NEW DELHI, JAN 4: Hyderabad-based IT company Value Labs, Malaysian broadcaster Astro and news channel NDTV on Wednesday announced they had bought out Living Media in radio channel Red FM.

The Financial Express writes:
“The deal should not be more than Rs 30-35 crore,” industry sources indicated. No confirmation was available on the exact nature of financial arrangement between the three investors.

While Astro, being a foreign company can hold only 20% (foreign direct investment in private FM radio is capped at 20%), NDTV’s stake (purchased by NDTV News, a fully-owned subsidiary of NDTV) is expected to be in the same region. ValueLabs is the majority stake holder. Together, the three investors will acquire Radio Today (Mumbai) Broadcasting Ltd, Radio Today (Delhi) Broadcasting Ltd and Radio Today (Calcutta) Broadcasting Ltd from the Living Media Group. The three radio companies hold licenses for FM radio broadcasting in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata respectively, under the Red FM brand.

The sources said, Red FM was scouting for funds to kick-start the phase-II of private FM radio. “NDTV was interested in FM radio business as it had done a market study before the FM-II bidding process began. The fact that they did not submit their application was very surprising,” an industry observer said.

Other existing private FM operators reacted sharply to the change of ownership in Red FM. “Its surprising that NDTV is not the majority stake holder in Red FM. Unless they have a full-fledged command over programming and marketing operations, the deal will not make financial sense to them,” a senior executive of a leading FM station told FE. While Arjun Rao, founder promoter and CEO of Value Labs termed the investment as expanding into the radio sector to build upon their global experience in the multimedia space, Narayan Rao, director, NDTV summed it up as an “option of migrating to phase II without the old fixed license regime.”

“Pack could grease entry into enterprises” – Phil Muncaster, IT Week

Google has launched a beta of a free collection of applications, including some from other vendors, to help users download, install and maintain software to use the internet more effectively.

The new Google Pack – available here – is primarily aimed at consumers, but experts said it could also raise the search giant’s profile within enterprises.

Google Pack was launched at the International Consumer Electronics Show and its tools include Google Earth satellite imaging software, the Google Talk instant messaging application, Google Toolbar for web browsers and Google’s desktop search software.

The pack also features Mozilla’s Firefox web browser, a version of Norton AntiVirus software from Symantec and Adobe Reader 7.

Google Updater, also included, is a new tool that will download, install and uninstall, and maintain all the software in the Google Pack, ensuring each program is up to date by alerting users when new updates become available, according to the company.

Mike Davis of analyst Butler Group said the announcement shows that Google is trying to challenge Microsoft’s dominance of the desktop, both at home and in the enterprise. “A few years ago people were taking technology home from work, but [more recently] this has reversed, with things like instant messaging starting in the home environment and then moving to the office,” Davis said. ” If X million people have a free packet of software that can be automated, updated and supported, and it is not in the corporate environment, there will be a push for change [so it can be used] at the enterprise level.”

Davis added that Google’s announcement would raise the profile of the company’s brand and alter perceptions that it is solely a provider of search functionality.
However, David Bradshaw of analyst firm Ovum said Google Pack does not offer any applications that cannot already be downloaded from the internet for free, except for the Norton software.

“Google is marking time [with this release],” Bradshaw commented. “It had to announce something in the software domain so it put together [this bundle]. Everyone expects it to launch something to challenge Microsoft but this isn’t it.”

Schmidt’s Google Super-Sizes Mini Search Box – Forbes.com

Chief Executive Eric Schmidt’s Google announced Thursday new double and triple capacities for its Mini search device, letting companies peruse their Web sites and internal networks the same way that Google’s flagship search engine scours the Internet.

Instant messaging service will be available on mobile devices.

Continuing its push into the mobile space, Google is making its Google Talk instant messaging service available to BlackBerry users, Google and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion announced Thursday.

Google Talk for BlackBerry is a version of the instant messaging application that was designed for BlackBerry devices. The application will be much like Google Talk for PCs so when users download the client software they’ll see their existing Google Talk contact list, be able to add and alter contacts, know when contacts are online, and send and receive messages. Users will be notified on the home screen of the BlackBerry when new messages arrive in Google Talk.

