IBLOG SPACE

Barnes & Noble have released their BN eReader for iPad app, and they’re describing it as the most easily used and customizable of all such software on the tablet. A free download [iTunes link], the B&N app synchronizes with the company’s nook dedicated ereader as well as their PC client. The iPad version doesn’t support in-app purchases at this stage, but you can use LendMe to share (some) titles with others for limited periods. As for all that customization, B&N reckon there are “literally millions” of colors to choose from, which can be individually applied to text, pages, highlights and links. There are also eight typefaces and five text sizes, and readers can adjust margins and spacing. If the choices start to get overwhelming then they’ve also come up with a few presets. You can also add notes – which are also synchronized – as well as highlight and bookmark pages, and there’s an integrated dictionary for definitions of words. With iBooks, Kindle and now BN eRead

HP have outed four new LCD displays, kicking off at 20-inches and climbing all the way to 27-inches. The HP2010i, 2210m and 2310m – at 20, 21.5 and 23 inches respectively – will all go on sale today, followed by the 27-inch HP 2710m which arrives tomorrow; all but the smallest display supports 1920 x 1080 resolution (the 2010i is 1600 x 900) and they each have HP Power Sound speaker systems . The 2010i has a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 5ms response time and 250 nits brightness; it has VGA and HDCP-compliant DVI-D inputs, together with audio. Meanwhile the 2210m has the same contrast ratio but 2.5ms response time and 300 nits brightness; it also gains an HDMI input. The 2310m is roughly the same as the 2210m, with 3ms response time and VESA wall-mounting support. Finally, the HP 2710m has 400 nits brightness, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 2.5ms response time and 92-percent color gamut coverage. The HP 2010i is priced at $179.99, the 2210m at $219.99 and the 2310m at $259.99. No word on how mu

It’s 3D all round with pico-projectors these days, as the companies behind the pocketable display devices try to catch a hold of the 3D gravy-train . Sydiant have taken the easy route for their SID 2010 demonstration this week, taping two regular pico’s together with a polarizing film in each; viewers wearing standard 3D glasses see the projected image in three dimensions. Meanwhile, Aiptek have confirmed that they’re planning both glasses and glasses-free pico-projectors for launch over the next couple of years. March 2011, the company says, will see the launch of a 50-lumen pico-projector. That will require special glasses in order to see the 3D effect, but Aiptek reckon they’ll have a follow-up model, with a whopping 100-lumens brightness and that requires no glasses for 3D use, sometime in 2012. Exact details of the technology are unknown, though Aiptek will use DLP pico modules in their 2010 range. That will include a camcorder with an integrated 15-lumen projector expected to

Mimo has been offering some cool USB external monitors that are small and add a second screen with minimal fuss for a while. The company cut the prices of some of its external screens back in February making them even more appealing. The company has announced a new and small touchscreen that is mountable. The new screen is called the Mino 720-F Flex-Screen mountable touchscreen USB monitor. It has a 7-inch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480 and a brightness of 350 cd/m2. The contrast ratio is 400:1 and it needs only a single USB 2.0 connection to your PC for power and graphics. The small monitor comes with a standard VESA 75 bracket on the rear that lets the user mount the screen to the wall, car mounts, and many more places. You can pick the screen up right now for $199.99.

O2 UK have announced the launch date for the Dell Streak , the 5-inch Android MID which made its official debut yesterday. According to an update to the O2 overview page, the Streak will land on June 4th 2010. The Streak has a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 3G HSPA, WiFi and Bluetooth, along with GPS and a 5-megapixel autofocus camera. There’s also a front-facing camera for video calls. Although it will run Android 1.6 at launch, Dell are planning to push out an Android 2.2 Froyo update later in 2010. O2 are yet to confirm pricing and tariffs for the Streak, but we’re guessing this might not be a free-on-contract device, sadly

Only at Lenovo could a designer say “we want as many crazy ideas as we can come up with” over a montage of near-identical black desktop computers, but you have to admire the company’s consistency. They’re previewingthe upcoming ThinkCentre M90z , a new all-in-one touchscreen machine. Based on consumer feedback, they’re in fact pushing out two mount versions of the M90z: one with a basic desktop stand, that adjusts for tilt but not height, and another with a more complex height/tilt adjustable stand. There’s also a physical webcam switch that covers the lens for those times you don’t want to be watched. No word on specifications or generally what sort of hardware might find its way into the M90z, nor when we can expect it to launch.

