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Archive for March, 2007

Mar
30

Top 10 Surefire Ways To Come Up With A Million Dollar Idea

Posted by Wenhan

All of us are aiming to create a business one day. But what’s the first step? Well, it is coming up with an idea. Here I have listed the Top 10 Surefire Ways To Come Up With A Million Dollar Idea. However as a caution, an idea is only the first step to make a Million Dollars and an idea by itself is worth $0

1. Look at trends
Trends point to where the market is going. Where the market goes, there will be new opportunities. Because trends have not solidified yet, the number of people knowing about the trend is much less. This means less competition if you are entering the market. It is much easier to see where the trends are pointing to if you have in-depth knowledge in a market. Often we will not think hard about most trends in life. We just develop a blind spot to them. Hopefully by highlighting this to you now, you will be more aware of the opportunities that might arise in the future.

Links:
Trends website http://www.trendwatching.com/
Tech trends for 2007 http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,1540,2060865,00.asp

2. Solve your own problem

Do you see a problem somewhere? If you have that problem, it might be a good problem to solve. There are some criteria you should put your idea through first to determine if a solution could earn you money. Some I can think of are
1) the size of the market,
2) the pain of the problem and
3) the current solutions.

3. Combine 2 solutions

Even see the mentos and coke experiment? That is one prefect analogy to combining 2 solutions to make another solution. Coke and mentos seeks to provide you with something to drink and eat. However, combined together, they might just propel you to YouTube fame and a guest appearance on Mythbusters.

There are many more such examples.
mIRC+email = Instant Messaging
Games + Virtual World = World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft- Game= Second life

4. Narrow down to a field

Which is harder?
1) Come up with an idea
2) Come up with an idea that solves ensure that my blog gets more traffic through viral marketing.
Creativity is much harder if there are no limitations. Limitations allow us to see a problem and then come up with a solution.
So when coming up with an idea, it might be easier to identify a market first. This market might be
1) where a problem you think exist,
2) market with huge inefficiencies,
3) market where you expertise lies in or
4) a market where not many solution providers want to go into.

5. Brainstorming

Brainstorming seems cliché. But done right, the “aha” moment comes and leaves you with an affirmation of brainstomring’s usefulness. Generally it allows your mind to roam free. Brainstorming is a good way to come up with innovative ideas.

There are some accepted rules on how to keep a brainstorm session going into its top gear.
· Postpone and withhold your judgment of ideas
· Encourage wild and exaggerated ideas
· Quantity counts at this stage, not quality
· Build on the ideas put forward by others
· Every person and every idea has equal worth

Share your ideas online
http://www.halfbakery.com/

6. Ask why?

Ya, I know its Enron’s Slogan but asking why is a very effective way to gain a new perspective on an issue. Keep asking why things are done a certain way and sooner than later, you will discover that the reason behind it is not completely logical. Even watched a show where a kid kept asking why no matter what the parent answered? This is what we should be doing.

Look at your keyboard now and ask a “Why” question.

Did you ask a why question? Read on if you did.

Did you ask yourself why the keys are laid out in that manner?
The answer might not be what you think. Answer here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY

The morale is to continuously see if the assumptions made in the past still apply. If they do not, maybe it is time for a change and a business opportunity.

7. Get to know new technologies

New technologies = New solutions. The market might not be ready for these solutions yet. So if there is a new technology, it is up to you to find the correct market. In this case, innovative thinking really needs to happen as you have to define a market out of the zillion ones out there.
Most university and research labs have technology licensing arms where you can browse their Patents Available for Licensing (PAL).
http://web.mit.edu/tlo/www/industry/PAL.html
http://otl.stanford.edu/flash.html
http://www.exploit-tech.com/industries/science.asp

8. EQ modeling

I chance upon this blog and it had an interesting way to think up of new ideas. Basically you create a list of variables that make up an existing product. After which, you move the intensity of the variables and you will have a new product.
Click on their website for a much more detailed explanation (recommended)
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/11/how_to_come_up_.html

