Many people now create and share content on the Internet or blend services from various sites in their daily tasks, reflecting the medium’s clear evolution from a place for simply consuming websites.The upcoming version of Microsoft Corp’s Internet Explorer, version 8, embraces those trends by adding an “Activities” feature that makes all that easier for PC users. It’s still in a “beta” test mode meant mostly for Web designers to try out.

Internet Explorer’s main competitor among browsers for PCs, Firefox, also has been testing an update, although the most promising features await implementation by websites.

With Activities, one of several new Internet Explorer features, Web services like Facebook, eBay and Yahoo can write tools that users can install with just two clicks.

For example, Microsoft links a slew of Activities to its e-mail, blogging and news services, among others. Yahoo Inc. has one for maps, and auction site eBay Inc. has one to search its listings. The online hangout Facebook, of which Microsoft owns 1.6 per cent, offers tools for finding friends or sharing content on its site.

Say you are reading a news article you’d like to email to friends. Simply right-click and choose Microsoft’s Hotmail, and the e-mail service opens in a new browser tab with that item already added to the subject line and message body. Or if you’d rather blog about the item, then simply right click and choose Microsoft’s Live Spaces.

Mapping is initially the only service where there is choice of providers: Yahoo or Microsoft. In either case, you also get a thumbnail image of the map if you select an address and right-click. You can expand the map in a new tab with another click.

Other uses for Activities include looking up definitions of selected words or translating phrases to and from other languages.

Anyone can write an Activity, and each developer can choose whether to offer the thumbnail. You don’t need Microsoft’s permission beforehand.

Once Activities are available for the services used most, including Google Inc’s Gmail and search, a lot of time can be saved in not having to manually open new tabs and copy words or paragraphs to launch other services.

Having said, you may encounter a few frustrations.

For one, a new tab pops up every time you want to send an article or map, even if Hotmail or Yahoo Maps is already open, quickly cluttering the browser.

And clicking a “mailto” link in a Web page — the ones you might come across clicking on a name or a “contact us” link - opens a standalone, desktop e-mail program rather than Hotmail, meaning you have to manually copy and paste in the recipient’s e-mail address to use a Web-based e-mail service.

Microsoft says these two issues will be addressed before the final release, a date for which hasn’t been announced. At least one more “beta” test is expected this year.

Firefox also has a “beta” out for developers.

Firefox 3, available since November, offers a number of improvements related to bookmarks. The new version lets you add keywords, or tags, to sort bookmarks by topic, and a new “Places” feature lets you quickly access sites you recently bookmarked or tagged and pages you visit frequently but haven’t bookmarked.

The two most notable features, however, still need enabling by developers of the Web services. One promises offline support, which would let you compose Web mail without an Internet connection and send it once you’re back online. The other allows Web-based “mailto.”

An obscure browser called Flock already supports “mailto” links through Gmail and Yahoo and has a wealth of good features meant to foster sharing and connections with friends on Facebook, Yahoo’s Flickr, Google’s Picasa and other services.

But Flock, which is built on top of the same open-source Mozilla code that Firefox uses, isn’t as widely used as Internet Explorer or Firefox, meaning many Web sites haven’t been tested on it and they may not work well.

The new versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer both have security improvements. Previous versions warned users when they were about to reach a “phishing” scam site. The new versions also protect against sites that attempt to exploit known security flaws to automatically install malicious programs on your computer.

The new Internet Explorer also highlights the domain name in Web addresses to help you spot scams. In the Web address “paypal.com, scamsite.com,” for instance, the “scamsite.com” part is highlighted so that you don’t mistakenly believe you’re on PayPal and can safely enter your password.

The new version also adds “WebSlices,” which quickly alerts users to updates on their eBay auctions, Facebook friends and other frequently viewed services. The concept is similar to the Really Simple Syndication feeds that major Web browsers now permit, except those tend to be text headlines, while WebSlices can incorporate photos and interactive features.

Of course, unless you’re designing a Web site and need to test Firefox 3 or Internet Explorer 8, you shouldn’t upgrade to either yet. But the new Internet Explorer does show a lot of promise.

