Google Inc on Wednesday unveiled a plan aimed at eventually letting computer users determine whether providers like Comcast Corp are inappropriately blocking or slowing their work online.
The scheme is the latest bid in the debate over network neutrality, which pits content companies like Google against some Internet service providers.
The ISPs say they need to take reasonable steps to manage ever-growing traffic on their networks for the good of all users. Content and applications companies fear the providers have the power to discriminate, favoring some traffic over others.
Google will provide academic researchers with 36 servers in 12 locations in the United States and Europe to analyze data, said its chief Internet guru, Vint Cerf, known as the "father of the Internet."
"When an Internet application doesn't work as expected or your connection seems flaky, how can you tell whether there is a problem caused by your broadband ISP (Internet service provider), the application, your PC (personal computer), or something else?" Cerf wrote in a blog post.
The effort aims to uncover the problem for users, Cerf said. Cerf is widely known for his work for the US government in designing the Internet protocol in the 1970s and 1980s.
In a precedent-setting decision last year, the five-member Federal Communications Commission voted to uphold a complaint accusing Comcast of violating the FCC's open-Internet principles by blocking file-sharing services, such as those that distribute video and television shows.
The case became a flash point in the Net neutrality debate. Comcast is fighting the decision in the courts.
COX MAKES MOVE
In a move likely to fuel further debate, another large cable company, Cox Communications, said on Wednesday it would begin testing a plan to give priority to time-sensitive traffic like Web page views and streaming videos.
Less time-sensitive traffic, such as file uploads and peer-to-peer file sharing, could be delayed under the plan.
Cox said it will not discriminate based on owner or source of traffic.
Still, Net neutrality advocates are wary of such policies.
"The lesson we learned from the Comcast case is that we must be skeptical of any practice that comes between users and the Internet," said Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, an advocacy group.
Researchers are already using tools to test connection speed and determine if an ISP is blocking or throttling particular applications. Google's effort will allow an expansion of that effort.
"The goal is to let consumers see what's under the hood of their Internet connection," said Sascha Meinrath, a wireless expert at the New America Foundation, a think tank in which Google CEO Eric Schmidt is board chairman. "Right now it's very difficult now to make an informed consumer choice."
Google has a business interest in keeping users' experiences fast and efficient, said Google policy analyst Derek Slater, who reserved further judgment until he could learn more about the new Cox policy.
"Our ability to innovate still depends on end users being able to use their broadband connections to access Google. To the extent that consumers are having problems doing that, that can directly hurt Google."
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE movie review
Cast: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Freida Pinto, Irrfan Khan and Saurabh Shukla
Director: Danny Boyle
Producer: Producer
Music: AR Rahman
Forget the Oscar nominations, the Golden Globe wins, the rousing reception at dozens of film festivals and the approximately $60 million grossed so far. Slumdog Millionaire is inherently a Bollywood film. I mean that in the best sense of the word.
Slumdog is unapologetically life-affirming, fantastical and totally implausible.
For years, Bollywood directors have aspired to create a Hindi Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. That is a Hindi film that can shatter barriers of language, geography and sensibility and connect across the globe. Slumdog Millionaire is that film. Only its creator isn’t Indian, he's British.
Slumdog Millionaire is director Danny Boyle’s passionate love letter to the city of Mumbai. Danny and his cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle perfectly capture the grime, grotesqueness and frayed glory of our maximum city.
It’s a horrifying, Dickensian space in which children are casually orphaned, mutilated and prostituted. But it’s also a space in which an improbable love story, which has its origins in a totally Hindi film-like childhood romance, finds a happy ending.
Working from the novel by Vikas Swarup, Danny and his writer Simon Beaufoy have essentially turned the Bollywood film on its head.
So, instead of realistic emotions tethered to an unrealistic landscape and plot, we have an unrealistic plot tethered to a hyper-realistic landscape. Mantle’s camera pores over Mumbai, from its over-arching high-rises to its filthiest slums.
But the story that takes place here is pure fairy tale. So Jamal Malik, a chaiwalla at a call center, played by Dev Patel, is on the brink of winning the top prize on Kaun Banega Crorepati.
The show’s arrogant and creepy host Prem Kumar, played terrifically by Anil Kapoor, has Jamal arrested because he is sure that Jamal is cheating. But as the police interrogate him, we go into a series of flashbacks and discover how and why the slumdog has all the right answers.
At one point in the film, the police inspector, who has been listening to Jamal’s story remarks "It is bizarrely plausible". Actually it’s not. Would the Mumbai police, for all its corruption and brutality, torture a young boy only because he may have cheated on a quiz show. Would a famous talk show host publicly belittle a winning contestant only because he is poor? I don't think so.
There are many places in which the film stretches credulity to snapping point but Danny tells the his story with such a propulsive momentum that you can’t stop watching or ask 'how can this happen'. The visuals are superb and even when the plot wobbles, the acting stays on target.
Three sets of actors play the three leads - Jamal, his brother Salim and the love of his life, Latika. The child actors Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Rubina Ali, are the lifebloods of Slumdog. They are excellent. Their section is the best part of the film. Dev Patel has an endearing presence but a shaky accent and Frieda Pinto, playing Latika, seems more fashion model than slumdog.
Unfortunately, the two also have to exchange dialogue that might make Karan Johar cringe. At one point Jamal says to Latika, "Come away with me". She asks, "...and live on what?" to which he replies, "On love". Eventually then, Slumdog Millionaire isn’t a great film but it is an immensely pleasurable one. As Veeru said in Sholay, "is story main emotion hai, drama hai, tragedy hai". What more can you ask for? Slumdog Millionaire is a must-watch. I strongly recommend that you see it.
IGate interested in buying Satyam: CEO
IGate Corp, an outsourcing services provider, has informed the new board of Satyam Computer Services that it would be interested in buying the fraud-hit outsourcer, its chief executive said on Friday.
"We would be interested in buying Satyam, assuming we can figure out what their liabilities are," Phaneesh Murthy said in telephone interview.
"We believe the board is going to come with their own strategy ... if the strategy involves sale of the company then we will be interested in it."
IGate, which has about $65 million of cash, is in touch with private equity firms for possible funding of any deal, he said.
But IGate would not be interested in buying Satyam, which is fighting for survival after a revelation of massive accounting fraud, if its liabilities were more than $1.25 billion.
"We would be interested in buying Satyam, assuming we can figure out what their liabilities are," Phaneesh Murthy said in telephone interview.
"We believe the board is going to come with their own strategy ... if the strategy involves sale of the company then we will be interested in it."
IGate, which has about $65 million of cash, is in touch with private equity firms for possible funding of any deal, he said.
But IGate would not be interested in buying Satyam, which is fighting for survival after a revelation of massive accounting fraud, if its liabilities were more than $1.25 billion.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Obama may not be taking oath on Lincoln's Bible after all!
Washington, Jan 20 (ANI): The Lincoln Bible to be used by Barack Obama to take oath as the 44th President of the United States, may not belong to the Lincoln family.
"They call it the Lincoln Bible. It is in tolerably good condition. While it is in good condition, it's not really the Lincoln family Bible," claimed Clark Evans of the Library of Congress.
With the Civil War about to erupt and an assassination threat in Baltimore, Lincoln arrived in Washington in the middle of the night. His belongings and his Bible were still en route, CBS News reports.
It could be possible that Abraham Lincoln showed up for his first inauguration without a Bible, and the then Chief Justice there to swear him in, sent him and his clerk to get one.
"That's a very likely scenario for what happened,"" Evans said, showing the current Lincoln Bible. "And ... this is what he brings back."
The clerk of the Supreme Court, William Thomas Carroll, brought back one of the many Bibles he kept for official use - then signed and sealed it, the report said.
On that day, Lincoln spoke to a nation in crisis, about to split in two. And on Election Night, Obama echoed Lincoln's words.
For inspiration, Obama has been reading Lincoln's second inaugural address, said John Sellers, a Lincoln curator at the Library of Congress.
In Abraham Lincoln's rise from nothing and in his determination, Barack Obama sees a model - to inspire, to guide and to unite.The Obamas to pick their White House furniture from presidential treasure trove
Washington, January 20 (ANI): The Obama family will be allowed to select from among thousands of pieces of furniture located in a secret, 40,000-square-foot warehouse in Maryland, for use in the White House.
According to reports, the First Family will have their choice of any presidential sofa, table or chair that is still in working order.
The exact location of the warehouse has not been revealed.
Presidents and their families have dipped into the treasure trove for years.
"I remember Rosalynn Carter found in White House storage some child-size furniture that had been given to the White House during Caroline Kennedy's time," the Washington Times quoted former White House curator Betty Monkman as saying.
Miss Monkman, now in her early 60s, worked in the office of the White House curator from 1967 to 2002, and in 1997 was appointed chief curator.
She has helped eight presidents and their families furnish the White House during her years in the office.
According to her, the storage facility houses everything from Theodore Roosevelt-era rugs to Harry S. Truman's bedside table.
"It's a historic record of everything that has been used in the White House over the last 200 years," she said.
Besides the pieces in storage, the new president also can borrow any painting from any of the national museums and hang them in either their private residence or the White House's West Wing.
The Obamas can choose furniture for any of the 132 rooms in the White House.
If the Obamas want something more contemporary, they can buy pieces using money that Congress appropriates.
The Obamas will get a 100,000 dollars budget, and any spending on decorations beyond that will need to be financed from private sources.Obama is the biggest ever assassination target in American history'
London, Jan 20 (ANI): Barack Obama, who will become the 44th President of the US today, is the biggest ever assassination target in American history.
According to the Daily Star, the 47-year-old has taken the responsibility of doing the most important job in the world, which is to save the global economy from meltdown, but it is also the most dangerous.
He will enter the White House as the first black president knowing that white supremacists have vowed to kill him.
And therefore, security-surrounding Obama has been stepped up.
CIA chiefs are throwing a ring of steel around his inauguration to make sure he does not meet the same fate as assassinated 1960s president John F Kennedy.
They have turned Washington DC into an impenetrable fortress for the historic ceremony. It will be guarded by 45,000 soldiers, police, secret agents and National Guards.
Jet fighters will also be on standby for the ceremony.
Obama will be protected behind bullet-proof glass and ride in a bomb-proof limo with the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and al-Qaida all gunning for him.
US military leaders have tried to cater for every possible type of terror strike from a gunman to a chemical attack.
Intelligence chiefs, who have reported a huge increase in threats running up to inauguration day, have placed snipers on every rooftop around Washing-ton's Lincoln Memorial and Capitol Hill, where Obama will deliver his first speech as US head of state.
Leaders of the racist KKK have issued a call for members to wear black armbands and fly the US flag upside down in protest at him taking office.
And FBI assistant director Joe Persichini confirmed the white supremacy movement is itching to take out Obama.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Madonna nude Photo Gallery
After a star reaches a certain point, it's easy to forget what they became famous for and concentrate solely on their persona. Madonna is such a star. Madonna rocketed to stardom so quickly in 1984 that it obscured most of her musical virtues. Appreciating her music became even more difficult as the decade wore on, as discussing her lifestyle became more common than discussing her music. However, one of Madonna's greatest achievements is how she manipulated the media and the public with her music, her videos, her publicity, and her sexuality. Arguably, Madonna was the first female pop star to have complete control of her music and image.
Madonna moved from her native Michigan to New York in 1977, with dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. She studied with choreographer Alvin Ailey and modeled. In 1979, she became part of the Patrick Hernandez Revue, a disco outfit that had the hit "Born to Be Alive." She traveled to Paris with Hernandez; it was there that she met Dan Gilroy, who would soon become her boyfriend. Upon returning to New York, the pair formed the Breakfast Club, a pop/dance group. Madonna originally played drums for the band, but she soon became the lead singer. In 1980, she left the band and formed Emmy with her former boyfriend, drummer Stephen Bray. Soon, Bray and Madonna broke off from the group and began working on some dance/disco-oriented tracks. A demo tape of these tracks worked its way to Mark Kamins, a New York-based DJ/producer. Kamins directed the tape to Sire Records, which signed the singer in 1982.
Kamins produced Madonna's first single, "Everybody," which became a club and dance hit at the end of 1982; her second single, 1983's "Physical Attraction," was another club hit. In June of 1983, she had her third club hit with the bubbly "Holiday," which was written by Jellybean Benitez. Madonna's self-titled debut album was released in September of 1983; "Holiday" became her first Top 40 hit the following month. "Borderline" became her first Top Ten hit in March of 1984, beginning a remarkable string of 17 consecutive Top Ten hits. While "Lucky Star" was climbing to number four, Madonna began working on her first starring role in a feature film, Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan.
Madonna's second album, the Niles Rodgers-produced Like a Virgin, was released at the end of 1984. The title track hit number one in December, staying at the top of the charts for six weeks; it was the start of a whirlwind year for the singer. During 1985, Madonna became an international celebrity, selling millions of records on the strength of her stylish, sexy videos and forceful personality. After "Material Girl" became a number two hit in March, Madonna began her first tour, supported by the Beastie Boys. "Crazy for You" became her second number one single in May. Desperately Seeking Susan was released in July, becoming a box office hit; it also prompted a planned video release of A Certain Sacrifice, a low-budget erotic drama she filmed in 1979. A Certain Sacrifice wasn't the only embarrassing skeleton in the closet dragged into the light during the summer of 1985 -- both Playboy and Penthouse published nude photos of Madonna that she posed for in 1977. Nevertheless, her popularity continued unabated, with thousands of teenage girls adopting her sexy appearance, being dubbed "Madonna wannabes." In August, she married actor Sean Penn; the couple had a rocky marriage that ended in 1989.
