Expression

After a few trials and errors, it’s profit calculation time.

Last night we sat down and did the math. I swear to God that I took a course in cost accounting before, but it was long enough to almost forget everything. We discussed and brought everything into consideration, but the final goal was to keep cost as low as possible.

It’s not an easy math though. We’re still working on that. I’m glad that we’re making some progress.

Matt, the videos, the making, and his traveling are absolutely awesome.

His very first dance was in Hanoi, Vietnam, which then took off to a sequence of dances in different countries . Find out more information about him at http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/about.shtml. You can also watch more of his dances at this channel.

Don’t forget to turn on your volume as well. Great music there!

Apple finally has revealed the secret of 3G iPhone in the WWDC 2008 today. The phone will be up on sale in 70 countries this year, thinner in shape and more importantly much less pricey. The new price will be $199 for the 8GB version and $299 for the 16GB version in every country where the phone is available. This effort, along with App Store - a distribution service for iPhone App developers, is to boost iPhone revenue and increase the number of iPhone users all around the world.

Really after 1 year long of praises and complains about iPhone, Apple have taken all into account and eventually delivered the best of the best to satisfy its greedy users. Hopefully this is not the final, big upgrade from Apple.

I have gone through the list of countries where iPhone will be available and sadly the word Vietnam doesn’t show up. Though iPhone could be purchased elsewhere and cracked/hacked before being used in Vietnam, users really want to receive the same kind of service Apple gives to other places where they officially sell the phone. My guess is Vietnam telecomm companies don’t bother to contact Apple for the deal or Apple hasn’t seen any sale opportunity in the country.

There are not many 3G providers in Vietnam and those whose are operating on GSM need to upgrade their towers for 3G capability. That may take years and until then they lose a big chunk of revenue to those who illegally import the phones to the country.

It’s quite an interesting news when school authorities recognized the lack of collaboration among students and made an “innovative” move to Google Apps for better communication tools. Starting this summer, Google has committed to providing premium services to students including Gmail, calendar, Google docs, other up-coming apps (maybe), and the best of the best no ads.

There are two additional benefits that my professors, also school’s CTO, mentioned: (1) Alumni will be no longer afraid of losing emails and contacts after many years of graduation (which most likely happens at many school in the U.S.); (2) OpenID will be supported along the line to give students more benefits when accessing other OpenID-based websites (e.g. Yahoo, Google).

Of course, there’s no free lunch. Students will start to see ads like regular Gmail account after they become alumni. After all, this is a great implementation that will apparently give a lot of benefits and conveniences to students.

Integration with Google Apps using existing infrastructure really helps Google compete with Microsoft whose product suite, MS Office, has been dominance at school and work places. Google now can get closer to corporate environment not face to face but side to side with Microsoft products. Eventually, end-users will determine which products are more favorable and which one should become obsolete or not at all. For now, let’s hope Google shows its “Don’t be evil” motto to student users.

One fave for Google; one fave for my school (first time ever after 1.5 yrs of enrollment).

I’m thinking of a few places to explore this summer. Camping and hiking only. Hopefully I get enough people to go on the trip because it will be more fun. Here’s a list of places I’ve thought so far:

• - Yosemite national park
• - Grand Canyon/Havasu Falls at Havasupai Indian Reservation