After AR Rahman, Bombay Jayashri makes it to Oscars

Carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayashri, who is the only Indian this year to be nominated for an Oscar for Life of Pi, says she is thrilled to see her simple lullaby get recognised at the Academy Awards. Jayashri is nominated in the Original Song category for 'Pi's Lullaby' with composer Michael Danna. Speaking about the nomination, Jayashree told PTI, "I got to know about the nomination after some of my friends messaged me. I was not expecting it at all but I am thrilled that the film has bagged 11 nominations." Jayashri, who resides in Chennai went on to add, "It is a happy moment for Indian music. It is a very simple lullaby and comes from a mother's heart. Language does not matter as its feeling is universal." The singer even penned the lyrics of the Tamil song. Jayashri says she was guided by film's director Ang Lee and Danna at every step while working on the song. She is also hoping that Lee, who is already an Oscar winner, wins another trophy for Pi. "Working with Danna and Ang lee taught me many things. Lee is a genius," she added. On her Facebook page, Jayashri shared her experiences about working with Lee. "'A child sleeps not because he is sleepy, but because he feels safe'. These were the initial words of director Ang Lee, when he was explaining to me what he wanted to hear in the lullaby which opens and brings down the curtain of the movie Life Of Pi." Besides a huge body of work in classical music, Jayashri also has a selective but successful career in playback singing. She has collaborated with musicians like MS Vishwanathan, Ilayaraja, AR Rahman, Harris Jayraj and Shankar Ehsan Loy. Rahman, a double Oscar-winner for his music in Slumdog Millionaire, was one of the early well-wishers to Jayashri. "Congrats to Bombay Jayashree. First ever Academy Award nomination for a Tamil song," Rahman tweeted last night, just after the nominations were announced. Jayashri, on her part, says she is open to more such i

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Viswaroopam Movie Review

The wait is over. Kamal Hassan's biggest-ever film Viswaroopam, which has been delayed for one or the other reason, has seen the light of day in foreign countries but not in Tamil Nadu and some other Southern states as the High Court has stayed the release after several Muslim groups raised objection. After a gap of three years, Kamal Hassan is back with Viswaroopam, which is written, directed and produced by himself. The film was supposed to be directed by Selvaraghavan but as the director walked out of the film due to other commitments, Kamal took the responsibility of directing the film. The film is simultaneously made in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. It is made with the budget of Rs 95 crore, which is the second highest budget Tamil film after Rajinikanth's blockbuster Endhiran. What does the multilingual action-thriller has to offer? A reader named Praveen Kumar from New Jersey reviewed the film, as the movie was not released here. Read on for the review... The movie starts in America. Viswanath (Kamal Hassan), who will be seen as Kathak trainer, is surrounded by girls and one among them is Andrea Jeremiah. This makes Dr Nirupama (Pooja Kumar) to doubt on her hubby's character and hires a detective, who gets killed by Al-Qaeda group. The Al-Qaeda is planning to plant a Nuclear Bomb in New York and Kamal Hassan is well-aware of it. How? He has a past where he has a connection with the terrorist group, which is headed by Omar (Rahul Bose). Will the terrorist organisation succeed in their mission? What role does Kamal play? Is he a terrorist or an undercover agent? To know all these, you should watch the film. The story of the film begins on a slow note but it is gripping. The first half is entirely shot in the US, and keeps you engaged and generate a lot of curiosity. When it comes to second half, the narration is dragging at parts but gets interesting with Kamal Hassan's past getting revealed.

