Top Ten Japanese Animation Movies of All Time

If you are a fan of animation movie then you already know that Japan famous for animation movies from the very beginning of this kind of movies in the world. They have already presented some excellent anime (animation is known as anime in Japan) movies to the fans around the world. Here, I am going to give a list of top ten famous animation films produced in Japan. You know that the phrase “Top Ten” always creates controversy as there are many movies left which also deserve to be placed in the list. Here goes the list:

Akira
Directed by Katsuhiro Ōtomo, a notable Manga artist and anime (animation) creator in Japan, the movie Akira has become of the greatest Japanese anime (animation) movies ever released. The movie is credited for increasing popularity of Japanese anime worldwide especially in the West. The movie could break the traditional characteristics of anime film. Katsuhiro Ōtomo gave some extra effort to make the film more realistic to the fans. Earlier, the Japanese anime (animation) movie shows lip movement of the characters where the face remained static. However, in the movie Akira, viewers got introduced with the face movement with while reciting the dialogue. The movie was made in 1988.

The story was also written by director Katsuhiro Ōtomo. The complexity of the story can be overshadowed by the animation quality of the movie. All of the characters are well-organized and the characters are easily introduced to the viewers. The story is based on the unsettle situation of post World War II Japan. The destruction of the nuclear explosion is clearly seen in the movie. Above all, you will find a new Japan in the movie.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Spirited Away
The Academy Award winning movie Spirited Away is another trade mark anime (animation) movie produced in Japan. I would like to introduce you with the director before going though the movie. Yes, Hayao Miyazaki, creator of many famous Japanese anime, is the pioneer of the movie ‘Spirited Away’. He directed the movie and wrote the story of the movie. The movie is based on a girl named Chihiro and a mysterious town full of spirits. While returning to their new house, Chihiro and her parents take a brake in the town to eat some delicious items arranged in the restaurants. It was not till sun set, she saw faceless spirits roaming around the city. Moreover, Chihiro gets shocked to see that her parents have turned into pigs. Now, with the help of a boy Haku, Chihiro tries to go back to their house before their parents become food of the spirits.

The movie was first released in Japanese language in 2001 and later on translated in to English and released in US, Canada, Australia and England. In 2001, the movie got Oscar and became the first anime film to win this award. The movie got released under the banner of famous Japanese studo “Studio Ghibli, Inc.”

Image Source: Wikipedia

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
The movie is one of the greatest ever anime produced in Japan. Initially there was a TV series by this name. However, director Mamoru Oshii has showed an impressive work in the movie Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. The movie has gone beyond its cartoon image with an outstanding design and interesting characters. The movie Innocence got some international recognition for its interesting story and well-designed characters. The movie was one of the featured films in the Cannes film festival in 2004 becoming the sixth animated film in the festival.

The movie depicts the future technology and plotted in 2032. You already know about the movie Terminator, a super block bluster movie of Hollywood, where the fight between man and machine was screened. You can find a similarity between terminator and Innocence as the movie Innocence is also depicts a war between man and machine.

The movie was released in 2004 in Japan and later on the movie was showed in several countries including USA, South Korea, UK, France, Germany and Italy. I hope you will enjoy the movie.

Image Source: IMDb

Princess Mononoke
Princess Mononoke is one of the greatest anime ever made in Japan and before Titanic; it was the highest gross movie in Japan. If you are not so interested about the movie then I would like to introduce you the director of the movie- Hayao Miyazaki. If you have a least idea about Japanese animation movie that you mist have head that Hayao Miyazaki is one of the greatest ever creator of anime in Japan. Released in several countries, the movie was critically acclaimed by both critics and fans. Computer animation and 3D technology was used in the movie that made the movie more attractive to the viewers.

The movie is based on an interesting story. Ashitaka is the prince of Emishi. He saved his village from a demon God and eventually he was suffered from a dangerous disease. Aiming to be cured from the disease, the price set out for Far East and reached in a battle between animals of a forest and iron mining town. Later, Price Ashitaka leads the animals in the battle.

The movie was released in 1997 and at that time it was the most expensive animation movie with a production cost of US$20 million. The movie was a mixture of traditional technology of making anime and computer technology. Among the 144,000 drawn cells, about 80,000 cells were re-drawn by the director.

Image Source: IMDb

Ninja Scroll
The movie is based on a story of feudal Japan and the action scenes are really something to be observed. The characters are well-designed by the Yutaka Minowa and the story was written by the director Yoshiaki Kawajiri, a notable figure in Japanese anime industry. Though the movie was initially released in Japan in 1993, it was released in Australia, Canada, UK, USA and other countries later on. Till date, Ninja Scroll has been one of the widely known Japanese anime outside Japan.

You will find an attractive love story between the two protagonist roles of Kagero, a beautiful Ninja, and the hero Jubei. The story is plotted in a national crisis of the country. A giant man is emerged in the movie with an evil power and the couple tries to save themselves from this evil power.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Grave of the Fireflies
Based on the World War II, the movie has been critically acclaimed both in Japan and abroad. To many, Grave of the Fireflies is one of the best anti-war movies ever made and the design of the characters is really praiseworthy. This was the third movie of Studio Ghibli, most famous anime studio in Japan. The movie was directed and written by Isao Takahata. The movie was released in 1988 in Japan.

The movie depicts the post World War II destroyed Japan and its poor socio-economic situation. Two orphans named Seita and his younger sister Setsuko find themselves in a famine. The siblings lost their parents in the recently concluded war. You can find a heart beating story of struggle in life and can assume how much effect a war can have on the entire nation.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Perfect Blue
The story of the movie Perfect Blue is little complicated but the story explores a mysterious serial killer. Mima Kirigoe is a popular pop star who wants to be an actress. That is why, she left his group. At that time, she finds a autobiographical website which seems to her own autobiography and the most interestingly the name of the website is Miam’s Room. She suspects her manager Rumi. Then through a drama series, Mima rises to stardom as an actress. However, a serial killer emerges in the movie and the situation starts changing overnight. The quality of the animations is really very good and the characters are well designed too.

