Ipoh, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia

Ipoh Padang

2007-04-22T22:54:00.000+08:00

A picture taken during my 2007 CNY holidays. Somehow, the big Perak flag was not hoisted on the big flag pole. That's a bit saddening. The state government know how to spend money to erect the big pole and make the big flag but where is it now?

The blog of Ipoh

2007-04-22T22:44:00.000+08:00

If you reach this blog by any means, whether by purpose or by simply typing in "ipoh" followed by ".blogspot.com" to see whether any result is yielded or through Googling of key words such as "ipoh" or "fooji", WELCOME to the blog of IPOH city.

As for now, follow this wiki link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipoh to get a general view and description of the city of Ipoh.

2006-04-20T20:38:00.000+08:00

Song of harversting, song of joviality
Take Google as testament of freedon, relentless creativity, youthfulness, warm hospitality, and start... crooning~!

2006-04-20T18:07:00.000+08:00

Aggresive Mittal against Archelor
Tycoon Lakshmi Mittal made a swift move by offering bid $23bil for rival Archelor's hostile takeover within the next 2 weeks. Despite Archelor's corporate structure re-organization and Dofasco's spin-off, and 5bil euros dividend payout to shareholders, Mittal is still making his great endevours of this world's 2nd largest steelmaker cum rival's takeover.

Skype says no "Falun Gong" and "Dalai Lama"
Text message's censorship by Skype is just another business regulation compliance. Is Niklas Zennstrom really playing footsie with dictators?

Apple is buoyant with $410mil profit on iPod sales
Continouosly yet without suprise. Sales of $4.36bil; profits of $410mil for the 1Q 2006. Revenues were up 35% y-o-y, while net profit grew 41%, thanks to 61% increase of iPod's sales, or 8.5mil units. Mac sales increased by 4% to 1.1mil units.

2006-04-20T15:17:00.000+08:00

China-US trade remarks
Hu Jintao's visit to US lays an optimism to American as both parties would come to consensus to settle see-saw arugements of trade imbalance regarding US's $202bil deficit's to China.

Hu said Wednesday that China is working hard to level the playing field by opening its market to more American goods, but he placed part of the onus for the trade imbalance on the United States.

"We hope that the United States will take steps to promote the export of U.S. products to China, including easing export controls and reducing protectionist measures in the interest of addressing the trade imbalance issue in a better and more effective way," Hu said.

The United States restricts the sale to China of technology that has both civilian and military purposes, and it has urged the European Union to maintain an arms embargo put in place after the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.

The United States wants China to crack down on software piracy and enforce intellectual property rights. Both are initiatives that Hu has promised to pursue.

Another complaint in Washington is that China has kept international goods out of the country by keeping its currency, the yuan, artificially low.

B. Gates is China's friend, Hu's friend of MSFT..
Hu revealed the fantastic relationship between MSFT and China, and he sincerely pledged to solve the IPR and action against software pirates in China.

2006-04-20T12:25:00.000+08:00

Ellison's consideration of Linux
BEA Systems might be the possible acquisition of Linux distributor by Oracle, after Red Hat's acquisition of JBoss, an open-source Java middleware. Next couple of years will have turbulent competition in the world of OS.

Climate change
Significant yet not-up-to-extreme climate change is predicted due to the greenhouse gas buildups. Should human beings still nonchalantly have open-air burnings, rubbish dump, which bring harms to our next generation?

Apr 19, 410.50

2006-04-19T19:55:00.000+08:00

RIM's blackberry faces the toughest time penetrating into China market with the newly introduction of redberry by China Unicom. Blackberry VS Redberry, who can outbeat?

Chinese Internet and international VCs, angel funding are simultaneously marshalling into same "honeymoon" again by recent big thing Web2.0, as they foresee the potential lucrative revenue can be generated by this new concept which are people-oriented. Web2.0 has no difference with Web1.0 except the additional elements like blog, tag, SNS, RSS, wiki, moving the world of content enrichment, as well as solid connection and communication.

Among the Web2.0 Chinese reprentatives are qihoo, qq, mop, tianya, competing with Web1.0 veterans sohu, netease, and sina.

2006-04-19T11:52:00.000+08:00

Motorola reported sales up 23%, with record 1Q of $10bil; compared to 1Q 2005 sales of $8.16bil.

Balance sheet handsomely generates positve operating cash flow of $700mil, as 21st consecutive quarter of positive operating cash flow.

Global handset market share climbed during 1Q to estimated 21% – up 4.8% points versus the year-ago quarter. Handset shipments increased to a record 46.1mil units, and digital set-top box shipments reached a record of more than 2 mil units.

Apr 18, 404.24

2006-04-19T00:35:00.000+08:00

Quite the active strategic discussions among these world's largest equity markets - NYSE, LSE, Euronext and Nasdaq. Nasdaq had actually acquired 15% stake in LSE for $781mil; and now LSE would like to get Euronext on its snag. Meantime, NYSE, world's largest stock exhange, is actually engaging intermittent discussions regarding strategic transaction, which LSE is one of the party involved.

This potentially ties a strong bond of cash liquidity between both continents of North America and Europe. Investors are benefited as they can keep even the closer eyes on the stocks. It's poised that the vibrancy of economy will be more apparent against the strong push of emerging economy growth from Asia, particularly China, Japan and Korea.

Any thought if Stock Exhanges of South-East Asia embark on the similar move, and work synergically with awakening tigers in Asia?

2006-04-18T23:55:00.000+08:00

A good move by Idris Jala. MAS undoubtedly is among the carrier bringing excellent services to every of its passengers, which lays a great pride to Malaysians. The ticketless domestic booking which injects RM40mil save is a mild, yet inspiring move to mark an auspiciousness that this national GLC's financial figure can work hard from red figure.

Apr 17, 406.82

2006-04-16T21:15:00.000+08:00

Software - Windows OS
Hardware - XBox 360
premierly sponsored by Microsoft during the incoming WCG. Nothing fancy... just try to close-up the gap with leader Sony's PS among avid gamers.

Amidst the strong challenges from Google, Yahoo in the world of web, proudly and arrogantly, Microsoft is still deeply entrenched into world's daily life, forming the "world of evil" with its two dominated MS Windows and MS Office. This Chinese man thoroughly analysed the tiny-tried of bounces by Chinese, and others.

2006-04-16T20:49:00.000+08:00

If you find your web experience more attached to some Internet players, it's poised that Google should be one of them. From your must-go website / image search experience, to email check, to personal organiser, to worldwide location search, to international and finance news, to photo sharing, to blogging, till many many et cetera, Google is always providing most user-friendly graphical user interface to your optimum net surfing experience.

Apr 13, 402.16

2006-04-13T15:53:00.000+08:00

VOIP mergers surge!: 1) Alcatel's Genesys-->VoiceGenie, 2) Comverse-->Netcentrex, 3) Skype-->Sonorit

2006-04-13T15:12:00.000+08:00

1. Insert your phone number
2. Insert a friend's phone number
3. Press the green call button
4. Your phone rings... You simply pick up
5. Your friend's phone rings... Wait for reply
6. Talk

Is Jajah cool?

2006-04-13T11:10:00.000+08:00

Gu Ge - Song of harvest, song of joviality, indication of "multi-colors" searching experience.

Apr 12, 408.95

2006-03-31T01:43:00.000+08:00

Cork -> London -> Frankfurt -> Luxembourg -> Brussels -> Amsterdam -> London -> Kuala Lumpur for the next 200 hours. Enjoy~! Off........

2006-03-31T01:26:00.000+08:00

Apple vs Apple. The gang of The Beattles: Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and widows of John Lennon and George Harrison, representing Apple Corps Ltd, sued Steve Jobs of Apple Computer Inc. over the use of the apple logo.

100Mbit bluetooth is on the way in 2 years time by Bluetooth SIG, allows invigorating experience to users to stream their video and audio over the PAN.

