30 Years of Video Game Consoles

The Evolution of the Games Console - video powered by Metacafe

It’s hard to believe video game consoles have been around for more than 30 years! The video shows the evolution of this entertainment gadget from the Magnavox Oydessy in 1972 to the most recent Wii. Each of these were the very latest technology of their time. My first video game console was a CBS Coleco Vision which my dad bought it back in the early 80s. It was no where near the quality of today's game technology but at the time when i had it, it was probably the coolest thing.

Do you remember the very first Nintendo back in 1985? It was a best selling video game console - 62 million units worldwide. Yet, the graphics look positively childish today. Evolution is good - today’s coolest game console will soon enough become dated and we will move on to the next entertainment leader. Enjoy the evolution.

The Bootyful Game

If this were how soccer was played all the time, it’d be your favorite sport.........but watch it till the end.

Social Networking driving the growth in Mobile Browsing

Opera Mini cumulative users per month

Social networking now accounts for almost 40 percent of worldwide mobile web traffic, topping the 60 percent mark in some countries including the U.S., South Africa and Indonesia, according to browser development firm Opera Software's first "State of the Mobile Web" report.

Based on the aggregate, anonymous traffic patterns of more than 44 million cumulative Opera Mini users worldwide, Opera reports that full web surfing represents close to 78 percent of all traffic, far outpacing content on WAP and .mobi sites--in the U.S. market, MySpace is the most visited mobile web destination, followed in descending order by Google, mobile social networking service MocoSpace, Yahoo and Facebook. Among the top 100 sites visited by all Opera Mini users, almost a quarter of all traffic directs to content portals or search engines.

I love Opera Mini, its free and great user experience for my Nokia N95 & N82 and I spent a great deal of time browsing on it especially accessing my mobile email and updating my Facebook.

For more on the report of Opera, you can view the report here.

Amazing Visual Technology

This Technology Will Blow Your Mind.. - The funniest videos are a click away

LinkedIn traffic is soaring, Facebook is declining by 10% in April

Source : Nielsen


The latest stats from Nielsen Online show a significant decline in month-over-month unique visitors to Facebook in the US. In April, traffic fell to 22.4M uniques, down from the 24.9M reported in March. Year-over-year traffic growth decelerated from 98% to a much more modest 56%. MySpace also saw a modest decline (from 60.3M to 58.7M), while LinkedIn continued its torrid growth from 7.8M uniques in March to 8.6M in April.


Are users getting tired with Facebook and the rest of the other social networking sites? How many times do you access Facebook or Myspace or any other social networking sites? Are you seeing a drop in activity from your social friends? Is Facebook fatigue finally upon us?

Spammed SMS blocking service

Malaysian operator Maxis has ordered an SMS service platform from Acision which will enable its subscribers to block unsolicited SMS, or SMS spam, set up automatic replies and automatically copy messages to another mobile number from their handset.

The Acision’s Message Plus platform has allowed Maxis to be the first mobile operator globally to enable a customer-activated Anti-Spam solution which blocks out local spam messages. For Maxis, this blacklist feature complements our ongoing efforts in combating local spam issues. Our customers can now, at their own accord, personalise and block of spam SMS from reaching their mobile phones.

This is nothing revolutionary as its a simple technology that has the intelligence to block un-wanted junk SMS just like how our desktop and online email apps block our junk emails. This is a solution that all operators will worldwide should be adopting as it provides great privacy and control to the mobile users. Especially in China where users had been troubled with years and years of spammed SMS, its high time that China Mobile and China Unicom should consider taking this approach. Beyond preventing un-wanted SMS, i think the service will also help to differentiate the service level between operators.

New UI on Nokia S60?

There is a buzz going around the Symbian blogosphere that Nokia is looking to TAT to give its existing UI a new look. The smooth and focus movement and transitions would go a great way to modernize the user’s experience on S60. What do you think?

Nokia releases Maps 2.0

Nokia has announced the launch of Nokia Maps 2.0. The new service features improved optional car navigation, enhanced pedestrian navigation, added multimedia city guides, satellite images, and a redesigned user interface,

There’s also a pedestrian-focused navigation component called ‘Walk’, which guides the user from A to B with visual turn-by-turn guidance.

Nokia’s enhanced service, which helps both pedestrians and motorist navigate, is an excellent example of the benefits location-based services can bring to people’s lives. The new version of Nokia Maps 2.0 for selected devices is available for download here.

WenChuan Earthquake - The 3 Minutes of Silence

The chart was taken on the 19th June, one week after the WenChuan earthquake during the 3 minutes of silence to remember and mourn for the victims of the catastrophe. Its a clear sign of unity taken voluntarily by all the internet users in China showing a respect and regards for both that had lost the lives and also for all the affected victims. This is truly unprecedented.

Michael Zhao made a 9 mins video on the May 12's Wenchuan Earthquake with English subtitles.

