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The Kannada Film Producers' Association (KFPA) banned Nikitha from acting in Kannada movies for three years for "creating disharmony in the family of actor Darshan", who was arrested last week for allegedly assaulting his wife. Nikitha, a popular actress in Kannada, was part of Tamil films like 'Vetrivel Sakthivel' and 'Saroja'. Her other movie 'Muran', in which she has shared the screen space with Cheran and Prasanna, is set to hit the screens next week. The KFPA, after an emergency meeting in Bengaluru on Sunday, imposed the ban on Nikitha. Association president Munirathna announced the decision to other members, which, it is said, was accepted unanimously. "We felt that Nikitha was responsible for creating a big storm in Darshan's family life.  A stringent initiative is needed against her. Hence we have decided that none of the producers should sign her up for three years," KFPA office-bearer Rockline Venkatesh was quoted saying.

The first Telugu film 'Bhakta Prahlada' directed and produced by HM Reddy on the banner of Krishna Films was released on September 15 in 1931. The role of Hiranya Kashyap was played by Munipalli Subbayya, while Surabhi Kamalabai played his wife Leelavathi, and Krishna Rao essayed the role of Prahlada. L.V. Prasad played the role of Moddabbai in this movie. The Telugu film industry, in order to commemorate the 80th year with grand celebrations at Ramanaidu's Kalyanamandapam in Film Nagar. The Telugu film industry had decided to hoist Tollywood flags on every studio. It was also decided to organise celebration in a grand manner every year from this year.

The forthcoming movie of Allari Naresh, 'Madatha Kaaja' completed the shooting formalities recently and had gone to the labs for the post-production works. Sneha Ullal is pairing up with Allari Naresh in the female lead and the film is being directed by Dantulri Sitaramaraju, KL Damodar Prasad is presenting the flick and Vedaraju Timber is producing it on the banner of Timbu Productions. Sri Vasant scored music for the movie and the makers of the film are planning to launch the audio on September 14. Efforts are being made to release the film in October. It is learnt that the film was made keeping in view Allari Naresh's image as a comedy hero and brought out the film as an out and out entertainer. However, the director says, Naresh's characterisation would be novel and different from his earlier films.

Legendary director EVV Satyanarayana enthralled the Telugu audiences with his comedy films on the banner of 'EVV Cinema'. He had introduced both his sons to the Tollywood as heroes. Though his second son Naresh, who debuted with 'Allari' and has become popular as 'Allari Naresh' got a good break in films and got the reputation that he is a minimum guarantee hero and a producers' hero. He is doing at least four films every year and most of his films are average grosser. However, his elder son Aryan Rajesh failed to make a mark in the film industry. He doesn't have any hits to his credit. Now, Aryan Rajesh is planning to turn a producer and make films on the banner of 'EVV Films'. As per the sources from Film Nagar, Aryan is planning to remake EVV's all-time hit like 'Appula Appa Rao', 'Aa Okkati Adakku' and others on the new banner.

It is not unusual to see stories dealing with love and revenge.  Renigunta by director Panner Selvam will hit the screens in Andhra Pradesh, following the successful run it has had in Tamil Nadu, where it collected Rs. 11 crores.  The film has been made on a shoestring budget, but it went on to make the cash rigisters ring-a-ring. Suresh Kondeti is releasing the film in Telugu.  He says that just as films like Basha, Arunachalam, Shivaji and Kanchana, which had the same title in Tamil as well, became BO hits, Renigunta too will become a hit. The film is the story of a youth whose life takes a tragic twist when his parents are murdered one day.  Ordeals only multiply when he is charged with a murder conspiracy by the police and jailed owing to the plot of the villains who frame him in the murder case. In the jail, the lone youth (hero) and four other criminals develop a bond.  Soon the latter resolve to help him avenge the murder of his parents.  They find themselves wnating to

The devotees of Shirdi Sai Baba have a gift in the form of the film Guruvaram.  The movie stars late Rami Reddy in the role of the Baba, while Suman plays Sri Hara Shastri in the film.  Sri Hara Shastri, says the legend, was well-versed in all the Shastras. Vigna Vinayak has written and directed the movie, besides lending the music and producing it.  Babu Mohan, Annapurna, Ramoji, KVL, JV Ramanamurthy, Gemini and others form the rest of the star cast. Saying that Suman's performance will stand out in the film, the director said that the music has already got unqualified listener appreciation. The film will release in November as a "gift to Sai devotees."

