Srinivas Padma: Personal Musings on Life, Growth, and Connections

LONDON (Reuters) - Warner Music, the world's fourth largest music group, is putting its archive of music video online and making it available for free to fans. Warner, home to Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, will work with digital services provider Premium TV to create online TV sites or "digital hubs" that will be organized by artist, genre or label and funded by advertising. The move is part of the music industry's drive to generate revenue from new sources to offset the fall in CD sales and follows the explosion in popularity of online video. Warner said the platforms would show previously unseen footage and would eventually be available in different languages. Revenue will be driven by advertising but music fans will be able to download the videos for an additional fee and Warner will also examine syndicating the content to a third party. The deal includes plans to develop subscription-based services and a version to be used on mobile platforms. "This ...

Reuters - Leading mobile phone maker Nokia said on Thursday it would introduce three new phone models to its line-up, two of them mid-range and one at the higher end of the market. The Nokia 6500 Classic is a thin 3G-enabled phone, and has quad-band for global use, as well as a micro-USB connector. The 9.5 mm thick phone, one of Nokia's thinnest, is expected to hit the stores in the third quarter and retail for 320 euros ($430) before taxes and subsidies, Nokia said. The 6500 Slide is a 3G phone with a 3.2 megapixel camera and a stainless steel body, and is expected to sell for 370 euros, starting in the third quarter. The Nokia 8600 Luna is a design-driven stainless steel and glass phone with a 2 megapixel camera. It is expected to retail, starting in the current quarter, for around 700 euros before taxes and subsidies, Nokia said.

The costliest film to be made in Tamil, ‘Sivaji’ took more than a year to make. Shootings were done in Hyderabad, Pune in India and USA and Spain. Will be releasing worldwide on 15 June' 2007 ! Even as his innumerable fans are making hectic preparations to celebrate the release of his 100th film in Tamil, Sivaji on June 15, Rajnikant has sought to restrain them by directing them not to go overboard and cause public nuisance. Rajnikant fans, who had been waiting for the release of 'Sivaji' two years after their celluloid hero's hit Chandramukhi , are virtually painting Tamil Nadu red, as it were, putting up huge cut outs and digital banners hailing their celluloid hero. However, Rajnikant, who after a long gap met with his fans in Chennai last month on the eve of the release of 'Sivaji’ on Thursday issued 'five commandments' to his fans asking them to maintain decorum while indulging in the bash. 'Sivajis' Image Gallery: Rajnikant’s directives issue...

According to a new research review by Japanese researchers, longer work outs that last more than half an hour may boost your good cholesterol. What is Cholesterol? Cholesterol is a fatty substance that is found in the body tissue and blood of all animals. The liver manufactures about 80 per cent of the cholesterol in our bodies. The other 20 per cent comes from the food that we eat. There are two types of cholesterol good and bad. While too much bad cholesterol can cause heart disease, good cholesterol helps to remove bad cholesterol from the walls of arteries and transports it to the liver for elimination. Unlike low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or bad cholesterol, a rise in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or good cholesterol is considered positive for heart health. At least two hours per week of aerobic exercise such as walking, biking, or swimming, preferably in sessions lasting for more than half an hour, may boost the good cholesterol, said new research review published in the Japanes...

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile , Research) will unveil a coffee-table-shaped "surface computer" on Wednesday in a major step towards co-founder Bill Gates's view of a future where the mouse and keyboard are replaced by more natural interaction using voice, pen and touch. Microsoft Surface, which has a 30-inch display under a hard-plastic tabletop, allows people to touch and move objects on screen for everything from digital finger painting and jigsaw puzzles to ordering off a virtual menu in a restaurant. It also recognizes and interacts with devices placed on its surface, so cell phone users can easily buy ringtones or change payment plans by placing their handsets on in-store displays, or a group of people gathered round the table can check out the photos on a digital camera placed on top. The world's largest software maker said it will manufacture the machine itself and sell it initially to corporate customers, deploying the first units...

Mexico City: A 20-year-old dancer Riyo Mori from Japan, who wants to someday open an international dance school, was crowned as Miss Universe 2007. Mori, from the small town of Shizuoka at the base of Mount Fuji, won the cheers of the Mexico City audience when she opened her interview, saying "Hola, Mexico!" The daughter of a dance school operator, Mori said her grandmother told her as a child she wanted her to be Miss Japan before she turned 20. Riyo Mori nervously grabbed the hands of first runner-up, Natalia Guimaraes of Brazil, just before the winner was announced. She was trembling in awe as the diamond-and pearl-studded crown was placed on her head. Miss USA Rachel Smith, whose chances may have been dimmed when she slipped and fell to the floor during the evening gown competition, was the contest's fourth runner-up. Also finishing in the top five were second runner-up Ly Jonaitis of Venezuela and third runner-up Honey Lee of Korea. Miss India Puja Gupta, who made to...

