Lungi Ban in Dubai Cinemas

Next time you wanna relax watching a movie in a cinema house, make sure you are decently dressed.

A theatre in Dubai has banned lungi (a traditional garment worn around the waist by men in Asian nations) in its premises Bollywood Cinemas, a new theatre in Al Qouz industrial area, has implemented the new dress code for movie goers.

Notices put up at the entrance in all South Indian languages reads - "Please don’t come to the theater wearing lungis. It is not allowed here.”

The twin cinema theatre, with 300 seats, largely caters to blue-collared workers as it is close to labour accommodation camps in the area.

The dress code comes at a time when workers were happy to get a new theatre closer home. Earlier, they had to travel long distances to watch a film.

The manager of Bollywood Cinemas, located in Al Kabayan Oasis, said: "Most theatres in Dubai do not allow people in lungi. Several workers come in lungis, causing embarrassment to families coming for the shows. In fact, we have received complaints from some family viewers.”

Theatre officials also said they have resorted to this measure to avoid paying fines to Dubai Municipality. “We can be fined by the Municipality, if they find people watching movies in lungis. Officials do occasional inspections in our theatres,” he added.

“White dhotis are allowed on special occasions such as Onam (the South Indian harvest festival) or Diwali (Festival of lights); but no lungis," the manager said.

Sukumar, who lives in Al Qouz, said: "I watched 'Pranayam', a Malayalam film, all alone. There were only five people to watch 'Indian Rupee'. The theatre is empty most of the time and the new dress code may further reduce the numbers."

The garment has already been banned in Sharjah.

How did Steve Jobs drive without a license plate?

How did Jobs get away with driving without a license plate?

It was common knowledge that Jobs would park his Mercedes SL55 AMG in a handicapped spot at Apple's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, with nothing to identify his vehicle other than the tiny barcode that usually rests behind the rear license plate.

According to Walter Isaacson's new biography, Jobs wanted to avoid having a plate for privacy reasons; and yet when having a license-less silver Mercedes became a kind of trademark, Jobs kept motoring without one "because I don't."

For years, rumors swirled that Jobs had either won a special dispensation from California authorities or was just daring police to stop him. While the why remains somewhat cloudy, an interview by ITWire with a former Apple security executive reveals the real reason: a little-known loophole in California vehicle laws that gives owners up to six months to get plates for their vehicles.

According to Jon Callas, now chief technical officer of Entrust, Jobs would just arrange with his vehicle leasing company to switch out his silver Mercedes every six months with a new, identical model!!!

Magnitude-6.9 quake shakes LIMA, Peru

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitutde of 6.9 has rattled Peru's capital.

There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The U.S. Geological Survey says it was centered just off the coast, 31 miles (50 kilometers) from Ica at a depth of 9.2 miles (15 kilometers).

The location is 186 miles (299 kilometers) southwest of Lima.

CTIA Report: Wireless devices in the US outnumber people

There are now more wireless devices being used in the United States than there are people, and Americans have doubled the amount of Internet data traffic they generate on smartphones, according to the trade group CTIA.

The number of mobile devices rose 9 percent in the first six months of 2011, to 327.6 million — more than the 315 million people living in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Wireless network data traffic rose 111 percent, to 341.2 billion megabytes, during the same period.

How is this possible? Many adults have more than one wireless device, which include smartphones, tablets, and wireless cards.

Analysts have also pointed to the shorter lifecycle of electronics in U.S. homes, a trend prompted mostly by the availability of high-speed wireless access and more affordable devices.

The typical home of 2.6 people has an average of 24 gadgets, including at least one smartphone — double the number 15 years ago, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, a trade group.

CTIA’s data comes from a semi-annual survey that was relesaed Tuesday ahead of its fall business convention this week in San Diego. Tablets and laptops make up a small portion of those wireless network-connected devices at 15.2 million, up 17 percent from a year earlier.

The figures come amid big changes in the wireless industry. It is difficult to say how new data caps imposed by AT&T and Verizon Wireless are affecting consumers, and whether users are hitting their monthly limits. Users are expected to offload heavy data use onto Wi-Fi hot spots, analysts say.

Text messages continue to be massively popular, with 1.138 trillion sent in the past year, up 16 percent.

All those new connections have boosted revenues for the wireless industry, up 6 percent to $164.6 billion in the 12 months ending June, 2011.