Nandamuri Balakrishna dabbled with the Telugu Desam Party and campaigned for it in the 2009 Assembly elections.  However, he kept  aloof from directly entering the electoral fray himself.  Nevertheless, his political arangetram has been a foregone conclusion and imminent.  Finally, Balayya announced that he will contest the polls in the Assembly elections 2014. The son of NT Rama Rao will contest on a TDP ticket, the party founded by his father.  He made this announcement in Anantapur on the sidelines of the star-cricket match held at a stadium here. The actor never indicated in the past that he will bid farewell to films.  Actually, he said as much that he would like to straddle both films and politics.  Balayya's contemporary, Megastar Chiranjeevi, entered politics in August 2008 by launching a political party.  The Nandamuri scion, expectedly, came into the TDP fold.  N Chandrababu Naidu, the party's leader, and Balakrishna share good relations. It is to be seen wha

Megastar Chiranjeevi is all smiles these days.  There is much happening in his life on both personal and professional fronts.  While on the personal front, he is happy that his daughter is back in his household after her marriage with Sirish Bharadaj (who Chiru described as "the wrong person" in an interview to a daily), he is gearing up to act in his 150th film. The film will be based on the legend of Ullayawada Narasimha Reddy, a freedom fighter who hailed from the Kurnool district.  The film is in its nascent stages but it is guessed that Parachuri Brothers are drafted to write the script. The actor exudes confidence that he will achieve stardom in politics as well, just as he bounced back after his first film flopped. Coming back to his 150th film, he may well begin working for the movie any day.  The actor has lost 10 kilos in the recent days.

Throwing its weight behind the cause of statehood to Telangana, the Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce decided to go on a 2-day bandh from September 14-15.  As part of this, the over 450 theatres in the Telangana region will be shut. Vijayender Reddy, the President of the aforementioned group, made this announcement on Sunday.  He even said that the bandh may be extended beyond the scheduled 2-day period if the Joint Action Committee on Telangana asks them to do. However, it seems unlikely because three films based on the T struggle are scheduled for release in the second half of this month.  Poru Telangana, Jai Telangana and Inkennallu will hit the screens. The first two films will release on September 16.  Given that TRS President KCR himself hailed Poru Telangana as a film that purely deals with the struggle, it is unlikely that its release will be hampered for even a single day.

The following are the two days developments in the life of challenging star Darshan after he was arrested and posted to judicial custody. Here is complete development of the two days. Actress Nikitha of South India is most upset with Kannada Film Producers Association decision to ban her for three years from Kannada films. �The super star of Kannada cinema was brought to Parappana Agrahara prison on late Friday night. He fell unconscious. He was taken to Nimhans and Victoria Hospital. He was brought to Rajiv Gandhi Hospital for jaundice and weakness problem. �Darshan staying in Rajiv Gandhi Hospital will be brought to the Magistrate Court on Monday morning for hearing on the bail application. Whether he is going to get the bail or not is curious issue for Kannada cinema industry. �Rs.40 crores worth films at production stage will be in doldrums if Darshan does not get bail. Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna, Viraat, Chingari and Bul Bul are his films on floors. �Darshan wife Vija

Katrina Kaif has bagged another item number and this time it is in Hrithik Roshan starrer Agneepath. After making the nation go crazy with 'Sheila Ki Jawaani' and recently grooving to the title track Bodyguard, news is that she will be seen doing an item number yet again; this time with Sanjay Dutt, who plays the bad man Kancha Cheena in Agneepath . This will be the first time Katrina and Sanjay will be sharing screen space. Katrina is a fantastic dancer and Dutt being a non-dancer has decided to take two weeks off to rehearse his steps. He will also shave his head off for the third time for Agneepath. The song is composed by National Award winning music directors Ajay and Atul Gogavale, who had composed the music of Singham. The item number is going to be really sizzling. Reportedly, it is going to be on the lines of another Amitabh Bachchan chartbuster 'Jhuma Chooma De Dein' from Mukul Anand's Hum. Now this is one song we are eagerly awaiting for.