The NVIDIA GTX 470 and GTX 480 video cards are already fast by all accounts with very impressive performance. When you take those already fast video cards and then overclock them, you squeeze even more performance out of the cards. Zotac has announced what it claims to be the world’s fastest air-cooled GTX 400 series video cards. The cards are the GTX 470 AMP Edition and the GTX 480 AMP Edition. The cards use a new cooling system to deal with the extra heat generated by overclocking made from a pure copper base and heat pipes with aluminum fins. The GTX 480 AMP edition has a core clock of 756MHz, a processor clock of 1512MHz, and a memory clock of 3800MHz. The GTX 470 video card has a core clock of 656MHz, processor clock of 1312MHz, and a memory clock of 3402MHz.

If you are a big fan of the Nintendo Wii, you can attest to how quickly the batteries in your Wii remotes run down. When we first got the Wii in my house, it seemed like I had to replace batteries every few days. If you want to stop the battery replacing forever and look good doing it, the Konnet PowerV DUO has debuted. The PowerV DUO is just like the PowerV Quad that debuted a while back with the obvious difference being that the DUO only charges two remotes. The charger uses wireless induction technology and can charge the Wii Remote with the Motion Plus accessory and silicone jacket in place. That little tidbit is something that most wireless Wii chargers can’t do. The stand also has a pair of USB charging ports to provide power to DS consoles or other gadgets. The PowerV DUO ships with the charge base, two battery packs, and a USB charge cable for the DSi, Lite, and LL. You can pick the thing up for $34.99.

LaCie have outed their latest portable hard-drive, and as well as being protected from bumps and drops, it’s also secure in terms of unauthorised access. The LaCie Rugged Safe packs 500GB or 1TB of storage into a shock-proof enclosure, with a biometric fingerprint scanner on top that unlocks its 128-bit AES hardware encryption. Both USB and FireWire connectivity is supported, and the drive – and fingerprint scanner – are both bus-powered for ease of use. There’s also apparently no driver to install; plug in the Rugged Safe, swipe, and you’re good to go. That should hopefully make usage more straightforward on machines where you don’t have administrator rights. Up to ten different user profiles are supported, and LaCie bundle both FireWire and USB cables – and a two-port USB power cable – in the box. It’s available now, priced at $189.99 for the 500GB model and $299.99 for the 1TB.

Freescale are following up on their first batch of mobile device concepts with another idea for the table of the future, a multimedia and pro-audio focused slate. Targeted at college-age students “into art and music”, the unnamed tablet would have a number of modular docking stations into which it could snap for specialised connectivity. If you’re looking to consume multimedia, such as with an HDTV or a HiFi system of some sort, the “Home Bar” could offer HDMI, VGA, composite and component connections, along with ethernet and USB. Meanwhile, a “Pro Custom Audio Bar” might have XLR, MIDI and S/PDIF connectivity, for integrating the tablet with an existing synth, turntable or DJ system. Since the connections are in the dock, not the tablet itself, they could be left connected and the slate simply snapped into place whenever you want to use the audio functionality. Meanwhile a “simple” dock could be used merely to prop the tablet up in table-top or picture frame orientations.

Sony has been demonstrating a new, rollable OLED display this week, with the 4.1-inch panel running at 432 x 240 resolution and with over a 1,000:1 contrast ratio. Thanks to a highly flexible back-plane and no solid IC chips, the display can play back video while being furled around a 4mm radius peg. In fact the whole thing measures just 80μm thick, of which 20μm is the organic substrate. That has been printed onto the back-plane rather than produced with traditional methods, and Sony reckon it can be rolled and unrolled 1,000 times without any ill effects. Of course, this is all at the prototype stage, so don’t get your hopes up for a next-gen PSP with a pull-out flexible display anytime soon. Still, with 121ppi resolution, 16m colors and over 100cd/m2 brightness, this is an OLED display we’d happily invite into our lives.

