No way. The next war started with qualcomm shipping out 1Ghz processors which gave every phone user the bragging rights about its performance.  The argument is how many apps are there which would really push your phone to use the full 1G speed. But then as time went by ( months ) 1G cores became the norm and now the handset manufacturers are lookint at the next level in performance boost.

Voila ..here comes SMP (Symetric Multi Processor ) core phones. LG was the first to launch ( Optmius 2X ) nvidia tegra 2 processor clocked at 1G. Samsung is next in the race with its galaxy s2, home grown dual core processor chips.  Motorola is not far behind..Atrix will use the same nvidia dual core chip. Its only a matter of time ( months ) before dual core becomes the norm.  And yes..if you want a comparision of the existing dual cores–

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4177/samsungs-galaxy-s-ii-preliminary-performance-mali400-benchmarked

On phone comparison Optimus 3D is supposed to be the most high end phone to be available in the near future. It has 2 5MP cameras for 3D video recording and 3D ui developed by LG on top of Android 2.2. Whoa. It remains to be seen how 3D will take off as far as handhelds are concerned. 3D would run on a TI OMAP4 processor. OMAP 44x can has dual ARM cortex A9 . The deal here is you can clock it at 1.5Gs. Voila. No wonder it beats all others in the Anandtech benchmark and it may overtake tegra2 as well.

source: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4179/ti-omap4-and-lg-optimus-3d-tested

For saner people who dont want to wear 3D glasses all the time though, dual core processors seem to be the high end phones on the market now. Qualcomm has been swept out of the race(for now ) and nvidia and samsing have taken the forefrunt.  The mango ( Windows 7.1 ) phones slated to release later this year will have nvidia tegra 2 processors as well. ( well its mostly ARM cortexA9 x2 + Tegra GPU ) . So chipset industry is driving the mobile and tablet industry like it did the PC industry earlier. The irony is Intel and windows drove the desktop/laptop industry, but qualcom, nvidia and Android are driving the handheld insdustry revolutions.  Whereas windows (Mango – 7.1) is expected to give a 3rd dimension to the 2-OS industy (iOs and Android), intel is no where in the race and is betting its hope on meego which its other partner (Nokia) abandoned completely.

All said and done, as an end user, what would you get if you spend your hard end money on these dual core phones? Apart from bragging rights, the performance is obviously better. But to really exploit the GPU , you need GPU optimised games/apps. With nVidia processors fast becoming the norm and TI catching up, its only  a matter of time before you see these high end games on the handsets. But would it still compare to a dedicated Gaming console like PSP? The answer is obviously no . However, you would feel better performance of browser and other apps that make your daily usage faster. Much richer graphcis are rendered seamlessly making for better user experience.

The competition is not just based on who writes better UI design( which apple is very good at ) , but rather on the performance tuning of the apps and lower layers. The game is changing again …but this time around apple is not leading the wolfpack….

It makes one wonder what the next major tech distruption would be in the handset industry. Graphics need a lot of improements, esp on tablets. So expect chipset makers to play a major role in the times to come. 3D may take off if it finds user acceptance or is i3D is launched ( pun intended ).  The next wave could be the seamless integration of all devices that gives a unified experience. So expect DLNA do be a major factor in the coming days.  Samsung, LG and Sony will be big players with their portfolio of consumer electornic devices.One more thing to watch out for would be foldable displays which Samsung and LG are demoing at every possible summit. ( Death of tablet eh >?)

So what in your opinion is the next big tech distruption….

The change hit hard when nokia announced practically the end of symbian foundation which was felled by the decision of Samsung and SE to pull out of the Symbian Foundation and subsequent announcement that they would stop making symbian phones. This was followed by the core member Nokia announcing that they are shutting down Symbaian Foundation ( well for all practical purposes).  So what does all these activities mean? Does that mean Nokia is doomed? Does that mean Symbian is over?