Putting all rumours to rest, it has now been confirmed by Salman himself that after  Ek Tha Tiger , the only new films that he would be doing are  Dabangg 2, Sher Khan  and  Kick . While the first two are home productions and would be made by brothers Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan, Kick  would be with Sajid Nadiadwala who is a close friend. "With so much happening in quick succession, it is bound to keep him overtly occupied. Also don't forget that at least two out of these four films would require extensive travel. While  Ek Tha Tiger  is being shot across four-five countries in different parts of the world,  Kick  would be shot entirely in South Korea. Where is the time for him to accommodate any other film in the interim", a close associate questions. Salman has denied picking up other new film in the interim since his plate is already full for next two years at the least with commitments made to aforementioned filmmakers. This pretty much makes one wonder when he would

Bhojpuri star Ravi Kishan is at once regretful and thankful that he wasn't home when his domestic help Ruby jumped out of his bathroom window on Friday evening. "It was a trauma beyond description for my wife. I was in Patna when I was informed about the ghastly incident. My wife was completely shaken. She's a very simple god-fearing woman who has never harmed a soul. For her sake, I wished I was home by her side when it (the maid's suicide) happened. But then for my own sake, I'm glad I was away when it happened. There would've been all sorts of suggestions," sighed Ravi when he landed in Mumbai on Saturday morning. The night before was sheer torture. "I'd have flown back the minute I heard about it to be with my wife and two daughters. But there was no flight from Patna to Mumbai in the night. Believe me, this was the most traumatic night of my life. I couldn't sleep a wink. Something like this happening in my home…we can never be the

3M and Pixel Qi Corp have announced that 3M is investing money into Pixel Qi. Exactly how large of an investment 3M made is not known at this time. The hope is that with 3M’s display prowess and name the investment will accelerate the growth and development of the cool Pixel Qi screens that are very easy to read in direct sunlight and indoors. Pixel Qi screens are also already in use around the world in products like the OLPC notebook and more. The funding was led by 3M New Ventures and will help Pixel Qi to develop product offerings into volume consumer markets. Those markets will include digital signage and touch applications. Pixel Qi also notes that the 3M investment wraps up its second investment round. The money raised will be used for multiple things including strengthening the sales and engineering capability at Pixel Qi. The company was showing off a new 10.1-inch sunlight readable screen back in May that looked very promising. “Pixel Qi’s full-function color screen technology

When the Parrot AR.Drone landed a last year, it was a toy that many of us wanted really badly. We put up ourreview of the AR.Drone from Parrot last December and liked the toy pretty well. I am surprised that it has taken so long for us to see hacks that use the AR.Drone for things that are potentially nefarious. Hackers have created an AR.Drone that can hack into wireless networks while flying. The creators of the hacked flying toy dubbed it SkyNET. This SkyNET won’t hunt you down and kill you though, it will just hack your wireless network. The goal of the hacked flying toy is to compromise wireless networks to infect the machines on the network with Malware and bring them online as part of the spamming scourge botnets out there. The idea here is that the hacker could fly the AR.Drone around a neighborhood and find computers that are susceptible to the hack. By not using a computer and flying around infecting computers, it would presumably make the hacker harder to find. Of course, th

This is so cool. A dude going by akumpf has posted up the instructions on making a physical Mario game that has the side scrolling action we are used to in Mario with a twist. It sort of reminds me of a combination of Mario Bros. and Frogger. The game uses a cardboard box, paper, servos, and some magnets along with Teagueduinoto control the works. Once built the little paper Mario is controlled by a straw that sticks out the front of the box. It appears that the box opens automatically and you get to scroll along dodging the Goombas and other things you don’t want to run into with your Mario character. The scrolling gets faster the longer you make it. If your Mario crosses one of the obstacles in the paper game, you die, and the game resets. The resetting also appears to shut the box lid automatically. You can see the play action in the video below. If you want to make your own version the full parts list, instructions, and software are offered on Teagueduino.

