I went yesterday to the "Thailand Mobile Expo 07" with hope to discover some "real" new products. Instead I found the Expo 07 to be more a fair than an exhibition where you can find at least 2-3 salespersons per visitor, but no real new innovations.

• Samsung was presenting their Ultra Edition II series (U600, U300 and U100)
• LG came with the Prada
• Motorola was around with the Razr2 V8
• Sony Ericsson shown the new P1i & T650i
• HTC publicized the Touch and P3600i
• and Nokia with lots of different models with the N95 among them

Aside of mobile phones, they was a huge sale of different accessories such bluetooth headsets, car accessories, and all type of memory stuff such memory sticks, SD cards, MicroSD etc..

In resume, nothing different that you can already find in Bangkok IT shops and not a single word about incoming products such Apple iPhone, HTC Cavalier or Shift as per examples which is a bit pity in country where carrying the last mobile phone is still very trendy.

Let's see what next week 2nd Annual Asia IT will come with.

Just finished to watch Hugo Ortega's video presenting HTC Shift and I must admit I like the HTC idea of bringing to us an UMPC (Ultra-mobile computer) which has 2 processors and 2 operating systems working independently on board.

Is the UMPC form factor market ready to take-off soon ?
Is the double O/S option chosen by HTC the winning one ?

A recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• The UMD worldwide forecast is for more than 8 million units in 2011.
• 2008-2010 will be key years for the development of a market inflection point of anytime/anywhere wireless connectivity that is necessary for widespread adoption of the UMD paradigm.

Some specifications: 

• Size: 19 x 13.5 x 3cm
• Weight: 0.9 kg 0.791 kg
• 7 inches display
• Resolution : 800×480 – 1024×600
• Operating Systems : Windows Mobile 6 & Windows Vista Business
• CPU's : Qualcomm 400 MHz for WM6 & Dual Core 800 MHz Intel A110 for Vista
• 7 days battery capacity running on WM6 only. 3 hours on Windows Vista
• Ram Memory : 1 GB
• Hard Drive : 40 GB
• Communication : WiFi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0,
• Phone data : Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE – Tri-Band UMTS/HSPDA
• 1.3 MB built-in camera
• 1 USB 2.0 port, 1 VGA port
• 1 Finger print reader
• 1 SD Card reader
• Slide out Tilt display
• Price tag : 1200 euros (?)
• Availability : Q3 2007

The very interesting concept is the possibility to switch from one environment (e.g WM6) to the second one (Vista Business) and back in just the press of a button. Input can be done either using the QWERTY keyboard or the hand-witting recognition system.

Streaming video is available on Gottatobemobile.com or there is a 250 MB video available for download here.

Shift on HTC website  

I haven't post a lots about photo equipments on this blog in the past but the new models of Olympus SW µ [mju] series bring something new, specially for nomads. They are now shockproof, waterproof and operate at low temperature, so more fear about humidity, sand, scratches and they are ready for some underwater pictures.

The SW µ series is composed of 5 different models, all fitted with the following specifications:

• 7.1 mega pixels resolution
• 3x optical zoom (5x digital)
• 2.5 inch LCD screen
• 38-114 mm 35mm equivalent zoom (6.7-20.1mm)
• Digital image stabilization
• etc..
• Colored case   

The 2 new models (790 and 795) are no more "water resistant" but "water proof" 

• 790 SW
  Water Proof 3m
  Shock proof 1.5m
  Operable at – 10° C
  Dust proof
  Face Recognition

• 795 SW
  Water Proof 10m
  Shock proof 1.5m
  Operable at – 10° C
  Dust proof
  TruePic image processor
  Digital zoom x15

 Price : ~300 USD

For me the 795 model is the perfect "point & shoot" camera to carry with to "not DSLR friendly" places.

I don't want to defend Skype after the outage their login system faced last week (16-18.08.07), as they are doing it lots better than me, but I'm amazed by the quantity of critical and harsh reactions following this unforeseen interruption of service.

I have the impression that Skype critical voices are not so loud and mean when their local ISP, mobile  operator, telephone company, electricity or any other services they subscribe, including indispensable ones such lift, coffee machine, PS3 etc..

Skype outage was the first major glitch for the last 4 years which is more than excellent record in term of reliability. During that period how many time you have not been able to send SMS, pass a phone calls and even access the Internet either from home or at work ? 