Looks like HBO isn’t the only thing getting some premium services showcased on Sony’s PlayStation Network . Sure enough, while the rumors about a premium version of the long-coveted free PlayStation Network have been just that for quite some time, it looks like the rumors are starting to take a bit more of a solid turn. Sources all over the place are converging on one main thing: it exists, and Sony is going to announce it. When? Well, that one’s pretty obvious: E3. It’s just right around the corner, and it’s going to be when all of the major players in the video game industry make all of their big announcements. For Sony, along side some other important tid-bits, that falls right into the lap of a premium service offered up for their PlayStation Network. What’s going to be included? All sorts of things, but it looks like it may have been whittled down to: exclusive downloadable content (DLC), PSP Minis, “first hour” demo access, Sony Protection Plan services, PSOne Classic titles, and

This thing is ridiculous. We’re all for great concepts, and we’re even more excited about seeing crazy things that we can wear on our body. Like a watch. Or a fanny pack for the chest. But when it looks this shiny , and packs enough features to make anyone drool, we have to say we’re pretty skeptical. Or maybe we just don’t want to be let down. Meet the future of computing for Sony: the Nextep Computer . When we think about mobile computing right now, we picture all sorts of different netbooks, laptops, and eventablets at this point. And, while some watches out there offer up Bluetooth capabilities to show our text messages, we want something better. A lot better . And thanks to the crazy minds at Sony, it looks like 2020 is the target date to get us what we want. The Nextep Computer concept is completely designed to be worn on your wrist like a watch — so much so, in fact, that its OLED panels are of the touchscreen nature, but are completely flexible to shape around your wrist. It al

Google has announced that the stable versions of their Chrome browser for OS X and Linux are ready for public consumption. The browser – along with its Windows counterpart – has seen a big boost in speed, too, with Google quoting a 213-percent increase in Javascript speed using V8 benchmarking (or 305-percent in SunSpider). There’s also bookmark and browser preference sync across computers, new HTML5 capabilities and a refreshed bookmark manager. That HTML5 functionality includes support for the Geolocation APIs, App Cache, web sockets and file drag-and-drop. No Flash 10.1 baked in, as with the recent beta, but that’s apparently coming to the stable build soon. There are more details on the Mac release of Chrome here and of the Linux release here. Meanwhile you can download Chrome for Windows, Mac or Linux at google.com/chrome; if you’re already using the betas then the new version should automatically download.

Ooma would love for you to ditch your landline and go with their VoIP system, and to try to seal the deal they’re now allowing subscribers to use their cellphones and Bluetooth headsets with the Ooma system. The new Ooma Bluetooth Adapter slots into the Ooma Telo base-station and then you pair up to seven headsets or phones with it; when you get a call, every cellphone and headset rings, allowing you wireless freedom to take the call wherever you are in the house. If you’ve already picked up Ooma’s dedicated handset then you can transfer calls between it and your cellphone/headset. You’ll need an Ooma Premiere account in order to buy and use it; that requires the $249.99 Ooma Telo and then either $9.99 per month or $119.99 per year. We’ve a sneaking suspicion that this is just a regular compact USB Bluetooth dongle for which Ooma are charging $29.99, but without an Ooma system of our own it’s not something we can test out. Anyone out there using Ooma want to report back?

VIA are looking to dip into the tablet market, with around five different models – ranging in price from $100 to $150 – expected to arrive on the market all running Android. According to Richard Brown, the company’s VP of marketing, “the tablet market has been legitimated by Apple,” and yet he believes there’s still space for VIA-powered alternatives; “Android is bringing a lot of diversity to the market. There are different sizes and different looks and feels.” Hardware specifications and manufacturer identities for the VIA-based tablets are currently unknown; however, given the price bracket Brown has indicated, we’re not expecting them to legitimately go up against Apple’s iPad. Instead, we’d expect something more along the lines of Freescale’s recent tablet reference designs, which have resistive touchscreens and prioritise simple web access and multimedia playback. Brown claims the first of the tablets will arrive in the US in the second half of 2010, with street prices of $100

NVIDIA have announced their first Fermi-based GPU intended for notebooks, in the shape of the GeForce GTX 480M . Described as “DirectX 11 done right for notebooks”, the GTX 480M has a dedicated Tessellation engine that apparently boosts performance 5x over that of competing mobile GPUs, and three times more CUDA cores than the previous generation of chips. There’s also NVIDIA 3D Vision for 3D gaming, PhysX technology for improved physics modelling in games, and the company’s Verde drivers system. It’s also possible to combine a pair of the GTX 480M GPUs in SLI configuration. As for real-world results, NVIDIA say the GTX 480M will transcode video ten times faster than rivals. There are 352 CUDA cores, a 425MHz graphics clock and 850MHz processor clock, capable of 897 CUDA gigaflops, 76.8 GB/sec memory bandwidth and an 18.7 bn/sec texture fill rate. Clevo will be offering the first notebook to use the GPU, though they’re likely to be the first of many.

