Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the Sex And The City (Season 2) DVD.
30 Apr 10 Of Jack Dorsey and his fascination for courier service – Mastering the VC Game [Book Review]
Tags: a-cold-approach, BUSINESS, general-partner, India, nicely-explains, paypal, publisher, Reconstruction, review, time, WORLD
02 Apr 10 iPad Available in India for Rs 32K! [Kingfisher Connection?]
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19 Jan 10 Avast AntiVirus Review – Conclusion
…in the end…how did Avast 4.8 fare against all that malware???
Tags: Antivirus, avast, Conclusion, review
19 Jan 10 New Chinese Mini Iphone Review
chinese mobile phone, Iphone, visit www.sunstarvip.com for more detail.
19 Jan 10 Sex And The City (Season 2) DVD Review
Based on Candace Bushnell’s best-selling book, Sex And The City became one of the most successful and widely lauded original HBO series ever. Premiering in the summer of 1998, it follows the lives of female friends in their late-20s/early-30s who live and work in New York City. With a clever wit, the show’s plot focuses on the varying love relationships and lifestyle problems encountered by each woman in the clique. With an talented and beautiful cast, the show developed an almost borderline fanatic following…
The Sex And The City (Season 2) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in which Carrie, having broken up with Mr. Big, starts dating a member of the New York Yankees. However, when they run into Mr. Big, she realizes she’s not really over him. Meanwhile, Miranda is tired of her friends talking about nothing but men, and Samantha thinks she’s found the man of her dreams – at least until she gets him in bed… Other notable episodes from Season 2 include “Four Women and a Funeral” in which Carrie’s reflections on the shortness of life following friend’s death lead to a reunion with Mr. Big, and “The Man, The Myth, The Viagra” in which Carrie urges Mr. Big to get to know her friends better and Samantha dates a wealthy man in his seventies…
Below is a list of episodes included on the Sex And The City (Season 2) DVD:
Episode 13 (Take Me Out to the Ballgame) Air Date: 06-06-1999
Episode 14 (The Awful Truth) Air Date: 06-13-1999
Episode 15 (The Freak Show) Air Date: 06-20-1999
Episode 16 (They Shoot Single People, Don’t They?) Air Date: 06-27-1999
Episode 17 (Four Women and a Funeral) Air Date: 07-04-1999
Episode 18 (The Cheating Curve) Air Date: 07-11-1999
Episode 19 (The Chicken Dance) Air Date: 07-18-1999
Episode 20 (The Man, the Myth, the Viagra) Air Date: 07-25-1999
Episode 21 (Old Dogs, New Dicks) Air Date: 08-01-1999
Episode 22 (The Caste System) Air Date: 08-08-1999
Episode 23 (Evolution) Air Date: 08-15-1999
Episode 24 (La Douleur Exquise!) Air Date: 08-22-1999
Episode 25 (Games People Play) Air Date: 08-29-1999
Episode 26 (The F*ck Buddy) Air Date: 09-05-1999
Episode 27 (Shortcomings) Air Date: 09-12-1999
Episode 28 (Was It Good For You?) Air Date: 09-19-1999
Episode 29 (Twenty-Something Girls vs. Thirty-Something Women) Air Date: 09-26-1999
Episode 30 (Ex and the City) Air Date: 10-03-1999
19 Jan 10 Avast Free Antivirus Review
Avast Free Antivirus Review
BY: Charles P. Jefferies, NotebookReview.com Contributor
PUBLISHED: 12/8/2009
By Charles P. Jefferies
ALWIL Software’s Avast Antivirus Home Edition is free for home users. How does it stack up against other free and paid solutions? We break it down in this review.
Product Overview
Avast vgp-bps8 promises pro-active protection from online threats including viruses, spyware, and rootkits while guarding traditional (Internet, disk media) and nontraditional (network and P2P/IM traffic) infection vectors.
Avast’s resident shield provides real-time operating system protection and claims to be able to detect a virus before it infects a computer. Avast also has built-in measures to prevent itself from being shut down. Additionally, the program includes various scanners for e-mail and news feeds.