NEW YORK - Stocks may struggle to make headway next week, with jobs data expected to provide more evidence of recession and more companies likely to revise their guidance as the earnings reporting season approaches.

Investors will also keep a close eye on the credit markets to determine if the Federal Reserve’s actions to provide liquidity are taking effect, said John Praveen, chief investment strategist at Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC in Newark, New Jersey.

But, he said, after the near collapse of Bear Stearns Cos Inc, any evidence of similar issues at another bank could lead to a sharp sell-off.

“There’s not likely to be a clear-cut trend next week,” Praveen said. “We’re still in that high volatile period where we have various cross currents. On the negative side will probably be the macro data and news on banks, and on the positive side, any signs the Fed’s actions are bearing fruit.”

The economic highlight of the week is Friday’s jobs report. U.S. employers are expected to have cut payrolls for a third straight month during March. Economists polled by Reuters estimate a reduction of 58,000 jobs.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see a deep negative number, and that will be the final nail in the coffin for the people who are not sure if we’re in a recession,” said Barry Ritholtz, director of research at Fusion IQ, an investment firm in New York.

“My sneaking suspicion is that we’re in the early stages of a recession and that this will be a deeper and longer one than in 2001.”

More clues on the state of the economy and the outlook for interest rates could come on April 3, when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson testify before the Senate.

By Friday’s closing bell, the three major U.S. stock indexes turned in a mixed performance for the week: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.2 percent and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid 1.1 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.1 percent.

EARNINGS LITE

With the first-quarter earnings reporting season fast approaching, a number of companies may begin revising their earnings guidance next week, said Joseph Battipaglia, market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus in Yardley, Pennsylvania.

“The estimates for S&P ex-financials for the first quarter are a little high, I think, and I’m not so sure they’re going to hit those targets,” he said.

“Now would be the time to come forward.”

On Friday, retailer J.C. Penney

Scheduled earnings releases are few and far between next week. Fourth-quarter results from retailer Best Buy Co Inc on Wednesday could provide further clues on the outlook for the sector. Agricultural biotech company Monsanto Co, which this week raised its fiscal 2008 earnings forecast citing strong demand for corn seeds, will likely be a bright spot. Monsanto reports earnings on April 2.

ISM FACTORY, SERVICES DATA ON TAP

Apart from the jobs report, the week’s economic data includes a pair of reports on the economy from the Institute for Supply Management. On Tuesday, the ISM’s report on U.S. manufacturing conditions will be released. The median forecast of economists polled by Reuters for the ISM’s manufacturing index is 47.4, down from 48.3 in February.

The ISM report on the service sector of the economy is scheduled for Thursday, with economists expecting a reading of 48.3 in March, down from 49.3 in February.

Battipaglia noted that as the market is expecting a weak reading, the number probably will not move the stock market unless it is a positive surprise.

Factory orders for February and revised durable goods orders for February are due on Wednesday; the March Chicago PMI (purchasing managers’ index) is due on Monday.

Indian batsman Rahul Dravid became the sixth player to tally 10,000 test runs on Saturday, reaching the milestone in the first test against South Africa.Dravid reached the mark when he made 80 not out in the first innings early on the fourth day, becoming the third Indian to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar.

West Indies batsman Brian Lara heads the list followed by Tendulkar, Australia’s Allan Border and Steve Waugh and Gavaskar.

The 35-year-old batsman flicked paceman Mornie Morkel to midwicket for a single to reach the milestone. India were 512 for three in reply to South Africa’s first innings 540 all out.

India has given the green light to the tie-up between telecoms operator Tata Teleservices and UK’s Virgin Mobile, after it was convinced the combination was legal, the Economic Times newspaper said on Saturday.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had sought clarification from Tata Teleservices after a lobby group of telecom operators had demanded the government inquire into the legality of the tie-up.

DoT had decided the tie-up was not operating as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), based on Tata Teleservices’ argument that it had no partnership for use of network or spectrum with Virgin and the tie-up was purely for non-license activities, the report said.

Earlier this month, Virgin Mobile, a unit of British communications group Virgin Media, launched a youth-focused service in India through Tata Teleservices.

