my comments on How Facebook Can Ruin Your Friendships - WSJ.com

How Facebook Can Ruin Your Friendships - WSJ.com

It is mostly about 'adapting' to the new 'social networked' business and/or personal lives..

fact of the matter is that it is being 'evolved' as we speak, and also the service providers are also shifting/adapting or totally changing on a weekly/monthly basis.

Best is to dip toes and observe..

as the social/business network of choice might be very different several months down the line.

off-line Etiquettes should also be observed..

Happy social networking..

@GarethWong

my comments re Is Apple the Enemy of the TV Industry? Microsoft Thinks So

Is Apple the Enemy of the TV Industry? Microsoft Thinks So

Co-creation plus converged distribution (TV/satellite, internet, mobile etc.) to bring perceived or measured value will be the future, as consumers would be happy to keen to pay for such service.

In order for that to happen, the market need co-creating throughout the value chain..

which sadly not enough is being done at the moment, as businesses are mostly focusing on their 'own patch'..

but it will happen.

@GarethWong

London Open House 19&20Sept.

Open House

Enjoy and plan ahead to visit buildings which might be otherwise closed to public..

check it out and plan ahead, sooner rather than later!

Enjoy

@GarethWong

My comments re Betfair Growing 30%, Easing over the Pond, and Hiring 50 Valley Engineers

Betfair Growing 30%, Easing over the Pond, and Hiring 50 Valley Engineers

Good commentary and update. This might not be as well known, but Betfair is one of the more opened and forward thinking firm within gaming and gambling sector. That is why in 2007, I put Betfair on one of the special panel I produced for my non profit Gambit special interest group promoting 'innovation', the public forum report hightlighted report is freely avaiable here: http://www.thegambit.info/Innovation07.html Furthermore, since last year, based on Betfair's technology director's request, we have also co-founded the private Gaming Technology Forum (invitation only private gatherings of industry top CTOs/CIOs) of the gaming and related sector. More innovation and collaborations can be expected, I hope. @GarethWong

My comments re Goldman Sachs' huddle parties investigated (Dealscape - Washington Ways & Means)

Goldman Sachs' huddle parties investigated (Dealscape - Washington Ways & Means)

Well, surely it would only be illegal if they were

1.) breaching the Chinese wall (SOX)
2.) sharing price/info sensitive information

So, yes,special treatments to the in-crowd or special relationship club is quite normal, esp. big business.

The reverse is also true where if the information is readily available, the spread/competitive advantage just get 'normalised'.

Question is if this is sustainable in the medium to long term when critical information become commoditised and with potentially news/market changing events are 'consumers' or 'customers' driven.

For example, if/when social media becomes pervasive enough where collective of opinions affects dramatically the business world, and hence becomes the money sensitive triggers.. (Reverse signalling?)

I can foresee more new names to be devised when that happens, and perfect for business book writers..

BR
@GarethWong

Gareth's thoughts: Truly pervasive B2C info.service, NOT from Internet! but a 26yrs old French company!?

I have had many conversations in the last week or so with my CXO contacts and Private equity friends.

Given the news of Skype vs eBay (this is a particularly good blog that highlight key issues), SpinVox (its investment has since been written off 90%) etc.

One thing was certain Hypes or even perceived success does not equal to 'true success' of the enterprise.

My definition of success is how much a service brings true value to the population (rather than niche early adopters or generation X/Y/Z, or ABC1)..

Therefore, I proposed that we should really focus energy on devising and bringing about a truly pervasive service (from access, to payment, to value delivered), in fact, we can learn from a very old service which was devised and delivered to a country BEFORE the arrival of internet.

In fact, this service is so pervasive that now even with the advent of internet, even the older generations (who might not yet use mobile nor internet) can engage with this platform at home or outside in the post office for both information or even transact..

Yes, it is the Minitel .com : services in France..

It does not look good, it is not sexy or on Techcrunch. but it gets the job done.

It might not have happened without the foresight and support from the government, but given the amount of money some of the start-ups is being invested in BEFORE even taking any revenue.. Surely some lessons can be learnt.

If old grannies know how to and can get benefit of say twitting.. the rest is really history!

@GarethWong

My comments on Extroversion

Extroversion

Fred.

you are very brave.

Pioneers generally are.

I have not come across you until I started using Twitter (a yr after I created the a/c in 08) as I never read any blogs (was a not so entrepreneurial corporate telecom guy).. It is a balancing act, but really depends on who the writer is, their work and their likely extravert lifestream's impact might have on their job/common perception of them. I have just started to be cautiously opened on twitter & facebook (doing pretting much same thing) but update on my works/tribulations/challenges and people I meet around the world.

