If Sony was trying to make a statement with the launch of its PlayStation 4 console, it did a pretty good job. Unlike most of the pre-game rhetoric and inflated talk, the PS4 seems to have lived up to its claims and is the most powerful console on the market. It has seen another revision to its exterior and some major design tweaks to its Dual Shock controller. In addition, it has expanded memory and greatly increased the performance of its processors. These upgrades are clearly evident and the PS4 offers stunning HD graphics that run smooth and lightning fast.

With some very well-equipped exclusive game titles, streaming access, and multiplayer capabilities, PlayStation enthusiasts will most likely welcome newcomers with open arms. Not to mention, the price of this console is around $100 less than its ardent rival: the Xbox One. As it stands today, the PS4 has made a grand entrance.

Performance: 5.0 / 5.0

The PS4 has a single-chip processor that combines an octa-core x86-64 AMD “Jaguar” CPU with a 1.84 teraflops GPU. It is supported by 8 GB of GDDR5 RAM and has a 500 GB mechanical hard drive. Sony boasts that its new hardware allows it to perform ten times better than the last PS3. That’s a pretty impressive feat.

Another nice touch is the fact that the PS4 comes with a 500 GB drive. This extra space helps when downloading movies and games from the PlayStation market. If you ever feel pressured for space, don’t worry, because the hard drive can also be upgraded without voiding your warranty.

PS4’s HD graphics are stunning and the responsiveness of consoles these days is unmatched. What’s even more impressive is the fact that this machine can perform at such a high level without sounding like a plane on a runway or overheating. Not to mention, the entire power supply is encased within the unit; unlike Xbox One, which still has it connected to the external power cable in an attempt to save space inside the console.

Features: 5.0 / 5.0

The PS4 comes in the same half-matte, half-gloss black exterior as the Xbox One. Still, it has a completely different look. That’s because the PS4 has a sleek, slim design and doesn’t look like an oversized mid-’80s VCR. I’m not saying the Xbox one is the ugly half-sister of the bunch, but it probably wouldn’t be asked to prom if the PS3 was available and ready. Now, for all of you who have just been offended by such a superficial statement, I know full well that Mom always said, “It’s what’s on the inside that counts.” And in that sense, I assure you, the PS4 would still be the first guest at a dance.

The PS4 has seen some modifications to its components and for that reason any of your older PlayStation peripherals won’t work, imagine that.

Although the PS4 doesn’t have previous capabilities to play your PS3 titles, many of the games you previously had can be purchased at a considerable discount from its online store. The only problem: you’ll have to insert the old PS3 disc into the console while playing the online version.

Games purchased from PlayStation Store are downloaded directly to your hard drive, and there’s no need to worry about your drive getting lost or scratched. The only negative is the fact that downloaded titles cannot be borrowed over the weekend or exchanged for credit at your local game store. As this way of buying games becomes more popular, stores like GameStop and other game trade retailers could take a hit, that or a seat next to Blockbuster at “Reminiscence Park.”

The new PS4 Dual Shock 4 has seen some physical changes that make it stand out a bit from its older counterpart. Some of the most notable changes pertain to the analog sticks; which have been spaced out a bit more to avoid collisions with thumbs. They have also been designed with recessed caps and covered with a rubber coating to improve grip. The Dual Shock 4 also comes with an external speaker and a headphone jack for your headphones, just keep in mind that you can only output in stereo from the controllers connection; however, it is a nice touch. I would say that one of the best design features of the Dual Shock 4 is the metallic touchpad on the front of the controller. It works just like a laptop touchpad and is extremely smooth and responsive.

Although the Dual Shock 4 can be purchased and used on the PS3, older Dual Shock 3 controllers are not compatible with the PS4.

For those who already have a PS Vita, you can stream games from your PS4 over Wi-Fi to the portable drive. This creates a second display screen, much like the Wii U, and allows you to play while someone else is using the TV. While this is a nice feature, it probably wouldn’t justify buying the PS Vita on its own.

