IBLOG SPACE

MobileCamp – an un-conference for mobile application developers and enthusiasts is coming to Chennai and Bangalore. The idea behind MobileCamp is to encourage Indian developers to network, share and ready themselves for global competition. It also gives developers a chance to showcase their applications and ideas during sessions. The barcamp-like event is meant for anyone connected to the mobile space. Sessions will be for a duration for 30 minutes and will be held in the order of registration. Registration for the event is free and can be done online. Chennai (Event Page) When : Sunday, 30th Jan 2011 Where : Computer Science Block, Indian Institute of Technology Chennai(IITC) Registration : At  http://chennai.mobilecamp.in/register/ till 12:00PM, 29 Jan 2011. Bangalore (Event Page) When : Sunday, 6/02/2011 Where : Indian Institute of Management Bangalore(IIMB) Registration: At  http://bangalore.mobilecamp.in/register/ till 12:00PM, 05 Feb 2011. If you are interested

We’ve been following the ‘churn’ from Mobile Number Portability pretty closely. BusinessLine has another article with some very interesting information about which way people have moved in Haryana. As I said in my last post on MNP, it isn’t necessary that the same trend may carry over to the rest of the country as some local factors could influence it, but the numbers are worth looking at. We had a little table(courtesy of Informate) which reflected the percentage of dropped calls that subscribers faced across various operators. It stated that Reliance and Loop faced the highest percentage of dropped calls. The latest article has actual operator specific numbers(As of January 16th) - ( Image Credit ) BSNL had 25,ooo people opt for other providers and a net loss of over 20,000 users. Reliance GSM and CDMA combined lost over 13,500 subscribers. Tata Telservices CDMA connections took a battering too, but its GSM operations – Tata DoCoMo gained close to 10,000 subscribers. Idea

InkFruit Raises $3 Million From SAIF Ventures  And the funding train continues. InkFruit – an online apparel retail that crowdsources designs has – according to VCCircle – raised up to $3 Million from early stage venture capital firm , SAIF ventures. SAIF ventures was also an early stage investor in MakeMyTrip and has around $4 billion of assets under management. According to the article around $2.2 million of the Series A funding will go into the expansion plans and the remaining will be used to buy out the angel stake in the firm. Seedfund’s Anand Lunia, Paula Mariwala and Mahesh Murthy are among angel investors who invested in their individual capacities in InkFruit.  The company has reportedly raised close to Rs 1 crore in equity from them. According to an unnamed backer quoted in the article, InkFruit does business upwards of Rs.3 Crore annually and is likely to expand its set of products to offer laptop bags and other accessories. The company is based in Mumbai. Wel

Nexus Venture Partners has just announced that the first Nexus Connect will be held in Mumbai on February 18th. The idea behind Nexus Connect is to give entrepreneurs an opportunity to interact with the team at Nexus Venture Partners. In December 2010, Nexus announced Nexus Seed – a program in which it is looking to invest between Rs.20 lakhs – 2 crores (i.e. $50k – $500k) each in upto 50 companies over the next 5 years. Entrepreneurs present at Nexus Connect will also have an opportunity to be funded under the program if they satisfy the necessary criteria. Some of their portfolio companies were in the news recently. DimDim was acquired by Salesforce and Komli Media just raised $15 million USD. And Altruist Technologies partnered with Reliance to bring Use Generated Ringtones to customers. Apart from these, the $320 million fund has a porftolio over 25 companies across a variety of sectors like technology, internet, media, consumer, business services and agribusiness. T

Eventful day in the telecom space. After Airtel’s 3G Announcement earlier today – and news of Tata DoCoMo expanding its 3G services to northern Karnataka, it is following that up with the launch of Sparsh. Sparsh is a service on ’sexual & reproductive health related issues’. Mr. Zubin Jimmy Dubash, VP, New Product Development – VAS, TATA DOCOMO, said ” Sparsh aims at creating awareness about sex education on the mobile. Majority of Indians are still conservative about openly discussing and clearing doubts about the topic. Keeping this insight in mind, we have introduced Sparsh, which offers the customer complete privacy in accessing this information through a simple IVR call.” I am extremely curious to find out where the idea came from, but on a serious note Tata DoCoMo says that the information is certified by FPAI (Family Planning Association of India) and the reasoning behind it is to battle ignorance and lack of information around the topic – ‘particularly amongst

