Norman Kamaru: Lip-synching Indonesia cop fired amid YouTube fame

First, Indonesian police were angry about a young cop's YouTube lip-synching antics. Then, they championed him for softening the image of an unloved force. Now, after he put stardom over police duty, Norman Kamaru has been fired. "Who does he think he is?" a clearly frustrated police spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Lisma Dunggio, said Wednesday from his hometown. "What made him famous was his uniform."

But the 26-year-old Kamaru told reporters he wanted to give singing a real shot. And he wasn't afraid of failure. The video of Kamaru trying to lift the spirits of a heartbroken colleague by shimmying and lip-synching to the Bollywood hit "Chaiyya Chaiyya" went viral in April. Initially, the top brass was furious. But that changed when the public rallied to support the charismatic young officer. Suddenly, Kamaru was being flown from his dusty police outpost of Gorontalo to the capital, flanked by high-ranking officers who smiled broadly as squealing girls begged for his autograph.

As a new, unexpected asset to the force — widely considered one of the country's most corrupt institutions — Kamaru started appearing regularly on TV talk shows in full uniform. As it turned out, he had a voice. With a $100,000 record deal in his pocket, Kamaru told his bosses he wanted out. They said no. And he stopped coming to work. Saud Usman Nasution, spokesman for the national police, said Kamaru was dishonorably discharged on last Tuesday.

Wow ... Smartphone Goes 3D

A mobile smartphone which will be able to take 3D, panoramic photos is expected to go on sale next month. Pictures taken on Sony Ericsson's new, top-of-the-range Xperia Arc S can be viewed on any compatible television set.

The phone, however, will display them only in two dimensions. Nor will it be able to produce 3D video output.

The camera works by taking several simultaneous images and 'stitching' them together. The phone, which runs Google's Android operating system, has a 4.2" screen and the camera definition is 8.1 megapixels, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

Any 3D images are viewed by connecting the phone to a 3D TV using the HDMI output. Sony Ericsson said the Arc S's 1.4GHz processor means it will start up 25 per cent faster than its predecessor, the Arc.

It also doubles as a remote control for Sony Bravia televisions, and features Sony’s Music and Video Unlimited media stores. Most of the Arc S's other updates are software-based. It comes with Android 2.3 installed, which enables faster web-browsing.

The company said the Arc S will come in five colours - white, blue, silver, black and pink. The device was unveiled at the IFA technology fair in Berlin.

The show also featured what Toshiba claims is the first glasses-free 3D television, although the model, the 55ZL2, has had mixed reviews. Korean manufacturer LG demonstrated a glasses-free 3D computer monitor.

Are you ready to go up, up and away again?

The first photo of Henry Cavill in costume as Superman for the new big-screen version entitled "Man of Steel" was just released very recently. It shows Superman looking like he's rising to his feet against a smoking, smoldering vault door.

The costume retains the basic look from the comic books: blue with a red cape and boots. But the suit has a textured, almost rubbery look that's different from previous movie incarnations, like Christopher Reeve's stretchy bodysuit. The colors look darker and more muted than previous versions of the suit, and the raised "S" insignia on his chest also looks better. Since he's in shadow its difficult to tell if he's also wearing the classic red trunks which are actually getting eliminated in the upcoming revamp of the "Superman" comic books.

Cavill, a 29-year-old British native best known for the TV series "The Tudors," recently told Total Film magazine that he's been working out and chowing down to get himself into shape for the role. "I'm on 5000 calories a day," Cavill said, "You've got to eat protein first, then a little bit of carbs." He needs plenty of fuel for his exhausting workout routine: "I'm training two and a half hours a day, pushing my body beyond its normal limits."

It was also announced earlier this week that Cavill will be joined by Laurence Fishburne, who will play Perry White, Clark Kent's editor at the Daily Planet. Fishburne is just the latest Oscar nominated actor added to the cast, which includes Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, and Michael Shannon as the villainous General Zod. Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner also star as Superman's biological and adoptive father, respectively. "Man of Steel," directed by Zack Snyder, will not fly into movie theaters until June 14, 2013.

First Photos of Beckhams' Baby Girl Harper Seven

David Beckham posted a photo on his Facebook page showingwife Victoria getting some rest with their newborn daughter. "I took this picture of my two girls sleeping," he wrote.

Victoria, 37, also tweeted a picture Sunday of David, 36, tenderly holding their newborn daughter. In the black and white photo, David cradles Harper Seven and sweetly touches her nose with his. She's "Daddy's little girl," Victoria explained.

