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Google + Review – A Simplified Facebook , will it attract a Trade Dress complaint?

Google Plus (Google+) has made a lots of buzz recently with its limited invitation only service. With so much of Social networks around, Google+ comes around as yet another Social network. After its failures with Google Buzz and losing users from Orkut, Google has finally figured out the best recipe for a Social Network, i.e. Facebook.

Google+ at a high level is a simplified (for Good) version of Facebook. The uncanny resemblance of the UI, placement of buttons and key functionality like Wall,+1 Button etc are all borrowed from Facebook. Even the friend suggestions, ways to share media in the wall etc are modeled on Facebook.

But something which appears new is the concept of Circles, ability to control who sees your posts pictures, by default Google Plus gives circles namely Friends , Family , Someone Met etc.  If you would have used Orkut, you would have seen the same  concept but not on forefront.

Google is expected to add tools and Games soon, before the full release of the Service later this year. There will also integration with Android and Gmail very soon.

Google has integrated its Google Profiles into Google Plus and you don’t need to enter all your profile information all over again. You can use your Gmail id (Google account id)  for signing up, completely eliminating the signup process for existing Google users .  Google also have integrated Picasa into the Google Plus (rather forcibly), I would have preferred  having a choice of not linking the Picasa account on Google Plus, but didn’t have a choice. Already complaints are popping up from users who accidentally deleted their Picasa albums from Google Plus.

Along with the above “Tight” integration, Google’s announcement that Google Profiles will be deleted if not made public by end of July is another  one of those thingies, which wont go well with “Do No Evil” philosophy.

Add all this to millions of Gmail users, Picasa users and Google search users, then you have a very compelling fan base for a successful Social network. And also a recipe for Anti-competitive practices scrutiny and  complaints of unfair bundling of Services , Microsoft was accused of earlier.

Most likely Google+ will succeed , not by pure innovation but by the control over internet and  its existing user base. But also make some of the competitors to join hands in tackling the Internet Giant like the way Google was sidelined during the Nortel Patents.

We havent seen any official response from Facebook on Google Plus,  though Mark Zuckerberg is the most circled man in Google Plus. Wonder whether Facebook will file a Trade dress complaint on the lines of Apple against Samsung for copying UI. Well it may not apply to Web, but why not?

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Intel Core i3-2310M vs i3-380M Notebook processors comparison

We are back with the Processor Comparison, this time with the popular mid range i3 series processors Intel Core i3-380M vs Intel Core i3-2310M. i3-2310M is based on the newer Sandy Bridge micro-architecture released first in January 2011 compared to the old Arrandale (based on Nehalem) Micro Architectures.

The Major advancements with the new architecture apart from 10-20% CPU performance is a marked improvement in the graphics capabilities of the new Gen processors. From the Integrated Graphics the model changes to Processor Graphics with newer Sandy Bridge Processor. But in terms of Fabrication process both Intel Core i3-380M and Intel Core i3-2310M follow the same 32nm process.

The newer chip Intel Core i3-2310M gets some advanced features like Intel Anti-Theft Technology, 4G Wimax technology, Intel myWifi etc. But whether most laptops have the capability to use these features is questionable.

In terms of raw clock speed i3-380M has 2.53GHZ vs i3-2310M’s 2.10GHZ, but the new performance improvements should nullify any concerns. Both have same cache memory of 3MB. With native Graphics support, ie Processor Graphics i3-2310M will perform much better without a separate Graphics card.

CPU Benchmarks

Intel Core i3-380M @ 2.53GHZ – 2314
Intel Core i3-2310M @ 2.1GHZ – 2567
Intel Core i5 480M @ 2.67GHz – 2730
Intel Core i5-2410M @ 2.30GHz – 3335
Intel Core i3 550 @ 3.20GHz – 3091
Intel Core i5 520M @ 2.40GHz – 2359
Intel Core i5 430M @ 2.27GHz – 2359

In terms of price i3-380M based laptops and i3-2310M fall in the same category ans if you have the choice between Intel Core i3-380M and Intel Core i3-2310M, always go for the i3-2310M processor.

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Samsung to pay royalty to Microsoft on Android Use

With Android infringing several of Microsoft’s patents, Microsoft  has a huge leverage in the mobile space. HTC had agreed to pay Microsoft $5 on every device it sells with Android. The price was low after HTC agreed to release as many Microsoft Windows 7 based devices eauivalent to its Android devices.

Now Microsoft is after the bigger target i.e Samsung, in the last few months Samsung has clearly emerged as a leader in Android Devices and Microsoft is demanding Samsung to pay $15 per device sold. But after negotiations figure might be quite lower. Unlike Apple who is suing Samsung, Microsoft can benefit a lot by Samsung.

In the past Microsoft’s major weakness has been the hardware its mobile operating system runs,  it had very few options like Motorola and HTC , but Samsung will be a great addition to the list along with Nokia. Microsoft is expected to settle for a lower fee if Samsung accepts on releasing more Windows 7 devices and using some of its services as default in Android based device.

Linked to the negotiations are licensing for Windows 7 as well. Within a few days we will know the outcome.