Monday 28 February 2011

My comments re UK Government Agency wants your email scams – but is it doing it the right way? | Naked Security

UK Government Agency wants your email scams – but is it doing it the right way? | Naked Security

totally agree.

in fact, if they collaborate with spam provider like www.spamarrest.com then, they would also get millions of those scam emails also..

HOWEVER, surely key is if they have enough power and targeted brief to do a decent job.. money should surely be better spent on prevention, and target those who are vulnerable and maybe highlight to them the key points to look out for like your post above.

Must read, suggest you guys click through above, key points below:

"
* Fake emails often (but not always) display some of the following characteristics:

* the sender’s email address doesn’t tally with the trusted organisation’s website address

* the email is sent from a completely different address or a free web mail address

* the email does not use your proper name, but uses a non-specific greeting like "dear customer"

* a sense of urgency; for example the threat that unless you act immediately your account may be closed

* a prominent website link. These can be forged or seem very similar to the proper address, but even a single character’s difference means a different website

* a request for personal information such as user name, password or bank details

* the email contains spelling and grammatical errors

* you weren't expecting to get an email from the company that appears to have sent it

* the entire text of the email is contained within an image rather than the usual text format

* the image contains an embedded hyperlink to a bogus site "

Saturday 26 February 2011

Friday 25 February 2011

even millionaires needed to be humble & grateful... what next?? Charlie Sheen sitcom cancelled after radio rant | TV News Extra Blog - Yahoo! TV UK

Charlie Sheen sitcom cancelled after radio rant | TV News Extra Blog - Yahoo! TV UK

This perfectly explain all the questions that went through my head when I heard the interview via Joe's tweet: RT @joerogan: Charlie Sheen is a fucking BOSS. Greatest interview ever!http://ow.ly/42Vzy

Very pertinent indeed as once again, good old virtues of Chinese should have come in handy, namely be grateful and humble. If Charlie had done that, he would still be earning US$1m per episode... lets hope that he has 'saved' and invested enough to have a decent nest egg somewhere.

==== key highlights of the above story:

"Production on Charlie Sheen's hit sitcom 'Two and a Half Men' has been halted after the actor ranted about the show's creator."

"The actor's original outburst is believed to have been sparked by a message on a 'vanity card' that featured during the closing credits of last week's episode.

Chuck Lorre has a long history of featuring 'vanity cards' with messages at the end of shows that he works on. The cards are normally featured for just a couple of seconds so viewers wanting to read them in full often have to pause the picture in order to do so.

Last Monday's 'Two and a Half Men' vanity card said: "If Charlie Sheen outlives me, I'm gonna be really p***ed."

"

Tuesday 22 February 2011

Makes perfect sense... Trust in China is paramount. Best Buy Shuts China Stores to Focus on More Profitable Brand - Bloomberg

Best Buy Shuts China Stores to Focus on More Profitable Brand - Bloomberg:

Makes perfect sense... Trust in China is paramount.

"Best Buy Co., the world’s largest consumer electronics retailer, will close all of its nine Best Buy branded stores in China to focus on expanding the more profitable domestic chain it acquired five years ago.

“Store openings will be focused primarily on the profitable growth platforms of its Best Buy Mobile business in the United States and its Five Star business in China,” it said in a statement distributed by Business Wire today.

Best Buy will open 40 to 50 of its Five Star branded stores as it competes against Gome Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd. and Suning Appliance Co. in the world’s most populous nation, where retail sales grew by a monthly average of 18.4 percent last year. The Richfield, Minnesota-based retailer also plans to almost double its Best Buy Mobile stores in the U.S."

Comments re China fines Carrefour, Wal-Mart a combined $1.5 million - The Economic Times

China fines Carrefour, Wal-Mart a combined $1.5 million - The Economic Times

a few pieces of this news recyled, since last one, particularly key info:

"Authorities in cities including Shanghai, Chongqing, and Kunming discovered incidents at local Wal-Mart and Carrefour outlets that included labeling on products with prices that didn’t match what shoppers were charged at payment, exaggeration of discounts and labeling that led to confusion about how much a product cost. The stores may be fined five times the revenue they earned using such methods, the National Development and Reform Commission said today on its website."