Lenovo’s IdeaPad Z Series have gone on sale a little earlier than planned, with the 15.6-inch Z560 showing up at the company’s online store. Set to ship in 13 days time, the IdeaPad Z560 kicks off from $739 and can be specified with a choice of Intel Core i3 or Core i5 processors. The entry level model gets a Core i3-350M 2.26GHz chip, 3GB of DDR3 memory, Intel HD graphics and a 320GB 5,400rpm HDD, together with a DVD burner and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. Stepping up just $10 more gets you a 500GB HDD, while you’ll need to find $899 for the first Core i5 machine. That has a Core i5-450M 2.40GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD, and there’s a $999 machine with the same specs but NVIDIA GeForce 310M 512MB discrete graphics. All four have a 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 LED-backlit display, 6-cell battery and one-year warranty. Interestingly, only the top-spec model is listed as coming with WiFi, which we’re guessing is a glitch in Lenovo’s store system.

NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 470 certainly fell into the shadow of its more-capable GTX 480 sibling, but are the two cards so similar that the company has decided to axe it altogether? That’s the rumor coming out of KitGuru, who have heard from sources in Taiwan that NVIDIA are no longer taking orders for the Fermi-based GTX 470. As for the reasoning behind the move – which is still unconfirmed by NVIDIA themselves – there are two main avenues of speculation. First, is that the company are using the GTX 470 production for the new GeForce GTX 465, a mid-range card based on the same GF100 GPU only with fewer enabled stream processors. Secondly, there’s talk of a new GeForce GTX 490, a dual-GPU 375W card. This new model could use a pair of the GTX 470 cores, it’s suggested, with the overall effect being a reduction in potential overcrowding in the $300 to $350 price bracket.

iBooks has gone live in the App Store outside of the US, but right now it’s a disappointing experience unless you’re looking to swot up on the classics. Where the US iBookstore is rammed full of bestsellers and other new titles, we’ve just installed the UK version and the store has nothing but out-of-copyright classics. That’s great if you’re looking for a free read, and it actually bests Amazon’s out-of-US Kindle offerings which, despite the classic ebooks themselves being free, still charges you for the international Whispernet delivery (even if you buy through your computer and transfer the titles via USB). Of course you can also load ebooks into iBooks via iTunes, but Apple will have to bolster their store if they want to see the kind of download stats they’re experiencing in the US. Still, things could well change by the time the iPad officially launches in the UK and elsewhere internationally at the end of this week, and new owners of the Apple table might find new content as

UK carrier Three has become the latest network to throw their hat into the iPad WiFi + 3G data plan ring, and at first glance they’ve put together the most tempting of the four offerings we’ve seen to-date. Two tariffs are on offer: £7.50 ($11) per month gets you 1GB, while £15 ($22) gets you 10GB of data. In comparison, Orange match Three’s 1GB for £7.50 but charge £25 for 10GB, while £15 will only get you 5GB on O2’s iPad plan. Vodafone are charging a whopping £25 for just 5GB, meanwhile. As with the other carriers, Three’s plans are contract-free and can be cancelled month to month; leave them untampered with and they’ll auto-renew. You can check coverage at Three’s site as well as register for a MicroSIM. The iPad WiFi + 3G will launch in the UK this Friday.

Graphic designers, musicians and IM-addicts already know how useful a secondary sub-display can be, and now iPad owners can find out the same. Air Display, fresh to the App Store, is Avatron’s $9.99 answer to extending your OS X screen across to your iPad via a WiFi connection , and we’ve just reviewed it over at Everything iPad. Setup is straightforward (though it currently only works with OS X, not Windows machines) and connecting is fast; Air Display also supports both portrait and landscape iPad screen orientations, though it’s not as instantaneous as with a native app. As you might expect, video playback is disappointing, though not unwatchable. Maybe the biggest issue is control; while the touchscreen is mapped to the OS X mouse, the usual iPad kinetic scroll and other gestures aren’t supported. For all the details check out the full review. Air Display is available in the iPad App Store now, priced at $9.99

I’m not sure why, but no matter how long I drive a car with keyless entry it seems like I always hit the wrong button on the remote. I end up locking the doors rather than unlocking and I had a car once where I popped the trunk all the time. A new design concept called the Pebble is a very simple device that you can’t hit the wrong button with. Rather than pressing a button, you simply slide the device to lock and unlock doors. The Pebble also has a trunk button for popping the trunk. The only downside I see is that the thing is rather large in its current form. It would be hard to fit it into my pocket along with my wallet, phone, and keys. The three little LEDs in the triangle shape light to show you if you are locking or unlocking the door.