Reverse competition resistence from Nitendo against close rivals Sony and Microsoft. No fancy graphic resolutions, but quiet, small, affordable game console.

2006-03-31T01:11:00.000+08:00

Ajax is so good for next surge of interactive web applications? Max Skibinsky proves it in Hive 7.

Mar 29, 394.98

2006-03-30T02:25:00.000+08:00

Even now VoIP is quite a big succulent cheese cake which wish to be beaten by Lycos...

Mar 28, 377.20

2006-03-29T02:17:00.000+08:00

Why is Windows so slow?

2006-03-28T23:07:00.000+08:00

Metrofi - envisages ubiquitous WiFi broadband coverage in most of the metros and suburbans in US in 5 years time.

Loki - automatically pinpoint your current exact location, and find the nearest spots you wish to head.

Mar 27, 369.69

2006-03-28T01:00:00.000+08:00

Previous Paris-based Netvibes, was actually garnering million dollars of angel funding from Martin Varsavsky, the founder of WiFi network, FON, Pierre Chappaz, founder of Kelkoo and Marc Andressen, founder of Ning.

Ning will become your web social appl which allow endless social app's discovery, personal cloning and customization, and finally, share.

Skype's, Kazaa's co-founders Niklas Zennstrom, Janus Friis, were being sued for RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) by rival, Morpheus's P2P StreamCast Networks.

2006-03-27T01:52:00.000+08:00

Motorola strengthens its tap into Chinese and Indian market via multi-pronged marketing strategies. Seamless mobility is always the utmost concept to both markets, by fully utilising Motorola's end-to-end capabilities in: telecommunications networks, end-user devices, home connectivity, enterprise communications solutions, application voice solutions, wireless and wireline broadband technologies.

Motorola Ventures, or MV, Motorola's global strategic VC investment arm has invested in:Shanghai NewMargin - VC enterprise focusing on high-tech companies, high-growth or high-potential companies in ChinaShenzhen Shenxun IT Development (SXIT) - cooperation on platform, applications like LBS and enterprise solutions Legend Silicon - enterprise solutions, A-GPS, LBS, MMS, 3G applications, content, and client applications, mobile TV.

Motorola has been growing with Chinese market since 19 years ago, total the investment up to US$3.6bil, hiring more than 9,000 employees.

On the other hand, Motorola presents the Future of Telecommunications in India at MOTO4YOU roadshow. Seamless Mobility is demostrated on the future use of converged networks in delivering an unique user experiences to information, entertainment via any device regardless where they are (at work, at home, or on the move).

Motorola has been very active in India over 15 years.

Mar 24, 365.80

2006-03-25T01:55:00.000+08:00

What can be said of this netvibes? This company has succesfully secured funding $1mil this week!

2006-03-25T01:46:00.000+08:00

Mobber.com and 3bubbles.com are providing your the super interactive chats and blogs atmosphere. Social networking? Unique from existing blogsphere, chat-room?

2006-03-25T01:22:00.000+08:00

Welcome to the world of Google.... Logos ~

Meet "The Artist" of the Google Logos:

More than 150 million Web surfers around the globe celebrated Korean Independence Day Aug. 15, 2001. Well, at least for a few moments while they were visiting the popular Internet search engine Google. That day, the Korean national flag and several roses of Sharon, the Korean national flower, adorned the familiar "Google" logo on the homepage of the Web site.

Just another day's work for Dennis Hwang (Hwang Jung-moak), a 23-year-old Korean computer artist in the United States , who has been drawing the face of Google for almost two years, creating a buzz of sorts with his simple yet witty designs.

With its seemingly magical ability to produce the most relevant search results, Google is already an established destination for the Internet savvy. Recently, Hwang's creative logos have been expressing the playful heart of Google behind the impressive technology.

For Piet Mondrian's birthday, Hwang transformed the "Google" logo to emulate the artist's signature style of utilizing colorful blocks. Claude Monet's birthday saw the logo turned into a dreamy watercolor, complete with floating lily pads.

Hwang recently spoke with The Korea Herald to give his take on the artistic side of the popular Internet search engine.

The Korea Herald: How long did you live in Korea as a child? What was it like?

Dennis Hwang: I was born in Knoxville, Tenn., but moved to Korea when I was about five years old. My hometown was Gwacheon where I had a very normal childhood. I went through public schools like everyone else, spending six years at Gwacheon Elementary School and two years at Munwon Middle School. Actually, much of my ideas and style stem from the time I spent during my childhood in Korea. Whatever challenges the logos bring, I can often rely on the little doodles that I used to do in school when I was young. Something that used to be frowned upon turned out to be my greatest asset.

Herald: When did you move back to the United States?

Hwang: I came back in 1992 when my father received a Fulbright Scholarship to research in the United States.

Herald: What was it like going to an American school all of a sudden?

Hwang: I was placed in a public middle school but was completely unprepared for it. I didn't speak a word of English. For the first six months, I couldn't communicate with the teachers or students. With the help of ESL programs though, I got better. My father returned to Korea, but my brother and I decided to continue our education in the States. My parents have made unimaginable sacrifices for us over the last 10 years, and I wouldn't be this successful without their support.

Herald: What was the first logo you designed for Google?

Hwang: Google had been using outside contractors to do the earlier logos, so the first project I got was modifying the Fourth of July logo in 2000. The two founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, wanted something more fun, so I redrew parts of the image. The next logo was for Bastille Day, which is the first logo I did from scratch.

Herald: Which letters are your favorite targets for manipulation?

Hwang: Understandably, the "O" and the "L" are the easiest to deal with. The "O" has become a Halloween pumpkin, a Nobel Prize medal, the Korean flag symbol and the planet earth. The "L" has been used as a flagpole, the Olympic flame cauldron or a snow ski. The first "G" is the most difficult to deal with, and I don't think the "E" has gotten much action because of its location.

Herald: How did you come to do the Korean Independence Day logo?

Hwang: Google makes a big effort to recognize holidays that aren't necessarily mainstream. The Korean Independence Day logo was seen globally by tens of millions of people. Numerous Korean-Americans wrote to thank us on Aug. 15 last year. Many expressed how proud it made them to see the Korean flag.

Herald: Do you have plans for other Korea-related logos in the future?

Hwang: I'll definitely to a special logo for Korea hosting the World Cup.

Herald: You're only 23 years old. What are your future plans?

Hwang: Who knows? It's very important to me that I can work both technically and artistically. Google is a perfect place to do that. It allows me to have a programming job while letting me express myself artistically, with the added bonus of having my work be seen by tens of millions of people in a single day.

Herald: What is your favorite letter among the ones found in the word "Google?"

Hwang: I've stared at the logo for so long and so often. I love them all equally.

Mar 23, 341.89

2006-03-24T04:22:00.000+08:00

Technical Advisory Board is formed to make the "bridge" between vendors, users and developers of the open-source operating system.

Mar 22, 340.22

2006-03-23T02:24:00.000+08:00

Catch up Bill Gates's keynote at the Office Developers Conference.

"Phone out" integrated in Yahoo! Messenger allows call from personal computer to regular phones with 2cents or less a minute to top 30 US's phone markets, and varying rates to total of 180 countries which 20-30% lower than Skype's, outside of US.

Startup entrepreneurs were told to be wary with MSFT's product:

"They have to expand into new software markets" to meet their growth targets, he said. "You have to think about whether that is one Microsoft ultimately wants to own."

But would it be the jumping stones?

Europe's biggest telecommunication group, Deutsche Telekom deploys MSFT softwares for its internet-based TV services.

92 foreign airlines were banned by EU due to its unsafety and flight crashes which killed hundreds of european travelers.

Wall Street's 2nd biggest trader, Morgan Stanley, smiled with 1Q's revenue earnings rose 17%, mostly from stocks, bonds and commodities transaction, overcoming decline in brokerage unit.

"Revenue climbed 24 percent to $8.48 billion, buoyed by oil, electricity and gas trading, and Morgan Stanley's traditional strengths in equity and debt."