It all started 2 years back. Symbian and all other OS were under threat with the announcement that google acquired a unknown company called android and they announced they would be making a Oopen Source platorm based on Linux. The industry started polarising and insecurity hit everyone. Nokia responded by acquiring symbian and making the Symbian Foundation ( which was Open Source ). Samsung, Sony et al followed the industry leader Nokia and joined the much hyped SF which was slated to beat android in the coming days.  Well planned!!

But as of today, it all went wrong. Its left to Nokia to muse what went wrong and why? But one thing is clear. The era of symbian as a leading smartphone OS is over. This is not to say that symbian will have zero market share. Symbian may continue to have market share in the mid segment phones.  Nokia will survive selling low end phones and bank its hopes on the upcoming linux based platform Meego.

Lets now look at whats happening in the other side of Europe. The American OS makers(  iOS from Apple and Android from Google ) are gaining the market share fast. Apple is playing a different ball game by combining both HW and SW and selling it as a lifestyle product rather than a SW over hardware. Well done Apple.  Everyone knows how successfull they have been and needs no further explanation.As on date there are 300,000 Apps available on iStore and thats telling a lot. Android follows second with 100,000. Ovi and other stores have some apps but no where near any of these two biggies.

Android is shaping the future of the mobile industry. Lets look at what makes android tick. Why is it getting so much acceptance? Whats the magic?

First of all it is a pure play open source platfrom. Kernel is based on Linux.  Middleware is mostly linux. App development is based on Java.  But dont be fooled into believing its the same Java on desktop. Google has created its own version of Java. To give an example your class does not extends Object but rather Activity or 3 other types;) Interesting? Go read Android App development. Developing App on android is very easy. All you need is 200MB of diskspace and any OS running on your PC. There are fairly decent emulators available. And programming is Java which is easy to learn.  So that explains why app developers are flocking towards android.

But why are handset manufacturers gung ho about android. For one base porting is much simpler compared to other OS. All you need is someone with linxu BSP and device driver experience and a good hardware and in no time your Android is up and running. So the development cost is less on android. So all of them want to be on the bandwagon so that they can produce phones at cheaper cost and provide platform for hundreds of apps already available. The end user is the one who is really benefitting here. Thats android busniess model. Google benefits from it because it controlls the whole ecosystem. So it has the final say. Once they have killed all other OS ( if at all that happens ) they will play GOD.

So now you have a micromax guy making a android phone for 100$ and a samsung guy makeing a same spec android phone for 140$. Which one would you buy? End users would be spoilt for choice. Google is having the last laugh because competition would be within its OS. The prediction is by 2014 android will be the number Uno OS in mobile industry overtaking Symbian. Apple will be at number 2.

Microsoft has made a last ditch attempt at salvaging its reputation in the industry by launching windows 7 for mobile. It may look decent but does not have many takers. Prediction is they will  increase market share to 4% by 2012 and thats not a lot.Nokia is banking now on Qt on Meego to break into the top notch smart phone market. Time will only tell how successful it will be.  Blackberry and Palm are doing decent in their own customer base.

So al in all we are witnessing tremendously exciting times in the mobile industry and Android an iOS are ruling the roost.  Android has a bright future with they possibly breaking into Automotive entertainment, Home Infotainment  ( Your Washing machine and fridge may run android ) and practically all handheld devices  ( Dont trust me? Read this for starters: http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/28/nikon-debuts-android-powered-stereoscopic-picture-frame-2d-to-3/ ).

29 year old software engineer dies due to heart attack

32 year old software engineer survies a cardiac arrest

These are the headlines i saw at the previous company i worked for. Two software engineers who have been fairly sucessful in their carreer have suffered the malaise of all maladies- cardiac arrest or myocardial infarction. That to at what age? 29 and 32. That is the age the body is at the peak. 25-32 is the age when sportsmen give their best before retiring. Suffering a cardiac arrest at this age when body is at its peak performance tells a lot about the problems of the current lifestyle that sedentary working style and too much of fast food is bringing along.

