A trip to the wild side: financial data. I can't say I understand news on the numeric nature, but still even I think this is significant. After being so confident that they would gain (and even level?) Nokia's market share in the near future, Motorola warns that they wouldn't make any profit on this quarter. On the contrary, a loss is on the cards.
Motorola Muddles Forward
Amazing! I think that this is not good news not only for Nokia but Sony-Ericsson as well. When the appeal of Razr-like phones are vanishing, it appears that the feature-phones are selling like hotcakes. Music and camera phones anybody?
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
We do get the Browser for S60 as a separate sis. file!
atmaspheric | endeavors » An Evening with S60…
"I’m looking forward to the browser release which should arrive within the next 1 month. Apparently, the user voices have been heard and the browser will be pulled out from the FP updates so we’ll all be able to take advantage of the progress that’s been made without having to drop some serious dough on a new phone — just to take advantage of the browser…"
It seems that the initiative taken by the people at the Web Browser for S60 Blog has borne fruit.
This is great news! I'm not sure if it's a good business decision, however, because one of the reason why I was thinking about buying the new Nokia N95, was to get the new version of the browser. Now I don't have to, because I can install the sis. file directly to my N73! I think there are other people (quite a many) who think the same.
Take a look on the new features here. They include:
Best of both words: Full Web browser and a WAP-browser in the same application.
Floating (!) Toolbar to enable easy access to frequently used features.
Widescreen mode for every device!
Autocomplete and password manager!
Improved Web Feeds (alltough I remain sceptical if these built-in RRS readers can ever match Google Reader).
There should be better Ajax-support as well.
Bubbling under are some nice new features as: Web pages can be saved for off-line browsing, Flash Lite 2 support and Favicons (you can save the Web address with its icon for easy identification=image-bookmarks?).
I found Jonathan's news via the Nokia Blog.
"I’m looking forward to the browser release which should arrive within the next 1 month. Apparently, the user voices have been heard and the browser will be pulled out from the FP updates so we’ll all be able to take advantage of the progress that’s been made without having to drop some serious dough on a new phone — just to take advantage of the browser…"
It seems that the initiative taken by the people at the Web Browser for S60 Blog has borne fruit.
This is great news! I'm not sure if it's a good business decision, however, because one of the reason why I was thinking about buying the new Nokia N95, was to get the new version of the browser. Now I don't have to, because I can install the sis. file directly to my N73! I think there are other people (quite a many) who think the same.
Take a look on the new features here. They include:
Best of both words: Full Web browser and a WAP-browser in the same application.
Floating (!) Toolbar to enable easy access to frequently used features.
Widescreen mode for every device!
Autocomplete and password manager!
Improved Web Feeds (alltough I remain sceptical if these built-in RRS readers can ever match Google Reader).
There should be better Ajax-support as well.
Bubbling under are some nice new features as: Web pages can be saved for off-line browsing, Flash Lite 2 support and Favicons (you can save the Web address with its icon for easy identification=image-bookmarks?).
I found Jonathan's news via the Nokia Blog.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
My Formula One 2007 season preview
So, soon it will start! The week before the weekend will be difficult. How I'm going to get any work done?
As usual, the pre-season testing has been a source of on-going speculation about who is in front and who's trying to catch who.
Let's go over the protagonists:
At Ferrari things look good. Everybody is saying that they have the pace and reliability. Strong and consistent pace in long stints. But who is going to be the faster of the two?
As a Finn, I'm of course hoping it will be Kimi. However, Massa can't be underestimated and is actually being touted as the favourite by a numerous high profile commentators. Granted, Massa has been faster in the pre-season testing, but testing is testing. You can't never be 100 % sure what they have been doing respectively. Still, I think it's difficult to hide your pace inside the team. Telemetry information would surely show any kind of sandbagging somebody is trying. And let's not forget, Massa beat Schumacher fair and square a couple of times last season.
Like Kimi says, Melbourne will finally show to us all, where they stand. I wouldn't be surprised if Massa had the upper hand early in the season. Hopefully that then changes soon.
Actually, I've been a bit surprised on the amount of criticism Kimi has received lately. And just because he likes to party (admittedly sometimes quite heavily) now and then. At same time so many rues about the lack of characters in the sport. Mayby it's something to do about being a Ferrari driver. Until you have won couple of championships you have not done anything right.
Mclaren seems to be in a good position as well. They have ironed out the reliability hick-ups and the new tyres seem to work fine with the new car. Alonso doesn't need any introductions and I doubt there will be any in the media suggested tantrums from his side, even things don't start smoothly. He is in his dream team and there for the long term. Money is good too. Hamilton will be an interesting driver to follow. How he handles the rookie year and, of course, we all are interested about his performance compared to Alonso. Let's hope we can see some surprises there!
