Kuala Lumpur International Motorshow, Part 2

Great, we stopped at hall 2 of the show were there were cars and showgirls! Beautiful. Beauty and tech!

Okay, that was just half of hall 2, time to go upstairs. First thing that came to the eyes when we first got up to the stairs the first show that greeted us was Duccati's superbike. Great showgirls as well. One was sitting beautifully on a superbike! Alright, off with Duccati. Next, airbrush paint art! I cought my eyes on a very beautiful Toyota Supra detailed by Meguiars.



Great, next up, nothing much really until we came to Philips' booth. Their showgirl was so sexy~! Alright, did catch some photos. Next up, Volvo. Not our kind of cars but some are beautiful! Went along the first floor of the second hall, nothing much intresting but some banks for instant credit card and so on. So, that's the end of the first floor in the second hall.

Next, Hall 3! It's time to wall all the way back from hall 2 to hall 3. A long walk. So, we are at the doors of the hall, and we come to a French carmaker, Peugeot. Peugeot displayed a range of cars. Including the one that had been signed with Naza Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. Their 407 is on the floor and much was there as well. Next, we have Mitsubishi Motors in the house!!! I got my hands on the Evolution XI. Mitsubishi is coming up with a car called the Concept X. There was Kia on the floor as well. Not to forget, Mazda! I got my hands onto a MX-5. The best roadster out there. Nimble, light, and fast! A local carmaker, Perodua was there to show off their 2 new models. The sports version of Kelisa and Myvi. There is also a concept car in their booth. Not show what's the new name though. It's currently coded XX-2. This car fest was not just about new cars and concept cars. It is also about some old cars as well. I found myself drawn to the DB6. A version after the famous James Bond (Sean Connery) drove the DB5 back in the 60s. Beautiful car owned by a Malays bloke. Must have dumped quite an amout of money onto that car.

Great, that's the end of hall 3. Next! Hall 4. We have so much in Merdeka Hall. But only 3 carmakers were there. Namely, Ford, Toyota and Volvo. VOLVO'S SHOWGIRL ARE SO BEAUTIFUL!! Got my hands on a Ford Focus. Toyota unleashed thier concept cars, CS&S, and a racing unit. Don't really remember what's the name of the machine. Volvo brought along their concept car as well called the 3CC. Namely 3 seater concept car. Strange, but it looks quite beautiful as well. Not to forget, the showgirl next to it... (I'm in dreamland!)

Alright, that's for the fourth hall. Next! the last hall where Mercedes Benz and Honda resided. Mercedes Benz brought out their supercar. 605BHP, about 600+KG and with a max speed of 201mph (approximatly, don't remember the exact value). Glugs up a full tank if you really step down the throttle in about 12 minutes. And that all is the Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren. Donald Trump has a unit! (the big feeling of wanting one myself!) Great, no concept car by Mercedes Benz. Maybe their keeping their lip tight. NEXT! HONDA!! Honda's main attraction was not just thier cars. Their humonoid, ASIMO was there! Honda brought out 3 of their new concept cars. One a Sports 4 Concept and the other, FCX. The last of them all is a hybrid car. Still in development and I'd hope that they would have one in the market. The first hybrid car that is already in the market is Toyota Prius. Hope that they would do a better job.

That's all from the motorshow!

Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show 2006

So, it is here and two petrolheads went to that particular show.

What is so grand about that show though??

Nothing much. Just beauty and technology. And talking about that, let's just go to the mainpoint.

Departed from Ipoh on Friday morning. 9.30 a.m. bus to Kuala Lumpur. Got off at Jalan Hang Tuah and headed stright to the show in PWTC (Putra World Trade Center). Got there, purchased our ticket and we went to the first hall where the first attraction that we've come to. A Ferrari Formula 1 unit. Yeah, driven by the Red Baron himself, Michael Schumacher. I think that unit is a 2006 unit. Not much detail about it though. AMD started a deal with Ferrari back in 2005. I think. And to top off that car, Bridgestone's showgirl! Beautiful. But there are more to come.

Next off, Lotus and Proton. Some new cars by Lotus are in the show. Exige S is there. It was recently reviewed by Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear. A beautiful car.

