A Huffalump did his business here...

Real Estate in Singapore

2012-01-31T09:24:00.000-08:00

This is just a place holder for real estate matters I am concern or interested in.

A place to gather my thoughts as it were =)

The first enclosure link refers to a drop of more than 10% in new applicants to be real estate agents.

Also of note is the information by Singapore's Council for Estate Agents (CEA)

There seems to be a RES requirement and a CPD requirement.

RES's effect appears to be increasing the education level of the agents and CPD is the yearly professional update component

Second enclosure link is about prefab housing

-- 20120201 01:25

Teacher Mentor Friend

2011-11-25T23:54:00.000-08:00

This is a website by Lucas =)

In essence it is a private tuition with a tech slant due Maggie.

Lucas believes that:

"I enjoy working with youths, and believe that every one of them has the capacity to succeed, given the right tools, strategies and guidance. I hope to instill in the younger generation, a sense of pride and achievement."

He has more to say of course and you can read it here

In this website you will be able to access videos made by Lucas on Math. Currently the focus is on Math but it will soon have more categories =)

In the videos, Lucas solves questions (which are tagged by the type,category,and school).

You can hear the man live!

Did I mention this is a community effort? Yes you can join the website and upload your own content as well!

Lucas also takes in students for private tuition, so to contact him:

93698768 or contact@mrkingsleylim.com

You can find his schedule and more detail at the website itself!

Please note that he currently only takes in students in Punggol =)

Now what is special about Lucas's offering is this: You get to trial the tuition!

There would be 2 free lessons of Mathematics revision through which the parent can gauge his effectiveness as a tutor. There is no obligation for you to sign up.

Group sizes will be limited to 6 per group. This is to ensure that peer learning is maximised yet effective.

When kids ask questions in a group, they learn better, as questions that one student may not have thought of, may be raised by another student. The group is kept small to ensure that each student gets the required quality individual attention.

Duration of each lesson will be 2 hours. This is to accommodate all questions asked within the group.

So give it a shot at least first 2 lessons =)

2011-08-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

The pursuit of happyness was a movie igot to see again recently , initially

ADZcentral

2011-06-19T03:04:00.001-07:00

This is apparently a company based in Singapore

recently published in an article on Yahoo!

Thing is my bro-in-law spoke of some coy similar to this description, which is interesting.

I read and article from their blog.

It is... interesting =)

I stock photo

2011-06-19T02:49:00.000-07:00

this is an interesting business model

definitely need to look into any copyright issues, but it is intriguing

Business: The Way and the Tools Make or Break You

2009-03-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

Was just looking for some tips on using excel and operational finance in particular
and came by this resource! =)

When running your business, one of the most oft things that I quote is "Its the business stupid!!!".

One of the benefits of going through finance and business modules in the university is that the need to be operationally profitable is drilled into you.

Indeed "Its the business stupid!!!".

What does that mean?

It really simply means that at the end of the day, your business must be a process of profit.

It should be a font, not an abyss. At least eventually. =)

In any business (and especially start-ups) there is a huge about of burn (of funds), to the point that there is a term for it:

"burn rate"

How fast is that business burning through your funds?

Is the burn justifiable? Will you run out of funds and be forced to liquidate before you actually turn a profit?

This really makes or breaks a business.

Now you might think, oh this is just for start-ups, but the truth is:

(And this brings us to another truth in business)

Business is war.

In war, resource management is one of the greatest tools a general must manage, be it soldiers tools, time, conditions.

What are the costs? the profits? The variables?

So even for a well oiled business... well it can only be well oiled if it is prepared and has its resource management all worked out.

Academics know this, SCM is one of the many attempts to try to quantify this concept.

Another way to achieve and tame the resource management beast is operational finance!

The two keywoards really sumarise its main focus:

Operational - How you do it. Your business logic.

Finance - The money side of things. Once you work your business logic a certain way. What are the associated costs and profits and does it all pan out in the end to bring you into the provebial black?

This site shows you real live examples of how operational finance is implemented, to give a better understanding of the term! Read through them, you will be better for it!

The site also has a rather good Excel guide (yes excel is ont of the most familar tools out there for working with data), you get some really good tips and tricks on how to manage your data.

Whats the use of data if you cannot make sense of it? Thats where excel comes into play. Excel allows you to visualise HOW your operational finance is doing. Are you doing alright?

As always, "Its the Business Stupid", so you got to work out what is your business?

How is your business ran on a day to day basis (operational) and are you making money (finance)? Which is the entire point of doing business is'nt it? And finally Excel allows you to actually implement this paradigm of viewing your business!

Hope this post helps, you can find more information about business tools and their uses here.

Cheers!

Something expensive will never be of true quality!

2009-01-25T20:42:00.000-08:00

Just a random thought about value....

Something expensive will never be of true quality (with respect to its price).

Agree or disagree?

the reason I say this is that by simple logic.

If you knew the cost of making something. You would not say it is expensive if its price was reasonable.

Also by selling at a price that reflects true quality with respect to price. It is difficult for the seller to get a huge margin. Hence the item should be cheap.

In thinking through this I realise there are so many semantics that must be fixed.

What do we mean by quality, value, cheap, expensive? If something is of good quality and of good price with respect to its cost price. Should the word used be cheap?

Does cheap mean cheap with respect to one's financial ability or a question of taste/ethics?

The reason it is important to fix definitions is that in a situation with two people evaluating the same product at a price, given that both are poor. Say, something of good quality and of good price with respect to its cost price: one may say it is cheap the other may say its expensive, even though both cannot afford it given their current financial ability.

It is a matter of perception. And our social values on value have been manipulated by marketeers throughout time.

Value Investing is a lot like that. Recognising true value entails knowing what are your values and how willing and how much are you able to change. This is in no way saying that there is a ONE dogma of what exactly is the right measure of value. The truth is that value will always be subject to one's perception. The only "fixed rule" that I am hung up about, would be that one must be sure that the perceptions one holds are that truely held by oneself.

It was one reason why I left by church, I realised at some point that, my pastors vision, was not mine. And hence I left.

May you make your own decisions, puny investor ;)

Its the business! Stupid!

2008-12-07T08:50:00.000-08:00

I talked a little with my sis's bf before watching the show Bolt.

I think he wa just making conversation; we talked about how to make money from the internet. (He is a nice guy and he was just making conversation I guess)

And he was sharing about a guy who wrote an e-book and make a million or so from it.

I don't disbelieve that.

But i had a friend trying that while I was still in CHC =)

That was like 2002 or so i think.

I don't think he made it.

Well that conversation when on to tolkien and about how tolkien fought piracy.

(Long story short, he appealed to the emotional side of people, common "decency" to
support him in writing books, essentially to only by official printings... hmm he still got screwed i think... ah well)

...

What was this post about....?

Oh yah. Concept.

The concept that "inspired" me to write this post is that..

Its the business, people.

The whole, "Lets use IT(or internet) to make lotsa munny!!!" is something too often said.

What must be realised, is that it is NEVER about the IT.

But always about the business.

Is your IT really helping your business process or is it just a novelty?

There are examples of IT helping in the business.

For instance, the China Law Blog is a really good way to help the lawyer build up his social network, there are no immediate benefits yes, but it is a support in the business process of the firm.

[edit]
Oh the heavens are with me... this is from one of their posts, where they are recognised by their peers in a journal ;)

The ABA Journal (the official publication of the American Bar Association, the leading group for American lawyers, not tavern owners) recently named China Law Blog as one of the top 100 law blogs in the World. Well actually the world of American lawyer blogs, but as long as George Bush remains President, and he will through the duration of the blog election, I do not think it a stretch to say it is of "the world."
[end edit]

Or when one uses a blog as a blog shop for instance this is an entire listing of trinklets or clothing...

(No I don't shop there... I asked for the example from my sis)

However all too often, we are trying to see how we can use IT to do something strange and new.

I actually studied a module where we looked at internet businesses. I took the module soon after the dotcom bust, so it was rather enlightening. As successes were often better documented than failures. But here we are looking at failure after failure. (The reason being, these companies were originally the dotcom darlings and we were supposed to study them - again a warning that heroes today can be zeroes tomorrow)

So I can probably point out why you will fail, and I will probably be right.
(I have successfully predicted 3 IT failures, then again in any business venture, failures are more likely, so I am banker =D)

audience:So you have blathered this much but have said nothing, are you gonna be like one of those anime for girls (Shojo Anime)???

Me: I'm getting there....

So the point here is you should always consider your business.

Is it going to be workable. Does your marketing vibes tell you it is going to work. Are you overcomed by lust/stupidity for money? Are you looking through rose tinted glasses? I took a recent module on business startups and they were big on the financial report, so... Are making money, or rather when will you break even and start making munny?

Notice.

All the questions have nothing to do with IT.