Renault is a question mark. They lost Alonso and the trusted (and bespoke) Michelins. It could take them a while to catch up in that respect. Car itself is reliable and has a good engine. But does it have room for development if they see themselves trailing the fastest? Alonso is a BIG loss when you compare the current line-up. I don't rate Fisichella that high and Kovalainen, who is a compatriot and I wish him well, is a rookie. It is paramount to Kovalainen that he outperforms Fisi if he wants to be considered as a future superstar.
You don't need to be an expert to say that Fisi needs to up his game considerably from previous years. If Alonso would be Kovy's teammate everybody would consider Kovy the apprentice. That's not the case now. There are other hungry (and vocal, like Piquet jr.) young drivers waiting their chances too. Fisi's time is over sooner than the season finishes, if Heikki outperforms him on a regular basis.
Anyhoo, I root for Kovy of course. He is a nice character and my no. 2 favourite driver.
BMW-Sauber could be quite strong even in the beginning. They have some reliability issues, but pace has been good on occasion. One thing to remember is that they are sure to improve as the season evolves. They have resources and a plan. They could be really up there in the end. Driver line-up is good too. Expect some fireworks here if the intra team battle continues the same way as compared to last season. Hopefully Theissen let's them compete as fiercely as it is meant to.
Kubica has had some issues with the new tyres. He says he has had to adapt his driving style to better suite the new rubber. Hopefully, if this actually true at all, this doesn't affect his speed or aggressive racing. Heidfelt is fast and generally underestimated by the viewing public. He is a hard worker and smoother on the tyres than Kubica. Kubica entered with a bang in the middle of the season last year. Heidfelt vs. Kubica is something to watch as well!
Red Bull Racing is a dark horse. The car is designed by THE Adrian Newey. Well, after this season we really now if he is magic or not. I hope we get good racing a many teams able to win. In that respect I wish them well. Drivers a on the more experienced side considering the youthful image of the team. Nothing wrong with that and Coulthard vs. Webber will be another fight I will be following with interest. No bias involved here, both are very likeable characters.
I hope Williams surprises us this season. They have a good engine with Toyota's powerplant, but as a privateer they lack the resources compared to the big names. According to recent Rosberg interview, Patrick Head has moved his bed to his office, so at least they are giving it all they got. Rosberg is a half Finn, the son of the Keijo "Keke" Rosberg. This year he is teamed up with Alexander Wurz. Very interesting how Alex does in his racing come-back. I wish him well, but of course Rosberg is the priority. He really needs to stop making mistakes and be faster than Wurz. That's not going to easy.
Honda does seem to be in trouble. Pace is missing and the less said about the new colour scheme the better. I don't think the campaign itself to ill advised, but..Driver line-up is solid if unspectacular. As a Brit Button gets a lot of coverage which is not wholly unjustified. He is good. Barichello was a bit of a disappointment last season. I've read, that a lot of it was down to the Michelin tyres which had different characteristics to the Bridgestones he was using when with the Ferrari. Hopefully this battle will be interesting to follow as well.
Toyota really REALLY needs a good season. How can they justify the money poured in to the F1 project when they can't get ANY results. The horror-story of the current Toyota program is the final proof to any doubters out there just how difficult F1 is. Trulli and Schumacher are both good drivers able to win when the machinery has that potential. Hopefully they haven't lost their edge during the dry spell.
Super Aguri will be biting the heels of any above who lost their game. It' s a solid outfit. Honda power is good, but how will the car be developed is another question. If Honda is really bad, they don't even want to use their bits and pieces. Sato and Davidson are both good drivers and will be fascinating to see who has the upper hand in the end.
Let's hope that the Spyker team is here to compete seriously. It will be miracle if they win anyone, but let's hope they are trying it in earnest. Gascoyne is a proven thing, so that's a good sign. Their use of legion of third and test drivers isn't. It takes valuable track time from the racing drivers and they aren't exactly nearing the test kilometre limits with their current test program. Let's see how Sutil does with everything this. He should be faster than Albers. At least Hamilton thinks so.
As usual, the pre-season testing has been a source of on-going speculation about who is in front and who's trying to catch who.
Let's go over the protagonists:
At Ferrari things look good. Everybody is saying that they have the pace and reliability. Strong and consistent pace in long stints. But who is going to be the faster of the two?
As a Finn, I'm of course hoping it will be Kimi. However, Massa can't be underestimated and is actually being touted as the favourite by a numerous high profile commentators. Granted, Massa has been faster in the pre-season testing, but testing is testing. You can't never be 100 % sure what they have been doing respectively. Still, I think it's difficult to hide your pace inside the team. Telemetry information would surely show any kind of sandbagging somebody is trying. And let's not forget, Massa beat Schumacher fair and square a couple of times last season.
Like Kimi says, Melbourne will finally show to us all, where they stand. I wouldn't be surprised if Massa had the upper hand early in the season. Hopefully that then changes soon.