When you are good looking and have the talent to flirt, no girl will ever say no to you. But when you have a beautiful daughter at hand, we are sure you will be saying big NO to give an eye to other girls…. Earlier Anil Kapoor was planned to feature in Anees Bazmee’s ‘Thank You’, where his daughter plays the lead heroine opposite Akshay Kumar. Anil was supposed to be playing Akki’s dosth who teaches him the tricks of flirting. However when he saw that his beti is part of the film, he gracefully rejected the offer. “It was a role I wouldn’t have been comfortable doing with Sonam in the picture,” remarked Anil to sources. Currently the star is busy working on his home production ‘Aisha’, starring Sonam Kapoor and Abhay Deol and produced by his younger daughter Rhea. The film is expected to release in August. Incidentally it is during the same time when Anil’s English series 24 will be aired in India. Said Anil, “We’re promoting 24 like any big film. You could say it’s Son

They look grand, carefree and enjoying shooting in different foreign locations… But only an actor will tell you the drawbacks of stardom. Ask for instance, John Abraham – he has to put on weight for one movie and tone down for another. What’s wrong in that?? Arre bhai he has to do this within short time span, of ten days! Our birdies explain the story thus… John is playing a tough narcotics officer in the Nishikant Kamath-directed remake of Tamil ‘Khaka Khaka’, and he needs to bulk up his body for that. So now he is seriously working to achieve a beefier body. But after shooting a month-long schedule, he starts filming for Dostana 2 around July 20, so thus he has hardly ten days to get into his Dostana look. Poor Johnny boy… The actor indeed seems to be having ‘tough’ time, giving a toss to his health factors.

Shah Rukh Khan’s close to heart project ‘Ra.One’ is gradually making progress in its shooting schedule. Now when its his most ambitious venture, it is obvious that the star takes the suggestion from his near and dear ones. Who else is more close to SRK than the filmmaker Karan Johar…? Well, it is heard that the actor had given the draft to KJo for his opinions. After going through it, Karan said to had suggested few changes in the script, which birdies reveal were carried out right away. Hmm did the director Anubhav Sinha have any problem with it? Nah not all! Being a sport the filmmaker gladly gave his nod for the changes, for a film like ‘Ra.One’ is really a great responsibility. Besides, sources close to the star believe that Karan’s sensibilities and his way of working and writing has really helped Shah Rukh in his projects. While SRK plays the superhero, Arjun Rampal does the villain role in ‘Ra.One’.

Remembering his mother Nargis Dutt on her birth anniversary, Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt popularly known as baba is missing her mom Nargis Dutt on her birthday today. The actor is missing her mom even 29 years after her death. Nargis died in 1981 after a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer. Today is her 81st birth anniversary. “It’s been 29 years now that my beloved mother left us. It’s her b’day today. As I remember her each time, everything comes to me in flashes,” Sanjay posted on the micro-blogging site Twitter. “Wishing my mom a lovely birthday. May god bless her soul. I know whereever she is, she must be happy. Love you ma.” Sanjay was more close to his mother then his father the late actor turned politician Sunil Dutt. Sanjay’s over indulgence in drugs widen the gap between the father and son. Nargis tried in vain but couldn’t get his son Sanjay out from addiction. Sanjay was so out of control and he himself said in an anti drug rally that when hi

Remember Amisha Patel, the cute Gujarati who also made her debut in Hrithik’s launch pad ‘Kaho Na Pyaar Hai’…… If still finding difficulty then director Vikram Bhatt’s ex-girlfriend… yeah now you got it, the actress will be romancing Ajay Devgn in Madhur Bhandarkar’s comedy ‘Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji’ produced by Kumar Mangat, the movie also stars Emraan Hashmi. Hottie Jiah Khan will also add her oomph as she is also said to be battling for Ajay with Amisha in the film. Well, going by the new avatar Ajay has donned for his forthcoming ‘Golmaal’ series, it looks many may go wild for the intense Bollywood actor. Watch this space for more………

