Joel's Castle

My Startup Lessons Learned

2011-04-07T15:16:00.008+08:00

I have been thinking about documenting what I learned from my startup adventure so people could benefits from my mistakes. It seems to be the right time now. Please remember that this post is not about finger pointing. I am trying to document what I learned so far so I won't repeat my mistakes, and hopefully you could learn something from it too.

Background
A little background for those who don't know what I did before. I started a company called Appnergy with one of my MBA classmate last year, and as the technical founder I developed Qmazing!, a cloud based Queue Management Solution for restaurants, running on iPhone and iPad clients. The idea is to provide remote queuing up for restaurant using iPhone, and customer will get notification when the table is ready. With the help of my other technical friend, the two of us successfully developed, deployed this solution to real world customer. It is amazed that two of us could develop the whole system from scratch in such a short amount of time. I enjoyed every technical minutes of it even though it was hard work.

What went wrong?
Just like those who first started a company, we made many mistakes along the way. However, I think the most critical mistake is that I picked the wrong business co-founder for my venture. It is my mistake because I should have researched (e.g. like this excellent page) and prepared more before going into a business relation. A wrong co-founder will not only create lots of pain, but also destroy a startup in the process. Based on my experience, I think I will have the following questions for my next potential business co-founder.

Do you have experience in the IT industry? My next co-founder should come from the IT industry. Non-IT business partner will make strange and odd strategy that doesn't make sense, or not applicable to a Software company. For example, is it odd to be suggested to let go your core member and wait for a possible deal that may happens in six months? Maybe it will work for non-software company, but if you stop working on the software you will not be competitive at all.
Do you have domain experience? Unless the concept is so new that domain experience in irreverent, domain experience and connections are crucial.
Do you have good and real connection? Don't tell me you know someone who know big boss, and the only way to establish the connection is to offer a big chunk of the share to that someone. A business partner with only 1 or 2 connections makes it harder to get business, and also make it hard to gather real world software requirements.
Are you willing to do low level tasks hands-on? I gave up my previous management job and learned iPhone/iPad programming for the success of the company. As a business co-founder, don't tell me you are expected to only do relationship building with customer(Dinner and drink only). Go out and sell whenever you could, even though you need to knocks on 1000 doors. You are not suitable for startup if you are not willing to do low level works because there is always not enough resources.
Are you willing to learn anything new along the way? No one will know everything and startup always don't have enough resource. Even a business co-founder must be willing to learn new tricks. For example, if you don't know internet marketing, try learning it! Refusing to learn new stuff with excuse like you are not from IT background makes it really hard for others.
How do you handle the situation if you really don't know how to do the task? Don't expect others to automatically take up your tasks just because you don't know how to do. Please propose how to solve it together as a team.
Are you truly committed? Although it is very hard to know the real answer because the answer is always YES. One hint I learned from last time is that my co-founder keeps referring this business partnership as a game. When I first agreed to partner with him, he actually referred it as "game" couple time throughout our discussion. I should have spot this "Game" word because to me this business is everything but a game. If he thinks it is a game in his mind, he is treating it just like a game. And it shows in the end.
Are you currently working on other business? Or do you plan to start another business along the way? If yes, just tell me upfront so we could work things out. Tell me about how you are going to spend the time.
What would you do if you need help? Will you ask your other co-founder for help even though you may loss face? A co-founder must understand that it is ok to ask for help from the other founder. If you really don't know and cannot do certain tasks, bring it out and discuss. Don't worry about saving face as we should act as a team. Hiding the issues will not help at all.
A question to myself: How long do I really know the guy? If you have not really worked with that person in a project, you don't know him enough. Even taking MBA classes together for 2 years also doesn't help at all. My relatives keeps asking me questions like "Why are you partnering with someone you don't know enough?". I thought I know but it doesn't turn out right because we didn't seriously worked together before. Maybe it is best to create a new un-related small project to try it out first. There should be a dating period for partnership.
Request for a pitch presentation. For those who I am not already familiar with, I should ask the candidate to do a presentation to me, as if I am an investor (Because, after all, I am going to invest my life with him for a long time). So that I could observe his powerpoint slides and presentation skill. I was shocked by the ugly and hard to read powerpoint that I saw last time.
What is your expectation in me? Let's line up any expectation that could results in future problems early.

Some other things I learned...

Don't fall in love with your idea. Take the time to research the market and create a better business model before doing anything. Do not just rely on your business partner to do so. Is it really worth doing?
What's the most important document? Haha, the one that I don't have, which should be a founder vesting agreement and an written agreement that discuss every bad scenario that could happened. For example, what happened if one is not performing? What happened if one must leave because of family issue, or what happened if one want to buyback the share? This is something that I will definitely do in the future to prevent losing another friend because the negotiation of this stuff later-on is just not helpful and a complete waste of time and energy.
50%/50%? A 50/50 split of share will not healthy as the company is totally idle when people are trying to argue the right strategy. Someone needs to be really in-charge and it is better to setup clearly the role and responsibility upfront. Also, when I first started I assume that giving 50% of share to my co-founder will make him truly committed and will do anything to help build the business. It is definitely a wrong assumption.
Vesting milestone. One thing that I should have done is to create vesting milestone that tights to real deliverable. For example, 10% share if you successfully acquired 5 customers in the first 6 months. In this case it will prevent partner who achieved nothing, yet hold half of the company.
Pay ourselves. Should have taken a small salary from the startup rather than zero salary. And the salary should based on the role you take.
Software IP Rights. Who own the software if the company is going to close? What is the process if a co-founder want to continue the development. How much is the costs? Everything related to IP should be discussed before partnering.
Adviser Should have find one or more experience advisers in the early stage to help.
MBA is only nice to have. Only a handful of stuff I learned from MBA class is relevant as most of the classes are for training manager, not startup entrepreneur. I suggest MBA school should add a course that let people to form REAL company so they could understand the process and make painful mistakes there.
The only way to learn is to try it. I have been dreaming about starting a company for a long time and I finally tried it. Although the outcome is not what I expected, the stuff that I learned is so valuable and I believe people should give entrepreneurship a try.

Of course, I am no expert and these are just something I think I learned along the way. There are definitely a lot of stuff I could handle better. If you have any better suggestions/ideas or if I am wrong, please feel free to let me know.

Maybe I will write a part two in the future about some other things I learned, like the technical stuff and other areas in the business.

