Bollywood beauty Aishwarya Rai has declined to be immortalised as a Barbie doll, due to her professional commitments.

It was earlier reported that representatives of the 35-year-old actress were in negotiations with Barbie's manufacturer Mattel, who planned to give the iconic doll a Bollywood face. But the deal did not take off.

Yet again on the doll's 50th anniversary, Aishwarya was approached to appear decked up as a celebrity Barbie.

"Mattel was keen to have the actress walk the ramp on Lakme Fashion Week 'Barbie dolled up' in a winning design as Single Likeness Barbie, which would be unveiled and auctioned for a charity of her choice, " said a statement issued by Aishwarya's spokesperson.

However, the actress opted out due to her prior commitments as she did not want to cause inconvenience to the film- makers she was working with by taking time out for the event.

But Ash's loss was Katrina's gain. Kaif is the Indian face of Barbie and she walked the ramp at the ongoing Lakme Fashion Week earlier on Friday morning marking Barbie's 50 birthday.

Mattel Inc's Barbie, on Friday kickstarted Mumbai's premier fashion event--the Lakme India Fashion Week 2009--with designers and models bringing the world's most iconic doll to life in Barbie-like looks and outfits.

After taking the Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week by storm last month, Mattel had invited Indian designers to a contest, asking them to create designs for the doll as their muse.

The show called "BarbieAll Dolld Up!" is the style icon's first in India and showcased life-size, Barbie-inspired looks, which were put together by designers like Wendell Rodricks, Neeta Lulla, Sonam Mehta, Shantanu & Nikhil, Jyoti Sharma, Vikram Phadnis and others.

The winning design by Nishka Lulla will be replicated on the actual doll this year itself. "There are plans to replicate the winning design on the doll within six months or so. It will definitely be this year and the doll will be a Katrina Kaif look- alike," a Mattel India spokesperson said.

The show-stopper, Katrina Kaif, was dressed in Lulla's winning design, which was a multi-hued mini dress, with an Indian twist.

Katrina is delighted with the honour, more so because a Barbie doll bearing likeness to the Bollywood actress is in the pipeline and will come as a great surprise to the world sometime soon. “Every girl at some point of time in her childhood has played with a Barbie doll,” admitted Katrina, “and so have I. She makes a sweet, fun and lively companion.”

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Enjoying some time in Sin City, Kim Kardashian joined boyfriend Reggie Bush and sister Khloe at the MGM Grand Hotel And Casino for the grand opening of Wet Republic pool on Saturday (March 28).

Also joined by pals Brittany Gastineau and Frankie Delgado, the group grabbed up In n’ Out burger before making their way to the hotel pool for promotional duties.

According to a source on-hand, “All the guys were going crazy while the girls pretty much just laid around, especially Kim who barely got her toes wet. Her and Reggie were having a great time together.”

Following her poolside duties, Kim hopped a flight straight back to Los Angeles, as she attended Perez Hilton’s big birthday bash later in the evening.

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The latest version of Google Mobile App is already available for download for BlackBerry users. With it, you'll be able to enjoy all the goodies that have only been available to iPhone OS and Android users.

The features that the new Google Mobile app introduces to the BlackBerry owners are voice search and My Location. The first of those allows you to initiate a Google search without ever needing to touch the keyboard. All you need to do is speak the desired search string while holding the Call key - as simple as it gets.

The My Location feature enables users to make searches based on their current location. This means that when you need a place to eat nearby you no longer have to type "restaurant near X", you just type "restaurant" and the Mobile App will give you a list of places in the vicinity.

The Google Mobile app is available to all devices running BlackBerry OS 4.1 or later with the search by voice available on all versions subsequent to 4.2.

The bad news is that the BlackBerry Storm is not yet supported but this should be added in the near future. You can download the Google Mobile App from here.

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Sony Ericsson T707 is now officially out. It may not be an extra exciting device, but it's sleek, it's got the looks, and it sports some quite nice light effects.

It's not the first time you're seeing the Sony Ericsson T707 on our site since this little baby was spotted in the wild only a few weeks ago during a Sony Ericsson event in China. Well, now it's as official as it gets since the handset has just been announced by the company with the help of the tennis star Maria Sharapova.

The smart T707 flip will come with a 2.2" QVGA main display and a smaller scratch-resistant monochromatic one - on the outside.

