By Chance I opened Microsoft.com and noticed that they're having the Second Beta release of their browser-Internet Explorer ver. 7 available for download. I hadn't tried their earlier beta version or their Beta 2 Preview even though I'd downloaded them. I was happy with my Firefox and Flock (and to a certain extent…..Avant Browser). But this time, methinks I'll try out the new build.
Download Link: Microsoft
A few weeks ago, I had penned down the preview of this animated movie. Well, today i got to see it! I saw the 1 pm show of the movie at PVR cinemas and it was one helluva movie!! Far more whackier and funnier than the second, this one had me laughing all throughout.
Laced with some heavy-duty humour, this movie's a laughathon from start to finish! Check out some of the witty dialogues here ! The movie manages to combine quite a few emotions and feelings with the humour with panache. Manny's brrodiness and Diego's pure hatred for the pesky possum is well-supported by Sid's philosophical-yet-funny views.Then there is the 'eternal hope' being doled out to Sid, who's afraid of water n swimming, by the ever-optimistic Sid. Love and trust, though are the primary undertones of the movie and thatz expected…what with two mammoths around! The Villains in this part can be said to be the always-present-but-invisible floods n destruction as well as the visible vultures and two sea-creatures. And the zaniest character of all- Scrat (the squirrel) has an extended role in this part.In fact, he's there both at the start and the end (as in part one) and occupies a sizeable portion of the movie too…as usual..chasing his elusive acorn! There's a bit about him reaching the 'acorny' gates of heaven with acorns all over and the biggest of 'em just ahead which is too funny! The theatre was reverberating with laughter whenever he came on screen. Continue reading
Since today is the day of image posts, lemme make yet another! I have seen the hoardings of a telugu movie- Pokiri that released today and I must say that atleast one of the visuals has an eerie similarity to the promo visuals of Fanaa that are airing since a fortnight or so! Now they might or might not have been copied but they sure are similar….eerily similar! The positioning of the lead-pair has reversed but aesthetically, both are very near! Color-scheme and compositioning too is too close for comfort…..see for yourself:
Or am I being too much of a doubting thomas?? 
My oh my! This is the second post of the day about something that is touted as the world’s biggest! I had received a forward from a friend Mr.V, which had these images of a now-defunct diamond mine in the siberian region of Russia. The mine is in the city of Mirny. From Encyclopedia.com:[MIRNY :town, NE Siberian Russia, in Sakha Republic. Founded in 1956, when diamonds were discovered, Mirny grew rapidly and is now the center of the Russian diamond-mining industry.]
A li’l digging led me to a some more information about the mine. It is said that the mine is so deep that it had to be declared as a no-fly zone! Thatz because any aircraft flying above will be sucked in asa result of the air turbulence it generates! Now i’m no physics genius but i think that it is plausible. And beleive it, few accidents have indeed occured there!
Some Images:
Image Courtesy: Airliners.net
A little idle browsing led me to this site where I found that a dutch company, TNO , has produced the largest photo ever taken! And by Large, i don't mean that it is of humungous size and stretches for half a mile or anything like that!!! A picture's measure of 'largeness' can be in terms of pixels and this picture contains a whopping 2.5 billion pixels :-0
If you're the kinda person who likes some number-crunching, here are the specs of the pic:
Facts and figures about the gigapixel image:
· Number of pixels in final image: 2,487,227,305 (2.5 gigapixel)
· Final image file format: 24-bit colour bitmap
· Final image file size: 7.5 GBytes
· Number of source images: 600
· Number of pixels in source images: 3,537,408,000 (600 images * 3008*1960)
· Lens focal length: 400 mm (equivalent to 600 mm on a 35 mm camera)
· Aperture: F22, Shutter speed: 1/100, ISO: 125
· Horizontal field of view of final image: 93 degrees
· Time required to capture component images: 1 hour and 12 minutes
· Time required to match overlapping images: 20 hours
· Time required to optimise project: 4 hours
· Time required to compose the image: 3 full days using 5 high-end PCs
· Time required to blend seams / correct misalignments / finalize image: 2 days
And the best part of the pictureis that using its megazoom, one can zoom into the minutest corners and that too without much loss in resolutions! Try it out yourselves by clicking on the Image below:
The Picture maybe a copyright of TNO Communications, Netherlands.