World's First Disposable Mobile Phone

Not only its the 1st disposable, handset, its possibly the cheapest handset ever too at $10. Hop-On has just launched a $10 GSM handset. First off, this is a cheap-as-chips handset. But it works. 4 hours talk time, 150 hours standby, dual band and it weighs 77 grams with no display.

The HOP1800 is a study in simplicity. There is no display. A tactile numeric keypad with Braille markings, offers reassuring buttons that touch screen cell phone users are longing for. Being a pre-paid cell phone, no contracts are required so you can be up and talking in seconds.

The HOP 1800 is only available in the US at the present moment. (They’ve also got a range of more powerful, sexier handsets — check them out).

Not sure whether this would be a hit as most people would buy a device for a longer term ie not to buy and dispose them. Mobile phone these days is like our personal item and its not something that we want to change or buy and dispose instantly. I wouldn't mind buying one for temporary use if i had left my mobile phone at home or that i m traveling to the US and i need to have a 2nd phone for local access.

Google launches Mobile Banner Ads

Google has announced that it is launching graphical display ads for mobile phones. The ads will be displayed depending on keywords that appear on the mobile website in a similar fashion to their current text-based ads.

The ads will be similar to those that currently appear on websites but will be smaller and there will only be one ad per page. They will use the pay-per-click model and will require that the ad is linked to a mobile-specific landing page.

There are 4 ad sizes approved by Google for mobile. The sizes and the file size limits are below. The images must be in either .jpg, .gif, or .png format.

Alexandra Kenin, product marketing manager on the Google Mobile Ads team and Sanjay Agarwal, software engineer will talk more about Google Mobile Ads in the video clip below.

Tennis shot at 50 MPH to the Crotch

Imagine having to suck up to 50 MPH to your crotch. The thought of it sends chill to your body right. FSN Sport Science demostrated what damage to your crotch can a 50 MPH tennis ball shot do. I must say the participant who had accepted the challenge to have the shot delivered to his crotch is really gutsy.

China on the verge of issuing three 3G licenses

China has kicked off a long-awaited overhaul of the world's largest telecoms industry, orchestrating a series of leadership changes and directing the parent of China Mobile to take over fixed-line peer Railcom while absorbing executives from rivals.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance had jointly confirmed the issuing of three 3G licenses after the completion of the telecom industry reorganization.

Chinese officials has also confirmed to merge Netcom and Unicom while China Telecom will be taking over China Unicom's code-division multiple access (CDMA) network creating 2 new full-service providers to compete directly with China Mobile.

Its been a long wait and its great that 3G is finally coming to China.

Chinese Tactic at collecting Donations in the recent Sichuan Earthquake

What do you reckon is the tactic used recently in China to squeeze donations out of foreign companies? Humiliation... yes, you are right, thats what the local media in China is doing to pressure the foreign companies to increase their donations.

By Tuesday this week, foreign companies had donated 1.2 billion yuan ($175 million) in cash, plus supplies worth 108 million yuan ($15.5 million), according to the government.

Despite that, nationalistic Chinese Web surfers who react angrily to any perceived slight to their country have accused foreign companies of failing to provide enough help.

A posting on popular search engine Baidu.com's blog service listed corporate donations and said they were smaller than those after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Comments on online bulletin boards criticized McDonald's Corp., Yum Brands Inc.'s KFC restaurants, Toyota Motor Corp., Nokia, South Korea's Samsung Electronics Corp. and French retailer Carrefour SA.

In fact Sina has created a page on their site providing latest updates on how much had been donated and even ranked them with the company's logos. This is really pathetic and making a mockery out of the whole idea of donation. I m sure many of you would agree that making donation isnt like a competition but whats happening in China is everybody is now competing as to who can donate more. And when your donations arent substantial enough, you will be made a subject of humiliation.


There were several catastrophes that had taken place all over the world from Sept 11, the Asian Tsunami and even the latest typhoon that had hit Myanmar killing more than 100,000 victims. What about donations to Myanmar? The devastation in Myanmar is probably of a bigger magnitude but nobody seem to talk about it now as the media coverage had shifted to China. I admit its difficult time for everybody especially for the victims but the media had certainly played a big role in turning this into a mockery.

I worked in a multinational based in China who had made several contributions to the Sichuan earthquake both monetary and also indirect contributions like mobile phones and SIM cards. On top of making a direct monetary contribution, our company and its staff had initiated a company-wide project to collect donations from all the employees.

Booths were setup in all our offices to collect donations from the staff. The company had also created special bank account to allow us to make direct donations from our bank account. The company had also committed to match dollar for dollar for all the donations coming from the employees. If these were not good enough, i m not sure what can be regarded as sufficient. And i m sure all the other foreign companies based in China are doing all they can to help out the victims afterall most of the employees are local Chinese who may have friends or relatives living in the affected areas.