Of all the sessions of Indian Parliament, the Budget session is probably the most keenly followed by the average Indian. In 2009, the Union Budget even made it to India’s Google Zeitgeist as the fastest rising search term. And given that most of us will be in office on the days of the actual budget, a huge number will follow it online. Well, Jivox, an interactive online video advertising company has announced that it has partnered with news portal IBNLive in a move to ensure that advertisers get ‘maximum exposure’ during the 2011 Union Budget. Naren Nachiappan, Managing Director, Jivox said “The Budget session is a much anticipated period of time for advertisers. In the upcoming session, we are very pleased to partner with IBNLive to provide our advertisers with highly engaging ad units embedded in inventory that has the widest possible reach in the country. In conjunction with the detailed analytics we provide, advertisers will be able to better optimize their campaign

Hoards of people are waiting for 3G – and a significant majority are waiting for affordable 3G(Telcos, please take note). But that’s not the point here. Only 2 private operators have rolled out 3G services as of now – and even that has had regulatory hiccups – for now though there is a status quo until the end of July. But there has been positive movement too in the last few weeks. Telecom service providers are busy chalking out deals with each other to ensure Pan India 3G availability on their respective networks. Recently Aircel too announced that it will be rolling out 3G services in the next 45-60 days. Airtel, which was supposed to have launched 3G services by the end of the year, but had to postpone it has now hinted that 3G could be on its way soon. Reported by ET , Bharti Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor told the Press Trust of India that the company would be making an announcement about the commercial launch of 3G in the ‘next six to seven days’. Airtel won spectrum in 13

Turns out Mueller didn't respond to a lawsuit claiming she stiffed a P.R. firm -- Rogers & Cowan -- to the tune of $20,142.91. There's a legal maxim -- you snooze, you lose.   Hope she slept well, because the judge entered a default judgment for the full amount. Attempts to reach Brooke were unsuccessful. source:tmz

Dr. Conrad Murray is ready for war ... but does he have a shot at redemption? Spencer Pratt raps about chicken wings ... how bad is it? The " Jersey Shore " kids are going to Italy ... should they even be allowed in the country? Ask away ... we'll answer whatever you throw at us! Submit your questions in the comments section of this post ... we'll answer 'em on TMZ Live at 1:30 PM PT. PLUS ... we'll take questions from TMZ viewers via Skype ... so EMAIL US your contact information (name, phone number, Skype ID, and the question you want to ask) and you could be on the show! AND DON'T FORGET ... tweet more questions to @harveylevintmz ... we'll read them live as well! Source:Tmz.com

Mark Salling from " Glee " drank his face off at Skybar in Hollywood last night -- but even though he was loopy ... he KNEW not to get behind the wheel. Salling was letting loose after a pretty hectic week at the office -- and dude celebrated his first day off in three weeks by partying with a bunch of friends ... who ALL insisted on keeping the streets safe by cabbing it home. Finally ... a celebrity making a SMART decision after midnight. Source:Tmz.com

" Big Time Rush " star Stephen Kramer Glickman was involved in a nasty car wreck Saturday night in Hollywood -- and get this, the comedian wasn't even driving ... he was eating dinner across the street. Glickman tells TMZ, he was just settling his bill when he looked out the window and noticed a giant white SUV had jumped the sidewalk ... plowing straight into his parked Mustang. Cops showed up to get to the bottom of it -- but according to Glickman, it turned into a complete snafu when an unrelated fight erupted across the street ... and the cops had to leave to break it up. We're told Glickman and the SUV's female driver eventually exchanged information and went their separate ways -- but when all was said and done ... the entire mess took nearly two hours to sort out. Source:TMZ.COM

An ex- Miss Teen Arkansas USA -- who was arrested last weekend for public intoxication -- is "mortified" about the situation ... and says she's "sorry if I brought any shame on my state." A rep for the Miss USA Organization tells TMZ, it was Megan Burgess ' resident assistant at her University of Arkansas dorm who called the cops on Megan for being a drunk nuisance -- and when police found her, she was sitting in the snow outside by herself. But the Miss USA Organization isn't holding any grudge -- telling us, Megan "is a sweet girl who exemplifies the values of a Miss Teen title holder and is mortified about this." The rep adds, "She even called over to us and said she was 'sorry if I brought any shame on my state.'" Source: TMZ.COM