Last day of 2010

2010-12-31T23:37:00.002+08:00

Time flies and it is in less than 20 minutes it will be 2011 already! Looking back, I have done what I dreamed to do for a long long time, which is to start my own company and work on products that I wanted to do. My goal is to develop something that is useful and has impact to people's live. With the help of my great colleague, we developed a product and launched in real world with positive feedback. I also learned many valuable lessons as well. This is one of my greatest achievement in 2010.

However, today also marks the end of this service because of internal company issue. It is quite painful and difficulty to terminate what I have worked on for so long. And I am really heart broken to tell customer that we have to shut down the service. Nevertheless, I believe I have tried my very best and I am going to put all those unhappy events behind me and move on.

I am thankful to have wonderful supports from my wife, my parents, my in-laws and friends. Without them, this startup life will be much harder. Thank you!

2011 is going to be a another challenging year for me.

Happy new year!

What I am doing and What I learned so far

2010-09-24T09:40:00.005+08:00

It has been about four months since my last post. To update everyone, I have started a company and is currently building a new product that we believe it will make both the users and businesses happy. It is definitely not an easy task and I learned the following in these four months:

1) It is ok to work in coffee shop almost everyday and actually many people do the same. haha
2) Finding the right people to work with you is absolutely essential to startup. I am fortunate to be able to form a team that is highly skilled. Of course we all certainly could improve in different areas.
3) It is also important to learn many different skills before you even start. I am doing programming, graphic, logo design, web site soon, biz development, researches.... I am glad that I was into graphic design before I start doing programming when I was younger. And also I am very interested in technology so new tech learning is not too painful for me. Although I don't considering myself as an expert, those are important skills to build the product as we don't have many resources to hire others to do these.
4) MBA helps, but not too essential for doing startup. Startup is about building a new thing and see whether it is could work out. MBA mostly taught people how to manage an existing business. I believe for HK we need more training to help people do startup.
5) Things will certainly not going well, but it is always a new learning experience.
6) Startup is also about self control. To move thing forward it is important to control my own emotion.

I am lucky to have the support of people around me. A big thank you to you all.

Will post more in the future.

Last day of work. Challenges ahead!

2010-05-13T12:41:00.005+08:00

Today is my last day at my current company.

I have been working in this place for three years and I learned a lot from my service here. But the most important element that I am going to miss is the people. Although doing projects are hard, it is the people that make it a lot of fun.

People is what makes a company great and move forward.

What's next? We will see...

Punch Party HK 2 - Great Experience

2009-05-15T22:55:00.004+08:00

I attended the my first Punch Party HK today. It was a wonderful gathering.

This time the topics are mostly IT centric, with talks about BBS, PALM, NEWSGROUP, etc. Since I didn't grow up here in HK, there are certain newsgroup and BBS that I wasn't familiar with. However, I am old enough to experience BBS using software like Telix.

I feel the most when the presenter talks about Palm since I used to own many PalmOS products, including Palm 3, Palm V, Sony Clie N760C, Sony NX70V and Treo 650. I also upgraded my Palm V to 8MB as well. It is fun to see that presentation on ram upgrade.

Overall, I really glad I signed up for it. Looking forward to PPHK3.

Firefox extensions that I installed lately

2009-03-21T11:44:00.005+08:00

With so many new browsers like Safari and Chrome, I still like Firefox mainly because of its extension. It is because the other browsers lack the "smart drag and drop" feature. This feature lets you just drag and link and open it in a new background tab. Currently I am using the Easy Dragtogo plugin with Firefox 3.1 beta.

I am also playing with a plugin called AutoPager. This plugin will auto load the next page when you reach the end of current page. It is particular useful when using with Google.

What Firefox plugin do you use?

Mission Accomplished!

2008-11-13T23:26:00.003+08:00

I had a great time today because my parents and wife came to the HKUST 2008 Congregation to celebrate the finish of my MBA studies.

Thanks my parents and my wife for all your support throughout my MBA study life. Without you, I cannot accomplish this goal!

Krispy Kreme Hong Kong is closing its door

2008-10-27T23:53:00.007+08:00

Krispy Kreme has a special meaning for me, I once bought a box of fresh doughnuts in US and took it on a plane to Canada to visit my girlfriend (now wife). At that time there was no Krispy Kreme in Canada. The lady in custom asked me to open it for inspection and one even said whether she could take a bite (she was joking). Once I took it on the plane, you could smell it everywhere. I guess a lot of passengers were also wondering where the smell came from.

I saw this sad news today about Krispy Kreme's HK franchisee closing it door in Hong Kong due to financial issue. The high rent and the economic downturn forced the owner to liquidate this franchise.

Although I have doubt about whether Chinese will visit it regularly when it first launched, Krispy Kreme actually setup quite a lot of store in Hong Kong. At one time I thought it was doing well as I saw it showing up in many different places.

I think one major problem with Krispy Kreme in HK is the opening hour. It doesn't open their store before 10am (The Mongkok store). I tried to visit them for breakfast before work and it is just not opened. So my money always goes to Cafe de Carol instead.

The stores that are still opened are located in the airport and it is just too far away for me to visit. Maybe I will be able to enjoy it when I have a chance. I wish they could announce the closing of those stores one day earlier so I could visit it in time.

Kind of wonder who will be next to go....

X61, Ubuntu 8.04 and Dual Monitors finally work for me

2008-07-10T18:20:00.005+08:00

Image via WikipediaFinally got dual monitor to work! I could now run Ubuntu on the external monitor, and a Windows VM on the notebook's LCD panel. I now have a virtual desktop that is sized 2048x768. I am now a happy user of Ubuntu. So far, no major complaint.

Here is my /etc/X11/xorg.conf
-----------------------------------------------------
# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1024x768" "1024x768"
Virtual 2048 768
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection
---------------------------------------------

After modification, I press CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE to restart X.

I than run the following command line to resize the virtual desktop

xrandr --output LVDS --mode 1024x768 --output VGA --mode 1024x768 --left-of LVDS

Reference: Simple dual monitor setup with XrandR in Ubuntu (Linux)

First day to use Ubuntu instead of Vista at work

2008-07-08T10:06:00.002+08:00

Today is my first day of work without using Vista.

I really want to like Vista, I really do. I have been trying to like it even though the performance is not as good as I originally expected.

Last week I have to run two VMs for testings and my computer (Lenovo X61 with 3G) ran out of memory. So I thought I bought a 2G ram hoping to at least get 3.5G ram out of it (My Vista is 32-bit only, so I don't I am not getting 4G). But to my surprise, after I spent the money the system shows 3G ram only again. I searched the internet and others are having the same issue.

