"SuperMobile" made in China

A new Chinese phone, the CK800, can do more than just calling and texting. It can take a hot or cold shower and sometimes take a dive into a 20-foot pool with no water. Believe it or not? Believe it...

Apple Shares at US$200 a piece

Apple is now the third most valuable technology company, right behind Microsoft and Google. Its market capitalization is now around $174 billion having hit $200 briefly this week and in fact opened above $200 on Friday before closing at just under $200 for the week. This is some $100 billion more than last year. $100 billion increase in under 1 year is remarkable taking into consideration that 10 years ago, Apple was on the verge of going bust and thanks to Steve Jobs, the world now has access to great Macs, iPods and now iPhones.

Apple is definitely on a roll. Michael Dell actually commented during the Apple's turbulence years that Apple should liquidate all his assets and return whatever thats left on the table back to all the investors and shareholders. I m sure this comment must had been hard to swallow for Michael now that Apple has a market cap 3 times larger than Dell Computers.

2008 will surely be another exciting year for Apple as I m sure Steve Jobs and team must had prepared themselves for another exciting year and I m looking forward to MacWorld in Jan as Apple had just confirmed that they will be announcing a new Apple laptop. Viva Apple.

David Blaine Street Magic - Parody Version

I m sure most of you had seen the real version of David Blaine Street Magic but have you seen the parody version? Have a good laugh with the clip below how the AKA David Blaine's magic blows the minds of the Los Angeles idiots. I must say this is a good original production. Happy new year to all of you.

Here is the latest official 3rd installment.



and in case if you havent seen the earlier two parts, here is part 1 and 2.

The Reality of Life

My friend had just sent me an interesting email that coined out the reality of life. Truly meaningful and I m pretty sure you will agree. This is how it goes.

"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years.

We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.

These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

Calling from the Airplane coming soon to Air France

I m sure many of you had been asking why it had taken so long for mobile service to be offered in the flying world. The first ever in-flight mobile service will finally make its debut as Air France and OnAir have teamed to offer the service on international flights.

Kicking off immediately, passengers will be able to send and receive sms and mms with the Mobile OnAir system, while those with mobile Internet access can receive and send emails.

“During the second half of the trial, passengers will be able to make and receive phone calls, with the service being regulated to maintain passengers’ comfort and well-being,” SlashPhone said. “At the end of the six-month trial, Air France will examine the feedback and comments made by customers to determine whether to launch this service on all its flights.”

As great as this is, imagine the frustration of people chattering on their phones. You thought it was bad on the bus? Frankly i would had preferred it to be limited to basic texting and emailing. Otherwise it would certainly had turned a good service into a service hated by many. While they maybe business travellers who may need this service, consideration should also be taken for those who are travelling on vacation where the last thing on earth they want to hear is having business travellers yakking on their mobile phones.

Aircraft is still the only safe haven from mobile till now. While there are some good of having mobile service on aircraft, there are still alot of other practical considerations that need to be taken into account. What do you think?

539 million mobile users in China

According to a report by the Ministry of Information Industry on 24th December 2007, by the end of November, China had added 78.3 million mobile users for 2007 averaging 7.1 million new mobile users each month for the entire year.

539 million mobile users is not an easy figure to comprehend as its a figure much larger than the population of most countries. With 40% mobile penetration, China still has alot of space for growth as most developed countries has 100% mobile penetration eg, Israel has 117% mobile penetration. If China ever achieved 100% penetration, that figure is going to be 1.35 Billion!

Text Messaging to Surpass 2 Trillion Messages in 2008

As the popularity of SMSs continue to grow, Gartner forecasts 2.3 trillion messages will be sent across major markets worldwide in 2008, a 19.6 percent increase from the 2007 total of 1.9 trillion messages.

Mobile messaging revenue across major markets will grow 15.7 percent in 2008 to $60.2 billion, up from $52 billion in 2007.

Asia/Pacific and Japan are the biggest consumers of mobile messaging. Gartner estimated that there were 1.5 trillion messages sent in 2007, and the number will grow to 1.7 trillion in 2008.

Gartner estimated that there were 189 billion mobile messages sent in 2007 in North America, and this is forecast to reach 301 billion in 2008.

Nick Ingelbrecht, Research Director of Gartner says sustaining growth over the next few years, carriers should look to social-networking applications to drive traffic, working where possible with popular established social-networking sites. Mobile search and advertising also offer attractive potential drivers for SMS traffic, although most carriers are poorly placed to support the end-to-end campaign management and reporting requirements of media buyers and advertisers but this is a small problem that i reckon carriers can work with experience mobile search and advertising solution providers to help them manage the mixing link.