This is another example of 'same rules' or 'same wools' cannot be put over different market's eyes...

Be warn, some 'market best practices' might be seen as what it really is when it arrives in China.




Monday 21 February 2011

short comments on Perks for the pups of state power - China Media Project

Perks for the pups of state power - China Media Project

China like most countries has its own challenges & opportunities, just most of those for China are much more complex, wide reaching, ingrained in the culture and psyche of people and systems for longer...

this article highlighed the present perceived and real problems (cannot comment as I am not but seem to be true), but this also exist during thousand years back in dynasties days..

real issue is that whether our mother country is in fact safe and still growing at a managable pace, ... as I personally believe China need to evolve over time (especially now its slight move/jerk has worldwide implications), rather than change overnight.

Just look at the rule of law now in China (the real power it can exert on its citizens), and unscrupulous people at all level would still look at ways to cut corners and think ultra short term for quick profits (look at tainted milk and various scandals), what would happy if China perceived not be in control?

Some might argue that it is not the government officials that would suffer, but it might be felt a lot more by the small residence who are just getting by. How much worst would it be felt by those millions of migrant workers?

In some ways, no bad news could be good news in this instance.

It is somehow comforting to read the above news, where we as Chinese can read and feel, well, all normal and yes, can spend some time on looking at results of "human flesh search engine"..

Wish you all have a safe and prosperous 2011.


my short comments re Seeing Both Sides: Fred Wilson comes to Harvard Business School

Seeing Both Sides: Fred Wilson comes to Harvard Business School:

great insights, wonder if you are mostly looking at B2C side of things in your ecosystem?

I see much more non transparencies and lucrative opportunities in the B2B value chain world, but sadly as your last paragraph pointed out (Fred's friends wisdom): the addiction to "calories, heroine and a paycheck", means thats the best place to innovate as I put it, its majority run by managers than leaders, they would invariable do the safest and most obvious things first, second and third time..

sadly however, most startup as I observe now (not expert, pls put me right if I am wrong) are mostly focusing on short term valuations and even exits..? as most founders probably do not have that kind of business insights?

I might be wrong, as they are generally not as sexy to be reported by Techcrunch/venturebeat/business insiders??

maybe I am reading the wrong press in your VC news world.

Saturday 19 February 2011

many distilled wisdom particularly one sentence, A VC: MBA Tuesday

A VC: MBA Tuesday:

Brilliant highlights .. I can see why Fred is like a rock star in the VC/startup world..

I particularly like:
- Ideas that most people derided as ridiculous have produced the best outcomes. Don't do the obvious thing.

gives me great power to push on..

"- There is a very high correlation between lean startup approach and the top performing companies in our two funds.

- Lean startup methology is great, but it is really a lean startup culture you want.

- Lean startup is a machine, garbage in will give you garbage out.

- Early in a startup, product decisions should be hunch driven. Later on, product decisions should be data driven.

- Hunches come from being a power user of the products in your category and from having a long standing obsession about the problem you are solving.

- Domain expertise to the point of obsession is highly correlated with the most successful entrepeneurs in our portfolio.

- Ideas that most people derided as ridiculous have produced the best outcomes. Don't do the obvious thing.

- Monetization should be native and improve the experience for users.

- If you have an idea that you can't get out of your head, do a startup. Otherwise join a startup.

- If you are not technical, get product experience. Get your hands dirty and work with engineers.

- Take risks when you get out of business school. If you don't take risks, you won't find yourself in an interesting job and career."

Friday 18 February 2011

Most venture capital funds lose money


"The median net return to VC fund investors has not been positive for any vintage year since 1998. Just think about that for a moment. Despite the past decade's many hits (Google, YouTube, EqualLogic, etc.), the typical VC fund has lost money for its limited partners. Even the top-quartile benchmarks aren't very impressive over the past decade, with the best figure coming in at 5.59% for 2001 vintage funds.

No wonder how many institutional investors have mostly turned their back on venture capital as an asset class. If things don't turn around soon, even some of the holdouts might begin to reconsider.