AT&T has confirmed that its current line-up of Windows Phone 7 handsets will all get upgrades to 7.5 Mango sometime this fall, bringing the range in line with the three new models announced this morning. The HTC HD7S and HTC Surround, the LG Quantum and the Samsung Focus are all in line for an update, with AT&T promising to be “among the first carriers to start” the process. Meanwhile, AT&T also claims to sell more Windows Phone devices than any other US carrier. Exactly how many devices that adds up to isn’t made clear, and with official sales stats from Microsoft still absent we remain in the dark as to exactly how much of an impact Windows Phone 7 has made on the market. WP7.5 Mango should help change that, however; as our technical preview showed, it’s a considerable improvement over the original iteration. “Our customers love Windows Phones which is why we’ve sold more of them than anyone else” SVP of devices at AT&T Jeff Bradley boasts. The three new models – the

AT&T has announced a trio of new 4G Windows Phone 7 Mango handsets, the Samsung Focus S, HTC Titanand Samsung Focus Flash. Each packing HSPA+ connectivity, the Focus S and Focus Flash both get a 1.4GHz processor while the Titan – which we played with earlier this month - has a 1.5GHz chip. Meanwhile, there’s an 8-megapixel camera on both the Titan and the Focus S, while the Focus Flash makes do with 5-megapixels. Each Samsung also uses AMOLED display technology, with the Focus S getting a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus panel and the Focus Flash having a 3.7-inch Super AMOLED panel. The Titan has a 4.7-inch LCD TFT screen. Samsung has given both of its new Windows Phones a front-facing camera, just like HTC has with the Titan: 1.3-megapixels on the Focus S, though unspecified resolution on the Focus Flash. Full specifications are in short supply, though we do know the Focus S is 8.55mm thick, and pricing is similarly unknown. Unfortunately neither AT&T nor Samsung have any images of

Watersports are a lots of fun no matter how much money you have. If you are loaded, you can have fun on the lakes or oceans in a completely different category from us normal folks though. Take for instance this new green jetski that looks awesome and is very environmentally friendly. The cool water toy is made by Exo-concept and is called the EXO. The craft is being shown off at the Cannes Boat Show 2011 and will come in two models. Both of the models use electric engines and batteries to scoot the watercraft around the lakes. The difference between versions are the battery capacity and the material the toy is made from. The high-end version of the EXO is made from carbon fiber and has a more powerful 7kWh battery inside. The cheaper version is made from reinforced ABS material. It can be had with engines in the 3.5 to 7 kWh range. Both of the versions of the watercraft will be available starting in 2012. Pricing is unknown, but you can bet this will not be cheap considering where it i

Totalmovie is a movie streaming service in Mexico that has been around for a while. The service provides on-demand films streamed to the TV of watchers within Mexico. The company has announced a new demo of a service expansion that shows off a new ability to stream films from the service to web connected Blu-ray and PS3 game consoles. The new service is built on the WatchWith Service Delivery Platform. The platform allows the streaming of full-length movies to the TV using a disc. When Netflix first launched on some systems it required a disc to work as well. The service will allow the user to buy or rent the video and it supports something called Engagement VOD. That allows the use of scene-level metadata from thousands of movies to show other content and target advertisements to watchers using a Related Content Database. Presumably, that would mean ads for products or similar products that are in the scene. Totalmovie was the first over-the-top video service in Latin America and it w

NVIDIA is looking ahead to 2013 even though 2012 isn’t here yet and a leaked roadmap shows what the company has planned for the future with its Tegra chipsets. The leaked roadmap slide shows that NVIDIA is looking at putting its chips inside Windows Phone smartphones. It’s interesting that 2013 is the year that NVIDIA pegs for supporting that platform. The reason supporting the platform is interesting is that Samsung has been rumored to be dropping the Windows Phone operating system. I think NVIDIA is probably looking at the support Nokia has planned for Windows Phone and moving ahead. Perhaps by offering support by 2013 rather than sooner it can figure out if Windows Phone will do well and grow in popularity with Nokia making bunches of devices. The roadmap shows Windows Phone handsets using the Tegra and Icera combination chipset dubbed Grey. WPcentral reports that the Grey chipset is rumored to be a 28mm manufacturing process chip that is as powerful as the Qualcomm chips on the mar

