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November 30, 2005
Samsung to setup cell phone manufacturing plant in India
(Bloomberg) -- Samsung Electronics Co., the world's third-largest mobile-phone maker, plans to build a manufacturing plant in India to win market share in one of the world's fastest-growing major cellular-phone markets.
The factory will be built at Manesar in Haryana state, near New Delhi, Ruchika Batra, Samsung India spokeswoman, said in a telephone interview today. The company didn't provide details.
Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung follows Nokia Oyj and Motorola Inc., the top two mobile-phone makers, in manufacturing locally. South Korean rival LG Electronics Inc. has started making mobile phones in the western Indian city of Pune.
Posted by admin at 01:27 PM | Comments (0)
BP Invests in alternative energy
Oil giant BP PLC announced this week that it will make future investments into alternative-energy projects through a new business unit, BP Alternative Energy. The company expects to invest as much as $8 billion in alternative-energy projects, including solar, wind, hydrogen and carbon-abatement technology, over 10 years.
As oil reserves deplete and low fuel burning hybrid vehicles enter the global market major all companies have stepped up their efforts in alternative energy initiatives.
Posted by admin at 06:53 AM | Comments (0)
November 29, 2005
Bangladesh Hopes Technology Exports Will Result in More Economic Growth
DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Bangladesh opened an information-technology exposition this week in an attempt to encourage the government and local businesses to switch into IT-enabled systems for faster economic growth.
Technology companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. are co-sponsoring the event, while the country's leading mobile-telephone company, Grameen Phone Ltd., is the main sponsor, organizers said. They hoped local companies would get orders from international buyers and find joint-venture partners at the exposition, helping increase the country's export earnings from information technology.
Bangladeshi exports of software and other services -- mainly to the U.S., Canada, Japan and some European countries -- are expected to double by the end of fiscal 2005 from last year's $7 million.
Posted by admin at 07:08 AM | Comments (0)
November 27, 2005
Internet TV Market Expands Rapidly
Hong Kong's Internet-delivered TV service, Now Broadband TV reached 500,000 subscribers this week according to a report by Wall Street Journal. Now Broadband is currently one of the world's largest TV system delivered over the Internet.
Now Broadband which competes iCable which broadcasts CNN live online and has about 620,000 subscribers, is also adding two HBO movie channels from Time Warner and video-on-demand Chinese movies from News Corp.'s Star TV.
Posted by admin at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)
November 26, 2005
Nokia posts 77% sales growth in China
The world's largest maker of mobile phones, Nokia, has sold 23 million mobile phones in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Handset sales in the China region rose 77 percent in the first nine months of this year compared with a year earlier.
Espoo, Finland-based company has invested around US$2.2 billion in China, which has 383 million subscribers and is the world's largest cell-phone market by number of users. Nokia employs about 6000 people in China carrying design, development and manufacturing in the region.
Posted by admin at 06:12 PM | Comments (0)
November 25, 2005
Intel ‘unwires’ more than 300 universities in Asia Pacific
As part of its Mobile Initiative for Learning in Education Intel has unwired more than 300 universities across Asia Pacific region, benefiting more than 400,000 students.
The program was launched in 2004 and aims to accelerate the rollout of wireless networks and mobility based learning solutions to effectively integrate information and communication technology in Asia’s education systems.
A recent survey supported by Intel with 360 Asia Pacific universities also identified the motivators and barriers to implement wireless LAN and e-learning solutions.
Back in April of this year Intel Corporation China launched a wiress network enabled notebook codenamed Tanggula specifically designed for Chinese university students. The new notebook platform is a stylish and light-weight, and will come in a range of affordable performance and entry-level designs for students and parents.
The convenience and continuous Internet access any time and at any location was one of the most significant motivators to implement wireless LAN solutions at Asian universities. Respondents felt empowered. They also felt more hassle-free not having to deal with messy cables and plugs.
Every year, Intel invests more than $US100 million across 50 countries worldwide to implement programs that foster innovative teaching practices, extend learning beyond the classroom, reward student achievement and inspire future technologists.
Posted by admin at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)
November 24, 2005
Developing countries to launch news website to contain "western media propaganda"
Governments of developing countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America plan to launch an Internet-based news service to counter biased reporting by Western media.