Cambridge today also released private equity performance data, showing positive numbers across the board. Private equity outperformed venture capital for the 1, 3, 5 and 10-year periods. It fell short for the 15 and 20-year periods."

my short blog comments re: @BI Groupon China Off To A Bad Start

Groupon China Off To A Bad Start

Oliver Samwer

Oliver Samwer, who runs Groupons international operations from Berlin, is flying to Beijing today to talk about the latest problems.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/groupon-china-off-to-a-bad-start-2011-2#comment-4d5e379849e2aecd0f5a0000#ixzz1EIkVkqrp
great post Marc

business model for groupon is not sustainable anyway, so, we won't be talking about them soon in a couple of years time, key points raised however are very pertinent not only for moving into China, but also to other culturally different market(s).

It might be a blessing in disguise, as Tecent can launch a much more applicable and sustainable model for China instead of the groupon model/JV.

not hiring local (mostly) nor adapting the products/services before launch for China is a death sentence.

Equally, for likes of alibaba (who was hiring a new marketing director for their europe push) who was hiring pedigree/apparently proven internet executive to expand could also be a wrong move, as it will NOT be easy for a european employee to understand the success of likes of Alibaba in China and try to 'emulate' the success for them in rest of the world as the competitive landscape, sophistication & expectation of target audience and ability to deliver are rather different indeed.

may we live in interesting time. ;)

@GarethWong



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/groupon-china-off-to-a-bad-start-2011-2#comment-4d5e379849e2aecd0f5a0000#ixzz1EIkM4CWP

Thursday 10 February 2011

my unanswered question: Mary Meeker's Latest Amazing Presentation About The Future Of Tech

Mary Meeker's Latest Amazing Presentation About The Future Of Tech

This is an institution of the internet... Brilliant presentation indeed!

however, sadly it does not still explain something pertinent, namely, given the ubiquitous nature of mobile (even in form of old symbian nokia, let alone the new android/iphone etc.).. and big % of populations worldwide of people that has access to internet and mobile services.. is it normal that we don't have visbility or hear what is the estimated percentage of people that 'transact' via ecommerce (online or mobile) channels? and if we know the typical transaction value, we can then surely talk 'business'...

is that the main reason why the whole market focus on things that are transient (although accepted) KPIs like site visits, eyeballs, market capitalisations etc.?

or am I asking a stupid question??


Quora is great but I asked this question weeks ago, but no decent and definitive answer:
Quora: What percentage of the online population makes transactions (pays for things)? Answer: http://qr.ae/onvX

Keep up the good work Mary, and congratulations in your new role!

@GarethWong

Revenue, but no profitability, real reasons?? Deloitte Football Money League 2011 | Sports Business Group | Deloitte UK

Deloitte Football Money League 2011 | Sports Business Group | Deloitte UK

It is strangely true that this report brought clarity to the world in terms of revenue, sadly it does not highlight the profitability.. guess it is not concerns for most auditors and consultants!?

Of course, it has not relationship with real reason for the report, PR, excuse to be closer to those has most cash and hence maybe more audit & advisory work.. and highlighting profitability just might not make sense, lets not annoy future and/or existing customers!?

below's blog post is interesting to read for sure.. :



the andersred blog: Deloitte “Football Money League” – vanity vs. sanity day: "

“Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity, cash is reality.”
To help maintain some sanity on FML day, here are some figures for 2009/10 for the seven English clubs who appear in the Top 20 of the FML.



* Arsenal turnover excludes property development
** Liverpool figures assume flat costs on 2008/09 and are proforma to exclude all interest payments (to reflect pay down of debt)
*** Villa figures assume flat costs on 2008/09"

Social Enterprise & as new Impact Investment asset class, opportunities & challenges


I was at the last Social Enterprise and Investment
event at Cass business, with some top industry leaders, & most impressed especially when I heard a fellow passionate entrepreneur like Nigel Kershaw spoke from his heart & soul. (yes bit slow, am not great at blogging)


As most of my trusted & long term contacts knows, I feel very strongly about many things, but particularly social cohesion (& social capital) is lacking, both in the western and developing world, particularly due to the wealth gap(s) and in the western world benefit culture (why work? if got more benefits by NOT working).. therefore, I was keen to be there to learn what tricks Nigel had since we last met few years back and waiting to be inspired.