9. Read a lot

Reading is about the most efficient way to get a lot of information. So remember to expand out of your comfort zone so that you can cross pollinate ideas. Also aim to read in-depth analysis and reports as they can help you discover new trends or products. Come back to Todaysten.com to ensure that you learn something new everyday. Bookmark us now.
New products: http://www.coolbusinessideas.com/

10. Have a shower

Somehow showers seem to induce the best ideas in me. I guess for the most of the day I am always occupied and doing something. My brain seems to have no time for itself. The shower cubicle is a great place to link multiple thoughts together. I think it has to do with the interaction of warm water and your brain. Try it for yourself.

I hope that this post has been able to help you get started on thinking of ideas. However before embarking on your next idea, do some due diligence to ensure that you are not wasting your time. My next post will be on how to evaluate ideas.

This is Part 1 of Top 10 Startup List. Part 2 is at
Part 2: Top 10 Test to Ensure that Your Idea is Worthy

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Copyright : TodaysTen.com
Mar
29

NETWORKED READINESS INDEX RANKINGS 2006

Posted by Wenhan

What is World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index?

Wikipedia’s Definition
“The World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index (NRI) measures the propensity for countries to exploit the opportunities offered by information and communications technology. It is published annually. The NRI seeks to better comprehend the impact of ICT on the competitiveness of nations. The NRI is a composite of three components: the environment for ICT offered by a given country or community, the readiness of the community’s key stakeholders (individuals, businesses, and governments) to use ICT, and finally the usage of ICT amongst these stakeholders.”

NETWORKED READINESS INDEX RANKINGS 2006 (2005)
1: Denmark (3)
2: Sweden (8)
3: Singapore (2)
4: Finland (5)
5: Switzerland (9)
6: Netherlands (12)
7: US (1)
8: Iceland (4)
9: UK (10)
10: Norway (13)

Source: WEF

Let’s break down why I think Singapore is on the list.

1) The environment for ICT offered by a given country or community,
90% of homes are wired for Fiber. FIOS is certainly viable in Singapore. Plus, we now have blanketed most of Singapore with wireless@sg, a free wifi service.

2) The readiness of the community’s key stakeholders (individuals, businesses, and governments) to use ICT,

Individuals
65% of homes have broad band now. This number is expected to grow to 90% by 2015.Mobile phones are a craze among everyone. Typical lifespan of a phone is 14 months.

Businesses
Companies are certainly expected to supplement workers with computers. However the abundance of blackberries seem to be less of a phenomenal here than in the US.
Many employees are not issued company laptops here. If there is an area in ICT that Singapore is lacking in, it certainly is with our Businesses.

Govt:
eGov is a big initiative in Singapore.

GeBiz: A business center where suppliers can conduct e-commerce with the Singapore Government is a truly comprehensive website for tenders. Basically, the government is so big to local SMEs. If the SME wants some piece of the government’s business, they have no choice but to go electronic.

The Size of the Pie? S$620 Million Worth of Government Infocomm Tenders in FY06.

However the system is not entirely without bugs. While working at a certain office using gebiz, I was employed to churn reports from the gebiz system as System Administrators could not access the inter agency data using programs. Thus a human had to do it by hand. Inefficient and a waste of money.

From what I know, A*Star is the research arm of Singapore. Most of the research is government funded. The 2 Major technical Universities seems to be very involved in A*Star. A*star has a technology licensing company called Exploit Technologies. Companies can license their technology from Exploit to build new products. (Interesting side note: Urine Powered Battery). However because most of the high end research is done by the government sector instead of the business side, I wonder if Singapore needs to pursue some form of diversification. Also most of the research is done by non-Singaporeans. This is a sticking point as the researchers are highly mobile and a wrong turn on the economic front might plunge Singapore from research hub to back water.

