Royals unfazed by topless islanders!

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have come face to face with a group of topless South Pacific women and did not bat an eyelid when introduced.

Wearing just a few banana leaves as a makeshift top the group performed a dance with men from their region as they showcased their culture for the royals.

Their exposed breasts are a normal part of life in the Solomon Islands' province of Choiseul, where the women are from, and they happily chatted to William and Kate who seemed completely at ease in their company.

One man among their group had a greeting written in pidgin English painted on his chest for the royals - Welkam Wills and Kate.

The royal couple met the performers when they toured a cultural village exhibition in Honiara, capital of the Solomon Islands, showcasing the unique arts, music and culture found in the nation's nine provinces.

William and Kate were animated and looked relaxed throughout their visit and appeared to have moved on from the furore surrounding the publication of topless pictures of the Duchess, taken while on a private holiday in France last week with William.

A civil action has already been launched by the royals against the French magazine Closer which printed the images and later today the Duke and Duchess will ask France's criminal prosecutors to consider charging the photographer who took the intimate pictures.

The couple's lawyers will make a formal criminal complaint to the prosecutor over an invasion of their privacy, St James's Palace said.

Once the complaint is made, it is up to the prosecutor to investigate and possibly lay charges over the notorious images published last week.

Apple iPhone 5: Announced!

Apple announced its 6th generation iPhone, the iPhone 5, at a special event in San Francisco this morning. The iPhone 5 brings a huge list of improvements. Apple unexpectedly used the iPhone 5 to introduce its next-generation SoC: the A6.

Apple didn't say anything about core counts and clock speeds, but it did give us a good indication of performance: 2x faster CPU and GPU. Based on the performance gains, Apple's history of SoC naming and some other stuff we've heard recently, it looks like Apple has integrated two ARM Cortex A15 cores on Samsung's 32nm LP HK+MG process. This is a huge deal because it means Apple beat both TI and Samsung on bringing A15s to market.

 

The GPU side isn't entirely clear at this point, but the 2x gains could be had through a move to 4 PowerVR SGX543 cores up from 2 in the iPhone 4S.

The new SoC is paired with Qualcomm's single-chip 28nm MDM9615 LTE baseband. Apple claims support for EDGE, EV-DO, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSDPA and LTE. The WiFi gets updated to dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11a/b/g/n, using 20MHz channels Apple can hit a peak link rate of 150Mbps over WiFi.

The display sees a big upgrade from 3.5-inches to 4-inches diagonally. The new resolution is 1136 x 640, same width but with a taller height (16:9 ratio). Legacy applications will be letterboxed until they are updated to support the added real estate. Within iOS the biggest change will be a fifth row of icons on the home screen; along with added content within apps like the calendar and Mail. 

The iPhone 5 includes three mics, including support for beam forming. The ear piece also now features a noise cancelling feature. As expected there's a new dock connector: the 8-pin Lightning connector. The Lightning connector is reversible and significantly smaller than the previous 30-pin dock connector introduced in 2003. 

Pricing hews to tradition, with configurations starting at 16GB and $199 and adding $100 to the price at each step up in storage (32GB and 64GB). The rest of the lineup shuffles its way down, with the iPhone 3GS being led of stage, and putting the iPhone 4S at $99 and the iPhone 4 gratis, all on contract of course. Preorders start September 14th and will be available in stores September 21st.

BPCL makes the grade!

Eventful in ways more than one, the final day of phase one in the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament on Thursday provided a cornucopia of pulsating moments, notwithstanding the sharp showers that interrupted the schedule for over 45 minutes in the contest involving the top guns — IOC and Air India.

Notably, it was the twist to the script that accentuated the suspense when Indian Overseas Bank denied the Army XI a place in the semifinals but helped BPCL to gain that slot from Pool A. IOB won 2-1.

All that the Army team needed was a draw to keep BPCL out of contention. But surprisingly phlegmatic, both in approach work and confronted by a confident goal-keeper Sreejesh, the Army team failed to live up to the expectations.

BPCL, which has a better goal-aggregate and one goal difference against zero by Army, took the second spot in the pool behind ONGC.

By all accounts it was an inspiring performance by the home team which has been subjected to a lot of flak over its poor showing thus far. But on Thursday, IOB looked a transformed side and worked hard to get the moves going and received generous help from goalkeeper Sreejesh.

Needlessly circumspect, the Army defenders allowed IOB to gain the advantage. IOB hoisted the lead after fluent sally that involved Adam Sinclair and Muthanna before Vinod Rayar provided the finishing touches.

IOB hung on to the lead, but enlarged the margin when full-back Rupinderpal Singh struck from a penalty corner.

Desperate bid

Down in the dumps with hopes fading away, the Army XI made a desperate bid in the second-half. A goal-mouth scrimmage ended in Sreejesh being penalised for obstruction. John Jasrotia converted.

The quest for another goal intensified but IOB defenders stood their ground well to frustrate the Armymen.

In the needle contest the fortunes fluctuated tantalisingly.

Eventually, IOC trooped out a 3-2 winner, thanks to the deciding goal by Raghunath.

Prabhjot Singh gave IOC the lead after moving in tandem with Deepak Thakur but Vikas Pillay produced a sparkling drive to neutralise.

After the break, Joga Singh hit the target but Roshan Minz levelled for IOC after goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh had brought off two brilliant saves for Air India. Finally, the goal which turned out to be the match-winner came from Raghunath off a penalty corner.

Why the new iPhone may not be called iPhone 5?

Even before Apple sent out a cryptic invitation to the press for its Septmeber 12 event, the tech world was already abuzz with reports referring Apple's next-generation iPhone as the iPhone 5. After Apple's invitation, carrying a large shadow of the number 5, hit the mailboxes of tech bloggers and journalists, the tech journalist fraternity more or less seemed to confirm that the next iPhone will indeed be called the iPhone 5.

