Voice Calls on Facebook?

Social networking giant Facebook is planning to launch a new feature for its Messenger app that allows users to place free voice calls to friends. The feature is so far available only to iPhone users in Canada.

The feature to be introduced by Facebook will help users to make free internet voice calls, known as VoIP calls, to any friend on the social network.

According to the Daily Mail, the new feature comes at the same time as Facebook Messenger rolled out a new feature worldwide that allows users to record and send voicemail-type message to friends.

Working in a similar way to video messaging in the company’s Poke app, users press and hold a red record button, speak their message, and it appears in line as part of the conversation.

However, its addition to the Messenger app seems merely to make it an ‘even more complete app’ he said, adding that he expects video messaging to soon be added as well.

Mahindra and Mahindra to buy Aston Martin?

Aston Martin is at the centre of an international takeover battle after Mahindra and Mahindra trumped an Italian bid for half of the British luxury car maker.

Italian private equity fund Investindustrial reached an agreement on Thursday with the owner, Kuwaiti investment house Investment Dar, but Mahindra and Mahindra made a higher offer on Friday, leaving the fate of the 98-year old icon of British motor engineering hanging in the balance, sources familiar with the discussions said.

The company was sold in 2007 by U.S.-based Ford Motor Co. for 479 million pounds, to Kuwait's Investment Dar and another Kuwait fund, Adeem Investment Co.

Aston Martin sells 15 percent of its DB9, Vanquish and other models in Asia.

"Talks are continuing through the weekend," said one source, who said Investindustrial had bid between 200 million and 250 million pounds for the stake, and is confident of winning the race because it sees its proposal as "technically" superior, including a technical partnership deal with Daimler AG's Mercedes.

The same source said manufacturing would stay at Gaydon under the Italian proposal.

A spokesman for Investment Dar, which went to the market for a $1 billion debt restructuring last year, was not immediately available for comment, nor could Mahindra be reached for comment. Investindustrial declined comment.

Investindustrial, owned by Italy's Bonomi family, is not new to luxury motor brands. In 2006, it bought Italian motorcycle maker Ducati and sold it for about 860 million euros last April to Volkswagen's Audi division.

Mahindra is the world number one tractor make. It also makes more sport utlitiy vehicles than any other Indian motor manufacturer, and controls South Korean car maker Ssangyong Motor Co Ltd.
 

Nokia's Here on iTunes (Maps)

Nokia’s big bet on mobile maps is now in Apple’s iOS App Store. The free app is called Here.

Apple’s own Maps app has been heavily criticized, and Google does not yet have a Maps app for iOS ready, so Nokia’s timing in offering an alternative on the iOS platform seems good as it tries to build up its user base.

But the reviews as of writing this blog have not been that great. The look of the maps aren’t as crisp and clean as Apple Maps.

Here will eventually be available on Android and in Mozilla’s forthcoming Firefox OS.

Dubai to have Taj Mahal by 2015

Developers in Dubai are reportedly planning to construct a replica of the famous Taj Mahal, which would be over four times bigger than the original monument.

Developers said that Taj Arabia, an imitation of the 360-year-old marble mausoleum that took Mughal emperor Shah Jahan almost 22 years to build, would be constructed in a span of just two years.

The billion-dollar project will be set in the heart of the 41-million square foot Falcon City of Wonders on the Emirates Road.

Developers said that Taj Arabia would be symbolic of 'love and romance' just like the Taj Mahal and would celebrate the union of couples by serving as the world's grandest wedding destination.

"Marriage is a celebration. It needs to be announced and glorified. Currently Dubai is not regarded as a wedding destination. People go to Bali and other exotic places to marry. Now they will come to Taj Arabia," Gulf News quoted Arun Mehra, Chairman of the Link Global Group, sub-developers of the mega project, as saying.

According to the report, Taj Arabia will be a five-star hotel property with 300 rooms, and would be flanked by seven mixed-use buildings, two of which will have 200 serviced apartments.

"Taj Arabia will not be a 100 per cent replica as it has a different purpose. That said, we definitely want to create the same spirit of love and passion in today's modern times when divorce rates are fast picking up," Mehra said.

"Traditionally in the UAE and the sub-continent, marriage is not just a union of two people but also their families. The serviced apartments beside Taj Arabia will be ideal for wedding guests as they will have 10 large bedrooms and a hall. We want to create an atmosphere which bonds family members," he added.

Dubai's Falcon City of Wonders, an integrated mega city shaped to represent the falcon which is emblem of the UAE's heritage, may also include several other historical and modern icons of architecture from around the world such as the Pyramids, Hanging Gardens, Eiffel Tower,  Great Wall of China, and Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Is US to launch a pilot program with 55000 new Green Cards in the next two years?

Both Senate and House introduced new immigration bills to reform the U.S. visa system, to encourage the world's best and brightest to stay in America, and fix the shortage of highly qualified engineers.

On Tuesday, Senator Charles Schumer unveiled the "BRAINS" Act (a.k.a the Benefits to Research and American Innovation through Nationality Statutes Act), an immigration bill to make an additional 55,000 green cards available each year to foreign-born graduates of American universities, if they have advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) fields.

Graduates must also have a job offer from a U.S. company in a STEM field to receive a green card under the bill. The BRAINS Act would also make it easier for students planning to study a STEM discipline in the U.S. to obtain a student visa.

“It makes no sense that America is educating the world’s smartest and most talented students and then, once they are at their full potential and mastered their craft, kicking them out the door,” said Schumer in a statement. “We should be encouraging every brilliant and well-educated immigrant to stay here, build a business here, create wealth here, employ people here, and grow our economy. Fixing our broken green card system will help ensure that the next eBay, the next Google, the next Intel will be started in New York City, not in Shanghai or Bangalore or London.”

The proposal is similar to Rep. Lamar Smith's highly-skilled immigration bill that's set for a House vote later this week. Smith's STEM Jobs Act has 44 co-sponsors, and will eliminate the diversity visa program(Green Card Lottery).

Smith’s bill would provide up to the same number of green cards as Schumer’s legislation, but foreign-born students who earn a doctorate degree in a STEM discipline will have first dibs. Students who receive master’s degrees in eligible fields will have access to the remaining green cards.

While few lawmakers oppose the allocation of green cards for high-skilled immigrants, Smith’s bill has come under fire from Congressional Democrats because it would eliminate the diversity visa program, which makes visas available to people from countries with low immigration rates to the U.S., according to The Hill. The BRAINS Act does not eliminate the diversity visa program.