It has given more transparency and in some ways helps when to establish contacts with some key guys and vice versa.

However, I am also dreading that it might become a 'chore' and my life might be too 'opened' up, professionally (I try to keep all family stuff private, unless for specific friends/industry colleagues after many years, y. very old school)..

My gut feel is that brave pioneers like you at the top of the profession is the exception, rather than the norm. but thankfully with likes of twitter etc. we can filter the normal/mundane out comparatively easily to find some limited Gems..

keep up the good work and sharing of insights,

role model for some of us, but sadly I still have NO time as an entrepreneur to share insights via original blog posts.. .. yet.

Belated happy birthday. (e.g. another example, I try to keep my birthday private also!)

@GarethWong

Is it fair? Besieged by attacks, AT&T dumps celebrity hacker • The Register

Besieged by attacks, AT&T dumps celebrity hacker • The Register

In short, can't blame the AT&Ts.. or can you?

We as normal consumers and business users never realised that in fact we are ALWAYS vulnerable.. if you have not read Kevin Mitnick's book, you should, as it highlights the most important/challenge is in fact that we as an individual could be at fault.

How we leave sensitive paper work, speak/leak information to presumably trustworthy individuals.. etc.

Kevin should also be able to use some B2B service providers rather than B2C companies who generally cannot deal with the kind of 'hacking' going on.. B2B companies should like the hacker world see that as a 'call for challenge' also, and hopefully from our sake, the B2B world will win!?

My comment re Why I Don’t Use Twitter

Why I Don’t Use Twitter

Devin

I am also a sceptic like you.

agree that it is NOT complete, but internet itself is not complete yet.

am not ‘fighting’ for twitter, but my observation is that without twitter, I did not give 2nd thoughts to ANY blog, and did not even write one (despite I am in technology/telecoms to be precise)..

So, like facebook, I was going to advise/help a firm and they had ‘widgets’ on it, but I could not possibly comment until/I created an a/c and start using it a while.

I am curious also to see your thoughts after finally you start using it.

good post.

@GarethWong

My semi-digressed comments re Has Twitter’s aggressive protectionism come too late?

Has Twitter’s aggressive protectionism come too late?

It is not surprising.

my limited observation in the 'internet startup world' is this:

1.) enterpreneurs play musical chairs & try to spot.. 2.)+ 3).

2.) VCs trying to spot and if possible influence 3.)

3.) consumers (generally well 'connected' net-citizen mostly in the developed world) would follow and sometimes help 'create' buzz and spot/follow 1.)

E:(generally consumers' needs/wants/ are not met! and have to spend 'hours' on reasearch online & speak to people/friends.. and still usually can only find 2nd or 3rd best solutions!)

4.) likes of Techcrunch, blogs, and now offline news reports/writers (generally lag by few days & sometimes weeks) above the buzz of 1, 2, and 3.

Generally, consumers and 'followers', and joe blogg, just 'amazed' with the fuzz (for those that take times to read the full story) and go on with their lives (they might not yet done the first online transaction with any internet shopping site yet, due to potential mistrust)..

then at the same time, the limited successful companies (probably based on buzz but not revenue/profit) would look to do

A.) protect what they have, cos they generally had not strategically plan for the future (like high cap-ex, highly regulated industries like Telecoms) or

B.) just want to exit by selling to the much more established (mostly listed household names) who sometimes do deals for signalling than real business sense (e.g. ITV purchase & disposal of Friend-ReUnited)..

for those that lucky enough to have exited successfully, then

I.) if they were in Silicon Valley, due to potential social capital/competition/ or just pure aspirations, would generally invest and re-invest and make more greater successes

II.) those in Europe, probably just purchase a few holiday homes and most to some tax heavan & semi-retire with a few charitable duties and a few life-style investments..

Life goes on..

@GarethWong

Protected tweet or not?

I just got a pleasant prod from a fellow MBA, he is a PR agency guru now, accusing me of 'not getting it' as my tweets are protected.