Ousted Yahoo! chief exec Carol Bartz has stepped down from the company board, taking what’s believed to be a $14m severance package with her. Bartz had originally intended to remain on the board, but was seemingly persuaded to do otherwise, The Guardian reports, with the compensation amount calculated by the WSJ’s Amir Efrati. The decision follows Bartz’s expletive-packed roasting of Yahoo! management, in which she accused chairman Roy Bostock of cowardice in hiding behind a lawyer’s prepared statement. “Why don’t you have the balls to tell me yourself” the ejected exec apparently asked Bostock, before going on to say that the board had “f*#ked me over.” She also claimed to be the best person to guide Yahoo! through its tumultuous times, suggesting that it had been board members’ concerns over appearing weak that led to them axing her before her regrowth strategy had a chance to succeed. No matter which strategy Yahoo! now takes, however, if it’s successful then Bartz actually stands t

Plastic Logic has announced its new ereader, the Plastic Logic 100, a 10.7-inch electronic textbook targeted at education applications. Using the same plastic-based epaper technology as originally intended for the cancelled QUE ereader, the Plastic Logic 100 measures a mere 7.65mm thick and weighs 475g, and has a capacitive touch-controlled 1280 x 960 display and a battery life of a week. Eldar Murtazin was on hand at the launch and shot the live image above, reporting back positively about the new school slate. Plastic Logic’s flexible display tech certainly lends itself to classrooms: it’s shatterproof, anti-glare and anti-fingerprint, while the casing is finished in soft-touch plastic. Inside is an 800MHz processor running Windows CE, along with 4GB of storage, though the UI is a custom, swipe-controlled GUI. Connectivity doesn’t include wireless, but does get microUSB. Underlining and annotation – using an on-screen keyboard – is supported, together with bookmarks and search, and P

EXPECTATIONS Expectations are always good from a soundtrack that bears Himesh Reshammiya stamp, especially when it has him playing the triple role of actor, composer and singer.  Aap Kaa Surroor  and  Karzzzz  boasted of hit music,  Radio  was pleasant to ears while  Kajraare  could well have been a chartbuster album had it been promoted and released well. Nevertheless with Himesh striking back after a hiatus with a film like  Damadamm  that promises to be more in line with quintessential light hearted entertainers, there are good hopes of something interesting in the offering. Expectedly, Sameer writes. MUSIC Sound of 'Damadam Mast Kalandar' has been popular for ages and hence it is impossible to believe that there would be anyone who wouldn't have heard of it right. The same sound is presented all over in the title song ' Damadamm ' here, albeit in a slightly different avatar, with an added pace to it. Also, except for the basic sound of ' Damadamm ', r

' Bodyguard  has netted over Rs.100 crores in an extended 9 day long week' - Yeah, true! 'It is Salman Khan's third straight film to achieve this milestone' - Exactly, isn't that wonderful? 'It is a barely average movie and has done well 'mainly' due to Salman's charisma' - Errrr, really? 'This is pretty much on the lines of 'no brainer' cinema by Rajinikanth and Salman is getting into the same mould' - Okay, so hold on to that! First two reactions from industry, trade as well as the 'aam junta' are facts. Second reaction is coming mainly from the 'web frequenting' segment, which by the way isn't Salman's target audience. Third reaction is where one needs to pause for a moment before jumping on any conclusion. Reason? There is a lot to discuss and debate before state something as blatant as that. And it is with this week's 'Reflections' where we kick-start this debate! Is credit being refus