BlackBerry users can download the application for free but they may be charged by their mobile operator for data transmitted when using the service.

Google Talk for BlackBerry is expected to be available in the second quarter.

Its Bakrid today for muslims worldwide and in India. Its festival time for them. But on the other side, its the worst day for the poor goats. A day for which they are feeded/grown. Yes, I am talking about the goats which are sacrifised on this day. Also called as Bakras. The word bakra today means idiot or fool. even MTV takes its advantage and makes a show. huh… bakra? what kind of world are we living in? can we make fun of an animals name?
If these MTV bakra show assholes ever come to me, that will be their worst day.

Coming back.. I see burnt heads lying everywhere on the streets of Hyderabad today. People are buying these heads. Have no idea what they will do with the heads. May be a dish with heads? I am sure its the same case all over India. I feel this country and its people have a lot to learn…. I do love my country and its people but some activities really make me an enemy to the whole system. This is not just about the muslim community, even hindus and others do such things. I dont understand how they can be so ignorant about the life of a poor animal. How can a man be so cruel? I dont oppose eating them, but why sacrifise? If you are going to a 100 goats will you be a millionaire?

Where are these blue cross societies gone on this day? why does everyone sit silent?

Some words for those who enjoy seeing them die:
———-
If we show the same spirit of sacrifice as was shown by Ibrahim, God would rend the clouds and shower on us His blessing as He did on Ibrahim… The greater the sacrifices are made the purer and more chastened shall we emerge like gold from fire… So my message to you all is of hope, courage and confidence.
- From Jinnah’s 1947 Eid-ul-Azha message.

The sacrifice which causes sorrow to the doer of the sacrifice is no sacrifice. Real sacrifice lightens the mind of the doer and gives him a sense of peace and joy. The Buddha gave up the pleasures of life because they had become painful to him.
- Mahatma Gandhi

If you have much, give of your wealth; if you have little, give of your heart.
- Arabian proverb

Hungry not only for bread — but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing — but naked for human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks — but homeless because of rejection.
- Mother Teresa

Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.
- Erich Fromm
————-

No idea how many think like me. but here are few:
Did someone say ignorance is bliss?
Why are we so superstitious?

Mercora, Inc. recently launched Mercora IM Radio for Google Talk, bringing Mercora’s innovative music search and discovery service to Google Talk users. As a result, Google Talk users gain the ability to browse and listen to their friends’ music as well as seamlessly access Mercora Music Search to find and listen to any music on the worlds’ largest and most diverse user contributed music network. Users can download Mercora IM Radio at gtalk.mercora.com.

Warning: It seems that Mercora automatically sends a message to all your Google Talk contacts: ‘I would like to invite you to join the Mercora music network. Download it from http://www.mercora.com/gtalk’.

A skin to make Yahoo! Messenger look like Google Talk.
Run the install and change your skin in Messenger > Change Skin…

Download: gtalk-yahooskin.exe
Source: Shift This

Firm says telephony service Google Talk uses patented VoIP technology

The Times of India
Sunday, January 1, 2006

New York — A small New York technology firm said on Sunday that it was suing search titan Google for up to $5 billion dollars for patent violation in the Internet telephony software used in Google Talk.

Jerry Weinberger, chief executive of Rates Technology Inc (RTI), said he was the inventor of software programming that allows telephone calls to be placed over the Internet.

He said 120 companies, including Lucent, Cisco, IBM, Yahoo and Microsoft, have paid RTI to use the technology for “Voice over Internet Protocol” (VoIP) calls.

RTI filed suit in a Long Island federal court against Google two months ago because the search engine was using the technology without authorisation, Weinberger said after the New York Post reported the lawsuit on Sunday.

“They told us to go to hell,” the RTI boss said. “They are the most arrogant company in the world.”

Weinberger alleged that Google has abused two patented RTI software programs in Google Talk, which enables users to talk through a computer headset or to instant message each other for free.

He said Google could be liable for damages of up to $5 billion in a trial, unless it settles the complaint out of court.

Google did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

But a spokesman for the company quoted by the New York Post dismissed the lawsuit as “without merit” and said Google “will defend against it vigorously”.

Looks like nothing but attracting a few Gmail users who are just leaving from Yahoo!

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Grab your .address@yahoo.com here.