mobile

Google+, Gmail, and Google Search can all now be accessed for "free" from an Airtel mobile phone. The aim of this project is "to put the web in the hands of more people and empower first time Internet users with several useful services of the Internet". Besides the Google services themselves, the first page of any external site accessed as a result of a Google Search will also not be metered.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) apparently already has a team which monitors blogs and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter for stock fraud where manipulators try to influence people to buy certain stocks thereby driving their price up. But it is finding it difficult to perform the same task with Blackberry and WhatsApp messages.

A story in TOI notes that Airtel has introduced flat roaming charges and free incoming calls across its networks in Africa and South Asia. Even though this currently only appears to cater to its African customers, it's still impressive.

Xiaomi tech is a four billion dollar Chinese company which makes smartphones that compete with Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy S series. The company is led by Lei Jun, a man compared to Steve Jobs, and commands a fan base who are just as crazy about its products as Apple fans are of Apple's.

BSNL - may it live long and prosper (even though its "corporate" site has been down for at least three hours today) - is holding a public auction of what it has dubbed "vanity"/"premium"/"fancy" mobile numbers. It has placed numbers with formats such as 8300000000, 8300001234, 8300010001, 8300081000 etc. under the gavel with starting prices ranging from Rs. 50000 down to Rs. 2000.

Apparently, you now can. TrueCaller is a mobile phone app available for all major platforms which enables the user to identify unknown phone numbers. It identifies the Caller ID by performing a search against a database that it maintains cataloguing phone numbers across the world. The company behind this software is True Software Scandinavia AB which is based in Stockholm, Sweden.