Avast lenovo v100 battery has a light firewall built in called the network shield. It actively scans network traffic for worms and other threats.
Another notable feature is Avast’s Virus Recovery Database which creates a file integrity database that can repair virus-infected files to their original state.
The free version of Avast (Home Edition) is only available for home users, not businesses. Registration is required to use the software beyond the 60-day trial period.
Download & Installation
Avast’s install begins with downloading a download manager which pulls the install files from a server. After download, the install is painless and takes less than ten clicks and three minutes to complete. A restart is required to complete installation. Most other antivirus suites did not require a restart, but Avast has some very low-level components built-in, which may require the restart. Either way, not a big deal.
Registration is required to use Avast beyond the 60-day trial period. Registering grants users a 14-month license key, after which users must register the software again to keep using it. This is a con compared to Avira’s and AVG’s free antivirus, which do not require registration.
Program Interface
Accessing the interface requires right-clicking the Avast A system tray icon and then clicking start; ideally users should simply have to double-click the icon.
Avast’s interface is very unique in several ways. It is entirely icon-driven, which means a certain learning curve. However, Avast is quicker to navigate than most antivirus programs once you’re familiar with the interface. It is also unique because the interface is very small; most antivirus program interfaces are several times its size.
Avast is generally easy to navigate. The three icons on the right select which areas to scan (hard disks, external media, additional folders), and pressing the play button on the far left starts the selected scan. The three buttons on the left from top to bottom open the virus chest, set the on-access scanner sensitivity, and launch a manual update. Updates are performed automatically every 24 hours.
Clicking t61 battery on the up arrow in the top left launches the settings menu. Advanced settings and other miscellaneous items can be accessed here. Avast allows users to change skins; the version at the right was included with the install. A nice touch, though changing skins means re-learning what all the icons stand for.
Overall the interface is fresh and unique; it has a small learning curve but is simple to use afterward.
In Use & Effectiveness
Avast did not affect daily office productivity or Internet surfing. Unlike some free antivirus suites, particularly Avira, it does not have any advertisements built in.
To test the effectiveness of Avast I used several virus files from Eicar.org, an IT security website. Please see the test description for extensive information on the tests.
Avast blocked all four test files from downloading; most antivirus applications let malware download and only detect later once they’re on your PC. Avast ties the expensive Kaspersky antivirus suite as the most pro-active software we have tested since it detected all four files immediately. Very impressive!
Performance Impact
We evaluate the performance impact and system resource usage of using anti-virus software in three ways:
1. Overall system performance measured before and after installation using PCMark
2. Memory footprint
3. Time it took to perform a full system scan
Our test system is an HP Pavilion dv5t.
Overall System Performance Impact Measured with PCMark Vantage
The PCMark benchmarks as measured before (left) and after (right) the Avast install are shown below.
Somehow the benchmark actually had higher numbers after running the suite so system performance impact is a non-issue!
Memory Footprint
Avast took up about 12 MB of system memory, which is about a third of what AVG requires (35 MB), a little more than half what Avira needs (20 MB), and three times what Microsoft Security Essentials uses (4 MB). That said, even 35 MB is practically nothing by modern memory standards; Firefox will often take up 100 MB all by itself.
Time it took to perform a full system scan
Avast took 34 minutes to scan our computer’s hard drive with 122GB of data; this is a short time and faster than most paid solutions. It bests Avira’s 45 minutes but doesn’t quite catch AVG at 23 minutes. Note that this is using the default scan settings; there are more in-depth scanning options available.
Conclusion
Avast is one of the most impressive antivirus solutions we tested, even including the paid software. It is extremely pro-active, provides many layers of protection, is easy to use after learning the icon-driven interface, and has virtually no impact on system performance. We highly recommend it to home users searching for an antivirus solution with the above-described features.
