Apple iPhone is ready..

Apple's eagerly awaited and (grossly) over-hyped iPhone has finally arrived as promised on the 29th of June, 2007. Love it or hate it, but you can't ignore it. The iPhone will hit Indian shores in early 2008 though

The Apple iPhone is not just a phone - it is a phone, music player, video player, internet device, and camera all in one. Like its Apple iPod Nano and iPod video cousins, the iPhone is slim and sleek at just 11.6mm thick, 2.4-inches wide, and 4.5-inches tall.

Steve Jobs has such confidence in the new iPhone that he has said he wants to sell over 10 million of them by 2008. I think he's setting his sights a little low, and project that Apple will sell over 10 million iPhones in less than 6 months. With the following that Apple has, and the fact that this device has been rumored about and anticipated for almost four years now, it shouldn't be too far out of the realm of possiblity.

iPod Features:

The Apple iPhone is a widescreen iPod that features touch screen controls that allow you to enjoy all your content, including audiobooks, music, TV shows, and movies. It features an amazing 3.5-inch widescreen display, and allows you to sync content from your iTunes library on your PC or Mac, making that content also accessible with just the touch of a finger.
iPhone users will be able to scroll through songs, artists, albums, and playlists with just a flick of a finger. One cool new feature of this function is the display of album artwork - you can now use Cover Flow to browse your music library by album artwork for the first time on an iPod.

Phone Features:

Using the phone function of the Apple iPhone, you can calls by simply pointing your finger at a name or number in your address book, a favorites list, or a call log. All your contacts from a PC, Mac, or Internet device are also automatically synched, you can select and listen to voicemail messages in whatever order you want — just like email. Calls can easily be merged together with just the touch of a button to create a conference call. Conference calling has never been easier!

A demo of the iPhone is attached below (from YouTube..)

Courtesy: YouTube....

SMS Text Messaging:

Using the iPhone, you can send text messages withan SMS application with a predictive QWERTY soft keyboard that prevents and corrects mistakes. This makes it easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards found on many smartphones.
Camera Function:

The Apple iPhone also features an amazing 2-megapixel camera, as well as a photo management application unlike anything available on a phone today. Users can sync photos from a PC or Mac, browse or email them with just a touch of the screen.

Internet Device:

The iPhone features a rich HTML email client as well as the Safari browser, which automatically syncs bookmarks from a PC or Mac. The Safari browser has built-in Google and Yahoo! search. You can also multi-task by reading a web page while simultaneously downloading your email in the background via WiFi or EDGE. Safari also includes built-in Google and Yahoo! search. You can even display Google Maps as they were meant to be seen, and zoom in to view specific points.

E-mail:

The iPhone is great for multi-tasking, so you can read a web page while downloading your email in the background over Wi-Fi or EDGE. Its e-mail client fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services, and then displays photos and graphics along with the text.

Widgets:

Extend your iPhone with widgets, small applications that give you helpful information like stock reports, weather reports, and more in real time.

Touchscreen:

The iPhone features an amazing 3.5-inch widescreen display, and has one of the most revolutionary user interfaces since the mouse. The interface is unlike anything you've ever experienced on a phone, with a large multi-touch display and innovate new software that allows you to control everything with the touch of a finger.

Intelligent Keyboard:

The iPhone features a full QWERTY keyboard that allows you to send and receive SMS messages, email, etc. It is predicitive, and therefore prevents and corrects mistakes.

Built-in Sensors:

The iPhone incorporates an accelerometer, which detects when a user switches from holding the phone in landscape to portrait mode, and automatically updates the image on screen to fit the mode. The sensors also detect when you put the iPhone near your phone, and automatically shuts off the display screen until you move it away to save on battery power. An ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the screen's brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, which enhances user experience and also saves on battery power.

Accessories:

As of now, Apple has announced a Bluetooth headset that will work with the iPhone, as well as new headphones that incorporate a small white box in the middle of the cord. This box has a built-in microphone and a switch to answer and hang up phone calls.
The phone is expected to come out in June 2007 in USA, Europe in the fourth QTR and Asia in 2008 and it will be available exclusively on Cingular for $499 on a two-year contract for the 4GB version and $599 for the 8GB version.

iPhone Specs:

• Screen size: 3.5 inches
• Screen resolution: 320x480 at 160 ppi
  Input method: Multi-touch
  Operating system
  OS X- Storage: 4GB or 8GB- GSM: Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
  Wireless data: WiFi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
• Camera: 2.0 megapixels

• Battery: Up to 5 hours Talk/Video/Browsing, 16 hours Audio Playback
• Dimensions: 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm- 4.8 ounces / 135 grams

For more info, visit http://www.apple.com/iphone/

Sivaji is Rocking...Some facts about the movie...

