Makkad G's 10101
1nformation 0n 1ndian 0nline 1ndustry
(Beta…, Beti, Bhai, Behen. Every1's invited!)
Version 02.06
-
Hello,
Here's your issue of Makkad G's 10101 for March 16–31, 2008.
Happy Reading!
Makkad G
-
Talk of the Town
-
Facebook to launch Instant Messaging Service
Facebook is testing a new instant messaging service and is planning to launch it soon. TechCrunch writes that the service will be built into user's Facebook pages and allow them to web chat with their Facebook friends.
-
Mozilla may launch Firefox 3 for general internet users by end of Jun 08 |
Firefox 3, a new version of Mozilla's Firefox web browser, is ready for the masses to use after months of development, reports Reuters. Firefox 3 is believed to use less computer memory than Firefox 2. |
-
Joost to allow users watch videos directly through a browser |
Internet TV startup Joost, which offers TV shows and other forms of video over the web using peer-to-peer TV technology, is planning to allow its users watch the video directly through a web browser, instead of requiring them to download a special software, according to Portfolio. |
-
BlogCamp Mumbai to organise an unconference on blogging on 29 March at IIT Powai |
BlogCamp Mumbai is organising an unconference focusing exclusively on blogging on 29th March 2008 at IIT Powai (Mumbai). BlogCamp is an event by and for bloggers where they meet in an informal way to discuss issues related to blogging. BlogCamp Mumbai is expected to witness discussions, demos and interaction between attendee bloggers. |
-
Ticketvala.com opens offices in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad |
Mumbai-based bus ticketing company Ticketvala.com has opened its offices in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Ticketvala, which launched in July 2007, has already established its presence in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Pune. |
-
HT Media to launch job portal Shine.com |
Firefly e-Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HT Media, is preparing to launch an online job portal Shine.com. According to Firefly e-Ventures, Shine aims to bring to its users "the best job opportunities, relevant career advice, updated company and industry information, and the most comprehensive salary benchmarking tool." |
-
Nimbus to offer live streaming of cricket matches on CricketNirvana.com |
Nimbus Communication, which owns media rights for all international and domestic cricket controlled by BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and to be played in India till March 31, 2010, has launched CricketNirvana.com, which will offer live streaming of cricket matches with claims to match the TV experience on the Net. |
-
India plans to launch web portals on water, food, health, education |
India's National Knowledge Commission, a high-level advisory body constituted to advise the prime minister of India on how to transform the country into a knowledge society, is planning to launch a series of web portals dealing with certain key sectors like water, energy, environment, education, food, health, agriculture, employment and citizens. |
-
PapyrusClubs.com to help schools, colleges create their own online newspapers |
Hyderabad-based Deccan Chronicle group in association with NetLink Technologies has launched PapyrusClubs.com that aims to help schools and colleges create their own online newspapers. The website also allows students to interact with other fellow students across the country. |
-
Delhi has 84 internet connections for every 1000 citizens: Survey |
According to the Dataquest-IDC e-Gov Survey 2008, Delhi, Goa and Maharashtra are the three leading states in India in terms of internet penetration with 84, 28 and 20 internet connections respectively for every 1000 citizens. The states with the lowest internet connections are Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Assam with 0.9, 1.2 and 1.4 connections respectively for every 1000 citizens. |
-
Cleartrip rated as most user-friendly travel portal by JuxtConsult |
Online travel company Cleartrip.com has been rated as India's most user-friendly travel portal by an online research and advisory firm JuxtConsult. The JuxtConsult research conducted on the online travel portals involved all the leading players in the segment -- Cleartrip, MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Travelguru and Indiatimes Travel. |
-
European competitor to Google- Quaero, gets $152 million grant from EU |
French president Jacques Chirac has pledged to help fund a new European internet search engine Quaero, to rival Google and Yahoo as he railed against what he sees as the threat of Anglo-Saxon cultural imperialism. |
-
Online matrimony sector currently worth Rs 140 crore: Report
According to a report published in India Today, the online matrimony sector with 100 odd marriage sites is currently worth Rs 140 crore, up from Rs 58 crore in 2006. The year-on-year growth for matrimonial services is 130 per cent, while that of dating sites is 88 per cent.