Plans to create the Nonaligned Movement News Network were endorsed by information ministers of more than 80 mainly developing nations, including Cuba, Iran, Syria, Myanmar, North Korea and Zimbabwe, many of which claim their reputations have suffered because of foreign media coverage.
Countries will start using the network in early 2006 to supply news on domestic events to each other and to rebut "smear campaigns which developing nations have suffered from biased and distorted Western media reports," the ministers said in a statement after a two-day conference in Malaysia.
Posted by admin at 01:06 PM | Comments (0)
BMW to assemble 3 and 5 series automobiles in India
German luxury/sports automaker BMW will produce the 3 and 5 Series saloons from its first assembly unit in India, coming up near Chennai and due to be commissioned by 2007.
The company targets annual sales of 150,000 units of BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce cars in the Asian markets by 2008. In fiscal 2004, the company sold 95,482 automobiles in this region.
The production and sales subsidiary in India will be 100 per cent owned by the BMW Group. Initial investments in India total 20 million euros. As per current plans the BMW 3 and 5 Series production in Chennai will be sold in the local market.
Posted by admin at 03:08 AM | Comments (0)
November 23, 2005
New Internet Protocol Addressing Standard Supports Internet TV on Small Devices
The new Internet addressing standard, IPV6 will be focusing on handling the rising popularity of video capable portable players. The upcoming US IPv6 Summit Conference in Virginia, US.
TV-over-Internet (also called IPTV or streaming video) has been a major news item lately, with most major broadcasters and film studios announcing initiatives to start delivering content over the Internet. Worldwide TV-over-Internet service revenue is expected to grow to over $44 billion by 2009, with almost 54 million subscribers, according to a new report by Infonetics Research. How the New Internet can facilitate this future growth is a major topic at the Conference. "The New Internet" is the informal name of Internet Protocol version 6, the massive Internet upgrade that is slated to replace today's predominant version 4 (IPv4), in use since 1973. The switch to the new format has been widely supported in Europe and Asia, and was recently mandated for the US military and Federal Government.
This month Apple computer anncounced that it has sold 30 million iPod , its popular portable multimedia player. To feed its huge appetite for chips for such devices Apple has spent $1.2 billion in securing supplies from manufacturers. In the final three months of this Apple is expected to sell over 8 million iPods. Addition of video to iPod is raising speculation that portable devices may cross both PCs and regular TVs for watching television. IPV6 not only provides the expanded addressing to cover such a huge number of devices but also allows efficient streaming of media content based on quality required.
Posted by admin at 01:28 PM | Comments (0)
November 22, 2005
SMS Messages to Fixed Line Phones?
DOHA: A new service that allows mobile phone users to send short text messages to land-line telephones will soon be introduced by Qatar Telecom, a senior official at the company said. The company plans to spend QR950m between 2006 and 2008 to further develop its telecom infrastructure, he added.
Khalil Ebrahim Al Emadi, Executive Director, Wire-line services, in an interview with the Al Sharq daily, said the facility that enables mobile phone users to send short text messages and faxes to fixed line telephones would soon be tested by the company.
Posted by admin at 05:16 AM | Comments (0)
Developing a hydrogen economy in the South
A recent report by iNSnet suggests that developing countries should start alternative energy programs of their own to moniter developments in fuel cells and other alternative energy programs. Read attached report.
Given the right support, there could be 5-10 million fuel cell vehicles globally by 2020. The time horizon for the Hydrogen Economy is long - it is at least 20 years away for developed countries. But long term change requires short term change.
China, India and Brazil have already developed active programmes of research on hydrogen fuel cells, which are tailored to their own needs and development goals.
By developing their hydrogen roadmaps now, developing countries have the opportunity to monitor progress in the North and make informed, strategic decisions concerning this latest wave of technological change.
These are among the many issues discussed at the recently concluded international conference on hydrogen fuel cells, their application in the transport sector, and the implications for developing countries. Hosted by United Nations University Institute for New Technologies (UNU-INTECH) in Maastricht, The Netherlands, from 7-9 November, the conference brought together 40 researchers, energy experts, industry representatives, and policymakers from key public institutions across the world.