The PlayStation Camera is a nice touch, but it takes very little interaction to realize that it’s not quite as robust as Xbox Kinect and doesn’t seem to have enough game interaction to make it worth your while. It also has a voice command feature, albeit a very limited one, and you may want to consider spending your money on another controller.

Media: 4.4 / 5.0

The PS4 seems to have been relegated to the background in its previous plans to be the all-in-one media center. While it can still boast one of the best-performing Blu-Ray and DVD players on the market, unlike the PS3, you can no longer play music files, CDs, or easily stream content from your PC. Instead, it seems to work more like a Roku. However, if you just want to use the console for gaming or occasional access to Netflix and other movie apps, you’re all set. Not to mention, the movies are easily accessible and can be loaded at lightning speeds. You can even use the PS4 to connect to social networks and share some of your featured games, nothing like showing off.

When it comes to music, both Xbox and PS4 have their own channels. PlayStation offers “Music Unlimited,” for a small fee, of course. It works much like Pandora and allows users to listen to entire albums. The only weakness is that it is a bit slower and less refined in recognizing the true genre of music or artist you want. Along with this feature comes “Video Unlimited”. Another movie-based channel that is surprisingly deep in the title selections and also allows streaming to alternative devices.

The PlayStation online gaming community has seen great improvements in the interface and gameplay features. The only downside is that, like Xbox, PS4 users will now have to pay to access the multiplayer area. Although this is a change from the PS3 where it was free, the experience has been vastly improved and will probably be considered worth the cost.

One useful feature of the PS4 is the iOS and Android app that allows users to connect to the PlayStation Store and purchase and download games while on the go. With this app, games can be automatically downloaded to your console, while you’re away from home, and then ready to play once you arrive. All in all, the PS4 still has some good interaction and feature variety in the multimedia department, but it lacks the depth experienced with the PS3. Due to some of these complaints, Sony has taken note and I imagine they will make some adjustments in their updates.

The final result: 4.9 / 5.0

The PS4 is $100 cheaper than the Xbox One, but even if you removed the Kinect component to lower the Xbox’s price, the PS4 is much better value for the dollar. Its performance is undeniable, and while the Xbox One is a well-built unit, until Microsoft irons out some performance issues, it won’t be rubbing shoulders with Sony.

As for the downside, the PS4 only comes with two front USB ports. We felt that this design flaw also present with the PS3 would have been fixed, but apparently not. It also lacks the depth of gaming titles like Xbox One, and always has. However, it is within reach and has many blockbuster exclusive titles and a promising future.

The PS4 is a powerful gaming console that offers gamers exactly what they are looking for; a seamless HD gaming experience with full functionality and control. Based on its undeniable performance, improved design, and price, Consumer High Five Reviews considers a first-round pick a no-brainer.

For more helpful gaming and tech reviews and articles, visit Consumer High Five. We review, you choose. You can also check out the list of our top five game consoles for 2014.

As of this writing, Apple has decided not to list Singapore as one of the countries for worldwide shipping of the Apple iPad. This is bad news as many Singaporeans are eager to get an iPad. I will share with you some tips to buy the Apple iPad with the best deal.

First tip is popular Singapore forums like hardwarezone.com or olx.sg have them. Go directly to the classified sections and you should find a lot of people selling the iPad. Look through all the ads and find the cheapest price available. Some of them will leave behind their mobile phone number with which you can contact them immediately.

If they don’t leave any contacts in the forum post, you’ll need to register an account on that forum and then send them a private message to tell the seller that you want to buy the iPad from them.

Once the seller contacts you, simply schedule a suitable time and place in Singapore of your choice and meet the seller face to face. Be sure to check the iPad thoroughly and that it is working fine. Do your due diligence by checking for scratches, cracks, and any signs of defect.

The advantage of buying the iPad this way is that you’ll most likely get the best deal since the seller doesn’t have a physical store and therefore you don’t have to pay rent and the savings can be passed on to you.

Another tip is to shop at popular electronic mall stores like Sim Lim Square, Funan, Mustafa, and Lucky plaza in Singapore. In Sim Lim Square, the 16GB iPad Wifi model retails for around SGD$950, and the Mustafa center retails from SGD$1249. If both malls have sold out of the iPad and you can’t wait any longer, still you can try to buy the iPad at Lucky plaza for SGD$1,600 and up.

