International CES 2013

Yesterday, I received a reminder from the international headquarters of the International CES organizers that registration to the conference and exhibit show just started.

I wasted no time to register as a member of the Press again. Like in previous years, it will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The actual conference will be on January 8 – 12, 2013, but I will be going a little earlier to attend the Pre-Conference Media events. The latter starts January 6^th.

I am encouraging Asian Journal readers who are consumer technology professionals and/or enthusiasts to attend and register early. Registration now until August 31^st is free but it will cost $100 starting September 1^st and will increase to $200 on January 2, 2013.

This is the most important global technology event of the year. I have attended it every year for more than a decade now. It had grown in terms of attendance and exhibit participation annually since I started going.

During the International CES 2012, there were more than 140,000 of us attending. For International CES 2013, it is expected to attract more than 150,000 top executives, retail buyers, content providers, entertainment executives, venture capitalists, engineers, government officials and media from 150 countries.

Innovations, Inventions, and Initiatives in several aspects of life will be on display. New innovations in hardware, software and apps, cloud computing, lifestyle technologies, digital health and automotive technologies will be featured.

As I have described in my previous articles, attending the likes of the International CES is like witnessing “little miracles” created and performed by finite beings as if guided by some Infinite Being.

I always enjoyed watching the demos of new products either vying to be in the Top 10 Gadgets Standing or just exhibiting them in their respective booths.

It is always nice to see the best Mobile Apps demonstrated by developers, and analyze their relevance as tools to inform or be informed, to educate and be educated, to entertain and be entertained, and to be efficient and effective.

As a member of Press, I am lucky to be provided with samples of some of the new products and technologies for review. I also get to interview the CEOs of the companies that are launching and demonstrating their new gadgets.

The 2013 CES will feature 3,000 global technology companies unveiling the latest consumer technology products and services. Among the major categories of these products are electronic gaming, entertainment/content, digital imaging/photography, connected home technologies, automotive electronics, audio, video, TV, and many more.

The new President of PANASONIC, Kazuhiro Tsuga, will deliver the Opening Keynote Address. He is expected to address the “opportunities ahead for consumer electronics.”

Tsuga’s address will follow the State of the CE Industry keynote address by Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA ,which organizes, runs, and owns the celebrated conference.

Samsung’s President Stephen Woo will also deliver a Keynote Address to open day two of the conference. He will present his “insight on the role of components in enabling consumer product innovations.”

I expect Samsung to launch and unveil during the conference some new products and technologies that would affect the lives of consumers in the years to come.

I will update you on the other speakers, as we get closer to the event.

Most importantly, let me remind you again – register now! Do not miss the opportunity of a lifetime!

Tech Tools Against Poverty

Education is the best antidote to poverty, which poisons anybody’s battle for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said, “Education is the great equalizer for the poor.”

Making education more accessible to the poor therefore, must be a priority for those warriors in the battle against poverty.

Learning the fundamentals such as reading, writing, and arithmetic is a good foundation to access more information and knowledge.

Knowledge is wealth. Possessing a load of knowledge means adding more to your wealth. So any tool or technology that makes information, knowledge and education accessible, available and affordable to the poor should eventually lead to reduction if not eradication of poverty.

Information and Communications Technology is known to reduce poverty by improving poor people’s access to education, health, government and financial services.

For the technologies to be effectively used, there should be an infrastructure built precisely for the purpose. It is called information superhighway. The private sector, which are usually the telecom companies, are preferred to build it but for economic and commercial reasons, there is really no incentive to have it in low income communities.

So, the government may have to get involved. Like the regular superhighways or railways, the government may have to build the information infrastructure either solely or in partnership with the private sector and make it more accessible, available and affordable.

At the end of the last century when we were involved in Y2K projects, we proposed what we called; PRIDE (Philippine Rural Interconnection Development Enterprise) which would have built that kind of information infrastructure. To go with it I also proposed what I named as: Rural Electronification Program.

This would have guaranteed Internet access up to the remotest areas and built E-Centers in every barangay or mobile computer labs going to all the schools and barangays for computer and internet access.

Internet access means access to knowledge and education worldwide.

The proposed National Broadband Network (NBN) that would have implemented the concept that we proposed at the turn of the century, did not continue because of revelations of corruption involving Philippine Government officials.

It should not stop the Philippine government from doing it in partnership with the private sector, however.

