1.6 billion people on social networks

An estimated 1.61 billion people, more than one in five globally, will log in to social networking sites at least monthly this year, the research firm eMarketer said Tuesday. The study said the number was up14.2 percent from a year ago and growth will push that number up to 2.33 billion by 2017.

The highest penetration of social network users, according to eMarketer, is in the Netherlands, at 63.5 percent. Norway was second at 63.3 percent, followed by Sweden (56.4 percent), South Korea (54.4 percent), Denmark (53.3 percent), the United States (51.7 percent) and Finland (51.3 percent).

A majority of residents were also on social networks in Canada (51.2 percent) and Britain (50.2 percent, according to the report based on data from research firms, government agencies, media outlets and company reports.

The 1.61 billion figure represented 22 percent of the world's estimated population, the survey said.

The report said India is seeing the highest growth this year of 37.4 percent, though only 7.7 percent of the population uses social networks. Indonesia's numbers will climb 28.7 percent and Mexico will grow by 21.1 percent. e Marketer said.

Robot talks in 19 languages!

Designed for companionship, a new toddler-sized robot can hold a conversation in 19 different languages. Built by Paris-based robotics company Aldebaran and infused with language-learning software developed by voice-technology company Nuance, the robot has a voice that doesn't sound much older than it looks. The android can walk, brace itself if it falls and will develop its own personality as it gets better at speaking through repetition. 

"He lives his life on your side at home," Marine Fabrea, Aldebaran's head of communications, told Mashable in an email. " You can discuss with him, you can ask him to tell a story to your kids."

The difference between these robots and mindless machines is built-in emotional intelligence, according to Arnd Weil. Nuance's vice-president and general manager of automotives.

"What they are trying to do with the robot is mainly capturing what is the mood of that other person," he said. "It's more like somebody's coming home and he had a bad day, he's angry, so the robot should capture that.... and react accordingly."

The robot will be able to access a cloud of data that builds its vocabulary, as well as help it understand the flow of conversation, Weil added; this way, it can better react to users the more they interact with it, much like how Nuance's text-reading app develops language skills. 

Weil foresees the robots bringing out drinks, chatting with people who are waiting for appointments, acting as highly functional pets, and providing companionship to the elderly or children with disabilities.

"People do need somebody to talk to," he said. " A lot of people have animals or a dog or something, and this is just a new way of engaging with people."

The robots will be available next year.

Facebook expands ad service for app developers

Facebook Inc (FB.O) is expanding an advertising service aimed at developers of smartphone and tablet apps, the social network's latest move to bolster it's fast-growing mobile business.

Facebook's so-called mobile app ads - which allow companies to promote their mobile apps to Facebook's 1.15 billion users - will include new capabilities designed to boost the amount of time that consumers use the third-party apps, the company said on Tuesday.

Since the start of the year, more than 145 million third-party apps have been installed by Facebook users, said Deb Liu, Facebook's director of platform monetization, providing the company's first public data about that portion of it's business. Roughly 8,400 advertisers used Facebook's mobile app ads in the second quarter, Liu said.

That is a small group relative to the more than 1 million total advertisers that Facebook counts, but analysts say that app developers represent an attractive and growing group of customers for Facebook to tap into. Smartphone apps, designed for Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone or Google Inc's (GOOG.O) Android-based phones, have struggled to stand out in a crowded field.

Facebook's new mobile app ads will allow the maker of a travel app to offer to promote an airfare or hotel room, for example, while a music app like Spotify could promote a band's new song. Previously, Facebook's mobile app ads were designed only to entice its users to install a third-party app on their smartphone or tablet, but not to encourage repeat visits to the app.

Airtel Bangladesh joins Bridge Alliance

Bridge Alliance has announced Airtel Bangladesh as it's member. The addition of Airtel Bangladesh brings Bridge Alliance to a new total of 14 members with a combined customer base of over 500 million mobile subscribers.

Grameenphone wins 3G bid

Bangladesh sold third generation mobile phone spectrum to four of the country's mobile telephone operators for a total of $525 million at a much-awaited auction on Sunday, the telecoms regulator said. 

