SamDisk?

There are rampant speculations as to why Samsung wants to buy SanDisk? I believe there isn’t just one reason. There are multiple reasons.
1. Patents:
SanDisk has around 866 patents for which Samsung pays $400 million per year.
2. Market Share:
SanDisk collaborates with Toshiba and has created joint manufacturing facilities. Toshiba is a larger threat to Samsung than SanDisk. Buying SanDisk would increase Samsung’s market share considerably and market power exponentially.
3. Apple:
Apple is by far the largest buyer of solid-state memory in the market today. And, Samsung is currently the largest seller to Apple. With competitive market, Apple must have been able to do very tough price negotiations. But, if the market were consolidated, Apple would not be able to negotiate as low prices as it is used to. Consider the fact that OEM costs around $1 per GB. Apple sells 60 million iPods and 10 million iPhones. Assuming average memory consumption to be 8 gb per iphone/ipod combination. Samsung might be making around $560 million in revenues from Apple alone. Add 10% in and the revenue goes up to $616.
4. Next generation devices:
What most people ignore is the fact that Samsung makes more money if they sell their own device rather than by selling memory to apple. Samsung is also a big player in consumer electronics. The devices are getting smaller and smaller and the memory becomes cheaper yet central to the devices. The next generation of notebooks and hand held devices represent a shift from HDD to SSD. It is a very important market niche that they must dominate.

No wonder SanDisk would want more money and Toshiba may make a play.

KODAK sucks!

I bought Kodak Easyshare Z712IS last december. The camera works fine and the pictures quality is top notch for a digital camera. But, I was appalled by Kodak's policies. First of all, the camera package neither includes a rechargeable battery nor an ac/dc 3v adapter. Then, it says you can use regular AA batteries but, it doesn't last for more than 15-20 pics (without flash). The same happens with NiMH batteries. Kodak wants us to buy expensive ($6.99 a piece = 120 photos) CRV3 batteries as neither rechargeable nor regular AA batteries last long enough.

In an all I think the owning this camera was the biggest mistake. Not only it adds up to extra cost in batteries but also keeps you on the edge as to when you might run out of juice.

I am staying away from all Kodak products from now onwards.

Orkut does it again!

Not sure when would Google make this product stable. But, they better hurry if they ever want to compete with Facebook and MySpace. OpenSocial by itself is not going to take them anywhere unless they fix their products. Sounds like harsh words but it is a fact that people take any s*** for granted if it is from Google. Microsoft doesn't get such leniency from people. So much for most recognized brand in the US.

SOME FACTS ABOUT BARACK OBAMA

Some facts about Barack Obama

1.  His Religion:

Fiction: He is a Muslim who went to a Madrassa during his childhood.

Fact: He is NOT a Muslim. He is a practising Christian. He has never swore on Koran. 

2. His Patriotism:

Fiction: He does not wear flag pin or put his hand on the heard during the pledge of allegiance. 

Fact: He does wear flag pin. For a time, he did not wear it to protest against hypocrisy by the administration and the congress as they didn't immediately pay attention to conditions of veterans.

Also, the video/photos that you may see on the internet are doctored by the right wing fundamentalists.

Note: It is a shame that a lot of people believe in above mentioned myths. We need to educate people to make sure they make informed decisions. It would be more shameful if a person doesn't vote for him because of these myths. I do not endorse or support Barack Obama or John McCain.

Numbers are gone from Yahoo SERP

Just noticed that numbers are now gone from Yahoo! Search Engine Result Page (SERP). Not sure whether this is just a test or a permanent change.

Bye Bye Microsoft Photo Editor

If you are an avid Flickr fan, here is a good news for you. Tonight, Flickr added a new set of photo editing tools in partnership with picnik. Now, you can upload the photos on Flickr and worry about editing them later. For me, it is 'bye bye Microsoft Photo Editor'.

Here are available features.
- Auto-fix
- Rotate
- Crop
- Resize
- Exposure
- Colors
- Sharpen
- Red-Eye

'Do not be evil'; just support it and shut down those who oppose it

Here is the story of Wael Abbas, an Egyptian blogger and human rights activist who used YouTube to post videos of police brutality. His efforts drew attention of the world towards police torture in Egypt. As a result, the Egyptian government took action against responsible police officers and the court convicted them. But, YouTube chose to suspended his account.

It is completely shocking. The Egyptian government doesn't have problems with the blogger but, YouTube does. 'Do not be evil'; just support it and shut down those who oppose it. Isn't this hypocrisy on part of Google? On one hand, YouTube is happy to be the world's largest collection of porn and illegal downloads and on the other hand it is shutting down people who support democracy and human rights. I would like to ask Rep. Tom Lantos; who is moral pygmie now?