So I decided to install a 64-bit OS. I could install Vista 64bit or Ubuntu.

I decided to give Ubuntu a try and installed it as my main OS. Linus has come a long way and it is quite easy to setup. I have also installed XP as a VM so I could run WIndows applications if I need to.

It is very easy to install and setup. I could do most of the work almost immediately as I have been using Google Apps for awhile. So far so good in my case, my only complaints is: No good support for dual monitor in my setup. I have another monitor at work and I could only see Cloned desktop view.

I don't know how long I am going to stay with Ubuntu. I think it is a good transition before I could get a Mac. :)

At this moment, I don't miss Vista at all.

Video from Startup School Conference

2008-04-20T14:22:00.004+08:00

Startup School is a great conference for people who are interested in startups. It is great that a video is available for people to watch online.

Watch live video from HackerTV on Justin.tv

[Update: full-length videos at Omnisio.com. It is very cool that the slides are being shown at the same time!]

Listening to UC Berkeley's Search Engine Class

2008-04-17T10:39:00.003+08:00

I have been learning and researching more on search engine lately and I am glad to found out that there is a free 2007 class online on this subject from UC Berkeley, one of the best university in the world.

UC Berkeley Webcasts | Video and Podcasts: INFO 141

I wish they could also post the slides for the class as well so I could visually the algorithm that they are talking about.

The internet has really changed how people learn.

I am currently taking classes from two different universities in HK, yet at the same time I am also listening to this class from UC. All the educational information are available now and the only one stopping me to learn is myself.

I could still remember how difficult it was to find out information on game programming when I wrote my first game using QuickBasic (Yeah...it was a long time ago...). Now, there are so many learning opportunities now and the key is information discovery and filtering.

We are living in exciting time.

[Updated: this 2005 version of the class with Video. I remembered I blog about it before too]

Chinese Handwriting Recognition for iPhone

2008-04-16T21:46:00.002+08:00

Check out IPhone: Handwriting Recognition for iPhone Now Available

This is very cool! I will give it a try when I have time to load it up in my iPhone.

What to do when you are busy?

2008-04-13T16:12:00.003+08:00

See this comic about what you should do when you are busy. Funny.

Seriously, Twitter is getting really popular for people to draw comic about.

Another startup lessons from the net.

2008-04-13T15:54:00.002+08:00

Very interesting discussion and advices from the founder of the Gridjit site.

I like his discussion on the business model, where he is saying that you may not have all the business model figure out yet.

"So, I’m not saying you have to figure out your business model right away. I certainly don’t have mine completely figured out...What I am saying is that, given the direction things are going, you’ll want to do everything you can to make your business self-sustaining along the way. But only do that if it doesn’t compromise the quality of your product. Embrace constraints, as they say, and deliver a quality product that people want."

I think it also means that you should still give it a shot and figure it out later, if you believe your service is valuable. That's kind of true, Google didn't figure out his real business model until later on.

The key is to make it self-sustaining so you are still ok if it doesn't work out.

Twitter and the Open Sea

2008-04-05T19:26:00.006+08:00

I have a Twitter account for awhile, but I don't use it simply because I don't think it is useful.

I read about the Adobe AIR Twitter client called Twhirl a couple days ago and I decided to try Twitter again. I than tried to follow some well known people on the internet. To my surprise, they also follow me back! Although I don't think I could contribute too much back to them.

Now I see the value of Twitter, it could definitely make the distance between people much closer than before. I could read about them in their blogs, or listen to their podcasts from time to time, but using Twitter you know the person more in a totally different way.

My only problem with Twitter is that I only have 1 friend in US using it, and none of my friends or family use it. It is like shouting to a an open big sea....

Even Disk Encryption is Not Safe Enough

2008-02-22T11:58:00.003+08:00

A lot of people are talking about using disk encryption to protect their files these days. However, it turns out that even disk encryption is not save enough because the encryption key could be grabbed in RAM! [Read more at Engadget]

Funny and True: How NOT to use Powerpoint

2007-12-21T18:41:00.000+08:00

Learn from other's mistake about building a company

2007-12-19T12:22:00.000+08:00

It is important to learn from other people's mistake. If you want to start your own technology company you need to read the following blog post about what the owner of mycarpoolstation.com had gone through.

I wish there are more company owners out there who are willing to share their own experience in such a great detail.

Direct link to the original post: Click Here

How to stop windows from auto restart after auto update

2007-12-14T07:16:00.000+08:00

One thing that I really hate about Vista (or maybe it is windows update) is that it will automatically reboot my system at night without my agreement. I am all for having the latest update, but it has destroyed my works many times already. Sometimes I wrote down quick note in notepad as a quick todo list, and I usually have firefox opened up a number of website to do my work. Today I woke up and see them all gone again. AARRrrrrr..

So I found out a quick group policy option from the internet to disable auto-restart. Do it now if you use windows.

Mac OSX becomes more appealing to me again.

What soft skills a leader should possess

2007-11-25T14:31:00.000+08:00

The followings are the three important soft skills that the profession of Leadership in Asia class taught us:

1) Have a board knowledge on different issues in the world
2) Be able to persuade people
3) Have a real interesting in people

Birthday Toys!

2007-11-21T23:35:00.000+08:00

I received many cool gifts for my birthday this year! They are:
1) Apple iPhone
2) Sony Reader PRS-505
3) Wifi Detection T-shirt
4) 8-bit Tie

Thanks My Wife, Mom and Daniel!

[Updated:] Also thanks Lewis for the arrangement of the iPhone purchase!

Happy~~!

Good Lessons from Bill Gross

2007-10-29T12:01:00.000+08:00

The followings are some of the good lessons we could learn from Bill Gross:

Read the full article here:

"We like to challenge the status quo, to take on something that other people wouldn't do to solve a big problem."

"if a customer is already being served, but just a little bit less efficiently, that's not as exciting as a customer with a problem that no one is trying to solve."

"It's not a matter of how cheap you can start the company. You also need to have a way to stop other people from doing the same thing once they see that your idea is taking off."

"So I think the biggest lesson we've learned is that you need to find a way to raise enough money and spend it slowly enough that you can stick around until everybody catches on to your idea. The race is not to run out of your money first - it's to be there at the finish line."

Free Lecture Video from UC Berkely

2007-10-05T09:55:00.000+08:00

UC Berkely has released some of their lecture videos for FREE on youtube. The most interesting one to me is the Search Engine lecture. Although the video is from 2005, it is still good if you want to understand search engine. I need to find some free time to go through them.

Hope they could put more classes there. Are they available at iTunes store too?

