Follow Dr. Shashi Tharoor on Google+ to discuss the future of higher education in India

Higher education is one of the principal drivers of the economic growth of a country. Minister of state for HRD, Dr. Shashi Tharoor will take questions from citizens on the future of higher education in the country. On May 9th, 2013 at 7 pm (IST)  he will be joined by people from across the globe on a Google+ Hangout.

Dr Tharoor is one of the early adopters of social media in India and a true believer in the power of the Internet. His Google+ Hangout will be moderated by senior journalist Sonia Singh. Dr Tharoor will be addressing questions on challenges in higher education like faculty shortage, low number of accredited institutions and more.

Google+ is all about creating a better experience across Google, and provides a powerful communications platform for users. Since its launch in July 2011, the Google+ community has grown rapidly with more than 500 million users worldwide. Google+ Hangouts allow up to 10 people participating at a point of time to join the hangout. You can later share the hangout on YouTube or live stream it using Hangouts on Air.

Watch out for the Google+ Hangout live with Dr Shashi Tharoor on the Google India +Page at google.com/+GoogleIndia or subscribe to the InConversation YouTube channel. You can participate in this hangout by posting your questions for Dr Tharoor on this link.

Be a part of Google Student Ambassadors (GSA) Program 2013

The magic of success is a perfect blend of education, passion, hard and smart work. In today’s fast changing technology landscape, programs that bridge the gap between what is taught in the college and what is sought by the industry are important. Google facilitates one such partnership through its Google Student Ambassador (GSA) program – where we partner with academia to promote the use of technology in everyday lives. The Google Student Ambassador is a liaison between Google and the students’ college or university. The Ambassadors work directly with Google to conduct activities within their campuses during the academic year, - introducing fellow students to new Google products and features, and acting as campus contacts connecting Google with partnering institutions.

Following an overwhelming response to the program last year, we are working with over 500 colleges and universities in India, this year, to identify and recruit Student Ambassadors for the upcoming academic year. After a pre-defined series of evaluations and interviews, 300 GSA’s will be selected to represent their educational institutions this year. We are currently in the process of identifying faculty members who would act as the single point of contact to support the program in each of the shortlisted educational institutions. This year we are accepting applications only from the students who are referred by the identified faculty members.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for students who are:

• Studying in one of the identified institutions – listed HERE.

• Going to be enrolled in the pre-final year of their Under Graduate or Graduate studies in the 2013-2014 academic year.
  
• Referred by the identified point of contact from one of the shortlisted institutions – mentioned HERE.
  
• Passionate about technology, learning and sharing.
  
• Able to work with students and college authorities to drive various programs and initiatives.

The point of contact for each institution is updated on a daily basis. Please keep checking the list to see if the contact for your college or university has been identified. If you satisfy the above mentioned criteria, and have a passion to learn and share information about cutting-edge technology, then this is your opportunity to make a difference.
GET IN TOUCH with the identified faculty contact from your institution, REQUEST him/her to refer your name for the program, we will get in touch with you and get to know you better and select the most deserving candidate from your institution.
Come, be a part of a Technology Revolution!

Mozilla reveals first Firefox OS smartphones, available to buy in February

Mozilla has unveiled two Developer Preview smartphones that will act as a vanguard ahead of Firefox OS‘s consumer release later this year. The phones are being developed by Geeksphone — a Spanish smartphone start-up — and Telefonica, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world (and also Spanish).
The first phone, dubbed the Keon (above right), is very much a budget smartphone. There’s a Snapdragon S1 SoC clocked at 1GHz (probably the newer, 45nm, Cortex-A5 variety), full support for the usual 3G and 2G bands, 4GB of storage, and 512MB of RAM. The display is a pokey 3.5-inch 480×320 unit, and there’s only a 3-megapixel rear shooter, but there is a micro SD slot, GPS, and 802.11n.
The second phone, dubbed the Peak (above left), is basically the same device — but with a 4.3-inch 960×540 display, a front-facing camera (and an 8MP rear camera), and a dual-core Snapdragon S4 clocked at 1.2GHz. It’s the enthusiast version, in other words. There’s no word on pricing for either device, though the Keon will hopefully come in at around $100-150. Both phones will be available “in February.” Both phones, of course, will be fully SIM unlocked, and will receive over-the-air Firefox OS updates.

What is Firefox OS, and does it stand a chance against iOS and Android?

Over the last year, Mozilla has been solidly plugging away at Firefox OS, which is basically a light-weight distro of Linux that shares some common components with Android. Firefox OS’s codename is Boot to Gecko — and that’s really all that Firefox OS is: a Linux distro that automatically loads Gecko. Gecko is the layout/rendering engine used by Firefox, but in Firefox OS it essentially becomes the application runtime, a lot like Android’s Dalvik.
In short, apps for Firefox OS are basically just websites written in HTML, JavaScript, and CSS — but in addition, Mozilla has also added some extra hooks to Firefox OS that allow developers to access a phone’s hardware (such as the camera) via HTML. If you want to try out Firefox OS, but don’t want to fork out money on an orange phone, you can always install Firefox OS on your own hardware – or just run the simulator (which is basically just a tweaked version of Firefox).
The theory behind Firefox OS is to provide a truly open smartphone environment, free from both carrier and Apple/Android oppression — an environment where developers and consumers can gallivant freely, without the ever-present fear that their data might be misappropriated in some way. It’s a nice idea, but as we’ve covered before Firefox OS’s chance of success is close to nil.
Still, it’s nice to see that Firefox OS is actually coming to market — choice is good. If developers can be convinced to develop apps, and if Telefonica puts some serious brunt into pushing Mozilla’s open OS into the hands of consumers, there is a possibility that we could see a grassroots movement similar to that which propelled Firefox into the limelight back in 2004.