So it is not about technology. Its about the business. Sure the guy wrote an ebook. But an ebook is easily copied and multiplied. What stopped the author's readers from blatant piracy? Was it some high tech encryption module(unlikely - hey DVD's are STILL getting cracked) or is it a symbiotic relationship the author has with his readers that has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the technology?

Technology is a sword. Wield it.

Its not how powerful the sword is. Its how you wield it.
(This sadly sounds like a reference to male genitals...)

Its a simple concept, from a simple minded person.

So puny investor. Think through your actions and think business! Do your numbers, do your due dilligence.

You owe it to yourself!

Till I am bored enough to write again.

To your success ;)

Site Introduction

2008-12-05T22:13:00.000-08:00

This is a site that I found rather useful,

in the previous post you had me rambling about currencies and money and pegging.

The title link above leads you to an article about currency pegging.

Which is also interesting but I will review a little later...

But the site is a plethora of info.

What they say:

"The Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution devoted to the study of international economic policy. Since 1981 the Institute has provided timely and objective analysis of, and concrete solutions to, a wide range of international economic problems. It is one of the very few economics think tanks that are widely regarded as "nonpartisan" by the press and "neutral" by the US Congress, and it is cited by the quality media more than any other such institution."

Still valid or no, you puny investor, must decide for yourself.

For your success ;)

Fiat Money and other ramblings

2008-12-05T21:08:00.000-08:00

Been a while ... =)

Anyways here is a link to fiat money.

I think it is interesting, if a little sensational and doomsaying.

Still take into account our current system is no older than a century or two and given the short livespans and relative "inexperience" of experts such as buffet greenspan etc...

Hey.. all I am saying is that it is YOUR money and you should take responsibility. Because when it all crashes...

All the expert/oracle will tell you is "sorry"

Oh yah, that already happened with Greenspan. BTW Green span and many others actually said the propert crash is not likely or impossible to happen.

So be responsible for your money and if you must coat tail, do it with great awareness and agility.

Thats what this game is about ;)

Anyways...

FIAT Money.

From my understanding, the basic concept is when a government issues money that it can no longer back.

Now I find this rather intriguing, because not too long ago i asked myself. Where does money come from?

Yes people earn them. I earn it from my parent org. My parent org gets it from the govenment. Where does the government get the moeny.

Yeah sure taxes.

but thats jumping the cycle by a step.

Somewhere the government must have printed money.

Sure by the power and authority vested in them, is that enough?

historically no. =)

Oh this is so amusing, but I just recalled that i watch this show about pirates on Octo??? or channel5 ??? i cannot remember.

Being a horny healthy male, i was attracted by the relatively attractive female narrater/showhost who was acting all air headish....

But still the show was about pirates, their rise, their fall, and their eventually weeding out (oh recently pirates were in the news some somali things .. amazing (or perhaps not) that this still happens today ;))

Did you know that pirates were commision by governments???

Except that their official title was Privateer =)

To their government, Privateers were military seamen, sent to gather loot for the government, all privateers of other nations were pirates!!!

Spain/Britain was one of the largest nations actively having pirates.. oops privateers. =)

Oh but more to the point of this post.

What was the loot in those days????

Spice

Silk

Porcelain

GOLD!!

In short things of actual value!

No where in history had paper EVER had value

except to REPRESENT something of value!

a dollar note is legally, legal tender. A promise of a certain value.

Most people do not even know what the value is!

I know I don't!

Upon investigation, all I could find was that the Singapore Dollar is pegged to a basket of currency.

What this means is that it is a promise of the govenment, based on promises by other governments.

Stay with me and think of recursion if you are a programmer.

At the very end of the recursion, there must be a return value.

I am not too sure, but an example of the return value is the US dollar. The value is currently (I think), 1/35th of an ounce of GOLD

So thats it. GOLD is the item of absolute value.

Or so we think.

The point is GOLD could one day become valueless. Just as the value of the dollar was arbitarily pegged to the GOLD as 1/35th of an ounce. The value of GOLD is hugely determine by people.

So one could argue that the system is ultimately not workable.

My guess is that, for the system to work it must be pegged to the most stable item of value. At this moment, very likely GOLD.

I think overall the system is workable.

That is until the US dollar cannot deliver its value or put another way is no longer really worth the 1/35th of an ounce of GOLD

For the local Singaporeans, remember banana money. That is fiat money. Money based purely on the promises of a government.

Note: the pegging of the USD to gold is a promised backed by gold. Not purely the government. There is a BIG difference.

There is another interesting concept : Petroleum Dollars . It sounds really sensationalistic. But economically speaking, it is scarily plausible.

But I think the takeaway here are the concepts. both of fiat money and petroleum money (which I did'nt really elaborate but you could google you know ;)).

My personal belief is that the systems are so large that it would take time for them to crash, possibly not in our lifetimes (which was probably what Greenspan was hoping). And you! puny investor must protect yourself from the vagarities of the economic climate. Because, the big boys are not going to take care of you. Just as the relationship between a Whale and plankton, or more controversially between a pastor and his church, the reigning idea is that plankton or one's tithe is miniscule. Oh you are important. But when things fall apart, don't expect to be protected by those who depended on you. You are, in a word, expendable.

Go on weep ;)

To your success!

Perspective of a Buyer - Ebay Seller Feedback Changes 2008

2008-02-15T23:48:00.000-08:00

Ebay's changes

To seek the article, follow the link and look for "**A Message from Bill Cobb – New Pricing and Other News***"

It took awhile, Ebay is finally doing something right about the feedback systems.

It was fundamentally flawed.

Anyone saying that the old system was simple and equal is either

1) Crazy or really stupid

2) Is a bad/errant/"at least potentially bad" seller waiting to exploit you

3) All of the above

Oh when I said awhile, its like years... I joined ebay in 2001 I think, and now it is 2008.

Why is the old system flawed?

it is actually heavily biased to the sellers.

The insidious thing?

You do not actually see, it, everything is implicit.

It allowed sellers to cheat and then blackmail and get away with it.

It takes balls to stand up to a seller. I did it twice and it took me a few years to get back to my current 99.3%

My dear errant sellers did not even feel a dent. I took out 2 sellers and I am proud of it. One I left a negative for, the other got off scot free. But lets talk about that later.

Back to why the old system was flawed.

You have to be burnt before you see it.

Step 1) Buyer pays

Step 2) Seller should have reflected feedbaCK by now,ANYTHING ELSE IS AN INTENTION TO BLACKMAIL.

Step 3) I get bad bad karma and my stuff is wrong or fake (I was cheated 700 USD)

Step 4) I reflect the badness of his behaviour to the seller

Step 5) He says "OOH we leave what you leave", or something to that effect, believe me his email is actually very nice about, so no don't get doped by the niceness of the sellers comments, A BLACKMAIL IS A BLACKMAIL.

Step 4) I leave neg.

Step 5) seller leaves neg.

Oh seller drops all fronts of niceness at this point.

I was lucky.

Well I got cheated of 700 USD (well 400USD actually, the others were from other bad sellers - but this one takes the cake)

I reported ebay paypal, what have you, but nothing resolved.

Audience: "But you said you took him out!!!!!"

Yes yes, thats the "lucky" part. Dude was a scammer. Oh he was selling Power 9 if you are familiar.

Somewhere later in time, I saw an ID on ebay selling power nine.

BTW bad sellers are generally not smart (still he got 400 usd from me, yay him!). This one was not too smart, I recognised the html and pics (yes really not smart)... I still had his email and the old auction description. I emailed everything to ebay, ebay said something to the effect that they cannot tell me anything due to privacy issues.

But I continue monitoring the ID, apparently others got ripped and eventually that account was closed. I had to vigilante it. Why must it be so difficult to weed the bad seed out?

Well I did say I was lucky.

Why lucky? Because this was a case where I could do something about the seller. This is a CASE where the feedback system is fair and buyers and sellers have equal power.

Audience: "YOU LIAR!!!! You said the system is flawed!! You can't talk straight!!!"

Well you don't listen good buddy. It was a SINGLE case. I will now come to why the old system is flawed. Its about power. A seller is typically a shop, or at least specialised enough to garner thousands of unique feedback. As a buyer I have 1800 transactions (all positive) but only 250+ unique feedback. Sellers' total is WAY WAY higher. Its a many to one relation.

The old system only works when the seller is small, but when the seller grows big, there is NOTHING to stop the seller from going rogue.

I have actually personally seen a seller grow from the hundreds to thousands. They are usually nice, but would use quid pro quo tactics to get ONLY positive comments (those sellers that are not nice, or cheat early get weeded). Once this particular seller grew he went nuts and cheated left right centre.

Audience: "But he was caught right??"

Yes but only because he BLATANTLY cheated. He was an extreme.