Lessons Learned from Business Simulation Class

2007-08-20T17:58:00.000+08:00

Just finished the 4 full-days intensive (8:30AM-9PM) Business Simulation Class. This class is about Retail and Manufacturer relationship and how to do business in a win-win situation. Even though our team didn't win the game. I learned quite a lot from this class.

Lessons learned:
- Our strategy is valid, but the execution could be much better.
- Advertising is important, but we need to really understand the effect and the return.
- Need to spend more time on the financial data by doing a more detail analysis.
- When the company is in crisis, focus on the fundamental.
- Need to prepare better for negotiation. What is your bottom line? Don't just give discount, ask for something!
- Challenge your assumption. If the assumption is wrong, you will make a fatal mistake.

Also got a chance to meet some old friends from the original KxCracker Team. I am glad that they are doing well.

Overall, it was a lot of fun.

Ten Questions with Jeffrey Pfeffer Article

2007-07-19T02:38:00.000+08:00

Ten Questions with Jeffrey Pfeffer is a good interview article with lots of good suggestions on how to manage the company better. A good read.

Virtual Barber Shop

2007-07-02T21:39:00.001+08:00

Remember to wear your headphone and close your eyes! The sound is unbelievable.

Kwik-E-Mart for Real!

2007-07-02T17:32:00.000+08:00

Check out this Real Kwik-E-Mart (Converted from a 7-11)! I want to visit it too. Can't wait for the new Simpson Movie.

Could your iPhone do this??

2007-07-02T17:04:00.000+08:00

Managing both Management and Programming Responsibilities

2007-06-15T04:30:00.000+08:00

Here is a great article about how to manage both programming and management responsibilities at the same time. I was in this situation not long ago where I have to manage the project, but also needed to work on part of the application because of resource constraint. Focus is really the key! Luckily the resource constraint problem should be solved very soon. For the next two projects coming it seems that I don't need to do any programming myself.

Is he the luckiest guy or what?

2007-05-12T21:01:00.000+08:00

Check out this poor soul...haha

Long time no writing

2007-05-12T20:56:00.000+08:00

I was too busy lately and I didn't have time to write any new post. Anyway, I am doing fine with the new company. The job is quite challenging dealing with a couple projects and new responsibilities. I am also taking the time to get used to the new working environment. So far so good. The people that I work with are nice and quite smart too.

First day of work in a new company

2007-04-23T23:38:00.000+08:00

Today is my first day at the new company. The people are really nice and I sure hope I could deliver and help this company to grow. There are many challenges ahead and I will work hard to overcome them. Good luck to me!

Web App 101 and What is Web 2.0?

2007-03-24T23:38:00.000+08:00

If you ever want to build your own Web application and make money out of it, you should read this TechCrunch article first. You need to answer the following three questions:

Who is it aimed at?
Why will they use it?
Will they pay for it?

If you are still wondering what Web 2.0 is? Head over here and see read the very funny presentation called "How to bluff your way in Web 2.0". Download PDF Slides and watch the Video.

More FREE courses from UC Berkery and MIT.

2007-03-12T10:26:00.000+08:00

Great news to those who want to learn on their own! UC Berkery releases a set of videos and podcasts for some of their classes. I am particular interested in the Intro to Statistics class. I never thought Statistics is that useful until I started my MBA study. I will probably go through some of those video to refresh my memory in the subject.

On a related note, MIT will offer 1,800 of their courses free online by the end of the year for people to self-study.

Finally! joelyen.com!

2007-03-01T09:46:00.000+08:00

After so many years, I finally purchased joelyen.com. I didn't think it is useful until I start writing blog. Right now it is doing a forward to blogspot.com. Hopefully in the future I could have my own blog system installed and host somewhere.

Or I could simply use Google Apps to have my own email address using Gmail. Nice!

Freemium, a web business model

2007-02-25T11:24:00.000+08:00

As described in this blog post, there are only a handful of biz models for web apps, and there is one called Freemium.

"Most web apps make money either from advertising, subscriptions, or a mix of both. An app like Blinksale -- an invoice management tool -- is free for a small number of invoices sent monthly, and then charges a fee when you pass some threshold, like the fourth invoice. This is called the "freemium" business model."

Interesting name.

Come and join HKUST MBA Intake 2006 Group!

2007-02-16T17:15:00.000+08:00

If you are one of the HKUST MBA Intake 2006 student, come and join us in the new Yahoo! Group that I setup for better communicate between all of us. Please help to spread the word about this group so we could build a better community!

Click to join hkust_mba_intake_2006

For Wii Owners, checkout Mii Plaza and WiiToob

2007-02-14T05:48:00.000+08:00

Just stumble upon this Mii Plaza site. You could upload your Mii and your Wii code to meet new friends. Since my friend told me my Mii doesn't look like me enough, I think I will fix mine first before adding it to the site.

On a related note, the same site owner also created wiitoob.com, which is a pretty nice way to watch youtube video on your Wii. I like the AJAX interface.

To wife: Happy Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T05:26:00.000+08:00

To wife,

Happy Valentine's Day. We have walked a long way. Thanks for everything.

Guys...Know Your Limits!

2007-02-10T01:15:00.000+08:00

True story...

One company annual dinner...

Four drunk guys

One became a statue
One lost his mobile phone in taxi
One lost conscious and took 4 guys to move
One finally slept in the mall (too heavy to move!)
[Update: The last two guys were taken to hospital later, just in case. I am glad that they are OK]

Guys...know your limits!

The 6 Startup Lessons for the Year 2007

2007-02-08T11:59:00.000+08:00

Finished reading the blog post called 6 Startup Lessons for the Year 2007. Generally speaking, it is advocating startup to focus on a niche instead of a large audience. It is because a niche usually has less competition and more royal customer.

The six lessons are:

Divide and Conquer, Differentiate or Die
Generally Speaking, the Smaller the Niche, the More Loyal the Users Become
Focus
No Small Market is Small Enough
Mind Numbingly Simple
Bubble Burps (Note: I think it is talking about creating a new market instead of following others)

These are not new ideas, but it is good to remind ourselves from time to time.

I love Wii and Mii

2007-02-06T00:02:00.000+08:00

After months of waiting, I finally couldn't wait anymore and bought a US Version of Wii. Wii Sports is included and I also bought Zelda and Wario. Zelda is great! It certainly justified the higher price tag for an English version. I also like the brilliant idea of Mii. It is so much fun creating your own representation. Those who know me could tell me whether my Mii looks like me or not. :)

I also like the internet connectivity feature so I could send and receive email on my Wii. The Opera internet browser also works very well. To my surprise it is quite enjoyable surfing the net on TV. Overall, I love it!!

