MY HOT GALLERY

Apple’s Jam-Packed Grand Central Store (Video)

2011-12-10T18:34:00.000+05:30

Apple finally opened up its biggest store yet inGrand Central Terminal today. Since I was passing through, I decided to take a quick walkthrough with my iPhone. The results are the two videos and other images below.

The store covers two balconies which wrap around a corner of Grand Central, with different products laid down on tables and taking up space in grottos towards the back of the balconies. There are a couple interior rooms you can go through as well, and you see the terminal’s huge chandeliers hanging out the window.

It was jam-packed on opening day, filled mostly with gawkers. But I have a feeling this will become one of Apple’s highest-grossing stores just because of how many people go through Grand Central every day. You can get a feeling for the space by watching my jerky-cam videos below.

CRUNCHBASE

APPLE

Company:Apple

Website:apple.com

Launch Date:January 4, 1976

IPO:December 10, 1980, NASDAQ:AAPL

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with...

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Tablet Zero

2011-12-10T18:32:00.003+05:30

The global slapfight between Apple and Samsung shows no sign of abating – a victory here, an injunction there, a ruling here, a reversal there – like Aesop’s goats, neither will give way and chances are they’re both going to end up the worse for it, though not likely at the bottom of a ravine.

It doesn’t mean that the conflict doesn’t furnish some interesting topics for discussion, however. Just recently, Apple submitted written testimony by an expert who shares their perspective on Samsung’s design decisions, and very kindly helped to compile a list of things Samsung might have done to differentiate its product. For example, Samsung could have opted not to make their tablet rectangular, or done away with the front bezel, or given it a “cluttered appearance.” Excellent suggestions!

Not surprisingly, there has been some discussion of Apple’s rather ridiculous list of design elements it claims as its own. It’s a good time to examine the creative decisions around the iPad from a different direction. It seems to me that Apple laid a trap for the entire consumer electronics industry, and they fell for it hard. And it’s really a triumph of positioning and branding. They essentially branded the tablet’s Platonic form.

What set me thinking about this was this article about creating a tablet “from scratch.” It’s good, but unfortunately doesn’t achieve the end its author intended, which is to rebut Apple’s accusations. The article certainly shows that, working from first principles like the limits of vision and grip and so on, and make only the absolutely necessary additions given the limitations of technology at the moment, you end up with something that’s a lot like an iPad. The author suggests that this exonerates Samsung. But alas, it does the opposite: it merely glorifies Apple. No, it’s not fair. But it is true. Why?

It’s interesting to think about objects that can actually be reduced to ideal forms. It’s difficult for a chair, for instance. Does the ideal chair have armrests or not? Does it have a square back or a rounded one? Flat, sculpted, or cushioned seat? You simply can’t settle it. Yet if this Platonic chair existed, and someone made it, they would be able to point at every other chair in the world and say “look how they’ve ripped me off.”

Yet that’s what Apple has done with the iPad. I certainly don’t mean that the iPad is the be-all and end-all of tablets — there’s a difference between ideal in concept and ideal in practice. The first means it conforms to a fundamental concept of the object, the second means it’s the best it can possibly be. The iPad is ideal in the first sense: it’s no more advanced in its design than a ball or a cube. It’s a type, not a design. Which is not to say that is isn’t well-done or that they didn’t put a huge amount of work into it.

A true ideal tablet would be nothing but a magic window into content. Apple made a device as close as possible to this magic window and paired it, somewhat hurriedly and crudely, with a powerful and popular platform they already controlled. Its initial success owes itself largely to the momentum of the iPhone. But once they put it out there and sold more than a dozen of them, their triumph was complete.

See, by making the design completely generic, and don’t kid yourself, that’s what they intended and got, they ensured that no one could look at another tablet without thinking of theirs. You can look at a Asus Transformer without thinking of a Xoom, or a Nook without thinking of a Galaxy Tab, but you can’t look at any of those without thinking of the iPad. But not just because they’ve sold more units. Because you can’t make a Xoom without making an iPad first, just like you can’t make a die without making a cube first. This was Apple’s stroke of evil genius.

I say evil because while it’s admirable, among the highest art in fact, to create objects as close to their type as possible, it’s another thing to claim parentage over everything further out from the source.

Consider the Bic.

Now, I don’t mean to say that this pen is exactly analogous the iPad or Apple’s position. But consider it for a second anyway. This little device is the pen defined – essentially it’s the bare minimum for a pen, designed well and simply for human hands to grip and write with. It has no extraneous elements yet is still functional and easily recognizable as an individual branded object. It’s durable, cheap, and reliable – qualities which emerge from its archetypical design.

And while it does fit so closely with our ideas of what a pen should be (roughly cylindrical, of a certain length and width, with a writing tip and perhaps a cap that fits on and doubles as a clip), no would say it’s the best or only pen in the world, or that other pens, which share 90% of the Bic’s most important characteristics, are copies or descendants.