ONLY EXTREMES get caught. All other bad feedback left is usually too miniscule to be of worry to sellers. Oh and theres the bit about the carnage of dead buyers left in the dirt with no money back to them. Yes there is the ebay and paypal schemes, but to catch a scammer it can take months to years for the true colours to show, the protection schemes have expired by then.

AND YET.

And this is the dumb part.

Sellers leave retailiatory comments.

Stay with me, its a little complex.

We will assume 2 scenarios.

Good Seller - out to make a living, will do good things, send the damn thing and be over with it.

Bad seller - may not be blatantly out to cheat, but bad quality of goods and bad service.

Good seller -

generally if you do not piss people off, buyers leave good comments, I always do

Point is short term, a buyer loses way out more than a seller in the old system.

You get a few bad ones? In the past at least, this does not affect you one bit.

But still a BAD seller would be obliged to leave a bad comment, I mean if enough ppl rise up to you, you will get a negative eventually right? (Oh that only should happen if you are INDEED a BAD seller) So alot of big bad sellers use the quid pro quo tactic to keep everyone in line.

The good sellers? You actually should'nt need to leave comments. What is the chance of a few hundred bad buyers (usually from competitor sellers or someone you royally pissed - which in anycase should'nt even be in the picture!) trying to screw you? And even then, such cases can be resolved.

The usual quoted cases:

1)
Buyer has wild expectations about shipping, sellers LOVE to quote the "BUYER EXPECTS IT IN TWO DAYS!!!"... I agree that those negs should be invalid. TWO MONTHS late shipping, should still be seriously considered for a bad neg. Lets be very clear about it.

2)
Buyer not paying. This too I agree, that the negs are invalid.

But apart from those? Please most of the complaints from buyers are that THEY PAID!

In most cases the BAD seller blackmails for a good comment, usually implicitly. Like the very familar:

"Leave your comments and I'll leave mine"

The BAD seller only gets caught after hundreds and in some cases thousands of buyers get screwed.

Too late buddy.

If you think I am joking, you have sellers with a 20000+ rating.

They may have a 99% rating. Should they screw you. You count for 1/20000+

Sure you say: If he is really bad, people will leave a neg!

Well buddy, you obviously do not understand herd or sheep mentality. One shot and you silence the entire herd.

The damage to someone like me for instance I will receive a downgrade of 1/200+ way higher than the seller.

Is that fair? Is that equal power? If you still think that is fair your math teacher must have been disappointed in you.

And you know what is worse?

There is no way to explicitly look for bad feedback.

Often when I look at the seller I look for what he/she has done. And sellers with the many transactions actually get their bad deeds HIDDEN!

This was actually something I had to tangle with in trying to expose a seller doing bad quality stuff.

I tend to buy in bulk so I have many transactions to blow feedback on.

What happens is, when I leave a negative, it gets blown to the back. And new buyers actually have a hard time seeing the negative feedback. So what I did was I left a negative every few days (NOTE! HIS PERCENTAGE DOES NOT CHANGE! ALL MY COMMENTS ONLY COUNT AS ONE UNIQUE).

My only consolation is that I can keep the RED maintained on his feedback.

Eventually other buyers noticed and did the same. Guess what his feedback when from all green, to all RED. It was amazing. He was actually SCREWING EVERYONE. But no one dared to fire the first shot. The sad thing is if you only bought one thing, IT ACHIEVES NOTHING to leave your neg, as your little RED dot will just get washed away by the rest of the sheep. I only dared to fire because I know I have many transactions so I can sustain the TRUTH.

Even then, to this day I have 2 negs in my feedback. I cannot afford to stand up any more. I worked hard to keep my 99.3 (worked hard as in I no longer dared to leave negative feedback).

You think its no big deal? One more neg, will result in 99.0 or less. Two more and I slip to 98.0 Three? And what does three do to someone with 20000+ rating or for that matter 1000+ ?

The old feedback system was such that you get HAMMERED INTO SUBMISSION. Is this how a fair system works?

I got to go now, but I will complete this later... stay tuned

To be totally truthful, I think the new system is fair, but may need some tweaks, for instance negative feedback should be removable if found to be given wilfully. The sellers deserve that at least.

Oh and for those saying Ebay needs the sellers?

WRONG.

There will always be sellers, just as there has always been buyers. (Which is why the bad sellers are able to screw for so long)

What we want is to root out the bad ones, buyer or seller.

The old system was HORRIBLY UNFAIR. The new system is better, it must still be tweaked it is not perfect, but it is WAY fairer than the old system.

Warcraft and Magic the gathering , my recent experience

2008-02-03T06:05:00.000-08:00

Well I bought Warcraft III as well as WoW...

yay....

sighs

I need to get a life bhwahahaha

Still checking out the intro video (which is a year old btw)

I cannot help but feel FF has a really though, if not impossible fight

On the other hand, being both a MTG player and a WOW noob, I really do not think WOW can break into MTG's CCG.

I stand by my earlier stance that, whichever CCG a dude/dudette plays really depends on whichever he/she started on first.

MTG has 15/16 years of TRADITION.

That is hard to beat.

Does WOW have anything like the Moxes? Lotus? P9?

Nope. Nuff said.

That said however, it not entirely impossible for WOW to take over MTG, but this is only possible if MTG drops the ball (something entirely possible given the way they act at times).

On the other hand looking at WOW, they really have the MMORPG estate carved out. I do not see FF competing.

It is not impossible to overtake them, but again they too may drop ball, again given the way they act.

Below is a set of emails that went back and forth...

Well I bought the disc... so you know it resolved happily... for them and maybe not for me (I will be the one wasting my life in the game haha)

In summary, I got locked out on my second login... god knows for what... apparently I exploited some account even though I only used the trial account for a day or so...

Now if you were a new customer what would be your reaction?

If you were accused of an act which if Blizzard decided to pull no punches and wanted to, could pursue charges and sue your sorry ass into financial oblivion. (Hacking is criminalised in the US afterall)

Think.

I thought so.

Still I am impressed with WOW amd MTG should be worried at least. I only have so many dollars =)

I have bought the WOW game disc, and yes I do not mind the 14.99 leaking every month.

I did'nt buy the boxes of morningtide I normally would have. In better times I would have gotten at least 10. Now I am thinking more like 4 or 6.

I spent my munny on IT books, and some text books.

But don't worry wizards, I am still getting morningtide, but not now ... maybe next month. You have'nt lost me with your price increase. You have just lost priority.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

> ***Notice of Account Closure***
>
> Hello,
>
> This is a notification regarding the World of
> Warcraft account XXXX. Access to this account
> has been permanently disabled for exploitation of
> World of Warcraft through associated accounts which
> have been closed for intended exploitation. While
> we try to be as lenient as possible in our
> assessments of the results of exploitation
> investigations, reoccurring trends in exploitative
> endeavors on your accounts have ultimately lead to
> their closure. The recurring subscription on the
> account has been disabled to prevent further
> charges.
>
> As a result, this account will no longer be able to
> access any aspect of World of Warcraft. This action
> has been taken in accordance with the Terms of Use
>
(http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html)
> and our game policies
>
(http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=XXXX).
> According to the World of Warcraft Terms of Use, to
> which all players agree when installing World of
> Warcraft, Section 5, Paragraph C [Rules Related to
> Game Play] states that you may not do anything that
> Blizzard Entertainment considers contrary to the
> "essence" of World of Warcraft.
>
> Any disputes or questions concerning this account
> action can only be addressed by Account
> Administration. To learn more about how Account
> Administration is able to assist you, please visit
> us at http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowaa/.
>
> Thank you for your time and understanding of our
> position in this matter. Please feel free to
> contact us with any questions or concerns you may
> have.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hi,

I have no idea what you are talking about, I only
played with this account once and it is a trial
account.

I log in a second time and this happens. I was really
thinking of getting the game disc but this incident
has really discouraged me from joining your online
games.

Imagine if I paid the money and I get locked out.

I do hope you can correct this quickly if you still
intend to keep your customers.

Best Regards,
Edmund

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Greetings,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding the World of
Warcraft account you are using. We understand your point of view and have
thoroughly reviewed this issue. As a result, the account action has
been removed from the account and all involved parties have been
addressed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Please feel free to contact us with any further questions or concerns
you may have. Thank you for your time and patience in this matter and
your continued interest in World of Warcraft.

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Mocca ~ Mocca.com Mediacorp's latest effort

2007-08-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

Checked out the mediacorp's latest effort today to exploit IT.

Apparently Mocca.com is an effort to be an online classifieds ads.

This strategy has a few flaws.

1) Yahoo already has a classified ads
2) There is still the paper version

I think the paper version will persist for quite a while as the more reliable and usable one. Remember though we blog and email, much of business still runs along without us, "us" here referring to the online crowd.

So you are likely to get something akin to Yahoo classifieds. Except Yahoo classifieds has been around forever, and is doing only pretty average.

Checking the site I find that it is a simple categoriser with video function. But video is rather trouble some so one wonders what kind of advertisers Mocca is likely to get.

Still I believe there is some glimmer of hope here.

mediacorp has been finding ways to exploit IT. I suspect they have an enterprising individual pushing plans (Yoz! If you are reading this, get in touch, I may have some sound ideas for you ;))

So far it seems, they have tried to advertise the "OG" way.

What happens in OG (yes the fashion apparel shopping centre), is that periodically the management or DJ or whatever you call their AV personnel, will announce some discount for some brand or item, but it must be on the spot. This system kinda rewards people for being in the shopping centre I guess (I really do not know what is the point.. I mean.. how long do you stay in a shoppping centre and even if you do what are the chances that the deal is something I am interested in???? Still I am sure the women and housewifes have something to say... so whatever...)

Except in Mediacorps effort, they show some Advert, and immediately you must log into the website to printout some discount coupon to get a discount for some product. I can see the idea. And that is that it encourages people to go to the website. But the hassle of

1) Starting Up the computer
2) Noting URL
3) Browsing to said URL
4) Finding Discount
5) printing
6) Oh yeah we haven't actually gotten to the stall yet

For God's sake, people are giving out FREE discounts coupons ALL the time. Outside Burger King outlets, in the newspapers etc. Why would anyone go to that trouble to print out some crummy discount coupons????

Not that I think it was a bad idea, it was just flawed.

What was the flaw?

Like any ecommerce undertaking, and as the gal in starwars Princess Leia would say: You assume too much.

Assumption 1)
people are IT savvy.

No, just no. People can get IT savvy, no doubt. But you gotta give them a reason. 4D, pension, games, hobbies, music, porn whatever ;P

But generally, no, people are not as IT savvy as the commercial people like to think they are. If they were, everyone would be using Linux and would poopoo to all the eye candy out there.

Assumption 2)
people are interested.

the trick is to get people interested, so the carrot should be relevant.

Is Mocca making the same assumptions again? unlike the earlier effort, this time Mediacorp is following a tried and tested model, that of classified ads.

however there are (yet!) more problems.

The model is not terribly exciting and is a dead horse that has been beatened forever. Also it requires critical mass.

So can Mocca get people interested?

Well in this case, I think Mediacorp has a shot. Albeit a relatively long one. Part of it is due to Mediacorp's strength in reach.

Mocca has hit MRT stations and probably the bus TVmobile (I am not sure about this, haven't taken a bus in a long time). And just recently Mocca has hit the TV.

So people in Singapore will definitely know the name Mocca. Also Mocca's ad are rather naughty. With pretty women that made my mom comment and well most guys (me included =P) will just ogle at the lucky guy with the car to sell

The video is below:

Whatever it is, love it or hate it, it got your attention!

So thats the strength.

So after all this talk will mocca.com work?

I think it has a shot. It has gotten critical mass, which is what the ads did for it. but where do they go from here? Advertising dollars? Who knows?

But key here, would be marketing as well as the actual business strategy. The technology is old and boring, but repackaged with value add, it might just work. But what is your "value add" Mocca.com? For your sake, I hope it is not just the power of video. If it is then my dear, you are dead in the water I'm afraid.

Oh Mocca.com has pretty good marketing. Sure sex sells, but the latest mocca ad features a pretty gal searching for a cute puppy. Probably to assure my mom, that nono it was just a naughty moment and there is no hanky panky ;)

Btw it is currently free to signup and advertise your products or services.

IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SELL, NOW IS THE TIME BECAUSE ALL EYEBALLS ARE ON IT NOW. WITH FREE ADVERTISING FROM MEDIACORP.

So you should take advantage of the current situation and make the best of it.

Good luck.

Google has Joined Open Invention Network - The Light Side

2007-08-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

An excerpt:

"Patents owned by Open Invention Network are available royalty-free to any company, institution or individual that agrees not to assert its patents against the Linux System. This enables companies to continue to make significant corporate and capital expenditure investments in Linux – helping to fuel economic growth. By developing a web of Linux developers, distributors, sellers, resellers and end-users that license its patent portfolio, Open Invention Network is creating a supportive and shielded ecosystem to ensure the growth and adoption of Linux."

This kinda makes up for the sillyness that Google has been doing.

And here hopin' more companies will join. With all the patent gunslingin' by the big boys, this is your best shot as an upstart to protect yourself!

Need Credit Processing?

2007-07-28T00:31:00.000-07:00

So you are a merchant and you want to allow your customers to use credit?

Well this is the good news for you then =)

This company here Ms. Merchant Account provides both online and off line credit functions (you need a Retail Merchant Account for this) i.e. swiping of the card and payment online. You can do this by signing up for Merchant Accounts.

Ms. Merchant Account can accept Visa/Mastercard, this can be done through an Internet Merchant Account Visa/Master Card.

So if your customers fit into any of those market segments, then this company,Ms. Merchant Account might be one to consider if you are planning to provide a credit payment function.

Some things to consider:

Are you a low risk or high risk merchant?

A low risk merchant, would be one that allows in person card swipe, for example a restaurant. Higher risk would include things like offshore credit processing, Adult related services, travel etc.

Ms. Merchant Account processes them all! Even high risk credit card processing.

Also note that allowing credit payment through the internet is classified as high risk (As it does not allow for signature verification).

What this means? Being higher risk often mean greater premiums when getting a vendor or credit card processing companies to handle your credit transactions. Thats where Ms. Merchant Account comes in as you will get to enjoy some of the lowest rates!

That said, give Ms. Merchant Account a ring or an email, check them out and remember to give due dilligence in all your business plannings.

To your success!

A quick Lesson from Buffet

2007-07-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

It kinda of made sense to me but I am glad that there is affirmation from Buffet.

And that is knowledge is power.

Although this adage is too often used and in many scenarios self defeating, it is probably true in investing.

Yet I believe the grain runs deeper than that.

Yes hoarding information about the stock I am buying may help bolster its value, but who benefits? Is it the big players or the little guys(like this church mouse for instance). The big guns are the one who can move and invest in bulk and reap the benefits of economies of scale. The big guns often also have the capacity and capability to invest with vision of gods as opposed to that of frogs in a well. Well my point is as small investors, would it actually be more worthy to share our views and leverage off our collective wisdom, or should we do the hoarding? This leads to the bad joke about how a collective of froggy eyes do not a god's eye make, but still hey! open source software has trounced the commercial collective so badly its not funny =P

Still even with the open source community, there are those who have little to share and are only the beneficiaries. And yet open source moves with a few elite classes of coders. This is not to belittle the efforts of the others, they do contribute, even make up the most important portion of the whole movement, but face it there are different classes of gurus and we need people at the helm!

Similarly in investing, it is probably most apt to find a few trusted individuals and share the knowledge you have. I believe this to be true of any formative organisation. Yes commoditisation of the value of a good is bad for the investor (or rather it either becomes highly speculative or it stagnates into a full valued share), still, you need friends people =) Well at least if you are a poor lil' church mouse like moi.

Made in China Sued in the US

2007-07-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

This article is about manufacturers in US got sued for defective product, the products were from China. It is US focused of course, but a similar thing could happen for any other company in any country, so good juice for thought

The Labour Law in China

2007-07-03T16:15:00.000-07:00

Contains a PDF of an english translation of the new chinese labour law.

How to deal with Interpreters

2007-07-03T16:11:00.000-07:00

Yes I am still here.

haha

Anyways for the past few weeks I have been reading the China Law Blog again and they had this post from ImageThief about how to deal with Interpreters, I think it is interesting and somewhat important. i can speak and read chinese, so it is not too much of an issue, but in a legal documents, that where my lousy chinese might catch up with me ;)

Things to remember

2007-06-24T01:02:00.000-07:00

Some things to remember if I ever do biz in China =P

Corporations and Ethics

2007-06-07T23:58:00.000-07:00

wow... erm read this, and you will have a very different view of corporates.

Need to Provide Credit Payment ?

2007-04-03T18:56:00.000-07:00

So you are a merchant and you want to allow your customers to use credit?

Well this is the good news for you then =)

This company here Advantage Processors provides both online and off line credit functions i.e. swiping of the card and payment online.

Advantage Processors accept VISA, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and Diners Club.

So if your customers fit into any of those market segments, then this company,Advantage Processors might be one to consider if you are planning to provide a credit payment function.

Some things to consider:

Are you a low risk or high risk merchant?

A low risk merchant, would be one that allows in person card swip, for example a restaurant. Higher risk would include things like offshore credit processing, Adult related services, travel etc.

This site processes them all! Even high risk credit card processing.

That said, give Advantage Processors a ring or an email, check them out and remember to give due dilligence in all your business plannings.