Time Magazine awards Apple iPhone as the Top Gadget

Roughly a month ago Time magazine awarded Apple iPhone with its "Invention of the Year" title. Now they did it again — in their "Top 10 Gadgets" list, iPhone is listed as the number one gadget.

I wonder why the rest of the other top gadgets like the Nokia N95, LG Viewty and Samsung Blackjack are not listed, guess its another one of the American-centric thingy.

How China is coping with 70 million visitors for Olympic Beijing next year?

The answer is simple. China has decided to simplify the entry procedure from next month. The Guardian's Breaking News section has just announced that beginning next month visitors to China will no longer need to fill out health declaration forms to enter China. In addition to this, beginning on February 1, 2008, "people with no goods to declare will not have to fill in customs forms when either leaving or arriving."

Foreign passengers would still need to fill in the entry form but surely this is going to be a great news for everybody as immigration and custom clearance will be more efficient and faster.

The New Holidays in China

The Golden Holidays in China had been scrapped. No more 3 weeks of reprieve. From next year we will get an additional day off from 10 days to 11 days. I m not sure whether the rest will be happy with the extra day added but as for me I m not in favorable of the new holidays. Though holidays are longer by an additional day but its shorter in duration as the government had broken the 3 major golden holiday week into individual public holiday.

iPhone - Best Smartphone in the US according to Consumer Reports

Apple's iPhone topped the list of the best smartphones category with a rating of 64 according to Consumer Reports. It was followed by the Palm Treo 755p (63) and the Samsung BlackJack (62). iPhone sales in the US is only trailing Blackberry. Its only the 1st version and I m sure the next version will be a much improved iPhone and will surely give the other mobile device manufacturers a run for their money.

China's telecoms market opens up to foreign investment

The Chinese government has lifted geographic restrictions on foreign investment and increased the ceiling on asset ownership by overseas companies from 35 per cent to 49 per cent.

The opening up of China's domestic and international basic telecoms service this month, comes under its commitment to the World Trade Organisation, but also comes ahead of an expected change in the Chinese telecoms landscape next year.

The Chinese government is planning to shake up the local telecoms market as part of the licensing of 3G in country. One of the most likely scenarios would see second placed mobile operator, China Unicom, split up and sold to fixed-line giants China Telecom and China Netcom.

Unicom's operates a GSM and CDMA network and has dedicated engineering teams for each. So a separation of operations could make it easier for Unicom to find strategic investors for each of the businesses.

Speculation is rife that a merged Unicom CDMA and Netcom network will roll out CDMA2000, while China Telecom will launch WCDMA or TD-SCDMA using Unicom's GSM network.
Leading carrier China Mobile is widely expected to commercially introduce the homegrown Chinese-air-interface TD-SCDMA, but analysts are not ruling out the possibility that China Mobile will also pursue WCDMA.

However, it is likely that the allocation of 3G licences in China, whenever that happens, will be the only thing to put an end to the rumours, as it will likely be the catalyst for restructuring. The Beijing Olympics in August of next year are seen to be an attractive even to launch 3G services around.

Last month it emerged that Vodafone has plans to use the government led restructuring of the telecoms market to increase its presence in the country. The carrier intends to use its 3.3 per cent holding in China Mobile as leverage to extend its reach in the world's largest mobile markets.

Vodafone chief executive, Arun Sarin, said that that the Big V's $13bn stake in China Mobile could be used to take advantage of local opportunities. One of the likeliest options could potentially see Vodafone exchange its holding in Chain Mobile for a bigger stake another company.

First Daily Newspaper to offer mobile phone services

Sweden's daily morning newspaper Dagens Nyheter said Wednesday it had launched the world's first "newspaper" telephone: a mobile phone offering the daily's subscribers direct and free access to its website. The AFP reports.

"DN subscribers can purchase the Nokia 6120 third generation phone on the paper's website, and by signing up for a 199-kronor (31-dollar, 21-euro) monthly call plan can freely surf the daily's website by simply hitting a special "DN" button.

"Many people (in Sweden) think it's complicated (to Internet surf on their mobile phones) and they don't know how much it costs," the paper's head of marketing Johan Othelius told DN. "Now we're removing that obstacle," he added.