Harper Seven was born July 10 at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. David and Victoria also have three sons: Brooklyn, 12, Romeo, 8, and Cruz, 6.

On Thursday, the fashion designer tweeted that "baby Harper is the most beautiful baby girl I have ever seen. I have fallen in love all over again!" "We feel so blessed," she added. "And the boys love their baby sister so much."

Apple iPhone Secretly Records Owners' Every Move

Security researchers have discovered that Apple's iPhone keeps track of where you go - and saves every detail to a secret file on the device which is copied to the owner's computer when synchronised.

The file contains the latitude and longitude of the phone's recorded coordinates along with a timestamp, meaning that anyone who stole the phone or the computer could discover details about the owner's movements using a simple program.

For some phones, there could be almost a year's worth of data stored, as the recording of data seems to have started with Apple's iOS 4 update to the phone's operating system, released in June 2010.

Apple's iPad 2 Hits Overseas Stores after U.S. Sellout

Customers lined up outside Apple stores in Australia and New Zealand last week for the international launch of the iPad 2, which has flown off the shelves in the United States leaving the company struggling to meet demand.

Analysts forecast some 1 million devices may have been sold in the first weekend of the launch in the United States, but many warn that it’s not clear how supply constraints will affect availability following the Japan earthquake and tsunami.

Apple plans to roll out the new iPad on Friday to 25 markets including France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, and Spain. The iPad 2, a thinner and faster version that features two cameras for video chat, was introduced in the United States on March 11.

But some would-be buyers have expressed frustration at how difficult it has been to secure one of the wildly popular tablet computers, sparking speculation Apple misjudged demand.

“If it wasn’t for the iPad, I wouldn’t be in Australia right now,” said Alex Lee, a backpacker from Canada, who was the first in the queue outside the glass-fronted Apple store in Sydney’s central business district.

He said he diverted his travels from Singapore to attend the launch. “It’s like a habit. I’ve also lined up on Regent Street in London for the iPhone”, added Lee, who had a folding chair and blanket and had spent two nights waiting.

IBM supercomputer TV quiz with $1 million prize

IBM has designed a supercomputer named as Watson to face two human contestants on the US quiz show Jeopardy. Watson will pit its wits against two of the game's most successful players.

At stake is a $1 million prize (£620,000) and the reputation of the field of artificial intelligence.

The company said Watson signals a new era in computing where machines will increasingly be able to learn and understand what humans are really asking them for.

Jeopardy is seen as the greatest challenge for Watson because of the show's rapid fire format and clues that rely on subtle meanings, puns, and riddles; something humans excel at and computers do not.

Do My Assets Look Big?

Kim Kardashian has made sure that her curvy derriere was the main attraction as she shopped for a dress for her 30th birthday. The reality TV star was snapped in Las Vegas, checking out her curves in a white Hervé Léger dress in a dressing room mirror. And she made sure that the dress fitted snugly round her bottom and and bosom as she admired herself in the mirror.

But despite the dress fitting the star in all the right places, she settled for a very short and very tight metallic silver dress that did exactly the same thing.

Kim, who turns 30 next Thursday, was in the Nevada city to celebrate her milestone birthday when she and her sister Kourtney hit the shops. They visited a series of high-end stores hours before heading to a party in her honour at the popular TAO nightclub.

Wearing a similar black and white outfit to the one she travelled to Vegas in the day before, Kim visited the pool at the Venetian hotel and was greeted by a crowd of fans and photographers. Later she and Kourtney enjoyed lunch with friends around the pool in one of the hotel's private cabanas.

Shakira Shows off Her Killer Abs

In her new music video Shakira is back to what she does best. The Colombian singer squeezes into a gold bikini top and sequinned trousers, showing off her killer abs as she shakes those famous hips.

The music video was shot on a stunning Barcelona beach. Shakira, 33, duets with British rapper Dizzee Rascal for her latest offering, Loca. It is the first single from her upcoming album, The Sun Comes Out (Sale el Sol), which is due out on October 19.

In the video, Shakira gets up close and personal a male dancer as they put on a sultry routine together. The storyline see the pop star go on a madcap adventure that includes roller-skating, public wardrobe changes, motorbike riding and dancing around in a fountain.

She filmed the video during a visit to the Spanish city in August. It was directed by long-time Shakira collaborator Jaume de Laiguana. According to the New York Post, Barcelona's authorities are considering fining the singer for stopping traffic as she filmed sequences.

BlackBerry Maker Unveils 'Playbook' Tablet

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has unveiled its rival to the Apple’s iPad: the PlayBook. Research in Motion (RIM) showed off the tablet for the first time last night and is set to launch it early 2011 in the U.S., with an international rollout due later in the year.