The reason for the high price of iPad in Lucky plaza is that it is a shopping paradise for tourists and therefore most customers are willing to pay sky-high prices as they cannot retrieve an iPad back home.

HP and Dell are among the world’s leading IT companies. Aside from offering truly exceptional products, these companies make sure that their customers don’t have to deal with product issues in the long run. This is done through their customer support facilities. More exactly, through Dell and HP technical support

24-hour Dell and HP support
It doesn’t matter what country you are in. While the company is operating in the country, you will have access to technical support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which you can access with a simple call to their customer service number. In the case of Dell technical support, you will be greeted by an interactive voice-activated menu system. This menu system is quite easy to navigate and it would normally take no more than 30 seconds to transfer your call to a live expert.

The same goes for HP technical support as soon as you place the call. However, in the case of HP support, the voice-activated menu is not as user-friendly. You will need to speak slowly and very clearly to navigate correctly and reach the right person. Navigating becomes a challenge when you have to say the model number of your product. Typically, it will take the average person quite a few repeated attempts to register their model number. This is when you feel that a key-based activation service would be much better. Something where you have to press 1 key or as directed by the voice to make decisions and move on.

HP Support and Dell Support – Less downtime, effective solutions

The downtime to get a technician to fix your issue is much less at both Dell support and HP support. In addition, the technicians are highly skilled and very friendly, an experience shared by almost everyone who has called Dell technical support or HP technical support. Troubleshooting time is also quite less as the experts are quite proficient in diagnosing and solving any software issues you may be facing. In the event that your problem is diagnosed as a hardware failure, the technician will ask you to mail the product to the company where it will be repaired and then send it to you as soon as possible.

It may not be able to “connect the dots” of the future by itself, but does this mean it’s not possible? If you want to move quickly in your career, keep in mind that mentors often already have a complete picture of where you’re going, because they’ve “been there.” They know what dots are and how they are connected. A great mentor also knows you well enough to see the points that apply to you personally.

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer, delivered a well-known commencement address to the graduating class of 2005 at Stanford University.

One of the stories he told was “Connecting the Dots.” He related to how dropping out of college gave him the freedom to “attend” a calligraphy class, and how 10 years later his love of calligraphy carried over to the first Mac. He said:

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking back. So you have to trust that the dots will connect somehow in your future. You have to trust something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.” .”

Because I have a traumatic brain injury (TBI), I have a lot of trouble with my “stitches.” It’s comforting to know that even geniuses like Steve Jobs couldn’t connect their dots ahead of time. No one else could have made that connection to Steve Jobs when he took that class.

However, there is a level where we can get help with our points, which is really helpful. My experience has shown me that the “something” to “trust” can be a mentor.

Why? Because my mentor has a vision of my abilities, my future and my success that I can’t see. See the dots as if they were already connected; it is completely clear. I see them scattered everywhere.

He has been leading me to do certain things in a certain order, which I sometimes resist, because I don’t understand how it all relates. Tremendous opportunities often arose, all because I trusted my mentor’s vision and followed his instructions. In true Mr.90DayGoals style, he will say “It’s all part of the Plan”.

The bottom link is that the only way to connect the dots looking forward is to have these things in place:

1) A vision or goal that you need to do

2) A mentor who can see the points before you do

3) A big enough “Why” to keep going, even when you can’t see the next step.

Electronic currencies have been around for some time and are widely used on the Internet. Electronic currencies are undoubtedly here to stay and will become an increasingly important part of Internet commerce. Eventually, electronic currencies may become the preferred means of financial exchange between consumers and merchants, and a popular means of transferring money between individuals. Popular electronic currencies include e-Gold, e-Bullion, c-Gold, Pecunix, Liberty Reserve, and GoldMoney. Unfortunately, e-currencies are tainted by association with so-called “HYIP” (High Yield Investment Programs), which are basically scams of one kind or promise unrealistic returns on “investment” of another kind. Even more unfortunate, many of the characteristics of electronic currencies make them attractive to a wide variety of underworld, including terrorists and pedophiles.