If the above shocking news is not getting you to put on your jogging sneakers in the morning, then i wonder what will!

A human body is a machine that needs 3 types of exercises for it to function along. They are

1. Cardio Vascular exercises

These are the core of all the exercises and are a must do. Cardiovascular exercices like jogging, swimming, running, walking ( for people above 40 ) . cycling, cross trainer keep the heart and lungs healthy and also helps cut down the excess cholestrol and control obesity. To add to it, you would have an attractive waistline . Pranayama is one of the easiest cardiovascular exercises.

2. Strength Training

This is the weights section in the gym which the models and bodybuilders hit to keep them in attractive shape. Do it if you want power and strength.

3. Flexibility

This is to give a relaxed feeling and flexible body. Streches and yoga form a part of it.

I am not writing anything new here just to keep us reminded that we need to exercise at least 5 hours a week ( spread over at least 3-4 days ) to keep the body running in optimal condition in the long run. I hope we start taking those early morning runs and keep the body healty.

With the basic difference clearly known, its easy to understand why service companies operate the way they do. Employees have to look presentable all the time, otherwise the “customers” may make wrong judgement calls about the organisation. There are processes and quality checks in place for everything.  . In a product company, employees are treated as valuable “very human” people ( at least in the organisations i have worked for).Employees are treated as dispensable goods and are called “resources” in service terms. The concept is based on how many resources are required per project. The reason for this abstraction is due to the way billing is done. Billing is done based on the number of people working for a number of hours. The only way a service company can make more money is if more people are working on the project or they jack up the billing costs. But due to competition they cant do it too much. So they focus on the next best thing. That is competence. They establish verticals and creates organisations of competence which they call as “Center of Excellence” and try to sell them to the customers. Of course the way the big customers work is based on “trust”. So for a service company the most important thing is not talent, not billing but trust with customers.  For a product company the most important thing is to sell more devices and make people buy them faster. That is the reason “time to market” is such an important phrase in the product industry where as “customer delight and trust” is the most important phrase in the service industry.

For a very human being to become a resource is not easy. From an employee perspective a transition from a product company to a service company is an uphill task. A lot of unlearning needs to happen. First of all he/she does not get the freedom that he gets in the product companies. And then you need to keep track of time and update it since that is what earns the bread and butter for the company. And then comes the way of conduct. There are strict rules and regulations all keeping in mind with retaining the trust of the customers.

The other thing that hits a person making a transition is the scale of the company. From a 200-1000 people organisation to a 10k organisation is never easy. It is like relocating from Mysore to Bombay!! The resource needs to get used to seeing so many other resources and realise that he is just another cog in the (giant) wheel.

All said, it needs to be mentioned that the reason software companies are thriving in India is because of the service industry and not because of the product companies. Its imperative for any software professional working in India to get exposure to the service companies otherwise they will miss the great Indian service juggernaut.

So in the end one of the teams i was supporting won…viva espana…They played a very technical game througout the tournament. The only compliant against them was they didnt produce enough goals. But what matters is victory.

Hopefully football has changed forever and the one-touch football becomes the norm instead of relying on counter attack that has become the norm now. Its a new style of football that the spain have contributed to the world of soccer and iniesta and Xavi and the guiding light for that.

Euro champions Spain showed germany what it means to control the midfield and they did control it well. Germans, who had scored 4 goals thrice in the tournament failed to launch a decent attack on the Spainish defence courtesy the strong triangle based midfield play mastered by Barcelona and adopted by Spain.

Holland are also known for good passing football and the Oranje have defeated Brazil with their good midfield play and accurate long range passes. Although they were a bit lucky in winning against brazil, they totally deserved the win in the semifinal against Uruguay.  The Dutch coach wants his team to play like Barcelona.