That ends the first hall. Second hall! Beauty and machine!! Nissan, Naza, Hyundai, Brabus were among the booths that were in there. I got a chance to get into a Hyundai Coupe, Nissan 350Z (retuned by Nismo), Naza's new car, Sutera and I got my eyes on a Lamborghini Murciolago! Beautiful CAR!

That's for half of Hall 2. Will be back for more!

PC industry eyes new markets with payment plan

Mon May 22, 9:59 AM ET

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT), chip makers and PC firms aim to increase PC usage in the developing world with a new flexible payment program to lower the initial costs of buying a computer, the companies said on Sunday.

Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, said it is leading a group of technology companies in offering the first-ever "pay-as-you-go" computers in Brazil, India, Mexico, Russia and China over the next several months.

Using Microsoft's FlexGo software technology, a customer can buy a computer loaded with the Windows operating system then purchase prepaid cards or pay a monthly subscription fee at a cost similar to using a computer at a local Internet cafe, Microsoft said.

When the usage time ticks down, a customer can go online or to a local retailer to buy more minutes.

In an effort to replicate the success of prepaid mobile phones in emerging markets, the PC industry aims to expand PC use in countries where consumers must cope with a lower income and limited access to credit.

"We're working with all these partners to expand the market to help bring PCs within reach for hundreds of millions of families within emerging markets," said Will Poole, senior vice president at Microsoft. "As the market expands, then we sell products and that's a good thing."

Microsoft's partners include Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD), Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC), Lenovo (0992.HK), Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:PTEC) and Transmeta Corp. (Nasdaq:TMTA), but it aims to work with other hardware companies, telecommunication firms, banks and retailers in emerging markets.

The pay-as-you-go model lowers the initial costs of buying a PC by 50 percent or more and the consumer owns the PC after a set amount of minutes are purchased, the companies said.

Microsoft and its partners recently completed its first trial in Brazil and they plan to do a next round of trials in Brazil, China, Hungary, India, Mexico, Russia, Slovenia and Vietnam, according to Microsoft.

Symantec sues Microsoft in contract dispute

Thu May 18, 11:57 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq:SYMC) sued software rival Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) on Thursday, accusing it of misappropriating trade secrets to develop its own competing features and products, including the next version of Windows.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Seattle charges the world's biggest software maker with misappropriating intellectual property and breach of contract related to a licensing deal with Veritas, which Symantec acquired last year.

It also seeks an injunction that would block the further development, sale or distribution of Vista -- the already- delayed next version of Windows -- and other products until all Symantec intellectual property is removed.

"Microsoft's pervasive and continuing disregard of Symantec's intellectual property and contract rights has irreparably harmed Symantec and constitutes trade secret misappropriation," the complaint said.

Microsoft said in statement it worked hard to try to resolve the dispute and that it acted within its rights in the contract.

"We are confident that our actions are wholly consistent with the legal agreements between Veritas and Microsoft and that these claims will be shown to be without merit," Microsoft said.

The dispute pits two of the biggest consumer software makers against each other and centers on a Symantec product called Volume Manager, which allows operating systems to store and manipulate large amounts of data.

The complaint accuses Microsoft of improperly incorporating the technology into its own operating system products and seeks compensation as well as the removal of the intellectual property from the company's offerings.

Microsoft unveils new search tools for businesses

By Michael Kahn Wed May 17, 12:04 AM ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) will unveil new tools on Wednesday that make it easier for office workers to share and locate information as the company seeks to fend off rivals such as Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG) in the enterprise software search market.

Jim Murphy, an analyst at AMR Research, said Microsoft is filling a long-time gap in its business search products while seeking to block Google -- which dominates Web search -- from gaining ground in the market for corporate information search.

"Microsoft has been remiss in not providing adequate search on the desktop and for corporations," Murphy said. "They are filling in a gap and they are defending their territory from Google and others."

While Microsoft is the biggest supplier of business software inside companies, the market for search tools has been a fragmented one, led by Autonomy Corp. (AUTN.L). But Google has made rapid gains over the past two years to become the No. 2 supplier, according to market researcher IDC.

Windows Live Search, which will be available for free from Microsoft's Web site, allows users to search for documents stored on their computers, on departmental computer networks or out on the Internet and see the results in one place.

Last week, Google introduced version four of Google Desktop, which offers similar search powers.

Microsoft will also add new tools to its Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 offering that makes it easier to collaborate with other people within a large business, using criteria such as expertise on a certain subject.

