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What’s being called the “first and only beta” of Windows 7 has made it onto BitTorrent tracking sites, and one early review, with screenshots, is already out. Get a preview of both below.

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Linux only: The latest release of Google Gadgets for Linux offers speed and memory performance enhancements and a number of bug fixes, but, most importantly, support for newer gadgets like Gmail and Google Docs.

Those last two gadgets on Linux run almost exactly the same as the Google Desktop versions we previously mentioned, which could be all kinds of convenient for Linux users looking for the convenience of on-desktop email and writing without the heft of a full Google Desktop package. Hit the link below to grab a binary package or repository link for your distribution.

Grand Theft Auto IV

PC/360 Comparison HD

Posted December 19, 2008 @ 10:03 pm

Release Date: April 29, 2008

How well can Rockstar code for the PC?

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Bollywood hottie, Saif Ali Khan was sick again and back in the hospital! Poor boy, it seems like he just can’t seem to stay in good health! He returned with girlfriend Kareena from shooting his new Rensil D’Silva’s Rensil untitled film in Philadelphia this past week and was admitted to Livalti Hospital yesterday after complaining of abdominal pain during a Christmas party. Last year the actor was admitted to the same hospital after he said he was having chest pains. Some sources say he was suffering from an intestinal infection, but should be released within a few days. Regardless of his release date, his friends want to show their support, Isha

Isha Koppikar and her on-again, off-again boyfriend Inder Kumar paid their fellow actor a visit. We didn’t see them bearing any get well soon balloons, cards or gifts, but Saif Ali Khan and Kareena probably appreciated the visit all the same. Talk about not caring about what you wear though, although they were both in some laid back threads for obvious reasons, Inder Kumar didn’t look as bad in his white fitted T-Shirt, baseball cap and sweats as his lady friend. Unfortunately for Isha Koppikar, she didn’t have her hair or make-up done and was seen wearing an over-sized Superman tee with sweats and seemed to drown in her clothes. Apparently she didn’t look in the mirror before stepping out of the house. I guess she just didn’t think that someone would inevitably take a picture of her and her beau in some of their less than appealing style moments.

We got the pictures and now we want to know what all you Desi Hits readers think about the couple? Is Inder Kumar not as bad as poor Isha Koppikar or are they both in need of a major make-over before their next very public outing?

Will Zack Snyder’s Watchmen be the legendary lost movie that nobody got to see? Fox just won its long legal battle over rights to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel. (Actually, it’ll be fine.)

Judge Gary A. Feess had said he needed a trial to untangle the thorny issues involved in Fox’s and Warner Bros.’ dueling claims to Watchmen. (At issue: Lawrence Gordon, a producer who developed the film at Fox before taking it to Warners.) But today, Feess abruptly changed his mind and ruled in favor of Fox.

“Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the ‘Watchmen’ motion picture,” Feess wrote.

But before you start worrying, this is probably business as usual. Feess, in his ruling, urged Fox and Warners to reach an agreement. And that’s just what they’ll do. In fact, Feess probably decided to rule early, instead of having a trial in January, to give the two giant companies more time to agree on a settlement. Fox will get a giant payout, and the movie will still come out on time.

If you want to worry about something, worry about the fact that Watchmen just became a much more expensive movie. That makes it much harder for the film to break even, and help ease the way for more thought-provoking and non-Ratnerized superhero projects in future.

The Wii will get its own video distribution service next year, according to Japan’s Nikkei business daily newspaper. It will take a different approach than the ones Sony and Microsoft pursued on their respective consoles.

Instead of offering existing movies and television programming, as seen in Sony’s video on demand service and Microsoft’s Xbox Live Video Marketplace, Nintendo plans to offer cartoons and “mainly family-oriented programming” options created especially for the Wii video service.

Nintendo will partner with Japanese ad agency Dentsu for the endeavor, offering some videos for a fee, others supported by advertising.

According to the Nikkei, the service will be launched in Japan in the Spring with the program expanding worldwide “later.”

Sounds… interesting. We’re guessing it doesn’t increase the odds of Nintendo delivering on its promise to release a Wii with DVD playback. But at least you probably won’t want for Pokemon cartoons in 2009.

Nintendo, Dentsu To Team Up On Programming For Wii

Japan let’s mehs Let’s Tap. During its launch, the penguin-playable game shifted a mere 5,400 copies. The game was developed by Yuji Naka, former lead programmer of Sonic The Hedgehog.

To be fair, the sales period started on December 15 and ended on December 21. Let’s Tap went on sale December 18 — didn’t get a full week in retail. Maybe next week, it’ll move 5,000 more copies. Who knows, the sky’s the limit.

(To be even more fair, new title DISSIDIA: Final Fantasy sold over 500,000 during the same period. It, like Let’s Tap, also went on sale December 18. Penguins, however, probably can’t play it.)

Famitsu Sales: 12/15 – 12/21

In case you didn’t know Katrina Kaif is very accident prone.

A month ago Ranbir Kapoor missed his cue and slapped Katrina Kaif so hard on the sets of Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani, her face ballooned and shooting had to be cancelled.

Last week Katrina got her leg rather badly injured at Film City in Mumbai while shooting for Priyadarshan’s Dhan Dhana Dhan.

According to members of the cast, Katrina was doing an underwater sequence with Akshay Kumar when her foot got tangled under water.

Says a source, “The more she tried to extricate herself the more her leg got tangled. She tried to scream for help. But because of the noise on the sets including the stunt co-ordinators who were shouting instructions to the entire cast, no one heard Katrina’s screams of pain.”

Finally it was up to the film’s leading man Akshay Kumar to do the needful.

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Google has taken a more aggressive approach to moving users away from Internet Explorer, recommending that Gmail users install Firefox or Chrome if they want to see Gmail run “an average of twice as fast.”

When you log into Gmail using Internet Explorer, you’ll see a “Get faster Gmail” link in the set of links across the top of the page. If you follow the link in IE7, which claims that Gmail runs an average of twice as fast on Firefox 3 or Chrome than it does IE.
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Windows only: Stalled Printer Repair is a portable application that detects and effectively removes stuck print jobs that are backing up your printer queue.

For whatever reason, Windows can be finicky when you try deleting a print job from the queue. Often that means you’re stuck staring at the queue, trying to delete the same job over and over again, and wondering if your efforts are actually helping anything. Stalled Printer Repair hunts down stalled print jobs and removes them with the force necessary so that it actually works. It’s portable, so you can stick it on your thumb drive, it’s freeware, and it works on most versions of Windows.

Stalled Printer Repair