I recently became interested in electronic currencies as a way to easily send money to relatives abroad. I just got tired of the effort required to send an international bank transfer. International wire transfers not only incur high fees for both sender and recipient, but seem to invoke suspicion at most US bank branches. Alternative money transfer services are often even worse. And, of course, the US government has a vested interest in any transfer of funds outside of the US of any size or frequency. Finally, electronic currencies offer the opportunity to diversify away from the US dollar, into gold-backed currency.

It is no surprise that governments are not enamored with electronic currencies. The issuance of money has long been the domain of sovereign governments around the world. Governments around the world retain the rights to essentially rob their citizens by diluting the value of the currency they hold simply by printing more money. The control of the monetary system and the monopoly of the legal use of violence are precious privileges of any government, since the control of these is the control of the citizenry.

But these are not the concerns you will hear from the US or other governments. They are also (rightfully) concerned about their inability to regulate the exchange of value between the parties, some of which they are supposed to protect. Coins in use by your citizenry outside of your control can easily be used for all kinds of illicit activities. But targeting electronic currencies is a ridiculous way to thwart the objectionable intentions of the underbelly of society. In a later article, I will directly challenge the irrational logic of the US government’s pursuit of e-currencies.

Like all currencies, the value of electronic currency is directly related to the level of confidence that consumers and merchants have in the purchasing power of that currency. If the US government announced tomorrow that it was going to issue trillions of new US dollars, no one would want to be caught holding the resulting worthless piece of paper the next morning. Similarly, if consumers and merchants do not have confidence in the future value of an electronic currency, they will assign little or no current value to it.

Since most electronic currencies are backed by gold or a pool of sovereign currencies, the issue of inherent value is not an issue. The challenge for any electronic currency is to respond to the potential for future devaluation by some major act of man or government. Will the company behind the e-currency with all the gold suddenly disappear? Are they lying about the 1:1 ratio of gold to currency units in their reserves? Will a government body suddenly seize your assets, imprison directors, or inhibit people’s ability to exchange value through the electronic currency system? In fact, electronic currencies share many of the value-risk characteristics of smaller countries whose future governance is uncertain and which may have pegged their own currency to the US dollar.

So what is the future of electronic currency? I think that for a select handful of e-currencies, the future is indeed bright, although one must tread carefully in the short term. It would seem equally foolish to ignore electronic currencies or to trust them completely. I will expand on these claims in later articles.

If you’ve been trying to learn how to jelq, you may have come across a ton of jelqing videos on YouTube. It can be tempting to spend some time clicking through these so-called jelqing videos, hoping to gain the knowledge of how to jelq properly. Just watch a handful of videos and then you can start jelqing and get a bigger penis, right? Not quite. In fact, this may be the worst way to learn jelqing.

Here are 3 reasons why you should avoid jelqing videos on YouTube:

1. Most are just “text videos” with no tutorials or visual demonstrations. This defeats the whole purpose of watching a video. If you just wanted to read about jelqing, you wouldn’t be clicking on a video to do it, but rather reading an article like this one. However, many of these are simply “words on a screen” that only define or describe the jelq exercise (and usually not very well).
2. Many are just talking heads. Instead of words on a screen, you have a guy (or sometimes a girl, which is weird) talking about the jelq technique. And most of the time they’re just reading a script. Again, no visual demos or really good or unique information.
3. Waste of time. You can spend hours on YouTube trying to find a good video on a certain topic. Usually you have to go through dozens of videos before you find what you are really looking for. When it comes to male enhancement exercises, the same applies. You can spend a lot of time going through videos and easily get disappointed by the lack of real information in the tutorial. Now, there are exceptions and we’ll discuss them below so you can save a lot of time if you choose to search for jelqing information on YouTube.

Here are some exceptions that can help you find good informative jelq exercise videos.

