Geekonomics

Samsung Singapore launched what seems to me as an extremely successful first bloggers’ event for the launch of their new phone, the Innov8 (i8510). I’ll let the pics do the talking:

Daniel Goh of Samsung doing a showroom tour… we should have guessed he was gonna set us up, right?

The Samsung Innov8 on sale!

Some nice features presented : Read more…

Nokia Ovi is turning out to be really interesting. As mentioned in an earlier review of the Nokia N96 vs the Samsung Innov8 on CNET Asia, I somehow prefer Samsung’s open approach compared to Nokia’s proprietory software approach. But proprietory software does have its advantages too, as you might probably see from this announement :

Nokia to demonstrate latest elements of Ovi

Stepwise approach to increasing Ovi functionality aimed at ensuring a smooth and intuitive user experience

Singapore – In an online event today, Nokia will demonstrate the new personal information management (PIM) sync functionality of Ovi.com, as well as the recently launched Nokia Ovi Suite for PC and the Files on Ovi remote-access service. These different elements of Ovi help you manage your personal information and media in various ways through a simple and unified interface.

“Today’s demonstration is about showing people how you can easily backup, sync and share your content using Ovi services on your PC, the web and your mobile device,” said Jussi Nevanlinna, vice president of product and portfolio management in Nokia’s services and software business. “Our stepwise approach to rolling out and integrating these and other elements of Ovi lets us learn and adjust according to the feedback we receive from people, so that we can constantly improve the user’s experience of our services. We recognize that in the services business bringing something new to market is not the end of its development – it’s only the beginning.”

The latest version of Ovi.com, which is now available as a public beta, offers free functionality for syncing your calendar, contacts, notes and tasks between a Nokia mobile device and www.ovi.com. With this functionality Ovi.com users can now create an online backup of their important information that they can access and edit anytime when connected to the internet. Nokia believes this improves a customer’s mobile experience by safeguarding their personal information in case their device is lost or stolen.

With the Nokia Ovi Suite for PC application you can easily copy files and information from your Nokia mobile device to your computer; back up the contents of your Nokia device; and drag-and-drop photos and videos to Share on Ovi, the media sharing service Nokia launched earlier this year.

Files on Ovi allows you to remotely access the files on your internet-connected personal computers from any browser-enabled mobile phone or computer. You can also store files online in your Anytime Files personal storage area so that they are always accessible to you. The service is based on the software and expertise Nokia obtained through the acquisition of Avvenu in December 2007.

(Rest of announcement was truncated for relevancy)

This week’s review comes earlier as I’m in China right now and will have limited internet access tomorrow -.-”

Facebook murder
Blogged about this earlier in the week.. poor rising starlet got murdered in a facebook reunion. Was Facebook the cause of it?
CNET Asia - Geekonomics : Did Facebook cause the death of this rising star?

Samsung’s iPhone killer
Been hearing about this phone for a while, may even get a set to review soon, will tell you more about it then.
Techielobang : Samsung i900 Omnia to fight HTC Touch Diamond, iPhone?
Chronosphere : Samsung i900 Omnia announced

iPhone reservation in Singapore
So finally, the iPhone has arrived in Singapore thanks to telecommunications giant Singtel whose operations span across Asia and even to Australia. So what’s this about a ’stupid’ reservation system where after a reservation online you still have to go down to the shop physically to confirm it?
The EOK.Network : SingTel’s iPhone reservation system that isn’t

PC Show 2008
The 18th show! So did you manage to catch it? Sadly I missed it due to my travelling. But you still have one more day to catch it if you didn’t! Though I’m not really an IT show kinda geek, I saw some really cheap pricings listed out there (see link)
CNET Asia - Geekonomics : The PC Show 2008

3G iPhone
So it’s finally launched… obviously I haven’t had the chance to take a look at it but it sure looks like reactions are mixed, with quite a few disappointments. You judge for yourself I guess..
Techielobang : Is this the 3G iphone finally
engadget : iPhone 3G is finally official, starts at $199, available July 11th

Grand Theft Auto IV : Latest response to Saint’s Row
Saint’s Row based GTA IV for lacking stuff to do in it and top in-game GTA IV movie maker Brotha made a video in response. Well since I never got really far in the game, these videos help me to appreciate the scenes which I never got to see.
Gametrailers : GTA IV’s answer to Saint’s Row

Yahoo! + Google = formidable?
Very interesting… Microsoft’s months of wooing seems to have only succeeded in driving Yahoo! to their competitor. Maybe that was Yahoo!’s game all along?
SFGate : Yahoo-Google ad pact raises antitrust eyebrows