New iPhones :: iPhone 5C and 5S

One of the most awaited tech press conference of the year, finally has some news with it. On 10 Sep 2013, Apple, announced two new iPhones which can be aptly considered to be an upgrade of the existing iPhone 5. Facing stiff competition from a wide variety of models from Samsung and unable to capture the low cost smartphone market, this announcement was the need of the hour for Apple. 

Very briefly, iPhone 5S is an upgrade from the existing iPhone 5 whereas iPhone 5C is a similar configuration to iPhone 5 with a cheaper form factor in terms of plastic body. The key thing in iPhone 5S is the fingerprint recognition which improves as one uses it. This could be a game changer for Apple as such technology does not exist in any smartphone as yet. Along with that, an improved A7 chip and M7 coprocessor, 64 bit mobile architecture, the performance is significantly improved of high processing applications. Camera has been made better with a large sensor and larger aperture. Ofcourse iOS 7 is the final thing which will be the released on Sep 18 and available on iPhone 4 onwards. Also Apple for the first time has ventured into iPhone case market and is now providing leather cases for the iPhones. iPhone 5S comes in three colors, Gold, Silver and Black. The initial tagline for iPhone 5S is "Forward Thinking"

iPhone 5C is the Colorful thing according to Apple. Available in five different colors, white, red, yellow, blue and green, its the first time, Apple is moving away from its standard black and white. With an A6 chip, ultrafast LTE and iSight Camera, Apple has not compromised in the internal specifications of the phone. One more enhancement is the FaceTime HD Camera. The initial tagline for iPhone 5C is "For the Colorful"

Are these two products winner for Apple? This will be answered once they hit the shelfs in few weeks. Apple aficionados will pick it up on the first opportunity. Also Apple did not make an attempt towards giving a new shape to the iPhone unlike Samsung. Will have to wait and watch how much the iPhone 5C will penetrate the low cost Indian Market where a smartphone starts from as low as Rs. 2000 !!!

Bacardi Logo - Why Bats !!!

Strange right !! How come a logo consists of something weird like Bat.. Read on to find out more about it

There are two reasons for the existence of a free tailed bat in the logo of Bacardi. One of them is courtesy the basic ingredients and second is credited to its founders. 

The variant of bats called as Mexican free tailed bats are great pollinators of the sugar cane plant and are well known for eating the insects. This is why it makes sense for Bacardi to use them. 

The second as said earlier is related to the founder Facundo Bacardí Massó and his brother. They set up shop in a Santiago de Cuba distillery that they purchased in 1862. In the rafters of the building lived fruit bats, which helped to inspire the Bacardi bat logo. 

BrandTags Express Edition #22 :: Tennis Grand Slam Courts

First grand slam of this season, The Australian Open concluded a few days back. Unlike the 2012 encounter between Njokovic and Nadal, the final’s playoff between Njokovic and Murray became one sided after the 2^nd set leading to Joker winning comfortably at the end.

One of the interesting aspects of the Grand Slams is the type of court in which they are played. Each of the four Grand Slams Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open are played on different type of surfaces which add to the excitement of this sport. 

Both Australian Open and US Open are played on Hard Court. Australian Open is played on the Synthetic hard court whereas the US Open is played on the Acrylic Hard Court.

French Open is the only grand slam which is played on Clay Court.

Wimbledon, the second grand slam in Europe, is played on the Grass Court.

The recently completed Australian Open is also known as the Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific. The logo of Australian Open is below:

BrandTags Express Edition # 21 :: Twitter

In this edition, we are going to see something about the de facto standard in Social Networking - Twitter - The SMS of the Internet. 

Twitter, as we all know, is a real time information network providing one with almost everything which is happening around. Be it latest stories, upcoming movies, Hollywood gossips, Twitter is one place for all the information you ever need. 

Tweets is what makes up the Twitter. Tweets are 140 character long sentences which people use to describe events, happenings, news, stories or just anything. One can follow, have followers or just browse through the tweets and get to know "The Breaking News" within seconds of it actually happening. 

Twitter is a brain child of Jack Dorsey, who belonged to Odeo Corp which now exists as Obvious Corp. Version 0.1 of Twitter was written by Dorsey with Noah Glass on March 31, 2006. It debuted as Twttr similar to the 5 letter American short code for SMS. 

There have been several records on Twitter for the number of tweets per second for a particular event or a piece of news. The current record as of January 1, 2013, was set by all citizens of the Japan Standard Time Zone as the new year began, reaching a record of 33,388 tweets per second beating the previous record of 25,088, also set by Japan after a television screening of the movie "Castle in the Sky". 

The current logo of twitter just spots the "Twitter Bird" replacing the Larry Bird logo which existed until June 2012. The Bird is the sole branding of Twitter on the web. Douglas Bowman is considered to be the designer of Twitter. The current Twitter bird seems to be resembling the Male Mountain BlueBird.

500000 and Counting

Yes. 500000 is the current count of visitors to the blog. Thanks to everyone for making this happen. More to come from my end. 

BrandTags Express Edition #20 :: Microsoft's New Logo

Shifting our attention from the Olympics 2012 which have been a fair success for London, we now move on to another landmark event in the history of one of the IT giants.

On 23rd August 2012, Microsoft unveiled a new Logo. Year 1987 was the last time when Microsoft had modified its logo and this one has come after nearly 25 years which is a significant time for any organization. Its believed that the change in the logo comes in the anticipation of one of the biggest launches for Microsoft in recent times - The Launch of Windows 8 in October 2012. The primary aim of this logo is to provide a common theme across the new launches which the company is planning. 

The new logo is shown below:

Segoe is the font using which the word "Microsoft" is written in the logo. The four colored square boxes represent the portfolio of products which are supported by Microsoft. The tagline of Microsoft remains the same - "Your Potential, Our Passion"

The tech community globally is not too happy with this new logo. There have been mixed view on the logo and people say that with this logo Microsoft has shown once again the bias towards Windows. Truly speaking it really does not represent the entire product line of Microsoft along with the fact that its very contemporary and dull. 

BrandTags Express Edition # 19 :: Olympic Trivia 2

1. During London 2012, Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian with a record haul of 22 medals in the history of Olympics. His tally of 22 medals includes, 18 Golds, 2 Silvers and 2 Bronze medals. While achieving this feat, he surpassed Larisa Latynina, belonging to erstwhile USSR, who won 18 Medals including 8 Golds as a Gymnast way back in 1964.

2.  Usain Bolt, aptly names as the World's Fastest Human Being, defended his 100m and 200m titles at London 2012. With the London 2012, He is the first man in the history of sprinting to have six gold medals in his pocket. 

3. India delivered its best ever performance at Olympics by winning 6 medals which comprised of 4 Bronze and 2 Silver medals. Gagan Narang was the first Indian to win a medal at London 2012. Saina Nehwal became the first Indian to win a medal in Badminton at Olympics. Following were the other medal winners for India: Vijay Kumar (Silver Medal in 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol Event), Mary Kom (Bronze in the Fly Weight category of Boxing), Yogeshwar Dutt (Bronze in 60 KG freestyle Wrestling), Sushil Kumar (Silver 66 KG Freestyle wrestling)

4. USA topped the medals tally, followed by China and in the third place we had the host nation Britain. 

5. First Gold Medal of London 2012 was won by China's Yi Siling in 10 m Air Rifle event at Royal Barracks. 

6. London is also going to host the Paralympic games starting from 29 Aug. The name Paralympic signifies a competition which is happening at par or parallel to the Olympics. The world Paralympic was quoted as part of the Summer Olympics of 1988 held in Seoul.

7. Unlike the symbol of Olympics which signifies the five continents, the Symbol for Paralympics is composed of three agitos colored red, blue and green. Agito as in Latin refers to "I Move". Below is the logo for the 2012 Paralympic games. The tagline for this is: Inspire a Generation

 

BrandTags Express Edition #18 :: Olympic Trivia

With the greatest sporting event of this year round the corner, it makes perfect sense to include some information relating to that as part of this blog. So here I am with some cool Olympic Trivia for all the readers to enjoy:

1. The opening ceremony of London 2012 Olympics was termed "Isles of Wonder"

2. London has hosted Olympics more number of times than any other city in the world. The 2012 edition was the third time, London has hosted Olympics. 

3. Danny Boyle, Fame director of The Slumdog Millionaire, was the "Artistic Director" of the opening ceremony of the games. 

4. The main theme of the Opening ceremony was "This is for Everyone"

5. To avoid any controversy around lighting of the Cauldron, Britain choose seven young atheletes who were nominated by Britain's Greatest Olympians. The names of those lucky individuals are : Callum Airlie, Jordan Duckitt, Desiree Henry, Katie Kirk, Cameron McRitchie, Aidan Reynolds and Adelle Tracey

6. David Beckham was the Olympic Ambassador for London 2012. 

7. 204 Nations are currently participating in the London 2012 Olympics across 26 sports. 

More Trivia to continue in next editions of BEE. 

BrandTags Express Edition #17 :: Hashim Amla and Cricket Stats

A few minutes while I was thinking of what should go next in the blog, I came across the news on Hashim Amla who became the first South African cricketer to score a triple hundred. This is quite an illustrious feat by the South African who has been touted as a captain for quite sometime.

Amla surpassed the score set by AB D Villiers' of 278 while achieving this feat. The most interesting stat is that the triple century in England has come after more than 22 years when Graham Gooch hit 333 against India at Lords.

The Highest Test score is held by veteran Brian Lara who has a magical figure of 400 followed by Hayden and again followed by Lara. Virender Sehwag is the only Indian in the list who features twice with scores of 319 and 309. 

BrandTags Express Edition # 16 :: Paraskevidekatriaphobia

Ever heard of these terms:

Paraskevidekatriaphobia 

or

Friggatriskaidekaphobia 

or

Triskaidekaphobia

Definitely all of them relate to a certain phobia but the common thread running across the three words is No 13 which is considered to be inauspicious in the western world. It derives its negativity from the Apollo 13 mission. 

Triskaidekaphobia refers to "Fear of No 13"

Friggatriskaidekaphobia and Paraskevidekatriaphobia refer to "Fear of Friday the 13"

2012 is one such year where we have three Fridays coming on 13th. 

BrandTags Express Edition #15 :: Olympics 2012 and Beyond

All of us are quite well aware by now that London is the host city for 2012 Olympics. But do we know the host city beyond 2012 ??

So here is a brief compendium of Summer Olympics which will happen beyond 2012

2016: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. This edition is special as its the first edition of Olympics to happen in South America. Dubbed as Rio 2016, this is one of the first olympics to happen in the southern hemisphere barring the two in Australia. 

2020: The finalist Cities are: Istanbul, Tokyo and Madrid. On 7th Sep 2013, in the 125th IOC convention, the host city will be picked up in Buenos Aires. 

Here is the logo of Rio 2016. Its a real beauty and reflects the spirit of Olympics perfectly. 

                                                

BrandTags Express Edition # 14 :: ROLEX

Talk about Wimbledon and you cannot ignore ROLEX

ROLEX is the official timekeeper for Wimbledon. It has a very catch tagline which goes like this:

A Crown for Every Achievement

The origin of ROLEX is credited to Hans Wildrof who thought for the first time a wrist watch instead of a pocket watch. There are also certain stories which explain how the name ROLEX came to be. Its akin to the French Phrase horlogerie exquise which means "Horological Excellence". Another story relates to the fact that ROLEX word is derived from the words ROLLS ROYCE and TIMEX, each of which is a hallmark of technology and precision. 

ROLEX has three watch lines Oyster Perpetual, Professional and Cellini.

Amongst other things, ROLEX has to its credit, first ever water proof watch named Oyster. 

There is tone down version of ROLEX which is available in the emerging markets primarily. Its called as TUDOR. 

Long Hiatus

I am back from a long hiatus. It has been longer than a normal break, I would take. There have been quite a few changes out there which need to get into this blog. As I struggle through my relocation and new work environment, I will continue to update this blog at regular intervals. This blog is now open for sponsorships and ad spaces and interested people can contact me at my official email address: yashasvi.arun@gmail.com for enquiries. For the moment here is a message from our sponsor 

BrandTags Express Edition #13 :: NOKIA Lumia Range

A week back Nokia released its first set of offerings based on the Windows Mobile Platform at the annual Nokia World event held in London. Nokia has moved on from its Symbian based platform to the Windows Mobile platform for its SmartPhone range. LUMIA is the first range of smartphones released by Nokia which are based on the Windows SmartPhone. 

There are two phones which are introduced under the LUMIA range. The Nokia Lumia 800 and 710. There is also a new range which is developed aiming the regional and low cost markets. This range is called as ASHA. The ASHA set of phones although not being SmartPhones provide a amazing QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen interface along with one click access to Social Networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. 

The tagline for Nokia Lumia 800 is Continuous Entertainment whereas the tagline for Nokia Lumia 710 is Designed Around You. ASHA set of phones will continue to denote the tagline of the Nokia corporation which is Connecting People

As part of this launch, Nokia also communicated its new ad campaign titled "The Amazing Everyday". 

For a closer look here is the photograph below of the Nokia Lumia 800:

Nokia Lumia 800

BrandTags Express Edition #12 :: 2011 FORMULA 1 AIRTEL GRAND PRIX OF INDIA

India had a truly big last week from every dimension. Start of the week saw onset of the biggest Hindu festival Diwali and towards the week closure we saw the Metallica Concert in Bangalore and Lady Gaga performing in Delhi. But there is one event which stood out and put our stamp in the Motor Sports. It was none other than the 2011 FORMULA 1 AIRTEL GRAND PRIX OF INDIA. Without the mention of this historic event, BrandTags will be incomplete and hence this event features here. 

The event is very special in several ways. We hear only positive news about it unlike the commonwealth games where we heard only negative news. The circuit is amazing and it was ready in a record time. The country embraced the sport extremely well from every angle and presented to the world the capability to host the costliest sport. Drivers enjoyed the tracks and equally happy were the team engineers and the teams themselves. The track was completely built by the private sector (JAYPEE Group) with no involvement of the Govt. With no incidents to report, the Indian Grand Prix is a huge success and gives India a podium finish. 

Lets have a look at the logo of the Indian Grand Prix. The logo is a stylized B in the colors of orange and green which symbolize the national flag. The logo is shown below. The circuit is designed by Hermann Tilke. Most of the European circuits are designed by Hermann only. 

BrandTags Express Edition #11 :: VERTU

VERTU is a global luxury brand of mobile phones which are handmade with the finest of the materials sourced globally. The keys are made from Sapphire, the leather is sourced from Northern Europe and the material is resistant to almost anything you can think off. The most interesting thing about VERTU is that its a fully owned division of NOKIA and continues to remain profitable since inception. 

The tagline of VERTU is Experience Life, Beautifully Arranged. 

Recently in Malaysia, VERTU released its first SmartPhone called as Vertu Constellation Quest. Specialty of VERTU phones include services like VERTU CONCIERGE, VERTU FORTRESS, VERTU CERTAINTY, VERTU REMOTE ASSIST and VERTU ME. 

Logo of VERTU is below:

VERTU LOGO

Blog Crosses 400000 mark

Its a pleasure to know that the blog has crossed the 4 LAKH mark in terms of the footprint and is going strong day after day. Thanks to all the readers. It has been a great experience to write on this blog. 

BrandTags Express Edition #10 :: Cool Things about KFC

KFC stands for Kentucky Fried Chicken. The fast food giant set up its restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky and hence the name Kentucky Fried Chicken. In its early days KFC was famous for southern style chicken. 

The current tagline of KFC is sogood. The past tagline was its finger lickin good

The logo of the chain is below. The tagline is in red and black letters. The image is of Colonel Harland Sanders, founder of KFC. 

KFC Logo

Steve Job :: Rest in Peace

An event so unconnected still make an impact,
so shattering yet silent
so adhoc yet stimulating
so distant yet can bring tears - Steve Jobs RIP.

BrandTags Express Edition #9 :: Troika, Operation Twist, QE

While we are in midst of a financial crisis once again after the 2008 fiasco, several terms have emerged which definitely need a mention on this blog as I work in the very center of this trading business. 

Troika - This is actually a Russian Bulgarian word which essentially means the number three or three of a kind. In the current financial crisis this refers to the combination of European Central Bank (ECB), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Commission. This is special conglomerate which is formed to rescue Greece from the debt crisis which is causing a global contagion

Operation Twist - This is a slightly complex "operation" by Federal Reserve to understand. In the past, Fed was buying a lot of short term government securities in the market to infuse dollars in to the economy. But with this Operation Twist, Fed would actually be trading the Short term securities like US treasuries for the Long term bonds. Its expected that such operation will lower the rates associated with the long term securities like mortgage or auto or other long term loans. 

QE: QE stands for Quantitative Easing. This was one of the operations of the US Fed to pump in additional money into the ailing economy and foster growth and create employment. There were two rounds of QE 1 and 2. A third QE3 was expected but Fed instead decided to do a Operation Twist.