Prithika Acharya

Flash affects the battery life in a massive way and is found to have serious security issues. Therefore, this year, Google is trying to make it disappear by blocking most flash content with Chrome. Even Adobe doesn’t think people should use Flash any longer.

Chrome would give a prompt offering to enable Flash if it is chosen in the settings. Chrome would even run flash on that website for all future visits. Ten very popular (Youtube, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitch, Amazon, etc.) sites have Flash enabled by default and they’ll be exempted for only a year. After a year, they’ll have Flash-blocked like any other website.

Google smartly began enabling Flash blocking on a limited scale last year. It ‘intelligently’ kept pausing unnecessary content to preserve battery life, and that’s the default setting right now.

You can already enable the setting Google is planning to switch over to by digging into Chrome’s preferences page (under privacy and then content settings). It’ll block all Flash content for you until you choose to enable it.

Samsung released a new electronic, and extremely unlikely, fitness device – a charm. It was launched in Korea, Italy, France and Russia and will be released in other markets too. Charm has a sleek design, which sets it apart from any other ordinary fitness band and makes it look more like a piece of jewellery. It is available in three colours  – Gold, Black and Rose Quartz.

And this isn’t only about the looks. The device keeps a track of the number of steps you’ve taken in a day and also uses LED notifications to alert you of incoming calls and text messages, display information about charging, connectivity status and battery level.

Also, Charm coincides with the Samsung S Health app, and monitors your daily activity levels. As you sync it via Bluetooth to your phone and download the Charm app from the play store, you will see how many steps you’ve taken, how much distance you’ve covered over the course of a day and how many calories you’ve burned.

The most amazing thing is that Charm is equipped with a built-in 17mAh battery that allows you to use the device for up to 14 days on a single charge. And, when you do need a battery boost, the Pogo-pin charging cradle comes in handy.

Charm is compatible with smartphones running on Android OS 4.4 or subsequent versions, including the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, as well as with S Health 4.6 or subsequent versions.

LG Electronics launched the world’s first modular smartphone LG G5, which will be available from May 21, 2016.

The G5 has a brand new design – it is sleek, with a metal unibody featuring a slide-out battery tray and a Modular Type design. The design provides the true convergence, whereby the smartphone transforms into being smartphone-plus-camcorder or smartphone-plus-Hi-Fi-music amplifier etc. 

LG G5 delivers high-resolution DSLR-quality images. It has a 5.3-inch (2560 x 1440 pixels) Quad HD Quantum always-on display that lets you can check the time, battery status, and notifications without waking the phone, which saves battery life too. The Snapdragon 820 processor with Qualcomm® TruSignal™ Multi-Antenna Boost technology, enables a superior and reliable connected experience.

LG G5 comes in Silver, Titan, Gold and Pink colors. This flagship smartphone will be available for pre-booking at mobile stores, at LG brand shops and online exclusively at Flipkart. The customers can pre-book their LG G5 from May 21, 2016 to May 30, 2016. They also have an exciting offer – all the customers who pre-book the LG G5 will get the companion device, LG Cam Plus, free.

 

Hindi cinema has always been fascinated by the damsel in white serenading her lover on a moonlit night and taking him to his doom. This gave music composers a great opportunity to compose haunting songs, which became extremely popular and were replete with orchestration that suggested suspense and fear. Let us look at the most successful ones.

Words: H. S. Billimoria

Aayega Aanewala from Mahal (1949)

It all started with Mahal, a suspense film directed by Kamal Amrohi with music by Khemchand Prakash. Lata Mangeshkar sang the haunting song picturised on Ashok Kumar and Madhubala.

Aaja Re Pardesi from Madhumati (1958)

This movie starring Dilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala had music by Salil Chowdhury. Lata Mangeshkar sang the song with aplomb and also won a Filmfare award. Shailendra provided the lyrics.

 

Jhoom Jhoom Jalti Raat from Kohraa (1964)

Kohraa followed Bees Saal Baad but was not as successful. Lata Mangeshkar’s haunting number, however, made it to the charts. Hemant Kumar provided the music.

