What's in 2013?

Picture 1. Photo was taken in Lembongan Island, Bali, Indonesia

Twenty Thirteen just kicked off. Where will this year possibly sail the world to?

Mobile Device

The discontinuation of Symbian OS left a gap in the lower segment of mobile device market. Current popular OS like Android, iOS, and Windows Phone will try to enter this market, but newcomers will be more considerable since those OSs are identical to high hardware requirements. Usable browser and growing ecosystem are the key features in this segment. Firefox OS has a chance to fill the gap since it has already had an ecosystem. Samsung may try to push its Bada OS further, while Meego and Sailfish OS may still need more time.

Healthcare

Previous holder of most valuable company in the world has proven that:

• A device can be smaller and thinner as technology evolves
• OS can be integrated to various devices like music player, mobile phone, tablet PC, and (possibly) Television

This time, healthcare may get tighter integration to:

• popular OS as a way to find medical experts, book an appointment, purchase prescription, insurance claim, etc.
• social media which will challenge credibility of medical experts while it is also benefited customers to avoid malpractice.
• popular hardware as an add-ons, e.g.: medical tools integrated with a cellular phone to enhance mobility and interaction with data center.
• data analytics as eHR is growing and more detailed patient data is stored in the database. Data analytics will enable early stage of medical examination or cross-reference.

Management

Risk management will go beyond financial industry. As global recession is still a popular topic in developed countries, especially in Europe, risk of business decision will always need to be assess thoroughly. A small mistake may have deeper consequences. It may not about market competition anymore. It may also be about credibility, credit rating, share price movement, supply chain, changes of government regulation, etc. Business should remain be challenged. That is the main role of risk management. Hence, this may the moment when risk management have a chance to rise or even become a stand-alone part in the company.

Education

MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) has been shifted from individual to organization and from free to low cost. It has also proven to be able to provide job opportunity through direct endorsement from the courses' lecturers. The popularity of MOOC may drive individual to pursue what they want to learn and proof that they can also be good at it without attending university. Certification may grow further as people seek a proof of what they have built expertise on.

Music Industry

KPop is growing and it may break in to more markets, including possibly Indian market (Bollywood).

The Green Robot Crushed Pacific Place

Picture 1. Queuing Line

Samsung Galaxy S2 was launched on 23 July 2011 in Pacific Place Mall, Jakarta. The cashier was opened at 8 AM, but customers had waited hours before. The queue line was closed at about 1:45 AM (about 6 hours before the cashier was opened) because the queue had reached 1,200 customers which was the quota for launching event (1).

Background

In Indonesia Samsung used to famous for it's TV products which are considered to have attractive value for money. It is common for a company from developing countries like South Korea to target price-sensitive consumers by offering similar product with cheaper price than its Japan or Western counterpart, not the high end segment.

Now Indonesian customers have different perception for Samsung. A recent research about "Most Searched Mobile Phone in Yahoo Indonesia" (as of June 2011) showed the result below (2):

1. Apple iPhone
2. Samsung Galaxy S2
3. Nexian Champion
4. Nexian Tap
5. Nokia 6600
6. Nexian Cappuccino
7. Hape Esia Connect
8. Nokia C5
9. Nokia C3
10. BlackBerry Onyx

Samsung product was on the list and even placed in no. 2. Moreover, Fabiant Kayatmo, Samsung's Product Marketing Senior Manager HHP Bussiness Department, claimed that based on May 2011 data (Indonesia), Samsung's market share in Android smartphone market was 78% and in tablet market was 60% (3).

Factors
The success of Samsung in Indonesia is caused by various factors, some of those are:

1. Shifting Mindset

Nowadays various mobile phones sold in Indonesia use Android as the Operating System (OS), such as phones from Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and HTC. The word "Android" or the the green robot logo is commonly used in each product's marketing materials. As those mobile phone companies push the product to Indonesian market through various distribution channels, marketing campaigns, and public relation efforts, Indonesian customers are aware that "Android OS is used by various companies". Furthermore, Android in Mobile Phones becomes like Windows in PCs. Hence, in choosing mobile phones, version of Android OS used and specification of the phone become as important as the mobile phone brand to be considered.