The focus now should be on the survival and rebuilding of the affected areas. Life must continue no matter how difficult it may be for the victims and credit must go to everybody who are involved in the rescue efforts especially the Chinese goverment who had been playing the major role from day 1.

iCondom - iPhone inspired condom with Memory

This is probably the best stuff i had seen in a while, a condom inspired by iPhone. iCondom's spokeperson Steve Jones claims their product "opens a new era in the history of safe sex" and has "latex with memory". Have a good laugh and great start to the weekend.

Jeremy Gutsche Innovation Keynote

Jeremy Gutsche, founder of Trendhunter, a high rated speaker had posted a really good video clip of his keynote that you guys have to see. The sample kicks off part way through his thesis, giving a decent overview of his topic, ‘Unlocking Cool’. Though its not a full version of the keynote, you can get a feel of how interesting his keynote will lead you to.



Here’s a sample of his content from last year:

View Upload your own

Shift Happens by Karl Fisch (VIDEO)

Karl Fisch, created Shift Happens, the most favourited presentation on SlideShare. In April 2007, Michael Arnold got the high school teacher’s permission to take it to the next level by turning it into a video.

Fisch discusses global shifts occurring and the impact globalization will have on education, from kindergarten to higher education.

Thanks to the upgrade to video, his message became a viral internet phenomenon.

Since its release, the video has been updated with a second clip, titled “Did You Know?” As a result of its success, Fisch launched the Shift Happens Wiki to supplement the videos. He also published The Fischbowl, a blog with her personal views. In case if you havent seen it before, its a great video that you can check it out below.

Happy birthday Princess Luvelle

Today is a very special day for my family as we celebrate my daughter 4th year old birthday. She is so adorable and will always be special and dear to all of us. Happy birthday Princess Luvelle Foo.

Google Rules

Hitwise released the latest statistics for search engine share in the United States for April 2008. Google has again hit a new high, jumping up 0.65% from the prior month's high, to 68% of the US search market. Microsoft and Yahoo hit all-time lows -- though Yahoo, at least, only drops by 0.1% further from its low last month. Microsoft dropped about 0.4%.

The four major search engines stack up as follows:
Google: 67.9%
Yahoo: 20.3% (unrounded, 20.28%)
Microsoft: 6.3% (unrounded, 6.26%)
Ask: 4.2% (unrounded, 4.17%)

Here are the past data of how they had performed over the years. Clearly Google rules the world of search.

The Evolution of Mobile Phones

The video clip shows mobile phones - from 1985 till today - morph into one another in chronological order. It's interesting to see how little the basic design of the things has changed.

3G iPhone launching on June 9

Its almost 99% certain that the 3G iPhone will be launched next month. Someone very, very close to the 3G iPhone launch, has confirmed to GIZMODO that the 3G iPhone will be released on June 9, the day of the WWDC keynote. I guess Steve Jobs will be announcing the launch of the phone during the keynote and the 2nd generation iPhone should be available worldwide after the June 9. For those of you who are thinking of buying an iPhone, hold your breath till the June 9.

10 Ways the Chinese Internet is different from Rest of the World

1. Its slower

Thanks to the Great Firewall, accessing the internet especially websites residing outside China can be a real pain.

2. Its monitored

The Chinese authorities monitor all trafffic going in and out of China.

3. Access to foreign Web sites is limited
The Chinese government uses four mechanisms -- DNS blocking, reset commands, URL keyword blocking and content scanning to prevent Internet users in the country from reaching blacklisted Web sites or content.

4. Blackouts are common
If the Chinese government finds that a user has downloaded forbidden content, it breaks the connection and prohibits the user from establishing communications with the site. These blackouts can last anywhere from two minutes to an hour.

5. Its censored

The authority employs thousand of people to go through content and censor whatever they find sensitive.

6. There's less porn
The Chinese government justifies its Internet monitoring efforts by telling the public that it is keeping online information "wholesome" and free of threats such as sexual predators. Online pornography is not as pervasive in China, and users are less likely to stumble upon it.

7. It's safer
Malicious activity including phishing scams, bots and zombies is less common in China than in the United States. China represented 7% of the Internet's malicious activity, while the United States represented 31% during the second half of 2007. One rationale for the Chinese Internet monitoring system is to keep hackers at bay.

8. There's less spam
China produces 4% of the world's spam, while the United States is the origin for 42% of all unsolicited e-mail. China decreased its spam volume by 131% in the second half of 2007, largely by reducing the number of bot-infested computers.

9. It's based on IPv6
The China Next Generation Internet is an IPv6 backbone that the Chinese government is using as a testbed to develop IPv6 services, including distance learning and telemedicine. IPv6 is an upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol that features enough IP addresses for the Chinese population.

10. Its growing faster

The Chinese domain .cn are growing much faster than any domain in the world. Dot cn grew by 399% than the 24% year on year for .com and .net.