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian cinemas have found a powerful new weapon in their fight against movie pirates -- military-style night-vision goggles. After showing people to their seats, trained ushers are strapping on the goggles and scanning darkened cinemas around the country to spot anyone trying to make illegal copies of movies with hand-held video recorders or mobile phones. The Motion Picture Association, which is training Malaysian ushers to catch the pirates, said cinemas had caught 17 people in the past two months, during which Hollywood studios released blockbusters like "Spider-Man 3" and "Pirates of the Caribbean". "All of the cases were spotted with night-vision goggles," the association's Malaysia manager, Nor Hayati Yahaya, said on Friday. "Its very successful." Malaysia figures on the U.S. watchlist for movie and software piracy, but local authorities have launched a major crackdown on producers and retailers of illegal DV...

Inveterate note takers cum net browsers can now make use of a new product available online Google notebook. It accompanies you unobtrusively when you browse the Net and is at hand when you want to note down, clip or paste anything. You can do it without leaving the site you are browsing. The notebook may prove to be useful for students, researchers and those diligent types who like to scribble. The content can be organised in terms of subjects. It all looks very neat and tidy. You can also decide to share it online with your friends or publish it as a webpage after a while. And there is no need to worry about losing the notebook, since it is kept secure in a Google server.

Jordin Sparks grew up on American Idol, watching the television singing competition since she was 12 years old and telling her mother it was what she wanted to do. "Now I‘m actually doing it," the 17-year-old told reporters backstage after winning in Wednesday's season finale. The announcement that the Arizona teenager bested Blake Lewis, 25, the beat-boxer from Washington, came at the end of a two-hour extravaganza at the Kodak Theatre. "I've just been trying to top myself each week," Sparks said. "I would sing my song and after I was done I was like, ‘OK, what am I going to do next week that's going to be ... either just as good or better.'" Sparks, with a floor-length gown and movie-star hair, gushed like a teenager when her name was called. "Thank you so much for everything," she told the crowd. "Mom, Dad, I love you. Nana, Papa, P.J., thank you guys." Then she began This Is My Now, the tune picked by viewers in a ne...

Kathmandu: A British man has set a world record by making the first mobile telephone call from the summit of Mount Everest, taking the blessing — or curse — of the cellphone to new heights. “It’s cold, it’s fantastic, the Himalayas are everywhere,” Rod Baber said in the phone call from the top of the 8,848-metre (29,198foot) peak early on Monday morning, according to a voice recording posted on his web log. “I can’t feel my toes, everyone is in good spirits — we got here in record time, it is amazing,” said Baber. His achievement was made possible by China Telecom, which has set up a mobile phone tower at base camp on the north side of the mountain. It is good news because communications are essential in the mountains where climbers face risk.

Breaking News!! Flash News!! Since we stare at work so much, I had wondered if I had read it correct. Yes I had read it right, much to one’s disbelief but then it could have also been a typo error (a big one it would have been) but then it was THE NEWS everywhere. This new law has an immediate effect and by the words of the City commissioner Mr. Balwinder Singh you can expect more such laws to ‘protect citizens’ (no it isn’t the typical Sardarji joke, it’s for real). This has come in effect due to a recent incident, where a pillion rider had been responsible for a stabbing incident. These rules are becoming ridiculous with every passing day and hampering normal existence. We had the Fire department disprove many high-rise projects (higher than a 5 storey building) due to lack on fire safety equipment. This was least expected for a bloating city population supported by a floating suburban population. Recently we also had the Karnataka government ban woman working in night shifts, this ...

Will Dunham Washington: TREATING SKIN wounds with a gel made from a patient's own blood platelets can speed healing, said researchers in a study showing how doctors may be able to harness the body's innate healing ability. Skin wounds treated with this gel healed about 10 per cent more quickly than wounds in the same people treated with only an antibiotic ointment, a recent study in the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery showed. The researchers cautioned that this was a small pilot study - only eight people were examined - but said the concept could change the way doctors deal with wounds, from surgical incisions to, potentially, internal injuries. "I'm excited about it because it changes our way of thinking about wounds. Instead of passively just watching it heal, we can now actively intervene to possibly speed it up," said study leader Dr David Hom of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio. Hom said in a telephonic interview that improving woun...