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10 Effects of Mega Computer Exhibitions
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Copyright: TodaysTen.com

Mar
28

10 Reasons Why Smart Homes Can’t Get Into Your Home

Posted by Wenhan

Smart Homes have been touted as the Next Big Thing. However they have been around for decades and any futuristic movie is sure to showcase their potential. Currently the uptake of smart homes have been disappointing to say the least. Here we provide you 10 Reasons Why Smart Homes Can’t Get Into Your Home.

1. Complex to setup
Home users are do not want to spend their time choosing and installing smart home modules. Not only do they require extensive renovation and wiring skills that most home users do not have, they also require a familiarity with technology that is uncommon in most home owners. Initial setting up of the system involves creating profiles, users etc that homeowners find the process too long winded. Salesman also find that half an hour or more of the selling phase is spent on getting users to setup their home accounts. By this time, the home owner would have lost all interest.

2. Complex To Use
Home users fear that smart homes will out smart them and have unpredictable actions. The control scheme for smart homes is also complex as it requires extensive learning and setting of controls. There are many modules to keep track off and this adds stress to the user.

3. Need extensive change in home environment
Most homeowners do not renovate their homes frequently thereby eliminating the chance for home control systems to enter their households. We need a smart home that is plug & Paste. If we have a system that is installable just via a wall socket, many more home owners will be receptive to the idea of smart home systems.

4. Multiple Stakeholders
Currently there is no dominant design and company in the smart home market. Users are unsure if the system they choose will still be supported throughout the lifespan of their homes. Given that most home owners do not move for around 9 years once they move in, they want to be sure that their system will be supported for the span of their stay.

5. Not targeted at middle class mass market
The Market is currently targeted at high end homes where users are willing to pay a premium for a smart home system when they renovate their homes. Middle class homes are not being targeted as they are unwilling to pay the price for a smart home system.

6. Too much technology can be a bad thing
In general, opinion was fairly mixed on the issue of whether new technology in the home is a good or bad thing. Generally, it is agreed that the statement ‘I welcome new technology in my home because it saves me time and effort’ resonates with the majority. However, others felt fairly negative about the prospect of more technology in their home and almost two in five agreed with the statement ‘I do not see the need for more technology in my home’.
Many voiced concerns about the prospect of dealing with new technology. Almost half indicated that they were worried about how complicated new technology would be to use and the same proportion agreed that they found it difficult to keep upwith the latest technology for the home.

7. Over Concern regarding system failure
Because the exposure to smart home systems are so low, it is expected that many people are concerned over the failure of these systems. Even seen a person use the computer for the first time? They were so worried that anything wrong they do will send the computer to a graveyard, never to be revived. We just need more exposure to get over this road block.

8. No obvious use
Smart homes may provide so many features that are sure to bring you convenience and enable you to live like a virtual king. But as a package, there is no one clear benefit that is a killer feature. For platform products to succed, there must be a killer feature! The computer in its early days relied to spreadsheets to get into offices. The internet had email. What does a smart home have that everyone will definitely want?

9. The computer is your smart home
Who needs a smart home when we have the PC. Most of us spend a lot more time in front of our computers than anywhere on your home. Everyone is expected to have a computer sooner or later and this will create bubbles of intelligence in your home. Each family member with a computer has already created a smart room. Maybe we just need to incorporate medical/safety sensors into USB form so that they can operate from computers.

10. Beginning of S curve
Smart home market is certainly still at the bottom of an S curve. There are many companies with a great variety of products. The consumers are not very sure of what they really want and the companies are just throwing products out and see what sticks.

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TodaysTen.com: Daily Top Ten List to jumpstart your knowledge
Copyright : TodaysTen.com

Mar
27

10 Fun Things to do in Second Life

Posted by Wenhan

Second Life is a Virtual world with a rudimentary programming language and content creation tools. Everything is represented in 3 Dimensions. It is very much like our world with only the sense of sight and sound. However there are quite a lot of activities you can occupy yourself with.

