Toyota Planning to Use Transsiberian Railway for Transportation of Cargos

Toyota is planning to use Russian Transsiberian Railway (Transsib) in order to reduce the transportation cost of the company cargos to Russia. Toyota is currently transporting the cargos from Japan to Russia by Sea which is the cheapest, but it takes 60 days, which will come down to 20 days when Toyota will begin to use Russian Transsiberian Railway. Toyota will start using this new route to Russia from spring 2009.

Bernama reported:

Toyota, one of the world's largest automobile-making corporations, regards this method of transportation as more promising, considering the growth of world prices of fuel and the need for reducing effluents of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the Nikkei newspaper wrote on Monday.

It is a good initiative taken by Toyota because quick delivery of the parts will speed up the production thus increasing the possibility of more profit. In the face of surging fuel price in the global market, Toyota has got to ensure the best possible way to increase production open up the possibility of profit.

EADS North America signs up with Toshiba

EADS North America Test and Services, a division of famous European aerospace company, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, signed a contract with top Japanese business conglomerate, Toshiba Corporation. Under the new contract, Toshiba Corporation will use EADS’s 5032 Environmental Stress Screening system. Toshiba will use it for reliability testing of its new 40/45nm semiconductor production technology. Test and Measurement.com reports:

"EADS offers an innovative solution for our cutting-edge reliability testing," commented a senior manager of Toshiba Corporation's System LSI Quality and Reliability Engineering Department. "Precise junction temperature control is the essential element for effective environmental stress testing. Without precise temperature control, production test time is wasted and reliability test results are meaningless. EADS' single-phase technology provides the most accurate closed-loop control for our most advanced device technologies."

EADS North America Test and Services is the leading producer of environmental stress screening systems. The 5032 is the latest environmental stress screening system by EADS North America Test and Services. The 5032 and 5029 systems are used for evaluation purpose and 5030 is used for volume environment stress screening.

Related articles:
Test and Measurement.com

South Korean manufacturers' confidence hits the lowest point

In a survey conducted by Bank of Korea in Seoul, it has been found out that South Korea’s manufacturers’ confidence has hit its lowest point in more than three years. Conducted over 1554 manufacturers, the survey showed that rising cost of fuel, increasing cost of raw materials and worldwide economic slowdown has shaken up the manufacturers of Asia’s third largest economy. In addition, domestic problems such as US beef import controversy, truck driver and factory workers' strike have made the situation more critical.

An index measuring business expectation for July fell from 88 to 77. This is the weakest score since February 2005. A score lower than 100 means there are more pessimists than optimists.

It is not only South Korea but all the countries around the world experiencing the problem. Rising fuel cost, coupled with high price of raw materials are eroding consumers’ confidence and eating up company profits. South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index has dropped 11% this year. It will take a more than miracle to turn around South Korea’s condition now.

Related article:
Bloomberg

Posco's buyout puts Macarthur's ownership in haphazard condition

South Korean POSCO Coated & Color Steel Co., Ltd. (SEO:058430), world’s third largest steel producing company, today announced that it had agreed to buy 10% stake in Asutralia’s Queensland-based Macarthur (ASX:MCC), the largest producer of pulverized coal from its former director Ken Talbot. Posco Steel will pay 20 Australian dollars per share ($19.24). The deal is waiting for approval by the South Korean company’s board.

On June 29^th, ArcelorMittal (AMS:MT), world’s no.1 steelmaker, announced that it purchased another 5% stake of Macarthur making its total amount of stake at Macarthur 20% (19.9%). ArcelorMittal also paid similar price per share. In total, ArcelorMittal paid 212 million Australian dollars. Till now, the company invested around 843 million Australian dollars. The current deal is waiting to be finalized by Foreign Investment board.

The buyout by POSCO has put Macarthur’s ownership in a haphazard state. No, other company will think about buying stakes of Macarthur anymore. Now, Macarthur has three major shareholders: ArcelorMittal, Posco, and Chinese company, CITIC Group. As the price of iron ore is going up, major steel makers around the world are now going for such buyouts to keep the supply of raw materials constant.

Related articles:
Forbes

ABC News

The future of Symbian

Nokia, the Finland mobile giant, has bought Symbian, the most popular smartphone software. Earlier, it was 48% stake holder in Symbian, now it has bought the remaining shares with $410 million. Now, Nokia is planning to make Symbian open source. Currently, companies using Symbian are paying $4 per phone. After Symbian becomes open source there be no charges. Information Week reports:

For businesses, the move raises several critical issues. On the upside, it's possible companies will wind up with cheaper phones--the Symbian OS today costs manufacturers about $4, while Microsoft charges about $15 for Windows Mobile per phone. A free mobile OS could ramp up price competition. On the downside, IT departments could face a tougher battle trying to contain the number of smartphone platforms they're asked to support, if open source leads to more variations of the Symbian OS.

Currently, 67% of the total smartphones produced around the world use Symbian. However, Symbian is not widely used in lower-end phones. In the USA, Microsoft, Apple, and RIM are dominating the scene. If Symbian wants to win this war of mobile operating system then it would have to be rapidly developed because smartphone makers are exploring all the possible ways to include more functions in their little gadgets. Truly, Nokia has put great pressure on Microsoft, Google and other mobile phone operating system producers but to win the battle it has to be very much innovative with Symbian.

Related articles:
Information Week

Hyundai Steel Company raised price and Hyundai Mipo Dockyar Co. Ltd won orders

In the face of the rising price of raw materials, South Korea’s second largest steel maker, Hyundai Steel Company (SEO:004020) is going to raise the price of its rolled steel coils by 10.9%. Hyundai Steel said that due to price rise of scrap iron, pig iron, and Russian and Chinese slabs, the company is raising its product prices. From 1 July 2008, a tonne of rolled steel will cost 1,020,000 KRW. This is the fifth time the company raised its product prices this year.

On the other hand, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. Ltd. (SEO:010620) received orders worth $292 million from the Middle East for seven bulk carriers. The order comes as the demand of carriers to move commodities from one place to another is increasing day by day. In a regulatory filing, without naming the buyer, Hyundai Mipo said that the carriers will be finished by the end of May 2012.

From August, Hyundai Mipo is going to start building ships at its ship repair venture in Vietnam. The company has been repairing ships under a partnership with Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group since April 1999.

Related articles:
Steel Guru

Steel Guru

Toyota increases its stake in Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.

Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO: 7203) is going to raise its stake in Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.(TYO:7270), the maker of Subaru cars. After the deal is completed, Toyota Motor will be the largest stake holder in Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. Earlier, GM (NYSE:GM) was the largest stake holder of the company but in a move to collect cash for restructuring, the company sold its portion in 2005. Currently, Toyota Motor Corporation holds 9.5% stake. After this deal, Toyota’s stake will rise to 16.61% (nearly 17%). Toyota is going to pay $293 million for 61 million shares of Fuji Heavy.

Amidst global economic crisis and rising oil price, mergers like this have become a common move among the automakers to decrease the cost of research and development. Toyota has joined with Subaru to develop hybrid cars in which, Toyota is currently one of the market leaders.

In 2005, GM sold its 20% stake in Subaru followed by Suzuki Motor Corporation (TYO:7269) and Isuzu Motors Limited (TYO:7202) in 2006. Toyota also bought shares of Isuzu Motors Limited. The deal between Toyota and Fuji is expected to be finished on July 14.

Related articles:
International Herald Tribune

Reuters

Plug-in hybrid car users "Be careful"

Now days, there is a new trend of converting hybrids into plug-in hybrids in the USA. Many government officials and political leaders are supporting this move as the price of fuel is hurting people in the USA. However, you have to be careful if you are planning to convert your Toyota Prius or any other hybrid model into plug-in hybrid. Several days ago, a plug-in Toyota Prius went up in flames. The Prius was run by a South Carolina electric cooperative. Later, it was found out that the fire was created by sparks from loose connection in the car’s battery. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

The major advantage of converting a hybrid car into plug-in hybrid is that it increases the car's electric power and the level of oil consumption by the car can further lowered. In case of going long distance, you have to recharge the car from time to time. However, the conversion process of the hybrid is still not modified. Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO: 7203), the maker of the most popular hybrid car, Toyota Prius, declared to release the plug-in version of hybrid in 2010.

Currently, some ‘after-market companies’ are doing this conversion which would cost between $7,000 to more than $20,000. So, if you are planning to convert your favorite hybrid into a plug-in hybrid, just be careful.

Related article:
Los Angeles Times Blogs

Toyota outsales GM in June but there is nothing to be happy about it

Toyota Motor Corporation(TYO: 7203), the largest automaker of Japan will over take General Motors Corporation(NYSE:GM) in the monthly US sales in June but there is nothing to be happy about it as the US economic slowdown is still continuing and the automaker is struggling with downward auto sales. Auto industry experts and analysts are expecting another “double digit dip” in auto sales in June.

Higher fuel price, weak economy, and lower consumer confidence has resulted into switching over small fuel efficient cars and cross over vehicles. This has proved to be a boon for the Japanese automakers like Toyota Motor Corporation and Honda Motor Company Limited (TYO: 7267) that depends less on the sales of trucks and SUVs like the three largest American vehicle makers: GM, Ford and Chrysler.

Still, Toyota is experiencing its share of problems. The company is hardly keeping up with the high demand of its Hybrid Prius. More over, it has cut down its pickup and light truck production.

Famous marketing consulting firm, J.D. Power and Associates, is predicting that, with continuation of the present trend, the ‘annualized sales rate’ for June would be 12.5 million vehicles ; the lowest monthly sales since 1992.

Related article:
AP

2009 Hyndai Sonata : An ideal car in every way

Toyota Camry and Honda Accord are selling like hot cakes in the USA. Sounds cliché but that is the truth. Toyota and Honda combined sold about 95,000 Camry and Accords in May, which makes it a Camry or Accord in every 28 seconds. Truly, it is a great achievement. Now, Hyundai Motor Company(SEO:005380)trying hard to break into the market make its mark as the top seller. The newly developed 2009 Hyundai Sonata is truly a car that would win the consumer’s heart.Statesman reports:

With the upgrades to the new model, including styling tweaks for a classier look, the Sonata is close to the leaders in comfort, workmanship and utility, but less so in drivability. No one will mistake the Sonata for a sports sedan, though it's a competent all-around performer.

The Sonata, made at Hyundai's new Alabama plant, is the least expensive of the three.

Compared to the Camry or Accord, the price of Hyundai Sonata is cheaper($27,685). However, it is not the lower price that makes it a ‘worth buying’ car. From engine to the body work, Hyundai has paid attention to the most minute details in this upgraded version of Hyundai Sonata. Modern engine, twin overhead cams, variable valve timing, the interior, exterior, everything is created keeping the need of the consumer in the mind.

Related articles:
Asianbiz

Statesman.com

Now Hyundai Motor Co. workers are planning to go on strike

After the truck drivers and the people of South Korea, now it is the workers of Hyundai Motor Co.(SEO: 005380). More than 50% of the 44,757 workers of the Hyundai Motor Co. decided to go on strike in demand for higher pay and protest against government policies. Hyundai spokesman, Chang Kyu, said that the plan was backed by majority of the workers at Hyundai. However, the worst is yet to come; workers of the all four largest South Korean automakers are planning to go on strike. Bloomberg reports:

Hyundai Motor workers will today decide when to stage stoppages. The union is seeking an 8.9 percent raise in base pay and wants the automaker to distribute 30 percent of annual net profit as employee incentives.

The carmaker's workers last year agreed to a pay accord without striking for the first time in 10 years. The package included a 5.8 percent increase in base pay.

It looks like South Korea, the fourth largest economy of Asia, is heading toward a dark future. Already, protest over the US beef import and nation-wide truck drivers’ strike has become a big problem for the government of Lee Myung-bak. Now, this new protest is arising. I hope, Mr. Lee Myung-bak and the automakers work out to solve the problem as soon as possible.

Related articles:
Bloomberg

Asianbiz

Asianbiz

Samsung releases two new phones: Samsung J800 Luxe and Samsung L700

At the Singapore Telecommunication Exhibition Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd (SEO: 005930) unveiled two new mobile phones: the Samsung J800 Luxe, and the Samsung L700.

Samsung J800 Luxe:

Dimension:
Breadth: 15 mm
Length: 99.5 mm
Width: 47 mm

• The Samsung J800 Luxe is a middle range slider phone.
• The Samsung J800 Luxe comes with a 2.2-inches 256K TFT display with 176 x 220 pixels resolution.
• The Samsung J800 Luxe comes with a 2 mega pixels camera. It has photo blog option which allows you to upload image directly in your blog.
• The Samsung J800 Luxe comes with a music and video player.
• The Samsung J800 Luxe has FM radio with RDS.
• The Samsung J800 Luxe supports stereo Bluetooth (A2DP).
• The Samsung J800 Luxe has 8MB built-in memory.
• The Samsung J800 Luxe comes with microSD card slot.
• The Samsung J800 Luxe has a built-in office document viewer.
• The Samsung J800 Luxe has HTML browser.
• The Samsung J800 Luxe supports POP3/IMAP4 mail client.
• The Samsung J800 Luxe supports RSS reader.
• The Samsung J800 Luxe comes with mobile tracker.
• The Samsung J800 Luxe supports tri-band phone
• The Samsung J800 Luxe relies on the UMTS (2100 MHz) for fast data transfers.
• Price: The Samsung J800 Luxe will be available in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America this month and it will cost 400US$.

The Samsung L700:

Dimension:
Length: 104 mm
Width: 46 mm
Breadth: 12.8mm

• The Samsung L700 is a thin candy bar phone.
• The Samsung L700 comes with a 2.1-inch TFT 256k color screen with 128 x 160 pixels resolution.
• The Samsung L700 supports HSDPA.
• The Samsung L700 is available in pink, silver, and gold.
• The Samsung L700 supports quad-band (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900).
• The Samsung L700 also has UMTS support.
• The Samsung L700 comes with a 2 megapixel camera.
• The Samsung L700 comes with the traditional Samsung music/video player.
• The Samsung L700 has FM radio with RDS.
• The Samsung L700 has stereo Bluetooth.
• The Samsung L700 comes with built-in memory of 30MB.
• The Samsung L700 has microSD cardslot.
• The Samsung L700 has vibrating alert system.
• The phonebook of Samsung L700 can store 1000 entries with photo call.
• The call records of Samsung L700 can store 30 dialed, 30 received, 30 missed calls.
• The browser of Samsung L700 supports WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML.
• Samsung will also release a golden version of Samsung L700.
  

Related article:
GSM Arena

Mobile Bond

Phone Report

Tech Tree

Nokia launches its new Supernova series phones

Finland mobile phone company, Nokia, has announced its Supernova series phones. There will be four new models: Nokia 7210 Supernova, Nokia 7310 Supernova, Nokia 7510 Supernova and Nokia 7610 Supernova. The phones are made for fashion conscious customers; both men and women. The new models will be major competitors for the LG Shine and LG Chocolate phones.

Features:
Nokia 7210 Supernova, Nokia 7310 Supernova, Nokia 7510 Supernova and Nokia 7610 Supernova comes with customizable front and back covers.

Nokia 7210 Supernova:

• The Nokia 7210 Supernova is candy bar phone.
• The Nokia 7210 Supernova supports tri-band GSM.
• The Nokia 7210 Supernova supports EDGE Network.
• The Nokia 7210 Supernova has FM radio.
• The Nokia 7210 Supernova comes with 2 mega pixels camera.
• The Nokia 7210 Supernova has SD memory expansion slot.
• You can access Nokia Music PC client with the Nokia 7210 Supernova.
• Price: The retail price of Nokia 7210 Supernova will be around 120 euros in the third quarter.
  

Nokia 7310 Supernova:

• The Nokia 7310 Supernova is a candy bar phone. Tech Shout.com says:

The slim and sleek Nokia 7310 Supernova too comes with the exchangeable Xpress-On covers that are etched with bold 3D textured designs. It is available in the colours of ’steel blue’ with an addition of a second front and back cover in ‘wasabi green’ or ‘candy pink’. There are five colour options for front and back cover - ‘mushroom silver’, ‘plum jam’, ‘electric blue’, ‘yellow mellow’ and ‘espresso brown’. These will be available across select markets only.

• The Nokia 7310 Supernova comes with 2 mega pixels camera with 4X digital zoom.
• The Nokia 7310 Supernova supports instant messaging.
• The Nokia 7310 Supernova comes with pre-installed games. You can also play them on TV.
• The Nokia 7310 Supernova has FM RDS radio.
• Price: The retail price of Nokia 7310 Supernova will be around 155 euros in the second quarter.
  

Nokia 7510 Supernova:

• The Nokia 7510 Supernova is clamshell phone with a push-to-open side key.
• The Nokia 7510 Supernova comes with front and back covers in Storm Blue, Red, Emerald Green and Espresso Brown.
• The Nokia 7510 Supernova has a hidden-until-lit display and a reminder light.
• The Nokia 7510 Supernova has a 2.2-QVGA display.
• The Nokia 7510 Supernova comes with 2 mega pixels camera with 4x digital zoom and LED flash.
• The Nokia 7510 Supernova has FM radio.
• The Nokia 7510 Supernova comes with A-GPS support.
• The Nokia 7510 Supernova has a 512MB microSD card.
• The Nokia 7510 Supernova has a 2.2-inch QVGA display.
• With the Nokia 7510 Supernova, you can access to Nokia Maps 1.2, WidSets.
• You can also access the new Nokia browser with the Nokia 7510 Supernova.
• The Nokia 7510 Supernova supports Quadband GSM/EDGE networks.
• The Nokia 7510 Supernova comes with a MP3 player.
• Price: The retail price of Nokia 7510 Supernova will be around 180 euros in the fourth quarter.
  

