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SMARTONE > ONE OF ASIA'S TOP 20 BRANDS

In Hong Kong, I saw a really endearing advertisement promoting a mobile service provider: SmarTone (www.smartone.com.hk). The ad was running on TV and on the metro lines.

The ad does not contain any real dialog; it plays on human emotions instead. These give it 2 major (related) advantages: it can be understood in any country/culture, and so it can be screened anywhere in the world.

I recommend anyone to check the 2 ads out:
Smartone > picturemail (11.5 MB)
Smartone > get closer (11.5 MB)

I liked the brand so much that even receiving simple free sms information services about Hong Kong weather report and pollution levels made me happy.

Thursday, February 19, 2004
Posted by Peggy
8:17 AM

WRITE AN SMS IN CHINESE

M1 (www.m1.com.sg), one of the most innovative mobile service providers in Singapore, has an SMS translator service which I like. Sending an SMS in Chinese used to be a headache for people like me who speak the language but are slow in writing Chinese characters.

On a mobile phone, writing in Chinese is even more bothersome. You need to change the language settings on the phone, do the input in hanyu pinyin (Romanized pronunciation), then scroll through a list to select the correct word.

Note that Chinese is a tonal language, and something simple like "ma" can mean different things (e.g., 'horse', 'mother', 'scold', 'sesame seed'... get the picture?) depending on which of the 4 tones it is in.

With this translator service, writing in Chinese will now be a breeze! I can write my message in English and the recipient will get the translated Chinese version.

There are over 30 phone models which support this service. You can preview the message before sending it to double-check the translation. Of course, abbreviations and slang will not be translated. At least not yet.

Chinese Characters FAQ
On-line Mandarin Tools

Sunday, February 15, 2004
Posted by Roberto
8:58 PM 0 comments

SSTM: SHANGHAI SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY MUSEUM

The Shanghai Science and Technology Museum is a work of art. Set over an area of 68,000 square meters and an architectural area of 98,000 square meters, this futuristic building is home to the first IMAX theatre (IMAX 3D theatre + a Dome theatre) built in China.

The 3 experiences I enjoyed the most at the SSTM are:

The Holographic Sound Room
Superb spatial sound experiences. Very involving. The 3D sound effects were played back over good quality headphones. This is to ensure the left ear gets only the left ear signal, and the right ear gets only the right ear signal.

The 3D Skewed Room
The older you are the more difficult it gets to figure out how to walk in this room. I belong to the category of old bears (see picture) who needed to enter the room 3 times before I was able to re-learn walking. Because our brains are affected by early experience, we believe that the square setup of the room is vertical to the ground, when in fact the room is oblique. So being 'upright', in this case, is not being vertical to the ground. You will not be able to walk without falling over if you keep using the squares in the room as a visual point of reference. The beauty is in seeing how young kids (below 7 years of age) figure this out effortlessly.

The 4-D Theatre
I enjoyed the IWERKS Theatre, also called 4-D Theatre, immensely. This is the result of a Disney concept in filmmaking: moving seats, water-spray, smoke-blowing mechanisms all work together with 3D images to take the movie experience to an entirely new emotional level. 3D actors spitting water at you (while the water sprays get to task) creates an an immersive and unforgettable experience!

Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Posted by Roberto
7:03 PM 0 comments

AUTOMATIC RECONSTRUCTION: FROM 2D TO 3D

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Prof. Long Quan at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Prof. Quan has extensive knowledge and experience in the following areas:

View Interpolation (interpolating the missing view)
I saw one example generated from 2 still images. The result: an animation that was so smooth it looked as though it had been created with a fixed camera array, followed by post-production work.

Re-Timing (inserted interpolation)

3D Reconstruction from a Sequence of Handheld Captured Images
This is the latest research focus of Prof. Quan. I saw examples of automatic face/head reconstruction using 40 uncalibrated pictures. In other words, a series of pictures shot around the subject are used to automatically build a 3D model of the subject. No need for a 3D scanner or a blue-screen setup. In the future this system can even be applied to automatic reconstruction of outdoor scenes.

Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Posted by Roberto
3:36 PM 0 comments

HONG KONG: BROADBAND SERVICES

NETVIGATOR BROADBAND Internet Service has a 95% coverage area for all of Hong Kong, and provides 1.9 million users with connection to Internet. NETVIGATOR network currently offers a maximum downstream speed of 6Mbps, and a maximum upstream speed of up to 640Kbps.

