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ASAL

The trios of Ajith, Saran and Bharadwaj have proved lucky in the past. After musical entertainers like 'Kadhal Mannan', 'Amarkkalam' and 'Attagasam', they have now teamed up together for 'Asal'. The album has seven numbers which are different from each other.

Bharadwaj's penchant for melodies is evident in the album. With Vairamuthu penning the lyrics, it is a real treat for music-lovers.

The pick of the album indeed is a number 'En Thanthai...' rendered by Bharadwaj himself. The one crooned by S P Balasubramaniam too is good to listen to. With lyrics not over powered by the instruments, which has been the hallmark of Bharadwaj's music style, all songs in 'Asal' are attractive.

Produced by Sivaji Films, the movie starring Ajith, Bhavana and Sameera Reddy, is all complete and ready for release.

Let's check out how the songs are

1. Thala Pola Varuma - Listen here

Singer: Sunitha Menon

Appropriate and right one for Ajith fans. Bharadwaj who tuned some splendid mass numbers for Ajith in the past has come out with one such song this time too. A racy track sure to become anthem among Ajith fans. It has peppy and groovy beats combined with lyrics that every 'Thala' fan would relish.

2. Em Thandhai - Listen here

Singer: Bharadwaj

The 'Gnayabagam varudhae...' number of ‘Asal’. A song that glorifies a dad by his son, the number is heart-warming and speaks a lot of a son's admiration for his father. Director Saran was right in dedicating the song to Sivaji Ganesan as the film is produced by the thespian's sons Prabhu and Ramkumar. Vairamuthu is at his best penning the song with touchy lyrics. Bharadwaj's soft-rendering elevates the mood of the number.

3. Kuthiraikku Theriyum - Listen here

Singer: Surumukhi, Sricharan

A catchy track with extra-ordinary arrangements by Bharadwaj. The song is brisk right from its beginning. Vairamuthu's simple lyrics add pep to the song. Bharadwaj seems to have re-invented himself with the song. Surumukhi and Sricharan chip in with their best.

4. Tottodaing - Listen here

Singer: Mukesh, Janani

A mass number with splendid beats. One for Ajith fans to shake their legs, the song is good to listen to. A touch of Classical raga cannot be denied. Janani's youthful voice combines with Mukesh's brisk tone to make it a good listening.

5. Hey Dushyantha - Listen here

Singer: Surumukhi, Kumaran

Though it distantly reminds one of 'Yesh Ishq...' from 'Jab We Met', Bharadwaj's orchestration gives the difference. It is a pleasant number that would go down well with music-lovers. Bharadwaj's ease at handling singers is evident with the number.

6. Yengay Yengay - Listen here

Singer: SPB

Two versions of the song appear in the album. S P Balasubramaniam's brisk rendering leaves an impression. It speaks of a man's journey in his life, and the insults and back-stabbings he had faced. A mild version of 'Saththam Illadha Thanimai...' in 'Amarkkalam' is this sing.

‘Asal’ on the whole, is an album that is worth listening to. Entertainment guaranteed!

World Ends In 2012 :

SCIENTIFIC EXPERTS from around the world are predicting that five years from now, all life on Earth could well come to an end. Some are saying it’ll be humans that would set it off. Others believe that a natural phenomenon will be the cause. And the religious folks are saying it’ll be God himself who would press the stop button. The following are some likely arguments as to why the world would end by the year 2012.

Reason one: Mayan calendar

 

The first to predict 2012 as the end of the world were the Mayans, a bloodthirsty race that were good at two things -- building highly accurate astrological equipment out of stone and sacrificing virgins.

 

Thousands of years ago they managed to calculate the length of the lunar moon as 329.53020 days, only 34 seconds out. The Mayan calendar predicts that the earth will end on December 21, 2012. Given that they were pretty close to the mark with the lunar cycle, it’s likely they’ve got the end of the world right as well.

Reason two: Sun storms

 

Solar experts from around the world monitoring the sun have made a startling discovery. Our sun is in a bit of strife. The energy output of the sun is, like most things in nature, cyclic and it’s supposed to be in the middle of a period of relative stability. However, recent solar storms have been bombarding the earth with lot of radiation energy. It’s been knocking out power grids and destroying satellites. This activity is predicted to get worse and calculations suggest it’ll reach its deadly peak sometime in 2012.

Reason three: The atom smasher

 

Scientists in Europe have been building the world’s largest particle accelerator. Basically, its a 27 km tunnel designed to smash atoms together to find out what makes the universe tick. However, the mega-gadget has caused serious concern, with some scientists suggesting that it’s properly even a bad idea to turn it on in the first place. They’re predicting all manner of deadly results, including mini black holes. So when this machine is fired up for its first serious experiment in 2012, the world could be crushed into a super-dense blob the size of a basketball.

 

Reason four: The Bible says it

 

If having scientists warning us about the end of the world isn’t bad enough, religious folks are getting in on the act as well. Interpretations of the Christian Bible reveal that the date for Armageddon, the final battle between good an evil, has been set for 2012. The I Ching, also known as the Chinese Book of Changes, says the same thing, as do various sections of the Hindu teachings.

 

Reason five: Super volcano

 

Yellowstone National Park in United States is famous for its thermal springs and old faithful geyser. The reason for this is simple -- it’s sitting on top of the world’s biggest volcano and geological experts are beginning to get nervous sweats. The Yellowstone volcano has a pattern of erupting every 650,000 years or so, and we’re many years overdue for an explosion that will fill the atmosphere with ash, blocking the sun and plunging the earth into a frozen winter that could last up to 15,000 years. The pressure under the Yellowstone is building steadily, and geologists have set 2012 as a likely date for the big bang.