Despite a more limited infrastructure, the Philippines still managed to be the Facebook capital, Text capital, Twitter capital, and even the Call Center capital of the world.

I am proud to have introduced the e-Book technology to the Philippines more than ten years ago. My company had the license to manufacture and exclusively distribute the eBookMan, which is the predecessor of the Amazon Kindle.

In this age of open education and open access, we are now aggressively pursuing online education.

E-Centers, Mobile Computer Labs, eBooks, eLibraries, and E-Learning (Online Education) and hundreds of thousands of mobile and computer applications are indeed helpful as tech tools for poverty reduction.

Who knows, we might also end up being the capital of the Planet of the Apps!

Ambiguity in Law and in Life

My barber thinks that Corona supported by Senator Judges Marcos and Santiago could have been more persuasive about using the ambiguity of the SALN Law argument. 

This is after I explained to my barber that something is “ambiguous” if it could have double or multiple meaning. Corona, Marcos, and Santiago just did not give ample explanation and samples.

My barber says, “Assets could be understood in many ways. Its Tagalog translation is “pag-aari”. A male public official, for example, could have a valuable and substantial asset dahil sa kanyang malaking pag-aari. The same is true with a female public official who could claim valuable asset because of her big frontal property.”

He further explains, “Corona’s banking and trust relationships could also be interpreted some other way like “banging and trusting partners”. You make deposits and withdrawals in trust. The deposits could be for a short or long time. They usually bear fruit or interest in 9 months, longer or lesser.”

He then concluded by asking, “If male or female ang public official na kamukha, kasing sexy o kasing “galing” at least sa isip niya, si Miriam Santiago, idideclara ba as Liability or Asset?”

Indeed, “ambiguity” could be claimed. Take it from my barber!

TABLETS

Then I started telling him about my excitement on the new Windows 8 Tablets that have just been launched and announced at the COMPUTEX 2012 in Taipei, Taiwan. The latter is the largest consumer electronics show in Asia. Its organizers always attend the International CES in Las Vegas to promote it. Together with the equivalent show in Germany, I have always wanted to attend both but never got around to synchronizing their schedule with mine.  Going to these technology conferences like CES, MACWORLD and FOSE (Government technologies) for me, is like witnessing “LITTLE MIRACLES” happening around the world.

A wise man he really is, my barber claims that there is also “ambiguity” in the word Tablet depending on how you use it. The Tablet of Moses containing the Ten Commandments has the goal of uplifting the soul through some spiritual standard. The Tablets that we take daily are for health care and physical well being through some prescribed medical standards. Now we have these Tablets identified as Androids, IPADs and Windows 8 with different operating standards and goals affecting everyday lives depending on the applications developed.

In this Planet of the APPS, applications could be on the ground offline, or in the cloud online.

Indeed, be it spiritual, physical or virtual, “ambiguity” could be claimed as well. Tech IT from my barber!

According to a study made by Morgan Stanley, “the Tablet is the fastest ramping mobile in history”. According to the survey, the market is even bigger and growing faster than they initially forecast. Purchase intentions in their survey indicate shipments of 133 million and 216 million in 2012 and 2013, or 57% and 112% larger than their initial estimates.

 While Microsoft was described as a company challenged earlier, it is now shifted to being in the best position to be very competitive. In fact, Windows 8 with Office in the Tablets now has the potential to drive market growth and share gains. The survey suggests 25% of users expect to buy Windows 8 and Office as a feature for those considering their first Tablet purchase.

The key variable that will determine the success of Microsoft and its partners according to the survey is Pricing. Consumers or respondents to the survey said that they are willing to pay a Tablet with Windows 8 and Office at price of $469 or a 6% discount to Apple’s iPad. I am sure Microsoft could lower the license fees to accommodate the Tablet manufacturers.

Many of the big players have signed in to be partners with Microsoft: Samsung, Acer, Lenovo, Intel, HP, Dell, AMD, Qualcomm and a few others. I am sure they could get it together.

My excitement as I explained to my barber is based on two developments. First, is the investment of Microsoft into Barnes & Noble. This means the availability of Windows 8 and Office in NOOK Tablets and hundreds of thousands of eBooks that Barnes and Noble owns or publishes. Second, is the presence of an offline search engines in all Windows 8 Tablets. This means that electronic libraries that are created and stored in the Tablets could now be searched, retrieved, bookmarked, and annotated offline without fear of external interference.

