A startup is offering a virtual girl friend for you on Facebook! To make it look like you are not single, Cloud Girlfriend promises to post things on your Facebook wall. The application yet not launched defines Cloud Girlfriend as “the social network girlfriend” asking users for their email addresses to be notified. It claims - Step 1: Define your perfect girlfriend. Step 2: We bring her into existence. Step 3: Connect and interact with her publicly on your favorite social network. ...

Ever wish you could have answers and direct access to websites before you complete a query, hit the search button, or go to a search results page? Yes, we do have Google Instant search already! Yesterday, Yahoo CTO Blake introduced Yahoo’s version of Google Instant, “Search Direct” at a press event. The simple way to describe it is as Yahoo’s version of Google’s Instant Search but with richer content. Blake reminds the audience that Yahoo developed a version of Instant Search years before Google (though Google Instant isn’t named). He argues that this is “much richer, much faster”. ...

Mobile phones today have become an essential tool in our everyday life as our primary way to communicate, work, share and collaborate. A survey conducted by Symantec (a security product and solutions provider) stated that 53% of adults in India have fallen victim to mobile phone loss or theft, but despite that, only two in five Indians currently have a password protecting their devices. “The survey results are clear: mobile phone loss and theft is a significant issue for Indians today,” says Gaurav Kanwal, Country Sales Manager, India, Consumer Products and Solutions, Symantec. ...

AT&T said it entered a definitive agreement with Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) to acquire T- Mobile USA in a cash-and-stock transaction currently valued at approximately $39 billion a few minutes ago. The agreement has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, Deutsche Telekom said in a statement. AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile USA provides an optimal combination of network assets to add capacity sooner than any alternative, and it provides an opportunity to improve network quality in the near term for both companies’ customers. In addition, it provides a fast, efficient and certain solution to the impending exhaustion of wireless spectrum in some markets, which limits both companies’ ability to meet the ongoing explosive demand for mobile broadband. Read full agreement details here. ...

The Apple iPad 2 is officially available in India. No its not via Apple’s Store. Apple started shipping iPad 2 from March 11 in US and from March 25 in UK, Canada and 25 other countries. Unfortunately, India is in the list in near future with Apple just releasing old iPad 1 just few weeks ago. You can pre-order iPad 2 starting at Rs. 36,500 via Shop Your Word (SYW). SYW is a decently new global online shopping website with a main focus on Indian customers. They offer users a way to shop products from US & UK (other countries?) and deliver them to their door-steps without worrying about the shipping and customs. ...

This rumor about Facebook using your photos in ads without your consent is spreading again. The rumor was not true earlier (back in 2009) and it is not true now. Many Facebook users are saying in a status message that’s being passed and worried that Facebook plans to use their photos in Facebook ads, and they’re telling everyone to change privacy settings to prevent it. On Friday, Facebook will start using your photos in ads that appear on the profile page of your friends. It’s legal and mentioned in the fine print when you create your account. To STOP this do the following: got to Account, Account Settings, click on Facebook Ads, choose “No one” in BOTH drop-down menus (scroll down for 2nd) and save changes for EACH drop-down. Please copy this and use in a status update. Let me start off by saying this rumor is FALSE. Facebook has also confirmed it is false. It was initially started back in July 2009, and has more recently shot up again. ...

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has now approved the .XXX top-level domain. The adult entertainment sites will officially be able to label their websites with a .XXX domain name ending a 10 year battle. The resolution passed despite large-scale protests from the adult entertainment industry, which is angry that they will have to repurchase domain names. Thousands of adult entertainment website owners recognize the business benefits of .XXX and have already applied to pre-reserve over 200,000 .XXX domains. .COM websites have been able to pre-register their .XXX domain for free since last year, but others will be forced to pay up to $70 to make the change. ...

Two months ago in January, the leading social networking site Facebook introduced two new measures to gripe up security - a secured connection and Social Authentication. One of the important step to make it easier to manage the security is the HTTPS option even while browsing. Today, the micro blogging site Twitter finally added optional permanent HTTPS setting. Using HTTPS for your Internet services is particularly important when using them over unsecured Wi-Fi connections. ...

Mozilla has set a release date for the next iteration of its popular open-source browser Firefox 4 on March 22, unless there is a show-stopping bug. Last week, the company made the Release Candidate build available which includes an updated interface for all platforms that’s sleeker and easier to use. The open source outfit’s Damon Sicore confirmed yesterday that the Release Candidate build of Firefox 4 that Mozilla pushed out last week is likely to be the final test version of the browser. ...

Microsoft has finally killed off the Zune players because of its demand and instead will shift its focus to other devices and software. Zune is a Microsoft’s answer to Apple iPod which was introduced in 2006 and never managed to break the iPod’s grip on the music player industry. According to Bloomberg’s report yesterday, a “person familiar with the decision” has confirmed that Microsoft won’t be producing any new Zune media players, and that the company will instead focus solely on the Zune software that already has a foothold on the Xbox 360 and Windows Phone devices. ...