Malaysia's 99 Speedmarts Have a Origin Story Worth Telling

Wheelchair-bound, can't speak English and only six years of education but Lee Thiam Wah owns 175 of mini mart 99 Speedmart to prove that he can and will overcome those obstacles. Forbes offer a glimpse of his life story.

Samsung's Latest S6 Ads Standing on Edge

View image | gettyimages.com

I get it if fans of certain products get angry offended whenever a rival comes out with ads that criticise specific features while showing off their superiority. Samsung is one that's synonymous with its ads against Apple.

I am amazed, though, that Samsung's recent couple of ads showcasing the company's S6 wireless charging and curved screen technologies received quite the backlash. If the rumours are true that the S6 phones are not selling that well, I guess it's high time Samsung REALLY change tactics and focus.

It won't be "Apple forever", just like how IBM never was.

View image | gettyimages.com

Interesting read from The New York Times - a reminder that no company thrives infinitely and, in the business world, enemies don't stay as enemies forever - putting the world's largest company in the spotlight and comparing it with its once behemoth of a nemesis, IBM.

With hindsight, it’s clear that IBM’s Olympian status was part of its problem. In the 1980s, at the height of its powers, it continued to come up with scientific breakthroughs and ultrafast computers, but its focus on its own product lines and customer service flagged. IBM “naïvely” handed over crucial parts of the computer business to companies like Microsoft and Intel, while its own profit margins began to erode, D. Quinn Mills, a professor at the Harvard Business School, has written.  

... 

For decades now, IBM has engaged in a sometimes painful transition, and as it revealed in its quarterly earnings report last week, it is still hurting: Its revenues have declined and it has endured wrenching business shifts. My colleague Steve Lohr wrote last week that IBM has been getting out of slow-growing old businesses, like personal computers, disk drives, low-end server computers and chip manufacturing — but its new initiatives in fields like data analytics, cloud computing and mobile apps for corporate customers haven’t entirely succeeded yet. 

In a turnabout, IBM’s mobile app strategy relies on a partnership with the current giant, its old nemesis Apple. IBM is leveraging its prowess with supercomputers and artificial intelligence with a new initiative, Watson Health, that includes Apple. That alliance could help both companies grow — in Apple’s case, by ensuring that its products work more seamlessly in corporate environments where IBM is deeply entrenched. 

Rapid growth, after all, isn’t a sure thing, especially when you’re already the biggest company in the world. IBM has proved that. Sooner or later, Apple investors will have to take that lesson to heart.

RIP, Michele Ferrero

The owner of the chocolate and confectionery empire that brought us the Nutella spread (which also tastes awesome if you scoop and eat it directly), Ferrero Rocher, Kinder eggs and (I never knew) Tic Tacs passed away on Saturday at the age of 89.

He was "a man of few words who shunned publicity, turning a local business from the Piedmont region into a global giant. He had a reputation as a forceful leader, but also as one who maintained generous working conditions and gave back to his community."

I personally appreciate all that he did in sweetening my life. May he rest in peace.

via Reuters.

The Amazing Apple Earnings

Normally, I don't care about a company's earnings... mainly because it's really depressing to see the amount they earn compared to my meagre salary as an employee but this... this Apple's earnings announcement was something else:

The company sold 74.5 million iPhones in its fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 27, while many analysts had expected fewer than 70 million. Revenue rose to $74.6 billion from $57.6 billion a year earlier. 

Profit of $18 billion was the biggest ever reported by a public company, worldwide, according to S&P analyst Howard Silverblatt. Apple's cash pile is now $178 billion, enough to buy IBM or the equivalent to $556 for every American.

Did you get that part where Apple earned a profit of $18 billion dollars and broke the world record? Wow.

There is no doubt that as we approach the end of this quarter, all sorts of negative news will start appearing again saying that Apple profits will drop compared to the quarter reported and share prices will fall followed by doomsday prediction for Apple. If anything, these critics and remarks are the ones that we can predict.

via Reuters.

Streaming Music - Impending Doom?

I was happily going about with my recent Spotify Premium account (RM10 per month with Maxis) only to read about its (and all the other streaming music services out there) impending doom as more and more artists back out remove their songs. Taylor Swift is one of the higher profile ones. Then, there's this other report that the highest streamed single only earned its authors $4,000 each.

Streaming music sounds too good to be true, especially to consumers, and as more artists come out to voice their opinions, it may indeed be true that the returns are way too little. With iTunes sales dropping, even Apple is rumoured to be on the verge of launching their own, what with the purchase of Beats.

These services don't seem to be losing out anytime soon, unless artists like Taylor Swift could convince others through their actions. It would be interesting to see how the streaming services react should the situation change for the worse. Well, there's still digital streaming radio to fall back on should things get too heated up...

Why the iPod classic had to go - straight from the lion's mouth

Engadget nailed it:

"We couldn't get the parts any more," explained Tim Cook. "They don't make them any more." While the iPod Classic isn't exactly a creaky transistor radio just yet, that's how it went down. "We would have to make a whole new product.... the engineering work to do that would be massive." The difficult truth that some of you probably don't want to hear: "The number of people who wanted it is very small."

So the story is no more parts and it's not worth it to redesign it because not "many" people want it.

Bloated Fruit

Apple's gone a long way and I wouldn't agree more with this article about too many things to focus after the most recent event.

Apple currently makes five different iPads (ten if you include the cellular ones), six kinds of Macs, four kinds of iPhones, three kinds of iPods, a set-top box and soon, 34 different styles of watch. And that's before you consider its music and movie businesses, its software business and its imminent role as a global payment service. It's even taking on the phone networks with Apple SIM.

via techradar.

