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Sony revival:Mobile products,Gaming and Digital Imaging

Sony Corp. unveiled a new smartphone on Wednesday in its push to become the world's third-biggest maker of smartphones after Samsung and Apple.

Sony's Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai told a news conference in Berlin, where Europe's largest consumer electronics trade show will open its doors this week, the Sony Xperia Z1 will be available in September.

"The Xperia Z1 embodies everything Sony has to offer," said Hirai, who is under pressure from U.S. hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb to split up the company to revive its electronics business.

The new waterproof smartphone will come with a 5-inch display and have a 20.7 megapixel rear-facing camera.

Hirai in 2012 identified mobile products, gaming and digital imaging as the core of a rebound in consumer electronics after more than a decade of decline for the pioneer of personal music players and compact discs. It had a record loss of $5.74 billion in the 2011/12 fiscal year.

Of those three priorities, mobile has since emerged as the best near-term hope for Sony although it has a long way to go.
Sony's goal is to fend off challenges from China's Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp and Korea's LG Electronics to secure the No. 3 slot in the global smartphone market, behind Samsung and Apple which between them account for about half of all smartphones sold.
Sony has forecast smartphone sales to rise more than 20 percent to 42 million in the year to next March.

Source: Reuters

Japan to welcome S. Korea's entry to TPP

Japan would basically welcome South Korea if it decides to participate in Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, Yasutoshi Nishimura, senior vice minister at the Cabinet Office, said Monday.

The remark came after a South Korean newspaper reported the same day that the South Korean government is considering announcing its bid later this month to join the TPP talks."The TPP is not a closed framework," Nishimura, who is in charge of TPP issues, told reporters. Japan made its debut in the U.S.-led free trade negotiations in July.

Japan scrambles jets in response to drone

Japan scrambled fighter jets Monday after an unidentified drone flew near Tokyo-controlled islands at the centre of a bitter dispute with China, a defence ministry spokesman said.

It was the first reported incident of its kind.Japan's Air Self-Defense Force sent an unspecified number of jets to the area, the official said.
The drones did not enter Japanese airspace, the official said.

Source: NewsOnJapan

China-Japan-Corea FTA has bright outlook yet problems remain

The establishment of a free trade zone between China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) would definitely help the regional economy. Yet talks surrounding the free trade agreement (FTA) face many uncertainties.

"China is willing to work with other countries to optimize trade structure and cooperate in fields like energy and resources, high-end manufacturing, finance, tourism and agriculture," Gao said.

Countries in the region should consolidate consensus and promote the establishment and perfection of a cooperative mechanism through such platform as the Summit Forum on Northeast Asian Cooperation, he added.

n 2012, the three countries' combined gross domestic product totalled 14.3 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for about 20 percent of the world's total and 70 percent of Asia's total. The economic scale of the three countries is only behind European Union and North America.

Meanwhile, the combined import and export volume totalled 5.4 trillion dollars, or 35 percent of the world total.

Once the free trade zone is in place, the super-large market with 1.5 billion people will help economic development.

However, experts warn that the talks over the FTA face political, economic and social obstacles.

Zhang Yushan, a researcher with the Jilin Academy of Social Sciences, said while China has advantages in agriculture and the textiles industry, Japan and ROK have advantages in traditional industries as well as in service sector.

"The three parties must resolve their existing differences, give consideration to each other's sensitive industries, and expand mutual openness on the above basis," Zhang said.

Analysts say "the lack of political trust is the biggest obstacle to the free trade zone".