Madonna began collaborating with Patrick Leonard at the beginning of 1986; Leonard would co-write most of her biggest hits in the '80s, including "Live to Tell," which hit number one in June of 1986. A more ambitious and accomplished record than her two previous albums, True Blue was released the following month, to both more massive commercial success (it was a number one in both the U.S. and the U.K., selling over five million copies in America alone) and critical acclaim. "Papa Don't Preach" became her fourth number one hit in the U.S. While her musical career was thriving, her film career took a savage hit with the November release of Shanghai Surprise. Starring Madonna and Sean Penn, the comedy received terrible reviews, which translated into disastrous box office returns.
At the beginning of 1987, she had her fifth number one single with "Open Your Heart," the third number one from True Blue alone. The title cut from the soundtrack of her third feature film, Who's That Girl?, was another chart-topping hit, although the film itself was another box office bomb. 1988 was a relatively quiet year for Madonna as she spent the first half of the year acting in David Mamet's Speed the Plow on Broadway. In the meantime, she released the remix album You Can Dance. After withdrawing the divorce papers she filed at the beginning of 1988, she divorced Penn at the beginning of 1989.
Like a Prayer, released in the spring of 1989, was her most ambitious and far-reaching album, incorporating elements of pop, rock, and dance. It was another number one hit and launched the number one title track as well as "Express Yourself," "Cherish," and "Keep It Together," three more Top Ten hits. In April 1990, she began her massive Blonde Ambition tour, which ran throughout the entire year. "Vogue" became a number one hit in May, setting the stage for her co-starring role in Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy; it was her most successful film appearance since Desperately Seeking Susan. Madonna released a greatest-hits album, The Immaculate Collection, at the end of the year. It featured two new songs, including the number one single "Justify My Love," which sparked another controversy with its sexy video; the second new song, "Rescue Me," became the highest-debuting single by a female artist in U.S. chart history, entering the charts at number 15. Truth or Dare, a documentary of the Blonde Ambition tour, was released to positive reviews and strong ticket sales during the spring of 1991.
Madonna returned to the charts in the summer of 1992 with the number one "This Used to Be My Playground," a single featured in the film A League of Their Own, which featured the singer in a small part. Later that year, Madonna released Sex, an expensive, steel-bound soft-core pornographic book that featured hundreds of erotic photographs of herself, several models, and other celebrities -- including Isabella Rossellini, Big Daddy Kane, Naomi Campbell, and Vanilla Ice -- as well as selected prose. Sex received scathing reviews and enormous negative publicity, yet that didn't stop the accompanying album, Erotica, from selling over two million copies. Bedtime Stories, released two years later, was a more subdued affair than Erotica. Initially, it didn't chart as impressively, prompting some critics to label her a has-been, yet the album spawned her biggest hit, "Take a Bow," which spent seven weeks at number one. It also featured the Björk-penned "Bedtime Stories," which became her first single not to make the Top 40; its follow-up, "Human Nature," also failed to crack the Top 40. Nevertheless, Bedtime Stories marked her seventh album to go multi-platinum.
Beginning in 1995, Madonna began one of her most subtle image makeovers as she lobbied for the title role in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita. Backing away from the overt sexuality of Erotica and Bedtime Stories, Madonna recast herself as an upscale sophisticate, and the compilation Something to Remember fit into the plan nicely. Released in the fall of 1995, around the same time she won the coveted role of Evita Peron, the album was comprised entirely of ballads, designed to appeal to the mature audience that would also be the target of Evita. As the filming completed, Madonna announced she was pregnant and her daughter, Lourdes, was born late in 1996, just as Evita was scheduled for release. The movie was greeted with generally positive reviews and Madonna began a campaign for an Oscar nomination that resulted in her winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress (Musical or Comedy), but not the coveted Academy Award nomination. The soundtrack for Evita, however, was a modest hit, with a dance remix of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and the newly written "You Must Love Me" both becoming hits.
During 1997, she worked with producer William Orbit on her first album of new material since 1994's Bedtime Stories. The resulting record, Ray of Light, was heavily influenced by electronica, techno, and trip-hop, thereby updating her classic dance-pop sound for the late '90s. Ray of Light received uniformly excellent reviews upon its March 1998 release and debuted at number two on the charts. Within a month, the record was shaping up to be her biggest album since Like a Prayer. Two years later she returned with Music, which reunited her with Orbit and also featured production work from Mark "Spike" Stent and Mirwais, a French electro-pop producer/musician in the vein of Daft Punk and Air.
The year 2000 also saw the birth of Madonna's second child, Rocco, whom she had with filmmaker Guy Ritchie; the two married at the very end of the year. With Ritchie as director and Madonna as star, the pair released a remake of the film Swept Away in 2002. It tanked at the box office, failing to crack seven digits, making it one of the least profitable films of the year. Her sober 2003 album, American Life, fared a little better but was hardly a huge success. That same year she released a successful children's book, The English Roses (it was followed by several more over the coming years). Confessions on a Dance Floor marked her return to music and to the dance-oriented material that had made her a star; released in late 2005, it topped the Billboard charts, and was accompanied by a worldwide tour in 2006, the same year that I'm Going to Tell You a Secret, a CD/DVD made during her Re-Invention Tour, came out. In 2007 Madonna released another CD/DVD, Confessions Tour, this time chronicling her controversial tour of the same name. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Madonna moved from her native Michigan to New York in 1977, with dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. She studied with choreographer Alvin Ailey and modeled. In 1979, she became part of the Patrick Hernandez Revue, a disco outfit that had the hit "Born to Be Alive." She traveled to Paris with Hernandez; it was there that she met Dan Gilroy, who would soon become her boyfriend. Upon returning to New York, the pair formed the Breakfast Club, a pop/dance group. Madonna originally played drums for the band, but she soon became the lead singer. In 1980, she left the band and formed Emmy with her former boyfriend, drummer Stephen Bray. Soon, Bray and Madonna broke off from the group and began working on some dance/disco-oriented tracks. A demo tape of these tracks worked its way to Mark Kamins, a New York-based DJ/producer. Kamins directed the tape to Sire Records, which signed the singer in 1982.
Kamins produced Madonna's first single, "Everybody," which became a club and dance hit at the end of 1982; her second single, 1983's "Physical Attraction," was another club hit. In June of 1983, she had her third club hit with the bubbly "Holiday," which was written by Jellybean Benitez. Madonna's self-titled debut album was released in September of 1983; "Holiday" became her first Top 40 hit the following month. "Borderline" became her first Top Ten hit in March of 1984, beginning a remarkable string of 17 consecutive Top Ten hits. While "Lucky Star" was climbing to number four, Madonna began working on her first starring role in a feature film, Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan.
Madonna's second album, the Niles Rodgers-produced Like a Virgin, was released at the end of 1984. The title track hit number one in December, staying at the top of the charts for six weeks; it was the start of a whirlwind year for the singer. During 1985, Madonna became an international celebrity, selling millions of records on the strength of her stylish, sexy videos and forceful personality. After "Material Girl" became a number two hit in March, Madonna began her first tour, supported by the Beastie Boys. "Crazy for You" became her second number one single in May. Desperately Seeking Susan was released in July, becoming a box office hit; it also prompted a planned video release of A Certain Sacrifice, a low-budget erotic drama she filmed in 1979. A Certain Sacrifice wasn't the only embarrassing skeleton in the closet dragged into the light during the summer of 1985 -- both Playboy and Penthouse published nude photos of Madonna that she posed for in 1977. Nevertheless, her popularity continued unabated, with thousands of teenage girls adopting her sexy appearance, being dubbed "Madonna wannabes." In August, she married actor Sean Penn; the couple had a rocky marriage that ended in 1989.
Madonna began collaborating with Patrick Leonard at the beginning of 1986; Leonard would co-write most of her biggest hits in the '80s, including "Live to Tell," which hit number one in June of 1986. A more ambitious and accomplished record than her two previous albums, True Blue was released the following month, to both more massive commercial success (it was a number one in both the U.S. and the U.K., selling over five million copies in America alone) and critical acclaim. "Papa Don't Preach" became her fourth number one hit in the U.S. While her musical career was thriving, her film career took a savage hit with the November release of Shanghai Surprise. Starring Madonna and Sean Penn, the comedy received terrible reviews, which translated into disastrous box office returns.
At the beginning of 1987, she had her fifth number one single with "Open Your Heart," the third number one from True Blue alone. The title cut from the soundtrack of her third feature film, Who's That Girl?, was another chart-topping hit, although the film itself was another box office bomb. 1988 was a relatively quiet year for Madonna as she spent the first half of the year acting in David Mamet's Speed the Plow on Broadway. In the meantime, she released the remix album You Can Dance. After withdrawing the divorce papers she filed at the beginning of 1988, she divorced Penn at the beginning of 1989.
Like a Prayer, released in the spring of 1989, was her most ambitious and far-reaching album, incorporating elements of pop, rock, and dance. It was another number one hit and launched the number one title track as well as "Express Yourself," "Cherish," and "Keep It Together," three more Top Ten hits. In April 1990, she began her massive Blonde Ambition tour, which ran throughout the entire year. "Vogue" became a number one hit in May, setting the stage for her co-starring role in Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy; it was her most successful film appearance since Desperately Seeking Susan. Madonna released a greatest-hits album, The Immaculate Collection, at the end of the year. It featured two new songs, including the number one single "Justify My Love," which sparked another controversy with its sexy video; the second new song, "Rescue Me," became the highest-debuting single by a female artist in U.S. chart history, entering the charts at number 15. Truth or Dare, a documentary of the Blonde Ambition tour, was released to positive reviews and strong ticket sales during the spring of 1991.
Madonna returned to the charts in the summer of 1992 with the number one "This Used to Be My Playground," a single featured in the film A League of Their Own, which featured the singer in a small part. Later that year, Madonna released Sex, an expensive, steel-bound soft-core pornographic book that featured hundreds of erotic photographs of herself, several models, and other celebrities -- including Isabella Rossellini, Big Daddy Kane, Naomi Campbell, and Vanilla Ice -- as well as selected prose. Sex received scathing reviews and enormous negative publicity, yet that didn't stop the accompanying album, Erotica, from selling over two million copies. Bedtime Stories, released two years later, was a more subdued affair than Erotica. Initially, it didn't chart as impressively, prompting some critics to label her a has-been, yet the album spawned her biggest hit, "Take a Bow," which spent seven weeks at number one. It also featured the Björk-penned "Bedtime Stories," which became her first single not to make the Top 40; its follow-up, "Human Nature," also failed to crack the Top 40. Nevertheless, Bedtime Stories marked her seventh album to go multi-platinum.
Beginning in 1995, Madonna began one of her most subtle image makeovers as she lobbied for the title role in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita. Backing away from the overt sexuality of Erotica and Bedtime Stories, Madonna recast herself as an upscale sophisticate, and the compilation Something to Remember fit into the plan nicely. Released in the fall of 1995, around the same time she won the coveted role of Evita Peron, the album was comprised entirely of ballads, designed to appeal to the mature audience that would also be the target of Evita. As the filming completed, Madonna announced she was pregnant and her daughter, Lourdes, was born late in 1996, just as Evita was scheduled for release. The movie was greeted with generally positive reviews and Madonna began a campaign for an Oscar nomination that resulted in her winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress (Musical or Comedy), but not the coveted Academy Award nomination. The soundtrack for Evita, however, was a modest hit, with a dance remix of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and the newly written "You Must Love Me" both becoming hits.
During 1997, she worked with producer William Orbit on her first album of new material since 1994's Bedtime Stories. The resulting record, Ray of Light, was heavily influenced by electronica, techno, and trip-hop, thereby updating her classic dance-pop sound for the late '90s. Ray of Light received uniformly excellent reviews upon its March 1998 release and debuted at number two on the charts. Within a month, the record was shaping up to be her biggest album since Like a Prayer. Two years later she returned with Music, which reunited her with Orbit and also featured production work from Mark "Spike" Stent and Mirwais, a French electro-pop producer/musician in the vein of Daft Punk and Air.
The year 2000 also saw the birth of Madonna's second child, Rocco, whom she had with filmmaker Guy Ritchie; the two married at the very end of the year. With Ritchie as director and Madonna as star, the pair released a remake of the film Swept Away in 2002. It tanked at the box office, failing to crack seven digits, making it one of the least profitable films of the year. Her sober 2003 album, American Life, fared a little better but was hardly a huge success. That same year she released a successful children's book, The English Roses (it was followed by several more over the coming years). Confessions on a Dance Floor marked her return to music and to the dance-oriented material that had made her a star; released in late 2005, it topped the Billboard charts, and was accompanied by a worldwide tour in 2006, the same year that I'm Going to Tell You a Secret, a CD/DVD made during her Re-Invention Tour, came out. In 2007 Madonna released another CD/DVD, Confessions Tour, this time chronicling her controversial tour of the same name. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Sensex firms up by 58 points due to better buying trends
Mumbai, Jan 19 (ANI): The Bombay Stock Exchange added 58.19 points in trading on Monday morning.
Buying activity was supported by Hong-Kong share prices opening 1.9 percent higher on Monday.
The 30-share index gained 276 points in earlier session.
Likewise, the National Stock Exchange's Nifty rose by 16 points to 2,844.
Investors buying activity was also better due to the confidence on Barack Obama holding the U.S office soon and Wall Street end-of-week gains
Buying activity was supported by Hong-Kong share prices opening 1.9 percent higher on Monday.
The 30-share index gained 276 points in earlier session.
Likewise, the National Stock Exchange's Nifty rose by 16 points to 2,844.
