Today is a rather momentous day for the crowd-funding website Kickstarter. Elevation Dock – a stunningly well designed iPhone dock, broke LunaTik and TikTok’s record for the highest amount of funding for a single project, and also became the first project to raise more than a million bucks from Kickstarter.

Elevation Dock is a high-end iPhone dock that is designed with the kind of precision and care that would make even Apple proud. It is precision engineered from solid billets of aircraft grade aluminum, and then hand buffed, glass bead blasted, electro-chemically micropolished, hard anodized and sealed. Elevation Dock features a unique low friction connection that allows hassle-free single handed undocking; all you need to do is pull the phone up. Even more impressively, Elevation Dock works equally well on iPhones with or without a case. Elevation Dock adheres to Apples design principles to the T, and in doing so makes Apple’s own iPhone dock look cheap and shabby. It is simple, elegant, drop dead gorgeous, and intuitive to use.

It is worth noting that the previous record holder on Kickstarter was also an Apple related project. Scott Wilson managed to raise $942,578 for his iPod Nano watch. The TikTok project also paid meticulous attention to design and construction. The iPod watches were engineered from premium material, and were both beautiful and convenient.

Elevation Dock is the first to reach the $1 million mark; however, its reign at the top will be fairly short lived. Indie video game Double Fine Adventure, which was announced earlier today, has already shattered the record for the most funds raised in 24 hours with more than $800,000, and it still has 33 days to go.

It appears that Google has had a change of heart, and has finally decided in favor of launching its own cloud storage solution to compete with the likes of Dropbox, Box.net, SkyDrive, and iCloud. The Wall Street Journal believes that Google is very close to launching Google Drive, something that users have been anticipating and demanding ever since Gmail launched with a gigabyte of storage. In fact, Google was almost ready to launch a similar product called GDrive, way back in 2008. However, Sundar Pichai, the current SVP of Chrome and Apps, managed to get the product dumped with a bizarre argument that files are outdated. According to Steven Levy’s “In the Plex”, Pinchai believed that “Files are so 1990”.

“You just want to get information into the cloud. When people use our Google Docs, there are no more files. You just start editing in the cloud, and there’s never a file.”
– Sundar Pinchai

Google’s entry into the cloud-storage arena is long overdue. Both Microsoft and Apple have compelling products in this segment, which are already (or soon will be) tightly integrated with their own ecosystem. Google, on the other hand, has allowed third-parties like Dropbox to take control of the Android ecosystem. What makes the prolonged lack of an online backup solution from Google surprising is the fact that Google is well known for having access to ginormous quantities of cheap storage. In fact, Google already offers plenty of storage to users in the form of Gmail, Google Docs, and Picasa. What it has been lacking so far is an integrated solution to unite its assorted services.

Like its competitors, Google will be opting for a freemium model. The basic storage plan for Google Drive will be free, with additional storage available for purchase. It will be interesting to observe how Google prices its new product. If it retains the current model of charging $5 per year for additional 20 gigabytes, and $20 per year for 80 gigabytes, it could very well demolish its competitors. It is also likely that at some point, Google will bundle Drive with Google Apps for Android, which should give an instant boost to its user base.

Dropbox famously turned down a nine-figure acquisition offer from Apple. Now, with Google, Microsoft, and Apple setting their sights on the cloud storage market, it will have its work cut out. However, if Dropbox manages to retain its focus on innovation and superior customer service, it will prove to be a tough competitor to beat.

Amazon is yet to enter India with its full force, but the ramifications of the impending launch are already being felt. Flipkart, which refused to let itself be acquired by Amazon, has made the aggressive move of acquiring LetsBuy.com – its biggest competitor.

Medianama is reporting that Flipkart paid anywhere between $20 million and $25 million for LetsBuy, which is the second largest online retailer in India. Flipkart, which reportedly raised $150 million at a valuation of around $850 million, is the undisputed leader. It sells almost twenty products every minute, and is expected to cross the $100 million revenue mark during the financial year 2011-12.

