In the most important, most revered event since the invention of the brontosaurus trap,Microsoft shipped the most incredibly fabulous operating system ever made; the release of Windows 7 also spurred a new generation of personal computers of all sizes at prices well below last month's offers.The top reason Windows 7 does not suck: There is no registered website called Windows7Sucks.com
Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
NEW PROJECTS UP FOR DELIBERATION
Another batch of projects worth Bt240 billion will be submitted for Cabinet approval today amid new reports of graft involving the government's second stimulus package.
Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij yesterday said he would today propose the Cabinet expand the second stimulus package from Bt1.06 trillion approved earlier to about Bt1.3 trillion, to be implemented over three years.
The ministry will also ask the Cabinet to increase investment projects under an emergency borrowing fund by more Bt50 billion, leading to planned total spending next year of up to Bt350 billion, he said.
An improvement in government revenue in recent months leaves more money available for investment, he said.
The ministry plans to disburse the first tranche of funds for at least 85 per cent of the projects, he said.
New projects ecpected to be included in today's proposal are the Bt40 billion farm price-guarantee scheme, Bt23 billion supplementary budget to support local governments and Bt3 billion housing fund know as Baan Mankhong for people living in slums.
The projects under Thai Khemakhaeng already approved by the Cabinet worth Bt200 billion would be implemented during this and next year, he said.
In response to complaints about corruption, the ministry has opened a website at www.tkk2555.com to reveal details of all projects to the public. People can also report irregularities in the investment projects via publicwatch@tkk2555.com.
Korn yesterday met with senior officials to discuss the transparency of the public investment projects.
The next phase of investment will focus on economic restructuring. The bill to finance it with Bt400 billion loans is in Parliament.
The next phase will be put into rail projects to improve the logistics system, aimed at lowering logistics costs from 20 per cent of gross domestic product to about 15 per cent.
The ministry will soon ask the Cabinet to consider another package to develop the capital market, which includes tax incentives, Korn added.
Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij yesterday said he would today propose the Cabinet expand the second stimulus package from Bt1.06 trillion approved earlier to about Bt1.3 trillion, to be implemented over three years.
The ministry will also ask the Cabinet to increase investment projects under an emergency borrowing fund by more Bt50 billion, leading to planned total spending next year of up to Bt350 billion, he said.
An improvement in government revenue in recent months leaves more money available for investment, he said.
The ministry plans to disburse the first tranche of funds for at least 85 per cent of the projects, he said.
New projects ecpected to be included in today's proposal are the Bt40 billion farm price-guarantee scheme, Bt23 billion supplementary budget to support local governments and Bt3 billion housing fund know as Baan Mankhong for people living in slums.
The projects under Thai Khemakhaeng already approved by the Cabinet worth Bt200 billion would be implemented during this and next year, he said.
In response to complaints about corruption, the ministry has opened a website at www.tkk2555.com to reveal details of all projects to the public. People can also report irregularities in the investment projects via publicwatch@tkk2555.com.
Korn yesterday met with senior officials to discuss the transparency of the public investment projects.
The next phase of investment will focus on economic restructuring. The bill to finance it with Bt400 billion loans is in Parliament.
The next phase will be put into rail projects to improve the logistics system, aimed at lowering logistics costs from 20 per cent of gross domestic product to about 15 per cent.
The ministry will soon ask the Cabinet to consider another package to develop the capital market, which includes tax incentives, Korn added.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Time for decisiveness on logistics
If Thailand wants to achieve its hope of becoming the logistics centre for Southeast Asia, the government must act decisively and rapidly to develop the infrastructure for logistics, said former finance minister M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula.
M.R. Pridiyathorn, also a former Bank of Thailand governor, wants to establish a decision-making body to develop local infrastructure and industrial sector competitiveness.
"The country's economic competitiveness relies very much on logistics costs. The government already knows what to do but the decision makers are still very slow to do anything," he said.
He made the comments at a seminar called "Logistics Asia 2009: Repositioning Thailand in the Global Value Chain",organised by the Thailand Management Association (TMA) in collaboration with the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC)and the Transport Institute of Chulalongkorn University to discuss the future direction of local logistics development.
M.R. Pridiyathorn said the economic crisis shifted the world's economic growth engine to Asia. That could translate into brisk trading traffic in the region.
To accommodate this change, logistics cost reduction would promote Thailand as a logistics hub to serve this upsurge in goods transport.