Strange isn’t it? The Badshah of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan is remembering his old pals with whom he had gala time as friends. After expressing his desire to work with his favourite Juhi Chawla, King Khan in a unique manner decided to strengthen his friendship with the Shetty girl Shilpa who worked with him in ‘Bazigaar’ which was her debut. SRK who is known to make friends instantly became friends with the lovely dusky, though they didn’t appeared on screen after ‘Bazigaar’ but the dosti song was on from time to time. Recently, Shah Rukh Khan treated his entire team with Indian food and guess what....? he choose Shilpa and Raj Kundra’s restaurant which is specialized in serving Indian food in different parts of the world. When Shilpa got a call, she personally took care of the recipe and other details. Raj and Shilpa’s is well-known for special chicken curry prepared as per Indian taste. Shah Rukh and his team where happy relishing the specially prepared chicken dish un

The Mumbai High Court yesterday rejected two separate petitions, seeking stay on Prakash Jha’s ‘Raajneeti’. In one petition, a scriptwriter Yogendra Konkar alleged that the film was based on his own script titled ‘Rajniti: A political saga’. Yogendra’s lawyer said that his script was registered with the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPAA) in March 2009. Jha’s lawyer Ashish Kamat pointed that ‘Raajneeti’ script was registered in December 2008 and hence there is no way the script could have been plagiarized. Justice Kathawalla refused to stay the film, saying that the two scripts are different. In another petition, congress worker Naseem Khan has moved the high court for an interim stay after the sessions court rejected his applications last week. According to Khan, the character played by Katrina Kaif in the film was based on Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi and it defamed her. Ah... At last the road for a safe release of ‘Raajneeti’ one of the most awaited

Jahan Shahid Kapoor ho aur wahan dance na ho toh kya baat hui… The makers of ‘Mausam’ seem to have felt the same, which made them to include a dance number in the film recently. According to the latest update from ‘Mausam’ front, director Pankaj Kapoor said to have taken into consideration of Shahid’s dancing fans and agreed to include a peppy track where the actor will show his best foot steps. After a serious discussion between the producers, director and Shahid, it was decided that there would be a very unique song-and-dance in ‘Mausam’. Sources said that the track will be choreographed by Shahid’s khaas dosth Ahmed Khan. Initially, the director wanted to include an exclusive track which mainly based only on ragas backed with heavy melody. But later when Mausam’s music composer Pritam Chakraborty for experiment recorded a raga-based love melody in the voice of Rashid Khan, Pankaj got impressed after listening it and asked the composer to make it a full-fledged song.

Click here to read More about Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Also known as (AKA) / Was earlier titled Running With The Bulls Banner Excel Entertainment Status Under Production Color C Release Date May 2011 Language Hindi Genre Romance Shooting Locations (City & Country) India Greece Thailand Turkey United Kingdom Producer Ritesh Sidhwani Farhan Akhtar Director Zoya Akhtar Star Cast Hrithik Roshan Farhan Akhtar Abhay Deol Katrina Kaif Kalki Koechlin Ariadna Cabrol Cassettes and CD's on T-Series Lyricist Javed Akhtar Cinematography Carlos Catalan Costume Arjun Bhasin

Click Here to Read More about Don 2 Banner Excel Films Status Under Production Color C Release Date December 23, 2011 Language Hindi Genre Action / Thriller Producer Farhan Akhtar Ritesh Sidhwani Executive Producer / Co-Producer Miriam Joseph Director Farhan Akhtar Star Cast Shahrukh Khan...... Don Priyanka Chopra...... Roma Arjun Rampal...... Jasjit Lara Dutta Boman Irani...... Vardhaan Om Puri...... Mallik Lyricist Javed Akhtar Music Director Shankar Mahadevan Ehsaan Noorani Loy Mendonca Cinematography Jason West Art T P Abid

Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar's Excel Entertainment have announced their release line up for 2011. GAME, starring Abhishek Bachchan, Kangna Ranaut, Boman Irani, Jimmy Shergill, Gauhar Khan, Shahana Goswami and Sarah Jane Dias, is slated for a 21st January 2011 release; Zoya Akhtar's ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA, starring Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol and Kalki, is slated for an April-May 2011 release and DON 2, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani, Om Puri and Lara Dutta and directed by Farhan Akhtar, will release on 23rd December 2011.

For those who feel that the colour khaki is synonymous with the Mumbai Police will have to change their thoughts about the same, all thanks to the ace designer Manish Malhotra, who is now all set to redesign the uniform of Mumbai Police. Even though not many details are revealed at this stage, we are sure that the coming days will see Manish Malhotra's prestigious project in a much better light. All that Manish said was since lots of approvals have to be taken; it will take time for things to materialize. Meanwhile, Manish is extremely busy with the upcoming IIFA awards and is also preparing to make his directorial debut soon. The man just couldn't have asked for more! What say, Manish!