This had lobby group, Cellular Operators Association of India, demanding the government check if the tie-up meant Virgin was entering India as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).

MVNOs, which do not own networks or spectrum but rent it out from other operators, are not permitted in India.

Tata Teleservices and its subsidiary, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd, operate in 20 of India’s 23 telecom zones.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Group operates flights to London from India and has a minority stake in private FM radio operator, Fever, controlled by HT Media.

Virgin Comics is partnering India’s Studio 18 and broadcaster UTV Software Communications Ltd for publishing, television, film and gaming.

Once the lifelines of ‘babus’ hurrying to work with a day’s stubble on their faces, roadside barbers in Bihar and Jharkhand are gradually becoming a rarity.They are losing out to beauty parlours and the hip generation of male company executives and students who prefer to shave themselves and get their hair styled in parlours.

Nanku Nai, a roadside barber here, has no one to carry on the family tradition. ‘My son works as a labourer. Despite my repeated insistence, he did not join my profession. I earn Rs.30 to Rs.60 per day and he earns Rs.90 per day working as a labourer,’ Nai told.

‘The cultural revolution has changed everything. Those who get their hair cut from roadside barbers are looked down upon. Now people prefer to go to beauty parlours instead.’

Almost all the street-side barbers have disappeared from the three national highways connecting Ranchi to Patna, Jamshedpur and Khunti. Many of them are either setting up their own beauty and styling boutiques or moving out of the profession.

Ranchi has more than 200 beauty parlours, up from 50 just 10 years ago.

The roadside barbershops are popularly known as ‘Italian salons’ - some say the name is derived from the Hindi word ‘int’, or brick, as these makeshift shops often barely have a chair and a mirror next to a brick wall or under a tree. Over the past decade, they have been finding it difficult to compete with mushrooming beauty parlours.

Roadside barbers usually charge Rs.4 for shaving and Rs.6 for haircuts. They earn between Rs.30 and Rs.100 per day. According to an estimate, Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, still has more than 700 Italian salons, down by almost half the tally five years ago.

Suraj Nath Thakur, a 32-year-old barber, has set up a new haircutting salon at Kathhal More on the Ranchi-Khunti national highway en route to the Bihar capital Patna.

Suraj is a resident of Mayagaon in Ranchi. His father and grandfather were barbers in the village. They did not have their own salon.

The meagre earning from his makeshift roadside shop was not enough to run the family. Suraj decided to open a salon away from his village. ‘I set up my own salon 15 years ago on government land,’ Suraj said.

Asked why he left his village, Suraj told IANS, ‘I did not want to lead a life like my father and grandfather. I am the first person in my family to set up a salon.’ Suraj makes around Rs.3,000 to Rs.3,500 every month.

Indra Thakur, 55, however, still plies his trade near the busy Albert Ekka intersection in Ranchi. He has been doing so for the last 37 years.

‘Even after all these years, I am not comfortable financially. There was a time, when people queued up to get their hair and beard shaved. Now we hardly have any customers,’ Indra said.

His 17-year-old-son Pradeep is not a barber. ‘I don’t want to be called a roadside barber. I am collecting money to open a salon for myself. If I am not able to collect enough money to open my own salon, then I will opt out of the profession.’

Till a few years ago, more than two dozen barbers operated on the 200-metre stretch between Albert Ekka Chowk and Shahid Chowk. Sundays were hectic with more than 100 people flocking to the roadside stylists to cut their hair. But no more.

People like Sanjeev Shekhar, a regular visitor to ‘Italian salons’, is virtually a rarity. He said: ‘It feels funny to sit by the road for a haircut. But I still don’t like to go to beauty parlours.’

Poor Google. Its stock has been sliding since the beginning of the year.

Now key executives and engineers are trickling out and heading to the Internet’s latest darling, Facebook.

The latest Google defector is Ethan Beard, who plans to leave his post as the Mountain View, Calif., company’s director of social media in mid-April. He will become director of business development at Facebook.