2. Korean Wave

Korean Wave is a term that indicates Korean Culture becomes a trend around the world, including in Indonesia. Some of the indicators are:

• Local television networks are broadcasting Korean Drama. As an example, on 25 July 2011 Indosiar started broadcasting Korean Drama Dream High. On 15 July 2011 "Dream High" was trending and reached 8th in World Wide Twitter trending topics. It successfully gained attention in Indonesia and as more and more people tweeted about it, it ended up in the list (4).
• Concert of Korean Artists in Indonesia. As an example, on 4 June 2011 the first KIMCHI (Korean Idols Music Concert Hosted in Indonesia) was held in Istora Senayan, Jakarta. The pre-sale ticket was scheduled on 17 April 2011 at 10 AM in Grand Indonesia, Jakarta, but people started to queue from 3 AM on the day, so by 8 am the lowest grade tickets allocated have been sold out (5).

Lee So Man (founder and CEO of SM Entertainment) explained 3 steps process of SM Artists to go global on 11 June 2011 in SM TOWN Writers and Publishers Conference, Paris (6):

1. Exportation of cultural products, e.g.: BoA and TVXQ’s advancement into Japan.
2. International collaborations, e.g.: The collaboration between KangTa and Taiwanese singer Vanness Wu.
3. Globalization, there is a tag "made by", such as "made in Korea, and also "made by SM".

Now the strategy mentioned above has given some results: popularity and positive image of Korean culture. It is also build the image of Korean products, including Samsung products.

3. Samsung Marketing

As Korean Wave is surging around the world, including in Indonesia, local marketing efforts become global marketing campaign because people are watching what is happening in Korea, such as:

• Samsung sponsored Korean drama and in exchange Samsung's products are used in the drama. Now, not only Korean, people in many countries also watched the drama as well.
• Samsung used a Korean artist to endorse its product. As the fans in many countries searched and read news about the artist, they knew about the product as well.

Samsung exports its products to Indonesia, but it also produced some in Indonesia (not only for local consumption, but also for export to other countries as well). Its subsidiary in Indonesia managed its marketing campaign, but with Korean Wave, marketing campaign in Korea will also give impact to Indonesian customers.

Sources:
1. Antrian Samsung Galaxy S II Hebohkan Pacific Place
2. 10 Ponsel Paling Banyak Dicari di Yahoo
3. Samsung Klaim Rajai Pasar Android Indonesia
4. KBS Drama ‘Dream High’ Trends On Twitter
5. Tiket Konser Boy Band Korea Ramai Pembeli
6. Lee Soo Man outlines SM Entertainment’s three stages of globalization

Overseas Graduates are Better Than Local Graduates (A Critic to Local Culture)

I think you may agree with me that it's not true, however I notice that:

- Overseas graduates tend to be more preferable by employers

- Overseas graduates tend to get higher salary

Is it fair? it may be since overseas graduates pay more than local graduates (they invested more fund for their education).

Before I share my thought about overseas graduates who are better than local graduates, I would like to discuss about lifestyle of Indonesian households and some local business:

1. The household of families that can self-fund their children to tertiary education usually consist of parents, children, and helpers. The helper will help the family members to do things that need to be done in a household, such as washing dirty clothes, going out to buy things as instructed by the family members, cooking dishes, and so on.

2. There are local business to help people do things, for example:

- In Airport, when the passenger is claiming his baggage, there is a porter that comes to the passenger and offers help to take the baggage from baggage claim area to parking area or taxi area.

- As an alternate to renew or make a driving license in the police station or motor registry, an administration bureau can take care of it (it will save time to queue, do tests, and so on).

It's different with living overseas, in Indonesia people can get help in doing even simple tasks. The effects of this are:

1. People tend to depend on others.

2. People have less achievements since they did less, thus there are a lot that they can't do (because of the intermediaries).