Source : NetworkWorld

China TV Networks mourn in memory of the Earthquake victims

Here is the screen being broadcast over every non-news foreign channel on my cable system in China. Except for BBC and CNN who are still permitted, all the Chinese channels are either broadcasting their own news on the earthquake, or rebroadcasting CCTV's news.

Internet mourns for the earthquake victims in China

China begins 3 day mourning period for earthquake victims. I was at the immigration center in Pudong at 2:28pm where everybody stood up with their heads down mourning with sadness for those who were victims of the powerful earthquake that had rocked China. While we continue to mourn for the victims, I still hope and pray that the rescuers will continue their effort to pull out any survivals from the rubble. And for those who are in position to help, I urge you help out by making donations to Red Cross Society of China.

Below are the biggest portals in China who had switched to black and white to mourn for all the affected and victims of earthquake. This is probably the 1st time ever that i had seen this happening on the internet. You can check out most of the major internet sites in China who had switched to black and white and it will continue to be in this color format for the next 3 days.

China begins mourning for 3 days from today as earthquake tolls hit 32,476

China will enter into three days of mourning beginning Monday, May 19, 2008 through to Wednesday, May 21, 2008. Recreational facilities will be suspended as citizens from around the nation remember their compatriots hit by this recent tragic earthquake.

At 4:58 a.m., the national flag at the Tian'anmen Square in downtown Beijing flew at half-mast after a complete flag-raising ceremony.

At 14:28 on Monday, sirens and horns will sound for three full minutes to remember the victims of this terrible tragedy. The Olympic Torch Relay has also been halted for three days, this, too, to remember the recent disaster.

And on Sunday, China Seismological Bureau Sunday revised the magnitude of the earthquake from 7.8 to 8.0 on the Richter scale. The number of injured in magnitude 8.0 earthquake reached 220,109, it said. In Sichuan alone, a total of 31,978 people were killed since Monday's deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake, with 209,905 others injured.

I will be observing the nationwide period of mourning too. Please drop your comments here in memory of them.

Product Review - NimBuzz's Integrated Mobile IM & VoIP App

Nimbuzz, a little-known mobile VoIP company out of the Netherlands, has released a mobile client that not only allows users to conduct VoIP calls, but to engage in IM conversations and share media such as photos, music and video. Nimbuzz, which claims to have received an undisclosed amount of funding from Skype’s original investors, Mangrove Capital Partners, seeks to utilize cellular data networks and provide users with an inclusive application for mobile IM and SMS communication.

With this service, Nimbuzz enters a market already dominated by established mobile VoIP clients Fring and TruPhone. Fring, like Nimbuzz, incorporates IM capability with multiple IM networks and VoIP calls. TruPhone allows you to make VoIP calls to TruPhone users and traditional phones, without the IM features of Fring and Nimbuzz.

To load Nimbuzz, download their client from their mobile web site, create an account and sign in. Signing in to additional networks such as Google or Skype is as easy as entering your username and password for those respective services.

Nimbuzz is very responsive and easy to use, featuring a great native Symbian user interface. A VoIP call originating from my Nokia E90 to a friend of mine on MSN over a Wi-Fi connection sounded good and I managed to conduct a decent 3 minute call with acceptable VOIP voice quality.

And the list of IM networks supported by Nimbuzz includes Skype, Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo, MySpace, Facebook and Jabber.

Outside of their mobile offerings, the company has a Windows desktop application for conferring with your Nimbuzz contacts and social widgets that can be embedded onto your Facebook, Orkut and MySpace pages. By clicking on your Numbuzz widget, friends can call/chat you for free, leave you a voice message, send you a text message, and share photos, music, and videos with you. Just a word of caution, please make sure you have subscribed an unlimited data plan on your mobile device before using Nimbuzz on your mobile as it does suck down huge amount of bandwidth.

How do you prevent or lessen a Hangover

I m sure many of you would like to know how to prevent one as hangover could really mess up your next day. This is a segment from Oprah featuring Dr.Oz, explaining about the best ways to rid yourself of hangovers.

10 reasons not to take drugs when dating

Live Lobster Catcher Arcade Game

Remember those coin-operated “claw” games, where you could snag some fuzzy dice if you moved the robot hand with enough skill? I m sure many of you had tried and most would had known by now that this game of chance is never in our favor. You can try for hours and still not pick up anything. Its my son's favorite arcade game too. Thats the main reason why he will drag me to the arcade center every weekend just to try his luck. Not that he is interested winning the stuffed toys but the idea of winning feels great for kids his age.

Well the Japanese arcades now have a weirder and more sophisticated version. Having improvised from useless stuffed animal prizes, they are now offering a delicious live lobster!