Hi! It's Mii! Joel!

My brain is more female??

2007-02-01T11:58:00.000+08:00

Your Brain is 53% Female, 47% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female
You are both sensitive and savvy
Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed
But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Apparently One of my friends got the same score as me too.

Free Business School Podcasts

2007-01-30T09:58:00.000+08:00

I am a podcast listener. To me, I mostly listen to two kind of podcasts: Technology and Business. Here is a list of free podcasts from famous B. Schools. However, I still have difficulty to fully listen to them because sometimes business related talks are quite boring....

There is no HKUST business school podcast. But if you have time you could listen to a HKUST podcast called Campus Beat.

Nothing is Impossible!

2007-01-26T20:42:00.000+08:00

Check this video about a two legs walking dog!! Amazing story!

Apple and US GAAP

2007-01-21T02:20:00.000+08:00

Thanks to my MBA study, I could understand what this article is talking about! It is a breakthrough to me!

Check out my partial book collection.

2007-01-21T01:56:00.000+08:00

I am testing out a web site called shelfari.com. It lets me put a list of books that I own and create a blog widget to display it. You could check out my partial collection on the right hand-side of this blog. Nevertheless, I just found out that I have purchased more books than I have time to read...

Very cool user interface face. Watch the video!

2007-01-19T08:24:00.000+08:00

The iPhone Multi-touch technology is cool, but it is definitely not the first and the best. You should check out this blog post in Gizmodo, which talks about a touch sensitive panel developed by a New York University Scientist named Jeff Han.

If you don't have time to read the article, go straight to the video and you will be amazed. I am waiting for the next generation of user interface development that contains a flat panel with tactical feedback.

It is totally true....that being a sales engineer is not easy

2007-01-18T06:25:00.000+08:00

If you have been an engineer all along and suddenly need to do sales work. It is totally true....that it takes time to adjust your thinking and the process is quite difficult. It is because the goal of an engineer is to get accurate result, whereas the goal of sales is to get the maximum amount of money.

What not to do during presentation

2007-01-17T16:22:00.000+08:00

Presentation Zen has a nice write up about what happened during the Apple iPhone announcement. I was watching the keynote with my wife and my wife decided to walk away during the Mr. Sigman's (Cingular CEO) talk. It is a very good example of what not to do during a presentation. Given the high profile of an Apple announcement, did he just know he need to present in front of the WORLD 2 hours before?

I always like Steve's presentation, it is fun to watch him introducing new product. He is always full of energy and is one of the best hypnosist in the world. He keeps saying how cool, revolutionary, incredible, unique, amazing the product is. And at the end of the show you also believe in it.

Watch the Apple Keynote here. See for yourself.

A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

2007-01-16T10:28:00.000+08:00

This is a great tool when you need a quick reference on how to visualize information. When you mouse over the method name, a popup will show you an example of what it looks like. Very cool! Visit here for more information.

Running a Company without Managers?

2007-01-11T10:07:00.000+08:00

Stumbled into a Blog post about a 20 people IT company with NO manager today. The company has a flat structure and each employee owns a part of the company. Whenever a decision needs to be made, everybody got involved and volunteered to do the work.

Quote from the blog:

The advantages of this model are:

Ownership. Everyone is as involved as they want to be. No one is sulking because a decision was made over their head.
Motivation. People are insanely motivated, because they’re a part of running the company - they don’t just work there.
Implementing decisions. Because people are involved in making decisions, it becomes much easier to implement them. You don’t have to sell decisions to reluctant employees.

The disadvantages are:

Time. Sometimes it takes time to arrive at a decision. This was never a problem for us, but if your business climate requires constant quick leadership decisions, this may not be the right model.
Petty discussions. If you’re not careful, meetings can devolve into endless, petty talk about mindless minutiae. In this case it’s important to stop and delegate or to trust someone who cares to make a good decision.

This is certainly an interesting idea, but I don't think too many companies could be this democratic. After all, the % stake are different for each person. And the process certainly will have to be changed when the company grows bigger. Nevertheless, I really like the idea of self-motivation.

Materials on developing a good VC pitch

2007-01-08T15:41:00.001+08:00

Although I don't need to pitch to any VC just yet, it doesn't hurt to learn how to develop a good business pitch. Guy Kawasaki, the famous blogger who started Garage Technology Venture, has proposed the 10-20-30 rule since his "The Art of Start" book. Now his partner, Bill Reichert, has written another post that talks about it even more.

I recommend everybody who are interested in starting business to view the following:

A Must Buy for iPod and Phone user

2007-01-05T17:14:00.000+08:00

MyBlu is a Bluetooth handfree + FM tuner + remote for iPod. This is a must buy for me because I am annoyed by the fact that I have to take out my Shure earphone every time I received a call. HKD$598 suggested retail price.

Controlling USB Missile Launcher with Wiimote!

2007-01-03T21:14:00.000+08:00

A fun use of the Wiimote!

Cool Software: Unlocker

2007-01-01T10:56:00.001+08:00

Have you ever tried to delete a file but unsuccessfully because the file was locked by some unknown process? Try this Windows software: Unlocker

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T10:44:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year! What's your plan for this year?

See an interesting Happy New Year Image here. For Men only. hee hee.

How Projects Really Work (Ver 2.0)

2006-12-21T10:54:00.000+08:00

Well described...well described. If you work in IT, this is a must see.

See here

A very big battery!

2006-12-18T23:49:00.000+08:00

Saw this yesterday in MTR station. Interesting marketing campaign.

What's the name of the red shirt guy?

2006-12-17T23:22:00.000+08:00

While waiting in line in MTR today, I notice the "KILL BILLS" billboard with a couple shooting targets in it. Than I look at the back of the red shirt guy and I am wondering whether his name is "BILL" too. Hee hee.

Asia Game Show 2006

2006-12-17T22:57:00.000+08:00

I visited Asia Game Show 2006 today. I think it should be renamed to Sony game Show instead because you cannot find XBOX or Wii in the show at all. There are a couple shops there but the thing they sell are not that interesting.

As of the game itself, I am quit disappointed with PS3. Yes, the games look better, but it is the same game again and again. E.g. GTHD, RR and Devil May Cry. The Gundam game looks terrible as the framerate is really poor. The only game that I am a bit interested are Railfan (a train simulation game with real video footage) and Resistance.