Google veteran Sheryl Sandberg left earlier this month to become chief operating officer at the popular social-networking company. Within the last year, other Googlers have departed for Facebook. Among them: Gideon Yu, former chief financial officer at YouTube, Google’s video-sharing site, who is now chief financial officer at Facebook; and top engineers Benjamin Ling and Justin Rosenstein.After leaving the Internet search giant last year, Rosenstein sent an e-mail to friends and colleagues, describing his new employer, Facebook, as “the Google of yesterday, the Microsoft of long ago. That company where large numbers of stunningly brilliant people congregate and feed off each other’s genius. That company that’s doing with 60 engineers what teams of 600 can’t pull off.”

Ouch. Indeed, it wasn’t so long ago that Google was stealing top talent from Microsoft to fuel its growth spurt. Now Google is big–16,800 people at last count. Internally, a few people have been heard to grumble that the company might just be a bit too big.

Now it’s Facebook, with its lofty valuation of $15 billion, that expects to double its head count by the end of the year to reach a respectable 1,000. Facebook is still at the point where it needs seasoned Internet executives to help it become a viable business.

Both Facebook and Google declined to say how many ex-Googlers now work at the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, but Google said it tries to keep its employees happy and challenged. Despite its efforts, the company conceded that some turnover is inevitable. “We understand that the nature of our times is that people will do many things over the course of their careers,” Google said in a statement.

Google is still a dream employer, especially for the hundreds of students in business schools throughout the US. But at 16,800 employees worldwide–and growing–it’s hard for every smart and ambitious new hire at Google to become a star. One awkward opening: Google has yet to fill the post of chief financial officer. Current CFO George Reyes has been ready to leave since August 2007.

“You hire that kind of talent, they’re going to move” if they are not satisfied, says Colleen Hulce, a managing director at executive recruiter DHR International. “There’s only so much room at the top, and Facebook is on fire.”

Besides, Hulce points out, turnover is par for the course in the tech world. Workers who don’t move around risk getting labeled as stagnant. “If you stay too long, it’s not necessarily a good thing. You become too Googlized,” she says.

Despite defections to Facebook, Hulce said Google is still attracting top talent. “Google is in a class by itself,” she says. “They’re a steamroller–who knows what else they’re going to come out with?”

The coming years will see billions of people across the world speak a new tongue called ‘Panglish’, which will replace English as the global language, experts say.

English, as we know it, is evolving into a new, simplified form and amazingly, the changes are not being driven by Britons, Americans or Australians.

Rather, Panglish will be similar to the versions of English used by non-native speakers who speak Englsh as second language.

According to linguists, by 2010 about two billion people, a third of the world’s population, will speak English as a second language in contrast to just 350 million people who will speak it as their first language.

By 2020, the number of native speakers of English will decline even more and other languages like Spanish, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic will have the same number of native speakers as that of English, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

Experts believe as English gains more popularity, it will increasingly fragment into regional dialects.

“There have always been mutually unintelligible dialects of languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Hindi and Latin. There is no reason to believe that the linguistic future of English will be any different,” Braj Kachru, one of the world’s leading experts in English as a second language, said.

For instance, Singaporean English combines English with Malay, Tamil and Chinese and is difficult for English-speaking Westerners to understand.

Panglish will lose some of the English sounds which non-native speakers find difficult to pronounce. Consonants will also vanish from the end of words and group nouns which don’t have plural versions could vanish, experts said.

Whatsoever, the bottomline is that as new dialects develop, global English or Panglish will become simpler.

A timely apology saved the day for Shatrughan Sinha’s son, Luv Sinha’s debut film.

A controversy erupted when a section of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee objected to certain shots of the film, Sadiyan,that were picturised inside the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

In the scene, Rishi Kapoor and Rekha have been shown feeding prasad to each other, which was objected to by the clergy members and intelligentsia.According to certain guidelines, such an act was not permissable inside the temple.

“The director, Raj Kanwar, has apologised and said that such incidents will not take place again and the shot will not be shown in the film,” said A S Makkar, president of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak committee. “As far as we are concerned, the matter is closed.”

Quite a films have been shot inside the Golden temple, including the big hit, Rang De Basanti, starring Aamir Khan.