Pretty good move for the Daily Newspaper company as I m sure they can monetize the traffic via mobile advertising and subscription they are charging monthly. Thats definitely thinking out of the box.

Beer and Popcorns on Nokia N95

Not sure how these 2 tricks were set up but i m sure you will find it cool to show off your friends.

How about taking your lessons and exams on your mobile

If you're in Japan you not only have the choice of taking a class online, but you can also opt to view lectures on your cell phone! Cyber University as they call it, opened up in April and has just over 1800 students enrolled. Classes range from Chinese history, journalism, English lit, and more. The service only works on Softbank phones for now, but Cyber University is in talks to expand to more operators.

Japan, the country where you can earn your 4 year degree from a device that fits into your pocket. Amazing.

The World’s Toughest Mobile Phone

The "world's toughest phone" will take on Europe, starting with Stockholm. The new military-spec, Bluetooth, and push-to-talk GSM Sonim XP1 is engineered for outdoor sports enthusiasts and those who work in harsh environments, certified to withstand shock, water, wind, dust, dirt, and extreme temperatures, the U.S.-based mobile Sonim Technologies announced. And not that you'll need it, but there's also a three-year, unconditional warranty.

Well, the company is so confident that it’s invited bloggers and journalists across Europe to ‘torture-test’ the ‘indestructible’ mobile phone and publicize the results on its campaign blog. Check out the video below and you will agree that this is not your ordinary mobile phone.

New Improved iPhone AKA made in China

Not only that it looks like an iPhone, it even carries their tagline "think different" all over the tv commercial. Except that it comes with an improved "shaking" feature, the rest are pretty much copying the iPhone which the Chinese are really good at. I wonder why the local authorities in China are not taking any actions with such rampant infringement of intellectual property rights on mainstream tv broadcast channel considering these spots were broadcasted by state owned television company. Surely Apple would have a right to sue them or Apple is just too happy that they are providing Apple with free iPhone advertising.

Check out the video below to see what kind of tech you are getting for RMB 1990 (US$270), and check out the shaking feature to answer the call. It may seem to be a more advanced and cheaper knock-off but I m still going to stick with the original Apple iPhone.

China's 71 years old HIP HOP Granny

A 71-year old Chinese granny chooses hip hop dancing over traditional tai chi. Wu Ying's dancing raised eyebrows when she first started. But now she leads a class of over 30 people. She also wants to hip hop for the world at next year's Olympic games. A truly inspiring story for someone at that age and still possess so much charm and energy.

Perfect Christmas Present

Having trouble what to buy for your man this Christmas? Think no further, I m sure this unique "REMOTE" would be what every man would love to own. Quite similar to the one Adam Sandler was using on the blockbuster "Click" and I would definitely love to own one for myself too. Haha...

Chinese send 429 billion SMS and India doubled its mobile subscribers in 2006

In China, mobile users sent 429 billion text messages, an equivalent of 967 per user, more than any other country reported by Britain's media and telecommunications watchdog Ofcom. But these figures had not accounted for the spammed SMS that Chinese Mobile users get each day so in reality the number of SMS sent out is a whole lot less. But even if those figures were half, its still alot of SMS!

India had grown the fastest adding more mobile subscribers in the year than Britain had in total. Their number of new mobile subscriptions doubled to 150 million during the year -- an increase of more than Britain's total of 70 million mobile connections.

High Tech Alibaba relies low tech door-to-door sales channels

Great SF Chronicle article about Alibaba, the largest internet company in China, best known for their web service that connects manufacturers from China with customers around the world.

Do you know how they get manufacturers in middle-of-nowhere China aboard and online?
"Beneath its high-tech sheen, the success of Alibaba.com relies on the old-fashioned shoe leather method of door-to-door salesmen. The company employs an army of foot soldiers stationed throughout China and other parts of the globe who call on local businesses and teach their owners how to upload product photos, manage customer inquiries and maintain their online presence.

Because labor in China is cheap, Alibaba.com can afford to deploy a field sales staff of about 1,900 people to recruit new factories to join the Internet revolution." Maybe its old-fashioned and low tech but it works in China. The recipe to China isnt just about high technology, its the local understanding of the market and being able to be there at the right time to seize the opportunity like Alibaba.

FREE Music Downloads for 1 year when you buy a Nokia Mobile Phone

Nokia has thrown down the gauntlet to Big Music with a new service that bundles a year’s free tunes with the purchase of each new Nokia mobile device.