The " Jersey Shore " road trip to Italy will only serve to make the locals look like "buffoons and bimbos" ... this according to a very pissed off Italian-American organization. TMZ spoke to a rep for UNICO -- a massive Italian American interest group -- who tells us they're furious with MTV's decision to shoot Season 4 in the old country ... saying, "People used to go to the circus to see the freak show – that is what this will be." The rep adds, "It will not only hurt Italians but all Americans … their outrageous, reprehensible behavior will make us look like buffoons and bimbos." As TMZ first reported, UNICO was the first group to call for a boycott of the show -- claiming it's a "denigration" of Italian Americans. source : TMZ

Tiger Woods has a sense of humor ... in fact, the golf legend just gave Dave Chappelle props on Twitter for the legendary racial draft sketch back in the day.

B-town perfectionist Aamir Khan production house AKP(Aamir Khan Productions) after pleasing the intelligent cine rasikas with Kiran Rao’s directorial debut ‘Dhobi Ghat’ now wants to grab the eyeballs of the English speaking audiences…. There are reports that the movie is in English and it’s a black comedy… The movie stars Aamir’s dear nephew and B-town’s prince charming Imran who recently got married with his love Avantika, along with Imran the movie also stars Kunal Roy Kapoor, Poorna Jagannathan, Vir Das and Shenaz Treasurywala. The movie was also in news for Aamir’s fallout with the director Abhinay Deo who is making his debut with this film. Recently Aamir hosted a special screening of Delhi Belly to get some reactions from viewers as it’s his normal practice but Abhinay was nowhere to be found. The film is slated for a July first release; let’s see how the audience reacts to this Aamir’s Black English experiment.

It was expected that opening of 'Dhobhi Ghat' would be around 50% mark and this is exactly how the box office behaved as well with overall collections around the weekend hovering around the 50% mark. It was also more or less assured that collections won't really show any massive jump as the days would progress and again this was actually the case with mixed reviews coupled with no major interest amongst the 'aam junta' [leaving aside the niche urban audience] resulting in film just about doing decent business. Resultantly, the film accumulated 9 crores over the weekend. It was an art film and if one compares it with any other art film ever made in Bollywood, this is pretty much the best business that any in it's genre has ever done in India. Also, there is major competition currently from the likes of 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' and later 'Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji'. Overall 'Dhobhi Ghar' should settle down around 20 crores ma

Deols haven't hit the dance floor as hard as they are doing today. It's time for a riotous 'bhangra' and some 'balle balle' with 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' doing superb business. The first week of this Samir Karnik film has been a huge 35 crores which is the best that Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol have seen after ages. Business of 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' so far is on the same lines as 'Wanted' which was a much bigger success in single screens when compared to multiplexes. The 'masala mix' feel of the film has been lapped up by the masses and despite the cold wave up North; the film is huge in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh amongst other states in and around. Of course Mumbai hasn't been as strong but no one would be complaining as overall the all-India results come with a huge thumbs-up sign. The best part about 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' is that it hasn't stayed on to be a one weekend wonder. The fil

This is your one stop shop for the latest happenings in the town. The buzz. The release plans. The launches. The works. Yes, this is serious business and we will bring to you the most reliable information twice a week. Have a dekko. The new theatrical promo of 'Patiala House' has done the trick. While the first promo had met with just a 'theek-thaak' response with the focal element being 'father-son' conflict, the new promo has more euphoric and celebratory mood to it, hence turning out to be more 'complete' and crowd friendly. Success of 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' has brought back Deols in the reckoning. Expect Sunny and Bobby to be designing more projects with the two of them together.  Govinda (leaving aside his special appearance in 'Raavan') will finally have a release to his name close to a year and a half after 'Do Knot Disturb' (2009). His long-in-the-making 'Run Bhola Run' is expected to hit