This Bic pen enjoys widespread popularity and huge sales, has for ages. It sells because it’s a type.

The iPad sells for more complicated reasons, but its form is about as original as the Bic’s. Functional, yes; beautiful, yes; but original? How can something so clearly designed to be the opposite of original be considered so? The iPad was made a dozen times before it was made, just like the Bic. It will enjoy long-lasting popularity and be an iconic product for a long time, like the Bic. And like the Bic, it has no claim to its shape. Its shape, like the pen, the chair, the cup, was determined by necessity, and Apple made sure that apart from a few very small features, its shape was determined solely by necessity. That’s not an easy thing to do, and the result (like all good design) speaks for itself. Apple is reaping the rewards, but they must acknowledge that they don’t own the shape which larger forces than themselves imprinted on their work.

Apple’s allegations regarding UI poaching are more realistic. For a touch-based interface, we don’t yet have a type, a Platonic form, as evidenced by all the experimentation and evolution we see every month in apps, OSes, concepts, and so on. Imitation is obvious when the slate (so to speak) is so substantially blank.

And I am not oblivious that there are certain little design flourishes that set the iPad apart from a totally undesigned device. These were intentionally kept subtle and few in number. It’s these that other companies should feel ashamed of being caught copying.

What can companies like Samsung and HTC do when every tablet they build has the same foundation as Apple’s? They can make real design decisions. If they inherit the design (with minor alterations) from a competitor, and someone else makes the OS, what exactly are they contributing? The placement of the power button? That’s not to say they can’t make a perfectly nice tablet, but if they want to be held apart as a truly different device, they need to take a risk. Apple was first on the field and very pointedly took no risks in design — the risk they took was in offering the device at all. Why not take Apple up on its suggestions? No bezel, not thin, non-rectangular shape? Accept the challenge and make Apple eat their words. It’s what they would probably do if the situations were reversed. It’s all impossible until someone does it.

It’s a period of imitation whether you’re ally or enemy to Apple, because they built the mother of all tablets, or as close as they could manage, and everyone else’s devices look like its children whether they are or not. It will take time for the family tree to grow and differentiate. Apple is in the enviable position of being able to claim they invented the wheel (and patented it), and will take everyone to task for their circles until someone makes something truly new.

Sir Richard Branson’s Investment In Square Was $3 Million

2011-12-10T18:31:00.003+05:30

As we reported in early November, entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson made a personal investment in disruptive mobile payments startup Square. The exact amount of Branson’s investment was not disclosed at the time but Reuters reported that it was a ‘multi-million’ dollar investment.

A new SEC filing shows Square raised another $3 million in addition to the startup’s $100 million in funding led by Kleiner Perkins (which valued the mobile payments company at over $1 billion). Square’s newly amended SEC document indicates the company has raised $103 million in series C funding.

Square declined to comment, stating that the company doesn’t comment on financial matters.

At the time of the investment, Branson said he “took interest in Square’s rapid growth and novel technology, in particular its free hardware that allows anyone to accept credit card payments anywhere, anytime.”

Beyond the star value of Branson joining Square as an investor, having the Virgin founder on board as an advisor could help Square in its international expansion, which is expected to take place in 2012.

Facebook Speeds Development With “HipHop Virtual Machine”, A 60% Faster PHP Executor

2011-12-10T18:30:00.006+05:30

“Consider that many Facebook engineers spend their days developing PHP code in an endless edit-reload-debug cycle. The difference between 8-second and 5-second reloads due to switching from HipHop interpreter to the HipHop Virtual Machine makes a big difference to productivity.” That’s how Facebook explains the significance of its new PHP executor, HipHop Virtual Machine,announced today. It’s 60 percent faster than the HipHop interpreter Facebook currently uses. HHVM will improve the performance of Facebook’s code and speed up the development process without forcing Facebook to switch off of PHP, which its engineers are trained in.

Facebook originally deployed its open source HipHop for PHP in February 2010 to convert PHP into C++. This allows it to save CPU cycles on its web servers. However, it made it difficult to optimize code and required a HipHop interpreteter that took “a lot of effort to maintain”.

So over the last year it developed HHVM to replace that interpreter. Now, ”as compared to HipHop interpreter, the HHVM bytecode interpreter is approximately 1.6X faster for a set of real-world Facebook-specific benchmarks.” However, we’ve received reports that Facebook’s old HipHop interpreter was relatively slow to begin with, compared to a native PHP interpreter.

For more technical details, check out the in-depth blog post about HipHop Virtual Machine. Eventually, Facebook may run all its PHP through HHVM. First, it is working the kinks out of the HipHop translator. As HHVM is deeply integrated into the source code of HipHop, which is available on GitHub, Facebook hopes “that the PHP community will find hhvm useful as it matures and engage with us to broaden its usefulness through technical discussions, bug reports, and code contributions.”