To your success!

stuff

2007-03-12T00:13:00.000-07:00

http://shenzhenundercover.blogspot.com/2007/02/money-money-money.html
http://kaiserkuo.typepad.com/
http://sinocidal.com/?p=101
http://www.chinasolved.com/blog/index.php
http://www.howardwfrench.com/archives/2007/03/09/letter_from_china_in_asia_the_past_divides_and_alienates/

http://english.people.com.cn/200703/08/eng20070308_355491.html

http://chinadirt.blogspot.com/

http://www.danwei.org/blogs/bitching_about_expatriate_men.php

P2P tech in China

http://www.ppstream.com/
http://www.pplive.com/zh-cn/index.html
http://xunlei.com/

http://www.uusee.com/ - IP sensitive

http://kaiserkuo.typepad.com/

http://sinocidal.com/?p=101

When Business Meets Ethics

2007-02-25T00:13:00.000-08:00

Its a shame when in the name of cash, people are willing and very able to destroy lives.

Another blog on China

2007-02-22T22:39:00.000-08:00

Rui Chenggang is a journalist

http://www.chinabusinessservices.com/blog/?p=426

http://www.chinabusinessservices.com/blog/?p=256

http://www.accessasia.co.uk/

http://www.chinabusinessservices.com/blog/?p=341

http://www.chinabusinessservices.com/blog/?p=307

http://www.chinabusinessservices.com/blog/?p=226

About the law?

2006-12-19T04:12:00.000-08:00

Just a blog that I came across

China Energy Limited

2006-12-17T17:43:00.000-08:00

This post will be a repository of my thoughts and research on China Energy Limited.

It was listed in SGX recently

A thread from ShareInvestor.com

Cohen Research

Some news article

Alittle dated, but an interesting read...

Coal fields.. some background

Some past issues....

past - Sept 2006

This might be a good resource.

Zhong Sou

2006-11-14T15:54:00.000-08:00

Zhong Sou is a local rival to Baidu.

I first saw it here

Zhongsou -- whose shareholders include venture capital heavyweights Legend Capital and IDG -- is seeking to expand its service portfolio ahead of an initial public offering which it hopes to hold at the end of 2007. "The talks are still going on and it is hard to say exactly when they will be completed ... We think the merger will be mutually beneficial and will speed up our preparations for a listing," one source told Reuters.

One does wonder, is it a local company and will there be opportunity to buy in?

Still if it is a foreign start up competing with Baidu, then what value add does it give?

2006-11-07T16:06:00.000-08:00

Chinese Companies

Comtech Group Inc., which provides software to Chinese makers of phones and consumer electronics, and Hunan Talkweb Information System Co.,

Source

Bankruptcy Law in China

2006-10-29T23:16:00.000-08:00

China and India developments

2006-10-29T23:13:00.000-08:00

China and France

In Wuhan, a city of 10 million people along the Yangtze river, Chirac laid the foundation stone for a new Peugeot-Citroen factory, while urging French industry chiefs to further expand their "strategic alliance" with China.

The new Peugeot-Citroen factory, a 50-50 joint venture with China's Dongfeng, is expected to begin production in 2009 and will tap into China's voracious appetite for new cars with an eventual annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles.

On Thursday, Chirac spent more than an hour meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing, after which the two nations announced that Airbus had secured an order for 150 A320 aircraft that could be worth about 10 billion dollars, based on the jet's current list price.

Airbus also agreed to set up an aircraft factory in the city of Tianjin, with both announcements seen as giving the European giant a much stronger foothold in the world's most lucrative aviation market.

A total of 13 new deals with French industry were signed Thursday in Beijing, including a 1.5-billion-dollar contract involving Alstom SA helping to build 500 Chinese freight locomotives.

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world_business/view/238145/1/.html

China Banks listed in HK

ICBC's share sale, the largest in history, was well received by the markets. China's top bank made a strong debut in Hong Kong Friday, closing 14.7 percent higher.

The flotation followed the overseas listings of Bank of China and China Construction Bank, and was the latest step in China's struggle to get its lenders up to global standards.

The government injected a total of 60 billion dollars into the three listed banks, brought in strategic investors from abroad and undertook shareholding reform in preparation for their flotations.

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific_business/view/238175/1/.html

Reliance to open first stores of 'Indian Wal-Mart'
Posted: 30 October 2006 0633 hrs

Photos 1 of 1

A worker puts up a Reliance Industries' poster

HYDERABAD, India : Major company Reliance Industries said it would open a series of stores here this week with the aim of building an Indian version of Wal-Mart, the world's largest retail chain.

The 11 "neighbourhood" stores, to be called Reliance Fresh, will sell groceries and other goods from Friday as a pilot project to "understand customer needs," Reliance said.

"We are starting a pilot journey of listening to customers and learning from them," said Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries whose main business is petroleum refining.

Ambani has said he wants to make the company's new stores arm, Reliance Retail, a "Wal-Mart in India" and has set an annual sales target of 25 billion dollars by 2011.

Reliance, India's biggest company by market capitalization, plans to transform the retail landscape.

It will invest seven to eight billion dollars in setting up its stores arm that will cover 1,500 Indian cities and towns in the country of 1.1 billion people, said a senior Reliance official.

Source:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific_business/view/238303/1/.html

Baidu on the upswing? 061030

2006-10-29T16:19:00.000-08:00

Apparently Baidu is on the upswing again.

I was wondering why it should go up.

last check was 89 USD.

The most recent news on thhe Pacific Epoch is that Baidu has partnered with The9.

But I did'nt know what the The9 is.

Apparently it is a company that makes Chinese RPG games.

its company link is here

Oh and The9 is listed on the Nasdaq. Indicating that it is not a "chinese" company.

Price is hovering at about 23.51 USD ???

This was partly susprising as Baidu just had a change in leadership

Gulf Banks Emirates Bank

2006-10-29T16:08:00.000-08:00

Gulf Banks are setting up shop in sunny Singapore.

The latest is the Emirates Bank (Dubai based - ROE last year was 25.5%) at Raffles Place.

This follows Qatar National Bank, Doha Bank.

Both like the UAE(United Arab Emirates) are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council

The only Arab bank with a wholesale licence here is the National Bank of Kuwait.

Source: The Business Times 061030

Tencents QQ

2006-10-25T17:34:00.000-07:00

Rumours on the ebay equisition (26 Sept 06) seems to be untrue for now.

060929

tencent also does some gaming, but it seems to be promotional stuff for a yogurt drink

As tencent is gearing up to rivals ebay and Alibaba with 100 million RMB into internet services.

Much will depend on what services are brought up. I for one am very interested ;)

Now this one is interesting in 061011 tencent sues MMIM technologies for using its QQ network.

This is interesting as we see a mirror from the AOL, yahoo and MSN networks.

I believe the main difference will be in the agreements.

MSN, AOL, and Yahoo open their networks I believe. As it was in their interest to do so as at that time they needed critical mass.

The question is mainly whether QQ already has critical mass. if it does, MMIM may be headed for a brick wall with its appeal to the public that open networks are good for everyone.

Essentially true, but is it compelling for QQ to make it so?

Best to rely on market forces =)

Or alliance with the MSN, AOL, Yahoo, ICQ, Jabber, GAIM, Google talk users =)

One should probably look out for PICA, which is a product by MMIM. mcommerce is on the way in.

I am alittle confused by the article title though, as it claims copyright infringement. ?? Seems like unauthorised usage of the network, but copyright infringement? Where so?

061011

tencents has also partnered with ESPN to broadcast the 2006 UEFA Championship League

apparently Qlive is the tool used to watch, and audiences can chat. Some cool!

and in 061023

tencents has declared to use 100M RMB to use to build and internet research institute. Hmmmm ?? Looks like it will be a pure research and trend and analysis machine. One wonders if 100M RMB is enough or even needed. Its hard to say.

061023

tencents is also looking to aquire the copyright of a song called QQ love to be used as a theme song. they are willing to pump 1M yuan into it. hmmm. Its not clear if it is money spent yet.

Chapter 11 no finale for Silicon Graphics

2006-10-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

Silicon Graphics Inc., the pioneering computing company that helped create the special effects on blockbusters such as "Jurassic Park" and "The Matrix," has emerged from bankruptcy, the company said Tuesday.

Why China might still be worth entering

2006-10-17T01:51:00.000-07:00

This article is sensible and down to earth.

Quick Snap From Bloomberg

2006-10-17T01:14:00.000-07:00

Luxury Movement of the Chinese:
China's Wealthy Splurge $63 Million at Luxury Show in Shanghai

Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- China's wealthiest lavished 500 million yuan ($63 million) on Hennessy X.O spirits, Porsche sedans, South African diamonds and other luxury goods during a show in Shanghai, double the value of transactions a year ago.

Top Marques, a four-day show that has its origin in Monaco, attracted 12,000 visitors last week with exhibits of 70 luxury brands, including $300,000 De Bethune watches and $426,983 Lamborghini sedans.