Chinese Mobile Ad Exchange CASEE Receives $6 Million In Funding

Chinese mobile advertising firm CASEE has received $6 million from London mobile marketing company Velti, which takes a 33 percent stake in the start up. Velti also has warrants for a further 17 percent, which would increase its stake to 50 percent for an extra investment of $3 million.

CASEE runs an online mobile advertising exchange at Casee.cn which resemble Admob business model in which advertisers can bid for ad space, and WAP site operators can offer inventory. The two-year old company reports that it serves over 500 million ads a month on 3,000 WAP sites in China.

A big congrats to Xin Ye, a good friend of mine who is the founder of Casee. All the best to him and his team at Casee.

Report: Mobile Web 2.0 Worth Over $22 Billion by 2013

According to a recent report from Juniper Research, the global market for Mobile Web 2.0 could be worth as much as $22.4 billion by 2013 (the projected figure is a little high for me), up from its current figure of $5.5 billion. This will come mainly from social networking/user-generated content, which is predicted to grow from $1.8 billion this year to $11.2 billion in 2013, while growth in mobile search and mobile IM will be more measured. Most of the money will come from service revenue, although mobile advertising will be significant. While the Far East, Western Europe and North America currently dominate the global market for these services, Juniper predicts they will be surpassed by developing regions over the forecast period.

In its report, Juniper examines how a fundamental shift in Internet usage patterns is shaping Mobile Web development, driving subscriber adoption and enacting structural changes within the industry. At the core of this evolution is the user as a creator and consumer of content (i.e. the prosumer), and the “social Web,” which encompasses a variety of social computing tools enabling users to develop detailed Web identities and create online communities.

"Combining the power of the social network map – namely: 'who I know, how I know and where I know' – with that of mobility, presents the greatest opportunity for revenue generation of any of the applications as defined within Juniper's Mobile Web 2.0 framework," according to Juniper analyst Ian Chard.

The phone is carried with us most of the time and contains a huge amount of personal data, making it a logical extension for the social network and a host of other collaborative Web 2.0 applications being mobilized.

China Earthquake -The Search for Survivors continue

Rescuers continue to race against time to find survivors after the strongest quake to hit China in 32 years jolted southwestern Sichuan province, demolishing buildings and trapping tens of thousands beneath the rubble.

The rescue teams had finally arrived at the epicentre of China’s devastating earthquake last night and began searching for survivors in the ruins of buildings under which thousands of people are feared to have been buried.

Xinhua earlier reported that the death toll had risen to 14,866. An unofficial tally of deaths in individual communities as reported by the news agency over several days put the toll at 19,565.
Nearly 26,000 people were still buried under debris and another 14,000 missing. More than 64,000 people sustained injuries.

Al Jazeera correspondent Melissa Chan reports from Sichuan on the rescue efforts following China’s deadly earthquake:

For those who are looking to contribute to current aid efforts underway, you can now donate money to the Red Cross Society of China which has formed a disaster relief working group to be dispatched to the earthquake-stricken Wenchuan County in Sichuan.

They have also published an emergency relief hotline, along with bank account information to receive donations to assist their cause:

Account name: Red Cross Society of China
开户单位：中国红十字会总会

For those who want to donate in RMB: you can send money to the RMB account at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China branch below:
人民币开户行: 中国工商银行 北京分行东四南支行
人民币账号: 0200001009014413252

For those who want to donate in foreign currency, you can send money to the foreign currency account at the CITIC Bank branch below:
外币开户行：中信银行酒仙桥支行
外币账号: 7112111482600000209

Hotline: (8610) 65139999
Online donations: Red Cross Society of China website: www.redcross.org.cn
Click the tab for online donations

You can visit ESWN as they have put up a compilation of pictures from the Earthquake.

China Earthquake - Below and After

Below are shots taken before and after the earthquake. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake had totally wiped out the whole city. The road leading road to Wen-chuan has been paralyzed. The number of casualties are on a rising as many more are still not accountable. The latest casualty figure stands at over 12,300 at 2am this morning.

They are others who are still experiencing some after shock in areas of Chengdu and Chongqing according to some of my friends who were living in those areas but situation has remained calm and many had chosed to stay outdoor for fear of another earthquake. In Shanghai, business as usual as Shanghai is located way too far from the epicenter and lets pray and hope for the best for the all the victims and please head over to my earlier blog at MOBIZ to make donations to the earthquake's victims.

The beautiful Bei-Chuan before the earthquake

Bei-Chuan after the earthquake, totally devastated...

Alcohol Makes Girls Sexy

The more you drink, the hotter she will get. If you drink enough, she will become mans’ ultimate fantasy!


http://view.break.com/495409 - Watch more free videos

Earthquake death toll nearly 10,000 in Sichuan, China - HOW CAN YOU HELP

As more news of destruction caused by yesterday's earthquake emerges, Xinhua says the death toll has reached nearly 10,000. The quake, with a magnitude of 7.8, was felt throughout China and in neighbouring countries, including Vietnam and Thailand.