Investors buying activity was also better due to the confidence on Barack Obama holding the U.S office soon and Wall Street end-of-week gains
Satyam 'one-off delinquency': Kamal Nath
New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) Commerce Minister Kamal Nath continued to maintain that the Rs.70 billion fraud at Satyam Computer Services was a 'one-off delinquency', though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called it a 'blot' on India's corporate image.
'One cannot smear the Indian corporate sector. Such exceptions have happened in other parts of the world also - and they have been treated so,' Kamal Nath told the 'Partnership Summit 2009' referring to the financial fraud at the Hyderabad-headquartered IT major.
'It is a one-off delinquency and an exception in India's corporate sector,' he told the summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), adding: 'India has high standards of corporate governance.'
Satyam is facing a major financial mess and a serious threat in continuing its operations because of the Rs.70 billion fraud, admitted two weeks ago by its founder and former chairman B. Ramalinga Raju.
'I want to assure you that India's corporate sector has good corporate governance norms,' Kamal Nath told the packed Durbar Hall of Taj Palace Hotel here, which included delegates from nearly 20 countries.
The minister's comments came barely two days after Manmohan Singh told an awards function of a leading business daily that the Satyam scam was a 'blot' on India Inc's image and that the government would unravel the plot and punish the guilty.
'The Satyam episode is a blot on our corporate image. It indicates how fraud and malfeasance in one company can inflict suffering on many and can also tarnish India's image more broadly,' the prime minister had said.
'The government is determined to unravel the full nature of the fraud and punish those involved under the due process of law,' he had said at The Economic Times Awards function at the Trident Hotel in Mumbai, attended by the who's who of India Inc.
'One cannot smear the Indian corporate sector. Such exceptions have happened in other parts of the world also - and they have been treated so,' Kamal Nath told the 'Partnership Summit 2009' referring to the financial fraud at the Hyderabad-headquartered IT major.
'It is a one-off delinquency and an exception in India's corporate sector,' he told the summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), adding: 'India has high standards of corporate governance.'
Satyam is facing a major financial mess and a serious threat in continuing its operations because of the Rs.70 billion fraud, admitted two weeks ago by its founder and former chairman B. Ramalinga Raju.
'I want to assure you that India's corporate sector has good corporate governance norms,' Kamal Nath told the packed Durbar Hall of Taj Palace Hotel here, which included delegates from nearly 20 countries.
The minister's comments came barely two days after Manmohan Singh told an awards function of a leading business daily that the Satyam scam was a 'blot' on India Inc's image and that the government would unravel the plot and punish the guilty.
'The Satyam episode is a blot on our corporate image. It indicates how fraud and malfeasance in one company can inflict suffering on many and can also tarnish India's image more broadly,' the prime minister had said.
'The government is determined to unravel the full nature of the fraud and punish those involved under the due process of law,' he had said at The Economic Times Awards function at the Trident Hotel in Mumbai, attended by the who's who of India Inc.
Astro speak: What s in store for Katrina in 2009?
Beginning her career with modeling, Katrina Kaif, paved her way to Bollywood with her debut movie 'Boom'. The fair damsel reached the heights of success with her movie 'Namastey London'. Well known for her love affair with Salman Khan, she has made her mark in Bollywood with back to back hits. But, Will she have a good run at the box office in 2009? Ganesha predicts her coming year based on her Surya Kundali
Microsoft charged with monopoly abuse
Microsoft is harming competition by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows, according to a new ruling by the European Commission.
"Microsoft's tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice," says a statement from the Commission.
The verdict comes at the end of a year-long investigation that was instigated at the behest of rival Opera software. The charges were officially delivered as a Statement of Objections to Microsoft's Redmond headquarters last Thursday, and the company now has eight weeks to respond.
Microsoft says it is studying the commission's preliminary findings, and may request a formal hearing.
European Commission and Microsoft. Five-years ago, the company was fined over 1.6 billion euros for similiar offences. This was followed by an 899 million euro fine last year for late compliance.
Opear was jubliant on the verdict: "On behalf of all internet users, we commend the Commission for taking the next step towards restoring competition in a market that Microsoft has strangled for more than a decade," says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera Software.
"The Commission's Statement of Objections demonstrates that the Commission is serious about getting Microsoft to start competing on the merits in the browser market and letting consumers have a real choice of internet browsers," he says.
Opera says it is still waiting to see if the Commission will pursue its second charge against Microsoft, that it is undermining open software standards on the internet.
Internet Explorer is still the world's most dominant browser, despite its market share dipping below 70% in 2008 as Firefox gains ground. According to web analytics company Net Applications, Opera currently holds around 0.71% of the global market
"Microsoft's tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice," says a statement from the Commission.
The verdict comes at the end of a year-long investigation that was instigated at the behest of rival Opera software. The charges were officially delivered as a Statement of Objections to Microsoft's Redmond headquarters last Thursday, and the company now has eight weeks to respond.
Microsoft says it is studying the commission's preliminary findings, and may request a formal hearing.
European Commission and Microsoft. Five-years ago, the company was fined over 1.6 billion euros for similiar offences. This was followed by an 899 million euro fine last year for late compliance.
Opear was jubliant on the verdict: "On behalf of all internet users, we commend the Commission for taking the next step towards restoring competition in a market that Microsoft has strangled for more than a decade," says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera Software.
"The Commission's Statement of Objections demonstrates that the Commission is serious about getting Microsoft to start competing on the merits in the browser market and letting consumers have a real choice of internet browsers," he says.
Opera says it is still waiting to see if the Commission will pursue its second charge against Microsoft, that it is undermining open software standards on the internet.
Internet Explorer is still the world's most dominant browser, despite its market share dipping below 70% in 2008 as Firefox gains ground. According to web analytics company Net Applications, Opera currently holds around 0.71% of the global market
Microsoft Loses E.U. Antitrust Case
BRUSSELS, Jan. 16 -- The European Union said Friday that Microsoft's practice of selling the Internet Explorer browser together with its Windows operating system violates E.U. antitrust rules.
It ordered the software giant to untie the browser from its operating system in the 27-nation E.U.
"Microsoft's tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice," the E.U. said in a statement.
It gave Microsoft eight weeks to respond, adding that the company can defend its position in a hearing if it finds that useful.
Microsoft issued a statement saying, "We are committed to conducting our business in full compliance with European law."
The commission's investigation into Microsoft's Web-surfing software began a year ago, after the Norwegian browser-maker Opera Software filed a complaint. Opera argued that Microsoft hurt competitors not only by bundling the software, in effect giving away the browser, but also by not following accepted Web standards.
That meant programmers who built Web pages would have to tweak their codes for different browsers. In many cases, they simply designed pages that worked with market-leading Internet Explorer but showed up garbled on competing browsers.
At the time of the complaint, Opera said it was asking E.U. regulators to either force Microsoft to market a version of Windows without the browser, or to include other browsers with Windows.
The European Commission upheld Opera's complaint, adding that a yearlong probe led it "to believe that the tying of Internet Explorer with Windows -- which makes Internet Explorer available on 90 percent of the world's PCs -- distorts competition."
Friday's announcement by the European Commission means Microsoft must alter its marketing practices in Europe and risks a large fine.
Microsoft is no stranger to E.U. antitrust officials. In 2004, the European Court of Justice found the company had violated E.U. antitrust rules by trying to damage rivals for server and media player software.
The court fined Microsoft more than $600 million and ordered it to offer a version of Windows in Europe without the Media Player software and to share communications code with rivals.
Microsoft lost an appeal of that ruling Sept. 17, 2007.
Although Microsoft is a U.S. company, it must meet E.U. antitrust rules if it wants to do business in the European Union. E.U. antitrust rules prohibit companies from abusing a dominant market position.
It ordered the software giant to untie the browser from its operating system in the 27-nation E.U.
"Microsoft's tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice," the E.U. said in a statement.
It gave Microsoft eight weeks to respond, adding that the company can defend its position in a hearing if it finds that useful.
Microsoft issued a statement saying, "We are committed to conducting our business in full compliance with European law."
The commission's investigation into Microsoft's Web-surfing software began a year ago, after the Norwegian browser-maker Opera Software filed a complaint. Opera argued that Microsoft hurt competitors not only by bundling the software, in effect giving away the browser, but also by not following accepted Web standards.
That meant programmers who built Web pages would have to tweak their codes for different browsers. In many cases, they simply designed pages that worked with market-leading Internet Explorer but showed up garbled on competing browsers.
At the time of the complaint, Opera said it was asking E.U. regulators to either force Microsoft to market a version of Windows without the browser, or to include other browsers with Windows.
The European Commission upheld Opera's complaint, adding that a yearlong probe led it "to believe that the tying of Internet Explorer with Windows -- which makes Internet Explorer available on 90 percent of the world's PCs -- distorts competition."
Friday's announcement by the European Commission means Microsoft must alter its marketing practices in Europe and risks a large fine.
Microsoft is no stranger to E.U. antitrust officials. In 2004, the European Court of Justice found the company had violated E.U. antitrust rules by trying to damage rivals for server and media player software.
The court fined Microsoft more than $600 million and ordered it to offer a version of Windows in Europe without the Media Player software and to share communications code with rivals.
Microsoft lost an appeal of that ruling Sept. 17, 2007.
Although Microsoft is a U.S. company, it must meet E.U. antitrust rules if it wants to do business in the European Union. E.U. antitrust rules prohibit companies from abusing a dominant market position.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Sanjay Dutt gets a rousing welcome in Lucknow
I am your candidate for the general elections" was the message actor turned politician Sanjay Dutt conveyed to the people of Lucknow on Saturday.
Dutt has launched his election campaign for the Samajwadi Party with a 14-km long procession from the airport to the party office.
Joining Sanjay on his first ever political roadshow were actors Jaya Bhaduri and Jaya Prada, SP leader Amar Singh and Sanjay's wife Manyata.
The Samajwadi Party clearly pulled out all stops for their celebrity candidate.
Dutt got a rousing welcome as a huge crowd of party workers and supporters crowded all along the procession route to catch a glimpse of the star.
The actor-turned-politician is expected to hold a press conference later on Saturday afternoon. He confirmed his candidature at a press conference in Mumbai
on Friday.
Dutt has launched his election campaign for the Samajwadi Party with a 14-km long procession from the airport to the party office.
Joining Sanjay on his first ever political roadshow were actors Jaya Bhaduri and Jaya Prada, SP leader Amar Singh and Sanjay's wife Manyata.
The Samajwadi Party clearly pulled out all stops for their celebrity candidate.
Dutt got a rousing welcome as a huge crowd of party workers and supporters crowded all along the procession route to catch a glimpse of the star.
The actor-turned-politician is expected to hold a press conference later on Saturday afternoon. He confirmed his candidature at a press conference in Mumbai
on Friday.
'Villu': fighting baddies, graphic cows and - boredom
Film: Villu; Cast: Vijay, Nayanthara, Prakash Raj, Vadivelu; Direction: Prabhu Deva; Music: Devi Sri Prasad; Cinematography: Ravi Varman; Rating: *
Rumour has it that 'Villu' (bow) is an unacknowledged remake of Hindi hit 'Soldier'.
But, on screen, but for a thin starting line wherein the hero's father is killed by an arms dealer, there is nothing in common between the two films.
The low down on this bow is as follows:
A local superhero Pugazh (Vijay) with little else to do other than bash up the baddies after a troubled childhood chases a skirt named Jhanvi (Nayanthara), offspring of an international arms dealer (Prakash Raj).
A story with more holes than Swiss cheese (some of it takes place in Switzerland), occasional flashes of Nayanthara dressed in apologies for attire, an absent screenplay and listless work by cinematographer Ravi Varman tests everyone's patience till the auditorium's lights come on to the relief of the audience.
As if all this silliness isn't enough, Vijay fights with a graphic cow (!) in a needless sequence.
Then there is the matronly Khushboo doing some sort of a 'Kuthu' item number with surprising agility and grace.
Devi Sri Prasad's music is an assault on the ears.
Incidentally, for Ayngaran - the banner under which this bomb has been produced also accounted for an earlier flop 'Aegan' starring Ajith Kumar - directed by Deva's sibling Raju Sundaram.
Rumour has it that 'Villu' (bow) is an unacknowledged remake of Hindi hit 'Soldier'.
But, on screen, but for a thin starting line wherein the hero's father is killed by an arms dealer, there is nothing in common between the two films.
The low down on this bow is as follows:
A local superhero Pugazh (Vijay) with little else to do other than bash up the baddies after a troubled childhood chases a skirt named Jhanvi (Nayanthara), offspring of an international arms dealer (Prakash Raj).
A story with more holes than Swiss cheese (some of it takes place in Switzerland), occasional flashes of Nayanthara dressed in apologies for attire, an absent screenplay and listless work by cinematographer Ravi Varman tests everyone's patience till the auditorium's lights come on to the relief of the audience.
As if all this silliness isn't enough, Vijay fights with a graphic cow (!) in a needless sequence.
Then there is the matronly Khushboo doing some sort of a 'Kuthu' item number with surprising agility and grace.
Devi Sri Prasad's music is an assault on the ears.
Incidentally, for Ayngaran - the banner under which this bomb has been produced also accounted for an earlier flop 'Aegan' starring Ajith Kumar - directed by Deva's sibling Raju Sundaram.
Tata-led consortium to build South Africa's optical fibre network
Johannesburg, Jan 17 (IANS) The Tata-led Neotel consortium and mobile phone giant MTN South Africa have signed an agreement to jointly build a 2 billion rand ($202 million) 5,000-km optical fibre network that will connect all major centres across this country.
