Can Samsung takeover Apple in Smartphone Segment as well?

Samsung is already number one in overall cellphone market share. First time they overtook Nokia in World's largest Cell phone manufacturer. Nokia is trying a comeback and it would be interesting to see in next couple of quarters, how this will shape overall cellphone market. Along with Nokia & Samsung, it is Microsoft as well, whose future is at stake. Cell phones are already accounting for close to 50% of revenues of companies like Samsung and Apple.

As of now, Samsung is clear winner in overall Cellphone market. However, they face uphill battle with Apple's flagship iPhone. It will be difficult to compete with iPhone in terms of overall value and satisfaction. Unless, Apple goof's up big time in coming years, which they can as Steve Job's is not around and I am already feeling that new management is more focussed directly on share prices instead of customer satisfaction, usability and attention to details. We have to accept that nothing is permanent and current iPhone's dominance will go down sooner or later.

At the same time, Samsung is coming up with really great phones with really cool and great features and trying to compete hard with iPhone. However, in my view they need to focus more on some really great selected features and make them really easy and standardize across the board. They also need highlight and focus where Apple restrict's iPhone... and moreover, build some really cool and easy to use ecosystem. Bring some standardization across the devices so accessories can be useful. One feature which I really envy from Android phones is simplicity to play HD videos (1080p) directly to HDTV using HDMI cable.. But still, it has clumsy UI, especially as compared to iPhone. They need to work on reduction in number of clicks needed to accomplish things..

I haven't played too much on Samsung phones except to my stone age Blackjack long time back. Which was really clumsy phone based on Windows CE (or whatever it was called) and voice quality was so bad that I took a vow to never use Samsung phone. Only feature which I used to like was tethering of it which used to give me great internet connectivity to my laptop. However, with iPhone, 99% of time you don't need tethering, you can literally do everything on it, despite its lower screen size. I hope my nephew who works in Samsung is reading this and will soon send me some great samsung phone to try so I can write better review ;-)

Hope to see real good competition in coming days.. which should result in really cool phones for all of us. I hope, Motorola/Google will also churn out great phones in coming days.. so will Nokia with their MS collaboration... future seems to be great!!!


Samsung cellphones beat out Nokia’s

By Andrea Chang

Los Angeles Times

Samsung in the first quarterbecametheworld’s largest cellphone brand for the first time, overtaking longtime market leader Nokia. In the smartphone segment, Samsung remained in second place behind Apple, according to market research firm IHS iSuppli.

The South Korean electronics giant shipped 92 million cellphones worldwide in the first quarter, compared with 83 million for Nokia. While Samsung’s shipments declined by 13 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011, Nokia’s dropped by 27 percent.

In the smartphone segment, Apple shipped 35 million units in the first quarter compared with 32 million for Samsung. Apple’s smartphone shipments declined 5 percent from the fourth quarter, compared with 11 percent for Samsung. First-quarter declines in the shipments of smartphones and cellphones reflect normal seasonal patterns, in which sales decrease after the peak holiday period in the fourthquarter. “With cellphones now accounting for more than 40 percent of Samsung’s overall revenue, it’s clear that the company’s continued investments in smartphone hardware and software R&D are paying off,” said Wayne Lam, senior analyst of wireless communications at IHS. Lam noted that Samsung’s performance was even more impressive because its latest Galaxy S III handset has yet to be launched, with shipments set to start in May. “This indicates Samsung is likely to make further progress in market share in 2012,” he said.

Is it a killer Cloud Drive?

Is it time to ditch Dropbox? Are you be ready to move to Google Drive or pay them say $60 per year for 100GB of secured anywhere accessible data. I think I will move to Google..

I started using Dropbox recently. Mainly to keep my folders synched between different machines and to some extent upload important files which I might need to refer any time anywhere. It worked seamlessly and I loved it. I just took very basic 2GB account which I grew up to 3.5 GB by referring some of my friends. I love the concept of Dropbox.. it is such a simple concept.. however, it is executed flawlessly.. amazing app on iPhon, iPad, MAC, PC.. behind firewalls or front of firewalls.. any where.. it works like a charm..

