Facelifted Toyota Innova and Fortuner by 2012

The Toyota Innova was launched almost seven years ago, and the car will features a whole new refreshed look. While most cars usually go for a new generation model at this stage, that won’t be the case with the Innova. Following a minor facelifted variant back in 2009 and upgraded BS-IV complaint engine in 2010, the latest change to the Innova will probably be its most significant.
The exterior changes include new head lights with a day time element as well. The grille is also taller and features chrome slats running across it. The front bumper is also new and features new fog lights. The tail lights have clear lens. The rear end bumper is also integrated with parking sensors available in the high end V variant.
Seeing that the Innova is not seen a lot of changes in its interiors, it is likely that Toyota could take this chance to make some changes in the instrumentation and centre console, along with new trim levels. Toyota is also expected to make the Innova roomier than before including a new design for the seats or third row seating.
There are no changes expected in the engine offerings, as the intercooler was introduced last year itself. While no significant changes are expected, they will certainly be welcome.
Apart from the Innova, Toyota is also likely to introduce some changes in its Fortuner SUV. While the Fortuner was launched not more than two years back in India, it has been available in global markets far longer. Changes expected in this model are mostly cosmetic. This could include a larger grille that has horizontal chrome slats compared to the current honeycomb grille, a new bumper for the front and rear end with new fog lights and larger head lights.
There are also some changes expected in the interior that will most likely involve the instrumentation and trims; however changes could be lesser than in the Innova. The facelifted models can be expected in the Indian auto market by early 2012 with slightly higher price tags.

Mamata welcomes SC order on Singur

Welcoming the Supreme Court's interim order on the Singur land case, West Bengal  Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee  said on Wednesday the apex court did not stop land survey and the 'process of distribution of land'.

"We welcome the Supreme court order.

"It will go in favour of the farmers and in favour of the people," she told reporters commenting on the apex court order.

The chief minister, who had a talk with government lawyer Kalyan Banerjee on the apex court order, said the Supreme Court had not stopped the land survey and process of distribution of land in Singur.

"The apex court only said that distribution of land would be stopped till the Calcutta high court passes its judgement on the case," she said.

The Supreme Court directed the West Bengal government not to go ahead with distribution and return of land in Singur to farmers which was acquired for Tata Motors' small car project Nano

"As an interim order, we direct state government not to hand over or return land to farmers concerned until further order passed by the Calcutta high court," a vacation bench comprising justices P Sathasivam an A K Patnaik said.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Tata Motors challenging the order of Calcutta high court which refused to grant any relief to it.

Image: Mamata Banerjee

Facebook Shuts Down Apps Without Prior Warning

Over the last few days, Facebook, the phenomenally popular social networking site, has begun to shutdown numerous applications that are available on the site without any warnings to users or the developers of the applications.
The decision to remove the applications came as a part of a “new enforcement system” that Facebook recently put into place to respond to complaints made by users and to reduce spamming on the platform.
A statement made by a Facebook engineer indicated that most of the applications had been disabled because of high negative user feedback or because they had very high mark-as-spam numbers.
According to the blog All Facebook, the shutdown mostly affected smaller applications with tens of thousands of users, but the move also affected some popular blockbusters like Photo Effect, which has 7.5 million registered users, Social Interview, and Good Reads.
However, Good Reads, unlike most other applications repealed the decision and was restored a few days later.
Facebook’s ability to shutdown applications without a warning and without providing a reason to the owners serves as a warning to many developers.
According to Otis Chandler, the CEO of Good Reads, “We didn’t know the reason we were shut down, but audited our app and cleaned up a few things just to be sure, and appealed again…A great reminder of the power Facebook has over all of us developers”.

Is Google+ the new Facebook?

After the lukewarm response to Google Buzz, the search giant is back again - this time with the feature-packed Google+. Touted as the rival to Facebook, the new social networking place has the online forums buzzing. While most people are going gaga over its cool features like Circles and Hangout some are just slamming it as a mere copy of Facebook

While you still make up your mind whether to love or hate Google's latest offering, here's what the experts are saying.
Expert talk
Danny Sullivan, searchengineland.com
The terrible name is a bad start. Google+? Google+! I can't even question or exclaim about the bad name without it looking bad in writing.Pronounced "Google Plus," the product is officially written as Google+ - making placing any punctuation after the name fairly awkward. And Google+ looks like and quacks like Facebook in several ways.
Ben Parr, mashable.com
No matter what Google says, Google+ is the company's response to the rise of Facebook. The two companies are in heated competition for talent, page views and consumers. While Google controls the search market and has a strong presence on mobile with Android, it hasn't been able to crack the social nut. Its most successful social product, YouTube, had to be acquired, and it still ranks as one of the most expensive acquisitions in the company's history
Mark Hachman on PCMAG.COM
Put simply, Google+ is a social network for geeks. But users used to Facebook's minimalist interface may find Google+ jarring. And, sad to say, Google's "field trial" suffered from overcapacity, an issue which may or may not have rippled into our evaluation on Tuesday afternoon. I and other PCMag.com staffers experienced numerous annoyances, which resulted from either poor design decisions, alpha glitches, or the overcapacity issue - I don't know which.
Brian Womack, bloomberg.com
With Google+, users easily share information based on the circle of friends they think would most like to see a photo or read a message, such as immediate family or people who like a certain hobby or sports team.
Ryan Tate .defamer.com
Really! Dump Facebook and tell all your friends about your new, richer social network. It's like Facebook but with much better groups (purportedly), so you can segregate your relatives and friends into different "Circles" that get different streams of information from you. You can name your circles and add whoever you want to each one; the relationships can be one way, so you can receives shares without sharing back. There are some other features, but that's the only one you need to care about. Google is touting Plus as a big improvement over Facebook.
Marshall Kirkpatrick , readwriteweb.com
With Google+, users such as immediate family or people who like a certain hobby or sports team. Once users sign up, they have a profile page with security settings that let them share or hide personal information, such as education or job descriptions. Contacts are suggested based on user e-mail accounts.