The conference was part of a global United Nations University research and capacity building project coordinated by Professor Lynn Mytelka, Senior Research Fellow at UNU-INTECH, and Grant Boyle, Associate Project Coordinator at the University's Environment and Sustainable Development Programme (UNU-ESD)in Tokyo, Japan. UNU's Geothermal Training Programme (UNU-GTP) in Iceland is also participating in the project.
Raising awareness
The purpose of the project is to raise awareness of emergent hydrogen and fuel cell technologies and to enhance long-term transport and energy decision-making in developing countries by tracking hydrogen fuel cell activities in the transport sector around the world.
Topics discussed at the conference included: Hydrogen Production, Distribution and Storage; Fuel Cells and Fuel Cell Vehicles; the State of Activities and Knowledge in Developing Countries and the Implications for Oil and Gas and Automotive Industries in these countries.
Participants learned that while the greatest investments have been made in Europe, North America and Japan, developing countries have made significant advances as well with a growing number of countries preparing well thought out hydrogen 'road maps' that reflect their national goals and needs.
Whatever their motivation - environmental concerns in the North, or the need to achieve energy security in the South - a critical feature of these emerging programmes is their focus on building domestic capacities for research, development and sustained policy support in moving towards a hydrogen economy.
Hybrid vehicles
China is carrying out fuel cell vehicle and refueling station demonstrations in Shanghai and Beijing, as well as undertaking its own national research and development activities. The country's R&D programme is aimed at developing advanced hybrid-electric and fuel cell vehicles and involves a large number of universities, public sector research institutes and private firms.
India too is rolling out hydrogen-fueled two and three-wheeler vehicles, while at the same time exploring ways of tapping hydrogen for stationary power. Brazil has a well established alternative energy programme based on biodiesels and ethanol. South Africa's ambitious R&D programme covers a range of alternative applications, with a major emphasis on exploring opportunities to exploit its vast platinum reserves in fuel cell catalysts.
Nigeria is putting in place a comprehensive energy strategy aimed at expanding its production of natural gas, which is one of the bases for creating methanol and hydrogen to fuel the future hydrogen economy. And Malaysia has adopted a dual strategy to simultaneously develop hydrogen and solar energy as alternative fuel sources.
Complex process
In his keynote address, Professor Turner Isoun, Minister of Science and Technology in Nigeria stressed that the way forward "...is to develop deliberate strategies to stimulate and sustain institutional R & D in the developing countries through support by their counterparts in the developed countries.”
But the uncertain future of the Global Environment Facility initiative to test fuel cell buses in five mega cities with serious pollution problems (Shanghai, New Delhi, Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Cairo) shows how problematic the process is. It demonstrates that even with the right technology and support, embarking on hydrogen economy activities at this early stage is a complex undertaking that involves trade-offs and strategic decisions related to costs, public policy goals, industrial development and a range of alternative transport modes and fuels.
According to Gabriel de Scheemaker, General Manager of Shell Hydrogen in the Asia Pacific, the first steps must be taken in the North, through 'Lighthouse Projects'. These are "hydrogen clusters where over a hundred hydrogen vehicles from different car companies are served by more than four hydrogen stations operated by two or more energy companies, involving fleet owners, operating on a semi-commercial bases, in international collaboration with the government."
The aim of such public-private partnerships is to pool resources in the expensive initial phases and catalyze a critical mass of researchers and entrepreneurs, accelerate best practice and give confidence to investors.
Leapfrog strategy
"If the future is still 'hydrogen'," notes Prof. Mytelka, "...countries will need to make some tough decisions now: on whether to wait until all pieces of the system are in place or to take action; how to build a path today that does not compromise change in the future; how to incorporate a range of options - gasoline, natural gas and hydrogen without wasteful investment." This requires that governments, both in the North and South, start to build public awareness of all the choices available now, to enable consensus building on the best way forward for individual countries.
The consensus at the meeting was that the South should not make the jump yet, but must start now to put the conditions in place to enable it to leapfrog into a hydrogen economy - when the time is right, and on its own terms. This will require that developing countries make, and be supported in efforts to understand these technologies, and to monitor the lessons being learned in industrialized countries so as to plan for their own participation.
