I also feel that we as a modern society is heading for imminent disaster as we continue to pollute the world and destroy our bodies in the name of progress. But I won’t get into all that here.

The question that has been on my mind is, what is the solution? What is the alternative?

Today, I stumbled upon an amazing story of hope and success. There is a movement in India where over the last 42 years, an amazing man named Bunker Roy, has been pioneering a school that is dedicated to practical education. More importantly, this system is not adulterated with concepts from modern education system. Its totally “home-grown” so to speak.

The ultimate goal is not to get a piece of paper certificate but to deliver real practical eduction and confidence in the students. And not surprisingly, a big themes of their success center around sustainable development and sustainable energy. Arguably, some of the most important knowledge we need as a society.

This is a story you must watch. It is one of the best Ted talks I have seen to date. Please share with others if you agree with this approach.

These inventors created a light weight robot that flies like a bird. Not only that, in the two real time demonstrations, the bird came back exactly to the launch point.

Such innovations excite me on tomorrow’s future. It was only in my parent’s generation that they saw the growth of color TV, the internet, fax, computers, tablets, high speed trains and flight. So I am real eager to see what comes in my generation that my kids will take for granted!

I was sent a package to review and was surprised to see it was an underwater bluetooth headset. Its not a common product and I was quite excited to see how well it works. Here’s my review:

The Good:

1. Sound quality is remarkably good for music and phone calls
2. Bluetooth range is very good on land. I can get reception even if I am in another room in my house.
3. Battery life is good – box says 13 hours of continuous use but I estimate its about 5-8 hours maybe. I’ve only charged it once in a week.
4. Compatible with iPhone 4 and iPad – simultaneous connection e.g. I can view a movie on my iPad and when my iPhone rings, I can pick up the call using the headset. Once I hang up, the movie audio will resume where I left off.
5. Able to control iPhone touchscreen while inside waterproof bag

The Bad:

1. Bluetooth range limited to about 8 inches underwater.
2. Headphone chord a little short. Its ok if headset is around your neck but if you want to clip it at waist level, its a little short.
3. Waterproof bag for iPhone is very flimsy.

Practical Applications:

1. As a general stereo bluetooth headset
2. All weather outdoor listening – e.g. running/ hiking/ cycling in the rain
3. Chilling by the pool/ in a boat
4. Noise canceling – e.g. in a convertible car, at a crowded place
5. General protection of your iPhone – e.g. against sand by the beach

Not Suitable For:

1. Swim training (or vigorous movement underwater)
2. Scuba diving

Learn more or get it at: http://www.bfu-hk.com/

I would imagine that the iPhone and iPad would already be projects under development at Apple at the time this video was recorded. So Steve did a good job to not share too much about the projects under development.

But its quite ironic don’t you think?

In this case, if you remember the Steven Spielberg movie – Minority Report, the future technology that was showcased was the computer that was controlled using hand gestures in 3-dimensional space. The character played by Tom Cruise could manipulate and analyze terabytes of data in real time to find the location of would be criminals before they committed the crime.

Well John Underkoffler was the technology adviser to Steven Spielberg at the time and he recently showed off this “hand gesture” computer user interface at TED.

As you can see from the video, the system works very well and is very impressive. However, it does look like it requires quite a lot of setup with all the projectors and sensors around the stage. But what I find amazing is Mr. Underkoffler’s prediction that this technology will become widely available in the next 5 years!

Is that ambitious? A part of my brain finds it hard to believe that this level of technology can become mainstream in 5 or even 10 years. But I will be cheering him on as I do want to see this kind of massive leap in technology within my lifetime!

First point that I wanted to make clear is that a lot of people are calling the phone the “iPhone 4G” but that’s not accurate. Its official called “iPhone 4″ meaning its the 4th iteration of the iPhone line. This is important because a lot of newbies might confuse the “4G” to mean an upgrade of the “3G” network. But that’s not the case.

