Thang Nguyen 555

Cultures on Collision Course

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With some short-term relief work in Asia/Africa and long stint in Telecom, Thang also earned a B.A. at Pennsylvania State University. M.A. in Communication at Wheaton Graduate School, M.A. in Cross-Cultural Communication at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, Boston. In addition, he earned a CELTA – classes taken in Hanoi for cultural re-immersion.

Tag: Google

  • The vase and the Beast

    One is auctioned for 85 million (with tax and fee), while the other merged with Newsweek after it was sold for $1.00 After a lifetime of standardization and automation, something is still of value. Nobody had appreciated Van Goh’s self-portrait or any of his pieces until after he was long gone. Still, we want maximization,…

  • Stay hungry, stay foolish, keep Searching

    In his 2005 Standford commencement address, Steve Jobs ended with ” Stay hungry. Stay foolish”. Today, we should add “keep searching”. After Google, Bing and Yahoo and Blekko, which promised to keep out spam. Wild Wild West.  More content, more classification, increasing need for trusted recommendation. Part of the reason Facebook is where it is…

  • All things equal, take attitude

    IT engineers are back in demand. A few years ago, it was the opposite. Labor surplus creates serious contest on “Who wants to be an employee”. All things being equal, I take attitude ( one executive told me, all things equal, he takes the one with the best communication skill –  who could express him/herself…

  • Forced leisure

    MSNBC  interviews a blogger from Good magazine on automation nation. The take away: automation is moving beyond manufacturing sector (e.g. Google test drove an unmanned vehicle in California, or Italian researchers tested a driver-less van, from Italy to China) to service sectors, such as health care . Japan has been deep into robotic technology, a national policy…

  • Tech rules again

    We all saw Google’s numbers surge. I remember the last time I feel this way was a decade ago. Something is in the works. The market responds. New apps, new ways of accomplishing things. This might be it. Just like a line in “It Might Be You“, a theme song in Tootsie. Maybe it didn’t…

  • Here’s my card

    You have heard that line in movies, at the bar, or convention hall. The Post had an article about the survival of the card in our digital age. Maybe because it’s so small, so humble, and so obvious. Google was thinking big i.e. “organize the world’s information”, thus, overlooked the tiny card in our wallet.…

  • buy-in behavior

    Ambivalence is a sign of maturity, the study concluded. But an ambivalent buyer produces anxiety and uncertainty. Here are the gist of a recent study, as published in the N Y Times. PEOPLE WHO SEE THE WORLD AS BLACK AND WHITE TEND TO… Speak their mind or make quick decisions. Be more predictable in making…

  • Twitter speech

    Before there was “elevator speech” . Now Twitter speech (or CV) offers a quick summation of one’s career mission. Best and worst of  wise cracks and fortune-cookie wisdom. Modern-day equivalent of digital tombstones. Tombstones leave behind relationship-defining legacies  i.e. mother, teacher, sister etc… In The Last Lecture, the author expounded on the importance of relationships.…

  • Coke, enduring and endearing

    The verdict is in. Marketing folks all know by now that top of the list reigns COKE. My first wage (selling Vietnamese worthless currency in Subic Bay on my way to the US a few days after the war had ended) was spent on Coke, from a vending machine. I remembered til this day the…

  • Tang, Sanka and Google instant

    Tang was well-known way back then, as the drink of choice for astronauts. Sanka had been in every motel room, before the green de-caffeine (equivalent of conditioner that is coupled with shampoo) bags came to existence. And now Google Instant, promised to be faster and more magical. Can’t data mine faster than that. The wisdom…