Now things seem to be very cool between the veteran actor Manoj Kumar and Shahrukh Khan.
After Manoj Kumar’s ‘dhamki’ of suing the makers of ‘Om Shanti Om’ if the scenes mockingly imitating him are not removed, Shahrukh Khan, Farah Khan, Yash Chopra and Gauri Khan paid a visit to the legendary actor’s house. Khan apologized […]

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Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Deals, RumorMonger, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels

Some rumors do and some rumors don’t …

Well, it’s totally official: Christian Bale is currently in negotiations to star in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins (aka Terminator 4). The Hollywood Reporter tells us today that Bale is still talking, but he’ll most likely join the project (as previously rumored) as its star, under the direction of McG. At this point, I think we’re all wondering the same thing: How the f*ck did we get from James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger to McG and Christian Bale? I do not know, however the casting of Bale is definitely a step in the right direction. While THR doesn’t come right out and say it, chances are Bale will play a thirty-something John Connor as he begins to wage a long, hard-fought war against a rising army of machines. No word on whether Bale will sign on for more than one film, as the Halycon Company (who picked up rights to the franchise earlier this year) have stated that they’re interested in making at least three new Terminator flicks.

And while we’re on the subject of Christian Bale, AICN managed to get their hands on a slew of promotional photos for this summer’s The Dark Knight (see two above) — most of which show Heath Legder as the Joker in a number of maniacal poses, with only one photo dedicated to Batman himself. We’re not sure what these photos are for (perhaps magazine covers, reveals on the viral sites, etc …), but I certainly like the way the Joker has come out. All that’s left for us know is to see Ledger in action — I want to see dialogue, I want to see it all. Rumor has it a new Dark Knight trailer (or footage of some kind) will play before IMAX screenings of I Am Legend this month, so I imagine the same footage will also arrive online (either that or a trailer) around the same time. The Dark Knight arrives in theaters this July 18. NOTE: Pics have come down at the request of the studio

Finally, that giant Hobbit rumor from the other day has been debunked. On Friday, a site called Marketsaw came out with the rumor that Peter Jackson was indeed going to direct The Hobbit, split it into two parts, with both arriving in 3D. AICN claims to have spoken with people over at the Peter Jackson camp, and they said it’s not true. Things between Jackson and New Line are still not settled, even though the director is interested in 3D — this Hobbit thing won’t be happening anytime soon. They also say that Jackson, who’s hard at work on The Lovely Bones, will go from that film to Tintin, which he is co-directing alongside Steven Spielberg. Will The Hobbit happen eventually? Probably. But not now and not with Jackson.

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Filed under: Cellphones

It’s so much harder to poke fun when a clone manufacturer gets this close to the real thing. Santek’s SSG730 runs Windows Mobile 5, bills itself as a “samrt phone” and of course has other minor hardware differences from the HTC Touch, but we’ve gotta respect Santek going the extra mile here with the inclusion of a fingerprint reader. There’s also a surprising amount of hardware left intact, like GPS, Bluetooth, a WiFi option and a 2 megapixel camera. The split screen is kind of odd, and we’re not even positive it’s touchable, though we’d venture a guess that it is with this kind of commitment to fakery.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Features, Gaming

What, you didn’t wait up all night to play around with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Fall 2007 Dashboard update? Ok, fine, we’re just that geeky, but we feel vindicated: this is hands down our favorite 360 update thus far. And not just because we can finally watch DivX and Xvid on our 360. The best new bits (and other notes):

• Um, did we mention DivX / XviD support? For free? Oh, we did. Well, we’re still reeling. (Yep, we successfully tested both codecs using .divx and .avi files.)
• Enhanced profiles is really exciting; you have to opt out of everyone being able to view your friends list, but given the permissions system Live is based on, that’s not such a big deal. Browsing friends’ friends lists adds a whole new layer. Microsoft, care to bump us up past 100 Live friends now?
• IPTV support is included! Unfortunately, you are still dependent on your service provider to flip the switch, so don’t expect to be able to just start watching / recording shows to your 360. (Interface shots here, from way back when.)
• Family timers lets you specify the number of playable hours daily and weekly. For instance, you can enable between 15 minutes and 24 hours of daily play time (in 15 minute increments). We’re not sure how this works if you’re watching IPTV, though, although we presume the system is smart enough to know the difference between gaming and playing back media.
• Microsoft added its increasingly pervasive twist interface all over the place, including Xbox Live downloads, the media interface, etc. Browsing just about everything on the 360 just got way easier.
• Inside Xbox newsletter / feed is now available from the home blade, helping highlight new content and features. We kind of wish this wasn’t so front and center though — really, how often are you going to use this?

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Talk about a hi-tech tablecloth. This LED tabletop features a color changing surface, so you don’t have to worry about ever changing your tablecloth. It features an interesting chameleon-like factor, capable of detecting what color the object residing on it is, automatically adjusting its LEDs to that color. This is done via tiny clusters of photo sensors. Unfortunately, the RGBY LED tabletop isn’t being mass produced at the moment, so you won’t be able to impress friends and family this Christmas. Better find some other stuff to brag about then.