Participants expressed interest in working with UNU in undertaking follow-up activities in developing countries in two areas: building networks of centres of excellence and collaborative partnerships and strengthening research capacity by taking up training and demonstration opportunities. They also want to find ways of monitoring progress, sharing information and strengthening the base for informed policy-making in moving towards a hydrogen economy.
Source: This is a slightly shortened version of a report by iNSnet in the Netherlands.
Posted by admin at 05:09 AM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2005
China launch first HD TV end of year
(AP) Chinese state television will launch the country's first digital high-definition TV channel on New Year's Day, the government said.
The pay channel will broadcast 18 hours a day and carry events such as the 2006 soccer World Cup in Berlin, Xinhua news agency said.
High-definition television offers viewers clearer, more vivid images than those of conventional television. Digital format allows for the transmission of greater volume of data and combines audio and visual content, rather than dividing the two, as in analog format.
The Chinese government says it plans to begin shifting all its television broadcasting to digital in 2008 and cease analog transmission entirely by 2015.
China Central Television has been testing the new digital high-definition channel since September in Hangzhou, a city southwest of Shanghai, Xinhua said.
Posted by admin at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)
November 20, 2005
India offers loans for popularising alternative energy sources
Source: Express News Service
Lucknow: To popularise the use of non-conventional power resources, the Central government has planned to provide loans for purchasing of instruments working on non-conventional energy at easy interest rates. This was informed by Non-Conventional Energy Development Agency director Sanjay Bhusreddy.
Through a press note issued in this regard by the Information department, Sanjay Bhusreddy informed that bank loans would be ate for solar water heater used in households. For offices, colleges and management institutions, the loans would be given out at the rate of three per cent.
The industrial and commercial establishments would have to pay an interest of five percent o bank loans for them. These interest rates have been fixed for the year 2005-06.
Posted by admin at 07:00 PM | Comments (0)
Motorola to start assembling cellphone handsets in India
Motorola Inc. will start assembling mobile handsets in India by this December seeking to boost its market share selling locally manufactured low-cost handsets.
India is one of the fastest growing mobile phone markets in the world With more than 2.5 million mobile-phone subscribers being added every month.
The first made-in-India handset, the Motorola C115, will be introduced next month, costing less than $40. Motorola currently has six research-and-development centers in India.
Posted by admin at 04:07 PM | Comments (0)
3G in China Next Year!
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article China may be introducing third generation mobile phone services as early as next year.
The Chinese government has been delaying giving permission to a move to 3G primariy because of difficulty in determining how many carriers would eventually survive in the new space and allowing time for home grown network development by local manufacturers.
A handful of chip providers and phone makers announced second-generation chip sets and more-mature handset prototypes for the TD-SCDMA standard that China is developing as the basis for its 3G will be thrown into the mix with wideband-CDMA and cdma2000 1X when the government issues its 3G licenses.
That updated timeframe would allow China's mobile carriers to have 3G networks up and running by the time Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Mobile networks based on 3G offer users broadband multimedia services such as access to video and music in addition to providing location based services. This would allow mobile service providers expand revenue base while providing Internet access to wider group of Chinese citizens.
Posted by admin at 12:58 AM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2005
Wifi TV arrives in developing world
EWPORT BEACH, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 11/14/2005 -- Wi-Fi TV Inc. (OTC: WTVN) announced today that it has expanded delivery of its memberships to over 200 countries. The memberships include Internet delivery of links to live TV for viewing on the Wi-Fi TV Virtual Player ™ and personal communication services, including: phone calls, text and message chat and video meetings with the Wi-Fi TV Virtual Living Room ™.
"Wi-Fi TV continues to implement its plan of making the World smaller by bringing live TV and one-to-one personal chat and communication to a shared online community," said Shelley Dietrich of Wi-Fi TV Inc.
Starting today, annual paid Wi-Fi TV memberships, which recently became available in the United States, are now offered to residents of over 200 countries. Secure online payments may be made by several methods, including major credit cards. The annual cost for membership at www.Wi-FiTV.com , which includes unlimited access to all basic channels, text and message chat, and news stories is the equivalent of USD $0.99 cents per month. Wi-Fi TV members will also have exclusive access to additional premium channels and services, including the Wi-Fi TV Virtual Living Room™, for additional fees. The latter service, which allows live video calls with file sharing for Wi-Fi TV members, is now featured for a limited time in a free Beta test.