The movie was directed by Satoshi Kon. At first the movie was released in Japan and later on the movie was also released in US. The movie has the quality of being one of the greatest movies ever made in Japanese anime.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Vampire Hunter D
The movie is one of the forerunners of the Japanese anime outside Japan. Vampire Hunter D is based on the story of a series of novel by Hideyuki Kikuchi. The movie was released in 1985 in Japan and later on in other countries. The movie is regarded as the cult classic in English speaking countries.

In the movie, the anime fans were first introduced with the dark future which has become a common topic of the science fictions now-a-days. The movie shows the fight between human and vampires. The movie starts in 12,090 A.D. where vampires dominate the world and humans are seen struggle for their survival. The movie was released in three languages- Japanese, English and Spanish.

Image Source: IMDb

My Neighbor Totoro
The movie is another great anime of Hayao Miyazaki, the most famous anime creator in Japan. Hayao also wrote the story of the movie. The story can lead you to an imaginative world where you can find some magical figures. Two sisters Satsuke and Mei get associated with Totoros, some magical creatures. The sisters have some magical experience with Totoros.

My Neighbor Totoro was produced by Studio Ghibli in 1988 and later on the movie was released in USA by Fox in 1993 and in 2006 by Disney. My Neighbor Totoro has become successful in US too. A carton based on the movie was released in English in 2004.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Cowboy Bebop
This anime series was directed by Shinichiro Watanabe. The movie was released in 2001 in Japan. In USA, Cowboy Bebop could earn a substantial amount. Observing the huge success both in Japan and abroad, a magna (carton) series in TV and two video games were released based on the movie.

The movie is based on the bounty hunter cowboys. The story of the movie starts in 2071. Some crews visits solar system in search of bounties. Each of the 26 episodes of the anime is based on a particular bounty.

The martial art action scenes are really something attractive for the viewers. The background music is largely dominated by both Americaan jazz and rock music. The well-organized characters are impressive and music used in the movie helped the movie get such a huge success. Besides the two counties, the movie was also released in Brzil and Germany.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Besides these ten films, I would like to name some more films which are popular both in Japan and abroad. The movie names are given below:

Metropolis

Tokyo Godfathers

Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer

Street Fighter II

Steamboy

Midori: The Girl in the Freak Show

Howl’s Moving Castle

The Wicked City

The Castle of Cagliostro

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Top Ten Male Tennis Players without Career Grand Slam

You can find some legends in the history of tennis. The names are big enough to attract you in this popular sport. However, some of them are not so lucky even though they have hardly left anything to achieve in tennis. Today I have searched in internet to find out some of those unlucky legends of world tennis who could not win all the grand slam titles in their career. I became astonished that the list does not seem so short. In open era, only Roy Emerson could win all the grand slam titles in his career in men’s singles. Out of ten six players could not win any singles tournament in French Open.

Pete Sampras

Pete Sampras is regarded as the greatest male tennis players in the history of tennis. Sampras won 14 Grand Slam titles in his career which is still a record in the history of Men’s tennis. However, unfortunately Pete Sampras even could not reach at the final of the French Open. In 1996, he could reach at the semi-final of the French Open which is the best ever performance of Sampras in French Open. What made me surprised is that Sampras was world no.1 in the ATP ranking for record 286 weeks but could not even win a single title in French Open. Moreover, he is the only player in the Male tennis history who could finish six consecutive years as no.1 in the ranking. Speedy serve specially the quick second serve was the best weapons of Pete Sampras. However, in producing ‘aces’ and ‘running forehand’, he is considered as the best ever players in the history of Men’s tennis.

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

Roger Federer

Roger Federer is another great tennis player who also has not won any French Open titles in his glorious career. Federer got into professional tennis in 1998 and till date he has already won 10 Grand Slam titles except the French Open. Roger Federer played in the final of French Open twice but lost to Rafael Nadal in both times. This current world no. 1 has never lost in any Grand Slam tournament finals except these two in French Open. He is skilled in different tennis shots especially in ground stroke from both sides. It is a bit hard to guess if Federer can win his most desired French Open title in his career to be out of this list.

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

Jimmy Connors

French Open has been left to win by another tennis great Jimmy Connors. Winning 8 Grand Slam tournaments he has become a part of the tennis history. Jimmy Connors reached at the semi-final of the French Open for four times but could not make it to the final even in his successful career. This American won five US Open tournaments in his career and became one of the most successful male tennis players in US Open history. Statistics can not depict the greatness of Jimmy Connors. For your convenience, I like to inform you that some of the tennis greats were his contemporaries including Björn Borg. John McEnroe, Arthur Ashe ect.

Image Courtesy: BBC

Ivan Lendl

The disappointment for Ivan Lendl, another tennis great, came to Wimbledon. He has also won 8 Grand Slam in his career except Wimbledon. He played in the final of French Open twice but could not lift the trophy. This Czech tennis star was one of the best tennis players of 1980s. Ivan Lendl could finish four years as world no. 1 and remain no.1 for 270 weeks which was a record at that time. There was hardly anything left that Ivan could not win except Wimbledon. To me, it is really a big disappointment for a great player but it does not mean that it can decrease the greatness of a great player.

Image Courtesy: BBC

Mats Wilander

This great Swedish tennis player could never win even a single title in Wimbledon in his successful playing career. His performance in Wimbledon does not go with his overall career success with Seven Grand Slam titles. Compared to his performance in other Grand Slam tournaments, Mats Wilander’s performance in Wimbledon is very ordinary. Mats Wilander even could never reach at the semi-final of Wimbledon. However, he is still regarded as one of the finest tennis player in the history of tennis. He has been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2002. Mats Wilander was famous for his strong competitive approach.