Further effect of those is that people have less confidence that they can do even those small things by themselves. If they don't have confidence over the small things, how can they have confidence over the bigger matters.

Thus, I think that overseas graduates, who usually do things on their own and depend on their own abilities, will be able to do better than local graduates who depend on others a lot and not confidence with their own abilities.

It's all about confidence.

Indonesian Idol, Is There Any?

I wrote this when I realised that a crisis might occur in our country, it’s a crisis of character and icon. I don’t know whether it’s real or it’s just my imagination (hopefully, it’s just my imagination).

I asked this questions to my friends:

“If you are asked to choose an Indonesian icon that you idolise, who are you going to choose and why?”

Some of the positive answers were:
“Ari Wibowo because he is handsome, nice, and seems smart”
“Gus Dur because he made the Chinese New Year as a national holiday”

Some of the negative answers were:
“Nobody because I am nobody”
“Who will you choose? I have no idea”
or similar answers. More people give me a “No” than a name.

I asked myself, who do I mean by an Idol? For me, an idol is someone that I look up to, someone whose life I want to follow, someone that becomes an example for my life (a role model).

In that case:

1. If I think about fictional characters, there are characters like Leigh Ann Tuohy in The Blind Side (a Hollywood movie) or Go Eun Sung in Shining Inheritance (a Korean drama). Both of them has strong characteristics, which make them really inspiring and admirable. In Indonesia, who do we have? Can you see Fitri Rahayu from Cinta Fitri (an Indonesian drama/sinetron) as a role model?

2. If I think about public figures, there are figures like Oprah Winfrey which are really inspirational in her talk shows. If I think who are the most popular these days, two names come up, Jupe (Julia Perez) and DP (Dewi Persik). With all their affairs, could I idolise them? I don't think so. We used to have Aa Gym (Abdullah Gymnastiar), but not anymore. Right now, I couldn't think of anyone else.

Based on thoses cases, we might be in crisis. An Idol crisis.

If you also agree that this is happening and by any chance you know someone from the media/publication, please help our country by sharing this to them, so they will be aware about this as we do, then we may be able to start doing something about it.

Jobs for Overseas Students

During my study in Australia, I met lots of people studying business. Some of them are from developed countries like Germany and Japan, but some others are from developing countries like myself (Indonesia). The developed countries like Germany and Japan have more multi-national company that have branches in Australia, while developing countries don't. Thus, there are more multi-national companies from developed countries that are operating in Australian more than developing countries.

In terms of looking for a job, either internship, part-time job or full-time job. Students from developed countries will have more opportunities to get a job since they can apply to multi-national companies originated from their own countries. Those students also have another advantage such as in language since they could speak fluently languages that are used by the executives in those companies like Japanese, Germany and French. Hence, students from developing countries have to compete with those students. Hence, just like a company, a student also needs to build his own core competency. Some ways to do it is by:
1. Becoming Top-of-The-Class Student
2. Having wide network that is ready to give references and recommendations
3. Joining Professional Clubs, especially exclusive clubs
4. Doing internship

It will be a challenge, even after doing those, to communicate all that I have done in a limited Curriculum Vitae/Resume. I almost finished my study, now it is also a challenge for myself to make it come true.

The Battle for Market Share: iOS vs. Android Phones?

It was still almost a week before iPhone 4G was launched for the first time, but some people really wanted to be the first to get it, so they built tents near the store.

Video 1 The First Person in The Queueing Line

I think it's impressive. Even more impressively, in Q3 2010, Apple has managed to sell more smartphone than BlackBerry globally. Apple must has done it right. How about Android?