Wi-Fi TV Inc. was unclear at press time whether it must restrict access to its service in Cuba due to a U.S. trade embargo or whether other countries or territories might prohibit citizens from obtaining Wi-Fi TV memberships. Wi-Fi TV is not available where prohibited by law.
Countries and territories where the Wi-Fi TV memberships are now available (subject to local laws) include:
United States, Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antarctica, Antigua, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegowina, Botswana, Bouvet Island, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde Escudo, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Colombia, Comoros, Congo Democratic Rebublic, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote D'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Curacao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Heard and McDonald Islands, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique. Mauritania, Mauritius Mayotte, Mexico, Micronesia Federated States of, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norfolk Island, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestinian Territory Occupied, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Pitcairn, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Reunion, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia and Montenegro, Seychelles., Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands, South Korea, Spain Sri Lanka, St. Helena, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Pierre and Miquelon, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, US Minor Outlying Islands, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands (British), Virgin Islands (USA), Wallis and Futuna Islands, Western Sahara, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Posted by admin at 06:54 PM | Comments (0)
Manufacturers become energy-aware of power hungry computers
With energy costs skyrocketting, chip, PC and server manufacturers are increasing their focus on energy efficient computing capabilities.
As data centers located around the world today increasingly handle complex processing tasks the power demand for such centers are reaching 2 megawatts at certain facilities.
PC Hardware and chip makers are changing direction to develop energy efficient chips and hardware. Intel, under pressure from rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc., is striving to improve performance by using multiple electronic brains on its chips -- each of which operate at a lower gigahertz speed to save energy. Intel's chief executive, predicted in August that new chips his company is developing could save $1 billion in energy costs each year for every 100 million units sold.
Chip makers are rushing to improve power consumption of desktop as well server chips. AMD' Opteron chip draws as much as 95 watts, compared with 150 watts for Intel's latest Xeon chips. Sun Microsystems Inc. this week announced a new chip, code-named Niagara, that has eight processors but draws only about 70 watts.
Posted by admin at 06:38 PM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2005
Japan Expanding Cell Phone to Pay
Japanese cellular giant NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it will buy a 42% stake in Tower Records Japan Inc., which sells music CDs and DVDs, this month in an effort to widen its customer base and diversify its services.
NTT DoCoMo said in a news release that it will spend 12.8 billion yen ($108.2 million) to buy the stake. As part of their alliance, the two companies will bolster services that distribute information about music to DoCoMo's mobile phone users.
NTT DoCoMo also is looking at introducing its mobile phone-based electronic money and credit-card services at the retail stores operated by Tower Records, a move that would enable customers to pay for music by waving their mobile phones near sensors placed at cash registers. As of the end of September, about 6.5 million NTT DoCoMo subscribers owned a cellular phone handset with such e-money and credit-card functions.
Posted by admin at 01:33 PM | Comments (0)
Apple takes center stage in higher education with iTunes & iPod
After taking over the online music industry, Apple is hoping to do the same in fields like higher education, and it took another step in that direction recently with Stanford University’s announcement that it would make a range of audio content available to its alumni and others through iTunes.
Stanford on iTunes emerged from the longstanding collaboration between the university and Apple. The university had been seeking ways of giving alumni and others access to lectures and other events taking place on the campus, and in the course of continuing conversations with company officials.
Through the Stanford on iTunes Web site, the university will make lectures, music, sports and other content available not only to its alumni but to the public, free of charge.
In the near future Stanford plans to add video capabilities allowing students to synchronize lectures and PowerPoint presentations,” for instance.
Stanford joins Duke and Brown Universities and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor’s dental school as institutions that are distributing course related content via the iTunes Music Store, according to Apple.
Posted by admin at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2005
Motorola invests in fuel cell maker
Global mobile handset giant, Motorola, has made an investment in the North American micro fuel cell developing firm Tekion. Fuel cells are considered to be more efficient in powering mobile handsets than the batteries that we use today, and their demand is projected to shoot up significantly in the future.