-
Sulekha.com eyes $30 million in revenues by 2009; IPO on card
Local commerce portal Sulekha.com is preparing to enter the capital market by launching its IPO (initial public offering) sometime in 2009, by when the company is expecting to record revenues of $30 million (about Rs 120 crore).
-
MagicBricks property show in Delhi nets Rs 50 crore
Real estate portal MagicBricks.com has said its offline property fair 'Goa Property Show' organised on 15th and 16th March 2008 in Delhi witnessed the participation of over 3,000 home seekers who conducted business of over Rs 50 crore.
-
Yahoo agrees to work with Google, MySpace on OpenSocial initiative
Yahoo has joined Google's OpenSocial initiative for creating photo-sharing and other social tools that work across the Web. The two internet giants along with News Corp's MySpace, which earlier pledged support for the initiative, have said they are forming a non-profit organization, OpenSocial Foundation, to ensure that the platform remains neutral and viable.
-
Publicis Groupe's digital marketing company Digitas enters India
Digitas, a digital marketing company acquired by Publicis Groupe in January 2007 for $1.3 billion, has announced its entry in the Indian market by merging itself with Solutions, an India and Singapore based integrated marketing services company owned by Publicis Groupe.
-
Instablogs.com seeks $3 million of funding
Citizen journalism site Instablogs.com is negotiating a $3 million round of funding, reports TechCrunch. Instablogs recorded $300,000 in revenue last year and claims to have over 12,000 registered members and witnessing more than 2.5 million page views a month.
-
Wikipedia to get $3 million in donation from Sloan Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization which runs the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, has received a commitment from Alfred P Sloan Foundation which will donate $1 million to Wikimedia per year over the next three years.
-
Internet advertising expected to touch Rs 1,100 crore in 2012
Internet advertising will grow 32 per cent over the next five years and touch Rs 1,100 crore in 2012 from Rs 270 crore in 2007, according to a study released by FICCI and PricewaterhouseCoopers. In 2007, the segment grew 69 per cent to Rs 270 crore from Rs 160 crore in the previous year, the study states.
-
Sherpalo Ventures, KPCB buy 15% stake in FutureBazaar.com
Sherpalo Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) have together picked up 15 per cent stake in the Future Group's e-commerce portal FutureBazaar.com, reports ContentSutra quoting Ram Shriram, founder of Sherpalo Ventures.
-
ApnaLoan promises to call people within 60 seconds of receiving an SMS
ApnaLoan.com, an online marketplace for loan products, has launched a new service under which the company promises to give a phone call within 60 seconds of receiving an SMS from people interested in a loan or insurance product.
-
Campus18.com announces winners of 'Best Video Talent' contest
Tangerine Digital Entertainment's youth portal Campus18.com has announced the winners of its online reality contest, 'Digistars: War of the Videos' that aimed to identify India's 'Best Video Talent' in film making, acting and editing.
-
WebSight!-Spin the Web. Explore!
-
Goafest.com offers exclusive downloadable font called Goaface |
Goafest 2008, the advertising festival organised by Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and Ad Club Bombay, has launched a new version of the Goafest site, Goafest.com that provides information about the awards. |
-
LaunchPad-Just Born Online (I just love the Betas!)
-
Agencyfaqs launches an online marketplace Freelance Exchange
-
Games2win introduces casual online game Miss Malfunction |
Online gaming portal Games2win.com, which claims to attract three million visitors a month from over 200 countries around the world, has launched Miss Malfunction, a casual online game inspired by wardrobe malfunction at fashion events. |
-
Jivox launches 'do-it-yourself' online video advertising service in India |
US-based Jivox, a self-service online video advertising platform for businesses, has entered India with the launch of Jivox Software India Pvt Ltd. |
-
HolidayIQ launches in-video ads; gets Kingfisher Airlines as its first advertiser |
Travel review portal HolidayIQ.com has launched in-video advertisements in its travel video section. According to HolidayIQ, Kingfisher Airlines has become the first in-video advertiser on its site. |
-
LinkedIn introduces Company Profiles |
Business networking site LinkedIn has introduced Company Profiles, a new research tool that helps users find and explore companies that they might want to work for or do business with. |
-
Amazon launches Fulfilment Web Service for online merchants |
E-commerce giant Amazon has launched Fulfilment Web Service (FWS) that would allow merchants to tap in to Amazon's network of fulfilment centres and its expertise in logistics to simplify the distribution of goods sold through their storefronts. |
-
Yahoo India Maps shows Indian city maps in local languages
Yahoo India Maps, which is powered by MapMyIndia.com, has introduced a new feature called Vernacular which shows Indian city maps in local languages. For instance, if a user opens up Yahoo Maps India and goes to Gujarat, he can click on the 'vernacular' option and see Yahoo India Maps in Gujarati. Similarly if he searches for Mumbai, he can see the map in Marathi.
