As Asia's cheap capital has disappeared, so has the main advantage its chip makers had.

ECONOMIST: Semiconductors: America, memory-chip Lazarus | The

Indonesia enjoys a big cost advantage over its main competitor, Malaysia, as it does over Australia in coal for power stations, another commodity where demand, led by China and India, is expected to grow hugely.

ECONOMIST: The rise of Chindonesia

And after the original Xbox flopped in Japan, Microsoft has wooed Japanese games-publishers, hoping to counter the advantage enjoyed by its two main rivals.

ECONOMIST: Microsoft

According to Lawson, iKNowU technology main advantage over London-based SwiftKey, its main competitor and market leader, is that as you type, it can predict phrases and long strings of words, instead of just word per word.

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The PMBD, a wily grouping of regional barons that is the PT's main partner, will probably try to take advantage of her inexperience to satisfy its appetite for pork and spendthrift ministries, even though it lost seats in the election.

ECONOMIST: Brazil's next president