Update: Due to an error on the part of The OutCast Agency, Facebook’s PR agency, this article originally stated incorrectly that HHVM provided a ”90 percent reduction in memory cost” over Facebook’s existing HipHop interpreter. The agency sent us this incorrect information based on an early unpublished draft of Facebook’s post on HHVM that was later corrected by Facebook’s engineers.

HP To Keep webOS Alive By Making It Open Source

2011-12-10T18:30:00.005+05:30

Well, there we have it. After weeks of deliberation, HP CEO Meg Whitman has just announced to all of the company’s employees that HP will make webOS’s underlying codeavailable under an open-source license.

Before I go any further, I’d like to take this chance to applaud HP on making the right decision: they managed to make some lemonade after all.

According to a company-wide email from Whitman, making webOS open source “is the best way to ensure the benefits of webOS are accessible to the largest possible ecosystem.” A new release from the company goes into slightly more detail: HP will help “accelerate the open development of the webOS platform,” and “will be an active participant and investor in the project.” The rest is up to webOS developers, who are now able to pick up where the personal computing giant left off.

While the news will certainly be welcomed by webOS enthusiasts (myself included), let’s not forget that HP sunk over $3 billion dollars into the webOS experiment before ultimately giving it away for free. Still, I’m sure HP has picked up some much-needed brownie points from webOS users whose devices have suddenly been given a new lease on life.

Of course, with that shift toward open source, drastic changes will almost definitely be made to the company’s existing webOS team. AllThingsD reports that no official word has yet been handed down about staff rearrangements, but webOS’s smaller role in the company’s future means less manpower will be devoted to it.

Meanwhile, HP has remained quiet on the hardware front. After former CEO Leo Apotheker give standalone webOS hardware the axe, it was widely rumored that HP would find a home for the wayward operating system on their scores of printers. It’ll be interesting to see if the landscape shifts now that third-party hardware vendors have access to yet another open source OS, but for now we can rest assured that webOS will indeed live on in one form or another.

And hey, now you should feel a bit more comfortable about picking up some of the $99 TouchPadsHP is throwing on eBay this Sunday — they should have a bright future after all.

YouTube Acquires RightsFlow To Help Artists License Music And Make Money

2011-12-10T18:29:00.003+05:30

YouTube has just acquired RightsFlow, a startup that manages music licensing and payment services.

Launched in 2007, RightsFlow helps online music services, record companies, distributors and artists license music and lyrics while also managing royalty payments for the rights-holders. The company’s proprietary licensing technology and 30-plus million song database allows RightsFlow to license content, render accounting, and pay royalties on behalf of clients.

As CEO Patrick Sullivan writes in his announcement: We’re pleased to now be taking a momentous step with the team at YouTube, that shares in our vision of solving the really challenging problem of copyright management. Combined with the worldwide platform and reach of YouTube, we’ll now be able to drive awareness, adoption, and licensing success to a much larger audience — ultimately benefiting users, artists, labels, songwriters, publishers, and the entire global music ecosystem.

YouTube says that RightsFlow has been at the “forefront of solving the complex issues of licensing and royalty payment management.” The startup’s technology will be integrated into the video platform to allow musicians to efficiently license music on YouTube. Clearly helping musicians get compensated for the use of their work make YouTube even more appealing a a platform to showcase music and talent.

Indonesian Government Threatens BlackBerry Services Over “Security Reasons”

2011-12-10T18:28:00.005+05:30

Indonesia’s telecoms regulatory agency, the BTRI, has told the Jakarta Post that they may have to shut down RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger and Internet services after the company declined to establish BBM servers within the country. RIM opted to put its servers in neighboring Singapore, for reasons not described in the article. BTRI says it must do this because “the data exchanged is not safe.”

Anyone can see through this transparent excuse for bullying RIM — they’re not the first to try it. Saudi Arabia and India recently made similar threats, though they were more forthcoming about their reasons. They wanted the power to monitor the transmissions, and chances are Indonesia does too.

The trouble is simply that the BBM data is all handled in Canada in RIM’s datacenters, and without a local node on Indonesian, Saudi Arabian, Indian, or other soil, those governments have almost no authority over the information. Naturally it’s in a government’s interest to be able to monitor its citizens, though of course the citizens (including private companies with international dealings) would prefer privacy, and RIM’s duty is to its customers.

That isn’t to say it hasn’t caved before. It has provided some private information to governments when they have requested it, though they maintain they have no way of monitoring or prying into private messages. Indeed, a server in Indonesia would only place encrypted data in the government’s possession, and they would still have to obtain the key from the account’s owner by normal means.

It’s one more problem for RIM to add to the list, and an increasingly popular one globally. Whether Indonesia will actually sabotage its own populace, among which (as it points out itself in its complaint to RIM) there are far more BlackBerry users than in Singapore and other nearby countries, is not clear. This kind of petty brinksmanship tends to drag on publicly and yield to compromises. But situations like this are becoming common as global communication becomes more and more relevant to national security and economic well-being. Sooner or later there will have to be some kind of international accord, or every country in the world is going to make similar demands.