PROS:
FREE of charge Simple interface Highly pro-active, extensive protection
CONS:
Quirky interface launcher Icon interface takes some learning Requires registration
19 Jan 10 Dubao A890 – chinese mobile with DVB-T tuner video review
www.allmobiletech.com
Tags: A890, Chinese, Dubao, DVBT, mobile, review, Tuner, video
18 Jan 10 Titanic (DVD) Review
Nominated for 14 Academy Awards and winner of 11 including Best Picture, Titanic became a worldwide phenomenon upon its release in 1997. Written and directed by James Cameron, the producer behind such hits as Terminator 2 and True Lies, the film chronicles the tragic 1912 sinking of the Titanic on its maiden voyage while interweaving a classic love story. At 194 minutes, it’s probably the longest commercial blockbuster in recent memory. Apparently, the sinking of the ship mirrors the real life timeline of the original sinking of the Titanic and that’s the reason for the three-hour plus running time (or at least, that’s what I’ve heard). Nevertheless, unless you’re absolutely disgusted by overly idealistic love stories, it’s a film well worth watching.
Titanic centers around the life of Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet), a young woman onboard the celebrated launch of Titanic, the world’s largest luxury ship and a vessel believed to be indestructible. Accompanied by her social-climbing mother Ruth (Frances Fisher) and her arrogantly wealthy fiancé Caledon Hockley (Billy Zane), Rose is bound for the beauty and sophistication of Continental Europe. But her trip, and her life, take an unexpected turn when she encounters Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a vagabond artist with no money, zero social status, and a zest for life. Against the wishes of Ruth, Rose and Jack fall in love, incurring the wrathful vengeance of Caledon. But, in the end, only a disaster of epic proportions can break the couple apart.
With a number of standout performances by a star-studding cast, including previous Academy Award winner Kathy Bates in the role of “new money” heiress Molly Brown, Titanic is a truly memorable film. The scope and opulence of the fabled ship is simply breathtaking, and the costumes and props form a brilliant kaleidoscope of images from the past. Although an overblown and idealistic teenage love story was the true focus of the film, Titanic created enough action and suspense during the sinking to keep viewers who aren’t interested in such plots interested. Inevitably, most viewers will envision themselves in the midst of such circumstances, wondering how they would react. Parts of the film are narrated from the perspective of a present day speaker, and the flashback sequences are combined to good effect. Overall, it makes for an outstanding film.
James Horner composed the musical score for Titanic, and his efforts are one reason the film experienced such widespread success. With a number of brilliant and original scores already to his credit – Field Of Dreams (1989), Legends Of The Fall (1994), and Braveheart (1995) all come to mind – Horner expands upon his unique voice by creating a soundtrack that combines the lazy breeze of an Iowa cornfield with the majestic plains of Scotland. In addition, Celine Dion provides the breakout performance of her career with the hit single “My Heart Will Go On,” which in the movie is paired with the most famous scene from the film in which Jack and Rose stand on the bow of the Titanic and pretend to fly. Not surprisingly, I’ve learned that in the years since, many tourists have lost their lives trying to mimic them. So I don’t recommend you try that! But I do advise watching Titanic. If you can sit through the sappy, melodramatic love scenes and the accompanying dialogue, you’ll be blown away by the special effects, the costumes, the set, and the soundtrack.
Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the Titanic (DVD).
18 Jan 10 Yuvvraaj Movie Review; Movie Review of Yuvvraaj
Sweeping locales, classy music, good performances and good story line(after a long time) work in Yuvvraaj’s favor. Yuvvraaj is a movie high on drama and visuals. After three back to back debacles in Yaadein, Kisna and Black and White, director Subash Ghai seems to have found his old, classic touch.
Story of Yuvvraaj:: Yuvvraaj is a movie which upholds the good old virtues of brotherhood, love and family ties. Deven Yuvvraaj (Salman Khan) is a chorus singer who is in love with Anushka (Katrina Kaif). Her father Dr. P. K.Danton(Boman Irani) does not approve of the relationship because Deven is penniless. The reality is Deven had been shunned by his rich father since 12 years and he was trying to create an identity separate from his father. Later, Deven comes to know that his father is dead. He meets Anushka’s father and tells that he will return a billionaire (because he knows he can get a stake in his father’s property).