Quoting: " I have a sneaky suspicion that you're missing the point about Twitter, GW. It's real benefit is not broadcasting to a few, but it's the retweet feature that is enormously powerful. Jeremiah Owyang (a true influencer) wrote a nice piece about it a while back: http://tinyurl.com/5k9kkh"

Everytime I had to explain to people why directly (generally via email) but since embracing Twitter (then blogging, not the other way around). I would like to think I am a tech follower now (prefer to be a leader, seems it is not a longetivy thing unless a handful of guys, given the huge numbers of startup, but that is another story), here are my reasons:

1.) despite I am considered as a 'networker', after you meet with so many thousands of people (yes I have across the world), one tries to limit to a few (for me few hundreds) of contacts and try to 'link-out' mostly but 'link-in' with key guys

like me most CXOs like to meet with a.) people they like/respect, b.) interesting (work, activities, hobbies) c.) inspirational

2.) I did not embrace blogging as I saw it 'too open' and did not understand and would like to open my 'life' to others, so, when Twitter came along, I did sign up in 2007 but thought it was like blogging but worst, namely talking about useless things but in bite size less than a SMS (I did devise a planning tool based on ETSI 0408 GSM) so I did not use it.

3.) based on my conern of above, I finally re-looked at Tweeting, in 2008 because I realised the following potential benefits:

a.) I can protect my feed, so that only people in group 1.) can see my feed

b.) through other people's RT (retweets) [mostly 1.) above, & other interesting guys], I can see a whole new world of blogging/tech/start-up news that I was not really following. (had not a clue who Robert Scoble was until I started following.. and yes I thought it was a bit weird when there was a campaign for re-instating him on Facebook. probably like me, most people (described below) would not have investigated (I didn't for one)

Regarding blogging/tweeting, I would like to argue 60-70% of B2B business world has no clue about and maybe even 80% of general populations have not a clue (someone has stats?/ but most of the stats I see are skewed towards the Tech industry, as it is funded by them! so, hopefully some government can do some census on this maybe?/) but there might be a much higher population that are aware of Tweeting in the last 6months due to the brilliant strategy/adoptions by the media and the celebrities worldwide.

As I see it, benefits and challenges of protecting tweets:

a.) even with protected feed, I now have some good friends (some big tweeter influencers) that would retweet me (which generally is not 'my content' as I rarely have time to write original blog post, this is one of few I wrote)

b.) spam level, I have NOT seen any, until last week of all these time I have been using it (since 07 but in earnest since mid 08?), one use @GarethWong with a link which sadly I stupidly clicked on, and another one I forgot, I got so p**sed off that I deleted and report it via tweetdeck rightaway (@IainDodsworth, @Tweetdeck, how come you don't support Chinese anymore!?)

c.) yes, -ve is that most conversations you can't join in, and even if you do, people don't see you as important, and generally don't response.. but I can follow up with email anyway..

to protect from sanity, privacy, and potential spam, I stick to my gun and will keep on protecting my feed.

however, I started tweeting non private stuff, via @cxoeurope, @cxoasia, but that was about the time when I started having the spam..

oh well, we cannot have the world...

happy Tweeting.

Hopefully this answers all your questions about why I protect my tweets.

now how do I set the blogger to provide a permanent link!? anyone pls help, I cannot figure that one out yet!

@GarethWong

seems general idea is to get 'damp' but not wet. How to Sleep Comfortably on a Hot Night - wikiHow

How to Sleep Comfortably on a Hot Night - wikiHow

With global warming, the above methodologies might come into handy for those that not yet have or prefer not to have (to contribute further to global warming) a air conditioner.

never thought of it myself!

its an artform..

seems general idea is to get 'damp' but not wet. :)

Wish you a great sleep.

How to Induce Deep Sleep

Question on Statistics Show Social Media Is Bigger Than You Think � Socialnomics – Social Media Blog

Statistics Show Social Media Is Bigger Than You Think � Socialnomics – Social Media Blog

OK

Cool video for sure. thanks for that, wonder how long it took to produce and put that together, any chance of enlightening me?

Research is all based on the target audience.

Seems to me it was focusing on Generation Y, then all the above 'might' be applicable.

I would agree that it is not a fad, but much more work needs to be done on MANY Aspects of the social media, at the moment, it is early adopter phase, and everyone 'try it and see', which means that loyalty is limited, unlike the traditional world.

Future is with the 'fully integrated' world, where social media becomes 'social business world', where personal ID/Security/payments etc. are fully integrated and protected.

just my initial thoughts.

@GarethWong

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

One of the better & light hearted ways presentation of why social media is NOT to be ignored.

View more documents from Marta Kagan.

My comments re Chris and Malcolm are both wrong | Union Square Ventures: A New York Venture Capital Fund Focused on Early Stage & Startup Investing

Chris and Malcolm are both wrong | Union Square Ventures: A New York Venture Capital Fund Focused on Early Stage & Startup Investing

This is all very interesting, and indeed thought provoking.