"Cheaper cost will support local in-dustrial competitiveness and attract more foreign investment to the country,"M.R. Pridiyathorn said.
"There are lots of projects that are in different stages - some are already planned and ready to be implemented - but what is needed is a decisionmaker who has the guts to make a decision."
The country's logistics system relies on road for over 80% of traffic, with 2%marine transport and the rest through rail. But road transport is the most expensive and fuel-thirsty, so Thailand needs to develop other modes, he said.
The first step is developing sea transport as it is the easiest and can be done by private sector investment.
"Two important port routes are those linking Laem Chabang and Bangkok to the South. For rail, more dual-track routes are needed while a rail extension to link Thailand with southern China would also improve our trade with the giant economy," he said.
Extension of airport facilities to accommodate more human traffic and cargo also needs to go ahead.
"A more open-eyed approach at how Thailand would play as a regional logistics centre also needs to be considered,"said M.R. Pridiyathorn.
"We need a tool to link the east and west, linking the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea through a landbridge.Once accomplished, crude transport from the Middle East to Korea and China will be able to go through this route.This will allow us to be a regional transport route in Asia."
He added that infrastructure such as a landbridge and the long-delayed Southern Seaboard would also be crucial in accommodating more investment in petroleum and related sectors such as petrochemicals.
"Establishing the link would also open our export routes to Africa and the Middle East, which are growing markets.China would also be interested in using this route to provide to emerging markets," he said.
He also criticised the government for paying too little attention to economic issues, adding that the Map Ta Phut court order that halted 76 projects was the result of indecisive action to tackle pollution problems by past governments.
"The government must take the case as a lesson for future infrastructure development and also to win back investment," said M.R. Pridiyathorn.
M.R. Pridiyathorn, also a former Bank of Thailand governor, wants to establish a decision-making body to develop local infrastructure and industrial sector competitiveness.
"The country's economic competitiveness relies very much on logistics costs. The government already knows what to do but the decision makers are still very slow to do anything," he said.
He made the comments at a seminar called "Logistics Asia 2009: Repositioning Thailand in the Global Value Chain",organised by the Thailand Management Association (TMA) in collaboration with the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC)and the Transport Institute of Chulalongkorn University to discuss the future direction of local logistics development.
M.R. Pridiyathorn said the economic crisis shifted the world's economic growth engine to Asia. That could translate into brisk trading traffic in the region.
To accommodate this change, logistics cost reduction would promote Thailand as a logistics hub to serve this upsurge in goods transport.
"Cheaper cost will support local in-dustrial competitiveness and attract more foreign investment to the country,"M.R. Pridiyathorn said.
"There are lots of projects that are in different stages - some are already planned and ready to be implemented - but what is needed is a decisionmaker who has the guts to make a decision."
The country's logistics system relies on road for over 80% of traffic, with 2%marine transport and the rest through rail. But road transport is the most expensive and fuel-thirsty, so Thailand needs to develop other modes, he said.
The first step is developing sea transport as it is the easiest and can be done by private sector investment.
"Two important port routes are those linking Laem Chabang and Bangkok to the South. For rail, more dual-track routes are needed while a rail extension to link Thailand with southern China would also improve our trade with the giant economy," he said.
Extension of airport facilities to accommodate more human traffic and cargo also needs to go ahead.
"A more open-eyed approach at how Thailand would play as a regional logistics centre also needs to be considered,"said M.R. Pridiyathorn.
"We need a tool to link the east and west, linking the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea through a landbridge.Once accomplished, crude transport from the Middle East to Korea and China will be able to go through this route.This will allow us to be a regional transport route in Asia."
He added that infrastructure such as a landbridge and the long-delayed Southern Seaboard would also be crucial in accommodating more investment in petroleum and related sectors such as petrochemicals.
"Establishing the link would also open our export routes to Africa and the Middle East, which are growing markets.China would also be interested in using this route to provide to emerging markets," he said.
He also criticised the government for paying too little attention to economic issues, adding that the Map Ta Phut court order that halted 76 projects was the result of indecisive action to tackle pollution problems by past governments.
"The government must take the case as a lesson for future infrastructure development and also to win back investment," said M.R. Pridiyathorn.