At the same time, if I want to upload my photo library it will be really expensive solution as I have close to 60 GB worth images. All thanks to Digital cameras first, then to iPhone.. size keeps on growing.. I think I bought my first Sony Digital Camera in 2003. Now after almost 10 years later I have around 60 GB. Almost 6 GB per year.. that is 500 MB per month.. that is almost 20 MB per day.. which is around 6-7 pictures per day!!! that is a lot!!!    All thanks to Picasa, Facebook and now Google+ ... most of the good images are in cloud already.. but mostly in format which can only be viewed on computer.. can't be printed (when was the last time I printed photos).

Any how, with Google also getting into this cloud storage business for masses, I think prices will come down for sure. Google can leverage their ultimate Networking/Storage technology to do this job much better than any one else for sure. So they are going to be force to reckon with in this area.. Doesn't matter if they are entering late. As long as they execute it they should be fine. If they can't execute properly then they should buy Dropbox.

Search is the biggest advantage with Google.. They are not only going to provide you with storage space, but along with it their built in search capabilities will make it really great product. I will buy their cloud storage drive for sure.. Moment they enable it on iPhone/iPad I will be there customer. Till that time I am happy with my Dropbox service!! or may be Dropbox will make their prices competitive to Google.. I won't mind staying with them.. or I will change to Google... good thing is that it will be piece of cake to change my storage provider!!!


http://www.siliconvalley.com/personal-technology/ci_20468361/google-drive-cloud-launches-storage-collaboration

‘THE ULTIMATE ATTACK’

‘Google Drive’ vies for spot in the cloud

Users can sync files between PCs and phones, but analysts wonder if product is too late to the game

By Mike Swift

mswift@mercurynews.com 

Google is taking the wraps off a long-anticipated product that it views as one of its most important launches of the year, as the Internet giant continues its push toward a future in which users’ photos, spreadsheets and other data primarily live on the Internet “cloud” instead of a PC or some other device.
The launch of “Google Drive” Tuesday has been a poorly kept secret in Silicon Valley, with the name and a rough description of the online storage product widely circulated in recent weeks as Google has worked out the final bugs. Drive will open up to millions of users around the world starting Tuesday, allowing them to sync their files between PCs, smartphones and tablets.
But the success of Drive will ride largely on whether Google can differentiate its offering from already established fast-growing cloud storage startups that were in the market first, such as Dropbox and Box, as well as Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud service, and big consumer media competitors like Apple’s iCloud and Amazon’s Cloud Drive.

“At the heart of it, Google is about cloud computing — letting people live on the cloud and get things done on the cloud,” said Sundar Pichai, the Google executive who heads the company’s Chrome browser and cloud apps efforts. 

By offering a wide menu of software apps that will run on Drive, as well as the ability to store volumes of data that will increasingly rival what can be stored on a hard drive, some say Google is taking a big step toward making native operating systems like Windows and Apple’s Mac OS a less central element of personal computing. 

“This is like the ultimate attack by Google on Microsoft and Windows,” said Jostein Svendsen, CEO of WeVideo, a Sunnyvale startup whose video-editing application was one of the apps selected as a launch partner with Drive. “You are removing the importance of the underlying operating system.” 

Existing Google Docs files, the centerpiece of Google’s existing cloud storage offering, will move to the Google Drive service once users download apps and install the new service. Google will offer users up to 5 gigabytes of storage for free, and up to 25 gigabytes for $2.49 a month. 

Still, Google has a problem. Since Apple launched the iPad two years ago, more and more people have needed to sync their data between many devices, and a growing number of people and companies have been using cloud services like Dropbox, which according to comScore data has seen its monthly traffic triple to 3.6 million users over the past year. 

At the same time, Apple and Amazon can leverage their strength in music, books and other media to drive users to their cloud services. 

“I wouldn’t completely write them off, but I definitely feel that Google is late to the game,” said Jesse Lipson, the founder and CEO of ShareFile, a cloud-based file-sharing service aimed at business users that now has more than 5 million users and which was acquired last year by Citrix. 

Liz Conner, an analyst with the research firm IDC, said Google will also have to deal with the fact that millions of consumers have already uploaded their files to Dropbox, Box, Sugarsync or other cloud services. “Most people, if they love Dropbox, I’m not sure they are going to rush out to join Google,” she said. 

Other users, she said, are not yet comfortable storing precious photographs or sensitive private data on the “cloud” — a metaphor for the vast network of Internetconnected servers that can be networked by big companies like Google, Amazon or Microsoft to run software or store data. 

