Gmail Overtakes YahooMail in India

According to ViziSense, an online audience measurement and analytics provider platform, Gmail, Google's free e-mail service is now India's largest free e-mail service provider with more than 18 million users. Yahoo Mail, which held the top spot until the previous month has now been relegated to the second spot.

Yahoo Mail

boasts of 16.8 million unique users and has seen its usage dip 8 percent since August this year. This, coupled with Gmail's continued growth which averaged 3 percent since August, has ensured that Gmail surpassed the number of Yahoo users in early October. Microsoft's Windows Live Mail too is seeing a surge in its userbase with it managing a very impressive 8 percent growth in India since August. Rediff Mail is at number three with 6.25 million users.

However, on the global scale, it might be a while till Gmail usurps the throne from Yahoo to be the world's largest e-mail provider. Besides, it also has another adversary to counter, Windows Live Mail from Microsoft which is right up there at number 2. As seen in a recent ComScore report, Gmail has been growing pretty fast in U.S. as well-- and unless Yahoo and Windows Mail
don't do something drastic, Gmail, in its current form, will eclipse the "traditional" webmail providers in the years to come.

Incidentally, it was just last week that Yahoo carried a full front page ad across leading national dailies in India. Was this an attempt to woo its once loyal users who have started migrating to Gmail?

Genentech chairman resigns from Google board

Genentech chairman Arthur Levinson has resigned from the board of directors of Google amid a probe by US authorities into his membership of the boards of both the Internet giant and Apple.

Google, in a statement on Monday, did not give any reason for Levinson's decision to step down from the Google board but it comes just two months after Google chief executive Eric Schmidt resigned from the board of Apple.

US law prohibits a person's presence on the boards of two companies that are direct rivals, as it may affect competition between them, and the Federal Trade Commission opened an investigation in May into the overlapping Google and Apple board memberships and whether they posed any potential conflicts of interest.

Schmidt, asked by a reporter less than two weeks ago whether Levinson should step down from the board of Google, said "I would hope not. I don't think it's necessary." Levinson had served on the Google board since April 2004. Schmidt on Monday described Levinson as a good friend and valued colleague.

"Art has been a key part of Google's success these past five years, offering unvarnished advice and vital counsel on every big issue and opportunity Google has faced," Schmidt said. "Though he leaves as a member of our Board, Art will always have a special place at Google."

Levinson said working with Google has been a "remarkable experience." "I greatly admire what they've built and have no doubt that Google has a terrific future," he said.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, in announcing Schmidt's resignation from the Apple board in August, said the Google CEO could no longer function effectively with Google entering more of Apple's core businesses, such as the smartphone and personal computer operating system markets.

Reaction to Obama's Nobel Peace Prize mixed

What a difference a week makes. Last Friday, despite pleas by Oprah and the Obamas, an Olympics that was (in many U.S. citizens' minds) rightfully ours was awarded to the largest city of the largest country in South America, a continent that has never had the glory of hosting an Olympiad. A nation gasped while those in the right-leaning portion of the blogosphere chuckled.

A week later President Obama woke up to his daughters' informing him that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize. A nation gasped. Again.

While the reaction from the conservative blogs and the right-wing commentators was mostly predictable, liberal blog Talk Left seemed to agree with the sentiment that the award comes undeserved, and further, should be politely rejected by Obama, "Just because the Nobel Committee wants to make fools of themselves, Obama should not have to play along. He should turn it down."

Other lefty bloggers, though, saw some method in the perceived madness. Glenn Greenwald of Salon said that when he first read today's news he thought those jokers at the Onion had hacked into CNN.com. But then he realized that perhaps Obama has actually created the foundations of change in his first eight months of his presidency:

Obama has changed the tone America uses to speak to the world generally and the Muslim world specifically. His speech in Cairo, his first-week interview on al-Arabiya, and the extraordinarily conciliatory holiday video he sent to Iran are all substantial illustrations of that. His willingness to sit down and negotiate with Iran -- rather than threaten and berate them -- has already produced tangible results.

When the president spoke to the media this morning he too expressed surprise with the honor and explained that he was humbled with the nod.

IBM 'in anti-competition probe'

IBM is being investigated by the US Department of Justice over allegations of anti-competitive behaviour, a computer industry trade body has said.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) said the investigation came after it urged officials to look into the matter.

CCIA accuses IBM of withdrawing software licences from business clients who do not also buy its hardware. IBM denies any wrongdoing and says it will co-operate with any investigation.

The Department of Justice has declined to comment.

'No merit'

The CCIA said the investigation centred on IBM's mainframe operating systems.

The association's spokesman, Ed Black, said the scope of the Justice Department study was "quite broad". The news comes a week after an anti-competition complaint against IBM by software developer T3 Technologies was thrown out by a judge in Manhattan.

"We understand the Department of Justice has asked T3 for documents from the litigation," said IBM in a statement. "IBM intends to co-operate with any inquiries from the Department of Justice.

"We continue to believe there is no merit to T3's claims, and that IBM is fully entitled to enforce our intellectual property rights and protect the investments that we have made in our technologies."