Jaipur: Habib Miyan, acknowledged as the oldest person of India in the Limca Book of Records , celebrated his 138th birthday on Sunday, with people from all walks of life thronging his residence here to greet him. Miyan cut a cake, firecrackers were burst and 139 balloons released to mark the celebrations, joined in by people from as far as Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, as also chairman of Rajasthan Minority Com mission Sardar Jasbir Singh. "Kisi raees ki mehfil ka jikra kya hai amir, khuda ke ghar bhi na jayenge bin bulawe ke (May you discuss a party of a rich man, I will not even go to god's house without invitation)," Miyan quipped at his house. Asked about his eating habits, he said, "I am open to any kind of food," but added that he is a great fan of meat preparations, even if these are considered too oily for his age. "Gosht roti khao, Allah ke gun gao," Miyan said. Habib Miyan is a very optimistic person, said Dr R.K. Verma, an...

Friday, 18 May , 2007 Hyderabad: Five persons were killed and eight others, including two children, were injured when a powerful bomb exploded during Friday prayers at the historic Mecca mosque in the Charminar area of the old city in Hyderabad. Two live bombs were also detected from the spot soon after the explosions and were defused. The bomb exploded when thousands of people were gathered in the mosque for Friday prayers, DCP, South Zone, Kanta Rao, said. The injured, some of them bleeding profusely, were rushed to Osmania and other hospitals by the worshippers in whatever modes of transport they could arrange. The explosion created such a panic that those gathered for the prayers started running towards the exit gate of the mosque, said to be over 400 years old and considered sacred by Muslims in and outside the state. A large posse of police personnel, who arrived on the scene, faced an angry crowd, who pelted stones at them and the shops in the vicinity. Police resorted to lath...

Some ways to avoid the common mistakes that can hold you back from a rewarding career Since you started at your company a year ago, several positions of responsibility have opened up. You could have easily slipped into one. Instead, other internal candidates got the nod. The last person who was hired in your company (just two months ago) was even promoted. You seem to have missed the bus. There must be some way to prevent another opportunity from passing you by? Study these solutions to the four common myths that might have held you back from a rewarding career. People should just know I am a hard worker: being a hard worker does not mean you will reap the rewards due to you. Every now and then, find a way to toot your own horn. Did you recently receive kudos for a job well done? Find a way to get your boss to acknowledge your success in the compa ny newsletter or up on the bulletin board. Buy yourself a nice scarf, pin or tie as a reminder of that success. When people comment on the i...

WOODSTOCK, Conn. - Here's the naked truth about nude recreation: The people who practice it aren't getting any younger. To draw 20- and 30-somethings, nudist groups and camps are trying everything from deep discounts on membership fees to a young ambassador program that encourages college and graduate students to talk to their peers about having fun in the buff. "We don't want the place to turn into a gated assisted living facility," said Gordon Adams, membership director at Solair Recreation League, a nudist camp in northeastern Connecticut that recently invited students from dozens of New England schools to a college day in hopes of piquing their interest. The median age is 55 at Solair, where a yearly membership is $500 for people older than 40, $300 for people younger than 40 and $150 for college students. The Kissimee, Fla.-based American Association for Nude Recreation, which represents about 270 clubs and resorts in North America, estimates that more than 9...

SANTA CLARA, California (Reuters) - Motorola Inc. is set to unveil a mobile phone with full-motion video display and the means to play feature films on small removable storage cards, Chief Executive Ed Zander said on Wednesday. Speaking at the Software 2007 conference in Silicon Valley, Zander briefly described one of the several devices the world's second-largest mobile phone maker has said it plans to announce at an event next Tuesday. "We are going to show a device next week," Zander told several hundred attendees of the business software conference, saying it would show 30 frames-a-second, full-motion video. "It is a media monster." The new device would initially be targeted at the European market, where faster, so-called "third generation" (3G) networks are more widely available than in Motorola's home U.S. market. Zander also said Motorola has partnered with another company that can fit feature-length movies on so-called Secure Digital (SD) c...

These pictures are taken in Shirdi, Maharashtra in April 2007. You will See Baba's Chavdi, Dwaraka Mai and surroundings and Shani Shinganapur Temple. Babas Chavadi , Sai Baba use to take rest at this Place. Dwaraka Mai Wall Sculpture Near Baba's Chavadi and Dwaraka Mai Beautiful Sunset in Shirdi taken from the Hotel where i was staying Shani-Shinganapur is a famous pilgrim centre near Nashik in Maharashtra, which is also known for its doorless mystery. The unique feature of Shani-Shinganapur is that there is neither any image of specific deity nor any particular idol, but there is a stone pillar, which is supposed to embody the image, which is worshipped with deep respect and reverence The speciality of this temple is that there is no image or Pandit who performs the puja. Male devotees before entering into the temple take a head bath in the holy waters close to the temple and wear saffron cloth. The puja i...

just imagine how dirty i can get, Sorry raa madhu... Original . . . . . . . . . . . . .

