MANILA, Philippines — Astronomers working with NASA's Kepler space telescope project have confirmed the discovery of a planet that is potentially capable of supporting life. One of the 28 extra-solar planets discovered by Kepler so far, the planet (Kepler-22b) is about the size of Earth and orbits a sun-like star in the zone where water in its liquid form can be found on the surface.

Moreover, scientists say planetary conditions may be capable of supporting life as it is known on Earth. People tired of this heavily polluted and its murderous populations must already be dreaming of moving to that planet.

Of course, most commentaries so far have conveniently ignored the fact that Kepler-22b is some 600 light years away from EDSA. With our existing propulsion technologies, the only way that humans can get there is through prayers and wishful thinking.

Cheaper Ultrabooks

Acer president Jim Wong believes that prices of ultrabooks, those super-thin laptops, will take a dive starting next year. Taiwanese technology news magazine DigiTimes.com quotes Wong as saying that price drops of around 20 percent are to be expected in 2012 and beyond.

Ultrabooks are forecast to be the hottest thing in consumer technology, as major PC vendors seek to catch up (again) with Apple's MacBook Air.

Wong's forecast, however, might spell trouble for manufacturers' margins.

Dell's Streak No More

Dell has officially killed off its Streak Android tablet computer. The company's Web site says it no longer has the Streak on offer and will no longer manufacture it. Streak tablets, however, are still available on some retail sites.

Earlier, in August, the 5-inch version of the Streak had ceased to exist when the product failed to find a market for small tablets. Dell now plans to shift to making Windows 8 tablets.

Hmm. Plenty of Redmond executives must be praying Dell does not bring its bad luck in tablets to Windows 8 slates.

Apple's Design Tips for Samsung

Apple has offered Samsung a list of design tips that it claims would help its patent-war enemy avoid future infringement lawsuits.

Back in April, Apple sued the Korean electronics vendor for allegedly copying design elements of the iPhone and iPad.

Apple has alleged that Samsung "slavishly" misappropriated the Cupertino company's intellectual property rights.

To reinforce its allegations, Apple had to convince the court that Samsung had other design alternatives. Hence, Apple came up with the design tips.

Some observers, however, think that Apple's ideas are really funny, although Jobs' company was not really trying to be so.

According to Apple's design tips, Samsung should not manufacture tablets and smartphones that have front surfaces that are black or clear, front surfaces that are rectangular, flat, and with rounded corners.

In short, Samsung should not make tablets that look like a tablet and smartphones that look like a smartphone.

Apple has elevated hubris into an art form.

That's all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.