Shares of US's 5th biggest drugmaker, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., and French partner Sanofi-Aventis SA surged after settle of lawsuit, which keeping a generic version of their blood thinner Plavix off the market until 2011. Agreement is reached where the companies to pay Apotex Inc. an unspecified amount to delay its introduction of a less expensive, generic copy of Plavix that would have hurt sales of the branded medicine. Plavix, the world's 2nd biggest drug behind Pfizer Inc.'s Lipitor, generated almost $6bil in sales last year for Sanofi and Bristol-Myers, which jointly market the drug.

China to surpass US as largest exporter of manufactured goods?

FedEx Corp. topped analyst estimate on Q3's growth; Nike beats Wall Street projection in Q3.

Rejection of being takeover offer from ITV Plc, Britain's 2nd largest broadcaster, led to 10% jump of shares.

Mar 21, 339.92

2006-03-22T02:15:00.000+08:00

Demonstration of willing sellers and willing buyers to get together for the mutual beneficial terms - Verizon pays for CBS's analog and digital signals, as well as the video-on-demand.

South African gaming billionaire, Sol Kerzner is on $3.6bil deal for his Kerzner International from Government of Dubai.

Chrysler was recalling the faulty windshield wipers.

Geico Corp, as one unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc which being controlled by world's second tycoon Warren Buffet, was accused of unfair automobile insurance rate which taking consumers' education background and occupation as criterias, stressing on minorities and low-income groups.

Recent pact between US's Applied Nanotech and Taiwan's Da Ling Co puts high expectation of pilot test on widescreen nano-TV, which is poised to deliver better picture quality than existing plasma and LCD TVs.

Mozilla's Firebox 2 open-source browser is believed to be released on this week.

Telecom with $500mil building on mobile network which deploys same UMTS technology by Vodafone and Aussie's Telstra.

Partnership between Nikefootball and Google to make whooa for football fans' social-networking into new realm - Nike provides content and Google plays role as technical partner. Joga.com is the quietly borned baby.

Microsoft's imminent IPTV.

Gates was actually sizing up the Web 2.0's generation? Catch it here.

2006-03-21T23:27:00.000+08:00

This has been a very fascinating push of Google Finance which finally comes into the world of finance, a non-stop vibe dominating nations' economy.

Compared to rival Yahoo! Finance, the web appearance is minimalist, crystal clean, yet exceptional eloquent, real-time updated infos being tracked along the way, and thousands of related historical financial data like corporate news and important figures, graphes, blogs which definitely delight the private investors. It's effortlessly user-friendly too.

No doubt Google Finance will marshall into fund managers' and stockbrokers' piece of cake in making more happenings into the world of finance and business.

Mar 20, 348.15

2006-03-21T04:05:00.000+08:00

Hyperactive Hyperboy comes into vibe, stressing on content-driven and rams into world of sharing. Watch out, MySpace.

2006-03-20T22:47:00.000+08:00

Let me games begin at... GDC

Mar 17, 339.79

2006-03-17T03:05:00.000+08:00

Amazon's Simple Storage Service, or S3 is having collision with G-Drive? Huh? Eyes pricked up.

The costly new technology Blu-ray seems like pulling Sony's PS3 down, delaying its launch to undeterminate date.

8 lawsuits from Microsoft against eBay auction sellers who allegedly sold its counterfeit applications.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, my Irish friends ;-)

2006-03-17T03:00:00.000+08:00

Congratulations to my truely friend who has just passed his MBBS. Well done dude! Oppss.. should be Dr. :-)

2006-03-17T02:54:00.000+08:00

Google goes shopping again. The item is SketchUp, an easy 3D model software for architects. So, it's nicely integrated into Google Earth, where the buildings can be more elegantly, 3-dimensional displayed.

2006-03-17T02:42:00.000+08:00

Maverick surf...

2006-03-17T02:27:00.000+08:00

High speculation that Swedish's Ericsson would make a huge endeavour, around 150bil skr, or US$19.5bil bid for Juniper Networks. Risky buy and dilutive?

Grouper.com - Share your video with the world.

Yet another classified play launched on last 2 days - Vast.com.

Mar 15, 344.50

2006-03-15T00:39:00.000+08:00

Google delves into Mars. Check it out in Google Mars.

Mar 13, 337.06

2006-03-14T02:58:00.000+08:00

Search makes you happy and wealthy :)

Sun will be bought by Google? I hope it comes true.

Arrange your book in Google Book. Update its information and Google provides the platform. Oppss.. This book merchandising business sounds like... eBay, Amazon?

Mar 10, 337.50

2006-03-11T01:37:00.000+08:00

Here's the fascinating list:

Social Media
The new culture on the Web is all about consumer creation; it's composed of things like the nearly 30 million blogs out there and the 70 million photos available on Flickr. With a click of the mouse, anyone can be a journalist, a photographer, or a DJ. The audience -- that 1 billion-plus throng linked by the Web--itself is creating a new type of social media. That's leading to the creation of hundreds of promising Next Net businesses like the ones that follow.

1. Digg (San Francisco)
News aggregator. The site's links are picked by the readership, which has been doubling every three months; news items with the most votes make the homepage.

2. Last.fm (London)
Social radio. Its software creates a personalized streaming radio station based on the digital music you already listen to, shares your playlist on the Web, and suggests music from other closely related playlists.

3. Newsvine (Seattle)
Collaborative publisher. Readers vote and comment on stories but can also organize their own pages and write their own stories, for which they collect 90 percent of associated ad revenues.

4. Tagworld (Santa Monica)
Social networking. With cutting-edge Web software enabling blogs, photo and music sharing, online dating, and more, members confront a rich smorgasbord of ways to interact, and everything can be tagged for easy searching.

5. YouTube (San Mateo, CA)
Video sharing. This site lets people upload, watch, and share millions of video clips. All videos are converted to Flash (a Web-tailored format for graphics and video), making them easy to import into blogs or webpages.

6. Yahoo!
Hoping to dominate social media, it's gobbling up promising startups (Del.icio.us, Flickr, Webjay) and experimenting with social search (My Web 2.0) that ranks results based on shared bookmarks and tags.

MASHUPS AND FILTERS
As we move toward the Next Net, some of the most useful sites will be those that either help "mash up" -- meaning mix and match -- content from other parts of the Web or act as a filter for the overwhelming mountains of information now at people's fingertips. The companies that follow use content already on the Web as a starting point and then improve on it by organizing it in a new way.

7. Bloglines (Los Gatos, CA)
Online feed reader. The site collects blogs and news from all over the Web and presents it in one consistent, updated, multifeed mashup.

8. Eurekster (San Francisco)
Search mashup. This do-it-yourself search engine, or swicki, allows you to define sites you want to search, post the results on your blog or website, and get a cut of any search ads your audience clicks on.

9. Simply Hired (Mountain View, CA)
Job search engine. It searches nearly 4.5 million listings on other job and corporate sites; subscribers receive an RSS feed or e-mail alert when a job that meets their parameters pops up.

10. Technorati (San Francisco)
Blog search engine. The site filters the almost 30 million existing blogs, shows how many other blogs link to a particular post, and can rank blogs by topic.

11. Trulia (San Francisco)
Real estate mashup. Combining home listings from agents' websites with Google Maps, the site is becoming a hit in California and is expanding into other regions.

12. Wink (Mountain View, CA)
Tag search engine. By searching user-generated tags on Next Net sites like Del.icio.us and Digg, Wink filters the Web so users can sort links into different collections and add their own tags and bookmarks.

13. Google
Already the ultimate Web filter through general search as well as blog, news, shopping, and now video search, it's encouraging mashups of Google Maps and search results, and offers a free RSS reader.

