became available on the Internet on demand on Friday, simultaneous with its release in major cities in the U.S. and Canada. Reviews so far have been positive.

Early reviews suggest that moviegoers are interested in more than just revisiting the Internet's "old days," circa 2009. The movie "may inspire people to ask hard questions about how the new world is being shaped away from view, behind closed doors," comments a fan reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes.

"A moving documentary that will leave you heartsick as well as more than a little angry," says another.

"The documentary's release as the net neutrality debate rages will only underscore what we have lost," notes a third.

The movie does have the potential to rile viewers, depending on how popular it becomes said David Johnson the CEO of Strategic Vision. 

It is not unheard of for laws to be passed or changed in memory of a person, although usually this person is a victim of a horrific crime. Not everyone would necessarily see Swartz as a victim, Johnson said.

Politics likely will influence viewers' sympathy toward Swartz, although this is not a simple Republican-Democratic divide issue, he remarked.

This movie perhaps will be viewed differently, coming as it does in the aftermath of Edward Snowden's numerous revelations about the erosion of privacy in the U.S. and around the world, than if it had come out earlier.

"I think people who might not have been sympathetic to Swartz in 2013 might be willing to look more favorably at what he was doing now," Johnson said.

"Swartz clearly didn't want to do any harm. He wanted to help with what he saw as a major problem," Enderle said. "A lot of young hackers feel that way, and in that respect this movie is a good thing. Oftentimes, young adults don't have a sense of the risk they are taking and will do things without quite thinking them through."

Sometimes, he reflected, you can accomplish the same goals without a huge risk. 

'Lifelike' New Robots Deliver News, Chat You Up

Kodomoroid and Otonaroid are "a big step towards autonomous human androids," said tech analyst Rob Enderle. "You not only need to get the computer core right, but the appearance and movements right -- otherwise, you end up with something really creepy, and these showcase creepy in spades." Still, "you have to start someplace, and these efforts represent the state of the art."

Two humanoid robots on Wednesday made their debut as part of a new exhibit at Japan's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, or Miraikan.

The newly unveiled Kodomoroid -- a child android -- and Otonaroid, an adult female android, are designed to fill human roles as the world's first android announcer and as the Miraikan's android science communicator, respectively.

Along with Telenoid -- a minimalistic humanlike robot introduced in 2010 by Osaka University and Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International -- the two are part of a new exhibition at the museum entitled, "Android: What is Human?" It is curated by Hiroshi Ishiguro, director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University.

A Variety of Voices and Languages

Androids are robots that closely resemble humans in appearance and movement, thanks in part to soft skin made from silicon and smooth motion made possible by artificial muscle.

As these resemblances become ever closer, the distinctions between robots and humans could become less and less clear, Miraikan noted.

Kodomoroid is a tele-operated android robot resembling a human child that can recite news reports gathered from around the world 24 hours a day in a variety of voices and languages.

Otonaroid is a teleoperated android robot resembling an adult female that has been "hired" by Miraikan as a robot science communicator. At the exhibition, visitors can have face-to-face conversations with Otonaroid and also operate it themselves.

Going beyond the most basic communication, the robots reportedly are able to use humor and display confusion as well. During a press preview, Kodomoroid reportedly told reporters her "dream" was to have her own TV show.

Also available at the exhibit is Telenoid, a tele-operated baby-like android robot with a minimal design, created in an attempt to embody the minimum physical requirements for human-like communication. The design of Telenoid omits specific human physical features in favor of a neutral humanoid appearance, so as to allow those communicating with it to imbue it with characteristics of their choosing.

The new Miraikan exhibit opened Wednesday and is expected to run for at least three years.

'Creepy in Spades'

Kodomoroid and Otonaroid are not the only examples of increasingly lifelike robots out there today. Pepper -- an android recently unveiled by Softbank that is designed to read human emotions -- is slated to become available in Japan in February for a base price of 198,000 yen (US$1,947).

Either way, Kodomoroid and Otonaroid are "a big step towards autonomous human androids," Rob Enderle, principal analyst with Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld. "You not only need to get the computer core right, but the appearance and movements right -- otherwise, you end up with something really creepy, and these showcase creepy in spades."

