After the "Si Chuan" incident that happened about a month ago, countries which are proned to natural disasters became a forbidden place to go to. As we know that it is difficult to prevent a disaster from happening,but we can still predict when it will be coming.

I happened to visit a website which talks about "Handphones which can offer Earthquakes early warning alerts via SMS" a few days ago. The software is named "Area Mail" which can be found in new mobile phones in Japan. The photos below are some examples:

Also,besides sending warnings via SMS, now in Japan, they provides Earthquakes Warnings via Phone calls. This is to ensure that everyone knows about the upcoming danger.

Some companies in Japan adopt new security systems which offers early earthquake alerts as well. One example of such product is the "Earthquake Early Warning System".

Some details of the product taken from the website:

How the EEWS is working?

-Earthquake Early Warnings will be provided through various media outlets such as TV and radio.
-Private companies may be able to receive the announcement directly from the Japan Meteorological Agency.
-Individuals could get direct information through a special device
-Mobile phone: Docomo should put on the market special mobile phone designed to receive AMJ alerts from late 2007; AU and Softbank from 2008.

If "Si Chuan" has taken such precautions, many innocent life will not be lost.

CommunicAsia2008

Today, I just went to Singapore Expo for the annual BroadcastAsia2008, CommunicAsia2008, EnterpriseIT2008, and InteractiveDME with Mr Yap.

There were such a lot of new (and foreign, if I may say so) ideas and products, like mobile phones, wired and wireless concepts, as well as broadcasting media types. Walking through Halls 2 - 9, we saw items ranging from big big satellite dishes to small mini UMPCs. Mobile phones with great UIs are coming about, matching the stature of the Apple iPhones.

Unfortunately, the few pictures Mr Yap took aren't with me, so he'll be posting them up soon.

It was a great experience, one that may come only another year later. The knowledge I've gained in this one exhibition is more than words can describe.

AMD's "Puma" & UMPC

AMD has been trying to catch up with Intel in mobile platform. Until recently, they have not been very successful. AMD has recently announced "Puma" platform that utilizes ATI graphics card that allows them to match Intel's Platform.





Well the most interesting part for this product is the it allows user to connect to a external graphic unit. This is known as ATI "XGP" that allows multi monitor support, and better 3D graphics.

Fujitsu Amilo Graphic Booster
* First external graphic box solution on the market worldwide for extreme gaming and 3D performance
* Run up to 3 external displays simultaneously (with AMILO Notebook Sa 3650)
* Two additional USB 2.0 ports for keyboard and mouse
* ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3870 with 512 MB GDDR3 dedicated video memory
* Interfaces: DVI-I (incl. HDCP), HDMI (incl. HDCP and S/PDIF out), USB 2.0
* Small dimensions and stylish design: 180 x 130 x 33.5 mm
* Weight: only 0.5 kg

Well for gamers, the ATI 3800 series support DirectX 10.1.

A new AMD UMPC is also announced at the same time by Raon Digitals Ever Run



If the UMPC would work with the Graphic Booster, that will be of interest to many people. Please note that the UMPC is running on the older platform, so I am just speculating the possibility.

Intel Atom

Recently Intel roll out 2 types of Atom CPU for mobile devices.


There will be 2 version of mobile devices for the new CPU. They are netbook and nettop. The new netbook will sell from USD$250-300. This is meant to get IT to people in third world countries.



Here are some example of Netbook that is 7 to 10" screen.

Second Life on Mobile

Like to play second life on your desktop? Well you can now play it on your mobile. Vollee just managed to squeeze the client of that game into various mobile platform.



Here is the video for it.