• Search for “human body videos.” When you’re searching, skip all thumbnails that appear to be “text-only videos.” Instead, choose the thumbnails that show a human body. Now here is the trick that will save you a lot of time. If you see a “face”, skip it. Instructional videos will be those where the camera is pointed towards the groin area. If the thumbnail shows a face, it’s probably just a talking head video with no demo.
• Banana or elongated object. If you see a banana, cucumber, or some oblong object on the thumbnail, then you know that this person will be doing a real demonstration. While these may not be perfect for demonstrating the technique perfectly (obviously a banana is not the same as a penis), they do show you how the exercise is performed and can give you a very good visual idea of ​​what jelqing is all about. all about.
• Real jelqing videos. Occasionally YouTube will let some actual jelqing videos slip through. For some reason they bypass the censors and when you click on the video you suddenly have “the real deal” in your face. Honestly, many men would rather watch a banana demo video, rather than see the real deal. The thing is, these videos are usually very bad anyway, and the banana demos are much more comprehensive. Any actual informational jelqing video will be included as part of a jelqing program, and will not be a generic demo video that somehow got past the censors on YouTube.

The fish is a symbol of sacred sleep. It represents divinity and superiority.

However, only calm fish have this symbolic meaning, because violent ones, like sharks, represent the dominance of madness in the human side of human consciousness due to the invasion of absurd content existing in the wild side of the human brain.

The domestic red fish and the colored fish that live in the sea or in the rivers, as well as all the fish that are grey, represent the calm and wisdom of God.

But what exactly does it mean to see a calm fish in a dream?

Depending on the context of the dream and your biography, the calm and silent fish will indicate that you should behave like a wise fish, so that you remain close to God and never do evil, or that you are already being wise. Like the fish that never says a word.

The silence of the fish is the silence of God in the face of evil: the silence of a superior creature, in the face of a beast.

On the other hand, if you see in a dream that you managed to catch a big fish, this means that you are going to “catch” someone you want, a treasure from the bottom of the sea, something really special! This is an excellent dream message, and I really hope you see many dreams in which you are catching fish or watching them swim calmly and quietly.

These are very good dream images, and after them you will see many other fascinating dream images and messages, because if you have managed to be like God at certain points in your life, this means that you have evolved and will surely evolve. much more.

The unconscious mind is your protector and that is why all dream messages have a protective character. After your first occupation with the meaning of your dreams and the transformation of your personality, you will see, almost every day, dreams that contain future predictions about certain points in your life. The unconscious mind will protect you more, because you will understand more.

Then you will observe that the unconscious mind sends you symbolic messages also when you are not sleeping and dreaming, but when you are awake, living. Everything that happens to you and to the people who are close to you has a symbolic meaning that gives you information about the reality in which you find yourself.

For example, you are in a restaurant and you are irritated by the waiter’s delay. Suddenly, your eyes fall on a ball with red fish and instead of being nervous about the delay, you are embarrassed that you got irritated by such a thing. You understand that you simply have to forgive the waiter, and wait patiently, without filling your heart with the poison of revolt.

The fish in your environment remind you of the attitude of superiority that you should have, eliminating your anger. You will always be in touch with the unconscious mind, since you will always be translating the symbolic meaning of everything.

Symbolic language is very interesting, because one word has many meanings. First of all, you have to learn how it works in dreams.

You will see that the meaning of a symbol varies, depending on the context of the dream and the biography of the dreamer, one of the most important parts for the real understanding of the meaning of a dream, since we see dreams when we sleep. give us information about our own life, our psyche, our problems, etc. first, and then information about other people and everything else. So, the dreamer’s biography is essential if we want to adequately translate the meaning of a dream.

In the example of the fish, you have seen that there are three different definitions for its meaning:

– Divinity (Tranquil Fish)

– Domination of Madness (Shark)

– A treasure (Catch a fish)

Likewise, depending on the dreamer’s biography, we have other definitions that help us understand the true meaning of each part of the dream for the specific case that we are analyzing.

After you evolve you will understand the meaning of patience, forgiveness, mercy and holiness.

The dream images that you will see will be completely different from those that you see at the beginning of your occupation with the meaning of your dreams.