Flipkart is no stranger to acquisitions, having earlier acquired WeRead, Mime360, and Chakpak.com. However, none of its previous acquisitions were competitors. Instead, they were platforms and technologies that Flipkart believed would help in improving its core product.

At this point it will be prudent to take this news with a pinch of salt, since neither of the involved parties have confirmed it. However, if Medianama is spot on, then by acquiring LetsBuy, Flipkart is formally flagging off the consolidation phase that analysts have been predicting for a long time. Although, online shopping is rapidly gaining traction in India, the entry of a behemoth like Amazon will undoubtedly send shockwaves throughout the industry as smaller players will be hard-pressed to compete with Amazon’s inventory and pricing. LetsBuy, which is well known for its extremely aggressive pricing, will undoubtedly help Flipkart scale better. Although, it is possible that the acquisition will hurt consumers in the immediate future by reducing competition, it will probably turn out to be a good thing in the long run. The consolidation of the two biggest online retailers will enable the resultant entity to offer a more spirited challenge to the big names that will almost surely make an entry in the Indian ecommerce segment within the next couple of years.

Update: Sachin Bansal, the CEO and Co-Founder of Flipkart, has confirmed that “the rumors are true”.

Some people are going to go crazy with this.

Google is about to launch a new “get paid to surf” program where you can earn some incentives by trading your browsing habits and sending usage statistics to Google. Termed as Google Screenwise, the program will track your usage behavior in Google Chrome through a browser extension (pending official announcement). This is Google’s wild attempt to learn browsing habits of users in mass and create a better online experience for everyone. At least, the landing page at www.google.com/landing/screenwisepanel/ says so.

The monetary compensation is not direct hard cash, as panel members will receive the money via Amazon gift cards. As a panelist, you will get $5 for installing the Screenwise extension and a recurring fee of $5 will be paid every 3 months, provided you keep sending them your Chrome usage data and keep the extension installed.

If $25 sounds too meager, hang on for a year. The landing page has a tiny remark at the bottom which says – “As we continue to develop this research experience, we will evaluate what, if any, changes will be made to gifts amounts for continuing participation beyond 12 months.”

Speaking of data, Google isn’t saying what the company intends to track. Usage behavior can mean a lot for savvy users who spend 8 hours a day inside a browser. Not to forget the new unified privacy policy of Google, which will combine information you’ve provided in various Google services such as Blogger, YouTube, web search, Gmail and so forth.

I am curious to know why Google is becoming data hungry day by day. They have Google Chrome, Gmail, Android, YouTube – the best players in each department. Sure this is not enough, as they are willing to pay you for your data, browsing habits and privacy. This is the easiest 25$ a year offer I won’t regret turning down.

If you’re not paying for something, you’re not the customer but the product being sold. And If you’re getting something for free and managing some cash along with it, you’re what? Probably, Google knows the exact term.

Thanks Matt. Image via Geekandpoke.

Skype 5.8 was released last week. There was a buzz of activity as Microsoft released an update to the Windows version of Skype. This bodes well for the direction that their partnership is taking.  If you had enabled  the option to check for the latest version enabled (under Help > Check for Updates), then you will  receive notifications about the latest version.

You can download the latest version here.

HD video calling

A wonderful new world of clear video chat is open for all those who have atleast 2 Mbps download speeds. They have also specified that you would need to own an HD camera like the Logitech C920 webcam.

 Group screen sharing

You can share your screen or a single application window with other members in a conference call. Check this option under “+” > Share my screen. Unfortunately, group video conference is still not free. I prefer google+ hangout over this. However, there is no question that Skype rules if quality matters.

Audio and video calling for Facebook friends

My favorite new feature that allows you to call your friends on Facebook even if they are not on Skype.

Push to Talk

It has hot keys that enable the microphone. Check out this option under Tools > Options > Advanced > Hotkeys. This feature is supposed to be useful for gamers who can use it to mute or unmute the microphone.

Bing Bar Integration

This is the fruit of the set up between Microsoft and Skype. This feature has not been elaborated in their release notes.