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Filed under: Interviews, News

As you guys are probably aware, the PS3 has gone through some rapid shifts in advertising lately — shortly after their latest test with the ads highlighting important game titles among its other uses, Sony dropped their ad company and enlisted a new one. But how did those new ads work out? Scott Steinberg, VP of Marketing at SCEA, lets us know what’s up with that campaign. In a nutshell, he says, “It’s exceeded all our expectations. We’ve had great comments from analysts and our business partners that it’s really elevating the PS3 business.” Then let’s bust out the champagne, right? Even the band in the commercial, Saliva, has felt some success from the ad campaign.

Retailers have also helped by bundling in Blu-ray movies after the ads aired and as Steinberg explains, this helps explain “why it’s being promoted in stores so aggressively. It’s no doubt that it’s a big part of our value proposition [for the PS3] and we feel we have done a great part of emphasizing on the merchandising half of things; it’s paying dividends.”

Steinberg took a minute to talk about his move from the Sega Genesis days to his time now at Sony. Since we’ve got a soft spot for the ol’ Sega boys, we’ll give you the skinny. “There is so much passion around the technology and the products, and a lot of that at Sony reminds me of the ‘halcyon’ days when 16-bit was just taking off … There’s nothing like the technology and entertainment businesses; we’ve merged them both and it’s an addictive cocktail.” We hope he continues to spearhead such effective ad campaigns in the future and remind us why the Genesis rocked so hard and how the PS3 will, too. Assuming you thought the Genesis rocked hard. It did. It had Phantasy Star.

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Filed under: Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), AT and T (T), Money and Finance Today, Morgan Stanley (MS), Lennar Corp’A’ (LEN), Activision Inc (ATVI), Cypress Semiconductor (CY)

Hot Tech Growth Companies
Four of the top 10 companies in BusinessWeek’s annual Hot Tech Growth 75 are involved in the manufacture of semiconductors. What’s behind their banner year? Leading the list in 2007 is Google, AT&T and Apple followed by Cypress Semiconductor, Western Digital, Nvidia and MEMC Electronic Materials.
Hot Growth: The Chips Have It

America’s Greediest Cities
Forbes takes a look at which cities are home to the richest people in America over the past decade. There are 751 Forbes 400 members in their 10-year tally. Of that number, 608 live in the 50 major metropolitan areas they used to compile this list. They divided the number in each city by that city’s population to come up with Forbes 400 members per capita and then ranked that list. Some of the results are surprising. Reputed bastions of hedonism like New York and Los Angeles, for all the glamorous myths they generate, came in sixth and eighth, respectively. Topping the list is Silicon Valley capital San Jose followed by San Francisco, Seattle, Denver and Boston.
America’s Greediest Cities - Forbes.com In Pictures: America’s Greediest Cities

Proposed Rate Freeze to Reduce Foreclosures
Whether you call it rate relief or a bailout, a mortgage rate freeze would have big effects on borrowers and lenders. If big lenders and regulators adopt the policy, here is a possible list of winners and losers.
Subprime relief: Winners and losers - Bankrate.com

How to Crack Your Nest Egg
Here’s how to withdraw money and make the most of your retirement plan.
How to Crack Into Your Nest Egg - TheStreet.com

Your Insurance Problems Solved

What to do if your medication is no longer covered, you’re sick and need insurance, and more.
Your Insurance Problems Solved - Kiplinger.com

America’s Richest Universities
Higher education is increasingly a tale of two worlds: The wealth gap between the elite schools and even the most prestigious public universities has never been wider. Harvard University tops the list followed by Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Columbia and UPenn.
In Pictures: Richest Unveristies - BusinessWeek

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Filed under: Gadget Head, Domestic God / Goddess, Creative Type, Man / Woman Who Has Everything

Sentilla is a company that specializes in pervasive computing, which means it would like to find a way to make anything and everything smarter by attaching a computer to it… Apparently, even coasters are no exception. The folks at Sentilla boast that they have invented the world’s first Smart Drink Coasters, which know when a drink has been placed or removed from them and provide “visual feedback” (i.e., flashing lights) to notify the barkeep that your drink is dangerously close to empty. The coasters can even communicate wirelessly to work the lights in tandem and bring back old school favorites like Simon - as a drinking game, of course.

These three-inch squared gems are made using glass “picture frame” coasters from arts and crafts barn Michael’s. Add some switches, rechargeable batteries and a tiny Sentilla computer, and you’ve got one of your own. Follow the directions from the Sentilla Web site and you will have coasters that will entertain everyone from the ‘Girls Gone Wild’ cast to the grandparents who’ll have a hot toddy.

From Sentilla (via Engadget)

Related Links:

• “Smart” Closet Helps Geeks Avoid Fashion Faux Pas
• New “Smart” Suit Makes Emergency Workers Safer
• Smart Phones Kill Intelligent Keys

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