You have to learn the language of dreams… The fish is just a symbol: just a word from a foreign language for you. You have to learn to immediately translate dream symbols like me and my students so that you can understand the messages that the wise unconscious mind that produces your dreams is sending you to protect you from your wild side.

Learn the language of dreams with my simplification of the complicated method of interpreting dreams discovered by Carl Jung at the end of the last century. My method is dynamic, according to the lifestyle of the 20th century.

I continued his research, discovered many dream symbols and became a real psychiatrist, while I was just a writer. I had to deeply study the content of the human brain, human behavior, and the effect of the invasion of the wild side on the human side, while curing many people of severe mental illness for 19 years.

The interpretation of dreams according to the scientific method is a miraculous solution for the desperate population of our absurd modern civilization, where terrorism, violence, hypocrisy and futility rule.

The wise and holy unconscious will give a definitive end to terrorism, immorality and violence on Earth, transforming our crazy world into a beautiful place, where we can live in peace and happiness.

The entire human race will no doubt learn to translate their dreams now that we have discovered that we have a wild, violent and evil side in our own brain that must be transformed into a positive part of our human side, and also, now that we know that we receive valuable information and guidance of the wise unconscious mind that translates our own dreams.

When it comes to eCommerce development, Magento is always the first choice for developers and business owners alike. Undoubtedly, Magento is the most powerful, open source and feature-rich eCommerce platform now in the global market. Magento powers almost 36 percent of the websites today. And one of the key reasons why it has become a preferred choice for eCommerce development and why eCommerce business owners prefer to choose Magento Developers for your projects is its SEO friendly nature and the availability of many SEO extensions that come with the platform.

SEO or search engine optimization is an important aspect of every website. Staying ahead of the competition and on the SERPs is important and this is why having an optimized website is crucial. SEO is important as it helps increase site rankings, makes the site more visible on the SERPs, helps drive more traffic to the site, and ensures faster and increased site conversions. An SEO friendly website can convert visitors into customers much faster.

Well, Magento stands out as a great option for building online stores as it comes with a set of SEO extensions. Making an SEO friendly website is easier with this ecommerce platform. And some of the latest Magento 2 SEO extensions are filtered and shared here for you. Have a look.

A checklist of the top 2 SEO extensions Magento developers need to know about.

Although there are a plethora of Magento 2 SEO extensions available today, only the best ones are shared here. Making use of these extensions is important to end up with a fully optimized and high-ranking online store.

Google Custom Search Integration:

The Google Custom Search Integration Extension is guaranteed to enhance the functionality of the eStore search engine. It actually uses Google’s search algorithm to deliver accurate search results to customers. Searching and finding exactly the desired products becomes easy for the customers when you integrate this particular extension into your Magento 2 store. Also, the store owners can enable the auto-complete feature to make the search process faster and easier for the customers. customers.

SEO Suite Ultimate Magento 2 Extension:

This is a unique extension that can be integrated into your Magento 2 store that includes different types of on-page optimization actions. The latest SEO suite Magento 2 extension uses advanced templates for all types of product pages to optimize meta data, SEO names, URL keys, meta descriptions and many more store details. Furthermore, the extension also helps to remove all duplicate content, sets up redirects, helps to optimize all web pages and offers benefits in terms of SEO for online stores.

Magento 2 SEO Toolkit:

This Magento 2 SEO Toolkit is an amazing SEO extension that ensures higher visibility of your store on different search engines, can help increase traffic, increase conversions and expand your customer base. Integrating this extension into your store can also help analyze analytics data on the site. All you need to do is simply click the ‘SEO Toolbar’ button on the platform to add rich snippets to your site and attract more customers. Page redirects and advanced pagination can also be used to improve store indexing and prevent broken links.

The SEO Pro extension:

Increase website visibility, solve on-page SEO issues, develop XML sitemap, resolve broken links, create meta tags, integrate Facebook pixel and increase your store’s search engine rankings. The extension also helps to automatically replace predefined keywords with suitable links on product pages.

