As they used to say... Happiness comes from within. Well, a recent research reveals an interesting angle to that concept. Research reveals that "technology" makes you happier. Many people feel that IT just brings negative effects to ones life by making a person isolated and even causing obesity. But recent research confirms that technology helps to empower people and gives them a sense of freedom.
I cannot imagine myself being without my cell phone or being without Internet, just makes me feel so disconnected with others.
Technologies like email, Facebook, Skype, Google Talk etc has made me more closer to my far flung family across the other side of the world more connected to me. I feel satisfied and happy every time I see my Mom's and sister's faces on the web cam via Google Talk !
That's one more reason to understand the importance of Information Technology and exploring it's capabilities in marketing one's business as virtually everyone is connected.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
The "MASDAR" City - Epitome of Technology !
Have you ever heard of a city which is “Zero waste”, “Zero carbon” and “Fossil fuel free” ?
Well, THE MASDAR CITY is your answer!
The construction of this city is already underway in Abh Dhabi, UAE since 2008. The initial projects should be ready by 2010.
Masdar City aspires to be the world's first carbon-neutral, zero-waste city, a happy oasis six kilometers square with its own micro-climate, supporting 50,000 people in renewably powered harmony with nature.
Built from the ground up with sustainable living in mind, it will bring together the best-of-breed clean technologies: building-integrated solar photovoltaics and solar glass, solar hot water systems, smart grid technology, electric transportation, power storage, sustainable agriculture and vertical farming, water recycling and desalination, low-energy HVAC, green building materials, waste-to-energy systems, essentially everything but wind energy.
The Masdar Institute aims to be a world-class research and development hub for the solutions of the future.
A successful completion of this project would be an answer to all the skeptics who believe that human intervention, industrialization and advances to technology can only cause harm to the environment.
Friday, September 10, 2010
New Apple nano turns into "iWatch"
Apple has recently released their new 6 generation Ipod nano.
It’s a lot smaller, lighter, better looking. The click wheel is replaced with a touch screen space.
Every thing apple is coming up with has to have a touch screen. This new 6G nano does not have the camera the 5G used to have. Apple designed this nano with a analog watch lock screen. Guess what happens then?
There comes the newly visualized apple iWatch.
I wonder if apple should have come out with this iWatch and added a blue tooth feature on it.
The iWatch concept makes me think if Apple would really come out in the watch business and compete with big players like Tissot who pretty much is the sole company in the touch-screen watch business. Also, while we are on the touch-screen topic, it makes me wonder if it would be a good idea for Apple to enter the navigation business. It might be indeed a low investment technology business for Apple who already has all the ingredients (such as touch screen technology, map patents, Apple TV, etc) needed to provide one more " i " product to the family.
I would not be surprised with the term entertainment being changed/quoted as " iEntertainment " in the year 2050, with Apple coming up with all state-of-the-art gadgets and tools for entertainment.
It’s a lot smaller, lighter, better looking. The click wheel is replaced with a touch screen space.
Every thing apple is coming up with has to have a touch screen. This new 6G nano does not have the camera the 5G used to have. Apple designed this nano with a analog watch lock screen. Guess what happens then?
There comes the newly visualized apple iWatch.
I wonder if apple should have come out with this iWatch and added a blue tooth feature on it.
The iWatch concept makes me think if Apple would really come out in the watch business and compete with big players like Tissot who pretty much is the sole company in the touch-screen watch business. Also, while we are on the touch-screen topic, it makes me wonder if it would be a good idea for Apple to enter the navigation business. It might be indeed a low investment technology business for Apple who already has all the ingredients (such as touch screen technology, map patents, Apple TV, etc) needed to provide one more " i " product to the family.
I would not be surprised with the term entertainment being changed/quoted as " iEntertainment " in the year 2050, with Apple coming up with all state-of-the-art gadgets and tools for entertainment.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
The WAR for PAR [3PAR]…A Multi-billion $$$ Rage
The latest buzz in the Technology industry and the Technology mergers and acquisition (M&A) market is the 3PAR deal. With the slow but wary signs of the economic recovery, it seems that the Technology M&A sector has a lot more expendable equity capable of some rotation in the market around compared to the other sectors such as Oil and Gas,
One of the major deals earlier in the year 2010 was Hewlett Packard (HP) acquiring the once market-leader and now struggling phone maker Palm. HP closed on $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm, sending a clear indication about HP’s business diversification plans in the smart phone industry. Apart from the Smartphone’s Palm had several webOS patents which made it unique and an attractive deal for take-over in its struggling stages. The webOS system was a good fit for the touch tablet operations, better than Android, and HP has the capability to capitalize on Palm’s technology without the input from Intel or Microsoft.