NATIONAL LOGISTICS STRATEGY "CRUCIAL TO GMS SUCCESS"
The government should draw up a national strategic logistics plan as Thailand is part of the global value chain, repositioning itself as a corridor in the Greater Mekong Subregion, a major logistics firm said yesterday.
Speaking at the "Logistics Asia 2009" seminar, SCG Logistics Management managing director Bhanumas Srisukh said: "The government should also look at Singapore as an ally reather than as a competitor."
He said the major role the government should speedily play was easing the multiplicity of dated rules and regulations relating to transportation, as well as investing more in important infrastructure such as road and rail systems.
The latter would link Thailand with GMS countries, including southern China(Yunnan), Burma, Laos and Vietnam, so that the Kingdom can be a corridor to enhance trade between the GMS region and the rest of the world, transporting goods by road to Laem Chabang Port, which can them connect to Singapore before shipping goods around the globe.
"Developing missing links from the GMS to Thailand would not only enhance the competitiveness of our exports, but also boost international trade. This would be instead of building Pak Bara Port in Satun, for which the country has drawn up a strategic logistics plan to use the port as a point of exit for the Andaman coast to link China with India," said Bhanumas.
He said that for this strategy, the country was being seen as Singapore's competitor, whereas in fact it was not ready to compete.
He added that as Singapore had develooped its logistics management system to global standards, Thailand should improve its own logistics standard to support that of Singapore as part of a logistics value chain.
Considering the Kingdom's strengths, Thailand has a central location with a coastline on two sides, is service-minded, has an extensive road network, low labour costs and a large labour pool, plus the ability to connect transportation with China,he said.
However, its weaknesses are the small size of its seaports, limited rail network, lack of skilled human resources and out-of-date rules and regulations.
Oh Bee Lock, senior vice president for corporate planning at Singapore's PSA Corp, said he regarded Thailand as an ally of Singapore, not a competitor. The two countries. therefore, can connect their transportation at the same standard level to enhance freight between Asean and other regions more rapidly and at a competitive cost.
The port of Singapore connects to 600 ports in more than 120 countries. PSA has 28 ports in 16 countries wit annual revenue of 4.4 billion Singaporean dollars (Bt104 billion) and throughput of 63 milliion containers (20-foot equivalent units).
"Logistics Asia 2009" was cohosted by the Thailand Management Association, the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Transportation Institute.
Speaking at the "Logistics Asia 2009" seminar, SCG Logistics Management managing director Bhanumas Srisukh said: "The government should also look at Singapore as an ally reather than as a competitor."
He said the major role the government should speedily play was easing the multiplicity of dated rules and regulations relating to transportation, as well as investing more in important infrastructure such as road and rail systems.
The latter would link Thailand with GMS countries, including southern China(Yunnan), Burma, Laos and Vietnam, so that the Kingdom can be a corridor to enhance trade between the GMS region and the rest of the world, transporting goods by road to Laem Chabang Port, which can them connect to Singapore before shipping goods around the globe.
"Developing missing links from the GMS to Thailand would not only enhance the competitiveness of our exports, but also boost international trade. This would be instead of building Pak Bara Port in Satun, for which the country has drawn up a strategic logistics plan to use the port as a point of exit for the Andaman coast to link China with India," said Bhanumas.
He said that for this strategy, the country was being seen as Singapore's competitor, whereas in fact it was not ready to compete.
He added that as Singapore had develooped its logistics management system to global standards, Thailand should improve its own logistics standard to support that of Singapore as part of a logistics value chain.
Considering the Kingdom's strengths, Thailand has a central location with a coastline on two sides, is service-minded, has an extensive road network, low labour costs and a large labour pool, plus the ability to connect transportation with China,he said.
However, its weaknesses are the small size of its seaports, limited rail network, lack of skilled human resources and out-of-date rules and regulations.
Oh Bee Lock, senior vice president for corporate planning at Singapore's PSA Corp, said he regarded Thailand as an ally of Singapore, not a competitor. The two countries. therefore, can connect their transportation at the same standard level to enhance freight between Asean and other regions more rapidly and at a competitive cost.
The port of Singapore connects to 600 ports in more than 120 countries. PSA has 28 ports in 16 countries wit annual revenue of 4.4 billion Singaporean dollars (Bt104 billion) and throughput of 63 milliion containers (20-foot equivalent units).
"Logistics Asia 2009" was cohosted by the Thailand Management Association, the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Transportation Institute.
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