During his keynote address at the annual Nokia World conference, Nokia president and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo announced Nokia Comes With Music, a new program enabling consumers to have access to a year of unlimited free music downloads via mobile handsets bundled with its Ovi web services platform. And guess what, at the end of the 12-month cycle users may keep all the music they download even if they choose against continuing their premium subscription.

Comes With Music will initially launch with Universal Music Group International as Nokia had indicated that they are in the midst of negotiating with other major record labels.

Jupiter Research analyst Mark Mulligan said in a blog that the offering “puts Nokia exactly where they should be: at the forefront of innovation in the mobile music space.”

“Due to their scale and newly acquired aggressive Internet strategy, Nokia are in a unique position to turn the mobile music market on its head,” he wrote.

As for consumers, its going to be a great news, FREE music for 1 year, unbelievable right? Believe it. Nokia isnt going to stop at connecting people, it will go beyond that by bringing the world of entertainment down to a click of a button from your mobile phone.

Asian mobile users receptive to mobile marketing

I just got back from Hong Kong having attended the Mobile Marketing Forum and the regular Board of Directors Meeting for APAC. In that meeting, we were presented with the findings conducted by Synovate and sponsored by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA).

The survey found that Asia Pacific mobile users are very receptive to mobile marketing especially with mobile coupons and status alerts over purchases. The high usage of smartphones in Asia, especially in China and India, gives mobile marketers more options for executing campaigns, concluded the survey.

The survey said half of those interviewed expressed at least moderate interest in mobile marketing, while 13% indicated high interest for reasons of immediacy and convenience.

Mobile users are more likely to have experience with sweepstakes/voting and receiving information about new products than with other mobile marketing applications. The study said they were most interested in mobile coupons, status alerts about accounts or purchases, alerts on special sales and sweepstakes.

The greatest potential was seen in India and China, followed by Hong Kong, where mobile users already have participated in such programs.

Not surprisingly text message usage is high, accounting for more than 60% of the region's users. This translated into a large addressable audience for SMS-based marketing, the study noted.

The findings were based on a survey of 1,901 mobile users in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and Korea.

If you would like to get a copy of this report, please visit MMA's website at http://www.mmaglobal.com/ to find out information about how you can become a member of MMA as this report is exclusively distributed to MMA's members only.

Try getting a mobile phone into a Beer Bottle

Getting a spoon into the Beer Bottle is a near impossible, how about a mobile phone? This is what Chris magically did. He just smacked the mobile phone on the bottle and it went straight in. Truly Amazing and unbelievable....

High Tech "Transfomers" Fashion

Who said that fashion cant go high tech. Guess they must had picked up the idea from the movie Transformers. Stunning models with stunning high tech dresses. Check out the clip to see how those dresses were transformed.

New version of Google Maps simulating GPS on Mobile

A new version of Google Maps introduced this week includes a beta feature dubbed My Location that was designed to simulate the GPS experience on mobile phones and handheld devices that do not include GPS hardware, inclduding Apple's iPhone.

My Location feature takes information broadcast from mobile towers near non-GPS equipped mobile phones to approximate the device's current location on the map down to about 10 city blocks.

"It's not GPS, but it comes pretty close (approximately 1000m close, on average)," the Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant explained on its website. "We're still in beta, but we're excited to launch this feature and are constantly working to improve our coverage and accuracy."

The My Location feature is currently available for most web-enabled mobile phones, including Java, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Nokia/Symbian devices. However, it is not yet compatible with Apple's iPhone.

For a more detailed explanation of My Location and a visual demonstration, please check out the video below.

Global mobile phone penetration hits 50%

Figures released by industry analyst Informa Telecoms & Media reveal that worldwide mobile penetration will hit 50 per cent - or around 3.3 billion subscriptions - on Thursday, just over 26 years since the first cellular network was launched.

Since its birth in 1981, when the first mobile telephony network was switched on in Scandinavia, the mobile phone has become one of the world's great success stories.

As of the end of September there were operational networks in 224 countries around the globe, a figure that has increased from 192 in 1997 and 35 in 1987.

It is difficult to imagine how a modern economy could function without mobile telephony and a number of recent studies have shown that the mobile phone is having a hugely positive impact on the economies of emerging markets. Even young kids have mobile these days.

Informa estimates that mobile networks covered 90 per cent of the global population by mid-2007. This means that some 40 per cent of the world's inhabitants are covered by a network, but not connected, and leaves just 10 per cent with neither coverage nor connection.
Although global mobile penetration - the number of mobile subscriptions worldwide - has reached 50 per cent, this does not mean that half of the 6.6 billion or so people in the world now have a mobile phone.

