Within days of going on sale online, the 2,500 rupee (about $47) Aakash computer appears to be sold out, according to the tablet’s official Web site.

The tablet has generated huge excitement among gadget geeks and internationally renowned columnists alike, who say the product could advance education in India and revolutionize the lives of the world’s poor. But it has been dogged by complaints about its performance and delivery delays.

DataWind, the company that designed the tablet, started selling it online on Dec. 14, next to the tablet’s slightly more expensive cousin, the UbiSlate7+. In less than a week 60,000 Aakash orders were placed, said Suneet Singh Tuli, the chief executive of DataWind, in an interview.

That is when DataWind stopped taking more orders for Aakash, and it won’t sell any more of the tablets, Mr. Tuli said. Instead, the Aakash is being revamped in response to user demands, he said.

Screenshot of the website that sold Aakash tablets.Aakash, originally designed for college and university students in India, wasfirst unveiled here in New Delhi in October with great fanfare. The Indian government said it had already ordered 100,000 tablets, which it would distribute at a subsidized price of $35 each, and 500 were given free to students invited to the launch event.

The news hasn’t all been good since then.

“Aakash looked like a decent device for students and early adopters of technology,” said Sandeep Budki the executive editor of The Mobile Indian, a Web site that reviews information technology products across India. But compared to similar products available in India, including Beetel’s “Magiq” tablet and the Reliance tablet, “the performance was sluggish,” Mr. Budki said.

Anecdotal feedback, through media reports from students and others about Aakash, led DataWind to believe it needed to add some upgrades, Mr. Tuli said. These include a faster processor, a longer lasting battery, GPRS, an option to add a SIM card and phone functionality.

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Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s newest film, “Don 2,” has surpassed the 2011 record for the highest-grossing Bollywood movie in North America.

In just 11 days, from Dec. 23 to Jan. 2nd, the Farah Akhtar-directed action flick grossed $3.3 million, beating the previous record of $3.1 million in 10 weeks for “Zindagi Na Milegi,” which starred Hrithik Roshan. If “Don 2″ continues its strong streak, it’s poised to become one of the top grossing Bollywood films in North America of all time (“3 Idiots” at $6.5 million and “My Name is Khan” at $4 million currently hold the honors).

The number is bigger than the first “Don,” which hit theaters stateside and in Canada in 2006 and had a gross of slightly more than $2 million. It is also a jump from the $2.5 million earned by Khan’s other action movie from 2011, “R.A. One,” which released during Diwali.

Only seven Bollywood movies have crossed the $3 million mark in North America, according to Gitesh Pandya, head of Box Office Guru, a New York City company that markets Indian films in North America, including “Don 2.” He said there are two reasons for the jump in revenue from the first to the second installments of the film: an increased number of theaters the second movie is playing in (160 compared with the 113 in 2006) and its release during the December holiday season, when consumers have more time off to head to the movies.

Overall, Bollywood movies bring in more money today than three or four years ago because they are played in far more theaters, he said. “The films used to typically run in less than 80 theaters, many of which were Indian film houses,” Mr. Pandya said. “Now, as the interest in Bollywood has grown with Indians and non-Indians, the ones with the big stars are released in double the number of theaters, including American multiplexes like Regal and AMC.”

“Don 2″ also stars Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta and Om Puri and is centered around the mobster Don, played by Khan. The first film was set in Kuala Lumpur, while the second is set in Berlin and focuses on Don trying to break into a bank to steal plates that make euros.

A Short Film by Nanda Kishore Abburu

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Jesus walks. Justin Bieber was spotted on the beach in Los Angeles rocking board shorts and some major ink. The Biebs has always been vocal about his faith but now he's wearing it on his sleeve -- or rather his calf. The "Mistletoe" singer was recently tatted with a large visage of Jesus on his left calf.

Bieber also has the name "Jesus" tattooed on his torso but his new ink is certainly a more visible ode to his religion. The 17-year-old also has a small bird tattooed on his hip. Could Bieber's permanent art leanings start to rub off on girlfriend, Selena Gomez?

The complicated relationship between Netflix and HBO just got a bit more complicated.

The New York Times' Brian Stelter is reporting that HBO is no longer selling its DVDs at a discount to Netflix as of January 1, a move that continues the battle between the two entertainment giants for the eyes of paid content buyers.

Though Netflix will certainly lose money having to buy its DVDs of HBO series from retail outlets, HBO's non-cooperation here is perhaps more important as a further declaration of war between Netflix and HBO, two companies that often name-check each other in public as both rivals and potential partners, true frenemies in the big entertainment world.