Akzo and Pfizer

Intel News

Retailing in China - Walmart moving deeper into China - Good summary of retail in China as well

Roche Holding AG, the world's biggest maker of cancer medicines, said third-quarter sales rose 19 percent as doctors prescribed more of its tumor-fighting drugs and governments stocked up on the Tamiflu influenza treatment. - biotech

Chinese Etiquette for Business Success

2006-10-16T23:42:00.000-07:00

Interesting tips to succeed with etiquette.

- Funny tirade on WTO (essentially misinformation on China)

Outsourcing in China thoughts, laws and perspectives

2006-10-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

An interesting article on outsourcing in China.

The main crux seem to be that one must think in functions, that the question now is not to question "should we outsource", but where, what, how to outsource.

Essentially I think the idea is to think and plan carefully when addressing oursourcing.

This seems systematic, but as a business I think it is important to look at all cost entities, and then decide from there.

Inevitably this is a value chain analysis problem.

Managing you inventories, resources and business processes intelligently rather than going with the herd will take you further. Much much further.

Another interesting article on outsourcing is found here

This article addresses how to protect yourself when you outsource work or processes to China. Legal implications that will matter etc.. Very good reference for a checklist.

In sum,

1) Ensure you have the patents secured in your native country.
2) Register your trademarks or patents in China, this protects your future entry and counterfeiting from China.And most of all it prevents someone from registering YOUR trademark (thereby making it his =))

3) Written agreement to protect your knowhow this should address non-competition, confidentiality issues. This will have to be enforced by contracts, possibly NDAs

4) Don't pay unless you are sure the quality is met. This may require more inspections. You have to take the lead.

5) OEM agreements should be comprehensive. the agreement should address all issues comprehensively, essentially you have to cover all bases.

Please read the original article as it ellicits the notions much better!

Now in writing this short tirade, in another article by the same blog. I find this quote most worthy to take away if you learn nothing else.

"So what is a company to do? First off, THINK. That's right, think. Secondly, do not do anything you would not do in any other country. Just because your Chinese partner and/or your Chinese partner's lawyer tell you this is how things are in China does not mean you have to believe them and it certainly does not mean you have to abandon your common sense.

I am not going to get any more specific in this post because I am convinced that if American companies would follow these two simple admonitions, their sending money into black holes overseas would nearly cease. "

That is the essence of business. Like Buffets says.

Rule no. 1 - Don't lose money
Rule no. 2 - See rule no. 1

As always the devil is in the details.

Shareholding Reform (Almost) Completed

2006-10-10T07:56:00.000-07:00

Reform of the Chinese stock market has been going on since 2005 , but news is just out (from China Daily) that the majority of listed companies (1,104, representing over 90 percent of total market capitalization) have now completed shareholding reforms to convert “non-tradable” state shares into tradable ones.

News Source

WHAT IS VALUE INVESTING?

2006-10-10T07:52:00.000-07:00

Value investors seek to buy stocks trading at prices well below the estimated value of the underlying businesses. We believe that, in the long term, the prices of these stocks will rise as the market recognizes their true worth. By holding these stocks for three to five years, we believe they will help us deliver favorable long-term results with a margin of safety.

Buffett Alerts Managers to Temptation of `Accounting Gimmicks'

2006-10-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett told senior managers at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. to resist the temptation to use ``accounting gimmicks'' to manipulate earnings as U.S. regulators broaden their probe into stock options backdating.

Maven: Make a Bet (Online) on Ingenuity

2006-10-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

The Business Press Maven's clarion call is for the business media to start bringing a working knowledge of stock market history to what they say in the public square. But I'd probably be better off just laying down for a nap. That my life's work amounts to a hill of beans wouldn't be such a big deal, but knowledge of stock market history would give business journalists a more accurate feel for the future, which would give you as an investor the best chance of turning what you read, see or hear into profits

Why Edmund Phelps' Economic Theory Matters

2006-10-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

The newly minted Nobel Prize winner helped establish the relationship between unemployment and inflation—and what the Fed can and can't do about jobs

MySpace For Baby Boomers

2006-10-10T07:46:00.000-07:00

Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor thinks seniors should have a network, too.

Stocks: Too Far, Too Fast?

2006-10-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

With the strong performance by S&P 500 over the past few months, it's possible that the "rubber band" is starting to get stretched a bit too far

Europe's Young Entrepreneurs

2006-10-10T07:44:00.000-07:00

With promising ideas and an inherently international outlook, more young Europeans are aiming for startup success. These 15 have found it

More gaming firms prepare to flee U.S. ahead of ban

2006-10-10T07:42:00.000-07:00

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Leisure & Gaming and payment processor FireOne joined the list of companies fleeing a U.S. ban on online gaming on Tuesday, as signs emerged that Europe is to open up its gambling market.

Leisure & Gaming said it would stop serving U.S. gamblers if President George W. Bush signed into law a ban that was unexpectedly passed by Congress at the start of this month.

Puda Coal Inc. F2Q06 (Qtr End 8/30/06) Earnings Call Transcript (Seeking Alpha)

2006-10-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

Puda Coal, Inc. (OTC : PUDC)
F2Qo6 Earnings Call
August 30, 2006 4:30 p.m. EDT

China Mobile: Making Money from China’s Emerging Middle Class

2006-10-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

My experience in shopping for a new phone reminded me of the importance China’s 416 million mobile phone users place on mobile phones. As buying a home or a car like GM’s (GM) Buick still remains out of the reach of most Chinese consumers, they instead put their aspirations into buying a top mobile phone where even a $250 USD one is considered cheap.

Ubuntu Takes a Page from Red Hat's Playbook

2006-10-10T07:36:00.000-07:00

David Wolf submits: CNET has a decent article on Friday by Stephen Shankland about how Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux, plans on building a global business by giving away its software and selling service, a strategy originally adopted by the current major Linux marketer, Red Hat (RHAT), which it has since rejected. The article takes a rather dim view of the approach, questioning whether that's going to make it for Mark Shuttleworth and his band of South African software revolutionaries.

Laugh on, CNET, but in China I don't think anyone would so much as giggle. As the nice folks over at Microsoft (MSFT) and the Business Software Alliance will happily tell you, it's proving exceptionally hard to talk people in China into paying for software that can be downloaded in a zip file or shrinkwrapped and sold at a counter. I'm not sure it's going to get any easier.

An interesting post on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong SEHK

2006-10-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

I found it amusing and rather informative.

Then again I am an absolute green horn at this.

Microsoft Unleashes Vista RC2 for Testing

2006-10-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Latest News about Microsoft on Friday rolled out Windows Vista Release Candidate 2 (RC2), the new version of the Windows operating system, to technical testers with a pledge to make the final Vista version publicly available soon.

Vista Build 5744 is expected to be the last interim release before the software is approved for manufacturing. However, the same was said about RC1.

Google to Stream Warner, Sony Music Vids

2006-10-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

Google marks a busy Columbus day by announcing it has just signed agreements with media giants Warner Music Group and Sony to stream the respective labels’ music videos free to users through Google Video. The videos will be supported by advertising and available as $1.99 paid downloads starting this month.

It’s Official: Google to Acquire YouTube for $1.6 Billion

2006-10-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

Apparently, Mark Cuban’s comments fell on deaf ears. A week of intense speculation has finally come to an end Monday, as Reuters and Yahoo are both announcing that Google officially will acquire video-sharing darling YouTube for $1.6 billion in stock.

Apparently it is in stock

From bloomberg

Bodisen Biotech: The Little Fertilizer Company That Could

2006-10-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

Investors in Bodisen Biotech, Inc. (BBC), a manufacturer of organic fertilizers and pesticides targeting Chinese agricultural markets, saw the value of their holdings’ lose about 17% last week, as the Company’s past relationship with a ‘colorful’ adviser to emerging Chinese companies came to light.

Morgan Stanley Acquires Small Commercial Bank in China

2006-10-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

Seeking to expand its China operations, Morgan Stanley (MS) acquired Nam Tung Bank, a small commercial bank located in the southern city of Zhuhai from Bank of China for an undisclosed amount.

Harrah's Scraps Singapore Plans

2006-10-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

Harrah's (HET - news - Cramer's Take) decided to scrap its Singapore casino bid but said it remains committed to entering the Asian market.

Was MySpace Sold on the Cheap?

2006-10-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

One of the site's co-founders offers new evidence that parent Intermix Media knew the $580 million it accepted from News Corp. was too low

When News Corp. (NWS) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch paid $580 million for Intermix Media, parent of social network MySpace.com, talk was he overpaid. MySpace lacks a business model, and the cool kids who flock to the site will hit the road as soon as it sells out to Big Media—or so the argument ran.

