Tag: Google

The You

It’s like Who is on First, or the Who.

It’s you who is the Who.

You need to get the bugs out to uncover the better version of yourself.

Everything up to this point is payload: family advices (ill or good-will), the institutions (and college loan) and work places.

Some of us found out the hard way: friends at work are not friends, and friends off work cannot work together.

We cater to popular taste (Aviator sunglasses, and soon Google glasses) or the opposite (I dare you wear those tie-dyed 60’s T-shirts).

I am half way through Fraction of the Whole. The Australian writer charges out of the gate with a daring debut, hilarious and deeply philosophical.

Australian fascination with Ed Nelly. But he raises a great point: how can you stay the YOU, when pressure for conformity (credit card approval within 60 seconds, Macy cards etc…) from all directions mold you into a WE (a number).

I realise a striking parallel: in Vietnam, they ask you to buy a lottery ticket every time you sit down (and be a target). In the US, they ask you to open a credit card account every time you step up to a cash register.

Baby boomers had one thing right: they question the system to which they belong. The minute we turned off our brains, we might as well be dead.

We are where we are today because many men and women before us questioned the status quo (yes, wireless can travel the distance and through walls).

Yes, Voice can be delivered over IP. Yes, video as well.

Yes, yes, yes. Don’t tell me No,no,no.

I don’t want to be the YOU. I am the ME. With strength and weakness, with burden to bear, and blessings to bestow (you too).

Please stay the YOU, the better version of YOU. You will see. When everyone does that, we have a better world, if not more interesting.

Outside the bubble

When you are inside, you are hard-presed and unable to think.

But when you are out of the bubble, it’s illuminating.

You are able to look back, to gain perspectives.

Bubble by definition is that which encompasses those who subscribe to its rules (deposit here, withdraw there).

We got the Tulip mania in Holland, Ponzi scheme in Florida, dot.con and most recently, housing.

In fact, more are in the making (student loan, green tech etc…).

High stakes and high rewards.

But then, who would want to jump in to that which has already been proven 100%.

There is always “acceptable loss” “sot and hard trend”.

But what is acceptable to one is not acceptable to the other.

So we could never really be outside of a bubble.

We are inter-linked with others: friends, families, and co-workers.

They will be the ones who whisper “it’s just between you and me”.

Few  were able to foresee this past housing crisis.

Now we all are on this side of it, with some residues and long tail effects.

What lessons learned? Take-aways?

Are we wiser while poorer?

A friend’s Dad has just passed away.

At my last visit, his words were “let me sleep a little bit”.

The drug had taken its effect.

When we are in a bubble, perhaps we “sleep a little bit”.

Why think?

Social proof ( the majority are always right).

So we let down our guards, exercise not our survival instincts.

We forgot to fight, the way gladiators used to each day.

Our sense of “flight or fight” has been put to sleep.

After all, it’s the bank, the rating agencies, the press.

All well-regarded institutions, with huge marble lobbies and high ceilings.

I heard of more lay-offs (Motorola under Google, Newsweek gone under for the second time etc..).

Not a  good sign!

To shake all off, takes some time.

Just like healing and grief process, maybe all we need is time.

The bubble crushed dreams. Just like Fukushima and earthquake.

We just don’t see it in that “disastrous” light, but its tolls are the same, if not deeper.

When we recover from a bubble, we lost that which made us successful in the first place: self-confidence.

To restore that takes baby steps.

One small win at a time.

But those baby steps are outside the bubble, not huge strides we made inside.

What an irony. Should have been the other way around. In hindsight!

But with each baby step, the strength will come back, for the long journey ahead.

Watch out for another bubble on the horizon. No risks no rewards.

Your story

During the 60’s, when computers were too limited for personal use, Andy Warhol had already predicted that in the future (which is NOW) each of us would have 15 minutes of fame (just like his signature Campbell soup ).

Naturally, he couldn’t have predicted the rise of social media  which upend traditional broadcast media, turning it around from one-to-many (old) to many-to-many (new) forever and free (Cloud computing + mobile + social media).

Unrestricted and unleashed i.e. texting while driving (we have yet come up with an acronym similar to DUI).

We “Like”.  We “tag”. We “tweet”. Yahoo now bets big on Mobile.

We prepare to lay ourselves exposed: photos (even pictures when we were babies), home-recorded songs and secret sauce.

We learn the art of filmography and biography e.g. story board and story line, scripting and screen playing (Youtube).

We share lessons on sewing and  selling.

It’s quite an open world and open society.

It used to be that the only time someone asked “tell us about yourself” was at a job interview.