Image Courtesy: BBC

Bjorn Borg

Sometimes fate can play with you and you can not find anything to win against it. The same thing happened to Bjorn Borg, one of the most respected characters in the history of Tennis. He won 11 Grand Slam titles in his career but he could never lift trophy in Australian Open and US Open. Bjorn Borg was born in Sweden and being fascinated by a golden racquet of his father, Borg started playing tennis. Later on, this former world no. 1 achieved a golden career in international arena with 11 Grand Slam tournaments. Only Pete Sampras (14) and Roy Emerson (12) are ahead of Bjorn Borg in terms of Grand Slam titles. Bjorn Borg played four finals in US Open consecutively. However, in Australian Open, he could show a very ordinary performance.

Image Courtesy: Tennis.Com

John McEnroe

John McEnroe is one of the greatest figures in Men’s tennis. He dominated in 1980s in world tennis and could win seven Grand Slam tournaments He has won four US Open and three Wimbledon tournaments in his career. However, he could not win any single title in French Open and Australian Open. John McEnroe reached the final of the French Open in 1984 but lost to Ivan Lendl and in Australian Open; his best performance was reaching to semi-final. This German born American tennis legend had a huge dominance in his time over the world tennis.

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

Boris Becker

This German born tennis player is also considered as one of the greatest entertainer of this game of sport. Boris Becker has won 6 Grand Slam tournaments including three Wimbledon titles two Australian Open titles and one US Open titles. However, he could not get anything from French Open despite reaching at the semi-finals for three occasions. Becker won gold medal in Olympic. He became professional tennis player in 1984. At 17, he won his first Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon which was a record at that time. Boris Becker was very famous among the fans of his time.

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

Stefan Edberg

Stefan Edberg is another unlucky tennis great who could not win French Open in his career. This former world no.1 won 6 Grand Slam tournaments in his glorious career. He won the other three Grand Slam tournaments twice in his career. He was born in Sweden and came to the lime light while playing in junior level. Stefan Edberg became profession in 1983 and before that he won Junior Grand Slam. So, form the very beginning of his career he was always under the lime light. In August 1990, he became the world no.1 in ATP ranking. Serve and volley are the two top most weapons of Stefan Edberg.

Image Courtesy: Tennis.Com

Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr.

Arthur Ashe is one of the most famous African American in the history. When he won the 1968 US Open, he became the first African American to achieve such feat. In his career, he won three Grand Slam tournaments. He won US Open, Wimbledon and Australian Open once in his career but he could not lift the French Open title. He reached at the quarter final round of the French Open twice. Arthur Ashe had a great popularity as a social worker. He worked for different social issues like racism, AIDS etc. It is noteworthy that Ashe himself was died of AIDS. He was a great player as well as a great social worker.

Image Courtesy: English.ucla

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Google Explains video ID Tools of YouTube

YouTube is now one of the top 5 websites in the world. Everyday, millions of people visit YouTube and enjoy the videos uploaded there by the users. Many companies are sensitive about the copyright issue. Of course, some videos get posted and they are copyrighted materials. Well, it happens to any user generated website all the time. I mean, it is impossible to keep watch of the materials that are getting posted in every minute.

There has been some criticism against Google about the posting of copyrighted materials in YouTube. Now, in its official blog Steve Chen, YouTube co-founder has given a detailed explanation about this matter with the entry:

The state of our video ID tools

In this entry, Steve Chen has talked in details about what YouTube officials are doing to fight against copyrighted materials and indecent videos. He wrote:

If a content owner identifies material that she doesn’t want on YouTube, she can request its removal with the click of a mouse. If particular users repeatedly infringe copyrights, we terminate their accounts. We have long made a practice of creating a unique "hash" of every video removed for alleged copyright infringement and blocking re-uploads of the hash. We educate users on what is and isn’t permissible under the law. Our upcoming video identification system will be our latest way of empowering copyright holders, going above and beyond legal requirements.

I guess that many companies will not get satisfied with this reply from Google. On the other hand, many companies will feel assured to see that Google is trying to fight back and prevent unauthorized copyrighted materials being posted in YouTube.

iPhone: Not Available Everywhere

You want to buy an iPhone? The first thing you should do is find a store near you. However, only two kinds of stores will seel iPhones- AT&T and Apple stores. Do you know any of them? Then you should talk to them from now on. iPhone is going to come to market on 29 June but there is a surely a rush now.

Read More

Only AT&T, Apple stores selling iPhone June 29

Omnifone's MusicStation vs Apple’s iPhone

iPhone is now the biggest buzz in the tech world and iPhone is going to remain in the media headlines for the next few months at least. Apple is hoping that iPhone will become very popular very quickly and most probably many people will be interested to buy iPhone in the coming weeks. Some companies have targeted iPhone and yesterday I wrote about HTC’s mobile phone that has been termed as a rival of iPhone.

Today, I found a lot of news items about Omnifone's MusicStation. It seems that many Omnifone's MusicStation may become a rival of Apple’s iPhone. Actually, it will become a rival of iTune. Of course, iPhone is strongly related to iTune as all the iPhone owners will have to open an iTune account.

Washington Post reported:

Omnifone Ltd. launched on Thursday its MusicStation service that allows mobile phone users to download as many music tracks as they want for ,2.99 (US$3.97) per week. The company previewed MusicStation in February at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona.

The Swedish mobile phone subsidiary of Norwegian telco Telenor ASA is the first to offer the MusicStation service. More than 30 operators in Europe, Asia and South Africa have signed up to offer the service.

I found a news in the website of Omnifone. I am giving the news here:

Omnifone, the UK based mobile music company announces MusicStation, the revolutionary all-you-can-eat (AYCE) full-track mobile music service, goes live today, allowing mobile phone users to gain unlimited access to full music tracks

on industry-standard mobiles for a small weekly fee.

"MusicStation’s launch today heralds the beginning of the next generation of mobile music. Hundreds of millions of mobile phone subscribers worldwide will soon gain the ultimate music freedom - the ability to download and play unlimited amounts of music, wherever they are, through a fantastic easy-to-use digital music experience, which works on almost any phone," said Rob Lewis, CEO of Omnifone.

He added, “Consumers will have the ability to legally access, download and enjoy an unlimited amount of music, from an international and localised music catalogue, supported by the whole music industry, all for a small weekly fee. MusicStation users can download music, wherever they are, at any time and with no charge for data."

