BOLLYWOOD - Have Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra called a truce?

Most Bollywood heroines over the ages have stayed true to the adage that two actresses of the same league can never be friends. However, looks like Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra could prove it as a thing of the past. If rumours are to be believed, the two ladies could well be on their way to call for truce. But questions is, ultimately will they or won't they?

Both PC and Bebo have often engaged in a war of words, whether be it in front of the media and even telly chat shows. They have been at loggerheads about not just their professional lives but also their personal lives. The two have apparently even shared boyfriends (read Shahid Kapoor). However, a source present at Imran Khan's recent housewarming party, where both Kareena and Priyanka were invited, states that the two apparently shared a very warm conversation on the floor.

The source says, "Everyone present in the room was surprised to see Kareena and Priyanka talking non-stop with each other. They were in each other's company for more than an hour and had even taken a corner of the house to themselves. They kept on giggling and laughing throughout." 

Apparently, there was no other person who was part of their conversation. "They just came face to face and started talking," adds the source. What remains to be seen is if their newfound friendship will carry over to the next year as well. Let's wait and watch.

Past imperfect

Kareena and Priyanka have not exactly been the best of friends for a long time. A sneak-peek into their colourful history together.

2007: The two worked in Aitraaz together, post which they heaped praises on each other at every media interaction possible.

December 2007: Kareena took a dig at Priyanka by stating that she did not consider any of her contemporaries to be 'actresses' except Rani Mukherji. Priyanka issued a dignified response saying, "Bebo is a more senior and hopefully more mature actress than me." 

December 2010: Kareena, once again, ridiculed Priyanka on Koffee With Karan for her accent, prompting Priyanka to comment on Bebo's then-beau, now hubby Saif Ali Khan's accent as well.

January 2011: There were some signs of a patch-up during an event for the Mumbai police. During her performance, Priyanka roped in Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena on the stage to jive along with her.

September 2012: Even during the promotions of Kareena's Heroine, the two actresses made sarcastic comments about the fates of the other's films at the box office and award events.

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Posted in: BOLLYWOOD

BOLLYWOOD - Salman Khan - Dabangg 2 mints Rs 100.78 crore in first week

After Dabangg, Bodyguard and Ek Tha Tiger, actor Salman Khan has done it once again. Within six days of its release, Dabangg 2 has entered the Rs 100 crore-club with collections amounting to Rs 100.78 crore.

Dabangg 2 is the sequel to the 2010 release Dabangg, which was set in a village and had the rustic, rural flavour of Uttar Pradesh. The story of the sequel has shifted to a posh metropolitan city.

Made under the banner of Arbaaz Khan Productions, Dabangg 2 has been written by Dilip Shukla. This is Arbaaz's first film as a director. The film released in over 3,500 screens across India on December 21.

This year has been very lucky for Salman. Kabir Khan-directed Ek Tha Tiger was an Eid release and set the cash registers ringing, but Dabangg 2 achieved this feat in spite of being a non-holiday release.

The film opened to a collection of Rs 21.10 crore and collected a whopping Rs 65.16 crore during the first three days.

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Posted in: BOLLYWOOD - Salman Khan

TECH - ZTE launches Nubia Z5 smartphone with 5-inch 1080p display

We've reported earlier about ZTE's plans to launch two phablets this year and the company is now a step closer to accomplishing those plane. The Nubia Z5 has now been officially announced by the company. The Black and White models of the device will go on sale in China beginning January 2013 for 3,456 yuan (about $555 US). There is no word on availability in other regions as of now.

The Nubia Z5 comes with Android 4.1.1 and touts impressive hardware. The device sports a 5-inch (1920x1080 pixels) IPS display and features a huge 13-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front facing one.

At 138 x 69.2 x 7.6mm and weighing in at 126 grams, the Nubia Z5 is being claimed as the thinnest full-HD smartphone yet. Under the belly, the Nubia Z5 is powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) processor with 2GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage. It comes with a 3000mAh battery.

The device boasts NFC, HSPA+ connectivity, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0.

Rumour has it that apart from the black and white models, there is a third model expected to be revealed later. There aren't any other details except that it is likely to be a titanium version and may be priced at 7,890 yuan (around $1,265 US).

ZTE is also expected to unveil a second 5-inch full-HD device at CES 2013 in Las Vegas. A press shot of the Grand S was leaked 3 days ago with very less details known about the phablet. 

