Outsourcing newspaper copy editing, newspaper production and design to India – could it work?

If you ask me, the jury is still out.

MindWorks Global has been in the news for while every since Orange County Register decided to try them out.

Some were quick to jump to conclusions, and pronounced its death even before it began. However, what I hear after a little while of watching them is that generally, newspapers’ experiments with outsourcing some of their functions to Indian companies have been successes. If there were failures, I haven’t come across them yet. But then one would expect secret projects like that to stay under the carpet too, especially if they fail.

You can take a look at MindWorks’ services here – Copy editing, Design, Ad-building, Special Sections and online community management.

Can it really work? Well… it’s not easy, it’s defintiely hard work, but possibly it can be pulled off without any noticeable decline in quality. Whether they actually have the right kind of processes that can make it a success – that we will know when some major newspaper announced that yes, finally we are jumping into this. Till then its probably best not to judge.

Popularity: 12% [?]

The most irritating StumbleUpon bug for me

This is the most irritating StumbleUpon bug I have come across. What makes it really irritating is that none of the toolbar updates have gotten rid of it.

I have a habit of tagging pages which I see and like. That’s why I have the tag search box enabled there. And most of the time, it works like a charm.

And then out of the blue, something goes wrong, and after typing the tags in – in this case, SEO, google, search – this message pops up.

It tells me in great detail that I should type in some tags in the text box above. What the…? That is what I was trying to do.

The only way to get the tag text box working again is to close the browser and start again.

I really wish I knew why this stupid error keeps popping up.

Popularity: 15% [?]

India set for 3G spurt

Come 2013, and India is most likely to have around 230 million 3G subscribers. The growth of the subscriber base is to be further accelerated by the falling prices of 3G phones in the country. Market statistics say that third-generation handsets are currently available for as less as Rs 2,000.

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Popularity: 14% [?]

Microsoft brings its Live Search Maps to India

Live Search Maps, the new Microsoft India feature, has gone live in India and promises to offer users access to detailed listings and street maps for nine cities in the country.

This is the first version of its local mapping service for India and the main features have been developed by the Microsoft India Development Centre (MSIDC) based in Hyderabad.

It has been said that Microsoft has, over the past couple of years, made huge investments into research and development for Live Search. It had also acquired global resources and introduced several new features to make it work without a hassle. According to Microsoft India, the feature would also offer users access to business listings across 29 Indian cities and access to highway networks to 20,000 cities and towns. Users can now search for geographical information, places of general interest and business listings both on the PC and mobile.

Live Search Maps will be accessible on the PC and the mobile, thus ensuring that users get the information they need anytime. The feature will be available at http://m.live.co.in too, the company said.

The company has said that this is the first version of Live Search Maps for India. This, in fact, means that Microsoft will continue to introduce new features and improvements in the near future.

With the new Live Search Maps, uses can access addresses, roads, localities, landmarks, detailed street maps and places of general interest such as monuments, restaurants, hotels and other places of interest across nine Indian cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur.

These apart, the business listings across 29 major Indian cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Agra, Allahabad, Amritsar, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Kochi, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Kanpur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Mangalore, Nagpur, Nashik, Patiala, Patna, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara and Vishakapatnam. Basic geographical information on the national road network of India across 20,000 cities and towns will also be available.

Microsoft India said that the Live Search Maps for India has as its key components street maps, location search, business listing search, routing or directions for navigation and options for users to print, share collections through email, blogs on Windows Live.

The company plans to add new features such as landmark-based driving directions, collections search, options for enterprise customers and developer community to create custom mash-ups, along with satellite imagery and related features for India and important cities. Powered by the Microsoft Virtual Earth platform, the new feature draws information through multiple local vendor partners like NavTeq and uses government-approved data after he took a gamble on unconventional movies. Kapoor bounced back and now after

Popularity: 15% [?]

AT&T unlimited free wireless access for iPhone users

Telecom giant AT&T  Inc, which was said to be dilly dallying all through the year about to or not to bring in free WiFi on the iPhone, has finally done it.

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Popularity: 11% [?]

NetFlix-TiVo deal for web streaming to TV sets

In a significant tie up in the television entertainment scene, Netflix Inc has struck a deal with TiVo Inc in its bid to realise its goal of offering its web streaming service directly to TV sets.

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Popularity: 9% [?]

The most irritating StumbleUpon bug for me

This is the most irritating StumbleUpon bug I have come across. What makes it really irritating is that none of the toolbar updates have gotten rid of it.
I have a habit of tagging pages which I see and like. That’s why I have the tag search box enabled there. And most of the time, it…

Zaibatsu banned by Digg!

First of all, let me say that I am not an active Digger anymore. I gave up on Digg some 3 months back, when I found that the amount of time required and the network required to get some occasional FP was too much for me.

Zaibatsu banned!
Zaibatsu is the latest top Digger to be banned….

Motorola ROKR E8 launched, check out the pictures!

Motorola ROKR E8 cellphone for T-Mobile, available from July 7, 2008 in the US.

iPhone 3G: 28 links to help you decide!

Thumbs up
IPhone 3G: It’s not world peace, but it’s close
Apple faithful talk about their dreams, centered around a little smart phone

UAVs will fly into the eye of the hurricane and gather data

New tiny unmanned aircrafts to study hurricanes
In a move to learn more on Atlantic’s hurricanes, US scientists are exploring options to use swarms of unmanned, remote-controlled airplanes to penetrate the heart of giant storm.

HTC launches Touch Diamond smart phones

Smartphone manufacturer HTC has launched one of costliest mobiles in the world called Touch Diamond. The new gadget, the Touch Diamond has a 2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive VGA screen that delivers text and photo visual quality comparable to that of print.

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