Earth hour

Today is the day where you have to save one hour of electricity.

That is pretty easy. Just shut off all the electricity in your house for 1 hour and start to ruminate about what other things you can do to save the earth.


Use that 1 hour wisely, stay away from your handphones, computers and television sets. Just think to yourself what you can do in the future to stop this world from being obliterated as a result of global warming.


Let's look at the stark difference between a lighted city and a switched-off city.

Ostensibly it seems like a great movement, where the world can save one hour of electricity. But to think of it as a one-shot pony campagin will result it in being a futile attempt to move the world.


What I mean here is that the 1-hour global campaign is to remind the others of the pivotal importance of saving electricity in your everyday life. Obviously that 1 hour saving is not going to do a thing as compared to the rest of the number of hours in your 365 days. The point here is to offer us a caveat that if we do not our part, soon our city will be perpetually living in darkness like during that of the 1 hour we are experiencing.


Campaigns, events, advertisements are going all out to remind us about the 1 hour campaign today.

If they are doing it to merely remind us to switch off the electricity for 1 hour, don't you think that the total cost we saved would have been overwrited by the cost of all the campaigns, events and advertisements used altogether ?

Then what's the point right?

Hence, we should look at the bigger picture and start to save electricity whenever possible. Especially when we are not using any appliances.

A final note, if you switch off your appliances rather than putting them on standby mode, you can save up to $50 a year. That might be very littlt but imagine if everyone is doing that, the amount saved would be gargantuan.

Do not think of it as an individual effort, think of it as a global effort.

I presume that is what the Earth hour campaign is trying to tell us.

The magic of 285 Apple Stores

In a report to clients issued overnight Monday about Apple's (AAPL) opportunities for growth in China, Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty adds, almost as a throwaway, the instructive charts at right (see also below the fold).

They show what she calls the "Positive Correlation Between Apple Store Expansion and Mac Market Share."


It seems flagrant that the accrued market share is a corrollary of the expansion of the number of Apple stores worldwide. Right now, Apple is planning to open up another 25 retail shops in China. This might be a perfect opportunity to expand in China given that Google has some conflicts with China at the moment.


It might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to convert the Chinese into Apple fans!


Nonetheless, Apple still has many other opportunities elsewhere other than China. For instance, in Asia it is becoming more and more prominent where more and more teenagers are enticed by the iPhones and iTouch. Many are wowed by the number of applications and you can hear them talking about the up and coming applications of the day on the train everyday.


To be a topic of the day is HUGE!


The best form of marketing to date is for sure without a shadow of a doubt, the word-of-mouth marketing.

Imagine you yourself going up to the highest floorth in your country. Then, you pierce a pillow (which you have brought along) filled with feathers with a knife. Every single feathers will float along with as the wind gust and you will have no idea where each feather goes.


That is the power of the word-of-mouth. With the increasing number of shops as a concomitant, Apple is approaching invincibility.

I'm pretty sure that even though iPad was not a huge success, Apple will continue to move on with even greater success in the near future.


You have my word!




Credits -cnn, -charicemania, -cache4

Waiting Area

Just a picture of the day at work.

Facebook Surpassed Google

"It shows content sharing has become a huge driving force online," said Matt Tatham, director of media relations at Hitwise. "People want information from friends they trust, versus the the anonymity of a search engine."


Well, the day has finally arrived.


Facebook triumphs Google. The point made by Tatham is very intriguing. Content sharing is becoming a huge driving force on the net.


I thought this is really a fact.


I personally always get the thrill and adrenaline rush when I post a status message on facebook and then I get lots of reply on my status message. Somehow, I feel very happy to reply to these messages even though that person replying to my message is actually on msn with me.


So right now, I'm thinking to myself, is it because we humans prefer to share the message with the rest and also, we are able to show off to the rest of our friends that we are popular in the sense that our message get tonnes of replies on it.

Right now, it becomes a competition to see who has the most number of replies. It's a vicious cycle.


Don't you think so? Come to think of it, when you see others getting lots of replies on that status messages and you getting none. Doesn't it makes you reflect on yourself? Whether all your friends doesn't like you?


But when you suddenly get lots of replies, you tend to study the trend. What is it that I have to type to get lots of replies.


Interesting isn't it? Now it becomes what I should type rather than what I want to type.


We've just been manipulated by the society and social network.


Google has recently came up with Google Buzz but it was a major flop. Perhaps if Google can come up with something better, then maybe they will trash facebook.


Otherwise, facebook will still take the lead for now.




Credits -cnn, -mythsandfacts

America's next top model Cycle 14 Episode 3

Alasia

Not too bad

Alexandra

Classical Armani

Angealea

Dissapointment

Anslee

Average

Brenda

Pathetic

Jessica

Beautiful

Krista

She seems photoshopped

Naduah

Killer.

Raina

She looks like daredevil. Wow gorgeous man

Ren

Too messy

Simone

No impact at all

Tatiana

Not very impressive

Creidts -livejournal

Google Uncensors

In a long-awaited announcement, Google said Monday that it will stop censoring search services on google.cn, its Chinese search site.




Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) is now redirecting its Chinese users to its Hong Kong site, google.com.hk, which offers uncensored search results, according to Google's company blog. Google's search site for Chinese users is now hosted on servers that are in Hong Kong.

Well, it seems that after much persuasion, China is still adamant about its stand on self-censorship. It appears that there is no way the burgeoning giant is going to let a step back on this one and that Google can only take a back seat and obey China on this one.


Nonetheless, as you guys can see, Google has decided to finally uncensor everything at the risk of offending China. They are currently testing the water by hosting their sites based in Hong Kong in order not to infringe the rights of China but even by doing so, their search services still can be banned within the borders of the country per se.

This also includes it Chrome services, its operating system and its Android services along with its online-advertising business.


It will have a huge impinge on Google if they were forced to leave altogether because these services hold a gargantuan amount of revenue for Google and has the potential to set the platform for Asia. China could jolly well be a pedestal for Google to step on in an attemp to reach the entire of the Asia in terms of spreading its clout and services as a giant corporation.


Nonetheless, China will most probably not do such a fatuous thing because it will leave a bad trademark on them if they were to ban Google altogether from China. It will have adverse effects on its public relations and the entire world will be scrutinizing China once again for barring the global giant from entering its market.

To be honest, the world is already scrutinizing China's operations. A while back, United States governors have already tried to request for a litigation against China for manipulating its currencies in an effort to support its exports business. By doing so, they are actually impeding United State's recovery as a result.


Also, China is notoriously infamous for its protectionism policies and thus it is really difficult for other businesses to thrive in China. Domestic industries are booming because they can export easily without much tax but they can't import because the import taxes are hefty due to a weak currency.


With so many eyes staring at China, I doubt they will self inflict damage on themselves by barring Google altogether.



Credits -cnn, -osmoothie, -amnesty, -sanssoucistu

Justin Foo

Remember the name because he's going to be a top chef soon.


He's in the midst of hardcore training at Le Cordon Bleu so in the mean time, you guys will only have pictures to satisfy your cravings.


Indulge in them and enjoy.

Medaillon de porc sauté, sauce au thym.

Filet de rouget à l'anis.

Lotte au poivre vert.

Filet de flétan à la Dugléré.

Feilleté d'escargots aux champignons des bois.

Moules Marinières.

Praires Farcies.

Filet (contre filet) d'agneau à la croûte au sel.

Like the food? I'm sure you did.


Drop by his blog at and click on the nuffnang ads if you happen to see any.


That's the least you can do after looking at his pictures !