Also aboard the T707 is a 3.2-megapixel fixed-focus snapper with cell-id geotagging, HSDPA and Bluetooth support and a music player with gesture control.

The Sony Ericsson T707 sports an M2 card slot and as Sony Ericsson say it is supposed to get along well even with microSD cards. Say what? Is this the beginning of the end of M2?

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As the actual market release of the LG Arena gets closer, it seems to be making the headlines all over. This time it's about an extra sexy color scheme that we would die to get our hands on - the Titan Black version of the LG KM900 Arena looks that much classier.

T-Mobile seem to be targeting the LG KM900 Arena to the music-savvy customers and they make a big point out of the Dolby for Mobile music enhancement, the 3.5mm audio jack and the FM transmitter.

Thus it's no surprise that their mobile music download service called Mobile Jukebox will be available straight on the Arena's 3-inch high-res display.

As far as we are concerned, the wow-factor of the LG Arena is mostly about its spanking new interface called the S-class. It offers fluid response, excellent visuals and it has the potential to be the next best thing in feature touch phones.

Of course, the LG Arena is also a great all-rounder, which doesn't make compromises in any aspect - connectivity, location services, multimedia entertainment and imaging are all duly covered in a package smaller than the iPhone 3G.

The LG KM900 Arena will hit T-Mobile UK stores before the end of March, which sounds as any moment now. And here is the rest of it.

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She’s been milking her American Idol fame for all it’s worth, and this past Saturday (March 21) Katrina Darrell aka Bikini Girl was spotted hosting a gig for Hawaiian Tropic.

The brunette beauty was the hottie hostess over at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone inside the Miracle Mile Shops in Las Vegas, sporting a red bikini top with a denim miniskirt and red heels.


According to FOX Pop Tarts, Katrina enjoyed the VIP lounge, enjoying a strawberry hookah and sipping on Ed Hardy Vodka. At one point she even joined the go-go dancers onstage.

And it sounds like the Hawaiian Tropic job was just the first in a long line of career opportunities Katrina is considering. She recently told press, “[I’ve had] a lot of different offers, like Vegas promotion offers. Of course Playboy has called. I wouldn’t say no, but at the same time I don’t want to stunt my career by jumping into that too soon and be labeled once again as ‘just a body.’ But I don’t knock it.”

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Tonight Apple presented the latest reincarnation of their iPhone OS, which brings new and exciting features to the already capable OS. Another significant change is that there will be 1000 new APIs that will give developers new possibilities to control the iPhone. AppStore changes and enhanced Bluetooth capabilities will also see daylight.

There are also over 100 new features directly available to the end customers including cut copy and paste. Here's a run down of the key ones.

• System-wide Cut, Copy and Paste feature
• Stereo A2DP Bluetooth streaming is on (not available to iPhone 2G)
• System-wide landscape keyboard
• A system-wide search Spotlight is added now including Mail, Calendar, Notes, iPod and web
• There's now MMS support (not available to iPhone 2G)
• Turn-by-turn navigation (but only with third-party maps)
• You can forward and delete individual messages
• Notes can now be synced with iTunes
• WiFi auto-login for hotspots
• Bluetooth peer-to-peer connection with file exchange and remote control (over Bonjour only)
• Safari gets password login manager
• Support for YouTube accounts and YouTube subscriptions
• New action button in Photos lets you choose multiple pictures to attach to a mail message
• There are Voice Memos, which can be edited, cropped and shared using email or MMS
• Calendar gets Exchange support and will be able to sync with Google and Yahoo calendar services
• Stocks app will be getting news stories and stock details
• iPod gets shake-to-shuffle function
• Anti-phishing tool in Mobile Safari
• Increased number of supported languages
• Parental Controls are extended to movies, TV shows and App Store content
• Detailed Calls Log with call durations
• iTunes store account creation
• Proxy support
• Live video and audio streaming
• Internet tethering is now supported both via Bluetooth and USB(but available optionally)
• Voice recording

And if you are interested how copy and paste works, here's how - a double tap on text auto-selects it with grab points appearing at both ends of the selection for finer tuning it and a cut/copy/past bubble above. A second double tap elsewhere brings up the Paste bubble. It works across all applications including web content in Safari - well it was about time. You can also shake the iPhone to undo: the action brings up an "undo" and "cancel" dialog.