First of all, lets count the variants:
- iOS Phones (3): iPhone 4G 32GB, iPhone 4G 16 GB, iPhone 3Gs 8G
- Android Phones (a lot): Google Nexus One, Motorola phones, Sony Ericsson phones, Samsung phones, LG phones, HTC phones, and a lot more local-brand phones

There are more variants of Android phones compared to iOS phones and each variant has different features (including different customized Android OS installed in the phone). Different set of features will attract different market segment. See the example below:

Picture 1 Q4 Roadmap (Verizon)

The picture above shows that each product has its target customers or market segment. The market is divided into several segments. If each product is targeted to a certain segment, then Android will have an advantage over iOS phones since it has more variety offerings that will fill more segments in the market.

ic! berlin Glasses Manual

I wear an ic! berlin glasses. A couple hours ago, due to my carelessness, I let it fell and it teared apart. I was ... quite upset and also afraid that I would need to buy a new one. Fortunately it seemed repairable, but I did not know how to repair it. Thankfully I found the manual in YouTube. Thus, I put it here in case I need it again later.

Here is the video about ic! berlin's hinge:

I like ic! berlin glasses. It's fancy, light, no screws and it's easily fixed. LOL.

World Wide Web AIDS Day

One thing that I and you can do in World AIDS Day was wearing a ribbon which color is red. It is true that some people may not understand or even aware of it, but with wearing that, at least:

1. We show others that we care about it
2. We help to raise awareness about it

Picture 1 Google in World AIDS Day

Picture 2 Twitter in #Red

Let's care about others because we are part of the community.

Buzzer Beat / ブザー・ビート (2009)

Buzzer Beat is a japanese drama that won best drama award in the 62nd Television Drama Academy Award on autumn 2009. Buzzer Beat is like a comeback (the last ball, that was thrown just before the game ends, changes the leading team, so the team wins). In the drama it is when a basketball team wins in last minutes. When I watched the movie (streaming - from the source), I was moved and sometimes burst into tears (I am exaggerating). This movie reminds me of myself and another movie.

I often show can-do attitude while actually after that I say to myself that I am a person that can motivate myself and I can do it. In fact, I am not. I often need others to cheer me. Most of the time if there are no others, most likely my performance will go down. I am not that spectacular, even though I wish I am (I am not a superman, even though I want to save the world). Probably, it is my own faults that I did not share my thought to others, so others did not know about that and did not be able to support me.

I often forget that about two closest people in my life. They are my parents. I should be thankful that I can be here and I am supported psychologically and financially, while now I often think that I should not be because I am in productive age. Therefore, people around me are very important for me.

Another movie is Bishoujo Shenshi Sailor Moon / Pretty Guardian / 美少女戦士セーラームーン (2003 - 2005). It is a live action drama, not manga or anime. One of the character in the movie is Hino Rei or Sailor Mars.

Picture 1 Hino Rei / Sailor Mars

The character was played by Kitagawa Keiko / 北川景子 / きたがわ けいこ. This year she got a role as Shirakawa Riko in Buzzer Beat.

Picture 2 Shirakawa Riko

Further research shows that she also appears as Reiko in The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), a Hollywood movie. Impressive, isn't she. Plastic surgery? Just kidding.

Source: DramaCrazy, DramaWiki,  etc.

A Poster of The Invention of Lying (2009)

I saw the movie ads on a television channel just now. I thought the campaign poster was similar with another movie last year. I searched it and these are those two poster:

The Invention of Lying (2009)

Yes Man (2008)

I thought those two posters look similar:

1. Both uses blue sky with clouds as the background.
2. Both only view one person in the middle with similar jacket color, hand position, and face expression.

Streaming RCTI

Today I read some tweets from Indonesian artists in Twitter, so I knew that some of them will perform in a TV program called Dahsyat. Dahsyat was broadcasted by an Indonesian TV station called RCTI (Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia). I tried to googling (searching by using Google) and I got some result from www.binus-access.com/bee-watch/

Picture 1 Binus Access

but it is not possible to establish a network connection at that time. I searched more and I found this website is useful since I could stream RCTI from http://www.mivo.tv/

Picture 2 Mivo.tv

If you need to stream RCTI as well, you can try to access it and choose RCTI.