Enhanced Layered Navigation Extension:

This Magento 2 extension was designed to offer faster AJAX product filtering and to generate SEO friendly URLs. It also helps improve the customer experience by offering features and functionality that make browsing easier, faster, and better on the eStore.

Magento 2 Google Rich Snippet:

If you want to have a fully optimized e-store for your business and want to get maximum conversion benefits from your store, then integrating this extension can be a great idea. Google Rich Snippets designed by Amasty is an amazing extension that can increase the search rank of your site and can take you to the top of search engines. Advanced snippet generation, aster site indexing, and breadcrumb creation are some of the features this extension offers.

So, these were the best Magento 2 SEO extensions to know about and integrate into your website to boost your rankings, deliver easy search results, drive more customers and traffic to the store, and take you straight to the top of the SERPs. .

Bruce Lee, the mere mention of his name evokes images of those kung fu movies of the 1970s and 1980s. Where would Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan and Jet Li… just to name a few, be today if it hadn’t been for Bruce? Read?

Bruce Lee wasn’t a big man—he was 5-foot-7 and only about 135 pounds—but what made him stand out was his lean, muscular physique. They now refer to this as the “Bruce Lee Jumpsuit.”

On Bruce Lee’s body, the muscles were not the bloated type seen on today’s modern bodybuilder; instead, a physique that was tapered to a V and ripped to the bone was seen.

Bruce Lee popularized the present-day: Hollywood body of A-list actors. Today, it’s no longer acceptable for an action star to appear in a movie out of shape without being slim, defined, and with ripped abs.

This is the look that Bruce Lee brought to the screen in the 1970s.

Some have asked: what prompted Bruce Lee to have such incredible physical conditioning? As the story goes, in 1964, Bruce Lee, then relatively unknown, ended up in a fight with Wong Jack Man, a no-holds-barred event.

Bruce Lee won the fight, but after the fight he was disgusted with his performance, felt he should have beaten him faster, felt his strength and conditioning were mediocre, his kicks and punches needed to be more powerful, and his lungs were screaming. by air.

From this came a new generation of martial artists, a muscular body, but ripped to the bone, Bruce Lee Body!

After the fight, Bruce began a program of strength, conditioning, and endurance training, as well as his own martial art called Jeet Kune do, “the Way of the Intercepting Fist.”

But Lee was still a far cry from the muscular physique you see on screen today: he had bad genetics, was lean and wiry, had very little muscle on a thin frame.

He researched as much as he could, his main focus: developing power, speed and strength. He left no stone unturned.

How much vertical integration does it take in consumer products to make them into a great consumer product. Like the Palm Pilot before it, the iPod is the quintessential 21st century consumer hit, yet characterized by a highly integrated experience from design to in-store to brand experience. Corporations in general have been notoriously bad at creating experiences when they have been successful at the corporate level.

Compare and contrast products like Burberry, Hermes, BMW, Apple, Ikea, Sony and others. Although they are great consumer products, they are not corporate products and are not intended to create a corporate experience. For example, BMW has successfully built a brand around success and driveability. (This doesn’t translate to the Ford Mondeo or Chevy Impala, both fleet vehicles.) The brand experience extends from advertising to the shopping experience. Those who have been lucky enough to buy through a BMW dealer will understand that it is very different than buying from a Chevy dealer. Both BMW and Lexus understand this and make it a requirement to sell a BMW vehicle. And yes, they offer free lattes and muffins and some of them look like Starbucks stores. (BMW dealers prefer the white and stainless steel look like Shelley BMW in Wellington and BMW Sydney in Potts Points, as well as BMW Toronto, while LandRover/Jaguar like wood paneling.)

Going back to the Sony Walkman, as I said earlier, the Walkman needs to have the music packaged and available. Due to the Phillips compact cassette, this was possible at the time in large numbers. In fact, it would be reasonable to say that without Sony and the music industry benefited greatly from the Walkman and created a new level of economics with the music industry. It is now a fact that this level of integration, the cassette and the portable player was a necessary precondition for the market to exist. This is because while it was possible to copy music to the desktop from tape and many of us did, we also bought pre-recorded music in bulk quickly and easily.