Details Courtesy: TabloidColumn
Barcelona held on to a grim draw against a beleaguered AC Milan in the second leg semi final of the Uefa Champions League, proceeding to the final by virtue of their first leg victory.They will meet english side Arsenal in the final at the Stade de France on 17th May.
The match was a see-saw affair with both teams giving their everything for that elusive goal.Barca squandered two early chances when Etoo was denied twice, once by Dida and then by defender Costacurta. At the opposite end, Milan were unlucky not to have taken the lead with Inzaghi and Schevchenko both missing their targets or else were denied by the keeper. Schevchenko had a goal disallowed by the referee on account of pushing.
FC Barcelona booked their place in the UEFA Champions League final as they held off the challenge of AC Milan to earn a goalless draw at the Camp Nou and defeat the Italian side 1-0 on aggregate thanks to Ludovic Giuly's first-leg goal.
Defensive mastery
While the Catalan club are renowned for their attacking prowess, they proved that they can also keep it tight at the back and the manner in which they rebuffed all of Milan's advances was testament to that. Indeed, this was the first time Barcelona had failed to score at this stadium in 30 matches.
Now that Arsenal have booked a place in the Uefa Champions League Final, attention now focuses on who will be their opponents at the Stade de France. The second semi-final is slated to start a few hours from now on against two giants of a team- Spain's Barcelona and Italy's AC Milan. Barca hold an advantage going into the second leg at home at the Nou Camp. They have a vital away goal, courtesy Ludovic Guily's strike at the San Siro and they must be confident about getting into the Final.
Frank Rijkaard believes his selection headache is a blessing as FC Barcelona prepare to meet AC Milan in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final at the Camp Nou. The Dutch coach has Deco, Henrik Larsson and Ronaldinho all available and is delighted to have the tricky decision of who should and should not play from such a talented pool.
I predict that Barcelona will come up clear winners with a scoreline of 2-1. With their Talisman Ronaldinho eyeing a dream that would be a heavy motivation for him. But we can never say for sure in Sport! AC Milan is not a team to go down silently and they shall be putting up a helluva fight. With their forward Kaka raring to go , expect a keen tussle. it's all to play for…..
So, they did it at last! I'm talking about the English Club side Arsenal, who progressed onto their first-ever European Championship Final. They drew their Second leg Semi-Final with spanish side Villareal 0-0 and moved into the final by virtue of their 1-0 win in the first-leg at Highbury.
After the most one-sided of matches Arsenal FC, one of the most famous clubs in England, qualified for their first European Champion Clubs' Cup final by holding out for a goalless draw and progressing by virtue of Kolo Touré's first-leg winner and Jens Lehmann's last-gasp penalty save from Juan Román Riquelme.
Cruel finish
For Villarreal CF, it was the cruellest end to the Yellow Submarine's magical mystery tour but at least they had fulfilled the wishes of coach Manuel Pellegrini by going down with style. Never mind the penalty, they might have won by three or four clear goals but a combination of poor finishing and the reflexes of Lehmann in the Arsenal goal kept them at bay.French connection
Arsenal, after their heroics in previous rounds against Real Madrid CF and Juventus, appeared a spent force but it will all be forgotten by 17 May when a team with a French flavour and led by a Frenchman will proudly walk out at the Stade de France for their finest hour. A strong early challenge by Quique Álvarez on Aleksandr Hleb set the tone for the Spanish side, who completely dominated the first 45 minutes and would have levelled the tie on aggregate five minutes before the break but for Arsenal's German international Lehmann.
I've never been an Arsenal fan and have always been put off by their arrogant behaviour and a kinda 'superior' air that they have about them.Esp. after they won the Premiership! They were never a glamorous team, Man Utd hogging all the limelight but ever since Chelsea and Man Utd have eclipsed them in terms of results, their 'aura' has diminished somewhat and their 'playing' was more attractive. I've always respected players such as Bergkamp and Henry and even the youngsters in the current Arsenal team are praiseworthy. Their day was made by their German Keeper Jens Lehmann, who was spoken of (correctly, i may say so) highly by past greats like Klinsmann and Matthaeus. His saves surely saved the match for Arsenal.
