Wednesday, January 14, 2015

FACEBOOK

As we all are very familiar to this word FACEBOOK which is an online social networking service headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Its website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University students Eduaro Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.

Here is an brief detail of facebook



Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: FB
Founded	February 4, 2004 (10 years ago)
Headquarters	Menlo Park, California, US
Area served	United States (2004–05) Worldwide (2005–present)
Founder(s)	· Mark Zuckerberg · Eduardo Saverin · Andrew McCollum · Dustin Moskovitz · Chris Hughes
Key people	Mark Zuckerberg (Chairman and CEO) Sheryl Sandberg (COO)
Industry	Internet
Revenue	US$7.87 billion (2013)
Operating income	US$2.80 billion (2013)
Net income	US$1.50 billion (2013)
Total assets	US$17.89 billion (2013)
Total equity	US$15.47 billion (2013)
Employees	8,348 (September 2014)
Subsidiaries	Instagram WhatsApp Oculus VR PrivateCore
Website	www.facebook.comTor: facebookcorewwwi.onion
Written in	C++, PHP (as HHVM) and D language
Alexa rank	2 (September 2014)
Type of site	Social networking service
Registration	Required
Users	864 million daily active users on average for September 2014^[
Available in	Multilingual (70)
Current status	Active

HISTORY

On July 20, 2008, Facebook introduced "Facebook Beta", a significant redesign of its user interface on selected networks. The Mini-Feed and Wall were consolidated, profiles were separated into tabbed sections, and an effort was made to create a "cleaner" look.After initially giving users a choice to switch, Facebook began migrating all users to the new version starting in September 2008. On December 11, 2008, it was announced that Facebook was testing a simpler signup process.

FACEBOOK BUG BOUNTY PROGRAM

On July 29, 2011, Facebook announced its Bug Bounty Program in which security researchers will be paid a minimum of $500 for reporting security holes on Facebook website. Facebook's whitehat page for security researchers says: "If you give us a reasonable time to respond to your report before making any information public and make a good faith effort to avoid privacy violations, destruction of data, and interruption or degradation of our service during your research, we will not bring any lawsuit against you or ask law enforcement to investigate you.

India, which has the second largest number of bug hunters in the world, tops the Facebook Bug Bounty Program with the largest number of valid bugs. "Researchers in Russia earned the highest amount per report in 2013, receiving an average of $3,961 for 38 bugs. India contributed the largest number of valid bugs at 136, with an average reward of $1,353. The USA reported 92 issues and averaged $2,272 in rewards. Brazil and the UK were third and fourth by volume, with 53 bugs and 40 bugs, respectively, and average rewards of $3,792 and $2,950", Facebook quoted in a post.

A Facebook "White Hat" debit card, given to researchers who report security bugs

Media impact

In April 2011, Facebook launched a new portal for marketers and creative agencies to help them develop brand promotions on Facebook,The company began its push by inviting a select group of British advertising leaders to meet Facebook's top executives at an "influencers' summit" in February 2010. Facebook has now been involved in campaigns for True Blood,American Idol, and Top Gear. News and media outlets such as the Washington Post, Financial Timesand ABC News have used aggregated Facebook fan data to create various infographics and charts to accompany their articles. In 2012, the beauty was run exclusively using Facebook.

Social impact

Facebook has affected the social life and activity of people in various ways. With its availability on many mobile devices, Facebook allows users to continuously stay in touch with friends, relatives and other acquaintances wherever they are in the world, as long as there is access to the Internet. It can also unite people with common interests and/or beliefs through groups and other pages, and has been known to reunite lost family members and friends because of the widespread reach of its network. One such reunion was between John Watson and the daughter he had been seeking for 20 years. They met after Watson found her Facebook profile. Another father–daughter reunion was between Tony Macnauton and Frances Simpson, who had not seen each other for nearly 48 years.^[

Health impact

Many Facebook users, especially adolescents, display references to alcohol and substance use on their Facebook profiles. One study of alcohol displays on underage college Facebook users found that 35.7% participant profiles displayed alcohol. This can include photos of underage drinking, or status updates describing alcohol or substance use. This is particularly concerning because new social media such as Facebook can influence adolescents by acting as a "superpeer," promoting norms of behavior among other adolescents.^[ Regardless of whether these displays represent real offline behavior or are posted just to make the Facebook user "look cool", displaying these references may lead to an expectation by friends that the adolescent does or will drink alcohol in the future.