P.S.: This is some of the thing that might happen to us, the international student.

Communication through Twitter

Twitter, as a social networking site, is viewed useless by many people, but when I checked out its rank in Competeinc, based on unique visitors within a month it was in top 50 (it got the 38th position). Twitter looks simple and lack of features, but it could manage to be popular. Hence, I am trying it.

This is the screenshot from Twitter.com (without log-in) when I searched for "@dell":

Picture 1 Twitter Main Page

It is (mostly) possible for people to search and read Twitter user's posts about certain topics. Twitter has many users from around the world who post various topics, so the results (which are sorted based on time of latest posts) can be considered as up-to-date news.

As a Twitter user, I could follow (receive posts) from other users that I follow, so whenever they post a tweet (= a message) I will receive it. The good thing is, Twitter user could only make a message (= a tweet) within 140 characters limit (look at the picture below), so Twitter could send it to the Twitter user's followers through text message. In that way, information could be spread from a Twitter user to his/her followers in short time (time is valuable).

Picture 2 Twitter Home (after log-in)

For personal purpose, if I follow my friends and they are active users, they will often tweet and I will get up-to-date information from them about themselves, rumors around them, world news, etc. (similar practices were seen on Gossip Girl Season 1 Episode 1). Basically I will get information from users that I follow, so if I follow the right users, I may get information that I wanted such as weather forecast, discounted products, match results, world news. It can be like making your own newspaper. Furthermore, it can be used for team work. If each team member follow each others, spreading information can be faster. As an example, a team is separated into small groups in different locations. One group has a problem, the group post a tweet, then everyone in the team receive the tweet. When another group has already done something about the problem, they post another tweet and everyone don't have to worry about it anymore.

For organizational purposes, if I follow a firm then when the firm has a special offer, the firm posts a tweet and its followers will get the information about that. Furthermore the followers may also re-tweet (RT) the post to their followers, and so on. Thus, information can spread to many more people. Moreover, the firm itself will be able to get responses, such as the keywords get into trending topics can mean that it is interesting, people's comments on the tweet, etc.

Those are some uses of Twitter.

Additional Information:
1. You can visit http://bit.ly to shorten URL (because URL usually consumes a lot of character, for example URL for this post is http://icetrack.blogspot.com/2009/10/communication-through-twitter.html
(71 characters) and we only have 140 characters to write).
2. Share your photos with http://tweetphoto.com (log-in with your Twitter account).
3. You can browse Twitter data through Bing Twitter (a search engine).
4. See statistics about Twitter user at http://twittercounter.com.
5. When you visit Twitter, if you find Twitter down such as

Picture 3 Twitter down

Picture 4 Twitter down-2

Don't worry, it usually will not take a long time, just refresh a couple seconds later.

Star Trek in Hoyts IMAX

Picture 1 Star Trek (J. J. Abrams version)

Last night I watched Star Trek in Hoyts IMAX, Fox Studio. Here are some of my experiences:

1. On the ticket counter, my friend argued with the ticket-man because my friend saw on the website that the ticket price is $20/person and the ticket-man told us that it was $22/person. He told us that it was because it's IMAX, but then he checked it again for us. In the end, it's only around $17.33/person. I am happy with that, but I also think that it is important to be careful with it.
2. I felt fantastic when the movie started and then a couple minutes later I realized that something was missing, something important. Then I figured out that THERE WAS NO SUB-TITLE. It destroyed my hype in an instant.
3. There was a scene when James Kirk, as a student, told his friend, Leonard McCoy, that he would re-take a test which nobody has ever passed. The next scene was he did something on a bed with a green female alien and it was over when her room-mate, Nyota Uhura, returned and found out about him. After that, Kirk and some other students including McCoy and Uhura did the simulation test and beat it. Later, Kirk was in the court because he was found cheating on the test.