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Nokia Lumia 620: Top 5 Noticeable Rivals Of Windows Phone 8 Handset to Land in India

In the past week, Nokia released its Windows Phone 8 based smartphones - Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 in India after a long wait. Also, the Finnish handset vendor unveiled Lumia 620, the cheapest Windows Phone 8 handset, which was announced in December 2012. Further, at the launch event, Nokia claimed that Lumia 620 will be released into the market in the first week of February. Moreover, several media reports claimed that the handset will be landing in India with an estimated price tag of Rs 16,000, as the handset was launched in Thailand 8,250 baht (approx. Rs 14,900). When it comes to specs, Lumia 620 comes with a 3.8 inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen display, 1GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 512MB RAM, 8GB internal storage, 5MP rear camera, VGA front camera, NFC, Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth and 1,300 mAh battery. Lumia 620 will come in Magenta, Yellow, Cyan, White and Black color variants. Further, Lumia 620 comes preloaded with exclusive applications including Nokia Drive, CityLens, Nokia Maps, MixRadio and more as the other smartphones in the lineup. If Nokia launches Lumia 620 at the estimated price of Rs 16,000 approximately, the handset can definitely mark its success in the price conscious Indian market. Moreover, analyzing the price of other Windows Phone 8 handsets, Lumia 620 will be the cheapest WP8 handsets available in the country and hence, it can create an impact among the mid-range smartphone seekers in the country who do not want to shed more on smartphone purchase. However, Lumia 620 will not only compete with Windows Phone 8 handsets, but also with the Android offerings available in the mid-range market segment. Several companies including HTC, Samsung, LG, Sony, Micromax, Karbonn and more have smartphones based on Android and Windows Phone operating systems in the mid-range segment. Hence, Gizbot has come up with the top 5 noticeable rivals of Lumia 620 available in India.

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Kevin Pietersen meets Dalai Lama at his residence

England batsman Kevin Pietersen on Friday met The Dalai Lama at his residence. England and India are in Dharamsala for the fifth and final One Day International to be held here on Sunday. "His Holiness himself.. Such an interesting morning visiting his residence! #dalailama," tweeted Pietersen (@kevinpp24) and posted a picture of his visit. Pietersen also praised Dharamsala and posted a picture taken on the tarmac after the team's flight landed in the city. Cricket fever has gripped Dharamsala and it is expected to be a full house in this day game. This is the first ever international match in Dharamasala. India have already won the series 3-1.

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LG Ultrabook U560 Announced with 15.6 Inch IPS Display, Windows 8 OS and More

LG Electronics recently released a new ultrabook in the Korean market - the 15.6-inch LG Ultrabook U560.'Powered by Windows 8 OS, the new device by the South Korean tech manufacturer boasts 1080p IPS display for wide viewing angles and better color accuracy and features slim design and light weight compared to other typical notebooks in the market. With the launch of U560, LG notebook series has been expanded to a total of five. (Z360, U560, A560, N560, H160).Further, U560 has come equipped with newly released third-generation Core i5 3337U processors and a discrete graphics card, 3D games and more. Further, it features fast SSD (Solid State Drive), HDD (Hard Disk Dirve) that can be mounted at the same time, as well as dual storage solution, ODD (optical disk storage devices), standard USB port (3), HDMI / RGB / wired LAN ports (gender) and more. Meanwhile, LG U560 when available for purchase, that is by the end of March, will come accompanied with a laptop bag or advanced pouch, wireless mouse and 16GB micro SD memory.

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Nokia Prepping 41MP PureView WP8 Handset for MWC 2013: Can it Outdo the Smartphone Market Biggies?

Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Finnish handset manufacturer Nokia unveiled its innovative PureView camera technology, which was debuted on the Symbian powered Pureview 808. But the smartphone was not able to create much waves, as Symbian OS is far behind when compared to the capabilities of Android and iOS devices. Now, it seems that the Lumia series creator is planning to take a new step to differentiate its devices in the evolving smartphone market with the vantage of high-end photography. This can be said as the company is reportedly working on a new Windows Phone 8 based handset that will incorporate PureView technology. Well, many tech gossipers would say that there is nothing new in the news, as in April 2012, a news website, IT168.com claimed that Nokia has integrated this technology in the unannounced Lumia PureView smartphone that will come packed with an impressive 41-megapixel camera with Carl-Zeiss lens and PureView imaging technology, which can capture full HD (1080p) videos with Nokia's Rich Recording Technology. However, the latest on the same claim has been disclosed by the folks at The Verge. Their report say that Nokia will be bringing the 41MP PureView camera to an upcoming Windows Phone handset codenamed EOS. The report also revealed that the handset will be built using aluminum instead of polycarbonate that is used on the recent Lumia handsets. Also, EOS will be launched as a high-end Windows Phone based Lumia handset at MWC 2013. Unlike the Catwalk, which is rumored to replace the Lumia 920 with a similar design, the EOS will feature a completely new design. The move to aluminum for Nokia will let the company create lighter, thinner phones, but its doubtful that a 41MP sensor like the one inside the 808 PureView can fit inside a slim body. Rumored Specifications The reports from AndroSym highlighted that as Windows Phone 7 does not support PureView camera technology, the handset will be based on Windows Phone 8 Apollo. The device is rumored come with a 4.3 inch capacitive touchscreen (curved glass) display with HD resolution, 1.5GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and Adreno 320 graphics processor. Can it Help Nokia to Gain Smartphone Market Share? Undoubtedly, smartphones are gradually replacing digital cameras, as they are capable of capturing pictures more easily and quickly while still maintaining an acceptable level of quality. If Nokia comes with a 41MP PureView camera in a Windows Phone 8 based Lumia handset, the smartphone could definitely prove to be successful. The Nokia 808 PureView handset, which was launched in 2012 was not too successful as it was based on Symbian platform. The device was not able to create exciting waves in the industry, largely due to its outdated operating system and standard industrial design, although it has clearly compelled Nokia to give this concept another fair try with a new operating system and an adjusted form factor. However, it is to be noted that 808 PureView can produce images that are better than point and shoot camera and is on par with some DSLRs. When it comes to the latest model, Lumia 920, though the PureView camera does not have the same features as 808 PureView, the camera in the flagship smartphone focuses largely on low light imagery and image stabilization. Hence, it is assumed by tech experts that EOS will have all the features of PureView including oversampling of pixels and more. Hence, with all these consistent features, the yet-to-be revealed Lumia PureView does not sound as if it is a fake product, besides, it seems to be a true competitor against the Samsung and Apple best releases lined up for this year. The tech world will have to wait and watch until Nokia reveals something about the PureView incorporated Lumia smartphone.

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Twitter to Launch Standalone Video Sharing Vine App Soon: Not A Real Innovation?

Back in October 2012, Twitter acquired Vine - a video sharing startup. In a recent development, a tweet sent out by Twitter CEO Dick Costolo contained a video created from Vine, hinting that the application is almost ready for launch. For those who are not aware, the video sharing service specializes in very short clips, spanning for a few seconds only, this is why it complements well with Twitter, owning to the micro-blogging site's character limit. Vine is claimed to be different from the other services available in the market as it enables to upload few quick video snippets of six seconds. Vine will automatically generate a longer video stitched together from those small video snippets that were uploaded.According to an AllThingsD report, citing inside sources, Twitter is reportedly planning to launch Vine, its video sharing app on Apple App Store really soon. The report claims that Vine will debut as a standalone app and will have no Twitter branding on the app. Further, it is claimed that the uploaded videos can be posted on Twitter. However, it is to be noted that there is no confirmation from Twitter on the launch of the application. Vigi on App Store Though the micro-blogging site is praised for its innovation of letting users to embed videos on the tweets, according to a Facebook user who has contacted Gizbot, Twitter is planning to launch something that is already available in the App Store. Yes, as per information provided by one of three creators of Vigi, an app available for iOS since November 18 - it performs the same task that Vine is claimed to do so. The message states that "Vigi is a new media format for the iPhone. While a single photo leaves so much out of a special moment, Vigi perfectly captures them with motion and sound, creating beautiful mini looping videos in a fun way which are easily shared with friends and family through social networks." The tipster further challenged that, "So, clearly, Twitter is aiming for innovation here, but maybe they are not aware that what they're currently working on has already been done and is available to the world. We would like that people (and Twitter) know about this." For those who wish to try the app can check out Vigi available for free on the App Store.

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