Nokia 7610 Supernova:

Dimension:
Length: 3.9 inches
Width: 1.9 inches
Breadth: 0.6 inches
Weight: 3.5 ounces

• The Nokia 7610 Supernova is a slider handset. It supports Series 40 Symbian OS. Infosyncworld.com says:

Featuring a slide design and smooth curves, the Nokia 7610 Supernova (specs) offers Xpress-On covers in a choice of a set of Steel Blue and Red covers offset by a muted gray front surface, or Bright Lilac and Steel Blue contrasted against a white front surface. A new Theme Colorizer feature lets a user further tailor a look by applying colors to the phone's key illumination and wallpaper.

• The Nokia 7610 Supernova supports GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHZ.
• The Nokia 7610 Supernova has 3.2 mega pixels camera with dual-LED flash and 8x digital zoom. The Nokia 7610 Supernova comes with dedicated music keys.
• The Nokia 7610 Supernova supports FM radio.
• The Nokia 7610 Supernova supports Nokia WidSets.
• With the Nokia 7610 Supernova theme colorizer, you can capture any color and apply the same color to key illumination and phone wall-paper.
• The Nokia 7610 Supernova have 5 hours of talk time.
• The European sales package of Nokia 7610 Supernova will include a 512MB microSD card and the North American sales package will include a 2GB microSD card.
• Price: The retail price of Nokia 7610 Supernova will be around 225 euros in the third quarter. An unlocked version will be launched in the USA ranging between $300 to $350.
  

Related articles:
CNET

Techwhack

Crave.CNET

Tech Tree

Meri News

Tech Shout

Mobiletor

Tech Gadgets.in

Toyota Considering Price Hike for Cars and Trucks in Domestic market

Reports have it that Toyota might increase the price of cars and trucks broadly in the domestic market. The Japanese car maker is considering a price hike in order to keep balance with the increasing prices of steel and some other materials of cars and trucks. If Toyota really implements this plan then for the first time a broad price hike would come into existence since 1974 when oil crisis triggered price hike.

Marketwatch reported:

The automaker is considering a plan that would amount to the first across-the-board price hike since 1974, at what was then the height of the previous oil crisis, the Nikkei newspaper reported, citing an unidentified senior Toyota official.

Company officials will assess April-to-June sales and production costs, and are likely to announce a decision on prices next month, the report said.

Toyota bosses will announce the final decision after reviewing the sales and production costs of April-June period. It is not yet confirmed if Toyota will really materialize this decision, because the demand is already not that strong in Japan now. The price hike might range 1% to 3%, if the decision of price hike is really implemented.

Toyota to Increase its Share in Fuji Heavy Industries

Toyota is going to increase its share in Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. as it is expected to buy 61 million shares of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of Subaru Car. In a statement, Fuji Heavy recently declared that it would sell shares worth $300 million (31.1 billion yen) to Toyota, by which Toyota’s stake in Fuji Heavy will be increased to 16.6 percent from current stake 9.5 percent.

As per this deal, Toyota will be able to raise its stake in Fuji’s Subaru car division. You know that Toyota is one of the leading car makers in the world and is in a stiff competition with General Motors in the race to become world’s largest car maker by the end of this year. Subaru has some strong presence in some of the markets. So, I think, it could be a boost for Toyota in holding more market share globally.

Related article:

businessweek

Sony introduces new service with its Play Station 3

If you own a Plays Station 3 and if you are a resident of the USA, then there is great news waiting for you. From now on, you can download movies and episodes of your favorite television series from the internet with your Play Station3 console. On June 26 2008, Sony Corporation (TYO:6758) said that they are going to introduce this new system in the USA within weeks. Sony has been working on this service since 2006. Sony Computer Entertianment CEO, Kazuo Hirai, said that the service is going to be launched in the USA and then it will be introduced in Europe and Asia. Guardian reports:

Hirai did not go into specifics about the facility and observers expect further pronouncements about the initial library of titles at next month's E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles.

What will be of interest is where the content will come from. Sony's film studio has naturally pledged allegiance to the cause but so far supply deals from other studios have not been completed.

From this autumn, Sony Corporation will also launch a new video service that will allow owners of its Bravia television to access the Internet and stream content.

Related article:
Guardian

Sony Corporation's share falls by 4% after announcing its business strategy

After Sony Corporation’s chairman, Howard Stringer, announced the company’s new strategy, Sony Corporation observed a 4% fall in its share prices.

On June 26 2008, at a press conference in Japan, chairman Howard Stringer said that Sony Corporation (TYO:6758) is going to increase the number of online products and target the emerging markets for its seven types of business. However, investors are not sharing Stringer’s optimism. Looking at the unfavorable economic conditions, they are losing interest. Reuters reports:

Sony said on Thursday it aimed to double revenues from the fast-growing markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China to 2 trillion yen ($18.7 billion) and invest 1.8 trillion yen in key businesses and technologies as part of a three-year strategy.

"Sony's shares are not being sold because investors thought the mid-term business plans were negative. The plans are not bad," said Soichiro Monji, chief strategist in the equity management department at Daiwa SB Investments.

Interestingly, at the flat market on Thursday Sony’s stock gained 2.8% but in the morning session in today’s stock market, share prices of Sony Corporation dipped 4% at 4860 yen.

Related article:

Reuters

Lee Kun-hee will retire from Samsung on July 1

After Chung Mong-Koo, its Lee Kun-hee’s turn. However, his condition is not as bad as Chung Mong-Koo, the former of chairman of Hyundai Group who is now serving three year suspended sentence. 66 year old Lee Kun-hee, former chairman of Samsung Group, will retire on July 1, 2008 after serving in Samsung for 42 years. Following allegations of tax evasion and breach of trust Lee-Kun-hee resigned on April 22. There were also bribery charges against him but they were dropped. Wall Street Journal reports:

Mr. Lee will officially sever employment ties with Samsung Group July 1 by leaving Samsung Electronics Co., its flagship company, a group spokesman said. "Former Chairman Lee leaves Samsung to keep his promise to do so. He will only remain as a shareholder of Samsung companies," the spokesman said.

Mr. Lee, 66 years old and one of the country's most powerful figures, remains officially employed by Samsung Electronics although he stepped down as its chairman and chief executive in late April.

Analysts said they expect Mr. Lee to remain an influential figure in the group, South Korea's largest conglomerate by assets, even though he is no longer involved in its operations.

Mr. Lee will officially depart from Samsung but he will remain as the biggest individual shareholder of Samsung companies. Mr. Lee holds 1.9% of Samsung Electronics, 3.7% stake in Samsung Everland, and 4.5% of Samsung Life Insurance Co. Mr. Lee also controls another 16.2% stake in the life insurer. After retirement Mr. Lee will remain as an important person in the group but he will not be able to exercise his powers over company operations.

Related articles:
Wall Street Journal

Sony targets the emerging markets to increase return on equity in the next three years

The current fiscal year has been tough for Sony Corporation (TYO:6758), one of the largest consumer electronics company in Japan. All the major products of the company lost to its competitors. Its share price also fell at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Now, the company is desperate to be back in business. Recently, in a press conference, Sony Corporation’s Chairman Howard Stringer announced to increase the companies Return on Equity (ROE) to 10% in the next three years and level the company’s profit margin with that of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.(SEO: 005935) and Nintendo Co.Ltd.(TYO: 7974) This new target is double the company’s current ROE level of 5.8%. Chairman Howard Stringer also failed to meet the earlier operating margin target. Bloomberg reports:

``Sony will lose its place as a global leader if its ROE stays lower than 10 percent,'' Mitsushige Akino, who manages $557 million at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. in Tokyo, said by telephone. ``The company will face enormous difficulty should it fail to achieve it.''

Return on equity, or profit divided by book value, measures the earnings generated on the investment by shareholders. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the world's largest consumer- electronics maker, plans to raise its returns to 10 percent by next fiscal year.

When asked about his strategy, Stringer said that his company will increase number of products that are sold online. Sony will also target the emerging markets such as, Brazil, Russia, India and China over the next three years. Sony will focus on its seven businesses in these markets.

Related article:
Bloomberg

Sprint's Samsung Instinct won the heart of the consumers

Good news for Samsung (SEO: 005935). Finally, the South Korean mobile phone set producer has produced something that has become a major competitor of Apple iPhone 3G. The Samsung Instinct marketed by Sprint is doing very well. The sales of Samsung 3G started from June 20^th. So far, it is the best EVDO handset ever offered by Sprint. The company is having a tough time to keep pace with the high demands of the consumers. The first week sales is a proof that consumers have accepted the new touch screen technology. Into Mobile reports:

“We had high expectations going into the launch so our initial order to Samsung was the largest for any Sprint EVDO handset to date,” said John Garcia, President of Sprint’s Wireless Division. “The strong early response tells us that wireless customers recognize Instinct as a highly-innovative and convenient touch-screen device combined with the fast speeds available on the largest national mobile broadband network."

The Sprint Instinct is priced at just $130 after $100 rebate and 2-year contract. If you can't swing that kind of coin, try winning a free Instinct.

No doubt that iPhone is very popular it is one sleek looking smart phones but it has lags behind in some departments. For example, the Apple iPhone 3G does not have voice dialing system. In this regard, Samsung Instinct is a voice-centric device rather than data centric.

Related articles:
Market News

Into Mobile

Hyundai Genesis Coupe takes the 2008 Production Preview Vehicle of the Year

Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. (SEO: 005387)fetched the 2008 Production Preview Vehicle of the Year with Hyundai Genesis Coupe Concept at the Seventh Annual North American Concept Vehicle of the Year Awards. The show, held at the Automotive Hall of Fame, was organized by South East Automotive Media Organization on the evening of June 24 2008. The jury board for the award consisted of 29 journalists from all over the USA. Total 40 Concept cars and 12 production preview vehicles were nominated. According to Juror Arv Voss, the Hyundai Genesis Coupe is a stunning rear-wheel drive performance coupe. PR Newswire reports:

The Concept Car category was contested by a total of 21 nominees. Responding to the "boomer" generation's growing demand for luxury coupe designs, Cadillac's CTS Coupe Concept is the winner of the 2008 Concept Car of the Year award.

"The unique roofline and aggressive stance make the CTS coupe stand out from the crowd and the rest of the Cadillac lineup," said jury member Kevin Kelly.

Few days ago, Hyundai Elantra SE also nominated as the best car by famous American magazine Consumer Reports. In the July issue of the magazine, the car took the first place by obtaining the highest score in the overall road test by the Consumer reports.

Related articles:
Asianbiz.blogspot

PR Newswire

Toshiba America Medical Systems Inc. signed deal with Pinnacle Health

Pinnacle Health, has signed a deal with Toshiba America Medical Systems under which, for the next five years, Toshiba America Medical Systems Inc. will provide CT, Interventional Labs, X-ray, Ultrasound and MRI other medical imaging solutions. Trading Markets report:

The first phase of purchases for PinnacleHealth include $14.5 million in Toshiba medical imaging equipment, including five MR systems, five CT systems, 11 Ultrasound systems and eight X-ray systems. One of the CT systems to be acquired by PinnacleHealth is the Toshiba Aquilion Onetm, a volume CT system with 320 detector rows of coverage.

Toshiba will also provide value added services such as consulting engagements, productivity and efficiency solutions and marketing services. Phil Guarneschelli, COO of Pinnacle Health said that by parenting with Toshiba, his company would create commonality of equipment with all their facilities. Mr. Guarneschelli believes that this would increase Pinnacle Health’s patient care by streamlining workflow and training for technologists and physicians.

Related articles:
Trading Markets

Apple iPhone 3G: Not so PERFECT!

iPhone is a major trendsetter in the mobile phone world. Upon release in 2007, the phone instantly became popular among mobile phone lovers and gadget freaks. This month, Apple released the latest version of iPhone – Apple iPhone 3G. The phone comes with all the great features you can expect from a smart phone. Still, there are some major glitches. Apple CEO, Steve Jobs is known for his reputation for paying attention to the most minor details. Still, he could not cure these problems:

• First, let us talk about the cost. The latest Apple iPhone 3G costs $199 which sounds very cheap but in reality the cost is higher. It costs $160 more than the original iPhone because AT&T has put a costly data plan to subsidise the up-front cost of the phone.

• Though iPhone has transformed the web browsing over mobile phone a great pleasure, the new Apple iPhone 3G does not support Adobe flash. This means many multimedia websites are off-limit.

• Though Apple has provided kits for the users to change batteries by themselves, it is not a very good idea. Why? The sleek case of the new Apple iPhone 3G is not very easy to open.

• The new Apple iPhone 3G does not have video recording facility.

• You can not just cut and paste text from websites with the new Apple iPhone 3G.

• The biggest disappointment of the new Apple iPhone 3G is, it lacks multi-media message service. You can not open pictures or videos send to you by your friend. Where hundreds and thousands of other phone sets comes with multi-media messaging options, the iPhone has nothing.

• The new Apple iPhone 3G does not support voice dialing which makes BlackBerry a better choice for businessmen on the road.

Related article:

Sydney Morning Herald

2009 Honda FCX Clarity: Over hyped Hindenburg!

‘The car that emits nothing but water’, ‘solution to fuel problem,’ and so many things! I was carried away for some time and started to think that this time the world will truly become a better place but my dream bubble just got busted. The new Honda FCX Clarity started with big bang but ended up in whims. For the last couple of days, what Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (TYO: 7267)has been touting as the ultimate solution to pollution free transport proved to be nothing but a public stunt. Now, the million dollar question is WHY?

First, production of Hydrogen requires lot of electricity. How do you produce that electricity? by burning fossil fuel. This takes us back to square 1.

Second, hydrogen is not widely available. Production of hydrogen in large quantity is not profitable. In the first reason, I have already explained why? Then why building hydrogen fuel cars?

Third, Honda is saying that electric plug in vehicles are not so good because they have lower mileage and the battery has limited power. True, but the electricity is more available than H₂. Then why going for expensive hydrogen cars? Criticizing New York Time's article on 2009 Honda FCX Clarity, Guardian says:

Is the Times unaware that electric-car manufacturers are working on "exchangeable batteries", which would make a battery swap about as fast as it takes to refuel a car with hydrogen?

Related articles:
Guardian

CNet News.com

The Seattle Times

The Independent

Honda Motor Company observes increased sales amidst economic slowdown and rising fuel price

In the middle of sub-prime economic crisis and high fuel price in the USA, Japan’s second largest auto maker Honda Motor Company Limited (TYO: 7267) is observing a consistent rise in its car sales. This is truly a big achievement for the company. In an email to the analysts, the company said that the company’s US sales in the first 20 days of June 2008 was higher than last year. Thanks to its latest models of fuel efficient small vehicles.

The email said that Honda’s total sales in the USA rose by 16% in the first 20 days of June. However, Chris Martin, Honda spokesperson could not confirm the email. Honda is among the top five automakers that has observed increased sales in the USA this year. The $4 per gallon gasoline has forced consumers to buy fuel efficient vehicles. Like other USA automakers, Honda does not depend heavily on large vehicle sales. Truck sales makes up less than 40% of its total vehicle sales. The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

''Honda may raise its profit forecast at the half-year point,'' said Takashi Aoki, who helps manage about 130 billion yen at Mizuho Asset Management. ''It may also increase production capacity for the Civic and Accord.''

Through May, Honda's US sales gained 4.8%, compared with an industry decline of 8.4%, according to Autodata. Last month the Civic was the top-selling vehicle in the US, besting Toyota's Corolla and Camry sedans.

The email further says that Honda civic, Honda Accord and Honda Fit are the top selling models of the company. However, sales of the light truck models are down due to fuel crisis and economic slowdown. The car sales went up by 37%.

According to Detroit based Honda spokesman, Chuck Schifsky, the demand of Honda Civic is so high that the company is facing a very tough time to meet the demands.

Related articles:
Bloomberg

Sydney Morning Herald

Nokia is buying Symbian shares and making Symbian free for all

Recently, Finland mobile giant, Nokia, bought out its fellow shareholders in Symbian, the UK based handset Software Company. Nokia is now also making Symbian loyalty free. Market analysts believe that Nokia is doing it to outsmart its rivals and this is going to seriously hurt Microsoft, Google and other major mobile software producers. Currently, Symbian is used in two-thirds of the total smart phone handsets with computer like capabilities around the world and 6% of the total mobile phones around the world. Other major mobile softwares are: Android from Google; Apple’s iPhone, Windows Mobile from Microsoft; and BlackBerry of RIM. Telegraph.co.uk reports:

Nokia was quick yesterday to dismiss the idea that its moves were simply a reaction to its rivals. "This is a market-making move and looking at it as a response to anything would not do justice to what we are doing," said Kai Oistamo, executive vice-president of Nokia.