Deven has two brothers Gyanesh Yuvvraaj [Anil Kapoor] and Danny Yuvvraaj [Zayed Khan] whom he meets after 12 years at his father’s home. The family’s legal guardian(Mithun Chakraborthy) states that the father before dying had drafted the will in which the property would go to Gyanesh Yuvvraaj. Gyanesh is an autistic patient, mentally incapable of making decisions. There is a clause in the contract that in case Gyanesh dies naturally or through accident or murder, the property will go to a charitable trust.
The ambitious brothers Deven and Danny try various means..threatening, manipulating and buttering up Gyanesh so that he would give in the wealth to them. Deven brings Gyanesh to Austria where he meets Anushka; who finds that Gyanesh has a keen talent for music. Slowly and surely, Gyanesh begins to trust in Deven and in the process; Deven also realizes that his brother is an innocent person who cares more for music than money. Danny on the other hand, becomes trapped in a credit trap, and there is no one to save his financial doom. He feels insecure and runs to his brothers. He vows to leave his philandering ways and becomes one with his brothers. The relatives who have their eyes on the property are not interested in the brothers’ union. They plot to kill Gyanesh so that the blame of the murder would fall squarely on the two brothers. How the two brothers manage to steer clear of the crisis and save Gyanesh’s life form the rest of the plot.
Plus points of Yuvvraaj:
1. Excellent music by A.R.Rahman. The numbers take the movie on a different high altogether especially the three songs “Tu hi meri dost hain”, ” Tu Muskura” and “Dil Ka Rishta” towards the climax. Choreography by Shiamak Davar for the Shano Shano number is also impressive.
2. Subhash Ghai has a penchant for larger than life cinema, and never misses a chance to shoot the grandeur and opulence.He along with cinematographer Kabir Lal catches Prague and Austria in all its beauty. The picture perfect image of Katrina Kaif playing the cello stays in your mind, even after the film is over.
3. Performances are top notch, especially by Anil Kapoor and Salman Khan. More on that below
4. Regal looking sets and interior design by Omung Kumar.
5. The ending credits a la Om Shanti Om.
Minus points of Yuvvraaj:
1. The screenplay is average at places, in fact, the story may not be outdated, but the screenplay gives the feeling. Dialogues are sadly not upto the mark, and in some cases they make you chuckle. For instance, there is a scene in which Salman Khan tells the cop that his brother is an “Indian brother” That was totally not necessary, uncalled patriotism on the play.
2. Villains Anjan Shrivastava and assortments of vamps look like they have come straight out of Ram Lakhan. Typical Subash Ghai stereotype. He needs to make some changes here.
Performances in Yuvvraaj:
Anil Kapoor pitches in with yet another power packed performance. He plays an autistic patient really well. He has worked on getting everything right, from his body language, his get up and also every single line that he mouths. Salman Khan looks inconsistent, looking super handsome in one scene and bloated in the other. But he holds the audience in awe in a couple of scenes, mainly in the last scene; where he has an emotional outburst. Katrina Kaif has not much to do, but does a neat job in whatever little she has got. One must admit that this gal is really lucky, without much of performance oriented roles, she still has managed to get hit after hit in the last couple of years. Zayed Khan tries to impress, thankfully his voice has some bass; otherwise you normally hear him squeaking in every film. Boman Irani is amusing, especially the last jig he does in the operation theatre.
Verdict: Yuvvraaj will not suit people who get their high on movies like Dhoom and Dostana. But if movies like Beta(1992) and Bhagban(2004) are something that you like naturally, then Yuvvraaj is your cup of tea. Watch Yuvvraaj in big screen purely for its aesthetic delight-visuals and music
V.S.ARUNRAJ, in his entertaining blog Bollywood Trends gives a low-down on the news, views, reviews, masala and trends of the biggest and the busiest film industry in the world-Bollywood
18 Jan 10 Movie Review – “Last Chance Harvey” Gets Quality Acting, But Suffers From Writer/Director’s Effort
Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley
Last Chance Harvey – 2 Stars – Average
Is it possible for your two leads to be nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress Golden Globe Awards and yet your magnum opus is average at best?
Yes it is, especially if your leads are Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, and the writer/director of the film is Joel Hopkins. Then you have the makings of “Last Chance Harvey”. This film is far too dark and depressing to be a romantic comedy, it feeds off of more negative than positive energy.