Unfriending psychological impact

Although Facebook has an upside of friending people, there is also the downside of having someone unfriend or reject another person, according to psychologist Susan Krauss Whitbourne Whitbourne refers to unfriended persons on Facebook as victims of estrangement. Unfriending someone is seldom a mutual decision and the person often does not know they have been unfriended

REVENUES
Year	Revenue	Growth
2006	$52	—
2007	$150	188%
2008	$280	87%
2009	$775	177%
2010	$2,000	158%
2011	$3,711	86%
2012	$5,089	37%
2013	$7,872	55%

sources-

for facebook-

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/jul/25/media.newmedia

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/technology/03facebook.html?ref=business&_r=0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Akbar

Born on October 15, 1542 in Umarkot, India, and enthroned at age 14, Akbar the Great began his military conquests under the tutelage of a regent before claiming imperial power and expanding the Mughal Empire. Known as much for his inclusive leadership style as for his war mongering, Akbar ushered in an era of religious tolerance and appreciation for the arts.

The conditions of Akbar's birth in Umarkot, Sindh, India on October 15, 1542, gave no indication that he would be a great leader. Though Akbar was a direct descendent of Ghengis Khan, and his grandfather Babur was the first emperor of the Mughal dynasty, his father, Humayun, had been driven from the throne by Sher Shah Suri. He was impoverished and in exile when Akbar was born.

Early Life

Humayun managed to regain power in 1555, but ruled only a few months before he died, leaving Akbar to succeed him at just 14 years old. The kingdom Akbar inherited was little more than a collection of frail fiefs. Under the regency of Bairam Khan, however, Akbar achieved relative stability in the region. Most notably, Khan won control of northern India from the Afghans and successfully led the army against the Hindu king Hemu at the Second Battle of Panipat. In spite of this loyal service, when Akbar came of age in March of 1560, he dismissed Bairam Khan and took full control of the government.

Expanding the emperor

Akbar was a cunning general, and he continued his military expansion throughout his reign. By the time he died, his empire extended to Afghanistan in the north, Sindh in the west, Bengal in the east, and the Godavari River in the south.Akbar’s success in creating his empire was as much a result of his ability to earn the loyalty of his conquered people as it was of his ability to conquer them. He allied himself with the defeated Rajput rulers, and rather than demanding a high “tribute tax” and leaving them to rule their territories unsupervised, he created a system of central government, integrating them into his administration. Akbar was known for rewarding talent, loyalty, and intellect, regardless of ethnic background or religious practice. In addition to compiling an able administration, this practice brought stability to his dynasty by establishing a base of loyalty to Akbar that was greater than that of any one religion.

Beyond military conciliation, he appealed to the Rajput people by ruling in a spirit of cooperation and tolerance. He did not force India’s majority Hindu population to convert to Islam; he accommodated them instead, abolishing the poll tax on non-Muslims, translating Hindu literature and participating in Hindu festivals.

Akbar also formed powerful matrimonial alliances. When he married Hindu princesses—including Jodha Bai, the eldest daughter of the house of Jaipur, as well princesses of Bikaner and Jaisalmer—their fathers and brothers became members of his court and were elevated to the same status as his Muslim fathers- and brothers-in-law. While marrying off the daughters of conquered Hindu leaders to Muslim royalty was not a new practice, it had always been viewed as a humiliation. By elevating the status of the princesses’ families, Akbar removed this stigma among all but the most orthodox Hindu sects.

