Apple releases Nitro-supercharged Safari 4 public beta

Safari 4 has been available as a beta browser for some time, though Safari 3 was the browser download of choice. With today's official public beta announcement, the main Safari download page takes you to the Safari 4 download link. Users wanting Safari 3 must click an additional link to reach that download page, now considered a historical release.

Apple said that its new Nitro JavaScript engine (based on WebKit) runs JavaScripts up to 4.2 times faster than its Safari 3 predecessor, 30 times faster than IE7 and three times faster than Firefox 3, at least according to Apple. Safari 4 was the first browser to pass the Acid3 web compatibility test with a perfect score a few months back while still in beta. And now it is the first final version of a browser to support this functionality. But while there are lots of new features, Apple missed putting more focus on security, which has been heavily criticized in the past.

Apple has added several new features to Safari. The hefty 25.5 MB package (excluding Quicktime) now includes a new preview of frequently visited pages called Top Sites, a full history search (Opera has had this for some time), Cover Flow -- to flip through the web history and bookmarks, as well as improved tabbed browsing.

Safari 4 also includes HTML 5 support for offline technologies that enable web-based applications to store information locally without an active always-on Internet connection. According to Apple, it is the first browser to support advanced CSS Effects which provide "highly polished web graphics using reflections, gradients and precision masks."

is this ATLANTIS???

The above is an extraordinary image which could be of the city of ATLANTIS.

It shows a perfect rectangle the size of Wales lying on the bed of the Atlantic Ocean nearly 3½ miles down. A host of criss-crossing lines, looking like a map of a vast metropolis, are enclosed by the boundary.They seem too vast and organised to be caused naturally.

And last night the possibility of an extraordinary discovery had oceanographers and geophysicists captivated.The site lies 620 miles off the west coast of Africa near the Canary Islands — a location for Atlantis seemingly suggested by the ancient philosopher Plato.He believed it was an island civilization sunk by an earthquake and floods around 9,700BC — nearly 12,000 years ago.

The “grid” showed up on Google Ocean, a Google Earth extension that uses a combination of satellite images and marine surveys. Dr Charles Orser, curator of historical archaeology at New York State University — and one of the world’s leading authorities on Atlantis — called it “fascinating”.He said: “The site is one of the most prominent places for the proposed location of Atlantis, as described by Plato. Even if it turns out to be geographical, this definitely deserves a closer look.”

The legend of Atlantis has captured the imagination of scholars for centuries. Situated in an area called the Madeira Abyssal Plane, the grid was spotted by aeronautical engineer Bernie Bamford as he browsed through Google Ocean.Bernie, 38, of Chester, said: “It looks like an aerial map of Milton Keynes. It must be man-made.”

Google claimedthat the criss-crossing lines were sonar data collected as boats mapped the ocean floor.But the internet giant said “blank spots” within the lines could not be explained.A spokeswoman said: “Bathymetric (or sea floor terrain) data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea floor.“The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data.“The fact that there are blank spots between each of these lines is a sign of how little we really know about the world’s oceans.”

slumdog sweeps the OSCARS with eight wins... JAI HO.!!!

It was a triumphant night for British film as Kate Winslet took the best actress Oscar for her role in film The Reader, while British film Slumdog Millionaire swept the board with EIGHT awards this morning.

While another Brit winner, Danny Boyle who took the best director Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire, it also won the best picture Oscar,Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, Best Score and Best Song.

Accepting the Oscar for best director, Boyle, 52, jumped up and down excitedly in front of Hollywood's finest. He explained that it was to honour a pledge he made to his children.Christian Colson accepted the Best Picture Oscar for Slumdog Millionare. Danny Boyle with Rubiana Ali(younger Latika) and Ismail(younger Salim) during the Oscars.

The mother of one of the Slumdog child actors celebrated the film's eight Oscars from her home in an Indian shantytown, where relatives and neighbours had gathered to watch the awards ceremony on television.'I'm so happy that my daughter has won this award and I could see her on stage with such big stars,' said Muni Qureshi, mother of 8-year-old Rubina Ali, who played the young slum kid Latika in the film.

A R Rahman won two Oscars for Best Music(Score)and Best Song with Gulzar.

Resul Pookutty along with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke won the Oscar for Outstanding Sound Mixing.

Sean Penn won the Oscar for the Best Actor for the movie Milk, Penelope Cruz won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona.

The late Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight won him the Best supporting actor Oscar, which was accepted by his parents and sister.Ledger has become only the second performer to be awarded an Oscar posthumously.His father accepted the award on behalf of his daughter Matilda.

The show was presented by Australia actor Hugh Jackman who took part in a stunning dance routine with singer Beyonce.

The Dark Knight Breaks a Billion

The 2008 blockbuster The Dark Knight has surpassed $1 billion at the worldwide box office, Warner Bros. announced late Friday.

According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, the critically acclaimed Caped Crusader sequel—which actually could win eight Academy Awards on Sunday—is now in fourth place on the list of all-time box office grosses, behind only Titanic ($1.84 billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.12 billion) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.07 billion).

The Dark Knight is currently sitting pretty with $1.001 billion, while the fifth-place Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is way back there with $974.7 million.$533.1 million of that billion-plus sum was grossed in U.S. theaters, while $468 million was raked in overseas.

Warner Bros.' news comes along with the announcement that The Dark Knight is also now the top-grossing 2-D IMAX release of all time, with $64.9 million grossed worldwide

Freida's 2007 'wedding' pics??

New pictures of Freida Pinto and her ex Rohan Antao has surfaced on the Internet today. These pictures were supposedly taken on their wedding day at Goa in December 2007.

The snaps are said to show the lovers at secret nuptials in Panjim, Goa.The pair are reported to have been an item since their time at St Xavier’s college in Mumbai and decided to get hitched on the spur of the moment.

But any relationship was at an end last month when Rohan changed his Facebook status to “single”.

Exploding chair kills boy anally..!! WTF...

Well, stories don't get much worse than this. A 14-year-old boy in China was killed when his chair exploded, sending chunks of metal into his rectum. The bleeding this caused killed him.

The alleged explosion came from the gas cylinder that was in the base of the chair, the part that allowed the user to adjust the seat up and down. The canister gets compressed when you sit on it, but can it actually create enough energy to make the seat cushion explode like that and kill a man? I doubt it, but this is what people are reporting.

Man strangles his wife to death after she called out the wrong name during sex

A jealous husband strangled his wife after she called out another man's name during sex, a court has heard.Colin Scully, 53, told police he throttled 39-year-old Tracey after she shouted 'Paul' as they made love.

Scully suspected his wife was having an affair and claimed she had been sending explicit text messages.He later told police that 'Paul' referred to a Paul Deighton, a man they knew from a scooter club.The jury also heard from Tracey's alleged lover Paul Deighton, who became friends with the couple when they joined a scooter club in Bridlington in 2007.

Scully also told officers that it 'blew his mind' when his wife mentioned any other men, Leeds Crown Court heard.James Sampson, prosecuting, said: 'He knelt on her chest, causing bruising, and pinned her down crucifix style to the bed, where he strangled her using one arm.'

Scully later told police he remembered pushing his wife down on the bed before going to sleep in their children's room, the jury heard.Police were only called the next day when he dialled 999 and said: 'I've done something to my wife. I don't know what I've done.'In his police interview, he said: 'I strangled her, didn't I?'Tracey, who suffered from multiple sclerosis, would have taken a 'significant amount of time' to die, according to a pathologist.