But analysts were in little doubt. "This move's a shrewd response to growing threats from other providers of mobile phone software," said Geoff Blaber of industry watchers CCS Insight.

Mr Blaber made particular reference to the "open-source" LiMo Foundation as well as Google's Android, which also promises to offer handset makers an operating system at virtually zero cost.

Nokia is also launching Symbian Foundation, a non-profit organization that will unite the Symbian with three user interfaces.

Currently, Windows Mobile from Microsoft is controlling 13% of the smart phone market. Microsoft charges from $8-$15 per phone from the handset makers and Symbian charges $4.10. As Nokia is going to make Symbian free for all, according to Carolina Milanesi, a Gartner analyst, this puts a lot of pressure on Microsoft as they are trying to make their place in the mobile phone market.

Related articles:
Telegraph.co.uk

Wikipedia

Hyundai's ex-chairman now feeds and bathes babies

Once he was one of the most powerful people in South Korea controlling the fortunes of hundreds and thousands of people. Now, he is just a baby sitter. Yes, I am talking about none other than Chung Mong-Koo, the ex-chairman of Hyundai Motor Company (SEO: 005387). As part of his punishment, Chung Mong-Koo is now doing 300-hour community service at a welfare center.

71 year old, Chung Mong-Koo, was sent to prison in February 2007. He received three years sentence for breach of trust and embezzling 90 billion won worth of company funds through fraudulent accounts. Earlier, he received three year prison term but the appeal court nulled the verdict on the ground that it would degrade the image of South Korean economy. Instead, the appeal court ordered a three-year suspended sentence. Telegraph.co.uk reports:

Earlier this month, a second appeal court ruling upheld his suspended prison sentence but ordered him to undertake 300 hours of public service involving manual work for charities or protection of the environment - the earlier sentence had been seen as too lenient on white-collar crime.

Chung had also been ordered to give lectures and write articles in the local media on business ethics - and to make good on his pledge to donate 840 billion won to charity.

Born on March 19, 1938, Chung Mong-Koo is a graduate from Hanyang University in 1967. In 1999, he took over as the head of Hyundai succeeding his father Chung Ju-Yung. In 2000, he defied his father and took over as the chairman of Hyundai Group. Famous American business magazine, Business Week, named him as one of the top managers in 2004. In 2006, the Seoul Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office accused Chung Mong-Koo and his family of embezzling money. Chung Mong-koo was arrested in April 2006.

Related article:
Telegraph.co.uk

Wikipedia

Toyota Motor Corporation is going to observe sales decline in the USA for the first time since 1995

For the first time since 1995, in the USA, Japan’s largest auto maker Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO: 7203) is facing sales decline. The USA is the largest market of Toyota, but the rising fuel price, coupled with subprime loan crisis, have affected the buying capacity of the consumers resulting into big slump in car sales.

Yesterday, at the Toyota shareholders meeting in Japan, Tokuichi Uranishi, Toyota Executive Vice President, announced that the company’s US sales could go below 2.62 million vehicles Toyota sold last year. Uranishi told the 3200 share holders that they were struggling in the US at the moment. Higher fuel price and the subprime loan crisis have cut the demand.

The rise of Toyota Motor Corporation in the USA is truly phenomenal. The company has been consistently growing in the region. According to Autodata Corp., the last sales decline happened in 1995. At that time, Toyota’s sales declined by 0.4% to 1.08 million. Freep.com

But as Toyota grew into a full-line manufacturer, offering a wide choice of pickups and SUVs, it became more exposed to overall economic conditions, said Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis for J.D. Power and Associates.

"They are really not in the ideal position for today's market conditions," Libby said. "If I had to pick a company that is in the ideal position of the marketplace right now, I would pick Honda, because they have no exposure to the upper end of the market, and Toyota does."

In 2008, Toyota’s sales target was 2.64 million vehicles. Currently, Toyota Prius and Toyota Yaris are the top selling vehicles of the company and it could hardly keep up with the demands of these two vehicles. Unfortunately, Toyota’s pickup and other large vehicle sales took a big blow. Few days ago, Toyota declared to cut its Tundra pickup production at its Princeton and Indiana plants. It also decided to stop production for 14 days at its San Antonio facility. The company has also cut down its imports from Japan.

Related articles:
Freep.com

Asianbiz

Hyundai enters into the USA luxury car market with Hyundai Genesis

On May 29^th, I wrote the review of Hyundai Genesis 2009, the first luxury car from Hyundai Motor Company (SEO: 005387). With this car, Hyundai is now officially going to start its luxury car business in the USA. Hyundai Motor America is going to start its $80 million campaign in the USA to promote Hyundai Genesis. It will be the largest campaign of Hyundai.The company said that it would spend most of the $80 million in television ads and the rest will be spent on internet, print and other grassroots marketing activities.

Two media firms: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, and Jack Morton Worldwide will be working in the ad campaign. They are focusing on 2009 Hyundai Genesis' high acceleration, braking, handling, quality, craftsmanship, fit and finish, and interior quietness. The firms will extend Hyundai’s “Think about IT” corporate campaign.Marketing Daily reports:

Although the company began touting the car in Hyundai's first Super Bowl ads this year, and has just begun a road show called "Discover Genesis," the big push starts when the car rolls into dealerships in July.

Advertising hits in September with "NFL on Fox" and the "24" prequel, which will include product placement, "Grey's Anatomy" and CNN featuring Hyundai as the automotive sponsor of its election coverage including the Democratic and Republican national conventions. The effort runs through January.

Hyundai’s grass root promotion campaign, “Discover Genesis,” has started from this month. The campaign will tour 15 cities. The campaign will be held at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It will end in October at the Autobahn Country Club. There consumers will be able to test-drive the car.

Related article:
Marketing Daily

Hyundai Elantra SE scores “Excellent” in Consumer Reports’ road test

Hyundai Elantra SE has been chosen as the best car by the July issue of the famous US magazine for consumers, Consumer Reports. The Hyundai Elantra SE scored “Excellent” in the overall road test score by the Consumer Reports. Along with Hyundai Elantra SE, three other cars: Toyota Corolla, Subaru Impreza and Ford Focus achieved “very good” ratings. The test was conducted over a group of Sedans.

The redesigned Toyota Corolla achieved 32 mpg in the CR fuel economy test. This is the best gas mileage observed by CR in a conventional gasoline powered car with automatic transmission. The smaller Honda Fit scored similar gas mileage followed by Toyota Yaris, which achieved 33 mpg. infozine.com reports

Two Chevrolets were also tested as part of this group, the Cobalt and Aveo. Both ranked near the bottom of the pack. Among compact sedans, the Cobalt ranks 17th out of 19 vehicles tested. Among subcompacts, the Aveo ranks last among the 12 vehicles tested.

Prices for the six cars in CR's tests range from $16,205 for the subcompact Aveo LT to $19,106 for the Impreza 2.5i which is all wheel drive. Even with prices under $20,000, the best of today's small cars provide many convenience features, comfortable interiors, good refinement, and improved fuel economy.

You will get the full report in the July issue of Consumer Reports magazine that has gone on sale on June 3. The magazine conducted the test over 31 small sedans and 21 top used cars.

The Hyundai Elantra SE also took the top position in Consumer Report’s April issue. The car outperformed Honda Civic EX by one point. Compared to Honda Civic EX’s manual transmission, Hyundai Elantra SE comes with standard electronic stability control. This is a great safety feature of the car.

Related articles:
infozine.com

Hyundai

HyundaiElantraSE

ToyotaYaris

Hyundai is Planning to Launch New Cars Under i-Series

After experiencing huge success of its compact car i10 in Indian market, Hyundai Motor Company (SEO:005380) is now planning to launch a few other models under i-series both in Indian market as well as overseas market. You know that Hyundai i10 is the first passenger car, from a foreign company, which is being manufactured in India and exported to some other markets in the world. The South Korean car maker, Hyundai, saw good success of i10 and now look to hit other car segment of Indian car market. Hyundai is planning to launch i20 in October, which is India’s festive season. Two other models: i30 and i40- also remain in the queue and are expected to hit the Indian car market in the next few years.

Economictimes reported:

HMI managing director and CEO HS Lheem told ET : “We plan to bring the entire portfolio of our new i-series cars to India. As a full range car company, the premium i30 and i40 cars have a significant potential in India. These new generation cars are ideal for the fast growing Indian market. Besides, we will also strengthen the i10 portfolio with a new engine and an automatic transmission in the next few months.”

Reports have it that Hyundai is also planning to upgrade its i10 model replacing its current 1.1 litre 67 horsepower intelligent Repressive Drive Engine (iRDE) with 1.2 litre 80 horsepower Kappa series engine. Hyundai is also studying the market potential of C and D segment car. Considering the price hike in gasoline in the global market, Hyundai is also focusing on the cars run in CNG and planning to launch Santro hatchback and Accent sedan on LPG fuel in future.

Toyota Floritech uses CO2 to grow flowers

Japan’s auto giant Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO: 7203) is now trying to put the CO₂ in good use. Toyota Floritech Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Toyota is now using CO₂ to produce flowers in its green house.

The 20,000 square meters green house is the largest green house in the world for potted flowers. In the facility electricity is produced using natural gas. In the process, CO₂ is also produced as a byproduct. The electricity is then used for lighting the plant, the waste hit is used to warm water. The emitted CO₂ used on plants to increase their photosynthesis ability. AFP reports:

"Nowadays you automatically think of C02 as a villain. But it's what plants need to grow," said Teruo Takatomi, president of unit Toyota Floritech Co. Ltd.

"You have gas emissions when you generate electricity. After removing nitrogen oxide from the gas, C02 is returned here for plants to inhale," farm chief Takuya Sato said, pointing to the overhead ducts.

The new system introduced in March is expected to help the company slash C02 emissions by a combined 460 tonnes a year, he said.

Toyota Floritech Co. Ltd. is a joint venture between Hakusan Co. Ltd. a reputed seeds and seedlings import company. It was established in 1999. The company sales four million potted flowers and ornamental plants. The firm is the first commercial facility in Japan to introduce the production and use of three different resources from a single fuel. Known as the “trigeneration” system it comes with a machine that provides high-oxygen water to invigorate plants roots.

Related tags:
AFP

Nokia N78 Review

The Nokia N78 was unveiled at the 2008 GSMA Congress in February. Like other N-series phones, Nokia N78 comes with some good multimedia features.

Dimension:
Length: 4.4 in
Breadth: 1.9 in
Width: 0.6 in
Weight: 3.6 oz
The Nokia N78 is a candy bar style phone.

The Nokia N78 is available in three colors: pearl white, cocoa brown, and blue lagoon. All about symbian.com says:

The overall design of the N78 has similarities to the N81 and N96 – flat (black) plastics on the front, with silver-gray plastic sides and coloured ‘adzed-patterned’ plastics on the back. These designs have a fashion consciousness about them and move further way away from the utilitarian designs of some of the early Nseries, which were dominated by rounded beige and grey plastics. Fingerprints can be a bit of an issue with shiny black plastics, but the N78s at MWC, which were being handled by hundreds of people, weren’t anything like as bad as I expected – especially compared to the N81 or N76 at similar events.

Features:

• The Nokia N78 has 320 hours of standby time.
• The Nokia N78 comes with 4 hours 20 minutes of talk time.
• The Nokia N78 has speed dial and voice dialing system.
• The Nokia N78 has vibrating alert.
• The Nokia N78 comes with speaker phone.
• The Nokia N78 has polyphonic ringer.
• The Nokia N78 digital media player supports MP3, WMA MP3, WMA, W4A, AAC, AAC+, and eAAC+ files, OMA DRM 2.0. You can also play WM DRM-protected songs. Your Mobile Phone Reviews says:

A built in stereo FM radio allows the user to tune into their favourite station & the radio feature supports a VisualRadio™ feature. The user can view text information on the screen which is provided by the radio station so the radio feature is a listening & visual experience for the user. An integrated music player supports popular music formats & allows the user to listen to their music just they want to, with easy to create playlist feature & colourful album art displays.

• The Nokia N78 has 2.4 inch TFT active matrix display with 2048 x 1536 resolutions. C Net says:

Up front, there's a 2.4-inch QVGA display that displays 16 million colors at a 320x240 pixel resolution. It's bright and sharp, and we were able to read it in various environments, though the screen tends to wash out slightly in bright sunlight. One new functionality is when you activate the camera or view your photos, the screen orientation will automatically switch from portrait to landscape mode, so you get more viewing room. Note that this isn't like the accelerometer feature of the iPhone, so it won't automatically switch back when you turn the phone upright again.

• The Nokia N78 comes with lithium ion battery. During low battery charge it would give you audio alert.
• The Nokia N78 comes with standard call features: call divert, call barring, call hold, call Timer, caller ID, call waiting, volume control, ringer control, conference call capability, computer link, and call transfer.
• The Nokia N78 has an integrated antenna. Infosyncworld.com:

The scheduling and productivity apps on the smartphone are a nice bonus feature of using a mature smartphone OS like Symbian S60. The phone gets a QuickOffice suite for viewing Office documents, and the calendar app did a nice job of synchronizing our appointments from our Outlook calendar. It won't take the place of a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile smartphone, but this phone is no slouch for viewing documents and keeping track of a calendar on the road.

• The Nokia N78 supports Bluetooth.
• The Nokia N78 supports Wi-Fi (802.11b/g). Mobile88.com says:

The availability of Wi-Fi also means the availability of the WLAN Wizard application, which essentially is a simple program intended to help the user to arrange network connections in a semi-automatic mode. There are but a few options, once a network is detected the user is prompted to submit a number of settings. Network filtering is available, the security standards include WEP, WPA and WPA2. The scanning period during which WLAN networks are searched and detected is also adjustable in the options.

• The Nokia N78 has AGPS.
  
• The keypad of Nokia N78 comes resembles with that of Nokia N81. Mobile Review.com says:

On top of that, it utilizes the NavyWheel, which is a touch-sensitive pad that allows paging through lists by sweeping your finger around the navigation button. But honestly, I didn’t find it a joy to use – the navigation pad is designed in the way that occasionally the sensor will trigger by accident and you will end up in the menu you didn’t want to open. Again, comparing it with other solutions out there, the N78 doesn’t have the best implementation of this control.The navigation key is quite a breeze to handle for it is mechanical. It retains an indicator that glows in white notifying the user of various events – as the settings put it, this mode is called “breathing”, it can be disabled in case you don’t like it.

• The Nokia N78 comes with a built-in FM transmitter.
• The Nokia N78 has built-in stereo speakers.
• The Nokia N78 has 3.2-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. It has 20x zoom and autofocus. For still photos, there are five image qualities and eight scene modes, and five color tone options. The camera also comes with white balance control, exposure control, sharpness, contrast, and light sensitivity. You can also capture VGA quality (640x480) video clips at 30 frames per second. There are five video qualities, two scene modes, white balance and color tone settings.
• The Nokia N78 supports GPS. The interesting feature is that GPS and imaging capabilities work together and you can geotag your photos.
• The Nokia N78 supports HSDPA.
• The Nokia N78 supports quad-band world roaming.
• The address book of Nokia N78 is limited. Under each entry you can have multiple phone numbers, work and home address, email addresses, birthday.

Price: Priced between $498.99 - $549.95.

Related articles:
CNET

New iPhone will take away major South Korean market share from LG and Samsung

No matter how they label their new products, ‘iPhone hunters,’ ‘iPhone killers,’ Samsung Electronics Corporation (SEO: 005935)and LG, two of the largest mobile phone producing companies of South Korea will face tough competition from the new Apple iPhone 3G.

According to the data of Strategy Analytics, till now, LG enjoyed a sales growth four times higher than the industry average in South Korea and Samsung two times. Now, after the release of new iPhone model at a low subsidized price could take away major market share of LG and Samsung in South Korea.

Yankee Group analyst, John Jackson, said that you would not need an analyst to tell you that a low subsidized price for the most-anticipated gadget ever was going to move huge amounts of iPhones in finite number of channels through which they would sell. It would hurt the Korean producers in key high-end segments.

Not only Samsung and LG but other major mobile phone companies like Motorola (NYSE:MOT) and Sony Ericsson are also expected to face a tough competition against the new iPhone. The latest model Apple iPhone 3G offers phone, iPod media player, web browser and faster internet access on advanced wireless networks. The Apple iPhone 3G will cost $199. From Jully 11, it would hit the market. According to Jae Lee, Daiwa Securities analyst, now it would be the best time for Korean makers to trim the fat from their cell-phone prices or else, they would not stand a chance in front of the iPhone.

Related article:
Reuters

iPhone

Samsung

LodgeNet Interactive Corporation joins with LG, Philips and Panasonic

LodgeNet Interactive Corporation (NASDAQ:LNET), a leading media and connectivity solutions provider in the USA, has joined with LG Electronics, Philips and Panasonic for providing a more HDTV solution for hoteliers. Under the partnership, the above mentioned companies will provide HDTV with “plug-and-play” system designed by LodgeNet. This will lower hotel owner’s total solution cost, enable faster room openings, shorten the time of rooms out of service, and enhance total system performance. Trading Markets.com reports:

LodgeNet explained that HD Built-In TVs come "out of the box" with the ability to support Pro:Idiom encrypted HD free-to-guest (FTG) and video on demand (VOD), and are compatible with LodgeNet and/or legacy OnCommand systems so hoteliers do not need to purchase any additional hardware or software. This approach to HD means that hoteliers won't need to make additional room visits to install FTG or VOD interface hardware, and they can be confident of full system compatibility from day one. These integrated TVs can reduce a hotelier's total solution cost by eliminating additional room visits for installation and reducing the hardware requirements from FTG and VOD service providers.