Murphy said offering search tools for businesses was a way for Microsoft to remain dominant on the desktop and could convince companies to buy future versions of new software releases such as Microsoft Office.

"To me they are trying to ensure their continued position on the desktop and make themselves irreplaceable," he said. "They want to solidify their position and remain the go-to desktop vendor."

The new search tools come as the world's biggest software maker seeks to catch rivals in both the business and lucrative Internet search markets dominated by the likes of Google.

At the same time Microsoft is also making a big push into Web services and has vowed to keep investing in a variety of technologies as it seeks to transform the way both businesses and consumers operate on the Internet.

The core of this plan is Windows Live, an advertising-funded, one-stop shop for services from e-mail, to instant messaging, to blogs that targets the fast-growing online advertising market.

But in the area of enterprise search, Microsoft said the company's current and future offerings would seek to address the difficulties users face when trying to act on information once they have found it.

The company highlighted the importance of search tools for organizations by citing an IDC estimate that workers spend up to 2.5 hours a day searching for information, or 30 percent of their work time.

Microsoft said enterprise search via Microsoft Office SharePoint would be available to most businesses later this year with the next version of Microsoft Office. It will also release a test version of Windows Live Search sometime this summer.

Sony Ericsson launches five new mobile phones

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Sony Ericsson (6758.T) (ERICb.ST) on Thursday announced five new mobile phones for the end-of-year holiday shopping season, including two flip phones, two Walkman phones and one with Chinese character handwriting recognition.

All new models will be available in shops during the third quarter of 2006, expanding the line-up of models with which the world's No. 5 phone maker will battle with its main rivals in the important fourth quarter when sales peak.

"The launches will be spread through the third quarter. Having phones in the market is very important for Q4 sales. We've announced more phones than last year. There's now something for everyone in our portfolio," said Steve Walker, head of product marketing.

So far this year, the Japanese-Swedish joint venture has unveiled more than 20 new models. It introduced 30 models in all of last year.

Over the last 16 months it has adopted the popular Walkman music and Cybershot camera brands from Sony for high-end music and camera phones, but it also announced its first low cost model in February.

The W710 Walkman includes a motion sensor and fitness software programs to keep track of physical exercise while listening to music from the radio or stored on the phone's memory cards.

A strap and special earphones are designed for wearing it during a work-out. It will be priced between 200 and 300 euros before operator subsidies and local taxes.

"Consumers told us that one of the most popular times to listen to music is when exercising. We wanted to make sure consumers only need to carry one device instead of two or even three: a mobile phone, an MP3 player and a step counter," Walker said.

The W850 Walkman slider model connects to third generation mobile phone networks for fast music downloads. New software makes it easier to navigate through thousands of songs and find names of tracks. It can also record straight from the radio.

It will cost more than 300 euros before subsidies and taxes.

Of the two flip phones, the Z550 model will be priced at between 150 and 200 euros, just cheap enough to be included in important pre-paid phone packages which are subsidized by mobile operators.

Sony Ericsson expects high data traffic and revenues for mobile operators as a result of the relatively high-end features such as a 1.3 megapixel camera, color screen and web browser.

The more expensive Z710 business phone, priced between 200 and 300 euros, has a 2 Megapixel camera and connects via most 2G GSM networks.

The M608c is a version for the Chinese market of the M600 email phone that was announced in February and which will start selling this quarter. It can recognize Chinese characters written on the touchscreen and will be available in the third quarter of 2006.

"China is the single largest market for Sony Ericsson and a strategic base for global business success," Gunilla Nordstrom, president of Sony Ericsson China, said .

Treo phone unveiled with Palm software

Mon May 15, 6:47 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Palm (Nasdaq:PALM) on Monday introduced the first Treo phone with a high-speed wireless Web link running the Palm operating system called the 700p.

Earlier this year Palm released a high-speed wireless phone run on software from rival Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT), which is seeing signs of success on wireless.

Verizon Wireless said it would start selling the phone in the next few weeks. It would not comment on pricing, but the company currently sells another Treo product the 700w for $399.99 to customers that sign up for a two year service.

The 700p will be e-mail capable. Rivals in the market for phones that can send and receive e-mail include Research In Motion Ltd. (Toronto:RIM.TO). Palm said its software is in 3 million cellphones.