Could you guess who the cute little girl in a pink dress in this picture is? Well, it's none other than the very hot and sizzling Bipasha Basu. Bipasha looks extremely cute and adorable in a dark pink T-shirt and baby pink tunic. She is also seen sporting a fringe. Sharing this picture on her twitter page, Bipasha tweeted "This was me!Reallllllyyyy a naughty kid!Ppl called me 'Lady Gunda'!" In her childhood days, Bipasha Basu did not like boys and was a terror to them. She used to carry a stick when roaming in her colony, and if any boy misbehaved, she would teach him a lesson. Hence, the boys had nicknamed her 'Lady Gunda'. this above picture was modded with Photoshop for clearer view here is the original pic she posted

Any film aficionado who has grown up on the movies of 80s and the 90s would remember Bob Christo. No, he never ever played the main villain, not in a big mainstream film at the least. However, if requirement was to find a 'gora' baddie who was one of the most reliable henchman/right hand accomplice of the main villain, Bob was the man for all seasons. No wonder, when his biographical 'Flashback' hits the stands, albeit posthumously, you are curious to check out how - in his own words - his 'life and times in Bollywood and beyond' turns out to be. Unfortunately, though the biggest undoing of 'Flashback' is the fact that it is more about Bob's life and times, which is outside rather than inside Bollywood. Frankly, and meaning no offence to his departed soul, hardly anyone can be expected to be curious about the real life story of a man who happened to be character artist on the big screen. Now if at all Bob's story would have been more about Bolly

Four members of India's World Cup-winning squad have been named in the ICC's ODI team of the year. India's captain MS Dhoni was named captain and became the only player to have made it for the fourth successive year. Yuvraj Singh, player of the tournament in the World Cup, Zaheer Khan, its leading wicket-taker, and Virender Sehwag are also in the team. The ICC also picked three Sri Lankans in the XI, including the World Cup's highest run-scorer Tillakaratne Dilshan, former captain Kumar Sangakkara and fast bowler Lasith Malinga (12th man). The others in the line-up were South Africa's new ODI captain AB de Villiers, fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Umar Gul, Australia's allrounder Shane Watson and England spinner Graeme Swann. The notable absentees included South African opener Hashim Amla and Indian opener Gautam Gambhir, both of whom were among the four nominees for ICC's ODI player of the year. The team was selected based on performances between August 11, 20

There will be no DRS for Pakistan's Test series against Sri Lanka and England in the UAE, though the system will be in place for the one-day matches. The PCB has not been able to reach an agreement with its broadcaster, Ten Sports, to fund the technology required for the DRS for the Test matches, its chief operating officer Subhan Ahmad said. "We in principle support the use of the DRS and want it for both Tests and ODIs but unfortunately we couldn't reach an understanding with our broadcasters for the Tests," Ahmad told  PTI . "We have however reached an understanding with a company to bear the costs for the use of the DRS technology in the one-day matches in both series." In its annual conference in June, the ICC had agreed to make the DRS mandatory for all Tests and ODIs, subject to commercial considerations. The DRS it mandated included Hot Spot but not necessarily ball-tracking technology. Since the PCB had contracted its broadcaster before the DRS had

Stuart Broad has revealed there is "bad news" about the extent of the injury he picked up in against India, at Lord's, on Sunday although exact details were still to be confirmed. "Bad news on the shoulder, torn a muscle," Broad posted on Twitter. He was unable to complete his final over during the one-day international and it appears likely England will need to find a new captain for the Twenty20 matches against West Indies. Broad was dosed up on painkillers and ready to bat at No.11 if needed during England's chase which was ended seven balls early by rain. With Morgan, England's Twenty20 vice-captain, sidelined due to a shoulder injury there is no obvious replacement for Broad as captain. One option would be to give Cook the job but he refused to think too far ahead, saying, "We'll cross all those bridges when they arrive." The fact that the one-day series is now safe for England takes pressure off the final match and reduces the impact

This is still developing, but what we know now is that an explosion has happened at a French nuclear plant. The explosion killed one person and injured three others. The explosion happened in a storage site for radioactive waste according to a French paper called Le Figaro reports BBC News. The plant is apparently not for producing power and is involved in the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. The plant reportedly makes MOX fuel that is used in recycling plutonium from nuclear weapons and the plant has no nuclear reactors. So far, there have been no leak reports according to the French atomic energy commission. A security perimeter has been set up because there is a risk of a radiation leak. The afflicted facility is located near the French Mediterranean coast in the Gard department, which is in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. That is all the details we know right now, the story will be developing so we will keep an eye out for updates.