The Twins celebrated their 12th inning victory over the Tigers

If not for those pesky Major League Baseball playoffs that start today, the Minnesota Twins might still be circling the old, dumpy Metrodome, high-fiving their fans amid whirling Homer Hankies and awash in down-home Midwestern love. The Twins not only took over their hometown, they charmed the heck out of everyone not a die-hard Tigers fan.

Remember how big Brett Favre was in Minneapolis on Monday? Neither does anyone else. He is so two days ago.

The Twins turned their 163rd game of the season into a splendid finale, writes Gene Wojciechowski on ESPN.com, and even the Tigers were saying it was the greatest game they have been a part of, writes Michael Rosenberg in the Detroit Free Press. The Twins have become an easy team to love, writes Jay Mariotti of Fanhouse.com, with lunch-pail players and a sardonic manager.

Even with a strong strain of sympathy for economically ravaged Detroit, the Tigers became less Cinderella-y after the drunken escapades of first baseman Miguel Cabrera over the weekend, for which he apologized before the game. But they certainly played their part in turning the game epic. You can relive the top 10 plays of the game on this Yahoo Big League Stew blog post, complete with links to MLB.com video highlights of each play, or just marvel at a Twins team that now believes it can beat anyone, writes Dan Wetzel on Yahoo.com.

Sure, there are a few killjoys who quickly stepped in to mention that the Twins have to play the Yankees next, like ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark who believes the title will return to the Bronx after nine long years. Sure, the Twins should be completely exhausted, writes Ben Reiter on SI.com, and the Yankees are one of the powerhouse teams packing the playoffs, but Steve Aschburner of SI.com writes that the Metrodome just does not want to die.

The Yankees, though, will quickly become a focal point of the playoff drama, with Lisa Olson of Fanhouse.com writing that they are risking team chemistry by taking Jorge Posada from behind the plate when A.J. Burnett pitches. The key questions in the playoffs outlined by Scott Miller on CBSSports.com include the playoff fates of Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia and third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Tom Verducci of SI.com takes a bigger step back to consider more story lines from the playoff teams. Joe Posnanski writes on SI.com that the playoffs always throw surprises at us and Bill Shaikin writes in the Los Angeles Times that there is at least one person rooting for a Freeway Series between the Angels and Dodgers (him) despite its environmentally unfriendly connotations. It would, writes Mark Yost on WSJ.com, give us more time to enjoy Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully before he retires.

The N.F.L. counters all this hype with the news that the Favre-o-rama on Monday Night Football was the highest-rated show in cable history, and throws in a few choice pieces of news for the non-baseball set, including Cleveland shipping the increasingly unpopular receiver Braylon Edwards to the Jets — which Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes is a deal that should have happened before the N.F.L. draft — and first-round draft pick Michael Crabtree reportedly ending his holdout with the 49ers.

Verizon Wireless, Google in Android partnership

Verizon Wireless said Tuesday it will put substantial resources into developing and selling phones that use Google Inc.'s Android software.Verizon Wireless had already said it would sell Android phones, but the announcement suggests that the carrier is positioning these "smart" phones as a main means of competing with Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which is exclusive to AT&T Inc. in the U.S.

Verizon Wireless and Google said they plan to "codevelop" Android-based devices that will be pre-loaded with their applications. They will be made by major manufacturers, they said.

The carrier now expects to sell the first Android phones in a few weeks, it said. It has already said it will be a carrier for a new smart phone from Motorola Inc., which is releasing several new devices based on Android software as a part of its turnaround effort.

The announcement adds to the momentum behind Android, which is seeing significant interest from carriers and manufacturers. Sales of the few existing Android phones have been small compared to the iPhone's, however.

Rival carrier T-Mobile USA came out with the first phone based on Google's operating system last year. It recently announced that it will carry Android phones from Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola. Sprint Nextel Corp. is also set to release an Android phone.

Obama touts health plan to doctors

President Barack Obama gathered doctors from every U.S. state at the White House on Monday to press his case for healthcare reform in a week when the sweeping overhaul could clear a major hurdle in Congress.

The Senate Finance Committee, the last of five panels in Congress to move on healthcare, votes this week on Obama's top domestic policy priority, an effort meant to cut costs, regulate insurers and expand health insurance coverage to the millions of Americans now going without.

"At this point, we've heard all the arguments on both sides of the aisle," Obama told the crowd of white-coated doctors who support the healthcare drive at the White House Rose Garden.

"We have listened to every charge and every counter-charge -- from the crazy claims about death panels to misleading warnings about a government takeover of our health care system," he said. The Senate Finance Committee wrapped up debate on the overhaul of the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system on Friday and could vote on its plan as soon as Tuesday.

The plan, first put forward by committee chairman Max Baucus, had a price tag of $900 billion.

Passage by the committee will be a major victory, but the overhaul still has a long road ahead. The finance committee's bill must be merged with another committee's even before going to the full Senate in mid-October.

Obama's Democrats are divided on major issues, especially whether to include a government-run insurance plan, the so-called "public option," strongly supported by liberals but opposed by conservatives and heatedly opposed by the insurance industry.