There is no ambiguity in my excitement to the developments!

INTERNATIONAL CTIA WIRELESS 2012

For the first time, I registered to attend the International CTIA Wireless 2012 Show to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 8-10, 2012.

CTIA, which stands for Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, approved my credentials as a Member of the Press. It also invited me to be a Judge of the 2012 CTIA Emerging Technology (E-Tech) Awards competition, which is on its seventh year.

The E-Tech Awards program draws hundreds of entries and honors the most innovative new products in the areas of mobile apps, consumer electronics, enterprise and infrastructure.

The International CTIA WIRELESS Show is All Things Mobile. It draws more than 40,000 qualified attendees every year; occupies more than 300,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space and hosts over 1,000 exhibitors.

Featured Keynote Speakers include Former President Bill Clinton; Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski; Gary Flood, President of the Global Products Division of the MasterCard Worldwide; Joe Kennedy, CEO & President of PANDORA; Patrick Riordan, President & CEO of Cellcom; Ralph de la Vega, President & CEO, AT&T Mobility; Dan Resse, CEO , Sprint Nextel Corporation; Philip Rumm, CEO & President, T-Mobile USA; Dan Mead, President & CEO, Verizon Wireless; Daniel Ek, CEO & Co-Founder Spotify; Gary Kovacs, CEO Mozilla Corporation; John Partridge, President of VISA, Inc.; and John Ricctiell, CEO of Electronic Arts.

Attendees will include service operators, retailers/distributors, applications providers, enterprise and vertical market users, content providers and mobile web companies.

Of course, there will be at least 1,000 press and analysts worldwide, and offers the most comprehensive educational programming in the industry.

The new Solutions Showcase features interactive exhibits from industry leaders such as AT & T, Verizon, Dell and Accenture who will bring wireless advancements to life. The attendees will experience current innovations and the future of wireless enterprise technology in automotive, energy and health.

Emerging Technology Showcase will feature more than 100 of the newest innovations.

The CTIA World will celebrate the wireless industry with interactive displays, programming and information on the grass-roots movement in each state.

I am particularly interested in seeing the Corporate Philanthropy Pavilion. This is supposed to be the first corporate social responsibility pavilion showcasing the different ways wireless technology makes our communities a better place to live.

The trend is going for All Things Mobile! CTIA is the driving force of this trend.

Reading in this Digital Age­

“Library in my pocket, knowledge at my fingertips.”

This is a phrase that we used to promote the eBookMan, an eBook reading device that my company had the license to manufacture and exclusively distribute in the Philippines.

It also served as a music player, MP3 and audiobook player aside from being a very good eBook reader. Amazon.com later on bought its technology and its successor device became the Amazon Kindle.

Having distributed the eBookMan, I learned to convert ordinary documents into the eBook format and download them into eBook devices. Correspondingly, I was able to create electronic libraries that are stored, retrievable, searchable, bookmarkable and annotatable in the eBookMan initially, and in all handheld devices eventually.

The most popular electronic library that we created in the Philippines was the electronic law library that contained all the Philippine laws and the Supreme Court decisions since 1901. We coined the phrase, addressing it to customers- mainly lawyers and law students, “You can now take the law into your own hands.” For PALM Pilot devices we called the library, “Law on the Go”.

When the Amazon Kindle became available in the United States, I purchased it knowing that all my existing libraries are transferable. It also let me continue converting documents into the eBook format that are downloadable and readable through the Kindle or Kindle Readers installed in other devices.

When I say documents, I mean docs that are in my computer as well as from online sources. Once these documents are stored in my computer or in my external hard drives, they are indexed. Hence, they all become searchable especially when they are converted into the eBook format.

Having access to a lot of data, information and knowledge from the Internet and from my own computer are indeed luxuries that many of us enjoy in this digital age. They all make us learned or potentially become one if we just desire to be such and dedicate some time to doing it.

Search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others index the documents in the Internet. Of course, the offline search engines of your computers do the same.

Lately, I have explored other sources of knowledge derived from published and indexed books. These are the national and local public libraries and the university libraries.

As a resident of Fairfax County, Virginia my library card allows me to access eBooks and audiobooks online and/or download them into my laptop, Kindle, iPAD, iPod (audio), Android, or iPhone.