MusicStation goes live

The first MusicStation handsets arrived in stores today with Scandinavian operator Telenor becoming the first of many operators to make MusicStation available to its subscribers. Following this first launch in Sweden, an extensive series of additional rollouts in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa are imminent and due for announcement in the coming days and weeks. In each case, Omnifone will announce the launch only on the day handsets arrive in retail outlets.

As well as Sweden, Omnifone confirms it has now entered into partnerships with 30 mobile operators with networks in the following territories: Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK.

Telenor CEO Johan Lindgren, said, “We are proud to win the race to be the first operator in the world to rollout MusicStation to our subscribers. Telenor has always focused on delivering cutting edge services to its subscribers and with MusicStation we can deliver a truly next generation music experience, giving our consumers the freedom to download an unlimited amount of music, wherever they are, for a small weekly fee.”

International MusicStation licensing arrangements announced with Universal Music Group, SONY BMG, EMI Music, Warner Music International and many major independent labels such as Beggars Group, Vital:PIAS Digital and leading global mobile distributor VidZone Digital Media

Omnifone today announces signed international licensing deals with all four major music labels; Universal Music Group, SONY BMG, EMI Music and Warner Music International, who are making their international and local digital music catalogues available to MusicStation users.

Rob Wells, Senior Vice President, Digital, Universal Music Group International, said, “It’s hard to imagine a more compelling music experience on mobile than MusicStation. It works on almost any phone, giving consumers the freedom to choose whatever device they want. It allows downloads wherever those consumers are, providing the freedom to access music whenever they want. And it gives users unlimited access to our and other labels’ catalogues, all for a fixed weekly fee that includes data. We welcome its rollout today and look forward to the other rollouts that are due.”

Matthew Crosswaite, Vice President of Business Development at EMI Music said, "We want to make sure that fans can always access music by EMI's artists quickly and easily, wherever they happen to be. The MusicStation subscription service gives consumers a new way of doing that, and we are very pleased to be working with Omnifone to reach millions of subscribers around the world through their mobile phone."

Pete Downton, Vice President, Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, Warner Music International, said, "As we monetise our content across the myriad of ever-developing ways that people enjoy music, mobile technology continues to present us with important opportunities. MusicStation's easy-to-use subscription service will offer consumers a compelling way to discover and explore our artists' music anytime, anywhere. Beginning with its launch in Sweden, this service is an exciting, innovative development."

Omnifone confirms it has also secured a wide selection of independent and localised content in many key territories from independent labels and distributors including Beggars Group, Vital:PIAS Digital and VidZone Digital Media.

Simon Wheeler, Director of Digital, Beggars Group stated, “We are delighted MusicStation sees the importance of securing a vast catalogue of local and independent content, to ensure that users have the widest possible selection available, at the touch of a button, wherever they are.”

“Providing our Vital:PIAS Digital’s catalogue of high quality independent music, regionalised for each MusicStation rollout, means that we can provide millions of mobile users with the tracks they want, whatever the genre,” said Adrian Pope, Head of Vital:PIAS Digital. “MusicStation provides a new and exciting way for consumers to legally access, discover and enjoy music.“

Omnifone has partnered with Musiwave to quickly bring MusicStation to market and onto music mobiles across the world. “Musiwave is proud to collaborate with Omnifone in bringing music to MusicStation mobiles world-wide,” said Guillaume Decugis, Vice President and General Manager, Musiwave. “MusicStation complements our existing music services with a differentiated mobile music subscription service that works over the air and links with our music platform.”

Omnifone today announces further consumer launches imminent in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa

Omnifone confirms further rollouts throughout Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa will be announced in the next few weeks as MusicStation devices appear in retail outlets across all three regions.

Rob Lewis, CEO of Omnifone said, “We expect to be able to offer MusicStation to one hundred million phone subscribers this year. We believe that by providing consumers with the ultimate music freedom of unlimited access to music, wherever a user is, on whatever phone they buy, MusicStation is delivering the most compelling consumer proposition in digital music today.”

Robin Bloor, international IT analyst with Bloor Research stated, after reviewing the MusicStation product, "By focusing on Europe and Asia, and the key operators in these territories, Omnifone is staying focused on the markets which are expected to be the largest for digital music in the next few years.”

*Subscribers will pay a small weekly fee of 2.99 euros (or the localised equivalent) to access a comprehensive global catalogue of music drawn from all the major record labels and independents, fully localised to the local market. The price point in Sweden will be 25SEK per week.

Katissia Christhy Kouta: Miss Congo 2007

Congo is not exactly very famous for its contestants in international beauty pageants but in the last few years, Congo has taken the idea of beauty pageant seriously. This year, Katissia Christhy Kouta has become Miss Congo 2007. She will represent Congo in Miss World 2007 that will take place in China in December. Katissia Christhy Kouta is a college student and she studies in Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza. I think that she is 22 years old. Her height is 1.70 meter and her height is 55 KG.

I could not find a lot of information about Katissia Christhy Kouta in Internet. The best I could get was a translation version of a report of Congoplus.com. I am quoting from it:

At the end of the contest, the jury, chaired by Doctor Marie-Francke Purhuence announced the results hereafter:

Fair-play miss: Princilia Mbouma;

Miss Charms: Laurycha Ankala, 19 years, 1,72m for 63kg;

Miss Elegance: Princia Kivouila, 21ans, 1,70m for 55kg;

Second dauphine: Belief Suzie Ganga, 19ans, 1,65m

for 50kg; First dauphine: Ruclane Akouéli, 18ans, 1,70m for 58kg;

Miss Congo 2007: Katissia Christy Kouta, raises with the college Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, 22ans, 1,70m for 55kg.

Very moved, the new Congo Miss announced motivation which pushed it to take part in this contest: “I decided to present to me at this competition because I filled the criteria required to be elected Miss. I have many projects which I would like to carry out during my mandate”, it declared.