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Posted in: TECH

TECH - How Facebook, Twitter are helping companies pitch to consumers

Legal hassles, poor 3G coverage and patchy broadband haven't stopped the rapid growth of social media across India— both for people at home and for businesses looking to build digital campaigns to reach increasingly networked consumers.

If Facebook has crossed some 65 million users in India, others such as LinkedIn and Twitter, with more than 15 million and between 10 and 33 million users (depending on whom you ask), respectively, and newer sites such as Pinterestand Quora too have grown sharply in the past 12 months.

Even as millions of these users log into these sites from their computers, tablets and most visibly from their mobile phones, businesses are graduating from being hesitant adopters of marketing on social media to being full-blown fans of this medium.

From being an absent afterthought on Facebook, brands and companies have today morphed to aggressively targeting social networkers with bespoke plans and initiatives as they seek new avenues for growth.
Kirthiga Reddy has been watching this social media revolution unfold over the past 30 months as the head of Facebook's India business. From April last year, the world's largest social networking site has seen its India user base explode from around 25 million to over 65 million.

"With such an engaged user base, India is one of the fastest growing countries on Facebook," she says.

This growth has been fuelled here by a large number of hyper-networked mobile users, who manage to stay logged in, despite patchy internet connectivity. Reddy already sees mobile as the future of social networking.

"We are a mobile-first company and are constantly working to improve the experience across all devices. Globally, of the over 1 billion Facebook users, more than 600 million access the social networking site on their mobile devices. In fact, Facebook has added 225 million new mobile users in the last 12 months," says Reddy.

According to Rajiv Dingra, CEO of WATConsult, a social media agency, Facebook has added around 10 million users in the past six months alone, while he estimates that LinkedIn, a professional networking sites favoured by corporates, has added some six million users.

"Social networking sites are looking beyond the initial bunch of users to the next layer," he says. "These are often in small towns and often first-timers."

As these sites have evolved to become the first port of call for India's youth, brands are tumbling over themselves to build innovative and often digital-only or even digitalfirst campaigns to get noticed.

However, from creating an unmeasured splash with a Facebook page or Youtube channel, marketers are now getting more precise with their initiatives.

"Last year there was a (Facebook) fan acquisition craze and that has been replaced by a more measured approach, with actual return on investment being the focus," adds Dingra.

Marketers such as VinayBhatia of retailer Shoppers Stop have already spotted this trend. "We will have 12 or 13 videos exclusively for Youtube and we're integrating millions of our Facebook fanswith our First Citizen loyalty program too," he says.
Bhatia divides the social media world into: those who aggressively adopted this trend; and the late-comers to the field. He says now even the slackers are catching up as they see a clear monetary benefit from an aggressive social media presence.

Shoppers Stop offers special deals to its Facebook fans, gives them a longer preview of coming sales and is even using technology such as augmented reality to reach out on social networking sites.

"We are pushing our creative agencies to build marketing programs that place social networks at the centre, rather than at the periphery of the end objective," he says as he slips into a four-hour marathon meeting with them.

Social media sites have unveiled a series of new features to try to cater to businesses looking to ride this social media revolution. Facebook, for example, recently launched Facebook Exchange, to more precisely target users with campaigns--hitting those searching for home loans with campaigns with ads on their news feed.

Elsewhere, LinkedIn launched a targeting tool used by the likes of American Express to target affluent users with bespoke programs. Even newer sites such as Pinterest saw heightened corporate interest, with Dingra of WATConsult dubbing it as a fertile ground to observe young and middle-aged women's social media habits.

While Twitter has become the place to track politicians, celebrities and sportsmen, businesses too are slowly sensing an opportunity to use promoted tweets, trends and accounts to build their brands.

"The 66A case (in which two girls were arrested for their FB posts) may have happened on Facebook, but the people's voice was amplified on Twitter, which has become the digital voice of the Junta," adds Dingra.

Facebook's Reddy thinks that the next big opportunity will come when small businesses aggressively begin to use the site to grow their operations. Facebook and industry lobby FICCIplan to organise a six-city conference tour to familiarise small & medium businesses with the benefits of social media and will even hand out free Facebook credits (used to advertise with the site) as a sop to these units.

According to a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and India Market Research Bureau, the Indian online advertising market, including classifieds, will grow by 54% in the next 12 months.

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Posted in: TECH