As an alumnus of two universities in the U.S. I can also access their libraries. Their digital libraries are also good sources. Google is now digitizing the books of many major universities and is gradually making them available online. Project Gutenberg has digitized hundreds of thousands of books and making them available for free. With public support, they continue to digitize more and offer more.

When I was a young boy my father, who was a schoolteacher, used to say, “Just master the art of Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, and you can survive, be competitive, and succeed.”

Nothing can be more true in this digital age.

I am attending FOSE 2012 as I write this column.  Like in the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012 and MACWORLD/IWorld, I am lucky to obtain Press Credentials.

Originally named as plain Federal Office Systems Exposition (FOSE) exhibiting office ware in the Federal Government, it has evolved over the years as “the premier government information technology (IT) event that brings together federal, state, local and private sector partners to share the latest innovations and best practices in technology implementation.”

This year FOSE 2012 is focusing on both technology and policy management. It is comprised of five conferences: Cybersecurity, Cloud and Virtualization, Mobile Government, Defense Innovations as well as Records and Information Management.

Produced by 1105 Media's Government Events Group efficiently and effectively, FOSE 2012 is being held April 3 - 5 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

Providing a yearlong educational forum, FOSE will also host individual conferences for each of the topic areas above during 2012.

Kicking off the event on April 3rd was U.S. Chief Information Officer (CIO) Steven VanRoekel who delivered the opening keynote address. He expounded on the current landscape of federal IT as well as his vision for implementing a
common approach to the design of future federal architectures.

Tom Koulopolous, author of “The Innovation Zone”, was the featured speaker early in the afternoon. Koulopolous is known for “taking mystery out of innovation.”

One of the sessions that I attended was “The Dark Side of Facebook”. The speaker, Alix Levine who is the owner of WEBehavior, a consulting firm, discussed some samples and case studies on how the enemies of our way of life use Facebook for their sinister ends. I plan to write a separate article on this topic later.

The Wednesday keynote speaker will be former Senator George Mitchell and special envoy for Middle East peace. He is expected to offer a global perspective on government IT, including the impact of technology and social media on world political currents.

He will be followed in the afternoon by the first Navy SEAL ever to be appointed to a four-star flag rank, Adm. Eric Olson. His views on using technology to enhance the “new fighter warrior” will be aired. He will also offer “Lessons from the Bull Frog SEAL Commander”.

FOSE will feature five top women in government IT in a panel discussion on Thursday. They are Judy Marks, president of Siemens Government Technology; Dawn Meyerriecks, assistant director in the
Office of the National Director for Intelligence; Linda Rix, president of Avue Technologies; Lisa Schlosser, deputy administrator of OMB’s office of e-government and IT; and Susan Swart, CIO of the State Department. The panel will be moderated by 1105 Government Information Group President Anne Armstrong.

Being a member of the media, I am allowed to attend any or all of the sessions. Since I am unable to attend all, I will focus on some interesting sessions on Mobile Government, Cybersecurity, Cloud and Virtualization and Records and Information Management Conference Agenda. I will miss all the sessions on Defense Innovations because of time limitations.

I also plan to write about them in my next column.

It is indeed exciting and interesting to attend these sessions or conferences involving the government and its industry partners in the field of technology. I cite,for example, the initial stages of the Internet, the eBook and the UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) technologies.
We all know that the Internet got started at the initiative of the U.S. Government. I was fortunate to be one of the first attendees of the conferences sponsored by the U.S. Federal Government on the eBook technology.

It was also due to these eGov conferences that I learned about the UAV technology. In fact, I was even appointed by one of the manufacturers/suppliers of the military to represent them in Southeast Asia.

In the case of the Philippines, the company was even willing, not only to sell it there, but also to transfer the technology for commercialization and for use of our military.

Unfortunately, despite an approved budget that passed through Philippine Congress to finance a pilot project, we failed to consummate an agreement probably because of our insistence on following the Anti-Corrupt Practices Act of the United States.

It might be worthwhile pursuing it again under the current Philippine regime if it is still possible. It is a very inexpensive and safe way to monitor our shorelines including those of the Spratlys.

IPAD 3 In My Family

Yesterday, I had a call from my wife while I was in our local library in McLean, Virginia.

 She said our oldest daughter Tanya Maynigo Loucks was visiting us to show or rather to show off her (and her husband Tim’s) iPAD 3 or HD.