End Note

As usual, Skype has the “automatically sign into skype option” enabled. This can be removed under under Tools > Options > General Settings.

Do not forget the upcoming Windows Phone 8 (aka Apollo) that will include great new features like NFC (Near Field Communication), Data Smart (to prioritize Wifi connections), will no doubt have Skype strongly wrapped up in the package too. The new Windows Phone OS is quite amazing already. Having arrived late into the mobile industry, it is very important that Microsoft differentiates its products very definately.

In the past couple of weeks, more than 300 people have been arrested in connection with the Occupy Oakland protests. Multiple incidents of violence were reported across Oakland with the police often resorting to the use of excessive force. As you might have guessed, the police clampdown didn’t sit well with Anonymous, which has retaliated in the only way it knows how. Anonymous has leaked private information of several top city officials, who may or may not have had a role to play in the reported police brutality.

Date of birth, address, private phone number, salary, social media accounts and other information of several prominent Oakland officials including the Mayor Jean Quan and her husband, City Administrator Deanna Santana, police Chief Howard Jordan, City Attorney Barbara Parker, and all City Council members, have been leaked. The only council member to be spared is Rebecca Kaplan. Anonymous thanked her for “being a true leader in the community” and revealed only her public phone number.

The hacked information is available on Pastebin, but Anonymous being Anonymous also released a dramatic video to announce their latest move. The video and its transcript are embedded below.

Anonymous has been watching. Since the inception of Occupy Oakland, We have been actively monitoring your behavior, and exposing the identities and sensitive information of Officers of the Oakland Police Department; as they have continued to act in an unprofessional and violent manner. You tear gassed Us. You shot Us with your weapons. You arrested Us. You beat Us. You also did this to Our Friends, and to Our Families. We watched as you cut budgets, cut Our jobs, closed Our schools, Our parks, and Our libraries, while leaving your own salaries alone. We laughed in disgust as Deanna Santana said she would need to speak to her attorney before discussing her pay cut. The people on this list are supposed to represent the best of what the City of Oakland has to offer. If they are the best, why is there so much trouble within the Police Department, and in the City of Oakland?

We are shocked and disgusted by your behavior. Before you commit atrocities against innocent people again, think twice.

You should have expected Us.

Facebook has a had a huge week with them going public with their $5 Billion IPO. However, it looks like they are facing problems with their infrastructure with the "Facebook Activity Feed" for websites showing an "invalid action type" error all across the web.

Website owners who have been using the "Activity Feed" social plugin from Facebook might notice that the feed is no longer showing up and instead an error box with the message "Invalid action type" has taken it’s place. This problem is occurring on all websites and seems to be a big problem on Facebook’s side.

The error is also apparent on Facebook’s Social Plugin code generator for all websites as seen in the screenshot above. Facebook has faced several problems in the past where the site has gone down for hours due to database problems and DNS issues among other things. However, this look like the first time that their social plugins have had issues.

If you are a webmaster who uses the Facebook Activity Feed on your website, you might see the above error. However, having the widget in question on your site does not affect loading time. We have contacted Facebook to check why this problem is occurring and will update the post when we get a response.

Anonymous has made a Pastebin dump of email exchanges between a Symantec representative called Sam Thomas and Yamatough, the spokesperson of the hacker group Lords of Dharmaraja.

The hacker group is accusing Symantec of ‘bribing’ them in order to prevent the release of the pcAnywhere source code. Looking at the email exchange however, it seems that the hacker group was in fact trying to extort money from Symantec.

The emails shows how Yamatough was trying to extort money through a service called ‘Liberty Reserve’ to an offshore account or to accounts in Lithuania or Libya. Sam instead suggests wiring $1000 through PayPal which Yamatough declines. Sam then increased the total payment to $50,000 with an initial transfer of $2500 for three months and the rest of the money after they provide enough proof that the source code has been destroyed. At this point, Yamatough becomes suspicious that the FBI is involved and the email exchange stops even though Sam tries to continue the conversation. You can read the entire conversation in the above link.