Like Dropbox, Google Drive integrates into the operating system of a Windows PC or a Mac, or an Android mobile device, meaning that one copy of a file is stored locally on each synced machine, along with a copy that is stored on the cloud. Google is working on a version for Apple’s iOS mobile operating system that powers iPhones and iPads, but that is not quite ready. 

A user who downloads the Drive app and syncs their devices through the cloud will see their files automatically updated between devices each time they change a file in one location. 

“To me at the crux of it, it’s a way to live your online life, available to you wherever you go,” Pichai said. 

Contact Mike Swift at 408-271-3648. Follow him at Twitter.com/swiftstories or facebook.com/mike.swift3. 

Wao.. another very interesting Social Network Site!!!

I was surprised to see simplicity and ease of use of this.. more importantly, I was surprised to see that there is still scope for newer social network sites and there is still great risk to Facebook etc.. I am amazed by people's imagination..

That is the best part of current times.. you have some idea.. you can easily test waters.. if people like it.. you could be next Zuckerburg or Brin or Page!!!

Thing is, the pie is so big and there are so many diverse group of people that you can still carve out niche for yourself. Once you reach critical mass, your concept can explode and bring you in the league of Zuckerburg.. Do you care if you have just one billion or few tens or hundred's of billions.. at least I won't..

This new social network site which claims to be easy pin board is really easy to use and view and makes total sense.. amazingly beautiful pictures.. whatever you like.. you can pin on it..

I just copied some sample pins from it below for users to get yummy taste of it..

Enjoy and here goes another few minutes a day of yours into yet another newer social network site!!!

Cheers!!!

http://pinterest.com/

http://pinterest.com/pin/123075002286918127/

http://pinterest.com/pin/123075002286918122/

http://pinterest.com/pin/123075002286918113/

MARKETING RESEARCH

Pinterest leaps to third among social networks

Digital bulletin board website pulls ahead of LinkedIn, Google+

By Jeremy C. Owens

jowens@mercurynews.com 

Pinterest has become the third most popular social network in the United States, behind only Facebook and Twitter, a marketing- research report has found.

An Experian Marketing Services report found marked increases in visitors to Pinterest’s website, including a 50 percent gain from January to February that made it more popular than LinkedIn or Google+.

The Palo Alto company has found an ever growing audience for its digital bulletin boards, which allow users to collect and share digital images and link them to websites. Since co-founder and CEO Ben Silbermann launched the social network in January 2010, it has become extremely popular, especially with hobbyists. 

Silbermann 

Experian research showed that the site’s visitors were demographically different from those visiting other social networks, with women accounting for 60 percent of the visitors and a higher percentage of users in the Midwest, Northwest and Southeast. Alexa, a web-analytics company that uses a combination of visitors and pageviews to rank the most popular sites on the Web, disagrees with Experian, currently ranking Pinterest fourth among social networks, behind LinkedIn. The site does rank Pinterest as the 16th most popular website in the United States, ahead of such stalwarts as PayPal, ESPN.com and The Huffington Post. 

Social networking accounts for 15 percent of all U.S. Internet visits, Experian reported, but much of that metric can be attributed to Facebook. The Menlo Park social network captures one in every 10 U.S. Internet visits and one in every five page views, Experian reported. 

Other social networking sites are still growing as well, though not at as fast a pace as Pinterest,  Experian reported. From December 2010 to December 2011, Twitter grew 45 percent and LinkedIn grew 98 percent, according to the annual report. Growth will be hard to sustain, however, as Experian says that 91 percent of adults online in the United States already use social networking “regularly.” 

Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/mercbizbreak. 

Are we envy of success?

This seems to be clear case of envy against success. I really can't say anything else. Clear case of burning tax payer's money as if it was recycled newspaper.. I think department of Justice and FTC type of organizations should be sued to start these type of investigations which are clear wastage of time and money. I hope that some one is watching and planning to that..

In the digital world, there are so many options nowadays that you really can't complain about wrong business model or monopoly. As long as any such agreement prohibits content to be published or printed anywhere else on any other media, it is totally unnecessary. Let customers decide and punish and reward any such pricing models. There is nothing wrong in innovating and brining new pricing or business models. Let readers decide what they want to read or buy and from where to buy and which model to use to buy.. yada yada..