B-town attractive Katrina and Priyanka are under IT scanner, the Income Tax officials today sealed around a dozen lockers and seized incriminating documents after raids at the residences and offices of the two actresses in the western suburbs, including Priyanka's home in Versova, Andheri west. The raids stated around seven in the morning at 12 sites, Also raided were the homes of their secretaries, their respective office premises and other locations during the daylong operations. The raids continued till the whole day. Katrina was almost in tears as she complained that she is a British national and not a citizen of India. It’s said that Shahid Kapoor was present when the IT sleuths raided Priyanka’s house. Around a dozen lockers where seized during the raid, ace photographer Atul Kasbekar is also under IT scanner. The IT department was investigating whether the celebrity trio had paid taxes proportionate to the known income earned by them during the past year a

Folks, now it’s confirmed, as we said earlier B-town muscle man Salman will be romancing a hottie in his next untitled love story Now we tell you that the shooting of the said love saga will commence sometime in August and its again south fixation for the ‘Dabangg’ Khan and his family. The movie is a remake of Telugu hit ‘Parugu’ starring Allu Arjun, Sheela, Poonam Bajwa and Prakash Raj. It’s still not confirmed who will play the female lead but close hands claim that Sohail had bagged the remake rights of the telugu hit. So its family first for the Salman Khan who after this love story will concentrate on Boney Kapoor’s ‘No Entry Mein Entry’, Sajid Nadiadwala’s ‘Kick’ and then ‘Dabangg’ sequel. Watch this space for more……

Hmmmmm. B-town Khiladi Akshay Kumar who didn,t had a big ‘loot’ with his much hyped ‘TMK’ even after having his lucky charm Katrina, is said to be playing a wait and watch game. His forthcoming ‘Patiala House’ which is a father and son drama set in U.K. is hitting the theater next month, sources say that Akshay is closely watching the result of this film which is different from the genre Akshay has been doing for some time. Thank you” helmed by Anees Bazmee starring Bobby Deol, Sonam Kapoor, Suniel Shetty, Irfan Khan, Celina Jaitley & Rimi Sen along with Akshay was supposed to release in April 2011, now the news is, it won,t be there this April as Akshay is keen to know the feedback of ‘Patiala House’ where his wife Twinkle is also a producer. Akshay Kumar is in desperate need of a hit after his last years disappointments and Anees Bazmee latest ‘No Problem’ didn,t brought much smiles at B.O. “Thank you” has had its share of hurdles where Sonam Kapoor replaced Katri

The super talented actors Kajol, Tabu and Irrfan Khan and singer Usha Uthup have been named for the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour on the eve of Republic Day, today. Kajol started her career with Bekhudi and then went on to become one of the most loved actresses in Bollywood with films like Baazigar, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and so on. Tabu, on the other hand, has been known for creating a niche for herself with films like Chandni Bar, Astitva, Maqbool, The Namesake and Cheeni Kum . Irrfan Khan can undoubtedly be called as the international Indian face with films like The Namesake, A Mighty Heart, Slumdog Millionaire to his credit. Usha Uthup started as a famous pop singer in Bollywood in the 70s and became a rage for her unique heavy voice and singing style. Her songs like ' Ek Do Cha Cha Cha', 'Shaan Se', 'Hari Om Hari','Rambha Ho ' and ' Dum Maaro Dum ' are evergreen classics. Ve

The 83rd Academy Award nominations are out and A. R. Rahman has bagged two nominations this time. Rahman won two Oscars exactly two years back for Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire . When the 83rd Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday, the music maestro bagged two Oscar nominations again for a Danny Boyle film - 127 Hours . Rahman has been nominated in two categories this year - Best Original song for ' If I Rise ' from 127 Hours and Best Original Score for 127 Hours . Wish Rahman for the Oscars by posting your wishes in the comments section below. 