Let us see how far can Katissia Christhy Kouta go in Miss World 2007.

Picture of Miss Congo 2007

Katerina Sokolova: Miss Czech Republic World 2007

In Miss World competitions we see many contestants to very young. Katerina Sokolova is jut 18 years old but she ha brain and beauty both. In April, she became Miss of the Czech Republic 2007. She is still a school student but she could win the crown.

AbcPrague wrote:

Katerina Sokolova (18) from Pruhonice near Prague became the Miss of the Czech Republic 2007. On the ceremonial evening last Saturday she also got the title Miss Silhouette. She is 177 centimeters tall, her measures are 91-67-94. She is studying at the third year of grammar school.

In 2006, Tatana Kucharova became Miss Czech Republic 2006 and she eventually won the title of Miss World 2006. So, in Miss World 2007, the people of Czech Republic are expecting Katerina Sokolova to do something extra ordinary in Miss World 2007. Of course, it will be tough for Katerina Sokolova to follow the same success. This time, Miss World 2007 is going to be in Asia. So, Katerina Sokolova better get some knowledge about Asia.

It is going to be tough for Katerina Sokolova to win Miss World 2007 but surely if she tries then she can do it. After all, all the people of her country will be behind her.

Image Credit

Katerina Sokolova

HTC Touch vs Apple iPhone

High Tech Computer Corp (HTC) is a Taiwanese company. It is not exactly a high profile name in the cell phone industry but it surely can produce nice mobile phones. It also can produce portable devices. It works with big companies like Dell and Microsoft. Now HTC officials are becoming serious about fighting with Apple iPhone. They feel that they have already something to compete against iPhone. They call it HTC Touch.

Reuters reported:

Taiwan smartphone maker High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC) (2498.TW: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday it will launch one of its own-brand touch-screen phones in the United States by the end of the year, as it seeks to compete with Apple's (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) iPhone.

The company's second-half U.S. launch for its newly released HTC Touch phone follows a recent release for the model in Britain, said Chief Executive Officer Peter Chou.

The model, a so-called smartphone with cellphone and personal digital assistant (PDA) capabilities, will use touch-screen technology similar to that of the iPhone, set for release in the United States later this month.

I did some research about HTC Touch and found that Wikipedia actually has an entry about HTC Touch but the page contains nothing more than 2-3 sentences. Therefore, I went to the official website of HTC Touch. The website has some good information about HTC Touch. You can visit the product page and read the specifications.

I don’t think that HTC Touch will give Apple iPhone a run for its money simply because hardly anyone knows about HTC Touch. On the other hand, Apple iPhone is now the most widely talked about gadget in Internet.

All About Samsung SGH-E590

Mobile phone is no longer a luxury but an everyday necessity. We have now I think nearly 2 billion or more mobile phone connections in the world and this number is increasing everyday. Yes, mobile phone is affordable to most people in the world but there are many people who want fashionable mobile phone sets. Samsung is addressing this market in a great way with its SGH-E590 cell phone set.

This mobile phone set has been designed by Jasper Morrison. You can find an entry about Jasper Morrison in Wikipedia. This alone indicates that he is a famous designer. If you look at the picture of SGH-E590 then I am sure that you will become impressed with its design. It’s simple but elegant. There is hardly anything in the backside but the front side is stylish. Anyway, very few of us actually bother to look at the backside of a mobile phone carefully. More than everything, I liked the color. SGH-E590 is a cell phone set that will stand in a crowd.

Here is the press release from Samsung:

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a global leader of mobile phones and telecommunication systems, and Jasper Morrison, a leading industrial designer, cooperated to bring an attractive mobile phone, SGH-E590. The Samsung E590 is a perfect solution for users who want to have all of the advanced multimedia features with eye-catching design in a hand.

Through the partnership with Jasper Morrison, well known for his talents in various areas of industrial design, the E590 is designed to touch customer’s emotion. The stylish E590 comes in simple contours and clean lines which comprise this compact bar design. True to Jasper Morrison’s witty sense, the mobile phone provides dual face; one side features phone keypad and LCD screen while the other side is outfitted with dedicated camera functions.

With the sleek design, E590 is equipped with a powerful camera functions even other digital cameras would envy the capabilities as it allows the users to enjoy 3.2 Megapixel camera with Auto Focus and Half-shutter. Panorama shot feature offers intuitive camera UI which displays easy to use icons. Moreover, E590 comes with the Bean bag, a unique tripod which is a truly useful and portable accessory made of a special rubberized material for maximum flexibility and grip.

“The SGH-E590 is a very pragmatic work of art that reflects the synergy between Samsung and Jasper Morrison. We have teamed up to satisfy our users with high-performance technology and emotional design.” says Geesung Choi, President of Samsung’s Telecommunication Network business. He added, “Through the partnership with renowned designers, Samsung will strengthen our design power to bring design excellence to our customers.”

The Samsung E590 is available in two colors, noble black and snow silver, and will be launched in Europe, China and South East Asia in June.

SGH-E590 Specification

Standard GPRS Class 10 / EDGE / Tri-Band (900/1800/1900)

Camera 3.0 Megapixel Auto focus Camera with half shutter

Intuitive Camera UI / Panorama shot

Display: 262144 Color TFT Screen (220x220 pixels. 1.79")

Features: Music player (MP3/AAC/AAC+/e-AAC+/wma) Bluetooth 2.0/ USB 2.0 Voice streaming & Messaging / Video recording 90 MB / External Memory Slot

Size: 94x42x13.5mm

Weight: 66g

Samsung SGH-E590 will attract men and women alike. I think it will attract the young users more.

Jasper Morrison: The Designer of SGH-E590

Jasper Morrison is a famous designer. He nearly 48 years old and he is a renowned name in product and furniture designing. He is involved with industrial design for nearly 2 decades. Morrison loves to experiment with new things and this pioneering attitude has paid off a lot. From his student life, he knew what he wanted to be and he has accomplished some high profile projects as a designer.