Religion

Akbar was religiously curious. He regularly participated in the festivals of other faiths, and in 1575 in Fatehpur Sikri—a walled city that Akbar had designed in the Persian style—he built a temple (ibadat-khana) where he frequently hosted scholars from other religions, including Hindus, Zoroastrians, Christians, yogis, and Muslims of other sects. He allowed the Jesuits to construct a church at Agra, and discouraged the slaughter of cattle out of respect for Hindu custom. Not everyone appreciated these forays into multiculturalism, however, and many called him a heretic.

In 1579, a mazhar, or declaration, was issued that granted Akbar the authority to interpret religious law, superseding the authority of the mullahs. This became known as the “Infallibility Decree,” and it furthered Akbar’s ability to create an interreligious and multicultural state. In 1582 he established a new cult, the Din-i-Ilahi (“divine faith”), which combined elements of many religions, including Islam, Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. The faith centered around Akbar as a prophet or spiritual leader, but it did not procure many converts and died with Akbar.

Death and Succession

Akbar died in 1605. Some sources say Akbar became fatally ill with dysentery, while others cite a possible poisoning, likely traced to Akbar's son Jahangir. Many favored Jahangir’s eldest son, Khusrau, to succeed Akbar as emperor, but Jahangir forcefully ascended days after Akbar's death.

about Akbar

Akbar the Great, Muslim emperor of India, established

a sprawling kingdom through military conquests, but is known for his policy of religious tolerance.

Diwan-i-Khas (Hall of Private Audience) in Fatehpur Sikri

sources-

for akbar-

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14134

http://www.wdl.org/en/item/9691/

http://www.indohistory.com/akbar.html

Jacobite Risings of 1745

The Jacobite rising of 1745, was the attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for the exiled House of Stuart. The rising occurred during the War of the Austrian Succession when most of the British Army was on the European continent. Charles Edward Stuart, commonly known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie" or "the Young Pretender," sailed to Scotland and raised the Jacobite standard at Glenfinnan in the Scottish Highlands, where he was supported by a gathering of Highland clansmen. The march south began with an initial victory at Prestonpans near Edinburgh. The Jacobite army, now in bold spirits, marched onwards to Carlisle, over the border in England. When it reached Derby, some British divisions were recalled from the Continent and the Jacobite army retreated north

to Inverness where the last battle on Scottish soil took place on a nearby moor at Culloden. The Battle of Culloden ended with the final defeat of the Jacobite cause, and with Charles Edward Stuart fleeing with a price on his head. His wanderings in the northwest Highlands and Islands of Scotland in the summer months of 1746, before finally sailing to permanent exile in France, have become an era of Scottish history that is steeped in romance.

The Jacobite war in Ireland

The Williamite war in Ireland was the opening conflict in James' attempts to regain the throne. It influenced the Jacobite rising in Scotland which "Bonnie Dundee" started at about the same time. By its end in October 1691, the Irish Jacobite army left Ireland for France, becoming the Irish Brigade. This later provided forces assisting "the Forty-five" (second Jacobite rebellion of 1745) in Scotland

Planned invasion of 1708

After a brief peace, the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701 renewed French support for the Jacobites. In 1708 James Stuart, the Old Pretender, sailed from Dunkirk with 6000 French troops in nearly 30 ships of the French navy. His intended landing in the Firth of Forth was thwarted by the Royal Navy, under Admiral Byng. Over the tearful protests of James himself, the French admiral chose not to risk a landing and opted to retreat instead of fight. The British pursued the French fleet round the north of Scotland, losing ships and most of their men in shipwrecks on the way back to Dunkirk.

