Ding Ding

International market research firm IDC reveals that, in the second quarter of this year, the most voracious consumer of Personal Computers, or PCs, was China, ahead of the next largest consumer, the US. This is indeed a pathbreaking technology milestone for China. IDCs results also project that by 2012, China will soon overtake the US in PC imports, as it is estimated to import 85.2 million PCs in comparison to 76.6 million by American consumers.

In a recent Nature publication, Japanese researchers from The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Tsukuba, have described an innovative technique they have been working on – printing thin film transistors with InkJet technology. This research has lead to a completely new product that works on flexible substrates. Typically, printers with large-footprints use silicon-based products. This increases the costs of production.

The remarkable pace of urbanization and industrialization in China has contributed greatly to the nation’s emergence from its turbulent past into the fastest-growing economic superpower that impacts the modern world. However, this rapid pace of urbanization has created certain drawbacks, despite its overall favorable impact on the nation and its people, particularly in the area of waste disposal and management.

Spherical displays people see in malls and sporting events use an interconnected series of light emitting diodes (LEDs) to project various images, graphics and patterns. Although such scenes are amusing to see, the quality of images projected are not that comparable to what one can view on their TV screens. Now, imagine viewing high definition video images of the earth and all its geographical wonders and beauty, not on a flat TV screen – but on a display screen with the shape of the earth itself.

According to the International Telecommunication Union, there were 3,658,400 Internet users among Singapore’s 4,701,069 population in 2010, giving this nation one of the highest Internet penetration rates in the world at 77.8 percent.

However, Singapore implements only a minimal level of Internet filtering such as blocking a few identified pornographic sites to signify the government’s overall disapproval of such content.

The tablet PC has grown in tremendous popularity across the globe and is fast becoming a preferred mobile computing choice in emerging markets such as Asia.

According to the technology research company Gartner, the tablet PC is very popular among people who already have a personal computer or laptop in use as their main unit but who want an efficient portable computing device that they can bring anywhere.

A similar consumer survey performed by Nielsen Global in Taiwan showed that 36% of respondents already have a tablet PC or are planning to purchase a unit of their choice in the near future. Tablets like Apple’s iPad and Google Android tablets feature faster Internet connections than laptops, making them more appealing to people while on the go.