The figure may climb as more remote parts of the affected areas are reached by rescue teams. President Hu Jintao has declared emergency relief of affected areas a national priority, the People's Liberation Army is being mobilized, and Premier Wen Jiabao is on the scene again rallying the citizens.

Xinhua has a special page updated with earthquake news here.

Shanghaiist just posted on how you can help the victims of China's recent earthquake. Here's the info, straight from Shanghaiist:

For those who are looking to contribute to current aid efforts underway, you can now donate money to the Red Cross Society of China which has formed a disaster relief working group to be dispatched to the earthquake-stricken Wenchuan County in Sichuan.

They have also published an emergency relief hotline, along with bank account information to receive donations to assist their cause:

Account name: Red Cross Society of China开户单位：中国红十字会总会

For those who want to donate in RMB: you can send money to the RMB account at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China branch below: 人民币开户行: 中国工商银行 北京分行东四南支行人民币账号: 0200001009014413252

For those who want to donate in foreign currency, you can send money to the foreign currency account at the CITIC Bank branch below:外币开户行：中信银行酒仙桥支行外币账号: 7112111482600000209

Hotline: (8610) 65139999Online donations: Red Cross Society of China website: http://www.redcross.org.cn/ Click the tab for online donations.

At the time when the earthquake took place, I was in Shanghai but felt nothing though many of my friends who were in higher floors felt the building were shaking. Most buildings in Shanghai were evacuated and later did they come to realise of the seriousness of the event that had taken place close to Chengdu.

"Out of Stock" iPhone fuels the imminent launch of 3G version

The iPhone is out of stock "companywide," according to Apple Inc. sales representatives. The outage has fueled rumors that the next-generation 3G model will be released shortly.

On Saturday, Apple-specific Web sites and blogs reported on the sold-out notices posted on Apple's U.S. and U.K. online stores. With all the buzz surrounding the 3G model, the international rollout and the SDK, this is just one more sign that the release of a new device is right around the corner.

Most analysts and pundits have pegged June 9, the opening day of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) as the likely introduction date for the 3G iPhone. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is expected to open the conference with his usual keynote address and could unveil a new iPhone then. The iPhone's first sales anniversary, June 29, has been touted by others as a possible on-sale date for the 3G model.

So for those of you are heading to buy an iPhone now, i would advise you to hang on to June. Its just few weeks away.

Apple has also recently signed deals with four mobile phone networks in the Asia-Pacific region, and the firms will offer the iPhone in their respective markets.

SingTel will sell the gadget in Singapore, while Bharti Airtel will introduce it in India.
Globe Telecom has the rights to the iPhone in the Philippines, and Optus will offer it in Australia.

Earlier this year Apple and China Mobile called off talks to launch the handset to Chinese consumers amid speculation that the two firms failed to agree on a revenue sharing deal. But there are rumors that they had started talking again.

But it does look as is Apple has had to rethink its business model for certain markets. Along with the deal struck with Vodafone and TIM earlier this month, multiple carriers will now be selling the device in Australia and India as well as Italy. This is presumably because these markets also have such a high proportion of prepaid mobile users that selling the device on a subscription only basis and through one carrier would be unviable.

Beijing Terminal 3 is World's Largest Building

Beijing looks ready to host the Summer 2008 Olympic Games. They’ve got the Beijing Capital International Airport ready to receive athletes, media and visitors from about the world. In fact, the new Terminal 3 building alone is reportedly capable of facilitating flights for 50 million passengers a year.

"Beijing airport’s new Terminal 3 — twice the size of the Pentagon — is the largest building in the world,” the NY Times says adding it is also the world’s most advanced.

The building was designed and constructed in four years to reflect traditional and modern China, surrounded by red and colours that reflect Imperial China and featuring ceilings that resemble dragon scales. As is only appropriate, the whole thing was designed under the guidance of a Feng Shui master.

The magnificent $3.8 billion terminal can be seen on video embedded below.

Global Mobile Phone Sales Continue to Rise in the 1st Quarter

Global mobile phone sales continued to surge in the first quarter, when shipments reached 282 million despite an economic downturn, research firm Strategy Analytics said Friday.
Nokia kept its top position, slightly increasing market share to 41 percent in the three months ended March 31. Samsung Electronics in South Korea remained at No. 2 boosting its market share to 16 percent while U.S. handset maker Motorola fell below 10 percent but stayed in third place.

Demand remained strong in emerging markets, particularly in Africa and Asia. Korean vendors LG and Samsung were the star performers, growing two to four times faster than the industry average.

Motorola slumped and is in real danger of being overtaken by LG, whose market share rose to 8.6 percent from 7.2 percent at the end of last year, according to the report.