Well, without the games, the only thing to see are the girls. The quality is quite so-so. We went to the show a bit early today so we missed the Cosplay show too. So I didn't take too many picture today.

For $25.....I think it should only worth $5 for the game and $5 for the girls.

Please feel free to visit the photo album.

Asia Game Show 2006

[Updated] Oh...poor robot....

2006-12-12T11:36:00.001+08:00

I love technology!

But this video show that technology is not 100% reliable. The funny thing is that the girl standing there did nothing after the incident --- she just stand there like a robot. Haha.

Updated: I change the video link and it now contains funny caption written by others.

Software idea and MBA works...

2006-12-06T00:08:00.000+08:00

Have a new software idea since last week and I am still thinking a lot on the possibility of turning it into a real thing. Unfortunately, there are too many MBA works at this moment that I cannot spend too much time working on it.

Next week is going to be real~~ fun...... one Econ homework, two Acct homeworks and a Managerial Accounting EXAM!

I am still reading one of the required book, "The Goal". So far I only finished around 80 pages.

One blog that I visit everyday now.

2006-12-03T23:32:00.000+08:00

另類收藏家,建立一個虛擬 Museum is one personal blog that I visit everyday now. It focuses on design around the world. I find it quite interesting. So check it out if you have time.

The Fun of Advertising

2006-11-20T10:51:00.000+08:00

I love funny TV Commercials with meaning. My wife and I went to Hong Kong Art Center for the "The Art of Commercials 2006" yesterday and we had a lot of fun watching commercials from Japan and America. The show lasted for an hour and it was packed with funny and very well done Ads. Watching TV ads on a big cinema screen is very different experience from watching it on TV or a monitor. The whole event continues till next month so you will still have chance to check it out. The ticket price is $40/person.

I also purchased the tickets for another show next month. But unfortunately, I may miss the show because of a business trip.

After the show, the bookstore was packed with people.

Chinese language used in newspaper nowsadays

2006-10-19T14:15:00.000+08:00

What is wrong with the following sentence appeared in a well known HK newspaper ?

"假如你問我，究竟買一部細如卡片、具備基本分唇 DC 好，抑或係一部影相手機較適合影 Snapshot ？"

Yes, the editor used "分唇" (Function) instead of "功能"!!

Even though it is nothing serious, I hope this kind of sound substitution will not pollute youngster's mind.

Funny Joke.....who would you rather be?

2006-09-30T01:26:00.001+08:00

Found this on the internet:
------------------------------------

A man flying in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. Reducing altitude, he spotted a man on the ground and descended to shouting range..

"Excuse me," he shouted. "Can you help me? I promised my friend I would meet him a half hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man below responded: "Yes. You are in a hot air balloon, hovering approximately 30 feet above this field. You are between 40 and 42 degrees North Latitude, and between 58 and 60 degrees West Longitude."

"You must be an engineer," responded the balloonist.

"I am," the man replied. "How did you know?"

"Well," said the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost."

Whereupon the man on the ground responded, "You must be a manager."

"That I am" replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you're going. You have made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is, you are in the exact same position you were before we met, but now it is somehow my fault."

What? A video instruction for stealing soda!

2006-09-19T22:05:00.000+08:00

Wow....neat trick...but it is illegal to do it! And they have the guts to shot a video of it.

Soda machine "hack" yields extra beverages - Engadget

F for Feeling

2006-09-09T23:43:00.000+08:00

I was watching "V for Vendetta" and I found the following screenshots really matched my post yesterday. What a coincident!

Thoughts on Apple's Secret Ingredient

2006-09-08T13:07:00.000+08:00

Read a short article on Apple's Secret Ingredient.

"I think the key is, simply, fearlessness. Over and over again, they choose something that feels right and they pursue until it either succeeds or is no longer interesting. It's intuition."

I think it may only works well if the big boss "feels" the same in a company. It is pretty difficult for lower level people to justify any projects that just "feels" right to keep doing until for no up-front major benefits.

I think Apple's secret(Or not so secret) ingredients are really Steve's insistent on simplicity and industrial design. We like its product because it is "Cool" to have, not necessary the best features.

Still no built-in FM in iPod.... :(

Which American Cities That Best Fits You.....

2006-09-01T18:41:00.000+08:00

Saw this in my brother's blog and decided to give it a try. So what best fits me??

It is AUSTIN!! The place where I spent around 5 years of my life living in! What a match!

American Cities That Best Fit You::

55% Austin

50% Atlanta

50% Honolulu

50% Las Vegas

50% Miami

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

Ranking is funny

2006-08-29T22:42:00.000+08:00

Yes, ranking is funny. See the following:

Newsweek Top 100 Global Universities:
27. University of Texas at Austin

The Top 100 Global Universities - Newsweek: International Editions

And at the same time...

U of Texas-Austin tops party school list

BTW, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is number 60 in the newseek list.

Actual lessons from Kiko

2006-08-29T22:00:00.000+08:00

Kiko just sold their business using eBay and they posted the lessons they learned regarding their business. A good read.

Actual lessons from Kiko

Doraemon Air Gun Toy

2006-08-29T20:13:00.000+08:00

This is definitely a cool Doraemon toy that I really want to own! I want it NOW!

HKUST RP and ELP completed!

2006-08-27T09:56:00.000+08:00

Finally finished both UST's Residential and Experience Learning Program (Total 5 days). I certainly learned a lot from the last two weeks. Especially in team work and management issues because I usually work alone in my company.

In RP, we were asked to work on many different assignments and presentations within three days. We learned things like better decision, team work, etc. We worked so hard that we didn't even get enough sleep at all.

In ELP, we learned through experience. I think we should better call it situational simulation. We need to push our limit by performing physical and psychological demanding activities. It made us think more on personal potential and risk taking. We found out that time management and role definition are very very important for every tasks.

The RLP and ELP definitely help because I am taking on a more leadership role in some of the coming work assignments and I believe I am more equipped to handle them.

If you want to see some photos of our team and us, please go to our team blog! Thanks Joseph for putting that up.

Finally, I would like to thank every single one in our team for their effort and support. Without you we cannot made it. I really value their feedbacks because only through feedbacks I could know what to improve. THANKS!!

Windows Lives Writer Beta

2006-08-27T09:29:00.000+08:00

I tested the Windows Lives Writer blogger application and I really like it. It contains many tools to make your blog interesting. Unfortunately, it doesn't seems to support image posting for blogger.

Hey Google, please makes a similar posting software, otherwise people may switch to Windows Live Spaces instead.