This joint venture is not only expected to improved telecommunications and reduce costs for consumers but will also connect Africa to the rest of the world with the undersea cables EASSy and SEACOM, currently under construction along the eastern coast of Africa.
'The collaboration of these two companies signifies a bold step towards convergence in the South African telecommunications space,' said Ajay Pandey, CEO and managing director of Neotel.
'We have seen so many exciting developments in the industry since late last year, and believe that this partnership is a significant milestone as we redefine the telecommunications landscape,' he said.
MTN South Africa managing director Tim Lowry added: 'This co-build agreement with Neotel marks the biggest collaboration in the South African telecommunications industry, and is a defining moment in the history of the country.'
Neotel is South Africa's first converged communications network operator. It provides a range of value-added voice and data services for business, wholesale network operators and providers and consumers using its pure-IP Next Generation Network, powered by Neotel's high-performance fibre optic backbone.
Neotel connects the major centres in South Africa to each other and to the world, directly linking the country into Tata Communications global Tier 1 network.
The MTN Group is a multinational telecommunications group, operating in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. MTN hogged the headlines for weeks last year amid rumours of a merger with Indian giant Reliance Communications, which fell through later.
Their new venture will reduce the dependence of MTN and Neotel on Telkom, the former state-owned fixed-line operator.
Lowry said Telkom was not able to provide everything that the industry required though MTN was paying a billion rand annually to Telkom for using its infrastructure.
Neotel currently uses the services of Infraco, the state-owned infrastructure company. Pandey said the new venture would not result in Neotel ending this relationship.
Although there would be a saving of about half a million rands and environmental benefits by digging up a single trench to lay the cables across the country, MTN and Neotel will each have their own optical fibre cable in the single trench.
The costs of between 1.7 billion and two billion rands would be shared equally between MTN and Neotel.
'One of our core objectives has always been to bring down the cost of communications in South Africa - this can only truly be achieved once we completely self-provision,' Pandey added.
This joint venture is not only expected to improved telecommunications and reduce costs for consumers but will also connect Africa to the rest of the world with the undersea cables EASSy and SEACOM, currently under construction along the eastern coast of Africa.
'The collaboration of these two companies signifies a bold step towards convergence in the South African telecommunications space,' said Ajay Pandey, CEO and managing director of Neotel.
'We have seen so many exciting developments in the industry since late last year, and believe that this partnership is a significant milestone as we redefine the telecommunications landscape,' he said.
MTN South Africa managing director Tim Lowry added: 'This co-build agreement with Neotel marks the biggest collaboration in the South African telecommunications industry, and is a defining moment in the history of the country.'
Neotel is South Africa's first converged communications network operator. It provides a range of value-added voice and data services for business, wholesale network operators and providers and consumers using its pure-IP Next Generation Network, powered by Neotel's high-performance fibre optic backbone.
Neotel connects the major centres in South Africa to each other and to the world, directly linking the country into Tata Communications global Tier 1 network.
The MTN Group is a multinational telecommunications group, operating in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. MTN hogged the headlines for weeks last year amid rumours of a merger with Indian giant Reliance Communications, which fell through later.
Their new venture will reduce the dependence of MTN and Neotel on Telkom, the former state-owned fixed-line operator.
Lowry said Telkom was not able to provide everything that the industry required though MTN was paying a billion rand annually to Telkom for using its infrastructure.
Neotel currently uses the services of Infraco, the state-owned infrastructure company. Pandey said the new venture would not result in Neotel ending this relationship.
Although there would be a saving of about half a million rands and environmental benefits by digging up a single trench to lay the cables across the country, MTN and Neotel will each have their own optical fibre cable in the single trench.
The costs of between 1.7 billion and two billion rands would be shared equally between MTN and Neotel.
'One of our core objectives has always been to bring down the cost of communications in South Africa - this can only truly be achieved once we completely self-provision,' Pandey added.
UK's Brown tells banks to come clean over bad assets
Banks must reveal the true scale of their bad assets to help revive frozen global credit markets, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday as officials met bank chiefs to thrash out a new rescue package.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Brown said any recovery from the worst economic turmoil in 70 years will depend on banks first writing off toxic loans to try to restore confidence in the financial system.
His government is expected to announce new measures early next week to boost bank lending in an attempt to help Britain avoid a painful, deep recession.
Despite a multi-billion pound bank bailout last year and a series of record rate cuts, banks remain unwilling to increase lending as they try to boost their coffers and avoid risk.
Shares in Britain's biggest banks plummeted on Friday on fears of more write-downs and the return of short-selling after a temporary ban. Barclays was the worst hit. Its shares closed down 25 percent at 98 pence, the lowest since 1993.
After the markets closed, the bank took the highly unusual step of revealing that it expected pre-tax profits for 2008 to be "well ahead" of analysts' forecasts. Barclays is not due to report its annual results until Feb. 17.
Brown is eager to get banks to increase lending to businesses and households after a series of bleak figures on trade, unemployment and the housing market.
"One of the necessary elements for the next stage is for people to have a clear understanding that bad assets have been written off," Brown told the newspaper. "We have got to be clear that where we have got clearly bad assets, I expect them to be dealt with."
Government officials and executives from big banks were meeting over the weekend to discuss possible new measures to boost bank lending, a Treasury source said.
A spokesman for Brown declined to comment further on the banking talks, referring reporters to the Financial Times interview.
Details of the latest rescue plan are expected to be unveiled within days and could include state guarantees of mortgage-backed securities, the Treasury source added.
The taxpayer may end up underwriting 200 billion pounds ($298.3 billion) of bad banking debt, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources.
In the United States, the government extended $20 billion of new aid to Bank of America, which along with Citigroup, reported huge losses on Friday.
Brown held talks on the crisis with his finance minister Alistair Darling, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King and the Financial Services Authority's chairman Adair Turner.
With an election due before May next year, Brown is under pressure to prove he is the right leader to handle the crisis.
Although his poll ratings rose in the early days of the turmoil, the former finance minister has recently lost more ground to the opposition Conservative Party.
Brown repeated his call for an international response to the crisis and said he would visit "a lot of countries in the next few weeks" for talks about the crisis.
"The greatest risk after the events of the last few months is a retreat into what I would call financial isolationism," he told the newspaper.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Brown said any recovery from the worst economic turmoil in 70 years will depend on banks first writing off toxic loans to try to restore confidence in the financial system.
His government is expected to announce new measures early next week to boost bank lending in an attempt to help Britain avoid a painful, deep recession.
Despite a multi-billion pound bank bailout last year and a series of record rate cuts, banks remain unwilling to increase lending as they try to boost their coffers and avoid risk.
Shares in Britain's biggest banks plummeted on Friday on fears of more write-downs and the return of short-selling after a temporary ban. Barclays was the worst hit. Its shares closed down 25 percent at 98 pence, the lowest since 1993.
After the markets closed, the bank took the highly unusual step of revealing that it expected pre-tax profits for 2008 to be "well ahead" of analysts' forecasts. Barclays is not due to report its annual results until Feb. 17.
Brown is eager to get banks to increase lending to businesses and households after a series of bleak figures on trade, unemployment and the housing market.
"One of the necessary elements for the next stage is for people to have a clear understanding that bad assets have been written off," Brown told the newspaper. "We have got to be clear that where we have got clearly bad assets, I expect them to be dealt with."
Government officials and executives from big banks were meeting over the weekend to discuss possible new measures to boost bank lending, a Treasury source said.
A spokesman for Brown declined to comment further on the banking talks, referring reporters to the Financial Times interview.
Details of the latest rescue plan are expected to be unveiled within days and could include state guarantees of mortgage-backed securities, the Treasury source added.
The taxpayer may end up underwriting 200 billion pounds ($298.3 billion) of bad banking debt, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources.
In the United States, the government extended $20 billion of new aid to Bank of America, which along with Citigroup, reported huge losses on Friday.
Brown held talks on the crisis with his finance minister Alistair Darling, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King and the Financial Services Authority's chairman Adair Turner.
With an election due before May next year, Brown is under pressure to prove he is the right leader to handle the crisis.
Although his poll ratings rose in the early days of the turmoil, the former finance minister has recently lost more ground to the opposition Conservative Party.
Brown repeated his call for an international response to the crisis and said he would visit "a lot of countries in the next few weeks" for talks about the crisis.
"The greatest risk after the events of the last few months is a retreat into what I would call financial isolationism," he told the newspaper.
Now, intelligent fingertip 'eye' to help blind interact with their environment
London, Jan 17 (ANI): Ultrasound canes and voice-enabled GPS devices that help blind and partially sighted people in navigation may soon be history, for scientists have created a new intelligent fingertip 'eye'.
The device may change how such people interact with their environment.
George Stetten, a bioengineer at the University of Pittsburgh, has launched the idea of a tiny video camera that sits at the end of a finger and connects to a portable computer that can analyse the footage and flag up objects of interest.
In fact, the camera mounting also has the capability to vibrate for providing physical feedback from the computer to signal when it sees something significant.
Thus, the camera can warn when it spots a nearby obstacle, like a wall or the edge of a table.
In fact, it could even trace out the shape of the obstacle to guide the user past, reports New Scientist.
Via image processing, it's possible for the system to recognise very specific objects.
According to Stetten's patent the computer even has the capability to recognise light switches or other controls from a distance.
Also, the user could be guided towards a switch using physical feedback, or given the option to activate it remotely.
Stetten said that the capabilities of such a system are limited only by imagination and has the potential to give blind and partially sighted people much greater control and interaction with the world around them.
The device may change how such people interact with their environment.
George Stetten, a bioengineer at the University of Pittsburgh, has launched the idea of a tiny video camera that sits at the end of a finger and connects to a portable computer that can analyse the footage and flag up objects of interest.
In fact, the camera mounting also has the capability to vibrate for providing physical feedback from the computer to signal when it sees something significant.
Thus, the camera can warn when it spots a nearby obstacle, like a wall or the edge of a table.
In fact, it could even trace out the shape of the obstacle to guide the user past, reports New Scientist.
Via image processing, it's possible for the system to recognise very specific objects.
According to Stetten's patent the computer even has the capability to recognise light switches or other controls from a distance.
Also, the user could be guided towards a switch using physical feedback, or given the option to activate it remotely.
Stetten said that the capabilities of such a system are limited only by imagination and has the potential to give blind and partially sighted people much greater control and interaction with the world around them.
Raju warned of 'takeover by IBM' to push for Maytas deal
Hyderabad/New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) Satyam's disgraced chairman Ramalinga Raju had made an emotional pitch that the company faced a takeover threat from IBM and their likes, to avert which he wanted the board's support to diversify into other areas. Returning from the US ahead of the December 16 meeting, wherein the company decided to go in for the Rs 8,000 crore acquisition of two firms related to his family, Raju had told the board that IBM and another company are going to take over the Indian IT firm because of its strong cash balances, a member present at the meeting said.
Raju also warned that after the takeover of Satyam, pink slips could be issued by the acquirer to enhance profits, the member said on the condition of anonymity. To avoid this, Raju urged the members, in an informal pitch before the meeting commenced, to take what is known in the corporate world as a 'poison pill'.
His suggestion was that Satyam should enter sectors where IBM and their likes would have no interest, to deter hostile takeovers. Subsequently, the board was given presentations on Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties with the valuation, an issue on which some members wanted more clarity and adhere to certain basic parameters before going ahead with the deal though agreeing for it in principle.
Raju also warned that after the takeover of Satyam, pink slips could be issued by the acquirer to enhance profits, the member said on the condition of anonymity. To avoid this, Raju urged the members, in an informal pitch before the meeting commenced, to take what is known in the corporate world as a 'poison pill'.
His suggestion was that Satyam should enter sectors where IBM and their likes would have no interest, to deter hostile takeovers. Subsequently, the board was given presentations on Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties with the valuation, an issue on which some members wanted more clarity and adhere to certain basic parameters before going ahead with the deal though agreeing for it in principle.
Satyam board meets today; fund to be the agenda
Action and not just assurances - that is what investors, clients and employees of Satyam would be hoping for as the expanded board of directors meets on Saturday in Hyderabad.
However, steering the scam-tainted company out of the woods is not going to be an easy task. One of the biggest challenges facing the board is arranging the desperately needed funds for the company to run and pay the salaries of employees.
What would also be on the minds of the directors are reports of clients and employees looking for alternative opportunities.When the new three-member board of Satyam met earlier this week, it was time for taking stock and understanding the company.
Now, the expanded board has their task cut out to set the ball rolling.As the board gets down to business, they are expected to discuss in detail the funding requirements for the company. Salaries for the employees of Satyam are also going to be high on the agenda for the board.The board is also expected to speak to business heads on employee issue, who in turn may speak to their respective team members. Worried clients looking for alternatives will also be a concern that the board is expected to deliberate.
Satyam has receivables of over Rs 1700 crore and the top management is working to make sure that some of it can be shown in their books so that the pressure on liquidity eases.
After the first board meeting, Deepak Parekh had said that they did not have enough time to discuss every issue in detail. Now with more members and having had more time, they will find time to handle the issues in detail. Investors and employees will look forward to more than just reassurance and concrete action from the high profile board members.
However, steering the scam-tainted company out of the woods is not going to be an easy task. One of the biggest challenges facing the board is arranging the desperately needed funds for the company to run and pay the salaries of employees.
What would also be on the minds of the directors are reports of clients and employees looking for alternative opportunities.When the new three-member board of Satyam met earlier this week, it was time for taking stock and understanding the company.
