india

The Indian government is in talks with companies using Research In Motion's BlackBerry service to gain access to their employees' secure communications, The Wall Street Journal reported today.

In an interview with the newspaper, Home Secretary G.K. Pillai downplayed reports that the Indian government plans to block access to the BlackBerry service if the government's security demands aren't met by the end of January. Pillai said that the January date was more of a target rather than a hard deadline.

RIM has maintained publicly that it doesn't have the ability to provide encryption keys for … Read more

Research In Motion has been butting heads with foreign governments over its tight security, but its latest BlackBerry 6 OS has won approval from the U.S. government for those same standards.

RIM announced today that its BlackBerry 6 operating system is now FIPS 140-2 certified. FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) is a series of standards set up by the U.S. government to ensure that computer products meet certain high-level security requirements. The standard is used by government agencies, regulated industries, and other organizations that store and send data dealing with sensitive information.

The FIPS 140-2 standard (PDF) specifically … Read more

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion says news reports suggesting that it's close to an agreement to provide India with lawful access to monitor and access network data are "inaccurate" and "misleading."

One story CNET found, published yesterday in the Indian paper Mint, quotes an unnamed senior official from India's Home Ministry who said that an agreement is near that would give the Indian government access to the encrypted data on RIM's BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES).

"They have in principle agreed to provide us recorded data from their servers," the senior home … Read more

India and the United States have agreed to cooperate on energy projects, including shale gas and clean energy, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Barack Obama told a press conference today.

The two countries will set up a research and development center for clean energy in India and will provide annual funding of $5 million each for five years, with matching investment from the private sector, they said in a joint statement made in India during Obama's three-day visit there.

"We agreed to deepen our cooperation in pursuit of clean energy technologies, including the creation … Read more

India has canceled a ban of BlackBerry services that was scheduled to occur at the end of October.

A press release from India's Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday confirmed the news, saying that discussions with RIM had led to an interim agreement under which BlackBerry Messenger services could continue. This agreement provides the Indian government with access to the lawful interception of data over the BlackBerry network, according to the ministry. Further, RIM has promised India that it would offer a final solution by January 31, to give the government continued access.

Details of the agreement were not … Read more

There are quite a number of mobile phones from India that don't make it to the rest of the world. Here's a new one that has a 3D display and costs less than $100. The QVGA screen on the M-67 from Spice Mobility shows a 3D image or video without glasses, much like the upcoming Nintendo 3DS game console.

3D screen aside, the M-67 is a 2.5G phone with two SIM card slots, a 2-megapixel camera, and an FM tuner. It's available only in India, so we don't expect to test it out any time … Read more

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Barnes & Noble gets set to launch Nook Kids aimed at ages 3 to 8

Microsoft gives some indication that Windows 8 will be along in about two years

A 3D cell phone launches in India

Amazon.com is going to allow book lending on the Kindle

Google admits to gathering e-mail addresses, passwords, and URLs when collecting Street View images

Google adds new languages to Voice Search for Android

And Google adds World War II imagery to Google Earth

Ustream is going to allow pay-per-view broadcasting

The Sony Walkman cassette player is no more… Read more

Companies in growing markets like China and India are adding more jobs in North America and Europe, a shift from the usual hiring patterns, says a new study from IBM.

Out today, IBM's new "Working Beyond Borders" study found that growth in jobs is now moving two ways--from emerging economies tapping into more mature markets as well as the more traditional reverse pattern.

The reason for the trend? As more companies expand globally, they're hiring people with the creativity, flexibility, and speed needed to help their expansion, prompting them to increase their staffing in North America, … Read more

Research In Motion and the United Arab Emirates have reached an agreement to call off a BlackBerry ban that was scheduled to start Monday.

Today's press release (Google Translate version) from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), which regulates telecommunications for the UAE, confirmed that all BlackBerry services will continue as usual and not be suspended on October 11.

The agency said that BlackBerry services are now compatible with the UAE's regulatory framework and added that RIM had cooperated in offering a compatible solution. Beyond that, the agency offered no details as far as specific actions or measures that … Read more