1. Build your dream home

Who doesn’t want a dream home? Second life’s land is cheap relative to real land. To build your house, you need to have some understanding of the creation tools. This site has a small video to get you started.

One of the professional created movies from second life. Want to film your own Lost in second life? Start working on the scripts and recruiting actors now!
A lot of people have spent considerable time creating their master pieces of architectural wonders. It’s free to see so go and take a look. Most of them are out of this world.
4. Go-Karts
Want to get an adrenaline rush? Why not try go karting. A form of medium speed racing with some lag included.
5. Sailing
Are Go karts too inducing for you? Try something placid like sailing. Don’t fall asleep though.
6. Play a board game
Remember the old D&D sessions at nights? Relive them in second life. If you are too young for D&D(Dungeons & Dragons), try settlers of Catan instead. The most popular board game after the 125 versions of Monopoly and 87 versions of Risk!

Fulfill your childhood fantasy. If you are a guy, be a prince for a day and charm our dear princess. Horses sold separately.
Lazing around? Try your connections working and seek a job in second life!

9. Hold your own concerts

Are you a rock band or a sunset star in urgent need to some publicity? Holding a second life concert will promote your music to a new demographic. Retro might just still catch on!
10. Get a First Life

Seriously, first life is great! Best of all, it’s free! However there is a time limit on your account and god isn’t going to tell you how much time is left.

TodaysTen.com: Daily Top Ten List to jumpstart your knowledge
Copyright : TodaysTen.com
Mar
23

Top 10 Marketing Slogans for VIAGRA:

Posted by Wenhan

Not that I really need it, but I found this list to be extremely funny and thought that I should share it with everyone! On a more serious note, I just lost my wallet so I will be doing a 10 Things to do when you lose your wallet tomorrow. But I am feeling rather pissed off now. Mostly at myself for being not careful. If I really cannot find my wallet, there will be a hefty fine to replace my identification card as this is the 3rd one I might be getting.(Anyone who sees a grey wallet in NUS, please check if it is mine. Its a FX creations wallet)

Top 10 Marketing Slogans for VIAGRA:

1. Viagra, The quicker dicker upper

2. Viagra, One-a-day, like iron

3. Viagra, When it absolutely, positively has to be there tonight

4. Viagra, Home of the whopper

5. Viagra, It plumps when you take ‘em

6. Viagra, Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman

7. Viagra, Tastes great, more filling

8. Viagra, Ten inches long … and growing.

9. Viagra, We work harder, so you don’t have to.

10. This is your penis. This is your penis on drugs. Any questions?

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TodaysTen.com: Daily Top Ten List to jumpstart your knowledge
Copyright : TodaysTen.com

Mar
22

10 Reasons to Switch to an Electric Toothbrush

Posted by Wenhan

I bought an electric toothbrush yesterday. My original intention was to buy a replacement for my current manual brush. However I realised that an electric tooth brush was only twice as expensive(Colgate Motion Power Toothbrush,- S$12.90) as a normal one. It was pretty cheap and I had wanted to try one anyway so I brought that instead. Partly because I have been going to the dentist twice this year and it cost me a bomb. As they say, prevention is better than cure and I had read that electric toothbrushes clean better. So I made my switch to an electric toothbrush.

Here are 10 reasons why I like my new purchase:

1. Electric Toothbrushes cleans better as they brush faster than you can ever do with a manual toothbrush
2. It feels like a massage when you brush your gums
3. It helps to keep your teeth whiter as it can remove stains easily
4. The sound and vibration is a great way to wake yourself up and start the day
5. It only cost twice as expensive as a normal toothbrush now
6. They are gentler on your gums and teeth as you no longer need to apply pressure. Hard brushing damages teeth in many ways.
7. You use less toothpaste as the surface area of the brush is smaller
8. It’s effortless to brush your teeth now. You just need to push the brush instead of moving it up and down
9. Your breath is always fresher as you can clean bacteria from between the teeth and under the gumline where manual tooth brushes cannot.
10. You can also brush your tongue and the top of your mouth easily, cleaning away dead tissue.