In a comment made at Infosec Island, Cris Paden of Symantec confirmed that the email exchange posted was legitimate.

In January an individual claiming to be part of the ‘Anonymous’ group attempted to extort a payment from Symantec in exchange for not publicly posting stolen Symantec source code they claimed to have in their possession. Symantec conducted an internal investigation into this incident and also contacted law enforcement given the attempted extortion and apparent theft of intellectual property. The communications with the person(s) attempting to extort the payment from Symantec were part of the law enforcement investigation. Given that the investigation is still on going, we are not going to disclose the law enforcement agencies involved and have no additional information to provide.

Paden also confirmed to Forbes that Sam was in fact an agent trying to get more information out of Yamatough.

“Anonymous has been talking to law enforcement, not to us. No money was exchanged, and there was never going to be any money exchanged. It was all an effort to gather information for the investigation,” he said.

Anonymous has uploaded the leaked source code to the torrents. But Symantec has reiterated that, you are safe, as long as you are using the latest version.

You can find additional information about the source leak here.

Google has rolled out a new project called “Solve for X”. The project seeks to ”amplify technology-based moonshot thinking and teamwork.” They’re looking for new ideas and new innovations that will solve some of the world’s most enigmatic problems.

“Solve for X” is a forum that hopes to engage individuals in a dialog to solve massive problems that our world faces. They describe the solutions they are looking for as “radical” as they state on their website:

Radical in the sense that the audaciousness of the proposals makes them sound like science fiction. And radical in the sense that there is some real technology breakthrough on the horizon to give us all hope that these ideas could really be brought to life.

Below is a small video they posted to describe their endeavor.

There are several speakers who have videos posted on this website. If you go to www.wesolveforx.com you can see several “moonshot” ideas. You can also view the videos on their YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/wesolveforx.

I really like the premise of this website. To me, the internet will never reach its full potential until we are able to connect the minds of people across the globe and truly seek solutions to the challenges we face. While the internet has been great for commerce, the potential for solving problems and sharing ideas is truly its biggest asset.

Cloud computing has slowly but steadily become firmly integrated with almost any IT company who cares to use it. It is a strange new world that has everything on the internet. Today there are companies and there are cloud-computing companies.

Initially, cloud computing services were regarded as little more than some fad that provided interesting conversation over a coffee machine. It has become so much more. The multiple gains that companies have attained in productivity and profitability have been drivers for its use. Having everything on-the-go and being able to use the cloud for day-to-day operations has become an inevitable reality for many companies.

Some issues that are still faced in terms of security and privacy of data are being ironed out. We currently still do not know how and when cloud based companies will use the data in future. It is a relationship that is based on trust. But the line blurs when we get profits into the picture.

We have to remember that this is not a physical and tangible entity, so the issues that we will face will be more abstract. We will loose out on reliability but gain on convenience. The issues with it being 100% reliable cannot be addressed at this point of time. We have seen how downtimes with Google mail had closed down operations for almost 6 million people who were affected by it right in the middle of the work day. Nonetheless to their credit, these are anomalies in their performance. Attaining 6-sigma standard of perfection is something they must definitely dream about.

The growing competition between various cloud providers and the increasing bandwidths available to a growing number of people has set the base for the use of cloud computing. This industry is almost doubling in size every year.

For businesses, there are issues on the reorganization of existing business processes. We have so many “trends” that we forget about what to do with those that actually live through once the phase is over. There are many nay-sayers who believe that cloud computing has reached its peak and will move out of the system. As a trend, cloud computing has definitively peaked; but it is so widely used and integrated in so many current and  future products that is entirely impossible that cloud computing is being driven by hype alone.

As it is, using these services saves companies all over the world almost $13 billion in server and power costs. We cannot begin to imagine what an impact a mass migration to cloud computing will do to the IT world. Either way, the cloud is becoming our backyard. Time to brace for impact.

So whats next for cloud computing? Stay tuned.