Playing a cop for the first time in his career in the Hindi remake of Kaakha Kaakha , John Abraham isn't taking any chances. He wants to get the spoken language, body language, personality and tone just right. For this, John has not only been re-structuring his metabolism and changing his food and exercise habits and watching as many cop films from Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry to Om Puri in Ardh Satya to Amitabh Bachchan in Zanjeer repeatedly, he has also been socializing with cops trying to understand how their minds and bodies move. Most importantly, John has been chatting with the Tamil superstar Suriya who played the lead in Kaakha Kaakha . By sheer coincidence John and Suriya are neighbours in Mumbai. Suriya's wife actress Jyothika owns a flat next to John's residence. And whenever Suriya is in Mumbai, he stays a stone's throw away from John. The two have been bonding big time with absolutely no feeling of ill will or rivalry about the fact that Jo

The situation isn't really as bad it seemed. Though there were speculations galore around the delay in release of Raftaar 24X7 , the fact is that Percept Pictures is pretty much focused on getting the film into theatres in quick time. Come September and this dramatic thriller with media as a central element would be hitting the screens. As per the production house, the film is ready with the exception of one song which would be shot this month. The film's release is planned after Once Upon A Time in Mumbai , another Emraan Hashmi starrer, which is all set for 30th July release. Till a few days back there was uncertainty around the arrival of the film. There were doubts if the film would see the light of the day since it was announced quite some time, completed in quick time but not quite followed by any concrete announcements around the release plans. However, as things stand today, Percept Pictures continues to be excited about the prospects of this Emraan Has

He is what one would call as a Perfect example of Simple Living. He maybe a south Indian by religion, but, deep down in his heart and art, he is a true blue Bollywood babu! We are indeed talking about today's birthday boy R. Madhavan. Having started off his carrier with the TV, he went onto do some of the most memorable films, both in Bollywood as well as down south. It is his 'boy-next-door' image that has made him the superstar of the southern film industry. In Hindi, one will always recall Maddy's films like Rehna Hai Terre Dil Mein , Rang De Basanti, Guru, 13 B ... to name a few! Friends, please join ApnaDesi as we wish this Boy-Wonder named R. Madhavan a very happy birthday, by posting your wishes below:

Guess what's bothering the film fraternity the most these days? Besides the tally of flops that keeps increasing week after week, there's another thing that's giving them sleepless nights - Facebook and Twitter. There's no denying that almost everyone in the film fraternity has started interacting with their fans on these two social networking websites, but a tiny section that's not on Facebook or Twitter are slowly learning about their impersonators interacting with their fans. Remember how somone impersonating Kajol had issued a statement during the release of MY NAME IS KHAN? The comment was highlighted on national television [SRK, Kajol and KJo were in Germany at that point of time]. However, Kajol's hubby Ajay quickly denied the statement attributed to Kajol, adding that Kajol wasn't on Twitter and therefore, someone impersonating her had falsely issued a statement. A few weeks ago, Katrina Kaif too denied that she was on Facebook and Tw

Don't get me wrong, for that's rumoured to be the title of David Dhawan's next film. David laughs aloud when I question him about it. " Nahin, nahin , we haven't finalized the title of the film yet," David says. The film in question will be produced by Sanjay Dutt and will boast of a massive star cast. Right now, Sanju and Ajay Devgn have been confirmed, while sources say that Amitabh Bachchan will also enact a significant part in this comedy. "We are still into scripting. Lots of names will feature in this project," David says. So what happens to PARTNER 2, the much-hyped sequel to PARTNER 2? "We have Salman's dates in 2011, so the project has been shifted to next year. I have decided to make Sanju's film first, while PARTNER 2 will follow next," he divulges.

"Ab toh aap hamare bahut kareeb aa gaye" said Vidya Balan. And what are you guys thinking that can turn out to be huh? Let's play. Two things - Either she is talking to the IIFA Awards trophy or it's me. You decide. Vidya Balan is on cloud nine. She is always smiling. God Bless her! But today, she is happy for more reasons than just one. Vidya recalls her happiness, "IIFA has been very special to me because my first film premiered at IIFA Amsterdam. My life changed overnight. By the time the film was over, my life had changed. Parineeta will always be special and close to my heart. Then I got my best debut nomination at IIFA Dubai the next year for the same film." Talk about her ongoing and flowing nominations for Paa , Balan gets excited. Vidya is the film's heart, and its revelation. She confers on her role a dignity that miraculously stops the movie collapsing into mere camp along with the living legend Amitabh Bachchan and beautifully s