About no.3 The bed scene seems unimportant. Later I found in memory alpha that the name of the green alien was Gaila and she worked in the computer lab. Kirk asked for her help to release a cheat patch to the simulation test. That is the reason of the bed scene. Without knowing this, it is difficult to understand the story. It is also appear that something is not important but it is actually important if we can put the right frame (Framing is a technique of adding words into a sentence to give it more context).

Overall, the film is good.

Google is ...

After trying Twitter, I suddenly think about Google, my favorite search engine. Google has auto-complete feature, so when I type something in Google's text box, Google will show me some suggestion or prediction. I tried to write "Google is " and the result was as shown below:

Picture 1 Google is in Google.com

It shows a lot of phrases that unveils bad sides, users' expectations, people's perceptions, rumors, etc. Then I tried the same phrase in Bing and the result is as shown below:

Picture 2 Google is in Bing

I was interested with the last one, 'google is my resume', so I chose it and the result was as shown below:

Picture 2 Google is My Resume

I was quite surprised when I saw that the result referred to Google Docs file. I was a bit worried about this since I put some of my assignments in Google Docs to make collaboration with my friends easier and those will be checked with turnitin.

Marketing through Facebook

I have used Facebook to keep in touch with my friends around the world. The statistics show that Facebook is very demanding. Today, Facebook gets second rank in Top Sites by Alexa.com. Thus, Facebook can be considered as a successful business.

I was born in Indonesia, so I am Indonesian. Last Friday, 2 October 2009, Indonesian people was suggested to wear batik (Indonesian traditional clothes) by Indonesian Government. Since I am in Australia and I do not really hear much Indonesian news, it is difficult for people like us to know it unless it was advertised. I saw the advertisement in a very unexpected place as shown below:

Picture 1 Advertisement

The advertisement ("Batik, Proudly Indonesia") is in the right side in my Facebook page. I am an Indonesian and I got an advertisement that was targeted for Indonesian people. In other word, I would like to say that in this case, the advertisement reached the right person.

I think most of Facebook users give their personal data voluntarily to Facebook. That data can be used by Facebook to know each of its user better, for example: I set my birth date in Facebook, so Facebook can estimate my age (how old I am). Every product in the market (out there) was invented, developed, and built for certain group of people or, in marketing it is called, target market. An example of this is that milk powder products in supermarket, like Enfa A+, usually has a range of age written on its box to tell the buyer that the product was intended for a group of people in that age range.

Picture 2 Enfa A+

Target market is usually detail (consist of several criteria) such as gender (male/female), status in familiy (mother/children), condition (pregnant/growing), age range, country, etc. Many firms try to reach their target market. Facebook has various data of its users. Firms can ask Facebook to put their advertisement in certain users' Facebook page (target market). The more variations Facebook has, the more accurate Facebook can reach target markets. The more user Facebook has, the more people in each target market Facebook can reach.

In old days, Firms put their advertisement on billboards, newspapers, television, and any other medias that are used by many people, not specific people. Facebook has make it possible for the firms to reach more specific groups of people that become their target markets. In terms of marketing, it can be viewed to be a more effective way to reach the target market (some people like me see it as a revolution in marketing). No wonder Facebook grows like this.

ACE Leadership Competition - Testimonial

This is my testimonial for ACE's committee:

"Being a international student in UNSW means focus in studying by reading course materials, attending lectures, working on assignments, etc. to gain technical skills. It was me before I joined ACE Leadership Competition. The more I involved in the program, the more I realized that I need other skills beside technical skills and those are people skills through various challenging activities. Challenge drew me out of my comfort zone and entered learning zone which was perfect to develop myself. ACE Leadership Competition gave me not only the knowledge, but also chances to apply the knowledge and know myself better. I recommended this program to all postgraduate students in Australian Business School because I believe that everyone needs and is able to be a better person for his/her life and community."

I share this to the world because I found it quite good to motivate myself...^^;

8< - - - - - - - -

After the competition, I got
- 1 certificate of attendance
- 1 $50 voucher from UNSW Bookstore
Later, I got an e-mail from Student Development Office

Picture 1 e-mail

The content of the e-mail is that I got FREE TICKET to Magical Masquerade Ball worth $68. Thus, I have a very good impression to both the committee and GSA (Graduate Student Association).