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device similar to a battery, but differing from the latter in that it is designed for continuous replenishment of the reactants consumed; i.e. it produces electricity from an external fuel supply of hydrogen and oxygen as opposed to the limited internal energy storage capacity of a battery.
Tekion is well known for their Formira fuel cell. This fuel cell is called the Formira Power Pack, it’s designed for use in mobile phones and is the latest in personal power sources. With the Power Pack you will be able to stay connected for as long as you need, a simple snap, swap the fuel cartridge and you can keep on going.
Motorola will be availing fuel cells from Tekion from 2007 and the initial shipments will be meant for larger devices like satellite phones.
Posted by admin at 12:32 PM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2005
Taiwan launches first WiFi cell phone
Taiwan-based Accton Technology Corp has launched what they call the world's first cell phone that can use the popular Skype software for making free Web calls. They launched this product yesterday in Tokyo, Japan. This device does not require a personal computer to connect to the internet to make calls using the Skype technology.
Accton said in a statement that the WiFi SkyFone WM1185-T wireless mobile phone would benefit more than 50 million customers of Skype as well as companies and households, which have not yet used Skype. Users can use this particular mobile phone product to make peer-to-peer (P2P) Internet calls to any phone users in the world without having to switch on their computers.
Skype for recently purchased by the ecommerce giant eBay for big bucks and has more than 190 million people worldwide. At any particular time, the service is being used by more than 3-4 million users making it the leaders in VoIP technology on the internet. Accton said that they appreciate the technical capabilities provided by the company and decided to develop telecommunication devices using the Skype technology one year ago.
The company is a Skype's partners and their WiFi SkyFone WM1185-T is the world's first mobile phone, which can be used to make Internet calls independent of any computer.
Posted by admin at 01:15 AM | Comments (0)
November 08, 2005
Cheap cell phones to account for 50% of global market, thanks to developing countries
As developing countries join the mobile bandwagon cheap cell phones priced around $50 (US) may account for 50% the global cell phone sales.
From low-end makers such as Siemans to the high-end of the spectrum dominated by Nokia and Motorola, mobile handset markets are introducing low cost cell phones at a record pace.
Expecting that mobile phones may become preferred way of accessing Internet in developing countries various web portals are offering services catered to cell phone users. Both Google and Yahoo are launching multimedia rich mobile content within a year.
Posted by admin at 01:13 AM | Comments (0)
China aims for 15% of energy from renewable sources
Amid rising energy prices Chinese president Hu Jintao today pledged at the internation conference on renewable energy at the Great Hall that his county aims to generate 15% of its energy from renewable resources.
Aproximately 1,200 delegates from 80 countries joined Chinese leaders in Beijing to discuss alternative energy derived from solar, wind and hydropower instead of coal and oil.
The government claims China uses renewable energy to meet 7% of its total needs and plans to increase that amount to 15% by 2020.
Posted by admin at 01:00 AM | Comments (0)
November 07, 2005
Linux of mobile phones
The Linux Phone Standardization Forum (LiPS), a consortium of cell phone and handheld vendors including France Telecom, Motorola, PalmSource and Trolltech is set to launch later this is planning to expand Linux's reach in the mobile phone market.
Cell phone and smart phone industry watchers say the use of Linux on such devices will be a big shakeup in the industry over the next several years, just as Linux has been a disruptive force in the server operating system market. Currently, most intelligent mobile devices run Symbian OS or Windows CE. But Linux on cell phones has made strides in Asia, where Motorola is reported to have sold more than three million Linux-based phones.
Posted by admin at 03:59 AM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2005
Asia PC Sales Remain Robust
Personal computer (PC) market in Asia Pacific totalled 10.9 million units in the third quarter of 2005, representing a sequential growth of 11% and a year-on-year growth of 19% powered strong notebook sales according to a report by IDC.
Notebook shipments grew by 54% annually. Markets such as China, Taiwan, India and Korea contributed much towards the region's growth in notebooks.
During the period, market leader Lenovo widened its lead on runner-up HP, as its total PC shipments surged 22 per cent quarter compared to the latter's 14 per cent. In China 64 bit PCs showed strong demand powered by AMD chips.