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Copyright : TodaysTen.com

Mar
21

10 Ways Retailers Make You Pay More!

Posted by Wenhan

Retailers use price discrimination to ensure that they get the most out of every product they sell. A consumer’s willingness to pay usually declines with the more he buys or owns. Say a retailer wants to sell X amount of a product, he prices it at Y. However this is not efficient more him as the first units of the product can actually be sold for more than Y. But he has to sell at Y if he wants to sell X amount due to that identical products must have the same price. Thus there are techniques to minimize the “wasted” amount.

The green portion is the profit. However the triangle above the green area is the wasted portion.


Here we list out 10 ways they maximize the profit at your expense of course. Generally it will help you understand why some products have weird pricing scheme that doesn’t make sense. Once you know about their trick, you can then come up with defenses to go around them.

1. First Degree (or Perfect) Price Discrimination
This method tries to match the price of the unit to the ability of the consumer to pay. It means that for the same product, each consumer gets a different price. How can this be done? Usually this can only be done for products that have a large price tag and have many options making direct comparison pricing difficult.

How many times have you been to a car dealership, got started bargaining on price and the salesperson said he has to check with his boss on the new price you quoted? What the salesperson is actually doing is to test your maximum budget. Of course you won’t be that dumb to tell him your budget directly. The salesperson will keep coming back and say that your price is too low, offer you a high price that comes down on successive bargaining. Once the price comes to your acceptable price(even though it will most likely be higher than your initial offer), he will push to close at that price.

How do you ensure you get a better price? You can simply try to walk away at an early stage and see if the price comes down fast. Or visit many shops, quote each shop a lower price than the others and hope one desperate salesman will bit.

2. Quantity Discounts
This is most commonly seen as pricing the 2nd or 3rd thing you buy at a discount. Amazon has this offer where you get 25% off the second book that you purchase. Of course you might think that they are passing the savings in shipping fees to you. However in actual fact, the first book that you are buying is subsidizing your second book.

3. Segment Discrimination
This is pricing a product differently according to some aspect of you that can be identified. This is different from 1st degree price discrimination as they do not have to individually test your maximum price that you are willing to pay. The products offered to different segments is usually varying in some important aspect.

An example of this will be the purchase of notebook computers on campus. The notebooks are usually discounted. Because you are a student, they know that your purchasing power is weaker. To move a certain quantity, they will lower the price of each notebook and make it up on volume. However the specifications might be less powerful that what you can get outside.

4. Indirect Segment Price Discrimination
But what if you cannot be so easily identified? Students are easily identified by their student card and in our previous case, only students will be able to purchase the notebook. How can the retailer then target different prices for different people?

They do this by creating a menu and letting you make the choice of purchase. Your choice of purchase will of course be the most beneficial to you. However the way the menu is structured is such that there is a variable that is important to some segments and not important to others. The price of the variable will then be set according to the ability of the segment to price.

We can find this example in the airline industry. Usually we will not able to tell if someone is rich and will pay more for an airline seat. But say we have 2 choices, business and economy class. Comfort is the variable here and someone rich will of course be able to pay more for a comfortable flight than an economy passenger.

5. Coupons/Rebates
Price conscious consumers will collect these coupons and rebates so that the effective price they pay is less than the retail price. However not all consumers will do that. There are many whom do value their time more than price. This is the reason why it is such a hassle to get rebates and use coupons, it is for the retailers to separate who will pay more for a product and charge them the higher price.

6. Intertemporal Price Discrimination

This method changes the price with time. As time passes, the price of the product usually drops. We can see this in many media related industries. Books are released in Hardcover first and readers who are interested in the book will pay more to read that edition. A few months later, a cheaper paperback edition is released. At this time, the buyers will most likely be the mass market who did not have an interest in the book before.