With these new plug-and-play television sets, hotel owners will be able to generate more income from new construction properties by opening new rooms faster and reduce the revenue loss from properties undergoing renovations or a brand refresh. Scott C. Peterson, President and CEO of LodgeNet said that working with these world-class manufacturers to offer the HD Built-In and HD Certified TV program was a win in every way for their hotel customers.

LodgeNet Interactive Corporation provides its media and connectivity solutions to hospitality, healthcare and other guest-based businesses.

Related articles:
Trading Markets.com

Hyundai Motor in Top Place in Car Market of Russia?

I saw this news: Hyundai Recaptures 1st Place in Russia Auto Sales. So, I thought that Hyundai Motor is the number one player in Russian car market. However, then I saw in the report this sentence: “Hyundai Motor has regained the number one sales spot in Russia's imported car market after losing it to Chevrolet in March and April.” So, I got confused. What I need to do is to carry out some more research about it and give you more information.

DO you have any idea about Russian auto market?

Toyota's American plants slashe down Toyota Tundra pickup production

In the face of rising fuel price in the USA, Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO: 7203) has declared to cut its Tundra pick up production in four months. In an interview, Toyota’s spokesperson, Mike Goss, said that the company will slow down its Tundra production at its Princeton and Indiana plants. However, he did not provide any details of the production slowdown. San Antonio’s truck line will stop production for 14 days between the current month and the end of October. The Princeton factory is cutting down six scheduled production days between the current month and the end of August. The Princeton plant produces Tundra and Sequoia sport. Bloomberg reports:

Toyota ``is considering all kinds of options to make sure we're making the best use of all our production facilities,'' Goss said. There are no plans to concentrate all Tundra and Sequoia assembly at the San Antonio plant, Goss said.

Tundra sales dropped 32 percent in May as U.S. customers shifted away from large pickups and SUVs to smaller, more fuel- efficient vehicles. Higher gasoline prices, combined with a sluggish economy hurt by falling home values, have contributed to a 22 percent dip in sales of large pickups this year and a 32 percent drop for large SUVs.

The declaration of reduction in Tundra first came in March 13^th. Fortunately, neither of the two Toyota plants will lay-off its full-time assembly workers. However, 200 temporary employees at the San Antonio plant will be eliminated in the next few months.

Related articles:
Bloomberg

Japanese manufacturers take top position in UK's Car Magazine survey

Famous British magazine, Car Magazine recently conducted a reliability survey which revealed that Japanese cars are better than British and other European models. Honda Motor Company Limited (TYO: 7267), the second largest car maker in Japan took the first place. The first eight spots of the survey were taken by 38 Japanese brands. The study was conducted over 89,768 cars that were upto eight years old. Telegraph.co.uk reports:

Statistical analysis was used to calculate a Brand Reliability Index percentage based on readers' reports of total breakdowns, faults that required a vehicle to be taken to a garage and minor niggles.

Break-downs were weighted more heavily than niggles. Honda achieved 85 per cent followed by Toyota, Daihatsu, Lexus, Mazda, Subaru and Suzuki.

The Korean Hyundai brand was the first to make inroads into Japanese domination, scoring 80 per cent.

The table was divided into reliability categories ranging from the best "very good" through "good", "average" and "poor" with the least reliable being described as "very poor".

Out of the eight Japanese brands, seven made it to the ‘very good category’. South Korea’s Hyundai and Porsche fell into the “good” category.

Most of the British cars fell either into ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ category. Rover, MG, Land Rover fall into “very poor”; Vauxhall “poor”; Mini and Jaguar reached the average figure.

Honda was also in fault position with it Civic model that was made in Swindon, Wiltshire. The car came at the joint-bottom spot in the individual model’s list.

Related article:
Telegraph

After Honda FCX Clarity, Honda launches fuel-efficient rail cars that emit less CO2

After taking the roads and highways, it is time to take the railways. Yes, American Honda Motor Co. Ltd is now planning to introduce fuel efficient rail cars. The Ohio based Japanese auto-giant announced to deploy a new fleet of Auto-Max rail cars. These railcars can hold up 22 cars and trucks. The 400-car carrier decreases fuel costs per vehicle and reduces CO₂ emissions. Biz Journals.com reports:

Honda's bi-level rail cars, by comparison, can move up to 10 trucks and only carry one vehicle at a time.

Ed Miller, a Honda spokesman, said another key feature of the railcars, designed by Lake Oswego, Ore.-based freight manufacturer Greenbrier Cos. (NYSE:GBX), is their fully enclosed design, which cuts down on shipping problems over long distances. Some vehicles produced in Marysville, for example, travel 3,000 miles.

In 2007, the USA Honda Motor Company Ltd. produced one million vehicles and transported every four out of five by rail. It spent about $7 million to redesign the infrastructure of its new railcars at its Marysville and East Liberty plants.

In the USA, Honda played a major role in increasing rail capacity and made it possible for railcars to move faster and reduce idle times during which it emits highest amount of CO₂.

Related article:
Biz Journals.com

Hybrid Prius, Hydrogen powered car and the new after market kit from A123 Systems

It looks like the auto arena has become a major battle ground of two BIG “H;” Honda’s Hydrogen vs. Toyota’s Hybrid. Who do you think deserve most lime light? If you ask me then my answer will be, I do not know.

By this time, I think all the readers who are reading/not reading this blog, know about the 2009 Honda FCX Clarity, the hydrogen fuel-cell car.

Toyota’s hybrid caught the attention of media after the price of oil started to rise and American people for the first time got the hit of high oil prices. Now, it takes very small time for the Toyota Prius to hit the show room and getting sold. Dealers all over the USA are just observing their Toyota Prius waiting list getting longer day by day. Last month, Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO:7203)) declared that by the end of April it sold about 1,028,000 Prius cars. Now, they have set a target of selling one million vehicles per year after 2010.

Toyota also declared two new hybrid models that will be powered by lithium-ion battery. Masatami Takimoto, Head of R&D, Toyota Motor Corporation, said that one of the new vehicles is going to be a new design and it would be larger than Prius and released under the Lexus Brand in 2010. The other car, a production of version of Toyota’s “iQ microcar”, is a 10 feet long small city car for four passengers.

Battery technology company, A123Systems, has begun selling its new aftermarket kit which can convert the Toyota Prius hybrid into a Plug-in hybrid and increase fuel-efficiency to more than 100 miles per gallon. The kit’s retail cost is under $10,000 and includes installation at select dealerships.

Related article:

Sustainable Business

Reuters

Will Honda FCX Clarity be the ultimate transport solution of the future?

Like a big python, the high price of fuel coiled the world economy and squeezing out every chance of growth. From the top economies to the poorest region, every one is suffering from high fuel prices. At the same time, major environmental changes and green house effects have changed our lives. At such a critical stage, Honda Motor Company may have been able to bring a sigh of relief among people. The new Honda FCX Clarity is going to hit the road next month. A car that runs on hydrogen and emits no CO₂ but water seems to be the ideal car for every one. However, there is a catch. The car is not still available for the mass market. It comes with a high price tag.

Still, the good thing is people in developed countries have started using vehicles that are fuel efficient and emits less CO₂. The revolution has already started in the United States of America. Major US automakers like Ford, Chrysler, GM are now focusing on building small fuel efficient vehicles and hybrid and electronic vehicles.

Now, the million dollar question is, can cars like Honda FCX Clarity change people’s demand of oil? At this stage, that is a big ‘No.’ The demand of oil will still remain high as more and more countries are moving towards industrialization. In addition, there are many products around us that require petroleum to produce such as plastic. It would take a lot more to divert people from using oil as the major source of energy but Honda FCX Clarity is the symbol of hope. It shows that if we try we can change ourselves and enrich our lives and the lives of others.

Related article:

The Record

The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity : The hydrogen fuel-cell car from Honda Motor Company Ltd.

Honda Motor Company Ltd. (TYO: 7267) has made a big leap towards developing environment friendly car. The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity is the first fuel-cell car of the world. Honda Motor Company was also the pioneer of gas-electric hybrid. Now, they have brought out the first car that produces nothing but steam. It is truly a car of the future.

Dimension:
Wheelbase. . . . . . . . . .110.2 inches
Length. . . . . . . . . . . . 190.3 inches
Height. . . . . . . . . . . . .57.8 inches
Width. . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.7 inches
Track (front/rear). . . .62.2 / 62.8
Curb Weight. . . . . . . . .3582 lbs.

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity is a dynamic full-cabin sedan. Automobile mag says:

The FCX handles like a well-composed family car. But easily distracted drivers might be mesmerized by the multi-color power meter gauge in the center of the dashboard, especially a ball that grows alarmingly and changes color as fuel mileage dwindles. (Note to self: See if mashing the throttle down long enough will cause the ball - and the car - to self-destruct to prevent further environmental irresponsibility.) Driven properly, the FCX is expected to deliver the equivalent of 68 mpg and zero tailpipe emissions.

• The front end of the 2009 Honda FCX Clarity comes with a 6-sided grille.
  

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity comes in a sophisticated rich color called Star Garnet Metallic.
  

• The hood, trunk, doors and fenders of the 2009 Honda FCX Clarity are made of aluminum.
  

• The wheels of 2009 Honda FCX Clarity have ultra-lightweight 5-spoke forged aluminum.
  

• The front and rear sub frames of 2009 Honda FCX Clarity are made from extruded aluminum.
  

• A significant portion of the seating material of the 2009 Honda FCX Clarity comes from plants.
  

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity seat covers are made of environment friendly Honda bio-fabric. Conventional polyester are made from petroleum but Honda bio-fabric provides a CO2 reduction of 30% compared to polyester. The bio-fabric is highly elastic and very silky, durable and soft to the touch.
  

• The seats of the 2009 Honda FCX Clarity are individually contoured to complement human form. The seats also have heating and cooling facility. There is also a rear center console which serves as tray table.
  

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity comes with front and rear door pockets to stash you stuff.
  

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity comes with Satellite Linked Navigation System with voice recognition and rearview camera. It is not available in all the FCX Clarity powertrain. The navigation system is available in the USA; except Alaska.
  

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity comes with XM® Radio and MP3/auxiliary input jack in the center console. Honda official website says:

Required XM® Radio monthly subscription sold separately after 90-day trial period. Installation costs and other fees and taxes may apply after initial trial period, including a one-time activation fee. Subscription fee is consumer only. All fees and programming subject to change. Subscriptions subject to Customer Agreement available at xmradio.com. XM service only available in the United States except Alaska. The XM name is a registered trademark of XM Satellite Radio Inc.”

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity comes with a multi-layered instrument panel. The hydrogen-consumption gauge changes color and size to show the level of your hydrogen consumption as driving conditions change. During high consumption the ball becomes large and amber colored. In case of low consumption, it shrinks and turns yellow then blue.
  

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity comes with USB audio interface. Honda official website says:

The USB Audio Interface is used for direct connection to and control of some current digital audio players and other USB devices that contain MP3, WMA, or AAC music files. Some USB devices with security software and digital rights-protected files may not work. Please see your dealer for details on compatibility.

Performance:

• Honda has given equal emphasis on performance of the 2009 Honda FCX Clarity. Motor Trend says:

the Clarity's fuel-cell stack is located under the driver's right arm, is 65 percent smaller by volume, packs 17 percent more power (100 kW or 136 horses), and it can start at temperatures as low as -22 degrees F (owed to its vertical, gravity-drain water path). Combined with its co-axial and compact motor/gearbox up front, lithium battery pack under the rear seat, and single, 5000psi storage tank behind the rear passengers, the Clarity is brilliantly laid out. Interior space is generous, particularly its rear passenger legroom, and trunk volume is commendable.

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity is powered by both fuel cell and electric motor. Alternative fuels.about.com says:

The fuel cell stack works in conjunction with an electric motor that spins up to 12,500 rpm, and is bundled into a single unit with the gearbox. Regenerative braking charges up advanced lithium ion batteries which power the electric motor, and the system works together to produce a total of 134 horsepower and 189 ft-lbs of torque. The FCX Clarity achieves the hydrogen equivalent of 68 mpg combined, with a total cruising range of 270 miles, and its only emissions are water vapor.

• One of the great features of the 2009 Honda FCX Clarity is that you do not need any keys to start the vehicle. All you have to do is just push the start button. Business Weeksays:

Step on the throttle and you're likely to be surprised by the Clarity's aggressive launch. The system produces 100 kilowatts of power, with a modest additional assist from the onboard batteries, which operate much like those in today's gas-electric hybrids. ……From 0 to 30 mph, the FCX delivers some serious acceleration. It slacks off as you approach highway speed, but that doesn't mean it's a slouch. We were able to easily merge onto the congested I-10, in Santa Monica , and quickly soared to near 90 mph. Certainly, around town, the FCX Clarity will keep up with traffic.

Safety features:

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity comes with Six airbags.
  

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity has anti-lock braking system (ABS).
  

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity has Even Vehicle Stability Assist.
  

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity has Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) systems.
  

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity passed all the tests required by U.S. safety standards.
  

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity comes with omni-directional crash protection system to protect the hydrogen and electrical devices inside the car in times of crash.
  

• The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity comes with Honda’s newly improved Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS). Introduced in 2003, CMBS can detect potential collisions. In case of unavoidable collision, front seat belts automatically retract and braking force reduces the vehicle's speed.

Related articles:
Autobloggreen

Motor Trend

Automobilemag

Business Week

Alternative Fuels

FCX Clarity official website

Honda

Hondafuel-cell

zeroemission

HondaFCXClarity

The FCX Clarity : First zero-emission vehicle from Honda Motor Co. Ltd.

The FCX Clarity is the new zero-emission car from Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (TYO: 7267). On June 16 2008, the first batch of FCX Clarity rolled out of the production line and is heading for Southern California. Honda unveiled the FCX Clarity in November 2007. After revealing the car, the company received 50,000 emails inquiring about the FCX Clarity. Many of you now know Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO: 7203) as the hybrid pioneer but it was Honda that first brought out hybrid cars. Unfortunately, Toyota Motor Corporation took over Honda. Now, Honda is preparing to give Toyota Prius a run for its money. After releasing the FCX Clarity, Honda Motor Corporation will become the top player in the green auto industry.

Here are some of the information I have collected about the FCX Clarity:

• Honda is now claiming that it is the first company to have a certified hydrogen car for commercial use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

• The FCX Clarity is a roomy four door sedan. In terms of performance, the FCX Clarity has a smooth ride and easy to handle.

• The FCX Clarity runs on hydrogen and electricity. The car does not emit any Carbon but steam.

• According to Honda, the FCX Clarity is two times more energy efficient than gas-electric hybrid and three times than a standard gasoline-powered car.

• The first FCX model was unveiled as a concept vehicle at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show. Compared to FCX, the FCX Clarity uses 75% fewer parts. It took Honda Motor Company 19 years to develop the car. Fool.com says:

The hydrogen fuel cell is hardly new. It's been around since 1839! The principal challenges to its widespread application in vehicles have related to the fuel itself: the need for an entire fueling infrastructure, the cost of creating and distributing the hydrogen fuel, and the energy (often from natural gas) required to produce the fuel.

• The FCX Clarity is powered by a newly designed fuel cell stack. The new fuel cell stack has allowed Honda’s engineers to lighten the body, expand the interior and increase efficiency.
  

• The fuel cell generates energy through chemical reaction between hydrogen gas and oxygen in the air. A lithium-ion battery provides supplemental power.
  

• The FCX Clarity can go “270-miles per tank with hydrogen consumption equivalent to 74 miles per gallon, according to the carmaker.” (280 miles according to Business Week)
  

• The FCX Clarity weighs 3,600-pound.
  

• The FCX Clarity can reach speeds up to 100 miles per hour.
  

• The FCX Clarity can go from 0-60mph in around nine seconds.
  

• The FCX Clarity is still at experimentation stage. Honda will just lease 200 FCX Clarity in the next three years. The potential customers will have to be residents of Santa Monica, Torrance or Irvine, and California. The reason, these areas contain Hydrogen fuel stations. The person who would lease the car for three years will have to pay $600 per month including maintenance and collision coverage. The leasing process will start from July. Out of the 200 cars, 50 will be leased in Japan and 150 the USA. In Japan, the car will be launched in fall. C Net says:

Starting in July, Honda plans to offer the hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity through a lease program at three dealerships in California: Power Honda Costa Mesa, Honda of Santa Monica, and Scott Robinson Honda in Torrance. Honda also plans to make the cars available in Japan. The cars will be leased on a three-year basis for about $600 per month, according to Honda.