Actually, I've been a bit surprised on the amount of criticism Kimi has received lately. And just because he likes to party (admittedly sometimes quite heavily) now and then. At same time so many rues about the lack of characters in the sport. Mayby it's something to do about being a Ferrari driver. Until you have won couple of championships you have not done anything right.
Mclaren seems to be in a good position as well. They have ironed out the reliability hick-ups and the new tyres seem to work fine with the new car. Alonso doesn't need any introductions and I doubt there will be any in the media suggested tantrums from his side, even things don't start smoothly. He is in his dream team and there for the long term. Money is good too. Hamilton will be an interesting driver to follow. How he handles the rookie year and, of course, we all are interested about his performance compared to Alonso. Let's hope we can see some surprises there!
Renault is a question mark. They lost Alonso and the trusted (and bespoke) Michelins. It could take them a while to catch up in that respect. Car itself is reliable and has a good engine. But does it have room for development if they see themselves trailing the fastest? Alonso is a BIG loss when you compare the current line-up. I don't rate Fisichella that high and Kovalainen, who is a compatriot and I wish him well, is a rookie. It is paramount to Kovalainen that he outperforms Fisi if he wants to be considered as a future superstar.
You don't need to be an expert to say that Fisi needs to up his game considerably from previous years. If Alonso would be Kovy's teammate everybody would consider Kovy the apprentice. That's not the case now. There are other hungry (and vocal, like Piquet jr.) young drivers waiting their chances too. Fisi's time is over sooner than the season finishes, if Heikki outperforms him on a regular basis.
Anyhoo, I root for Kovy of course. He is a nice character and my no. 2 favourite driver.
BMW-Sauber could be quite strong even in the beginning. They have some reliability issues, but pace has been good on occasion. One thing to remember is that they are sure to improve as the season evolves. They have resources and a plan. They could be really up there in the end. Driver line-up is good too. Expect some fireworks here if the intra team battle continues the same way as compared to last season. Hopefully Theissen let's them compete as fiercely as it is meant to.
Kubica has had some issues with the new tyres. He says he has had to adapt his driving style to better suite the new rubber. Hopefully, if this actually true at all, this doesn't affect his speed or aggressive racing. Heidfelt is fast and generally underestimated by the viewing public. He is a hard worker and smoother on the tyres than Kubica. Kubica entered with a bang in the middle of the season last year. Heidfelt vs. Kubica is something to watch as well!
Red Bull Racing is a dark horse. The car is designed by THE Adrian Newey. Well, after this season we really now if he is magic or not. I hope we get good racing a many teams able to win. In that respect I wish them well. Drivers a on the more experienced side considering the youthful image of the team. Nothing wrong with that and Coulthard vs. Webber will be another fight I will be following with interest. No bias involved here, both are very likeable characters.
I hope Williams surprises us this season. They have a good engine with Toyota's powerplant, but as a privateer they lack the resources compared to the big names. According to recent Rosberg interview, Patrick Head has moved his bed to his office, so at least they are giving it all they got. Rosberg is a half Finn, the son of the Keijo "Keke" Rosberg. This year he is teamed up with Alexander Wurz. Very interesting how Alex does in his racing come-back. I wish him well, but of course Rosberg is the priority. He really needs to stop making mistakes and be faster than Wurz. That's not going to easy.
Honda does seem to be in trouble. Pace is missing and the less said about the new colour scheme the better. I don't think the campaign itself to ill advised, but..Driver line-up is solid if unspectacular. As a Brit Button gets a lot of coverage which is not wholly unjustified. He is good. Barichello was a bit of a disappointment last season. I've read, that a lot of it was down to the Michelin tyres which had different characteristics to the Bridgestones he was using when with the Ferrari. Hopefully this battle will be interesting to follow as well.
Toyota really REALLY needs a good season. How can they justify the money poured in to the F1 project when they can't get ANY results. The horror-story of the current Toyota program is the final proof to any doubters out there just how difficult F1 is. Trulli and Schumacher are both good drivers able to win when the machinery has that potential. Hopefully they haven't lost their edge during the dry spell.
Super Aguri will be biting the heels of any above who lost their game. It' s a solid outfit. Honda power is good, but how will the car be developed is another question. If Honda is really bad, they don't even want to use their bits and pieces. Sato and Davidson are both good drivers and will be fascinating to see who has the upper hand in the end.
Let's hope that the Spyker team is here to compete seriously. It will be miracle if they win anyone, but let's hope they are trying it in earnest. Gascoyne is a proven thing, so that's a good sign. Their use of legion of third and test drivers isn't. It takes valuable track time from the racing drivers and they aren't exactly nearing the test kilometre limits with their current test program. Let's see how Sutil does with everything this. He should be faster than Albers. At least Hamilton thinks so.
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