 Somehow, I feel that now a days US government agencies have become mostly moron and simply decide to go after any company or business model which is successful and making lot of money. The level of trust has gone so low that they simply can't believe that this success is due some genuine hard for of individuals or group of individuals.

If these agencies don't have any work, I would prefer that their budget be cut so it helps at least US deficit. I am in principle left leaning but these kind of actions are making me move towards right.. So help me God!!! oops... I thought I was atheist!!

DIGITAL READERS

Apple up for e-book battle

Company, under probe by Justice Department, ready to defend pricing agreements in court

By Andy Fixmer, Sara Forden and Edmund Lee

Bloomberg News

Apple and two publishers are preparing to fight the U.S. Justice Department in court if necessary over pricing agreements for digital books, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Apple, Pearson’s Penguin Group, and Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, want to protect the so-called agency model that lets publishers — not vendors — set e-book prices, said the people, who declined to be identified because they weren’t authorized to talk publicly.

The Justice Department is probing whether Apple’s interaction with publishers over pricing hampered competition in the market for electronic books. The government is seeking a settlement that would let Amazon.com and other retailers return to a wholesale model, where retailers decide what to charge customers, the people told Bloomberg News. 

CBS’s Simon & Schuster, Lagardère’s Hachette Book Group, and News Corp.’s HarperCollins are seeking to avoid a costly legal battle and could reach a settlement next week, a person said this week. A settlement could also void so-called most-favored nation clauses in Apple’s contracts that require booksellers to provide the maker of the iPad with the lowest prices they offer competitors, the people said. 

Upholding the agency model would give publishers more control over pricing and limit discounting, helping the industry avoid sales losses as more consumers buy books online. 

The Justice Department is probing how Cupertino based Apple changed the way publishers charged for e-books on the iPad, a person familiar with the matter said last month. European antitrust regulators also have said they’re investigating whether Apple’s pricing deals with publishers restrict competition. 

Sales of e-books rose 117 percent in 2011, generating $969.9 million, Publishers Weekly reported Feb. 27, citing data from the Association of American Publishers. By eliminating printing and shipping costs, digital versions generate higher profit margins than physical copies. 

When Apple came out with the iPad in 2010, it let publishers set their own prices for e-books as long as it got a 30 percent cut and the publishers agreed to offer their lowest prices through Apple. This so-called agency model overtook Amazon.com’s practice of buying books at a discount from publishers and then setting its own price for e-reader devices. 

The results of a settlement or lawsuit wouldn’t necessarily kill the agency model or prevent other publishers from continuing to set their own prices for e-books, one of the people said. 

Random House has agreements with Apple and Amazon that lets the book publisher set prices for e-books, the essence of the agency model. The company isn’t a part of the U.S. inquiry, Stuart Applebaum, a Random House spokesman, said. 

Gina Talamona, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department’s antitrust division, declined to comment, as did representatives of Apple, Penguin, Macmillan, Hachette, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins. 

Another Strategic win for Silicon Valley

There are natural checks and balances.. and this one is for China's super growth.. despite all the growth and money who so ever can afford to migrate to US is doing so. Obviously, easy choice for them is best of best.. i.e. Silicon Valley or our San Jose Bay Area..

This shows clearly and loudly.. there is no price for true freedom. If we evaluate properly, China is still gaining from this process.. though China's gain is long term as their population spreads out and invests more into outside business and brings back better and diverse business experience... where as US' gain is short term and long term. Biggest winner of all is Silicon Valley which keeps on growing exponential rates ;-)

I am sure US is going to renew this Visa category as it is simply no brainer. It is like selling your infrastructure but at the same time keeping it or even getting more in return. I believe, very few countries can afford this type of premium for immigration growth. US has been country of immigrants and there is no doubt that immigrants in US enjoy freedom much more than most of the natives in their own country outside of US. Whatever may be said about racism or ethnicity based discrimination in US, it is stil far less than the different kind of discriminations people suffer in their own country.

These kind of independence and freedom is the key for programs like that and there is no doubt that Silicon Valley is a great place and will continue to be leader in attracting investments and job growths like these. So all my multi millionaire friends, if you want to move to Silicon valley use this and come over.

Here is the link for the details:


http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_20334626/wealthy-chinese-seek-special-visas-relocate-bay-area?