The PlayBook is a smaller, lighter device than Apple’s iPad, which kicked-started the tablet market when it launched in April. It will have a 7-inch screen, making it half the size of Apple's device, and weigh about 0.9 pounds to the iPad's 1.5 pounds. And unlike the iPAd, it will have two cameras, front and back.

The PlayBook will be able to act as a second, larger screen for a BlackBerry phone, through a secure short-range wireless link. When the connection is severed - perhaps because the user walks away with the phone - no sensitive data like company emails are left on the tablet.

Outside of Wi-Fi range, it will be able to pick up a mobile service like 3G to access the web by linking to a BlackBerry.

But the tablet will also work as a standalone device. RIM co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie said its goal is to present the full web experience of a computer, including the ability to display Flash, Adobe's format for video and interactive material on the web.

Real Challenger to Apple's iPad, the Samsung Galaxy Tab

We heard rumors about the challenger to iPad for several months, now it is time to meet the first real challenger to Apple's iPad, the Samsung Galaxy Tab. It will launch in Australia in November for $999 for the 16GB version, the company has confirmed.

Meanwhile, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is preparing to announce its tablet next week at the company's developer conference in San Francisco, The Wall Street Journal reported.

And Dell overnight unveiled its second tablet computer, which like its previously announced Streak also runs Android. It has a 7-inch touchscreen compared to the 5-inch screen on the Streak, but Dell has not yet announced when either of the models would launch in Australia.

Apple has cornered the tablet market since the launch of its iPad but starting from late this year there will be a raft of challengers from companies including Acer, Asus, Dell, RIM, Lenovo, Samsung and Cisco.

Smartphone maker HTC is also working on a tablet but says it will take its time to develop a unique selling point before putting one on the market.

Some commentators have predicted that Apple will unveil a second iPad version with a smaller 7-inch screen to compete directly against this new competition and cheaper reading devices like Amazon's Kindle.

Apple's New 'iWatch'

Dubbed the 'iWatch', the latest addition to the iPod family boasts a clock face which appears at the touch of the power button but still allows users to view pictures and track your movements.

The nattily designed new iPod nano measures just 1.48 inches by 1.61 inches by 0.35 inches and weighs in at a slender 21.1 grams. For such a small gadget, the battery life is also impressive, with 24 hours of music playback in addition to an FM radio.

'It’s very tiny and instantly wear­able,' said Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. 'It even has a clock - one of our board of directors says he’s going to wear it as a watch.'

The tiny player is similar in function to the iPod and iPhone also boasts a 'multi-touch' screen, allowing more than one finger to be used on the screen at once.

It's thought that manufacturers will be quick to exploit the clock function of the new player by flooding the market with detatchable watch straps.

Why Women Attracted to A MAN in Red

Forget candlelit dinners, bouquets of flowers and endless compliments. The way to a woman’s heart lies in wearing a red shirt, it seems.

Researcher Andrew Elliot, of Rochester University in the U.S., said that red is associated with power, passion and fertility in the animal kingdom – and people are no different.

‘This suggests that women’s thoughts and feelings toward men are, at least in part, primitive,’ he said. ‘The question “What do women want?” with regard to sexual attraction and desire has puzzled men and scholars for many years.

‘Our research suggests that the answer may be more provocative, than anticipated.’ Wearing red may also make a man feel more self-assured.

iPhone Faces Rising Challenge from Android Handsets

Apple’s iPhone will likely dominate the high-end smartphone market in the next five years but faces strong competition from handsets using Google’s Android platform, a research firm said Tuesday. By 2015, total mobile application downloads in the Asia-Pacific are forecast to reach 5.30 billion, of which 597.15 million, or about 11 percent, will be for the iPhone, technology industry consultancy Ovum said.

Downloads of iPhone applications are estimated at 62.16 million dollars in 2010, Ovum said in an analysis released four days before the launch of the new-generation iPhone 4 in another 17 countries and cities worldwide on Friday. The iPhone 4 is expected “to face much stiffer competition than its predecessors”, Ovum principal analyst Adam Leach said in a statement.

“The rise of Google Android over the last two years has been phenomenal and is allowing manufacturers to create appealing alternatives to the iPhone, critically at cheaper prices,” Leach said. Handsets using the Android operating platform are more than just clones of the iconic iPhone, he said. “The risk to Apple is that these devices offer greater freedom with available content and may prove more appealing, if it offers the right user and developer experience, than a device with Apple-approved content only,” said Leach.