THE NEW PHONE
For nearly a century, the phone, and voice as we know it, has existed largely in the confines of a thin copper wire. But now service providers can convert voice calls into tiny Internet packets and let them loose on fast connections, thus mimicking the traditional voice experience without spending hundreds of millions on infrastructure. All you need are powerful--but cheap--computers running specialized software. The Next Net will be the new phone, creating fertile ground for new businesses.

14. Fonality (Culver City, CA)
Open-source telephony software. It sells a $1,000 box that allows a PC to use open-source software to mimic a PBX system that costs five times as much.

15. SIPphone (San Diego)
Internet phone software. Its Gizmo Project application allows free PC-to-PC calls, cheap PC-to-phone calls, and sound effects.

16. Iotum (Ottawa, Ontario)
Presence management software. With its app, users will be able to control where and when they receive voice or text data, routing calls to their phones, e-mail, or RSS feed-and blocking calls from, say, creditors.

17. Vivox (Framingham, MA)
Peer-to-peer voice technology. Its service integrates voice, video, messaging, and social-networking capabilities into existing data networks.

18. eBay (Skype)
The pioneer in the field and still the front-runner, Skype brings together free calling, IM, and video calling over the Web; eBay will use it to create deeper connections between buyers and sellers.

THE WEBTOP
It's been a long time -- all the way back to the dawn of desktop computing in the early 1980s -- since software coders have had as much fun as they're having right now. But today, browser-based applications are where the action is. A killer app no longer requires hundreds of drones slaving away on millions of lines of code. Three or four engineers and a steady supply of Red Bull is all it takes to rapidly turn a midnight brainstorm into a website so hot it melts the servers. What has changed is the way today's Web-based apps can run almost as seamlessly as programs used on the desktop, with embedded audio, video, and drag-and-drop ease of use.

19. JotSpot (Palo Alto)
Wikis and online spreadsheets. A pioneer of Web collaboration apps, a.k.a. wikis, it has unveiled its new Tracker application, which provides a powerful, highly collaborative online spreadsheet.

20. 30Boxes (San Francisco)
Online calendar. This Web-based software allows families and groups to create private social networks, organize events, track schedules, and share photos; it may soon allow you to save phone numbers as hyperlinks and make calls by simply clicking on a link.

21. 37Signals (Chicago)
Online project management. Its Basecamp app, elegant and inexpensive, enables the creation, sharing, and tracking of to-do lists, files, performance milestones, and other key project metrics; related app Backpack, recently released, is a powerful online organizer for individuals.

22. Writely (Portola Valley, CA)
Online word processing. It enables online creation of documents, opens them to collaboration by anyone anywhere, and simplifies publishing the end result on a website as a blog entry.

23. Zimbra (San Mateo, CA)
Online e-mail. Taking aim at Microsoft Outlook, its Ajax-based application can, among other things, bring up your calendar for any date your mouse encounters, launch Skype for any phone number, or retrieve a Google map for any address.

24. Microsoft
By rolling out Windows Live, Office Live, and other Next Net-centric software, it hopes to grab a dominant -- if not monopolistic -- share of the webtop, which Bill Gates regards as a crucial strategic priority.

UNDER THE HOOD
A growing number of companies are either offering themselves as Web-based platforms on which other software and businesses can be built or developing basic tools that make some of the defining hallmarks of the Next Net possible.

25. Brightcove (Cambridge, MA)
Internet TV distributor. It's creating a video-distribution platform over the Web for producers large and small.

26. Jigsaw (San Mateo, CA)
Business contact database. In exchange for their own contact lists, salespeople use this site to access a virtual Rolodex of managers at nearly 150,000 companies.

27. SimpleFeed (Palo Alto)
Opt-in RSS marketing. By allowing RSS feeds to be customized to the desires of each recipient and tracked individually, the site makes such feeds a powerful marketing tool.

28. Salesforce.com (San Francisco)
Platform for online enterprise software. It pioneered Web-based software and is trying to become a marketplace and host for other online apps through its AppExchange.

29. Six Apart (San Francisco)
Blogging tools. The company helped kick off and sustain the Next Net with its Moveable Type blogging software and TypePad blogging service.

30. Amazon
It's becoming a major Web platform by opening up its software protocols and encouraging anyone to use its catalog and other data; its Alexa Web crawler, which indexes the Net, can be used as the basis for other search engines, and its Mechanical Turk site solicits humans across cyberspace to do things that computers still can't do well, such as identify images or transcribe podcasts.

2006-03-11T01:19:00.000+08:00

An inspiring article from Business 2.0 Magazine on "The Next Net 25", and it's fully extracted:

"SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) - Things are really crackling in Silicon Valley these days. There's the frenzied startup action, the rising rivers of VC cash, even the occasional bubble-icious long-term stock prediction (Google $2,000, anyone?). There's so much happening that the buzzword recently employed to try to encapsulate the era -- "Web 2.0" -- now seems hopelessly inadequate, defined and redefined into near meaninglessness by squadrons of aspiring entrepreneurs, marketers, and other fortune hunters.

So it seems a particularly useful moment to wave away the smoke and home in on what's really core. Don't be distracted by the Valley's hype-o-meter pushing toward the red: There's something very real -- and very powerful -- afoot.

Driven by ubiquitous broadband, cheap hardware, and open-source software, the Web is mutating into a radically different beast than it has been. And that is leading to the creation of entirely new kinds of companies, new business models, and oceans of new opportunity.

We are in the early stages of what might be better thought of as the Next Net. The Next Net will encompass all digital devices, from PC to cell phone to television. Its defining characteristics include the ability to interact instantaneously with any of the more than 1 billion Web users across the globe -- not by, say, instant messaging, but by evolving instant-voice-messaging and instant-video-messaging apps that will make today's e-mail and IM seem crude.

The Next Net is deeply collaborative: People from across the planet can work together on the same task, and products or tools can be rapidly tweaked and improved by the collective wisdom of the entire online world.

The new era is also creating a realm of endless mix and match: Anyone with a browser can access vast stores of information, mash it up, and serve it in new ways, to a few people or a few hundred million.

Most striking, the Next Net creates endless possibilities for entrepreneurs and established players alike to take advantage of the Web's new power. They are building on the success of early standard-bearers -- Flickr, MySpace, Wikipedia -- but also moving beyond those pioneers in creative and fascinating ways.

In the pages that follow, we identify 25 companies, in five Next Net categories, whose approaches help illuminate where the Web is headed and where the opportunities lie. Most are startups, a lot of them with less than 10 full-time employees. Few are currently making money, and it's a given that many will fail. But it's equally likely that somewhere within this group lurks the next Google or Microsoft or Yahoo -- or at least something that those giants will soon pay a pretty penny to have."

2006-03-11T01:04:00.000+08:00

Writely, the web word processor is not a part of Google. Well, it's a portion of big dream of G:Drive, providing very close end run around Microsoft.

Mar 9, 343.00

2006-03-10T02:47:00.000+08:00

Plum.com - Collect. Share. Connect.

Blinkx.com. How it's going to be compete with current audio, video, podcast, vlog search engine players on the planet - veoh, truveo, podzinger, etc?

Mar 8, 353.88

2006-03-09T00:22:00.000+08:00

First glance on Google Calendar. Fairly convincing.

Mar 7, 364.45

2006-03-08T00:52:00.000+08:00

rawsugar.com - another del.icio.us? Launched last month.

Tiltomo.com is having Beta of its visual image search engine. Some sort of mathematical calculations to form the algorithms in analyzing the similarity and relationship between images.

BT signed contracts with 4 suppliers - Alcatel, Ericsson, Cisco and Fujitsu for its N-Gen of network transformation programme, 21st Century Netwok (21CN).

Sun's Small Programmable Object Technology (SPOT) pushes on pervasive computing.

2006-03-07T23:15:00.000+08:00

If you know Chinese, this blog reflects how a tiny voice struggling for justical vibrancy in nation of 1.3bil.

2006-03-07T18:33:00.000+08:00

A good attempt to move away from ICANN's governance?

