Today in Tech: HP's job cuts, write off; Data analytics in Satyamev Ja...

HP's EDS acquisitionHP CEO Meg Whitman, who announced 27,000 job cuts at the company earlier in May this year, and wrote off $8 billion on EDS acquisition recently, told ET that there wont be any job cuts in India. HP, under Mark Hurd, bought EDS in 2008, pitching itself against IBM, which transformed itself into a services-led company from an hardware firm. But, HP might have come to the party at a wrong time that saw big changes in both business and technology. Large, long-term contracts, a staple for EDS, had started to decline or were being broken up into smaller chunks; pricing pressure was going up;  emerging technologies such as cloud and mobile were disrupting the way applications were delivered and used. The huge write-off is an indicator that its EDS bet didn't really go well. That the job cuts won't happen in India is an indicator that labor arbitrage is still there. Data analytics in Satyamev JayateAamir Khan might not have impressed documentary purists with his television show Satyamev Jayate, but it's a big hit among the audience. People not only watch the show, but also respond in large numbers. The show's companion website is probably one of the finest examples of integrating television and web - with all its features including the aggregation of audience response. In the background, it's technology at work. Satyamev Jayate uses data analytics expertise of Persistent Systems, a Pune based IT firm, to sort, rank, analyse audience response, measure the show's impact and to plan future shows. Check out this story at GigaOm on how they do it. Is there a case for big acquisitions?The inaugural report accompanying MW IT Index (India edition) makes a case for it. "For Tier 1 companies, in our view, going forward it will not be enough for them to continue making acquisitions that simply move them up the value chain in general terms or establish a presence in new geographic markets. Instead, they will need to focus on very large acquisitions that significantly add to their skill sets, help establish deep domain experience and give them IP of significant value," the report says. It cites PwC's acquisition of PRTM and Genpact's acquisition of Headstrong as examples of M&As that top tier IT companies must pursue. May be. But, given that Martin Wolf is a M&A consultancy, I couldn't help but exclaim, 'What else will you expect them to say?' Also of interest

• Infy probe rubbishes ex-staff’s claim co got back at him for whistle-blowing: Business Line
• EA expects its digital sales to overtake boxed games: Reuters
• RIM Said To Draw Interest From IBM On Enterprise Services: Bloomberg
• Why The Search For The Mystical Data Scientist Should Not Be A Feat Of Magic: Tech Crunch
• Four major U.S. carriers team up to form Mobile Payments Committee: BGR
• How Technology is Changing the Way Couples Plan Their Weddings: BetaKit
• Internet in Cars: From the Desktop to the Dashboard: KQED
• Infographic: Predicting The Spread Of HIV, With A Virtual Community Of 150,000: Fast Company
• The Test Olympians Use to Improve Their Performance--On the Inside: Popular Science