So let’s get to the features:

1. Dual camera on the front and back. That means you can now do face to face calls with other iPhone users
2. The camera on the back has been upgraded to a 5 mega pixel camera with a LED flash
3. The battery life has been improved! This is a big deal it now has 7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours 3G browsing, 10 hours Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hours music, 40 hours of music, and 300 hours in standby mode
4. It now boasts the best screen ever on a phone. It has a 3.5 inch retina display, 960 x 640 pixels (that’s 4x more than the previous iPhone), it displays 326 pixels per inch, 800:1 contrast ratio, and has IP technology for superb color and wide angle viewing. And the screen is scratch resistant.
5. The iPhone 4 is powered by Apple’s proprietary A4 processor making it much faster and zippier!
6. The video recording has been upgraded to 720p HD videos at 30 frames per second and you can edit videos on the iPhone with iMovie!
7. There are loads of other upgrades that are based on the new OS which has already been announced so I am not going to go through all of them in detail. The main ones being multi-tasking!

Now lets talk about the price. The phone comes in two colors, the black and white. The price is $199 USD for the 16GB model, and $299 USD for the 32GB model. Pre-orders of iPhone will start a week from now.

They will shipping in five countries first. The 5 countries are the US, France, Germany, UK, and Japan. In early July, they will ship the iPhone in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Swede, and Switzerland.

And by September 2010, they will ship the iPhone 4G in 88 countries!

The iPhone 3GS has now been reduced to only $99 and you can upgrade the OS to the new OS4 with multi-tasking for free. So is it worth the wait to get the new iPhone 4 or go with the ultra cheap iPhone 3GS (8GB) at only $99?

I think there’s a case for both. For light users who are just interested in the phone and basic web browsing and some apps – the iPhone 3Gs works just fine.  But personally, I think most people will wait for the new iPhone 4 purely for the fact that the battery life has improved significantly!

What do you think? Will you upgrade?

I got my 64GB WiFi only version of the iPad 2 days ago. Because I live outside of the U.S., my friend Mike Reining was kind enough to purchase one for me in San Francisco and lug it back. There are units selling here in Malaysia at a $300 premium and they are selling like hotcakes!

Anyway. Back to the review. So I actually originally wanted to get the 32GB version but it was sold out and Mike made a decision to get the 64GB one instead. And I am so glad he did!

If you plan to get one, go for the maximum storage space within your budget. At least get the 32GB. The reason is two things:

1. The amazing battery life – 10 hours!!
2. Its a great media device for reading, watching movies and listening to music and podcasts.

Because these are the main uses, you will want to get as much of your eBooks, PDF docs, music, movies, TV shows, video and audio podcasts into this device so you can access them anytime anywhere.

Here’s a video of my first impression and some of the apps that I recommend:

I will need to make more videos to cover all the best apps that I am currently using. So subscribe and stay tuned for more updates.

First impressions?

Before the launch of the iPad, I mentioned in a previous post the reasons why this device will succeed and my first impressions confirm what I wrote earlier.

This will be the new category killer. The primary reasons is the battery life and the amazing app store. As a person who started off being very opposed to purchasing apps, I am now changing my tune. Because the apps cost next to nothing but provide amazing value in return. Both entertainment value as well as productivity value.

I also find that the device is changing my habits. The iPad is now my preferred source for news and entertainment. For quick Google searches and for checking my Internet websites (analytics and commission reports).

Its also my preferred method to store and read eBooks (second only to actually printing them out).

Additionally, as a person who’s not into games or comics, I find that the touch based games and amazing comic apps (reviews coming soon) has had me converted!

That’s all for this first review but stay tuned as I create more reviews of great apps that I actually discover and use.

Talk about brilliant use of space!

I really like this idea and I have used some of these concepts for my own apartment with concealed doors and hidden compartments. Now I have more ideas for future enhancements!

While the ad doesn’t give us a lot of info, there are a few things that can be observed.

1. Its looks much thicker than the iPad. Not cool.
2. Front and back camera. Cool.
3. SD Card Slot. Cool.

But noticeably missing is…an app store.

For this reason alone, it will definitely lose out to the iPad. Most of the frenzy of news on iPad that I am seeing now is centered around new apps. Dr Zeus for kids, Marvel comics for “big” kids and so on. Definitely, the fact that developers will create uses for the device that the manufacturer will not think of is the key to success in this category of devices.

Also, the touch screen seems a little sluggish compared to the iPad and iPhone which has become the standard to beat.

Still, until more information becomes available its hard to say.