-
PayMate, Tata Indicom jointly launch air tickets booking facility on mobile phone
Tata Teleservices in partnership with mobile payment company PayMate has launched a new service that would enable the Tata Indicom subscribers to book flight tickets on their mobile phones. According to Tata Teleservices, its customers would need to download an application from Tata Zone to be able to use the new service.
-
NDTVArabia.tv launched as an online extension of TV channel NDTV Arabia
NDTV Convergence, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NDTV Networks, has launched NDTVArabia.tv. The website, an online version of the TV channel NDTV Arabia, will cater to the large Indian Diaspora in the region and also allow viewers of NDTV Arabia to interact with the channel.
-
Google launches new tool to display statistics about videos uploaded on YouTube
Google-owned video sharing site YouTube.com has launched YouTube Insight, a free tool that enables anyone with a YouTube account -- users, partners, and advertisers -- to view detailed statistics about the videos that they upload. The detailed statistics could include information like how often their videos are viewed in different geographic regions and how popular they are relative to all videos in that market over a given period of time.
-
Business Standard launches Hindi business news site BSHindi.com
Business Standard has unveiled a Hindi business news website BSHindi.com as an extension to its Hindi business newspaper, which was launched in February 2008. The website is currently offering business news related to the stock markets, companies, economy and investments. It has also a dedicated section for regional business news.
-
Sify launches micro-site to support Earth Hour campaign on global warming
Sify.com has launched a micro-site as a part of its initiative to support the Earth Hour 2008 campaign that encourages businesses, communities and individuals to turn off the lights for one hour at 8 pm on Saturday, March 29, 2008 to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming.
-
Indiatimes launches voice-based value added service at 58888 |
Indiatimes has launched a new voice-based value added service where mobile phone users can dial 58888 to get access to news flash, Bollywood gossip, astro tips, music and ringtones. The company also plans to offer gaming, social networking, blogging and various other interactive forums like reality shows through its 58888 Mobile Voice (VAS) service. |
-
Adobe launches Web version of Photoshop |
Adobe Systems has launched Adobe Photoshop Express, an online photo storage, editing and sharing platform that allows internet users to store up to 2 gigabytes of images online for free, make edits to their photos, and share them online in creative ways, including downloading and uploading photos from popular social networking sites like Facebook. |
-
Google launches portal for non-profit organizations |
Google has launched Google For Non-Profits, an online package of Google apps for non-profit organisations. The package includes Google Grants that would allow non-profit organisations to reach and engage their supporters through free online advertising; and Checkout that would enable the organisations to collect donations online and process them for free, with no monthly, setup, or gateway fees. - |
BAG Films launches entertainment portal E24Bollywood.com
BAG Films & Media has launched E24Bollywood.com, a Bollywood focused entertainment portal that follows the launch of BAG Films' entertainment news channel, E24.
-
SimplyMarryZine launches 'Writer in You' contest
SimplyMarryZine.com, a specialised matrimonial content portal, has launched an online contest called Writer in You that encourages readers to share their stories and experiences related with marriage. The selected stories will be featured on SimplyMarryZine.com. The contest winners will also get a chance to win rewards like a cash prize of Rs 10,000, holiday vouchers, and gift hampers.
-
Apple introduces Safari 3.1 web browser for Mac, Windows PCs Apple has introduced Safari 3.1, touted as the fastest web browser for Mac and Windows PCs. The company claims that Safari loads web pages 1.9 times faster than IE 7 and 1.7 times faster than Firefox 2.
-
Yatra.com offers 51% Cash Back on companion's travel
Online travel company Yatra.com has launched a new scheme under which the company would be offering up to 51 per cent cash back on companion's travel on both international and domestic holiday packages booked 45 days in advance.