Posted by admin at 07:32 AM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2005
Australia & Germany introduces ePassports, rest not far behind
The first biometrically-enabled Australian passport - or ePassport - has been issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
The passports will feature a microchip embedded in the centre that contains information about the bearer, as well as the image of the bearer, so they can be verified when passed before a technical reading machine known as an optical identifier.
The chip will contain the same information that is shown on existing Australian passports, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer.
Germany also introduced electronic passports on Tuesday as one of the first countries in the European Union. By the summer of 2006, all new EU passports will contain a special chip which stores a digital photo of the passport holder's face.
The US The Department of State plans to issue the first full validity electronic passports in December 2005. By October 2006, all domestic passport agencies will issue electronic passports.
Posted by admin at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)
Microsoft buys VoIP company
After launching its Windows and Office Live initiative this week that would allow Microsoft to offer web-based services over the Internet integrating its various popular productivity applications, the company announced acquisition of Swiss VoIP company Media-streams.
The acquisition will give Microsoft expertise to develop technology allowing integration of Internet telephony that work in conjunction with E-mail, Web conferencing, and SMS software, according to Microsoft. Media-stream's applications integrate Internet calls with Microsoft's Outlook and Exchange E-mail software, a spokesman for Microsoft said. Media-stream.com, which is privately held, had 23 employees, according to the spokesman. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
Media-streams.com is the second VoIP-related company Microsoft has bought in a little more than two months. On Aug. 30, it bought Teleo Inc., a San Francisco provider of Internet phone software and service.
Posted by admin at 04:49 AM | Comments (0)
November 02, 2005
GSM Association and MTN Nigeria plan for $30 GSM handsets in Nigeria
Nigeria will benefit from a programme by the GSM Association (GSMA) for handsets costing below $30 (US) aimed to make mobile telephony affordable to the unconnected segments of the population in developing nations.
The GSMA programme which is led by Erik Aas, chief executive of Grameen Phone Limited of Bangladesh, is supported by 10 other leading operators in emerging market which includes MTN Group and Vodacom. The operators are expected to order about six million of these low cost handsets from Motorola.
Posted by admin at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)
Nokia unveils digital TV phone
At the Nokia Mobility Conference, Nokia today presented the Nokia N92, the first integrated DVB-H mobile device in the Nokia Nseries range for watching broadcast TV programs set to launch mid 2006. The Nokia N92 offers easy access to TV programs without having to sit in front of a television set. Users can set reminders to watch their favorite TV programs, create personal channel lists and subscribe to TV channel packages.
DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting – Handheld) is the new digital broadcast standard for the transmission of broadcast content to handheld terminal devices, developed by the international DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) Project and recently published by ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute). Up to 50 TV channels can be delivered with low cost, over one network. With extensive pilots of broadcast mobile TV currently taking place across the globe, involving leading broadcasters, mobile operators, broadcast network operators and handset manufacturers, the market for commercial broadcast services is expected to spread during
2006.
Posted by admin at 01:55 PM | Comments (0)
Microsoft launches advertiser supported live.com; developing countries may gain the most!
In a bid to catchup with Google and Yahoo, Microsoft has formally joined advertiser-backed web service offering with its new portal live.com.
The services in its intial iteration include instant messaging, VoIP that potentially may allow PC to regular phone service for free (at least during Beta testing the site is offering such functionality), RSS news aggregator and colloboration tools for businesses. In the long-term whether the company will offer its Office suite for free is the big question.
With emerging countries showing the largest growth segment for the PC business how a productivity software such as MS Office that costs almost nothing to duplicate is being sold at a price that is more than the annual income of many thirdworld citizens is beyond anyone's imagination.
Recently Sun and Google announced that they will develop a web-based version of Open Office productivity suite that competes with Micrsoft Office. As everything else at Google, the service will probably be free with the support of advertisers.
The web-based software model that Google pioneered allows a company to deploy and test new technologies instanteneously. Just like Japanese automakers in the 1970s this frequent cycle of small and continuous upgrades clearly is outpacing the competition that still utilizes the annual software upgrade cycle in the industry.
Microsoft's latest foray is probably a response to that of Google's into the desktop arena. A web-based Office product that is at least free for basic functionality and is cross platform not only will ensure Microsoft's relevance but allow many in developing countries use the product without turning into software pirates.