US Bigger Enemy Than India For Pakistan : Imran Khan

The US is now perceived as a “bigger enemy” in Pakistan than India, cricketer-turned- politician Imran Khan has said, while voicing concern that his country is “petrified” it could be bombed every time a terror attack takes place in India, US or Europe.

Khan further said that no amount of confidence-building measures will help India and Pakistan if intelligence agencies from the two countries “interfere” in each other’s business.

“No matter how far we go with confidence-building measures, one act like Mumbai will bring us back to square one,” he said.

Addressing a gathering of students at Columbia Journalism School here, Khan said thanks to the American policy in Pakistan, a majority of Pakistanis now perceive US to be a bigger enemy than India.

“What the American policy has achieved in Pakistan is something which is almost impossible to imagine. About 80 per cent of Pakistanis perceive US to be a bigger enemy than Indians” even though Pakistan and India have fought four wars, he said.

“Today America is perceived as a bigger enemy, yet we are supposed to be allies.”

On whether he thinks India is an “existential threat” to Pakistan, Khan said “no I don’t think so.”

He said given the wars that the two countries have fought, “it is in the genes” and in the “military pysche” that India is a threat to it.

Khan said it is time that this “distrust” between the two neighbours ends.

“No matter how many confidence-building measures you have, unless we come to an understanding that our intelligence agencies will not interfere with each other or will no longer play a part in any violence in each other’s countries, one act like Mumbai will bring us back to square one.”

Pakistan and India should have a “completely new relationship,” as this will benefit the subcontinent, he said adding that a relationship based on suspicion is completely counter-productive for both countries.

“India needs Pakistan, Pakistan needs India,” he said.

Hijab in the UK

This British policewoman entered in to Islam and insisted on wearing her hijab at work, the news is that this woman is the first British policewoman wearing a hijab during work. The beautiful part in the story is that the authorities did not intervene in the matter and left the policewomen as she desire. 

Wonder why the french are so against it!

The Blackberry Packager for Android

Taj Mahal & the Full Moon

With a cool breeze blowing and the majestic Taj Mahal washed in the full moon light, it was a sight to behold for the 350-odd people, including Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, who visited the 17th century mausoleum in Agra on Sharad Purnima.

With the moon at its brightest, around 400 people are permitted to enter the Taj Mahal precincts. Visitors are also allowed entry to see the Taj Mahal at night two days before and after the full moon.

On Wednesday, around 350 tourists visited the Taj, which remains open till midnight.

"The full moon was there at its brightest... But the moon looked smaller and not so bright," said tourist guide Ved Gautam.

"That was because the moon was farthest from the earth on Wednesday," explained star gazer Pravan Sharma.

Dressed in a white and black suit with a red dupatta, Deepika was accompanied by her father Prakash Padukone and three others.

Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society president Surendra Sharma said: "Normally after the rains, the Taj looks sparkling white and when the moon rays fall on the white surface, people are thrilled to see the rare spectacle."

"Before 1985, there were no restrictions and almost the whole city used to turn up at the Taj on Sharad Purnima for the 'Chamki Mela'. Each marble piece sparkled when the moon rays struck its surface at a certain angle -- and people would burst into joyous ecstasy and shout 'chamki'," he added.

A large number of people had gathered at the Mehtab Bagh, on the opposite bank of Yamuna, to see the Taj by night for free. "Many tourists had crowded terraces and roof-top restaurants in the Taj Ganj area," said Sandip Arora, a hotelier in Taj Ganj.

Nekkaz pledges €1 million to pay burqa fines in France

There is revolution in the air in France!

 A Muslim businessman called Rachid Nekkaz is incensed that France has moved one step closer to banning the burqa, with women caught wearing the full veil in public liable to a €150 fine and anyone convicted of forcing a woman to cover up facing a fine of up to €30,000 and a year in prison.

The first stage in passing the controversial law was today approved in the National Assembly with members of the Lower House voting overwhelmingly – 335 votes for to one against – to introduce the ban. If the French senators in the Upper House ratify the proposal in September, it will become law by the spring of 2011.

Nekkaz, along with the majority of France's five million Muslims, is furious at what he sees as a persecution of his religion, pointing out that fewer than 2,000 French Muslims actually wear the full veil.