Indeed I was most impressed with what their aims/goals and achieved so far, and got top guys like Advent Int. Deutsche bank and PwC involved.. discussion were far & wide and of course some strange off topic questions, but all very informative, hope it was recorded.

Key reports which maybe of interest is the report on
Impact Investments | J.P. Morgan
Where the author had since joined Bridge Community Ventures, who I would have wished was part of the panel to see what he really thinks now that he is not part of JP.

I am particularly keen to learn more of the impact investments return, as Ron mentioned their expected IRR for their normal investments would be 30%, but 10% for social enterprise but of course that is via monetary return, not including social impacts.. which in some ways should be focus of the social entreprise?

Can't figure it out yet, but interested to learn more. there seem to be many impact investing network, like http://www.thegiin.org.. which one should we follow?

Quote from

Maff Potts, Chief Executive, Novas Scarman Group was brilliant, his company help council and government saved cost of £600,000.00 but their own funding of £200,000.00 is not met! Surely there must be ways of integrating this into the calculation!??

Most important of all, we are not addressing one key issue, how do we 'change' people's behaviour and get them to 'engage' with social enterprise?? why would people be so keen to spend good money on buying celebrity's shoes and giving money to africa (where they have never been nor likely to go) but to help the guys down the street who are desperate, and one day might be forced to break into their fortress of a home?

somehow the value chain is broken and it need to be fixed. It is for sure not the best society for us to live in when the behaviour of the Channel 4 'documentary' call Shamless is the norm!??

Key challenge is that for those people that can help, the priority of engaging with social enterprise (or social investment/impact investment) just is not there. We need a cultural shift, this can only be done with transparency and understanding of goals of social investments and key performance indicators of social enterprises, not only on financial returns but also the impact such investment deliver... our world need help to improve social cohesion by more investments in social capital across all communities/regions worldwide.


photo

Jonathan Randall, VP Strategy Deutsche Bank UK

Protecting Reputation in a Digital World

Protecting Reputation in a Digital World

Nice follow up to Alva's presentation last week.

good presentation from Tim & Candace. ;-)

American Red Cross Social Media Guidelines

American Red Cross Social Media Guidelines

thanks @JohnMNBarnes 4 pointing it out.

very insightful.


Saturday 5 February 2011

Chinese new year, short introduction to the most important of four arts of cultured scholars, 琴、棋、书、画, namely Qin or Zither 古箏, 琵琶 and 二胡

Its Chinese new year now, and time to get to know more about the Chinese culture.

These three instruments are Chinese music institutions! Chinese believe cultured scholars should master the four arts 琴、棋、书、画 (Playing Qin or Zither, Chinese Chess, Calligraphy, and paintings, where 弹琴 is the most important!)

Key demonstrations below are:
Guzheng (古箏) - 16-26 stringed zither with movable bridges or 古筝
Pipa (琵琶) - pear-shaped fretted lute with 4 or 5 strings
Erhu (二胡) - two-stringed fiddle

Enjoy...


YouTube - Chinese erhu music: 江南春色 Spring scenery of Jiang-nan /二胡:邵琳: ""



More populist, the the viva girls are more pop and simon cowell.. really.

二胡 Erhu - 王颖 Wang Ying plays 卡门 Carmen




Su Chang - Guzheng | YTSO 2011 Sydney | Soloist Introduction Video | 苏畅 - 古筝





Thursday 3 February 2011

Wednesday 2 February 2011

Lets be frank, very thick Glass ceiling in UK. short blog. BBC News - Social mobility: Less privileged face fight for top jobs

BBC News - Social mobility: Less privileged face fight for top jobs

Lets be frank, getting a job is first of the several hundred rungs..

at the very top of majority of major firms in UK, still is from the elites.. lets not fool ourselves..

the more I meet top guys, the more saville row and genetically better looking human beings I meet, kid you not!!

and yes, some not so good looking, but generally, they are with titles and very posh accents.. and some took years (literally) for some Sirs and Dame to notice and say hi to me.. will never be 'accepted' period.

but hey, this might mean opportunity, for sure!!??

I for one say, embrace it, and get to know it and find out and capitalise on the potential opportunities!!!

@GarethWong