September 30, 2004

Heart operation for Tony Blair
The British prime minister told Sky News it will have no effect on his wish to serve a third term after a general election
Trai to set norms for WorldSpace
After almost four years of its presence in India, regulatory norms are being considered for satellite radio by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

Visit WorldSpace

September 28, 2004

Why Google News signals the
death of the online exclusive


The biggest player is undermining those who break stories, says Charles Arthur

September 27, 2004

More news is good news
Young adults are much more likely to read the newspaper if they were exposed to it in school
STAR One
A channel for those who complain that STAR Plus is getting boring


Plus: Sahara's Rs 1500 crore rethink

September 25, 2004

BBC drops pogo Pope series
Animated series depicts Pope on pogo stick in fictional Vatican
Mihir Bose re-tells life of a revolutionary
The British journalist will re-release his book on one of the most controversial figures of the Indian freedom struggle, Subhas Chandra Bose
Showman undertaker adds life to funerals
Part of his marketing appeal lies with his appointment of gorgeous young women to staff funeral reception areas and transportation of bodies and bereaved relatives in Cadillacs
Eddie Adams embraced life with a wide lens
The photojournalist, shown stepping out of his New York City studio in October 2001, lived a life full of passion and energy, says Stacia Spragg, a Tribune photojournalist who once was Adams'assistant

September 24, 2004

Matt Phillips in Northern India
His penchant for travel, adventure and laughter recently landed him with Lonely Planet. At this very moment, Matt is swimming in the sights, sounds and smells of India while on his quest to update West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand for LP's next guide to the subcontinent

September 23, 2004

Now, Sholay games, comics
Sholay Media and Entertainment has a clear-cut mandate: Reach out to the younger generation and market Sholay as a brand
Prime minister's media man may lose job
Manmohan Singh’s first interview to the RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya may have hit the headlines, but it could also hit his media advisor Sanjaya Baru hard
Sabeer Bhatia, founder, Hotmail

What's your biggest mistake?
Not hiring the right people (first) and then trusting them too much
Mexico churches jam mobiles
It's a miracle made in Israel
STAR News to launch news, business channels in English
Regional news channels later

September 21, 2004

The HT question
Has The Hindustan Times launched a service that offers editorial coverage for a price, on the lines of Medianet its arch rival The Times of India launched two years ago?
DTH market is set to sizzle
An insight into the battle between Zee and Doordarshan that has come direct to your home

September 20, 2004

Jay Sean teams up with Bipasha Basu for single

The rising British Asian star is getting ready to release his followup single next month, with a video featuring the Bollywood actress
Alone at the Summit
Manmohan Singh is pragmatic, honest — and starting to show some steel as Prime Minister of India
Update: India termed 'completely and wholly inaccurate' a report in Time magazine that suggested that India will offer to 'adjust' the Line of Control 'by a matter of miles eastwards'

September 19, 2004

Don't AskJeeves
Search engine goes in for renovation. Will be back September 21
Onlookers at accident site may be punished
Legislation is likely to be enacted in United Arab Emirates

September 18, 2004

Deadline Hollywood

Jay Leno talks about the tragedy and comedy of politics
Original Sim

Rhianna Pratchett speaks to Will Wright, the creator of the best-selling PC game of all time, about robots, virtual dreams and gaming's cultural revolution
Life in the eye of a hurricane

Post the National Award for Kal Ho Naa Ho, Sonu Nigam is officially the most wanted singer in Bollywood
Shah Rukh Khan

Bollywood star’s TalkAsia interview transcript
Jail Alone
Actor Macaulay Culkin, who gained fame as a child in the smash hit film Home Alone, charged with drug possession
North Korea: On the face of it
The standard of living appears to be rising, but is everything quite as it seems?