Jon Bon Jovi with Four Naked Girls in Bed

He's known as the nice guy of rock and roll. But newly released photos show a different side of family man Jon Bon Jovi - the wannabe star trying to make it in the music industry.

The posed shots show the singer lying on a bed with four naked girls on top of him, in a provocative scene.

They were taken by famed photographer Ross Marino in 1985 when Jon was just 22, busy promoting second album 7800°Fahrenheit.

It wasn't until the release of Bon Jovi's third album, Slippery When Wet that the band shot to superstardom.

The never-published pictures were kept locked away for more than 20 years by the band's former tour manager, Rich Bozzett, who has included them in his new book charting his time with the band.

False alarm: Google search still working in China

Google Inc. triggered a false alarm Thursday by posting a notice that its search engine and several other services had been cut off from mainland China - a key market where the company has been locked in a high-profile battle over online censorship.

But what initially looked like a dramatic development turned out to be nothing more than a technological hiccup.

After the company's report of a complete blockage in China had been relayed by many media, Google backed off the claim.

More Bacteria on Cell Phones than Toilet Handle

They are pretty much essential, but you may want to ditch your mobile phone for ever after reading this. The average handset carries 18 times more potentially harmful germs than a flush handle in a men's toilet, tests have revealed.

An analysis of handsets found almost a quarter were so dirty that they had up to ten times an acceptable level of TVC bacteria. One of the phones in the test had such high levels of bacteria it could have given its owner a serious stomach upset.

While TVC is not immediately harmful, elevated levels indicate poor personal hygiene and act as a breeding ground for other bugs. The findings from a sample of 30 phones by Which? magazine suggest 14.7million of the 63million mobiles in use in the UK today could be potential health hazards.

Hygiene expert Jim Francis, who carried out the tests, said: 'The levels of potentially harmful bacteria on one mobile were off the scale. That phone needs sterilising.'

Victoria Beckham Nabs Fifth Vogue Cover

Every young girl dreams of being on the cover of Vogue and now Victoria Beckham has done it for a fifth time. The 36-year-old designer and fashion model appears on the the Turkish edition of the magazine, holding a cocktail, while wearing a fringe-black dress and studded heels.

After starring alongside her husband David Beckham in the Emporio Armani adverts, Victoria Beckham got used to posing in her underwear. But after being replaced by Megan Fox in the role, the mother-of-three is now free to wear any lingerie she wants.

As she lands her fifth Vogue cover on the Turkish edition, the 36-year-old is peeling off again in a racy new shoot. Surrounded by handsome young men, the former Spice Girl shows off her svelte and tanned physique in a series of lingerie, swimwear and dresses.

While showcasing new collections from many Turkish designers, including Yildirim Mayruk, she also uses the opportunity to plug her own range by wearing a tan limited-edition trench coat from her Autumn/Winter 2010 collection.

Katy Perry Is Floating Pretty and Semi-Naked In Her "Teenage Dream"

Katy Perry poses naked on the cover of new album Teenage Dream, with just a few pieces of strategically-placed candy floss protecting her modesty.

The 25-year-old singer was painted by artist Will Cotton for the cover picture, and is seen reclining luxuriously on a bed of pink candy floss in the portrait, which was painted over a period of six weeks.

Unveiling the cover on her official website, Katy wrote: 'Oh my God, what will my mother think? It's so gorgeous. I'm so excited. I'm nervous. I'm shaking a bit. This will be my first piece of real art.'

And, because the image is so beautiful, the album cover won't feature any text. However Katy added: 'Hopefully they know it's me by the actual picture!'Katy has long been a fan of quirky artist Cotton, who also acted as artistic director on her most recent music video for single California Gurls.

She explained: 'The day I found Will Cotton, I knew I wanted to live in his cinematic cotton candy world. 'A fantastically art-directed music video and one piece of timeless album artwork later, I can proudly say I am more than a fan.

Daniel Radcliffe to star in The Woman in Black

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has landed the lead role in Hammer movie The Woman In Black.

Based on an adaptation of Susan Hill's best-selling novel, Radcliffe will play a young lawyer who finds himself embroiled in a ghostly hostage plot.

The script has been written by Jane Goldman, who wrote the recent box-office hit, Kick Ass. It will be directed by Eden Lake's James Watkins.

"I am incredibly excited to be part of The Woman in Black," Radcliffe said.

Hammer became synonymous with the horror genre in the 1950s thanks to films like Dracula and The Mummy.

Other famous Hammer films include The Curse of Frankenstein and The Curse of the Werewolf.