He has begun a campaign to fight the law and he's pledged one million euros of his own money to pay the fines of any Muslim convicted. Speaking outside the National Assembly, Nekkaz said: "One million sounds a lot, but to protect one's liberty it's not much, and I hope that others in this country who hold the constitution dear and want to protect our fundamental liberty will join me in fighting this law."

Nekkaz, a shining example of an integrated, modern French Muslim (he was born in France to Algerian parents), has set up a campaign group called 'Hands off my Constitution', and plans to raise the €1m by selling some of the properties he owns in the Parisian suburbs.

In front of the cameras he wrote a personal cheque for the seven-figure sum before describing the proposed law as 'Anti-Constitutional' and demanding that President Sarkozy shelves the idea.

That seems unlikely. Not only has Sarkozy described the full veil as degrading to women, but it's an issue that has the overwhelming support of his UMP party. Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said last week that wearing the veil "amounted to being cut off from society and rejecting the very spirit of the French republic that is founded on a desire to live together''.

And the likes of Nekkaz haven't been helped in fighting the law by the muddled approach of the opposition Socialist Party. They would like to see a ban restricted to state institutions. But that notion was ridiculed by Alliot-Marie, who said it would be "legally incoherent" and impossible to enforce. "How could we convince the French people that freedom, equality and respect for the dignity of women begins in the train station but stops at the exit?''
The Socialists abstained in today's vote in the Lower House and have said they will adopt a similar stance in September's Senate vote, in which case it seems certain the law will be written into the French Constitution. But the country's police force is bracing itself for a backlash. Security was increased at the National Assembly ahead of today's vote and there are fears of street riots if the bill is passed.

Microsoft to bid for Yahoo again

Microsoft Corp is considering a bid for Yahoo Inc, resurfacing as a potential buyer after a bitter and unsuccessful fight to take over the Internet company in 2008, sources close to the situation said on Wednesday.

Microsoft joins a host of other companies looking at Yahoo, which has a market value of about $20 billion and is readying financial pitch books for potential buyers, they said.

Those companies include buyout shops Providence Equity Partners, Hellman & Friedman and Silver Lake Partners, as well as Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and Russian technology investment firm DST Global, the sources said.

One camp inside Microsoft is hot for the deal, believing that it would obliterate AOL Inc as a competitor and create a strong Web portal that can offer better products to audiences, advertisers and end users, the executive said.

However, another camp is against the deal, feeling that if Microsoft is going to invest billions of dollars in an acquisition it should be one that has more growth potential. Microsoft last tried buying Yahoo in 2008, offering to pay as much as $47.5 billion, or $33 per share.

"Yahoo's value hasn't grown in years, and some executives feel we should buy something that is more forward-looking," said the executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Yahoo, Microsoft and the other potential buyers declined to comment.

Microsoft is making slow progress in combating Google's dominance in search advertising. According to the latest figures from research firm comScore, Google has 64.8 percent of the U.S. search market, Yahoo has 16.3 pct and Microsoft 14.7 percent.

But even with traffic from Yahoo, Microsoft still has not attracted enough advertising dollars and profitability in search is a long way off.

Last quarter, Microsoft's online services unit -- which includes Bing and the MSN web portal -- lost $728 million. It has lost almost $6.5 billion over last three fiscal years.

Hong Kong teen's design for Steve Jobs a cyber hit

A Hong Kong design student's tribute to Apple founder Steve Jobs became an internet hit on Thursday with its minimalist, touching symbolism and brought a job offer and a flood of commemorative merchandise using his design.

Nineteen-year-old Jonathan Mak, a student at Hong Kong's Polytechnic University School of Design, came up with the idea of incorporating Steve Jobs' silhouette into the bite of the Apple logo, symbolising both Jobs' departure and lingering presence at the core of the company.

The design spread like wildfire in cyberspace, drawing hundreds of thousands of posts, and even commemorative caps and T-shirts peddled on eBay featuring his design.

The logo was even used as the twitter profile picture for Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher.

"It's been a crazy day for me," Mak told the media. "I'm both excited and terrified," added the teenager.

Mak said he had received a job offer because of the design. "I really am speechless," he said in a Twitter post.

Apple's co-founder Jobs, who created revolutionary products and reshaped the way the world approaches computing and personal communications, died on Wednesday at the age of 56.