The universal search application Spotlight is accessible by flicking the left of the first tab of the regular homescreen.

The new AppStore changes will include optional In-App Purchases, meaning paid apps will be able to offer users optional upgrades or modules directly from the application environment. Unfortunately, free apps will not be able to offer paid upgrades.

Bluetooth enhancements will allow communication between iPhones and iPods with no pairing procedure needed over the existing Bonjour protocol. And it's not limited to games - users can exchange contact details as well.

The new APIs would allow developers to link the core Maps data to new applications thus essentially embedding maps data to them.

There is even support for turn-by-turn navigation, but due to licensing reasons, Google Maps cannot be used for the purpose. Developers would have to use other maps data.

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Photos of a new Samsung touch phone leaked today - the Samsung S8000. It seems to be positioned between the S8300 UltraTOUCH and the S5600, at least judging by camera specs and model number.

Unlike the Samsung S8300 it has a bar form factor with looks similar to the S5600, save for the cube like center button. The other difference is the camera - a 5 megapixels camera with autofocus and dual LED flash. This should make it cheaper than the S8300, which sports an 8 MP module.


The rest of the specifications are yet to be announced, though similarities with the Samsung S8300 and S5600 give a probable baseline. The most probable resolution of the S8000 is 240 x 400 pixels. Averaging out the specs of the S8300 and S5600 further makes a GPS and 7.2 Mbps 900/2100 HSDPA quite likely. And here is the rest of it.

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The now elderly Motorola A1200 MING smartphone is obviously going to receive a refresh. A larger screen, bigger resolution and a 3 megapixel snapper will update the current MING line later this year.

The rumored Motorola A1210 MING is easily the successor of the the Moto A1200 MING, which was announced back in 2005.

The Motorola A1210 MING will sport a 2.8-inch touch display with QVGA resolution, better 3 megapixel camera, FM radio and 64MB internal memory, expandable via microSD slot. The connectivity package includes tri-band GSM with EDGE support, Bluetooth and USB.

The design remains the same - flippable transparent lid with a large touchscreen underneath and the Linux-based OS, we've seen on the other recent members of the MING family.

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Miss India 2009

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Damon Dash has been served with divorce papers. His wife, Rachel Roy filed for divorce in New York’s Manhattan Supreme Court earlier this month, signaling the end of her marriage to the man she married in Mexico in January 2005. His wife Rachel, seems to be aware of his financial problems as the divorce is for “nonmonetary relief”, according to an electronic record of the case. It is also being reported that Damon Dash is facing foreclosure on his two Tribeca, New York properties and owes $2 million in state taxes. A judge also ordered Manhattan officials to seize his car last year after he failed to make his monthly payments.
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David Letterman has secretly married girlfriend Regina Lasko, according to reports. Letterman and Lasko got hitched before a justice of the peace March 19 in Choteau, Mont. Their 5-year-old son Harry was present at the ceremony. Letterman told The Late Show audience he never thought he’d tie the knot. And here is the rest of it.
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Birthday:3/21/1978

Birthname:Rani Mukerji

Hometown:Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Assets:Humanitarian

Sign:Aries

Height:5'3

Job:Actress

Hobbies:Odissi Dancing

Ethnicity:Asian

Country of Origin:India

Body Figure: 34, 32, 35

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Turning their backs on the bunch of leaked touch handsets, Samsung today announced a low-end phone, which however comes as rugged as they get. Reminding of the Sonim XP3 Enduro, but prettier, the Samsung B2100 has got a whole wall covered with endurance certificates, plus it's easily submersible under water to up to a meter depth (but only up to 30 minutes - just enough for a bath).

The Samsung B2100 Xplorer follows the styling of the Samsung B2700, which we already reviewed and tortured properly (read all about it here).

The new Xplorer bloke however lacks the 3G capabilities of its elder brother plus there is no altimeter and digital compass either. What you get however is a cheap rugged little fella, which comes with shock, water, salt, fog and dust resistance compliant with both the European IP57 certification and the US Military Standard 810F (MIL-STD-810F) much like the Sonim XP3 Enduro.

The Samsung B2100 Xplorer body is made out of urethane, which is the same material they use to make roller blades. It's got noise cancellation with a dedicated microphone and a new vibration setting that makes it vibrate longer. The new lock mechanism of the battery cover has made it more secure as we personally had some issues with the locking mechanism of the Samsung B2700.

