Yes, the last PC show of the year will here again – SITEX 2008!

Here are the details:

Date: 27 – 30 November 2008
Location: Singapore Expo Halls 5 and 6, Atrium 5 and Foyer 2
Time: 11am – 9pm

Heh! Actually come to think of it, for Singaporeans, it is always worthwhile to wait until IT shows like this to buy our gadgets, since the four shows (PC Show, IT Show, Comex and Sitex) are spread apart equally, once every three months.

… and if you think that the economic crisis is going to affect sales… well, yes, I think it may be, but I believe that Singaporeans will exercise their favorite hobby despite the bad times. I think the exhibition hall is still going to be packed, like always.

So what’s going to be hot in SITEX this time round?

#1. UMPCs! I think the UMPCs (Ultra-Mobile PCs) are going to be hotter than before! In Comex 2008, we saw the MSI Wind, Acer Aspire One and Asus Eee PCs fly off the shelves. This time, with new competitors like the (my favourite!) Lenovo S10 and Dell Inspiron 910, its going to be a real battle among the brands!

#2. Mobile Phones! In the exhibition 3 months ago, the iPhone 3G was released and SingTel was promoting it like hotcakes, and I remember vividly that Samsung had a whole territory by themselves with ear blasting speakers and to promote their Samsung Omnia. Who will win the iPhone look-alike battle this time round?

#3. Portable Handhelds Since November 27 is barely a month a way from Christmas, I suppose many parents will be digging into their pockets to get Christmas gifts! And knowing Singaporean kids, the gadgets that they yearn for will include either a Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP), or Nintendo DS! I’m sure Sony or Nintendo will be giving a good bargain for their packages!

What else would you get this SITEX?

It never fails to amaze me how one event in the Internet industry can lead to other events. Just two weeks ago, we saw the release of Google Chrome – Google’s open source web browser.

To the layman or the small time businessman (me! ) we all think that “Oh, Google is out to take over the browser market and Microsoft must be enraged!”

I realized that that is such small thinking. Really. I thought that was it. I had that thinking… until I read today’s ZDNet Article Google steals Microsoft code and you should cheer:

Both Google and Microsoft have drawn enormous benefits from Chrome. Google has gotten a place at the browser table. Microsoft has a new browser under Windows, and its open source code may be a key reason why that is so.

Chrome was built with the Windows Template Library which has been open source since 2004, and the fact that Google has made Chrome open source also has quite a few implications, according to the article.

… These are concepts Microsoft can now use to improve Internet Explorer, because Chrome is open source…. All this provides an important lesson to the rest of us. While proprietary companies may be to-the-death adversaries, open source changes the rules of that game in fundamental ways.

The stories behind the two words “open source” are really really fascinating… not only because it allows free and stable software, but from it, we can learn how markets work – how two companies which are obvious competitors can still collaborate in the same market.

So, the big question here is: Will Microsoft embrace open source and make the next version of Internet Explorer open source? Well… from the looks of it, I doubt so. At least, the people from the IE blog don’t seem too excited about the idea – that’s what I can see. 😉

Having tried out Microsoft AdCenter PPC ads, I received an email today saying “Notice of assignment to Microsoft Online, Inc.”

In there was a line in italics, which went:

On July 1, 2008, Microsoft Corporation, assigned all rights and obligations in the Microsoft adCenter Terms and Conditions, and any amendments thereto, between Microsoft Corporation, and you, to Microsoft Online, Inc., with its principal business offices located at 6100 Neil Road, Reno NV 89570.

Heh… okay I’ve got to admit – after reading the sentence several times, I still cannot tell exactly what is happening (maybe the Friendly Fredericksburg Lawyer can help shed some light!) but it was about Microsoft changing one of their legal entity name to “Microsoft Online, Inc”

I don’t know about you, but I just have that tinkly feeling that what Microsoft is really doing is legally and officially announce three words…

The three words, I think, are “Google, watch out!”

What are your thoughts?

I’m blogging from a new Internet browser today!

Google has released their new Internet Browser just yesterday, (yes, that’s something that can replace Internet Explorer and Firefox!) Google Chrome!

Check out the announcement on the Google System Blog.

What’s good about it? As far as my experience goes, its REALLY fast loading, but if you hear the words from the horse’s mouth what you get is a browser built for today’s web applications.

One of the features is that each tab is run as a new process – which means if one tab is giving you a tough time, you can shut that tab down, without losing the other pages.

I really like the fact that its really fast loading, and its really clean. Its a great alternative to just quickly get surfing, when you don’t need Firefox and its plugins.

Go on, give it a go!

Are you hooked on Twitter? Now you can create your own Twitter for free with the new open source microblogging platform – Laconica!

I got this from the article on ZD Net today, and its exciting to know how blogging has evolved. I still remember the days we were chatting on each other’s blogs using tagboards. Hmmm… wonder where that’s gone now!

Things will really get messy for individuals trying to keep up with the new social networks, when more companies start to implement their own microblogging platforms – imagine having to update your “tweets” on 5 sites – that’s good for a full time job! 🙂

But looking at implementing this platform on a different scale (internal to an organization) and looking at it from different perspective, Laconica can be used as a very effective “quick-update forum” for project teams to work together!

It will be interesting to see how this evolves. What’s next to get RSSed?