Lucky first customers:
The FCX Clarity has already started a big buzz in Hollywood. The lucky first customers of the car are:

• Actress Jamie Lee Curtis and filmmaker husband Christopher Guest.
• Actress Laura Harris.
• Film producer Ron Yerxa
• Southland Industries CFO Jon Spallino
• Jim Salomon (businessman)
  

Launching ceremony at Japan:

On June 16^th, Honda held a launching ceremony of the FCX Clarity, at the Tochigi prefecture. News reporters who joined the ceremony were allowed test drives of the FCX Clarity which was followed by a presentation and tour of the factory. Actress Laura Harris and producer Ron Yerza attended the event and cheerfully communicated with the reporters.

Interview of Takeo Fukui:
Famous American business magazine, Wall Street Journal, had an interview with Takeo Fukui, President and CEO of Honda Motor Company. Fukui shares his thoughts, ideas about fuel-cell vehicles and Hondas and future plans of Honda. Here is an excerpt of the interview:

WSJ: Why is Honda introducing fuel-cell vehicles when there is no infrastructure yet to support them?
Mr. Fukui: About 100 years ago, when Ford's Model T came out, that kicked off the development of the auto industry. If you ask, 'Were there any gas stations back then?' there weren't. In the car industry, cars should come first and then infrastructure will follow.

WSJ: So how many years away are we from having hydrogen refueling stations for fuel-cell vehicles?
Mr. Fukui: That's not going to happen really quickly. It's happening in California, and may eventually happen in several other states, and also Japan and Europe. We are working on the technology where we can charge hydrogen into fuel-cell vehicles at homes. So probably in the next 10 years we will get some level of infrastructure in place.

When asked about developing electric vehicles Mr. Fukui said that the practical feasibility of electric vehicle is very limited and the biggest issue is driving distance. Charging time is also another major issue. Where an electric vehicle takes several hours to charge a fuel-cell vehicle takes only one minute. Electric vehicles have restricted applications like golf carts.

Obstacles and debates:

• Lack of large number of hydrogen filling stations is a big problem for the FCX Clarity.
  
• Another major debate over hydrogen is whether it is truly energy efficient. It requires large amount of electricity to produce hydrogen.
  

Price of FCX Clarity:
Another major obstacle for the FCX Clarity is the price. Though Toyota Prius is now the most fuel efficient car in the USA, it comes with a hefty price tag. As a result, many analysts are saying that Prius is not the ultimate money saver.

Takeo Fukui, President and CEO, Honda Motor Company said that the new FCX Clarity will cost tens of millions of yen but its previous models cost higher; hundred million yen. To introduce the car into the mass-market, price need to go below 10 million yen or $92000. Mr. Fukui said that it would take another ten years for the company to make the car widely available to every one. To cut the price, Honda should reduce the use of expensive metals and work on producing cheap hydrogen fuel tank.

Related articles:
AP

Business Week

Waleg

CNet

News.Scotsman.com

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd expects to sale 200 mobile phonesets in 2008

Despite world wide economic slow down, South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (SEO: 005930) is expecting to sale 200 million mobile phone sets this year. Compared to 2007, this is a 25% increase.

Youngcho Chi, Senior Vice President for Marketing, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said that his company had not been affected by the current economic climate. They were still seeing health growth rates in their sales. He believed that global economic situation presented them with the opportunity to increase their competitive edge to win their consumers’ support and attention. Reuters reports:

"We expect the overall mobile market size in 2008 to be about 1.2 billion units, a 9 per cent increase from 2007," Youngcho Chi, Senior Vice President of Samsung Electronics' Mobile Communications division, told Reuters in an email.

"Of these, we aim to achieve sales of 200 million units, a 25 per cent increase from the 161 million units sold in 2007," Chi said.

Samsung, which trails Finland's Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research) in the cellphone market, sold 46.3 million phones in the first quarter, equal to a record number sold in the fourth quarter.

Margins in the unit rose to a strong 16 percent from the fourth quarter's 11 percent.

According to Samsung forecasts, the mobile handset market would grow 4-5% in the second quarter against previous quarter in which the company sold about 46.3 mobile phones. Last year, Samsung observed a 42% growth in its phone set sales, which was four times higher than the industry growth rate. Still, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd is far behind Nokia (NYSE:NOK), the Finland mobile phone company in terms of global handset sales.

Related articles:
Forbes

Reuters

Telecom Tiger

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd receives WiMAX Forum Wave2 certificate

At the 2008 WiMAX Forum Global Congress, held in Amsterdam, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (SEO: 005930) received world’s first WiMAX Forum Wave2 certificate for its ‘Base Station’ and ‘Mobile Station’. Both the devices support 2.5GHZ band. The products are commercial grade ‘Mobile WiMAX Wave2 Base Station’ and ‘Mobile Station.’ The devices use Samsung’s Mobile WiMAX Wave2 modem chipset which will be commercially used in the Sprint-Nextel Mobile WiMAX service. ZDNet reports:

Mobile WiMAX Wave2 products introduce a number of new features including Multi-In Multi-Out (MIMO) and Smart Antenna. These features enable the fastest data rate, up to 37Mbps for downlink and 10Mbps for uplink, among currently available mobile technologies in service. At this speed users can download 3MB MP3 music files within 0.7 seconds and 700MB movie files within less than 3 minutes.

“We are very excited to obtain the Mobile WiMAX Wave2 certification from WiMAX Forum by successfully passing all rigorous certification tests. This once again shows Samsung’s leadership in Mobile WiMAX technologies.” said Geesung Choi, President of Telecommunication Business at Samsung Electronics.

Mr. Choi said that he is confident in Mobile WiMAX as one of the most promising service in mobile broadband. Earlier, in April, Samsung also received Wave1 certification which makes Samsung few of the top vendors to posses both certified commercial Mobile WiMAX Wave1 and Wave2 product line ups.

Related article:
ZDNet

Toshiba unveils its three new laptops: Qosimo F50, Qosimo G50 and Qosimo X 300

At a London Press Conference, Toshiba Corporation announced its new line of laptops.

The Qosmio F50: The ‘baby’ of the group with a 15.4 inch screen.

The Qosmio G50: The Qosmio G50 has an 18.5 inch screen which will remove your desktop computer.

The Qosimo X300: The Qosmio X300 is the updated version of the Satellite X200. It comes with an eye-catching red color.

Features:

• The laptops use Toshiba’s newly developed Quad Core technology. The Quad Core processor is basically the SpursEngine used in Sony PS3. The processor can upscale real time standard definition video.
• The laptops use a separate processor in case of high-definition video and the main processor deals with normal activities like loading files and so on.
• Another interesting feature of these laptops is Gesture Recognition. This option allows you to control certain functions such as pausing and playing movies, waving your hands.
• Toshiba mainly focused on enhanced viewing standard. They are still not equipped for the Blu-ray market.
• All the Qosimo laptops comes with a 640GB hard drive.
• All the Qosimo laptops can take up to 8GB of RAM.
• The new Qosimo laptops are equipped with nVidia GeForce graphics chipsets.
• The new Qosimo laptops has Harmon Kardon speakers.

Related articles:

Tech Radar

PC Advisor

Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V: The lightest laptop in the world

Toshiba Corporation (TYO:6502) is one of the leading laptop producers in the world. On June 16^th, the company announced a new version of its PortégéR500 ultraportable. It has added a 128 GB solid-state hard drive to it Portege laptop models. The announcement comes in the face of the company moving towards flash-based drives.

Toshiba’s main selling points are its storage capacity and environment friendly technology. The SSD and 7mm DVD SuperMulti drive makes the Portege R500-S5007V light weight. The laptop also uses motherboard produced using High Density Mounting Technology process. This mother board is one-third the weight of a conventional motherboard fitted into a 15.4 inches thick notebook. With this laptop, you do not have to worry about carrying extra devices and cables to attach with the laptop. Toshiba laptops are RoHS-compatible and use lesser amount of lead, mercury and other hazardous substances. So, if you are someone who cares about the environment then you should go for Toshiba.

Dimension:
Length: 12.1-inches
Width: 0.77 inches
Weight: 2.4 pounds (this makes Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V, the lightest laptop in the world at present).

Features:

• The Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V has a 128GB SSD and 7mm DVD SuperMulti drive which supports 9 formats.
  

• The Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V has a 12.1 inch 1280 x 800 (WXGA) high brightness transflective led backlight display. This makes it usable under sunlight and requires minimum active backlighting.
  

• The Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V comes with Intel Core 2 Duo Processor U7700–1.33GHz, 2MB L2, 533MHz FSB with 64 bit.
  

• The Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V has Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950.
  

• The Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V comes with 2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM.
  

• The Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V supports Wi-Fi 4965AGN.
  

• The Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V supports Bluetooth 2.0+EDR.
  

• The Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V comes with Intel® PRO/1000 - 10/100/1000 Ethernet.
  

• For security, the Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V is equipped with a fingerprint reader and Toshiba’s own EasyGuard encryption system.
  

• The Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V has both Windows Vista Business version and Windows XP Professional.
  

Battery life:
The Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V has eight hours of battery life.

Price:
The Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V will cost $2,999 with a 3 year warranty.

Related articles:

ZDNET

Slash Gear

Shinjuku Piccadilly Cinema Complex will install Sharp LB-1085 LCD display

Earlier, I wrote about Sharp Electronics Corporation (TYO:6753) planning to ship its 108-inch LB-1085 LCD display from next month. Well, the company is now going to introduce the largest LCD display of the world into Japan. The monitor will be sold to various business organizations. The new monitor will be installed at the Shinjuku Piccadilly Cinema Complex. Sharp Electronics is going to make serious efforts to bring in orders and expand sales in the global market. PR Inside.com reports:

This unit features a widescreen 108V-inch Advanced Super View LCD panel, the maximum size that a single 8th-generation glass substrate (2,160 x 2,460 mm) manufactured at Kameyama Plant No. 2 can yield. The large display area is nearly equivalent in size to two tatami mats (approx. 3.2 m2) and can convey images to many people in wide interior spaces. Plus, a rich assortment of inputs, including HDMI and DVI-I connectors, provides greater connectivity with a wide variety of equipment and devices, and a fan-less design that minimizes noise and intake of dust from outside air further improves its level of technical sophistication as a commercial display.

Shinjuku Piccadilly Cinema Complex, which will be opened on 19^th July 2008, is going to be the largest of its kind in Tokyo. Built under the concept of “pure-white theatre,” the 10-screen cinema complex has a huge open-ceiling foyer extending from the 1^st floor to the 3^rd floor. The Sharp LB-1085 LCD display will be installed at the center of the main-lobby at the third-floor facing this foyer.

Related articles:
PR Inside.com

Asianbiz.blogspot

Fareastgizmos

Mainichi Daily News

largestLCDmonitor

LCDmonitor

LCDdisplay

Sharpcorporation

Sharp Electronics Corporation selects Gold Client software to manage its database

Sharp Electronics Corporation (TYO:6753), one of the top Japanese electronic companies has chose Gold Client software to manage its database. Gold Client is a ‘premier refresh and replication’ data management software that can be used in ‘SAP® solution-based environments.’ Business Wire reports:

Gold Client, developed by Hayes Technology Group, eliminates the need to copy the entire production database to non-productive environments by allowing users of SAP solutions to dynamically export user-defined subsets of SAP data from any source within the environment. Extensions of Gold Client then enable these teams to import the data subsets back to the environment for development, testing and training.

One of the major advantages of Gold Client is that it heavily reduces the time and effort necessary to replicate data from two weeks to just few hours. This allows the companies to keep their projects on schedule.

Sudhakar Lingineni, Director of IT, Sharp Electronics Corporation said that they have been looking at different software products for the past six months. He said that once they saw what Gold Client could do, they knew that it was the ideal software solution for them.

Related articles:
Business Wire.com

Japan's Komatsu Ltd takes the lead in producing fuel efficient large vehicle

The soaring price of oil is forcing major changes in all the industries around the globe. Now, it is the large size construction and mining vehicle industry such as bulldozers, front-end loaders, excavators, caterpillar makers that are thinking of building hybrid vehicles. This time also Japanese companies are taking the lead. Komatsu Ltd.(TYO: 6301) the world’s second largest maker of earth-moving machines launched the first hybrid hydraulic excavator. The 20 ton vehicle comes with a traditional diesel engine with a capacitor and a battery-like electronic device. It will consume 25% less fuel than other models but it has a hefty price tag of $260,000 which is 50% higher than the price of conventional vehicles. Guardian reports:

Big global and local rivals Caterpillar Inc, Volvo AB, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co and Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd are also pushing into the hybrid space with plans to being production this year or next.

But the companies, and their investors, will have to wait some time before they see a steady flow of orders as buyers steel themselves to pay higher prices, analysts said.

Toyota Motor Corp's premium-priced Prius hybrid car business took seven to eight years before the new car started generating any profit, analysts said, but now dealers are having a hard time keeping up with the orders.

Komatsu is now planning to mass produce its new hybrid hydraulic excavator. In the first phase, the company is hoping to sell 30 vehicles in Japan within March 2009.

As developed countries are imposing higher emission standards, industrial vehicle producers are working hard to produce fuel-efficient vehicles with less Carbon emission. After 2011, Europe and the USA would adopt emission standards that would impose a 90% cut in exhaust emissions from non-road diesel engine. This means, companies have to come up with new technologies to build better engines.

Related articles:
Guardian

Detroit Edison Energy chose nuclear reactor unit designed by GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Inc.

Detroit Edison Energy (DTE), Michigan’s largest electricity utility is going to set up a new nuclear reactor unit at its Fermi-2 power plant site on the shore of Lake Erie, 35 miles south of Detroit, Michigan. For its new plant, the company chose next generation Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR), designed by GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Inc.(GEH). REUTERS reports:

General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Monday that Michigan's largest electric utility had selected a nuclear reactor designed by GE and Hitachi for a potential new unit at its existing nuclear plant south of Detroit.

GE, which has a nuclear joint venture with Japan's Hitachi Ltd (6501.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said that Detroit Edison, a unit of DTE Energy Co (DTE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), notified the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to choose the 1,520-megawatt reactor. (Reporting by Scott Malone; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

DTE is the fourth US energy company to chose the ESBWR reactor. The company is planning to build up six ESBWR rectors and under a recent agreement GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) will provide technical support to DTE

Jack Fuller, GEH President and CEO, said that they were extremely pleased that DTE had selected the ESBWR for its potential new unit to meet the long-term energy needs of Michigan State.

Related articles:
REUTERS

Trading Markets

Nokia E66 and NokiaE71: Two new E-series phones for corporate users

Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia, has launched two new E-series phones. First launched in December 2007 and sold more than 10 million around the world, the E-series phones are email-optimized devices created to compete with products like RIM’s (TSE:RIM) BlackBerry phones. They are developed for corporate people.

Meet Nokia E66 and Nokia E71, the latest members of Nokia’s E-family. According Leif-Olof Wallin, analyst, Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT), said that Nokia E71 and Nokia E66 are the comeback phones of Nokia in the corporate arena. Nokia E51, the last E family phone, was launched nine months ago. After that, rivals like Research In Motion (RIM) and Sony Ericsson introduced new models. Still, Nokia is the leader when it comes to global cell-phone sales dominating 40% of the market share. Wallin is hopeful that that NokiaE71 will replace NokiaE61i.

Nokia will start supplying the models for GSM networks in July. The pre-subsidy and pre-local tax cost of the products will be $538 (in some websites it was $540/$541). Mobile mag reported that Nokia E66 will be priced under $500 and Nokia E71 will be priced more than $500.

Dimension of Nokia E71:
Length: 114 mm
Breadth: 57 mm
Width: 10mm
In terms of shape and form, Nokia E71 coincides with BlackBerry as well as Motorola Q9h and Samsung JACK. Compared to its predecessors, Nokia E71 is very thin.

Features:

• The NokiaE71 can be referred as a follow up of Nokia E61 and Nokia E62 full QWERTY phones.
• The NokiaE71 comes with a better user interface.
• The NokiaE71 has a front-facing camera for video conferencing, and built-in 3.2-megapixel camera.
• On the GSM network, the NokiaE71 has a talk time of 10.5 hours and 4.5 hours in 3G network.
• The NokiaE71 has 2.36 inch QVGA screen.
  

Dimension of Nokia E66:
Length: 107 mm
Breadth: 49 mm
Width: 13mm

Features of Nokia E66:

• The NokiaE66 is a slider phone.
• The NokiaE66 has an “orientation sensor” that automatically optimizes itself for full screen viewing. It also silences the ringer when the phone is turned over.
• The NokiaE66 can switch between portrait and landscape mode.
• The NokiaE66 has 2.4 inch QVGA screen.
  

Common features:

• Both these phones support Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and e-mails of more than 1000 ISPs.
  

• Both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71 use Microsoft Exchange, the most popular email software among corporate people. With these phones you can easily get real-time access to your email, calendar, contacts and tasks. You can also download Word, Excel, Powerpoint or PDF attachments.
  

• Both these phones also support the Nokia Intellisync Wireless Email solution and other third party email solutions like System Seven and Visto Mobile.
  

• Both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71 have buttons for retrieving email, messages.
  

• According to customer feedback, calendar and contacts have been made available at the touch of a button on both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71.
  

• Both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71 have stainless steel body. They are available in grey steel and white steel.
  

