Reading an article from ZD Net, they commented on how Yahoo! could do a great match for Nokia, and viceversa. Although I didn’t feel an acquisition of Yahoo! by Microsoft made much sense due to a cultural shock, Nokia could be a very different story. Although Nokia comes from the hardware manufacturer point of view, they are recently trying to become a services company. They have launched the Ovi initiative, which hasn’t really had much success. Unless you are a Nokia fanboy (or happened to work previously at Nokia ) chances are you have never heard of Ovi.

On the other hand, Yahoo! is a great services company which would get a great push by adding a hardware factor. This would ensure Yahoo! the access to mobile platforms it is looking for. And why should Nokia copy reinvent Flickr, Yahoo Mail, Search, etc…? Although Nokia might make good phones, they have always lagged on the software point of view, which is where Yahoo! could be very beneficial, providing the current services and software technology for phones. And it could make a better competitor against Google’s android, which although still doesn’t seem much of a threat, it could easily become one faster than it seems.

Even business-wise it seems as a good idea…. Nokia has been falling behind severely in the american market, where Yahoo! has not only a good brand name but also an important user base, and at the same time would help promote Yahoo! on the less popular Europe.

It all seems to good to be true…

This is a long forgetten post that got lost in the drafts section. Although I don’t intend to say what I originally wanted to say, I do want to point out that this year was the 50th anniversary of the creation of NASA.

Over the course of these 50 years a lot of things have happened… from walking in the Moon to driving RC cars in Mars, the Hubble telescope and the International Space Station.

But the history of space exploration also reflects the history on earth, from a race to space to an era of cooperation with an International Space Station. And now NASA has competition not only from Russia and Europe, but also China and India are investing heavily on their space programs. Last week even Australia announced they are planning on launching a national space agency. All this focus on Space exploration shows the importance it has for real life on earth…

However, although NASA certainly has earned the right to celebrate (despite the several unfortunate accidents that are always innevitable), I can only think of the ageing fleet of Space Shuttles. Built during the 1980s, only 3 remain (Discovery, Atlantis & Endeavour) but are scheduled to be retired in 2010, which is not that far away. They are planned to be succeded by the Orion Spacecraft, but with the current financial crisis and shrinking budgets, lets hope NASA can celebrate with as much pride in 25 years.

Saludos!

1.- ¿Sabías que el meteorito que provocó la extinción de los dinosaurios se estrelló, hace 65 millones de años, en lo que actualmente es el pueblo de Chicxulub en la costa de la península de Yucatán?
El impacto formó un cráter de 180 kilómetros de diámetro, que actualmente está sepultado sepultado a 600 metros de profundidad.
Fue descubierto en 1981 cuando trabajadores de Pemex hacían perforaciones en busca de yacimientos petroleros, detectando un cambio brusco de la densidad a esa profundidad.

2.- México significa ‘en el ombligo de la Luna’.
Del Náhuatl ‘Metztli’ (luna) y ‘xictli’ (ombligo). Los Aztecas lo pronunciaban ‘Meshico’. Los españoles lo escribían ‘Méjico’ ya que no existía la pronunciación de la ‘x’. La Real Academia de la Lengua permite las dos versiones: México y Méjico.

3.- ¿Sabes porqué se le llama Zócalo a la plaza central de la Ciudad de México?
En 1842 el presidente Antonio López de Santa Ana mandó construir en la entonces Plaza de la Constitución una gran columna conmemorando la Independencia. Sin embargo debido a múltiples problemas sólo se terminó la base o zócalo, la cual permaneció durante varios años hasta que fue retirada, pero el nombre llegó para quedarse.

4.- La residencia oficial de los presidentes mexicanos se llama ‘Los Pinos’ no porque en ella abunden estos árboles, sino en recuerdo de una huerta en Michoacán donde el presidente Lázaro Cárdenas (quién fue el primero en habitar dicha residencia)conoció a su esposa.

5.- México (el estado de Zacatecas) es el mayor productor de plata en el mundo.

6.- México es el mayor consumidor per cápita de coca cola a nivel mundial (527 botellas de ocho onzas por persona al año, superior al promedio de 411 en Estados Unidos).

7.- México es el país que tiene más taxis: 60,000 registrados (súmale los piratas).

8.- El nombre de la zona de México conocida como Península de ‘Yucatán’ se debe a que un conquistador preguntó a un maya cómo se llamaban esas tierras. El nativo probablemente le respondió: yuk ak katán.
Lo que el español no sabía es que  en maya significa ‘no te entiendo’.

9.- El castillo de Chapultepec es el único castillo construido en el continente Americano donde han habitado monarcas.

10.- México, D.F. es la ciudad con el mayor número de museos en el mundo: 110 museos.

Well, recently it has been a weird mix of good and bad things… first of all, I received the visit from Gautam Chandarana, an old friendo from Erasmus I met in Jönköping, Sweden. It had been a veery long time since we last saw each other, to be more precise about 5 years. But what impressed me is how after such a long time during which we hardly communicated, he is still the same fun guy and we still get along great. He arrived last thursday and came with his brother… in a small detour from his family visits to London (although from indian origin, he was actually born in Kenya and lives in Florida ).