Posted by admin at 08:07 AM | Comments (0)
Brazil sees prospects in sugarcane-based alternative energy
Sugar-cane-based biofuel is clean-burning, renewable and costs almost half as much as gasoline at today's prices. As long as crude-oil prices stay above $30 a barrel, Brazilian ethanol, which costs $26 a barrel to produce, is cost-competitive, attractive and sustainable to boot.
As the largest producer and exporter of ethanol, Brazil is seeing increasing demand from both developing as well as developed countries for its ethanol. But due to local demand driven by flex-fuel cars that run on any combination of ethanol and gasoline Brazil may find it hard to meet demand from abroad.
It is possible, with certain engine modifications, to run autombiles on pure ethanol today. Brazil operates almost 50% of their vehicles on pure ethanol. A 10% blend requires no engine modifications at all. There is a very limited selection of vehicles offered by original equipment manufacturers that will run on 85% ethanol blended fuel.
In 2004, the key importers of Brazilian ethanol were the U.S., India and the European Union.
Posted by admin at 01:38 AM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2005
Indian tech company enters solar cell manufacturing
India's Moser Baer, a world leader in the development and manufacture of removable data storage media, announced last week that it will start manufacturing photovoltaic solar energy cells.
The company sees its entry into the segment as a lead over competition as setting up a solar photovoltaics plant in India. MBIL is targeting a capacity of 80 megawatt by 2007.
The initial project is estimated to be 260 crore Indian Rupee (1 Indian rupee = 0.0221638 U.S. dollars) and the project will be spearheaded by a wholly-owned subsidiary in which MBIL will pump in Rs 112 crore.
Photovoltaic technology converts solar energy into electricity directly. The segment is expected to grow five-fold to a global market size of Rs 135,000 crore.
A pioneer among globalizing Indian firms, Moser Baer has a presence in over 82 countries, serviced through six marketing offices in India, the US and Europe, and enjoys strong tie-ups with all major global technology brands.
Posted by admin at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)
Motorola targets developing countries with lower cost phones
Motorola is planning to sell two million handsets in Africa for less than US$30 each in its bid to take market share away from Finland's Nokia. In emerging markets of Asia and the Middle East Motorola is expecting to sell a further four million handsets.
World cellular industry body GSM Association (GSMA) recently awarded Motorola a tender to “connect the unconnected” as part of the emerging markets handset programme.
The phones can handle voice and text messages, but are devoid of fancy features such as cameras, e-mail and internet access.
Motorola's new phones which will mainly target rural communities that do not have access to electricity, will have batteries to last up to three weeks.
In a bid to reduce mobile phone call charges Motorola and Intel have announced a joint effort to push development of the WiMAX wireless standard based on the proposed IEEE 802.16e standard, for both fixed and wireless broadband applications.
Intel and Motorola, both being members of the WiMAX Forum, aim to jointly ensure network and device interoperability issues are addressed adequately.
WiMAX networks are likely to be available mainly in urban areas, with the advantage not only of a broadly available network for Internet access, but also for making cheap voice calls and a range of other potential services.
About 75 per cent of the world’s population live in areas covered by cellular networks yet only 25 per cent own and use handsets, largely due to the cost. There are two billion cellular subscribers worldwide today.
Posted by admin at 05:07 AM | Comments (0)
Apple's ITunes Sells One Million Videos in Less Than One Month
The world may soon view television in an entirely different way. In less than 20 days of introducing downloadable videos Apple Computer Inc. said its iTunes music store sold more than one million.
The Cupertino, Calif., company added video capabilities to iTunes music/video jukebox with integrated downloading service on Oct. 12, allowing customers to purchase music videos, short films and episodes of certain television shows for viewing on their iPod or computer, for $1.99 each.
The company said popular downloads include music videos from Michael Jackson, Fatboy Slim and Kanye West, as well as episodes of ABC's hit TV shows "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives."
Apple's iTunes, which runs on both Macs and PCs, is already the largest online music distribution service on the Internet with sales of over 10 million songs per month.
If Apple becomes succesful selling videos in the same way, Internet will be the primary medium of on demand television. PCs will become the center piece of entertainment in homes across the world.
Posted by admin at 01:34 AM | Comments (0)