Is December 15 Verizon’s New Galaxy Nexus Launch Date?

2011-12-10T18:28:00.004+05:30

The Galaxy Nexus, while something we’ve been super excited about, is turning out to be a real pain. Why? Because we can’t seem to figure out when the bleep this thing is supposed to launch. We heard it was supposed to be around today, and then we heard it wasn’t, and then we heard so many different dates it started to get stupid.

Now, however, Droid-Life is claiming to have found the needle in this incredibly annoying haystack. Apparently a “dozen” different sources have said that Verizon is finally letting its employees in on the launch date: December 15. Now, Verizon does enjoy a nice Thursday launch, if we’re to learn anything from history.

Still, this is the Galaxy Nexus we’re talking about, so you can never really be sure about when you’ll see it until we get some sort of official word. Even then, things are looking a little murky.

Tagged Acquires Topicmarks To Improve Friend Suggestions With Natural Language Processing

2011-12-10T18:27:00.001+05:30

Tagged’s mission is to help strangers meet each other online, so it has to offer friend suggestions of people you’ll like and who’ll like you back. That’s why it acquired Topicmarks, a natural language processing and machine learning company. Topicmarks will allow Tagged to analyze the profiles of its 100 million registered users and match them with others with similar interests and vocabulary. Topicmarks’ technology, CEO, CTO, and 3 senior engineers will join Tagged in exchange for cash and stock. Its existing service will remain active for the foreseeable future.

Tagged’s CEO Greg Tseng tells me the acquisition price was “somewhere in the middle” between covering Topicmarks’ $150K in seed funding and significantly impacting his online gaming and meeting network’s bottom line. Apparently it wasn’t just a graceful, low-payout exit for Topicmarks as many suspect Facebook’s acquisition of Gowalla was.

Tagged has been profitable for four consecutive years thanks to its 10 to 20 million monthly active users. It grew from 50 to 150 employees this year, including 17 from acquisitions of Topicmarks,game discovery platform WeGame, and social messaging client Digsby. One Topicmarks employee won’t be joining the Tagged.

Topicmarks’ existing service scans text and returns short content summaries. It process news article links, RSS readers, desktop files, cloud storage services like Dropbox and Box.net, and more. Now its technology will be applied to reading the profiles, messagees, comments, and statuses of Tagged users. It will look for what topics users talk about, their punctuation and emoticon usage, and whether they write in a more urban or rural fashion. It will then produce “bi-directional recommendations” of users who will both be interested in each other.

Internally, Tagged has been calling this a “Pandora for people”. Though really it’s more complicated. As Tseng explains, “When Pandora recommends music, the music doesn’t need to like you back.” More accurate friend suggestions could increase engagement, time on site, and interconnections between users that make Tagged sticky. They could also help Tagged fend off competitors such as 3-D avatar-based Shaker which won TechCrunch Disrupt 2011, and Badoo which now has 130 million registered users and $100 million a year in revenue.

Hrithik Roshan Leaves Shahrukh & Salman Behind

2011-12-10T18:22:00.001+05:30

Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan has emerged as the sexiest Asian Man in the World of the year 2011. According to a survey conducted by the Eastern Eye Weekly, Hrithik, 37, beat off tough competition fromhigh profile stars to top the 50-strong list. The popular A-list actor won by the biggest ever margin in the history of the men’s list to topple last year’s winner Ranbir Kapoor, who finished sixth.

Hrithik, who came third, last year, got votes from all over the world from fans of different ages and cultures via social networking sites.

Described by many as a Greek God, Hrithik went back to winning ways in 2011 playing the lead role in mega-hit movie ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA and also had his wax statue added to the Madame Tussauds museum in London.

‘He also shot for the hotly anticipated AGNEEPATH remake, featured as a judge on hit TV show ‘Just Dance’ and signed up for hotly anticipated superhero moviesequel KRRISH 2,’ the weekly said.

Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor was the surprise runner up, with Shah Rukh Khan in the third and Salman Khan in the fourth position.

”Hrithik is a worthy winner and a leading man with global appeal. This year there was a massive gap between Hrithik and the rest of the competitors. He is the perfect ambassador for India and someone who could take on anyone in Hollywood in terms of looks, talent and likability,” said a showbiz editor.

Indian batsman Virat Kohli at 18, was the highest new entry in the 2011 list. Other big named new entries included Abhishek Bachchan at 17, Prateik Babbar at 20, Ajay Devgn at 29 and Farhan Akhtar at 34. The highest placed Pakistani was once again Ali Zafar at 5, the highest placed British star was Jay Sean (9) and the highest placed sportsman was World Boxing championAamir Khan (10).