A large number of more mature markets worldwide already have in excess of 100 per cent mobile penetration, as users increasingly sign up for more than one subscription, while emerging markets increasingly provide the bulk of new additions.

As of the end of September, 59 countries had mobile penetration of over 100 per cent, while almost half that figure, 27, had penetration under 10 per cent.

The economic difference between the more mature markets and those in developing countries is highlighted by the vast differences in operator ARPU (Average Revenue per User). Kuwaiti operator MTC brings in the highest ARPU in the world at the equivalent of $71 per month. But it is followed closely by Hutchison Whampoa's 3 UK operation with an ARPU of $70.55 and Qatar operator Q-Tel with $69. Japanese operator KDDI brings in $67.65 per user per month, while Hutchison's Austrian operation records and ARPU of $66.84.

But at the other end of the scale, Hutchison's Sri Lankan operator only counts revenues of $2.83 per user per month, beaten narrowly by Bangladesh's PBTL, which operates under the CityCell brand and has an ARPU of $2.98. Ukrainian operator Astelit counts user revenues of $3, as does Pakistan's CMPak, while another Bangladeshi operator, Sheba Telecom, reports an ARPU of $3.1.

$9.90 for an 8G unlocked iPhone comes with free shipping worldwide

Guess what! IPmart.com is now having the Crazy Deal for the Apple iPhone. Believe it or not? iPmart is offering the 8GB unlocked iPhone for ONLY US$9.90 on the 12th December 2007 and it comes with free shipping worldwide.

I know its kinda hard to believe, an original Apple iPhone sell for only about 10 bucks plus it’s unlocked and free shipping some more. The offer is real and true but of course, there will be only 3 units available and it is based on first come, first served. This deal only occurs on December 12, 2007, 7.00 PM (GMT +08:00). Click here to find out more.

Nokia No.1, Samsung No.2, Motorola dropped to No.3

Motorola lost its second spot in the global mobile handset market to Samsung in the third quarter, according to data released on Tuesday, as the US company focused on returning to profit instead of market share.

Motorola’s share of the global mobile phone market fell to 13.15% in the three months to the end of September, compared with 20.7 per cent a year ago and 14.6% in the second quarter of 2007, according to figures from Gartner, the research firm. Meanwhile, Korea’s Samsung edged up to 14.5% from 12.2% last year and 13.4% in the previous quarter.

Finland’s Nokia continued to underline its global dominance, increasing its share by 3 percentage points to 38.1% year-on-year – its highest quarterly share to date – and up from 36.9 per cent in the second quarter.

Motorola was in a commanding No.2 position in 2005 and 2006 thanks to its ultra-slim Razr phone, which sold more than 50m units, but has struggled to find new products with the same popularity. The latest version of Motorola’s best-seller, the Razr2, has been well received and sold 900,000 units in the quarter, but Motorola needs a wider portfolio of products to compete with its rivals. At this current rate, Sony Ericsson should overtake Motorola's No.3 position next year. With its current strategy, its unlikely Motorola will make much impact in the mobile industry for years to come.

Nokia’s strong volume growth means it is close to reaching its stated goal of 40% market share by the end of 2008.

The Finnish handset maker also continues to dominate in the smartphone segment of the market, with 57% market share, compared with less than 10 per cent for its nearest rival, Research in Motion, maker of the Blackberry.

Apple, which entered the smartphone segment with its sexy iPhone in June, sold 1.4 million units in the US in the third quarter. Total global smartphone sales reached 27.4 million in the same period. Apple has targeted 10m iPhone sales in 2008, which is likely to make a clear number two in the segment behind Nokia.

Dirty Hotel Bed Sheets

How do you know that the bed at the hotel you are sleeping on is dirty? If you travel alot like me, i suggest that you watch this clip and find out whether the bed you are sleeping on is clean or not. It will only take you seconds to perform the test.


EXPOSED! - Dirty Hotel Bed Sheets - The best video clips are here

An Ocean of people at a Job Fair in China

What does this look like?

Its an ocean of people at a Job Fair in China. Despite the rapid economic growth, unemployment in China is still too high to accomodate all those eager to work. Its hard to believe that a country, which is the fastest growing economy in the world and who’s stock markets are making new highs every year, has its citizens desperately flocking to such job fair. Regardless of the economic signal, it’s eye opener to see such a huge crowd.

