Author: Michael Yung

Michael possessed over 30 years of experience in Information Technology with focuses on complex application development, database technologies and IT strategy. He also spent the last 20 years in Internet technology, eCommerce development / operations, web usability, computer security and Public Key Infrastructure technologies.

Best Friend

A friend of mine just “adopted” a lovely puppy and it turned out to be a whole new “life experience” to him. He started to tidy the house regularly (to provide a clean living environment for the lucky puppy), first ever in the last 10 years …

He exercises now more then before as he needs to walk the dog two times a day. He also spends hundreds of dollars every month for the dog food, health check (for the dog, of course), and electric bill (yes, his home is now a 24×7 air-conditioned) … He even planned to hire a helper to play with the puppy when he’s at work.

Lesson Learnt: Man is dog’s best friend.

The Perfect DSLR Camera

What’s the perfect Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera ?

The answer is actually really really simple – it has to work as good as an old-fashioned SLR. Period.

So, what’s that really mean ? To me ?

The DSLR has to be easy to use, with button layouts similar to a SLR. You should be able to print the photos straight away, with excellent colors, without computer post-processing. The camera shall equip with good all-purpose lens (i.e. 28mm to ~100mm) without several expensive ones. There shall be no dust in the sensor …

And there are only two cameras in the market can do all these – Olympus E-1 and E-300. And I got both 😎

Lesson Learnt: Forget about the pixel counts, brand names, number of lens in the market etc. etc.. Cameras following FourThirds standard are the best, so far.

Value Added Service …

My brother called one cab services company the other day and requested a cab to transport him to airport, early in the next day morning (5:30 am). Just before wrapping up the call, the CS agent asked my brother a strange question …

“Shall we give you a morning call at 5 am ?”

Wow … what a service ?! From a cab company !!

Lesson Learnt: Every one can improve the service.

How can I help you ?

I suppose that’s the most popular greeting message by salesperson in all kind of shops. What’s your answer to this kind of greeting “questions” ? To me, it is either “Yes” or “No” … and of course if my answer is “No”, it means I will leave the shop soon – i.e. the end of the selling opportunity. So, I reckon the better greeting message shall be …

“Have you tried our latest products / services ?”

If your answer is “Yes”, the salesperson can follow up to check whether you like the products / services or not; and cross sell other products. If your answer is “No”, the salesperson can then kick start the engine to introduce you the benefits of the latest and greatest products / services. In both cases, you will sell more …

Lesson Learnt: If you’re a salesperson, you know which greeting message you shall use.

Excuse me, Sir …

There was a new restaurant in town so I decided to give it a try. After a few moments and I thought I was ready to order, so I gave a signal to one waitress … and ordered a few items from the beautifully designed menu. Then I asked a stupid question …

“Do you think it’s enough ?”, I asked.

And the waitress answered, “Excuse me, Sir … I think your diet is not that balanced and I would suggest you to order some more food with carbon-hydrate … hmmm … what about a dish of rice or noodle?”

Of course, I ended up with one more dish of noodle that I could not finish …

Lesson Learnt: Never ask such stupid question to a waiter / waitress who only want you to order more … especially s/he got an excellent way to reply you.