Now, the expanded board has their task cut out to set the ball rolling.As the board gets down to business, they are expected to discuss in detail the funding requirements for the company. Salaries for the employees of Satyam are also going to be high on the agenda for the board.The board is also expected to speak to business heads on employee issue, who in turn may speak to their respective team members. Worried clients looking for alternatives will also be a concern that the board is expected to deliberate.
Satyam has receivables of over Rs 1700 crore and the top management is working to make sure that some of it can be shown in their books so that the pressure on liquidity eases.
After the first board meeting, Deepak Parekh had said that they did not have enough time to discuss every issue in detail. Now with more members and having had more time, they will find time to handle the issues in detail. Investors and employees will look forward to more than just reassurance and concrete action from the high profile board members.
Satyam money was siphoned off, not inflated
B. Ramalinga Raju, disgraced chairman of Satyam Computer Services, siphoned off the technology giant's revenues to acquire "controlling interest" in two of his own companies, a preliminary government investigation report said. The findings are in stark contrast to Raju's January 7 confession that said the company did not have cash reserves.
"Neither me nor the managing director took even one rupee/dollar from the company and have not benefited in financial terms," he had said. But preliminary investigations of the Registrar of Companies (RoC), a copy of which is with the Hindustan Times, clearly state that Raju and his accomplices had utilised the "cash reserves of the company to acquire controlling interest by purchase of shares in two other companies, owned and controlled by persons closely related to the promoter director of the company.
" While the RoC report did not name the companies, a senior official in the ministry of corporate affairs told Hindustan Times that the companies were Maytas Infrastructure and Maytas Properties, both founded and promoted by the Raju family. In fact, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), a multi-disciplinary quasi-judicial agency, has been specifically asked to find out whether "there was any siphoning of funds of the company".
Hindustan Times was the first to report that the Andhra Pradesh government was planning to look at governance practices at Maytas Infrastructure, following the disclosure on Satyam. The SFIO is also investigating "the existence and adequacy of internal financial controls and reporting within the company (Satyam) and lapses, if any".
The ministry had suo motu asked the RoC to begin investigations into Satyam accounts on December 17, a day after the tech giant made an aborted attempt to acquire Maytas Infrastructure and Maytas Properties for an estimated $1.6 billion (See story on page 25). While the mandate to verify the details have been given to the SFIO, RoC's prima facie investigations revealed that the company's publicly stated accounts contain serious "misstatements" and do not "reflect a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company.
"Neither me nor the managing director took even one rupee/dollar from the company and have not benefited in financial terms," he had said. But preliminary investigations of the Registrar of Companies (RoC), a copy of which is with the Hindustan Times, clearly state that Raju and his accomplices had utilised the "cash reserves of the company to acquire controlling interest by purchase of shares in two other companies, owned and controlled by persons closely related to the promoter director of the company.
" While the RoC report did not name the companies, a senior official in the ministry of corporate affairs told Hindustan Times that the companies were Maytas Infrastructure and Maytas Properties, both founded and promoted by the Raju family. In fact, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), a multi-disciplinary quasi-judicial agency, has been specifically asked to find out whether "there was any siphoning of funds of the company".
Hindustan Times was the first to report that the Andhra Pradesh government was planning to look at governance practices at Maytas Infrastructure, following the disclosure on Satyam. The SFIO is also investigating "the existence and adequacy of internal financial controls and reporting within the company (Satyam) and lapses, if any".
The ministry had suo motu asked the RoC to begin investigations into Satyam accounts on December 17, a day after the tech giant made an aborted attempt to acquire Maytas Infrastructure and Maytas Properties for an estimated $1.6 billion (See story on page 25). While the mandate to verify the details have been given to the SFIO, RoC's prima facie investigations revealed that the company's publicly stated accounts contain serious "misstatements" and do not "reflect a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Chandni Chowk to China Movie review
The story of the mild-mannered loser, who discovers his inner strength and destiny through kung fu and transforms into a master has been used over and over again in many kung fu movies.
Films as diverse as Stephen Chow’s marvelously inventive Kung Fu Hustle to last year’s animated hit Kung Fu Panda have used this formula with great success.
Nikhil Advani presents the same funda with a little Bollywood twist in Chandni Chowk to China. Since the movie is produced by Rohan Sippy, the twist inevitably echoes Sippy’s classic Sholay and also brings in an identical twins separated at birth angle from Seeta Aur Geeta.
So, we have a Ramgarah-type village, only this one is in China, terrorized by the mega villain Hojo.
Two villagers land up in Chandni Chowk, where they mistake the bumbling cook Siddhu, (Akshay Kumar), to be a reincarnation of the great warrior Leu Shing.
Siddhu, who desperately wants more out of life than just slicing potatoes, goes with them to China and gets thoroughly trashed by Hojo.
Meanwhile, there’s an angle of a mistaken-identities with two Deepika Padukones - one a sweet, simple model and the other the not so sweet sister Meow Meow.
Eventually, Siddhu trains and unleashes his inner warrior, who imagines Hojo as a giant potato and decimates him.
Of course, none of this is meant to be taken seriously. After all, this film started life as a poster. Akshay Kumar loved the visual of him in a Chinese outfit holding the seekh kabab-style swords so much that he signed on.
The story came after, which in itself is not a bad thing - the blockbuster Pirates of the Carribbean originated from a theme park ride. But in this case, the poster is better than the film.
Advani and his writer Shridhar Raghavan in an attempt to give us a full-on entertainer sacrificed logic, plausibility, characterisation and even coherence.
Chandni Chowk to China is so slapdash that it feels like the script was written on the set. There are a few genuinely funny moments, but the inspired lunacy of a Kung Fu Hustle that this project so badly needed is missing.
Without verve and imagination, any lightweight story cannot soar. It becomes impossibly tedious.
The unkindest cut is that Advani didn’t even exploit the incredible location. There is one terrific song in the Forbidden City and a few sequences at the Great Wall, but other than that, we have little sense of the landscape.
The actors try hard to infuse energy into the enterprise but Advani and Raghavan don’t give them much to work with. Even Akshay Kumar’s high beam charm, slick kung fu moves and superb comic timing could not rescue Chandni Chowk to China. This one is for die-hard fans only.
Films as diverse as Stephen Chow’s marvelously inventive Kung Fu Hustle to last year’s animated hit Kung Fu Panda have used this formula with great success.
Nikhil Advani presents the same funda with a little Bollywood twist in Chandni Chowk to China. Since the movie is produced by Rohan Sippy, the twist inevitably echoes Sippy’s classic Sholay and also brings in an identical twins separated at birth angle from Seeta Aur Geeta.
So, we have a Ramgarah-type village, only this one is in China, terrorized by the mega villain Hojo.
Two villagers land up in Chandni Chowk, where they mistake the bumbling cook Siddhu, (Akshay Kumar), to be a reincarnation of the great warrior Leu Shing.
Siddhu, who desperately wants more out of life than just slicing potatoes, goes with them to China and gets thoroughly trashed by Hojo.
Meanwhile, there’s an angle of a mistaken-identities with two Deepika Padukones - one a sweet, simple model and the other the not so sweet sister Meow Meow.
Eventually, Siddhu trains and unleashes his inner warrior, who imagines Hojo as a giant potato and decimates him.
Of course, none of this is meant to be taken seriously. After all, this film started life as a poster. Akshay Kumar loved the visual of him in a Chinese outfit holding the seekh kabab-style swords so much that he signed on.
The story came after, which in itself is not a bad thing - the blockbuster Pirates of the Carribbean originated from a theme park ride. But in this case, the poster is better than the film.
Advani and his writer Shridhar Raghavan in an attempt to give us a full-on entertainer sacrificed logic, plausibility, characterisation and even coherence.
Chandni Chowk to China is so slapdash that it feels like the script was written on the set. There are a few genuinely funny moments, but the inspired lunacy of a Kung Fu Hustle that this project so badly needed is missing.
Without verve and imagination, any lightweight story cannot soar. It becomes impossibly tedious.
The unkindest cut is that Advani didn’t even exploit the incredible location. There is one terrific song in the Forbidden City and a few sequences at the Great Wall, but other than that, we have little sense of the landscape.
The actors try hard to infuse energy into the enterprise but Advani and Raghavan don’t give them much to work with. Even Akshay Kumar’s high beam charm, slick kung fu moves and superb comic timing could not rescue Chandni Chowk to China. This one is for die-hard fans only.
Satyam fraud makes Nasscom tell IT firms 'be transparent'
Bangalore, Jan 16 (IANS) The massive financial fraud by IT bellwether Satyam Computer Services has goaded the software industry's representative body into issuing a wake-up call to its members across India and abroad.
In a directive to its 1,200-odd members, the executive council of National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) asked them, especially those listed and accountable to investors, to be transparent and disclose much more than they have.
'The executive council met within days after the Satyam fraud came to light and decided to be proactive with respect to transparency and disclosures. We have sent out a message to all our members to disclose maximum. Even a trivial matter should be disclosed,' Nasscom chairman Ganesh Natarajan told IANS in an interview here.
To ensure 'a one-off case' like Satyam did not tarnish the Indian IT industry's image, Natarajan said if the Hyderabad-based global software major collapsed, it would result in undoing what Nasscom had been building over the last 20 years.
'So we have assured our members that we are working with the government and other agencies (regulators) to ensure business continuity and the need to restore faith of all stakeholders, including investors,' he said.
Natarajan, who is also chief executive of global software solutions provider Zensar Technologies, said Nasscom was trying to ensure Styam did not collapse.
'We are doing whatever we can to see Satyam is able to retain its employees, customers and suppliers as it is our fourth largest software exporter and has marquee clients from the world over, including Fortune 500 firms.'
Natarajan said the government's intervention and the speed with which the new Satyam board had acted to save the beleaguered firm, had sent the right signals to customers and other stakeholders that India would continue to be a talented and cost-effective destination for outsourcing software services.
'Satyam fraud is an extreme case in extreme situations. Such an incident has never happened in the past, it is unprecedented. It is a much larger issue. It is not merely about IT industry but about corporate governance.'
Nasscom has also been in touch with its counterparts in the US and Europe to address their concerns over the integrity of the Indian IT industry, he said.
'We are also talking to analysts about what we are doing to bring stability to the organisation (Satyam), to allow business continuity and to get to the root-cause of the problem, which is larger than the accounting fraud itself,' Natarajan observed.
'We have not seen the reality yet. I don't have answers for what, why and how it happened. Investigations are on,' he added.
'We should not only consider this unfortunate case as a wake-up call, but also an opportunity to learn a lesson from it. If boom times of the last four-five years made us complacent about compliance, it is time to clean up and enforce best practices such as transparency, accountability and ethical way of doing business,' Natarajan asserted.
In a directive to its 1,200-odd members, the executive council of National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) asked them, especially those listed and accountable to investors, to be transparent and disclose much more than they have.
'The executive council met within days after the Satyam fraud came to light and decided to be proactive with respect to transparency and disclosures. We have sent out a message to all our members to disclose maximum. Even a trivial matter should be disclosed,' Nasscom chairman Ganesh Natarajan told IANS in an interview here.
To ensure 'a one-off case' like Satyam did not tarnish the Indian IT industry's image, Natarajan said if the Hyderabad-based global software major collapsed, it would result in undoing what Nasscom had been building over the last 20 years.
'So we have assured our members that we are working with the government and other agencies (regulators) to ensure business continuity and the need to restore faith of all stakeholders, including investors,' he said.
Natarajan, who is also chief executive of global software solutions provider Zensar Technologies, said Nasscom was trying to ensure Styam did not collapse.
'We are doing whatever we can to see Satyam is able to retain its employees, customers and suppliers as it is our fourth largest software exporter and has marquee clients from the world over, including Fortune 500 firms.'
Natarajan said the government's intervention and the speed with which the new Satyam board had acted to save the beleaguered firm, had sent the right signals to customers and other stakeholders that India would continue to be a talented and cost-effective destination for outsourcing software services.
'Satyam fraud is an extreme case in extreme situations. Such an incident has never happened in the past, it is unprecedented. It is a much larger issue. It is not merely about IT industry but about corporate governance.'
Nasscom has also been in touch with its counterparts in the US and Europe to address their concerns over the integrity of the Indian IT industry, he said.
'We are also talking to analysts about what we are doing to bring stability to the organisation (Satyam), to allow business continuity and to get to the root-cause of the problem, which is larger than the accounting fraud itself,' Natarajan observed.
'We have not seen the reality yet. I don't have answers for what, why and how it happened. Investigations are on,' he added.
'We should not only consider this unfortunate case as a wake-up call, but also an opportunity to learn a lesson from it. If boom times of the last four-five years made us complacent about compliance, it is time to clean up and enforce best practices such as transparency, accountability and ethical way of doing business,' Natarajan asserted.
Board's priority is to protect Satyam staff, investors: Tarun Das
New Delhi: A day before the second meeting of the new Satyam Computer Services board, newly-appointed director Tarun Das said the priority of the six-member team would be to protect the interest of employees, customers and investors.
"Our collective endeavour is to help find solutions to extremely difficult challenges facing the company and the priority is, as other board members have said, to safeguard the interest of employees, customers and investors," CII Chief Mentor said after being appointed on the troubled IT firm's board.
Das said he has accepted “the request'' to serve on the government-nominated board of Satyam “in a spirit of public service". The board, which held its first meeting on January 11, would be meeting tomorrow for the second time after the government appointed it to salvage the company from the impact of about Rs 7,800-crore fraud.
Besides Das, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, Nasscom past- president Kiran Karnik and past presiding officer of the Securities Appellate Tribunal C Achuthan are the new members of the expanded board.