I m a Nokia N95, I m an iPhone

Take from the format of "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC" commercials, BBC News Online's Darren Waters and Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones compare rival phones.

Two months of Stand-by battery power on your Mobile phone

Wouldnt that be great if we have such long stand-by power on our phones? We dont need to carry anymore extra backup batt, no more charger and rarely do we even need to charge our phones. Philips new Xenium 9@9 cell phone claims to offer two months of battery-life on standby time - a far cry from the 48 hours most batteries last for - and a continuous talk-time of 17 hours. The worst bit of the phone is when it quits on you when you needed it most. No word on pricing and availability, but it ought to remain an Asia-only phone.

New Japanese Boxing

The Japs are at it again, this time creating their own version of boxing but with a twist. The objective is to cross the bridge and punch your opponent off into the scalding hot water below. The white stuff that they later dived into is ice which will cool them off after the horrors of the pit! You got to love this. Its so funny.

How easy is texting on iPhone?

A usability study confirms what many iPhone users already know: the touch-screen keypad is harder to use than a QWERTY keypad on a Blackberry or Treo type of phone. I tried it myself and i must admit that i found it initially to be difficult but after a while it gets better and through time i should reckon that its no different than texting on my Nokia N95. I think its all about practice and getting use to it. Just check out this video clip below and you will see that texting or typing on the iPhone screen can be just as easy.

Nokia N95 vs N82 on imaging

Taken from the NokiaBlog, where Mark Guim demonstrated the xenon flash on the new N82 and compare that with the powerful N95 and as you may had guessed it correctly, the N82 is far more superior in imaging with the new xenon flash. Check out the video clip below to see the real difference. Thanks for the clip Mark.

Most Creative and Perverse Adult Video Games made in Japan (NSFW)

Battle Raper is a 3D fighting game in which the objective is to strip, grope, and sometimes actively rape the female characters, including a special move by only the male fighter where the female opponent is forced to perform oral sex as the camera zooms in.

Like in most Hentai games, however, the penis is rendered invisible or transparent. There is also a feature in the game which allows the player to have sex with the female characters.

You will only find such games released in Japan, can you imagine what would happen if a game like this is released in the US or China?

I must say the Japanese has a special taste and flavors for everything and certainly one of the most creative people when comes to games development and check out the video clip below to prove my point....

US Mobile Subscribers surpass 250 million

A Quarter-Billion Americans Now Using Mobile

The Wireless Association® announced today that the total estimated mobile subscribers in the US had officially passed the 250 million mark, reaching an all-time national high. Growth in subscribers has more than quadrupled over the past ten years from just over 55 million at year-end 1997 to more than 250 million today—an increase of 352%.

Kuwait building the World Tallest Tower 1 km to the edge of the sky

Kuwait just announced its plans to build the Burj Mubarak Al-Kabir to attain a height of 1,001 meters (3,284 ft). The Burj Dubai is supposed to top out at over 800 meters but they are in mid-construction; and maybe they will now figure out how to top up another few hundred meters to stay ahead as the world tallest. These Gulf States are getting crazy over their mega-projects each wanting to be ahead.

Madinat Al-Hareer is an $86 billion dollar project that will include not only the skyscraper but an airport and an expansive desert preserve. Check out the video clip below.

Wonder what monster projects will we hear next from the land of Black Gold.....

New Apple PR Lady Ad

A new ad from Apple taking a jab at Microsoft....

Beware of what you post on Facebook

A bank intern got busted on Facebook. Kevin Colvin, got busted by his boss when he tried to skive off work, by sending in an email citing a ‘family emergency’. Unfortunately his boss checked out his facebook page and spotted him having fun at a Halloween party.

I guess Kevin will be looking for a new job soon unless if he has a darn good reason. The power of social networking can work for and against you too so be tactful of what you post.

The best bit of the story is the response of Kevin’s boss, Paul Davis which included the incriminating picture:

Over Over, calling from Mount Everest

The world's highest mobile phone base station built at an altitude of 6,500 meters has been launched by China Mobile on Mount Everest allowing mountaineers to make and receive calls. So the next time you are on Mount Everest, all you need to stay communicated is bring along your mobile GSM phone.

iPhone coming to China

China Mobile is in talks with Apple to sell the iPhone in China, the company's CEO said on Tuesday. But China Mobile isnt keen on the type of revenue-sharing model that Apple has insisted on elsewhere in the world. Not sure how the deal with be cut eventually as China Mobile has extensive bargaining power. I dont reckon Steve Jobs would want to pass on a deal with China Mobile afterall it is the world's largest mobile operator, boasting almost 350 million subscribers at the end of September.