So the final is a very interesting contest. One between a team which wants to play like Barcelona and the other one which is made up 70% of Barcelona players. Whoever wins the cup, one thing is for sure. The face of football is about to change for good. Both the teams play strong passing soccer and “good” football in the sense they dont foul and do play acting. ( except schenider may be ).  Whoever wins the tournament, it will be Barcelona style play that will win and i hope its ” this time its Spain”

Come second round and quarters, the 2010 FIFA world cup has really turned around and given much exitement to the viewers. The matches now are high scoring and more entertaing football is played by most teams. Germany is playing the most entertaing football of the tournament and they have defeated the favourites argentina 4-0 which is much of a humiliation to maradaona and his men in blue stripes. To get defeated without scoring a goal inspite of having world class strikers marked the end of the FIFA10 for argentina who followed their south american couterparts Brazil.

Brazil provided a much more entertaining match against holland. It cant be said that holland deserved the vicory. But they were effective. They adapted well to the Brazilian strategy despite conceding an early goal. They kept the pressure on the brazilian defence and it did pay off with an own goal from Melo. Then Shcneider and Robben took the game to brazil and won the game with 10 mins to spare when the ugly dive from Robben gave Red card to the own goal scorer melo who had the worst match of his life.  In a way i am happy that brazil lost this tournament because they were not playing their natural samba football but were relying too much on the defence. Had Brazil won the world cup, the nature of football would have changed forever in Brazil and that would have meant the death of Samba. In a way this defeat and the exit of Dunga is good for Brazil in particular and world football in general.

The exit of argentina is much more of a shock. More than the exit, its the manner in which they lost to a young German side without giving a fight is what disappointed most fans. Argentina would have done well to score a goal or two at least. All said Germans should be applauded for they way they defeated England and Argentina back to back scoring 4 goals in each of the match. Now the germans are the clear favourites to win not just because of their victories but also because of the beautiful and well orchestrated football they are playing. Oezil has been the find of the tournament and Barca is already lining up its offer to get the 21 year old on its ranks. Sweinstegier has been impressive in the midfeiled and the young Thomas Mueller is making everyone take notice of him. At 20 years, he has already scored 4 goals in this world cup and Klose is one short of eclipsiing Ronalod’s 15 all time world cup goals. All in all Germans look like the favourites to win. But they have some problems.

Spain is their biggest problem. All the victories that the germans had came against teams which dont play possession football. Spain has been playing a silent but resilient football. They are having at least 70% possession in each game and villa with 5 goals is the top scorer of the tournament and is single handledly responsible for 4 of spain’s victories. If spain could control the midfield against germany and villa could produce his magic again, then the well oiled german machine may crach down under pressure. It has happened once in the group stages and there is no reason why it could not happen agaain

The other semi finals is between favourites holland and uruguay. Uruguay may not be playing a great foot ball but Forlan is in gret touch and could bring a surprise. Holland are not playing a spectacular football but their tactics are effective and the Oraje are looking at entering finals. Looks like it would be an all european finals contoraty to waht most pundits predicted.

Who is your pick? Most people i talked to are favoiring Germany after their impressive performance. Just to add to your thought..most favourites have exited from this world cup..some food for thought

Brazil are no longer playing Samba football they used to play. Under the coaching of Dunga they have started playing a more defence minded play. The deliberate strategy to put more stress on defense and counter attack has worked quite well for them as demonstrated in the routing of Chile in the pre-quarters. Under Dunga, brasil are not playing the usual free flowing attacking football that they used to play when Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos were playing back in 2002.  Brazil strategy is quite clear. Dont allow goals in the first half, get the first break through and attack in numbers and speed on counter attack. And they do have speed which is unmatched by any other players. Kaka, Robinio, Fabiano all can break away at high speed and score goals with precision. The difference is that they attack in numbers and not solo so they can outnumber and outmuscle the defenders and convert their shots on target. Incidentally brazil have the highest conversion rate  in this world cup and they have converted more shots on target to goals than any other team.

So good solid defense in Luico and Juan, Solid right back, good midfield and strong attack,,,Does this make brazil formidable and the automatic choice to win this world cup? is there a way to defeat this Brazilian side? Which are the teams capable of doing it?