New Delhi: A Sudanese man who married a goat was in mourning after his wife (goat) died of swallowing a plastic bag. Charles Tombe shot to fame last year when he tied the knot with Rose, his domestic goat, said the Daily Mail. A court ordered him to marry the beast "to save her honour" after he was caught making amorous advances toward the mother-of-one in the middle of the night. Tombe and Rose are believed to have lived happily ever after until her life was cruelly cut short. The story, which became one of the world's best read tales, began in Juba, southern Sudan, in February last year when the BBC reported that the then owner of the goat, Alifi, was awoken in the night by a strange noise. Walking out of his traditional hut, he was confronted by the sight of Tombe and Rose in a passionate embrace. The Times quoted Alifi as saying, 'When I asked him "What are you doing there?" he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up." When Tomb...

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Top world cell phone maker Nokia unveiled a thin "Barracuda" phone and six other handsets priced under 100 euros ($135.65) on Thursday, including its cheapest 1200 model expected to sell for 35 euros. The Finnish firm, which sells more than a third of all cell phones across the world, repeated it expects the global market to grow this year by up to 10 percent from a year ago level of 978 million handsets. Nokia(NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile , Research) has a strong position in emerging markets, but in developed markets Motorola (MOT.N: Quote, Profile , Research) and Samsung (005930.KS: Quote, Profile , Research) have attacked it with popular thin phones. The Barracuda, or Nokia 2630, is slightly below 10 millimeters (0.4 inch) thick, comparable with most rival thin phones. The handset will hit the shelves next quarter, with an estimated retail price of 85 euros, excluding operator subsidies and taxes. "At these prices, the largest volumes are sold -- on ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc. is shutting down Yahoo Photos, an online photo storage site, and asking users to move instead to its Web 2.0 photo sharing site, Flickr, a Yahoo official said. In June, tens of millions of registered users of Yahoo Photos will be notified of various options including upgrading to Yahoo's Flickr service or various outside-photo storage sites, according to Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield. Yahoo also will offer consumers the option of loading their photos on competing sites when users are notified next month. Outside sites include PhotoBucket -- the most popular online photo sharing service among users of social network sites like News Corp.'s MySpace -- or more conventional photo printing and storage site such as Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly Inc. or Snapfish, he said. "Flickr will get top-billing, of course," Butterfield said in an interview late on Thursday about the plan to give users multiple alternatives. Butterfield and co-fo...

Is it Real or Not? - Find out below after reading this Hoax News.... Recent exploration activity 1n the northern region of India uncovered a skeletal remains of a human of phenomenal size. This region of the indian desert is called the Empty Quarter. See the photo and note the size of the two men standing in the picture in comparison to the size of the skeleton!! A very small article on this was published in Times Of India- Mumbai edition on 22-Apr-2004. The discovey was made by National Geographic Team (India Division) the support from the indian Army since the area comes under the jurisdiction of the Army. The exploration team also found tablets vdth inscriptions that stated that our Gods of Indian mythologicalyore, Brahma", had created people of phenomenal size the like of which He has not created since. They were very tall, big, and very powedul, such that they could put their arms around a tree trunk and uproot it. They were created to bring order among us since we were ...

HELSINKI (Reuters) - After hitting alarm clock makers and camera manufacturers, the cell phone industry has a new target -- personal navigation device makers. Handset makers see navigation as one of the next major value-adding offerings and even at this very early stage, analysts say the annual market for phone navigation is worth hundreds of millions of euros. While a few years ago personal navigation device makers like Dutch TomTom shrugged off possible rivalry from the handset industry, they have now acknowledged the potential risk to their business. Reuters Pictures Photo The world's top handset maker Nokia started to sell its first navigation phone Nokia N95 a month ago, and other top vendors are expected to follow shortly, hoping to make 2007 the breakthrough year for cell phone navigation. The N95, with a 700-euro price tag , is not in reach of the masses despite first reports showing strong sales, but the Finnish firm aims to bring GPS positioning chips to a wide array of ...

London: Here’s good news for women suffering from sexual dysfunction — a few simple dietary changes could improve their sex drive, say researchers. Female sexual dysfunction (FSD) includes a variety of disorders that are related to desire for sex, arousal during sexual activity, problems with orgasm or pain during sexual activity. It is also an extremely complex problem with a variety of possible causes, including illness, menopause, weight gain, poor nutrition, stress and psychological factors. A new, scientifically proven diet from the US suggests that a combination of fish oils, dark chocolate and controlling carbohydrates may be all that’s needed, reported the on-line edition of Daily Mail. In her book The Orgasmic Diet, author Marrena Lindberg has created a programme that she says not only boosts the sex drive, but aids weight loss, too. Four simple steps, which Marrena says, will help bring back libido in days. She advises women to boost their intake of fish oils, control seroton...