Apple iPhone 3G

Apple's iPhone 3G is a marvelous product for a price tag of US$199. They've done a very impressive job with the sleek design and ensured a price far lower than the original iPhone. I can't wait to get my hands on this phone!

Year of new leadership

It looks the 2008 is a year of leadership change with several elections in various parts of the world:
1. US Presidential Elections: This seems to the first US elections in a long while where the present President/Vice-President is not in the fray. With the primaries and caucuses complete in most of the states, the final contenders for the Democrats and Republicans are clearly known.
2. Russian Presidential Elections: There seems to be little information to the outside world about the presidential elections in Russia. The speculation is wide that President Putin would move to the role of a Prime Minister and one of his favored candidates would be the next president.
3. Malaysian Parliament Elections: Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi surprised most people in his country when he dissolved the parliament ahead of his term and announced early elections
4. Cuba: With President Fidel Castro's health failing, he's handed over power to his brother Raul as the next leader of the country. What remains to be seen is if this move brings about several changes to Cuba in the near future.

One thing looks for certain, change could be imminent as there may be new leaders to take charge in several parts of the world.

End of the high definition DVD format war?

As several sources (including Wired) have revealed today, Toshiba may be ending its plans for the HD-DVD format. This means that Sony's Blu Ray Disc is the clear winner in the high definition format battle which began since their introduction more than 1 year ago. The final death blow came when Walmart chose the Blu Ray exclusively for its retail sales. Recently, Netflix had announced that it would be using the Blu Ray format for its movie distribution. Amongst the movie studies, Warner Bros backing of the Blu Ray gave it a clear lead over the HD-DVD. The news may be a big disappointment for Toshiba, as it was losing in the recent months. This event is very similar to JVC's VHS and Sony's Betamax format war in the video tape era.

Enter 2008

Its been a frantic beginning to the year 2008. We've seen the sub-prime crisis boil over to greater heights than previously imagined. The big investment banks including Merill Lynch, Citibank and UBS have lost several billions of dollars in bad mortgage deals. Its hard to imagine the smartest of people in the world in the helm of these banks entering into such business models. Its now threatening to put the world markets into a frenzy, with the volatility forcing millions of investors out of the stock markets. And if this was simply not enough, one of the biggest multi-billion dollar fraud by a futures trader in Societe Generale was just uncovered.

The oil prices hit a record high of $102, but fell within a short period to $89. With all the financial crisis and weak outlook, the threat of global economic recession is probably higher than ever before. But just in the nick of time, the Fed diffuses the concerns with interest rate cut and Bush announces his relief package for the economy. With the Indian and Chinese economies unperturbed in terms of growth, it remains to been seen if the stability continues until the end of this year.

Round up of year 2007

Its been a fairly interesting year 2007 with a mixed bag of fortunes for the tech industry:

• Microsoft rolled out Windows Vista early this year after the longest hiatus from its previous OS release. Sales were slow initally but they've been progessing steadily over the year adding to Microsoft's big revenues.
• The Apple iPhone was undoubtedly the biggest phone launch for the year. The iPhone's tremendous appeal has been its user experience and hip appeal, even though its technical specifications may not be extraordinary.
• The Nintendo Wii turned out to be the winner amongst its rival products - Microsoft XBox 360 and Sony PS3. Its low price and product elegance captured the imagination of younger gaming fans.
• Cisco's Telepresence made its mark for video-conferencing experience in the industry.
• Web 2.0 is the hot new terminology in the Internet world with blogs, Wikis, RSS, podcasts and social networking revolutionizing the content hosting over the Web.
  

The Nokia N95

Nokia 95 seems to be the impressive high end phone so far in the N-series. Its long and advanced feature list includes:

• 5 MegaPixel camera
• WLAN
• GPS navigation
• HSDPA
• Installed maps

From the Philips Cup

It was an opportunity to watch some great basketball action at the Philips Cup held in Singapore Indoor Stadium last Sunday.. The level of game played was of top quality and the atmosphere in the arena was electrifying. Basketball turns out to be a complete entertainment package, and not just a sport. Its probably the closest I've gotten to watch a NBA game so far. There were about 6 NBA players present in the arena that day, most famous among them: Manu Ginobli from Argentina, Nesterovic from Slovenia, Darko Milicic from Pau Gasol from Spain.

Game Results: Melbourne beat Singapore, Slovenia beat Serbia, Spain beat Argentina