Recent highlights of the HBO-Netflix feud include HBO co-president Eric Kessler telling an audience in December that Netflix would never get its shows for streaming, which followed by six months HBO's decision to hook up with Dish Network's Internet streaming service DishOnline rather than Netflix in April (with, as a bonus, a Dish Network exec taking a shot at Netflix's service model in the press release); a Time Warner exec anonymously telling the Hollywood Reporter in January that HBO might consider listening to Netflix's overtures if the company started charging $20 per month; and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings saying that the show he wants most on Netflix streaming is HBO's narco-drama "The Wire" in April and that the direct competitor his company is most concerned with is HBO, whose streaming service HBO GO is included for most customers who pay for HBO with their cable and satellite subscriptions.

Of HBO as a rival, Hastings said the following in December:

The competitor we fear the most is HBO Go. They aren't competing directly with us now, but they can. HBO is becoming much more Netflix-like, and we're becoming much more HBO-like.
That Netflix and HBO aren't directly competing is not quite true, in fact, as the two previously battled over the upcoming drama "House of Cards," created by David Fincher and starring Kevin Spacey. Netflix eventually won that battle, securing exclusive rights to "House of Cards" for a reported 100+ million dollars. It was the first original programming deal for Netflix; the company soon followed up with exclusives for a fourth season of cult classic "Arrested Development" and the Steven Van Zandt mobster drama "Lilyhammer", which debuts next month.

HBO is indeed becoming more Netflix-like, however, with its HBO GO streaming service and its agreement with Dish. Netflix, meanwhile, is also becoming more HBO-like, with its content deals for premium shows.

The HBO-Netflix War certainly escalated in 2011, and this latest monetary swipe by HBO once again puts the two at odds in 2012

Can you hear me now? Can you hear me ever?

No, it's not the chorus of the latest Coldplay song, but the cries of a growing chorus of frustrated iPhone 4S owners. These disgruntled Apple-ites have taken to the official Apple discussion forums to complain of an unidentified, intermittent bug in the new iPhone that they say silences all audio on outgoing phone calls.

The most popular thread runs over 100 pages and has garnered more than 150,000 views in less than three months. Most of the thread's over 1,700 comments concern the apparent inability to hear the recipient when making outgoing calls, even though the recipient can hear the caller just fine.

A few representative posts from the Apple discussion forum:

Picked up a Verizon iPhone 4S - 32GB and on about 1 in 10 calls I get no outbound audio when dialing. Call shows the timer counting as if the call is progressing but absolutely no ring back and cannot hear the party on the other end when they answer.I am also having the same issue in Australia on the Telstra network with the new iphone 4S. If I make a call, no audio. The person I called can hear me but I can't hear them.Same problem here. Got new iPhone 4S yesterday and when the issue does occur - which seems to be more often than not for me the phone looks as if it is dialing but I do not hear the rings, the timer starts counting up when the other party answers but I cannot hear them and they cannot hear me. Once in awhile I can hear them but they cannot hear me. Very frustrating. Positng this to further reinforce to Apple this is an issue that needs to be fixed.While using speakerphone, a Bluetooth headset, or turning Siri off have proved to be temporary fixes, none of these solutions are practical if the glitch is occurring on every call, as some users have reported. The frequency of the audio outages seems to vary widely, with some users only reporting problems on one in fifty calls. A spokesperson for Apple declined to comment on the issue.

The apparent glitch was first noticed in mid-October when the iPhone 4S was launched, but at the time complaints were overshadowed by the more widespread and loudly criticized iOS 5 battery troubles. Apple has addressed these battery issues in two separate statements, though it has not yet publicly acknowledged the audio problem, which has gained considerable media attention over the past months, with influential tech blogs including Mashable, Gizmodo and MacRumors all detailing the kerfuffle.

Coverage peaked again this week when tech site GigaOM published a report claiming that the issue would not be resolved with the upcoming release of iOS 5.1, a claim we were unable to confirm as iOS 5.1 is currently in closed beta testing and cannot be discussed by developers with knowledge of the upgrade. It should be noted, however, that the beta build of an iOS does not feature what will or will not be included in the final version.
We'll have to wait until iOS 5.1 officially drops before we know for sure whether it will solve the iPhone 4S's occasional audio woes. For now, if you're experiencing this problem, let us know in the comments below. Also, many carriers are offering handset trade-ins and The Atlantic Wire put together a nice list of potential solutions. We'll let you know the moment Apple updates us.