Ranbir Kapoor is very picky about his screen mothers, and that's because he has very high standards at home to equal on screen. Hence he had said sometime ago, "My mom was and is a fabulous actress. But the person that I see on screen is not my mother. I see them as two different entities. I can't see my mom playing my mother." At the same time, Ranbir is extremely particular about who plays his mom on screen. In Raajneeti the choice was narrowed down even further since Prakash Jha wanted the actress playing Ranbir's mother to resemble him physically. After considering several unusual actresses for the part of his mother including Raveena Tandon (who thought she wasn't old enough to play Ranbir's mother) and Mrinal Kulkarni, director Jha zeroed in on a completely new 30-year old aspiring actress named Nikhila Tirkha. Totally new to acting, Nikhila was chosen for her facial resemblance to her screen-son Ranbir. Says Parkash Jha, "I wa

In this special three part feature, Joginder Tuteja would be taking readers through the 20 year journey of Ajay Devgn which actually has been a pretty stable affair instead of being a roller coaster ride. Part II explores two important facts - a) He has never been out of business and b) He is someone who has always believed in volumes . Comeback hero? Not quite! Anywhere in the world, whether it is Hindi film industry or Hollywood, a phrase which is typically used for actors is - 'He or she is making a comeback'. Fortunately for Ajay Devgn, this has never been a situation at all. As indicated by the fact study shared earlier, Ajay has never ever got into a situation where he has been so much down in dumps that he is required to make a comeback per se. He has never been out of sight. He has never touched the bottom of the barrel to find it difficult to pave his way up. He has never got into such a spot where filmmakers have shied away from working with him. He h

She is the latest 'import' to Bollywood from the foreign shores. She goes by the name of Barbara Mori, the very name that brought the whole of Bollywood to a standstill, not just with her stunning beauty, but also with her smooth and swift dancing skills in the recently released flick Kites . In the latest edition of GQ, Barbara bares her heart out and makes an immovable place in the readers' heart. She talks about the advantages of being a young mother, rumors of her so-called-affair with her Kites costar Hrithik Roshan, her son's reaction to the so-called- affair, her take on men, her take on intimate scenes, and she does answer if its really difficult to date as a single mom! She also speaks about her fight with the dreaded cancer and how she emerged a clear winner! She does answer a few rapid fire questions, something that has to be read in order to be believed! All in all, this edition of GQ is surely a Collector's Item! Three words... Go for i

Even before the film's release, Sajid Khan sounded extremely confident about his 'baby' Housefull , a film that he was sure, will live upto its title at the Box-Office! That it did... so much so that the film is still raking in the moolah for its makers. As the general trend these days, the DVD of the film is now all set to make its presence in the market. And it is for the DVD that brought again Sajid, Lara and Riteish under one roof, for them to record their comments etc, for bonus features. If Sajid's humor, Riteish's antiques and Lara's sexy voice is any reason, then, get ready for the DVD of Housefull , as the madness and fun now will continue at your home.

A lot has been said in the past about films and politics. However, it's not everyday that a film based on politics is made. This news is very real and very now, and the film is called Rakta Charitra (RC). Directed by Ram Gopal Varma, RC is said to depict the life of the slain political leader Paritala Ravindra, played by Vivek Oberoi. The film a tri-lingual, being made in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. It is rumoured to last for almost five hour duration and, hence, it has been split into two parts. ApnaDesi gives you a sneak peek at the first look with Vivek Oberoi looking simply dapper in his new political avatar. The two parts of the film are said to be releasing with a three month gap of each other, with the first currently under production, and is slated for release somewhere in August this year.

The legendary Amitabh Bachchan is indeed a prime property when it comes to brand endorsements. He has been the face of a myriad of products and brands over the years, with the latest endorsement being for the state of Gujarat. Bachchan, was not too long ago, appointed as the brand ambassador for the state. Speaking about his visit to Gujarat, on his blog, Bachchan says, "It was still dark as we steadily made our way through barren roads. The police pilot GP flashing its orange rotator light ahead and behind, more security - we are just a 'rann' away from the Pak territory!! Moon was out shining at 6 in the morning and the entire region looked surreal. There is something uncanny about nothingness. That is what one felt as one strutted about on the salt laden muddy terrain, the wind so harsh even the vanity van shook and quivered." The shoot which was carried out approximately 60 kms away for the Indo - Pak border, which thankfully went off without much