The finance committee plan does not include a public option, and Obama did not mention one at Monday's event. The reform plans have yet to win support from any Republicans as they make their way through Congress.

House Minority Leader Representative John Boehner said the overhaul schemes are too expensive and that "thousands of doctors" have objected to it because it would cripple their ability to care for patients. "Members of the medical community -- who deal with red tape day in and day out -- rightly recognize that the Democrats' government takeover would weaken the doctor-patient relationship that is so critical to making the right health care decisions," he said.

Obama touted the support of doctors and nurses as one of the strongest arguments in favor of reform and called on the doctors to push for a plan.

If they do so, "I'm confident we are going to get health reform passed this year,"

Windows Live Marketplace Goes Live for Windows Mobile 6.5 Phones

While the iPhone certainly has driven the smartphone craze to new heights, currently it arguably retains only one crucial advantage over its rivals. That advantage is its App Store. While rivals such as Palm and Google have launched their own markets, they lack the number of applications and developers that are on the iPhone.

Now Microsoft is looking to become the latest to try to challenge Apple's App Store dominance. Microsoft just rolled out Windows Live Marketplace, a new app store which is available on phones running on its Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system. The store appears to have launched a day early on some phones, but few are complaining.

The marketplace reportedly has 40 currently available applications (iTunes App Store currently has around 75,000). You can access the store using your current Windows Live ID and pay for apps via credit card.

Some of the currently available applications include Street Fighter II, Facebook, a Netflix manager, Pac-Man, Mastersoft Money V6, and a WorldTime clock application.

More applications are likely on the way for tomorrow's official launch. EA reportedly has signed a contract with Microsoft to provide some games for the store, including a mobile version of Sim City.

The Windows Live Marketplace was first noted on the new AT&T Pure, which users began picking up this weekend.

Windows XP Mode for Windows 7 hits RTM

Microsoft today announced that the code for Windows XP Mode has been finalized and the company is now preparing to release it in exactly three weeks. "Thanks to everyone's feedback, we're happy to announce that Windows XP Mode has RTM'd today," according to the Windows 7 Team Blog. "We expect to make the final release of Windows XP Mode available via the Microsoft Download Center on October 22nd. OEMs will be able to offer Windows XP Mode on their PCs based on their manufacturing schedules."

Windows XP Mode is aimed at small and mid-sized businesses that are migrating to Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, or Windows 7 Enterprise and that need the ability to run Windows XP productivity applications which are incompatible with Vista's successor. While Microsoft insists that many Windows XP applications will be compatible Windows 7, or at least every one that is compatible with Vista, the company says Windows XP Mode can be used as a last resort for those that are not.

Microsoft first announced Windows XP Mode and released a beta in April 2007. The company explained that users had to install the old applications directly in Windows XP Mode, which is a virtual Windows XP environment running under Windows Virtual PC. Once that is done, the applications become available on the Windows 7 desktop and can be run directly from Windows 7. In May 2009 it became clear that Microsoft and Intel had contrived to make XP Mode unavailable to many Intel users. In August 2009, a Release Candidate version was released that brought many improvements to the add-on, including USB and jumplist support as well as a new user tutorial

U.S. swine flu vaccines to arrive from Tuesday

The very first doses of swine flu vaccine will start arriving in states and cities that ordered it on Tuesday, and might be sprayed up the first patients' noses by the end of the week, U.S. health officials said on Thursday. Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the first U.S. H1N1 vaccine to be delivered will be 600,000 doses of a nasal spray made by MedImmune, a division of AstraZeneca.

"This is a bit earlier than we were planning to get started," Schuchat said in a telephone briefing.
She said 25 states, counties or cities which had placed the first orders for H1N1 vaccine on Wednesday, would receive it on Tuesday and decide how to distribute it.

The nasal spray is only approved for people aged 2 to 49 who do not have asthma, but Schuchat said plenty of people could benefit from it anyway. The CDC is ordering flu vaccine from five makers and expects to get between 6 million and 7 million doses to its central U.S. distributor next week.

She said H1N1 pandemic flu was now widespread across the United States. "What we are seeing is quite striking," she said. While H1N1 is not any deadlier than seasonal flu, it is causing more severe disease among younger people than seasonal flu usually does, and could infect more people in the space of a few months.

PREGNANT WOMEN

Schuchat said 100 pregnant women had been hospitalized in intensive care with the virus and 28 had died. Pregnant women are at special risk from all forms of influenza. "As vaccine becomes available in appropriate formulations, we hope that pregnant women and their caregivers will take advantage of it," she said.

Immunization is considered to be the best method of preventing infection. But once someone has the flu, the main treatment is the antiviral drug Tamiflu or oseltamivir, made by Roche AG under license from Gilead Sciences Inc. She said the CDC had ordered 300,000 courses of liquid Tamiflu for children.

Some pharmacies had said they would start compounding liquid formulations for children because of reports of shortages of the pediatric formulation. Schuchat said even though the drug was past its stamped expiry date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved use of Tamiflu past this date.

"So far each state that needs their proportion of that supply will receive this Tamiflu over the next week," Schuchat said