Yahoo’s intent on expanding its market share in India, and the company is also interested in finding useful new odds and ends.  In an effort to do both at once, Yahoo hosted Open Hack Day in Bangalore this past weekend.

Although Alex Eckelberry of Sunbelt Software believes fully patched IE and Firefox systems should be safe from the corrupted Bank of India website, it’s probably best to avoid the site until a massive malware problem has been corrected.

I’ve found that, in the U.S., I’m likely to hear “or-what?” after uttering the word “Orkut.”  Google’s social network is quite popular overseas, however, and this status was recently confirmed when Orkut was chosen as the Youth Icon of 2007 in a contest sponsored by MTV India and Pepsi.

Earlier this week, Google promised India a birthday present (the country is celebrating its 60th year of independence).  Now two new gadgets have surfaced in Google India Labs, and while they may or not be the gift in question, they’re definitely worth a look.

Time zones aside, India achieved its independence exactly 60 years ago, and the country is now in the midst of numerous celebrations.  So is Google, for that matter; Orkut, YouTube, and various branches of the central company have all given their congratulations to India.

There’s a disturbing side-effect that’s coming from the increased use of internet marketing – it can be done cheaper in China and India.

While advertising continues to bring us greater efficiencies and cheaper costs, it’s also driving our need for faster turnaround and rapid deployment. When you can test 100 ads online within a week, you need a solution that can keep up with that pace, without breaking the bank.

Yahoo India will soon be deprived of its managing director – reports indicate that George Zacharias has put in his “four-to-six week notice.”  After concluding his career with Yahoo, Zacharias intends “to pursue his own entrepreneurial interests.”

India’s population long ago passed the one billion mark, and Bharti Airtel Broadband & Telephone Services is that country’s largest private broadband and telephone service provider.  Thanks to a new deal, the gigantic corporation is also Google’s partner.

In yet another country-specific step, Yahoo has announced the launch of Yahoo India Advertising.  The site’s getting some mixed reviews, however; it’s pretty professional, yet it’s also nearly identical to the original Yahoo Advertising.

At WebProNews, we write about Google acquiring other companies on what seems like a daily basis.  We may soon get to write about Google funding them, as well – the search engine giant has joined the Band of Angels, and will invest in young Indian companies.

Yahoo and Google both appear dedicated to growing their presence in the Indian market, and to this end, Yahoo recently announced that it had bought a stake in Tyroo Media.  Call this one a “significant investment” (as Yahoo does) – it’s equal to about 35% of the company’s value.

A rumor reported at the Hindustan Times about India’s Rediff portal being a takeover target appears to be more of a leap of faith than a hot tip.

Google’s Orkut is extremely popular in some countries, while YouTube has been successful just about everywhere.  And now iShare, a service from Rediff, intends to compete with both services, which begs the question of whether both – or neither – of them should be concerned in any market.

For a while there, Google was gaining partners for its Books Library Project on what seemed like a daily basis.  That rush (appears to have) stopped, but now one more school has signed up: Japan’s Keio University.

Translating something from Spanish to English is a neat trick, but both languages use the same alphabet.  Google’s looking at something tougher – transliteration – to bridge the gaps between America and several different markets.

J.K. Rowling has made millions of readers happy, but she’s also made eBay India kinda mad.  Hurt, actually, in a sort of whiny-little-kid-with-a-lawyer sense.  The company objects to the way in which Rowling portrayed a court case.