Despite being in Tech/Telecom world, until Twitter, I never read any blogs, and this world and @FredWilson was not in my B2B business world at all. & we are multi-billion mobile telecoms infrastructure world.

Your post will inspire me to spend more time on writing more decent 'blog' (yes I have one reluctantly but never wrote much on it) I personally not really see in the next year or so, joe blog/grandma will join this information cloud in our present meaning/structure.

there is a convergence going on. but I think the ultimate success might exactly be another black swan (not that I am supportive of the argument of the book), which comes from an unexpected party/business world.

But I firmly believe it will encompass one, hopefully all of these key aspects:

1.) Trust (up to PGP type of security, [not wishy washy types of username & password available now] on ID, to transit to tagging, transit of information/data)

2.) Reverse of the value chain (not search, not listing, but in fact DRIVEN by aggregated customers (B2B/B2C) requirements

3.) 100% pervasive (not ONLY limited to early adopters, technologist, but plain old grandma who can read/write/use tv remote) and not only from connected Mac/PC/TV or iPhone.

The future might or might not be free but we will be happy to pay for a service that 'we' value for that moment in time (via whatever channel, be it TV/Mobile/ATM/even god forbid post office!).

BR

@GarethWong

classic! facebook (indeed any social network) etiquitte, EVERYONE is watching!

Thanks @loic

great classic that I gotta add to my blog also.

It is just incredible how 'green' most people are, DO NOT post unless you are not sure.

Just like don't SHOUT OUT your deepest and most relevant (sometimes might be seen as stupid) 'thoughts' and 'whimps' that particular seconds.. especially sometimes you might regrett ..

posting on social sites or blog, is equivalent of shouting in front of Millions.. not only a few people in the room!

long live social media.

@GarethWong

My comments More-Timid Gamblers Hurting Coffers in U.S. - WSJ.com

More-Timid Gamblers Hurting Coffers in U.S. - WSJ.com

These are hard times.

When it is finally hurting now at the local State level, would the Federal level understands that there is a much bigger piece of pie that is already out of reach due to the prohibition?

There is still NO G8 country effectively regulating the remote gaming gambling sector (yes, we do have quite a few well run-well regulated offshore jurisdictions, some considered my industry friends), what does this really mean?

I would like to argue that unless and until a G8 nation start regulating with a common sense & well drafted regulation PLUS an affordable tax regime, the remote and offline gaming gambling market will dramatically change for the better. Most importantly, that G8 nation would be able to see millions but probably BILLIONS of tax revenue.

Most of the overall market estimates are sadly erring on the small side, I was told. ;)

@GarethWong

My comments No More Perks: Coffee Shops Pull the Plug on Laptop Users - WSJ.com

No More Perks: Coffee Shops Pull the Plug on Laptop Users - WSJ.com

It is a great tradition.. which I am finding difficult to spot in UK/London.. as over here, not only do you have to pay higher price for the coffee, invariably, there wifi is available but at extra cost and provider is usually not the coffee shop themsevles.

Therefore, I don't foresee the likely challenge above here in UK anytime yet.

However, surely, the coffee shop's business is in coffee and not to have idle notebook users sipping the even 3/4 uk pounds coffee for hours?

They need to change and think of what extra products/services that might fit into the local culture.

I for one would be happy to 'pay' for shorter time wifi access, if the shopkeeper 'knows' the details.. and maybe able to assist me connecting. or maybe 3min introduction to the local historical spots to visit for example (free or even fee based)..

..

but then again, what do I know about the coffee business.

@GarethWong

My comments re Twitter crashes following malicious online attack | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Twitter crashes following malicious online attack |
Technology |
guardian.co.uk

Wow, i thought it was my Vista PC needing reboot.. but it was weird that TweekDeck, then socialScope on my blackberry (which just came back to life after wipe & restore & synch. long story!)..

it transpired that the above happened!

this is another example where coming from Telecoms myself, interenet startup will need to be savvy about, especially likes of Twitter, which is positioned as a communication tools, they need to emulate the 99.99% up-time of Telecoms system, and redundancy server etc.

Saying that though, even some major Telecoms system might not be able to survive consistent DDOS attacks (maybe certain military system could)..

they should speak with some of the CTO/CIOs of the gaming gambling world, they might be able to share some of the tricks of the trade. @EV do get in touch, I am co-hosting the next Gaming Technology Forum in November, we will have the top CTOs and CIOs of our sectors together, I can tweet the answers back to you then.

Good luck in fighting the evil force that is trying to take you down.

@GarethWong (hope you get back the system soon!)