Other notable names in the list are John Abraham (7), Akshay Kumar (9), Arjun Rampal (11), actor Imran Khan (12), Saif Ali Khan (13), Atif Aslam (16), Riz Ahmed (21), Siddhartha Mallya (31), Mahendra Dhoni (33), Aamir Khan (35), Zaheer Khan (39) and hip hop star Shizzio (46).

The Dirty Picture Is Getting Huge Responses All Over

2011-12-10T18:21:00.001+05:30

The much awaited movie of the year THE DIRTY PICTURE hit thesilver screen on Friday and has already gained tremendous response from the audience.

In Mumbai the film released in packed houses and in Kolkata also the fans were quite excited to see Vidya Balan playing Southern siren Silk Smitha.

Balaji Telefilms’ THE DIRTY PICTURE(Hindi) released in 1066 UFO digital theatres on Friday.

The Vidya Balan starrer is this week’s biggest release on the UFO Moviez network, with the Hindi version in 996 UFO digital theatres, the Telugu version in 43 UFO digital theatres and the Tamil version in 27 UFO digital theatres.

Meanwhile, the world of Twitter is abuzz with comments made by Vidya’s fans who have mostly appreciated her performance in the film.

“Dirty Picture is a blockbuster! Vidya Balan, Naseer & Emraan set the screen ablaze with their outstanding performances. Milan Luthria’s brave film THE DIRTY PICTUREpaves its way into the hearts of people. Time for me to celebrate the triumph of my ‘chela’,” director Mahesh Bhatt remarked.

“Vidya Balan in KAHAANI poster rocks. Vidya Balan in THE DIRTYPICTURE rocks. Vidya Balan rocks. Period,” Pritish Nandy commented.

Karan Johar appreciated Vidya’s acting in the film and tweeted, “Her performance in DIRTY PICTURE is by far the bravest and best performance I have seen of any actor in years….she is the benchmark!!!take a bow team balaji!!! Super film!!! Rajat’s brilliant dialogue…milan’s nuanced and superb control over the plot…dirtypicture rules.”

“Ah, the dirty picture! bold. vidya balan was super, not easy at all to do what she has. didn’t think india would produce a film like this,” popular cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle remarked.

“Saw Dirty Picture. Fabulous,” writer Chetan Bhagat described his feelings through a crispy tweet.

Directed by Milan Luthria, the moves features Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi and Tusshar Kapoor in the lead roles.

Mallika Sherawat & Vivek Oberoi In KLPD

2011-12-10T18:20:00.003+05:30

Its official, Mallika Sherawat has been signed opposite Vivek Oberoi in Amit Chandrra’s KISMAT LOVE PAISA DILLI (KLPD). Incidentally the film has been in the headlines off late as it was taken to be the sequel to the Director Sanjay Khanduri’s 2007 sleeper hit EK CHALLIS KI LAST LOCAL, with the name GYARAH CHALLIS KI LAST METRO doing the rounds. However the most interesting facet of the development of this film is the signing of Mallika Sherawat.

The source also goes onto add that when Sanjay and Amit approached Mallika with the script of KLPD that had the actress playing a parallel lead to the actor, Mallika readily agreed to do the film as she felt the role was too good to let go off and was excited to play a content driven lead, which she hasn’t done ever since PYAR KE SIDE EFFECTS, in which her performance was highly appreciated.

Mallika is to play a Delhi based Punjabi bombshell who gets caught in a adventurous journey when she misses the last Metro home. Mallika would soon be back to Mumbai as the film goes on floors. On touching base with Amit Chandrra the producer of the film he stated that the film is called KISMAT LOVE PAISA DILLI (KLPD) and the film is not a sequel to EK CHALIS KI LAST LOCAL but a new story. The only similarity between the two films is that they are comical thrillers. The filmhas three elements Kismat, Love and Paisa coming together in one crazy fun night in Delhi, hence the title KISMAT LOVE PAISA DILLI was apt.

Tia Bajpai : The Haunted Girl Is Thankful To Vikram Bhatt

2011-12-10T18:20:00.001+05:30

From HAUNTED, newcomer Tia Bajpai has moved on to another film LANKA where she is playing a tormented character. To enact two tough roles at the verybeginning of her career was a tough call for Tia and if she has managed to get it right without many hiccups, she has her mentor Vikram Bhatt to thank.

‘I am lucky that I worked with someone like Vikram sir in my first film,’ Tia sounds delighted here, ‘That experience is coming in handy for all the work that I am doing now. It has become far better for me to understand the nuances better.’
However, since it was director Maqbool Khan and not Vikram Bhatt calling the shots for LANKA (Vikram is basically presenting the film), didn’t she miss her mentor’s presence on the sets?

”Since Maqbool anyways knew the script inside out, I didn’t feel like reaching out to anyone else for help or guidance. Also, the best part about Sir is that he doesn’t interfere,’ she says, ‘He gave Maqbool full freedom to make the film in the way he wanted and never came up with this command that ‘See, I am Vikram Bhatt so listen to me’. That really worked for everyone involved.”

As is a known fact, this modern day tale has Manoj Bajpai playing Raavan while Arjan Bajwa is enacting the part of Vibhishan. Even though the makers claim that they have taken reference from a real life incident, can one really ignore the religious element to the story?

”See, in any case none of us are named after any of the mythological characters; the only pointer here is Lanka and that basically is an indicative of the empire that Manoj’s character has built in Bijnor,’ says Tia, ‘I don’t see why anyone’s religious sentiments should be hurt.”

LANKA releases all over this Friday.

Ranveer & Anushka : The Chemistry Continues With Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl

2011-12-10T18:19:00.001+05:30

LADIES V/S RICKY BAHL is up for release and yet again the world is interested in knowing if Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma are seeing each other. While the man ofthe moment continues to be amused with the immense interestshown by many from within as well as outside the industry about theirreal life pairing, Ranveer gone onrecord for the umpteenth time to declare that he and Anushka stay on to be great friends.

”In fact I can say on record that she is my closest friend in theindustry. She is the one who I canclaim to be belonging to my inner circle,’ declares Ranveer ‘As for us meeting frequently then well, both of us have a very busy life and hence hang out as and when we get a chance. Most of that in fact happens when we are working together, just as it happened in case of LADIES V/S RICKY BAHL where we spent quite some time with each other.”

While that happened in the Goa schedule of this Maneesh Sharma directed film where the episode featuring Ranveer and Anushka is set, the young man who plays the title role of ‘Ricky Bahl’ is also happy to talk about his experience of shooting with Aditi Sharma, Dipannita Sharma and Parineeti Chopra in Lucknow, Mumbai and Delhi respectively.

”It is always nice to work with new girls,’ Ranveer gives a mischievous smile here, ‘Amongst the three of them, Parineeti is someone who is totally new and has a very fresh energy to her. She wanted to do so many things at the same time and the kind of energy she brought during shooting was infectious. As for Dipannita, she is mature and strong, just as the character she plays in the film. On the other hand Aditi is very level headed and can keep her calm in the most adverse of situations. I learnt a lot about being patient from her.”

With such off screen banter between the five youngsters here, it would only be further interesting to see how they take on each other on-screen in this Maneesh Sharma film which releases this Friday.

Hrithik Roshan’s Agneepath To Be Released Internationally

2011-12-10T18:18:00.002+05:30

Eros International Media Ltd (EIML), a leadingglobal company in the Indian film entertainmentindustry, has announced that it shall be releasing Dharma Productions’ AGNEEPATH, one of the most eagerly awaited releases in the New Year in the international markets on January 26, 2012.

Announcing the deal, Pranab Kapadia, President – Marketing & Distribution, Eros International plc said, “AGNEEPATH marks the first of the big ticketreleases next year and Eros is excited about associating with Dharma Productions to present this thrilling action film on a global platform. Audiences are looking forward to Hrithik’s portrayal of the legendary Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, made famous by Amitabh Bachchan while Sanjay Dutt’s villainous look has stirred up much curiosity. The promos have evoked very good reactions and we are anticipating a very encouraging response to the film.”

Apoorva Mehta, CEO, Dharma Productions added, “We are delighted that Dharma Productions is collaborating with a leading studio like Eros. We have always been appreciative of Eros’ endeavour in the world of commercial cinema and we hope this coming together for the first time helps both of us to take a giant leap in the coming years!”

AGNEEPATH directed by Karan Malhotra is homage to the cult 1990 classic directed by the late Mukul S Anand. The action drama stars Hrithik Roshan playing the role of Vijay Dinanath Chauhan originally played by Amitabh Bachchan. The film also stars Priyanka Chopra, Sanjay Dutt as the menacing ‘Kancha Cheena’ and Rishi Kapoor who also essays an antagonist in the film.

Aamir Khan’s Indirect Role In Don 2

2011-12-10T18:17:00.002+05:30

Our headlines may come as a surprise to most as the two top Khans, Aamir and Shah Rukh, though cordial to each other are not exactly bosom pals. But hold on to your horses because what we are saying is true, though there is bit of a twist to the tale.

As is known, in February 2011, Shah Rukh Khan was in Malaysia’s exotic tourist island, Langkawi, to shoot for DON 2. During his two week sojourn, King Khan stayed at Langkawi’s The Danna Hotel, located very close to the shooting venue, the cable car and the rain forest.

It may well be a co-incidence of sorts but the fact is that (believe it or not!) the name of the general manager of The Danna Hotel was Aamir Khan, who made sure that SRK’s stay was a very comfortable one. The interesting information came to our knowledge during our recent visit to Langkawi!

Well, we are sure that Aamir Khan’s efforts were not in vain because we know for sure that some of the most stunning shots from DON 2 are from the Langkawi portions, but more on that later!

Shweta Bhardwaj – The Red Hot Bikini Bomb Of Players

2011-12-10T18:16:00.002+05:30

Abbas-Mustan who are known to show their actresses in a very glamorous avatar in their films, are not shying away from doing the same in their upcoming film PLAYERS.

Shweta Bhardwaj who plays a pivotal character in the film, is going to be donning a bikini in the film & the sequence is one of the highlights of the film.

Shweta Bhardwaj, who had wooed men right from her 1st film MISSION ISTAANBUL, where she played a role like that of Lara Croft, is quite confident that she will sway men of their feet even this time. With another sexy actress Bipasha Basu, who is in PLAYERS too, we wonder how hot this film will really turn out to be.

Also starring Abhishek Bachchan, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Sonam Kapoor, Sikandar Kher, Vinod Khanna and Omi Vaidya, PLAYERS, with music by Pritam, releases all over on 6th January.

Kareena Kapoor Is The No.1 : Says Karan Johar

2011-12-10T18:15:00.002+05:30

The big debate as to ‘who is India’s numero uno actress presently?’ seems to be sorted out for the moment. Well how? Filmmaker Karan Johar putting the long time guesswork to the rest declared that Bollywood actor Kareena Kapoor is ‘Heroine No. 1′.

Recently at an event to unveil the first look trailer of the upcoming film EK MAIN AUR EKK TU, Kareena was posed a question whether she considers herself the No.1 actress of B-town. While Kareena refused to answer the tricky question saying, “I don’t know. I am not going to answer this question,” Imran Khan, producer Karan Johar and debutant director Shakun Batra, who were also present at the event, prompted, “According to us Kareena is Heroine No.1.”

And if this was not enough Karan, who was at his wittiest best at the event, quite dramatically announced, “Introducing the Heroine No.1 Kareena Kapoor (chuckles).”

When it comes from someone like Karan Johar, Kareena can safely accept or call herself Heroine No. 1 the next time. What say Bebo?

Red Carpet Photo of the Week The Royal Couple

2011-12-08T13:43:00.000+05:30

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie arrive at the New York premiere of Jolie's directorial debut, In the Land of Blood and Honey, a love story set amidst the Serbian War conflict.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt attend the premiere of "In the Land of Blood and Honey" at the School of Visual Arts on December 5, 2011 in New York City. (Getty Images)more pics »

Hottest Hollywood Hookups 2011

2011-12-08T13:42:00.000+05:30

(Photo by Getty Images, Pacific Coast News)

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Ryan Gosling also appears in:

Ryan Gosling on the 'Gangster' Set

Ryan Gosling on Set in LA

Ryan Gosling Films "Gangster Squad"

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Screening Room: Theron's 'Young Adult,' Cruise's New Role & Oscar Predictions

2011-12-08T13:41:00.000+05:30

(FlyNetPhotos, PacificCoastNews)
Trailer of the Week
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - 12/25/11

The second trailer for Stephen Daldry's inspirational-looking, star-studded film about a boy who loses his father (Tom Hanks) in the World Trade Center on 9/11, debuted this week. The trailer shows us much more of Max Von Sydow, who is generating Oscar buzz for his role, as well as the performances of Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis, and Jeffrey Wright. Although the film's protagonist is a nine-year old with a piercing high-pitched voice, the film is expected to be one of the best of the year. Based on the novel by Jonathan Safran-Foer (Everything is Illuminated), Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is set for a limited Christmas Day release and will go wide in January.

Casting Corner
Cruise's All You Need is Kill

(Pacific Coast News, Getty Images)

Tom Cruise has been cast in Doug Liman's All You Need is Kill. The Bourne Idenity director has been working on the project for a while now and it should get fast-tracked now with Cruise attached. The film is based on the Japanese novel and centers around a soldier fighting an alien war who relives his last day again and again.
Not casting news, but noteworthy nonetheless, is word that Radiohead guitarist, Jonny Greenwood, will score Paul Thomas Anderson's newest film, The Master, as he did withThere Will Be Blood. The Master is based on a L. Ron Hubbard-type who starts his own religion after World War II. Anderson favorite, Phillip Seymour-Hoffman will play the title role with Joaquin Phoenix as a drifter who becomes his confidant.

Miranda Kerr Gets Naked for 'Industrie Magazine'

2011-12-08T13:39:00.000+05:30

2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Viewing Party.Samueli Theatre, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Costa Mesa, CA.November 29, 2011. (Bauer Griffin)more pics »Miranda Kerr (Industrie Magazine)Now that we have your undivided attention, here are all the sexy details. Victoria's Secret angel Miranda Kerr stripped off hersparkly skivvies for a "tasteful" nude spread in the new issue of Industrie Magazine. From the sexy black-and-white shots that capture Miranda's remarkably stretchmark free side view, you'd never guess the Aussie model gave birth earlier this year.