7. Two Part Pricing

Two-part pricing consists of a fixed fee and a per unit charge. An example will be Theme parks where they charge you an admission fee and a per ride fee. Business use this where they cannot charge different prices as the product has no differing qualities. Usually the admission fee will be their profit and the per ride fee will cover the cost of running each ride.

8. Package Pricing
Package pricing is the practice of packaging multiple units of an identical product together and selling them as one package. We know that your willingness to pay will drop as you have more of that product. Say for the 1st can of coke, you might be willing to pay $1.50. But when you reach the 6th can for coke, you might only be willing to pay $0.50. Instead of charging you only $0.50 for all 6 cans, they average the price of all 6 cans and charge you for that amount for each can when you buy a six pack.

9. Price Matching
Business sometimes advertise a price and a promise to match any lower price offered by a competitor. Because of this, no firm has an incentive to lower their prices. Each firm charges the monopoly price and shares the market.

10. Randomized Pricing
A strategy of constantly changing prices. This decreases consumers’ incentive to shop around as they cannot learn from experience which firm charges the lowest price. It also reduces the ability of rival firms to undercut a firm’s prices as the consumer is no longer sure who has the lowest price.

Benefits and costs of price discrimination

These of course depend on whether you are the firm or the consumer. Price discrimination means that consumer surplus can be appropriated, and as long as the cost of the marketing scheme (adverts, identity cards, ticket inspectors etc.) is less than the extra revenue the scheme brings in then it is advantageous to the firm. At first sight it would seem the loser is the consumer. But a second examination reveals that students are gaining, they pay less than if there was a single market price. But an even deeper examination shows how adults might gain. If by price discriminating the firm can increase output substantially, the average costs may fall because of economies of scale. These economies may even outweigh the price difference between adults and students. In conclusion, it is necessary to look at price discrimination on a case-by-case basis.

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TodaysTen.com: Daily Top Ten List to jumpstart your knowledge
Copyright : TodaysTen.com

Mar
20

10 Predictions That Came True

Posted by Wenhan

A network of machines that allow people to talk to each other over continents, cameras that record your every movement and portable media players you carry around with you. Sound familiar? Of course they do because they are part of our everyday life, and yet all of these remarkable gadgets and technologies were mooted a long time before they ever existed by some of the world’s most famous science fiction writers. The likes of Isaac Asimov, HG Wells and George Orwell inspired generations of inventors, and some of their fictional devices are eerily similar to real life innovations. MSN tech & gadgets looks at a selection of common technologies, and tells you how their existence was predicted by some of the world’s most famous authors.

1. CCTV – as imagined by George Orwell in ‘1984’ (1949) In one of the most famous dystopian imaginings, George Orwell plunged his character Winston into a world of paranoia and suspicion, watched over by the sinister Big Brother. First published back in 1949, Orwell pictured a life where the populace was watched over by telescreens, with nobody ever sure if they were being watched. CCTV arrived as a means of watching the public in the 1970s, and there are now an estimated four million cameras in the UK alone.

2. The Internet – as imagined by Mark Twain in ‘From the London Times of 1904’ (1898) “The improved ‘limitless-distance’ telephone was presently introduced, and the daily doings of the globe made visible to everybody, and audibly discussable too, by witnesses separated by any number of leagues.” A little bit more a stretch for this one, but back in 1898, Twain wrote of a global communications network called the telelectroscope that you could see and hear through – pretty good going for the 19th Century! The Internet, or at least the American military precursor to it named ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency NETwork), was first brought about in 1969, as a way of keeping lines of communication open in the event of a major attack during the Cold War.