Now, we tell them about ourselves even when not asked. “They” here means the World Wide Web:

Facebook, Google + and more.

A narrative was supposed to have a beginning, middle and end. Since we keep discovering and reinventing ourselves, our personal narrative evolves. Every day, we put on make-ups off line and  make-over on line. Some even called this “the start-up of you”.

The more interaction on-line, the more detailed our social graph, the richer our narrative. Fresh content generates higher Search Engine Optimization. This process also creates Digital Addicts or DigitAl-holics  who cross-comment  and follow each other. A band of brothers, only more inclusive and extensive (coincides with austerity).

This domain used to be exclusive for professionals e.g. product improvement and placement now laid bare for all (design your T-shirt contest etc…).

Now, people are the product (sold to advertisers). Their tweet or post could go viral, to the tune of a million hits.

Self-branding.

Self-aggrandizement is in. Self-effacing is out.

The modesty of Asian mystique faces serious challenges, perhaps more so than last century’s cultural invasion of the West e.g. China and Japan with men eventually do away with braided hair or Samurai tradition. This time around, the invasion is technology-enabled, a spontaneous explosion of personal freedom and expression second to none (including the 60’s Flower Power. This time, it’s trans-cultural and trans-continental in nature.)

As a result, we need to put up personal “firewalls” to protect our privacy and safeguard our brand.

To trade ourselves up. Tier-One (as in Premium LinkedIn accounts etc..).

Sort of like LV who refused to offshore the manufacturing of its handbags. Planned scarcity.

We first expand, then contract our circle over time.

This retrenching was mentioned in The Tipping Point (maximum 120 in your circle to have a meaningful conversation and community).

In the early days of Social Media,, we enjoyed new-toy stage (friending everyone).

Then Google + came out. By then, we became social-media fatigue.

Once  you lost that first-mover’s advantage, it’s hard to play catch-up,

Good luck yahoo, with revamping.

Yahoo was late in Search, and Social.

I wonder whatever else it could do to innovate and leapfrog competition. Perhaps with the yCloud? or Ymobile.

Meanwhile, we still want to find new ways to connect, to share and to show off.

We are members of a digital country club, where strangers suddenly become intimate i.e. know more about our personal stories, or at least, more quickly, than family members . These are our intimate strangers.

So, if you share, learn to show and tell properly. Learn the 2-minute summary like our presidential candidates just did tonight. Tell them what you are all about, your hopes, fears and dreams, all scripted and rehearsed (elevator speech). And maybe, someone out there, can identify with your vulnerability, your shortcomings and your humanity. Maybe they will endorse you, adopt you as family member, and you then become  “famous” for 15 minutes. Warhol would have never guessed someday (today) we would be showing off our secret sauce, while he, could only photocopy the (Campbell) Soup he touted as arts.

30 years on

USA Today celebrated its 30th anniversary issue, with bolder graphics and fonts (thanks! we can use larger fonts now).

Those papers we pick up outside our hotel rooms when traveling on business  (to be left behind at airport lounges).

Anyway. This issue features some “futurists” in each sector: urban architecture, space travel, transportation (Ford), internet (Twitter’s founder) etc…

A quote that jumps out of the page: “in the future, the world will be divided into two classes: those who are told by the machine what to do, and those who tell the machine what to do”.

Wow! unmanned cars which Google is currently test-driving. Electric cars = computers on wheels.

Information will be ubiquitous, like those electricity plugs we scarcely notice.

We will be 30 years older (just think back to 1982. Back then, a friend was “experimenting” with his personal computer).

Back then, we were transiting from cassette to CD, from a weak America into a stronger one (Carter was quoted as saying:” we have a crisis of confidence”), from being a debt-free nation into a debtor nation.

Now, Iran came in full circle.

30 years on.

A lot has happened, but then, nothing has been off-script: we still have an election, the economy is still in the top 3 along with the Arab Spring went south. Hatred incites, love unites. We need Buscalia (love Guru) and Moon (matchmaker).

30 years ago, we got the Concorde, Mc Donald Douglass and McDonald. Now only McDonald (even the Burger King near me was closed). A bounty is still out for the head of Rushdie, the writer in exile.

I heard in Detroit, houses were foreclosed section by section, and sold for 5K, but no one dared to come in and be the first penguin.

30 years on. Where would you be after paying off the house and college loan. Will you be driving an EV?  a domestic?

Will we do away with laptop as we now do with desktop (BTW, the father of laptop has just died. He brought friendly design to computers ).