"Our collective endeavour is to help find solutions to extremely difficult challenges facing the company and the priority is, as other board members have said, to safeguard the interest of employees, customers and investors," CII Chief Mentor said after being appointed on the troubled IT firm's board.
Das said he has accepted “the request'' to serve on the government-nominated board of Satyam “in a spirit of public service". The board, which held its first meeting on January 11, would be meeting tomorrow for the second time after the government appointed it to salvage the company from the impact of about Rs 7,800-crore fraud.
Besides Das, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, Nasscom past- president Kiran Karnik and past presiding officer of the Securities Appellate Tribunal C Achuthan are the new members of the expanded board.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Sony's Vaio P: Slim and sexy, but don't call it a 'Netbook'
Never mind the tiny physical footprint of the Vaio P, if you ask Sony, they will tell you they have never made a netbook. If you ask me, however, I'll tell you they just did.
Why does Sony regard its smallest Vaio as a notebook and not a netbook? They have endowed the tiny (9.65" x .78" x 4.72") machine with a 1.33 GHz Intel processor, has 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM, Windows Vista Home Premium or 32-bit Home Basic and up to 128GB of flash memory or 60GB HDD. Representatives I spoke to this evening classified a netbook as a device that's encumbered by a processor too slow to handle a full desktop or notebook OS.
After handling the Vaio P, I would beg to differ. I would say a netbook is any computer that demands a substantial adjustment of the user's computing technique to accomplish a task. This could happen because of a slower processor, but it could just as easily happen because of limited screen real estate or an awkward physical interface like a cramped keyboard or oddly-placed mouse buttons. Whether Sony likes it or not, the tiny form factor of the Vaio P forces the user to adjust.
Firstly, the size of the screen: though it's 8 inches across and extremely dense in pixels, the odd dimensions change the workspace substantially. Second, the keyboard is problematic. It is absolutely rock solid and responsive, but the placement of the pointing stick cuts into the size of the G, B, and H keys and necessitates some alertness when typing quickly.
To shrink down the unit to about the thickness of an issue of The Economist (or Guns and Ammo, if you're so inclined), the ethernet port and VGA out have been removed from the chassis and placed on the unit's charging dock. This means if you use a wired connection or external monitor, you have to carry around an extra block of plastic that is independent from the power cord/charger components. The Vaio P also has two USB ports, one less than most netbooks.
Netbook or not, the Vaio P is undeniably elegant, with an instant on feature that utilizes Sony's trademark XMB interface, integrated A2DP bluetooth, integrated mobile broadband connectivity, and GPS. For $899, there is a lot of computer rolled in that miniscule frame.
After handling the Vaio P, I would beg to differ. I would say a netbook is any computer that demands a substantial adjustment of the user's computing technique to accomplish a task. This could happen because of a slower processor, but it could just as easily happen because of limited screen real estate or an awkward physical interface like a cramped keyboard or oddly-placed mouse buttons. Whether Sony likes it or not, the tiny form factor of the Vaio P forces the user to adjust.
Firstly, the size of the screen: though it's 8 inches across and extremely dense in pixels, the odd dimensions change the workspace substantially. Second, the keyboard is problematic. It is absolutely rock solid and responsive, but the placement of the pointing stick cuts into the size of the G, B, and H keys and necessitates some alertness when typing quickly.
To shrink down the unit to about the thickness of an issue of The Economist (or Guns and Ammo, if you're so inclined), the ethernet port and VGA out have been removed from the chassis and placed on the unit's charging dock. This means if you use a wired connection or external monitor, you have to carry around an extra block of plastic that is independent from the power cord/charger components. The Vaio P also has two USB ports, one less than most netbooks.
Netbook or not, the Vaio P is undeniably elegant, with an instant on feature that utilizes Sony's trademark XMB interface, integrated A2DP bluetooth, integrated mobile broadband connectivity, and GPS. For $899, there is a lot of computer rolled in that miniscule frame.
Analyst: China Internet move part of global trend
HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- China this past week released a list of major online portals and Web sits that it claims provide and spread pornographic or obscene content, state media reported.
Rebecca MacKinnon, co-founder of Global Voices, an assistant professor of journalism at Hong Kong University, a former CNN correspondent and an observer of China and the Internet, recently discussed with CNN the move by Beijing.
CNN: Is this affecting Web sites in Hong Kong?
MacKinnon: Not to my knowledge, as mainland China and Hong Kong operate on separate jurisdictions. Of course in Hong Kong there is a review on obscene articles ordinances and debate on how such content should be censored. But again, they are completely separate countries.
There are some Web sites in Mainland China that have Hong Kong investments that would be affected, but this is a one country two systems policy.
Mainland China crackdown on porn is not reaching offices and Web sites in Hong Kong, as their forms of censorship do not extend to Hong Kong.
CNN: Has there been any noticeable impact on web access (in Mainland China, or anywhere) from the clampdown? How do you know?
MacKinnon: This crackdown isn't related to filtering, there are types of censorship in place. One kind of censorship is blocking overseas Web sites.
However the crackdown on Monday, performed by six different government departments, relates to a different type of censorship. This is aiming for Web sites that operate inside of China. It's not a matter of blocking Web sites it's telling the offices to delete some content.
CNN: How effective (in general) would China's actions be?
MacKinnon: I cannot give you a good stance to compare, as I don't look at porn, so it's hard for me to give a good sense of that. The crackdown listed 19 different Chinese Web sites some were foreign investments (e.g. Google). They basically said there was too much inappropriate material, or "low and vulgar" content, and sites need to clean up their act.
Three Chinese Web sites apologized and created a hot line to report it. On Tuesday, three editors at Netease, based in South China, were dismissed as a result of content appeared. Chinese Web site companies are definitely jumping to clean it.
Google China, on their blog earlier this week, apologized and talked to the public about what they're doing in China and explained they're removing the inappropriate content. They even set up a hot line and support e-mail to allow users to report any inappropriate content. Netease, Baidou and Sina had also done the same thing and have all apologized. Companies are doing their best to comply with what they've been told.
This is not related to Internet access at all, it's not affecting people's ability to access other material. However, people could argue that the technology they use to censor sexual content can also be used clean up political censorship however there is no direct evidence to show it.
People in the industry know how difficult it is to totally clean up smutty material. Companies could try and there would be campaigns happening from time to time. But it's pretty much impossible for Chinese companies to eliminate smutty material completely off the Internet, it's too difficult. To eliminate absolutely everything is impossible. Companies are saying they'll need to add more staff, beef up more technology. It already increases their costs, when they're trying to comply with Government demands.
CNN: When other countries have taken similar actions how effective have they been?
MacKinnon: A lot of countries are filtering Internet pornography or "smut" on the Internet. Take a look at the Open Net Initiative (Open.net), they show systematic studies on Internet filtering around the world. There are several dozen countries that filter the Internet on a national basis. They range from Thailand to India to Turkey.
Australia is, in fact, in the process of filtering. UK had blocked Wikipedia, because it contained an image on an album cover of a child that appeared offensive. The United States is in the process of discussing whether or not they should provide free Internet access nationwide but censor se. However, the idea of censoring inappropriate content ties with debates on who has the power to decide what is appropriate and what is not. Sometimes they don't even block sites that display sexually explicit material, for example when I went to a mall (IFC) in Hong Kong, I noticed Global Voices was blocks there, and Global Voices does not contain any sort of sexual content.
Internet censorship is happening all over the world and it's growing.
CNN: What do you think prompted this action by China?
MacKinnon: There are crackdowns from time to time. Generally, before Chinese New Year, there is some sort of anti-porn crackdown that takes place. It's a seasonal thing, not many people are entirely shocked. There was a crackdown on an online video site, which resulted to a 24 hour shutdown. Companies in China have expectations of these sorts of things and prepare to deal with it.
CNN: Please explain the "Great Firewall of China."
MacKinnon: This crackdown doesn't have anything to do with the Great Firewall of China. However, it was a term coined by Chinese Internet users to describe the process of Internet filtering. Internet filtering is a technical term of blocking access to Web sites. Certain Web sites are blacklisted and accessing it in China becomes difficult, as you will get an error message or your network connection will die for a while. A way to get around is using proxies. This was what some people experience in China when they try to access certain content. An example of this was the events of Tibet where Web sites such as humanitarian Web sites could not be accessed.
CNN: Is more content getting through what is known as the "Great Firewall of China"?
Most Chinese users do not use proxies anyway, however it is difficult to do a full-fledged survey to find out since it is a very sensitive topic. Although you cannot get definitive numbers, analysts look at Chinese Internet behavior by observing Internet users and it appears that only small percentage uses proxies to circumvent certain blacklisted Web sites. And those users are usually foreigners trying to access their favorite blogs. However, there is so much interesting content that is not blocked and most people find it too much of a hassle to use proxies. Learn more on how China filters the Internet »
Is it true that China has the most Internet users in the world? What are the stats on that and does that include Hong Kong?
The official Chinese Government statistics show that in the middle of 2008, 253 million Internet users exist in China (more than the United States). You can also look at China Internet Network Society, which statistics on all kinds of Internet use in China
Rebecca MacKinnon, co-founder of Global Voices, an assistant professor of journalism at Hong Kong University, a former CNN correspondent and an observer of China and the Internet, recently discussed with CNN the move by Beijing.
CNN: Is this affecting Web sites in Hong Kong?
MacKinnon: Not to my knowledge, as mainland China and Hong Kong operate on separate jurisdictions. Of course in Hong Kong there is a review on obscene articles ordinances and debate on how such content should be censored. But again, they are completely separate countries.
There are some Web sites in Mainland China that have Hong Kong investments that would be affected, but this is a one country two systems policy.
Mainland China crackdown on porn is not reaching offices and Web sites in Hong Kong, as their forms of censorship do not extend to Hong Kong.
CNN: Has there been any noticeable impact on web access (in Mainland China, or anywhere) from the clampdown? How do you know?
MacKinnon: This crackdown isn't related to filtering, there are types of censorship in place. One kind of censorship is blocking overseas Web sites.
However the crackdown on Monday, performed by six different government departments, relates to a different type of censorship. This is aiming for Web sites that operate inside of China. It's not a matter of blocking Web sites it's telling the offices to delete some content.
CNN: How effective (in general) would China's actions be?
MacKinnon: I cannot give you a good stance to compare, as I don't look at porn, so it's hard for me to give a good sense of that. The crackdown listed 19 different Chinese Web sites some were foreign investments (e.g. Google). They basically said there was too much inappropriate material, or "low and vulgar" content, and sites need to clean up their act.
Three Chinese Web sites apologized and created a hot line to report it. On Tuesday, three editors at Netease, based in South China, were dismissed as a result of content appeared. Chinese Web site companies are definitely jumping to clean it.
Google China, on their blog earlier this week, apologized and talked to the public about what they're doing in China and explained they're removing the inappropriate content. They even set up a hot line and support e-mail to allow users to report any inappropriate content. Netease, Baidou and Sina had also done the same thing and have all apologized. Companies are doing their best to comply with what they've been told.
This is not related to Internet access at all, it's not affecting people's ability to access other material. However, people could argue that the technology they use to censor sexual content can also be used clean up political censorship however there is no direct evidence to show it.
People in the industry know how difficult it is to totally clean up smutty material. Companies could try and there would be campaigns happening from time to time. But it's pretty much impossible for Chinese companies to eliminate smutty material completely off the Internet, it's too difficult. To eliminate absolutely everything is impossible. Companies are saying they'll need to add more staff, beef up more technology. It already increases their costs, when they're trying to comply with Government demands.
CNN: When other countries have taken similar actions how effective have they been?
MacKinnon: A lot of countries are filtering Internet pornography or "smut" on the Internet. Take a look at the Open Net Initiative (Open.net), they show systematic studies on Internet filtering around the world. There are several dozen countries that filter the Internet on a national basis. They range from Thailand to India to Turkey.
Australia is, in fact, in the process of filtering. UK had blocked Wikipedia, because it contained an image on an album cover of a child that appeared offensive. The United States is in the process of discussing whether or not they should provide free Internet access nationwide but censor se. However, the idea of censoring inappropriate content ties with debates on who has the power to decide what is appropriate and what is not. Sometimes they don't even block sites that display sexually explicit material, for example when I went to a mall (IFC) in Hong Kong, I noticed Global Voices was blocks there, and Global Voices does not contain any sort of sexual content.
Internet censorship is happening all over the world and it's growing.
CNN: What do you think prompted this action by China?
MacKinnon: There are crackdowns from time to time. Generally, before Chinese New Year, there is some sort of anti-porn crackdown that takes place. It's a seasonal thing, not many people are entirely shocked. There was a crackdown on an online video site, which resulted to a 24 hour shutdown. Companies in China have expectations of these sorts of things and prepare to deal with it.
CNN: Please explain the "Great Firewall of China."
MacKinnon: This crackdown doesn't have anything to do with the Great Firewall of China. However, it was a term coined by Chinese Internet users to describe the process of Internet filtering. Internet filtering is a technical term of blocking access to Web sites. Certain Web sites are blacklisted and accessing it in China becomes difficult, as you will get an error message or your network connection will die for a while. A way to get around is using proxies. This was what some people experience in China when they try to access certain content. An example of this was the events of Tibet where Web sites such as humanitarian Web sites could not be accessed.
CNN: Is more content getting through what is known as the "Great Firewall of China"?
Most Chinese users do not use proxies anyway, however it is difficult to do a full-fledged survey to find out since it is a very sensitive topic. Although you cannot get definitive numbers, analysts look at Chinese Internet behavior by observing Internet users and it appears that only small percentage uses proxies to circumvent certain blacklisted Web sites. And those users are usually foreigners trying to access their favorite blogs. However, there is so much interesting content that is not blocked and most people find it too much of a hassle to use proxies. Learn more on how China filters the Internet »
Is it true that China has the most Internet users in the world? What are the stats on that and does that include Hong Kong?