Buoyanting the wave of free open-source and sharing, AOL eventually footprints its Open AIM to hobbyist developers to develop plugs-in, mashups or third-party applications to connect to its 63mil users. Among the products are Apple's iChat, ICQ, Microsoft Live Communications Server, IBM Lotus Sametime, Reuters Communicator, Antepo, Parlano, Omnipod, Jabber, which are all hosted and partnered with AOL.

Mar 6, 368.10

2006-03-07T01:47:00.000+08:00

Thin client, thick server.

Would the world in next very future stores all their whatever: pictures, videos, emails, songs, applications, data files - you name it, in the form of online? If so, this implies that the server's storage is gigantic, the bandwidth is huge; and the processing is awesome.

We are looking forward the imminence.

2006-03-07T01:12:00.000+08:00

Logical step of AT&T-BellSouth $67bil M&A exercise, is poised to contribute some vibrancy to State's phone customers, Verizon as closest rival, Google, eBay's Skype.

Mar 3, 378.18

2006-03-04T00:31:00.000+08:00

Bambi's share about "How can Google make more money" is awesome, driving to the ponder hour. World is spinning in fast pace; biz world is crazy, and Google is now and then under the limelight; attacks from any other rivals throughout the State and out of State.

In personal view, Googlers are still developing fantastic technologies which would definitely change the tradition ways of people living, communication, information retrieval and utilization. It's not the bubbled age for Google's current monetization system - Paid-search advertising biz will be definitely growing.

Mar 2, 376.45

2006-03-03T22:22:00.000+08:00

Since his arrival in the early of 2004, Ed plays the key role in innovating, reviving sleepy inward-looking Motorola. No great shuffle on his management team - sticked back mostly with old "dysfunctional" top managers, which is out of expectation, instead. Seek more his articulations about ultathin Razr, Slvr, initial extensive biz rescue actitvities, market regain etc.

2006-03-03T02:01:00.000+08:00

Windows Live Expo and Windows Live Local shared the common goal: seeking niche in the obsession. I doubt its popularity as if Americians are given too much of web service alternatives.

Microsoft will take over Google as world's search engine leader 6 months from now? Integrating search into all Microsoft's applications, seamlessly? Yup, Google does this. Fantastically, another technology pundit, Oracle forays into search market. Still room for unimaginative searching experience?

Mar 1, 364.80

2006-03-01T04:22:00.000+08:00

Check on Perenety next month.

2006-03-01T04:00:00.000+08:00

Google Base made a silent yet formidable move on its enhancement of payment system, probably cause headache to eBay and its PayPal. Needed: Google Accounts, credit card info, and free of fees and commissions.

GOOG is growing in slow pace due to the "law of large numbers".

Feb 27, 390.38

2006-02-28T01:47:00.000+08:00

Website on-watch: edgeio.com.

2006-02-28T01:20:00.000+08:00

A brand new Ask.com is on the limelight.

"The new Ask.com is the culmination of years of innovation, combining themost advanced core search technology with one-of-a-kind tools that make searchbetter," said Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Ask.com. "People deserve a search enginethat gives them the tools to get what they need faster, not just a bunch oflinks on a page. Ask.com takes search to the next level."

Relatively clean, sleek, minimalist, additional side features on the right hand side which effortlessly invoke greated visual effect, yet no mess up. Let's see how it can go.

Feb 26, 387.35

2006-02-23T15:28:00.000+08:00

Nokia made an embarrassment of its handset software glitches which delays DoCoMo's 3G handset (or i-mode) launch. Yet, share prospects still look fine.

Feb 22, 365.49

2006-02-22T09:25:00.000+08:00

Huge investment 600bil Chinese yuan (or US$4.8tril) was poured over the pass 6 years for 3G activities. The imminent TD-SCDMA license, if successfully garnered by Chinese telcos will definitely need another pour of investment, for model building, base construction, operation etc.

China Internet users used to prevalently experience the spending or shopping spree online, which reach up to 71.3%. Rough total amount of transaction rose to 553bil yuan in 2005, from 350bil yuan in previous fiscal year.

Feb 21, 366.59

2006-02-21T23:11:00.000+08:00

Blamed to make censorship in Chinese nation, spoiling free speech policy; and now said to have no Internet Content Provider license in China? Check it out yourself: the ICP license number is 050124. As other major foreign Internet giants, Google had been the minority sharefolder in joint venture in Ganji.

Home Depot, US's number 1 in home improvement chain, rose its share $42.68, added 80 cents, after announcement of 4Q profit to $1.29bil.

$25mil clear deal acquisition of cMango consulting firm, Wipro continues to consolidate its leading position of offshore insfrastructure management.

2006-02-21T00:13:00.000+08:00

"You are passionate with what you are doing; you have a very high energy level; you understand your product space; you want to build great things, and you have the commitment to the kinds of great engineering that Google is facing for."

Do you have the same passions, unswearving interests towards what you are doing, as Googlers?

2006-02-20T23:54:00.000+08:00

Bath, famous with 18th century of its Georgian architecture, turns to a spot of high city-wide wireless computing network, from the research project pioneered from Imperial College London and University College London, Vodafone, Nokia, HP Laboratories, Node and IBM.

What is the future of this invigorating mobile phone technology? City-dwellers' chill-out & travel, interactive city-wide game, information services for all activities: working, socialising, and relaxing, community connection, location-based services, and many more - you think of it.

2006-02-20T23:14:00.000+08:00

Look in-depth into DRM: a technology which restrict consumers' media experience, by preventing the contents to be moved along multiple devices, and constrainting how the content can be used.

Will this credits the advantages to the pirated's soggy bed? Are consumer being duped to compromise their rights with media companies?

Myspace.com is overflowed. Teens are put at risk explored to the bad elements of "social-network".

Feb 19, 368.75

2006-02-19T19:59:00.000+08:00

Dell's share fell $1.81 to $30.15 following the issue of 1Q outlook which is below Wall Street's expectation. However, Dell still announced it strong sales in previous quarter by posting earning $1.01bil, or 43% compared to a year earlier, and $15.18bil in revenue.

Meantime, State second satellite radio operators, XM posted $270.4mil loss due to the high cost of marketing and customers' acquisition.

Merck defending its accusation of causal death because of painkiller Vioxx, claimed that she did meticusly making the product and never fail to warn users of its risk.

Battle afoot sue from Nike against its keenest rival Adidas for the steal of cushion technology.

Countries in EU respectively gave stand against Lakshmi Mittal's clinch on Archelor. Nertherland-based Mittal Steel still have rosy hope on Luxemborg-based Archelor, whereif the deal of 18.6bil € is successful, then Indian-born billionaire will create a massive steel kingdom which would control about 10% of the global market. France, Spain and Luxembourg have opposed the takeover, with Belgium remaining neutral and the UK supporting Mittal.

2006-02-19T19:36:00.000+08:00

Japanese 14bil ¥ satellite sent to orbit.

2006-02-19T19:26:00.000+08:00

Je suis désolé State of Liberty. No break with China, and my users' searching data.

2006-02-19T19:20:00.000+08:00

Sorry buddy Teong, I thin blogger.com has problem as your blog was deleted as I added in, as too as mine when you created. Out of storage?

2006-02-19T19:19:00.000+08:00

Search is still the big thing in 2006. On-going gr o o o o o wing.

2006-02-19T19:15:00.000+08:00

Next Do-Re-Mi spark between Amazon-Samsung Electronics, versus Apple's iTunes's digital content downloads-iPod's player. Possibly as well as Napster and Real Networks.

Feb 17, 368.75

2006-02-17T18:21:00.000+08:00

Myspace goes wireless.

2006-02-17T10:25:00.000+08:00

Sleepycat was eventually awaked; door's knocked, by Oracle.

2006-02-17T10:13:00.000+08:00

Admitting world's increasingly dependant on web services, 3 Microsoft Office Live beta version are on the route now, letting its customers, small businesses to up and run business on the Internet, quickly, effortlessly, and inexpensively.