But Apple may have a surprise up its sleeve for us. It is likely that what we are calling the iPhone 5 may not turn out to be the iPhone 5 after all.

The use of the number 5 in the invite by Apple might be intended to play with the pre-conceived minds of tech buffs, and excite them a little more.

 

The 5 in the invite may mean something altogether different. Many recent reports have suggested that Apple may be launching a number of products at the September 12 event and hence the number 5 could be indicative of the number of products and not the name of any particular model.

Earlier in the year Apple named its third-generation iPad - the new iPad, and the new iPhone could be named the new iPhone.

Also, since the next iPhone will be the sixth-version of the trendsetting smartphone, calling it the iPhone 5 appears to be a break in the chronological order.

The suspense over the number 5 will be over on Wednesday night when Apple will announce to the world the name for its next-gen iPhone.

Deccan Chargers reject Rs 900 crore bid by PVP Ventures!

The sole bid for IPL team Deccan Chargers made by PVP Ventures, a film production firm, was rejected today by the  current owners Deccan Chronicle Holdings.

“The price and terms of payment were not acceptable to them (the owners of Deccan Chargers) so they rejected it,” BCCI President N Srinivasan told reporters in Mumbai today.

The company, which was the only firm to submit a bid for the team from Hyderabad, had bid Rs 900 crore, according to a Times Now report. However, the bid was opposed by the banks to whom current owners Deccan Chronicle Holdings owe money, CNN IBN said.

The BCCI had assisted the owners of Deccan Chargers in floating tenders and had examined financial criteria of the bidders, who had bid for the team, the BCCI President said.

“We found that they (PVP Ventures) were acceptable,” Srinivasan said.

However, the owners of the team Deccan Chargers rejected the bid and only they could comment on why it had been rejected, he said.

While refusing to comment on the future course of action for the sale of the team, Srinivasan said that the cricket board had issued notice to the Deccan Chargers to “cure certain defects” and have given them time to resolve them.

The BCCI is expected to take a final decision on Deccan Chargers at Working Committee Meeting on 15 September.

Shares of current team owners, Deccan Chronicle Holdings, dipped 2 percent following the decision.

Potluri Vara Prasad of PVP Ventures, that recently made a bilingual hit film Naan Ee, has financial interests in real estate, finance and entertainment.

In a statement issued following the announcement, the BCCI said,”The bid that was received by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited met the BCCI’s eligibility and suitability criteria. The bid was then reviewed by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited who, in its discretion and with no role being played by BCCI, rejected the bid on the basis of the payment terms offered by the bidder.”

Deccan Chargers has been unable to pay salaries to its players for their performance during the last edition of the IPL.

According to reports, among the corporate houses that were in the fray to buy the team included the RPG Group, infrastructure firm Jaypee Group and Hyderabad-based private equity fund Peepul Capital.

Private equity fund Peepul Capital, which had earlier shown interest in acquiring the media assets of Deccan Chronicle, had later said they were not to keen on funding the team. While RPG Group admitted to having bought the tender document, Videocon group which had initially said it was interested later said that they had no interest in buying the team anymore.

The fact that the new buyer will be responsible for clearing the liabilities of the current owner has held many back from bidding for Deccan Chargers, and has resulted in a lower valuation than expected for the team.

But for Deccan Chronicle Holdings, which is under scrutiny from its lenders across the country, the sale of the team may have come as a lifeline to do away with some part of its debt, estimated by some to be over Rs 4,000 crore.

NASA's Mars rover ready to 'drive, drive, drive'!

The Mars rover Curiosity was due to wrap up an exhaustive, weeks-long instrument check on Thursday, clearing the way for its first lengthy drive to determine whether the Red Planet has ever been hospitable to life, NASA officials said.

The six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover landed five weeks ago inside a giant impact basin called Gale Crater, near the Martian equator, to conduct NASA's first astrobiology mission since the 1970s-era Viking probes.

For its final equipment check, Curiosity will maneuver its robot arm so its close-up camera touches the tray where processed rock and soil samples will be analyzed.

The rover, equipped with an array of the most elaborate laboratory instruments ever sent to a distant world, also has a bit of sightseeing on its agenda. Scientists want to obtain video footage of the Martian moon Phobos passing by the sun.

Starting Friday evening, the plan is to "drive, drive, drive" until scientists find a suitable rock for the rover's first robotic "hands-on" analysis, mission manager Jennifer Trosper told reporters during a conference call on Wednesday.

It will stop when scientists find suitable soil to scoop up and run through Curiosity's onboard chemistry lab.

All the while, the rover will be heading toward a site scientists have labeled "Glenelg," where three different types of rock intersect. Glenelg, which lies about 1,312 feet (400 meters) away from Curiosity's current position, was named by mission geologists after a rock formation in northern Canada.

The overall purpose of the $2.5 billion Mars Science Lab mission is to search for places where microbial organisms could have evolved and been preserved. In addition to ferreting out the chemical and geologic footprints of water, Curiosity will hunt for organic compounds and other ingredients believed to be necessary for life.

Curiosity, which is designed to last two years, will venture about 4.3 miles (7 km) from its landing site to climb a 3-mile-high mound of layered rock rising from the floor of Gale Crater. Dubbed Mount Sharp, it is believed to be the remains of sediment that once filled the 96-mile wide (154-meter) basin.

The rover has racked up 358 feet (109 meters) on its odometer during test drives. Before setting out for Mount Sharp, scientists expect to drive Curiosity about 131 feet (40 meters) a day during its planned trek to Glenelg, with several stops for science observations.

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