Moving from the technology and diversification, the next M&A wave of news that hit the market was a $7.7 billion deal of Intel taking over the security and anti-virus giant McAfee. Analysts say the deal, the latest in a flurry of high-premium acquisitions, could give the world’s largest chip maker a leg up as it competes against a growing field of rivals designing technology to power Smartphone’s, tablet PCs and newfangled televisions Reuters. In this deal, McAfee stock surged a 57.1% premium.
The latest and most discussed acquisition lately is the Dell and HP tug-of-war to acquire 3PAR.3PAR Inc. together with its subsidiaries, provides utility storage systems in the United States and internationally. The saga commenced with Dell’s bid to buy 3PAR for $1.15 billion which was 87% premium to 3PAR’s then market value. After that, HP entered the party topping Dell’s bid for $1.7 billion and this counter offering continued. It looked like two sleazy guys in a bar jockeying for the attention of one shy girl. Finally, after ten days after Dell’s initial bid, HP made the latest in series and came out as a winner to acquire 3PAR for $2.4 billion. This leaves the acquisition of 3PAR at a whopping 182% premium than its market value. Analysts have been studying this M&A process closely and do not rate it very high in business sense. Dell and H-P have a long history of competing over computer sales and executives. But the war over Internet-based data-storing seems a little out of step with reality. According to Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Bros., this war between Dell and HP has gotten to a point where it seems to be emotional and when it gets emotional, it doesn’t necessarily lead to the best business decision.
This makes me wonder whether all these Technology M&A deals with such high premium buyouts are good business strategic decisions or not. Is this a base/foundation to bolster the future of Technology sector or is this yet another series of bad investments which will drag the future down the drain…
There are some more imminent deals on the horizons or atleast rumors for some major buyouts with Apple Inc., to take over Cirrus Logic, Inc. (a chip and high-precision analog integrated circuits maker for several companies such as Apple, Bose Audio, etc). If this falls through, it would be interesting to see the amount of premium for the buy-out as the stakes on this one are already high.
One of the major deals earlier in the year 2010 was Hewlett Packard (HP) acquiring the once market-leader and now struggling phone maker Palm. HP closed on $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm, sending a clear indication about HP’s business diversification plans in the smart phone industry. Apart from the Smartphone’s Palm had several webOS patents which made it unique and an attractive deal for take-over in its struggling stages. The webOS system was a good fit for the touch tablet operations, better than Android, and HP has the capability to capitalize on Palm’s technology without the input from Intel or Microsoft.
Moving from the technology and diversification, the next M&A wave of news that hit the market was a $7.7 billion deal of Intel taking over the security and anti-virus giant McAfee. Analysts say the deal, the latest in a flurry of high-premium acquisitions, could give the world’s largest chip maker a leg up as it competes against a growing field of rivals designing technology to power Smartphone’s, tablet PCs and newfangled televisions Reuters. In this deal, McAfee stock surged a 57.1% premium.
The latest and most discussed acquisition lately is the Dell and HP tug-of-war to acquire 3PAR.3PAR Inc. together with its subsidiaries, provides utility storage systems in the United States and internationally. The saga commenced with Dell’s bid to buy 3PAR for $1.15 billion which was 87% premium to 3PAR’s then market value. After that, HP entered the party topping Dell’s bid for $1.7 billion and this counter offering continued. It looked like two sleazy guys in a bar jockeying for the attention of one shy girl. Finally, after ten days after Dell’s initial bid, HP made the latest in series and came out as a winner to acquire 3PAR for $2.4 billion. This leaves the acquisition of 3PAR at a whopping 182% premium than its market value. Analysts have been studying this M&A process closely and do not rate it very high in business sense. Dell and H-P have a long history of competing over computer sales and executives. But the war over Internet-based data-storing seems a little out of step with reality. According to Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Bros., this war between Dell and HP has gotten to a point where it seems to be emotional and when it gets emotional, it doesn’t necessarily lead to the best business decision.
This makes me wonder whether all these Technology M&A deals with such high premium buyouts are good business strategic decisions or not. Is this a base/foundation to bolster the future of Technology sector or is this yet another series of bad investments which will drag the future down the drain…
There are some more imminent deals on the horizons or atleast rumors for some major buyouts with Apple Inc., to take over Cirrus Logic, Inc. (a chip and high-precision analog integrated circuits maker for several companies such as Apple, Bose Audio, etc). If this falls through, it would be interesting to see the amount of premium for the buy-out as the stakes on this one are already high.
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