Still, "you have to start someplace, and these efforts represent the state of the art in terms of robotic humanlike animation -- and also showcase that we have a long way to go before we get this right," Enderle added.

"Initially, the most successful robots remain those that don't try to look human and focus on doing things machines do better than we do, but these efforts provide a stepping stone to much more humanlike future efforts that are a decade or more out," he predicted.

'This May Take 50 Years'

Indeed, "advancements continue to be made in the area of robotics, but robotics is very complicated," Jim McGregor, founder and principal analyst with Tirias Research, told us.

"You have to think of this as a long-term evolution in various technologies that will eventually impact just about every aspect of our lives," McGregor added, "but this may take 50 years, not the five or 10 everyone predicts." 

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Cruise RP-1 Kit Transforms Regular Audis Into Driverless Cars

Not quite fully autonomous, the Cruise RP-1 system kicks the concept of cruise control up a few notches. A qualified driver must be on board to steer the car on and off highways and to make any desired lane changes, but the automatic system can take over during long stretches, relieving tedium and allowing a driver to make more productive use of travel time.

Cruise aims to spark a revolution among autopilot technology with a US$10,000 accessory that consumers can use to create a self-driving car, of sorts.

At the heart of the Cruise RP-1 system is a sensor pod that gets mounted on the roof of a car. It utilizes cameras, data and radar to analyze the vehicle's surroundings. With that information, it can make changes in steering to keep a driver within lane boundaries, monitor nearby vehicles or other obstacles, and move or brake to avoid a collision.

The RP-1, which is meant to be used on the highway during daylight hours only, comes with an app that gives the driver insight into what the sensor pod is seeing and doing. So, a driver could steer a vehicle to the desired lane on a highway, then push a button to allow the RP-1 system to take control. The driver can regain control simply by tapping the gas pedal or grabbing the steering wheel, as with a standard cruise control system.

As of now, the technology is compatible only with Audi A4 and S4 models, but Cruise is working on expanding availability going forward.

Cruise opened preorders on Monday. The first 50 customers to pay the full $10k in advance will become members of the Founders Club. Others can reserve an RP-1 system for $1k.

The company is shooting for launch in the first half of 2015. That date depends on a few factors, though, including the results of third-party testing and ensuring compliance with California's restrictions on such devices.

Sweet Spot

Beyond being safer in general, driverless autos could provide more transportation freedom to non-drivers, such as the elderly or disabled, say proponents. Google is road-testing a driverless car that doesn't even have an interior steering wheel.

Cruise's technology isn't there yet -- it requires a driver at the wheel. It's designed to ease the driving experience and help people avoid mistakes that lead to collision, rather than to do all the driving automatically.

"Google is taking on some of those hard problems like people with a lack of mobility," Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt told the reporters, "but we're kind of starting from the opposite end, helping people who maybe get stuck in traffic and building on that. We see ourselves tackling those hard problems several years down the road."

New Approach

One of the company's biggest challenges will be winning consumer approval and trust, Vogt acknowledged. Giving up even a little control of a vehicle can be a scary thing, and an established brand like Google might have an easier time getting people on board.

That attitude is understandable, said Vogt, which is one of the reasons Cruise unveiled the RP-1 so early.

"We are working to earn our consumer's trust by doing plenty of demos, being transparent about what we're doing with testing, and bringing in third-party testers," he noted. "We wanted to announce this well before we launched the first prototypes, so that we could have time to win confidence."

That's a smart startup branding strategy, said Alain Kornhauser, professor of operations research and financial engineering at Princeton University, and director of its Transportation Program. It is a great way to get people talking about the potential of a quality product.

"The challenge is trust. It may take a little while, but I'm sure that they'll brand their message so people will trust them more than GM," Kornhauser told the reporters. "There is a substantial base of drivers that would love to take their hands off the wheel some of the time. This has the opportunity to go viral. If not this effort, it could lead to others sprouting out around it."

A facebook Tech Page You Gonna Like

Hey guys i Just Came across a facebook page that gives my blog updates and guess what , the admin turned out to be my friend so he made me an admin too . the page is relatively new so i ask you guys to be there on the page  and post some real awesome things . you know what , i like people thinking innovatively so you got a chance to raise a awesome page.so grab it now here's the link - https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-SuPer-TEch-Devilz

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