Microsoft buys a share of Facebook

After losing umpteen battles to the online giant, google, Microsoft have finally hit one. The big one. Microsoft has bought a share in facebook at $240 million. That’s 1.6% of a website whose transaction was valued at $15 billion. The valuation for Facebook makes the $580 million News Corp paid for MySpace look like blatant cheating.

$240 million for 1.6% of a networking site??? You might be tempted to think that the biz gurus at MS have finally gone bonkers. But the industry says otherwise. Facebook is currently the 2nd biggest social networking site next to MySpace. According to press reports, Facebook is expecting to earn a profit of $30 million on $150 million in sales this year. The deal gives MS control over banner ads on Facebook outside the U.S., where about 60% of Facebook's 49 million active users reside.

The deal brings to forte the rising necessity for software giants to lap up websites and have a foothold over the web. Google started it by taking over blogspot, orkut, youtube. Sites that are prime hotspots of social networking and currently generate the maximum internet traffic.

All said, the deal works fine for both. A win-win situation. Facebook earns a BIG rise in valuation and MS gets a nice foothold on the web to make its presence known.

vinodane......

just got to hear that song from "thennavan" on the radio. one of the most romantic songs i have heard. the lyrics are absolutely great and its a refreshing change to see our captain, Vijayakanth, in such a song....


azhage nee thaan adhisaya vilakku,
anaikkum bodhu eriginraay......

marudamalai - the review.

After a brief sabbatical from filmdom by which everyone forgot about him, action-king arjun comes back with yet another cop flick “marudamalai”

The story

The hero, marudamalai, realises his father’s dream and becomes a police officer and is posted to a seemingly innocuous town, Naachiyarpuram that is a reserved constituency for the 20% minority. The local bigwig Masi, who belongs to the upper caste and the majority and cannot bear the thought of having a lower caste MLA, controls the town. Hence, he uses his power to stop elections in the town. The election commission decides after 16 years to finally have an election in naachiyarpuram irrespective of the consequences. The election and its aftermath and the clash between Arjun and Masi form the story.

The first half is just out of the world. Absolutely hilarious. Vadivelu, as ‘Encounter Ekambaram’, carries the movie on his shoulders. He does it total ease and complete élan. His panache is evident in the scene where he says, “risk edukarudhu ellam enakku rusku saapidara madiri”. (Non-tamil folks pardon me, but it’s too good a play on words and you would lose the joke if I translate) His English-speaking style is SO reminiscent of Shivaji Ganesan. He keeps reinventing himself time and again with more emphasis on his accent and face expressions. Full marks to him. Arjun does little else other than be Vadivelu’s sidekick here.

Its high time that the hero and heroine don’t get caught in a lip-lock every time they meet. Arjun and Nila keep kissing each other while slipping, while walking, while getting up. God!!!! I hardly get such stuff happen to me.

The second half has Arjun as an all-in-all saviour of the town. He bashes up masi, lands him in jail, kills his brothers, cavorts around with his “cousin”, romances Nila and is the general do-gooder.

Director Suraj has proved he is a fine protégé of Sundar C. the comedy sequences are excellent and provide ample laughs. However, it was a definite howler on his part to try and drill the importance of voting to the public. Karu Palaniappan’s “sivapadhikkaram” should have been a glaring example of not taking up social issues to the common man. There are some things that the average Indian can still not absorb.

Nila has not much to do except dress voluptuously and act even more voluptuous. She has shown some nice dress sense here. She wears clothes that hide away that hideously excess fat around her belly, remember the song “mayilirage” in Aa Aaa???

Raghuvaran gets some screen space after a long time but he looks very sick. Can it be drugs?

Music is by Imman supposedly. No comments.

En masse, it should be a fine movie for Arjun and we would have to face the ignominy of more movies of this genre from him.

are we racist?

In baroda and mumbai, the only non-white member of the australian squad, symonds was ragged by the spectators who called him a monkey and accompanied it with ape-like motions. The police in baroda had another explanation for this – they were supposedly praying to the simian god, hanuman.

Sharad pawar went to say that it was not racism and just cultural differences amongst us and the visitors. He actually quoted ponting in this regard who unfortunately had used the term in an entirely new context – sledging being a part of the game and the actual upbringing of the australians.

Was it racism or cultural differences or anthropological differences?



This is where the photograph by hamish blair comes to the picture. Taken as it is, it just paints a comic picture of 2 guys with hands about them like apes. But put the picture in context, symonds walked in and he was exposed to THIS!!!! Agreed that it is entirely normal within us. How many of us have heard someone saying –“avan maadu madiri irukaan” (he is built like a bull). But its racist connotations can not be denied. Nor explained. Actually I can probably understand it. As a country with a rich heritage of caste bigotry and centuries of experience of racism (at the wrong end), we know how to dish it out and do it well too, since we know how it hurts.
The fact that the mumbai police have caught four people for such acts is commendable. Four people, one of them a woman (a woman for godsakes, where is our country heading to?). for a country which is growing leaps and bounds in all facets of life, to be branded a “racist country” would be suicide.
God help us!!!!

trivia

Denatonium, usually available as denatonium benzoate (under trade names such as Bitrex or Aversion) and as denatonium saccharide, is the most bitter compound known to date. Denatonium salts are usually colorless and odorless solids but are often traded as solutions. They are used as aversive agents to prevent accidental ingestion. Denatonium is used in denatured alcohol, antifreeze, nail biting preventions, animal repellents, liquid soaps, and shampoos.

quote unquoted!!!

came across this quote this morning....

You create your opportunities by asking for them.

so true, but thats assuming you want an opportunity.
what if someone thinks - "thanks, but no!!! i have had enough oppurtunities."

hmmm.... gives me something to ponder.

graph theory with colors

The four color theorem (also known as the four color map theorem) states that given any plane separated into regions, such as a political map of the states of a country, the regions may be colored using no more than four colors in such a way that no two adjacent regions receive the same color. Two regions are called adjacent only if they share a border segment, not just a point.