Last Chance Harvey is no misnomer. Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) is a preoccupied person who is not comfortable to be around and hardly likeable. Most of his time is spent bemoaning his condition in life. His wife dumped him years ago. His dream job was to be a jazz pianist, but he settled for a job as jingle writer for a Manhattan advertising firm, which is about to dump him for younger talent.
His wife remarried, and his daughter is closer to her step-dad than him. Harvey has made a career of being absent by choice. Now he travels to London for his daughter’s wedding and gets a very cold reception from his ex and everyone who counts. He becomes a disaster at the rehearsal dinner, can’t wait to leave London, and informs his daughter that he will not be attending the wedding reception.
Unfortunately for Harvey, he gets caught in a traffic jam, misses his flight, and is promptly informed that he has been fired.
He finds solace in a bar after forcing himself on Kate Walker (Emma Thompson), a survey taker who has never married and is now concerned that she will become a spinster. Long story short, these two losers find just enough in each other to tolerate being together.
In short order, Kate convinces Harvey to attend his daughter’s wedding reception and he agrees as long as she accompanies him. Long story even shorter, they almost have a great time at the reception and agree to meet at noon the next day. It this scenario sounds familiar, just think “An Affair to Remember”.
Harvey, of course, doesn’t make the rendezvous because the elevator is broke at his hotel, he runs up the steps, has an attack of arrhythmia and is off to the hospital. Kate waits dutifully and is crushed when Harvey no shows, just like a sappy teen-aged girl. It never occurs to her that Harvey might have been run over by a Mack truck on his way to meet her; she assumes the worst because she follows miserable results like stepping in quicksand. Does it all work out in the end? What do you think? This is the reason you watch the film, such as it is.
It is not the acting that makes Last Chance Harvey an average film, it is the writer/director Joel Hopkins. Trust me when I say that Hopkins did his best to make this film an artistic and financial winner. In the end, it becomes neither.
Last Chance Harvey reminds me of a film Jack Nicholson made named “About Schmidt” that is just terrible.
As a movie buff and movie reviewer, I am into relationship pictures, human dynamics and the psychology of living and existing. Both Harvey and Kate as characters are written as people who exist, moan and complain rather than choosing to live a better life. It is a good thing that they found each other because misery does love company.
Harvey is simply not likeable as a character, and Kate is not much better.
Last Chance Harvey made $14 million at the box office; hardly a rip-roaring success. Other than the two Golden Globe nominations for Hoffman and Thompson (neither won), award givers avoided this film like the plague.
Hopkins lacks experience as a writer or a director, and has courted failure by trying to become both the writer and director. I am sure his ego did not give him much choice in the matter. For every wannabe that thinks they can make great films as a writer/director, there are at least 10 more who fail miserably.
Job one for Joel Hopkins is to learn how to become a good storyteller. Hopkins should study “Waking Ned Devine” by Kirk Jones and “Secondhand Lions” by Tim McCanlies. Both Jones and McCanlies are on the top of my list of great writer/directors, and neither had much experience when their talent was evident.
Waking Ned Devine was Kirk Jones’ first effort as a writer/director, and Secondhand Lions was Tim McCanlies’ second effort as a writer/director. If I had millions to invest, I would fund both Jones and McCanlies, get out of the way, and watch magic happen on the big screen.
In all likelihood, Hopkins has more talent than we have seen; he just needs to continue improving and hone his craft. And here is a postscript to start with—never name a character in a depressing movie Harvey Shine, because Harvey does anything but shine, and we are reminded about it throughout the entire movie.
Read more of my movie reviews on films with a lot of substance, depth and feeling, including:
“A Christmas Story” – “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” – “Secondhand Lions” – “The Chorus (Les Choristes in French)” – “Waking Ned Devine” – “Chariots of Fire” ? “Steel Magnolias” ? “Chocolat” and “Radio”
These are all excellent films.
Find my movie reviews at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/MovieReviews.html
Tags: Acting, Chance, Effort, From, gets, Harvey, last, movie, quality, review, Suffers, Writer/Director's