Krispy Kreme in Hong Kong and its marketing act

2006-08-08T09:45:00.000+08:00

While walking on the street in Causeway Bay last Saturday, we saw people holding boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts. I was very excited because I have a lot of great memorize with Krispy Kreme in the US.

So we actually looked for the store and prepare to buy a box of original taste. We found out that there was a very long line standing in front of it. The reason? Krispy Kreme was giving out FREE boxes of donuts. So we stand in line too because I was very hungry. We didn't get a whole box eventually, but I was happy with three free donuts.

It certainly generated a lot of attention on that day. However, from a marketing point of view, it is hard to know whether this is really successfully. We actually think that the act will generate bad publicity instead, mostly based on the following two points:

1) The FREE donuts that was given out was COLD. So people in the line does not experience the taste of a fresh and hot Krispy Kreme dount that it is famous of.
2 ) The coldness of the donuts makes it sweeter. Chinese doesn't like food that is too sweet.

So the donuts were too sweet and cold. If this is my first KK experience, I will not tell other to buy it.

Having said that, maybe it is not a fully planned marketing event after all. As they were having a private party on that day. The donuts that were given out were probably leave-overs.

Anyway, I will still go to KK for its Hot and Fresh original donuts. But I highly doubt I will buy a whole box again like I was in US.

I do hope it is successfully in HK. Maybe Wan Chi or Central is a better place for the store? There are probably more foreign worker wanting donut as breakfast.

What?! Stupid Design in Japan!

2006-08-04T00:20:00.000+08:00

I took this picture from one of the hotel room in Osaka, Japan. Did you notice the light switch on the right? What did you see? Yes! There is an electric outlet right under the white button.

So what's the big deal? Imagine that you have just finished using the restroom...you wash your hand.....go out......missed the button and.....zzZZZAAAPPPP!!!

Of course, you need to have a small finger to actually get eletrocuted. But didn't you mom always ask you not to put your finger in an electric outlet??

I never thought I would see this kind of thing in Japan!

Testing Meebome Chat Widget

2006-08-03T13:12:00.000+08:00

I am testing the meebome chat widge in my blog. Just look at the right column and find it. I may be online and feel free to chat with me. Unfortunately, it requires me to login to the meebo site.

[Java Tips] How to convert between different Unicode and Chinese character sets with only 3 clicks!!!

2006-08-02T12:19:00.000+08:00

I was given a task to add simplified Chinese support for an existing application yesterday. I talked to myself: "It isn't that bad, I just need to create another ResourceBundle file in Simplified Chinese". Than I notice that the current Traditional Chinese ResourceBundle file contain HTML Unicode data, not Java Unicode. That means I cannot use the JDK's native2ascii tool to convert it back. Does it mean that I have to type all those texts in simplified Chinese all over again?? I talked to myself:" This is insane! I am not going to sit here all day and re-type the whole thing in HTML Unicode simplified Chinese!".

I decided to find ways to make my life easier. And this is the steps that I took to do it.

Before the start of the process, install Alibabar to your IE. I have this installed long ago already. It will add the following toolbar to your IE.

1) Goto this Unicode converter page. (Works in IE only)
2) Select HTML Unicode on the top menu, you could also use java Unicode, depending on your needs.
3) Copy and past the traditional Chinese resource bundle data to the lower left text box, than click the "Decimal Code to Characters" button under it.
4) You will see the original data on the top textbox. For me, I saw the original Traditional Chinese Characters.
5) Remember Alibabar? Now click the "Simplified Chinese" button in the Alibabar toolbar. This will convert exiting traditional Chinese data to simplified Chinese. Just like magic!!!
6) Click the "Characters to Dex, Hex Codes" button. Viola! You will see the converted text in the lower text box again! It is now in HTML Unicode formatted Simplified Chinese! No need to retype all of these!

Hope this tips help you in dealing with language convert for Java or other applications.

Free call to HK landline and mobile

2006-07-21T08:29:00.000+08:00

Gizmo is offering free phone call from other country to Hong Kong for free, even landline and mobile number.

My name is getting less popular...

2006-07-20T17:04:00.000+08:00

...what about yours? Find it out here

旅行後的後遺症

2006-07-20T10:00:00.000+08:00

十天的大旅行過後, 又要面對種種的煩惱: 錢, 工作, 人事等。這數天的心情都不大好。要快點回復狀態才行。

Back from the trip.

2006-07-18T01:03:00.000+08:00

I am now back to Hong Kong. I didn't have internet access for the last week so I didn't get a chance to check email or post anything. Anyway, I will post some of my travel experience here in the future.

It was a wonderful trip, I wish I have more money to travel more!

Japan Trip Day 2.

2006-07-09T23:31:00.000+08:00

Went to Tokyo DisneySea today and it is a lot more fun than I expected! The shows are fun, the games are cool and I had a wonderful time with my wife. I am glad that it didn't rain for most of the day. The final show is great and if people tell you that DisneySea is not fun, don't listen to them!

We also had Mos Burger for late meal and the burger tasted very very good! I orodered this and my wife like it soooo much that she want to go and order this again in the next few days.

Since I don't have my computer with me, I am using a computer in an internet cafe.

Let's see whether I could stay up and watch World Cup tonight.

Windows Mobile 5...

2006-06-26T12:53:00.000+08:00

As a long term PalmOS users, I tried to swtich to PPC once by buying a HP 4700 PDA. I was so frustrated with it and sold it for a lost later and got a Treo 650 instead. Life is good!

The funny thing is that for some funny reasons, my wife is using a Gigabyte PDA TV phone with Windows Mobile 5 now. The Windows Mobile OS has improved a lot compared to the HP4700, but I don't think I will switch to Windows Mobile just yet. I still like Palm's simplicity and speed. Given that she is using WM, I have to become the de facto WM support guy at home and has to get familiar with WM again...

Hopefully the WM5 version of the Missing Sync software will be released soon so she could sync her data to the phone on her mac.

Funny Game TV Ads.

2006-06-17T10:12:00.000+08:00

A list of weird game tv ads. I think the Legend of Zelda one is strangest! These also bring back the old memoy......oh the Nintendo Disc System!

