Eco-friendly or unfriendly

Now, when bamboo can be made into bicycles and into notebooks (Asus Eco Book), it's really telling us that we are going back to the very natural and raw materials for many products, even eletronics. As ethanol is already causing food prices to increase, I begin to wonder what the impact will be - on natural and raw materials. While we say "Go-Green", are we really preserving the environment ? It seems a vicious cycle to me. They are even talking about algae and plankton for chip nanofabrication. Well, I just hope it's not the case of protecting the environment by destroying more nature. :O How ironical...

$100 laptop, $2500 car - what's next

I hope the $2500 car by Tata will not be called or branded as the Tata car. Why ? Well, if you do not know, "Tata" sometimes means "Bye bye"as a way of waving informal goodbye. Hmmm...that's not an auspicious name to use for a newly launched product, in Mandarin/dialect terms.














(Courtesy: New York Times)

Why can this be made so cheap? Besides cutting down on engineering and labor costs, this car is kept to the basics - no radio, no power steering, a dated rear suspension design, and many more of without "this" and no "thats". With such a minimal designed and minimally constructed car, I started to ponder if this looks like a scooter with just a body and shell. Then it would not sound cheap anymore. Plus, will it be reliable and safe ?

$100 laptop, $2500 car - what's next? A $5000 luxury bungalow? :P

A trim supply chain gives best value prescribed eyeglasses

I have serious myopia and astimatism with eyeglasses prescribed at about 800-900 Rx. My eyeglasses prescribed at the optician usually burns a $500 (or more) hole in my wallet. How glad I was in the Great Discovery: $ 8 Zenni Optical Rx Eyeglassess.


Even a complete progressive eyeglasses is just starting from $37. That is how a trim business supply chain will benefit the customer. When Zenni sells their own manufactured frames direct to the customer - no middlemen and virtually no advertising budget, there is no extra indirect cost involved and most importantly, nothing extra is imposed on the consumer. End of the day, consumers just pay less!

Intel and AMD - the rivalry continues...or not?

While AMD has been in the quiet at CES2008 for new product roll-out, you can hear more of this company in corporate news - mostly in either 2007 round-up news or 2008 look-ahead news. Bad deal on ATI. In the reds. No use crying over spill milk. AMD needs a revival in its business to stay ahead. The rumor -looking at going private or a take-over. But the M&A fever is not over and will not be over in 2008. This may mean the latter is likely.

Though Intel has launched a notebook microprocessor based on 45nm technology, this company is not totally away from danger. There are talks about take-over of Nvidia but in the AMD so-called mistake or lesson learnt, the take-over may not happen after all. How about doing it with Apple?I see some synergy. Let's see what happens.

Gambling or gaming - whatever you call it

I used to hear some seniors and elders say that playing stocks and shares help them keep alert and sharp since they tend to put their "thinking" skills to work and does not allow brain cells to deteriorate so fast. I even heard some of the elders playing mahjong and poker to keep alert. Well, I only play a mild poker game during Chinese New Year. That's the only time the family gather round the table for a small game of poker and card games. Money is involved (though a small bet of just a dollar). Is that gambling or gaming? Instead of excessive gambling, the mathematics and tactics involved in playing online poker are not that useless after all. There is currently a range of online activities and facilities that even includes an interactive games section. With these online facilities and one manageable integrated account, it provides customers with a secure online environment for their online betting needs.