The official Chinese Government statistics show that in the middle of 2008, 253 million Internet users exist in China (more than the United States). You can also look at China Internet Network Society, which statistics on all kinds of Internet use in China
Chandni Chowk... story close to Akshay's life: Director
New Delhi: Nikhil Advani says he wants to dispel the notion that he is just a romantic filmmaker with his forthcoming Chandni Chowk To China. He also clarified that the action-comedy is not based on lead actor Akshay Kumar's life.
"I would like to clarify that the film is not based on Akshay's life, but it only has similarities with his life," Advani, who is in Los Angeles, said.
"Chandni Chowk... is about an Indian cook Sidhu, played by Akshay who goes to China and is mistaken to be a martial arts expert.
"Just like Akshay went to Bangkok from Chandni Chowk and worked there in a hotel, the character Sidhu is a cook from Chandni Chowk, who goes to China and is compelled to learn martial arts in order to meet his destiny," he added.
Advani shot to fame with his directorial debut Kal Ho Naa Ho in 2003. Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta, the triangular love story was a huge success. His second film Salaam-E-Ishq, a multi-starrer, was about six couples.
But the director doesn't like to be typecast and wants to experiment with different genres.
"I shouldn't be expected to make only romantic movies throughout my life. I'd like to be a director who can make any kind of film. I think every director should be willing to make any genre of film as long as the film is interesting. The film should spark the director from within to make something that speaks on its own irrespective of the genre.
"And for that matter, Chandni Chowk... is a new genre for me that I've been waiting to work on since a long time. I also have other different subjects in the pipeline like a very inspirational film about a kid called Chand Bhai and an animated project Ab Dilli Door Nahin," he added.
Releasing on January 16, Chandni Chowk To China is an action-comedy and is co-produced by Ramesh Sippy Entertainment, People Tree Films and Hollywood studio Warner Bros. Deepika Padukone plays Akshay's lady love in the movie.
Advani says the film has surprises for the audience.
"The promos project Chandni Chowk... as an action-comedy, but the audiences will be surprised to find that it's actually an emotional journey of Sidhu. Though there are oodles of guaranteed humour in the film, it'll be after a long time that people will get to see Akshay in an emotional role."
Not many know that Chandni Chowk... is a film with many firsts to its credit. It is the first Indian film ever to be shot in China.
"The film is also India's first film to have more than 1,500 VFX (visual effects) shots and that despite it not being a visual effects centric film," added Advani.
Asked if shooting in China was tough, Advani said: "It was like working in uncharted territory. However, China is like any other country where permissions, etc., are concerned. The people there are extremely proud of their heritage.
"We had seven months of pre-production work in China and it all went step by step."
The film is also being hugely promoted globally and will have four international premieres. It had its first premiere in LA followed by New York and Toronto. The last is scheduled in London later Saturday.
Advani is also hopeful that the film will prove to be "a breather for the audiences when they come out of theatres considering the tough times going on courtesy the recession and the terror attacks.
"Chandni Chowk... is also about believing in yourself. It's an old-fashioned Bollywood masala film in its entirety and I hope people will enjoy the two-and-a-half hour spectacle," said Advani.
"I would like to clarify that the film is not based on Akshay's life, but it only has similarities with his life," Advani, who is in Los Angeles, said.
"Chandni Chowk... is about an Indian cook Sidhu, played by Akshay who goes to China and is mistaken to be a martial arts expert.
"Just like Akshay went to Bangkok from Chandni Chowk and worked there in a hotel, the character Sidhu is a cook from Chandni Chowk, who goes to China and is compelled to learn martial arts in order to meet his destiny," he added.
Advani shot to fame with his directorial debut Kal Ho Naa Ho in 2003. Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta, the triangular love story was a huge success. His second film Salaam-E-Ishq, a multi-starrer, was about six couples.
But the director doesn't like to be typecast and wants to experiment with different genres.
"I shouldn't be expected to make only romantic movies throughout my life. I'd like to be a director who can make any kind of film. I think every director should be willing to make any genre of film as long as the film is interesting. The film should spark the director from within to make something that speaks on its own irrespective of the genre.
"And for that matter, Chandni Chowk... is a new genre for me that I've been waiting to work on since a long time. I also have other different subjects in the pipeline like a very inspirational film about a kid called Chand Bhai and an animated project Ab Dilli Door Nahin," he added.
Releasing on January 16, Chandni Chowk To China is an action-comedy and is co-produced by Ramesh Sippy Entertainment, People Tree Films and Hollywood studio Warner Bros. Deepika Padukone plays Akshay's lady love in the movie.
Advani says the film has surprises for the audience.
"The promos project Chandni Chowk... as an action-comedy, but the audiences will be surprised to find that it's actually an emotional journey of Sidhu. Though there are oodles of guaranteed humour in the film, it'll be after a long time that people will get to see Akshay in an emotional role."
Not many know that Chandni Chowk... is a film with many firsts to its credit. It is the first Indian film ever to be shot in China.
"The film is also India's first film to have more than 1,500 VFX (visual effects) shots and that despite it not being a visual effects centric film," added Advani.
Asked if shooting in China was tough, Advani said: "It was like working in uncharted territory. However, China is like any other country where permissions, etc., are concerned. The people there are extremely proud of their heritage.
"We had seven months of pre-production work in China and it all went step by step."
The film is also being hugely promoted globally and will have four international premieres. It had its first premiere in LA followed by New York and Toronto. The last is scheduled in London later Saturday.
Advani is also hopeful that the film will prove to be "a breather for the audiences when they come out of theatres considering the tough times going on courtesy the recession and the terror attacks.
"Chandni Chowk... is also about believing in yourself. It's an old-fashioned Bollywood masala film in its entirety and I hope people will enjoy the two-and-a-half hour spectacle," said Advani.
Raju undergoes medical check-up
Satyam's disgraced founder B Ramalinga Raju, who was arrested on Friday for his involvement in a Rs 7,800 crore financial fraud in the company, on Saturday underwent a medical check-up after he complained of chest pain and uneasiness.
"Raju complained of chest pain and high blood pressure on Friday night. A team of doctors from Care hospital came to the office of Director General of Police at around 3 AM for the check-up," L Bharat Kumar, lawyer of Raju, said adding that his condition is normal.
The former chairman, who made a startling disclosure of about Rs 7,800 crore financial bungling in the company on Wednesday, was arrested on Friday and has been charged under sections 120 b, 416, 417, 420, 468 and 471 of IPC -- all charges relating to fabrication of accounts, criminal conspiracy and cheating. All these offenses are non-bailable. Raju is likely to be produced before a Magistrate some time during the day on Saturday.
Along with Raju, his brother Rama Raju was also arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police on Friday.
"Raju complained of chest pain and high blood pressure on Friday night. A team of doctors from Care hospital came to the office of Director General of Police at around 3 AM for the check-up," L Bharat Kumar, lawyer of Raju, said adding that his condition is normal.
The former chairman, who made a startling disclosure of about Rs 7,800 crore financial bungling in the company on Wednesday, was arrested on Friday and has been charged under sections 120 b, 416, 417, 420, 468 and 471 of IPC -- all charges relating to fabrication of accounts, criminal conspiracy and cheating. All these offenses are non-bailable. Raju is likely to be produced before a Magistrate some time during the day on Saturday.
Along with Raju, his brother Rama Raju was also arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police on Friday.
How to win a woman's heart
Try growing stubble, for according to a new research, ladies are more smitten by men with stubbly chins than those with clean-shaven faces or full
Try growing stubble. (Getty images)beards. According to the study, which was conducted by Northumbria University researchers, stubble is the way to win a woman’s heart. As for the reason, why women find men with stubble attractive: they find them tough, mature, aggressive, dominant and masculine and the best romantic partners. The findings of the experiment, carried out on British women aged 18 to 44, could explain the appeal of actors such as George Clooney and Brad Pitt who cultivate their unshaven look. The explanation for the preference is not clear, but experts in human evolution say that that facial hair may be a signal of aggression because it boosts the apparent size of the lower jaw.
The research team believes that stubbly men may offer women the best worlds - not too strongly masculine, but mature and with the potential to grow a full beard. The researchers carried out the study using computer technology
to alter pictures of 15 men’s faces. Five levels of facial hair were used - clean-shaven, light stubble, heavy stubble, light beard and full beard.
The pictures were shown to 76 women who were asked to rate them for masculinity, aggression, dominance, attractiveness, age, and social maturity. They were also asked how desirable each man would be as a short-term or long-term partner. Faces with full beards were judged to be the most masculine, aggressive and socially mature. They were also believed to look five years older.
They were rated the least attractive and the worst choice for a short-term relationship. Men with light beards were considered the most dominant. Those with light stubble were rated the most attractive and as the ideal romantic partner for short or long term.
Clean-shaven men finished bottom for masculinity, dominance, aggression, and social maturity and they were the least favoured choice as a long-term partner. They came second-to-last for attractiveness. “
Facial hair, or beardedness, is a powerful sociosexual signal, and an obvious biological marker of sexual maturity. Facial hair may have been sexually selected by females on the basis of associated male success, despite its threatening appearance. Clean-shaven faces therefore may suggest appeasement, as well as being an obvious sign of sexual immaturity,” the Telegraph quoted the researchers, as saying.
"Increasing levels of facial hair were associated with increased perceptions of aggression, in that bearded faces were perceived as being the most aggressive, whilst clean-shaven faces were rated as being the least aggressive. And as facial hair increased in a linear fashion, so did female ratings of masculinity and dominance,” they added.
Try growing stubble. (Getty images)beards. According to the study, which was conducted by Northumbria University researchers, stubble is the way to win a woman’s heart. As for the reason, why women find men with stubble attractive: they find them tough, mature, aggressive, dominant and masculine and the best romantic partners. The findings of the experiment, carried out on British women aged 18 to 44, could explain the appeal of actors such as George Clooney and Brad Pitt who cultivate their unshaven look. The explanation for the preference is not clear, but experts in human evolution say that that facial hair may be a signal of aggression because it boosts the apparent size of the lower jaw.
The research team believes that stubbly men may offer women the best worlds - not too strongly masculine, but mature and with the potential to grow a full beard. The researchers carried out the study using computer technology
to alter pictures of 15 men’s faces. Five levels of facial hair were used - clean-shaven, light stubble, heavy stubble, light beard and full beard.
The pictures were shown to 76 women who were asked to rate them for masculinity, aggression, dominance, attractiveness, age, and social maturity. They were also asked how desirable each man would be as a short-term or long-term partner. Faces with full beards were judged to be the most masculine, aggressive and socially mature. They were also believed to look five years older.
They were rated the least attractive and the worst choice for a short-term relationship. Men with light beards were considered the most dominant. Those with light stubble were rated the most attractive and as the ideal romantic partner for short or long term.
Clean-shaven men finished bottom for masculinity, dominance, aggression, and social maturity and they were the least favoured choice as a long-term partner. They came second-to-last for attractiveness. “
Facial hair, or beardedness, is a powerful sociosexual signal, and an obvious biological marker of sexual maturity. Facial hair may have been sexually selected by females on the basis of associated male success, despite its threatening appearance. Clean-shaven faces therefore may suggest appeasement, as well as being an obvious sign of sexual immaturity,” the Telegraph quoted the researchers, as saying.
"Increasing levels of facial hair were associated with increased perceptions of aggression, in that bearded faces were perceived as being the most aggressive, whilst clean-shaven faces were rated as being the least aggressive. And as facial hair increased in a linear fashion, so did female ratings of masculinity and dominance,” they added.
How well do you know your partner?
One of the most important features of successful couple relationships
is the quality of the friendship they share. Do you know your partner’s inner
that will help you find out. Your answers should either be 'yes' or 'no'...
• I can name my partner’s best friends
• I know what stresses my partner is currently facing
• I know the names of some of the people who have been irritating my partner lately
• I can tell some of my partner’s life dreams
• I can tell about my partner’s basic philosophy of life
• I can list the relatives my partner likes the least
• I feel that my partner knows me pretty well
• When we are apart, I often think fondly of my partner
• I often touch or kiss my partner affectionately
• My partner really respects me
• There is fire and passion in this relationship
• Romance is definitely still part of our relationship
• My partner appreciates the things I do in this relationship
• My partner generally likes my personality
• Our sex life is mostly satisfying
• At the end of the day my partner is glad to see me
• My partner is one of my best friends
• We just love talking to each other
• There is lots of give and take (both people have influence) in our discussions
• My partner listens respectfully, even when we disagree
• My partner is usually a great help as a problem solver
• We generally mesh well on basic values and goals in life
is the quality of the friendship they share. Do you know your partner’s inner
that will help you find out. Your answers should either be 'yes' or 'no'...