Brazil v Portugal game in the group stages gives a good overview of what fails brazil. That is defence. Any team that can play a low line defense and does not attack too much but rather soaks in the pressure from the attack and is good at counter attack could theoretically outdo brazil. Brazilian players get frustrated when they dont get space for counter attack. Then they need to resort back to the traditional attacking formation which argentina and spain are doing. So Portugal could potentially defeat brazil with such a strategy. Its not that Brazil defence is not porous. Most teams have managed to score at least a goal against them in the second half.

Argentina could defeat brazil if messi could weave some magic and the defenders hold their line and not allow the brazilian forwards to outrun them. A lot depends on how many chances they convert and how good they are in midfield to prevent a counter attack from happening.

Germany are playing a game similar to Brazil. So they are both evenly matched as far as the strategy is concerned but Brazil has the experience and the knack of winning big tournaments.

All said , Dunga could throw a surprise and allow free flowing football against defensive teams. It would be highly unlikely for a attack minded team to win against brazil unless they fine tune their strategy and exploit the weakness in the brazilian side.  The only way countries like Spain and Argentina could win against brazil is to put constant pressure on the brazil defense and wait for mistakes in the defense. Spain used it to good advantage against Portugal and could augur well for them against Brazil.

French have drawn both their matches, Spain the most expected team to win the cup and last year’s Euro champions lost their first match, germans lost badly to the swiss after a good start against an ageing australian side, italy and france had their bad performances and england has been the most disappointing of them all…drawing both the matches. Whats wrong?

With Stalwarts like Rooney, gerrard, lapmpard, terry, cole england could not score a win. The team looks tired and there is total lack of coordination among the players. Gerrard and lampard wont pass the ball to each other. They had the most hilarious  goal keeping moment in their goalkeeper Green’s self confessed moment of madness.  Rooney appears frustrated most of the time, and is not fighting to win the ball back like he does in ManU. On top of it all the coach Fabio capello looks unsure of himself and is not giving the required backing to the players. England have reached quarter finals in the last two times but now are facing a tough competition. Commentators suspect that Rooney is nursing an injury and hence not making that impact. So England i suspect will live up to the expectation of underachievers.

Spain have been most disappointing as well. With a team made up of Barcelona , real madriad players, the star studded team of spain lost to the swiss. They had most of the ball possession and shots on target , a very good midfield performance, but lacked in finishin. Villa and Torres both were hopeless and missed sitters. They played samba style football minus the speed that the south americans have. I guess spain still has a chance to make a come back if they speed up their game and the stikers convert.

Germany provided with a fantastic opening match 4-0 win over an ageing australian side. but lost badly in their second match. The refree had much to be blamed with his unnecessary red card for Klose. Podlolsky missed his penalty which is too rare. Germans have a chance provided they maintain their compisure and not get too agitated about the loss.

Italy and France have brought the most aged world cup squads and are paying for it. There is no creativity nor speed on the field. They lack posession and energy.  I am expecting an early exit for france and may be and 2nd round exit for italy. But italy are known for their gut and determinations. So you never know.

What is the common denominator among all these european teams loosing? Football is no longer the privilege of a few european and south american countries. Club football has changed the way football is played. Most of the players in EPL, La Liga and Serie A come from outside their native countries. From African and asian countries as well. So practically all the players have the same level of exposure and coaching. In a way ” the world has become flat” for football.  With the same level of exposure, coaching and match practice in Europe, most of the players around the world have become equal to each other. But that does not answer why south americans are still good? That is because of their skill which is not easy to aquire. Samba football is not easy to copy and the south american football mostly contains players from south America.  So the rest of the players are not much exposed to the samba football and it still  remains the forte of the barzilians and the argentinians.

The other reason why europeans are loosing is too much club football. They dont play well when in comes to country. May be there is not much money involved and they are used to getting motivated by money.Too add to that Italy winning the last world cup has set a bad precedent that experience matters more that flair and energy on field and hence you see lot of ageing players who are not paving way for the young talent. The team selection of most teams borders on an average age of 26+ which is one more reason why there is not much energy on field.