By June 1989, 10 years after the first model was launched, the total number of Walkman units manufactured had exceeded 50 million, and in 1992 it reached 100 million. In 1995, the total production of Walkman units reached 150 million. Including a special 15th anniversary model, more than 300 different Walkman models have been produced to date and Sony has remained the market leader. [Source Sony Corporation.]On the contrary, Apple’s iPOD has sold 67.9 million iPods in its various flavors in its first 4.25 years and expects to reach 100 million iPods in about 6 years, surpassing Sony by about 7 years.

Sony also spent a lot of time on the brand experience. The Walkman name was clever and multilingual. They were able to clearly create the brand around the Walkman that expressed youth and freedom. The ability to listen to your music when and where you need it has become the rig of the day and is a fact we take for granted today.

Walkman as a generic verb or noun

As much as Google doesn’t like the term “Google” as a “search” verb, it’s not up to them but the consumer to decide which brands are verbs. They should be flattered because it’s an esteemed position in the market which means a market position that has no equal. Walkman along with iPod, Hoover and Xerox are brands that achieved this position. The Walkman became the de facto name for a portable music player until Apple replaced it with the iPod. Although it is still difficult for older people to replace the Walkman, for younger people the Walkman is just another music player.

However, Sony was able to create the “Walkman” brand as a class of device that made it nearly impossible for anyone else to compete for the minds of consumers. I challenge anyone to come up with an alternative portable CD or cassette player. I’d say Apple has accomplished this so far and we’re looking to see if the term “Zune” makes any headway or is it just another wanabee brand.

Vertical integration must include the brand experience

So the second element is that the brand experience is a vital part of the Vertical Integration strategy, which brings us closer to the argument that a platform will not work in the consumer space and that is because they value the experience beyond the device and perhaps buy the device to subscribe to all the values ​​that the brand provides.

What if Microsoft called it MSN Player instead of Zune?

Our natural reaction is that this would not work, why? I’d venture to guess that it’s because there’s already a preconceived brand experience that consumers would apply to the music player, and you don’t want to carry over those brand values ​​because they’re not the experience you want to convey. The MSN network is what we refer to as the ghetto portal. Unlike Google and Yahoo, which have great search and media partners, MSN is a hodgepodge of content with a few apps around it. If it disappeared tomorrow no one would care too much because it’s a duplicate of Yahoo that does 10 times better. That’s not to say that Windows Live won’t improve that experience (the fact that they have to make Windows Live shows that MSN will be taken out and beaten to death), but Windows Live is trying to extend the brand to Portal. space.

Does the OS vertical integration argument extend to music players?

Once again, the ability to experience digital music consistently from purchase to listening was an important part of the success of iTunes/iPod. The key flaw with the Sony Digital Walkman is that it didn’t integrate cleanly with music downloads. The Sonic Stage software is heavy and difficult to use. It requires a level of skill to move music to the player that was beyond most consumers and its restrictions on playback were downright counterproductive. This is due to the limitations that Sony placed on itself when launching the digital product; in fact, it was his own worst enemy.

Since Microsoft has removed Playsforsure’s partners, they too have admitted that the iTunes/iPod combination is a necessary condition to compete. They didn’t say that a few years ago when they were looking for partners for this system, they thought a platform approach where they would license the software and DRM to manufacturers would work.

So, to paraphrase, what was the strength of the Sony Walkman, pre-recorded and pre-packaged music and a strong brand experience was indeed its downfall. Because Sony didn’t make using their product as simple and convenient as possible, they couldn’t go back the way of the iPod and gave the market to Apple and the iTunes/iPod combination. Due to its success in the CD/cassette player market, Sony believed that it could control the consumer experience and how they could use their music. They were also limited by owning a large record company (Sony Columbia) which lobbied hard at the corporate level to stall the Digital Walkman and ultimately left the way open for Apple to take the lead.

Before we get to the question of whether Windows will make a difference to the Zune ecosystem, we need to understand why the Playsforsure ecosystem failed, and whether Microsoft learned any lessons from this.