The Code Monkey Song

2006-06-10T11:00:00.000+08:00

All developers should listen to this Code Monkey song (Direct MP3 Download Here). It is so funny....and true! We all have similar experience while being a developers. :)

Lyric below:

Code Monkey by Jonathan Coulton

Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
Code monkey have boring meeting, boring manager Rob
Rob say Code Monkey very diligent
But his output stink
His code not functional or elegant
What do Code Monkey think
Code Monkey think maybe manager wanna write goddamn login page himself (Best line in the song! Haha!)
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy just proud
Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
Big warm fuzzy secret heart
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey hang around at front desk
Tell you sweater look nice
Code Monkey offer buy you soda
Bring you cup bring you ice
You say no thank you for the soda ’cause
Soda make you fat
Anyway you busy with the telephone
No time for chat
Code Monkey have long walk back to cubicle
He sit down pretend to work
Code Monkey not thinking so straight
Code Monkey not feeling so great
Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
Big warm fuzzy secret heart
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you lots
Code Monkey have every reason
To get out this place
Code Monkey just keep on working
See your soft pretty face
Much rather wake up eat a coffee cake
Take bath, take nap
This job fulfilling in creative way
Such a load of crap
Code Monkey think someday he have everything even pretty girl like you
Code Monkey just waiting for now
Code Monkey say someday, somehow
Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
with big warm fuzzy secret heart
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you

巴士阿叔的事後感

2006-05-30T11:07:00.000+08:00

這數天不停地聽到巴士阿叔的金句。其實這件應該令我們明白兩件事。

香港人(或中國人)吵架到將會打架也沒有人會出聲, 聽說在外國有一個國家(好像是英國)有一條法律說人們如果看見罪行發生而不去幫忙, 政府有權告你的。
人們在外的一舉一動也會被人看到, 或許這件事會令香港變成一個懂以禮待人的城市呢!

VS.NET 2005, C# and Resharper

2006-05-27T23:52:00.000+08:00

I have been using IntelliJ IDEA for a long time and I am a big fan of it. I am playing with VisualStudio 2005 and C# today and found out that it is really a big pain to switch IDE. I than goto the JetBrains website and download their VS.NET Add-in product called ReSharper. I am very happy to find out that most of the IDEA keyboard shortcut are there! I could use "outv" instead of "soutv" to do a println again! And being able to CTRL-click a method name again makes me very happy. Suddenly, life is good again!

Stupid professor and a disgrace to Chinese and UT Austin!

2006-05-16T12:09:00.000+08:00

From this news:

"Professor Chen had created the original Hanxin chips simply by grinding away the top surface of some of Motorola's Freescale DSP chips with sandpaper and having them reprinted with the Hanxin logo.... Professor Chen, a 38 year-old who earned his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin..."

What was this professer thinking?! Did he get a PhD of stupidity and criminality? I also graduated from UT Austin and I still cannot imagine why he could do such a thing that disgrace the Chinese, the univeristy, and all of its alumini!

Regarding Da Vinci Code...

2006-05-16T11:54:00.000+08:00

From my friend's blog about the Da Vinci Code Movie and the Vatican:

"Most people do understand the fact that this is a fictional tale written by a comtemporary author and that this film is a commerical artifact produced by Hollywood...A true faith will stand against the strongest temptation from the devil, let alone a blockbuster hit created by Sony Pictures... "

I agree, it is really no big deal. It is what people believe that matters. It is a noval and movie, not documentary!

Is it really such a big deal that Forrest Gump shaked hand with the president in a movie? People should be intelligent enough to think by themselves.

A lot of people actually supports the church of FSM! Ha ha.

Nintendo Old School Business Card Holder

2006-05-10T18:29:00.000+08:00

I actually have this fun business card holder shown here. Haven't actually have the chance to use it yet as it doesn't seems to be appropriate in some of my client meeting situation.

Currently Reading: The Business of Software

2006-05-09T16:01:00.000+08:00

I am currently reading this book called "The Business of Software". I wish I have discovered it earlier since it certainly makes me understand the software business more. Especially when I got a change to work in different type of software business company: both pure product and consulting.

I only read a couple chapters, but basically it is saying that an hybrid company (doing both product and services) will have a better chance of survival long-term.

Deep down in my heart I like product company more than a pure service company. Anyway, still reading it, so far so good.

Oh My God! PS3 costs USD$600!

2006-05-09T11:14:00.000+08:00

I am sure I won't get a PS3 anytime soon. The fact that it costs $599 and the copying of the Wii functionality in its controller makes it a big turn off to me. I think I will buy it only when the price comes down, or when Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out.

I am saving my money for Nintendo Wii. Looking forward to see its E3 press conference tomorrow.

IE "Whee..."

2006-04-30T22:13:00.000+08:00

This is so funny! Beside Nintendo "Wii" (Wee), there is also IE "Whee"...

Click the following icon to watch.

Nintendo Wii?!

2006-04-28T10:04:00.000+08:00

The Nintendo console that I am waiting for, previous called "Revolution", just got a new name "Wii" (sounds like "we"). For more information, visit the nintendo site.

I don't understand why people start to name everything with "ii". Intel got "Viiv" and now we have "Wii". It just confusion people a lot. I finally understand their reasoning of it after reading the description. However, shouldn't they name the system so people know what it means immediately, without a long explaination??

Nevertheless, I am going to get the system when it comes out. I will get used to the strange name soon.

My Final MBA School Decision

2006-04-21T12:09:00.000+08:00

I am going to accept the offer from HKUST for the Dual-Degree program. Going to different interviews was an interesting experience.

I really want to thank everyone who support me during this application period. Thanks my mom, my brother, my best friend Pazu. Thanks Jim and Howan for their help in writing the reference letter. Also thanks Chris, Lewis and other colleagues for supporting my decision as well. And special thanks to my wife, who gave her 110% support and encouragement to me in my quest for MBA study.

Three years of hard work(or, challenges :> ) is coming....

HKUST Offer!

2006-04-21T09:52:00.000+08:00

Finally an answer from HKUST! And it is a very good news!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Joel

Greetings from XXXXX taking care of admissions from HKUST MBA
program. Thank you for joining us for the interview,
On behalf of our admissions committee, I am most pleased to
inform you that you are admitted to our part-time
Dual Degree MBA & MScISM program starting August 2006.

As per our schedule, we shall send out the admissions offer package to
you in April 2006. If you accept the admission offer, you are requested
to return the signed acceptance of offer with a deposit of HK$XX,XXX
to us.

The program fees for August 2006 intake is proposed to be around
HKDXXX,XXX for completing the part-time MBA & MScISM program. The proposed
fee is subject to university's approval. You will find more detailed
information from the admissions package.

Congratulations! We are glad to have you joining us! In the meantime if
you have any questions or anything I could help, please let me know.

I look forward to seeing you in coming summer!

Thanks and Regards

MBA Program Office
HKUST Business School
The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
Clear Water Bay, Kowloon
-------------------------------------------------------------------