Source: Xinhua

Apple: Generazione 2013 degli Iphone

Stasera a Cupertino Tim Cook e soci presenteranno la generazione 2013 degli iPhone. “Degli” iPhone perché una pletora di rumors ci ha detto nelle ultime settimane che stavolta Apple mostrerà almeno due diversi smartphone. Uno, identificato come 5S, prenderà il posto dell’iPhone 5 come modello top di gamma. L’altro, ed è questa la vera novità dell’evento, si posizionerà in una fascia di mercato più abbordabile e dovrebbe chiamarsi iPhone 5C. Dove la “C” starebbe per “Color”, visto che arriverà in più colori diversi. Ma anche – dicono alcuni- perChina. Il Celeste Imperosarebbe  sec l'unicoPaese in cui Apple vendera il modello a basso costo: lo testimonierebbe l’evento previsto a Pechino l’11 settembre
 in cui molti aspettano anche l’annuncio della partnership con China Mobile, primo operatore cinese e testa di ponte fondamentale per guadagnare consensi nel primo mercato mondiale per gli smartphone in cui Apple è scesa sotto il 5% delle vendite.
Qualcosa in più da capire per il modello superiore, iPhone 5S. All’interno dovrebbe esserci un nuovo processore più potente (A7), un taglio da 128 GB di Ram oltre a un dual-led Flash sul retro e prevedibili miglioramenti nell’ottica della fotocamera. La novità più significativa sarà il tasto Home, con un sensore biometrico per il riconoscimento dell’impronta digitale. Quest’ultimo aspetto sarebbe legato all’iPhone come strumento di pagamento elettronico ma sarà interessante vedere che cosa Apple ha previsto sul lato software e servizi.

Paolo Ottolino
Corriere della Sera

Microsoft:aperto anche nel settore dell'intrattenimento

Si scrive Microsoft e si legge «avanti tutta». Dopo aver assestato un colpo nella telefonia mobile, acquistando il produttore finlandese Nokia, a partire da oggi il servizio Xbox Music di brani musicali in streaming sarà disponibile gratuitamente per tutti via web.
Adesso, dopo due mesi e poco più di primi passi mossi nel recinto dei propri clienti, Xbox Music apre all'intera utenza. Lo streaming gratuito è accompagnato da messaggi pubblicitari. 
Puntando su musica e intrattenimento,ilcolosso alla ricerca di un Ceo dimostra di volersi confermare come realtà attiva sul fronte di dispositivi e servizi e non solo su quello del software, come ha commentato l'analista di Raymond James Michael Turits. Piaccia o no, questa è la bicicletta (per cercare di rimanere competitivi). Microsoft ha deciso di pedalare con convinzione.

Corriere dell Sera

Russian proposal opens new U.S. options in Syria strike debate

Russia's potential "breakthrough" plan to put Syria's chemical weapons under international control but would keep the pressure on Damascus by asking Congress to authorize U.S. military strikes.
 Obama said "he would pause any military action if Syria would relinquish control of its chemical weapons arsenal".

Congress sought to buy more time to explore Russia's offer. Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid pushed back a Wednesday test vote on authorizing military strikes to possibly later in the week.

"I don't think we need to see how fast we can do this. We have to see how well we can do this," Reid told his colleagues.

Kerry suggested in London, in response to a reporter's question, that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could avoid a military strike by surrendering his chemical arsenal.

Russia pounced on the comment, and Syria also said it was open to a proposal to put the weapons under international control.

Obama said he prefers a diplomatic solution in Syria, but is still sceptical.

Source: Reuters

Les fabricants d'ordinateurs: l*avenir les tablettes-PC

Chez Lenovo, on dit "PC Plus". Chez Sony, il s'agit d'"hybrides", tandis que chez Acer on évoque plus prosaïquement les "tablettes-PC". A l'IFA, le Salon européen de l'électronique grand public qui se termine mercredi 11 septembre à Berlin, le petit monde du PC parle d'une seule et même voix : l'avenir passe par l'avènement d'appareils "tout-en-un", combinant les avantages de la tablette et ceux de l'ordinateur portable.

Lors de la présentation de leurs nouvelles gammes de produits, Lenovo et Sony ont tous deux fait la part belle à ce segment balbutiant. L'un a dévoilé la seconde version de sa Yoga, et l'autre son Vaio Fit. Deux modèles de PC-tablettes relativement similaires.

"Avant, l'ordinateur ne disposait que de deux interfaces, clavier et souris. Désormais, il existe aussi le tactile. La forme du produit évolue donc", explique Gianfranco Lanci, directeur Europe, Moyen-Orient et Afrique de Lenovo, le groupe chinois, numéro un mondial du PC depuis juillet.