Samsung B2100 Xplorer has a flashlight on top with a dedicated button to start it, and there is also a memory card slot, which you can use to load up music or download photos from the 1.3 megapixel camera. Stereo Bluetooth A2DP support is also on board.

The Samsung B2100 Xplorer will be released in Germany and other European countries in variety of colors in April 2009. There's no word on its pricing yet, but it should be cheaper than Samsung B2700.

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As leaked information undoubtedly suggest AT&T will starts offering unlocked Apple iPhone 3G without any contract obligations starting from 26th March. To get one (or several), you need to be an existing AT&T customer and have 599/699 US dollars ready for the 8/16 gigs version respectively.

As of 26th March AT&T will offer its customers the special opportunity to get an unlocked iPhone 3G totally commitment-free with no in-store activation needed. The only limit is one iPhone 3G per active line per customer.The campaign starts on March 26th and the prices are 599 US dollars for the 8 GB version and 699 dollars for the 16 gigs (presumably before state tax). And here is the rest of it.

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After taking over Orange in France and Telefonica in Spain, the T-Mobile G1 replica called HTC Dream continues its conquest of Europe by landing in Italy. It's available from Italian operator TIM for 429 euro with a prepaid plan or even for free with a monthly plan.

The monthly plans in question start from 15 euro/month (with 199 euro for HTC Dream) and include more than enough wireless data traffic for your mobile needs.

However if for some reason you, like most Italians, prefer the coziness of the pre-paid plans, TIM will be also offering pre-paid users 50 MB traffic daily for only 10 euro monthly top-up.

It sounds like a fair deal, however we should remind you that Vodafone is prepping the HTC Magic in April. So if that QWERTY keyboard is a little bit too much for you, you still have an Android alternative. Unfortunately, Vodafone has yet to announce their "magical" pricing plans though.

Just as a reminder Telefonica will be selling the HTC Dream in Spain only on a monthly plan (from 9 to 199 euro), much like Orange in France, where HTC Dream price ranges from 0 to 90 euro with their Origami monthly plans.

As we published our ownT-Mobile G1 review last week, you have quite some pages to read there if you are after its sibling, the HTC Dream.

You can also check out a quick and dirty preview of the HTC Magic, which we saw presented at the MWC 2009.

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Aamir Khan turns a year older (or should we say younger) on March 14th and we know that Aamir fans world over would want to extend their heartfelt wishes to the actor par excellence on his special day.

So here’s an opportunity to not only wish him but also get it acknowledged, in a way that you will reminisce forever! To extend your wishes to Aamir, simply click on the links below and add the special Aamir Khan’s birthday application to your Facebook / Orkut account. This will give you an opportunity to wish Aamir Khan in a unique and never before seen way. Click the links below and find out yourself.

Facebook Application - Orkut Application

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Putting in her time doing film after film, Keira Knightley needs a break; a well deserved one at that. The sexy British actress has been working for five solid years and decided that she needs a bit of a rest. Quantcast Knightley, 23, explains that it’s “Not necessarily that I’m exhausted. But I think that you get to a point where you’re just going to end up regurgitating stuff just because you’re tired and you’re not actually looking around you. It’s important to take a step back.” In related news, Keira’s relationship with actor Rupert Friend seems to be going strong, although there’s still no word on a wedding yet.

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Enjoying a sunning session, Tania Zaetta was spotted showing off her bikini body on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia on Wednesday (March 11).

The 38-year-old actress and Bollywood beauty recently moved back to her homeland, as she prefers a quieter and more private lifestyle.

Quantcast Quantcast Quantcast

Not long after moving back to Queensland, Miss Zaetta’s agent, Max Markson, lined her up a gig a little over a week ago walking the runway for Ed Hardy during Swim Fashion Week.

Meanwhile, Tania is now gearing up to appear in the Aussie flick “The Ninja” - as she stars alongside the film’s director, Rob Baard.

“The duo (Baard and Zaetta) go head to head against a corrupt company CEO and group of deadly ninja assassins,” The Geelong Advertiser quoted Baard as saying.

“We’ve come up with an original story that addresses relevant issues such as petrol prices, media and the general direction the world is heading,” he added.

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