GM: Things Are About to Get Nasty

2006-10-07T10:05:00.000-07:00

So it begins. Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, who owns 9.9% of General Motors' (GM) stock, may be drawing up battle lines for a proxy fight with the troubled automaker

Six Ways to Limit Uncle Sam's Take

2006-10-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

According to fund industry data, roughly two thirds of mutual fund assets are kept in taxable accounts. Yet all too many investors don't pay enough attention to the tax implications of their investment decision-making.

Jobs Cleared

2006-10-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

BOSTON (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc.'s board cleared Chief Executive Steve Jobs this week of any misconduct over stock options accounting problems and Wall Street cheered him for taking broad responsibility.

Evaluating A Company's Capital Structure

2006-10-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

For stock investors that favor companies with good fundamentals, a "strong" balance sheet is an important consideration for investing in a company's stock. The strength of a company' balance sheet can be evaluated by three broad categories of investment-quality measurements: working capital adequacy, asset performance and capital structure. In this article, we'll look at evaluating balance sheet strength based on the composition of a company's capital structure.

Trading Is Timing

2006-10-07T09:36:00.000-07:00

Trading always comes down to timing. To truly appreciate this, we simply need to note that one of the biggest gains in stock market history occurred on October 19, 1987, during the day of its greatest crash. On that day, stocks had declined a mind-harrowing 23% by the end of the day, but at around 1:30pm, they staged a massive rally that saw the Dow Jones and S&P indexes verticalize off the bottom, rising more than 10% before running out of steam and turning down to end the day on the lows. While most traders that day lost money, those who bought that bottom at 1:30pm and sold their positions an hour later were rewarded with some of the best short-term gains in stock market history. Conversely, traders unfortunate enough to have shorted at 1:30pm only to cover in panic an hour later held the dubious distinction of losing money on their shorts during the day of stock market's greatest decline. If nothing else, the stock market crash of 1987 proved that trading is all about timing. Timing is hard to master, but you can still capture significant gains on an ill-timed trade if you follow a few simple rules.

Using Historical Volatility To Gauge Future Risk

2006-10-07T09:35:00.000-07:00

Volatility is critical to risk measurement. Generally, volatility refers to standard deviation, which is a dispersion measure. Greater dispersion implies greater risk, which implies higher odds of a price erosion or portfolio loss - this is key information for any investor. Volatility can be used on its own, as in "the hedge fund portfolio exhibited a monthly volatility of 5%," but the term is also used in conjunction with return measures, as, for example, in the denominator of the Sharpe ratio. Volatility is also a key input in parametric value at risk (VAR), where portfolio exposure is a function of volatility. In this article, we'll show you how calculate historical volatility to determine the future risk of your investments. (For more insight, read The Uses And Limits Of Volatility.)

European Stocks Climb to 5-Year High in Week; Corus, BBVA Gain

2006-10-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- European stocks rose this week, sending the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index to a five-year high, as takeover speculation picked up and oil prices retreated.

Corus Group Plc, a U.K. steelmaker, and lender Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA gained as investors bet they may be bought. Air France-KLM Group led airlines higher as crude fell below $60 a barrel. Tesco Plc, Britain's biggest retailer, jumped after reporting record earnings.

Capitalia, Italian Bank Shares May Falter, Weighing on S&P/MIB

2006-10-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Italian banks have become expensive after a takeover-driven rally this year and may fall as investors decide they aren't worth the price.

``The Italian market will lack one of its main drivers going forward,'' said Gian Paolo Rivano, who helps manage about $256 million at Gesti-Re in Milan. ``The industry has performed very well and many bank stocks already price in a speculative scenario of mergers and acquisitions.'' He sold bank shares including Sanpaolo IMI SpA and UniCredit SpA last month.

Berkshire Stocks Test $100,000 Mark

2006-10-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

wow...

I wish to be that RICH one day lol

The stock with the highest face price in the world tested $100,000 mark Thursday, as the price for a Class A share of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK-A) briefly surpassed $100,000. Berkshire Hathaway is run by Warren Buffett, the greatest investor ever. Yesterday the shares closed up $1,296, or 1.3%, at $98,995 on volume of 830 shares, more than twice the average daily volume. During the session, shares reached $100,100 - an all-time high.

Buffett is eyeing Chinese Banks?

2006-10-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

Buffett made money on PetroChina. Is he also looking at Chinese banks? Shares of China Merchants Bank (3968) and Bank of Communications (3328) climbed Tuesday to all-time highs since listing, as heavy trading in warrants drove the lenders. China Merchants Bank, the mainland's sixth-largest lender, closed at HK$11.72, the highest since its September 22 listing and a jump of 6.74 percent from Friday's close. A total of 209 million shares changed hands.

original article here

Bank supervisors from 120 countries endorse updated international principles for effective banking supervision

2006-10-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

At the International Conference of Banking Supervisors held in Mérida, Mexico, on 4–5 October 2006, bank supervisors from central banks and supervisory agencies in 120 countries endorsed the updated version of the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision and its Methodology. They declared their continued support for the implementation of international minimum standards for bank supervision in all countries.

The Core Principles were originally written and agreed in 1997, being one part of the global response to strengthen the international financial system in the wake of the financial crises that occurred during the 1980's and 1990's. The 25 Principles are globally agreed minimum standards for banking regulation and supervision, covering a wide range of aspects including areas such as licensing, ownership of banks, bank capital adequacy, risk management, consolidated supervision, ways to deal with problematic situations in banks, and the division of tasks and responsibilities between home and host authorities. The Core Principles Methodology, which was developed in 1999, provides further details and guidance to assist in the interpretation and assessment of the 25 Core Principles.

Global community of banking supervisors enhances the Basel Core Principles and strengthens supervisory collaboration

2006-10-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

Banking supervisors from over 120 countries today reiterated the importance of continued improvements in banks' governance and management of risk, as well as confirming their determination to improve supervisory cooperation and information-sharing.

The fourteenth International Conference of Banking Supervisors (ICBS), organised jointly by the Mexican National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, was held this week in Mérida, Mexico. After being welcomed by Mr Jonathan Davis Arzac, President of the CNBV, more than 300 senior representatives from 150 supervisory authorities and central banks heard addresses from Mexican Finance Minister Francisco Gil Díaz and Guillermo Ortíz Martínez, Governor of the Bank of Mexico.

The ICBS programme focused on two main themes:

Founder Group

2006-10-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

Their website (in chinese)
English version??

China's Huawei Gives it Up for Vodafone

2006-10-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

London cellular giant Vodafone (VOD) has unveiled its latest phones, and they're made in China. On one level, that's not a huge surprise. After all, Chinese factories now manufacture tens of millions of cell phones.

Huawei Technologies

2006-10-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

Google Finance did not turn up much... I think if it is listed anywhere it is in Hang Seng ... hmmm

huawei 3com
huawei

More info on Huawei

Huawei has a deal with Dutch mobile operator Telfort BV.

Europe is the birth place of 3G telephony???

Also note that Huawei beat companies like Ericsson to win the deal.

Huawei has been financing itself with bank loans

On December 27 (2005 I presume), Huawei signed a financing agreement with China Development Bank (CDB) through which CDB will support Huawei's international expansion with a credit facility of US$10 billion for both Huawei and its customers abroad in the next five years.

Full information from this link

November last year Huawei says no listing plans yet

The issue of IPO has also been mooted back in 2004

Two Tech Deals for China. One In, One Out.

2006-10-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

China, as I have previously reported, is making waves in the technology sector. Therefore it should come as no surprise that Chinese technology companies are hitting the headlines with major international deals. Step up Huawei (sending out) and Founder (bringing in).

Corruption in China

2006-10-07T08:27:00.000-07:00

A lot of attention has been paid in the last couple of day to high profile Chinese politicians being arrested for corruption. Most prominently, Chen Liangyu, Shanghai Party boss, has been detained. Leaders in charge of Party discipline promise that those feathering their own nests will be dealt with "seriously:"

Are Some US Firms Violating US Law In China?

2006-10-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

There must be US companies involved with the Shanghai scandals, but I doubt we will ever hear of any. I say this because I do not see this "purge" as having much to do with corruption. I view it as having everything to do with politics, China-style. The Washington Post and my friend, James Na, over at the Korea Liberator, both see it all as just a turf war over patronage and influence--and I agree. Beijing is simply flexing its muscles and showing the "Shanghai people" who is really in charge.

China to develope accountancy firms

2006-10-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

A plan to develop “national champions” that could challenge the dominance of the Big Four international (i.e. foreign) accounting firms in China was reported here in June. Now it is reported (by Forbes and the FT) that a draft policy paper has been released by the Chinese Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICPA), and that the aim is to:

“develop at least 10 accountancy firms capable of comprehensive, international standards of service within the next decade in order to reduce its reliance on foreign groups”.