With Gautam and Rishnan’s visit, the bad news started… first, while cleaning I accidentaly connected my old Xbox directly to the powerline, which caused an inmediate puff followed by a thik and stinky cloud of white smoke declaring the death of my old Xbox. I think my poor old xbox almost deserves a post of its own It has a very peculiar story but in brief, I bought it in Canada in 2002 while studying a summer course. It was the first generation, just released… I carried it in my back to Mexico where it enjoyed years of service Then I took it with me to Querétaro, then back to México, and last February I brought it with me to Spain. While performing a software update I half-crippled it, loosing the ability to play movies, and now this weekend I gave the final blow… which I guess is a good excuse to buy a new xbox or PS3

But my bad luck didn’t end there… later on during the same day, while watching the TV with Gautam and his brother, it suddenly went pitch dark. At first, we thought it had accidentaly powered off, but no… it suddenly started making screetching noises and showing lines and odd things at the top of the screen. And so, both my xbox and tv died the same day The TV is almost new (3 months) so it is still covered by the warranty, however it is a royal pain in the ass.

But we end with some more good news I had a great time with Gautam during the weekend… we started off with Diwali dinner on friday, went to Segovia on saturday and visited Madrid on sunday. They are leaving tomorrow tuesday, and my parents are coming over, arriving on thursday and staying for a week! And yes, I will post pictures soon!

So in summary, unexpected bad news but still good news and good times to come

Definitely worth a read…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/03/AR2008100301976.html

Last week Apple had it’s Let’s Rock event where it showed the latest iPod line-up for the upcoming holidays. After so many leaks it was impossible to be surprised at the new iPod Nanos (4G) although I have to admit I like them quite a lot… They recognized their mistake with the fatty Nano (3G) and corrected the design. The iPod Classic was consolidated into a single model, which confirms the decrease in demand but I believe it is a mature product that still offers a lot of value and will be kept in store shelves for still quite a while.

And last but not least, Apple also updated the iPod Touch. The hardware updates are somewhat minor, adding volume controls, speakers and connectivity to the Nike+ running companion. However, on the software side there is a subtle but important change. It now comes with the App Store built-in, which gives it a whole new focus. It is no longer just an iPod, but now Apple is advertising it as a gaming device. But is it? Can it compete against Nintendo, Sony or others?

While Nintendo makes relatively cheaper products focused on a younger audience, both Apple and Sony are focused on the higher end customer segments with fancier hardware, which will make them compete head to head.

Whereas Nintendo and Sony use classical game cartridges, Apple’s solution is more technologically advanced, offering over-the-air downloads and an online store which can give instant access to any available game. This is very benefficial in many ways… it not only helps reduce costs and distribution time, but this in turn allows to make available many other apps which in the traditional model would simply be impossible to offer, either because they are offered for free or because they simply don’t offer enough value so that an acceptable price can cover the costs. However, regardless of how convenient it is, it may turn out backfiring to Apple on the higher end of applications, where users might feel afraid to pay a considerable amount of money for digital information without the backup of a physical object.

The iPod Touch (or iPhone in any case) represents a serious threat to mobile game consoles such as the PSP. Although coming from the media world instead of the gaming world may represent a disadvantage for serious gamers, it stregthens its ability to be an all-in one device, which is not only usefull for gaming, but allows watching movies (without Sony’s stupid proprietary disc formats), listening to music, web browsing, mail, etc. and has the added functionality of hundreds of small applications.

It is not very well know yet how the iPod’s interface (touchscreen) will be received for serious gaming, but with these capabilities and with big players in the industry such as EA developing games specifically for the iPod, it is only a matter of time before it becomes a serious player in the portable gaming industry.

A lot of things have passed, so I guess I will try and start from where I left off… I have moved to my flat. Actually I have now been for more than a couple of months in the new flat and overall I am very happy about it. As always it has a million things I don’t like… such as hitting my head on the low ceiling, getting horribly hot, cracking floor, etc… but still the feeling of being my home and only mine is great! Yes I get to do all the cleaning, but at least I can keep it as clean as I want to, which results in the cleaning not being so bad after all.

And well, concerning my home, I recently bought a nice flat tv in order to watch movies and play videogames (I don’t really watch much tv). However, I had the great idea to update the software in my modded xbox (first gen) which resulted in a half-crippled box! :S I can still play original games but no longer “backup copies” of games nor watch dvd’s or other media. This is quite unfortunate, and is making me consider on buying a new generation console So still trying to decide between the PS3 and Xbox, and waiting to save some money

For the summer holidays, I went to Tenerife for a couple weeks with Alejandro, Virginia and Miguel. It was great to enjoy a lot of sun, sand and sea although surprisingly not everybody enjoys the beach! hehe It was a nice relaxing trip, and although it was a lot of fun, I have to admit it felt a bit weird going to Tenerife without my family… making me feel homesick more than usual.

After coming back from Tenerife, with a considerable delay due to Spanairs’ accident, I left the next day to Valencia with Alvaro, Jesús and Mauricio to the F1 GP of Europe! It was my first time at a F1 race and was very excited about it, plus it had the added bonus that it was the first time the race was held in Valencia, with a new street-circuit. And overall, I enjoyed the experience quite a lot. I have to say there were some things I liked a lot and some I didn’t like that much… The event is during three days (although we only went to two), which makes it bit intense… you have practices, qualifying rounds, GP2 races, porsche cup races, bmw cup races, etc. etc. and of course the F1 race. And for all of this you are sitting on a under-sized seat under the sun/rain next to a fat stinky guy Still, the sound of the engines is amazing… nothing I had ever imagined, and the atmosphere and excitement made it all worthwhile. Still, I have to admit you need to be quite a fan, but definitely something that needs to be experienced at least once in a lifetime

You can see some pictures from the summer holidays on the following public facebook album:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29510&l=1d47f&id=500254325

And well, now back to work and daily routine I started working last week, with the office half empty and not too much work to do. Now people are coming back from holidays and activity is gearing up again. So lets see what future project comes. We are already in September and the year is going by quicly… lets try and make something out of what’s next!

Cheers!