The M&G’s Faranaaz Parker rounds up five odd things you may have missed this week.
Nokia burning
Technology website Engadget this week revealed the text of an internal memo sent by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop to staff that paints the once-dominant company as a man standing on “burning platform”, facing “intense heat” from competitors on all sides.
In the email Elop laments Nokia’s crumbling position in the cellphone market, as it faces pressure from the iPhone and Android operating system at the high end of the market, as well as from Chinese competitors at the low end.
“The first iPhone was shipped in 2007, and we still don’t have a product that is close to their experience,” he complained before adding that, unbelievably, “Android came on the scene just over two years ago, and this week they took our leadership position in smartphone volumes.”
Elop goes on to say that instead of focusing on the “battle of devices” it should have focused on the “war of ecosystems”, which encompasses a host of related elements including hardware, software, applications and e-commerce.
The memo hints that a strategic overhaul is on the way and the buzz generated by Elops’s impassioned plea is sure to turn all eyes to Nokia’s big reveal on Friday. Industry analysts are now predicting that Nokia will ditch its Symbian operating system in favour of Google’s Android or Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.
The iPad cometh
On Wednesday the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple has started manufacturing a new version of it’s groundbreaking iPad tablet computer.
The new iPad is set to resolve many of the complaints made about the original — it will be lighter, thinner and faster than its predecessor and will feature a built-in camera for video conferencing, though it probably won’t have any better resolution for the display.
Industry watchers expect the new iPad to debut in the next few months at roughly the same price as the original. Apple has already sold almost 15-million units of the original iPad, which has become a cornerstone of its business. With a host of copycat devices now on the market at a significantly lower price, it will be interesting to see how the newest iteration of the iPad is received.
WikiLeaks on oil peaks
The Guardian on Tuesday gleaned more disturbing news from WikiLeaks’ diplomatic cables, this time a dire warning about peak oil in Saudi Arabia.
According to the cables, a respected Saudi Arabian analyst has told United States diplomats that the Saudi energy industry may have overstated its crude oil reserves by as much as 40% in order to spur foreign investment.
The source said global oil production could hit its highest point as early as 2012 and that this could lead to an unpreventable rise in global oil prices — bad news for a world that is still heavily dependent on oil.
From waste water to energy
The New York Times reports that New York’s Department of Environmental Protection is due to make the shift from water utility to energy producer. “New York is beginning to look at its waste as an untapped resource,” it says.
It currently costs the city about $400-million — roughly R2,8-billion — annually to manage its waste water treatment processes, in a city that produces almost five-million kilolitres of waste water daily.
About half of the methane produced by the city’s plants is already used to generate up to 20% of the energy needed by the city’s 14 sewage plants.
Now the city wants to get its money’s worth from the other half, by harvesting the gas to produce clean energy. Just one of the plants could provide gas for heating up to 2 500 homes.
With oil production peaking, it’s initiatives like this that could tip the world toward a green economy and greater sustainability.
Confession? There’s an app for that
CNN reports that the Catholic Church has issued its first imprimatur (read “stamp of approval”) for a mobile application.
“Confession: A Roman Catholic App” is designed to help Catholics prepare for the sacrament of confession. Developer Little iApps calls it “the perfect aid for every penitent”. The app isn’t meant to replace confession but to help Catholics through the steps before they get to the confessional. It provides a range of tools, including lists of prayers and acts of contrition, a feature that allows users to “add or remove custom sins” from a list, and prompts to help you work through “an examination of conscience” via the 10 commandments.
The confession app will set devout Catholics back $1,99 in the iTunes store, which seems a small price for salvation.
Faranaaz’s interests span science, technology and development. Read her weekly wrap every weekend on the M&G and follow her on Twitter here