Harry Potter 7

Harry Potter 7

Murder, mayhem, magic and more romance than in previous books (Harry's becoming a man!). Harry will be off, once again, as Dumbledore says in Book Six, "to pursue that flighty temptress, adventure."

Do I care? I have this love-hate thing goin' on with Harry Potter.

On the one hand I bow down before the magical J.K. Rowling for thrilling children, particularly boys, into reading again.

But all the hoopla over poor Harry gets to be a bit much and geeze, you know, when I read this stuff I'm thinkin', "I can do better than this!"

Is this Muggle a little envious of Rowling's wizardry? You betcha. When my three-year-old kicked the broom out from under Harry Potter at the UBC Bookstore, I felt more than a little satisfaction

Ash in US TV show heroes

Ash in US TV show heroes
ASH will appear in 8 episodes of the upcoming series of the NBC show about superhuman beings. The science fiction drama television series, created by Tim Kring, premiered on NBC on September 25, 2006 and tells the story of several people who "thought they were like everyone else... until they woke with incredible abilities" such as telepathy, time travel and flight. These people soon realize they have a role in preventing a catastrophe and saving mankind.

The series follows the writing style of American comics with short, multi-episode story arcs that build upon a larger, more encompassing arc and has actors of the caliber of Jack Coleman, Ali Larter and Hayden Leslie Panettiere. It's been said that Ash will play the role of Dr. Mohinder Suresh's elder sister Shanti Suresh, and will have a super-power of her own, something which has not yet been disclosed.

Interestingly this gives Ash a chance to work closely with Sendhil Ramamurthy, an American actor of Indian origin who plays Dr Mohinder Suresh, a genetics professor at the University of Madras that is attempting to find the truth behind the sudden death of his father and continuing his father's research of locating the 'superhuman' beings on Earth.

However in one of the episodes, Mohinder's mother has been shown telling him that his sister Shanti had died when she was five before his birth and whom Mohinder's dad loved very much. In another episode, Mohinder himself has been seen saying that he was born a few months too late to save his sister. So how Shanti Suresh i.e Aishwarya's character now fits into the scheme of things in the script will be really interesting to watch.

Aishwarya will reportedly begin shooting in Los Angeles later this month, and is expected to be seen on-screen as early as October of this year. If all goes well, the Bachchan Bahu will indeed have a great time balancing Bollywood and Hollywood!

The iPhone: Lots to Love, but Flaws Too

The iPhone: Lots to Love, but Flaws Too

We waited (and waited), we bought--and now no fewer than half a dozen PC World editors have put a gaggle of iPhones through their paces and many more.

Our conclusion: If you want to love this much-hyped gadget, you'll find plenty to go ga-ga over. The revolutionary multi-touch navigation system really is intuitive,responsive and fun. The endless expanse of display alone is nothing short of mesmerizing, with beautiful bright colors and crisp resolution.WOW. It's a great handheld video player, a decent music player and camera; its browser, while not as versatile as the one on your notebook, is still impressive. Plus, it works just fine as a cell phone.

But there are disappointments, too. Some we knew about ahead of time, including lack of support for AT&T's fastest (HSDPA) data network and the absence of instant messaging and office suite applications. Others are only apparent once you start using the handset (it can get warm with constant use, and you'll need to wipe off smudges frequently with the included cloth).

We're still iffy about the software keyboard and predictive text entry: They work reasonably well, but overall text entry is still easier with a hardware keyboard, and the iPhone may not be the best choice for people who need to compose a lot of e-mail.
So think just before u buy.
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apple iphone

In a blaze of publicity which characterises everything Apple does, its first real foray into the mobile market is now a reality - at least in America. The iPhone is certainly eye-catching, but can it live up to the hype?
The scene outside the 5th Avenue shop in New York resembled a movie premiere, only with smelly, unshaven people as the stars; they had camped out for days in the heat and dust.
Meanwhile, freshly showered Apple employees clapped and cheered as iPhone customers left the store - not because of the event, they were just overjoyed not to be the ones chained to the cash registers inside.
Scott Conley was 12th in line and waited two days for his: "I desperately want, as a professional and an Apple enthusiast for the product to win not just the industry but win me over as well. But I know myself enough that if in three or four days of use it's not going to carry me, I will go back to my Blackberry and flip the iPhone."

Google Maps is among the iPhone's applications
National iPhone week, or iDay as it was also called, was a brilliantly executed climax to six months of intense hype and marketing.
The device has been billed as revolutionary, and in many respects it is. The crisp 3.5 inch touch screen is the centre piece and the reason why the iPhone works so fluently and fast.
It is very responsive and can display many of its functions in both portrait and landscape mode thanks to an accelerometer sensor.
Multi-touch technology allows two fingers to be used to zoom in or out, and coverflow mode allows the user to effortlessly flick through music collections. In fact the integrated iPod is by far the best design to date, and it should not be too long before the stand-alone versions follow suit.
With a two megapixel camera, Google maps and wi-fi, the iPhone has a lot to offer.
Next generation
But successful as the campaign has been for Apple they did neglect to mention a few details, as Sascha Segan from PC Magazine explained: "It doesn't sound very good. My calls on the iPhone have sounded kind of tinny and weak. The volume is not great, there's been some volume wobble. The calls just don't sound terrific.

Apple boss Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone in January
iPhone launch
"I also don't like how the web browser doesn't support certain advanced technologies like Java, Flash and other plug-ins. So much of the internet is now streaming music, video, Java plug-ins and you can't see any of those pages on the iPhone's web browser."
Rich DeMuro from CNET thinks that the next generation iPhone needs to add a few features.
"First it needs a higher data network, definitely a 3G network. The corporate e-mail issue needs to be resolved, I'd like to see Blackberry-style software easily installed on there or good link software that you could install on there, that would be great.
"Right now you can't use Bluetooth headphones. So it's great that you can use the iPhone for all of your media and phone calls, but you still have that wire."
Verdicts
The earliest reviews - from four journalists who had been given an iPhone to play with a full two weeks before the rest of us - were overwhelmingly positive. But as techblog ValleyWag pointed out, all four journalists have indirect associations with Apple.
USA Today columnist Ed Baig, for example, wrote the iMac for Dummies book.
"If you read my review you'd see there are negatives in there," said Mr Baig. "I like the phone, it's a cool device but it's far from perfect, as I said. The review points out a lot of things that are on my wish list that could work better."
In Brooklyn 48 hours after launch, Scott Conley was in the back garden still getting used to his iPhone and blogging about his experience. Like many customers he was delighted but found a few basic functions just didn't exist.
"I have expectations of the consumer experience, and iPhone delivered on that right out of the box. The packaging's there, the hardware's dead sexy, the resolution and interface are gorgeous.
"But I can't turn the phone sideways to do e-mail, I've got to use the thin keyboard. I can't Bluetooth synchronise with my Powerbook, I can with my Nokia and some other phones.
"I think there are opportunities they didn't get to."
So what else could be improved on the iPhone? A non-user replaceable battery is a big issue - would you want to be without your phone for days while it's shipped back to Apple for a refit?
And if you plan on using the iPod portion of the phone be aware of the limited storage space - 4GB or 8GB with no ability to add to it. So only a small amount of songs or a tiny amount of movies can be kept onboard.
While competitors play up everything that is missing in iPhone 1.0 it is evident that the entire American mobile marketplace is realizing that Apple has raised the bar, even if people buy one just for the interface.

apple iphone