Muara Teweh!

Mobile phone poduction in India is expected to grow at compund annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.3 per cent from 31 million units in 2006 to 107 million units in 2011, IT research and advisory firm Gartner. Moreover, mobile phone production revenue is expected to reach $13.6 billion by 2011 from $4.9 billion in 2006, a CAGR of 26.6 per cent, Gartner said in its latest research paper.

The growth would be fuelled mainly by the expanding mobile subscriber base in India and favourable government policies, it said.

At present, mobile phone production in the country is dominated by five global handset vendors — Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG. There are few local brands, with low production volumes which are largely focused on low-end and mid-range handsets.

However, Gartner expects new local and global players to enter the mobile phone manufacturing market in India, aided by the global electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers’ present in India. » Read more after the jump →

McKeel Hagerty began noticing the trend a few years ago. As chief executive of Hagerty Insurance, the largest provider of insurance to classic-car collectors, Hagerty could see that the so-called “nerd cars”—the ugliest of automotive beasts—were nonetheless increasing in value. Ford Motor’s Pinto and American Motors’ Pacer and Gremlin—cars that were punch lines from the decade of disco—suddenly seemed hot. They weren’t increasing by much, Hagerty admits, from maybe $500 to a few thousand dollars. But still, money is money.

Hagerty couldn’t resist. He plunked down $2,300 for a dark green 1976 Pacer three years ago. “I happen to think it’s a cool car,” he says, even though it came without an eight-track tape player, which must have been an option when the car was new. “How am I going to listen to Foghat?” he asks. » Read more after the jump →

Throughout the recent market turmoil, executives and directors of public companies have invested heavily in their own companies, according to a news report late Tuesday.

Total insider buying in the United States reached $252 million in August, the highest level since 2003, according to the Financial Times. The month normally averages $186 million in such trades.

Some market sectors that have fallen the most in recent weeks, such as banking and insurance, also saw the most buying activity, the paper said.

In the U.S., stock buys by management at S&P 500 banks, lenders and insurance companies hit a 12-year-high according to Bloomberg data quoted in the news report. » Read more after the jump →

The number two in the MP3-players market recently unveiled its latest entry-level gadget, called Sansa Clip, a potential rival to Apple’s iPod Shuffle.

SanDisk’s Sansa Clip has five “subdivisions” but comes in only four colors (black, pink, red and blue), with two black models differentiated by the amount of flash memory integrated under the hood (1G and 2GB respectively). All 2GB models (enough to pack 500 songs for about 30 hours of music playback) sell for $59.99, while the 1GB one is cheaper, only $39.99.

Presented as “perfect for the fitness buff or traveler”, the new Clips also include an FM tuner (with 40 preset channels), a longer lasting battery and a brighter screen, and built-in microphone for voice recording. » Read more after the jump →

The New Jersey teenager who managed to successfully “force” Apple’s iPhone into working with T-mobile’s network- thus shattering AT&T’s exclusivity for the Cupertino-crafted gadget- struck a hell of deal for just one phone.

Ok, I agree, it’s *the* phone, the UniquePhone, call it as you like, but is it really worth exchanging it for a brand new Nissan 350Z, plus not one, but three 8GB AT&T-locked iPhones?

George Hotz, one of the representatives of the new, tech-savvy generation that builds up YouTube’s or Facebook’s audience, made a historic claim last week on his blog, saying that with help from his buddies he successfully eradicated AT&T’s dominance from iPhone’s SIM, forcing the craved gadget to accept calls run through T-mobile’s network.

Since we’re talking about one of humanity’s most important technological quests today (the unlocking of the iPhone), the media frenzy around Hotz’s daring deed (which would not have » Read more after the jump →

Today Sony has unplugged its proprietary format for music files during their press event at IFA 2007 in Berlin. The Japanese company said that from now on the users who will buy its Walkman devices won’t have to deal with the limitations imposed by ATRAC format. Instead they will be able to download audio files such as music and podcasts from any website.

That means that new Walkmans will offer support for Windows Media Audio, MP3 and AAC formats.

ATRAC (the sort for Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding) standard was adopted by Sony in 1992 for MiniDisc and the latest version, ATRAC Advanced Lossless was introduced in 2006. Sony claimed that ATRAC Advanced Lossless can provide compression for a CD music source at approximately 30-80% that of the original size without any quality loss. » Read more after the jump →

States’ efforts to expand a popular health insurance program triggered new federal policies that will limit the program’s reach, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said Thursday.

The new guidelines disclosed last week were criticized by Democratic lawmakers as well as by some governors from both political parties.

Under the guidelines, many children would have to be uninsured for at least one year before they could enroll in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The one-year wait applies to a dozen states that let middle-income families enroll in SCHIP, specifically those families with incomes at or above 250 percent of the federal poverty level _ $43,925 for a family of three. Another half-dozen states were looking to join that list, prompting the administration’s actions, health officials said. » Read more after the jump →