Miranda's willingness to pose in the buff doesn't come as a complete surprise, given her past comments regarding nudity. She told New York Magazine, "People should be comfortable with their bodies; it’s natural, and it’s not vulgar, you know."

One thing's for certain; that Orlando Bloom is a lucky, lucky man.

Selena Gomez Needs Help Choosing Her Signature Scent

2011-12-08T13:38:00.000+05:30

(Courtesy image)

Selena looks a little waterlogged on the set of her perfume advertisement.Selena Gomez has almost everything squared away for the upcoming launch of her eponymous fragrance—except the scent itself, that is.

Gomez has decided on a theme for her signature scent, recently filming a advertisement for the perfume half-submerged in a tank of colorfully lit water that resembles the fragrance's bottle. But she's still in the process of selecting the perfect accords, and has turned to her fans for their help.

Fans can visit the Selena Gomez Perfumes site to choose between fruity top notes, floral heart fragrances, and delicious base fragrances.

The first 100,000 participants in the United States will receive a free sample of Selena's perfume before it's available for purchase. All participants will be entered into a drawing for an all-expenses-paid tour of the fragrance lab...with Selena! No word if her boyfriend Justin Bieber will tag along.

The Sexy Stars of Midseason TV

2011-12-08T13:37:00.002+05:30

(Photo by Getty Images)

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Katharine McPhee also appears in:

2011 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting

"The Artist" New York Premiere

2011 Malaria No More International Honors

Malaria No More International Honors Fifth Anniversary Benefit

more Katharine McPhee pictures »

Is Kristen Stewart the Next Angelina Jolie?

2011-12-08T13:36:00.002+05:30

(Getty Images | PacificCoastNews.com)

Earlier this year, we wondered if Ryan Gosling could become the next Brad Pitt. Today, we want to know if Kristen Stewart can parlay her worldwide fame and success into a long and fruitful Hollywood career. More specifically, we ask: Can she transform herself into the nextAngelina Jolie.

Kristen Stewart (Bauer Griffin)If the Breaking Dawn star hopes to step out from the world ofTwilight and become the highest paid actress in show biz, she's got a lot of work to do. The good news: the young actress, 21, has plenty of time on her side. Though Jolie landed her first leading role in Hackers at age 20, it wasn't until she turned 24 that Hollywood fully embraced the LA native. It was then that she took on the part of sociopath Lisa Rowe in Girl, Interrupted.

Two years after receiving the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in that movie, Jolie was chosen to star in the film adaptation of the popular video game Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. And the rest, as the cliché goes, was history. Turning back to Stewart, here's what she'll need to do to follow suit.

Channel Her Inner Action Hero

The majority of Zimbio readers seem confident Stewart can become an action hero. And after we saw her leap through a fiery inferno, get chased by Thor, and sword fight like natural in the spine-tingling trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman, we're hard pressed to question your judgement. KStew may win critical love when she stars in the low-budget film adaption of Jack Kerouac's On the Road. But if she wants to get paid top dollar, she'll need to focus on blockbuster roles.

Jolie received an Oscar for her role in Girl, Interrupted. But it wasn't until after she helped Lara Croft: Tomb Raider earn a staggering $274 million at the box office that she became one of the industry's highest-paid actresses. If Stewart can find the same level of success with Snow White, there's no telling where her career can go from there.

Go Public with Pattinson
Stewart and Robert Pattinson haven't hesitated from getting frisky on the Twilightset, and at the Water for Elephants premiere in NYC, and yet the two on-screen lovers refuse to go public with their relationship. In contrast, Jolie has been dating Brad Pitt, one of the biggest and most powerful names in Hollywood, since 2005.

And while it's true the actress had made a name for herself well before Pitt came into the picture, it's important not to underestimate the power of Brangelina. According to the Q Score, a marketing metric that measures a star's likeability factor, less than 1 in 3 Americans were familiar with Jolie in 2000. By 2006, a year after she and Pitt went public with their relationship, 81 percent of respondents said they knew the actress.

Save the World
Remember when Jolie wore Billy Bob Thornton's blood in a vial around her neck, and kissed her brother in public? Both of those incidents got her plenty of press. They also left many thinking she had hopped on board the Crazy Train.

But why dwell on the past when we can reflect on all of the noble humanitarian work she's done in the present? Founder of multiple charities, and mother of enough adopted children to put on an impromptu production of Annie, Jolie transcends the big screen. She's the female version of Bono, only likeable.

Seeing as Stewart's only 21, it's understandable she's currently more concerned with acting than saving the world. Hell, most Americans her age are still relishing in the joy that they can finally order alcohol without a fake ID. Of course, Stewart's not your average woman. She's a world famous, well-paid movie star. So the least she could do is feed starving children in Africa -- or maybe pump out a charity record.