I rushed home immediately (library is less than a mile from my house) not only because my wife said so and Tanya, whose birthday is today, wanted me to, but more because I wanted to examine her new iPAD 3 hands-on.

My family is what you call, an “APPLE Family”.  My wife Tina, daughters Tanya and Traci, and only son Raul  I call the “apples of my eye”.  They also represent the “apples” in my mind and in my heart. All of us live by the overused quote, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”.  Now we do not only eat it but we live it, type on it, mouse it, touch it, finger it, order or dictate on it, signal it, and definitely, cannot leave home without it.

Of course, the fact that the value of the Apple stock has been steadily growing upward recently not only enhanced our Experience, Education and Entertainment but our Equity as well.

At least one of us always has the latest MAC device. When the amazing MacBook Air came out, my wife had it first. When the more amazing MacBook Pro came out, I had it first, followed by Traci and Tanya.  On the iPhones, Traci was the very first to have the iPhone 4 while Raul got ahead with the iPhone 4S, followed by Tanya. Then, when the most amazing iPAD 2 came out, I had to have it and I got it with the maximum features and memory. The price did not matter.  A while later, courtesy of her fiancé’s parents,  Traci got one too.

As of today, I installed about 400 carefully chosen, useful, and productive apps. These are apps that kept me more educated, skilled and learned that, at times, when I go to my “one to one” class at the Apple store, I could out-genius some of the “geniuses” at the Genius Bar.

Tanya’s (and husband Tim’s) iPAD 3 was a sweet delight. When she first showed me the device she and her mother were looking at the website of  Sweet City Desserts   (www.sweetcitydesserts.net) It was the site of a dessert shop owned by family friend Manny Tagle, brother of the Archbishop of Manila, featuring beautiful pictures of cakes and pastries.

What really made it so beautiful was not only because the site was beautifully designed with great photography but more so because we were looking at it with Tanya’s iPAD 3.

Having the current “bragging rights” in the family and also celebrating her birthday  (by Filipino time because she was born there), I wanted to reinforce her fun and happy celebratory mood. So I focused on all the new features, which make iPAD 3 superior to my IPAD 2.

But Tanya insisted on comparing our iPADs understandably reinforcing and enjoying her “bragging rights.” J

Earlier, my wife asked me why I have not gone to the Apple store to check out the new IPAD? I said, “I would only get envious and I might be tempted to upgrade which for me is unnecessary and economically impractical.”

Tanya’s insistence to compare hers to mine could have the same effect. But at the same time I was forced to show the difference for her satisfaction.

I took out my iPAD 2. I started comparing the physical features. First, both have the same size, so NO difference there. Then, I showed my cover and stand which could display my iPAD 2 in different “kama sutra” positions as featured at the MacWorld/iWorld 2012. Advantage: iPAD 2. 

We then looked at some features and built-in apps that come with iPADs such as Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Face Time, Skype, iTunes, Safari, Music, Videos, Contacts, Twitter, Facebook, App Store and Settings. NO difference.

I showed her the popular Flipboard in my device.  Her device did not have it. Advantage: iPAD 2.

I demonstrated the features of GoodReader in my IPAD 2. Her device did not have it. Advantage: iPAD 2.

I opened my “logmein” app that controls remotely my MacBook Pro. Her device did not have it.  Advantage: iPAD 2

Noticing that her “bragging rights” were slowly disappearing and the celebratory mood changing, I also changed gear.

I asked her to turn the IPAD 3 Camera as I did mine. The two cameras were focused on me. The iPAD 2 displayed a very handsome ME. The iPAD 3 displayed the handsomest guy on earth, also ME. That’s the BIGGEST ADVANTAGE of the iPAD 3. The amazing Retina Display. This made her happy. J

Then, I brought out an iPAD stand, which I got at the MacWorld conference. It is the same stand that I gave Traci, my other daughter on her birthday.  I gave it to Tanya as my birthday gift. This made her happy! J

I started explaining all the apps that she could download to make her iPAD 3 the most productive and useful device not just in our family but also in her neighborhood and elsewhere.

We accessed her iPAD 3 Apple store. We started to download the Flipboard, a free app. The store asked for a password. Tanya could not provide it.  Knowing the name, password, and ability to download are signs of ownership or co-ownership but possession is at least 90% ownership. Tanya currently has possession but accessibility is still an issue.

Today, as we celebrate her birthday, I am sure, this will be resolved! J