But Apple would also need to be careful having signed exclusive deals with operators to sell its iPhone, including O2 in the U.K. and AT&T in the U.S. As part of the deal, Apple requires the operators to pay it a portion of their iPhone subscriber revenue. I m sure they will have some comments if Apple just ended up selling devices in China.

Whatever the arrangements maybe, I m confident iPhone will hit the market big time in China and I dont see how it wont do well. Most of the people that i know in China cant wait to get their hands on one. I can only keep my fingers cross and hope that it will be made available in China soon.

Source : IDG

Mobile devices are more important than PCs in Japan

A very interesting article about the role of the PC diminishing in Japan, in favor of personal gadgets such as mobile devices.

The same will happen in the US, China, India and other parts of the world. In many parts of the world, cellphones already provide the needed connectivity to the Internet. Overtime all the daily (connected) functions such as email, downloading music, collaboration, and so on will be available on the handset to most of the people, and cheaper and more convenient than using a PC; it is clear why the role of PCs will diminish. And PC manufacturers must take notice of this, and adapt.

Read the complete article PCs being pushed aside in Japan (Yahoo! News)

Chinese Are World's Most Active Texters

Move over Philippines, here comes China. Of China’s wired citizens, nearly 70 percent are regularly using text messaging compared to just 56 percent using e-mail. Compare that to the US where 91 percent are using e-mail and just 39 percent are actively texting. 33 billion short messages a month are being sent by China’s 530 million cell phone users. That’s about more than 6 messages sent for every person on the planet.

How to handle annoying bluetooth guys

Happy Birthday Nokia

15 years ago today Nokia launched the 1011 (the model number coming from the launch date: 10 November 1992). It was their first mass produced handset and at the time was a technological revolution. Here are the specifications of the device that won the hearts and minds of the people more than a decade ago:

• 2 line display
• 475 grams
• 195 x 60 x 45mm
• Enough storage to hold 99 phone numbers
• 90 minutes of talk time
• 12 hours standby time
• 900 MHz

There was no colour, no camera, no Bluetooth, no memory card slot and the handset had to have an extendible antenna. But it did introduce one innovation that phone owners now use without a second thought: text messaging.

Vodafone opens its door to Nokia's Ovi

The "world's largest mobile operator by revenue" and the world's largest handset manufacturer have agreed to launch an integrated suite of Vodafone services combined with Nokia Ovi services. Nokia will provide some of its top-end models, which allow access to 3G, high speed broadband networks, exclusively to Vodafone.

Customers will get faster and easier access to all of Vodafone's Internet and entertainment services as well as all of Ovi from Nokia services on a wide range of handsets. Vodafone customers will be able to access the widest and most attractive choice of Internet services.

This is an evolution that has seen operators' desire for all out control of the content value chain lessening as they move away from an operator controlled walled garden.

A great milestone for Nokia as this partnership will Vodafone will certainly open up a world of opportunities for Nokia to be working with many other mobile operators worldwide as this is an indication that Vendor-led portal like Ovi may not necessarily be hostile to mobile operators.

"We're pleased do be working with Nokia in leading the industry to bring customers a complete suite of Vodafone communications, browsing, content and Internet services," said Frank Rovekamp, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Vodafone Group. "This is a logical step for Vodafone to make, further improving our customer experience with many of the services already launched with leading Internet partners."

Alibaba - Largest Internet IPO in Asia and 2nd largest in the World

China's B2B e-commerce company Alibaba.com Limited started trading today in Hong Kong's Stock Exchange.

Its share price closed at HK$39.50 (US$5.09), 192.6% higher than the Offer Price of HK$13.50 ($.174). The offering raised HK$13.1 billion $1.69 billion) in gross proceeds, making it the largest Internet IPO in Asia and the second largest globally.

An impressive list of investors who had pariticipated including Yahoo! Inc., AIG Global Investment Corporation (Asia) Limited, Foxconn (Far East) Limited, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited, Cisco International B.V., and entities affiliated with Peter Kwong Ching Woo (Chairman of The Wharf (Holdings) Limited), the Kwok family (controlling shareholders of Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited) and Mr. Kuok Hock Nien.