Protecting Your IP In China

2006-10-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

Alicia Beverly, Chief IP (intellectual property) strategist with IP Wealth, an Australian company, "based on the Gold Coast in Queensland, [that] specializes in identifying, protecting, managing and monitoring intellectual property assets for clients around Australia and overseas," wrote a helpful article entitled "Protecting and Enforcing Your IP Rights In China."

U.S. Company Bribery In China: Violate The Law, Go To Jail

2006-10-07T08:11:00.000-07:00

Wolf wonders whether China information gleaned from Lucent by the U.S. government will lead to more investigations of U.S. companies doing business in China. Wolf talks of having "regularly" heard "rumors of shady deals and payoffs, stories of children of prominent Chinese officials setting up technology consultancies to act as bag-men between U.S. tech firms and telecommunications operators."

China Retail GOME Bestbuy

2006-10-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

The wonderful world of China retail is never short of a story or two, and the ever-competitive appliance sector is a case in point – and includes educational elements with broader application.

Research company Access Asia reports that strong appliance sales growth in China has been achieved alongside lack of pricing controls (price competition being common corporate killer), and that “it finally appears that the long awaited shakeout in the industry is occurring” (China’s provincial industry structure has often resulted in highly fragmented markets, but this is changing).

Shangri-La And Charging Regular Rates To Chinese Businesses

2006-10-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

"By the year 2020, it is expected there will be more than 100 million Chinese travelers," he said. "Can you imagine the impact? Japan has made a tremendous impact in the industry and it never reached more than 17 million travelers.

"If you go back 30 years ago," Angelini continued, China is "exactly the way the Japanese were, traveling in groups around a little flag, negotiating the lowest rate. But look where the Japanese are now: in top hotels and big spenders. The Chinese market will be much stronger and develop much faster."

China National Day Celebrations

2006-10-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

October 12 Conference In NYC On China's Financial Markets

2006-10-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

The Asia Society and mega law firm, O'Melveny and Myers, will be putting on a conference next week on China's Financial Markets. The conference will take place on October 12, 2006, at The Four Seasons Pierre Hotel, on Fifth Avenue at 61st Street, in New York City. The all-day conference is broken down into four panel discussions: Developments in China's Banking System, China's Domestic Capital Markets, Overseas Listings of Chinese Companies and The Rise of M&A in China.

The keynote address will be given by Dr. Harry Harding, Director of Research & Analysis for Eurasia Group, one of the world's leading global political risk advisory and consulting firm.

China's Nanotechnology Research -- An Update

2006-10-07T07:57:00.000-07:00

The TNTlog, which describes itself as "Taking The Rational View of Nanotechnologies Since 2000," picked up our post on China's growing nanotechnology research and, in a post entitled, "The Nanotech Dragon," pretty much pooh-poohed it -- probably rightfully.

Shanghai Corruption, Beijing Battles And The Fight For China Leadership

2006-10-07T07:33:00.000-07:00

Oct. 9, 2006 issue - The ouster of Shanghai Communist Party chief Chen Liangyu last week could have come straight out of a Hollywood mafia flick. The frictions between the bumptious Chen and President Hu Jintao began more than two years ago—sparked by corruption concerns in Shanghai and serious philosophical differences between the two men over economic policy. But Hu couldn't remove Chen hastily. The party boss is close to Hu's predecessor, former Communist Party head Jiang Zemin, the godfather of the so-called Shanghai faction to which Chen belongs.

China As "Non-Event"

2006-10-07T07:32:00.000-07:00

I think, China. Two things about China are generating a lot of hype. One hype is that China is going to take over the world. Last December, China recast its GDP to almost $2 trillion. But the US GDP is moving up to $13 trillion and the US is not going to stop growing. In those terms, it will take 30-40 years for China to even catch up. Even in terms of standard of living, it’s quite another matter. So it’s a big hype that China is going to get you.

In China -- Culture Matters

2006-10-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

In marketing a consumer product, knowing the culture can and usually is of crucial importance and it seems some Western companies are forgetting this in marketing their products in China. KFC is the latest to fall victim to a cultural faux pas in its marketing.

Is China Ready To Be A Major Force In IT Outsourcing? -- Yes And No

2006-10-07T07:27:00.000-07:00

Just came across an interesting debate in Information Week's Optimize Magazine on whether China is ready to become a major force in IT outsourcing. The magazine asks the question and received "opposing' answers from the two professors questioned.

Peter Williamson, a professor of Asian business and international management at INSEAD in Singapore answers,"no," because a fragmented industry and a dearth of English speakers are holding China back for now." Go here for that article.

Law Drafting Goes Postal

2006-10-07T07:25:00.000-07:00

Another day, another draft law. This time it is for the (eighth draft of the) Postal Law (via FT) and, as usual, there is plenty of feedback in the market suggesting that it would create:

“unfair competition violate trade agreements and destroy non-state businesses employing hundreds of thousands of people”.

It is reported that the law would give China Post a “total monopoly over deliveries of parcels weighing less than 150g, which account for more than 90 per cent of the intra-city business of private delivery companies”. In addition, it is thought that it would prevent foreign and private firms from handling business from online retailers. Other measures are also thought to benefit China Post, with tightening of “licensing controls and compulsory payments to subsidise universal postal services”.

The EU’s IP Challenge

2006-10-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

Intellectual property rights (IPR) issues must be the thing I am asked about most often in relation to China (and I have recently covered it here, here, and here). So it is no surprise when (as Financial Express reports):

“Only 9% of 1,000 companies represented by the European Chamber of Commerce in China haven’t been affected by trademark or copyright theft…Violations of copyright and other rules designed to protect inventions and brands from illegal imitation account for as much as 360 billion euros in unlawful trade each year, depriving legitimate business of income, according to the EU. About 70% of counterfeited goods imported into the bloc originate in China, the EU has said.”

Rumour? ebay in talks with tencent (QQ.com)

2006-10-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

wow... I just discovered QQ ... actually lots of my students are using QQ...

My classmate uses tencent ... I did not know they were the same company lol

Google in talks to buy YouTube for $1.6b

2006-10-07T07:01:00.001-07:00

Hooooooo yah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gogo Google!

SAN FRANCISCO - The YouTube video-sharing website and Google internet giant sternly declined to comment Friday on reports that they were discussing a 1.6 billion dollar takeover by Google.

YouTube workers ejected a television news camera crew that made its way into the popular website's non-descript office in the heart of San Francisco

More here

US-China Business Council -- 2006 Survey Says...

2006-10-01T03:00:00.001-07:00

Last month, the US-China Business Council (USCBC) published the results of its annual member survey, highlighting the gains US businesses have made in China, along with the obstacles they still face.

China's Trademark Laws -- Simple And Effective

2006-10-01T03:00:00.000-07:00

The recently instituted China Trade Law Report just published an article I wrote on securing trademarks in China, entitled, "China's Trademark Laws -- Simple and Effective." The gist of the article is what I have been saying in this blog since its inception: it pays to register your trademarks in China.

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Chinese Arbitration Law

2006-10-01T02:59:00.000-07:00

Peter Yuen, an attorney in the dispute resolution department of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, (one of the world's biggest and best law firms) recently wrote a very informative article on arbitration in China. Mr. Yuen, who has been counsel in arbitration proceedings in Beijing, Shanghai, London, Singapore and Tokyo arbitrations under CIETAC, ICC, LCIA and UNCITRAL, works out of Freshfields' Hong Kong office.

SK-II -- The Mob Makes China Cosmetics A Dirty Business

2006-10-01T02:57:00.001-07:00

By now, most are aware of the problems Procter & Gamble has been having with its SK-II cosmetics in China. To very briefly summarize, the Chinese public is angry at Procter & Gamble because of its unwillingness to give immediate refunds for product that was said to be contaminated.

China Logistics -- Big And Getting Bigger

2006-10-01T02:57:00.000-07:00

The China Economic Review's relatively new Logistics blog recently did a post on consolidation among Chinese logistics providers, entitled, "Small firms fight for survival." The gist of the post is that logistics in China is growing quickly (15 to 20% per year) and is becoming increasingly dominated by big companies, many of which are foreign.

Innovation And China -- The Long Of It

2006-10-01T02:56:00.000-07:00

Just read a very thoughtful two part article (here and here) on innovation in China, written by Bright Simmons. Entitled, the "Chinese Griffen," the site editor describes the two articles as follows:

China's Nanotechnology Growing

2006-10-01T02:52:00.000-07:00

Couple recent articles in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes Magazine (h/t to Nanodot and Nanotechbuzz) on how China is making gains in nanotechnology highlight how China is both making efforts to move beyond manufacturing and is succeeding in doing so. The Wall Street Journal article, written by Andrew Batson, and entitled, "China's Nanotechnology Gains Have U.S. Looking Over Its Shoulder," explains the significance of nanotechnology: