Makkad G's 10101 | 02.16 | Aug 16-31, 2008

Makkad G's 10101

1nformation 0n 1ndian 0nline 1ndustry

(Beta…, Beti, Bhai, Behen. Every1's invited!)

Version 02.16

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Hello,

Here's your issue of Makkad G's 10101 for August 16–31, 2008.

Happy Reading!

Makkad G

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Talk of the Town

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Consim Info looking for strategic partner for its job portal ClickJobs

Consim Info (formerly BharatMatrimony group) is looking for a strategic partner for its job portal ClickJobs.com.

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Lifeblob raises $1 million funding from Seedfund

Bangalore-based online social media company Lifeblob, which recently showcased at the July 2008 edition of Proto.in, has received $1 million funding from Mumbai-based Seedfund.

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IIMs to announce CAT scores through SMS, email

Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs) have decided to make available the scores of the Common Entrance Test (CAT) through SMS and email.

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TRAI allows Internet Telephony in India

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has allowed internet telephony in the country. The move will enable one to make calls from personal computers to fixed line and mobile phones. Earlier, voice call made from one computer could travel to another computer but not from a mobile or a fixed line phone.

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Windows Live in talks with BSE, NSE to offer real-time search of stock quotes

Windows Live India is in talks with Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) to offer real-time search of stock quotes. The move is part of Microsoft's efforts to offer search content that is relevant to local people.

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Times Internet (Indiatimes) may acquire more internet properties

Times Internet Ltd (Indiatimes.com), which recently picked up 50 per cent stake in an online marketplace for books, A1Books.co.in, is now looking at acquiring more internet properties in the coming months, reports Afaqs.

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Sify cyber cafes to act like virtual office of Mumbai Municipal Corporation

Sify Technologies and Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai have signed a deal under which Mumbai's citizens will be able to pay water and property tax, renew shop and establishment licenses, apply for birth and death certificates as well as health licenses, and register complaints by visiting to any of the Sify's ePort cyber cafe chain in Mumbai.

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Nexus India closes its second fund of $220 million (Rs 960 crore)

Mumbai-based venture firm Nexus India Capital has closed its second fund of $220 million (about Rs 960 crore), more than double its first fund of $100 million. Nexus India's first fund has been deployed across 13 companies including DimDim, Games2Win, Komli, Kirusa, MapmyIndia and Mobile2Win.

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Sanskrit newspaper Sudharma goes online to reach larger audience

Mysore-based Sanskrit newspaper Sudharma has introduced its online version to increase its reach from the current 3,000 subscribers to a larger worldwide audience.

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Business networking site ZaaBiz launches its services in India

Australia-based business networking site ZaaBiz has launched its services in India as India has one of the highest numbers of networkers and almost 50 per cent of the members on its networking platform are Indians.

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Jewellery piece worth Rs 8 lakh sold on eBay India

An eBay India seller based in Jaipur has sold a red 3.69 carat ruby to an American eBay buyer for $19,600 (Rs 8,20,000). The ruby marks one of eBay India's most expensive transactions and is the most expensive jewellery item sold till date.

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Govt clears policy framework for commercial roll out of IPTV services

The government of India has cleared the policy framework for the commercial roll out of Internet Protocol TV services. IPTV involves delivery of television and video signals over a broadband network.

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Indian Railways plans to launch online auction of train tickets

Indian Railways plans to launch an online auction of its Sleeper and AC class train tickets. About 10 to 20 per cent seats in select trains may be made available for online bidding. The online auction would open 48 hours before the departure time and close two hours before the scheduled departure.

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Picsquare.com gets investment from offline printing company Bhola Digital Lab

Picsquare.com, an online photo sharing and printing company, has received investment from Bangalore-based printing solutions company Bhola Digital Lab. Picsquare has been using Bhola's printing services and the strategic alliance with the brick-and-mortar company is expected to help Picsquare solidify its position as one of the largest photo sharing company in India having presence both online and offline.

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Seventymm raises Rs 50 crore in Series C funding led by NEA-Indo US Ventures

Movie rental company Seventymm.com has raised Rs 50 crore in Series C funding led by NEA-Indo US Ventures. Seventymm had earlier raised Rs 40 crore in funding from VC firms including Matrix Partners India, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and ePlanet Ventures, who also participated in this round.

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MIH invests $10 million in mobile social network company BuzzCity

MIH, the investment arm of South African media conglomerate, Naspers, has invested $10 million in Singapore-based BuzzCity, which owns a mobile social network myGamma that has more than six lakh members from India.

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LaunchPad-Just Born Online (I just love the Betas!)

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LD Sharma's Shoogloo launches affiliate network powered by OMG

LD Sharma's online marketing company Shoogloo.com has launched an affiliate network, Shoogloo Network powered by OMG's technology. UK-based Online Media Group, a leading affiliate network with strong position in the Finance and Insurance sector, has clients like Aviva, Barclays, MBNA and Virgin.

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Pothi.com launched to enable writers self publish their books

Bangalore based Mudranik Technologies, a start-up founded by two IITians, has launched Pothi.com, an online self publishing platform that helps writers self publish their books in print without any upfront cost. The online store is currently live with around 20 books in English and Hindi.

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Zapak launches gaming CDs 'to beat lukewarm response for its downloadable games'

Zapak Digital Entertainment, which owns gaming portal Zapak.com, has started selling gaming CDs "to beat the lukewarm response for its downloadable online games segment". Zapak has already released 150,000 CDs priced between Rs 49 and Rs 99 depending on the publisher, gameplay and the artwork.

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PancreaticCancerIndia.com launched to build awareness on pancreatic cancer

A group of oncology experts in India have launched PancreaticCancerIndia.com, an online platform for building awareness on pancreatic cancer and periampullary tumors in patients and care givers as well as healthcare professionals.

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Komli Media launches `premium` technology channel

Display ad network Komli Media has launched a `premium` technology channel whose inventory includes Geek.com, Slashgear.com, MSExchange.org, Computing.net, Phonearena.com and Phonescoop.com. The new channel will enable brand advertisers to specifically target and focus on audiences like technology enthusiasts, developers, mobile enthusiasts and IT decision makers.

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Ramo Games launches kids gaming portal RamoGames.com

Ramo Games, a startup currently in stealth mode, has launched RamoGames.com, a kids gaming portal that features education games in different categories including geography, math and reading.

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Games2win launches online game Gunning for Gold to honour Abhinav Bindra

Online gaming company Games2win.com has released a game called Gunning for Gold to honour the ace shooter Abhinav Bindra who recently won India's first Olympic gold medal in an individual event at the Beijing Olympics.

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MeraMobi allows users to book air, rail tickets on GPRS-activated mobile phones

India Interactive Technologies, a joint venture between Sam Pitroda Group and Dainik Bhaskar newspaper, has launched MeraMobi, a GPRS-based service that allows users to book rail and air tickets, make utility bill payments, and get information on current affairs, stock markets and yellow pages.

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BigAdda launches its mobile version MobileAdda available through SMS, WAP

Social networking site BigAdda.com has launched its mobile version called, MobileAdda. MobileAdda will be available through SMS (BIGADDA to 55454), WAP (wap.bigadda.com) and a downloadable application (wap.bigadda.com/download) for over 500 different mobile phone models across all operators and networks nationally.

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India Today Group Online launches ITGO, Woman

India Today Group Online (Digital Today) has launched a general interest portal ITGO.in and a women-focused portal Woman.ITGO.in. The company is also believed to be planning to launch a revamped version of AajTak.com, the website for its Hindi news Channel Aaj Tak.

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Google launches its Map Maker service in India

Google has launched its Map Maker service in India. Google Map Maker, conceived and developed by the Indian engineering team, allows users to add or edit features, such as roads, businesses, parks, schools, apartment buildings and localities and also to add detailed information about these locations.

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R K Swamy BBDO launches HR services portal HRDirectionOnline.com

HR Direction, a division of advertising agency R K Swamy BBDO, has launched HRDirectionOnline.com that offers creative posters and e-mailers for internal communications through readymade creatives which can be customised by HR managers in any language font on their computers via an online editing interface.

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World Phone launches internet service at Rs 95 a month in Delhi/NCR

World Phone Internet Services has launched cable broadband internet service in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) at Rs 95 a month, at the speed of up to 256 kbps with a 200 MB data download limit.

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Nexus-Link.Un.Link

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TripAdvisor enters India; forges alliances with MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Cleartrip

Online travel community TripAdvisor, which is owned by US-based online travel company Expedia, has launched its local Indian site, TripAdvisor.in. TripAdvisor has also forged alliances with leading Indian online travel agencies including MakeMyTrip, Yatra and Cleartrip.

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Sridhar Ranganathan quits Yahoo to join mKhoj

Sudhir Ranganathan, former business head for Yahoo Local and Maps, has joined mobile ad network mKhoj. At mKhoj, Ranganathan will be responsible for developing and executing the product strategy.

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Cleartrip partners with Tata AIG to offer travel insurance for domestic flights

Online travel company Cleartrip.com has partnered with Tata AIG to offer travel insurance service to its users who book domestic airline tickets from the site.

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HP Snapfish to enable Indiaplaza customers print, share, store photographs online

Online photo service HP Snapfish has partnered with online shopping company Indiaplaza.in, formerly known as Fabmall.com, to enable customers of Indiaplaza to print, share and store photographs online. Indiaplaza customers would also be able to choose from an extensive range of personalized products by Snapfish.in.

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Pradeep Singh returns to Zee News Online as Business Head

Pradeep Singh has returned to Zee News Online as business head after a short, 10 month stint as group head, North and East, ad sales, Zapak.com. Singh had earlier worked with Zee News Online as a senior manager for two years.

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Open2save partners with Zook to make available 'best' deals on mobile phones

Open2save.in, an online aggregator of deals and discounts available in the Indian retail market, has partnered with mobile answer engine Zook.in to make available the 'best' deals and offers on GPRS-enabled mobile phones. Once the user finds a deal of interest, he can just click on 'Call Me' and get connected automatically from his mobile to open2save Deal Experts.

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Google to power Sify mail, chat service

Sify Technologies and Google have signed a deal under which Google Apps suite of communication and collaboration tools, including email, chat and online documents, will now power Sify mail and chat, as well as other applications using the Google Apps platform. According to Sify, the company will start launching these services for its users in the coming months.

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Jump Games launches its operations in US; appoints Amit Khanduja as EVP

Jump Games, a publisher and developer of mobile video games, has appointed Amit Khanduja as its executive vice president in US. The company has already launched its operations in US and is now 'aggressively looking' to acquire mobile content licences and brands for distribution to mobile phones worldwide.

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That's all for now folks!

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Makkad-G

Makkad G's 10101 | 02.15 | Aug 1-15, 2008

Makkad G's 10101

1nformation 0n 1ndian 0nline 1ndustry

(Beta…, Beti, Bhai, Behen. Every1's invited!)

Version 02.15

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Hello,

Here's your issue of Makkad G's 10101 for August 1–15, 2008.

Happy Reading!

Makkad G

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Talk of the Town

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Google working on plans to launch a venture capital arm
Google is reportedly working on plans to start a venture capital arm. The group will be led by David Drummond, Google`s senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer. The company has also hired William Maris, a former entrepreneur who has worked as an investor, to help set up the venture.

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Teach India programme gets 65% volunteers through website
The Times of India Group, which recently launched a social initiative called 'Teach India' to teach underprivileged children in India, has said that around 75,000 volunteers have enrolled for the Teach India programme, out of which around 48,000 people have enrolled through its website, Teach.TimesofIndia.com.

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Kidmondo.com enables parents to record and share their child's life
A couple in US have launched Kidmondo.com, an online baby journal and organizer that gives parents a central place to record their child`s milestones and share images with loved ones far and wide.

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HT Media eyes Rs 100 crore revenues from its internet business
HT Media (Hindustan Times) expects to earn Rs 100 crore in revenues from its internet business in around a year and a half. The company has invested around Rs 20 crore in the internet business so far, of a total planned investment of Rs 150 crore over the next three years.

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eBay India selling one product a minute; men account for 75% of shoppers
eBay India has said its online shopping and auctions site eBay.in is witnessing one product being sold on the site every minute. The company has also said that men in the age-group of 25-30 years account for 70-75 per cent of the shoppers on the eBay India site.

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Mobile gaming expected to generate $450 million revenue in India by 2012

India generated around $80 million in revenue through mobile gaming in 2007 and the figure is expected to reach $450 million by 2012, according to research firm Gartner. The country is also expected to account the most for total mobile gaming revenue in Asia.

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Burrp revamps its Events section, adds more categories

Burrp.com, a social recommender website for events and hangouts, has revamped its Events section, which now cover lifestyle-related listings from a number of categories including art, dance, fashion, film, festivals, food, drinks, health, nightlife, literature, sports and theatre.

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Voice search firm Ubona gets funding from Capital18

Ubona Technologies, a Bangalore-based startup that allows users in the city to speak the name of a restaurant over the phone and get connected directly to that restaurant, has received an undisclosed Series A round of investment from the Network18 Group's venture capital and private equity arm, Capital18.

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Hungama plans to sell ad inventory for entertainment portals

Virtual Marketing India (Hungama.com) is eyeing the ad inventory sales business in the entertainment portals category. Recently, Hungama appointed Kunal Arora as ad sales head, consumer business. Prior to joining Hungama, Arora was working as regional manager, ad sales for Yahoo India's North and East region.

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TripIt
TripIt is a travel itinerary planner. On sending TripIt one`s travel bookings, it builds an accessible master itinerary.

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LaunchPad-Just Born Online (I just love the Betas!)

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MySpace India launches local hubs for Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore

Social networking site MySpace India has revamped its India specific section Indihub, which offers MySpace news, specials, videos, friends, cool tips and hot news on what is happening in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. The company has also launched local hubs for these three cities and plans to launch more regional hubs in the future.

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Scrabulous brothers launch new Facebook game called Wordscraper

Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla of Kolkata, the two brothers who had developed an online wordgame called Scrabulous that became a hit among Facebook users and subsequently attracted a law suit from US-based toymaker Hasbro, have launched a new online word game called Wordscraper, with significant changes to make the game look less like Scrabble.

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Google opens its knowledge sharing site Knol for all

Google has opened Knol, a website that allows people to write about their areas of expertise under their bylines, for all. Knol, which stands for a unit of knowledge, was launched in December 2007 and had been limited to an invitation-only audience of contributors for the past seven months.

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GREEdge.com launched to help students prepare for Graduate Record Examination

Chennai-based Valued Epistemics has launched GREEdge.com, an online training platform for Graduate Record Examination aspirants across India.

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MagicBricks launches Call n Post helpline service

Real estate portal MagicBricks.com has launched Call n Post @ 0124 3915555, a helpline service which would enable property sellers and seekers to make a phone call and have their properties or requirements listed on the site. The move is aimed at making the process of property transactions available even to those people who don't have access to internet.

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ICICI Prudential, Dignity Foundation launch job portal for senior citizens

ActivAge, an organisation jointly formed by ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and Dignity Foundation, a non-profit organisation for ageing people, has launched DignitySecondCareers.org, a job portal for senior citizens above the age of 50 years who are looking for a productive way to spend their free time. The job listings on the portal include both paid and voluntary work.

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Google introduces Tamil News and Tamil Transliteration
Google India has introduced Google News in Tamil for the benefit of Tamil speaking people in India and overseas. This is the third Google News edition launched in India, after English and Hindi. The company has also unveiled Tamil transliteration on Google Search, Blogger and Orkut.

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Malayala Manorama launches matrimonial portal

ManoramaOnline, the online division of Kerala-based Malayala Manorama Group, has launched a matrimonial por tal m4marry.com for Keralites. ManoramaOnline already owns a shopping portal, ManoramaEMart.com, and is now looking at the real estate vertical.

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Rediff launches Bus FareSearch service

Rediff.com has launched Bus FareSearch that allows users to search for buses plying across seven states -- Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

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Ibibo launches travel search engine Bixee Travel; contextual ads platform AdX
Ibibo Web has launched Bixee Travel, a travel search engine that allows users to search for air, rail and bus tickets as well as hotel accommodation. The company has also launched a contextual advertising service called Bixee AdX.

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AOL India launches South Cinema channel on its portal

AOL India has launched a new entertainment section called South Cinema on its portal, AOL.in. The new channel offers entertainment content from the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam film industries.

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Cleartrip introduces hotel reviews powered by TripAdvisor

Online travel company Cleartrip.com has partnered with travel community site TripAdvisor to offer its users hotel reviews while they search for hotels on the Cleartrip site. Recently, Cleartrip.com redesigned its hotel information display and added hotel maps.

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Radio City launches social networking site for music lovers

FM radio station Radio City has launched PlanetRadiocity.com, a social networking site for music lovers. According to the company, PlanetRadiocity will try to boost independent bands, singers and musicians and help them showcase their talent.

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ApnaLoan launches credit card comparator

ApnaLoan.com has launched credit card comparator that allows users to compare about 212 credit cards issued by 28 issuers in India.

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Games2Win launches online game starring Manmohan Singh

Games2Win.com has released an online game on Singh is King starring Manmohan Singh. According to Games2Win, the game is a hilarious take on the Indian Prime Minister`s action-packed political career.

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LiveJournal launches writing contest for Indian writers

Community blogging platform LiveJournal in partnership with Caferati, a literary community, has launched Quick Tales, a writing contest designed to showcase best of Indian user-generated content to global audience. The LiveJournal-Caferati Flash-Fiction Contest, which is open till 7th September 2008, invites Indian writers to write a short story in no more than 500 words which has as its theme 'journal'.

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Shaadi.com makes its services available to Vodafone mobile users

Matrimony portal Shaadi.com has partnered with mobile operator Vodafone to make its services available on mobile plat form. The tie-up would enable Vodafone users to access Shaadi.com's services by calling 57007, sending Shaadi as an SMS to 57007 or by clicking on Shaadi.com link on Vodafone live.