NASA launched a couple new spacecraft over the weekend to that are headed to the moon to do some exploring. The GRAIL spacecraft were built by Lockheed Martin and launched on Saturday from Cape Canaveral aboard a Delta II heavy rocket provided by the United Launch Alliance. The two robotic spacecraft will be used to map the gravitational field of the moon in unprecedented detail. The data will then be used to determine the lunar interior from crust to core to help scientists understand the evolution of the moon. The two GRAIL spacecraft are almost identical and signals from both spacecraft were received by mission operators shortly after they separated from the rocket. Both craft successfully deployed their solar arrays for power. The craft will arrive at the moon a day apart even though they launched on the same day. GRAIL-A will arrive on December 31, 2011 with GRAIL-B arriving January 1, 2012. The spacecraft will orbit 34 miles above the moon’s surface and the science phase will las

Audi has unveiled an interesting and very sleek new concept car called the Audi Urban Concept. This car is intended to show what the future of small and very fuel-efficient cars for city dwellers might look like. The car is dubbed a 1+1 by Audi and is made to be as lightweight as possible. The lighter a car is, the more performance it offers with less power and the longer the driving distance is since the car runs on batteries. The car was shown off at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt. It has the look of small racecar and the car was presented in a Sportback model and a Spyder variant. The car isn’t based on any current production model and was designed to show what a lightweight and sporty city car could be in the future. The wheels are not inside the bodywork and are instead out in the open with fenders covering the tires in a fashion that reminds me of an F1 car. The car has an interesting a slightly odd seating arrangement. I mentioned this car back in August, but Audi has

NEC has announced an interesting new tablet that runs Windows 7 Home Premium and has hit the Japanese market today. The tablet is interesting because it also comes with three accessories that will make working with the tablet much easier for both the business and home users. The tablet is called the LaVie Touch and the three accessories that the tablet comes with are things that most people will be seeking for their tablet after buying one in short order anyway. The accessories include a Multistaiton, a wireless mouse, and a wireless keyboard. The Multistation is an interesting little device that has a slot in it to hold the tablet in landscape mode. The main use for the device isn’t that slot though, it’s that it has an optical drive inside. The thing that isn’t clear is how exactly the optical drive connects to the tablet. The wireless mouse and keyboard are your typical peripherals. The hardware inside the tablet includes a 10.1-inch IPS LCD with a resolution of 1280 x 800. The proc

HTC is internally discussing the potential purchase of a mobile OS, though the company is at pains to point out that no decision on its software plans has been taken. “We have given it thought and we have discussed it internally” HTC chair Cher Wang said in an interview recently, Focus Taiwan reports, “but we will not do it on impulse.” The company has previously been tipped as a potential suitor for webOS, though so far HP has insisted it has no intention to sell the platform. According to Wang, HTC is better placed to integrate an acquired OS into its product range because of whatHTC Sense brings to the table. Originally a simple UI reskin, Sense has evolved into a comprehensive interface as well as a suite of apps and services. With investments and acquisitions in streaming media and cloud gaming platforms, such as HTC Watch and OnLive, the company is able to differentiate not just on aesthetics but on a package of functionality rivals can’t replicate. “We can use any OS we want. We

VIA has announced a new USB 3.0 hub controller that is a second gen controller and a single chip solution. The controller supports the higher transfer speeds of USB 3.0 with transfer rates up to 5Gbps. The new controller is called the VL811 and it has a key new feature that is called the Charging Downstream Port or CDP. The CDP is defined in the USB battery charging specification. What that means is that when the user of the device running the VL811 controller hooks a USB device that is battery charging specification compatible it can charge more than three times as fast as a conventional hub or host is able to charge the device. Faster charging is one of the features that many people want out of their gadgets. The charging downstream port allows the user to charge quickly and transfer data as well at the same rate the device would transfer when charging with an AC adapter. The VL811 allows for USB devices to be connected to a single downstream port on the host computer or another hub.