DRAWN TO BAY AREA

China’s wealthy invest in shot at green card

Millionaires finance U.S.

projects to qualify for visa

By John Boudreau

jboudreau@mercurynews.com 

Even as China emerges as a super power, many of those who have benefited most from the country’s economic rise are heading for the exits. And many are relocating to the Bay Area, whose large Asian population, good schools and comfortable lifestyle are powerful draws for Chinese multimillionaires concerned about the future of their homeland and seeking the own American dream.

“The rich people are trying to get green cards,” said Ta-lin Hsu, founder and chairman of Palo Alto-based venture capital firm H&Q Asia Pacific, who spends a lot of time in Asia. He is frequently asked by business associates about how to immigrate to the United States.

“The main reason is, they still worry about the future stability of China,” Hsu said. “The U.S. is a democracy, there is freedom and it’s a safer place.” 

The exit door for many of these wealthy Chinese is opened by the fast-track visas America offers for well-heeled immigrants. Known as the EB-5, the visa requires applicants to invest $500,000 in projects in economically struggling regions or $1 million in a commercial venture in other locations. The investments must create or preserve 10 jobs for two years. If successful, the applicants and their families — spouses and children younger than 21 — are awarded permanent residency. 

The foreign money is a welcome source of funding for many projects. Oakland city officials, for example, have eyed the program to help pay for a project that includes hotels, a convention center, shops and new facilities for the Raiders and Warriors and possibly a new A’s ballpark. 

In recent years, as the number of China’s millionaires has grown, interest in the program from across the Pacific has soared. 

Between 1992 and 2011, the number of applications for investor visas jumped 700percent, from 474 to 3,805, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In the past two years alone, the number applicants has nearly quadrupled. More applications by far come from China than any other country. Last year, 77 percent of all of those who applied for these visas were Chinese. 

“They are standing inline,” said Scott Bachman, CEO of San Mateo-based eBee5. His company helps pair large development projects with wealthy Chinese looking to invest in the United States. 

“When I go to China, I get a Chinese cellphone and I am constantly bombarded with EB-5 (advertising) text messages,” said Kevin Wright, a consultant with offices in the United States and China. 

A survey of 980 Chinese millionaires published last fall by the Bank of China and the Hurun Report, which tracks the country’s wealthy, revealed that 46 percent of them were thinking about leaving China, while an additional 14 percent were filling out immigration paperwork or had already left the country. 

“The Chinese government is definitely worried,” said one successful EB-5 applicant, who relocated his family from Beijing to Los Altos Hills after initially moving to Texas, where he invested in a metal processing factory. The man, who asked that he only be identified as Mr. Zhang, did not want to reveal his full identity because he still does business in China and does not want to upset powerful government officials. 

Indeed, most Chinese who come to the United States on these visas strive to remain under-the-radar, particularly those doing business in China, whose laws forbid transferring more than $50,000 a year out of the country. 

Many Americans, bruised by the long recession and its painful aftermath, worry about the United States being eclipsed by China. But many successful Chinese complain about China’s pervasive corruption, polluted air, contaminated food and educational system that stresses memorization over creative thinking. “The United States looks like a pretty good option to them,” said San Francisco immigration attorney Robert Gaffney, a specialist in EB-5 visas who is fluent in Mandarin. “It’s a quality of life decision for them. They are voting with their pocketbook: They’d rather be here than in their own country.” 

The money of these deeppocket immigrants is highly valued in this country at a time investment funds can still be tough to acquire for some development projects. 

“Local financing is just not available, or it’s very hard to come by, especially for construction,” said Katie Yao with Sand Hill Property, a Redwood City developer that is planning to build a hotel across the street from the yet-to-be-built new Apple campus in Cupertino. 

So far, the company has found one Chinese investor interested in backing the project with a $1 million stake, with the hope of getting an EB-5 visa. 

“We are only trying to raise $20 million — that means 20 (Chinese) families,” she said. “We offer 6 percent returns and profit-sharing.” 

By China’s boom-time standards — which often reward investors with returns of 100 percent or more — the Cupertino hotel project hardly seems worth their interest, she admitted. However, Yao added, “People want to find a shelter for their money, someplace safe.” 

The investor visa, which began in 1992, will expire in September unless Congress reauthorizes it, but experts expect that to happen. 

“It has enjoyed bipartisan support,” said Peter Joseph, executive director for the Association to Invest In the USA, a trade group that lobbies Congress. “It’s about creating jobs without spending anything from the public purse.” 