Design Museum wrote about Jasper Morrison:

Critically, Morrison's clients have also allowed him to experiment with new materials and technologies. The results include his 1999 Low Pad Chair for Cappellini, which was inspired by one of Morrison's favourite mid-20th century chairs - the Danish designer, Poul Kjaerholm's 1956 steel and leather Chair, but used a new method of condensed upholstery to create a comfortable, but durable padded leather seat. Another technical coup is his 1999 Air Chair, an elegant, relatively inexpensive moulded dining chair made from a single piece of plastic using Magis's new gas injection technology.

His latest high profile work is the design of SGH-E590 cell phone set of Samsung. Samsung is one of the leading players in the cell phone industry in Asia. This fashionable E590 set will reach many people and may be not all of them will know that it was Morrison who came up with this brilliant design.

About the design of SGH-E590, HTlounge wrote:

Jasper Morrison of England has taken his designing expertise over to Samsung to help the Korean manufacturer create the SGH-E590 candybar cell phone. Clearly taking on a very minimalist approach, the Samsung E590 doesn't look like much. It's got generic looking buttons, a rather plain back side, and not much in between. But that's exactly its appeal -- it "comes in simple contous and clean lines."

I hope that it wont be the last time Jasper Morrison designs a mobile phone set. He surely knows how to make good design.

Photos of Samsung SGH-E590

Samsung SGH-E590 cell phone set has created a buzz in the media. I can see that a number of blogs and websites have covered this cell phone set. It is a fashionable mobile phone and naturally, you may look for its pictures. Here I am mentioning some websites or blogs that contain pictures/photos of SGH-E590.

Samsung

You can find a nice picture in the official website of Samsung. There is an option to see the larger image which is really cool. To see a large picture of E590 visit the following url:

http://samsung.com/PressCenter/PressRelease/images/l_20070604.jpg

HTlounge

Here, you can find 3 photos of SGH-E590 cell phone. The picture is very small but the next two are big.

Photos of E590

Do you know of any more pictures of Samsung E590?

Pictures of Samsung SGH-E590

Samsung SGH-E590 cell phone set has created a buzz in the media. I can see that a number of blogs and websites have covered this cell phone set. It is a fashionable mobile phone and naturally, you may look for its pictures. Here I am mentioning some websites or blogs that contain pictures/photos of SGH-E590.

Samsung

You can find a nice picture in the official website of Samsung. There is an option to see the larger image which is really cool. To see a large picture of E590 visit the following url:

http://samsung.com/PressCenter/PressRelease/images/l_20070604.jpg

HTlounge

Here, you can find 3 photos of SGH-E590 cell phone. The picture is very small but the next two are big.

Photos of E590

Do you know of any more pictures of Samsung E590?

Jasper Morrison: The Designer of Samsung SGH-E590

Jasper Morrison is a famous designer. He nearly 48 years old and he is a renowned name in product and furniture designing. He is involved with industrial design for nearly 2 decades. Morrison loves to experiment with new things and this pioneering attitude has paid off a lot. From his student life, he knew what he wanted to be and he has accomplished some high profile projects as a designer.

Design Museum wrote about Jasper Morrison:

Critically, Morrison's clients have also allowed him to experiment with new materials and technologies. The results include his 1999 Low Pad Chair for Cappellini, which was inspired by one of Morrison's favourite mid-20th century chairs - the Danish designer, Poul Kjaerholm's 1956 steel and leather Chair, but used a new method of condensed upholstery to create a comfortable, but durable padded leather seat. Another technical coup is his 1999 Air Chair, an elegant, relatively inexpensive moulded dining chair made from a single piece of plastic using Magis's new gas injection technology.

His latest high profile work is the design of SGH-E590 cell phone set of Samsung. Samsung is one of the leading players in the cell phone industry in Asia. This fashionable E590 set will reach many people and may be not all of them will know that it was Morrison who came up with this brilliant design.

About the design of SGH-E590, HTlounge wrote:

Jasper Morrison of England has taken his designing expertise over to Samsung to help the Korean manufacturer create the SGH-E590 candybar cell phone. Clearly taking on a very minimalist approach, the Samsung E590 doesn't look like much. It's got generic looking buttons, a rather plain back side, and not much in between. But that's exactly its appeal -- it "comes in simple contous and clean lines."

I hope that it wont be the last time Jasper Morrison designs a mobile phone set. He surely knows how to make good design.

Samsung SGH-E590: A Cell Phone with Fashionable Design

Mobile phone is no longer a luxury but an everyday necessity. We have now I think nearly 2 billion or more mobile phone connections in the world and this number is increasing everyday. Yes, mobile phone is affordable to most people in the world but there are many people who want fashionable mobile phone sets. Samsung is addressing this market in a great way with its SGH-E590 cell phone set.

This mobile phone set has been designed by Jasper Morrison. You can find an entry about Jasper Morrison in Wikipedia. This alone indicates that he is a famous designer. If you look at the picture of SGH-E590 then I am sure that you will become impressed with its design. It’s simple but elegant. There is hardly anything in the backside but the front side is stylish. Anyway, very few of us actually bother to look at the backside of a mobile phone carefully. More than everything, I liked the color. SGH-E590 is a cell phone set that will stand in a crowd.

Here is the press release from Samsung:

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a global leader of mobile phones and telecommunication systems, and Jasper Morrison, a leading industrial designer, cooperated to bring an attractive mobile phone, SGH-E590. The Samsung E590 is a perfect solution for users who want to have all of the advanced multimedia features with eye-catching design in a hand.

Through the partnership with Jasper Morrison, well known for his talents in various areas of industrial design, the E590 is designed to touch customer’s emotion. The stylish E590 comes in simple contours and clean lines which comprise this compact bar design. True to Jasper Morrison’s witty sense, the mobile phone provides dual face; one side features phone keypad and LCD screen while the other side is outfitted with dedicated camera functions.

With the sleek design, E590 is equipped with a powerful camera functions even other digital cameras would envy the capabilities as it allows the users to enjoy 3.2 Megapixel camera with Auto Focus and Half-shutter. Panorama shot feature offers intuitive camera UI which displays easy to use icons. Moreover, E590 comes with the Bean bag, a unique tripod which is a truly useful and portable accessory made of a special rubberized material for maximum flexibility and grip.