September 17, 2004

In a spell
Vivian Cook, author of spelling compendium Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary, has set the following quiz to test your knowledge of some of the most difficult and frequently misspelt words in the language
Offices that resemble newsrooms
All across America, there are offices that resemble newsrooms, and in those offices there are people who resemble journalists, but they are not engaged in journalism. It is not journalism because it does not regard the reader – or, in the case of broadcasting, the listener, or the viewer – as a master to be served.
To the contrary, it regards its audience with a cold cynicism. In this realm of pseudo-journalism, the audience is something to be manipulated. And when the audience is misled, no one in the pseudo-newsroom ever offers a peep of protest

September 16, 2004

Time journalist replies to Liberhan's summons
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had called upon the Liberhan Commission to summon journalists Jefferson Penberthy and Anita Pratap to appear as eyewitnesses to the December 6, 1992 Babri Masjid demolition and the role played by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani and Uma Bharti

September 14, 2004

Great cover

Time magazine, September 20, 2004
Fallout
Three years after the World Trade Center attacks, thousands of cops, firefighters, and people who worked and lived near Ground Zero are sick with respiratory problems. Some have cancer. Is 9/11 to blame?
Good Housekeeping comes to India
The India Today Group is all set to launch the US magazine by the month-end

September 13, 2004

Snoring can hurt sex life
People in bed with someone who snores don't only suffer when their partner is sleeping: They also don't have as much sex as silent sleepers and when it happens it's not as good
Bloggers find clicks don't mean cash
Bloggers at this summer's political conventions brought heightened visibility to blogging, but the money for most is still missing
Star News wants to woo viewers with Fox, Sky content
With a slew of news channels around and many waiting to be launched, this is one of Star's strategies to smarten up
A home for Mr Naipaul
He has written another novel, is actively involved in Indian politics and believes that certain countries should be destroyed. Yet, at 72, V S Naipaul says that what he craves most is a quiet life. His wife sometimes begs to differ
Tendulkar on Broadway!
In a rare honour for the Indian theatre movement, leading Indian playwright and literary essayist Vijay Tendulkar's best works will be showcased at a fest on Broadway from September 29

September 12, 2004

Newsmaker: Subhash Chandra
One man stands between ESPN Star Sports and absolute monopoly over cricket telecast from India
Pressing ahead
Daily News strikes back at rival NY Post with Sunday magazine, other new publications
Why shy, get a wi-fi
No need to huddle up next to your modem at home anymore. Get wirefree. It’s easy and cheap
Fully loaded

United States Presidential hopeful John Kerry and deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
This is my India

India, the 1 percent society

‘Indians have the best brains in the world’

‘Indians lack self-confidence’

September 08, 2004

Steve back at his job

After undergoing surgery late July for a rare form of pancreatic cancer, the Apple Computer chief executive is on the road to recovery and plans to return to full-time work later this month
The Workplace: Bully them to make them leave
Dr Carine Holly can spot them right away: They complain of nightmares about work, feel tightness in their chests, have high blood pressure and don't eat properly. They are workers who are either harassed, bullied or ignored by bosses
Indian dance routine wins over US

'Balle balle, Hadippa,' the chorus chants breathlessly, as the sweaty and bouncing group of New Yorkers moves to the rhythm of the latest workout in aerobics exercise
BBC in talks on Worldwide future
Talks held with three global media giants over future of its commercial arm

September 07, 2004

The Right to Information Act
Civil society groups in India have launched a public campaign to ensure a proposed Right to Information Act 2004 giving people access to information from closed government departments, introduces a real culture of glasnost in the country.

An update...
Keyboards are old
Tap tables to send email
Bush 'took cocaine at Camp David'
And wife Laura liked dope, says Kitty Kelley in her biography The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty

September 06, 2004

Zoom looking at end-September launch
It's almost all systems go for the first of the four 'premium, unique niche channels'

Also: Doordarshan's DTH service likely from September 15
The grief of Beslan

Pictures of grief on a scale rarely seen in the world make up a powerful front page on The Independent as families of the 330-plus children and adults killed in the Beslan school massacre in Russia began two days' mourning
Vijay Singh sends Tiger to the woods
Clinches No 1 ranking with sixth victory of the year
Project Censored 2005
The Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2003-2004
In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States

Out-of-print bestsellers
The Internet, which was supposed to herald the end of old-fashioned books, has instead saved the most vulnerable ones
Guardian Children's Fiction prize 2004