Sivaji: The Boss -- is directed by S. Shankar and produced by AVM Productions. Rajinikanth stars in this film as Sivaji Arumugam. Shriya Saran, Vivek and Suman also portray pivotal roles. The film's score and soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman.

The release of films starring other major Tamil actors was postponed to release much after Sivaji. It is the costliest Tamil film venture to date with an estimated cost of Rs. 80 Crores. It was dubbed into Telugu language and released simultaneously.

The movie was released on June 15, 2007 in over 2,500 theatres worldwide, after several postponements.

Plot

Sivaji is a Software Systems Architect who returns home after working hard for many years in USA. With a Rs.200 crore budget he wants to setup a charity medical college and hospital. Adiseshan is a politically influential businessman who plots his downfall and Sivaji ends up losing all his money. The rest of the movie revolves around how he starts from scratch to get back his money and resume development of his foundation.

Casting

For his crew, Shankar picked his preferred technicians; with Sujatha as the dialogue writer, K. V. Anand as the cinematographer, Peter Hein as the stunt master, Thotta Tharani as the art director, Vairamuthu as the chief lyricist, Manish Malhotra as the costume designer, Prabhu Deva as the choreographer, Anthony as the editor and J. D. Jerry of Pavithra fame, Balaji Sakthivel of Kaadhal fame, Hosimin of February 14 fame and Gandhi Krishna of Chellamae fame as the team of assistant directors. Also, despite receiving rave reviews for the music composing in Anniyan, Harris Jayaraj was dropped as the music director and Shankar's orthodox music composer, A. R. Rahman was chosen, creating great expectations for the project.
In late 2005, Shankar and Rajinikanth announced officially that Shriya Saran had been selected to essay the role as Rajinikanth's love interest.

Shankar and his crew opted for Manivannan, Livingston, Vadivukarasi, Pyramid Natarajan, Uma Padmanabhan, Solomon Pappayya, Muthukaalai, Nellai Siva, Bose Venkat and M'Sia Prabhu to play supporting roles.

Another key role of a doctor played by a guest actor was given to Raghuvaran,. Another guest role was supposed to feature an actress in the form of an item number for the song, Balleilakka, a range of heroines were considered for the role and Nayanthara paired with Rajinikanth for the second successive time after their pairing in Chandramukhi.

Publicity and Release

Ratings India: U[20] United Kingdom: 12A[21]

As the Rajinikanth-Shankar combination has raised great expectations of the film, almost dozen other Tamil films that were ready for release were postponed due to pressure by risk-averse distributors viz. Pirappu, Satham Podaathey, Oru Ponnu Oru Paiyan, Kaanal Neer, Unnale Unnale, Ninaithu Ninaithu Paarthein , Solli Adippen, Chennai 600028 , Thoovaanam , Kannum Kannum and Koodal Nagar.

From early days, the film had been expected to rewrite records set by the previous Rajinikanth starrer Chandramukhi as it saw the combinations of all the biggest stars in Tamil cinema. The production house AVM, owned by M. Saravanan and M. S. Guhan was the largest, oldest and most successful to date production house in Chennai. Shankar, the director, had delivered eight back-to back hits and had worked with all the major technicians in the industry. The music director, A. R. Rahman was one of the big names from Indian music industry and had claimed several international honours with his work in The Lord of the Rings Musical. While as, Rajinikanth was undoubtedly Tamil cinema’s most prominent figure, earning him the title Superstar among his fans. After the announcement several infamous brands including, Coke, Hutch, Aircel and Reliance roped in as brand sponsors to the project.

Sivaji's chances at the box-office were set to be hampered by the ICC Cricket World Cup initially and the film was postponed again to sort out post-production work. The delay continued, when A. R. Rahman, claimed he was disappointed of his background score and planned to re-do it, delaying the release finally to June 15, 2007.

The film's distribution rights, as distributed by AVM Productions to various companies are - 3.5 crores for the selling of rights to Kerala, 14 crores for Andhra Pradesh and 13.95 crores for the rights to Ayngaran, an international Tamil film distributor. Sivaji was given the rating Universal by the Censors Association, only cutting three scenes - a double meaning dialogue by Vivek and two scenes of close up views of Shriya Saran's naval and cleavage.

A pre-teaser trailer was released by CNN-IBN on May 30, 2007 lasting for three minutes. The official trailer was released by AVM to Galatta.com, the official online sponsor and Ayngaran International..

Soundtrack

A. R. Rahman was paid Rs. 2 Crores for the project, making him the highest paid Indian music director. He re-recorded the entire background score in London. The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and some choral singers have rendered out moments in a background track.

For the trailer and more details, visit the official web site http://www.sivajitheboss.com/

For more stills, visit http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/moviegallery/7911.html

For review of the movie, visit http://www.rajini-in-sivaji.com/

Sunita is Back Home...