The research firm predicted that 290 million handsets will be sold worldwide in the second quarter, an increase of 12 percent over the same period in 2007 but a decrease of 14 percent compared with the previous three months.

This is the REAL Bill Gates Retirement Video

And just when i thought i had seen the last of Bill Gates retirement video, i stumbled onto a really hilarious clip at Gizmodo. Its a short clip that says it all about Microsoft.

Britain’s Got Talent - Michael Jackson (Suleman)

Superb performance by Suleman Mirza in Britain’s Got Talent. The sweeper who came in unexpectedly was equally awesome.

Smoking ban coming to Beijing ahead of Oympic

China is the world's most enthusiastic smoking nation, home to one in three of the world's smokers. But, starting yesterday, smokers are out on the street as part of a campaign to improve the urban environment ahead of the Games. Athletes and visitors to the Games can at least be sure of a smoke-free environment during the event after officials in Beijing introduced a ban on smoking in public areas.

There is absolutely no smoking in schools, hospitals or government offices, as well as at all 37 Olympic sites, including indoor and outside stadiums, training facilities and the Olympic village. Hotels, restaurants and bars face a partial ban, with smoking and no-smoking areas required.
The rules expand restrictions first introduced in 1995 to include health clubs, museums, ancient temples and government offices.

Its a great milestone for China though many of the non smokers here would had prefered that the smoking ban be applied nationwide. Most Chinese smokers can be so insensitive and unreasonable as they take no step whatsoever to consider the surrounding when lighting up their cigarettes.

The government should take stricter measures in the nearest future to ban smoking in all public areas and to provide greater awareness to the danger of smoking. Lung cancer is the No.1 killer in China and people ought to know this and take the necessary step to quit once and for all.

Jazeera also reported about efforts to quit smoking in China:

Lenovo Parodies MacBook Air Ad For X300

Ken Lee - Improved Version

I had blogged about this story before and I didnt expect Valentina Hassan, the Bulgarian Idol to have made it to the next round. Guess what, she did. The popularity of the older version on YouTube had motivated Music Idol to invite her for another sound of Ken Lee. Watch this improved version and have a good laugh at it.



Just in case if you haven't seen the 1st version, i had also included the clip below.

Facebook is the Most Valuable Digital Startup

Silicon Alley Digital unveiled the new SAI 25 which values the top 25 startups. At the top of the list was Facebook, bringing in a valuation of $9 billion. Didn’t Microsoft value Facebook at $15 billion though? Well yes but as most people know, Microsoft over-valued Facebook.

THE SAI 25: THE WORLD'S MOST VALUABLE STARTUPS

1. Facebook $9 billion
2. Wikipedia $7 billion
3. Craigslist $5 billion
4. Betfair $5 billion
5. Mozilla Corp $4 billion
6. Yandex $3 billion
7. Webkinz $2 billion
8. LinkedIn $1.3 billion
9. Habbo $1.25 billion
10. Oanda $1.2 billion
11. Linden Lab $1.1 billion
12. Kayak $1 billion
13. QlikTech $850 million
14. Ning $560 million
15. Slide $550 million
16. TheLadders $500 million
17. Stardoll $450 million
18. Ozon $450 million
19. Thumbplay $400 million
20. Glam $325 million
22. Tudou $300 million
23. Efficient Frontier $275 million
24. Zazzle $250 million
25. Spot Runner $250 million

Motorola's market share drops below 10 percent

Motorola, the company that manufactured the first commercially available cell phone, saw its overall sales drop 21% in this year’s first-quarter. Sales dropped to $7.45 billion from last year’s first-quarter sales number of $9.43 billion. Motorola’s cellphone division dropped 39% compared to the sales numbers from first-quarter 2007.

The mobile phone division lost $418 million during the quarter, nearly 80% more than the $233 million it lost during the same period last year. Motorola only sold 27 million handsets in the first-quarter, as it saw its share of the global market fall below 10%, down from the 22% of market share it had in 2006.

When will Motorola hit the bottom? The only news from Motorola seems to be only bad news. Its going to be a long ride down before they could see any light at the end of the tunnel.

The New HTC Touch Diamond

$430 Million, biggest investment ever into a startup in China

Xiaonei, the company that likes to call itself the “Facebook of China” has raised a whopping $430 million from financial backers. This is probably the biggest investment ever in China into a startup.

Xiaonei is owned by Oak Pacific Interactive (OPI), a holding company with a number of online communities. The backing gives it a larger financial warchest than Facebook itself, and sets the scene for a showdown with the American company. Facebook has just started to get serious about entering the huge, fast-growing Chinese market.

The lead investor of this big round is Softbank, Japan and the CEO, Masayoshi San, an iconic Japanese investor will be joining the Board of OPI.

Xiaonei's features include include multiplayer gaming and wireless services for mobile users. In the college market, Xiaonei.com claims a dominant market share, but hasn’t released any specific user data In a report cited via Pacific Epoch, Xiaonei had 22 million registered users and 12.7 million daily users by March with a 280 million page views.