What is your prediction now? who among the europeans will qualify for next rouns? I still have hope about Germans but rest of them look to be headed home

After Hosts South Africa drew an interesting opening match against Mexico, it was all down to the last year finalists France to show to the world that they have it in them this year. There is a lot of media hype about France in a much negative way courtesy their coach and the national villain Roman Domenovich.  He made couple of controversial decisions by leaving out the talented Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema out of the 23 member squad. France has the oldest team in the world cup. Barcelona forward, who is soon to be sold to some US team Thiery Henry is the captain but he is unfit to play the full 90 mins. What can you expect from a team whose captain comes on as a substitute? After the retirement of the great Zinedine Zidane, France has lost that charm. France still has good player who are well past their prime like Nicholas Anelka, William Gallas, Malouda. Frank Ribery is one player who could still make a positive impact. A recent poll in France suggested that only 24% of the respondents in France believed that they could go on to win the world cup. France proved them right by failing to score against an easy-opponent and 2 time world cup winners Uruguay. Ribery set up a beautiful pass in  the opening minutes but the forwards failed to capitalize on the play maker’s talent. With such a pathetic defensive performance are france set for a early exit from the world cup?

The next important match was tournament favorites Argentina against the Nigerians. Diego Maradona’s side started as the favorites in the match. With Lionel Messi, Higuain and Tevez starting the match the Argentine fans were waiting for a juicy display of south american talent and the fans were not disappointed. Messi played beautifully like he does in Barcelona and pierced the Nigerian defense. Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama saved couple of goals from Messi and a couple from Higuain.

Now to the critical analysis of the argentine game. Apart from messi, no one really shone in the match. The midfield was weak and was giving away the ball way to easily in the midfield. The left defence was weak. I wont bother to take his name since I doubt if he would be making an appearance in  any of the top clubs in Europe.  The goalkeeping was just above average. Milito came on during the second half but failed to make an impact. Stiker Yakubu and nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama were the stars of the match for Nigeria. Vincent was amazing and prevented 2 beautiful attempts from Messi. I would love to see him in European clubs. All said..are argentina still among the favorites? definitely yes. Because of Messi and couple of good players in their squad.

English Premier League is the most watched league in the world football and all the players of England are superstars not just in england but all over the world. Who does not know Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, and David Beckham? So its only obvious that everyone expects england to defeat a team like USA. USA also has a good lineup but most of their players ( donavan, Dempsey) play in EPL. So USA v England is much like watching a club football match in EPL. So did you expect England to win? I didnt . For once England have a history of underachieving at the world cup stages.

Coach Fabio Capello, who is credited with bringing determination and resolve to the English side had a tough decision to make as far as goal keeper is concerned. He chose with Greene who made a crucial mistake to give USA the equaliser before half time. Even the Strkier Dempsey didnt expect that goal to go through. My heart goes out for Greene , but it was a big error in the world stage. What is the role of human error in world cup? everything. Such moments of madness decide the tournament.  Remember last year’s finals? the famous Matterazi head butt by Zidane? That cost french the match and the 2006 world cup!  Greene most probably wont play another match in the tournament or he may..but the english press is bound to bring him down. Apart from Greene, Gerrard provided an amazing start to the english side.

Like the Argentinians the midfield of England is weak and was giving away the ball too easily. The lack of coordination between Gerrard and Frank Lampard added to the English woes. But for me the star of the match was USA’s huge man Onyewu. The central defender single handledly neutralised wayne rooney and was instrumental in making sure that the set-pieces ( read corners and free kicks ) didnt touch any of the english heads. To me he is the man of the match for playuing a wonderful game. I hope he has a good season ahead of him at AC-milan.

We are yet to see action from the Germans and the Spanish. Any predictions for today’s match between Germany and australia?