 

Koi Door Se Chale Aao from Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam (1962)

This Guru Dutt film had fantastic music by Hemant Kumar and a strong star cast consisting of Meena Kumari, Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman and Rehman. This Geeta Dutt number remains fresh and haunting even today and is one of her best songs.

 

Saathi Re from Poonam Ki Raat (1965)

Manoj Kumar and Kumud Chhugani played the lead in this Kishore Sahu film, which had music by Salil Chowdhury and lyrics by Shailendra. This haunting number by Lata was the highlight of an otherwise average film.

Naina Barse from Woh Kaun Thi (1964)

Madan Mohan’s music was the star attraction of this hit film starring Manoj Kumar with Sadhana. Naina Barse is amongst Lata’s best.

 

Gumnaam Hai Koi from Gumnaam (1965)

Inspired from Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Gumnaam was the first Hindi suspense film in colour and was a huge box-office hit. Manoj, Nanda, Helen and Mehmood shared the credits and Shankar Jaikishan provided the hit music. This title song has shades of the background score of Hollywood film, Charade.

Akele Hai from Raaz (1961)

GP Sippy’s Raaz had the new pair of Rajesh Khanna and Babita. Kalyanji Anandji provided the music for the film. This Lata number has also been sung separately by Mohammed Rafi.

 

Aaja Thujko Pukare from Neel Kamal (1968)

Rafi’s rendition of this song puts it in a different league altogether. Picturised on a dying Raj Kumar, this is the only haunting song in this list sung exclusively by a male. Ravi provided the music.

 

Sumsaan Raaton Mein from Sannata (1981)

Horror specialists, Ramsay Brothers produced this film starring Vinod Mehra and Sarika. This title song, sung by Lata and tuned by Rajesh Roshan is faintly reminiscent of the title track of Gumnaam.

Tere Bina Jiya Na Lage from Parde Ke Peechey (1971)

This Vinod Mehra-Yogita Bali film was a surprise hit and Shankar Jaikishan’s music was good. Lata, of course, sang this haunting number written by Rajinder Krishnan.

 

Main Ek Paheli Hoon from Ek Paheli (1971)

Usha Khanna provided the music for this suspense film with Feroz Khan and Tanuja leading the cast. Suman Kalyanpur’s melodious voice complements the haunting tune.

 

Mere Mehboob Na Ja from Noor Mahal (1965)

This film starring Chitra and Jagdeep had some haunting music by Jani Babu. Suman Kalyanpur lent her voice to this song.

 

 

Mera Saaya from Mera Saaya (1965)
Sadhana, after Woh Kaun Thi, became a favourite of choice for directors making suspense films. This Sunil Dutt-Sadhana starrer had Lata Mangeshkar croon the title song to Madan Mohan’s music.

Mere Naina Sawan Bhadon from Mehbooba (1976)

This Rajesh Khanna-Hema Malini starrer dealt with reincarnation and Mere Naina was the pivotal song. The track has been sung separately by both Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar to RD Burman’s music.

Suspense films involving ghosts went out of fashion in the late Seventies. For a start, haunting melodies always ‘looked’ better in black and white and in the 1970s, Hindi cinema was all colour. Old, dark mansions became fewer and far between and electricity reduced the charm of a haunting song. To our knowledge, the last effort was in Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi (1992) with the song, Aa Bhi Jaa Ke Raat Hai Baaki by Asha Bhosle with music by Rajesh Roshan. The film, however, was such a damp squib that even Rajesh Roshan does not remember it!

Freecharge has announced a new feature that allows receiving and sending money through WhatsApp. Freecharge’s aim is to make social payments convenient and secure for consumers. This new initiative closely follows the successful launch of Freecharge’s social payments service, Chat-n-Pay.

To activate Freecharge on your WhatsApp, Go to ‘Freecharge on WhatsApp’ from the Freecharge menu and enable the Freecharge inaccessibility in the settings. So the next time you get on WhatsApp you can send and receive money easily and quickly.