Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
EXCLUSIVE: Salman Khan responds to Pakistani Bajrangi Bhaijan’s appeal to find lost Indian girl’s home
The sensational Bollywood flick ‘Bajrangi Bhaijan’ became a success story on Indian Box Office and around the globe – but did it really turn out to be a ‘life changing’ for real-life Guddi – whose ordeal of spending life without parents is magnificently captured in the movie?
Human rights activist and former Pakistani federal minister for human rights Ansar Burney has called upon the Indian star Salman Khan to step up and replicate his Bajrangi Bhiajan role in the real life and help a lost Indian girl –currently in Pakistan — find her family back home in India.
Samsung glamour days over as it fights to save mobile market share
SEOUL: For four years Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has basked in the success of its Galaxy smartphones, making billions of dollars competing with Apple Inc in the premium mobile market.
The coming years are set to be more somber for the South Korean tech giant, as it is forced to slash prices and accept lower margins at its mobile division in order to see off competition from rivals including China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and Xiaomi Inc in the mid-to-low end of the market.
Behind Samsung’s reality-check is the fact it is stuck with the same Android operating system used by its low-cost competitors, who are producing increasingly-capable phones of their own.
“The writing has long been on the wall for any premium Android maker: as soon as low end hardware became ‘good enough,’ there would be no reason to buy a premium brand,” said Ben Thompson, an analyst
Margins at Samsung’s mobile division fell to 10.6 percent from 15.5 percent a year earlier during the second quarter of 2015, despite the April launch of its critically acclaimed Galaxy S6 range.
It remains the world’s biggest smartphone maker but it is Apple that is reaping most of the rewards.
While the U.S. giant’s smartphone sales in its last financial quarter fell short of market expectations, it is still estimated by some analysts to earn 90 percent or more of the industry’s profits.
Samsung said last week that it will continue trying to maximize profitability and market share, disclosing plans to launch new larger-screen premium phones as well as more bargain-priced handsets.
Investors and analysts say the group is right to dig its heels in for a business that continues to generate piles of cash and drives sales for its components divisions.
But they say Samsung will not be able to compete with Apple in the premium market based on hardware and will continue to trail the U.S. firm in the absence of a major technological breakthrough.
“Some still seem to think that a well-made product will sell well, but the Galaxy S6 showed that assumption is wrong,” said IBK Securities analyst Lee Seung-woo, who predicts Samsung’s mobile division margins will fall to 9.3 percent this year – the lowest since before the first Galaxy S phone launched in 2010.
PRICE CUTS.
Acknowledging the headwinds, the South Korean firm said last week it will “flexibly adjust” prices of its flagship Galaxy S6 and S6 edge models to boost third quarter sales. Samsung cut the retail price of S6 edge smartphones in South Korea by around 100,000 won ($85.46) during July.
The company also plans to launch more price-competitive products in the mid-to-low end of the market.
Nomura analyst C.W. Chung says Samsung still has the economies of scale to outlast rivals, adding the smartphone industry will face a consolidation similar to the one in the memory chip industry that the South Korean firm now dominates.
“The ones that ultimately survive will then have plenty to be happy about,” said Chung.
Nomura forecasts the smartphone market will grow from $276 billion last year to $315 billion by 2017, far larger than the DRAM and NAND memory chip markets where Samsung competes.
Further, the mobile division will remain an important client for Samsung’s components businesses. Use of its own Exynos mobile processors and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays in premium devices like the Galaxy S6 boosts its chip and display sales and serves as an advertising billboard for potential customers.
“When everybody comes out to dig for gold, jeans and pickaxes are what make money; that’s what Samsung’s semiconductor business is doing through the smartphone market,” said Nomura’s Chung.
Mealworms, algae make a tasty dish at London fest
LONDON: India Knight and Danny Jack use meal worms, algae, tree sap and homegrown flowers in a delicious spread served in a tree house to get their customers thinking about where their food comes from and its impact on the planet.
In a project subsidised by the global health foundation, the Wellcome Trust, Knight, a micro-biologist by training, and Jack were cooking 40 covers twice a day from a make-shift kitchen at the base of a tree at the Shuffle Film Festival in an East London park.
The Symbiosis Restaurant is a key feature of the Shuffle film festival curated by “Shallow Graves” film director Danny Boyle who was behind the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The ethereal restaurant, around 30 m (yards) above ground in the canopy of the lush, overgrown Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, was designed by Jess Sutton and features lightbulbs using bio-luminescence extracted from squid, an ingredient that features in one of the starters.
“It’s an inspirational space and I love the way they use organic ingredients and the concept behind it,” said Ilaria Leone, a content manager at an interior design company. “It kept you thinking as you walked off through the cemetery.”
Each dish has a title that explains a relationship between the ingredients. To represent parasitism, a tacos dish uses a fungus that causes corn smut, the chicken tacos dish that eventually kills the corn on which it lives, and Knight says that this represents what humans are in danger of doing to the planet they depend on to live.