The Glorious Revolution of 1688–89 resulted in the Roman Catholic Stuart king, James II of England and VII of Scotland, fleeing to exile in France under the protection of Louis XIV. James' daughter and her husband, who was also James's nephew, ascended the British throne as joint sovereigns William and Mary. In 1690 Presbyterianism was established as the state religion of Scotland. The Act of Settlement 1701 settled the succession of the English throne on the Protestant House of Hanover. The Scottish Act of Security 1704 required that Queen Anne's successor be Protestant, and the Act of Union 1707 applied the Act of Settlement to Scotland. With the death of Queen Anne in 1714, the Elector of Hanover, George I, succeeded to the British throne. James II's son, James Francis Edward Stuart, the 'Old Pretender', attempted to gain the British throne in 1715 ("the Fifteen") but failed to do so. The accession of George I ushered in the Whig supremacy, with the Tories deprived of all political power. George II succeeded his father in 1727. In February 1742 Sir Robert Walpole resigned as Prime Minister after nearly 21 years, being replaced by Lord Wilmington until his death in July 1743. Thereafter, the Whig Henry Pelham was Prime Minister until 1754.

The rising of 1745 ("the Forty-five")

Such is the connection between 1745 and the rising in the Gaelic mindset, that the '45 is known as Bliadhna Theàrlaich (Charles' Year) in Scottish Gaelic.

Charles continued to believe that he could reclaim the kingdom and recalled that early in 1744 a few Scottish Highland clan chieftains had sent a message that they would rise if he arrived with as few as 3,000 French troops. Living at French expense, he continued to petition ministers for commitment to another invasion, to their increasing irritation. In secrecy he also developed a plan with a consortium of Nantes privateers, funded by exiled Scots bankers and pawning of his mother's jewelry. They fitted out a small frigate Du Teillay and a ship of the line the Elisabeth and set out from Nantes for Scotland in July 1745 on the pretence that this was a normal privateering cruise, leaving a personal letter from Charles to Louis XV of France announcing the departure and asking for help with the rising.

The Scottish clans and their chieftains initially showed little enthusiasm about his arrival without troops or munitions (with Alexander MacDonald of Sleat and Norman MacLeod of MacLeod refusing even to meet with him), but Charles went on to Moidart and on 19 August 1745 raised the standard at Glenfinnan to lead the second Jacobite rising in his father's name. This attracted about 1,200 men, mostly of Clan MacDonald of Clan Ranald, Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, Clan MacDonald of Keppoch, and Clan Cameron. The Jacobite force marched south from Glenfinnan, increasing to almost 3,000 men, though two chieftains insisted on pledges of compensation before joining.

Britain was still in the midst of the War of the Austrian Succession and most of the British army was in Flanders and Germany, leaving an inexperienced army of about 4,000 in Scotland under Sir John Cope. His force marched north into the Highlands but, believing the rebel force to be stronger than it really was, avoided an engagement with the Jacobites at the Pass of Corryairack and withdrew northwards to Inverness. The Jacobites captured Perth and at Coatbridge on the way to Edinburgh routed two regiments of the government's Dragoons. In Edinburgh there was panic with a melting away of the City Guard and Volunteers and when the city gate at the Netherbow Port was opened at night, to let a coach through, a party of Camerons rushed the sentries and seized control of the city. The next day King James VIII was proclaimed at the Mercat Cross and a triumphant Charles entered Holyrood palace.The Jacobite army then turned north, losing men and failing to take Stirling Castle or Fort William but taking Fort Augustus and Fort George in Inverness by early April. Charles now took charge again, insisting on fighting an orthodox defensive action, and on 16 April 1746 they were finally defeated near Inverness at the Battle of Culloden by government forces made up of English and Scottish troops and Campbell militia, under the command of the Duke of Cumberland. The seemingly suicidal Highland sword charge against cannon and muskets had succeeded when launched against unprepared or disordered troops in earlier battles but failed now that it was pitted against regulars who had time to form their ranks properly. Charles promptly abandoned his army, blaming everything on the treachery of his officers, even though after the defeat the stragglers and unengaged units rallied at the agreed rendezvous and only dispersed when ordered to leave.

Charles fled to France making a dramatic if humiliating escape disguised as a "lady's maid" to Flora MacDonald. Cumberland's forces crushed the uprising and effectively ended Jacobitism as a serious political force in Britain. The decline of Jacobitism left Charles making futile attempts to enlist assistance, and another abortive plot to raise support in England.