-
Nexus-Link.Un.Link
-
Rajneesh Chopra joins Microsoft as director, Windows Live Commercial
Microsoft India has appointed Rajneesh Chopra as director, Windows Live Commercial. Prior to joining Microsoft India, Chopra was general manager, marketing, at Web18, a part of Network18 Group. He has also worked at Indiatimes.com where he headed the CRM division.
-
Microsoft buys ad inventory management firm Rapt
Microsoft has acquired Rapt, an ad inventory management company. Rapt's solutions will be integrated with the Atlas Publisher Suite, under Microsoft's Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group. Atlas became a part of Microsoft with the acquisition of aQuantive a few months back for 6 billion dollars.
-
Pinstorm, Lintas Media sign Rs 100 crore Performance Alliance
Lintas Media Group and Pinstorm, two leading firms in the offline and online advertising worlds, have announced a non-equity partnership designed to push clients to performance-driven media choices. The companies hope that the alliance would be able to drive an incremental Rs 100 crore of advertising to move over from traditional models to a performance-driven model in the next 12 months.
-
BigFlicks partners with Raj TV for its video-on-demand service
Movie rental service BigFlicks, a part of Reliance ADA group, has partnered with the media and entertainment company Raj Television Network for its video-on-demand division, Broadband.BigFlicks.com.
-
Anand Jhingan to head international business of Hungama Mobile Digital entertainment company Hungama has made three key appointments to strengthen its business operations in South Asia. The company has appointed Anand Jhingan as senior vice president, international mobile business; Hemant Jain as senior vice president, domestic mobile business; and Manan Chhatrapati as chief technology officer.
-
Yahoo partners with Tata Sons' CRL to collaborate on cloud computing research
Yahoo has signed an agreement with Computational Research Laboratories (CRL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Limited, to jointly support cloud computing research. As part of the agreement, CRL will make available to researchers one of the world's top five supercomputers that is claimed to have substantially more processors than any supercomputer currently available for cloud computing research.
-
Seventymm ties-up with Palador Pictures to bring world cinema to India
Movie rental company Seventymm.com has partnered with foreign language film distributor Palador Pictures to augment its portfolio of movies by adding films made by renowned directors like Akira Kurosawa, Francois Truffaut and Wong-Kar Wai.
-
FutureBazaar.com hires Firang agency to overhaul its website
E-commerce company FutureBazaar.com, a subsidiary of Pantaloon Retail India, has hired US-based Art Technology Group to create a "next-generation" website that Future Bazaar promises will deliver its customers a "highly personalized, efficient and intuitive shopping experience".
-
BCCI hires a US-based company to develop and run its websites
Indian Premier League, a Twenty20 cricket competition created by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), plans to formally launch its website IndianPremierLeague.com on 7th April while BCCI's much awaited portal BCCI.tv is expected to get launched in July 2008. The IPL website will be run by a US-based company which will also develop a portal for BCCI.
-
Shoumitra Choudhuri joins Tribal DDB as executive creative director
Tribal DDB, the digital arm of Mudra Advertising, has appointed Shoumitra Rai Choudhuri as executive creative director. Prior to joining Tribal DDB, Choudhuri was associate vice president at JWT Delhi.
-
Nathan Richardson to replace Rafat Ali as CEO of ContentNext Media
ContentNext Media, owner of PaidContent.org and ContentSutra.com, has appointed former Dow Jones executive Nathan Richardson as the company's new CEO. Nathan Richardson has also worked as general manager of Yahoo Finance.
-
Airtel partners with Google, Shaadi, Naukri to launch AirteLlive.com
Airtel Telemedia Services, a broadband and telephone service provider, has partnered with Google, Shaadi.com, Naukri.com, and 24x7guru.com amongst others to launch an all-in-one internet portal AirtelLive.com for its broadband customers.
-
Yahoo India R&D appoints Ram Narayanan as VP, Product Management
Yahoo India Research & Development has appointed Ram Narayanan as vice president, product management, at its Marketing Products Division. Prior to joining Yahoo India, Narayanan was head of Unlimited Potential Group at Microsoft India.
-
WOW-Worth 'O' Watch!
-
Proto.in unveils Startup Lunch Initiative to enable startups find talented people
Proto.in, which seeks to provide entrepreneurs a platform to showcase their working prototype for the world to see, is planning to organise Startup Lunch in cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad where startups and talented people could meet over lunch and explore whether they would like to work with each other.
-
That's all for now folks!
-
Makkad-G