“The use of cows for meat, for example, is bad for the planet and bad for humans, as well as the animals,” she told Reuters during a busy service.
“Land needs to be cleared for the cows to graze on, and the meat is not good for human health.”
She hopes that serving the food in the tree house will remind diners of how, in other parts of the world, trees are being cleared to make way for cattle to graze.
The food is elegantly presented, and features edible flowers such as violets grown in Knight’s own garden and herbs growing in the cemetery park, which is surrounded by tower blocks in the gritty district of Mile End.
But it is meal worms grown in east London, and served in dumplings fermented with Chinese vinegar, that represent the direction people should be looking to source their protein in future.
Using insects for sustenance will enable humans to wean themselves from the destructive mass production of protein involved in producing meat and some vegetable crops, Knight said.
Salman Khan promotes movie featuring Pakistani actor
Bollywood actor Salman Khan took to Twitter and promoted upcoming Bollywood flick Jaanisaar featuring Pakistani actor Imran Abbas.
Salman Khan is a generous man, who does not shy away from helping his friends in the Indian film industry. The Dabangg actor is currently on a high from his most successful film ever till date, Bajrangi Bhaijaan. However, the star actor took to Twitter and promoted the upcoming Bollywood movie Jaanisaar, which also features Pakistani actor Imran Abbas.
Salman Khan tweeted pictures of his on-screen mother Beena Kak from the movie ‘Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya’. Beena also plays a part in Jaanisaar. Salman Khan also shared a promotional poster of Jaanisaar which states aptly in Urdu,” Aarahi hai 7 dinon may apko 1877 main le jane”.
Jaanisaar will be Pakistani actor Imran Abbas’ second Bollywood flick. Imran will be looking to redeem himself after his very first film in Bollywood titled Creature 3D opposite the sultry Bipasha Basu failed to garner critical appreciation or collect an impressive amount at the box office. The lead actress opposite Imran Abbas in Jaanisaar is debutante Pernia Qureshi, who is a renowned fashionista.
Jaanisaar is a periodical love story set in the 1800s. Imran Abbas plays a handsome prince who falls in love with a courtesan, played by Pernia. As is the case with any love story, hurdles and problems arise due to the religious difference of both lovers. Also, a war breaks out which puts Hindus and Muslims on the dividing lines, which also serves as a setback for the couple.
Sunny Leone leaves her Hyderabad fans disheartened
DECCAN: The fans of Bollywood actress Sunny Leone were left disappointed when the diva cancelled a Friendship Day event she was scheduled to perform in.
The fans of Bollywood actress Sunny Leone were left disappointed when the diva cancelled a Friendship Day event she was scheduled to perform in.
Audience in large numbers had gathered on the occasion to watch Sunny Leone perform live in concert.
Sunny noticed the crowd getting out of control and immediately called the show off.
A brawl broke out between the revelers and the show organizers regarding the cancellation of the live show.
India blocks access to 857 porn sites
India has blocked free access to 857 porn sites in what it says is a move to prevent children from accessing them.
Adults will still be able to access the sites using virtual private networks (VPNs) or proxy servers.
In July, the Supreme Court expressed its unhappiness over the government's inability to block sites, especially those featuring child pornography.
Telecom companies have said they will not be able to enforce the "ban" immediately.
"We have to block each site one by one and it will take a few days for all service providers to block all the sites," an unnamed telecom company executive told The Times of India newspaper.
A senior official, who preferred to remained unnamed, told the BBC Hindi that India's department of telecommunications had "advised" telecom operators and Internet service providers to "control free and open access" to 857 porn sites.
"There is no total ban. This was done in the backdrop of Supreme Court's observation on children having free access to porn sites. The idea is also to protect India's cultural fabric. This will not prevent adults from visiting porn sites," the official said.
"It is a temporary arrangement. The telecommunications depart will eventually come up with a long term policy [of controlling access] to these sites later," he said.
In July, the top court had observed that it was not for the court to order a ban on porn sites.
"It is an issue for the government to deal with. Can we pass an interim order directing blocking of all adult websites? And let us keep in mind the possible contention of a person who could ask what crime have I committed by browsing adult websites in private within the four walls of my house. Could he not argue about his right to freedom to do something within the four walls of his house without violating any law?," the court said.
According to statistics released by adult site Pornhub, India was its fourth largest source of traffic in 2014, behind the US, UK and Canada.
Pranesh Prakash of the Bangalore based Centre for Internet and Society said the directive to block the 857 sites was "the largest single order of its kind" in India.
"The government's reasoning that it is not a ban because adults can still access the porn sites is ridiculous," he told the BBC.
The move has caused a great deal of comment on Indian social media networks, with many prominent personalities coming forward to condemn it.
Popular author Chetan Bhagat, writer and commentator Nilanjana Roy, politician Milind Deora and director Ram Gopal Varma have all added their voices to the debate.
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