3. Geosynchronous Satellite – as imagined by Arthur C Clarke in ‘Extra-Terrestrial Relays’ Wireless World magazine (1945) Arthur C. Clarke came up with one of the most astoundingly accurate predictions of our time when he postulated that a network of geosynchronous satellites that revolved at the same speed as the earth and therefore remained in the same position over it, could make global communication possible. Hermann Oberth in his 1920 book ‘Die Rakete zu den Planetenraumen’ and John R. Pierce also have claims to have come up with the idea. Although this idea was not first published in a fictional context but in a scientific forum, Clarke also used the idea in his books.

4. The video iPod – as imagined by HG Wells in ‘When The Sleeper Wakes’ (1899) Wells, the writer of some of the most important books in science fiction, came up with a device that sounds almost exactly like a modern day media player such as a video iPod in his book ‘When The Sleeper Wakes. His version was a flat square with a little picture that was ‘very vividly coloured.’ Not only were the people on the screen moving, but they were conversing with clear small voices.

5. Test-tube babies – as imagined by Aldous Huxley in ‘Brave New World’ (1932) Brave New World is one of the most famous glimpses into an imagined future, and author Aldous Huxley’s imagination conjured up a world where the population is not born naturally but from a machine, where their genes can be perfected and the nutrition controlled. This pre-dates the arrival of so-called test tube babies, where the egg is fertilised outside of the body, by some 46 years – although in reality a human is still needed for the pregnancy, which means you’ll have to hold off on suggesting a test-tube baby’s star sign is Pyrex…

6. CD/DVD – as imagined by EE ‘Doc’ Smith in ‘Triplanetary’ . (1934) In Smith’s book Triplanetary, the author talks of records surviving a noxious gas attack because they were on playable discs of platinum alloy. Although CDs and DVDs are, of course, not platinum alloy, a metallic looking storage disc is fairly prescient.

7. Robot – as imagined by Karel Capek - ‘Rossum’s Universal Robots’ (1920) There are links to mechanical servants traceable back to Greek Mythology and the legend of Pygmalion, but the first use of the word robot in its modern usage comes from Capek’s play R.U.R – the root is from the Czech word ‘robota’ which means drudgery, although the author kindly gave credit to his brother Josef who had suggested the term.

8. Nanobots – as imagined by Raymond Z Gallun in ‘A Menace in Minature’ Astounding Stories magazine (1937) Gallun talks of ‘Scarabs’, a machine constructed by man which in turn constructs a replica of itself that is much smaller and so on, until you have an ‘ultra-microbot. This is an idea that caught on in a major way in fiction, and work is still ongoing on a real working nanobot to this day.

9. The Screensaver – as imagined by Robert Heinlein in ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’ (1961) Heinlein talks of a television screen ‘disguised as an aquarium’ in his book Stranger in a Strange land, with guppies and tetras swimming around, describing the now familiar site of a computer screen with fish floating serenely across it. Screen savers were brought in to stop an image being burnt on to a screen, and even the advent of monitors much more resistant to this problem has not really curbed their usage.

10. Scuba diving – as imagined by Jules Verne in ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ (1875) Although diving gear was nothing new, even in 1875, it was then only possible through a pipe to the surface and a semi-rigid suit. Captain Nemo introduces Arronnax to a portable system of diving in which air is compressed into a tank that is then ‘fixed on the back by means of braces, like a soldier’s knapsack.’ The progression of the aqualung continued through the early part of the 20th century, but was not perfected until the 1940s.

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Top 10 Predictions of New Uses for Your Mobile phone
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TodaysTen.com: Daily Top Ten List to jumpstart your knowledge
Copyright : TodaysTen.com

Mar
19

Top 10 Signs of Cancer

Posted by Wenhan


An estimated 80 million people will comprise an age group of 65 years and older by the year 2050. Currently 60% of all cancers occur in persons over 65 years of age, and cancer in older people is becoming more common, with an estimated 80% in this population by 2050. A general trend is seen here, spanning across many forms of cancer, as age increases so does the prevalence or incidence rate of cancer also increase. Here we provide you the Top 10 Signs of Cancer. Do take a look, just in case.