• Both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71 are smart phones that support Nokia's S60 operating system, with Feature Pack 1.
  

• Both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71 support 850/1900 WCDMA/HSDPA for U.S. 3G support.
  

• Both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71 support 802.11b/g Wi-Fi.
  

• Both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71 have Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. They also support stereo streaming.
  

• Both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71 support two home screens: one for business and the other one is personal mode.
  

• Both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71 have 110MB internal memory.
  

• Both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71 support the latest Ovi services such as maps, music and media sharing, Nokia Maps.
  

• Both Nokia E71 and Nokia E66 have integrated mobile VPN support. It would give mobile professionals access to their company intranet, and device lock and wipe to protect valuable information.
  

• The phones also have technologies that allow IT departments to effectively manage security settings, corporate applications, data and advanced voice features. They also support enterprise-specific deployment.
  

• Both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71 have 3.2 megapixel cameras with autofocus and flash.
  

• Both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71 support GPS.
  

• Both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71 support microSD cards up to 8GB.
  

• Both NokiaE66 and NokiaE71 come with 2.5mm AV connector.
  

Related articles:

PC World (1)

PC World (2)

Mobile Guerilla (1)

Mobile Guerilla (2)

i4u

Gizmodo

Information Week

Wireless Week

Mobile Mag

Crunch Gear

ZDNET

Nokia

NokiaEseries

NokiaE66

NokiaE71

Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. and Robert Bosch GmbH's lithium-ion battery joint venture

On June 16^th, famous German auto parts maker, Robert Bosch GmbH declared a joint venture project with Samsung SDI Co. Ltd.,(SEO:006400) a subsidiary of South Korea’s conglomerate giant Samsung Group. The joint venture plant is going to produce lithium-ion batteries used in hybrid cars. The joint venture would be known as SB LiMotive Co. Ltd. Based in South Korea, the construction of the plant will start from September 2008. Reuters reports:

The 50:50 joint venture in South Korea is named SB LiMotive and will be launched in September. It will start production in 2010 with initial capital of $20 million, according to a Samsung statement.

A Samsung spokesman said that a minimum of $500 million would be invested in the venture over the next 4-5 years.

Samsung produces lithium-ion batteries for laptops, mobile phones and power tools. The joint venture foundation is subject to antitrust authorities.

Related articles:

International Herald Tribune

REUTERS

More people join 'Beef Protest' in South Korea as the delegates extended their discussion in the USA

South Korean delegates headed by Trade Minister, Kim Jong-Hoon, have extended its discussion with the USA over the beef issue. Earlier, South Korean Foreign Ministry informed that the two parties have failed to reach any kind of agreement and Seoul’s chief delegates were leaving a day early. Few hours later, news of extending the meeting came from Washington. Upon the request of the USA, for more ministerial-level talks, Kim Jong-Hoon, and Susan Schwab, the US trade representative, will hold further meetings.

As negotiation between South Korea and the USA is going on, things are growing worse. Large number of South Korean construction workers has joined beef import protest. Guardian reports:

To make matters worse for Lee, who took office in February, the latest talks with the US to resolve a row over beef imports faltered overnight without progress.

Lee's decision to lift restrictions on American beef imports in April triggered his sharp fall in the public opinion polls. South Koreans accused Lee of putting relations with the US ahead of public health concerns amid fears of mad cow disease.

South Korean President, Lee Myung Bak, decided to lift up the ban on US-beef and start import from April this year which started a row of serious protests and dealt a big blow to the popularity of the president, who took office in February following his landslide victory in the election.

What South Korea wants now is to stop importing meats of cows older than 30 months for they carry a high risk of mad cow disease. Other countries also do not import older American beef. Japan allows meat of cattle younger than 20 months. In their latest statement, South Korean ministry said that the two-sides had agreed to cooperate in seeking a mutually satisfactory solution but more time was needed to come up with practical steps.

Related articles:
Radio Australia

Guardian

The New York Times

madcow

SouthKorea

USbeef

Americanbeef

How to be a Good Husband?

This post is a part of June 2008 Blogchain of Absolute Write. I am a bit confused about what to write. Snowflake has talked about her memory of watching a documentary about concentration camps that she saw when she was 14 years old. Her question was that if we needed to see images of horrible events at an early age? I think that we need to do so because real world is not rosy. I am at a loss about which topic to write. Then, I decided to write about marriage and couple life.

I am happily married for a bit more than 2 years. I think that much of the credit goes to my wife for that. She is a dedicated a devoted wife. I don’t want to claim that I am a good husband as I know that I am not a good husband. In fact, my goal is not to become a good husband. I know my limitations as a man and as a human being. My sole focus is not to become a bad husband.

I would not say that I am selfish but I am terrible when it comes to doing household chores. I cannot cook anything, I feel very lazy and out of energy whenever I have to do any kind of washing (dishes or clothes). I am also terrible in cleaning the floor. So, my wife has to do all of them and she does it day after day. Sometimes, I feel bad about it despite the fact that my wife hardly complains. I know that I have a good excuse that I have to work 10-14 hours a day (7 days a week) and that is why I cannot give time for any house chore but I do not feel satisfied with this excuse. I think that this discomfort feeling keeps me away from becoming a bad husband.

On the other hand, I always try to appreciate my wife for all her dedications. This always brings happiness for her and I become very happy to see her happy. Once a week, I try to bring outside food (from restaurants and food shops) so that she does not need to cook. This is perhaps the maximum I do to help her- give her one day off. So, you can see that I am in no way an ideal or perfect husband. The only time, I really try to do household works is when she is sick.

I try to appreciate and admire my wife as much as I can. This is perhaps the only good part of me as a husband. I really admire her from my heart and she knows and she has already experienced that even if she gains another extra 20 pounds it is no problem at all for me. The same goes for her too. I get a lot of admiration and respect from her. After 2 years of a happy couple life, I feel that this is the most important thing in any marriage- admire and respect each other from heart. So, I know that despite all of my limitations and negative aspects as a man and husband, there is something to cheer about everyday.

6 years ago, we met each other through Internet and we are from two different countries. We had to wait 3 and half years just to see each other in real life. Both of us had to do a lot of sacrifices and adjustments for our marriage and couple life (mainly because we are from two different countries with different languages, cultures). This is the background history of our marriage.

I started this entry with a question: how to be a good husband? Well, my conclusion is that becoming a good husband is a very difficult thing and is not possible for most men no matter how much they are romantic and passionate. However, it is possible for each and every man on earth to become a not-bad husband if they are ready to do some adjustments from their heart. Am I right?

As, I stated earlier that this is a part of June 2008 Blogchain of Absolute Write. So, I am giving a list of all the participating blogs here:

Spittin’ (Out Words) Like a Llama
Polyamory
Life in Scribbletown
Polenth’s Quill
Auria Cortes
Blog in a Suitcase
Delirious
Asian Business
If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.
As Yet Untitled
Puttin’ Words on Paper
Fumbling with Fiction
Rotating Bear
spynotes
Virtual Wordsmith

I think that it is turn of Bookdragonette in If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.

Nintendo Wii becoming popular among physical therapists in the USA

Nintendo Wii is not just popular among gamers but among physical therapists as well. Due its exclusive interactive nature, now days, physical therapy centers in the USA are increasingly using Nintendo Wii gaming consoles to make the physical therapies enjoyable, especially, to the children and teenagers. The North Texas Rehabilitation Center recently started to use the gaming console into its physical therapy programs. Susan Knowles Martin, Director of Marketing and Development, The North Texas Rehabilitation Center, said that it gets the patients moving and the interactive nature do not let them realize that they are undergoing therapy. Since a large number of the patients are children, the Wii has made the therapy sessions more fun for them. Chron.com reports:

"It's perfect for a facility like this. Half of our clients are kids from 3 years old all the way up to teenagers," she said.

The trick is in the motion. The Wii Fit uses a unique platform called the Wii Balance Board that can measure a user's weight and center of gravity. The game has about 40 different activities, which include yoga, aerobics and various balance games which have allowed the therapists to target specific areas of concern.

"It's a way to measure their progress," said Lesa Enlow, director of programs, who was showing the game off to a group of students from Archer City High School visiting the facility.

"This balance stuff is hard," said one of the students as he stood on his toes while attempting a high jump in the ski-jumping module of Wii Fit.

Enlow sees the Wii as a training tool that can adapt to the needs of their clients as well.

The Wii can be modified according to the needs of the children who are physically challenged. The Wii wireless controller can also be used as a handheld pointing device as it can detect acceleration and orientation in three dimensions. This allows therapists to use the controller to measure various types of movements.

The magazine article also said that rehabilitation clinics around the country are also using Wii fitness package for improving weight bearing and balance among patients who just underwent total knee replacement or back surgery.

Related articles:
Chron.com

Sony is working on a new game controller for Play Station 3

For its next generation gaming console, PlayStation 3, Sony is now developing a new type of controller. According to news reports, the new controller is inspired by the design of Wiimote game controller. This new controller can be broken into two units, each having their own accelerometer. Video Game blog, Kotaku, denied the rumor and said that Sony is going to create a new device which can be attached to the gamer’s body. Kotaku received news from an unmanned source which said that the new device will consist of four/five parts that will be attached with gamer’s body to move the characters. However, Sony did not comment on the rumors. This April, Sony launched its DualShock 3 controller with rumble capabilities in the USA which was announced by Kazuo Hirai, CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. in the 2007 Tokyo Game Show. eFluxMedia reports:

Initially, Sony claimed that rumble capabilities are not “next-gen” features, but one of the main reasons for which Sony did not include rumble features into the current SIXAXIS controllers for PlayStation 3 was the patent lawsuit filed by Immersion, which owns the intellectual property over some key aspects of the technology integrated in PS2’s DualShock controllers.

After settling the lawsuit with Immersion in March 2007, Sony was quick to announce DualShock 3 that went on sale in Japan in November last year as a separately sold accessory. The non-rumbling motion-sensing SIXAXIS controller has been discontinued.
Two months ago there were some rumors that Microsoft is also working to develop a Wii-like controller for its Xbox 360.

The new controller, code-named Newton will have a design similar to that of Wii remote and include a four face buttons, an analog stick, a microphone and a gyroscope sensor to detect tilt and motion.

Related article:
eFluxMedia

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd launches its new series of HD LCD TVs and HD PDP TVs in Saudi Arabia

United Matbouli Group, one of the major agents of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (SEO:005935) in Saudi Arabia, is going to launch Samsung’s latest line-up of Full HD LCD TVs and HD PDP TVs in Saudi Arabia. Omar Siddiqui, AV Product Manager, said that Samsung’s newest LCD technologies and engineering techniques have allowed them to offer attractive HD and Full HD TVs with great features and excellent picture quality. He said that with the LCD HDTV Series 4, and FullHDTV Series 5 and Series 6 consumers could enjoy a premium high definition experience. Albawaba.com reports:

Combining elegant styling with a wide range of higher-end components ordinarily exclusive to premium sets, consumers can now experience superb picture quality, optimized digital performance, and ease-of-use in an HDTV that fits seamlessly into any home decor.

"Everything from the LCD panel and chassis construction down to input accessibility and the remote control are specifically engineered to provide an incredible HD entertainment experience," added Mohammad Asad Ali, Business Unit Manager, United Matbouli Group. "Consumers will also find an easy-to-navigate interface with settings to instantly give you the best picture and sound at the press of a button."

The Series 6 Full HD LCD TVs comes in 32, 40,46, and 52 inches with Full HD resolutions of (1920*1080). The 46 and inches model comes with a dynamic contrast ratio of 50,000:1.The Series 5 Full HD LCD TV contains all the features of Series 4. It comes with a Full resolution of 1920*1080 and is available in 32, 37, 40 and 46 inches. The Series 4 LCD HDTV comes in piano-black bezel color frames and delivers superior picture quality and 178 degree viewing angles from all four axis.

Related article:
Albawaba.com

Hyundai W220S 3D LCD monitor

When it comes to LCD display, South Korean companies are the top brands. Hyundai is mainly famous for its automobiles but the company has other businesses as well. Recently, Hyundai has unveiled its W220S 3D LCD Monitor. The monitor is only available in Japan. It comes with a price tag of $908.

Size: 22 inches.

Let us look at some of the special features:

• The Hyundai W220S 3D LCD monitor utilizes TriDef Technology.
• The Hyundai W220S 3D LCD monitor comes with a pair of glasses which would enable you to enjoy interlaced stereoscopic 3 dimensions.
• Without glasses you will see 2D images in the Hyundai W220S 3D LCD monitor.
• The screen of Hyundai W220S 3D LCD monitor comes with WSXGA+resolution (1680x1050).
• The Hyundai W220S 3D LCD monitor has a brightness of 300cd/m².
• The Hyundai W220S 3D LCD monitor has a contrast ratio of 1,000:1.
• The Hyundai W220S 3D LCD monitor comes with a a HDM/DVI-D interface.
• The Hyundai W220S 3D LCD monitor has two built-in 3W speakers.
• The Hyundai W220S 3D LCD monitor has a response time of 5ms.
• The Hyundai W220S 3D LCD monitor has an aspect ratio of 16:10.

Related articles:
Gear Live

Ubergizmo

Display Blog

Hyundai's Goodwill Ball Road Show ended with Hyundai Eurofest

On 6^th June, South Korea’s top auto maker Hyundai Motor Company(SEO:005380) and official automotive partner of UEFA EURO 2008, organized Hyundai Eurofest, the final part of its five month promotion campaign titled Goodwill Ball Road Show. 30,000 people attended the show. The VIP attendees included David Taylor, UEFA General Secretary; Hanspeter Gass, member of the cantonal government of Basel; Kun-hee Ahn, President, Hyundai Motor Europe; and Jae-kook Choi, President of Hyundai Motor Company Sales & Planning. PR-USA.net reports:

The highlight of the Hyundai Eurofest was the finale of the Goodwill Ball Road Show. This is a Road Show that has been Hyundaiґs flagship of the global football program since its first introduction at UEFA EURO 2000™. For the fifth time now, Hyundai has facilitated the passion and goodwill of many football fans in the world through the Hyundai Goodwill Balls. These are 4.5 meter-high giant inflatable balls decorated with national flags and the Hyundai/ UEFA EURO 2008™ logo. The 20 balls were shipped to their respective countries in March this year, where they embarked on nationwide tours collecting thousands of fansґ messages of good luck and support for their national teams and their wishes for a successful UEFA EURO 2008™.

All GWBs were gathered in Basel for the Eurofest, creating a splendid scene which attracted visitors to the GWB finale ceremony. The balls will be displayed on site of each stadium or Fan Zone for the respective team match during the tournament.

In his welcome speech, Jae-kook Choi, President, Hyundai Motor Company said that they loved football and the excitement of the game and shared strong passion of the European fans. He said that Euro 2008 was celebration of universal brotherhood. It would bring people together in harmony and happiness and that is Hyundai’s vision.

Related article:
PR-USA.net

South Korean truckers went on strike demanding government subsidies, minimum wage and raise transportation charge

High fuel prices have irked the truck drivers in South Korea. From Friday midnight, they started a nationwide walkout. According to the latest report, 13,000 truckers, members of Korea Cargo Transport Workers Union, have joined the strike. Most of these trackers are self-employed. The rising fuel cost is hurting their income. They are demanding a guaranteed minimum haulage rate to offset the skyrocketing fuel prices, minimum wage, and raise transportation charges. Today, they have threatened to block the country’s largest port.

Earlier, members of the Korean Cargo Workers’ Union held several meetings with government officials but the two parties failed to reach any solution. International Herald Tribune reports:

On Friday, 24,690 containers were moved in or out of the country's largest port of Busan, compared with the daily average of 34,290 before the strike, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs. Busan handles more than 70 percent of South Korea's container traffic.

Daily container traffic dropped by about 90 percent in the western port of Pyeongtaek and the southern port of Gwangyang, said ministry official Hong Seok-ku.

Local television footage showed the docks clogged with containers piled high upon each other.

"It's stressful to look at the piles of containers. But the government hasn't listened to our voice," said union member Chung Hee-seon.

The truckers' strike has already caused US$11 million in losses to exporters and US$3 million to importers, according to the Korea International Trade Association, a private association of local exporters and importers.

South Korean Government has declared to take strict measures against the truckers. Hours after the strike was called at midnight, the South Korean cabinet held a meeting. Officials will take legal action against union leaders and government would use any means possible to prevent a major economic upset in the country.

Already, the government has mobilized military vehicles and drivers and increased the duty hours of cargo trains and container ships. The Defense Ministry said that it has sent 65 vehicles to Busan and Uiwang ports and more military trucks are on their way. Police forces are deployed at key container depots.

Related articles:
International Herald Tribune

AP

The Korea Herald

Sharp Corporation will start selling world's largest LCD display

Famous Japanese electronics company, Sharp Corporation (TYO:6753), announced that it is going to start shipping the world’s largest LCD display from next month. The 108-inch display would cost roughly 11million yen and would be made to sell to various business organizations. Next year, another Japanese company, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co (TYO:6752), is planning to sell its 150 inch plasma display for billboards. Network World.com reports:

Sharp has begun offering a monitor based on the 108-inch LCD panel that it first unveiled over a year ago. The panel, which is the largest yet to be shown by any LCD maker, was first unveiled in January 2007 at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and promised for later in the year but was delayed. Now it's available to customers worldwide, built-to-order, for ¥11 million (US$102,000).