“The SGH-E590 is a very pragmatic work of art that reflects the synergy between Samsung and Jasper Morrison. We have teamed up to satisfy our users with high-performance technology and emotional design.” says Geesung Choi, President of Samsung’s Telecommunication Network business. He added, “Through the partnership with renowned designers, Samsung will strengthen our design power to bring design excellence to our customers.”

The Samsung E590 is available in two colors, noble black and snow silver, and will be launched in Europe, China and South East Asia in June.

SGH-E590 Specification

Standard GPRS Class 10 / EDGE / Tri-Band (900/1800/1900)

Camera 3.0 Megapixel Auto focus Camera with half shutter

Intuitive Camera UI / Panorama shot

Display: 262144 Color TFT Screen (220x220 pixels. 1.79")

Features: Music player (MP3/AAC/AAC+/e-AAC+/wma) Bluetooth 2.0/ USB 2.0 Voice streaming & Messaging / Video recording 90 MB / External Memory Slot

Size: 94x42x13.5mm

Weight: 66g

Samsung SGH-E590 will attract men and women alike. I think it will attract the young users more.

GSmart i300 GPS Phone in Russia from GIGABYTE Communications

Russian economy is flourishing and Russia is becoming into a great market for the latest gadgets. Don’t forget that Russia is still the largest country in the world in terms of size. So, mobile phones with GPS facility will always be handy in this very vast country. GIGABYTE Communications officials are hoping that their GSmart i300 GPS Phone will become popular in Russia.

GIGABYTE Communications has launched this phone recently in the country. I found a news release from the website of the company.

Here is the news release:

GIGABYTE Communications unveils GSmart i300,

its first GPS phone that combine the benefits of PDA phone and GPS navigator together

in a compact and sleek design. Moreover, GSmart i300 will be exclusively retailing via Euronetwork in Russia.

Powered by SiRF Star III chipset, GSmart i300 fulfills every demand of modern day commuters. Its GPS Navigation helps you get to your destinations with minimum fuse. Through a fully integrated GPS receiver, you can pinpoint your current location on an on-screen map and view the best route to your next appointment.

Its Track Recognition feature enables you to save and recall the best routes to places you have been to whenever you need it. Moreover, you can tell others where you are by sending a Location Message via SMS to them. GSmart i300 can even suggest the best route for those who will come to see you.

With Windows Mobile 5.0 AKU 3.0 Push Email technology, GSmart i300 users can access work data in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint and enjoy real time email anywhere. Speedy mobile internet access via WI-FI or GPRS is also compulsory. In addition, GSmart i300 is the first GPS PDA phone that comes with USB2.0 for faster data transfer than ever.

Good for the Russian consumers. I wish I could have one. Of course, this mobile phone will be way beyond my purchasing capacity.

Wimbledon Tennis 2007 Without Paradorn Srichaphan

Srichaphan is the most famous and the best tennis player Thailand could ever produce. I am not sure but I think he is one of the highest ranked Male tennis players from Asia if not the highest of all time. It is true that he could never win a Grand Slam tournament but he is famous for his gentle behavior and he is always popular among the fans for his politeness on the court and off the court.

So, it will be a great miss for the fans not to see him in Wimbledon. Of course, he is not doing well in the last one year and in 2007 his performance is bad mainly because he is suffering from wrist injury. This year he is full out from Wimbledon and most probably he will have to suffer further in the tennis calendar in 2007. However, Srichaphan should not be sad because he is most probably getting married with Natalia Glavoa, Miss Universe 2005.

Srichaphan has sponsorship deal with Addidas, Yonex and Thai Airways International. So he should be careful and take care of his injuries more so that he can come back and keep his sponsorship going. Of course, he is extremely popular in Thailand so earning money will not be a problem even if form gets worst. In his career, Srichaphan has never won any Grand Slam tournament. However, he reached highest ranking of nine in May 2003 in professional tennis. He reached the fourth round of Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open.

In French Open his best performance is in the third round. Actually from 2002 to 2004 were golden years for Srichaphan. That time he showed some descent form. Let us hope that Srichaphan can improve his ranking and can become the best torch bearer for Asian tennis.

Wimbledon 2007 without ANASTASIA Myskina

Wimbledon is now just a few days ahead. Wimbledon 2007 is promising to be a very attractive tournament after the recently concluded French Open 2007. However, on the other hand, some players are suffering from injury and in Wimbledon 2007 we will not see some good players playing. One of them is Anastasia Miskina. She is a female player from Russia and she is 25 year old. She became a professional tennis player in 1998. So she is playing for nearly 10 years and she has earned total prize money of more than $ 5 million in her career. She has won so far 10 career titles and in 2004 September she became the second ranked female tennis player. In grand slam tournament her only success came in French Open 2004 when she won the ladies singles.
Miskina is suffering from injury and this is something that has disrupted her form for the last few months. She could not take part in the Australian Open and lost in the first round in French Open. So, I think it is good for her to miss Wimbledon 2007 and she should focus on getting recovered from the injury as soon as possible. It will be nice if she can come back to play professional tennis again and becomes a good player like the past. She is only 25 so she has still some time to get back into the top form and win some more tournaments. She is also a beautiful tennis player so her fans will surely miss her beauty as well as her playing.

Will iPhone Ignite a New Browser War?

iPhone is expected to become a popular mobile phone set right away and Apple is expecting that millions of iPhones will be sold in the next one year. In fact, Apple is expecting that they would be able to sell 10 million iPhones annually. I will not be surprised if Apple can do so.

As you already know that the browser of iPhone will be Safari, the browser developed by Apple. So, in the mobile –phone segment, Safari will be able to grow its user base significantly overnight. A radical shift in the mobile phone industry is going these days. More and more users are getting connected to Internet with their mobile phones. So, the market is getting larger. So, many users who never used or even saw Safari will get familiar with the browser.