Indeed, the risks are borne by the immigrant investors, San Jose immigration attorney Acton Yang said. 

“The EB-5 requires a risky investment,” he said. “It can’t be investing in a security. You can’t just buy a house. It has to be a risky investment that will generate employment in the United States.” 

And if investors put money in something that fails — say, a shopping center in a troubled neighborhood — they stand to lose more than their cash, noted consultant Bachman. “If the business is dead, they not only lose their money, they lose their visas,” he said. 

Still, many wealthy Chinese are willing to place such bets if they trust those they are doing business with, said Zhang, whose wife and two children live in their gated Los Altos Hills home while he splits his time between China and Silicon Valley. 

The number of people in China who can make a $1 million investment “is huge,” he said. “I am the captain of my golf team, 40 people. More than half of them can make a $1 million investment just like that. 

“The Chinese have full confidence in the United States,” he added. “It will come back. That’s why, from an investment perspective, there are a lot of opportunities here. At least a dozen people around me want to come here. They have the economic power. They have the means.” 

Contact John Boudreau at 408-278-3496. Follow him at Twitter.com/svwriter. 

Come on.. electric cars are Future..

Oh.. Come on.. give me a break.. News like this break my heart.. All electric cars are the future of automobile. I am sure in next 20 years or even earlier, we will have battery stations just like gas stations today.. In these battery stations, you can buy "Charge".. by giving your discharged battery back and taking "Charged" battery and use it to drive further.. So instead of filling your gas tank you will fill in your battery tank.. This will be applicable only for long drives.. for daily commute, I am assuming your home or office parking lots will be good enough to take care of filling your battery with charge you need to drive.

Now, you can link it this "Charge" to any source you want. Unfortunately "Charge"created by thermal or nuclear or solar power plant doesn't carry it's signature.. so you can't really differentiate among them.. all the charges are same and equal!!

Another thing these morons need to consider is efficiency of producing this "Charge". If you think about it, why anything is cheap or expensive.. it is the ultimately cost of energy going into production or usage of that thing!! Even though we blame so much to Thermal Power plants for creating green house gases. True.. they do it.. but still cost is their electricity is lower due to fact that they do burn coal really efficiently thus creating cheap electricity. Same is true for Nuclear power plant..

Now when we talk about solar panel based power plant.. ROI of Solar power plant is still very low and it still takes more than 10 years to recover cost despite subsidies from government. What it means is that process of producing Solar power panels is expensive and production itself takes lot more energy (in some form or other... ) so it takes literally 10-12 years to recoup those loses or the electricity or energy consumed to produce them. I agree, over a period of time, their cost will go down thus increasing ROI for them.

Coming back to our main topic, Electric cars are the future of automobile.. whether you agree or not, electric care are most efficient in transforming energy and using it for human needs. You can't blame or find fault with the source of electricity produced to power them up. Market forces will take care of non-efficient power sources.

In US, share of Coal based power generation is already on decline. Most of the new power plants are either gas based or solar/wind. Which is great.. Power consumption is bound to grow.

Even with these newer and jazzier low power devices, it is bound to go up as number of these energy efficient devices is going up exponentially.. literally making mockery of energy efficiency all together.

Biggest problem our current power grids face is lack of Storage. There is no cloud storage available for electricity as in case of iPhone or iPad' iCloud. These battery powered cars, collectively, are going to provide this critical storage space to grid.

it really doesn't matter where the electricity is coming from.. I can guarantee that coal generated electricity will still be more green than the fossil fuel cars developed..

In case of nuclear power.. I agree, it is dangerous.. but which power source isn't.. Thermal power plants? are they 100% safe? accidents doesn't happen there? or Hydro? doesn't dam breach and flood and kill people.. Sooner or later we are going to hear that Wind turbine blades flew away and killed somebody.. Solar.. all the elements and chemicals gone into it.. doesn't they pose any problem to environment? everything has risk.. it is risk vs. rewards.. Nuclear.. still is one of the safest.. especially if we consider number of people died in or due to nuclear power plants Vs. people died in thermal power plants.. In case of Japanese nuclear power plant problem.. I would say it was unfortunate that event took place.. Also, I feel that Japanese companies are more hidden in nature and culture doesn't allow them to come forward and accept mistakes bravely.

Electric cars in Japan risk losing green sheen

Plans by the government to restart nuclear power plants cast long shadow

By Yuri Kageyama

Associated Press

TOKYO — Electric car owners who prided themselves on being green now find themselves in a bind as Japan’s government maneuvers to restart dozens of nuclear power plants idled after last year’s meltdowns. For decades, nuclear generation has been a crucial source of power here, but the tsunami-triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant have spurred a debate over how to supply Japan’s electricity in the future. Long touted as a clean, zero-emission alternative to vehicles powered by dirty fossil fuels, electric cars are now at risk of being tainted by their association with nuclear. If, as is possible, nuclear remains a key source of power, “then the green image of the electric car will get bashed to bits, maybe to the extent it will be irreparable,” said Ryuichi Kino, who has written books on nuclear power and hybrid technology. “I have the feeling it’s quite possible that might happen.”

Ripple effect

Not long after the tsunami swept through the plant on March 11 last year, the government backed away from plans to lift nuclear power from supplying a third of Japan’s electricity needs to half. But Japan isn’t abandoning nuclear power altogether. Despite the Fukushima crisis underscoring its risks, the government wants to restart some of the nation’s 54 reactors after safety checks are completed.

Critics say the checks aren’t good enough, and the damage from the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl looms large, with the 12-mile no-go zone around Fukushima, as well as surrounding areas, likely to be contaminated by radiation for decades.

Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, a longtime opponent of nuclear power, acknowledged he gets bashed as hypocritical by people on Twitter about appearing in advertising for Nissan Motor’s Leaf electric car.

Many are not aware that, because he lives in New York, he can get his electricity from a company that relies solely on wind power — a kind of business that doesn’t exist yet in Japan, where utility regulations remain rigid and closed.

“How we make electricity is going to diversify, with fossil fuel and nuclear power declining,” said Sakamoto. People should be able to choose the kind of electricity they want to use, he said.

Electric cars were proving a hard sell even before the Fukushima disaster. And their green image has a weakness since generating electricity, unless it’s from solar, wind or other clean forms, emits polluting gases. Nissan, an electric-car leader, has sold just 25,000 Leaf cars around the world since late 2010, including 12,000 in Japan. It is targeting global sales of 1.5 million electric vehicles by 2015 in conjunction with alliance partner Renault of France.

Corporate Vice President Hideaki Watanabe, who oversees Nissan’s zero-emission business, insists sales are on target and haven’t dropped after the March disaster. The nuclear crisis has highlighted that the Leaf can be a backup storage for electricity in emergency blackouts, he said.

What’s holding Leaf sales back instead are the lack of charging stations on roads and its relatively high price.

Leaf prices

The Leaf starts at about 3 million yen ($36,000) in Japan, after the 780,000 yen ($9,400) green subsidy. In the U.S., the Leaf sells for about $25,000 after applying a $7,500 federal tax credit.

Although the Leaf is now a front-runner among electric vehicles, Nissan faces competition from rivals that already offer them such as Palo Alto luxury maker Tesla Motors and Mitsubishi Motors of Japan with the i-MiEV mini car. Others have them in the works.

Some electric car owners remain undaunted. They don’t equate their nifty green cars with atomic energy at all despite widespread jitters in Japan about spewing radiation and the safety of what had once delivered a third of the country’s electricity. The deficit is currently made up by expensive oil and gas imports.

“Concerns about global warming are growing,” Internet retailing entrepreneur Norishige Namba said while attending a recent gathering for 140 Leaf owners in Tokyo. “We need to preserve nature.”

Now this can really spur growth in Smart Homes!!!

These type of service will totally make sense when it comes to Smart homes which includes Smart Security and Smart Grid connectivity. Also, it will further eliminate POT line (Plain Old Telephone... I guess) an history museum part.

Everything is great about it. This is the way to go. Just one concern.. it will make service providers almost GOD like status. Entire home will be dependent on them. In case of failure in broadband pipe everything goes back to stone age!!! I am sure they will come up with back plan by starting wireless Service in cities and use them as back up. I guess, even now you can get it if you are ready to pay 10-20$ extra each month.

Currently these type of services are there in market but offered by multiple vendors in bits and pieces... I think Comcast type roll-out will make it easier to integrate and manage in a single console. It will be tough to say no to such things when they are rolled out!!

Slowly, these type of services will become part of the offerings from service providers like Comacast, ATT etc.. Sooner or later, their modems/devices will be capable of offering additional service and route videos and other smart information to/from the house to/from their data center.

But will you like your home to be monitored by big brother like Comcast.. Can't government or any other body with influence also sneak peak in your house anytime? What if hackers hack into Comcast system and enable/disable devices when you are not at home. Theoretically, if someone hacks into this system, and if they are able to broadcast command to turn on AC or something like that at once in multiple houses, they can bring down grid in few seconds. Remember, starting current requirement of all ACs and similar devices is at least 3-4 times normal run time requirement. So if all the devices are remotely controlled and someone with evil intensions is able to hack into Service Provider like Comcast who controls tens of thousands of homes in a particular area, they can bring down local grid or blow transformer (that will be too much as relay/Circuit-Breakers will act, unless, they hack into that as well).

I think I am thinking too much negative.. may be wine effect ;-) So I need to just shut down this blog and publish it...

Cheers!!

KEEPING AN EYE ON SECURITY, ENERGY

Comcast offers ‘smart home’ service

Broadband provider gets into full home monitoring

By Troy Wolverton

twolverton@mercurynews.com 

Broadband provider Comcast is hoping to be your gateway to the “smart home” of the future.

On Friday, the company will begin offering security and home monitoring services to Bay Area customers of its Internet service. Such smart home technologies would alert consumers if someone broke into their house, allow them to adjust their thermostat and turn lights in their house on and off while away from home, and remotely view video taken from cameras placed in and around their home.

Consumers could also configure the system to set the alarm automatically at certain times of night or a front-door camera to record video whenever someone opens the door.

“We think it’s going to become more the norm than the exception to have a smart home,” said Mitch Bowling, Comcast’s senior vice president and general manager of new businesses.

The service, which Comcast already offers in about half of its markets nationwide, will be available starting Friday in areas served by Comcast in the East Bay and North Bay. The company plans to begin offering the service in the South Bay, the Peninsula and San Francisco by the end of April, Bowling said.

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COMCAST PHOTOS

Comcast is installing in-home control panels, above, and providing a realtime link on customers’ smartphones.

The service is being rolled out in some parts of the Bay Area beginning Friday. 

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Comcast will charge a $40 monthly fee for the service, which will include 24-hour security monitoring and remote access to lighting and thermostat controls. The company will charge customers who want to record and view video feeds from their home an additional $5-a-month fee. Comcast is requiring customers of the service to sign a three-year contract. 

To promote the service, Comcast is offering free installation of the related equipment to customers who sign up before the end of May. After that, the company will charge $200 for standard installation. In both cases, the company charges extra to install cameras and additional sensors. 

The service includes a tablet- like touch-screen controller to which Comcast plans to add additional features. In addition to arming the security system and turning on lights, the device will soon allow customers to check their Comcast email, program a DVR or preview on-demand movies, Bowling said. 

Long a dream of futurists, the smart home has until recently been reserved for technophiles who configured home automation systems on their own and high-end consumers who paid someone else to do it. 

However, Comcast is one of a growing number of mainstream companies that have been trying to bring smart home services to a mass audience. In recent years, home security companies such as ADT and Vivent have begun to offer home automation and home control services. Comcast’s broadband rival Verizon has its own smart home offerings, and AT&T has one in the works. Meanwhile, Nexia, a sister company to lock maker Schlage and airconditioning unit manufacturer Trane, has come out with a line of relatively lowcost home automation and control products. 

The companies that stand the best chance of popularizing home automation are the security companies, said Jonathan Gaw, a research manager at tech consulting firm IDC who focuses on the connected home. Right now, the smart home services that consumers are most interested in are related to security and monitoring, rather than energy management or controlling appliances, he said. 

What’s more, smart home services will probably require extensive and perhaps multiple visits to consumers’ homes to assess their needs and install sensors and controllers, Gaw said. Broadband providers such as Comcast may not be in a position to deliver that kind of handson interaction because they have spent years trying to minimize the need to visit consumers’ homes and the amount of time they spend once there, he added. 

“This is not something that I would expect mainstream consumers to do on their own, which means that somebody’s going to have help them do it,” Gaw said. 

Contact Troy Wolverton at 408-840-4285. Follow him at Twitter.com/troywolv.