Top operator Grameenphone, which is majority owned by Norway's Telenor, won the auction to acquire 10 megahertz of spectrum for $210 million.

Egyptian Orascom Telecom's Banglalink, Robi, a joint venture between Malaysia's Axiata Group and Japan's NTT DoCoMo, and Airtel, majority owned by India's Bharti Airtel, won bids for 5 megahertz of spectrum each at a price of $105 million.

The upgrade to a faster 3G network was needed to widen Internet access in Bangladesh, one of the world's fastest-growing telecoms markets, said Sunil Kanti Bose, chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

The operators have to pay 60 percent of the total price of spectrum as the first installment within a month and the balance within the next three months, he said.

State-owned mobile operator Teletalk last year launched the 3G service on a test basis. Teletalk will have to pay $210 million for 10 megahertz.

Another operator, Citycell, a joint venture between Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited and Singapore Telecommunications, was out of the auction after failing to deposit the $20 million earnest money.

The country's six mobile phone operators have a total of 107 million users while internet services lag far behind with nearly 40,000 subscribers.

Warid Telecom International to be renamed as Airtel Bangladesh

Airtel will revamp its operations in Bangladesh. Warid Telecom International to be relaunched as Airtel Bangladesh by and by It will roll out 3G services in Bangladesh subsequently. Bharti Airtel penetrated Bangladesh in January 2010 when it acquired 70 per cent ownership in warid Telecom International for $300 million from UAE-based Abu Dhabi Group.

Bharti Airtel has provided all papers to the statutory authorities in Bangladesh to rename Warid Telecom International to Airtel Bangladesh. The latest developments come at a time when Bangladesh with its 160 million population is expected to garner substantial revenues for Bharti Aitel's South Asia operations in the coming quarters. Telenor backed Grameen Phone, Orascom-owned Banglalink aad Axiata are a few major mobile companies in Bangladesh.

Facebook launching project to make Internet more affordable

Facebook Inc's (FB.O) Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has enlisted Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) and four other companies for a project aimed at bringing Internet access to people around the world who can't afford it, mirroring efforts by Google Inc (GOOG.O) and others.

The project is called Internet.org and will be launched Wednesday. It focuses on enabling the next 5 billion people without access to come online, Zuckerberg said.

"The goal of Internet.org is to make internet access available to the two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected and to bring the same opportunities to everyone that the connected third of the world has today," said Zuckerberg.

Other players in the project include Ericsson (ERICb.ST), MediaTek Inc(2454.TW), Nokia (NOK1V.HE), and Opera Software ASA (OPERA.OL).

The partnership will develop lower-cost, higher-quality smartphones and deploy Internet access in under served communities, Facebook said. (link.reuters.com/zen52v)

Google said in June that it had launched a small network of balloons over the Southern Hemisphere in an experiment it hopes could bring reliable Internet access to the world's most remote regions.

That pilot program, Project Loon, took off in June from New Zealand's South Island, using solar-powered, high-altitude balloons that ride the wind about 12.5miles, or twice as high as airplanes, above the ground, Google said.

Panasonic Launches New Mirrorless Camera GX7

Panasonic has unveiled the Lumix DMC-GX7, its latest mirrorless system camera using the Micro Four Thirds standard.

The 16-megapixel camera, which sports a retro-rangefinder style design, comes with a durable magnesium alloy full die-cast frame.

Its main feature is the new built-in electronic viewfinder(EVF) that can be tilted upwards, to a 90-degree angle, and has a high resolution of 2.76 million dots.

The GX7 also has a rear tiltable 3-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1.04 million dots.

In addition, this new camera offers an ultra fast shutter speed of 1/8000, which is a feature previously available only on high-end DSLR cameras.

This allows a shooting speed of up to 5 frames per second, and it also comes with an in-body image staviliser.

The GX7 also has built-in Wi-Fi and Near Field Communication capabilities, for users to send photos to, or remotely take pictures, with their Android or iOS devices using Panasonic's Image App.