Atlast, Sunita returned to earth in Atlantis..after days of uncertainity and bad weather...Thousands prayed to god for a safe return. Everybody was fearful about what happened to Kalpana Chawla some time back.

This time also, the space shuttle got damage in the heat resistant outer tiles. But, this time NASA didn't attempt for a chance. The damage was corrected before the return journey. Then, the computer system (Russian made), which was supplying the oxygen to the astronauts, stopped functioning. It was a serious problem. Normally, when such a problem comes, rebooting of the system would resolve the issue. But, this time it didn't help. Engineers in Houston and Moscow worked around the clock to come up with a fix. It took some 2 days to fix this damage.

Finally, Sunita and her team (pilot Lee Archambault and mission specialists Patrick Forrester, James Reilly, Steven Swanson and Danny Olivas) started their journey back to home. This time around, it was the turn of bad weather to delay their come back. And finally, today shortly before 1.00 pm (US time), they successfully landed at the Edwards Air Force Base (Mojave Desert) in California (earlier they planned for Kennedy Space Station Cape Canaveral.)

Now, Sunita Williams holds the record for stay in Space by any woman (195 days). She also set the world record for a female astronaut on spacewalks, totalling 29 hours and 17 minutes. She also proved that, she can not only walk, but run too, in space. During the Boston Marathon, she completed her race in a tread mill.

After the landing, 41-year-old Sunita was chosen Person of the Week by the ABC Television Network.

We, the Indians can celebrate this moment as she is an Indo-American.

About Sunita Williams...

Sunita Lyn Williams, born on September 19, 1965 in Ohio . A NASA astronaut, she is the second woman of Indian origin after the late Kalpana Chawla to go into space after being selected by NASA.

Married to Michael J. Williams, her family roots go back to Gujarat from her father's side. She carried a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a small statue of Ganesha and some samosas into space. She completed her Masters in Engineering Management from the Florida Institute of Technology.

Her stint with NASA started in 1998. She flew into space on Space Shuttle mission STS-116, aboard the shuttle Discovery, on 10 December 2006.

Hamilton Creates History in F1...

The Formula 1 circuit in Canada will be better known for the fact that Hamilton lifted his first F1 win. Now, Hamilton is the First Black Driver to clinch this prestigeous car race. Those who watched the race are lucky to see one of the finest F1 races, where Ferrari was crushed, McLaren team mate Alonso taken over by Sato(cpmmentattors told that, even sato has overtaken Alonso), Raikonen struggling (I don't know whats his problem..he may be under pressure to perform), Massa getting Black signal (due to the stringent rules of F1, he was forced to stop his race in between), and some amazing accidents (really I likes accidents in F1 race..I dont know why..). Because of the frequent accidents, Safety car was in place 4 times and Hamilton was lucky in that, just after he took his pit stop, safety car was imposed.

BMW Sauber's Kubica met a very serious accident. He has collided with Toyota's Jarno Trully. By the time I'm writing this post, he has been released from Hospital. There is nothing to worry, he is perfectly fine. He is looking for driving the Indianopolis GP next week.


But, all these times, there was one guy, the wonder boy from UK, without making even a single mistake, looking for the checkered flag. I think, now Mclaren cannot consider Alonso as their leading driver and Hamilton as the supporting driver. In the points tally, Hamilton is leading with 48 points, so is the case with the McLaren in the constructors championship.

Hamilton got one more recognition now. Going to the podium in his first 6 races (including sundays Canadian GP win). I doubts Hamilton will be the next champion and he will fill the gap left behind by the all time champion driver Michael Schumacher. Till last year, it was Alonso who was supposed to be predeccessor to Schumi.

Hamilton is only 22 years now. He should not get carried away by what he achieved in the yearly stages of his carrier. He should concentrate on his driving and his first target should be to win this years championship.

I seriously doubt, there is some problem with Ferrari cars, because, see the way Raikonen is driving (by the way, he is my favourite driver). Last year, he had some last lap car crashes and forced to stop the race just before 1 or 2 laps to finish (he was leading in all those races). Alonso became champion with very marginal advance over Raikonen. But this year, Raikonen is driving just like any other ordinary driver.

Year 2007 for Hamilton

Australian	18/03/2007	McLaren-Mercedes	4	3	6	6
Malaysian	08/04/2007	McLaren-Mercedes	4	2	8	14
Bahrain	15/04/2007	McLaren-Mercedes	2	2	8	22
Spanish	13/05/2007	McLaren-Mercedes	4	2	8	30
Monaco	27/05/2007	McLaren-Mercedes	2	2	8	38
Canadian	10/06/2007	McLaren-Mercedes	1	1	10	48