A tradition of finding new voices in children's fiction has distinguished the prize since it was founded in 1967
PM finetuned script with Sonia

Even as he is supposed to be ‘asserting’, Dr Manmohan Singh continues to move completely in step with the Congress party chief

September 05, 2004

Kabir Bedi in Farrukh Dhondy film
The acclaimed writer's newest film does for urban club music what Bend It Like Beckham did for soccer
Urine takes stink out of diesel fumes
Researchers at Switzerland’s Paul Scherrer Institute have come up with a novel solution

September 04, 2004

The KhERs'experience
Even as he is battling censorship issues, Central Board of Film Certification chief Anupam Kher is busy making more of a mark for himself overseas. Kher was back last week after completing the shooting, along with Kirron Kher for a guest appearance in the hit medical saga
King Kong filming set to begin
Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) will bring his sweeping cinematic vision to the iconic story of the gigantic ape monster captured in the wilds and brought to civilization where he meets his tragic fate
New-look Aaj Tak
The Hindi news channel is going in for a makeover from September 6
Sachin Tendulkar to feature in Bradman documentary

The documentary will be screened on Australia’s national broadcaster, ABC TV
Cricket for dummies
Watching cricket used to be like a cup of tea in the morning: you knew what you were getting. Of late, it feels like someone threw in a few extra spoons of sugar
Google Code Jam 2004
Do you have exceptional programming skills?
French author finds muse, home in India
Faced with a writer’s block a few years ago, award-winning Jean Echenoz came to India. And voila! He found his plot

September 03, 2004

Around the world with Peter Leslie
‘I remember clearly being in the railroad station in Calcutta surrounded by thousands of Indians and hearing the news that Mahatma Gandhi had just been assassinated’
Zoom in on Times TV
Bennett, Coleman and Co, publishers of The Times of India, have announced the launch of a 24-hour channel. Programs: non-fiction: talk shows, chat shows, game shows, magazine-based formats, interviews and music-based shows
‘Our editorial policy will remain the same across the globe’
'As far as a sensitive issue like Kashmir is concerned, it will be our endeavor to provide an unbiased view on the issue,' says Wadah Khanfar, the Al Jazeera managing director
Google on a hiring spree
The world’s largest search engine is recruiting for its research and development centre in Bangalore
Headliner
Hot TV ordered to cool down
(The Indian Express)
53 million adults use Instant Messaging in US
For many people, waiting for a response to an email takes too long, according to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life project

September 02, 2004

Mira Nair may direct Harry Potter 5
The filmmaker confirmed that she has been approached to direct The Order Of The Phoenix
Dumb dumb dumb dumb
rediff.com/India Abroad Principal Correspondent Arun Venugopal was detained at the Republican National Convention in New York

Also read: Journalists arrested during protests
Hack to school
School wasn't even in session, and Dartmouth College chief information officer Lawrence Levine was penning the kind of letter technology executives dread
Portraits of US Presidents

From George Washington to George W Bush
Jonty Rhodes keen to coach India
South Africa's legendary former fielder said, ‘It'll be a perfect marriage, as I love fielding and being in India’
KGL paid nearly one million for hostages' release
The Kuwaiti company denied it halted operations in Iraq as demanded by the abductors
Jimi Mistry to star in Mission: Impossible 3
The British Asian actor will star opposite Tom Cruise. All actors for the film have to be approved by Cruise
Adult shows are off
Forget bikini-clad babes
India's ancient body art returns

Starlets are reviving an ancient style statement , as youth in the land of nose and forehead markings embrace a new generation of body art with pierced belly buttons and tattoos
755 Indians qualify in 'Brain Olympics'
All the Indian participants scored enough in the second semifinal to reach the national finals in July 2005

CNN launches 'Eye on India'
The Cable News Network has announced the launch of a unique initiative that will feature a dedicated week of programming
Al-Jazeera to broadcast in India
News bulletins by the Arabic news channel, dubbed in Hindi, will be broadcast from Friday on India TV