Web becomes virtual crisis centre in NZ quake

Victims and survivors of the New Zealand earthquake are using the web as a virtual crisis centre, searching for missing people and even offering survivors a place to stay.

Information is flowing out from Christchurch to sites such as web giant Google's Crisis Response service where people can add or request information on individuals.

The site's person finder tool has records on around 8,000 people in the area. But a random search illustrates the confusion in the shattered city.

People searching for a man named John Bing have been told in one message "fatal injuries sustained as result of continuously falling debris", whereas another message says he is "safe and sound, with other Telecom employees."

Google offered similar services for victims of the recent earthquakes in Chile and Haiti , and later used its Google Earth satellite imagery service to capture the scale of the devastation.

The site has emergency telephone numbers and other resources such as a link to donate to the New Zealand Red Cross.

And the New Zealand Herald newspaper's website has scrolling updates from micro-blogging site Twitter and social media giant Facebook.

Google planning 'radical' new Chrome browser

Software developers working on Google's popular Chrome browser are testing "radical" changes to its appearance.

Sources close to the company said the address bar currently takes up a significant amount of space that could be used for web browsing. One plan being considered would mean it was only visible when users made their mouse pointer hover over a specific part of the screen, the Telegraph reports.

The new "compact" navigation mode, described on the Chromium website as one of two key focuses for development, would take the web address bar out of each tab, releasing more screen space to display web pages.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9, which is available in a nearly final pre-release version, adopts a similar approach already. Chrome, however, is thought to be planning a significantly more stripped down version, working towards releasing almost the entire screen for web browsing.

More than 120 million users now use Google Chrome, which has been heavily advertised by Google. The company is also working on a 'Chrome OS' rival to Microsoft Windows.

Google updates Chrome every six weeks, but major upgrades tend to be far less frequent.

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Cyber crimes: Are we secured enough?

The everyday progress in the field of information technology connects the world in even faster way and has become a vital and integral part of all the businesses. But at the same time, the new advancements throw up unprecedented functionality risks of information security. Taking a bigger picture, homeland security is critical to the overall security of the entire country. Recent terror attacks and other security concerns pertaining to domestic law and order situation have prompted the Central and State governments to focus on the modernisation and up gradation of the country's security infrastructure.

Responding to the importance of the IT security subject and homeland security, The Economic Times organised a summit titled 'Secure India Summit' in association with Wipro and Cisco , recently , in the Capital.

The summit addressed information and homeland security challenges facing the Indian Government and the society at large today. It was more of a platform to people in IT business across industries to share problems and discuss possible solutions. 'Security' , in this summit, was defined as doing business in new ways that reflect the emerging dangers across the globe, evolving concerns of customers, investors and employees.

How do we secure India, questions G K Pillai, union home secretary , Government of India, while giving his keynote address at the summit. "Navy , cost guard, border security force, air force and army - they all are there to protect India . But this is just one aspect of securing India. How to secure your business and house is another aspect. You can't secure one aspect leaving another insecure, for everything is connected. For example , in an office if one person tries to break the LAN rules, everybody else's security goes for a toss. So there are vested interests in saying that protection (related to information, data, house, business) is not up to the mark as everybody needs foolproof security" , said Pillai.

The increase in the use of Internet , laptops, mobiles have surely eased our lives but have lead to problems like hacking, theft of data and attacks of viruses. Security breaches are on the rise and it is quite obvious that without government intervention on rules, responsibilities and formal procedures, an information security framework can not prove effective.

Post-Windows alliance, Nokia may show the door to many Indian techies

For hundreds of engineers at Nokia's Bangalore research centre, the smartphone alliance with Microsoft means uncertainty about future roles and immediate anxiety on job prospects, as the companies prepare to align their operations across the globe.

While Nokia's decision to make Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 its primary platform for smartphones is aimed at reviving its flagging handset business and compete better with aggressive rivals such as Samsung and Apple, it also means loss of job for many engineers working on the Symbian platform.

In India too, some Nokia engineers could lose jobs as part of a global restructuring. The handset-maker employs around 2,500 engineers in its Bangalore centre.

"Many Symbian projects are shifting back to Finland from Bangalore. The company might give us some new projects," said a Symbian engineer in Bangalore, concerned about the uncertainty. He requested anonymity.

Globally, the company has said it is looking for alternative employment for workers who will lose their jobs at the Finnish mobile manufacturer due to its strategic shift.

The company is already facing backlash from Symbian developer community worldwide, on forums, blogs, tweets. Symbian is one of the most used mobile phone operating system in the world, having an installed base of over 200 million phones.

At Nokia's own forum, developers feel cheated, due to the shifting strategy of Nokia - first from Symbian, to Meego, a Linux based operating system for phones, to Maemo, and now Windows Phone 7.

"We want MeeGo and Qt," says a developer on blogs.forum.nokia. Other said: "Farewell to freedom and openness." Qt is an open source framework for developing mobile phone apps across platforms, largely used by Symbian developers.

RIM says rivals will face same pressure from India

Research In Motion (RIM), looking to fend off rivals and assure wary Indian customers of its encrypted communications services, said its major competitors would face the same pressures over government security concerns.

The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, which has been grappling with the Indian government for years, said it appreciated New Delhi's security concerns and was willing to discuss industry-wide policy changes.

But it also warned that draconian measures would limit India's economic development, including its massive business outsourcing industry.

" RIM fully appreciates and supports the priority India rightly places on national security," the Canadian company said in a statement on Tuesday addressed to enterprise customers -- businesses, professionals and government agencies -- in the world's fastest growing mobile phone market.

The Indian government is fearful that encrypted BlackBerry services could be used to foster unrest or allow militants to organize or carry out attacks.

But RIM noted that, in numerous meetings, the Indian government has also shown it recognizes encryption is fundamental to attracting and maintaining international business.