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IndiaEnvironmentPortal.org.in launched to provide environmental information
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and National Knowledge Commission (NKC) have jointly launched IndiaEnvironmentPortal.org.in, an environment based portal targeted at users who look for environmental information.

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Google, Yahoo introduce one-click opt-out Ads policy

Yahoo and Google have introduced a one-click opt-out policy that allows users to shut off targeted advertising on these sites. The move follows scrutiny by a US Congressional committee over the intrusiveness of online advertising and behavioural targeting.

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Nexus-Link.Un.Link

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Times Internet (Indiatimes) acquires 50% stake in online book marketplace A1Books

Times Internet Limited, a part of the Times Group, has acquired 50 per cent stake in Webnotions Books India, which owns an online book marketplace A1Books.co.in. US-based Webnotions was founded in 1995 by Shinu Gupta. The company entered India in December 2007.

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People Group (Shaadi.com) appoints Badri Sanjeevi as CFO

People Group (Shaadi.com) has appointed Badri Sanjeevi as chief financial officer. Prior to joining People Group, Sanjeevi was with Deloitte MCS London where he was in-charge of strategic business planning, operational improvement, cost reduction, shared services and merger and acquisition related projects.

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InvestmentYogi launches personal finance portal; looks to raise $5 million VC fund

Hyderabad-based InvestmentYogi FinAdvisory Services has launched InvestmentYogi.com, a personal finance portal that aims to help users manage their money, plan their financial future and navigate through market fluctuations. The company is also looking to raise $5 million (around Rs 20 crore) venture capital fund to grow further.

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Uday Zokarkar quits as chief business officer of ClickJobs; to launch his own venture
Uday Zokarkar, chief business officer of ClickJobs.com, which is a part of Consim Info (BharatMatrimony), has put in his papers. He is expected to launch his own entrepreneurial venture in the next two weeks. Uday Zokarkar's new project would focus on the integration of conventional media like print, television and radio with internet.

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Friendster raises $20 million in funding; appoints Richard Kimber as CEO

Social networking company Friendster has appointed Richard Kimber, former regional managing director of South Asia at Google, as its new chief executive officer and a member of its board of directors. Recently, Friendster raised $20 million in funding.

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Google to sell its Performics search marketing unit to Publicis Groupe
Google has decided to sell its Performics search marketing unit to the France-based advertising holding company Publicis Groupe. Performics had been owned by DoubleClick, and ever since Google's acquisition of that company in March 2008, Google has been expected to unload Performics. The conflict of interest is pretty clear, given that Performics advises clients on how to maximize their visibility on Google.

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S Parameshwar appointed as CFO of Consim Info (BharatMatrimony)

Consim Info (formerly the BharatMatrimony group) has appointed Subramanyam Parameshwar as chief finance officer. Prior to joining Consim Group, Parameshwar was vice president, finance at Zenta Knowledge Services, a leader in US mortgage and realty services.

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FutureBazaar hires Wipro Technologies to redesign its online store

E-commerce site FutureBazaar.com, a subsidiary of Pantaloon Retail India, has hired Wipro Technologies to redesign its online store. FutureBazaar.com plans to relaunch its portal with more dedicated online stores and an extensive range of products which would include regional language movies and books from regional publishers.

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Kashyap Vadapalli joins eBay India as marketing director
eBay India has appointed Kashyap Vadapalli as director, marketing and operations. Prior to joining eBay India, Vadapalli was sales and operations manager at Google. He has also worked as director, sales and business development at Tata Interactive Services.

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Rajan Mehra, former country manager of eBay India, turns VC; joins Clearstone
Rajan Mehra, former country manager of eBay India, has become a venture capitalist. He has joined Clearstone Venture Advisors as venture partner. Rajan Mehra has an entrepreneurial background in the internet space. In 2000, he set up Bidorbuy.com (Bid or Buy) which was later acquired by Baazee.com (now eBay India).

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Consim Info (BharatMatrimony) appoints Media Direction as its media AoR

Consim Info, formerly known as BharatMatrimony Group, has appointed Media Direction, a part of RK Swamy Media Group, as its AoR (agency of record) to handle all its media buying and planning activities. The account size is pegged in excess of Rs 25 crore. Publicis Ambience handles the creative duties of Consim Info.

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Neeraj Sanan quits Web18 as CMO
Neeraj Sanan, chief marketing officer of Web18 has put in his papers citing personal reasons. He had joined Web18, which holds all the internet properties of the Network18 Group, in 2007. Before joining Web18, Sanan was deputy general manager, marketing in the consumer care division of Dabur India

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That's all for now folks!

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Makkad-G