 

Reason six: The physicists

 

This one’s case of bog -- simple maths mathematics. Physicists at Berkely University have been crunching the numbers. They’ve determined that the earth is well overdue for a major catastrophic event. Even worse, they’re claiming that their calculations prove that we’re all going to die, very soon. They are also saying that their prediction comes with a certainty of 99 per cent; and 2012 just happens to be the best guess as to when it occurs.

 

Reason seven: Earth’s magnetic field

 

We all know the Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that shields us from most of the sun’s radiation. What you might not know is that the magnetic poles we call North and South have a nasty habit of swapping places every 750,000 years or so -- and right now we’re about 30,000 years overdue. Scientists have noted that the poles are drifting apart roughly 20-30 kms each year, much faster than ever before, which points to a pole-shift being right around the corner. While the pole shift is under way, the magnetic field is disrupted and will eventually disappear, sometimes for up to 100 years. The result is enough UV outdoors to crisp your skin in seconds, killing everything it touches.

2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won't End?

Remember the Y2K scare? It came and went without much of a whimper because of adequate planning and analysis of the situation. Impressive movie special effects aside, Dec. 21, 2012, won't be the end of the world as we know. It will, however, be another winter solstice. 

Much like Y2K, 2012 has been analyzed and the science of the end of the Earth thoroughly studied. Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, the science behind the end of the world quickly unravels when pinned down to the 2012 timeline. Below, NASA Scientists answer several questions that we're frequently asked regarding 2012.

Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.
Answer (A): Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012. 

Q: What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012?
A: The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. Then these two fables were linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.

Q: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?
A: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.

Q: Could a phenomena occur where planets align in a way that impacts Earth?
A: There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades, Earth will not cross the galactic plane in 2012, and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence. 

Q: Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction?
A: Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles. 

Q: What is the polar shift theory? Is it true that the earth’s crust does a 180-degree rotation around the core in a matter of days if not hours? 
A: A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible. There are slow movements of the continents (for example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However, many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-shift to fool people. They claim a relationship between the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth, which does change irregularly, with a magnetic reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average. As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn’t cause any harm to life on Earth. A magnetic reversal is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia, anyway. 

Q: Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2012?
A: The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA NEO Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.

Q: How do NASA scientists feel about claims of pending doomsday?
A: For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012. 

Q: Is there a danger from giant solar storms predicted for 2012?
A: Solar activity has a regular cycle, with peaks approximately every 11 years. Near these activity peaks, solar flares can cause some interruption of satellite communications, although engineers are learning how to build electronics that are protected against most solar storms. But there is no special risk associated with 2012. The next solar maximum will occur in the 2012-2014 time frame and is predicted to be an average solar cycle, no different than previous cycles throughout history.

Best Camera Phones

T-Mobile G1 

You might be wondering how the T-Mobile G1 made it onto this list. After all, the camera interface is basic, with few advanced controls or settings available. The 3-megapixel sensor is barely impressive these days, as co-branded 5-megapixel cams dominate the market. Auto Focus is a nice feature, but there's no smile detection, panorama shooting or even video recording. So why does the T-Mobile G1 make the cut? Simple. It produced some of the best cameraphone images we've seen, with vibrant, accurate colors and sharp details. For us, the bells and whistles are nice, but image quality is the most important thing we look for, and in that area, the T-Mobile G1 is tops. Motorola Zine ZN5 

Here at infoSync, we get a chance to test not only cameraphones, but also standalone compact cameras and prosumer DSLRs, so we can be fairly critical when it comes to camera performance, especially on a phone. That said, when we got around to printing glossy test image samples directly from the Motorola Zine, we quickly realized that this was the first phone we've used capable of producing images that we might actually want to print. They weren't perfect, but the level of detail, the color accuracy and the lack of serious problems in these images quickly put them at the head of the pack. We've seen cameraphones from Nokia and Sony Ericsson that brag about the provenance of their imaging technology, using Carl Zeiss and Schneider-Kreuznach branding, but wouldn't you know it was good ol' Kodak and Motorola who finally delivered a top-notch cameraphone to the U.S. market. 
Sony Ericsson W760 

Sony Ericsson likes to brag about their imaging technology, so we were pleased to find that pictures taken with the 3.2-megapixel Sony Ericsson W760 were able to keep up with the bravado. We found images from the shooter to be vivid and bright, with great color quality. Details were lacking, but pictures still looked impressive. We also liked the in-camera panorama stitching, which worked very well in our tests, and the other attractive camera features. Users who pick this one up for the music-playing abilities will be pleasantly surprised to find a capable cameraphone as well. 

Samsung Behold 

We have to give the Samsung Behold proper respect for upping the ante on cameraphones and bringing a 5-megapixel monster shooter to the masses, courtesy of T-Mobile. The phone has some nice camera features, including Auto Focus, scene modes and even in-camera panorama stitching. Results weren't the best. Colors were lifelike and richly saturated, but details were missing in the late fall foliage shots we took while testing this phone. Still, it has a nice, touchable camera interface, and plenty of features to keep casual shooters busy. 

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 took nice pictures with its 3.2-megapixel shooter, but it was the interface design that had us truly wowed. The Xperia X1 uses a touch focus system. You frame your shot, then touch the screen where you want the camera to focus, and it sharpens on that area. It's an amazing, intuitive setup, and we're surprised that more point-and-shoot manufacturers haven't incorporated this into their compact camera lineup. Unfortunately, the feature didn't work perfectly, especially when the subject was a bit too close for comfort. Still, pictures were mostly good, as the camera reproduced color well and handled light effectively. With some polish and better performance, this touch focus idea could be a game-changer for casual cameras.