After the phenomenal success of Slumdog Millionaire , Director Danny Boyle has once again teamed up with Fox Searchlight Pictures, producer Christian Colson, writer Simon Beaufoy & music maestro AR Rahman for an action drama starring James Franco. The film, called 127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's (played by James Franco) remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers (Clemence Poesy), family, and the two hikers (Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara) he met before his accident. Over the next five days Ralston battles the elements and his own demons to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, descend a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he is finally rescued. Told with a dynamic narrative structure, 127 Hours is a visceral,

EXPECTATIONS One is pretty much aware of the fact that Dhobi Ghat is a song-less film with not even a theme track in it that comprises of any spoken words. Add to that the fact that it doesn't have any Indian composer at the helm of affairs and instead features international composer Gustavo Santaolalla means that Dhobi Ghat would indeed boast of an unusual soundtrack. This also means that while the film itself has been made for niche audience, the music would have an even lesser market hence raising doubts around its commercial viability and the very logic behind releasing it commercially. MUSIC Number of times one hears the statement that music of so and so film needs to be felt rather than heard. While in most of the cases a statement like this is made just to make any impression without any real meaning or intent behind it, there are exceptions when the makers actually manage to crack that. This is exactly the case in Dhobi Ghat where music is just an ac

EXPECTATIONS Nil. That's the expectation from the music of Hostel which is a dated film that comes with a dry subject (ragging) and doesn't quite promise a soundtrack that would make any impact whatsoever at the charts. Add to that zero star cast and promotion and one is looking at the bottom of the barrel here. In a film likes this, one does wonder though that what does composer and lyricist Virag Mishra have to offer here. MUSIC  ' Bandagi Ko Tu Bandagi ' is a track which belongs to the rock genre and carries the kind of sound and lyrics that one associates with a Ram Gopal Varma film. Sung by Virag Mishra himself, ' Bandagi Ko Tu Bandagi ' is a dark number which conveys the theme of the film that centres on the atrocities committed on the youth in the name of ragging. The 'remix version' is further pumped up and though this situational track could have seen some elevation if only promoted aggressively via a music video, a comple

EXPECTATIONS One doesn't quite know what to expect from the soundtrack of Angel . A film with an absolutely new cast is welcome but provided there is some awareness created around it. However when a film like Angel comes and announces it's plan for a sudden release without any promotional machinery backing it up, you are apprehensive about what really is in store. Add to that a music team which is relatively new as well (composer Amjad Nadeem and lyricist Shabbir Ahmed) and you are quite doubtful whether there would be something worthwhile in the offing. MUSIC The moment ' Phir Teri ' begins, it attracts a listener's attention courtesy it's soothing sound coupled with Sonu Nigam's voice which anyways is hard to hear these days. Written by Shabbir Ahmed, ' Phir Teri ' is a poetic number which is a pleasant surprise as it moves on smoothly with no distractions or unnecessary intrusions in its presentation. Though it is not a typical

Living out of suitcases may be fun for while. But it's taking its toll on Omi Vaidya's long-distance marriage. With his wife in the US and Omi shooting in Mumbai, the actor desperately keeps looking for time to spend with his wife. Apparently, there is now a conflict of interests between Omi and his wife with Omi leaning more and more towards relocating to Mumbai. It's not easy being in a long-distance marriage even if you're enjoying huge stardom in one corner of the world. US-born Indian actor Omi who discovered unexpected stardom in Bollywood with 3 Idiots is now on to his second, third and fourth films - Madhur Bhandarkar's Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji , Abbas-Mustan's Players and now Rohit Dhawan's Desi Boyz . Understandably he spends a lot of time in Mumbai now while his wife Minal continues to study and research in the US. Omi says it isn't an easy situation. "You need a lot of trust, love and confidence to keep a long-distance r

Hours after their wedding, Neelam and Sameer Soni were on top of the world. The experience of tying the knot was exhilarating for both the bride and the bridegroom. Says the blushing bride, "We didn't get any wedding cards printed…thank God! We had no time to get cards done. Initially we planned to invite only 35 people, that list finally went up to 200.We just SMSed all our close friends. Everyone who mattered to us was at the wedding." Neelam and Sameer's friends who attended the wedding included the entire Kapoor family Jeetendra, Shobha, Ekta and Tusshar Kapoor. Also present were Karisma Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Sanjay Suri, Sophie Chodry and Rahul Roy. The turn-out was a 100 percent in spite of no formal invitation. Says Neelam, "The whole process of getting the cards printed then addressing them and couriering them is so cumbersome. We spared that." Feeling married to Sameer is no different for Neelam than what they shared before. &qu