I droni che consegnano pacchi sul balcone

Un abitante della città cinese di Dongguang, nel sud del Paese, ha fotografato un oggetto volante non identificato che volava a bassa quota e ha pubblicato l'immagine su Weibo. Non si trattava però di un Ufo, dato che l'oggetto riportava il logo di una nota compagnia di spedizioni locale, la SF Express. Era semplicemente una delle prima sperimentazioni di consegna a domicilio tramite drone, un'usanza che promette di diffondersi presto a Pechino e dintorni grazie alla legislazione più lassista rispetto a quelle di altri Paesi. 
Non si conoscono i dettagli tecnici del drone, dato che la SF Express non ha voluto rivelarli completamente. Quel che si può vedere dalle immagini e capire da quel che è emerso dai servizi dei media locali è che si tratta di un drone a 8 rotori, in grado di volare a una quota massima di cento metri, con una buona autonomia, una capacità di carico stimata intorno ai 3 kg e dotato di un sistema di navigazione satellitare in grado di renderlo autonomo nel viaggio. La consegna avviene con un margine di errore di due metri, correggibile da un operatore da remoto. Di sperimentazione si tratta ma le prospettive per un suo impiego sono ottime, almeno a sentire i commenti di SF Express. La soluzione si presta a risolvere problemi di consegna durante le ore in cui il traffico a terra è congestionato. Ma è potenzialmente interessante anche l'applicazione per le consegne in località rurali impervie e remote e per la consegna 'al piano', o meglio 'alla finestra', nei sempre più numerosi grattacieli cinesi. 

Corriere Della Sera

Kazakhstan will sell 8.33% of Kashagan oil project to China

 Chinese President Xi Jinping struck a deal with Kazakhstan on Saturday giving China a stake in its giant Kashagan oil project, a highlight of his tour of Central Asia to secure hydrocarbons for the world's largest energy consumer.

The $5 billion deal further increases China's rising clout in post-Soviet Central Asia, once Russia's imperial backyard, and blocks an attempt by global rival India to get a stake in the oilfield, the world's largest oil discovery in five decades.

"The two countries have agreed on China's shareholding in the development of the Kashagan deposit," Xi told a news briefing after talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

"The two governments hail and support this agreement."

Oil and gas deals, including on building an oil refinery in Kazakhstan, are among 22 agreements worth some $30 billion reached during Xi's visit, Nazarbayev said.

Under the Kashagan deal, Kazakhstan will sell 8.33 percent of the offshore oilfield in the Caspian Sea to China for about $5 billion.

CNPC will also pay up to $3 billion to cover half of Kazakhstan's financing of the second phase of Kashagan's development, KazMunaiGas head Sauat Mynbayev told reporters. This phase is expected to start after 2020.

Another draft agreement, seen by Reuters, would guarantee loans from The China Development Bank and The Export-Import Bank of China - worth respectively $3 billion and $5 billion - to Kazakhstan's state holding firm Baiterek, which promotes innovation and industrial projects.

The Kazakh deal comes after Astana decided in July to use its pre-emptive right to buy an 8.4-percent stake in Kashagan that U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips was selling for $5 billion.

Houston-based ConocoPhillips, whittling down its worldwide portfolio of assets, announced last year it had agreed to sell the stake to ONGC (ONGC.NS), the overseas arm of the Indian state-run company.

The sale to CNPC blocks India's plan to enter Kashagan.

Kashagan and neighboring fields in the North Caspian hold estimated reserves of 35 billion barrels of oil, with between 9 billion and 13 billion barrels recoverable.

A multinational consortium developing the field has invested some $50 billion in about 13 years, making it the costliest oil project in the world.

During Kashagan's development, production will be gradually increased to 370,000 barrels per day in the second stage from 180,000 bpd in the first stage in 2013-14, according to North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), which is developing the field.

Italy's ENI , U.S. major ExxonMobil ,Royal Dutch Schell and France's Total, each hold 16.81 percent stakes in Kashagan. Japan's Inpex  owns 7.56 percent.

Source:  Reuters

China's consumer price index slows to 2.6 percent in August

 China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, slows to 2.6 percent year on year in August, down from 2.7 percent in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday.

China's producer price index (PPI) fell 1.6 percent in August from the same month last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday.