The recent release of the Playstation 4, on November 15, 2013, has marked the first console Sony has released in 7 years (the last being the Playstation 3). Sony projects to sell 5 million units by the end of their fiscal year (which is March). With the Playstation 3, Sony managed to sell approximately 3.5 million units by that same time, 7 years ago, it does not seem unreasonable to have that projection. Also, with the constant competition between Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, we expect to see each successive video game console generation boast a wider variety of upgrades from their predecessors and, of course, attract its many loyal followers to continue purchasing their products.

Since the video gaming industry is so massive, and Sony’s fan base is the majority of the video gaming fanatics, we should continue to see a rise in success for Sony’s gaming consoles. As is for many things in life though, only time will tell how Sony does.

Once again, we see the emergence of another smartphone. This time, it is Motorolla’s new Moto G, an entry-level Android smartphone that is designed for emerging markets. According to CBC:

“A key selling point of the Moto G is it runs the latest version of Android, 4.3 Jellybean, with a promise of upgrading to 4.4 KitKat by January of next year.

The phone also packs a quad-core processor, where most mid-tier phones are dual-core. The 720p display is also made of Corning’s Gorilla Glass — a standard in durability in the industry.” (CBC News)

Although I will need to do further research to find the specifics of this new smartphone, I do believe that the world is steering towards the use of cheaper smartphones. In Hong Kong, the frequency my family members change their cell phones is roughly every 1 or 2 months, especially because of how frequent companies are developing “newer” smartphones with “improved” (most likely only a few) features.

I am intrigued to see how these phones will compete the big names such as Apple and Samsung, and the upcoming Nexus, by Google. The competition is immense, and it appears change occurs relatively quickly.

Whenever industries want to expand, they usually run into the issue of over-exhausting resources or, in the case of the fishing industry, over-fish. For the blue-fin tuna, people have urged the federal government, of Canada, to not ask for a raise in the quota for that fish.

It appears that this fish may be a potential endangered species, but the government has been quiet about whether they choose to raise the quota or not.

Over the past centuries, humanity has been responsible for the disappearance of many species on earth. If we continue to endanger the world through our selfish needs and gains, what will be left of the world for us to enjoy with our wealth? All we are doing is creating wealth for the present, and potentially the future, in the process of damaging or even killing off the futures of other living organisms, in this world. Let us move forward with through sustainability.

Recently, Genevieve Fouda of Duke University and her colleagues have discovered a chemical that may repel HIV from spreading to infants; it is known as tenascin-C, found in milk. As of now, not too much information has been released about this, but we do know that it acts like an antibody, latching onto the virus’ surface, which inhibits its effects on the infected patient.

The article is in the following link: <http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21588351-one-proteins-milk-protects-infants-against-hiv-infection-luck-would>

After I read this article, I immediately pondered how this would affect the world. There are people out there who would stop at nothing to maximize their profits. If an anti-HIV drug was created, would the discoverer be the kind, ethical person who would be willing to share it with all of humanity? Before we even begin thinking about these scenarios, do you believe humanity will eventually find cures for HIV and AIDS or will it just haunt humanity for as long as we live? Only time will tell, which also sparks the question, “Should we focus on making individualistic gains or should we all try to contribute for everyone’s cause, without making many personal gains?” The human population continues to grow, yet we are hardly making any progress in making the world a more habitable place for the upcoming generations. How do we manage our resources for these upcoming generations? There are too many questions that, in my opinion, do not have a definite answer.

As of November 15, 2013, General Motors has recalled over 15,000 Malibu sedans, of the 2013 model, to check for faulty wiring harnesses. According to two separate cases, the cars were set on fire, while unattended. It is said the wiring harness could wear against the seat frame, causing sparks that could lead to a fire.

Although General Motors is a huge company, there is a potential for major back log, but the major issue for General Motors is their vehicles’ reputation is at stake, leading to the possibility that customers will steer away (pardon the pun) from General Motors when purchasing a car.

In addition to the 15,000 2013 models they recalled, General Motors has also recalled over 40,000 2014 models due to an issue with the defroster; it could lead to a malfunction in the car’s heating and air-conditioning systems, making it difficult to defog the car’s windshield. Although this may seem to be a minor issue, as I mentioned before, General Motors’ reputation is on the line.

I fondly remembered browsing through Youtube, one day, and happened to bump into a video about Google Glass about a month or so ago. It never occurred to me that Google would actually go forth with this idea. Just today, I looked through The Economist and the quirky title, “Ubiquitous cameras, The people’s panopticon” appeared on the side. I read the description and noticed that it was about the very same Google Glass that I watched about a month ago!

The following is a link to the full article: http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21589863-it-getting-ever-easier-record-anything-or-everything-you-see-opens

Google Glass is basically a portable computer that will let anyone, using it, to record or even take pictures of everything that is being done. An additional feature includes streaming music and videos through the screen of the glasses. This product will seemingly replace all that you would use a smartphone for, so the major question is, “Where will this lead to?”