Saturday 25 December 2010

Must read.. especially for the middle aged guys & girls.. ;-) Age and happiness: The U-bend of life | The Economist

Age and happiness: The U-bend of life | The Economist:

Must read.. especially for the middle aged guys & girls.. ;-)

"Whatever the causes of the U-bend, it has consequences beyond the emotional. Happiness doesn’t just make people happy—it also makes them healthier. John Weinman, professor of psychiatry at King’s College London, monitored the stress levels of a group of volunteers and then inflicted small wounds on them. The wounds of the least stressed healed twice as fast as those of the most stressed. At Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Sheldon Cohen infected people with cold and flu viruses. He found that happier types were less likely to catch the virus, and showed fewer symptoms of illness when they did. So although old people tend to be less healthy than younger ones, their cheerfulness may help counteract their crumbliness."

Tuesday 21 December 2010

My response & prediction peHUB � Depressing Thoughts About Groupon’s Model

peHUB � Depressing Thoughts About Groupon’s Model

my response and prediction:


I would tend to agree with you Jeff, but as I eluded to in some of my previous private tweets at @GarethWong, the Groupon model sadly unsustainable.

Although I just tried Groupon (a major sized canvas print for price of a small canvas) and lately Keynoir in UK (more upmarket & exclusive products, they argue), essentially it helps raise awareness and potential reach but not necessary the B2C brands' normal target audience..

Real sustainable Acid test (for long term ecommerce solution/upstart) is whether it would change consumer habit and continuously provide value (like ebay+paypal, alibaba for b2b or linkedin for directors of B2B firms networking etc.) .. there is only limited number of lobster or steak meals or 50% of suits.. but the retailers will start getting wise to the fact that the clientèle will not return as the price point to convert them just is not sustainable (unless it is part of a conglomerate operating a 'basket' approach of supermarkets)...

Biggest challenge for the whole dot.com or tech-crunch world is this, the REAL percentage of consumers that 'transact' and pay is sadly still not the majority (unlike myself, for majority of the joe blogg public, they still do not buy everything they need online... )

When we see the reports from broadsheets and investment banks like morgan stanley start talking about % of internet people that buy things, rather than % of population are on broadband, that is when the real sustainable business arrive in our 'joe blogg's world and we will then have some proper conversation about brands or services that WILL last..

Groupon I sadly say will not be around in its present form (just to be controversial) in 5years time... and I am not a betting man.

Tuesday 14 December 2010

Price War Ignited Between Online Booksellers_English_Caixin

Price War Ignited Between Online Booksellers_English_Caixin:

great for consumers!
we love pricewars!

"Dangdang currently offers 600,000 books on its website, while 360buy sells 220,000. According to Dangdang's IPO prospectus, the company's fourth quarter book sales are expected to reach 441.8 million yuan, with daily transactions worth 4.9 million yuan.
In addition to the fierce battle in the book market, 360buy, which has long relied on low price strategy to attract customers, is also facing challenges from rivals in the electronic retailing sector, including Gome and Suning.
Local media outlets reported that Gome and Suning are in talks with appliance suppliers to reduce supplies to 360buy, accusing the online seller for violating market rules by offering below-market prices"

Monday 13 December 2010

Asia Times Online :: China News, China Business News, Taiwan and Hong Kong News and Business.

Asia Times Online :: China News, China Business News, Taiwan and Hong Kong News and Business.:

very interesting.

"Wang's book argues that China's middle class is essential to three things: China's economic well-being, China's political liberalization, and America's economic well-being. A fourth may be implicit: that successfully engaging with, and profiting by, the explosive growth of China's middle class may be a necessary reminder to Americans of what we have lost - not in economic terms, but the vision of a better future."

Friday 10 December 2010

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Agree.but some comments re IAB UK Social � Lady Gaga is dead. So what?

IAB UK Social � Lady Gaga is dead. So what?

People pay for things, services, time spent with (people, games, real/virtual entertainment)..

sadly as some celebrities realise too well, their worth has a sell by date, I certainly hope to keep seeing Lady Gaga hitting out songs until she is 70's..

but realistically, is it likely?

We can still engage with a proper business (hopefully, like Evian, Coca cola, John Lewis ) until we are in 70's ourselves however.. that is if they embrace (but not blindedly) like GAP and employ social media correctly to engage but not ruled & overruled by the noisiest mobs.

as ultimately by the time most 'general population' engage with the web AND transact (pay for things via it), the media/brand/social landscape might be very different indeed, and whether LeWeb, even IAB in its present form still exist, we never know. ;-)

might be worthwhile to embrace the presence just as the celebrities do.. (some more successful than others).

happy tweeting/social networking

@GarethWong

Monday 6 December 2010

IMDb: Top 25 Korean Movies - a list by Ablis89

IMDb: Top 25 Korean Movies - a list by Ablis89:

I have seen quite a few of them, but if you have to pick one, I would pick either..

1.
or

10. My Sassy Girl (2001)
8.3/10

don't feel bad if you have not seen it yet.. as I recommended them even to Koreans I know. ;-)

"NO ONE" knows and have seen everything!

Happy enjoying and learning other people's culture and social context..


Saturday 4 December 2010

Erm.. WHAT is the business?? LAUNCH - Blog - How to name your startup (and land the perfect�domain)

LAUNCH - Blog - How to name your startup (and land the perfect�domain)

I think the above is a great, and rather long post instructive post on how best to choose name and paying over the odds for the 'online real-estate'..

One cannot but in noticing one thing, as per my lunch conversation with a major bankers in Pall Mall, London, the key part of the equation is somehow totally missed or ignored to this day, which is: WHAT IS THE BUSINESS?? WHAT are they selling??

but of course maybe it is so obvious that it was not even necessary to be mentioned by even one line in this otherwise fantastic post.

maybe I am just tired and didn't "see it"..

@GarethWong

Thursday 2 December 2010

peHUB � Moritz on Great Entrepreneurs, Cleantech, 25 Years at Sequoia, Valuations, More

peHUB � Moritz on Great Entrepreneurs, Cleantech, 25 Years at Sequoia, Valuations, More:

How a great article should be, insightful & to the point, you should click above to finish reading! ;-)

I Like this Michael guy already, but being based in London and with no Silicon Valley around, a naturally reserved guy like me had to learn to express himself to hopefully meet our equivalent Michael Moritz someday..


"Remarkable founders don’t come across as “silvery tongued devils,” says Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital. Rather, they’re often shy, quiet and rather withdrawn.

That was one of the observations Moritz made last night in a one-hour Q&A at startup incubator Kicklabs. The Xconomy-hosted event was provocatively titled “Michael Moritz Unplugged,” but the star VC didn’t say anything terribly surprising.

Here are some highlights:

On what Sequoia looks for in entrepreneurs: “We have a great affinity for underdogs,” he says.� What great entrepreneurs have in common is an inability to think about anything but their business and mastery in their area of focus."

Wednesday 1 December 2010

Real reason why some politicians are still 'trusted'! , Defend Your Research: People Often Trust Eloquence More Than Honesty - Harvard Business Review

Defend Your Research: People Often Trust Eloquence More Than Honesty - Harvard Business Review:

Real reason why some politicians are still 'trusted'!


"Rogers: In our study, subjects found the candidate answering a similar but different question just as trustworthy and likable as when he answered the original question. What’s more, after hearing an artful dodge, subjects had much lower recall of the question asked; in some of our studies, less than half could remember it accurately. If anything, that result is artificially high, since when we asked them to recall the question, we gave them four options, so they had a 25% chance of guessing correctly. But the important finding is that the audience didn’t penalize a speaker who dodged a question well.

Norton: But you had to be good at it, and you couldn’t be obvious. When the candidate answered a completely different question, he was penalized heavily and rated less likable and trustworthy. Interestingly, people were much better at recalling the actual question in those cases.

After we did this research, we really paid attention to the national elections. We noticed how some politicians seemed to have mastered this skill. Hillary Clinton was phenomenal at dodging questions. Looking back, Ronald Reagan was a master dodger, too."

Real reason why some politicians are still 'trusted'! , Defend Your Research: People Often Trust Eloquence More Than Honesty - Harvard Business Review

Defend Your Research: People Often Trust Eloquence More Than Honesty - Harvard Business Review:

Real reason why some politicians are still 'trusted'!


"Rogers: In our study, subjects found the candidate answering a similar but different question just as trustworthy and likable as when he answered the original question. What’s more, after hearing an artful dodge, subjects had much lower recall of the question asked; in some of our studies, less than half could remember it accurately. If anything, that result is artificially high, since when we asked them to recall the question, we gave them four options, so they had a 25% chance of guessing correctly. But the important finding is that the audience didn’t penalize a speaker who dodged a question well.

Norton: But you had to be good at it, and you couldn’t be obvious. When the candidate answered a completely different question, he was penalized heavily and rated less likable and trustworthy. Interestingly, people were much better at recalling the actual question in those cases.

After we did this research, we really paid attention to the national elections. We noticed how some politicians seemed to have mastered this skill. Hillary Clinton was phenomenal at dodging questions. Looking back, Ronald Reagan was a master dodger, too."