With the size of the investment, Xiaonei certainly has lots of options to further expand itself into the Chinese market to fend off any possible competitors. They are in great financial shape after this big round but I think Xiaonei has alot to buck up if they want to compete head on with Facebook who has a more robust and dynamic social networking platform.

Whatever the outcome, lets all congratulate OPI for reaching another milestone for raising the biggest investment ever in China. They certainly know how to nail down their investors.

Brilliant Mentos KissCam Microsite

Advertising these days are all about engaging with your customers, and our favorite chewy Mentos had taken web interactivity to a new level with their latest microsite "Mentos Kiss Cam". Have a look at the site and its brilliantly executed. You will probably cringe when you see the kissing action but it's actually quite funny AND more importantly, the "technique" used to engage with the customers, to create some interaction is actually quite interesting. But you must see and try it !!! Use your webcam to kiss the girl (or the man) in the video.

Well done to their Ad guys who had conceptualised the whole idea.

Skype ready for beta testing on Java Mobile Phones

Skype announced that it’s brought out a beta version of the Skype client for “50 of the most popular Java-enabled mobile phones from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson”. I had been waiting for this version for a long time as I see no reason why skype is not available on our favorite mobile.

All the usual features are enabled - chat, presence, getting calls from Skype users or through SkypeIn - for everyone, but for those in seven lucky markets (Brazil (Rio de Janeiro), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) there’s also outbound Skype-toSkype calls and SkypeOut functionality enabled.

The software is in beta release at the moment. I had just installed and tested it and i must admit that the user interface is what i would had expected sharing resemblance to the skype on my notebook. Decent user expererience with acceptable call quality over my wifi network, but the quality over GPRS is as lousy as you can imagine. So don't bother giving it a try.

Microsoft-Yahoo deal is OFF

After a months-long standoff, Microsoft (MSFT) has abandoned its bid for Yahoo (YHOO), people involved in the discussions today. Microsoft confirmed to BoomTown that talks between the two companies, which have been taking place all week, collapsed Saturday when they could not agree on a price. The talks broke down this afternoon after a face-to-face meeting in the Seattle area that included Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s Platforms & Services Division and Yahoo Co-Founders Jerry Yang and David Filo.

Microsoft offered $33 a share, and Yahoo countered with $37 a share. The talks went nowhere from there. Microsoft was also concerned with the lack of friendly integration and other major strategic problems, including the email monopoly that would arise from the merger of the two companies, as well as any outsourcing ad deal Yahoo might sign with Microsoft archrival Google before Microsoft completed an acquisition.

At several points during the last few weeks, Yahoo execs had asked for over $40-a-share to consummate the deal, a price which Microsoft rejected. Yahoo’s Yang subsequently called Ballmer with the lower $37 price, which was discussed today.

$33 had been a good deal for Yahoo as it was a good premium. The acquisition would had improved the morale of Yahoo's staff and also prop up their stock price even further. With the acquisition being called off, Yahoo would definitely have a tougher time ahead and its stock price should dive when its traded tomorrow.

Cool way to charge your Mobile

After a long wait, consumers can now purchase WildCharge through their website. In addition, WildCharge has announced the adaptors for the iPhone, iPod, Blackberry Pearl, Blackberry 8800, and the 2nd generation ipod Nano are now available for purchase.

The charger comes with a very thin adapter which you place on the back of the phone and all you need to do is place your phone on the pad and it will charge, wirelessly.

Technically speaking, the WildCharge adapter for the iPhone and iPod touch is actually integrated into a high-quality gel case called “Skins”, a gel covered product made of Thermoplastic Elastomers (TPE) material. WildCharge wire-free charging technology is located on the back of the case and all you have to do is slip your iPhone or iPod touch into the case and then drop it anywhere on the WildCharger charging pad. It’s that easy. A blue light on the left hand side of the pad lights up notifying you that the juice is pumping through your device.

Sony BMG joins Nokia Comes with Music

Sony BMG has formally signed up to Nokia’s ambitious Comes With Music concept as predicted. It’s a major coup for Nokia, which already has Universal and EMI on board.

Nokia Comes With Music is expected to launch in the second half of 2008 on a range of Nokia devices in selected markets. The concept bundles ‘free’ music into the price of the hardware, so that buyers of selected Nokia devices can download tracks to mobile or PC via Nokia Music Store for 12 months. At the end of the one year period, they can keep their downloaded tracks for good. Thereafter, they can purchase additional tracks from the Nokia Music Store, or move on to a Nokia “unlimited access” subscription service.

Source : Nokia PR

Imagine the Reality of Facebook

Can you imagine Facebook being applied in the real world. A hilarious video clip on the reality of facebook. Thanks to the guys at http://www.idiotsofants.com.