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam was in New York earlier this week, encouraging people to dream big and to act with integrity to make India a developed nation by year 2020.

Addressing a gathering of 250 students and 750 community leaders at the community centre auditorium of the Hindu Temple in Flushing, New York, Kalam challenged everyone to think loud about ‘what should I be remembered for, when I leave this world’.

The gathering, representing a broad spectrum of Non Resident Indians and Persons of Indian Origin, posed various questions to the former President. He also interacted with students from area colleges and universities.

To a query from one of the students on what should Diaspora do for their adopted nation, Kalam said: “We should give 100 per cent to where we live and work while committing ourselves to give back to our motherland.

“The ‘People’s President’ said the Diaspora had been contributing to US in many ways — whether it is in science, technology, economics, arts, commerce or management.

“NRI and PIO children are also performing extremely well. Recently, I cam across a press news about Shivani Sud, an Indian American high school student who won the top prize at the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search contest in the US for her project on cancer and many more. I congratulate Shivani Sud and also many Indian children performing so well here.”

“Mission of life should be to earn knowledge and wealth even if it needs crossing the oceans. That is our great culture. I am delighted to see all of you performing well in your profession crossing multiple oceans. America is born out of migration of many millions from many countries. If people have not moved from one country to another, many nations would not have been born,” he said.

India opener Virender Sehwag was dismissed for 319 on the fourth morning of the first test against South Africa on Saturday.

The 29-year-old improved his own Indian record for the highest test score of 309, but failed to break the world record of 400 not out held by West Indies batsman Brian Lara.

Replying to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena supremo Raj Thackeray’s remarks against him, Amitabh Bachchan has stated that India is a free country and everyone has the right to live wherever they please.This is the first time Bachchan has reacted in public against Thackeray ever since the latter targetted him for being more loyal to his hometown, Uttar Pradesh, rather than Maharashtra, where he has been residing for more than 40 years.

Bachchan’s statement came a day after a hoarding — erected at Mumbai’s North Central area of Shivaji Park by Thackeray’s followers — made fun of the actor and called him ‘Superstar Shetkari.‘ (farmer)The hoarding also mentioned that Bachchan, who had donated his Lonavala land to farmers displaced due to the construction of a dam, was demanding the land back, a move that Bachchan had made only the day before.The actor gave his answer at a press conference for the International Indian Film Academy, of which Bachchan is the brand ambassador. When a journalist asked him to comment on Thackeray’s repeated attacks on him, Bachchan said, “The Indian Constitution has given me the right to live anywhere in the country. It is my fundamental right.”

Without naming Thackeray, Bachchan said, “Everybody has a right to the freedom speech but I only follow the law of the land, the Indian Constitution and my conscience. Besides that, I don’t bother about anything else.”

When asked to comment on the Lonavala land issue, Bachchan said, “The case is sub judice and I cannot talk about it.”

Hyderabad (IANS) The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad, which began its operations early Sunday, has handled 93,000 passengers in the past five days. The new airport, with world-class facilities, handled around 15,000 international and 78,000 domestic passengers till March 27. “Thus the airport is handling an average of 18,500 passengers per day,” said a statement by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) here Friday.

The total air traffic movement during the period was around 1,500. The air traffic movement is defined as one-round movement of an aircraft - landing and taking off.

“The performance of check-in, baggage handling and fuel farm systems has been steadily improving over the last five days,” said the statement, which came amid reports in a section of media about the lack of proper facilities and poor connectivity.

The first greenfield airport in public-private partnership has been built at a cost of Rs.25 billion ($627.8 million) at Shamshabad, about 30 km from the city. The old airport was in the heart of the city.

It claimed that the international pilot community has appreciated the runway and air traffic control systems installed at the new airport.

On connectivity to the new airport, it said the operation of 30 AC buses from four locations in the city is getting a positive response from the public.

“GHIAL is working with the operator to increase both the number of buses and locations in the coming days to improve travel convenience to the airport for travellers.”

Two other operators are also operating 700 radio taxis, which are charging a flat rate of Rs 15 per km.