China has almost taken all the major crowns from the biggest country in the world, the largest mobile subscribers in the world, PetroChina, the largest and 1st trillion company in the world, Alibaba, the largest IPO in Asia and 2nd in the world, and soon to be ready tallest building in the world in Shanghai, and many world record breaking feats to come. And this is only the beginning of the new China.

Google launches Android

So Google had finally launched its mobile platform and its afterall not a mobile phone. Android is what Google calls it and its an open source software stack that allows developers and device manufacturers to build applications and powerful devices.

Google has announced a large list of partners who are working with the company. Taking part are Motorola, Samsung, Texas Instruments, Intel, Broadcom, T-Mobile, Sprint, China Mobile, NTT DoCoMo just to name a few of them.

Andy Rubin who is spearheading the project expects the 1st Android based devices to be ready in 2nd half of 2008.

What is Android?
A fully integrated mobile “software stack” that consists of an operating system, middleware, user-friendly interface and applications. The open source platform will allow mobile operators and device manufacturers significant freedom and flexibility to design products.

My personal take away is while it still remains to be seen whether such openness will transform the industry, one thing for sure the initiative will drive down cost of the devices due to lower costs in licensing for the software allowing developers and manufacturers to focus more on hardware features.

Google and the Open Handset Alliance, can they really change? Anything is possible; the mobile and internet landscape is changing rapidly. But Google ain’t Apple. Time will tell..... and lets see how the whole story will unfold.

PetroChina - the World's First US$1 trillion company

PetroChina became the world's largest company by market value after its mainland debut today. That closing price helped the company become the world's first company to be valued at $1 trillion, larger than the combined value of Exxon Mobil Corp. and General Electric Co, according to Bloomberg News. Who could had imagined 20 years ago that companies from China will take center stage, not only did they take center stage, they even became the world's largest and the first one on earth to reach the 1 trillion at record speed.

Its Shanghai initial public offering of 4 billion shares raised $8.94 billion — a record for a mainland bourse. The country's biggest oil company opened at 48.60 yuan ($6.52), nearly tripling the issue price of 16.70 yuan ($2.24), before easing slightly to end the session at 43.96 yuan ($5.90).

Another milestone for China setting up new standard for others to beat. Well done to China.

Nokia E90 Communicator AKA Made in China

Chinese mobile cloners are once again at their best and this time the victim is the popular Nokia's flagship N90 Communicator.

Just like the original device, the Chinese “version” has two screens and the QWERTY keyboard. It looks like the N90 at first glance. The specs include 2.4″ QVGA external and 2.8″ QVGA internal screen, stereo speakers, 1.3 MP camera, stereo Bluetooth and microSD expansion slot. In terms of pre-installed software, there’s some office documents viewer as well as Nintendo emulator that can double up as a dedicated-gaming device.

Original Nokia E90

E90 Clone

E90 Clone (Gaming Emulator)

Nokia Music Store goes live

Nokia Music Store had just gone live this week. People in the UK, who use Windows and Internet Explorer will be able to use it. I wonder why it works on Internet Explorer and not on Firefox. I hope the Music Store team will have this rectified soon.

I have to recommend you to watch this clip below to get an better taste of what the music store looks like on a mobile phone. This is the work of James at Nokia Creative:

Apple iPhone is ‘Invention of the Year' - TIME Mag

TIME magazine has named the iPhone "Invention of the Year."

You can love it or hate it, but the fact stays that Apple’s handset made other handset makers “think differently.” We saw such players as Nokia and Sony Ericsson unveiling their plans for the future, which are in many ways inspired by the iPhone. Hence, its no surprise Time Magazine gave the iPhone a prestigious “Invention of the year” title.

Outlined reasons are: it’s pretty, it’s touchy-feely, it will make other phones better, it’s not a phone - it’s a platform, and it is but the ghost of iPhones yet to come.

Last year's winning invention was the online video site YouTube.

Understanding the Chinese People under 1 minute

Liu Yang, a Chinese Nationality educated in Germany had created these simple pictorials below to explain the difference between the Germans and the Chinese. Its perhaps the most simplest way to understand the Chinese

Blue - German
Red - Chinese

Opinion


Way of Life

Punctuality

Contacts

Anger

Queue while waiting

ME

Sundays on the Road

Party

In the restaurant

Stomach Ache

Traveling

Beauty

Managing Problems

Three meals a day

Transportation

Elderly's day to day life

Shower Time

Moods and Weather

The Boss

What's Trendy

The Child

Perception of each other