In addition, Skype took the decision to compensate their paying customers (Skype Pro, Skype Unlimited,
SkypeIn or Skype Voicemail customers) by extending their subscription for 7 days in a goodwill gesture.

What I would propose is to spead the word among all Telco's and ISP (to start with) that automatic compensations are most welcome whenever they are not able to deliver the service we are paying for (perfect example of bad ISP behavior in Switzerland, video in French). 

HTC released yesterday the long waited Windows Mobile 6 firmware upgrade for the P4350.

Actually WM6 official firmware is available for the following models: 

• HTC P4350
• HTC TyTN

in Asia WM6 upgrades are already available for

• D810
• P838 Pro
• P800W
• U1000 

 No new release date for other models (S620, P3300).

Strange feeling tonight as while I was watching news about current rescue operation in Peru, the earth started to shake and lights to dance for about 10 seconds.

No damage at all, just the everlasting question..do I stay in or do I rush outside. 

Busy week in Philippines, experiencing a typhoon alert last Thursday and a quake 4 days later. 

According GDACS earthquake details are the following:

Magnitude : 6.5
Depth : 10 km
Epicenter : 200 km East of Davao
No Tsunami alert

More

A warm and friendly greeting derived from the Dabawenyo word "dayaw" that means good, valuable, superior or beautiful. Such is "Kadayawan," a celebration of life, a thanksgiving for the gifts of nature, the wealth of culture, the bounties of harvest and serenity of living.

Photos of the today's parade have been now published on Flickr

More about Kadayawan.

Nokia has identified that in very rare cases, Nokia branded batteries BL-5C manufactured by Matsushita (Panasonic) between December 2005 and November 2006, could potentially experience over heating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge.

This advisory applies only to the 46 million batteries manufactured by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006 and not BL-5C produced by other contractors (300 millions unit produced)

According Nokia press statement, there have been approximately 100 incidents of over heating reported globally and to date no serious injuries or property damage have been reported (serious incidents already occurred in 2005). Nevertheless, Nokia and Matsushita offer to replace any BL-5C battery subject to this product advisory.

Mobile phone concerned are the following ones:

Nokia 1100, Nokia 1100c, Nokia 1101, Nokia 1108, Nokia 1110, Nokia 1112, Nokia 1255, Nokia 1315, Nokia 1600, Nokia 2112, Nokia 2118, Nokia 2255, Nokia 2272, Nokia 2275, Nokia 2300, Nokia 2300c, Nokia 2310, Nokia 2355, Nokia 2600, Nokia 2610, Nokia 2610b, Nokia 2626, Nokia 3100, Nokia 3105, Nokia 3120, Nokia 3125, Nokia 6030, Nokia 6085, Nokia 6086, Nokia 6108, Nokia 6175i, Nokia 6178i, Nokia 6230, Nokia 6230i, Nokia 6270, Nokia 6600, Nokia 6620, Nokia 6630, Nokia 6631, Nokia 6670, Nokia 6680, Nokia 6681, Nokia 6682, Nokia 6820, Nokia 6822, Nokia 7610, Nokia N70, Nokia N71, Nokia N72, Nokia N91, Nokia E50, Nokia E60

but it also applies on batteries sold separately.  

Complete public advisory and battery identification number check are available on Nokia site.

Found on BBC website a study, which questioned 1125 IT professional in Europe, revealing that more than 50% of IT projects are not delivered on time.

 

The study conducted by by HP and the Economist Intelligence Unit says the the 3 most commons causes for delay are :

• Outsourcing (it reminds me something)
• Changing priorities half way through (certainly not always an IT responsibility)
• Poor coordination between managers (sic!)

Other interesting points found on the article are that : 

• 51% of European IT's say there would be not risk to their job. This percentage slips to 33% in Asia and 22% in Americas.

• 57% of participants to the study said that less than 50% of the IT initiatives in their firms had a positive outcome. In 2006 this figure was 54%

In Europe Sweden comes first when it is about delivering IT project on time with 44% then follow

• Switzerland 24%

• Czech Republic 20%

• Germany 19%

• Denmark 16%

• UK 11%

• Finland 8%

• Israel 8%

• France 6%

• Belgium 4%

• Italy 4%

• Netherlands 4%

• Russia 4%

• Spain 4%

Source : BBC News

Look for the error.
Found it ?

Available for pre-sale (34 USD) at the Art Lebedev Studio . The ideal geek gift ?