Happy Birthday Facebook!!!

Today marks the 9th birthday of Facebook, a social media giant so ubiquitous that it seems it must have been around forever instead of less than a decade.

Facebook has grown from a handful of users in 2004 to more than one billion active users(as of September 2012), more than half of them using Facebook on a mobile device and more than 4,000 employees as of December 2012.

Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes in a dorm room. It was originally intended to serve just the university's student population.

Zuckerberg originally named it as "Facemash," but, thankfully, the name evolved.

Later, membership included other colleges and universities in the greater Boston area. From there, it expanded to all colleges and universities, then to all high schools and, finally, to anyone in the world over the age of 13.

The statistics on Facebook are staggering, usually measured in terms of millions and billions at the end of 2012:

• 618 million - daily online users.
• 680 million - monthly online users who use FB mobile products.
• 30 billion - pieces of information are shared each month.
• 250 million - photos are uploaded daily.
• 700 minutes - Facebook user spends at the site per month
• 1 million - links are shared every 20 minutes
• 2 million - Friend requests are made every 20 minutes
• 3 million - messages are sent every 20 minutes
• 165 million - Users in United States (most users per nation)
• About 70 percent of all Facebook users are outside the U.S.

Needless to say, Facebook's pervasive presence has its supporters and detractors.

Facebook is either a heaven sent platform for linking the world together or a tool of the devil designed to eliminate privacy and fracture national cohesiveness.

Pepsi IPL 6 auctions - Aussies Hot Favourites - Glenn Maxwell Top Paid

The lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) auction started this morning with bang. Mumbai Indians paid a whopping $1 million (Rs.5.3 crore) to get Aussie all-rounder Glenn Maxwell had a base price of $200,000 to play for their side.

While MI also bought the retired Australian skipper Ricky Ponting for base price of $400,000 (Rs.2.1 crore), Vijay Mallaya owned, Bangalore-based Royal Challengers paid the same amount to cement the place of Indian pacer RP Singh in its squad. Pune Warriors bought current Australian skipper Michael Clarke for base price of $400,000 (Rs.2.1 crore).

Delhi Daredevils paid a whopping Rs2.3 crore for South African all-rounder Johan Botha. Aussie batsman Luke Pomersbach, who had a base price of $50,000, was bought for Rs.1.5 crore by Kings XI Punjab.

Australian all-rounder James Faulkner, with a base price of $100,000, was bought for four times that amount (Rs.2.1 crore)by Rajasthan Royals, while Indian all-rounder Abhishek Nayar would play for Pune Warriors for a fee of Rs.3.5 crore ($675,000).

Rahul Dravid and Mary Kom to be awarded Padma Bhushan

Sources have indicated that former India cricketer Rahul Dravid and London Olympics bronze medalist boxer MC Mary Kom are likely to get Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour.

Reports from New Delhi say that these illuminating sportspersons are being considered for the Padma Bhushan awards.

Both the sportsperson have an illustrious career and "The Wall" retired last year.

In recognising the innumerable achievements and accomplishments of this star cricketer, the Indian Government is considering to honor him with Padma Bhushan awards. He played 164 Tests and 344 ODIs scoring over 24,000 runs in international cricket. He was conferred Padma Shree award in 2004.

Five-time world champion Mary Kom added to the Olympics medals tally for India winning a bronze at the London's Olympics.

Other recommendations for the Padma Awards:

Padma Bhushan: Sushil Kumar (wrestling).

Padma Shri: Vijay Kumar (shooting), Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling), HN Girisha (para sports), Gautam Gambhir (cricket), Dingko Singh (boxing), Alok Kumar (cue sports).

Novak Djokovic blast disgraced Cyclist Lance Armstrong on Doping Confession

World number one Novak Djokovic led fellow Serbian Janko Tipsarevic into the second week of the Australian Open with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 defeat of Radek Stepanek and went on to blast disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong who on Thursday confessed to doping.

Tipsarevic, the eighth seed, came through his second consecutive five-set test, defeating Frenchman Julien Benneteau 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 for a place in the last 16.

Djokovic then exploded when asked about Lance Armstrong and his confession to doping in every one of his seven Tour de France wins.

"He cheated the sport, he cheated many people around the world with his career, with his life story. I think he should suffer for his lies all these years," Djokovic said.

The holder said that he had not been blood tested for half a year, but was still giving urine samples when anti-doping teams came calling.

"Anti-doping regulations a little bit maybe more strict (in tennis) in the sense that you have to fill the whereabouts documents and you have to basically give an hour or two in every day of your life in a whole year, where you are."

"On the other hand, it gives them an opportunity to test you. And you know it is the same for the other players. At least from that point of view, it's fair.

"I have nothing against the anti-doping federation, association, testing me 10, 20, 30 times a year."

AL Vijay and Ilayathalapthy Vijay’s upcoming film titled 'Thalaiva'

Ilayathalapthy Vijay and Director AL Vijay's romantic-thriller finally has now been titled 'Thalaiva' with the tag line - "Time to Lead". A statement from the production house has said Vijay, Director A.L Vijay, and the producer have unanimously zeroed in on the title.

Actress Amala Paul who plays the lead opposite Vijay in the film, confirmed the news on her micro blogging page. The film’s music is scored by GV Prakash cinematography is handled by Nirav Shah and editing by Anthony. The film is produced by Chandra Prakash Jain under the banner Mishri Productions.

The first schedule of shooting was completed recently. The second schedule will start March onwards in Spain. The cast and crew will be heading to Spain after 50 days of non-stop shoot in Mumbai, which included two songs and three fight sequences.

Recently AL Vijay crooned for a song under GV Prakash’s composition. The film has Santhanam for comedy relief, and Sathyaraj plays an important role while Suresh, Mano Bala and Abhimanyu make the rest of the crew.

The title song "Thalaivaa Thalaivaa" was recently shot in Mumbai in the presence of 500 junior artists. With Thalaiva as its title, Vijay's fans must be thrilled for its mass appeal! The film is likely to hit theatres in May.