Author: Michael Yung

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.

It is one of my friends’ life motto. She says it every single time when we ask her why she has to spend so much effort in every single little thing. She has said it so many times that she became the evangelist of continuous improvement among our peers.

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I believe some of you have already watched Star Wars III … being a fan of Star Wars for twenty something years (I was a member of the fan club ….) – I don’t think the story line is very good, but I think we all have to admit the computer graphic effects are really stunning. But if you like this kind of story and in a more humorous side, you have to watch the movie tomorrow – “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.

The story is based on the book by Douglas Adams and in fact you shall read all the books by the same writer in the Hitchhiker Series … they are all really hilarious. (Warning … the books are not that easy to read though.)

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Last month I introduced some astonishing travel photos … now what about some equally good Wedding photos ? Check this out and compare this with your friends’ (or your own) HK style wedding album … which one will you prefer ?

http://www.blsphoto.com/Pages/0200galleries.html

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Learn to pause or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you. – Pablo Picasso

Have you ever wonder why the chewing gum nowadays focuses on fresh breath, fighting tooth decay or improve tooth whitening ? …

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About five or six years ago in Japan, all of a sudden, chewing gum lost its popularity. The gum manufactures were wondering why, so they began taking surveys. One cause that they found was that cell phones were taking the place of chewing gum by monopolizing people’s mouths. So when people are bored at the station or wherever, they gradually have been using cell phones more and more and thus have cut back on their idle gum chewing.

So … all the new chewing gums nowadays focus shifted to other side benefits – fresher breathe, fighting tooth decay, tooth whitening etc. etc.

As you can see, in the information age, our desires, instincts all changed.

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You know I like to take lots of travel photos but in fact there is one gentleman’s work that I admire very very much. Check out the photo gallery of Mr. Wilson Tsoi and I am sure you will rethink the following question – “What is travel photo ?”

http://www.photo.net/photos/wilsontsoi

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‘I have not failed. I’ve merely discovered 10,000 approaches that do not work.‘ — Thomas Edison

In the past few months, you probably watched this Heineken beer TV ad hundreds of times (the ad with a guy searching for a beer in a ice bucket).

What the line is actually mean – “Tell me when, when, when”. Sure, a guy wants to know when will his dream girl be his lover …. and with similar context, we want to know when will our dream site be going live. We may have a lot of ideas, plans, programs to do … but one important thing we have to do, is to tell our users when will our promises materialized. You know, it is no point of keep talking, but not delivering … on time. So next time when you see this ad again, spend a split second in your mind and think, when can I deliver … our competitor will not wait.

Back to the Heineken ad … they are always good in advertising and their latest ad is simply beautifully made … and mixes sad & funny together …

http://www.ad-awards.com/home.php?rub=1&pub=106

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Yes, our competitor will not wait … and as Accenture’s latest print ad says “waiting for ideal conditions is rarely an option”. You can find their TV ad here as well … by Tiger Wood: http://www.accenture.com/xd/xd.asp?it=enweb&xd=aboutusadvertisingad_tele.xml

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Flickr.com is my favorite online photo album and just launched for beta for some time. Last week Yahoo already bought out this web site, before it even goes to version 1.0 !! You see, there are still ways to make money in Internet. And one the interesting album is photos of your PC wallpaper … it is simply so good … you know what I mean when you see it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/w00kie/sets/180637/

Will you build one for yours ?

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All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. ~ Walt Disney ~

“Don’t battle with your competitor, just make them irrelevant.“

The above interesting line is extracted from a book I am reading – “Blue Ocean Strategy“. Of course the book include many guidelines on how to do it, but I think first of all we have to plant one thing in our minds – we can no longer compete easily with other industry players by simply work harder and smarter. Be a follower (no matter how quick you are) sometimes are costly.

It is because there is lots of people out there are smarter than us, and some of them may even work harder than us. What matters now, in this economy, in our industry (i.e. eCommerce), are we have to find ways that our competitors cannot keep up with us. We have to win the war with creative, not combative approach.

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“How many designers does it take to change a light bulb?“

The answer is eleven. One to change the light bulb and ten to say, “I would have done it this way . . .”.

Not sure you understand the “punch line” behind this, but “how many xxx does it take to change a light bulb” is a very popular type of jokes in western culture. In the web you can find thousands of this kind of jokes and there is one shall directly affect our line of thinking …

How many forum posters does it take to change a light bulb? Answer :

http://www.canadiancontent.net/forums/about2748.html

According to the web page, one single forum post may spin off over 1,000 posts.

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No quotation this month, but a thought (from another book I am reading) that lead me think … we shall be grateful to those who work behind-the-scene diligently for us …

People seldom call their local power company to say, “Thanks for keeping the lights on today”. But if the power goes off, the screaming is immediate and loud.

The holiday weekend was not as peaceful as I hoped. So again, please extend your hand to those in need because of the South Asia Tsunami catastrophe. The tragedy also reminds us that we shall make full use of our every day, since life is very fragile as we all know it.

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That reminder is particular important these days as in a week or so, we will all start a new Chinese year. According to some fortune-telling masters, the year of Rooster is a year of:

” … Family and family interests are the number one priority of this year. This will also be a great year for creative ambitions and projects, as long as they are also have a strong, practical base. This year will bring big changes, new inventions and brand-new directions. Partnerships and joint ventures bring success …“

Not sure how many of the above “fortune-telling” will come true, but you know, you can certainly find one that suit your taste & needs in the Internet. On the other hand, there is one very good Internet website about how Internet evolved in the past 10 years, and how it will change our world in the next 10 years.

http://www.broom.org/epic/

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From the prediction above, you probably know that the producer of the Flash movie believe that after the browser, search engine and eCommerce – Weblog is the next big big thing. So how big is it nowadays, actually? You can check it out at:

http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/04_50/b3912115_mz016.htm?chan=mz&

Or surf to the fifth annual weblog award website and you can tell:

http://2005.bloggies.com/

And no, we will not left behind, as some of new projects / enhancements will be based on Blog technologies. And every night back home, I am cooking my own blog …

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If you have nothing to do during the New Year holiday, try spending some time with this 2001 movie “Life as a house” (starred by Kevin Kline, Hayden Christensen) – it is a movie that will touch your heart with a lot of great moments, and a few melodramatic ones as well. Be prepared with some tissues with you ….

Hmmm … one day we can all produce our own movie – “Life as a Website” …

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“If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.” – Woody Allen

In other words, don’t let failure scared you, try exploring new things all the time – it will pay off one day.