Apple has recently introduced Safari for users of Windows Operating system. Thus, many iPhone users will first get familiar with Safari in their mobile phone and some of them may actually use Safari in their desktop computers too. This can help Apple to increase its market share in the browser market.

IT News wrote:

According to Jobs, there are 18 million Safari users. Safari accounts for a 5 per cent share of the browser market while Internet Explorer has 78 per cent, Firefox has 15 per cent, and other browsers like Opera and The Omni Group's OmniWeb compose the remaining 2 per cent.

Ethan Schoonover, a conference attendee and developer who blogs at kinkless.com, said he expected that the addition of Windows support would help Safari make inroads in enterprise environments where many IT managers remain wary of open source projects like Firefox.

But it seems likely that sales of iPhones will boost Safari's adoption more than the browser's newfound corporate appeal. If Apple sells 10 million iPhones in a year as projected, Safari's installed base will rise by over 50%, not including Windows users who decide to install it on their PCs.

However, not everyone shares the enthusiasm of Steve Jobs. Mitch Wagner feels that Windows Users Don't Care About Safari. He feels that most Windows users are happy with IE, Firefox and Opera and they would not want to even try Safari unless Safari provides something extraordinary for the users.

He wrote:

Moreover, Apple boasts that Safari renders Web pages significantly faster than either IE7 or Firefox 2.

But still: The features Apple brags about with Safari, or very similar features, are available either standard or with browser extensions in Firefox.

And, as for performance ... I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it just doesn't matter much. We're not living in the days when a 28.8-Kbps modem was standard; most of us have high-speed Internet connections at home and in the office. I don't really care about page-rendering speed, and I don't hear about other people caring either. (People do care about throughput for multimedia files, of course, but that's a whole different matter.)

I'm not predicting a rush for people to adopt Safari on Windows.

I agree with Mitch Wagner partially. There are many news users in Internet all the time. If they hear good things about Safari from others then some of them will try Safari anyway. If Safari can give good speed in surfing then many people like me will surely go for it. Right now, I use Opera as it is faster than IE and Firefox (at least, I have seen this matter in my own surfing experience). If I find that Safari is faster than even Opera, I would not mind using it.

So, let us go back to the original question- Will iPHones ignite a browser war? I think it will. Until now, Safari was totally limited to Mac users. Now, Safari is going spread among Windows users and iPhone users. It will increase the market share of Safari and on the other hand, it will make Safari more familiar to us.

iphone

iPhone watch: iPhone Interface in JavaScript and OneTrip

It is still very early days for iPhone. In fact, we have not seen iPhone coming into market yet. However, developers are stilling idly. The blog of Wired has mentioned two such web applications that can be used with iPhone.

The first one is Digg iPhone API Interface in JavaScript and it gives you an alternative version of Digg interface. It looks cool and it is very easy to navigate. It has become very popular in Digg and has got more than 1500 votes so far.

OneTrip has been developed by Neven Mrgan and it will help you to keep track of your grocery expenses.

I am sure that there will be many more web applications compatible to iPhone in the coming days. Do, you know about any application? Have you created any application? If so then leave your webpage or blog link and I will cover it.

iPhone: Should Nokia be Worried?

I just saw in Technorati that iPhone is one of the hot tags now. That means that many bloggers are writing about. Yes, they are writing as iPhone can bring some traffic for them in the next few weeks. A few months ago, we saw much eagerness among people about Windows Vista but it seems that there is even a stronger interest about iPhone. So, it is natural that iPhone will attract many customers in the next few months and Apple will become an important player in the mobile phone market.

Right now, Nokia is the market leader in the mobile phone market world wide. Nokia is planning that within a few years, 1 out of every 2 mobile phone sets will be made from Nokia. Apple has already showed with its iPod what it can do. Microsoft tried very hard to break the dominance of iPod in the portable music device market but had failed so far. Now, should we see similar fate for Nokia phones?

Most probably not. First of all, the iPod buzz is mainly related in the USA. On the other hand, Nokia is doing well in Asia. China and India are now very important market for Nokia. I don’t see any possibility of iPhone challenging Nokia in these two giant markets. Secondly, Nokia is famous for its cheap phone sets. iPhone will be very expensive for most people in Asia and Africa.

So, there is no reason for Nokia to get worried about iPhone at this moment.

High Demand for iPhone

I have no doubt that there will be a very high demand initially for iPhone in the market. At last, Apple is going to have a product that will be for everyone. I mean the market size of mobile phone is higher than everything right now. There are more mobile phones than computers in the world. The best thing about iPhone is that most people in American know about it. So, Apple will not need to make it familiar about it.

When a phone company introduces a new phone set then it has to work extremely hard to make people familiar about it. There has been so much media buzz about iPhone in the last few months that most people with access to Internet perhaps know about iPhone by this time.

So, we can expect that millions of iPhones will be sold in 2007. However, if Apple wants to keep the euphoria alive then it has to add new features to iPhone on a regular basis.

What about you? Are going to buy an iPhone?

Tips: How to Get an iPhone?

iPhone is going to be launched very soon and millions of people are eagerly expecting for it. It is natural that in the opening days, many people will want to own an iPhone and the initial demand will be very high. So, you better rush from now on. Already some people are on the waiting list in some shops.

CNET wrote:

Not one Apple store contacted offered would-be iPhone buyers the chance to get on a waiting list, but some AT&T stores and retailers did. The catch: not all stores that sell AT&T phones expect to be selling the iPhone on June 29, and some that will expressed concern about receiving sufficient quantities of the highly anticipated device.

An AT&T-owned store in Times Square in midtown Manhattan, for instance, said that about 100 people had been placed on a waiting list. When asked whether being on that list guarantees priority for buying an iPhone, a store employee replied, "It depends how accessible you make yourself. I'm going to call you. If you're here, you'll get it."

CNET has given a number of tips for getting an iPhone. So, you should visit this article:

The great iPhone hunt of 2007

Then you can read the tips regarding getting an iPhone.