2006-02-17T09:45:00.000+08:00

4 technology giants get grilled over Chinese biz.

"Yahoo has been accused of providing information that led to the jailing of two of its Chinese e-mail users, while Google started a Chinese version of its popular search engine that omits links to content deemed unacceptable by the government. Microsoft shut down, at Beijing's request, a popular Chinese blog that touches on sensitive topics such as press freedoms."

Can you guide how should proceed? Censorship, because of believe in doing good more than harm.. Meantime, brutally blamed as crush free speech online. Is step down from market of 110mil Internet Chinese users the one and only one way to move? Tough dilemma!

Feb 16, 366.46

2006-02-16T16:42:00.000+08:00

I'm cool? Spicily hot? Maverick? Wicky? Diligent?

Personalise yourself with own favourite fonts. I got mine here and here, and perhaps here. If you know more, do share kay!

Look coooooool, aren't they?

2006-02-16T12:58:00.000+08:00

Mashup on the quantum run. A revolutionized concept of Web2.0. Geoblogger s, Chicagocrime.org, fotothing, and many many more from here...

2006-02-16T11:59:00.000+08:00

Catch up FT's interview session with Bill Gates here, regarding Microsoft strategies on computer security and issue of censorship in China.

Having eye on this guy, Xiao Qiang, and his blog, and some of his articles: Catalyzing Free Expression and Civil Society, The 'blog' revolution sweeps across China, Tiananmen: the Gate to China's Future.

Feb 15, 342.38

2006-02-14T13:34:00.000+08:00

"Give me reason why I should go partnership with you?" said Mr. Jobs.

"Because everyone brings handset everytime everywhere." simply yet confident from Mr. Zander.

Today, besides continue selling models (RAZR V3i, ROKR E1) with iTunes compatible, more Motorola handphones with Microsoft Window Media format are coming in sales soon.

Microsoft Mobile 5.0 squishs hard to RIM's Blackberry.

2006-02-14T13:26:00.000+08:00

Being outstandingly contribute to America's nations in technological innovation and competitivemess, US president George W.Bush awarded Motorola the National Medal of Technology.

Since the company's founding of Galvin MFG Corp, Motorola stands arrogantly on the cutting edge of innovation in areas like cellular communication, networks, 2-way radios, paging, semiconductors, space flight communication and embedded electronic solution.

Feb 13, 345.70

2006-02-13T20:44:00.000+08:00

"PAGE: We don't generally talk about our strategy ... because it's strategic. I would rather have people think we're confused than let our competitors know what we're going to do. That's an easy trade-off."

Do much, talk less. Like Schmidt said, let the results speak for themselves.

"HOW DOES IT FEEL TO SUDDENLY BE SO WEALTHY?

BRIN: It takes a lot of getting used to. You always hear the phrase, money doesn't buy you happiness. But I always in the back of my mind figured a lot of money will buy you a little bit of happiness. But it's not really true. I got a new car because the old one's lease expired. Nothing terribly fancy--you could drive the same car.

PAGE: If we were motivated by money, we would have sold the company a long time ago and ended up on a beach."

In the early 30s, white lab coat-clad, natural stubbornness of youth, aura of invincibility, keep doing things their way. Maverick.

Answers were minimalist along the "Legos" talk, yet eloquent. Again, let the results speak for themselves.

And, this is a perfect picture. An impeccable of mirror reflection of trio, sharing their light moment, puzzling the Legos and shaking the world.

Feb 10, 362.61

2006-02-12T12:53:00.000+08:00

Really an eye opener... Spirited discussions, tempers proned to run high.

2006-02-11T21:06:00.000+08:00

Let's see how Oracle revolutionises open-source softwares like JBoss, Zend and Sleepycat to better customer satisfaction? Addicted shopping sprees, irresistable to halt.

2006-02-10T14:15:00.000+08:00

Has Tesco learnt the lesson from Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencers before gain a foothold on Wal-Mart's back yard, with also the presences of Kroger, Kmart, Costco, and Target?

So near, so far. How powerful of Oracle's Fusion after the mega buying spree of PeopleSoft, Siebel where 2,00o jobs need to be cut because of the acquistion?

Eyes on Google. Two Stanford doctoral dropouts will continue to shine, or be anticipantly dethroned? More analysis here.

Your mom can use it. Windows OneCare Live says so.

iPod Nano is almost affordable... It's sleek, trendy, stylish, but yet another lawsuit about its prone to be scratched and make the display unreadable.

Facing fierce competitions from Skype, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc, can Vonage maintain its VoIP biz with current business model?

2006-02-09T17:03:00.000+08:00

FON again. Let's dig into this Argentina-born Spanish guy, Martin Varsavsky's very yakking business model:
1) Users: If I'm out-of-office or home, I can be still connected if I'm Foneros. 1mil hotspots is not just a dream; If I'm not Foneros, I can pay to stay connected in any hotspots over the world
2) ISPs: Pros or cons? You think of it...
3) If you as Foneros providing free WiFi access, you are Mr. Torvalds @ Linus
If you as Foneros acquising fees other non-Foneros's access, you are Mr. Gates @ Bill
If you as Non-Forenos tap into Fon hotspot, you are Aliens @; you pay for it. Fair enough.
Not bad of idea innovation, applying biz lively.

As a result, they secured a handsome $21.5mil.

Get it? More here.

2006-02-09T16:05:00.000+08:00

FON: Share your WiFi broadband internet access at home, and enjoy the WiFi all over the world! 18mil euros / US$21.7 mil investment secured from Google, eBay's Skype and Sequoia Capital. Vision is kinda clear: 1mil WiFi hotspots throughout the world by 2010!

Wish to keep contact with people but lazy to type text message? Yack it yourself with voice-based email.

"Don't be evil"... Censorship to Chinese means I'm evil?

BASF, largest chemical firm cleared the bid with US$4.9bil takeover for Engelhard

Mittal's steel empire continues to dominance... Can she grabs Arcelor?

2006-01-28T00:12:00.000+08:00

Kong Hei Fatt Choi! Wish you with an abundance of happiness, good health, laughter, longevity and prosperity.

Bye bye Roaster... Welcome the year of Doggie.

2006-01-27T23:03:00.000+08:00

Unexpected travel along way to Mid Valley. Syriana was the movie. What should I describe this Best Ten Movies of 2005? Pulverizing!

All about Google...
Does Google walk away off its motto "don't be evil" complying China's censorship concessions? excruciating decision? Check out more here, here and here. It's smartest? Dumbest?

Google Video had a swift change on its website, letting users more easy to find their favourite videos.

Google Tunes will be great enough to outbeat Apple's iTunes?

2006-01-25T13:43:00.000+08:00

"We don't think it's reasonable to assume we're going to gain a lot of share from Google," Chief Financial Officer Susan Decker said in an interview. "It's not our goal to be No. 1 in Internet search. We would be very happy to maintain our market share."

Thoughts?

Dumb sign of surrender, weasel words, platitude.

The acquisitions of flickr, del.icio.us, upcoming.org, webjay etc are not aspired enough to clinch the next social search, another reinvention of search game around social networking?

2006-01-25T00:41:00.000+08:00

Why bother seeing the world for real?

Startup funding is still promising and steadily growing in US last year despite a slight fell of amounts of investment. US$22.13bil, or RM83bil!!! Great contrast with RM100mil of CIP. Stagnant, mission miss in quiet, numbed, haplessness..

2006-01-24T23:40:00.000+08:00

US: The deal is settle impeccably finally. Jobs won the last smile with $3.5bil in pocket and a seat in Disney board.

Germany: Diete Zetsche's back on DaimlerChrysler AC intimates the strong determination to sooth the business revamp by cutting 6,000 jobs, saving up to $1.8bil.

Japan: Young zealous entrepreneur "Horiemon", Takafumi Horie was dismissed from the post of president and representative director, of Livedoor finally over the prosecution of fraud.. hoped by internal group which stabilise the management.