The Full HD (1,920 pixels by 1,080 pixels) monitor comes with a wide array of input sockets. There's analog RGB and DVI computer inputs, 3 HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) inputs, two composite video inputs, two sets of component video inputs and one S-Video input. The entire set weighs an impressive 195 kilograms and consumes 1.1 kilowatts (kW) when in use.

Weak demand for big televisions has hurt major manufacturers like Hitachi Ltd, Pioneer Corporation (TYO: 6773), and Sharp Corporation. Hitachi and Pioneer incurred losses on their TV operations. Initially, Sharp had plans to focus on larger displays but it shifted switched to 40 inch and smaller displays in the middle of 2007.

Related articles:
Reuters

Network World.com

Sharpcorporation

Toshiba Corporation sets new target to cut CO2 emission

On June 13^th, Toshiba Corporation (TYO:6502), one of the largest Japanese multinational companies announced an ambitious goal of cutting its CO₂ emission up to 117.7 million tons a year by 2025. This amount is more than double its initial target; 57.6 million tons. In 2007, the company introduced Toshiba Group Environment Vision 2050, where the company set targets for enhancing environment efficiency and raising the company’s overall eco-efficiency. The company is consistently working toward supplying eco-friendly energy system and reducing its CO₂ emissions. The company wants to achieve a total reduction goal of 82 million tons per year through its energy system supply business. Huliq.com reports:

The upward revision in the energy systems business represents Toshiba's determination to increase the contribution from its nuclear power business. Environmental concerns increasingly require the best possible mix of nuclear power thermal power, hydro power, geothermal power and new power sources, and the fact the nuclear power generation is CO2-emission-free gives it an important and rapidly growing role. In fact, the IEA's "Energy Technology Perspectives 2008” shows that meeting the target of halving global CO2 emissions by 2050 would require construction of 32 nuclear power plants a year around the world through to 2050. Toshiba recognizes this as an area where Toshiba Group can take the lead. While aware that the ultimate achievement will be strongly influenced by future market developments, Toshiba is proactively responding to current conditions by raising its original estimate of 47 million tons a year by 35 million tons to a new target of 82 million tons a year.

The company is also targeting to cut CO₂ emissions by 35.7 million tons per year at its consumer and industry product business by 2025 by promoting light-emitting diodes for lighting that consumes less energy. Toshiba Corporation’s decision also coincides with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s pledge to cut Japan’s emission of CO₂ by 60%-80% by 2050.

Related articles:
Bloomberg

Huliq.com

Toshiba

globalwarming

greenhousegas

Mazda Motor Corporation started its Bioplastic Project in cooperation with Hiroshima University

Mazda Motor Corporation (TYO:7261) has started its Bioplastic Project in collaboration with Hiroshima University. The goal of this project is to develop durable plastics from waste wood and other plant materials. The company expects to use such plastics in its cars by 2013. The plastics would be used in dashboards, and bumpers. Autocar.co.uk reports:

In process similar to that used to make second generation biofuel, waste plant material such as wood shavings is turned into ethanol which will then be converted into ethylene and polypropylene.

Mazda claims this process is carbon neutral and, unlike alternative materials made from soy or cornstarch, does not remove food resource.

The car company has already developed a bioplastic which it uses to build the cabin of its hydrogen power Premacy RE Hybrids. The company is planning to mass produce the material and make it commercially viable.

Along with oil, the price of still has also risen globally. Last month,
Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO:7203) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (TYO:7011) agreed buy steel from Nippon Steel Corporation (TYO:5401) at higher price. At such conditions, it is natural that automakers will be looking for suitable alternatives of steel. Carbon fiber, a special kind of plastic which is now widely used in fighter planes in Europe. Now, it is automobiles turn. Let’s see what Mazda can do with its bioplastic.

Related articles:
Asianbiz.blogspot

Tapplastics

Autocar.co.uk

Mazda

vehiclesafety

Mazda Motor Corporation starts public road trial of its new safety vehicle Mazda ASV-4

Famous Japanese car maker, Mazda Motor Corporation (TYO:7261) has started road trials of its newly developed safety vehicle, Mazda ASV-4. The new safety system used in this car uses vehicle-to-vehicle communication to alert drivers at blind intersection or on twisting roads where visibility is low.

The company is hopeful that the new safety system will reduce or enable drivers to avoid serious road accidents. The company has already started testing of its two-vehicle blind collision avoidance system. Road trials of the right-turn and rear-end collision avoidance systems is going to start later this year. Courier Mail.com.au reports:

The trials, now into their fourth phase, are based on the Japanese Government's Advanced Safety Vehicle promotion plan, a program which has been designed to promote the development, practical application and wider use of ASV technologies to reduce the number of traffic accidents.

The ASV project was launched by the Japanese Government in 1991 as part of a drive to make the nation's roads safer, an initiative which was then expanded to include all domestic motor vehicles.

Test results from phase one to phase three has been very successful. The major safety technologies developed by Mazda includes a rear vehicle monitoring system that can detect vehicles approaching from behind at high speed. Pre-crash safety system uses milliwave radar to monitor the presence of oncoming obstacles and alerts the driver and automatically applies the brakes.

Related article:
Courier Mail.com.au

Mazda

MazdaASV-4

vehiclesafety

Top 10 South Korean actresses

Earlier, I have written about top ten South Korean actors. In the late 1990s, South Korean cinema started to turn around. Now, South Korean cinemas and dramas are popular in many other countries like Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines. Like the South Korean actors, South Korean actresses are also very popular in many countries. Here is a list of top ten South Korean actresses.
Son Ye-jin:
Birthplace: Daegu, South Korea
Height: 165cm
Weight: 45kg
Blood type: RH+A
Born on January 11, 1982, Son Ye-jin is a graduate from the Film Art Department of Seoul Institute of the Arts. Till now, Son Ye-jin has played a wide range of characters in both drama and television. Son Ye-jin first appeared in a supporting role in Park Ki-hyung’s movie Secret Tears in 2000. She then landed with lead roles in many television dramas including: Delicious Proposal, Sunhee Jinhee, and Daemang: Great Ambition. Her first major role in cinema was in Chihwaseon in 2002. Directed by Im Kwon-taek, Chihwaseon received Blue Dragon Film Award for Best movie. Im Kwon-taek received Best Director award at Cannes Film Festival. Son Ye-jin became successful in Lovers Concerto, and The Classic. Both these movies were solid mid-level hits. The Classic received wide exposure in Hong Kong and China. Son Ye-jin became very popular in Japan. In Japan, Son Ye-jin solidified her status as a “hallyu” (Korean wave) in 2003 with her performance in a drama titled Summer Scent. Other major dramas that played major roles in “hallyu” were Autumn Love Story and Winter Sonata. After Summer Scent, Son Ye-jin appeared in two movies:A Moment to Remember and April Snow. Both these movies were very successful in Asia.

Go So Young:
Birthplace: South Korea
Height: 167cm
Weight: 46kg
Blood type: A
Go So Young was born on October 6, 1972. A graduate from Choongang University, Go So Young majored in Drama and Cinema. Known as South Korea’s “ideal woman,” Go So Young debuted in 1993 television drama Love Tomorrow. Go So Young quickly established herself as a representative of her generation. In 1994, Go So Young debuted in movies. Her first movie Fox with Nine Tails was South Korea’s first movie to use computer-generated images. In this movie, she appeared with Jung Woo-sung. The movie was not very successful. In 1997, Go So Young again paired up with Jung Woo-sung in Beat. Beat was a major success and gained cult following. Many Koreans especially high school students relate the movie with their generation. Beat turned Go So Young into a big star. After Beat, Go So Young appeared in a series of successful melodramas such as, If the Sun Rises in the West, Love Wind, Love Song, Love. In If the Sun Rises in the West, Go So Young played the character of a young model. In Love Wind, Go So Young played the character of a Cheju Island tour guide. In Love, Go So Young played the character of a Korean American adoptee.

Song Hye-kyo:
Birthplace: South Korea
Height: 161cm
Weight: 45kg
Star sign: Sagittarius
Blood type: A
Born on November 22, 1981, Song Hye-kyo entered into the entertainment industry by winning a model search contest in 1996. At that time, she was in the third year of her high school. Song Hye-kyo, won the Grand Prize in the modeling contest, Sung Kyung Smart, a school uniform company. That year, Song Hye-kyo debuted as an actress in the KBS TV Sunday morning drama, Happy Morning. Since then, Song Hye-kyo appeared in several drama series. She rose to fame in 2000 with another KBS TV drama Autumn Fairy Tale. Autumn Fairy Tale tells a tragic love story of three people. In the drama series, Song Hye-Kyo appeared with Song Seung-hun and Won Bin. Autumn Fairy Tale became very much popular in Asia and propelled Song Hye-kyo to stardom. Next, Song Hye-kyo appeared in another drama series titled, All In. The series was so successful that the title became a common word in South Korean language. Off the camera, Song Hye-kyo involved in a relationship with her co-star, Lee Byung-Hun. This gave both the actors huge publicity and rumors about their marriage started to spread. Unfortunately, the relationship did not last long. Song Hye-Kyo then did a supporting role in SBS miniseries, Sunlight Pours Down in 2004. That same year, she appeared in another KBS comedy series Full House. The series became very successful. It was one of the highest rated South Korean dramas of 2004.

Lee Young Ae:
Birthplace: Seoul, South Korea
Height: 165cm
Weight: 48kg
Blood type: AB
Star Sign: Aquarius
Family: Two older brothers
Lee Young-Ae is one of the top TV stars of South Korea. Her popularity can be compared to that of Bae Yong Jun. Born on January 31, 1971, in Seoul, Lee Young Ae has huge fan base in East and South East Asia, South Asia and even Middle East. Lee Young Ae debuted as a model in 1991 and earned the titled ‘Oxygen Lady.’ From modeling, she made a transition to television dramas and movies. Famous Japanese television channel NHK TV, made a documentary about Lee Young Ae. In 2007, Lee Young Ae gave an interview in Iranian TV. Lee Young Ae became very popular for her performance in 2003 MBC TV drama, Dae Jang Geum(Jewel in the Palace). The drama tells the story of Joseon Dynasty Korea. Lee Young Ae played the character of Jang-geum, a royal physician of the Joseon Dynasty. Her perseverance and portrayal of traditional Korean culture made the drama series extremely popular not only in Korea but also in other Asian countries. Half of the Hong Kong people stayed at home to watch the last episode of the drama. In 2007, when Lee Young Ae went to China, thousands of fans waited for hours to see her at -20 degrees temperature at the Harbin International Airport.

Jeon Ji-hyun:
A student of the Department of Theater and Film at Dongguk University, Jeon Ji-hyun started her career as a model in 1997. For the next two years, she appeared in various TV sitcoms and then in 1999, made her movie debut in White Valentine. That same year, Jeon Ji-hyun became very popular after appearing in an audio system ad. Her dancing skills and expression turned her into a major icon of young South Korea. She became extremely popular among teenage Koreans and Korean who were in their early twenties. After success as model in TV, Jeon Ji-hyun made her second effort in the movies. In late 2000, she appeared in Il Mare; a well-made melodrama set on Kanghwa Island. In 2006, Il Mare was remade in Hollywood movie, The Lake House, starring Speed couple, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Il Mare was not a commercial success but it established Jeon Ji-Hyun as an actress in South Korean film industry. Finally, Jeon Ji-hyun got her taste of success in 2001 with My Sassy Girl. That year, My Sassy Girl became the second highest selling movie in South Korea with 4,852,845 tickets sold nationwide and 1,765,100 in Seoul in the first 10 weeks. Famous Korean movie website Koreanfilm.org praised Jeon Ji-hyun’s performance and referred her as the ‘undisputed star.’ The website said that the movie could not have been so successful without her.

Shim Eun Ha:
Height: 165cm
Weight: 43kg
Blood Type: B
Family: Parents and 2 younger sisters.
Born on September 3, 1972 in Yongin, Shim Eun Ha did not receive any university education. In 1994, Shim Eun Ha appeared in a basket ball-themed TV drama The Last Match. For her outstanding performance in The Last Match, Shim Eun Ha became one of the most popular TV stars in South Korea. The Last Match was followed by three more television dramas and two movies. In one of the movies, Born To Kill, Shim Eun Ha was paired up with Jung Woo-sung. The two movies were not so successful. Finally, as an actress, Shim Eun Ha made her mark in Chistmas in August in 1998. The movie tells a tragic love story between a photoshop owner Jung-won (played by Han Suk-kyu) and Da-rim, a metermaid (played by Shim Eun Ha). Jung-won comes to know that he is suffering from a serious disease and will die. He wants to spend the rest of the days of his life in peace but his world turns upside down after Da-rim comes into her life. The movie grossed more than 400,000 admissions in Seoul. It was also screened at Cannes, Singapore and Pusan. Still today, Christmas in August enjoys a big fanbase all over Asia. The movie was remade in many Asian countries.

Kang Su-yeon:
From the mide 80s to the end of the 90s, Kang Su-yeon has been one of most well known Korean actresses nationally and internationally. Kang Su-yeon started in the 1970’s as a child actress. After acting in some low profile movies she got her big break in 1986 in the movie The Surrogate Woman. Directed by Im Kwon-taek, the movie won Kang Su-yeon Volpi Cup Best Actress Award in 1987 at the Venice International Film Festival and Best Actress Award at the Nantes International Film Festival. For the first time, any Korean actor won major international award. Again in 1989, Kang Su-yeon won the Best Actress Award in Moscow International Film Festival. The movie Come, Come, Come Upward was also directed by Im Kwon-taek. It was a Buddhist themed movie, where Kang Su-yeon played the character of Sun Nyog, a young student who takes shelter in a monastery to escape from her troubled home and letter falls in love with a person who tries to take away her modesty. For her character, Kang Su-yeon shaved her head. That same year, she served as a jury in the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Kim Yoon-jin:
Birthplace: Seoul, South Korea
Height: 168cm
Weight: 48kg
Family: Younger sister, and an older sister.
Born in Seoul, Kim Yoon-jin migrated to the USA at the age of ten and received her degree from the USA. She lived in New York with her family. Kim Yoon-jin joined the middle school drama club. In her 7^th grade, she performed in the musical My Fair Lady. Later, Kim Yoon-jin went to study in the prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School Music & Art and Performing Arts. From there, she went to study drama at the London Academy of Performing Arts. Later, she earned her drama degree at Boston University. After her graduation, Kim Yoon-jin became a full time actress. In the beginning, she appeared in several minor parts on MTV and few ABC soap opera drama. She also performed on Broadway. In 1997, Kim Yoon-jin appeared in Splendid Holiday, a Korean TV drama shot in New York. While working in the drama series, Kim Yoon-jin decided to return to her home country. After returning to South Korea, Kim Yoon-jin appeared in another TV drama Wedding Dress. Then in 1999, she got her big break with Shiri, the first big budget action movie of South Korea. The movie propelled Kim Yoon-jin’s career and turned her into a major film star in South Korean cinema.

Lee Mi-sook:
Born in April 2, 1960, Lee Mi-sook debuted as an actress in 1979 in the movie, Thoughtless Momo. By the mid-1980s Lee Mi-sook became a big name in South Korean film industry. Some of her major movies in this time were: Whale Hunting, That Winter Was Warm, Bbong and Eunuch, Wanderer in Winter. Directed by Bae Chang-Ho, Whale Hunting was one of the most of popular movies of the 80’s. Upon release in theatres, the movie attracted an audience of 400,000 in Seoul only. The story revolves around a hopeless young man named Byung-tae (Kim Su-cheol), a beggar named Min-wu (Ahn Sung-ki) and a dumb prostitute played by Lee Mi sook. In 1987, Lee Mi-sook appeared in Love Triangle. She then stopped acting in movies. In 1998, Lee Mi-sook made her come back with An Affair. Directed by E J-yong, in the movie Lee Mi-sook played the character of Seo-hyun, a bored house wife who becomes involved in an extra-marital affair with her sister’s fiancé. The movie own prestigious award and gave a big boost to Lee Mi-sook’s acting career. In 2000, Lee Mi-sook appeared in a high profile movie The Legend of Gingko. Directed by Park Jae-hyun the movie did not do well at the box office.

Song Yun-ah:
Born on June 7, 1973, Song Yun-ah entered into the movie industry by winning the Gold Award at the KBS supertalent contest in 1995. In the next few years, she established herself as a talented TV drama actress. During this time, she became well known for her performance in Tears of the Dragon (1997), Love (1998), Hotelier (2001), and The Present (2002). She debuted as a film actress in 1997 in a movie titled, 1818 but till 2002 she did not deliver any major hit movie. In 2002, Song Yun-ah got her first hit movie Jail Breakers. It was one of the most commercially successful movies of 2002. In the movie, Song Yun-ah appeared with Sol Kyung-gu and Cha Seung-won. For her performance, she received awards for Best Supporting Actress at the 23^rd Blue Dragon Awards ceremony. Song Yun-ah’s next movie Face was released in 2004. It was not a big success. A humanities graduate from Hanyang University Song Yun-ah also works as a part time lecturer at the Korean Central Academy of Fine Arts. She is now more active in movies.