The second and third biggest U.S. cellphone service providers Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L), and Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE:S) plan to sell the new Treo phone Palm said.

Sprint was not immediately available to comment.

Konami eyes "Metal Gear Solid" the movie

By Kiyoshi Takenaka Fri May 12, 9:56 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Japanese video game maker Konami Corp. (9766.T) said on Friday it is looking into the possibility of striking a motion picture deal based on its blockbuster fighting game series "Metal Gear Solid."

The comment comes after "Silent Hill," a horror film based on another Konami video game series, replaced comedy spoof "Scary Movie 4" as the top choice for North American moviegoers in late April.

"We are considering it," Kazumi Kitaue, the head of Konami's North American and European operations, said in an interview with Reuters at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), an annual video game industry trade show.

Along with its "Dance Dance Revolution" and "Pro Evolution Soccer," "Metal Gear Solid" is among Konami's best-selling video game titles.

Kitaue declined to go into details but said the company has no intention of carrying out an actual movie production.

"Silent Hill" was released by TriStar Pictures, a Sony Corp. (6758.T) unit specializing in low-budget films. It paid $14 million for the right to distribute the film in North and South America.

"We are a game specialist and not a movie specialist. Any movie will be best handled by a film company," Kitaue said.

Kitaue said he expects its soccer games to post double-digit sales growth for the year ending in March 2007, with demand boosted by the World Cup soccer finals in Germany this summer.

"I would say 10 percent growth or more. We might see some 20 percent or 30 percent growth under some lucky circumstances," he said. "If the Japanese team does well, that would really affect our sales in Japan. Also, Britain, Germany and France are big markets for us. If these countries are not eliminated until later stages, that would be a plus."

In contrast, South American soccer teams beating European or Japanese teams would be an unwelcome scenario for Konami since video game consoles have yet to be widely used in Latin American countries, thus providing little boost to game software demand, Kitaue said.

"We would be in trouble if Brazil wins," he said.

Konami is competing head-to-head with Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq:ERTS), the world's largest video game publisher, in Europe's soccer game market. It sold about 5 million soccer games in Europe in the previous fiscal year ended in March.

Xbox 360 HD DVD player due for holidays

Tue May 9, 8:56 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. will release an HD DVD player for its
Xbox 360 video game machine in time for the 2006 holiday season and will have 10 million of its next-generation consoles to market before its rivals debut their new systems, company executives said on Tuesday.

Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) got a head start when it released the Xbox 360 in November. Rivals Sony Corp. (6758.T) and Nintendo Co. Ltd (7974.OS) plan to debut their new gaming machines, the PlayStation 3 and the Wii, later this year.

But the PlayStation 3 due later this year will have a Blu-ray DVD player, which is a competing next-generation DVD standard to HD DVD supported by Toshiba Corp.(6502.T)

There will be a total of 160 titles for Xbox 360 available in time for the holidays, Peter Moore, head of Microsoft's game business, said at a press conference ahead of the Electronic Entertainment Expo this week in Los Angeles.

Next "GTA" video game to have Xbox 360 extras

Tue May 9, 9:10 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp.(Nasdaq:MSFT - news) on Tuesday announced a strategic win for its
Xbox 360 video game console, saying the next game of the "Grand Theft Auto" series would be released for its platform at the same time as Sony Corp's (6758.T) unit and have special Xbox online extras.

Previous versions of publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.'s (Nasdaq:TTWO) "Grand Theft Auto" series first were released on Sony's
PlayStation 2, then appeared on the Xbox months later, long after the initial excitement over the game died down.

The series, notorious for letting players commit crimes as they cruise through bleak urban landscapes, also will continue on Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3.

"Grand Theft Auto 4" will debut in October 2007 and Microsoft said developer Rockstar Games, owned by Take-Two, also would provide exclusive downloadable game content to Xbox 360 users via its Xbox Live service.

The series had been one of the heavy hitters in Sony's PlayStation 2 third party lineup. The last iteration, "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" for the PlayStation 2, was 2004's biggest game, selling over 5.1 million copies, outpacing even Microsoft's blockbuster "Halo 2," according to the NPD Group.

The "Grand Theft Auto" franchise has sold over 47 million units to date, said publisher Take Two Interactive.

Part of Sony's advantage during the last console cycle had been its strong exclusive support from third party publishers like Take Two.