Interesting broadband services in Hong Kong:

NOW Broadband TV
DVD-like picture quality on TV, free decoder and free installation
7x24 broadcasting channels, 6 free channels and 24 pay channels
Pay by channel basis, no extra monthly fees
Eligible for bot Netvigator and non-Netvigator Broadband subscribers

now.com.hk
Internet video-on-demand
800k streaming video for PC consumption
Trendy Content
Netvigator Broadband subscribers only

Monday, February 09, 2004
Posted by Roberto
2:31 PM 0 comments

HONG KONG: WLAN HACKERS PARADISE?

Wireless LAN technology for private use (including corporate use) does not require licensing. Licensing is required, however, if the wireless LAN is used to supply telecommunications services to members of the public. The exact type of license required usually depends on the scale and nature of the public service offered.

One example of a public WLAN service provider is the Hong Kong-based Systech Telecom, which provides high-speed and secure wireless broadband Internet access services to public users in hotels, airports and shopping malls throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

The beauty of Hong Kong is that you are surrounded by WLANs. Corporate ones, private ones... the city is so compact it looks like a WLAN Hackers Paradise.

Friday, February 06, 2004
Posted by Roberto
3:17 AM 0 comments

LIVING IN SHANGHAI

The Shanghai Statistics Bureau reported yesterday that locals had disposable income of 14,867 (US$1,791) in 2003. Shanghai residents spent on average of 4,103 yuan on food (693 yuan went toward restaurant meals) and 1,021 yuan on home appliances.

Here is the total number of home appliances in a sample of 100 Shanghai families:

168 : Color TVs
136 : Air Conditioners
133 : Mobile Phones
102 : Refrigerators
094 : Washing Machines
088 : Microwave Ovens
081 : Water Heaters
074 : VCD/DVD Players *
060 : Computers
056 : Water Coolers **
040 : Stereos

Source: Shanghai Statistics Bureau

*
On the streets it is pretty common to find the latest pirated DVD movies for 8 yuan (about 1 Euro). In Jan 2004, some of the available titles were "Kill Bill" by Quentin Tarantino, "DreamCatcher" with Morgan Freeman and "The Last Samurai" with Tom Cruise.
At night, if you walk alone, usually you are approached by young kids who will try to sell you low quality erotic VCD's for prices ranging between 6 and 10 yuan.

**
The presence of water coolers is due to the fact that here in Shanghai tap water is not safe for drinking.

Thursday, February 05, 2004
Posted by Roberto
8:10 AM 0 comments

THE ONLINE GAMING MARKET IN CHINA

In China, at the end of 2003, there were 79.5 million Internet users.
13.8 million were online gamers. (Source: Economic-Daily, Beijing)

China's Internet game sales income last year reached 1.32 billion yuan (US$159 million), up almost 50 percent from 2002.

"Internet gaming is an industry where you can earn millions when asleep" said Ding Lei, a founder of Netease.

South Koreans and Japanese are twice as likely to participate to online games compared to the global average of 30 gamers in every 100 Internet users.

Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Posted by Roberto
3:55 AM 0 comments

E-CITIZEN SERVICES IN SHANGHAI CITY

The Shanghai government is planning to set up 1 million free e-mail accounts in July to send information about social security funds as well as utilities bills to city residents.

Registered users will receive information about their 4 accounts (city's housing, unemployment insurance, medical insurance and pension fund), plus their water, electricity, gas and phone bills, which they can pay online with a credit card.

All the services of the mailbox are free for residents, since Shanghai FFT Information Service Company, the online payment Website's operator, will charge the utility companies and mobile operators, such as Shanghai Mobile and Shanghai Unicom that want to take advantage of this e-services platform.

Monday, February 02, 2004
Posted by Roberto
5:35 AM 0 comments

SHANGHAI: BETTER THAN BLADERUNNER

... but very cold!

Here in Shanghai I had the privilege of receiving a ton of e-mails with the famous MyDoom worm, the virus who spreads on the Internet by attaching itself to e-mail messages. It seems to have clogged China's Internet traffic since many people returned to work following the Spring Festival and turned on their computers.

Sunday, February 01, 2004
Posted by Roberto
5:20 AM 0 comments

SMS TO FIXED LINE AND BACK :)

A cool service that impressed me in Singapore is the one that allows mobile phone users to send SMS messages to people on fixed-lines. This is a sort of "SMS to fixed line and back" type of service.

What I experienced is the following: You are at home, the fixed line phone rings, you pick it up and a machine with a sensual female voice is reading out an sms message. At the end of the message, if you wish to reply to the original sender you press 1, record the answer, and by pressing the pound key the answer is sent.