• I can name my partner’s best friends
• I know what stresses my partner is currently facing
• I know the names of some of the people who have been irritating my partner lately
• I can tell some of my partner’s life dreams
• I can tell about my partner’s basic philosophy of life
• I can list the relatives my partner likes the least
• I feel that my partner knows me pretty well
• When we are apart, I often think fondly of my partner
• I often touch or kiss my partner affectionately
• My partner really respects me
• There is fire and passion in this relationship
• Romance is definitely still part of our relationship
• My partner appreciates the things I do in this relationship
• My partner generally likes my personality
• Our sex life is mostly satisfying
• At the end of the day my partner is glad to see me
• My partner is one of my best friends
• We just love talking to each other
• There is lots of give and take (both people have influence) in our discussions
• My partner listens respectfully, even when we disagree
• My partner is usually a great help as a problem solver
• We generally mesh well on basic values and goals in life
Eight ways to a woman's heart
You've known her for long enough, been on several dates, long drives and candlelit dinners that are not new anymore. But when it comes to taking
Eight ways to a woman's heart (Getty images)your relationship to the next level – you fumble, falter and just can't figure out how to make that vital first move. You are not alone, when it comes to getting intimate with a woman, most men don't know how to get the action kick started. So, what should you do that lets your love interest know what's exactly on your mind without having to spill the beans to her? Answers relationship expert, Arvinder Kaur, "As goes the old adage 'actions speak louder than words' when it comes to winning your dream woman." So, here are some real life tips to help you make your way into your lady love's heart and leaving her crave for more...
Start with being chivalrous
A common mistake that most men make is expecting to get a woman and explore her all at once! The truth is that by doing so, they would simply scare her off. To begin with, it is the art of touching a woman that matters most. Win her over it in a way that she gradually gets comfortable with your touch. You can begin by offering her your arm while walking down the street or gently touching her back as you open the door for her. Arpit Kaushik (name changed on request), 34, a manager with a multi national company tells us his mantra to win a woman's heart. "I have dated at least four women since the time I was in college. One thing that I've learnt from my experience is that they pay a lot of attention to good manners and chivalry. They are not too comfortable with just about any acquaintance touching their body. So, you need to take it really slow. Once they are convinced that you respect them and value their consent before making a physical gesture, they'll trust you and your touch." Agreeing with Kaushik, Naina Awasthi (name changed on request), a marketing professional adds, "Women certainly have a sense of judgment when it comes to a man touching her. I would certainly not appreciate a person who I am not comfortable with to kiss me or take me to bed right away. Women like guys who take their time getting to know her mind first before graduating to the next level.
The whispering game
Why not be different when it comes to making the first move? Instead of kissing her right on her lips, try sharing a secret. "When whispering sweet nothings to your girl, speak in a sexy way as women tend to pay more attention to your tone rather than what you say. Deepen your voice, speak slowly and with conviction. Take care not to make it too dramatic," suggests Sunil Garg, an expert on sex-related issues. Mohit Malviya (name changed on request), 29, who works with a call centre in Gurgaon adds, "My girlfriend loves me whispering in her ear. It really turns her on. I think most women like men who are expressive and generous with compliments. So, I always make it a point to tease my girl by whispering something like, 'You look sexy tonight' or 'Want to go back home?' if we are at a party. It works for me." "Ears are an erogenous part of the female body. Murmured words have a greater impact than a high-pitched or loud voice. A soft and subtle voice is a sure shot way to turn on a woman," explains Garg.
Give her clues
Did you know that giving her clues or teasing her about having sex can be the first step to 'actually' having it?
Eight ways to a woman's heart (Getty images)Unfortunately, some men tend to blurt out their sexual desires and end up portraying themselves as creepy. So, instead of being overtly direct in your conversation, try dropping sexual hints. For instance, if she tells you that you are good at driving, tell her you are good at several things and see the magic working for you. Gautam Acharya (name changed on request), 28, an IT professional says, "I was madly in love with a girl whom I met at my gym. I was very attracted to her and we soon became friends. I proposed to her after a couple of months and we started dating. I knew it right from the beginning that she wasn't the kind of person who would let me get close to her too soon. So I started behaving as if she was trying to hit on me. If she ever asked me to drop her home, I teased her by saying, 'Oh! So you're trying to get too close to me?' She just loved it. And surprisingly, soon after she was the one who made the first move." Manmeet Bhalla, a marriage and relationship counselor opines, "Most women are hesitant to discuss sex with a man they are not comfortable with. If the man is too bold or turns the conversation directly towards sex, chances are he would lose her. So, it's advisable to take things slow and hint to her indirectly that you are interested in her."
Eight ways to a woman's heart (Getty images)Unfortunately, some men tend to blurt out their sexual desires and end up portraying themselves as creepy. So, instead of being overtly direct in your conversation, try dropping sexual hints. For instance, if she tells you that you are good at driving, tell her you are good at several things and see the magic working for you. Gautam Acharya (name changed on request), 28, an IT professional says, "I was madly in love with a girl whom I met at my gym. I was very attracted to her and we soon became friends. I proposed to her after a couple of months and we started dating. I knew it right from the beginning that she wasn't the kind of person who would let me get close to her too soon. So I started behaving as if she was trying to hit on me. If she ever asked me to drop her home, I teased her by saying, 'Oh! So you're trying to get too close to me?' She just loved it. And surprisingly, soon after she was the one who made the first move." Manmeet Bhalla, a marriage and relationship counselor opines, "Most women are hesitant to discuss sex with a man they are not comfortable with. If the man is too bold or turns the conversation directly towards sex, chances are he would lose her. So, it's advisable to take things slow and hint to her indirectly that you are interested in her."
Patience is a virtue!
Patience is truly a virtue when it comes to winning your woman. Teasing her in the right ways and keeping her waiting will make her want more of you. Keep her anticipating. Hold her as if you were just about to kiss her, gently move your fingers through her hair and then whisper tenderly in her ear, but don't kiss her just yet. Women just love men who possess self-control. Set the stage and hold back for a while. Don't be surprised if she grabs you soon after! Nikhil Meheshwari (name changed on request), 32, who works with a telecom company in Mumbai confesses, "I firmly believe that patience is the key. When I am in the mood for some action, all I need to do is tempt my wife. I make the first move, turn her on and playfully leave it mid-way. And most of the times, she comes back to me, vying for more." Namrata Chabbra (name changed on request), 26, a software professional adds, "My husband tempts me to turn me on. It's certainly a lot of fun. And I must say that one needs a lot of will power to be patient when it comes to making love."
Get naughty, play games
Look for ways to get closer to her – whether it's helping her learn a sport or turning on some soothing music and asking her out for a dance. Also, take care not to be too boring in your conversation – don't ask predictable questions. Instead of being a dud, ask her something like, "What's your zodiac sign?" Add something like, "You know what they say about Taureans?" Vikram Motwani (name changed on request), 27, who works with a private bank in Delhi observes, "My girlfriend gets turned on with things I could never even have thought of. At times, it is a romantic dance in a crowded party or swimming together on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I try to find out new ways to get her in the mood and keep the passion alive." "Most women love men who are unpredictable and experimental – somebody who is always willing to do different things to win her heart. This technique also helps couples from keeping monotony and boredom out of their relationship," adds Manmeet.
Meet at your place
Meet at your place
Are you used to picking her up from her home and then dropping her there? Next time, try inviting her for dinner at
Eight ways to a woman's heart (Getty images)your place instead, saying, "Want to test my culinary skills?" But don't let her believe that it's 'only sex on your mind'. Accuse her of being naughty. Say things that can turn around the tables with her wanting to get into action, rather than vice versa. Sharing his idea of a perfect date, Harsh Sinha (name changed on request), who works with a multi-national company in Noida, confesses, "There's no better place to get intimate with a woman rather than your own house, especially if you are living alone. I have tried it several times and my girlfriend feels more comfortable at my place than anywhere else." Shreya Mehrotra (name changed on request), 25, who works in Pune says, "My boyfriend always plays pranks on me. He would pick me up from my place, tell me he wants to surprise me and would then drive down to his place. But it is fun being alone at his place. He makes me feel very comfortable and knows exactly what turns me on."
Eight ways to a woman's heart (Getty images)your place instead, saying, "Want to test my culinary skills?" But don't let her believe that it's 'only sex on your mind'. Accuse her of being naughty. Say things that can turn around the tables with her wanting to get into action, rather than vice versa. Sharing his idea of a perfect date, Harsh Sinha (name changed on request), who works with a multi-national company in Noida, confesses, "There's no better place to get intimate with a woman rather than your own house, especially if you are living alone. I have tried it several times and my girlfriend feels more comfortable at my place than anywhere else." Shreya Mehrotra (name changed on request), 25, who works in Pune says, "My boyfriend always plays pranks on me. He would pick me up from my place, tell me he wants to surprise me and would then drive down to his place. But it is fun being alone at his place. He makes me feel very comfortable and knows exactly what turns me on."
Take charge of her
Once the stage is set and you are ready for action, hold her tight. Often, women are insecure about getting too close, too soon. So, take charge and make her feel comfortable. Let your hands to the talking. If she's reluctant of you touching her, just gently hold her hand and place it on your waist. Don't be surprised if she takes charge of you from there on... Rajiv Kamath, 30, who works with an IT company in Hyderabad says, "I think the best way to make a woman feel comfortable is to go step by step, rather than rushing. My wife loves it when I take the lead and take charge of her. Taking command of the situation and then giving yourself to her – is what works for me." Psychologist Archana Nanda opines, "It's very important to make a woman feel comfortable before getting close to her. It is also important to take care not to be too demanding, too soon. Once, a woman trusts you enough; she herself will surrender to you."
Be a 'gentleman'
All said and done, don't force yourself upon a woman. Just because you are in the mood for some naughty action, doesn't mean that she is ready for it too. Give her ample time to believe that you are the right guy for her before taking things one step further. Once she is convinced, nothing can hold her back from falling in your arms. Abhay Mittal, 35, a businessman adds, "It's important to be gentle with a woman. You can't just force yourself upon her until she is ready. What my wife appreciates most about me is that I give her enough space and time to get in the mood, rather than insisting on having sex. Sex should be mutual and not forced.
Affordable Gateway Laptops Debut
Coming out of CES, Gateway is going great guns in the sub-$1000 laptop category.
The strategy has worked out well so far, as the company's machines (such as the P-6825) grace Best Buy store shelves. But the two Gateway models unveiled this week--the MD series and UC series--take different approaches to achieving a three-digit price tag.
The MD line is a more aggressively priced take on Gateway's MC series of all-purpose entertainment laptops (for details on a representative model from that series, check out my review of the Gateway MC7803u).
Where MC units have edge-to-edge glass and a leather trim strip on the lid, the new MD model cuts a couple of corners to hit a $699 starting price. Its 15.6-inch, 1366-by-768-pixel screen offers a 16:9 aspect ratio. Though the baseline model won't include Blu-ray (to take advantage of the HDMI 1.3 output), that option is available as an upgrade. You can also pay more to kick the RAM up to 4GB or to jam a 500GB hard drive and a 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 GPU into the box.
The 7.7-pound MD will straddle the CPU line, with both Intel and AMD flavors available. If you ask me, the allure of the MC series was that it deceptively sold a lush style for an affordable price. The MD has a shot at polishing some of the rough edges I spotted in the MCs. Here's hoping it does.
Even more striking is Gateway's svelte new UC line, which incorporates a 13.3-inch screen and weighs a little over 5 pounds. Though its heft prevents it from qualifying as an ultraportable, it looks fairly fetching. The first things I noticed were the slot-loading DVD drive (a nice touch), the odd circular mouse pad (reminiscent of the pads on some past Panasonic ToughBooks, such as the ToughBook W7) and the bright, readily viewable 1280-by-800-pixel display. Altogether the UC combines compactness, entertainment features, and a reasonable amount of power (an Intel Core 2 Duo processor lurks inside). I'm interested to see how well the ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 GPU handles video--and how long the six-cell battery lasts when the UC is switched to Intel's integrated graphics (GMA 4500MHD) to conserve power. To me, the most surprising bit of news about this machine is its reasonable starting price of $799 when it ships this month.
If Gateway can deliver both the MD and the UC with solid build quality, you'll have two decent laptop lines to choose from for under a grand.
The strategy has worked out well so far, as the company's machines (such as the P-6825) grace Best Buy store shelves. But the two Gateway models unveiled this week--the MD series and UC series--take different approaches to achieving a three-digit price tag.
The MD line is a more aggressively priced take on Gateway's MC series of all-purpose entertainment laptops (for details on a representative model from that series, check out my review of the Gateway MC7803u).
Where MC units have edge-to-edge glass and a leather trim strip on the lid, the new MD model cuts a couple of corners to hit a $699 starting price. Its 15.6-inch, 1366-by-768-pixel screen offers a 16:9 aspect ratio. Though the baseline model won't include Blu-ray (to take advantage of the HDMI 1.3 output), that option is available as an upgrade. You can also pay more to kick the RAM up to 4GB or to jam a 500GB hard drive and a 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 GPU into the box.
The 7.7-pound MD will straddle the CPU line, with both Intel and AMD flavors available. If you ask me, the allure of the MC series was that it deceptively sold a lush style for an affordable price. The MD has a shot at polishing some of the rough edges I spotted in the MCs. Here's hoping it does.
Even more striking is Gateway's svelte new UC line, which incorporates a 13.3-inch screen and weighs a little over 5 pounds. Though its heft prevents it from qualifying as an ultraportable, it looks fairly fetching. The first things I noticed were the slot-loading DVD drive (a nice touch), the odd circular mouse pad (reminiscent of the pads on some past Panasonic ToughBooks, such as the ToughBook W7) and the bright, readily viewable 1280-by-800-pixel display. Altogether the UC combines compactness, entertainment features, and a reasonable amount of power (an Intel Core 2 Duo processor lurks inside). I'm interested to see how well the ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 GPU handles video--and how long the six-cell battery lasts when the UC is switched to Intel's integrated graphics (GMA 4500MHD) to conserve power. To me, the most surprising bit of news about this machine is its reasonable starting price of $799 when it ships this month.
If Gateway can deliver both the MD and the UC with solid build quality, you'll have two decent laptop lines to choose from for under a grand.
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