Google Wave

This was how it will be when I haven't got an invitation to Google Wave but I tried to log in:

Picture 1 Google Wave (failed to log in)

My friend was invited by his friend on Thursday and on Friday he got the invitation, then he invited me. On Saturday I did not get the invitation. Next week, on Friday, I got the invitation to Google Wave. So, I thought the invitation was probably sent weekly on Friday.

This was how it looked after I logged in and post some "wave":

Picture 2 Google Wave (after Logged in)

It can even be simplified by minimising all of those:

Picture 3 Google Wave (simple)

Google Wave is claimed to be a system for people to exchange messages (in old days it was called a letter) in this days using current technology. This is how I see the difference:

• Post system (before up to now):

Picture 1 Post System

• Google Wave:

Picture 2 Google Wave

Personal Comments:

• Google Wave is another email. I need to check it quite often and it is still lack POP3, IMAP4 or other similar service. In this stage I think it is still difficult to send the wave to e-mail, what is more possible is sending notifications to the account holder.
• Google Wave is not another Office Suite. It can be used to make documents, but it is still lack of features to edit or format the documents compared to office suites.
• Google Wave is not another Facebook or Twitter. In Facebook or Twitter, I add my friends to my account. In Google Wave I just need to remember their contacts (e-mail) or just use Google Contacts to keep the information.

Facts:

• Google Wave is still in preview version
• Google Wave is linked with Google Contacts which is still in beta version

Tired is a reason to be lazy

This is my current status: "Tired is a reason to be lazy"
I believe that it is originally made by myself. I checked it here:

Picture 1 Google Search Result

HP Envy vs. Apple Macbook Pro

I just saw an article about new HP product, HP Envy. I really surprised to see that that particular product, in front of my eyes, look so similar with Apple MacBook Pro.

Picture of HP Envy (Left) and Apple Macbook Pro (Right)

Although the specification is rather different, both products...

1. Similar screen size, about 13 inch. Even the frame of the screen uses similar black color.

2. Similar multi touch trackpad

3. Similar chiclet keyboard in similar black color

4. Similar body model, but different material. HP Envy uses carbon fiber, while Apple Macbook Pro uses aluminium

What has happened with laptop/notebook industry? Why HP make such similar product (Apple Macbook Pro has launched earlier)? The competition in the industry seems to be quite tight and not enough protection (like patents) put in the product so competitor can easily make similar product in different ways. For HP, it is possible that the product can be successful just like the Apple one since relatively many people like the design, but it will come in Windows OS instead of Mac OS which is considered more common and popular. Many people don't like changes, so the existing Windows users that are attracted to the product may not have to migrate to Mac OS or buy Windows OS. In the other hand, people like me may think that it is not an original idea, so HP brand can be damaged. It seems like an ice track.

Thank you for your appreciation toward this matter.

Source: HP, Apple, Reuters, TechTree, Amazon, Team Digital, and many other websites that support this articles.

Eid ul-Fitr 1430

I sent a text to my friend, he is a muslim, like this:

Faith makes things possible.

Hope makes things work.

Love makes life beautiful.

Happy Eid ul-Fitr!

Shall peace and forgiveness be shared among us.

and one of my friends replied like this:

Thanks a lot, Bro. Thanks for all wonderful wishes :)

I sent the text because the moslem celebrate the event, Eid ul-Fitr. After fasting for one month called "Ramadan", they celebrated it on 20th September 2009. When I passed Allison Road, I saw the Malaysians were celebrating it.

Picture 1 Malaysia Hall from Angle-1

Picture 2 Malaysia Hall from Angle-2

It seemed to be very nice to gather with many other people that have the same religion after one month of hard work (fasting). Sometimes hard work can cause excessive work load and fatigue. It is not enjoyable, but after it finished, it usually can give relieving feeling and that feels good.