iPhone 5 Announcement, finally!

.

October 4, 2011 @10.00am California

It'll actually be less than a week now for the official announcement of the new iPhone, shall I say, iPhone 5.

I was browsing through The iPhone 5 News Blog for my daily dose of news about iPhone today and was pleasantly surprised - or, should we be surprised anymore after the long wait - to read the headlines.

So, it's official. The Loop's Jim Dalrymple reported that he has been invited for the announcement as follows: "Let's Talk iPhone" October 4 at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif. campus. The event begin at 10:00 am PT.

Screen shot of The Loop's posting using my handset

Jim said he will be at the event, and will bring a live update of the announcements as they happen.

So let tune in to The Loop this Tuesday and get to hear it first hand; well almost.

Energy Efficient Singapore

.
In my previous postings It Pays to Go Green and 5-Star Appliances and Rebates for You, I mentioned rebates of up to RM200 for energy-efficient appliances.

For the time being these rebates are for air-conditioners and refrigerators with 5-Star labels. This is one of the steps taken by Malaysia government towards wider usage of household appliances with high efficiency.

For Malaysia, energy-efficient equipment requirement is voluntary.

Singapore is a step further. The city state has imposed standards for minimum energy performance (MEPS) and it is now mandatory for exporters and manufacturers, including Malaysia, to comply with new standards if they want to continue selling these products there.

Among the specifications in these standards are types of goods, cooling capacity (in kW), minimum coefficient of performance, adjusted volume and maximum annual energy consumption (in kW).

What does that mean to our many manufacturing companies and consumers in Malaysia? A handful, both negatives and positives:

1. Higher production cost, product differentiation between export quality and 'local use'. Expect lower efficiency for local market. Remember, our carrots (rebates) are based on voluntary participation from manufacturers.
2. Accelerated acceptance of green technology. Manufacturers will now have to innovate to produce goods that are more efficient but cheaper in order to stay competitive.
3. Malaysia will have to come up with MEPS sooner than later. This should fulfill the government's pledge to reduce carbon emission.
   

My opinion: Incentives are good, it helps in many instances and no doubt it can spur the advancement of green technology on to certain feel-good level. But couple with regulatory measures, the pace of such growth will certainly be better.

Read about the imposition of new standards here.

United Move Clear

What a week of football for the BPL - to United fan that is!

Nani doing his trademark celebration after scoring a screamer.
Photo credit: soccernet/AP

Check out the other selected results from this week's fixtures (those that concerns the potential title contenders - M.United, M.City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspurs):

All of the other teams in the "Big Five" dropped points except for United.

For my English speaking friends and readers, that sums up my excitement for a fantastic week for Manchester United FC and the fans from all over the world.

Untuk rakan-rakan peminat bolasepak di Malaysia, izinkan saya kelentong sikit a.k.a trip macam pengulas sukan terkemuka Haji Hasbullah Awang, hehe.

90 minit pertemuan United dengan Chelsea yang dijangka menyajikan persembahan menarik nampaknya akan diingati sebagai yang sebaliknya. Apa tidaknya, lihat saja fakta-fakta berikut:

1. Rooney gagal menyempurnakan sepakan penalti
2. Torres yang berdepan dengan gawang kosong memilih untuk menguis bola ke kiri (blunder of the season lah kiranya)
3. Berbatov nampak masih 'berkarat' selepas gagal menjaringkan gol pada jarak 5 meter dari gawang dengan penjaga gol Chelsea sudah tertewas.
4. Dua gol United kelihatan offside tetapi ini tiada bezanya dengan jaringan Terry musim lalu di Stamford Bridge yang menyebabkan Chelsea menang tipis 1 - 0.
5. Rooney sepatutnya menjaringkan hattrick atau 4 gol.
6. Torres, seperti Rooney sepatutnya menjaringkan hattrick.

Apa-apa pun 3 matalah yang penting dan ini telah mengekalkan rekod 100% United dalam kempen musim ini. Musim masih panjang tetapi siapa mungkin yang tidak cemburu dengan permulaan hebat seperti ini?

Come On UNITED.....all the way now!