It’s in the American character to “make things happen” instead of “letting history happen to you” (quoted Marc Andreessen).

30 years on. We will all be writing our memoirs (lots of time on hand). WordPress will be bought out by other photo and video sites, perhaps Google. Then when we search for someone or some place, it will show all the tweets and Likes, Linkedin’s profile and blog, video,  Google photos and Facebook social graphs).  

Our “ego-sphere” will be stored in the Cloud (reminds me of Augustinian line “our soul is anchored in the heavenly, no wonders we feel restless unless we find rest in Thee). Deep search will  not be just for private investigators.

Then we will have privacy issues just as in Electronic Medical Records. In an accident, the EV will pop up our medical conditions for first responders to attend to. It’s a bold new world. Can’t wait to grow old. Aging will be a cool thing, and not jeered at (especially when we can afford spare artificial organs) (see my other blog on NEVER LET ME GO) . We will stay active in the cities and don’t have to move to Cocoa Beach, Florida (home of the USA Today founder). 30 years ago, even while escaping to Bali or Bahamas, we couldn’t wait to get online (You’ve Got Mail). 30 years on, we can’t wait to get offline. Maybe the hotel still leave a copy of USA Today outside the door. This time, definitely in bolder prints.

Leaders as human

We miss those towering figures from WWII (remember the canes, the hats? and the saying  e.g.”Never never give up”).

It’s a different landscape now  (Apple, Facebook etc… with CEOs without a tie).

So it goes. New world order.  New icons. New  profiles and preferences.

Still, they are human. Supposedly connected with their people.

Leaders of common people.

Know how you feel.

It’s been tough.

We shall overcome.

Let’s tap into that which is best in each of us.

Arouse the spirits of sacrifice. Go beyond the call of duty.

Be the better version of you.

The spirit needs some workout just  like the body. Zumba for the soul.

Go and prevail. Stand tall and stand your ground.

Yes. It’s a new world order, with more participation and information.

BRIC and PIGS. Men and women, in bedroom and boardroom, on the playground and in the background.

Different world. More colorful world. More participation and equality. The future is calling.

Uncharted waters

When Henry Ford first put together 2 and 2 (wheels) to make 4 (wheels), he was probably laughed at.  Then his policy to increase worker’s wages, so they could afford buying the very same cars they had helped assembled was probably viewed as radical.

Today, the same thing with Nissan Leaf‘s buyer’s incentive, and Diamond-Lane privilege (even just one driver) that comes with driving an EV are looked at with envy and intrigue.

Early adopters only.

Going to uncharted territories.

No what if!

Without entrepreneurial spirits, we wouldn’t get Netflix, Amazon, Zappos, Yahoo and Google.

Names that did not exist a few decades ago. Uncharted waters.

Broadband-enabled companies. Google Fiber?

To the tune of Billions and employing big pipes, but not fat payroll.

They were probably laughed at too in early stage. What do you mean customers can send back the shoes free of charge? (Zappos)

Convenient online check-out? Customers recommended purchase? Perhaps you would like to check this out (Cross-selling and up-selling).

With fat pipe, we can expect more apps and new business models i.e. 24/7, easy shipping and hassle-free return,  self-improving algorithm that knows its customers better than they would themselves.

In short, business will get smarter as machine processes transactions faster.

Machine will help both sides of the equation: Business and Consumers, selling and buying.

Entrepreneurs can strike out without too much sunk costs.

Software can be tested off-shored, and while being overseas, companies might as well let the public sneak peak at  their proofs of concept (Japan has a Sample Store).

The irony of this whole process is: while off-shoring centers were viewed as cost centers, they ended up as profit-centers, for BRIC countries are now the ones with relatively strong purchasing power (after years of doing someone else’s dirty work). When traversing uncharted waters, one will never know what perils and possibilities are waiting at each turn. The pre-req is an open mind and a brave heart to deal with those unexpected turns of event.

Shore this!

It’s not good enough with automation.

They need to combine that with outsourcing, off-shoring, in-shoring and now, near-shoring.  The idea is to line up the  Filippino call-center workers at mid-night (to go to work, not in line for next-day Black Friday sales) to make a go at scripted greetings like “Have I done everything to your satisfaction”.

Now Google wants to be unique: back to using the shop down the street so Googlers don’t have to fly to China.

Meanwhile, Africa is buying in to the Chinese Dream.

What happened to California Dreaming? To the Mamas and the Papas.

Aren’t all the leaves brown any more?

(I definitely need to “walk into a church, and sit down and pray”).

Industrial might. Pressures of automation and legislation.