Mak, who first created the logo after Jobs' stepped down as Apple's head in August, said it hadn't made much of a splash until he reposted it on Thursday.

Steve Jobs of Apple Dead

Apple Inc co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, counted among the greatest American CEOs of his generation, died on Wednesday at the age of 56, after a years-long and highly public battle with cancer and other health issues.

Jobs' death was announced by Apple in a statement late on Wednesday.

The Silicon Valley icon who gave the world the iPod and the iPhone resigned as CEO of the world's largest technology corporation in August, handing the reins to current chief executive Tim Cook.

Jobs, who fought a rare form of pancreatic cancer, was deemed the heart and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America.

This was perhaps one of his last dreams:

iPhone 5 Only on Sprint?

Sprint has entered into an agreement with Apple to purchase over $20 billion worth of iPhones over the next four years, the Wall Street Journal reports -- around 30 million iPhones.

It’s said that Sprint won’t even break even on the transaction until 2014, which is surely a huge risk on Sprint’s part. So why make the deal?

BGR.com has been told that Sprint will be getting the iPhone 5 -- the real iPhone 5, not the iPhone 4S -- as an exclusive. And it will be a 4G WiMAX device. AT&T and Verizon will launch the iPhone 4S and get the iPhone 5 some time in the first quarter of next year as an LTE device. Globally, the iPhone 5 might be available as a 4G HSPA+ device.

iPhone 4S Apple will be introduced tomorrow.

Aga Khan Ordered to Pay $ 80 Million to Ex-Wife

In what the French press is calling the most expensive divorce settlement in the country's history, a court here has ordered the Aga Khan to pay his former wife $ 80 million.That's in the range of what Madonna paid Guy Ritchie when their marriage ended. The diva reportedly shelled out between $76 million and $92 million.

The Aga Khan, who is a billionaire and spiritual leader to 20 million Ismailiyyah (Aga Khani), married Gabriele Thyssen, a German princess, in 1998. They divorced several years later after having a son.

Le Point magazine reported that on Thursday a French court of appeals ordered the Aga Khan to hand over 60 million euros after determining that he was exclusively at fault, overturning a lower court that blamed both parties and awarded a mere 12 million euros.The Aga Khan, through his foundation, is known for his work in eliminating poverty, advancement of women and the promotion of Islamic art and architecture.

Facebook in tracking suit

FACEBOOK is being sued by a group of users over claims it tracks their online activity after they log off.

The claims were exposed by an Australian technology blogger, Nik Cubrilovic, who conducted tests that revealed that when users log out, the site does not delete tracking ''cookies'' but modifies them, keeping information that can identify users as they surf the internet.

The company has told users cookie files installed on their computers to track interactions with Facebook applications and websites are removed when they log off, according to a complaint in the US Federal Court in San Jose, California.

Facebook admitted last week that the cookies track internet activity after users log off, according to the suit.

''This admission came only after an Australian technology blogger exposed Facebook's practice of monitoring members who have logged out, although he brought the problems to the defendant's attention a year ago,'' the complaint states.

On Friday, 10 public interest groups asked the US Federal Trade Commission to investigate Facebook's tracking of internet users after they log off. They urged the commission to examine whether Facebook's new ticker and timeline features increased privacy risks for users by combining biographical information in an easily accessible format.

The lawsuit - filed by Perrin Aikens Davis, of Illinois - seeks class status on behalf of other Facebook users in the US.

Davis seeks unspecified damages and a court order blocking the tracking based on violations of federal laws, including restrictions on wiretapping, as well as computer fraud and abuse statutes.

''We believe this complaint is without merit and we will fight it vigorously,'' Andrew Noyes, a Facebook spokesman, said in a statement.

This Halloween Angry Birds Targets Your Baby & Kids

The makers of the hit videogame have launched a line of costumes based on the game's cranky characters. There are outfits for babies, kids, and adults. The baby costumes are cute and relatively inexpensive at around $25. Adults who wish to go as an Angry Bird will have to surrender $49.99 plus shipping!

Online interest in Angry Birds costumes is already soaring,. Over the past 24 hours, Web searches on "angry birds costume" jumped 26%, while related queries on "angry birds halloween costume" and "angry birds costume for sale" tweeted their way to triple-digit gains.

The game has been a tremendous hit on multiple platforms, including Android and Apple's iOS.