Thang Nguyen 555

Cultures on Collision Course

recent posts

about

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: Skype

  • Alternate Dream

    American Dream has undergone a makeover of late (maybe because the Chinese economy itself was heading for a cliff, so it needed to apply a break on lending). Whatever the underlying reason, America middle class is contracting not because of shrinking population , but mostly because of declining income and consumption. In short, the good old time…

  • the acceleration of nearly everything

    Time heals, slowly. It makes for better wine. But it also shuts the window of opportunity. The moment we leap (even before we look), we defy fate. No regrets. In “Blink”, the author presents a clear case for intuition and conclusion. It’s the opposite of SWOT with no action =  slow-burn effect that kills the frog (paralysis…

  • Technology doesn’t sleep, but we do.

    I had my share of empty TV studio, that is, between broadcasts (6PM and 10PM). Now, there is no recoup time. We have evolved to Office 365, with servers resided in the “cloud” instead of the (telco) closets. Mobile working has evolved from CB radio, to Motorola brick phones, from Skypage to Skype chat. Cryptography moved from…

  • Tech buying spree

    Even the President couldn’t help visiting Facebook campus in Palo Alto two weeks ago, and in Austin. California companies now talk of an Austin strategy, just like GE back in the 90’s with  India. I finally realized the wisdom of Alex who made millions from his dollar-per-dot concept. Except this time, it will be the buttons (Like by…

  • Perpetual obsolescence

    After Moore’s Law came Android’s Law (open-source software allows for faster deploy of smart phone apps – between six to nine months). http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/111990/your-new-smartphone-is-already-a-dinosaur Smart phone turns dumb phone pretty quick. (conversely, studies showed a steady rise of IQ as digital natives  spent more time playing games). I call this “smart and smarter” generation. We are…

  • I want my Skype call!

    By now, we all know about our right to make a phone call when being arrested. That phone call usually is placed from a pay phone (soon to be a museum piece). Skype has been down (and slowly back up to full speed), and 26 million users worldwide felt the pinch. VoIP. Conversation chopped into…

  • Self-monitoring Vietnam

    Two articles on Bloomberg Business Week. One on Clicking with co-workers (productivity increase) and the other, Vietnam is finally ready for foreign investment ( with a question mark at the end). The former article is based on a study that people who work and play together make a great team. The other, since its neighbors…

  • My SAAB story

    OK, I took a picture standing next to the convertible SAAB I won, but I took the cash option ( for grad student loan). Now, this brand, along with Pontiac and Saturn, will soon be relics of the past. We have a lot of In’s/Out’s at the end of this decade: ABC new anchor, BoA…

  • A billion bucks!

    Twittering to the tune of a billion bucks? http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2009/tc20090924_956402.htm?campaign_id=related_AK And the deficit changed slightly to the tune of 1.29 trillion bucks. Since when we are anesthetized to these huge dollar figures? But I must give it to the Lab geeks who came up with new inventions: copying over the distance (fax), texting over the phone…