Curious read: Germany's Discount Grocers Challenge with Coke

Interesting and curious read about Germany's two discount grocery chains, Aldi and Lidl that began by selling their own products but now revolve around the Coca-Cola and some major brands to become the number one while facing the threat of global giants such as Tesco and Carrefour. Check out Reuters' article here.

Transport Tycoon Creator's Opinion About Premium Game Model

Totally agree with Chris Sawyer, the brilliant creator of Transport Tycoon (though maybe not so brilliant with the recent mobile version of Rollercoaster Tycoon - where you pay for the game followed by more in-app purchases in-game - according to many reviews) regarding the premium game model:

We wanted Transport Tycoon to be a fantastic value purchase where the player can enjoy the depth and breadth of the game without having to pay a single penny extra.

I'm all for the premium pay once model and get super irritated with those games that make extreme use of in-app purchases. He further added value to the game:

We've even added more features and improvements over the last few months and players can update their game to add these features for free.

Great move. Please continue, o' wise one!

via Touch Arcade.

Something Sir Jony Ive spoke in his interview sounds reassuring!

Sir Jony Ive's answer if he would stop working for Apple if the company stops innovating:

"Yes. I'd stop. I'd make things for myself, for my friends at home instead. The bar needs to be high." But, he adds: "I don't think that will happen. We are at the beginning of a remarkable time, when a remarkable number of products will be developed. When you think about technology and what it has enabled us to do so far, and what it will enable us to do in the future, we're not even close to any kind of limit. It's still so, so new."

Wow, very positive! IMHO, designers and engineers tend to be truthful. <3

via MacRumors.

Getty Images Available For Free Embedding!

Such great news from Getty Images (via Engadget) that their images are available for free for bloggers like me to embed into our blogs (as long as you use their embed codes not unlike those used by Flickr)! What better way to celebrate than to embed a very happy panda image such as the one above!

Lenovo buys Motorola Mobility from Google, Google signs patents deal with Samsung

Shocking news for me at least that Google just sold Motorola Mobility that it just bought not too long ago to Lenovo but will be retaining some of its patents rights. And a few days ago Google signed a patents deal with Samsung.

Google is also rumoured to replace the Nexus series some time in 2015. Gasp! Things are just as complicated and fragmented as the Android system or maybe Google has a plan to fix things? Let's wait and see...

via BGR.

China Reforms

According to Reuters, the Communist Party had just announced an all important list of reforms such as:

• Accelerate capital account convertibility.
• Scrap residency restrictions in small cities and townships.
• Integrate urban and rural social security systems.
• Push forward an environmental tax.
• Ease family planning policies.
• Abolish a controversial labor camp system.

The world changes and so will giant China. Hopefully, for the better!

"TWTR"

That's how Twitter's New York Stock Exchange stock code is spelt as it got listed. Below the technical jargon talk about its opening performance:

The opening transaction was for over 11 million shares at $45.10 each, reportedly valuing the company at $25.04 billion. That’s a 73 percent increase on the $26 offering price set by Twitter yesterday.

via The Next Web.

Technology Companies Apple and Google Most Valuable

Apple leads the pact with Google coming in second place while beverage giant Coke rounds up the top three. Don't know what are the criterias but being able to be at the top in a list that started over a decade ago surely would mean a great deal.

via Android Community.

Interesting Observation: Simple Cameras

Interesting observation at Open Mike (The Online Photographer Editorial) - one less mentioned reason that camera phones are "eating" into digital camera sales is because of their super simple ease of use. That's not all - camera phones' popularity might eventually lead to their very own increasing complexity. I noticed this happening with all the 3rd party iOS apps and stock Android ones. I like complex cameras and I love full control when I need it but I'm not the majority of users out there. For the record, I often like a quick snap with a simple camera, too.

via Daring Fireball.

One of our favourite drinks, Ribena, to change ownership

Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd., Japan's second largest drinks maker known for its beer and whiskey  is about to buy our favourite sweet, but nourishing blackcurrant drink Ribena from GlaxoSmithKline Plc. for a whopping sum of £1.53 billion. The transaction will also include energy drink Lucozade.

While GSK felt that the two drinks lack global presence, they will help the Japanese company expand its presence into Britain, Nigeria, Malaysia and other countries. Subject to regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to be completed by end of this year.

via Reuters.

Ironically, referring to the photo below, digital camera sales are not mushrooming...

I can understand how digital camera sales are declining the world over. I wouldn't be lugging around my digital camera, be it compact or DSLR or even mirrorless when I am at work. Now that there are phones that take reasonable photos, I seldom carry any cameras, unless I'm on holiday, I suppose. For work, I'd use my phone to snap away. Below is a photo of... ummm... mushrooms that I took with my phone during a late working night.

However, I do not deny that the current crop of compact cameras offer better photo qualities than even the best phones. Needless to say, DSLR are almost the best of the crop. It's just that, people are lazy to carry something that is difficult to fit into a jeans pocket, for instance. I do still lust for digital cameras and my current wish is to own a mirrorless Sony NEX. Well, I don't mind Sony's latest innovation, the QX10 and QX100 "lens cameras" either!

XD

What of Nokia's Future?

With the focus mainly on Microsoft’s purchase of Nokia’s devices and services division, not many have looked at what remains of Nokia’s future. Engadget has it here.

Nokia will continue to focus on its Here Maps (which I’ve used on the iPhone when it first launched but was not very impressed so I decided to stick withWaze and Google Maps. Now with more time, perhaps the company could make it stand out from the more established apps.

Next up, Nokia will stick to developing and building network infrastructure, now being LTE networks as the primary focal point. Besides this, Nokia will also concentrate on advance technologies, looking for business opportunities.

All da best, Nokia!