Rockstar Games is showing the 1st trailer for its upcoming 10.16.07 release of Grand Theft Auto IV. Info is sparse, but the game retains its low dynamic range & brooding tonality and is said to be as socially unredeeming as ever. More details in the May ed. of Game Informer.
GTA IV Trailer Splash – RockStar Games, March 30 2007
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The World Economic Forum has just released its latest Global Competitiveness Report – it sees the U.S. falling to 6th place just behind Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Singapore.
The WEF rankings represent potential competitiveness and attempt to indicate where a country is headed and are influenced by ’soft’ items such as infrastructure, macroeconomics and health care. While the WEF report praises the US as having highly efficient markets, good universities and high levels of innovation, it also expresses concern about health, primary education and debt levels.
Perhaps the World Economic Forum should have chosen a word other than “competitiveness” in its report, as that word usually denotes the ability to sell goods and services in a given market. And, by the generally accepted definition of competition, the top exporting countries and presumably the most competitive are Germany, U.S., China, Japan and France. Reference: Is There a Good Measure of Competitiveness?
The fly in the ointment of European competitiveness is labor costs, which translates into price competitiveness. Labor rates in Europe are not expected to decrease in the near-term, and so price competitiveness should remain unchanged.
At CTIA 2007, Texas Instruments showed a mockup of a DLP pico-projector built into a mobile phone. The pocket and (now) pico projector market is expect to grow to 1,000,000 units by 2010. The pico projector is a work in process and shows a half-VGA image at a short distance under ambient lighting conditions.
DLP Projection Technology Goes Even More Mobile – TI press release, March 26 2007
Business rag Barron’s has just published their 3rd annual list of the world’s 30 best CEOs. At the top of that list is Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc. and later of Pixar…and all-around nice guy, we might hasten to add.
Barron’s estimates that if Steve were ever to leave Apple, its market cap would shrink by a largish $16B.
Other, also-best, but not-as-best, tech-oriented CEOs include Jong-Yong Yun of Samsung and Satoru Iwata of Nintendo.
The World’s Best CEOs – Barron’s, March 26 2007
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CNet is reporting that the soon-to-be-iconic iPhone will be released on Monday June 11, 2007 to coincide with the start of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2007.
Apple iPhone to be released on June 11 – CNet, March 30 2007
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Jeffrey Katzenberg, he of DreamWorks Animation, predicts a big future for 3-D movies. Katzenberg sez that 3-D movies will be a tremendous business opportunity for movie studios, that moviegoers will be willing to pay a 50% premium over conventional movie prices, and that movies shot in 3-D will be much more difficult to pirate.
Apparently many major motion picture studios are preparing big budget 3-D movie releases, and so it looks likes we’re all going to be wearing those goofy glasses in the future.
Biz loves depth of 3-D potential – Hollywoodreporter, March 29 2007
Samsung’s Blackjack beat out RIM’s BlackBerry Pearl to win the CTIA 2007 award as best Smartphone/PDA.
No reasons were given, but it must have been close as the 2 products generally review the same…7.3 on CNet and 4/5 on PC Mag.
Presumably, the Wi-Fi enabled, and highly-rated Sony Ericsson P990i didn’t make the short list because of its high price and tiny keyboard.
CTIA WIRELESS announces E-Tech Award winners – Wireless Design, March 29 2007
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The Transport by Alberto Frias creates a personal light, sound and space environment for one or two. Flashing LEDs synchronized to music are employed to that end. Enough said. Buy one. $10K.
Curl Up and Transcend – NYT, March 25 2007
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That curmudgeon Walt Mossberg had a look at the Samsung UpStage we made note of just yesterday & decided to rubbish it.
Walt starts off with a feint, calling the UpStage creative and a better music phone than the LG Chocolate, but the review goes downhill after that. He tears into-
1. The low battery life at only 7 hrs of music playback.
2. Low memory – as shipped it holds a mere 20 songs.
3. Use of the “flip” button to switch between music & phone.
4. Low-res screen on the music side of the phone.
5. Synchronization.
6. Confusing music controls.
…aside from these minor shortfalls, Walt seemed to like the UpStage.
Latest Music Phone Is a Creative Gadget Marred by Big Flaws – WSJ, March 29 2007
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If you must travel to where the Internet is not, $2495 buys you a Nera WorldPro 1010 BGAN unit that can provide a data rate of up to 384 Kbps of internet connectivity & phone service in most parts of the world. The Nera unit seems to be 1 of the smallest & lightest BGAN terminals available. Some other BGAN devices are compared at this link.
BGAN airtime rates vary…$450/month buys 30 voice minutes and 100MB/month…for the truly wireless.
Nera WorldPro 1010 - BGAN Store product page
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