Business-obsessed?

2006-01-24T14:02:00.000+08:00

Google news is out of beta, after four and a half year.

Jobs, a maverick guy who always in trademarked jeans-clad, has his gradual move, diversifying and enduring his iMac, iPod, iTunes, Pixar animation studio and finally the room of Disney board. Read out more here..

Thaksin family is going to sell off its 49.6% shares in Shin Corp to Temasek, for $US1.8bil. Reasons behind: 1) peak of price, 2) Thaksin wants to halt conflicts of interest linked to Shin Corp, 3) telecom industry faces impending liberalization and deregulation under WTO's terms; so free-trade agreement with US will accelerate the liberalization in telecom industry.

Which brand had the most impact on our lives in 2005? Most probably the verdict can be figured out when I go for "googling", owning my most wanted iPod nano and talking to my friend via Skype. Internet-savvy whizzes, sounds cool?

2006-01-24T00:13:00.000+08:00

Search your name here... If you successfully do so, you are among the 90mil people on the list.

China is still the mainland for Microsoft's R&D center, with its $100mil pour per year for the next 3 years.

TD-SCDMA is the next big thing in China's telecommunication? Abandon of commercial standards like CDMA2000, WCDMA, or make less use of them, a wise choice to accommodate China's 1.3bil populations? Yes I think so. Our sons of dragon cannot make full potential of this brand new 3G standards?

De rigueur! A great crash between computing and consumer-electronics twisting hotter this year.

Yahoo! thirsts for real magnets of talent - Ricardo Baeza-Yates, a leading Chilean computer scientist; Andrew Tomkins, a British-bornscientist who previously headed IBM's ambitious Web Fountain search effort; Andrei Broder, a former AltaVista executive; and Ron Brackman, former head of the Information Processing Technology Office at DARPA, the Department of Defence research agency. Meantime, Google is aggresive too desperating for talents, hiring Louis Monier, who created the AltaVista search engine, and Vint Cerf, whose work on communications protocols earned him the nickname "father of the internet", and Kai-Fu Lee, a prominent speech recognition expert whose departure from Microsoft led to a legal fight between the two companies.

CEO William D. Perez proved "Just do it!" over differences with founder and chairman Phil Knight, assessored by Mark Parker.

Nikkei feels the vibrancy of US share market biggest loss, and the lingering prosecution on Livedoor.

2006-01-22T21:14:00.000+08:00

Moving into the age of broadband internet connection, supermarket giant slices the phone market cake too by offering free phone calls on the net, based on its huge network of stores and millions of customer.

100Mbps throughput speeds, 4-times compared to current wireless networks - WiFi standard of 802.11n is back to track to cater next great wireless demands for smooth video streaming, conferencings, music playloop and all forms of multimedia content enrichment.

Check this out. Government, US or China, has the right to use Internet search results of millions of its citizens, for the sake of trolling for possible criminal activity, or children exploitation from online pornography? No way. And Google has paid its price for the refusal.

Although digital music sales rose to $1.1bil last year, trippling compared to yesteryear, but determination to shut down illegal file-sharers is never dampen.

What's the possible spark between Steve Jobs and Paul Otellini?

Will Oracle's $19bil acquisition of PeopleSoft, Siebel, JDEdwards, a year ago, be worth for its comprehensive "Project Fusion" to big-bite the whole market of business applications, and outpace arch-rival SAP?

Malaysia's one of four countries which will be visited by Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz during his Asian tour, on 29 Jan.

More cutting-edge computer animated films are ready for fascinations after this deal.

Any other better workarounds other than closing plants, cutting jobs, selling assets etc in order to revamp the billion-dollar losses's business? Perhaps size does matter; smaller is more controllable? Or if M&A will work? Watch out the US's arlines' (US Airways, America West, United Airlines, Continental) outcome very soon. MAS might be in good position reviewing the lesson. MAS to a smaller rival AirAsia? Proton-Perodua?

China C2C market is absolutely cannot be underestimated - 12bil yuan. I'm under impression that Alibaba's too greedy to do diversification. While revamping Yahoo! China to fight with Google China and Baidu, as well as its own most strength's e-B2B, never undervalue the presence of eBay's yichu in possibly outbeat taobao anytime.

2006-01-08T13:04:00.001+08:00

MISC is poised to swoop again.

National carrier is in the scuttlebutt which in talk of acquistion possible stake in Canadian's Teekay, one of world's prominent carrier listed in NYSE, of liquefied natural gas (LNG), floating, production storage and offloading (FPSO) and energy.

Acquisition is favourably welcomed. Taking out one of MISC's competitor is top of the list, and as so this will sprout more business. The acquisition substantially increase fleet of LNG vessels, which in turns cut cost of shipbuilding. This is timely as it's predicted most shipyards are full for next couple years, and moreover the cost of steel will increase tremendously.

Teekay's respected name in good management and vessel maintenance has turned it into big name in energy transportation. So, if the acquisition is successful, this will greatly strengthen MSC's forte in energy transportation.

2005-12-31T00:47:00.000+08:00

??..
merci..
danke..
grazie..
?????..
?? ??????..
obrigado..
??..
gracias..
thank you for everything, god bless, best wishes rekindle, booze toss up, and happy new year.

2005-05-21T00:13:00.000+08:00

Way Down Under

I'll be leaving for New Zealand on 26 May. It's not for holiday....not solely anyway. The real purpose is because I'll be doing my attachment there. It can be considered as LI (latihan industri). We can choose to do our attachment anywhere, and I chose to go to NZ.

How did NZ come about? I was lucky to have met Kay Solomon, a speech therapist from NZ when she came to KL to give a workshop during MCare 25th Anniversary dinner. I have MCare and New Horizons to thank for giving me this opportunity. The rest is history. I contacted Kay-she helped me arrange things in NZ- and I get things done from my uni. This has been in planning for about a year and now I'll be off in a week.

Of course of living expenses will be bore by yours truly (as if my department will sponsor all students who want to go abroad). I will be taking my PTPTN to fund this. I will be burning a big hole in my bank account. A smaller hole than is needed as my dad has kindly offered to sponsor my air ticket. The catch? To pay for my parents' future vacation. Which I'll do gladly.

I'll be attached to Allenvale School in Christchurch for 3 weeks. It's a special school. The reason why I wanted to go to an advanced country, at least in the area of disability, is to widern my scope. I want to look at and learn more from the system there. I would really see how they run special schools and also their programme. What better way of doing that than to go there myself. I thank God for such wonderful opportunity.

Of course, I'll be taking a week for travelling. All the way there and not travel? I'll be backpacking...alone. Rather adventurous...but I'm looking forward to it. I don't mind not having a company. I guess, I want to try travelling alone.

And yes, I'm travelling alone to and fro and within NZ. I'll be grateful for your prayers. I hope to keep you updated while I'm in NZ. Meanwhile....back to packing headache. Do I need this? Should I bring that? And it's winter in NZ. I'll be frozen!

2005-04-13T08:57:00.000+08:00

Located in the south-western coastline of the state of Victoria, the 285km route of Australia's Great Ocean Road is exhilaratingly the scenic route of centuries' worth of nature's magnificient handiwork.

From state's capital Melbourne, the whole journey passes through Torquay, Anglesea, Lorne, Apollo Bay, Port Campbell, Warrnambool, and finally Port Fairy marks the end. Experience the stunning sight of long-winded road which lovingly matches with treacherous coast to form the magnificient sea sculptures; not to miss the Eagle National Park and the lighthouse located at Split Point; as well as many strategic scenic lookouts along the way: Teddy's Lookout in the town of Lorne, Cape Patton Lookout near the Wyne River, and of course the Mariner's Lookout located on the highest point of Appollo Bay, offering panoramic views of the whole town, the coastline and the bay's port.