1. A sore that does not heal, changed color, ulcerates or bleeds.

2. Unusual bleeding or discharge from any opening in the body, example, blood in the urine, stool, frequent or heavy menstruation.

3. A lump or swelling that has progressively enlarged which may or may not be associated with pain.

4. Indigestion or difficulty in swallowing.

5. Change in bowel or bladder habits consistently for a duration of 2-3 months.

6. Obvious change in in size or texture in a wart or mole.

7. Non smokers’ cough or hoarseness of voice that persist for more than 2 weeks.Smokers’ cough that becomes intense.

8. Unexplained tiredness and /or weight loss of 10% or more within a period of 3-6 months.

9. Persistent pain or discomfort in the abdomen.

10. Unexplained fever.

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Mar
18

10 Currency to Invest In

Posted by Wenhan

1. US Dollar
The US Dollar will weaken due to the massive trade deficit and that interest rates are not expected to rise. However because it is the international currency and that many countries hold their foreign reserves in the US dollar, the downward trend might be slow. Some countries such as China has been moving to a diversified holding of foreign currency as they view the US dollar to be weakening in the long term.

2. Sterling
The sterling accounts for 12 percent of all foreign reserves held by governments worldwide. Britain has a huge trade deficit and 486.7 Billion pounds in public sector debt. Goldman Sachs is saying that the pound is overvalued at 13%.

3. Euro
The euro might strengthen given that if central banks diversify away from the US dollar, the euro will be well placed to replace it as the next best international currency. Other factors for the strengthening of the euro will be that Inflation in the 13 nations that share the euro currency slowed by more than expected to 1.8 percent in January and better than expected unemployment rate. Business climate is also expected to be better and interest rates are expected to be risen to 4 percent during the second quarter of 2007.”

4. Yen
Due to an extremely low interest rate(0.5%), most of the carry trade has been facilitated by the weak yen. However, the fall in global stock markets in February has worried some investors into reducing their risk. Traders offloading holdings funded by yen borrowings have propelled the yen to a three month high as against the dollar. If the stock market climbs further, the carry trade might continue and the yen will further weaken.

5. Yuan
Investing for the yuan will be a good long term appreciation strategy. However the trading band must be given permission to widen. Since the re-peg to the US dollar in June 2005, the Yuan has risen 7%. China is expected to keep appreciation slow as exports form a large pillar of the Chinese economy for now.

6. Iraqi Dinar
Iraq has plenty of oil reserves but an unstable political situation and an unexistent economy makes any form of investment unlikely. Renewed interest in the Dinar has been brought about by scams online promising returns over 1000%. However given that there is no foreign market for the Dinar, it is unlikely that one will be able to profit in the short term.

7. Aussie Dollar
The aussie dollar is sensitive to the fluctuations in raw materials such as copper, aluminum and gold as they account for 14 percent of the country’s economic growth. The Australian dollar also as a high interest rate of 6.25 percent, one of the highest for developed economies. Thus traders borrow the yen to and buy the aussie dollar to profit from appreciation and the interest spread. If you expect raw material prices to go up, the aussie dollar will be a good bet.

8. Singapore Dollar
The Singapore dollar is expected to gradually climb as the central bank moves the trading band up. The economy is doing well and heavy foreign investment is expected to drive the Sing$ up.

9. New Zealand Dollar
New Zealand has the highest interest rate in the industrialized world. Currently, the interest rate is 7.5%. However Governor Dr. Alan Bollard, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, thinks the interest rate is lower than it should be due to the liquidity provided by Asia and China. If interest rates continue to rise, the new Zealand currency will strengthen too.

10. Canadian Dollar
A crunch in the US economy is will be correlated to a slowdown in the Canadian economy. If the US economy enters recession, expect the Canadian value to drop with the US dollar.

General guideline
When interest rate of a country rise, the currency strengthens, Bond prices and equity prices of the country fall. You should be investing in a country whose currency you think will be stronger than the one you are living in currently.

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