If one can get the right mix of technology prowess, regulatory compliance  and market demand, he/she  rules.  The kids are playing with the I-pads instead of cabbage dolls.

All the powers to them.

More information, hopefully leads to smarter and more compliant kids.

Not so sure on that last point!

When honeymoon is over for off-shoring, and inflation takes its toll in wage-pressured China, we will see a sad wave of unemployment and unrest there.

Of course, they can then “sub-shore” to Africa, to be evangelists of the new Chinese Dream.

Sort of Chinese Peace Corps. Know-how in exchange for rare earth. Fair trade.

Trinh Cong Son (Vietnamese Bob Dylan) had a line “Why travel to and fro so much, to tire your life out”.

The thing about companies and market is that they often don’t know what they want. A few years back,  focus groups said they wouldn’t buy a notebook (today’s I-pad). Go figure!

A sliver of hope

I still remember the hype surrounding Google IPO !

Now with Facebook, it’s a deja vu.

Anything to stir up and to enliven.

We need hope when housing is still in the slump!

We can do better!

Simply because are wired with survival instincts. One man’s success will trigger a chain of similar success. Innovation tend to cluster. Ours is one of those times.

Best of times, worst of times.

Let’s measure up.

Draw from that deep corner where inspiration and aspiration are stored.

It’s in us to make it and to make it big.

We are not dead weight.

Each of us can think, feel and love.

The last can move mountains by its sheer motivation.

So love your Dad (Happy late Fathers Day), your boss, your co-workers and most of all, your customers.

Once they know they get the service they deserve, there is no stopping then.

In its darkest that we can see best, whether a tiny of sun ray or a sliver of hope.

V for valley

Silicon Valley that is.

Palo Alto. The hype, the anticipation and burst.

Dream and dread.

It’s here for the taking. You game?

Pine trees and even banana trees.

Years ago, one would see Vietnamese technicians and Indian engineers.

Now, the work is mostly outsourced and off shored.

The design and creative work are still here. But it takes fewer people (Google, for its revenue, would have required nth time current headcount had it been a 20-th century company).

Still, there is something about V.

Peace sign. Victor. And even venture funding.

As long as you don’t lose that entrepreneurial spirit.

Can-do attitude.

Work is now anywhere and anytime.

Are you gamed?

You can do it here or you can do it elsewhere.

But something about the Valley.

Its ethos, egos and yes, eco-conciousness.

A bunch of old classmates are attending a funeral today.

Cremation.

Dust comes to dust.

But the spirit lives on.

In the valley and on the hill.

That spirit that says, Yes we can.

The shoreline is not the limit. Neither is the sky.

Take it to the next level, next shore line and skyline.

Start here in the valley then move up the mountain top.

If you don’t stand in opportunity’s way. If you don’t sabotage yourself.

No one can stop a man or woman whose mind is made up.

Turn, turn

Just as soon as it is unbearably hot, it rains.

The season turns. All we are is Dust in the Wind, sings the Kansas.

But before that, one more stanza.

Take it to the limits.

What are the chances for some friends to turn to the guy sitting next to him at a random cafe, to finally recognize a classmate with 40 years in between.

It happened last weekend.

It comes in full circle.

Loyalty. Same class for four years. 68-72, the height of everything: war, peace, love and music.

Seeing myself in them and vice versa.

Where do you start after such a long gap.

OK, just hop in. I will give you a ride.

Let’s toast to the next 40 years. Oh, no. OK, 20 years.

There you go. A bunch of middle-aged guys.

Without facial recognition technology, I can still see it in their faces.

There was V, now slightly bald.

G still had his hair all combed forward .

And H still with his mischievous smile, except he is now taller.

(we weren’t all fully grown then).

I am reading “Idea Man”, Bill Gates‘ partner, Paul Allen.

They “followed the chips” and coded BASIC.

Now software rules.

40 years. A lot has happened since, and a lot more could happen in the next twenty years (Moore’s Law applied to social sciences).

Yet friendship stood the test of time.

So are some music of that time.

Just as the vinyl albums were about to extinct, we got YouTube to revive them.

Turn, turn, turn.

Summer breeze.

I’d really love to see you tonight.

My friends, my music and memories.

Let the world turn. Just leave me with those essentials.

What is life?

Every generation thinks they had pushed the envelope. Until each of us faces that same dreaded end.

That’s when we really know who we truly are, what we cherish most and who stood by us.

I hope you don’t go through what I have found: time is our greatest test. Turn, turn, turn.

All we are is Dust in the Wind.