Another must-see landmark won't much not to Twelve Apostles which near to Port Campbell. There is no other spectacular sight other than the platforms build right at the edge of the cliffs for these tantalising natural monoliths rising from the ocean's surface, and towering 65m in height. In the Port Campbell National Park itself, there are some amazing and wild rock formations spots, like Loch Ard Gorge, Gibson's Steps and London Bridge.

Wish one day the money and annual leaves are accumulated enough to carry rucksack unaccompanied or 1 or 2 interested friends to Victoria. Can then stay at my cousin's house in Melbourne, and borrow her car to drive through awe-inspiring Great Ocean Road.

* more information can be got in greatoceanrd.org.au

2005-04-12T08:57:00.000+08:00

Stretching along from Jalan Sultan Ismail, to Jalan Kia Peng, Jalan Binjai and Jalan Ampang in the vicinity of KLCC, there are so noticable with high-rise residences of luxurious condonimiums, service apartments, penthouses from skyline landscape view. Among these futuristic and eye-catching architectures in the foray are SDP Properties with its Park Seven, Tan & Tan Development's Cendana, Binjai Residency, K Residence, Stonor Park, Suria Stonor, The MARC, The Meritz, The Avare KL etc, which perfectly complements the world-class glittering Petronas Twin Towers, and forms the splendours of the KLCC.

Lifestyle and fine living are set among the most consideration by properties developers. On top of that, there are some pull factors which can win buyers heart. Averagely priced from RM1mil to RM6mil, the units are spaciously designed with 2,000 to 3,000 sq ft. This lifestyle craze symbolises the status of being elite residents, which to a broad spectrum of working professionals, high net worth people, top-class societies and affluent retirees. The high priority of security like state-of-the-art security systems, 24-hour security patrol, video intercom link to guardhouse, card access system and CCTV is another factor to draw buyers also. Besides this, residents indulge in the convenience of city living. While staying in the inner city skyline with the touch of comtemporary greenery, they also never lost their easy access to the modern infrastructure facilities, frenzy shopping malls, and commercial hub in the city.

The resort-liked ambience is also another irresistable attraction. Residents would find more abundant enchanting paved footpaths and tree conopied walkways within the condominium enclaves. The generous water features, lush landscaped lobby areas further embrace the serenity that residents are thirsting for amidst the highly air-polluted of city.

The sleek KLCC look, with Petronas Twin Towers arrogantly placed in the middle of the city, should undergo the robust development, where comtemporary modern and classic highly touch its equillibrium. The promotion of residential developments and the injection of more life into the inner city are kudos.

2005-04-01T12:05:00.000+08:00

Dalian, a rapidly growing city in north-eastern of China, was under Japanese occupancy for 40 years since year 1905. Albeit those years Chinese were brutally ragged and violated, this nightmarish experiences and memories had gradually faded when time flied. Not only that the Japanese's cultural affinity is still deeply-entrenched in Dalian society and its vicinity. Chinese there speak fluent japanese language, and when strolling through the enchanting, aptly named Japanese First Street in downtown Dalian, you will bump into many Japanese-style restaurants, with exact faux rice-paper lamps and shoji sliding doors, as well as Kimono-clad women standing out of these restaurants to acquire any passers-by.

This bravo atmosphere thus has atrracted many Japanese MNCs like Hitachi, NEC, Matsushita, Sony etc to establish their support center or software house in Dalian. Figure shows that $375 million stands as Japanese outsourcing to Dalian in 2004, which it is a double-level amount from 2002. Spontaneously peoples relate Dalian to Banglore which is major US-based MNCs outsourcing in India. Despite there is still long journey for Dalian to reach $17 billion in revenues brought by Americans to Banglore, it's yet somehow a nimble and steady step taken by Dalian city council to grab this opportunity and let the figures soar organically based on some of their strong factors.

Main factor is the easiness to seal the deal with low costs, yet skillful and intuitive knowledge-based workers. Averagely it's around $300 monthly salary to hire a software engineer, which is tenth times cheaper than their Japanese counterpart.

Secondly, the much cheaper land in Dalian is something to delight Japanese too. Other than that, all 22 universities and technical institus had produced 26,000 experienced software engineer to fulfill the work demand, and these higher institutions ensure also 3,800 software engineering graduates annually. Plus the generous incentives offered by local government, it's undoubtedly something irresistable for Japanese MNCs to flock to Dalian.

2005-03-30T09:33:00.000+08:00

I expected they will win the competition when they moved into final. Their business idea is brilliant, innovative enough to impress judges. Their well preparation of presentation and question handling deserved their effort!

By the way, how far 'local bank' HSBC contribution in unearth the born of domestic entrepreneur since its first inaugural launch in year 2001? How many ideas were successfully commercialised?

People will have goose-pimples hearing implantation of tiny electronical chip into someone's body, but definitely feel shivering and reluctant to let this occurence happens in his/her flesh. If the idea is commercialised, or in fact before the commercialisation, the first inevitable challenge will be public's acceptance. Malaysian are sensible with health awareness, especially for cancer and ironic diseases. But when confront to preventive action involving high-technology, most probably people's fear is hard to overcome, and therefore it is hard to be implemented.

Anyway, it's really a marvellous job from the trio. Congratulations again!

2005-03-29T09:44:00.000+08:00

With approximately 25,000 registered and 800,000 non-registered users in Shabox, 50,000 users in Nine Facts, and steady 1,000 unique visitors a day in mobile entertainment portal, UnrealMind relaxingly allows the figures talk itself to prove how strong their pioneer into mobile content and service market.

Established in end of 2001, UnrealMind had their nimble steps in tasting its fruit's sweetness. Starting from 3 until 30 employees within the year of 2003, plus several prestigious awards like 2003 MSC-APICTA Best of Content Development Award, MSC-2003 Best of Start-up Companies Award, the company, emerged among the market mobile content first-mover, easily garnered MSC status and pioneer status from MDC, and ASP Class License by MCMC in 2003. The Malaysia customer base consolidation fastened UnrealMind to swiftly yet meticulously infiltrate into regional market such as Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia and Vietnam.

In the provision of content segment, UnrealMind has numerous of mobile entertainment content such as music, ringtones, wallpaper, ringback, screen savers, Java games, SMS games, MMS, EMS, M-karaoke etc under its Shabox flagship. Meanwhile in mobile service segment, it offers IT solutions with integrated mobile platform which deal with billing system, intranet administrative system, etc.

UnrealMind CEO Tan Swee Yeong is really an astute and discerning technopreneur, who used be openly applaused by Jeff Ooi in his blogsite.

* Congratulations to Yuen Meng and Hock Kung of Radiant Biotech, representing UM and triumphed the champion title of HSBC YITEA 2005, with their business idea BIochip Implantation and Monitoring System (BIMS)

2005-03-28T09:39:00.000+08:00

It can be said totally no tangible uniqueness on the pepsi bottle if its new design remains as round sharp and medium-tall in height. Same way to the message to convey. Putting in the geographical map, seperating world into 2, and forcefully relating human civilisation with bottle design is absolutely not impressive.

It's poised that curvaceous concept is somehow more exhilarating and captivating. Pepsi Edge's bottle is nothing more outstanding than deploying the alphabel P with curvaceous edge at the tail of P, and hole in middle for sleek ergonomic handling. People and consumer will not forget the new-look of Pepsi bottle and brand, which will lead to the success of marketing goal.

The querrel almostly erupted into a fight, badly impact on Andy who obviously found his hard time for interruption. Wearing the title of national debate champion undoubtedly leads to highest expectation and veneration. Just realise that big boss will be more adorable of those who have marvellous self-defending skill, and logical, rationale combative behavior, for which this gives a very bad impact on guys. All the time guys like cannot escape the hapless role of gentlemen, while confronting particular issue with gals - merely thinking that it's for the sake of humiliation if he prolong the argument with the opposite sex. This causes their higher risks of losing out of the game. So, should gentlemen need to re-act as gentlemen all the time? Final winner is the king I believe. Nobody will bother how gentlemen you are, and the time you had been so gentlemen..