Samsung Instinct: The latest iPhone clone from Samsung

Apple has announced its latest iPhone model, Apple AAPL iPhone 3G. Now, it’s Samsung’s turn to strike. Earlier, LG tried to take over iPhone with its Voyager and Vu. Samsung released an array of models including F480, F700, SGH-i900 and so on. Unfortunately, none of the models could take over iPhone. Once again, the South Korean mobile giant has announced its latest iPhone look alike; Samsung Instinct. This time every body is saying that it is going to be a major competitor for iPhone though it’s software functions are not as good as that of iPhone. The phone was announced in April. In the recently held CTIA Wireless 2008, Samsung Instinct took the Emerging Technology Award. The phone set also became the Most Innovative and Best Cell Phone in CNET’s Cream of the Crop. It will go on sale on June 20^th.New York Times.com says:

In other words, a certain population still awaits something that offers the touch-screen joy of an iPhone without those limitations. Oh, there have been efforts, but just slapping a touch screen onto a phone does not make it an iPhone. It’s all about the software, kids.
Here comes one more. On June 20, Sprint will offer the new Samsung Instinct. It, too, is a blatant iPhone wannabe, but its software structure is simple and it has its own personality. It does not succeed in surpassing the iPhone, especially the new one — but it does succeed as a smartphone.
The Instinct is tentatively priced at $200 with a two-year contract and a $100 rebate. It’s a wee bit taller and thicker than the iPhone, but noticeably narrower (2.2 x 4.6 x 0.5 inches).

Dimension:
Length: 4.6"
Breadth: 2.2"
Width: 0.5"
Weight: 4.4 ounces.
The phone is taller, narrower and lighter than iPhone.

Features:

• The Samsung Instinct comes with 3G EV-DO data services.
• The Samsung Instinct comes with a 3.25 inch color touch screen with haptic feedback. While browsing the web, the screen makes feel cramped. It is protected by plastic coating.Tech.yahoo.com reports:
  

  The Instinct's main touch interface has four tabs: Favorites, Main, Fun, and Web. Tapping the Main tab brings you to the phone's core applications (e-mail, navigation, settings, etc.), while Fun calls up multimedia (music, videos, camera), and Web includes ... well, the Web browser, plus widgets for news, weather, sports, and the like.

  As you touch the various tabs, little icon-based boxes slide back and forth, gathering smoothly into a grid—it's one of the little touches that makes browsing the Instinct's menus an iPhone-esque experience.

• The Samsung Instinct comes with a 2.0 megapixel camera.
• The Samsung Instinct can record video clips, a feature not available on the iPhone.
• The Samsung Instinct comes with a GPSand turn-by-turn directions which is powered by TeleNav.
• The Samsung Instinct has FM radio. The Sprint Radio offers more than 150 channels.
• The Samsung Instinct has microSD memory card slot (expandable upto 8GB).
  

• The Samsung Instinct has voice dialing system. Quoting AP, CNET, and Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo says:

CNET
The Instinct's touch screen dominates its real estate. With support for 262,000 colors and a 432,240-pixel resolution, the display is positively gorgeous. Colors popped, graphics were vibrant, and text was crisp. Indeed, it's one of the better displays we've seen in a while...but [it] can look rather cramped...

AP
The result is a lucid, logical interface. It's not as pretty as the iPhone's, but it allows the user to quickly use e-mail, Web browsing, GPS navigation and text messaging; watch videos, live TV and photos; and listen to music and online radio.

Wall Street Journal
The touch system on the Instinct is more like that on an ancient ATM than a cutting-edge gadget, even though it has a gimmicky feedback mechanism that gives you a tiny vibration-jolt when you press an icon.

• The Samsung Instinct has speech recognition system which enables the user to make phone calls, send text and picture, go to search, go to news, go to weather, go to movies, go to sports, and go to search.
• The Samsung Instinct comes with 3.5mm headphone jack. Gizmodo says:
• 
  

  Snappy Interface: Other touchscreen phones we've seen have annoying split-second lags. The Instinct, for the most part, does not. Some of its visuals were obviously borrowed from Apple, such as pop-up option screens, lists of settings, etc., but at the same time it has features that are original, albeit inspired by Cupertino: When a call comes in, you tap the center then slide up to accept or slide down to ignore. Hanging up is a slide from left to right. (The phone interface has other cool features, too, like "personal" call history for each of your contacts—so don't go cheatin'—and the ballyhooed visual voicemail, which unfortunately wasn't available to test at this time.) The UI only got stuck a couple of times, and never permanently. As with any other "natural" interface, it takes a few minutes to figure out the physics of the system, but once you do, it's intuitive.

• The Samsung Instinct comes with Bluetooth 2.0.
• The Samsung Instinct has LiIon battery with up to 6 hours of talk time.
• Sprint Music Store offers wireless downloads with $0.99/track.
• The Samsung Instinct also has Microsoft Live search.

Weak points:

• Sprint TV has been reformatted to fit the screen of Samsung Instinct, but the video quality is not so good. You can enjoy Spring TV with live on demand programming.
• The web browser and UI need more development. Tech.yahoo.com

Web browsing on the Instinct isn't quite so impressive, however. The browser works well enough with mobile-optimized pages, but (as I've written before) slows to a crawl with full-HTML pages. You can scroll by tapping and dragging Web pages, but there's no "pinching" on the Instinct's non-multitouch display, so you must tap a virtual button to zoom in or out. In other words, while the Instinct's Web browser is certainly above par, it can't hold a candle to the iPhone's.

• The graphics on Samsung Instinct touch screen are slightly dull.
• The Samsung Instinct does not have Wi-Fi.
  

Price:
Initially, Samsung Instinct was priced $499.99. After iPhone 3G was priced at $299, Samsung brought the price down to $199 with a rebate of $100, which requires a two year contract. The phone set will be sold by renowned wireless telecommunication Network company, SprintS.

If you want to get more information you can visit these two websites:
http://www.nowisgood.com/

http://www.samsunginstinct.com/

Related articles:
The Street.com

Crave.cnet

Tech.yahoo.com

Mobilewhack (1)

Mobilewhack (2)

Mobilewhack (3)

Gizmodo(1)

Gizmodo (2)

New York Times

Samsung

SamsungInstinct

Nissan motor company Limited launches all new Nissan Sentra 2008

Since 1982, The Nissan Sentra has been one of the best cars for buyers who are looking for an economy car. The major turning point in Sentra’s history is the introduction of Nissan Sentra SE-R version, a two door, 140hp, four wheel disc brakes, the car was a big hit.

The Nissan Sentra 2008 is the follow up of new Nissan Sentra cars that debuted in 2007. The New Sentra offers more style, space, quality, performance and interior flexibility. Times and Transcript.com reports:

"Sentra's good fuel economy, high levels of durability, safety, quality and reliability -- along with its affordable price and low cost of ownership -- have made Sentra a key player in the compact sedan category," said Ian Forsyth, director, product planning, Nissan Canada Inc. "It offers all the expected attributes of the previous generations of Sentra -- along with a completely unexpected level of style, roominess, responsiveness and versatility."

• Dimension:
• Exterior:
• Wheelbase……………………………..105.7inches
• Overall length………………………..179.8 inches
• Overall width………………………….70.5 inches
• Overall height………………………..59.5 inches
• Track width(front/rear)………….60.8 inches
  

• Interior
• Head room (front/rear) without moonroof………….40.6inches/37.3inches
• Leg room (front/rear)…..42.4 inches/34.5 inches
• Hip room(front/rear)………54.1inches/53.0 inches
• Shoulder room (front/rear)..56.9 inches/55.1 inches
  

• The Nissan Sentra 2008 comes in five variations: the 2.0, the 2.0S, the 2.0SL, the SE-R and the SE-R Spec V.
  

• The best thing about the New Nissan Sentra 2008 is its storage capacity. You can change it according to your needs.
  

• The New Nissan Sentra 2008 comes with an extra large glove compartment which can fit your laptop or purse.
  

• The Nissan Sentra 2008 has overhead cd holder which is easy to reach, removable and easy to load.
  

• The Nissan Sentra 2008 has 60/40 rear seats which can be fold along with its head rest to increase its cargo area. Times and Transcript.com further says:

Inside, the interior continues the sporty, functional theme of the exterior, with the use of high quality materials, large gauges and a spacious, flexible centre console. Designed to accommodate full-size adults in comfort, Sentra's passenger volume of 2767L (97.7 cubic feet) is larger than the previous generation Sentra.

Along with the roomy, social space of the interior, Sentra supports active lifestyles with flexible and functional storage -- including innovative, compartmentalized storage areas.

The trunk, with 371L (13.1 cubic feet) of cargo space, is designed to accommodate long, bulky and "unexpected" items through the use of an oversized pass-through opening. Combined with the 60/40 split double-fold rear seat (the cushion folds forward, allowing the seat back to fold flat), Sentra offers exceptional cargo flexibility for carrying snowboards, hockey sticks and even bikes. One of Sentra's true innovations is the available patented Divide-N-Hide trunk divider, which allows the trunk to be used for short term and long term/hidden storage.

• The Nissan Sentra 2008 also has a hidden storage which can be accessed from the cabin. It is a divide and hide trunk system.
  

• The new Nissan Sentra 2008 comes with 2.0 litre 140-hp engine. It produces 149lb/ft torque.
  

• The Nissan Sentra 2008 has a fuel efficiency of 33 mpg.
  

• The Nissan Sentra 2008 comes with rebound springs that help control motion while you are cornering or driving around curves. It ensures a smoother and flatter ride.
  

• The Nissan Sentra 2008 comes with “ripple-control” shocks. It damps out unwanted vibrations and ensures a quieter, smoother ride.
  

• At higher speed, the Nissan Sentra 2008 gives a more solid feel. On the other hand, it is more power assist at lower speeds.
  

• The Nissan Sentra 2008 comes with vehicle-speed-sensitive steering.
  

• The Nissan Sentra 2008 has Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and Electronic Brake force Distribution (EBD) to ensure safe driving.
  

• The Nissan Sentra 2008 comes with a 6-speed manual transmission that has triple-cone synchronizers in first and second gears.
  

• The Nissan Sentra 2008 comes with six standard airbags and front-seat active head restraints.
  

• The Nissan Sentra 2008 has zone body construction, front/rear crumple zones and energy absorbing steering column.
  

Related articles:
Times and Transcript.com

Nissan USA.com

Conceptcarz.com

Honda is scoring big times in the USA auto market

With the high fuel price, America has become an open field for small fuel efficient cars and Honda has become the big player in this field. The small cars of Honda are now selling very quickly all over the USA. Instead of going for big cars and better performing engines Honda Motor Company Limited (TYO: 7267) focused on its small subcompact cars. Now Honda has got the best performance in the USA auto market. It sales grew up 4.8%. In May, Honda Civic became the top selling vehicle in the USA displacing Ford’s F-Series trucks. According to Jim Hossack, consultant, Auto Pacific Inc. Honda’s products are well tuned with the condition of the current market. They are not offering Super Duty or Suburban but small fuel-efficient vehicles. Det News.com reports:

Honda could sell even more vehicles in the United States if the Japanese automaker shipped more small cars to its American Honda Motor subsidiary. Fit subcompacts are sold within five days of reaching showrooms, said John Mendel, executive vice president at American Honda. But Honda is also scrambling to meet demand in Japan, where the Fit is the best-selling vehicle. "Sixty percent of the world market is small cars. We compete with the rest of the world for the Fit," Mendel said. It gets 27-28 miles per gallon in the city and 33-34 mpg on the highway.

Sales of Honda’s Fit subcompact has increased 64%, Civic 20.5% and Civic hybrid 17.5%. Honda may be doing well in its small vehicles section but its bigger vehicles are not performing well. Though cross over CR-V are quite popular but still, Honda is having a tough time selling its big vehicles. Honda’s midsize Ridgeline pickup, premium Acura are slow sellers but overall Honda cars do not spend much time in dealers lots in the USA now days.

Related article:
Det News.com

Sony Pictures Entertainment and Columbia Pictures join together to bring the Smurfs on big screen

Do you remember Smurfs? The blue cartoon characters from the 80’s favorite cartoon series The Smurfs. It was also one of my favorite cartoon series. Well, for the Smurf lovers (including me), there is a good news. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Columbia Pictures are going to jointly produce a Smurfs movie. The studios are planning to make the Smurfs a hybrid live action/animated feature films using CGI. The studios hired David Stem and David Weiss to pen the script. David Weiss has movies Shrek2 &3 to his credit. Jordan Kerner is going to produce the movie for Sony. President of Columbia Pictures, Doug Belgrad, said that that they were very excited to introduce a new new generation to Papa Smurf, Smurfette and other Smurfs in all their ‘three apple tall’ glory. VFX World reports:

"Through Animation and Imageworks, our visual effects and character animation studio, we have an extraordinary capability to mix animation and live action having created a number of fully-realized CG characters in live action films from STUART LITTLE to SPIDER-MAN 3," said Bob Osher, president of digital production for Sony Pictures Ent.

" This is our first hybrid film and we're excited to expand our creative initiatives in this direction" said Minghella, president of production for Sony Pictures Animation.

The SMURFS project is the first new piece of development Minghella and her team will oversee since joining the division in April.

The Smurfs were first created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo. He introduced these characters in a Belgian comics magazine. In 1981, famous cartoon company, Hanna-Barbera started The Smurfs cartoon series which continued till 1990 in the NBC. The series received numerous nominations for Daytime Emmy Awards. Now, the 'three apple tall' guys will be back once again. Sony Pictures will start the licensing process for the Smurfs characters at this year’s licensing Show which has already started in New York.

Related articles:
Wikipedia

VFX World

Geeks of Doom

Bertelsmann AG wants to sale its share of Sony BMG Music Entertainment to Sony

Bertelsmann AG, one of Europe’s biggest media companies is going to sell its share of Sony BMG Music Entertainment to Sony. Though the two parties have not disclosed any information but from various news sources it has been confirmed that Bertelsmann is going to sell its share of world’s second largest music label. Bertelsmann is asking for $1.5 billion but Sony would settle for $1.2 billion- $1.3 billion under the fulfillment of certain conditions which might include extension of Sony BMG’s agreement with arvato AG to supply production, packaging and distribution services for Sony BMG. Bertelsmann’s CFO, Thomas Rabe, held two meetings with Sony America’s finance boss Robert Wiesenthal in New York last month. The Hollywood Reporter reports:

Sony and Bertelsmann's current agreement runs out August 2009 but sources believe a deal is likely by this fall and could even come before Bertelsmann's half year results are announced August 28. A Bertelsmann spokesman Wednesday told THR "no decision had been made" regarding the Sony BMG stake and declined to comment on what he termed "market rumors."

Bertelsmann CEO Hartmut Ostrowski has made it clear a BMG sale option is on the table as he moves to focus on the German media giant on its high-growth core businesses.

Currently Sony BMG is the second largest music company in the world with artists including Sean Kingston, Avril Lavigne, Neil Diamond, and Alicia Keys.

Sony and Bertelsmann started this joint venture in 2004 and according to their contract, it was supposed to continue till 2009. News of Bertelsmaan’s exit first came on The New York Times a week ago followed by a report in German newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), on 10^th June. Today, German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, confirmed the news. The main reason behind Bertelsmaan’s exit was low profit margin as CD sales fell down. In September 2006, Bertelsmaan sold its BMG Music Publishing business to Vivendi.

Related articles:
The Hollywood Reporter

Forbes

Beta News

Sony

Sony's announces its new back-illuminated CMOS image censor

Sony has announced a new back-illuminated CMOS image sensor that will improve the still picture quality in still cameras and camcorders. This new back-illuminated CMOS image sensor comes with 1.75µm square pixels, five effective mega pixels, 60 frames/s. The image sensor has nearly twofold sensitivity and low noise and other enhanced imaging properties which has been achieved by illuminating the backside of the silicon substrate. Gizmodo reports:

In the new design, however, most of the photons goes through the on-chip lens and color filter directly into the new photo-diode structure, while the transistor layer sits at the bottom of the sensor. According to Sony, "that achieves a higher sensitivity of +6dB and a lower random noise of -2dB without light by reducing noise, dark current and defect pixels compared to the conventional front-illuminated structure."

Sony is planning on introducing the new technology in their next generation cameras, and hopefully we will see it in other products, especially cellphones.

The best thing about Sony Ericsson phones is that each of the phones fulfills different requirements of the users. Sony Ericsson walkman phone is the ultimate gadget for music lovers. On the other hand, if you enjoy taking pictures, then Sony Ericsson Cybershot is the best buy for you. This new technology will definitely be a big boost for Sony Ericsson cyber shot phones, cameras and handy cams.

Related articles:
Gizmodo

Infosyncworld

Digital Camera Review

Sony

Sonycamera

Glu Mobile Inc.h will distribute games for Sony Pictures Television International

On June 11^th, famous mobile gaming company, Glu Mobile Inc. signed a distribution agreement with Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI). Under this deal, Glu will distribute existing and new mobile games on behalf of SPTI. Glu will release games in in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Canada, Australia and